Umm.. do you work here?

I finally joined a gym. I was really picky because most gyms around here con you into a year contract and well, I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. In fact, I tried out a handful of gyms and the Reebok Sports Club in Canary Wharf caught my eye mainly because of its location, size, and its biggest selling point, no contract!

Anyway, going to a gym in London is interesting mainly because everything is measured in the metric system! Kindly enough the gym has conversion charts everywhere that remind you that there are 2.2 kgs to 1 lb and that there are 1.6 km to 1 mile.

I'm finally getting use to this whole "metric" system after 3 weeks, and I'm also getting use to the whole "men's locker room" experience.

I don't care what anyone says, a men's locker room experience is always awkward. Half naked guys walking around, some guys deciding to cover their junk, while others, disgustingly, walk around freely.

Thankfully the locker room is huge and there's more than enough room so that there won't be that slight chance of a guy's arse in your face while you're trying to put on your shoes.

It has nice wooden lockers with built in electronic locks. You type in your own combination and it automatically locks! Gotta love technology! Gone are the days of bringing your own lock and key, or combination lock where you have to remember some odd combination.

I'm always paranoid when setting the combination on my locker. Its bad enough that I have to remember my locker number! I always press the numbers really slow to make sure I don't accidentally press the wrong number and enter the wrong combination.

Anyway, one night I come back after a nice shower and I enter my combination. It doesn't work the first time, so I try again. It won't open. It just beeps at me.

I must have pressed the numbers too fast so I try again. Nothing. Just more beeping. Looks like I'm locked out.

What's funny is that I keep trying the same combination when knowingly it didn't work the first time! It just keeps beeping at me.

I'm dripping wet, sporting a towel around my waist. A little part of me starts to panic, but I calm down since it could be worse. Its not like my clothes were stolen and I didn't have anything to change in to! Imagine that!

I walk around trying to find help. There's no one to be found. I even consider asking another guy to find help. No matter how much I tried to phrase it in my head, I still sounded like an idiot if I did ask. I figured it was best that I take matters into my own hands and find help.

Let's be honest, walking around half naked and not knowing if you'll have access to your clothes is not the best feeling. I couldn't exactly leave the locker room and walk back into the gym looking for help. So I decided to stay in the locker room.

Luckily, after walking around in a towel for 15 minutes I walk back into the shower area and find someone who looked like he worked there.

"Ummm.. do you work here? I locked myself out of my locker."

"Yes, show me where it is."

We walk over. He looks at the locker.

He pushes the locker door closed, my jacket the reason why the door was slightly ajar in the first place.

I enter the "same" combination and it opens.

Damn technology.

"Oh, so the reason why it wouldn't open is because the door wasn't fully engaged with the lock?"

He nods and walks away.

"Oh that's why it was beeping at me."

Even after this incident, knowing that I entered the right combination the whole time, I enter the combination a lot slower that I ever have before.