A Day in the Life of...

I was at work last night, and thought up what (in my opinion - obviously) would be a cool blog post. You may or may not know, that to fund my way through school, I work as a lifeguard/instructor at the Leduc Recreation Center Mix Family Aquatic Center. A mouthful - I know. We just call it LRC, or the M-FAC. So what does a lifeguard do? Besides standing on deck and yelling at patrons anytime they come up with something 'fun' to do. Well...that's not really what we're doing - we ARE trying to keep you safe. It just so happens that most fun things are 'unsafe' and thus a potential water rescue. We don't actually enjoy jumping in after you...just so that you are aware. It is true though, that we don't do a lot while on shift - we are paid for what we know, not for what we do. But here's a typical shift at work for me:

• A rotation is the amount of time spent at each guard position, followed by a period of off-deck time. The number of guard positions at any given time are determined by the number of patrons in the pool, and the off-deck time is determined by the number of guard positions, and the number of staff on shift. The amount of time at each position is typically 15 minutes. For example, if there are 5 people on shift, and we have between 10 and 75 people using the pool, we are at two guards. This means that we are on deck for 30 minutes, and off deck for 45 minutes.
• On deck time is spent - watching you swim! Sometimes there are adorable toddlers that get really excited in the water. Other things I typically deal with on deck: parents not supervising their under 6-year-olds, young teenagers deliberately breaking rules (such as multiples down the slide, head first down the slide, etc.) just to irritate us, young teenage couples making out in the corner, adults that think they have 'outgrown' rules, and much more...
• Off deck time is not spent sitting around....well not for the whole 45 minutes anyways. Sometimes we only have 15 minutes off deck, and we are more likely to relax for this period of time. We have a maintenance list - cleaning windows, disinfecting, checking for damage, etc. Little things that need to be done so the place stays nice.
• We used to have to clean the changerooms at night - but we're hired a custodial crew to do that for us. YAY!!! (Do you realize how gross those get?!)
• I've been working at the MFAC for 3 years, and in this time period I've jumped in the water twice. Perspective? Paid for what we can do (know), not for what we actually do.
• I'm also a supervisor - so I get to boss around everyone else. Kidding. Sometimes I have to...request...that things get done though. As a supervisor I'm also in charge of maintaining water chemistry and ensuring the pool is safe and running smoothly. I have to keep it in running order!