I was at the gym yesterday, and for the first time in my life, I got turned down when asking for a spot.
I went to the gym during my lunch break so I wasn’t surrounded by the usual 5pm Meathead Rush Hour. The lack of swole was highly apparent when I had to stoop to asking a scrawny, “outdoor adventure guide” looking dude to spot my heavy bench sets.
I figured it was a shoe in. Obviously a guy with 13 inch biceps, a bandanna, and those abysmal toe shoes would be honored to spot all the might mass of Tony Two Scoops… right?
My potential spotter looked kind of like Channing Tatum here… handsome but toolish foolish.
I was wrong. I asked the hippy, “would you mind helping me out with a spot real quick?”
And do you know what the little shithead said to me? ”No. Sorry man, I don’t do that.”
Oh, you don’t do that? This isn’t fucking heroin buddy, this is a spot. You are literally helping somebody improve their lives by assuring they don’t crush their chest cavity whilst they work to better themselves.
Spotting somebody is one of the most efficient acts of kindness one can oblige upon a stranger. It takes no more than 60 seconds of your time, that person is sincerely grateful to you, and the only side effect is that you may feel obligated to say “hi” to that person next time you make eye contact with them at the gym.
If you have ever turned down a spot for any reason less than “sorry, but this preworkout shitstorm is coming RIGHT NOW,” then you are an asshole.
-Tony “Two Scoops” Muscoli
