Originally Posted by
catocony
A maintenance guy has a work order to fix something in a locker room. He goes in, leaves the door open, and works on whatever he's been assigned. He presumably wasn't menacing, as he would not have left the door open if he were. He may or not speak the language the OP was using, or if it was English, may not have understood her as her written English is poor so her spoken English might be rough. He might not have known what her problem is, as she left her clothes out instead of putting them in a locker, and for whatever reason left her towel on a bench instead of taking it to the shower area. From her own description, she was behaving more oddly than the maintenance guy was.
Wow. You ASSUME that just because the OP posted here in English that when this situation occurred English was used there. For all we know, she spoke in the native language of the land. But what difference does it make how good OP's English is or isn't in this situation? Presumably she is a she, is in the gym locker room showering, and was alone. Whether the worker announced themselves or not, we don't know. However, one must wonder why if the worker heard the shower going, and sees the shoes she placed in the hallway, bathrobe/towel hanging up waiting to be used- did he come in, leave a door open, and get to work? Why not wait outside, keep further people from entering, and wait until OP was done? No matter the language used, those clues should signal to most anyone that someone is inside bathing and there is a chance that a member of the opposite sex will be seen naked.
Now, I do understand in other countries this is not that big of a deal- culturally being naked in a locker room and seeing people naked in that manner is just not a big deal. But, even in Korea and Japan, they separate the sexes typically. You may co-ed bathe in the common areas but often the locker room/wash area is separated. But here, the OP stated that she attempted to shoo the worker away. Whether he understood her verbal language, her covering herself up, gesturing at him, etc. should have told him that she wanted him to leave clearly. Instead, he didn't.
While I'm not saying that she should be granted a million dollars for such a thing, and I do think the compensation was fair and just (and without a fight which is priceless), I don't think it's unreasonable to offer some compassion to OP for what happened. If you're all so confident in your nakedness and don't care that a strange person sees you naked then that's fine. But don't assume that OP feels the same. Perhaps the point OP was trying to communicate was more that the worker didn't leave than about being seen naked?