David Bastien

English 1121

Feb.19.2014

In my life there have been challenges that I had to face over the years. Growing up I was considered the underdog in anything that I did at a very young age; always had to prove myself to others. Over the years I have come to liked being overlooked and undervalue by others such as teammates, coaches and even my own parents, it gave me and edge  over many people that were in my way of fulfilling my dreams or goals. This gave me relief for not being held to the same highly place standard that many of the teams favorites player were put under on a year to year basis. It gives me a chance to just show they what I’m capable of and to be successful in it.When it comes down to facing my challenges I don’t get scare I face it head on with power no matter  the causality that led ahead, cause power is paved with hypocrisy and casualties. Without casualty nothing is ever achieved .what way can we handled our challenges to help fit our needs.

In Coney Island, located in Brooklyn, I have always felt a sense of importance in what is part of my job inscription to watch and prevent danger from happening inside the pool or beach are; whatever area that I was working that day. I was a lifeguard in beach club, an effortless job on a good day if my so called boss wasn’t there to constantly complain that we weren’t doing our jobs. Which to be honest is a lie, well expect for a lifeguard called Lee Lin who thought; just by looking once in a while, and meant that you were doing your job, but constantly I and my co-worker would catch him asleep in his chair. The only problem that we had was our boss, who would act “two-face” toward us one minute all caring and supporting and then inflicting us with emotion pain through verbal usage. Some of her favorite things that she used to say was “you guys have to watch the water no talking to these kids “while at the same time she on her cell phone talking to God knows who ,right in front of the pools area. This problem of our and mine has been affecting me for over two years but I didn’t let affect in anyway, cause I had a goal to accomplish; to become head lifeguard when she left next year.

By trying to accomplish this goal, things started to become more complex than it had to be. Trying to the perfect lifeguard and get my bosses attention and acknowledge me that have a higher chance of becoming a chief. Halfway towards the middle of the summer I started to receive acknowledge by my boss say if I  keep up the good work that ,there is a good chance I can fill her shoes when she leaves to get a full time job. At the same time hearing this I thought to myself I can start to relax and take it a little easier now, so I did and for first time while working this summer I actually started to relax. This all change when we had two big emergencies in which I was called to help solve the situation, but since I was taking it easy I was beginning to slack on studying my skills on lifeguarding, but was still able to retain what was need to help the girl who had just suffered from a heat stroke, but while I was doing the proper steps my boss later told that I took too long to do what was needed to help the patient. Which by the way wasn’t my fault because she forgot to tell me where the person was located for a good five to eight minutes cutting away important minutes if it was a very big emergency. After the situation was resolve Zhana was talking to someone and was talking about me over the radio which every worker had it on him or her could hear saying “these lifeguards this year are slow, undedicated especially David who thinks, just because his one of the few lifeguards that know what he’s doing doesn’t give him the entitlement of becoming a chief all because I’m leaving.”  This nearly destroyed my chance of become a chief next year; but it wasn’t for Sal the owner who was there and saw what I did and then defended me from my boss saying “this young man here is a very good and helpful part of your department and if you throw under the bus, I will not hesitate and do the same to you and then re-hire him on the spot”. After hearing what Sal did for me by my co-workers; who were on their lunch break I went up to him saying “thank you, thank very much, that was the most unselfish and thankful someone has done for me”. As I finish thanking Sal I pass by my boss while I was going to get something to eat, as I looked at her face I saw that she neglected to make eye contact or even acknowledge my presence to even say sorry about that.

After this incident many of my co-workers suggested to me that I should get revenge on my boss for what she did to me over the radio, but even I myself believe that I should receive payback for what she did to me. I said to them “so if you guys were me how would you go about getting revenge on somebody who can fired you in a instance all because he or she felt like doing it.My friend Stanley replied saying about you getting her doing something wrong or something out of place to get her fired and embarrassed by everyone around us; I thought to myself what would that prove that I’m no better than her by doing the same thing that she did to me. So I made up my mind that I was to wait and do my job if I get the promotion or not that I will still do the best job that can and not the deep betrayal made by my former boss. But later now in the summer she apologize for what she did to me , saying that she wanted to see what I’m made of. To see if I could take on the pressure that comes with the job, also saying that I meant be a perfect fit for the job but in my head I didn’t believe her after all the problem she had created for me during the summer like nearly destroying my reputation with my friends and the beach club members and also trying to stop from going on my vacation. Being deep betrayal by my boss left a big influence on me not to fully trust someone and their promises unless I see it firsthand.