Funny (and not so funny) Happenings as a Lifeguard

So...I have a "hit list."

At work (the Kroc Center) I'm known at work as the nice, quiet one, who does her job. Among the boys, I'm also known as the one who doesn't like to get wet. It's not that I don't like to swim or anything, I just hate getting into the splash pool at the bottom of the slide to signal to the lifeguard at the top that the bottom is clear and he/she can send the next person down. Why? Because the water is about 50% of the time cold, when I get out I am freezing, and then I'm wet for the rest of my shift! Also, chlorine kills your hair, so I try not to get it wet, since I'd like to still have pretty hair when I go back to college at the end of August! The boys just don't understand this though.

Around 2:30 this afternoon, I descended the steps to get into the splash pool at the bottom of the slide. I had pulled off my shirt and shoes so that I was only in my swimsuit and was already pretty cold. As I started getting deeper into the water (which is only about 3.5 feet high), I noticed that the water was colder than usual, and pulled up my arms and began shivering. Jarrett, the guard I was rotating out of the splash pool, was watching me get into the water. When I saw that he was watching me, I gave him a big smile and said sarcastically: "Oh this feels wonderful! Just wonderful! Doesn't this water feel just great?" and descended the last two steps down into the pool. Jarrett didn't say anything. I reached out my hand to take the rescue tube from him, when he suddenly began splashing me (lightly)!!

"What?!" I cried out, backing away from him towards the stairs. This only provoked him to splash me even more. "Jarrett! Stop!" I laughed, splashing him back a little. He stopped, and I walked towards him again. I stopped in front of him, and held out my hand again. He splashed me again, and I turned away from him. I began backing up again, when he said: "Wait! Come here!"

I turned back around, and met his eyes. There was a tender look in them, and then he leaned in like he was going to kiss me!

"No, no, no!!!" I shouted, covering my mouth and backing away from him. He continued to follow me, and I turned my body away from him, when he suddenly lunged, turned me around to face him, and then dunked me into the water!! Completely submerged me!!! I came up spluttering. I looked at him, and he was laughing pretty hard. "See? Now you're all one temperature!"he said.

"You..."I growled, and then started splashing him. He just laughed. He was already soaking wet as it was. Then the lifeguard at the top of the slide whistled at us. We looked up, she pointed at the kids, with a look in her eyes saying: "That was funny, but can they go down now?" I gave her the signal that they could and Jarrett left the pool. I went into the little corner I discovered where you get splashed the least, and can still rescue kids quickly, and was freezing the rest of that rotation!

Later I witnessed Jarrett do the same thing to another girl, Jani, who works there. Completely submerged her in the water, which I thought was weird, since that girl loved getting wet! But whatever...Jani came out of the water looking quite shocked, right as I walked by heading to guard the competitive pool. "Jarrett! Oh my gosh!" I yelled. He looked up and started laughing again. I went into the guard office to drop off my tube and he came in right behind me. "Kristen," he said, " when are you going to learn that boys just want to destroy your life?"

"Ha," I laughed, as I left the office. "I'm going to destroy yours later." Pathetic comeback, but it was the best I could come up with at the time.

I was however scheming about pushing him into the water fully clothed later. Later when I was in the guard office with another guard, and good friend of mine, Kate, I told her about what Jarrett did to me and Jani, and she told me of an experience of what he did to her (cannonballed right next to her).

"Him. He and Nick both need to be thrown into the water," I said.

Nick is another guard that likes to torment me. Whenever we're close by in rotation spots, he'll always splash me. If I'm sitting in a guard chair watching the water, he'll come up behind the chair, and tilt it forwards so much that I almost always fall into the water. Whenever I try to be sneaky and get him back, he always catches me. So far I've always tried it when he's standing. When we clear out the pool once and hour for five minutes (to scan the bottom for harmful objects), I'll come up behind him and try to push him in. I've come close a couple of times, but then he'll turn around at the last second, open his arms, and I'll back up quickly into the wall. "You know," he said to me once, "I just want to pick you up and throw you in there."

"I'll get you in there before you get me," I replied.

He just laughed at me. I will though.

I told all this to Kate, and she said I should totally get those two back. We then rotated out of the guard office, and she told Jarrett of my plans.

At 8:00, after we closed down rec swim, Jarrett came up to me, and said, "So Kristen, I hear I'm on your hit list?"

It took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about. A hit list? What? Then I realized what he meant, and smirked at him. "Yes, you're one of two. I'd watch your back if I were you."

"That's pretty scary."

"Oh it is. You don't want to be on my hit list."

"But I am. This will be interesting."

"Indeed it will."

Jarrett then went home and I stayed for another two hours since I was helping close tonight.

So being a lifeguard is pretty fun. My co-workers and I are all getting to be really good friends (seeing as how we all work about 50 hours a week, so our only social life this summer is at work). I like it a lot.

However, can I just say that I have never had a job so intense as my job at the Kroc Center? I lifeguarded at two separate facilities before working at the Kroc, and both of those jobs were cake--sit around and watch people swim, blow the whistle occasionally, and then go home. Hardly anything ever happened. And at Boulder Beach I got a killer tan (I was dark for a year). But the Kroc Center is a whole different story.

Not only was lifeguard training incredibly intense, but inservices are demanding as well. But I won't bore you with those details. Just know that all of the lifeguards there know how to swim extremely well, are in shape, and get constant training.

So far at the Kroc Center here's what's happened since I've started working there:
--Ambulance/Fire Department arrived to take a woman to the hospital after she sat in one of the jacuzzi's too long and became very sick in the locker room area.

--Fire alarm went off. Had to usher everyone in the aquatics area, and entire building, outside. We still don't know if it was a real fire or a prank.

--Lightening. Lights went out. Had to get everyone out of the water and deal with complaints.

--Kicked multiple people out, something I never had to do at any of my previous jobs. People are such smart-alec's at the Kroc Center! For me, it's three strikes and you're out.

--Saved a couple children, although really, those were very easy. I was already in the water at the bottom of the slide, and just hurried over to them with my tube to keep them from drowning. Simple saves.

--Too many "incidents" too count. If you don't know what I'm referring to, don't ask.

So, being a lifeguard is great, but there's definitely a lot to pay attention to. Our managers are cracking down on us for splashing each other and messing around, which they should, but it's just going to make it that much harder for me to get Nick and Jarrett, and whoever else decides to mess with me next, back. But I'll get 'em back before the end of the summer. Count on it.