So I was folding towels yesterday and - wahoo! - my swimsuit bottoms turned up. The temps were in the 90's before noon, and I was jonesing to get to the pool. We hadn't been there long when the lifeguards started changing stations. Walker pointed to the top of the water slide, twenty five feet up. There was a young lifeguard, going down the slide standing up. Of course the kids thought it was SO COOL! Um, yeah. Not so much.
I attempted to explain to the kid that he was a role model for the little swimmers, and that he needed to follow the rules to set a good example. He totally blew me off. Which is too bad, really, because there is just no way that I can let that behavior go. Had he apologized, or seemed the least little bit concerned, I would have. He didn't, though, so I didn't either. I feel bad, but I would feel worse if some kid tried that and got hurt. Or worse, if Mr Lifeguard did it again and fell twenty five feet onto the concrete. Think of all the kids who would be scarred for life at the sight of Mr Lifeguard in eighty seven pieces.
I turned him in.
I hope he doesn't get fired.
Clearly, this kid, who has taken a job that involves providing public safety, has no regard for his own. But he is just a kid. Who didn't have bonehead moments as a kid? I know I did. Hopefully he won't get worse than a "Don't do that again" speech. Hopefully it will sink in. And hopefully, the next time we go to the pool, our membership card still works!
That is a dumb thing for the kid to do, and he calls himself a lifegaurd. You did the right thing, regardless of the outcome.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lucy. You may have saved him from breaking his own neck!
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