It's summer and it's hot. There's only one thing to do at a time like this: go to a water park! In Reno, there are a few water park, but nothing like Wild Island. It's right off of I-80 heading east. So before you make the plunge to Mustang or Elko, swing by.
When I was younger, I can remember thinking about the lifeguards, how fabulous their jobs must be! They get to be around the water all the time, getting a tan, yelling at us kids who were just trying to have fun. I could never do what they did. Until I became one.
The summer before my senior year in high school, I applied to the water park with my best friend to be lifeguards. The line was really long and it was hard to keep up morale, but a few hours later we finally made it in. They interviewed six of us at a time, asked us the same questions and tried to get a feel for our personalities as fast as they could. I had seen other people leaving with pieces of paper, which I assumed meant they had gotten onto the next step. I wanted one. I wanted to prove I was good enough. I liked the water enough, I wanted to help people, and after giving answers that were less than perfect, I left. Without a piece of paper. However I was overjoyed when they called me on a few nights later and said that my answers were good enough! They were impressed with me, and wanted me to be a lifeguard! Needless to say I was a little excited. I immediately wanted to train for the test.
I started the next day. After a 50 yard test, I was tired. I tried to swim 200 yards without stopping, but that didn't help. I just got cramps. Not good enough. I trained the next day, the next week and the week right before my test. I missed the test though, a little thing called Prom and the timing didn't work so I made a choice. They made theirs.
I was still in! After the test at the local college, all the guards who passed had to take a 5 day training class and pass a physical and written test. There was only one problem: procrastination.
Before class started, all the training guards had to fill out a study guide. I procrastinated on mine until the day before it was due. Time is not my forte. They were ok with that too! Man, God was giving me a lot of lucky breaks with this one.
So I went through the class, getting taught things a little differently than my First Responder class had taught but still easily. Medicine and technical things are more of a natural talent. During the class I failed at a few things, got jealous over the naturally beautiful girls with better bodies, and stood out.
Then came the dreaded physical test. I was worried that I couldn't do it. That's when my instructor whispered to me, "Our pool is a little less than 25 feet." I never knew those words could be so encouraging. I swam a 200, pushing through the pain and made it back in under 4 minutes. The other aspects of the test were easy compared to that feat, and once I had done it the rest stood in front of me like a tumbleweed. All I had to do was kick it and it was gone.
Just like I had passed my physical, I passed the written with no problem. There was a few questions I could have gotten right, instead of wrong, but I passed. Within the next few days I was a lifeguard.
My first day I swear I was going to kill someone. I was nervous to jump in the pool, I was nervous to watch the pool, heck I was nervous to go down the slides. But I made it through. I can remember saving 3 people. Although a few of them didn't need saving. I never felt like I could do it perfectly, and the peace I assumed other guards had, I just couldn't get. But the tan, I did. I got very tan.
So in hindsight, the lifeguards do a lot at Wild Island. After training, they not only have to deal with little kids, but their parents and trying to decipher the rules to make everyone happy. They have to worry about Ellis coming, constantly scanning the water, and are under scrutiny almost every moment. Then they don't get really good breaks. There's 4 hours of training to be completed a month, 8 hour work days to deal with, and a poor wage.
I loved and hated being a lifeguard. Although I'd hope the water park had taught me this lesson, I know I'll still idolize other's jobs, but at least I got to know what it was like to be a lifeguard.
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