A woman who was not paying attention to her 2 year old let it walk straight into the large pool. It sunk like a stone to the floor. I was already on my way over as I saw it happening; mom was talking to some other female friend.
It's a rather silly question, but it's easily one of the most common I'm asked by people who haven't spoken to me about being a lifeguard. Lots of people, doing lots of dumb things. It's usually just dragging them out of the water though. Typically people who can't swim.
There are very clear and rather obvious signs to actual drowning. You flailing and splashing the water asking for help isn't drowning. This is usually done by a kid who wants to get the lifeguard in the pool. I'm personally adamant about not going in the water when patrons are at the pool. Kids like to play and involve anyone. The lifeguard is a target for that, just like anyone else.
At least 3 times per season I will break up fights between patrons. More often than not they are just verbal arguments, not a fist fight. I have only broken up 2 physical fights. The cops that came 5 minutes later handled the rest.
Another dumb question I get too often. To expand upon this, lifeguards must be certified. The certifications are rather universal and handled by Red Cross, or a place certified by Red Cross to do them. Part of the skills you need to prove is to swim 300 meters without stopping. Another is deep-water retrieval. How that is handled varies.
It's a common sense rule, but I get asked it nonetheless. The smart people will mix it with juice or punch and sneak it in that way inside a plastic container so you can't smell it. If you get drunk and are obviously drunk, you get asked to leave.
If you bring glass and drop it, it shatters and goes everywhere. The pool is always one of the places it goes. If it goes in the pool, you cannot see it, period. The real risk comes in when someone walking in the pool steps on the broken glass. I've had a situation where someone broke into the pool overnight for a swim/fun possibly others too, and I guess they broke a cup and some shards of glass were in the water that they didn't clean up (everything on the outside of the pool was fine). 2 hours into the day a teen sliced his foot open on broken glass and needed a bunch of stitches. Pool was closed for the day to boot.
I explained it in the pic itself, but I'll expand a bit. A boy (8-10 years old) asked if he could do a flip off the edge of the pool, into the water. I told him rather bluntly and plainly "No."; no room for confusion. While my back was turned handling pool maintenance the boy ran (oh you b**ch) to the edge of the pool, attempted a flip, and the back-side of his head slapped off the side and split open. He bled quite a lot and needed stitches. This happened in early June, and I didn't see the boy again until the middle of August. The pool was closed for the day to boot, and I had to spend half an hour writing incident reports.
The large orange/red tube (with Guard written on it in white) thing you see lifeguards carry around is actually just called a "Lifeguard tube". These are the most powerful tool a lifeguard has at their disposal when it comes to saving lives. They can hold anything above water that isn't freaking out with ease.
Most accidents and injuries do happen from running. That's why those old people who can barely shuffle themselves around never get in trouble. But your brat children who bust in through the gate like they all just snorted 5 pounds of cocaine each, then proceed to run around and fall on the concrete, and then wonder what went wrong in life.
Unless we get word from a superior, you can do whatever you want in the rain just like you can when it's sunny. BUT. If there is thunder or lightning at any time, you leave. I've had people swim in total downpours, but there wasn't a bit of thunder or lightning so they could stay. I just sat under and umbrella and watched.
Swimming in the rain is actually quite fun, if you've never tried it I recommend it. It feels like the rain is warm water from a shower head, but everywhere. Just make sure you take a real shower after you go back inside, to avoid getting sick and to wash off the smell of chlorine.
