Pool etiquette - don't block the middle!

The audacity of some people is amazing. 

I would of just done my flip turn as she'd soon get the message. 

There was a guy swimming in the same lane as me last week.  He was swimming in the middle of the lane and sometimes even on the wrong side.  So I told him this when we finally ended up at the same end together some 200m later.  His response was "No I'm not! I'm swimming next to the side of the lane."  To which I just replied that he was and that if he gets smacked into then he'll soon stop.

Are the etiquette rules posted?  If not, then if you two did not "negotiate", then don't assume.

Common sense WOULD be, if sharing lanes, to not stand in or "hog" the middle.  She needed a pleasant reminder of the "rules".  Negotiate the split or circle rule ahead of time to avoid these little ugly incidences.

You did fine, but with her response, not acceptable, and give her another NICE reminder.  If that doesn't work, who had the lane first?  If you, ask her to go to another lane.  If she rejects, get the lifeguard.  Or else, splash a lot in her face.  She's being inconsiderate or doesn't have any couth.  Why let her ruin your day?

Hopefully, she won't be there at the same time or be in the same lane again.

Generally speaking it is very common lap swim etiquette to break only the left side if you’re doing circle pattern. If you’re lane splitting its usually, a stay to your own side. No matter how you cut this one it was very rude for that woman to stand in the middle. I see most people posting regular swims in their logs tend to agree. It was very interesting to note that the few dissenting opinions to this post have logged less yards this year than the rest have done in a day or two.

Better luck with lane partners in the future. I feel your pain.

In my pool this often is a problem. The students who go there don't have to pay for it so it's quite crowded from monday till thursday and a lot of people who're there don't want to work out, they just want to relax. Some of these people don't seem to understand our desire to be able to turn so we can swim continually and build up our stamina or they just are so occupied with being 'social' (talking with friends) that they don't even notice the fact that they are hindering.
I respect their desire to just hang out as long as they respect my desire to work out and they don't block the middle lane and also a part of the other lane.

When this blocking happens I just turn more to the left. I come close enough to make obvious that they're in my way, not so close that it seems agressive, if possible. One thing I do refuse is turning in my own lane. That's dangerous, you never know if there's any swimmer behind you and it can cause a concussion.

When there's no room to turn at all and I'm just beginning my workout or I can use a little break I just ask the people politely to respect my wish to turn in a normal way, usually this works fine. When it happens in the middle of my workout I don't interrupt it. In that case I either turn further to the left or if that isn't possible I just use that little space I have. If nessecary I slow down a little bit, in that case the people who're blocking will give you that little space. Usually they get the problem and go stand somewhere else, less in the way. Only once in the last few months some antisocial guy told me that there are more people in the swimming pool. Since I don't know him, I don't recognice him as someone who trains regularly and I was there to train and not to discuss I let it be and I didn't say anything back.

For all clearity, this guy was standing exactly in the middle with 4 or 5 people so I couldn't turn further from him without turning in the lane I came from, with the risk of a collision.
Some of you might disagree with me for not explaining to him why I turned so close from him, but when stuff like this happens every workout and sometimes several times during a workout then you cannot afford to interrupt your workout everytime this happens, at least not when you want to build up any stamina.

I'd take advantage of the situation by thinking of it as a mass start at an ironman.  It's just expected, use it as a training technique.  If I'm asked to be considerate, I would smile and wait for the compromise to naturally evolve.

That approach works for me very well.

Another pool etiquette question. I was swimming at the last hour of the opening hours (only 3 hours on most days). While I was at aproximately one third of my lane, going from the entrance of the pool, a lifeguard whistled that we had to leave the pool because he wanted to close. I finished my lane, returned and stopped. That lifeguard nagged that I was supposed to get out immediately and not finish my last lane.

What's general pool etiquette in a small university pool (6 small lanes)? It's clearly a habit among most competitive swimmers there to finish their current '50 meters'. Also, the other swimmers seemed to agree with me. They told me I should have thrown him in the pool (as a figure of speech) and that he probably was already cranky because of something.

What's your opinion? Is it normal to finish your current '50' or not once you have started your last '50'?

Well, if it takes you 10 minutes to do a 50, I could see his point.  But if you're only in there for a minute or two, I'd say he's being a bit unreasonable.  Maybe he had a hot date waiting. 

Next year I'm going to take swimming lessons, I hope I can find swimming lessons for adults where they give proper instruction, they tend to work more individually with adults where I live. My long term goal: +4 km/hour, my goal for the next year: +3 km/hour

Is there a better way to handle someone standing in the middle?

I would keep swimming and keep flipping off the available wall space.  Also, if I felt the need to stop and ask the other person to move over, I'd probably put it within the context that I didn't want to accidentally kick them so would they mind standing to the side, thanksverymuch. And also ascertain that we were going to circle swim.

Ain't no thang.