Naked guy opines

Now that I’m biking to work every day, I spend each morning in the locker room at NOAA’s gym. Usually this is an uneventful affair, involving me doing some push-ups and sit-ups and getting ready for work. There’s usually nobody there and, even if there were, I wouldn’t know them. Thus, I don’t get much human interaction. Today, there were a few folks and, while getting dressed for work, I overheard the following conversation between some naked guy and a younger guy with a crew cut.

Younger Guy: [Takes a swig out of Listerine bottle.]

Naked Guy: [Takes off his towel so as to become naked. Walks over to younger guy.] When are you going to wash those things?

YG: [Points at mouth.] Mmmppphhhh.

NG: Yeah, I was wondering when you’re going to wash those things. I haven’t ever seen you take them home.

YG: [Spits in the sink. Clearly unhappy that this guy is talking to him.] I take them home every Friday.

NG: My stuff goes home every single day. Lots of people take their stuff home every day. Of course, those are the people who work hard and sweat a lot.

YG: Yup.

NG: Y’know, they look at that stuff.

YG: Who?

NG: It’s the little things that matter when you’re trying to climb the ladder. You want the scrambled eggs on your hat, right? They look at that when they hand out ranks. You want the scrambled eggs? You care about that stuff, right?

YG: Yeah.

NG: Yup. You should wash those things regularly if you want the scrambled eggs. [Naked guy gets in shower.]

Weird, weird, weird. That’s what that conversation was. Clearly, the younger guy was discomfited by the whole thing. Clearly, the naked guy thought he was being providing valuable advice. From my perspective, though, it looked like a totally inappropriate exchange undertaken by someone with the social skills of a 3rd grader.

Nonetheless, I’d be interested to know what their various roles at NOAA are, that’s for sure. I know there’s something called NOAA Corps, which is one of the uniformed services. I assume both of these guys were members. I did a little research, though, and could find no pictures of their various pins or patches, especially ones that might be construed as looking like scrambled eggs. I’m going to have to do some direct research and visit the NOAA Corps floor. I’ll report later.