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Comment by tosser0001 | Hacker News Reader

An analog of the birthday paradox that gets me all the time is what I think of as The Locker Room Paradox. This is where when I go into the locker room after working out and the guy who comes in behind me ends in the locker right next to mine. So there’s two of us in a big empty room awkwardly jostling away.

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(Apologies for the fun-ruining comment.)

For it to be a true analogue if the birthday paradox, it would have to happen rarely to you individually, but surprisingly often to one pair of people in the locker room when there are a smallish number in there.

I think it is closer to the reason why it is surprisingly difficult to throw a rock through a wire fence even when the rock is much smaller than the holes in the fence. We tend to underestimate the area of interaction between the rock and the fence.

If you take a locker in the middle, there will be 8 lockers right next to yours, which may represent a sizable fraction of the total number. Combine that people are not random and that they tend to forget about the times where it doesn't happen and it may seem like it happens all the time even when it is uncommon on average.

Assuming you don't have an automated system to give away locker keys, wouldn't this be explained by the fact that gym front desk is more likely to give out the lowest number available and as you took X, they will give out X+1 for the next person?

I've never been to a gym where you're assigned a locker for the day (or given a key). Either you have one permanently assigned (rare) or you go in and find one that isn't occupied.

Ohh, I see! At my gym, locker keys are given to you by the front desk and you put in something as deposit (such as your gym card or whatever you wish) and on your way out you give the key and you get your deposit back.

But why? Seems like it would be inconvenient to gym-users to add these extra steps to getting in and out of the gym. Especially if you have to wait behind other people just to get or return a key. What is the benefit of such a system?

In the case of my new gym (see my earlier reply above), far as I can tell, they are just saving money on modernization. There are similar other penny-pinching measures there, such as treadmills which apparently offer TV and Netflix, etc., but have no channels, no connectivity and no ability to cast over Bluetooth from your phone.

I asked them about the latter issue, and they said that it might get fixed next year; but there are years-old Google Reviews of the gym citing this promise!

It's a relatively small gym so I assume they don't have the resources to improve the system and quite frankly I too would prefer if they spent the money on more equipment

That's interesting. At every gym I've been to, you either bring your own lock or they have locks where you can set a temporary code.

Sadly, my new gym assigns keys in numerical locker order. The Google Reviews are full of lamentations about it. However, the gym is right next door to my new place, so I am inclined to overlook these and other shortcomings.

Logistically, it makes sense for them, as it presumably cuts down on maintenance and cleaning. But it is super-annoying to squeeze past several other sweaty folk when there are two entire locker corridors empty and adjacent.

There’s also the Aisle at a Show Paradox: as a tall guy, no matter where I stand at a concert I always seem to end up being the guy people decide is the aisle and jostle their way around me when transiting from one area of the venue to the other.

I haven’t tested this hypothesis yet but I suspect I could be wandering the desert and out of no where someone will try to slink past me while saying excuse me and spilling my canteen all over.

>awkwardly jostling away

I imagine it’d be more fun in a group setting?

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