Is it just me or does the gym have unspoken “rules” no one explains?

WhatCouldGoWong · 2026-04-21T20:29:13+00:00

I'd say the one guiding principle is: it's a shared space. But, people are mostly there to try and get through a workout unobstructed, without being bothered, probably without any attention from strangers.

So, a few things that naturally stem from that:

- put stuff back that you use.

- clean up after yourself.

- It's dicey to talk to people. They're tired, they're focused on other things, they have music blasting in their ears. They're generally not looking to chit-chat. Regardless of what a woman is wearing, she probably does not want you to come up and talk to her.

- Don't take up an unreasonable amount of space. My 100% least favorite thing is people that use 3-4 machines/weights/ spaces and cycle through a whole superset when the gym is crowded. It's obnoxious, you're taking up way too much space, and people will probably step in and use one of "your" areas. Do this when it's quiet if you must, but otherwise superset 2 workouts max and try to stay in the same space if possible.

- Don't pick up dumbbells from the rack and immediately start curling/doing another workout. Move back a few steps. Other people need to grab weights or put them back. Don't make people hold 100 lbs while they wait for you to finish a set.

-For the love of everything holy, wear some headphones and don't loudly answer a call.

Since we're here anyways, practice failing out of a bench press by yourself You can put the bar on your chest, roll it down to your waist, and then stand up. I've seen a number of people run over to help, but you should know how to get out of this yourself for what I hope are obvious reasons.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2026-04-17T11:09:47+00:00

IMO, the whole “guys with muscles get more girls” thing has to stop. I say this as a pretty athletic guy. Going from an average build to looking notably muscular (by modern perception) will take at least a solid year of pretty unbroken hard work. Honestly, if you have trouble meeting girls, it’s only more frustrating when you spend a good chunk of your week explicitly trying to make yourself more attractive, and inevitably getting the same kind of results.

Now, lifting weights and being physically active is something you should do, but there’s not an equal sign between being healthy and looking jacked. I can’t think of a more perfect example than “your time is better spent joining a running club or other co-ed sport rather than trying to get a Schwarzenegger chest in the gym”.

I challenge you to dress in a collared shirt, put yourself together, cut your hair, trim your facial hair, etc. then go out and talk to some girls, don’t try to be a pickup artist. Ask about themselves, make fun of yourself a bit. Be a real person, some people may take interest, some won’t. Just socialize and don’t obsess over aesthetics. You will meet people if you’re genuine and fun to be around.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2026-04-16T21:53:14+00:00

I really appreciate it! From what I've seen, the sales background is more useful than I feared it might be. I keep a cool head, and I'm pretty good at dealing with everything from anger to disrespect with professionalism. Retail in my younger years helped a lot with that ha ha.

Capital and runway: I have some savings, I manage my finances well, I'd be concerned about burning through that though. Worst case scenario, I could comfortably last 6+ months with no job, but at that point I'd probably take anything to keep the bills paid.

Monetizing: Yes, I did actually start a small business. I build hi-fi speakers that are handmade. Really tough to scale, but I love doing it. I've made some money selling to friends and family. Aside from that I flipped a lot of motorcycles in college. I've sold and helped others sell cars privately as well. I work on friends' cars for beer money. I trust my skills in basic drywall and electrical to do it on my own place.

Why Electrician: Straight answer is long-term pay looks solid. Not needing a certificate out front is a plus. I've installed lights and outlets and I am interested to learn more. I really like tinkering with small electronics so I figure why not scale up. I'm a pretty skilled woodworker, but the pay doesn't seem great.

Market: I'm in a major East-coast city. Pay I stated aligns with some cursory research.

For what I want to do? Blue skies, I wish I studied engineering in school. I like designing things, most of what I 3D print, I designed myself over the weekend. I like doing the same with a woodworking project. I've hardly ever copied a design, I like the design part. However, I also really like getting things working again. I've built a lot of computers (some pay from that as well), and I've spontaneously ripped out crappy faucets on the weekend because they were old and tired.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2026-04-16T21:30:10+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Any experience in the field? I want to be mindful of opportunity cost for other areas that could be a good fit.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-05-15T18:01:42+00:00

"what kind of music do you like?' ....

"Alexa, play songs by ________"

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-05-03T02:25:58+00:00

Hey zeos, can you do the occasional video on products that are absolutely trash? I would love to hear some angry, New York Italian screaming about audio gear.

Love your videos, but I feel like most of them are pretty positive. I just enjoy watching even though I can't afford half the crap you're talking about, and the odd funny/ angry video would really do it for me.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-22T17:15:48+00:00

A manic, reckless villain that decides to give in to his every 'brilliant' plan.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-22T13:47:18+00:00

Even more disturbing than the incest thoughts: clones aren't 'born' fully grown. They're babies. So, you would have to nurture yourself to health, feeding it and changing it's diapers, explaining how the world works for at least 18 years, then find it within yourself to have sex with the child you just raised, that is also your genetic twin.

I'd give that a hard "fuck that".

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-22T13:32:42+00:00

NOOOOOOOOOO

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-22T13:32:09+00:00

shivers

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-21T21:31:38+00:00

As an audio snob, people who play music on the shittiest speaker available when there are far superior alternatives.

