S.O.S. Yelp, please don't censor this one, the Big Enchilada

How can you expect a person or any organization to fight bullying when that is something that they themselves do as a matter of course?


Note:  Recently seven of my eight reviews, all critical, since 2006 of the downtown Y were removed by Yelp.

This business is a Yelp advertiser.

A consumer has the right to know about (1) the prevalence of obscene, violent language, (2) safety issues (bullying, theft, stalking), (3) racism, (3) member demographics, (4) staff issues.  

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Businesses are responsible for the conduct of their employees.

On July 9, 2015 I, a disabled senior citizen, person of color,  and a member since 2002, was bullied and verbally assaulted by Cynthia Klever, director of the downtown YMCA, a young white woman, in her office.  

The experience traumatized me.  

The Y's core values of "respect," "caring," responsibility," and "honesty" were violated by Ms.Klever.

The Y selectively enforces its rules of conduct, which is DISCRIMINATION.  

Contempt and hostility invite the same in return.  I decline the invitation to lie.

* * * * *

If we do not speak this week, I will put your membership on hold until I return from vacation, which is Friday July 17th."   --Cynthia Klever in email dated July 8, 2015

BULLYING is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power, which distinguishes bullying from conflict.
(Wikipedia)

I was bullied at the downtown YMCA by several employees, including Ms. Klever.

At a meeting on July 9, 2015, there was a power imbalance that included (1) white perogative and (2) having two people of the same race, gender, and approximately the same age against one of a different race, gender, orientation, and age in the room.   They kept saying to me, "What difference does it make?"

Ms. Klever resorted to the use of a threat and a false pretext ("to resolve an email") to get me to meet with her.

Noisily chewing a huge wad of gum in my face, she aggressively interrogated me.  Finally, she dropped her customary jolly facade and in an scornful, insulting tone of voice, she harrangued me blaming and accusing me of things that were patently untrue.

Through snow blizzards, shingles, ankle and toe fractures, acid reflux, and knee pain, over the past 23 years, I have swum at Evans, Colman, Garfield, Queen Anne, 24 Fitness, Meredith Matthews, Seattle U., downtown Y pools, and from Honolulu to Boston and San Francisco.   

Yet Ms. Klever viciously castigated me for causing problems for other swimmers.  That is simply not the truth, as lifeguards can testify to.   In fact, for the past 2+ years I have uneventfully swum 7 miles a week at the downtown Y.

The irony is that she had admitted to me that (1) she herself had difficulty not hitting the lane dividers and (2) the lanes were narrow.

Asking the Y to abide by its own rules is not, as Ms. Klever charged, bending over backwards to accomodate my needs.

She did not allow me time to answer her accusations.   Nor did she respond to the many points I raised in the "offending" email.  And she dismissed out of hand my concerns about bullying at the Y.

Several times I was provoked to the point of tears.   Stripped of my defenses, I took the bait and let slip an expletive, that Ms. Klever pounced on to terminate my membership of 13 years.

Treated like a criminal, I was told to get my things and leave at once.  

In a shell-shocked daze, I forgot to lock my locker after I had pleaded to be able to take a shower and say good-bye to friends.  

This experience left me feeling betrayed, humiliated, and demeaned.

Legal action appears to be the only recourse.

* * * * *

In the past year I had already noticed that Ms. Klever prevaricated.  Ten months ago, in reponse to my dismay at staff gossip, grinning from ear to ear, she rejoindered:  "Gossip?  Gosh, us??  No...this is the YMCA!"

I had nothing to hide by meeting with Ms. Klever but everything to lose by doing it in her office, where what she said, and how she said it, would be shielded from scrutiny.

I believe that the Highest Judge will say, "This was a pre-meditated attack on your part, not a discussion.  I think you know this very well.  You relentlessly goaded L. past the breaking point."

Running aground with the downtown YMCA by taking it at its words ("values" and "mission"), I discovered they were not living up to them.

No, I had not spent time shooting the breeze with Ms. Klever in her office.

But, in a nutshell, I discovered that  it is personal agendas that drive this YMCA, not "mission," which--after all--is distributed in sheets and plastered on the walls, courtesy of the national organization.  

But when staff tell you confidentially that they are being harassed [at this YMCA]," you know something's wrong.

Under Ms. Klever, racial disparities and stereotyping have only grown, while security has steadily worsened.

The downtown Y did not provide for me as a minority a safe environment.