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Honesty can be the wrong policy sometimes Honesty can get you killed if you're not careful Doing the'right' thing can sometimes be the 'wrong' thing to do Being the 'good little boy' doesn't always get you home safely When we were in our teens we lived close to a large holiday camp And we'd get summer jobs there My brother had a job as a swimming pool attendant cleaning swimming pools, He got me a job working alongside him, There was another guy too, but he kept going missing and it wasn't long before he got the sack So that just left the two of us. There were two pools, an indoor and an outdoor With the indoor, a vacuum with ropes attached would be lowered onto the bottom of the pool One Pool attendant would stand on one side of the pool While the other would stand on the other And between them they'd pull it back and forth across the bottom of the pool Going slowly up the pool in increments till the whole pool had been covered/ cleaned. For the outdoor pool we had a machine, it was a heavy thing with wheels You'd attach these big poles to it then lower it into the pool And then push it out with the pole And then bring it back in with the pole You'd do this the whole way along. My brother told me he once lost the machine in the pool And he said it was a hell of a job retrieving it And the boss had run him over the coals over it and warned him not to let it happen again. Anyway I'd only been in the job 2 or 3 weeks when my brother, he decided to take a day off He left me no instructions what to do So I found myself all alone there this evening (We did an evening shift) When the pool closed I got out my bucket and mop and cleaned all the decks, all the tiled floors surrounding the pool After that I said to myself, I'm the Pool Attendant, it's my job to clean the Pools I'll get the machine out just like my brother (I'd only seen my brother use it once) So there I am wheeling this big machine out And I'm proud of myself, it's like Look at me, I'm the Pool Attendant And then suddenly there's this big flight of stairs going down to the ground floor where the outdoor pool is And I'm thinking, 'I wonder how do you get this thing down the stairs' There's no one around to help I think 'I'll just put it out a bit over the stairs then I'll lift it up and lead it down on its wheels, just like leading a dog" So I push the wheels out over the edge a bit then I raise the machine The moment I do this though, the whole machine takes off down the stairs with me holding onto it Bump, bump, bump the whole way down a very large flight of stairs Lucky there was no one coming up the stairs or it would have been like a bowling alley. So I end up at the bottom of the stairs in a heap all bruised and battered Suddenly this girl runs in and she's all over me "Are you alright, are you alright!!! You're after falling down the stairs. I seen it, it was awful. Do you need a doctor!" Of course, I'm embarrassed more than anything else, I thank her for her concern But assure her I'm alright I stand up and brush myself off Then I think, "Well at least I got it down the stairs" The girl, she persists, Are you sure you're alright, are you sure you don't need a doctor I thank the girl again for her concern Then I straighten myself and think "I'm the Pool Attendant. Gotta clean the Pool, I gotta do my job". So I wheel the machine out into where the outdoor pool is I plug it in and it starts making this whirring noise Then I attach one of the poles to it And then I put it sitting up on the edge of the pool ready to lower it in Across from me there's a lot of windows looking down upon the Pool I think to myself there's probably some people watching me... the pressure is on Suddenly I get nervous, I think the last time I put this machine over the edge of something It took off and took me with it I could get drowned here if I'm not careful And I can't swim Then I think about what my brother had told me That he'd once lost the machine in the Pool And how it caused a lot of trouble, And y'know the sad thing was it was this that seemed to scare me more The thought of losing their precious machine in the pool Than the possibility of me drowning Finally I decided I couldn't do it, or shouldn't do it I took the machine down and unplugged it, and removed the pole I wheeled it back, I got the guy who cleaned the toilets To give me a hand carrying it up the stairs, I put the machine to bed. Looking back I was glad I had the courage to say "No! I wasn't sure I could do this" In those days there was no such thing as... well, as self worth People had no worth at all it seemed The only important thing was to hold onto your job and probably not make a fool of yourself I suppose. As I sat there, the indoor Pool was very ghostly looking in the dark... in the shadows With the lights from the street below reflected in the waters (the Pool had see through glass windows).  I found the scene very quietening...magical almost.
