Working it out

Here’s something I’ve wondered about for going on for a couple of decades: why is it that people going to the gym always try to park as close to the doors as possible?

I’ve noticed this in Virginia, the UK, Washington and here.

There can be rows and rows of parking spaces vacant, and yet people trawl through the aisles close to the gym like mall shoppers on the 24^th of December desperate for that one spot 30 feet from the entrance. If you look like you’re going to a car parked close, they’ll hover on your heels.

I don’t get it: they’re going to the gym, for pity’s sake! To get a workout! They’re paying money for this. Why the bloody hell does it matter to them where they park—the farther away, the longer the cardio effort. It's all good.

I wonder if I could get a research grant to study this?