Anonymous wrote:Agree with above comments, I respect this lady. She is nice if you are nice to her and she’s actually pretty funny if you talk to her. Half the people wouldn’t listen if she wasn’t the way she was. I watched her get at least 100 parents to turn and look at her and do what she asked. Sure, she yells, but it’s because she has to. She’s doing her job. Otherwise no one would listen.

This weekend she let me know I did something wrong… and I apologized and went about my day. 😱 It wasn’t a big deal. The real problem is the many parents who just don’t volunteer. Let’s not pin it on her.

+1

Anonymous wrote:Agree with above comments, I respect this lady. She is nice if you are nice to her and she’s actually pretty funny if you talk to her. Half the people wouldn’t listen if she wasn’t the way she was. I watched her get at least 100 parents to turn and look at her and do what she asked. Sure, she yells, but it’s because she has to. She’s doing her job. Otherwise no one would listen.

This weekend she let me know I did something wrong… and I apologized and went about my day. 😱 It wasn’t a big deal. The real problem is the many parents who just don’t volunteer. Let’s not pin it on her.

I really like this lady and I never see nor understand the complaints. She and I have become quite friendly over the years, and I always tell her and the fellow who tends to work with her how grateful I am. Maybe it’s the people here complaining being jerks…and not these two people working for a living?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

Yet somehow every other venue functions fine without someone like her.

And other venues don’t experience the same problems getting volunteers. I’ve never seen them more than a couple timers short at fairland or Claude Moore. But at UMD they are often short a dozen or more.

This is actually not true. There are volunteer issues at virtually every meet. The thing with champs meets is the parents often think I’ve volunteered enough this season so I’m just going to watch my kid from the stands. But if everyone thinks that way there is no one to fill the slots.

Anonymous wrote:No, there is no need to treat people the way that she does. She isn’t yelling at parents who do something wrong most of the time. She’s finding reasons to yell at and condescend to parents. It’s a power trip thing and it’s awful. Let’s not support yelling at people, cutting them off when they speak and belittling them. There is no need for that and it doesn’t help the meet run more smoothly.

That’s the thing. She’s yelling at the parents who are trying to help with the meet. The official above who got yelled at or the hospitality person who didn’t get a deck pass because he/she started working before the event person was even there. The parents she’s yelling at are the ones trying to help the meet.

No, there is no need to treat people the way that she does. She isn’t yelling at parents who do something wrong most of the time. She’s finding reasons to yell at and condescend to parents. It’s a power trip thing and it’s awful. Let’s not support yelling at people, cutting them off when they speak and belittling them. There is no need for that and it doesn’t help the meet run more smoothly.

Anonymous wrote:I’m embarrassed by how rude and entitled both of your posts have been. No one wants to host these meets. It’s an insane amount of work, impossible to get volunteers, and clubs have to deal with demanding parents that think this all happens magically. If no club stepped up, your kid would have no big meet at which to swim. If it’s that bad, offer to help the PVS Board, volunteer your time to Toll, etc. it’s youth sports, please manage your expectations accordingly and focus on the kids.

Agreed.
Thank you Toll for stepping up to host the SC PVAG Championship Meet. Thank you to the UMD staff that facilitated getting timers. Thank you to all the volunteers and officials who made this experience possible for the athletes in our LSC. You all clearly made it look so smooth that people feel that anyone can do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

Yet somehow every other venue functions fine without someone like her.

And other venues don’t experience the same problems getting volunteers. I’ve never seen them more than a couple timers short at fairland or Claude Moore. But at UMD they are often short a dozen or more.

That is a reach. Almost every meet we attend - which is a lot between multiple kids and both club and HS - they are begging for timers, regardless of the venue.
UMD may seem like it’s more, but it’s probably because they’re running two prelims pools simultaneously, so need double the timers. And for any meet with finals, getting finals volunteers is usually a problem.
I really don’t think the 2 minute interaction with that woman is the problem with getting enough volunteers.

Glad to hear what you think. Others on this thread have flat out said they won’t volunteer because of her

Sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that UMD-held meets aren’t unique in their struggle to get enough volunteers. There are other underlying issues. Namely, that there are a lot of parents that simply don’t do their part, regardless of the facility in question.
And if this is truly a deterrent for some parents at UMD, I’m sorry, but that’s not an excuse to let a bunch of other parents pull off a meet so your kid can swim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

Yet somehow every other venue functions fine without someone like her.