0
Feb 11, 2022
Feb 11, 2022 at 11:29 PM UTC
bardo
Honesty can be the wrong policy sometimes (Swimming Pool Attendant)
Honesty can be the wrong policy sometimes Honesty can get you killed if you're not careful Doing the'right' thing can sometimes be the 'wrong' thing to do Being the 'good little boy' doesn't always get you home safely When we were in our teens we lived close to a large holiday camp And we'd get summer jobs there My brother had a job as a swimming pool attendant cleaning swimming pools, He got me a job working alongside him, There was another guy too, but he kept going missing and it wasn't long before he got the sack So that just left the two of us. There were two pools, an indoor and an outdoor With the indoor, a vacuum with ropes attached would be lowered onto the bottom of the pool One Pool attendant would stand on one side of the pool While the other would stand on the other And between them they'd pull it back and forth across the bottom of the pool Going slowly up the pool in increments till the whole pool had been covered/ cleaned. For the outdoor pool we had a machine, it was a heavy thing with wheels You'd attach these big poles to it then lower it into the pool And then push it out with the pole And then bring it back in with the pole You'd do this the whole way along. My brother told me he once lost the machine in the pool And he said it was a hell of a job retrieving it And the boss had run him over the coals over it and warned him not to let it happen again. Anyway I'd only been in the job 2 or 3 weeks when my brother, he decided to take a day off He left me no instructions what to do So I found myself all alone there this evening (We did an evening shift) When the pool closed I got out my bucket and mop and cleaned all the decks, all the tiled floors surrounding the pool After that I said to myself, I'm the Pool Attendant, it's my job to clean the Pools I'll get the machine out just like my brother (I'd only seen my brother use it once) So there I am wheeling this big machine out And I'm proud of myself, it's like Look at me, I'm the Pool Attendant And then suddenly there's this big flight of stairs going down to the ground floor where the outdoor pool is And I'm thinking, 'I wonder how do you get this thing down the stairs' There's no one around to help I think 'I'll just put it out a bit over the stairs then I'll lift it up and lead it down on its wheels, just like leading a dog" So I push the wheels out over the edge a bit then I raise the machine The moment I do this though, the whole machine takes off down the stairs with me holding onto it Bump, bump, bump the whole way down a very large flight of stairs Lucky there was no one coming up the stairs or it would have been like a bowling alley. So I end up at the bottom of the stairs in a heap all bruised and battered Suddenly this girl runs in and she's all over me "Are you alright, are you alright!!! You're after falling down the stairs. I seen it, it was awful. Do you need a doctor!" Of course, I'm embarrassed more than anything else, I thank her for her concern But assure her I'm alright I stand up and brush myself off Then I think, "Well at least I got it down the stairs" The girl, she persists, Are you sure you're alright, are you sure you don't need a doctor I thank the girl again for her concern Then I straighten myself and think "I'm the Pool Attendant. Gotta clean the Pool, I gotta do my job". So I wheel the machine out into where the outdoor pool is I plug it in and it starts making this whirring noise Then I attach one of the poles to it And then I put it sitting up on the edge of the pool ready to lower it in Across from me there's a lot of windows looking down upon the Pool I think to myself there's probably some people watching me... the pressure is on Suddenly I get nervous, I think the last time I put this machine over the edge of something It took off and took me with it I could get drowned here if I'm not careful And I can't swim Then I think about what my brother had told me That he'd once lost the machine in the Pool And how it caused a lot of trouble, And y'know the sad thing was it was this that seemed to scare me more The thought of losing their precious machine in the pool Than the possibility of me drowning Finally I decided I couldn't do it, or shouldn't do it I took the machine down and unplugged it, and removed the pole I wheeled it back, I got the guy who cleaned the toilets To give me a hand carrying it up the stairs, I put the machine to bed. Looking back I was glad I had the courage to say "No! I wasn't sure I could do this" In those days there was no such thing as... well, as self worth People had no worth at all it seemed The only important thing was to hold onto your job and probably not make a fool of yourself I suppose. As I sat there, the indoor Pool was very ghostly looking in the dark... in the shadows With the lights from the street below reflected in the waters (the Pool had see through glass windows).  I found the scene very quietening...magical almost.
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