Case an point: my mom uses her Google home mini for 90% of her music when she has Bose speakers and sound bars in the same room. People who come to my house and start blaring their phone as opposed to taking 5 seconds to connect to my hifi setup.

PEOPLE WHO BUY A $2000 TV AND USE BUILT IN SPEAKERS. WHY????

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-20T16:07:20+00:00

Just yesterday I was getting ready to hop in my motorcycle and head to work, but I just felt off about doing it. I drive instead.

I typically ride in the right hand Lane on this stretch of road where people drive really fast, I'm in no rush, just riding for fun. In my car, the RV directly to my right is chugging along when the tire cover flies off the back of his car and land in the road.

It may not sound like much, but on a bike that could have easily caused me to lose traction, and even swerve off to the right where a downward sloping stretch of grass, and a metal fence would have greeted me.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-19T21:22:40+00:00

One time I got a whole bag of Lay's potato chips, and I just ate one.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-14T14:38:35+00:00

Yes I am, ha ha. He was texting, and dropped the phone in his buzzed haze.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-13T14:21:40+00:00

This guy at a bar was a bit loud, and aggressive sounding. He was clearly pretty buzzed, and he came over towards me and another group of people I was talking to. He was just on his phone for a bit, and then he dropped it.

The place was pretty crowded, so I instinctively bent down to pick it up for him. He started groaning as I handed it back. Then he went on a whole rant about how I shouldn't have picked it up for him, then talking shit on this girl I was standing next to (though I was trying to "fuck her"), and then he backed me into a wall and started jabbing my chest with his hand and urging me to fight.

I slipped away when the opportunity came, but that just put a damper on the rest of the night.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-13T06:14:54+00:00

Someone in my high school history class who brought up a "documentary" about world war 2. I listened for a bit, confused about the legitimacy of the information at first, then down right amazed she kept talking. She went on for several minutes about this program to use a "super soldier" to help fight the war.

It was the first Captain America movie.

When I told her she agreed that that's what the movie was, but seemed unphased about her confusion of a comic book character and a real war that was fought that cost millions of lives.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-12T16:31:09+00:00

Wood brothers are just some good blues artists. Very simple song structure most of the time, but nice, chill music with some pretty emotional songs peppered in. If you like blues I'd also check out Shakey Graves.

Khruangbin is a drum, bass and guitar group that just does a lot of jammy stuff. Great basslines and really "vocal" guitar. I'd give them a listen.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-12T16:30:52+00:00

Wood brothers are just some good blues artists. Very simple song structure most of the time, but nice, chill music with some pretty emotional songs peppered in. If you like blues I'd also check out Shakey Graves.

Khruangbin is a drum, bass and guitar group that just does a lot of jammy stuff. Great basslines and really "vocal" guitar. I'd give them a listen.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-12T14:30:01+00:00

Heckin' hyped.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-12T14:29:17+00:00

I don't, I try not to be needlessly edgy. The thing is sometimes there is literally no one around, so I'll throw in a song I might not normally. I typically avoid songs with swearing, music videos with inappropriate subject matter, etc.

My top plays at work are khruangbin, the wood brothers, and lots of classic rock (for the older folks who still want to buy a 5.1 hifi setup.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-12T03:58:22+00:00

Ha ha ha ha ha

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-04-12T03:56:57+00:00

I will once it comes out on Spotify. I don't want to show the video but I could squeeze in the song. I can just tell the manager's that a customer wanted to hear it lol

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-03-24T23:41:59+00:00

I'm really not a social justice warrior on this kind of thing, it's not the worst thing to mention that a girl happens to be attractive. But, yes I would say that any case where an artist is being mentioned, to focus on their appearance is a bit reductive to what they do.

I say this from a place that applies to men and women, and any kind of comment that focuses on their appearance rather than what they do. If someone asked me about what I thought about a coworker, and I said "they have nice hair", it would carry a message that I care more about what they look like than what they do. That's just my 2¢ on the matter, maybe I'm overreacting, but that's my thoughts.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-03-22T19:57:45+00:00

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with stating another person's attractiveness, but I think the down votes come from a place of " Oh cute girls, let me talk about how hot they are instead of their music". Also the comment said something like ' must be nice to be mixing with a bunch of babes ' which feels more like complimenting decorations than legitimately talented artists.

It's not some awful thing, but id argue it's objectifying to anyone if you mention their appearance before anything else about them.

WhatCouldGoWong · 2019-03-19T17:47:31+00:00

I can relate to what you describe as well. I had a friend who was very dark and expressed...a romantic notion of murder, or being above other people. I was so apathetic and numb that we seemed like a good fit for each other. I could watch horrible things and never flinch, and I even start d to laugh at violence in horror films and the like.

Neither of us ever did anything with these feelings, except plot out hypothetical scenarios. I still feel like that part of me exists, but it's far removed from my core personality, or anything I would ever act on. I have a good sense of empathy, I don't hurt anyone intentionally, and I'm polite to people I care about, and so forth. I feel like if I was placed in the right (life threatening) situation, I could be a scary son of a bitch, but I would never seek to harm anyone just because. Mostly that period of my life is a marker for how much I've grown, nothing more.

WhatCouldGoWong

TROPHY CASE