Bench Etiquette?

[r2473]

Ancient sexist remarks (yes, painting the wife as the "boss" is also sexism). Old jokes from an old era.

Sexist is so passé. I believe I'm a misogynist.

But yours is a typical remark from an unsophisticated, ignorant provincial

 

[tennis_ocd]

My favorite example of this is the indoor courts at the University. The setup is to have 2 benches between 2 courts, so the 2 courts have to decide how to share the 2 benches. I used to play every Sunday morning when it opened at 9am. Courts are always full (winter) and it is all old people and my partner and I.

Almost without exception, what would happen is, the old people would put all their gear on one of the benches and sit on the other one. My partner and I always thought that was funny. And trust me, there was no saying "excuse me, but would you mind moving your stuff so we could sit down". That's not an option with old people.

By the way, I'm 43 but look young and I'm quite fit. My partner was a college kid in his mid to late 20's, also quite fit.

Sounds like the two of you could easily lift and flip the bench over. Problem solved.

 

[awjack]

Ancient sexist remarks (yes, painting the wife as the "boss" is also sexism). Old jokes from an old era.

This comment has invaded my safe space.

 

[sureshs]

Sexist is so passé. I believe I'm a misogynist.

But yours is a typical remark from an unsophisticated, ignorant provincial

Wife is not your boss or your subordinate, but your equal.

The remarks are from a time when men used to dominate women and then pretend to give respect to them by saying she is the boss.

 

[r2473]

I've got nothing much to do today, just fill out endless quarterly reports, so I'll bite.

Wife is not your boss or your subordinate, but your equal.

Equal. Nice word. What does it mean in practice?

 

[sureshs]

Back to the point, why not have individual chairs with armrests joined together so that there is not enough space to place a bag?

BTW, as I had pointed out in an older thread, it all comes down to ants.

Yes, ants.

Like on Tuesday, some water/gatorade had spilled near a bench, and the ground was full of ants. How could I put my bag on the ground? The ants will be all over the bag, then follow me into the car, and then to home.

Ants are the deciding factor.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I can do that bending over.

I guess I come from a public court mentality where there either are no benches or they are for people waiting on a court.

I come from public courts also and most had a bench of some sort.

This concept of "sitting during changeovers to drink Mio infused water with a towel over my shoulders, staring vacantly in the distance" is foreign to me. I'd likely fall down laughing if I played someone that did that.

That's fine if you don't want to sit during changeovers. That doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way, though.

And if you fell down laughing, at least the bench would be closer to you than the ground.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

People ask a firefighter why are there so many catastrophic fires in California? The firefighter answers: It's because we are so good at putting out small fires. The dry wood just sit there piling up, and boom, large fires.

That logic doesn't make sense to me. That implies CA FFs are better than other states' FFs.

OTOH, it might have something to do with the fact that CA [SoCal, at least] is a desert, has hilly terrain [which makes FFing difficult], has houses in danger areas because zoning laws didn't prevent them from being built, etc.

It has also been the general philosophy of the Forest Service during much of the 20th century to fight every fire. THIS is what allowed the tinder to accumulate, state notwithstanding.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Like on Tuesday, some water/gatorade had spilled near a bench, and the ground was full of ants. How could I put my bag on the ground? The ants will be all over the bag, then follow me into the car, and then to home.

Ants are the deciding factor.

If you put your bag on/near the spill, of course they will get on to your bag. If you place it a mere foot away, they won't. They're not interested in your bag; they're interested in the stuff that spilled. At least, this has been my experience.

 

[OrangePower]

If you put your bag on/near the spill, of course they will get on to your bag. If you place it a mere foot away, they won't. They're not interested in your bag; they're interested in the stuff that spilled. At least, this has been my experience.

The ants would indeed be interested in his bag were he to put it on the bench. Because I would make sure to spill my drink on his bag.

 

[RetroSpin]

I have an easy fix for those of you who are desperate to sit. I saw a guy at an open tournament bring one of those folding aluminum chairs out to the court with his bag. Problem solved.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I have an easy fix for those of you who are desperate to sit. I saw a guy at an open tournament bring one of those folding aluminum chairs out to the court with his bag. Problem solved.

And did he use the chair to sit or to rest his bag?

 

[movdqa]

I just put my stuff on the ground: water bottle, jacket goes in my bag (tight fit sometimes). At my friend's clay court, he has a gazebo off the court with chairs and table and we put our stuff there along with drinks. He has a spring-fed water fountain and sometimes brings out beer after we play. At our indoor courts, we have one bench per court but sometimes the hockey players take a bench over to their rink to sit on. That's a pain.

 

[OrangePower]

At my friend's clay court, he has a gazebo off the court with chairs and table and we put our stuff there along with drinks. He has a spring-fed water fountain and sometimes brings out beer after we play.

I clearly have the wrong friends. Can I hang out with you and your group?

 

[movdqa]

If you put your bag on/near the spill, of course they will get on to your bag. If you place it a mere foot away, they won't. They're not interested in your bag; they're interested in the stuff that spilled. At least, this has been my experience.

The logical solution would be to spill your drink outside the tennis court so that they all go over there.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

The logical solution would be to spill your drink outside the tennis court so that they all go over there.

Or to spill it on your opponent's bag.

 

[movdqa]

I clearly have the wrong friends. Can I hang out with you and your group?

You can buy a home and put a tennis court in your back yard here for probably less than what a condo costs in your area.

 

[beernutz]

TW acting screwy today.

 

[beernutz]

I live in an area of the US that many would classify as economically disadvantaged yet every public or private court I've played on here has two benches per court.

 

[movdqa]

The public courts that we use don't have benches. You either bring your own chair, stand up or lean on the fence on the changeovers. We put our bags on the ground, ants or no ants. Median household income in the city is about $58K. The place is not economically disadvantaged but not rich either.

 

[stapletonj]

"The ants would indeed be interested in his bag were he to put it on the bench. Because I would make sure to spill my drink on his bag."

No no no no no .... You leave his bag alone until after the 1st set. If you win the first set, you call for a bathroom break and then URINATE on his bag, and spill your drink on his towel.

Also be sure to make suggestive comments and gestures to his Wife/GF (or best of all his preteen daughter) on the changeovers. (Cue to John Belushi Blues Brothers restaurant scene - "Your children - I want to buy them - How much?)

The Manly Man's Guide to Tennis remedial classes will begin next Thursday ..........

 

[sureshs]

I have an easy fix for those of you who are desperate to sit. I saw a guy at an open tournament bring one of those folding aluminum chairs out to the court with his bag. Problem solved.

Too much work

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I have an easy fix for those of you who are desperate to sit. I saw a guy at an open tournament bring one of those folding aluminum chairs out to the court with his bag. Problem solved.

I have an easier fix: sit on the ground. They do still have those at public courts, right?