I was so pissed off at the swimming pool today… Argh… As it was still drizzling when I arrived, the lifeguards did not allow anyone(basically just me and another middle-aged aunty) to enter the pool. Being the rebellious me (actually I just cannot stand the lifeguards), I entered even thou one of the lifeguards had blown the whistler. He was at the other end of the pool while I was at the other end. The 2 lifeguards (1 being the supervisor, as I was about to find out soon) signaled to me to get out. N guess what I did?? I simply raised my 2 hands and indicated to the sky to say tt there was no thunder and lightning anymore, n the sky was getting clear. I waited to see wat they wanted to do, n then the one in yellow shirt walked over, I got out of the pool n walked up to him.

He was soooo ‘singaporean’, speaking that broken English of his, “I dunno, u better go and talk to my supervisor down there.�

“But, it’s not raining anymore and there’s no thunder and lightning.�

“I dunno, u better go down there. I dunno what he wants to say.�

DUH. Juz FYI, the aunty and I actually had a mini conversation earlier n she simply came up to me n said, “Cannot swim eh??� in Mandarin. I was warming up then n told her that there was no thunder and lightning n the sky was clearing. Guess what? She paced up n down between where I was standing n the toilet which was just 3 metres away from me. In the end, she decided to take her bag into the toilet with her.

DUH. She had changed and she decided to just hide inside the toilet. Alrite, let her be then.

So well, I walked up to the ‘supervisor’ who was in a red tee n he was oredi well-prepared as he flashed out a laminated newspaper article which had the headline: “Thunder may occur even in clear skies� and then went on to gimme a mini lecture on how he wanted his subordinates to warn pple against swimming, not because he wants them to skive and rest, but “rules r set and meant to be followed�. Btw, he went on abt the skiving part 3 times! And he showed me the article. OH YEA! N GUESS WHAT WAS THE 1ST LINE HE TOLD ME WHEN I WENT UP! I juz remember n now, im really furious! He flashed out his article to show me, at the same time asking me, “Surely u can read English right??� BLOODY HELL! Im really very infuriated by this man! He showed me another article on the noticeboard which was about a boy killed by lightning I suppose. Cuz I din walk up to go read it. DUH. N smth abt their responsibilies….or did he even mention it?? N oso showed me this huge life-size notice on ‘RULES AND REGULATIONS’ (haha, guess where it’s nailed to??) outside the ….TADA! MALE TOILET!!! FYI, the male n female toilets are at opposite ends of the pool. So unless u come in a family, u wun even walk near the male toilets!

More DUHs….

What did I do then?? I could just nod while tt cocky ‘supervisor’ went on ranting about the rules set by the National Safety Council?? Wateva it was... At the end, I just could nod n said, “Alrite, I’ll wait.� While in my heart, I was cursing about the waste of my time.

All along ever since I started swimming regularly when I was 15, I neva really have a good impression of lifeguards. Alrite, it was neutral at first. Then, I guess it kinda turned ugly over the years as I deem them to be lazy bums (don’t u think so??) hanging ard the pool n most of the time, I see them sloughing in their ‘lifeguard chairs’(careful of that backbone of theirs which is going to serve them anther few decades or so!HMPH!), and as a result, many of them ahem, developing pot bellies over the years of eating, n resting, n eating, n resting….. most of them r middle-aged men… Actually 99% of them r…. I have been swimming for the past 6 years weekly n have neva seen them do what they should do: save lives. Well, not tt I want anything to happen, but isn’t this the kinda image they give u too?? Come on, they’re NOTHING compared to the beach lifeguards in other parts of the world man! I seriously wonder if they could jump into the pool without pulling any tense muscle after sitting on the chair for so long to save a person! Hah… I alwiz have this funny vision that he would only make things worse by struggling in the waters.

What’s more, a friend of mine told me before that her friend who’s a part-time lifeguard…u noe what they do xactly at the pool?? Clear children’s stools, sanitary napkins that have dropped into the pool while the unsuspecting girl tries to deceive herself into swimming securely even with her menses, and pampers which r left behind…. Dirty job, I may say.

And the thing tt turns me off the most is…. Maybe some of u have already guess it: those roving eyes of theirs. While the stomach is filled but the mind is not working, their eyes start to move n God noes wat kinda thoughts they have up there! ARGH… It’s just so disgusting, paying a few middle-aged men to ogle after girls in the pretext of ‘guarding over others’ lives’. ARGHHHH……… n some of them would still be wearing those ultra-cool sunshades of theirs when the sky is overcast with clouds n the sun is oredi setting at 530pm… *EXASPERATED FACE*

Alrite, the above may be too extreme, but it’s really just my pent-up thoughts about all those “lovely lifesavers� out there… I agree I may b in the wrong when I decided to go against their warning, BUT I don’t feel that I deserved such a sarcastic remark from that ‘supervisor’ and u shud have heard the way he spoke to me. Wah kau. Felt like giving him a tight slap ax tt face n destroy tt smirk. He should be there to educate the public. Maybe he sees me as a regular n a challenger since im alwiz swimming there. Hah! Bet he can’t swim as long as me! Mayb he’s envious! But definitely, he din treat me like a normal lady, or shud I say girl? Since a normal girl won’t be doing laps twice a week at the pool… RAAAAAA…….

Come on. The image they give me plays a huge part as well! I simply cannot tolerate some things in society n inevitably, they will form my values n the way I view certain issues. For the few ‘lifeguards’ at the pool, they don’t deserve any respect from me at all. :p
And remember the yellow-shirt guy who spoke to me in the broken English? He was chatting very enthusiastically with a woman in the pool, seemingly in her thirties. Althou the guys din look very young, - I would think he’s in his thirties – the way he speaks…. OH MY GOSH! Totally put some off as his voice is squeaky and sound so much like that of a boy whose voice hasn’t break yet! I won’t be surprised if he hasn’t reach puberty yet… HAH!

If I had sounded too extreme, those were really, as I have mentioned, my pent-up thoughts over the years… Din want to vent them here until this incident happened…Before I end, let me leave a quote here which may correlate with what I feel.

“I wish I could stand in a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours.�
-Bernard Berenson