{taken for granted}

Well I am writing after a very intense but quick week at the pool, as I may have written in the past, I am the Aquatic Coordinator at the local Water Park that is open in the summers really close to my house. {It truly has been the best summer job ever for the past 5 years.} There are many days where I think about the day, think about what I could have done better, what I could have done to make sure that my guards had everything they needed as well as to make my team work. I must say, along with probably everyone on my staff would say, I am far from the perfect supervisor and have had to learn from many mistakes. Today was one of the days that I looked from start to finish and overall it was intense at times, tiring at times, etc. but it was really an average day at the urban water park that is my home. What made me stop and think today was a comment a lifeguard said today while we were cleaning up after everyone had left, it went something like this, “It really amazes me how under-appreciated we really are; at the end of the day people leave and if they have anything to say to you {the lifeguard} at all it usually starts with a angry tone and ends in a complaint about how we could have done our job better. Not only that they never stop to think hey, this lifeguard has worked hard all day to provide safety to the swimmers and completed that task successfully even after a long 8-hour shift…” the conversation went from there. 

As I sit here from the comforts of my room, in an air conditioned house, after eating a meal it made me think, how many under-appreciated people do I come into contact with everyday? Here’s a few that I could think of, the bank teller that I use their service in order to receive my earnings from my own job, grocery store cashier, coffee shop barista, worker at the gas station, the list could go on…but really I think that our society has really veered away from or has no longer been taught that common courtesy can go a long way. My challenge as I go into the weekend, which for many people is there break from the hectic work week is to slow down just enough to say thanks to the under-appreciated people that I have in my life, so maybe they could go home from work saying hey someone does think I am doing my job well and appreciate my service. In a world filled with the focus always on oneself, we need to be able to move beyond ourselves and take the time to see from another perspective. A simple smile and thank you really do go a long way, coming from my perspective; as just the annoying unfair rule-focused lifeguard. 

Wishing you a good and relaxing weekend!