Shorefront YM-YWHA — Local services in New York

We enrolled our son in the swim class, and so far he doing well. The instructor is experienced and friendly, and the staff at the main swim desk are helpful, diligent, and offer an intelligent experience.

However, we had a very negative experience at the front door with a new security guard. They now apparently require cards for entry, but we were never informed about this at sign-up, in any email, or even after attending five initial classes. Usually, showing an ID and/or signing in is sufficient.

When I offered my ID and to sign in, the guard refused multiple times, saying, “under no circumstances” would anyone be let in without the card. I explained that this was unreasonable, that my son would miss his class, and that we could resolve the card issue later. He wouldn’t listen, shamed me for not having the card, and gave a lot of attitude. This is a family center, and I was bringing my son to a scheduled class.

After a long back-and-forth, I finally convinced him to allow us entry. This rigid enforcement of rules and overreach of authority is unacceptable. A motor vehicle ID and manual sign-in is reasonable, at least temporarily. Guests deserve respect, consideration, and a welcoming environment. While keeping everyone safe is important, using rules to treat people poorly and shield excessive control undermines the experience and the community. Overall security check in totally aside the experience has...

A few months ago, I reached out to Alexander for assistance in obtaining a voucher for my daughter. At the time, I had absolutely no idea where to begin, what steps to take, or which documents were required. Alexander took the time to clearly and thoroughly explain everything to me, which allowed me to gather all the necessary paperwork quickly and efficiently. Throughout the entire process, he provided continuous support and guidance, helping me upload all the documents to the website correctly. To my great surprise, I received an approval just a few weeks later—right on time. I am deeply grateful to Alexander for his professionalism and responsible approach to his work. I truly believe that it was thanks to his help that I was able to obtain the voucher in time. Shortly afterward, I found out that the voucher program was temporarily suspended starting in May, which made his timely assistance all the...

It’s possible that wonderful people work in this place, but Olga is definitely not one of them. I came to sign up for citizenship exam preparation courses. She started asking completely irrelevant questions — where I work, whether I’m being treated well there, what position I hold at work and what my job responsibilities are. What subway line runs near my home, and which station is closest to my house. She also asked how many people live in my apartment, and when I said three, she wanted to know who the third person was. These questions had absolutely nothing to do with the reason I came to this center, and when I pointed that out, she said, “That’s how it has to be.” Has to be for whom? For Olga?!

At the end, she said she didn’t understand why I even needed English classes(?!), if I was applying for citizenship. On her form, she had also marked “citizenship.”

In the end, she gave me a paper with an address and a time. Today was supposed to be my first class. I arrived — and the address was wrong. It turned out I needed the building next door. But in the next building, they told me they don’t even have citizenship preparation classes — only English courses. After a brief clarification, I found out I had been signed up for the wrong course and given the wrong address.

Apparently, if you call someone out on asking inappropriate questions, they can take revenge this way. Thank you, but I won’t be coming back.

Возможно в этом месте работаю прекрасные люди, но в их число точно не входит Ольга. Я пришла записаться на курсы по подготовке на сдачу экзамена на гражданство. Она задавала не относящиеся к делу вопросу. Где я работаю, не обижают ли меня там, какую должность я занимаю и что входит в мои обязанности. Какое метро ходит возле моего дома и какая станция метро у меня возле дома. Спросила сколько людей проживает в квартире и узнав, что трое, спрашивала, кто живёт там третий. Так же я не поняла, зачем спрашивать количество комнат в квартире. Эти вопросы совершенно не относились к тому, зачем я пришла в этот центр и сказав об этом , мне ответили , что так надо. Кому надо?! Ольге?! В конце она заявила, что вообще не понимает, зачем мне нужны курсы по английскому языку(?!), если я иду на гражданство. На анкете у неё так же было помечено «гражданство». В итоге дали мне лист с адресом и назначили время. Сегодня первый урок, приезжаю, адрес указан неверно. Оказывается мне в соседнее здание надо. А в соседнем здании оказывается, что никакой подготовки к гражданству у них нет, а только курсы на английский язык. Путём не долгих выяснений узнала, что записали меня не на тот курс и адрес дали не верный. Получается, что если делаешь человеку замечание о некорректности вопросов, он может так тебе мстить. Спасибо, но к вам я...