**Warning** This post is very negative. Don't waste your time reading it. It was more for me to vent!I'm in a crabby mood. Parents at the pool are getting to me. You'd be amazed by the rudeness of people. Of course they're not all this way, but the few bad apples brought me down.
Last night, speaking of apples, there was a mother who insisted the owner of the pool granted a scholarship to her daughter's friend. The friend was not on the class list and the class was full. I apologized and said I would speak to the owner, but we have a ratio rule no more than 4 students per instructor. I kept telling her we would do what we could, but I also had to talk to the owner because she left no notes about this girl or a scholarship. She was angry and she kept slamming her fist on the desk until she hit my half eaten apple. I was so grossed out. Why did she have to touch my food?!! Why was she leaning so far over the desk to be in my face?! Because she was a bitch who wanted to intimidate. It will be interesting to see what my boss decides to do. This isn't the first time people claim to have free lessons only to discover the boss never promised this. You wouldn't believe the people who try to take advantage.
There are several "creep me out" parents. One of them worked a back door deal with a now fired deck manager to bring his daughter in for lessons without paying. There's also another dad who keeps telling his boys, ages 5 & 7, that their teacher is "so hot." He stares at her in her swimsuit and its disgusting. Every week he brings his boys to the snack counter and then teases them. "Do you want Fruit Snacks?" "Yes!" "Well you can't have them! They are junk." He once tried to get me into a debate about how wrong it is to call them fruit snacks. I keep all conversation with this creep-o to a minimum. For the record, we do sell real fruit. An apple only costs you .25 cents! Its the cheapest snack at the cabana! Of course he never buys his boys even apples.
I think my biggest pet peeve are the parents who just do not supervise their children. They're too busy on their cell phones or visiting with other parents. We actually had a request to remove toys from the waiting area. "Couldn't you just keep the videos going? I'd rather the kids just sit there staring at the TV." We used to have a Lego table but we had to remove it because certain kids would take apart the table and use the legs as swords and bats.
Speaking of the waiting room, it smells like the locker rooms. Know why? People change their children in there and every night we have at least one accident on the carpet. We've posted signs and asked people to not change their children there. There are lockers rooms!! Its easier to hose down the floor in there then shampoo the carpet every night. Plus, we do have creep-os remember! Use the changing stalls and please don't expose your children!
The Creep-O numero uno is a mom who spanks her daughter's bare bottom. I watched in horror when this woman gave her 2 year old a red backside simply because she wouldn't put on her swimsuit. (Yes, she was also changing her in the waiting room.) I said to her, "Please stop! We can give you a family swim pass or a makeup date if she doesn't want to swim today!" Now she takes her into the lobby restroom where I get to hear through the door the poor little girl screaming, "NO POTTY NO!! MOMMY NO!! I DON'T HAVE TO POTTY" followed by the sounds of slapping taking place. That little baby girl is going to grow up with the same problems of sexual abuse victims.
Spanking is sex abuse in my book. We tell our kids no one should touch you where your bathing suit touches you, but in our country (USA) spanking is legal?! I think it should be grounds for child abuse. No where in the Bible does it tell you to hit your children! There are so many better ways to teach your children respectful behavior than to smack them.
Is it legal to spank a woman who yells in your face and slams your healthy snack with her fist?! :) Of course not, I'd be arrested, so why are parents allowed to treat children this way? Why do we give adults more protection than children?
Thanks for letting me vent. If you've actually read this far, I'm sorry. I just had to get it out before I put Darkside Dawn back on her leash. Dawninger needs to have that smile back on her face soon. Maybe I should work on a Thursday 13 Gratitude list......
4 comments:
*hugs* hope you feel better. There's a lot of odd people out there. Too bad there's not some sort of test people have to take before having kids.
I hope venting made you feel better, keeping it all inside will not help. Working with the public has to be difficult especially when you get parents who think they are better than everyone else or mistreat their children. I have seen it when I took Katie to swim lessons at our rec center in the summer.
I hope you feel better, if not go take a walk to somewhere quiet and enjoy natures beauty. Thats if the snow isn't too deep by you. Big Hugs
Venting always makes me feel better. Hope it helped you. Try to enjoy the rest of your day.
Hugs! Truthfully, the pool should begin removing the memberships or those who are abusive to their staff or children. Or don't obey normal hygeine rules. And, if the max is four children to an instructor, then that's the rule. Even one more child can cause an instructor to be distracted enough that a child could be hurt. Hugs again vent any time you need to it's better than growing angry enough that you bean an inconsiderate parent with a half eaten apple. :-)
Post a Comment