And other venues don’t experience the same problems getting volunteers. I’ve never seen them more than a couple timers short at fairland or Claude Moore. But at UMD they are often short a dozen or more.

That is a reach. Almost every meet we attend - which is a lot between multiple kids and both club and HS - they are begging for timers, regardless of the venue.
UMD may seem like it’s more, but it’s probably because they’re running two prelims pools simultaneously, so need double the timers. And for any meet with finals, getting finals volunteers is usually a problem.
I really don’t think the 2 minute interaction with that woman is the problem with getting enough volunteers.

Glad to hear what you think. Others on this thread have flat out said they won’t volunteer because of her

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

Yet somehow every other venue functions fine without someone like her.

And other venues don’t experience the same problems getting volunteers. I’ve never seen them more than a couple timers short at fairland or Claude Moore. But at UMD they are often short a dozen or more.

That is a reach. Almost every meet we attend - which is a lot between multiple kids and both club and HS - they are begging for timers, regardless of the venue.
UMD may seem like it’s more, but it’s probably because they’re running two prelims pools simultaneously, so need double the timers. And for any meet with finals, getting finals volunteers is usually a problem.
I really don’t think the 2 minute interaction with that woman is the problem with getting enough volunteers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I became an official last year so thankfully she leaves me alone now. I completely agree that she’s a barrier to getting enough volunteers for Eppley-based meets.

Nope, I'm an official and got yelled at her at IMX when there was a HUGE group of 12u waiting to get in (waiting on the prior session to end). Instead of pushing my way through the 12u crowd, I waited in the back and followed the crowd in. She yelled at me for standing in the kids line instead of just pushing my way to the front.

Ugh, good lord Thanks for sharing and sorry you had to go through that. I'll keep it in mind for future meets there!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

Yet somehow every other venue functions fine without someone like her.

And other venues don’t experience the same problems getting volunteers. I’ve never seen them more than a couple timers short at fairland or Claude Moore. But at UMD they are often short a dozen or more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

Yet somehow every other venue functions fine without someone like her.

EXACTLY

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

+1, I’m with you on this. Is she a pleasant person to deal with, no, but the interactions with her are very brief if you are a deck volunteer, and she is trying to make sure there are not people making their way onto the deck who shouldn’t be there. No adult should be in tears because of a brief rude interaction with someone running deck security at a kids’ swim meet. Come on, pull yourself together.

Have been to and volunteered at hundreds of meets in several types of leagues and organizations from summer league to European federations and high-level USA swimming meets across the country and various LSCs and I have NEVER experienced a security guard taking on this type of role and interacting with volunteers and meet staff in this manner. Never have I ever experienced facility security staff managing volunteers and deck access. This is the role of the meet director, volunteer coordinator and marshals.

Add on that the lack of cell phone reception for most folks and it’s a nightmare. A swimmer was having a medical issue and she wouldn’t let the parents back to access the swimmer. Zero ability to contact the swimmer or coach to coordinate care.

They’d do better to use their staff to manage the traffic back-up at the pick up door. Parents do not follow the guidance to keep moving and line up effectively blocking the lane and causing parents to drive into the oncoming lane to get to the pick up area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 for the rude security lady.

DC was doing a time trial which required you to bring your own timer. She wouldn’t let me on deck to time. She was not “familiar” and knew nothing about it, so wouldn’t let me in.

I think most who have volunteered know who this lady is. But, I give her a little grace and just try to minimize my interactions with her and do what I need to do. On the flip side of this coin, she's probably had to evolve to this posture over years of dealing with countless number of entitled swim parents who think their situation/circumstance is special/different and won't take "no" for an answer - so she's built up this front to shut all that down from the get-go. I think she's probably the right person for this job -- maybe not what you would want but what we all need. I know this is a minority/unpopular opinion but I for one, thank her for doing a tough/thankless job.

Yet somehow every other venue functions fine without someone like her.

Agree with above comments, I respect this lady. She is nice if you are nice to her and she’s actually pretty funny if you talk to her. Half the people wouldn’t listen if she wasn’t the way she was. I watched her get at least 100 parents to turn and look at her and do what she asked. Sure, she yells, but it’s because she has to. She’s doing her job. Otherwise no one would listen.

This weekend she let me know I did something wrong… and I apologized and went about my day. 😱 It wasn’t a big deal. The real problem is the many parents who just don’t volunteer. Let’s not pin it on her.