It has happened at least four times in the 12 months.
And it just happened a few days ago.
It’s the men’s change room at the local health club. One of the men has once again broken the sauna. He, and I mean he, poured water on the rocks in order to get steam.
There are two problems with that.
First, the sauna is an electric heater covered by a tower of stones. Dumping water on it, causes a short –or worse. There is a notice printed in large letters on the sauna door – don’t throw water on the sauna. This is not a Nordic sauna where stones are heated by burning wood. In the Halifax health club, the joy or ritual of the sauna does not include first cutting then stacking wood, watching a flame all while the snow flies outside. The men’s room here has no windows, and today is (arguably) summer.
But some men think they know better.
Read a sign? We know better
They think using a “sauna” necessitates throwing water on rocks to increase the temperature. Not so. At least not true at this indoor sauna. Here, the building caretaker can likely control the temperature with an app on his mobile phone. There is no wood pile.
Next door to the men’s sauna is the men’s steam room. A man who wanted steam could walk a few steps to the steam room. But no, it’s important to “do” something – to create a steam room out of a dry sauna. That’s what some man or men wanted to do. Read a sign? Why bother? We know better.
There has never been a problem of women in the women’s sauna. All the women read the sign on the sauna door. One woman may even gently stop another if she fills a swimming cap with water and heads for the sauna door.
But it seems no other man was in the change room when the men poured the water on the rocks. Maybe no one wanted to correct the man or men. Maybe the men waited til they were alone for a surreptitious toss of water, sure to short out the heater.
I wonder if the question “why” will ever be answered. The sign posted on the sauna door is always there. Surely the sauna breaking down every few months causes some men to ask why.
One reason could be that a man wants to do what he wants to do at the health club. He is the master of his use of the weightroom. He pumps a lot of iron; he overreps—even maxing out by lifting the heaviest possible weight for a single overly dramatic repetition. He goes into the change room and decides he wants steam. Why not throw water on the rocks, he’s seen it in movies. Well it will break the heating source, and could electrocute someone.
The fact that shorting out the electrics means the sauna will be down for about a week, and will inconvenience other men cuts no ice. The guy never thinks about it.
What is it with men and boys? How often have I noticed when they want something, they push – any and all obstacles away to get it. It could be small or big – they don’t even distinguish. There is cajoling, there is demanding, there is threatening – especially when it comes to women. They care little about the fallout—which tells me they have big problems with impulsivity and possibly a death wish.
Another ruined dinner party... 