Teenagers messing around in swimming pool.

[Atlastatlastatlast]

I go swimming twice a week in my local pool and normally it's very civilised. Fast swimmers use the fast lanes, slower swimmers or those who want to walk up and down use the main part of the pool, people swimming widths stay at the end of the pool. Since the schools broke up however gangs of teenagers have been making it impossible to enjoy a proper swim. They stand around the middle of the pool in a circle chatting, swim randomly anywhere, ignore the no diving or jumping signs and jump in on top of people, etc. They also chase each other around the dressing room, take photos of each other and generally make it an uncomfortable place to be.

Following lots of complaints and threats by regular users to start going else the owners have now put in place an over 18s policy between 10am and 4 pm.

A friend of mine whose teenagers are keen swimmers is really pissed off and thinks this is very unfair, as does one of my neighbours whose 15 year old uses the pool regularly. I have sympathy as they're not among the messers but AIBU to be secretly delighted that we won't have to tolerate annoying teenagers in the pool anymore?

I guess its the minority that spoils it for the majority. It seems as a society we are less and less keen to call out bad behaviour and actually pinpoint the trouble makers and also my friends son used to be a life guard and he was constantly trying to get young people to behave and stop mucking around. Some of the lads waited for him to finish his shift one evening and proceeded to beat him up. I wonder if that is what the owner is thinking although aren't public pools owned and managed by the Local Authority?

I don't think it is incumbent on the staff to deal with it that way. If they feel a limited access arrangement works better for their business, they can do it.

Of course they can. I think they shouldn`t.

although aren't public pools owned and managed by the Local Authority?

Increasingly rare. Certainly in Birmingham (where I don't swim) the leisure centres were all sold (or leased ?) to private operators who get a chance to punt their private gym programmes to the public. Quite a few have been rebuilt (which is nice) but the flipside is being cornered every visit to see if you're interested in "the package".

MrsTerryPratchett

They think differently. Whose pool is it?

Not quite as simple as reminding people of the rules and then asking them to leave, is it? If you have a gang of teenagers who persist in breaking the rules, how does a lifeguard go about getting them to leave?

DS was a lifeguard for 5 years, if they ignore him he calls management and got them chucked out.

bruffin

That's great, but is very much dependent on a number of factors: being confident enough to challenge a group to start with (not everyone is), having supportive management, having teenagers who don't just tell you to fuck off, who don't wait for you after work and beat you up (as mentioned above) or threaten or otherwise abuse you. Not everywhere is the same.

The rule is nuts and the owners are not doing themselves any favour.
The current regulars might stop coming and going somewhere else. But by doing that, they are basically alienating the teenagers and their parents who will not be coming either. That means loss of income now (eg maybe because the parents won’t be coming anymore with younger children during school term) and loss of income later on (because said teens will be 18yo very soon and won’t be going either).

Very bad planning imo.

Esp as they could easily have put a ‘ban’ around lunch time, early morning and late evenings for example so people coud swim (adults only times)
Or they could have implemented the rules about not jumping in people, been careful about the swimming lanes etc...
Or they could have put swimming lanes everywhere to deter the teens to be fooling around.

But stopping the people who are obvious customers at this time of the year to come? That seems to be a stupid decision on a business pov

teenagers who don't just tell you to fuck off, who don't wait for you after work and beat you up (as mentioned above) or threaten or otherwise abuse you.
Sorry but that sort behaviours should just be reported to the Police.
That’s called the rule of law and unless you are living in a country that is a total anarchy where the laws of the strongest apply, this should not be a reason good enough not to tell a bunch of teens to behave according to the rules of the establishment.

HermioneGoesBackHome

That's nonsense. You deal with a problem like this by whichever legal tactic seems best to you.

I was a lifeguard in the early 2000s - small female - from the age of 16. The only person that verbally abused me and became aggressive was a man with his child who I wouldn’t allow in the deep end as his child was in arm bands. The teens responded to a whistle and a quick shout of ‘no running/bombing/you need to watch out for other swimmers’. I was a lifeguard for six years throughout my studies and found the teens to be responsive to instructions. Repeat offences would be followed up with ‘If you —— again, you’ll be asked to leave’ and that would be the end of it. The majority of lifeguards I worked with were 16-20, so banning the under 18s from the pool (and our additional fitness training!) would have been really unfair.

I think this is very unfair. No problem to have an over-18 timeslot, but 10-4 every single day?

You're not unreasonable at all. We expect teenagers to behave - a bit differently - but there are limits and there should be long periods where lively youngsters just don't go.

Just to clarify, it's a pool attached to a private gym that can be used on a pay as you go basis by non members.

Just to clarify, it's a pool attached to a private gym that can be used on a pay as you go basis by non members.

So, quite clearly, they need to protect the customer experience of their core members. I can't believe anyone would argue otherwise.

I just visited a friend in The Netherlands. There were apparently some problems in local pools (council ones) and so the council introduced a swimming card that you scan every time you visit the pool. You have to bring ID to get one and if you misbehave in one pool and get thrown out then you can't access any of the other pools either. I didn't like the big brother aspect but it does have advantages.

In this case the gym should allow swimming for members only, or introduce a similar card system so they can throw out misbehavers.

That card system sounds brilliant and so simple.

By the way, why did one poster seem to be amused at the idea of aquafit and ladies only sessions? That's quite common in pools.

An over 18s policy seems good, not sure it is the best time of day for it though.

By the way, why did one poster seem to be amused at the idea of aquafit and ladies only sessions? That's quite common in pools.

That was me. My amusement wasn't because of unfamiliarity ... just trying to note there are many different activities that can go on in a pool.

Maybe you can borrow one of our pool staff? One is particularly scary and shouty, and tells everyone off for everything 'YOU NO STOP IT - NO OUT OF THE POOL, NOW!!!' She's great.

We only have dawdlers, chatters and people doing aqua walking (around in circles) to contend with (always in the bloody fast lane for some reason).

DS is a bit of an awkward teen but swims a lot (school team, swims 4-5 times a week) and he gets frustrated when he can't swim a full length without having to dodge people who should be in another lane.

Yeah I hate most teenagers. They're dicks a lot of the time.

I wonder what MathAnxiety would make of it all.