people are interesting

So my husband and I were watching our daughter's gymnastics class yesterday when this guy walked in with his two kids. He was about our age (mid-30's) or maybe a little younger and had an infant son and an older toddler / younger preschool age daughter (I found out later that she was three).

He sat down next to us and immediately began talking. He first asked us if we were evaluating the classes, which I thought was little strange, but whatever. Anyway, I explained that we were actually waiting for our daughter to finish her class. He asked how long she had been going to the gym, did we like the gym, were the coaches good, etc. I briefly told him that she had been taking classes for about two years, and that were very pleased with the gym and the coaches.

He continued to talk almost non-stop. We found out that he had brought his daughter for her first gymnastics class. I guess she is a little shy, so he had decided to bring her about thirty minutes early so that she could watch for awhile. We learned that he briefly worked at the YMCA; that his wife is a registered dietician; that a registered dietician is vastly superior to someone who has just studied nutrition; that he thought that the gym should give his daughter free lessons if his wife agreed to come in and speak to the kids about nutrition; and that it was okay that I had a little bit of an accent (I am from the South but currently live in the upper Midwest).

I was a little annoyed, as I am not really that interested in small talk and don't really need someone to tell me that it is okay that I speak the way that I do, but I just smiled, nodded a lot, and let him talk.

Anyway, things were okay, until one of the female coaches walked by. She had gotten her hair cut short, and it looked really cute, so I told her so. The talking man then said, "Yes, but men hate women with short hair." Really, did he just say that? He continued by saying that she could pull off the haircut better than most, and that really it was God's will that she be able to do so.

Thankfully our daughter's class let out about this time, so we were able to avoid further conversation with the odd sexist man who thinks that God is somehow interested in women's haircuts.

I hope that his wife brings the little girl to class one day, so that I can see what her hair looks like.