Miss Manners Advises Polite Requests When Gym Machines Are Monopolized
A reader inquired with Miss Manners about how to politely address gym members who monopolize exercise machines by using their phones for non-fitness related activities. Miss Manners advised continuing to politely ask if they are finished, and to respond with…
Anchorage, AK, October 29, 2026 —
A reader asked Miss Manners how to address gym members who occupy exercise machines while using their phones for activities unrelated to fitness. The advice was to continue asking politely whether they are finished with the equipment.
If someone responds with a scowl, Miss Manners advised saying, “Thank you.” The response was presented as a way to de-escalate the interaction, rather than turn a request about access to a machine into a confrontation.
The guidance centers on keeping the exchange brief and courteous. It does not suggest a different approach if the other person declines to move or continues using the machine. The reader’s question, as summarized, concerns how to raise the issue politely; no further details about the exchange or the gym were provided.
The summary also does not identify the reader, provide the date of the inquiry, or specify where the advice appeared. It gives no information about a particular gym, its rules for sharing equipment, or whether the situation involved a specific exercise machine. The recommendation is therefore limited to the interaction described: ask politely if the person is finished, and respond with “Thank you” if met with a scowl.
Miss Manners’ answer, as reported in the summary, offers a de-escalatory response to a common kind of shared-equipment dispute without adding further steps or claims about how the other person might react.
Story summarized from the original created by Miss Manners | Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin on www.adn.com, see more information here.
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