Forget it, I'm Joining the Y

I am about at the end of my rope with the JCC. When I first visited them in May to look at their nursery school for Bee, they reminded me about a dozen times that spaces were filling up fast and I had better enroll her right away or risk losing out. Of course enrolling her meant ponying up the $500 membership fee, which seemed a little high, but what choice did I have? I wanted to send her to a Jewish pre-school, and of the very few in this area, they are the only ones that had a toddler program. So I wrote the check and filled out all the paperwork and got her doctor to sign off her medical form and got all ready to have her start last week. They called me a few days beforehand to let me know there would be a first-day coffee and reception for the new parents , which I was welcome to attend. Everything was set. The next day they called again. Guess what? The class is cancelled indefinitely! The reasons are so muddled I have yet to get to the bottom of it - either the head teacher quit at the last minute or they reshuffled the staff and somehow were left with no qualified teachers for the toddlers. The JCC management claims to be working very hard to find a replacement but I have heard through the grapevine that they have yet to place an ad.

I was VERY tempted to call and ask for a refund on my membership since the only reason I joined was for their now non-existent program. But then I would have to re-up anyway in January, when Bee will be old enough to go to the two-year-old class. So I thought, well, as long as I am a member, I will check out their catalog and maybe find some interesting programs to sign up for. I don't know what I expected to find, but I kept seeing flyers for the San Francisco JCC , advertising their multitude of film screenings and art exhibitions and music and dance perfomances and classes on world literature and Jewish ethics and holiday cooking, so I was hoping for a similar spectrum of events - I knew there wouldn't be as many, but I thought it might at least be comparable to, say, the local adult ed center. No. They have early childhood programs and they have senior respite programs, but for that brief middle period that constitutes one's entire lifespan, there is nothing.

So, okay, maybe I should have cancelled my membership then, but I did see some fun programs the kids could take through their early childhood department. There was one in particular, Yad By Yad Toddler Time, an 8-week program starting in October that would have been perfect for my mom to attend with Bee. It is described as a "high quality, age-appropriate, stimulating and fun program filled with circle time singing, storytelling, music, dance and art activities." As soon as Monday rolled around I called to sign Bee up. Again, one slight problem . . . nobody there is freakin' aware of this class. So far I am on day three of trying to phone them, and have talked to three different people, and not one single person has any idea what I am talking about. Here is a transcript of today's conversation with the sweet but clueless R from the JCC office:

Me: Hello, somebody was supposed to call me back yesterday to let me know if the Yad By Yad Toddler Time class was still scheduled?

R: The what?

Me: The Yad By Yad class, it is listed in your catalog as one of the Infant and Toddler classes?

R: Oh, okay. As far as I know, the K'Tan Tan class isn't happening.

Me: Yes I KNOW that, believe me, but I am not asking about that class. I am asking about Yad By Yad Toddler Time, it is right there on page 8 of your catalog.

R: Sure . . . what is it called again?

Me: YAD BY YAD. There are only 3 classes listed in the entire section, okay? There is Baby and Me. I don't care about that one. There is Tot Shabbat. I don't care about that one. Then there is YAD BY YAD! THAT is the one I want to know about!

R: Okay, I will need to ask someone about that. Now, what did you want to know again?

This afternoon I am going to call and demand my membership money back. And I am going to wait until right before they close for the day to do it. I hope I make them all late for services tonight.