Bummer follow-up to Winston Waterworks, for sure, but not necessarily strictly due to the the…read moreaccommodations, my rating can be almost entirely attributed to one particular lifeguard. Boo, just boooo! As per usual, the lifeguard staff at Memorial Park pool is comprised of teenagers, no surprise. That's pretty common. However, this lot of teen lifeguards had to be the most unprofessional lot I'd ever had the displeasure to experience-- with one 'Queen Bee' lifeguard in particular. Let me explain. As you enter, you pay your admission fee ($2/ per person), we opted for the night swim. The facilities are older, and could definitely use some sprucing up (fresh paint, new fixtures, etc.), but everything was clean and well maintained. I was joined by 3 of my kiddos, two of my daughters and one of my sons (20, 7 & 9 respectively). The 7 year old wanted to jump off of the diving board, so was required to take a swim test. She passed the 2-part swim test at Winston Waterworks (part 1: swim the full length of their pool with without stopping, part 2: tread water for 60 seconds without your head going under). However, 'Queen Bee' administered her swim test (swim a short length). She failed her almost immediately because her shoulders didn't remain above water. Say what? My 9 year old is on the spectrum. When we arrived, he did his happy dance. Basically, he danced in place on his tippy toes. 'Queen Bee' blew her whistle at him and sternly yelled at him to, "Stop running!" Again, say what? Hmmm. The rules are clearly posted, so at this point I figured I had better get familiar so I could spare us all any more encounters with the Queen. They were all as expected, No Roughhousing, No Diving in Shallow End, No Running, etc., etc. Okay, we can manage that, right. Queen Bee's whistle blows again. I look up, and yep, she's looking directly at ME. My 7 year old was on my shoulders as I walked out to the deeper end of the pool so watch my 9 year old do some tricks. I guess that's a nope, too. Funny thing is, as I looked around, there was a large, rowdy group of older kids (teens) wrestling and splashing near us. No whistle blew for them, seemed strange. Like really strange. The kids weren't bothering us, just the fact that the Queen's whistle was partial to us was. The progressed, the whistle continued to sing for us periodically, the older kids splashed and played-- that's when I noticed it, or, her, actually. Queen Bee was one of the kids wrestling and playing!! Say what?! The large group of ROUGHHOUSING "kids" were actually the rotating lifeguards!! Wow, just wow.
Man, did I wish I had a whistle.