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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think this person should be "struck off" from being a lifeguard?

208 replies

chippietea · 07/06/2017 12:28

Stayed on a holiday park well known chain last weekend Friday to Sunday. Sunday afternoon we went into the pool for the first time (we had already looked around it). I took the baby in a float (10mo) and my son and my niece (both 13yo) headed for the slide. I paddled over to near the exit of the slide with the baby to watch them drop out. My son came out first and after he landed in the water and came back up to the surface a female lifeguard (I'll call her L) said to him "there is a gold fish in the water why don't you try to find it?" I had already heard her say this to two other little girls and thought well he is a bit old for games like that and sure enough he didn't take much notice. Then it was my nieces turn. As she came around the last bend of the slide and I caught sight of her the same lifeguard L said to her "Quick!Stop!" before she had exited the slide. So my niece tried to stop herself from exiting the slide and told me afterwards that she panicked and thought something bad was about to happen. She couldn't stop herself from falling off of the end of the slide so she landed in the plunge pool. When she came up out of he water she looked at the lifeguard L and waited for her to tell her why she had told her to stop. But she didn't say anything and was grinning. At that point my niece turned to me and asked me why did she tell me to stop? It was only then that I saw L's expression change as she hadn't realized up until that point that I knew this girl and had witnessed what had happened. So I replied to my niece I don't know, I then turned to L and asked her the same question. To which she replied "it was just a joke". I informed her that I did not think that that is very funny and it was quite juvenile and she said I'm sorry. It was at that point that I found out what this lifeguards name was. I then swam away from her. I was furious. I think it is outrageous that somebody in a position of responsibility as a lifeguard thinks that it is a funny joke to tell a 13-year-old girl who is going down a waterslide to stop when in my opinion she knew full well that she would not be able to stop and make that child believe that she is about to be injured or is in danger when in fact there was absolutely no reason for her to stop. I saw L speaking with another lady after the incident who was wearing a white polo shirt and obviously a member of staff. I decided I would go to reception once we had left the pool to raise my concerns when the children were not with me, I did not want to distress them. I was also not keen on staying in the pool after this incident had occurred but again I did not want to distress the children and make them feel as though they were being punished for something that was out of their control. When I arrived at reception approximately 45 minutes to an hour later I started to speak to a lady and express my dissatisfaction. During this conversation the lady in the white polo shirt entered reception from the back somewhere and the lady that I spoke to at reception beckoned her over. She introduced herself as the sports and leisure manager (I'll call her N). So I told her what had happened and her response was yes I know all about it L spoke to me after the incident. She then began a corporate sounding speech saying that "here at THE COMPANY we don't believe our lifeguards should be viewed as being there just to enforce rules, we believe they should engage with the guests. L told me that she said to your niece quick stop look for this goldfish". Obviously at that point I stopped N and told her that did not happen, there was no mention whatsoever of a goldfish to my niece when L told her to stop, at which point she was still actually going down the waterslide. This was utterly untrue. N said she would speak to L about the incident and she can only apologize. This exchange with N did nothing to pacify my dissatisfaction. I asked N that if she had known about this incident for up to an hour why where we only having this conversation now? She said she didn't know who I was in the pool area. I found it very hard to believe that she couldn't have asked L to point me out. I also felt that had L not felt that she had done anything wrong as N was trying to put across to me why would she have approached N to discuss this matter quite quickly after it happened? I felt in my honest opinion that she had done so in order to put her spin on what had happened for her own reasons, to try and save herself and not for any concern for my or my nieces experience. Not only that but she had lied by telling N that she spoke to my niece about the goldfish which was utterly untrue. I also felt that N had already come to a conclusion in her mind as to what had happened just purely from L's perspective and she had little interest in finding out from me what had happened before she formed her opinion. I ended up logging this as an official complaint at reception and the lady who took my complaint asked me what do you want us to do for you? My response was for me quite simply nothing. I don't want a refund, I don't want a free upgrade, I don't want any vouchers. I want L to be dealt with appropriately because she not only made a child believe that they were in danger she then went on to lie about what happened. Also by my niece trying to stop when there was no need to could have caused injury or harm to my niece or another person. In my opinion this is a health and safety issue and a safeguarding issue. I received an email today again apologizing and saying the member of staff has received additional training to make sure that this never happens again. All within the space of less than 48 hours. I find it very saddening that an adult in a position of responsibility such as a lifeguard has in my opinion abused the power that comes with that responsibility over a child and that THE COMPANY finds it appropriate to allow that member of staff to continue operating in that position of responsibility. To this date I have no idea of L's motives when she told a child to quickly stop when going down a waterslide and I expect that I never will. AIBU to want to stop this woman from being able to continue working in this capacity?

OP posts:
chippietea · 07/06/2017 16:21

Theanti I also have my suspicions that it was a take the piss for her own amusement type of joke. Which leads me to believe how many times she's done it before and/ or what other methods of amusement she frequents. Not great when it's kids that you're taking the piss out of, kids who are conditioned by their parents to do as they are told by the teacher/ bus driver/ waitress/ life guard etc xxx that is exactly the point I was trying to make, to some it may seem that I am over reacting but IMO this should concern us all xx

OP posts:
ChrisPrattsFace · 07/06/2017 16:23

I agree TheAntiBoop its not a funny joke, - like my PP says my DP almost de-gloved his entire foot.
Try explaining that to a 13 year old!

