Scared to speak up?

I went to my Body Pump class the other night at the gym (no, not some pervy exercise, it's upper body weights workout to music!) and once again we had a room full of regulars who were scared to make a sound. I really felt for poor old Andy* the instructor as he did his usual "Good evening everyone how are we tonight?", and received a stony silence in reply. During the next hour of tricep, bicep, thighcep and everything elsecep workouts, I watched what little enthusiasm he had at the beginning of the class seep visibly out from his pores. Somebody throw him a bone! I was willing him to announce that for the next thigh exercise he was going to strip off, paint himself yellow, and do squats to "Waltzing Matilda" just to see if the girls in the front row would crack their faces......

We have the same instructors in rotation, and they all try to be friendly and enthusiastic, but in the face of having constant stony silences whenever they try to elicit a response, they just give up. There's only so long you can try for! I mean, it would be understandable if there were different people in the classes each week but they are ALL solid regulars...they should all know eachother's kids names and family ancestry by now! And they sure as hell know the instructors, so why don't they be polite and civil to them, or at least respond when greeted or asked a question! It makes life easier and more fun for them, they enjoy the class more and that spreads out to us, and WE enjoy the class more.

As usual, my attempts at small talk with some of the girls in the class just resulted in a false laugh, no proper response, then a hasty exit. Why is it that if you pipe up and try to chat to people, they think you either a) fancy them, b) are pissed, or c) are a bit not right in the head to want to talk to a stranger. The guys can be worse too (usually because their girlfriends are in the same class though, hahaha)

Roll on next Thursday....er, I think. Altogether now "How are we tonight??"

* Name changed to protect the innocent!