William H Rumsey Aquatic Center — Local services in Washington

I am so sick of that female manager over at this pool.

Tuesday April 30th I went there and did everything the same way I do every time I am there when she called for everyone to get out of the pool I immediately start swimming backwards to get out of the water like I always do. She hollered at me from one end of the pool to the next telling me I had to get out at other areas not at the end of the pool where my shoes were and I kept telling her my shoes were at the end where they always are which she knows this because I've been coming there for almost 2 years.

She insisted that I get out and harassed me all the way to the other end. There is no way I will ever ever ever walk with my bare feet on some nasty dirty pool ground where people walk with their regular shoes which could have anything on it. Other people may do that and that's up to them. I was not raised that way.

Then she chastise me more after I got out the water and I told her point-blank she needed to look over there at the man still in the water (who uses his white privilege) and who ignores all of them every single night that he comes there and swims 2 more laps after they blow the whistle. She said she would say something to him too.

I was sick of having her chastise me like I was her two-year-old child and as I was walking into the women's locker room another woman with her two little daughters was asking another lifeguard for this manager's name, and I thought it was because she was just angry at the way she heard her talking to me.

NO! She was complaining because apparently the woman had harassed her and her two little daughters so much, treating them so shabbily she too wanted to write a letter and a third man who is 75 years old and comes there frequently said he wasn't going to allow her to treat him that way.

She told me they do not get paid after 9pm (B..S...!)and this is her excuse for harassing people trying to get dressed Others have said 9:30 and one lifeguard said 10pm.

It is either a half hour or 1 hour after closing. Unfortunately I do not know which one is true. I know for sure it's not the minute the place closes they stop getting paid.

This woman is an extremely lazy manager! She and one other female employee never want to do anything!

The shower curtains are filled up with mold and mildew. She allows the bathroom toilets to get stopped up.

She refuses to flush them knowing the patrons are not flushing them. The bathroom is disgusting ALL OF THE TIME!

The female employee right under her never wants to clean anything either only the youngest lifeguard, the newest one, the lowest on the totem pole the young 18 year old girl has to do all, or as much work as she can do BY HERSELF.

The men are totally different. They are always cleaning and keeping things nice. Every time I turn around I watch them going in the men's bathroom with mops and brooms and coming out with garbage bags that is never the case for the women's bathroom. They are lazy and disgusting they are rude and surly I am sick of it!

Do not even bother to tell the director Mr. Washington because all complaints fall on deaf ears with him.

Many people have complained about numerous things at other locations also, and he could not care less.

YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!

UPDATE: Thur. 5-9-19

SHE DID IT AGAIN!!!! Last night I was at the pool when the pool closed. After she blew the whistle I stopped immediately to get out.

She hollered at me as I was going to the other end of the pool where my shoes were. This is pure harassment! She chastised me and treated me as if I were a small child AGAIN. She continued to chastise and confront even after I got out the pool. I ignored her & refused to look at her because she's deliberately trying to start something by picking a fight with me

Why won't she clean the MOLD out the shower? Why won't she clean the hair off the floor? Why won't she put some type of scrubbing cleanser on those moldy curtains? Why won't she empty the trash, pick it up off the floor or do something? No she can't do anything...

This is my community pool and certainly the only pool close to my home open year-round. But it fails me — and likely many others in the community — in two ways:

First, it has a toddler pool that is NEVER OPEN. Whether due to short-staffing or maintenance their toddler pool has not been open all year it seems; and my family goes to this pool often. This is a huge disappointment because it means my toddler daughter (under 2), who cannot yet swim, has to be in the big pool with larger kids who splash, jump and are sometimes rowdy. It’s not fun for her and it’s not fun for me. Particularly since there are often classes in the shallow end of the pool when we go and so we are pushed to a small corner of the pool. This also means I have to hold her because she obviously can’t be even in the shallow end of the main pool without my help. What kind of independence in water does that teach her? Why can’t the toddler pool ever be open? There are MANY families on Capitol Hill and this pool does not serve us or our children if the toddler pool remains closed. The city might as well just concrete it up and close it because it’s a false promise to families.

Secondly, the attitude of the staff is sometimes horrendous. They never seem to know anything about maintenance updates or timelines (like when the toddler pool will ever be open). And make false promises that the toddler pool will be open, and then I’ve come back when they tell me to and of course it wasn’t. Meanwhile, I have had bad interactions with staff who just flat out have a bad attitude. Example: I came for a recent swim in the early morning on a week day and half the pool was closed off for a class that only had three people in it. While I do swim laps, I like to do it leisurely and usually the people in the lanes are intimidating so I’ll swim just outside the outside lane in the main pool area. This morning that area was closed and when I asked why, a I got a snarky response from the lifeguard. When I pointed out that there was nearly no one there for the class and to close off that whole half of the pool wasn’t efficient, the lifeguard proceeded to tell me he “would kick me out of the whole pool” if I wanted. I dropped the interaction there and got in a lane to swim. However the lifeguard continued — another couple of minutes — to pace the side of the pool, shouting at me: commenting about my attitude and continuing to threaten to kick me out. It was so loud and carried on for so long that the woman I was sharing a lane with commented. That our small poolside interaction escalated into a public spectacle completely baffled me and left me embarrassed for that lifeguard. Please get the staff some training on how to deal with people because it’s not a pleasant experience visiting my tax-payer-funded, community pool and having to deal with...

Thank you so much for this on point report on corruption rampant in this city whether white is expelled or not. Case in point Rumsay aquatic center a much beloved neighborhood pool , a bsutiful, sunfilled landmark, the first integrated pool in DC ,in perfectly adequate shape except for a few signs of old age nobody cares about is a target of a vanity project/ political steppingstone by Charles Allen and Muriel Bowser et al ( contractors w wads of cash???)close to $40 million planned to destroy this beloved pool for God knows how many years if ever, and replacing it with a multi story money pit ,a senior center nobody wants or needs a tech hub, so-called, each Wasted floor represents a prospective constituency they seek to court !These politicians plan to sucker punch us with this unwanted , unneeded vanity project/ political steppingstone.. The Plaza in front of the current pool is sunny most of the day with many metal benches and is the heart of eastern market where food vendors come, and families Enjoy the sun.,The birds the benches on the open plaza. This will all be destroyed , all of it replaced with gentrified storefronts.are you kidding? Have you walked down Pennsylvania Avenue and seeing how much unleasedspace is there still ?our group has hired an attorney to stop this massive waste when so many other pressing priorities are not being funded and could be with this $40 million atrocity. We will fight corruption in this city ! Join us, and thank you Mark Fisher. Protest this sham project dec19 6:30pm eastern...