Day 5 - Sue and Agnes

I'm a member of FitnessSF, the gym right next door to my office. One of the nice things about the membership is that you can go to any FitnessSF in the city. The gym by my work is great, but it doesn't have a pool. About once or twice a week, I'll venture to the FitnessSF in the Fillmore that does.

The Mid-Market gym is pristine, the average age of the members must be about 28, and the members, sporting their Twitter, Uber or Square shirts are all in great shape. The Fillmore gym is by no means dirty, but is not quite as spick and span as the Mid-Market gym. The age range and fitness levels of the members also varies widely.

When going to the different gyms, I almost feel like I'm experiencing two different sides of San Francisco - the old city that I grew up in, and the new SF life that I'm currently living. I love going to the Fillmore gym because the people remind me of what makes San Francisco great and unique.

Not long after I joined, I was approached by an older woman with a clipboard. She mentioned that the gym had cut a water aerobics class that was a favorite of the senior members. "Most of the members in the class don't speak English," she said. "So they don't sign into the class. The gym thinks attendance is much lower than it actually is. And now these women are showing up, so confused."

I signed her petition, and watched as she walked around, asking other members. "I only had to get 100 signatures, but I'm already on 115!" She exclaimed. "I figured, why stop?"

My favorite members of the Fillmore gym are two older women - one looks like she's in her mid to late 50s and the other is probably about 75. I don't know their names, so I will call them Sue and Agnes.

Sue is an attractive middle aged woman, who is always dressed stylishly and proper. Agnes is older, and a little less concerned with her attire. She usually sports a large white t-shirt and khaki pants or shorts. Sue is often putting on her make-up and getting ready to leave, as Agnes is putting on her swimsuit for her morning workout. Agnes always finishes getting ready before Sue is done, so she sits and chats while Sue finishes up her make-up.

The first conversation I overheard, Sue was lamenting about a man. "He's just so narcissistic." Sue said a matter-of-factly, as she applied her concealer. She had a sultry Kathleen Turner-esque voice. "Well that's just crazy!" Agnes exclaimed. If Sue was unflappable, Agnes was very flappable.

The conversation turned to Agnes talking about her days as a young woman in San Francisco. "I went to this fancy art gala, and I was wearing one of those short dresses, with black tights, you know that style that was in back then. I figured people there would be stylish since it was an art show."
"Yes, of course," Sue agreed.
"But they were shocked!" Agnes exclaimed. "They said that I couldn't come in wearing a shirt and pants! They thought my dress was a shirt!"
"What did you do?"
"I told them it was a dress!"
"Did you take off your tights and show them that it was a dress?"
Agnes shrieked. "Take off my tights! No, they finally let me in. But people were sure looking at me funny."
"They were all just jealous."
Agnes shrieked again. "Jealous! Yeah, right."

Sue finished applying her makeup, and grabbed her bag. She recounted a time she stayed at a hotel where women would be escorted back to their rooms if they were wearing jeans in the hotel lobby. Sue didn't strike me as a woman who often wore jeans.

I watched them walk out, and wanted to follow them. I wanted to hear more stories about Agnes's crazy youth, and hear Sue's clever retorts.

I see Agnes almost every time I'm there, and Sue every once and a while, but they're conversations always brighten my morning. Maybe one day I'll be a Sue to someone's Agnes. Or more like, I'll need a Sue, since I'm not exactly unflappable.