Whether it's a summer job or a year-round one, being a lifeguard comes with its own unique challenges and struggles. Here are some of the inevitable ones that you may encounter in your career.
1. Always having that pool smell.
The perfume of a summer lifeguard is chlorine, sunscreen, and sweat. No matter how much you try to combat it, it's going to happen, and you're going to get sick of it. Indoor pool lifeguards might not end up with that sunscreen smell, but the extra chlorine that ends up in indoor pools will seep from your very pores.
2. When your pool reaches capacity and the patrons are not having it.
Yes, there are signs everywhere that say the pool's capacity. But it is a hot day and people who didn't get in before we reached capacity are going to complain until they're let in. No matter how many times you calmly explain that your staff cannot handle more than a certain amount of people in the pool area at one time, they're going to keep on complaining.
3. Actually getting certified.
This is the first step to becoming a lifeguard, and one of the biggest struggles of them all. Training is intensive and expensive, and of course, aspects of it will change even in just a few years. The Red Cross loves to spring changes on us comfortably trained lifeguards.
4. Getting sick of the word "walk."
No matter how many times you say it, they will be running less than five seconds later. The word almost loses meaning after awhile. You'll also get sick of pool games like Marco Polo because the repetitive nature and the sheer amount of kids who play it will drive you nuts. Prepare yourself.
5. The trademark lifeguard swimsuit tan lines.
This is especially true for guards with one-piece suits. Take it from me, a lifeguard of three years whose tan lines never disappear completely, even in the dead of winter. Combatting them with tanning in other suits quickly becomes too tiresome, and you will embrace them whether you want to or not.
6. Outdoor pools = bugs, and lots of them.
One of the best things about working at an outdoor pool is getting bitten by a fly when you're on the lifeguard tower. No, really. It's the best. Maybe only barely rivaled by getting pooped on by a bird, or stung by a bee. The best.
7. When there are thunderstorms in the forecast but they never come.
Do outdoor pools somehow have an invisible bubble around them that prevents bad weather from coming? Thunderstorms are a lifeguard's best friend: closing the pool for thirty to forty-five minutes for each thunderclap or lightning strike is the greatest thing. However, this so rarely happens, even when thunderstorms are in the forecast, that we mostly only hope for those kinds of days.
8. You never get time off on holidays.
You want a day off during the Fourth of July weekend? In an outdoor pool? Good luck, buddy. That pool is going to be packed.
9. Cleaning the pool.
Somehow outdoor pools are magnets for every single leaf in the nearby area. Pool vacuums exist for a reason, and are always put to good use. This also doesn't even begin to cover if someone happens to puke and/or poop in the pool. Gross.
10. Watching kids (and parents!) break the rules when there are signs everywhere.
Diving over the "No Diving" signs. Into the shallow end, giving every lifeguard ever a mini heart attack. Or running directly over the "Walk!" signs. You'd think that this would just be a kid thing, but no. I've had to tell too many adults that there is no diving in that area, or that they have to walk.
