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| Our hot uniforms... |
I expected this goal to be completed much later on in the 101 process and not the summer immediately after making this list. But my dad came home from work one day mentioning to me that Canada's Wonderland was still hiring lifeguards for the summer. I decided to apply because I thought it would be a fun summer - getting tanned, watching people swim and generally doing absolutely nothing. A nice contrast to my job at Cineplex Odeon where I'd cleaned up popcorn, spilled drink and other miscellaneous body fluids.
I applied on a Tuesday, had an interview the following Friday and had the job by the end of the interview. Did I mention my brother Colin had applied as well? I had also told one of my friends James to apply as well because I knew he was looking for a job and that he was a lifeguard. We all got the job and decided it would be best to carpool so that we could split gas.
There was training and then working for the first week in a heat wave. It was brutal. People think that lifeguarding is easy. Let me tell you, it wasn't. We had inservice once a week at 8am. To simply be there on time, we had to be out of the house at 6:30am. Then once we got there, we got in the water. Imagine for a moment that you've been up for about an hour and a half driving to work in rush hour traffic, may or may not have had breakfast, walking twenty minutes to your work station and THEN you have to get into the 68 degree water. Not pleasant.
The thing that I loved about wonderland was the people and how many ridiculous things happened on a daily basis. Here are a few of my favourite wonderland memories:
1) I was standing at an in water guarding position once when I noticed something odd going on over at James's guarding station. There were a group of them and one of them were crying. James jumped in and escorted the girl out of the pool. I asked James what had happened when we were on break later that day and he told me that the woman who was 19 years old, had dislocated her toe and needed James to help her out of the pool. James was SO peeved. Because, if you are a lifeguard, you know that your #1 goal of the day is to stay dry as long as possible. He still gets rattled about it to this day.
2) One day, only a few minutes before close, I looked down into the water and saw... a tampon applicator. Yes. That's right. A tampon applicator. Now, you may be wondering what on earth would that be doing in a wavepool? Well, my dears, I still to this day have no clue.
3) Another day, a few minutes before closing, I was sitting next to James, yet again. I never wore a watch while I was guarding because it would give me a nasty watch tan - gross, and it would make the time pass slower. I knew it was almost time to close, so I asked James what time it was. He told me it was 6:55pm. We closed at 7:05pm. I was psyched. A few minutes later, I asked again. He told me it was 7:05pm. Now... No one was closing the pool. So I was getting impatient. Let's get a move on, I want to go home. I asked James again. 7:15pm. By this point, I'm whistling at my supervisor being like "GET A MOVE ON, DUDE. I WANT TO GO HOME." I ask James again, 7:20pm. Now, I'm just pissed. The pool finally closes and I walk up to James and I'm like what the heck was that?! He just laughed and said "It's just 7:05, you have no sense of time!"
4) The final memory that I'll share is when Colin, James and I were sitting in James's car, enjoying Tim Horton's before work. James decided that he was going to throw all of his garbage into the parking lot, instead of leaving it in his car. Little did he know that there were custodians sitting directly in front of us. They walked over to the car and started yelling at us and told us that if we ever did that again that they would take our license plate number to employee services and report us. James looked at them square in the face and said, "Man, littering is just something I don't do. Like that's so wrong. I just don't do that." After the men left, we laughed and on James's last day of work, he saved up his Tim Hortons wrappers for a week and put them all on the group for those custodians to pick up.
Overall, it was a great summer. I made a ton of money, made a ton of friends and got a flawless farmer's tan that is still apparent today. This summer I think I might work in Ottawa lifeguarding, but who knows what life will bring.
There was training and then working for the first week in a heat wave. It was brutal. People think that lifeguarding is easy. Let me tell you, it wasn't. We had inservice once a week at 8am. To simply be there on time, we had to be out of the house at 6:30am. Then once we got there, we got in the water. Imagine for a moment that you've been up for about an hour and a half driving to work in rush hour traffic, may or may not have had breakfast, walking twenty minutes to your work station and THEN you have to get into the 68 degree water. Not pleasant.
The thing that I loved about wonderland was the people and how many ridiculous things happened on a daily basis. Here are a few of my favourite wonderland memories:
1) I was standing at an in water guarding position once when I noticed something odd going on over at James's guarding station. There were a group of them and one of them were crying. James jumped in and escorted the girl out of the pool. I asked James what had happened when we were on break later that day and he told me that the woman who was 19 years old, had dislocated her toe and needed James to help her out of the pool. James was SO peeved. Because, if you are a lifeguard, you know that your #1 goal of the day is to stay dry as long as possible. He still gets rattled about it to this day.
2) One day, only a few minutes before close, I looked down into the water and saw... a tampon applicator. Yes. That's right. A tampon applicator. Now, you may be wondering what on earth would that be doing in a wavepool? Well, my dears, I still to this day have no clue.
3) Another day, a few minutes before closing, I was sitting next to James, yet again. I never wore a watch while I was guarding because it would give me a nasty watch tan - gross, and it would make the time pass slower. I knew it was almost time to close, so I asked James what time it was. He told me it was 6:55pm. We closed at 7:05pm. I was psyched. A few minutes later, I asked again. He told me it was 7:05pm. Now... No one was closing the pool. So I was getting impatient. Let's get a move on, I want to go home. I asked James again. 7:15pm. By this point, I'm whistling at my supervisor being like "GET A MOVE ON, DUDE. I WANT TO GO HOME." I ask James again, 7:20pm. Now, I'm just pissed. The pool finally closes and I walk up to James and I'm like what the heck was that?! He just laughed and said "It's just 7:05, you have no sense of time!"
4) The final memory that I'll share is when Colin, James and I were sitting in James's car, enjoying Tim Horton's before work. James decided that he was going to throw all of his garbage into the parking lot, instead of leaving it in his car. Little did he know that there were custodians sitting directly in front of us. They walked over to the car and started yelling at us and told us that if we ever did that again that they would take our license plate number to employee services and report us. James looked at them square in the face and said, "Man, littering is just something I don't do. Like that's so wrong. I just don't do that." After the men left, we laughed and on James's last day of work, he saved up his Tim Hortons wrappers for a week and put them all on the group for those custodians to pick up.
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| The final Splashies! (click to enlarge) |
Great post! :)
ReplyDeleteAre there a ton of other positions for Canada's wonderland?
P.S love your blog, really inspiring stuff :)