There are lots of different personalities I see on a daily basis. Like my gym boyfriend, of course. Or the old lady with dreadlocks and a Jamaican accent who calls me “sweetheart.” Or the guy at the check in desk who has yet to make eye contact with me when I say “Good morning.” Or the trainer with the perfectly coiffed hair that no matter what he does, never seems to look anything less than perfect.

I see all these people and more several times every week.

But there’s one personality I see that gets under my skin. She’s only there once or twice per week- thank goodness- but it’s still enough to irk me. That personality is a lady I call “Chatty Cathy.”

Cathy works out with perfectly-coiffed hair trainer some mornings. And by works out, I mean she works the muscles in her jaw and her lungs. She talks. And talks. And talks. And then does an exercise. Then talks some more. Sometimes, she even talks during the exercises, which makes me want her trainer to increase her intensity so that she’ll give us all a break for a minute.

I can’t tell if her trainer is so used to this that he zones out or if he enjoys the fact that he doesn’t have to do all that much during their training sessions because she continues on nonstop. Either way, he doesn’t anything to stop her from talking incessantly.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love a good gossip session. And I love listening in on a good gossip session even more than dishing. But when I’m in the zone in the weightroom and I have my earphones in and I can still hear the shrill sound of your voice droning on about nothing… I need you to tone it down a little.

This morning, I thought about giving a nasty look to make it clear I didn’t like that she was talking. But I figured maybe she’s really lonely and this is the only company she gets all week. So I turned up my headphones, finished up what I needed to do and went into the multi-purpose room to go stretch while my gym boyfriend worked his butt off with his trainer. He doesn’t say much. He just works hard.

That’s why we’re so in love.