One of the reasons I hate swimming in outdoor community/development pools is the lifeguard glare you get when you come in with all your gear, prepared to swim and hour or two. :banana: I've been swimming outside for 25 years in the summer, and find that the guards are mostly all the same - texting, playing ball, sleeping, eating. Heaven forbid, they have to sit up and watch a swimmer. I feel like they really hate when I walk in because they have to actually do their job. I've treated them to lunch, ice cream, treats and some are fine, but overall, they are mostly very lazy. I tell them I had a guard cert, (I can swim better than almost all of them!), and they don't have to sit in the chair, or even watch, but I still feel the glare. I've even encountered a few occasions when the sun was shining and guards claimed they heard thunder. What happened to the good old days when guards sat in the chair and did their job without resentment? I only see that type of mentality at the indoor pools. On rainy days, they really give me the evil eye. :badday:
Northern Virginia.
I'm also in NoVa. The guards at my gym's outdoor pool can barely pull themselves away from conversations/texting once an hour to blow the whistle for adult swim. This year's batch is especially lazy.
Twice last week, I had people cut across the lane (over the $400-a-rope) lines just as my lane mate and I were about to push off. Neither guard said a word to the lane cutters, even though they were standing five feet away. I flagged them and said, um, this is kind of your job. "We didn't see it." Well, no Scheiße. You weren't even looking at the pool.
I was was a guard in HS. I get that it can be boring. But pay effing attention.
renie, LOL, Thanks for the laugh. I don't get the noodles at all, what they're supposed to do. And there's one lady with styrofoam barbells who's always in one of the lap lanes. You're right, they are out of shape. And never seem to get any fitter. Though, bless their dedicated little hearts, they're in there every single day, hogging the lap lanes, hanging onto their noodles like they hold the secret to eternal youth.
I live in SW Vermont and the guards are generally good. My siblings and I were lifeguards in high school and in my experience as a Masters swimmer only one guard in the past 4-5 years has not placed full attention on the pool and I talked to the AD about him. Granted, most are in high school or home on break from college, so it is refreshing that they put a high priority on the responsibilities that they have in their jobs.
oh please, Denise, we can start an endless rant on that topic! hate those morons with noodles and styrofoam barbells - and the thing is they are sooooo out of shape, and years later, still the same shape. We also have "treadmills" taking up entire lap lanes in our indoor pool. The treadmill is always placed in such a direction that no one else can swim in the lane. They utilize a small square of lane, it's infuriating. I blame management - they argue that they can't tell people what to do in the pool. Really? When I signed up, I was told all classes were in the therapy pool and the lap pool was just for lap swimming. uggghhhhh
Hi, evilwatersprite. From what folks are posting here, it appears outdoor pool lifeguards are the worst. I swim indoors at the county rec center, and most of the lifeguards there are great. They county's strict because they don't want to get sued. They also deal with cranky parents who want to make sure their kids have a good experience. Water aerobics and kid classes are pretty much on-going in the shallow end, and there are always people in the deep end, so the lifeguards have a lot to do.
My friend who got kicked out of the Paris pool also swims at his gym, and he has all sorts of crazy stories about rude people in the pools and apathetic lifeguards. But lane cutters bug me the most, along with the people who hog a lap lanes to do water aerobics when the shallow end is completely empty.
Where in Vermont? When I travel I like to know where the good pools are.
I live in Bennington, about an hour east of Albany, NY. We have a great (albeit older) pool here in town, and I can get you more info via DM about times and other places to swim if you are headed up this way. :)
