I just saw it in my newsfeed earlier today - https://text.npr.org/1102951892 - it looks like the US is facing an unprecedented shortage of lifeguards and as a result up to a half of all public swimming pools may stay closed this season.
There are many legitimate explanations of this - notably issues with foreign students coming (or, more precisely, NOT coming this year) on J1 visas, as well as the overall condition of a job market in many cities (like there are many other places that may pay better and be less demanding), but I think there may be another aspect of this that most people don't want to acknowledge.
Traditionally, seasonal lifeguards in pools were males in their late teens, looking for a temp summer job. It's no secret, that one of the "selling points" of this job has always been "Dude, you're gonna be surrounded by cute almost-naked young chicks all day long and you'll be in a perfect spot to flex your muscles and hook up with multiple girls over the summer". And I had a coworker in his late 40s who told me exactly this more than a decade ago - his 16yo son used to work as a summer pool lifeguard and when I asked him what his son was doing, he just laughed and responded something like "sunbathing all day long and fucking a new chick every night".
Well, it's 2022 now. Every foid
is now strictly Chad-only and even when she's out sunbathing, she's on her phone all the time. She's not even looking at that poor 16-yo dude at the lifeguard stand - she has messages from ten different Chads to respond to. One of the legendary pillars of this summer job is pretty much gone - if you are not Chad, there's literally nothing for you to chase here, and if you are a Chad, there are much easier and much better paying jobs to apply to and be hired on the spot just for looks (like a bartender or a waiter in a posh restaurant).
Thoughts?
There are many legitimate explanations of this - notably issues with foreign students coming (or, more precisely, NOT coming this year) on J1 visas, as well as the overall condition of a job market in many cities (like there are many other places that may pay better and be less demanding), but I think there may be another aspect of this that most people don't want to acknowledge.
Traditionally, seasonal lifeguards in pools were males in their late teens, looking for a temp summer job. It's no secret, that one of the "selling points" of this job has always been "Dude, you're gonna be surrounded by cute almost-naked young chicks all day long and you'll be in a perfect spot to flex your muscles and hook up with multiple girls over the summer". And I had a coworker in his late 40s who told me exactly this more than a decade ago - his 16yo son used to work as a summer pool lifeguard and when I asked him what his son was doing, he just laughed and responded something like "sunbathing all day long and fucking a new chick every night".
Well, it's 2022 now. Every foid
is now strictly Chad-only and even when she's out sunbathing, she's on her phone all the time. She's not even looking at that poor 16-yo dude at the lifeguard stand - she has messages from ten different Chads to respond to. One of the legendary pillars of this summer job is pretty much gone - if you are not Chad, there's literally nothing for you to chase here, and if you are a Chad, there are much easier and much better paying jobs to apply to and be hired on the spot just for looks (like a bartender or a waiter in a posh restaurant).Thoughts?
