Bitterness of Scuba Instructors

[Rogersea]

Until I started participating on the Scuba Board forum, I was unaware that there was this pervasive bitterness on the part of scuba instructors toward their students.

There seems to be hostility toward incompetence, a sort of arrogance, among many of the posters here. Most of the instructors on this forum are as nice as could be, but many seem to have a certain resentment or hostility, for some reason.

Any idea where this comes from?

I wonder if it has to do with their clientele making more money than they do. I understand that scuba instruction is not very well compensated, whereas the expenses associated with scuba diving make it a sport more likely to be practiced by those with comfortable incomes.

Understand that I am not displaying bitterness here, butI think you have way too much time on your hands...

Cheers,
Roger

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Hmmm... Well he was talented and educated enough to get you to pay him for something that in reality you could have done yourself with a shovel. Did he use a machine like a backhoe? If so did he crack the tank or punch a hole in it with that what 20 ft arm that has 3 joints and numerous hydraulic lines that are manipulated by half a dozen levers and a couple pedals? Try a similar set up the next time you do a trach tube. Tell me it does not take talent. And it's also likely he maintains it himself. He needs to know mechanics, hydraulics, electrical, etc . I'd call that educated. But then us blue collar guys experience and training doesn't count as education. I can set up a machine to cut through steel and hold tolerances of .002 inches with a stream of water .030 in diameter. But anybody off the street can do that, right? You could come in and do it. This is why there is such diviseness and bitterness in this country. What I do can't possibly be as hard as what you do cause I am a blue collar or manual labor worker.
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[weaserm99]

Ive never been bitter towards a student nor am i bitter that a lot of my diving is usually designed in making sure that other people have a good time. To be honest taking an advanced student and showing them how to dive the local area and how to properly execute a lot of different dives is actually more fun to me than going out and diving a shipwreck.

Now with saying that do i get frustrated with students? Yes i do, but i dont let them see it, its funny actually because ive had students apologize to me for being a slow learner and being stuck with them, but in the end when i can present a certification card to them it is a great feeling.

Now the thing that i see on the board a lot is that many on here seem to complain about new divers and how they dont have perfect buoyancy or they have trouble getting geared up etc. etc. The thing that angers me about that is that in real life i hear the same things from experienced divers, they dont remember how it was being a brand new diver.

I remember one diver in particular, i was on a trip with him and he was diving with me and another instructor, most of the time that we were calling dives was due to his air consumption being higher than ours. Now the story is funny for a few reasons, a few times he didnt dive with us and when we got back to the boat and told the others about our dives he would always say that our dives sounded better than his. Throughout the week he would joke with the crews on the boats to not fill our tanks as high as we didnt need the air. We had some good natured jokes at his expense that everyone laughed at.

Now this same diver a few months later was complaining about someones air consumption rate and how he had to end his dives shorter than what he would have liked, at that point i simply pointed out to him that if he dove with me he would be the one causing the dive to end early.

The whole point of that story is that ive seen some divers that right away are pretty good divers and ive seen some divers that need a little more work in getting their skills better.

Now the only reason i seem to see instructors usually get a little peturbed about is that a lot of experienced divers think they can do the same thing that instructors can, ive even had a diver say to me after i froze a regulator towing a diver (suffered from spina bifida, could kick but not very well) that they could have done the dive without freezing their regulator, my only response was that i wouldnt let them do that with a student but they could try it with me and we could see the results, to this day they have not taking me up on the offer.

So just remember divers, i can almost guarantee that when you first started diving you were not the perfect diver.

 

[Bombay High]

Matt,
It's the Internet. Stop taking it personally or seriously. There are loads of really experienced people here, sharing their knowledge because they enjoy helping others. Take what you need, ignore what you don't like.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Hmmm... Well he was talented and educated enough to get you to pay him for something that in reality you could have done yourself with a shovel. Did he use a machine like a backhoe? If so did he crack the tank or punch a hole in it with that what 20 ft arm that has 3 joints and numerous hydraulic lines that are manipulated by half a dozen levers and a couple pedals? Try a similar set up the next time you do a trach tube. Tell me it does not take talent. And it's also likely he maintains it himself. He needs to know mechanics, hydraulics, electrical, etc . I'd call that educated. But then us blue collar guys experience and training doesn't count as education. I can set up a machine to cut through steel and hold tolerances of .002 inches with a stream of water .030 in diameter. But anybody off the street can do that, right? You could come in and do it. This is why there is such diviseness and bitterness in this country. What I do can't possibly be as hard as what you do cause I am a blue collar or manual labor worker.
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You think you get disrespect Jim? Try doing what I do for a living. I write manuals for a municipal utillity ... and I'd way rather tell people I'm a manual laborer than tell them I work for the government ... :shocked2:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ozzydamo]

. " Most" of the instructors on this forum are as nice as could be, but "many" seem to have a certain resentment or hostility,

Maybe they're frustrated by conflicting comments in the one sentence' you can't have most nice but many are hostile!

 

[rhwestfall]

Maybe they're frustrated by conflicting comments in the one sentence' you can't have most nice but many are hostile!

dang, you solved it - they are bi-polar!!!!!!!!!

(P.S. - this still needs to be in W&C - where the real discussion could take place. In here, the lace table cloth might get soiled)

 

[ozzydamo]

You think you get disrespect Jim? Try doing what I do for a living. I write manuals for a municipal utillity ... and I'd way rather tell people I'm a manual laborer than tell them I work for the government ... :shocked2:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Yeah but you wouldn't swap the pay check at $8/hr competing with Latino illegals hey? You make a service worthless, you better be able to do the work yourself, when nobody longer bothers learning a Trade for a living.
Irony of you name "Grateful" tisssssssss'

 

[ozzydamo]

dang, you solved it - they are bi-polar!!!!!!!!!

(P.S. - this still needs to be in W&C - where the real discussion could take place. In here, the lace table cloth might get soiled)

More likely it's senility! or he was a woodstock veteran!

 

[ScubaSteve]

I see the "drop the **** bomb and run" thread is still going on. I don't think this belongs in the W&C forum - but my statement there is likely to cause it to move - since the OP has an argument that is not really a whine. In fact it is nothing. He has stated a loosely formed opinion with nothing to back it up. Not really a whine IMO.