Quiz time! You're a lifeguard and you see a man drowning. Would you save his life? What if it was going to get you fired from your lifeguarding gig?
If you're thinking that's one of the dumbest questions you've ever heard, heads up: Tomas Lopez says that is exactly what happened to him. On Monday, the lifeguard, well, former lifeguard saved a man who is now in critical condition in a Florida hospital. And now Lopez is out of a job.
According to statements to the media from supervisors at Jeff Ellis and Associates, the drowning man who the lifeguard helped was swimming in an area that was marked "swim at your own risk." The company doesn't pay for lifeguarding service for that area of Hallandale Beach. They say they don’t permit their lifeguards to protect anyone outside of their official areas because of liability and safety issues.
What they say may well be true. But I wager that if a single member of the Jeff Ellis staff was drowning, and there was a lifeguard somewhere in the vicinity, they'd cease to think like businessmen and start thinking like an average human being. They'd want help. Pronto.
Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you be grateful that someone looked at you drowning and said, "Screw the rules, I can help that human"? That's you, thinking like a person, not a businessman.
I'm well aware that business owners have the bottom line to think about, especially in this economy. But businesses are made up of people and they exist to serve people. As people, we have to think beyond finances in order to survive, in order to flourish.
People think, for example, about what value a company puts on human life when they choose where to spend their money. If you're going to go swimming, do you choose a place staffed by lifeguards who go above and beyond, or one where a guy drowned last week because the trained professional said, "Eh, let 'em die, he was stupid"? I know which I'd choose, which begs the question: if Tomas Lopez was fired for violating the rules to save someone's life, what does the company think they gained?
They could have had a public relations dream on their hands if they'd given Lopez an award and slapped him on the back. That's what you do with stellar employees: you reward them so they will continue to excel, hence enhancing your company's reputation. That's why you hire them, after all: because a company needs good people to make the company look good.
Instead they have a public relations nightmare that mirrors what they likely would have had if the man had drowned: no one wants to go support a company that puts profits before people.
What do you think should have been done here? Is Lopez right? Is the company?
Image via Tony Fischer Photography/Flickr
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Comments 23
There comes a time when you dont care if you loose your job...I would do the same thing.
I saw this on GMA this morning and was so proud of this young man for doing the right thing. How could he have lived with himself had he not acted? As for those who ask "wwhat is wrong with America today?" YOu have to consider that individuals and lawyers are sue happy. By violating the company rules, this boy could be sued by some a-hole ambulance chaser who claims the lifeguard injured the victim. so there are 2 sides to this coin - big business and big law/sue happy people. Also, if part of the beach isn't patrolled by lifeguards but then that part of the city/beach feels OK by not paying for lifeguards because they know someone will help a drowning person. In the end, I understand the liability issues, but I am glad this young man listened to his heart.
So, the lifeguard went 1500 feet outside the area he was paid to cover (not a mere 2 or 3) to rescue the guy who though already pulled from the water needed the support of a trained lifegueard until EMS arrived. Did the lifeguard do the right thing? Yes. Did his employer do the wrong thing? No. There simply is no villian in this story.
It annoys the crap out of me that Jeanne Sager does such a poor job including facts important to the story. She just makes herself look like a hack when she does that.
Tomas Lopez have done the right thing. Isn't that a part of his job description?
This man will go far in life because he choses to do the right thing, even when it meqn breaking bad rules.
Mixed feelings on this one - what did he leave unprotected to go save the swimmer and where does the swimmer's complete lack of personal care come into it? Yes he was drowning, but he put himself in that position willfully ignoring signs.I get angry at people doing things that put themselves at risk and worse, the people who have to come to rescue them. At some point you have to say you made your choices.
Lose a job? Depends on all the circumstances and we may never know the whole story. On the surface of course it looks like the company is wrong....but we'll never really know.
Right or wrong, the article doesn't mention that the drowning man had already been pulled out of the water and was being treated by an off-duty nurse. The facts are that the man was no longer in danger (a quick check up to see that the guy was being cared for and a phone call to the ambulance would be enough) and the life guard left an area where the swimmers expected to be watched were left alone.