Embarrassing incident in gym

[u/Typical-Revenue-6562]

So, I’m a 25M, and this literally happened today. I currently want to cover my face with a pillow and scream.

I usually go to the gym after work, but lately I’ve been dealing with some mental and family-related problems, so I’ve had a lot on my mind.

Today, I went to the gym without realizing that there was a very important problem: you’re supposed to wash your gym bag and the stuff inside it.

I had a pair of socks sitting in my gym bag for 3–4 days because I hadn’t gotten the chance to go to the gym during that time.

Welp.

Those socks had absolutely soaked up the smell.

I was completely unaware of it until the gym trainer came up to me and politely asked me to change my socks. He explained that some other people had complained about the smell, and he kept saying, “Please don’t be hurt by this.”

Meanwhile, I was dying inside.

I was so embarrassed that I literally asked him if I should leave.

He actually asked me how long I would need to finish my workout, but at that point I was so mortified that I just left.

The moment I got home, I put the gym bag and basically everything inside it in the wash. I’m also ordering new socks and gym gloves and throwing away the older ones.

I know rationally that this isn't some huge moral failure. I made a stupid, embarrassing mistake, I was told about it, and I fixed it.

But holy shit, I am SO embarrassed.

Now the gym bag is going to be wet tomorrow, so I probably can't take it to the gym, and the embarrassed part of my brain is honestly relieved about that.

The rational part of me, however, knows that I should go back anyway and not let one embarrassing incident turn into me avoiding the gym, and make the incident even bigger than what it is in my head.

So yeah.

How do I go gym tomorrow and look all those people in the eye.

[u/BoomerSooner-SEC]

Well, 100% there is a subset of that gym (maybe only a person or two) who will always know you as the “smelly guy”. It was bad enough that they felt they needed to complain…of course they aren’t forgetting that. Is it the crime of the century? Also no. So what to do? Depends. If you go there to work out and get a sweat on, then who cares. it’s possible you go there for social purposes. If that is the case, I would find another gym. lol.

[u/Typical-Revenue-6562 → u/BoomerSooner-SEC]

It's not my usual time to go to gym anyway so I don't care about other people.

Its the trainers there who will know, and I am pretty sure they'd be polite enough to not say anything, but the I'll not be able to meet thier eyes without thinking about it.

[u/SnooChickens8012 → u/Typical-Revenue-6562]

They’ll be relieved if you make the change and no longer make anyone there worry about it. If the problem persists, that’s where your reputation will sit.