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Swimming Pool 'Peeping Tom'

(99 Posts)
Willow10 Tue 27-Nov-18 10:55:36

Has no-one here ever been taken off guard by something and wished they had reacted differently? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but not very helpful to the OP.

Yorkshiregirl Tue 27-Nov-18 10:54:33

Why are there always members of this group "having a go" at people when its quite obvious they are distressed by something contained in their posts ?
Show a bit of compassion for goodness sake !
hellymart take no notice of the Grumps love x

trisher Tue 27-Nov-18 10:48:00

If a trainer appeared in the gap or on my side of the cubicle I would simply assume that someone had kicked/knocked it, but you seem certain that it was deliberately placed. Any way I would think someone had lost it and pick it up. Then I might shout out "Who's lost a trainer?" or take it to reception as lost property. You seem to have been remarkably observant , knowing the boy was in the next cubicle, had been in the pool with his mother and moved cubicles (where was his mother?). I think this is a wind-up. Or perhaps something to get an argument going about unisex cubicles. Anyway if anyone didn't know the bill to make upskirting a sexual offence has passed through the commons. So perhaps it would have been better for the boy if you had challenged him and changed his behaviour before it becomes criminal.

Camelotclub Tue 27-Nov-18 10:39:58

Er, yuk. He sounds like a peeping Tom! You did the right thing to report it.

Willow10 Tue 27-Nov-18 10:20:34

It's easy to say what you would have done in that circumstance, but these weird things happen so unexpectedly, it's often not until it's too late that you realise what is happening. That's how scammers and fraudsters catch so many people out. You did the right thing to report it and sadly it will make you more vigilant in the future. As for unisex cubicles - which stupid moron came up with that idea? angry Don't feel bad, it's the little weirdo that should be feeling bad.

GreenGran78 Tue 27-Nov-18 10:18:08

I am bemused as to why you didn’t check if there was anything inside the trainer. That seems the obvious thing to do.

Coconut Tue 27-Nov-18 10:07:26

I would’ve taken the trainer, then with proof, I would’ve confronted him with management. If he is behaving so inappropriately at such a young age he seriously needs professional help before it escalates to something more sinister.

lovebeigecardigans1955 Tue 27-Nov-18 10:01:31

How horrible. If I was feeling brave (and was quick-thinking enough) I think I would have grabbed the hand or wrist and given it a 'Chinese burn' then listened carefully for a satisfying yelp.
Grabbing the trainer and contents though, Wildswan is much more sensible - if it was a camera phone the incriminating evidence of ownership would be there wouldn't it? (And quite possibly pictures or videos of previous ladies who'd got caught). Glad you reported it.

JS06 Tue 27-Nov-18 09:59:13

I'd have definitely picked up the trainer and the contents and then made a loud and large exit announcing my find on the poolside.

The scoundrel!

Sparklefizz Tue 27-Nov-18 09:33:17

Very sadly I think women have to be on the ball these days for anything. Whoever would have thought there'd be something called "upskirting"?

wildswan16 Tue 27-Nov-18 09:33:13

It's annoying when we can always think of what we "should" have done when it is too late.

I like to think I would have picked up the trainer (and contents) and held onto it. Handed it to the staff - then a nasty young man hobbling out in one shoe and without his phone would have had an awkward conversation with staff, parents and maybe police.

yggdrasil Tue 27-Nov-18 09:02:02

Monica: I would have picked the trainer up, looked inside and if it contained a camera, taken it to reception.

Or kept the camera as a free gift :-)

EllanVannin Tue 27-Nov-18 08:57:09

There shouldn't be unisex cubicles------full stop !

M0nica Tue 27-Nov-18 08:52:58

I would have picked the trainer up, looked inside and if it contained a camera, taken it to reception. If not I would just have kicked it back under the partition.

Our local pool has had unisex changing for years. I am not aware of a problem.

Davidhs Tue 27-Nov-18 07:31:06

Our local pool has just changed to unisex changing I was quite surprised, but as the ladies in adjoining cubicles didn't seem bothered why should I.
It does encourage peeping though

Grannyknot Tue 27-Nov-18 07:22:05

It's interesting that your instincts were correct, in that something wasn't right.

I've admired my SIL ever since as young women she confronted a man in the car next to us who was being weird (making rude gestures at us) at every traffic stop when we pulled up next to him. She wound her window down and let him have it with both barrels so to speak. He sped off.

I was still collecting my wits!

Good that you reported it.

Jane10 Tue 27-Nov-18 07:08:51

Or just picked it up, looked in it and, if it contained anything suspicious, taken it straight to reception. I don't know why you just left it. It's only a trainer with or without contents!
What I would have stood on was the hand reaching under the gap in the first place.

BlueBelle Tue 27-Nov-18 05:46:34

how do you place a trainer at an angle?
Not sure how you would have seen it if it was under the bench unless you were bending down ?
How do you know he moved into the next cubicle if you were still shut in your cubicle
Perhaps it’s how you’ve worded it but it doesn’t make sense to me

Well if you d ‘accidently’ stood on the trainer you d have broken it if there was anything in it wouldn’t you

mimiro Mon 26-Nov-18 23:55:52

one of many there are thousands of webpages dedicated to spying on people in supposedly private places.
www.metro.us/news/hidden-camera-coat-hook

a simple websearch brought up this its been going on since the 80s

duckduckgo.com/?q=hidden+cameras+spying+on+people+in+dressing+rooms+and+gyms&t=h_&atb=v1-1&ia=web

hellymart Mon 26-Nov-18 23:47:27

By the way, I didn't know this was a 'thing' until today when I looked it up on the internet and there have been cases reported in the press - eg - here: www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/263714/man-hid-phone-in-shoe-to-film-girls-changing-in-fife-swimming-pool-cubicles/?sso-c=MC4xNjQzNjUwMCAxNTQzMjc1OTQ1

Melanieeastanglia Mon 26-Nov-18 23:37:34

I am not good at thinking "on the spot" but think you were right to tell the receptionist.

I think I'd have moved cubicles as soon as I thought something odd was happening.

mimiro Mon 26-Nov-18 23:37:05

oh sorry, i wear swedish wooden clogs

mimiro Mon 26-Nov-18 23:35:22

stepped on the trainer

hellymart Mon 26-Nov-18 23:30:51

I was at my usual swimming pool today and had a strange/disturbing experience. The changing cubicles are unisex and are on the poolside. There are gaps underneath the doors/sides of the cubicles and I'm always wary of anyone next to me but I've never had a problem until today. I watched as a hand from the next-door cubicle placed a trainer at a angle, underneath the gap and into my cubicle but underneath the bench. I thought this was strange, of course but it took me a minute to realise there was possibly something in the trainer - it looked like a pair of googles but could, of course, have been a camera. I dropped my towel over it, just in case (I still wasn't sure) but I wish now I'd bent down and picked the trainer up and checked what was inside it! A teenage boy was in the cubicle (he'd been in the pool with his mother). Perhaps because he realised he'd been 'rumbled', once I lifted up the towel (because I was dressed by then), he hastily vacated that cubicle and moved into the next one along. He eventually came out, looking very shame-faced and almost ran out of the leisure centre. I told the receptionist what I suspected had been going on (I still wasn't 100% sure and therefore didn't want to accuse him). She knew him and his family and assured me they would keep an eye on him from now on. It left me feeling pretty horrible. What would you have done?