It’s just easier to transfer the responsibility to ”an unfriendly environment” than taking responsibility & control of your own feelings and actions
"..you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do." - David Foster Wallace
I went to the gym I was asked to come back "later" as "the gym is near full (50% full actually) and we prefer 'regulars' to come and train for something instead of... kind of you...".
So, if I am like you - just seeing with my own eyes and not follow the feeling and facts from other persons - I would say that gym regulars are just full of s*** :)
Sorry you had foul experiences, but I’ll stick to 2% of the people being in that bucket.
I’m sure legitimate bad experiences do happen, but I also think a lot of perception is based on the stories we make up in our own heads.
Ironically (for this thread), all the private rich-person gyms I've been to have mostly been populated by people who were not in good shape, and everybody was very friendly.
But these were also "health clubs" in the old school sense, not a fancy gym like Equinox where I would never even set foot.
Edit: I also have heard enough gym bullying stories to believe that it can and does happen, but it seems maybe only under circumstances that I have never been in.