A long semester of studying, late-night fast food runs, and weekends you’ll never remember is finally over. You’re so burnt out that all you want to do is enjoy your newfound freedom by binge-watching Netflix and having even more unmemorable nights.
After about a week of McDonalds runs and bad habits, the cold reality of a college budget slaps you in the face. If you want to be able to enjoy your summer and continue paying for college, you need to find a job. You could wait tables or babysit, but those wages are unstable and dependant on what the customer is willing to pay.
There’s one job that I believe stands above the rest: lifeguarding. I’ll admit, having been a lifeguard for four years now, so I’m a little bit biased, but here are seven reasons why lifeguarding is the best summer job for college students.
1. Less work than most jobs
Lifeguarding itself is mostly just sitting in a chair and yelling at little kids that act exactly like you used to at pools. Add in the hourly breaks, and you have the perfect recipe for a lazy college student.
2, You get paid to tan
Being a lifeguard is like having a tanning salon membership that pays you. It’s way better to show up to your after-work plans smelling like sunscreen instead of old French fries. Be careful though, your whistle tan line could leave you resembling a dog that lost its leash.
3. People-watching is your entertainment
If I videotaped every funny thing I’ve ever seen lifeguarding, I could make a whole season of "America’s Funniest Home Videos." Whether it’s the daily little kid slipping while running around the pool, to women frantically grabbing for their wigs at the bottom of the waterslide, people’s embarrassment is your entertainment. Best part? You get to see it all safely hidden behind your sunglasses.
4. You know how to save people...
Just think: like Peter Parker, you could be a hero at any moment. Whether it’s at work, or just walking down the street, your CPR and lifeguarding licenses give you the ability to spring into action and save another person’s life.
5. …Which will most likely never happen
Besides on TV, how many times have you actually seen someone perform CPR? Community pool lifeguards rarely see any action, and even if you work somewhere crowded enough to see the occasional drowner, it usually only calls for carrying a kid too short to stand in four feet of water.
6. Most of your coworkers are cool
Besides management and the occasional adult that never got a real job, most lifeguards are teenagers and college students. Not only can having like-minded coworkers make time fly by at work, it also makes for great after-work staff bonding.
7. Thunderstorms give you easy money
Every time there’s thunder or lightning, the pool gets evacuated for 30 minutes. If there’s nothing to clean, this usually leads to paid goof-off time.
Don't get me wrong, being a lifeguard isn't the perfect job. Yelling at kids for breaking the same rules over and over again can get tiring, and nobody likes to clean bathrooms. All I'm saying is that being a lifeguard is the perfect job for a college student looking to make some money in a low-stress environment.
