Pool Pros Deserve Better: Industry Politics, Product Claims & Corporate Bullshit

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WARNING: INTENTIONALLY ABRASIVE
If you want to know what pool professionals need, ask the person in the fucking truck.

This week on Floc-It Fridays, Rudy Stankowitz takes on the gossip, gatekeeping, and behind-the-scenes politics that make an already demanding trade harder than it needs to be.

From manufacturers’ reps badmouthing pool professionals to private calls about who should appear on a podcast or receive mentor recognition, Rudy shares the experiences that have changed how he views industry support—and what he expects from the people claiming to provide it.

He also revisits the pool professionals who helped test the alum method for reducing cyanuric acid, the pushback he encountered, and why evidence should matter whether a claim comes from an independent service tech or a company with an enormous marketing budget.

Good reps earn trust. Good companies stand behind their products. And good ideas deserve serious testing. Supporting pool professionals means listening when they ask difficult questions, challenge a protocol, or find a better way to do the work.

In this episode:

Why a rep trashing another pool pro should raise a red flag.Field-driven innovation and resistance to ideas that could change product use.Alum, cyanuric acid reduction, and the role of participating pool professionals.Holding corporate claims and independent research to consistent standards.Rudy’s account of pressure surrounding podcast guests and mentor recognition.Recognition for Kelli Clancy and colleagues who helped build education and community for women in pools.The responsibility to document observations, acknowledge limitations, and correct mistakes.What meaningful support for service techs, builders, plaster crews, and renovation contractors looks like.

“A nice label is not data. A familiar name is not data.”

An outspoken episode about trust, accountability, mentorship, and giving the people doing the work the credit—and voice—they deserve.

Explicit language.

Featured sponsors: PoolBrain, Service Industry News, AquaStar Pool Products, and BlueRay XL.

2026 Pool Industry Mentor Recognition sponsors: BlueRay XL, United Chemical, LaMotte, Revdup Apparel, and AquaComfort Water Group.

God bless the pool pros.

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