You can’t really expect public spaces to work the way you want just because you dropped your stuff there first.

So, what would you do if you walked into the gym’s shower room with your child and saw that the only shower you could actually use contained someone’s belongings, but there was no sign of the person who left them there? Would you use a different shower? Or would you go ahead and use that one?

In the following story, one mother finds herself in this predicament and opts for the latter. Here’s what happened.

AITA to use the gym shower room when someone left their belongings there to save spot?

I went to the gym with my 8-year-old daughter for her swim lesson.

After she finished, we went to the girls’ shower area.

There’s only one shower that has a removable showerhead, which is the only one I can really use to help her wash properly.

When we got there, someone had left their belongings inside, clearly trying to save the spot. I waited for a bit and looked around, but I didn’t see anyone actually using it.

Suddenly, a woman came out yelling.

So I went in to wash my daughter quickly.

Then a woman suddenly ran out of the sauna and started yelling at me in Chinese.

I told her she can’t “reserve” the shower like that.

She kept shouting, so I ended up yelling back in Korean.

AITA?

Yikes! This all comes down to public shower etiquette.

Let’s see who the folks over at Reddit think is in the wrong.

This person gives a reason for why it happens.

Here’s someone who dealt with pretty much the same thing.

This reader doesn’t like it when women do this.

According to this comment, you can’t reserve a public place like that.

She was in the right.

That other lady had no right to store her belongings in a public shower.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.