What is all the drama about???
Yes it is a post, but do you actually know how flimsy the metal posts are???
They do next to nothing to increase the structural integrity, that is 100% the steel wall of the pool.
All the posts do is locate the top plate and bottom plate. If those are still in place you are golden.
If it will make you feel better, take the collars off the metal post, unscrew the 3 screws at the bottom and the 3 at the top, take the post off, straighten out the bent metal and re-install it. It really *IS* that simple.
Even in all resin pools, do you think the posts do much more than locate the upper plate over the lower plate? Do you know how flimsy the plastic tabs are that snap the posts on those to the bases? And, yes, I checked and if those tabs are broken it is still "safe" to have the posts in the bases as the top plates and upper rails have enough weight to keep them there.
Fact of the matter is the structural integrity comes from the steel wall. The posts locate the upper plate and lower plate and those plates hold the tracks in place and those tracks are what locate the wall. The water pressure pushing out makes sure the wall doesn't collapse downward and the posts just locate things nicely during assembly, but add very little except to make sure things don't move around once the pool is up and filled.
So the pool store was right, with only one post compromised it is still fine (unless your top rail is loose at that location as well). If you had more than one then it *could* all shift a little causing issues, but just being bent it still serves its function of locating the top plate and bottom plate.
Sorry, so much of the "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" on stuff like this, yet people will look at rust around a skimmer or return and figure they can just weld a patch in and all is fine. For the record a structurally compromised wall section is WAAAAYYYYY more dire than a bent post.