Also - the paragraph thing i'm finding hilarious!Grin

Kokusai · 07/06/2017 16:27

It was a stupid thing to do. She's been told off. Move on.

(Or maybe she should receive 40 lashes if that would make you happier)

RtHonMistress · 07/06/2017 16:28

I regularly get presented with pieces of work similar in structure to that. I think I'm going to have to try and slip "precious paragraphs" into the marking scheme.

PersianCatLady · 07/06/2017 16:28

Don't worry, this is my first and possibly last response to any of your comments
I only said that if you broke your text up to make it more readable, more people would make the effort to read it.

I am sure that a lot of people took one look at your OP and didn't bother to read it because it was just a great section of text.

PersianCatLady · 07/06/2017 16:30

I regularly get presented with pieces of work similar in structure to that. I think I'm going to have to try and slip "precious paragraphs" into the marking scheme
The thing is that somebody could have written the best article ever but if people can't read it because of bad handwriting or poor presentation, then most of them won't even bother to read it.

Kokusai · 07/06/2017 16:37

I actually only read about 1/3 of the Op then skipped to other people's comments!

bruffin · 07/06/2017 16:39

17 yr old lifeguatds are not on £4 an hour, my ds was on £7 rhen and more now at a different job.
They have to do training every month or they cant work the next month. They have to renew their licsence every 2 years. And if they havent done training in 6 months they are unlikely to get a job.
They can also be prosecuted if they dont do their job properly and someone dies

chippietea · 07/06/2017 16:53

Bruffin No one actually knows how old this lady was they have just assumed that she is 17. Which she was not. It's a real mixed bag of opinions on here now Grin

OP posts:
liviadrusilla · 07/06/2017 17:13

It's a joke! A quiet word to say that's not a good idea - fine. Complaining about it - way OTT.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 07/06/2017 17:25

YANBU. Being told off isn't enough in my book. She'd have got more than a telling off. If something had happened. She's there to safe guard.
If she likes joking around so much. I'm sure there are enough circuses looking for a clown.
I'd have no qualms about putting in a complaint. This isn't human error. This is down right stupidity.

cansu · 07/06/2017 17:33

You complained. She has been told by her manager to pack it in and therefore it has been dealt with. It is hardly the crime of the century. You are really over reacting. You have been given an apology and the member of staff has been spoken to. The end. All this talk of being struck off makes more sense when talking about v serious errors of judgement, not a young lifeguard making a stupid joke FGS

chippietea · 07/06/2017 17:48

Who said she was young? I certainly did not.

OP posts:
witchofzog · 07/06/2017 17:52

It doesn't matter how old she is. The point is you over reacted hugely. How nice it must be to only have trivial things to worry about Hmm

CowParsleyNettle · 07/06/2017 18:03

No running please.

You there blows whistle

louisejxxx · 07/06/2017 18:05

I'm a qualified lifeguard and is isn't something I would ever do - particularly as the 13y.o could have injured herself trying to stop whilst travelling at speed, and that is reasonably foreseeable as well.

It's quite odd to hear about someone being too slack - generally the common issue with most lifeguards is they blow their whistle too much!

That said, generally any workers at holiday camp places tend to be encourage to be OTT with customers. Not saying that makes it ok though.

SweetLuck · 07/06/2017 18:07

I can't believe that everybody thinks that dicking about at the bottom of a water slide is a good thing to do Shock

witchofzog · 07/06/2017 18:15

It's not that people think it's a good idea sweetluck. I certainly dont. It's that the op was baying for blood. Apparently retraining and a stern word just wasn't enough. She actually wanted the woman fired. And the bleating about distressed children etc was just too dramatic bearing in mind said children are 13.

Coastalcommand · 07/06/2017 18:21

YABU. You massively overreacted. Please calm down.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 07/06/2017 18:27

You complained, management acknowledged your complaint, the life guard is going to get more training - I fail to see what more you want.

And I am with the pedants - it is very hard to wade through a solid block of text, like your OP, and your attempt at precious paragraphs is neither precious nor is it proper paragraphs.

smudgedlipstick · 07/06/2017 18:29

😳 Christ you sound like fun, I can't work out what you think she did wrong, she was trying to have fun with the kids and you want to get her sacked.

ChestyNut · 07/06/2017 18:44

They apologised.
She's received training so it doesn't happen again.......

What more do you want?

In the nicest way OP move on now Gin

Crumbs1 · 07/06/2017 18:59

A lifeguard teased a 13 year old. That's about it. What a ridiculous reaction. Why were you following the two 13 year olds around anyway? I'd be a bit worried about letting a teenager off alone in a pool if they couldn't cope with that level of humour.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 07/06/2017 19:02

Telling someone to stop whilst they are coming down a water slide is not just a joke, though - it isn't really a safe or sensible thing to do. But it's not the crime of the century, and has been appropriately dealt with by the management.

PhyllisNights · 07/06/2017 19:05

That's incredibly dangerous and irresponsible of the lifeguard. If the company won't do anything then go further. Write it over their social media and get in contact with the local council that they come under. Regardless of being a private organisation, I'm sure there's some sort of regulation connected.

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