Dancing in the - ...pool?
May. 6th, 2011 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustSometimes you brace yourself for one problem, and then it turns out that you are actually facing a quite different problem. Once our holiday was over, we knew the quiet mornings at the swimming pool would be coming to an end as the university returned, and half the pool was given over to their training sessions. In fact, they seem to be restricting themselves to a couple of lanes, so the congestion isn't too bad. The music, on the other hand...
We've had this problem in the past (part of the story show up here, continued here), that some shifts of lifeguards like to play music in the pool, some swimmers like it and that I very definitely don't. I've been told different things at different times about who controls the music and who makes the decisions, so I'm reluctant to state anything here as fact, but I get the impression that management are looking for a way to step back and wait for the issue to go away. And for quite a long time it did, but as of our return from holiday, it seems to be back. And here's the sequence to the best of my memory:
The first time I came in and heard music playing (some sort of disco mix) I asked the attendant if it was possible to play something with a less pronounced beat, he offered to turn it off and I thanked him; in the pool a couple of swimmers stopped me and I was afraid they were going to complain, but no, they were pleased (though with a suggestion that they weren't against music in principle, they just didn't like this particular choice).
The next time I asked if the music could be turned down (yes, this isn't entirely logical. I had enough hostility last time round that I'm hesitant about asking for it to be turned off altogether). The volume was reduced, then once I was in the pool rose, and after a few minutes was reduced again. On my way out, I asked at the desk what the position was, and was told, again, that the staff were allowed to play music for their own entertainment, but that they would turn it off if asked. Then, the following day, a friend mentioned quite unprompted that she had been swimming, and that her pleasure in the swim had been spoiled by music, and that she had spoken to a supervisor about it. So I resolved not to be such a wimp...
Yesterday there was music playing as I changed, but by the time I went into the pool it had stopped. I commented to a fellow-swimmer that it seemed I wasn't the only objector, and she said no, they had seen me coming. (I don't know how she knew this.) There was a certain amount of muttering from a group of half a dozen swimmers who tend to cluster at one end or other of the pool, chatting, and occasionally swim from one end to the other in a broad front (as they have every right to do, of course - but they are one of the reasons I prefer to swim in a lane if possible). Then they gathered in front of the attendant, and started chanting "We want music! We want music!" Eventually the supervisor came into the pool, there was some discussion, and the music started (a selection of Motown greats, chosen, we learned later, as something uncontroversial). After ten minutes or so I got up the nerve to ask for it to be turned down, and it was, but it really wasn't a relaxing morning swim.
We spoke to the supervisor on the way out, and he was helpful and sympathetic: he told us that he was referring the matter up to management, which I suppose is an advance. And we'll see what happens next...
We've had this problem in the past (part of the story show up here, continued here), that some shifts of lifeguards like to play music in the pool, some swimmers like it and that I very definitely don't. I've been told different things at different times about who controls the music and who makes the decisions, so I'm reluctant to state anything here as fact, but I get the impression that management are looking for a way to step back and wait for the issue to go away. And for quite a long time it did, but as of our return from holiday, it seems to be back. And here's the sequence to the best of my memory:
The first time I came in and heard music playing (some sort of disco mix) I asked the attendant if it was possible to play something with a less pronounced beat, he offered to turn it off and I thanked him; in the pool a couple of swimmers stopped me and I was afraid they were going to complain, but no, they were pleased (though with a suggestion that they weren't against music in principle, they just didn't like this particular choice).
The next time I asked if the music could be turned down (yes, this isn't entirely logical. I had enough hostility last time round that I'm hesitant about asking for it to be turned off altogether). The volume was reduced, then once I was in the pool rose, and after a few minutes was reduced again. On my way out, I asked at the desk what the position was, and was told, again, that the staff were allowed to play music for their own entertainment, but that they would turn it off if asked. Then, the following day, a friend mentioned quite unprompted that she had been swimming, and that her pleasure in the swim had been spoiled by music, and that she had spoken to a supervisor about it. So I resolved not to be such a wimp...
Yesterday there was music playing as I changed, but by the time I went into the pool it had stopped. I commented to a fellow-swimmer that it seemed I wasn't the only objector, and she said no, they had seen me coming. (I don't know how she knew this.) There was a certain amount of muttering from a group of half a dozen swimmers who tend to cluster at one end or other of the pool, chatting, and occasionally swim from one end to the other in a broad front (as they have every right to do, of course - but they are one of the reasons I prefer to swim in a lane if possible). Then they gathered in front of the attendant, and started chanting "We want music! We want music!" Eventually the supervisor came into the pool, there was some discussion, and the music started (a selection of Motown greats, chosen, we learned later, as something uncontroversial). After ten minutes or so I got up the nerve to ask for it to be turned down, and it was, but it really wasn't a relaxing morning swim.
We spoke to the supervisor on the way out, and he was helpful and sympathetic: he told us that he was referring the matter up to management, which I suppose is an advance. And we'll see what happens next...
