Lifeguard is fired for saving a life

This one happened not far from my area. I was told about it by a friend, so I decided to do some research, which only served to prove that this is a WGW-worthy story.

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While manning his post at Hallandale Beach, Fla., Tomaz Lopez was informed about a man struggling in a "swim at your own risk area," according to TIME Newsfeed.

In other words, someone was drowning in an area where there weren't any lifeguards posted. Sounds quite fortunate that someone would notice, but let's move on.

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Lopez, 21, and an off-duty nurse rushed to pull the man out of the water and attended to him until paramedics arrived. The man is now reported to be in stable condition.

I know, this sounds like everyday news, maybe even something for the Antidotes section, but:

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After filing an incident report to his employer, Lopez was fired for moving to an area outside of his assigned jurisdiction.

"Yeah, it's not like it was your job to save drowning people or anything!"

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His employer, Jeff Ellis & Associates, Inc., originally said that by leaving his jurisdiction, Lopez became a legal liability by leaving his assigned area unattended.

Then why aren't there two lifeguards at the same post at any given time? That's how it is at my beach, so that if someone is drowning, one can go save them while the other calls the paramedics and keeps an eye on the other beachgoers.

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At least two other lifeguards were fired after telling their supervisors that they would have done the same thing in Lopez's situation, and four others quit in protest to Lopez's release.

"Someone is drowning nearby, but they aren't in your area. You could easily save them, what do you do?"

"Uh, save them?"

"WRONG! Go pack up your things."

Fortunately for humanity, Lopez was offered his job back, but only because his boss found out that the beach wasn't really unattended, not because of the sudden realization that someone is alive today who wouldn't be and no one is worse off because of what he did.

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Lopez said that he will decline the offer, however. "It's not out of spite against the company," he told the Sun-Sentinel. "After all is said, I really just want to move on and get another job."

And I hope he does. WGWers, please discuss.

"How to Piss Off Every One of Your Employees and Alienate (And Possibly Kill) Your Customers" by These Dipshits.

Mikey has it right.

Also: No good deed goes unpunished.

And what would have happened if he'd just sat there and let the guy drown? Honestly, I think we as a culture are so afraid of lawsuits now that we've lost our common sense.

EileenK98 wrote:

And what would have happened if he'd just sat there and let the guy drown?

It'd've been a lose-lose either way. Get fired for saving someone's life outside your area, or stay in your area and let the person drown and you'd still get fired.

There's just no common sense anymore and I weep for humanity...

On another note, though, the life-guard was offered his job back and the company was all like, "Yeah, our bad." But the guy was smart enough to say, "fuck that noise, you assholes fired me! You can go fuck yourself!"