Ok... so I might sound like a big hypocrite... because as I type this I am sitting in a wooden beach-side resort in the Philippines, enjoying a mango shake and watching the sun glitter on calm azure seas... chilling out after a 7 days of diving with customers and teaching scuba courses. That's not a bad life. That's what most of my customers see. They don't see the pressures of living here... the money issues, the relationship issues, the injuries, the exhaustion, the commitments and sacrifices I've made to be here. As they say... the grass is always greener on the other side. Sometimes I do envy those holidaymakers who come here... with money to spend...secure employment...quality healthcare...financial stability... On particularly bad days, I even think I might want to swap places with them.... but that's rare
Lest this turn into another why go pro vs. not go pro thread, I might wax poetic very similarly about my years working in the Swiss Alps - it doesn't answer the core of my question - why do untalented students feel that they CAN (and thusly should) become the instructor? It has to be more than the lifestyle... and can PADI's marketing message really be that strong? If so, those guys are seriously in the wrong business.
I wonder how much of it is socioeconomic? How many candidates are privileged kids who are blowing off a few years after university? Mid-life crisis candidates that suddenly "find" diving? It just seems that there must be something dramatically different about it.