Chronicles of a Lifeguard: Introduction

Log start: 9:24pm July 27th, 2010

Introduction:
My coach once told the team that being a lifeguard was going to be one of the best jobs that we ever had. It would be the highest payout of all pre-college degree summer jobs that a teenager can possibly have. Whilst I still believe that what coach said was true, he had left out the most important part; the amount of work that you would have to do to earn your buck.
Imagine your typical lifeguard, sitting at the side of the pool, looking over all of the happy swimmers who had come in for a swim at the pool to escape the summer heat or to just workout. Now put them in a category one.
These lifeguards who guard the pool for what is known as Recreational Swim are people who like to take it easy; I mean, how hard is your job when you just sit there watching people swim for countless hours knowing nothing spectacular will ever happen at the pool? I do Rec. Swim guarding somedays and I must say, it's the most boring thing ever. Knowing that fact that no sensible person will ever drown on your watch makes the job boring as ever. Although I shouldn't actually say that because some people have medical problems and situations do happen, but the smart ones usually tell you when they come in to the pool. But going through every week waiting for something as exciting has a nose bleed to come at you isn't really the most facinating thing ever.
Now, imagine your typical lifeguard and add in the teaching factor. These lifeguards are in category 2, a category that, unfortunately, I am currently stuck in. Category 2 lifeguards are teachers, inspiring the future minds in a skill that they will forever keep (hopefully) and possibly training future swimming prodigies such as Micheal Phelps. One can always dream, but one may not always get. As a category 2 lifeguard, we hold a higher salary than those lazy category ones, but not by much and definately not much more than it should be.
Before I continue, I should remind you that wages vary by where you work, so if you work at a place that pays better than decent, then you are one lucky person. If you end up finding a place that pays bad like I did, then we're on the same boat... unfortunately.
As I was saying, category 2 lifeguards are what most lifeguards will become and where most lifeguards will end their lifeguarding career. It's not sad, because according to coach, you've already served your primary purpose, which is to spread the knowledge of swimming to more than one person so that the sport of swimming may grow and dominate the rest of the sporting world. I'm not 100% sure i can agree with that, but lets stick with that for now.
Categories 3 and 4 are head lifeguards and aquatic directors, respectively, and not many of us C2's are able to advance to a c3, and not many c3's can become a c4. I am only in category 2, so lets stick with that for now.
But as I was saying before, the job eventually pays too little for the amount of work that you are required to do, especially where I work.
Compared to something like preping them in academics or teaching them a sport on dry land, the workload in teaching children how to swim is astronomical compared to everything else. Every lifeguard where I work know that everyday you have to risk your whole body, mind, and health on the line to teach these childen. These disease carrying, hyperactive, snot-filled hairballs go from cute to disgusting and annoying in a split second. A freshman guard on the staff loved children before she had to work, but after 2 weeks working with over 100 children a day, your whole mentality changes and you want to beat yourself up everyday.

Enough of lifeguard ranting though. Even though I may say things like this, it only reflects my opinion of children during work hours. After hours, things become normal again and some children still stay cute. You see children in their worst devilish forms in a few places, the pool is one of them.
Don't get me wrong, not 100% of the people you teach are insane. From time to time, there are people who listen to everything you say and they do their part of the work before they are allowed to play. The people who actually care for what you have to say to them makes the job what it is. They are the primary reason you do your job and as a lifeguard, you seek these type of people daily to cure your insanity during work hours.

To any lifeguards that read this, be prepared to read about everyday life as a lifeguard; nothing will be left behind.
To any parents that read this, you will never want your child taught by the wrong people again; find a nice place to enroll them in for swimming classes, because if they're taught by the wrong teachers, it will take 500% more effort to re-learn it the correct way.
To any future lifeguards that read this, find a nice place to work, make sure you're getting paid sufficiently for the amount of work that you need to do.
To any children or persons learning how to swim, you are the bane of my existence during work hours, some of you might be the cutest little things ever, some of you might be the best student ever, but most of you are little balls of evil and you should never piss your lifeguard off because every single one of us knows how to defeat you.

This has been an introduction to Chronicles of a Lifeguard, a multi-part blog post that fully describes the work area of a lifeguard with no details left behind.

HakoneDayDreamer, as I record these sensitive details, they will be posted on the blog but not publically made known on facebook until the end of my work summer work hours.