First off I'd like to say that I really appreciate the work of the guys who brought the bodies up. I work at the Valencia Sport Chalet, in the Scuba Dive dept, about a 15 minute drive from Castaic Lake. I've been on the water there many times and we were all initially shocked to hear about what had happened.
However... when i was working the day that those 4 men came into sport chalet to get their OMS doubles filled, I almost came unglued. At that time I didnt know their names, but they wanted a fill done and they wanted it fast.
Let me stop for a moment and explain something. Working for Sport Chalet, you have to be Fill/Visual certified before you can use a fill station. I was sent by SC Inc. to a course on fills and visual inspections which lasted 8 hrs, and now I am internationally certified through a company called PSI to do fills and visual inspections.
At the time they came in, I was the only person workin in my department, and i was *not* fill certified. I explained that my co-worker in Fishing was fill certified and would help them out as soon as he was off the phone with a customer he was talking to. One of the guys makes a big show of pulling out his wallet and showing me his 'blender card' and saying that he'll just step on over to the deck and fill them himself. Above the deck there is a huge sign saying "ONLY CERTIFIED, ON DUTY SPORT CHALET EMPLOYEES ARE TO USE THIS EQUIPMENT". I pointed this sign out to the man, and told him that my coworker would be over in just a few minutes. He started making a big fuss right there on the display floor saying loudly about how its sad that he couldng get any *****ing service and how regulations werent made to be followed, they were only there for people who didnt know what they were doing.
Meanwhile, his other 3 friends crowd back into my backstock room that is EMPLOYEES ONLY like they owned the place becuase they had OMS doubles in their shopping carts and started pullin the rental regs down off the hooks. The one guy says "Hey, look" and picks up a Titan reg. he says "these things are made of solid brass, they rock. I take mine sometimes and use it as my only primary at 500 feet." sure he does...
So anyway, my co-worker comes back over and gets ready to fill their tanks. The one guy gets pissed off that my coworker is even bothering to check for vis/hydro dates, and complains about how damn long sport chalet employees take to get anything done. My coworker then opens the valves on the tank to get filled, and goes to check the isolation valve. The guy just comes unglued at the seams, he's like "HEY DONT YOU TOUCH THAT *****ING THING" My coworker gets pissed at the guy cuz he's only trying to do his job, and after threatening to call security on him if he doesnt calm down and start acting in a civil manner, procedes with the fill.
Then the guy says "yeah, we're gonna go find BODIES ok? i be you guys never get to do that huh. you prolly wont ever have the kind of experience" Cowoker and i look at eachother and roll our eyes. Coworker asks him about the isolation valve, the guy then says "yeah we dont like people touching them cuz the damn guys at a LDS will screw them closed while they're filling the tanks, and we dont find that out till we are underwater and need the air. "
They leave, and coworker turns to me and says "so much for professonalism and training. If they bothered with a thorough predive check and buddy checks with special equipment then they would know about it and fix it *before* they had been in the water for 20 minutes." Personally, I agree.
Just a little insight for some of you to where the rubber meets the road. These people do perform tasks that most people are not experienced to do, and they do help out alot. But they sure arent angels, and and anger management class or a lesson on humility probably wouldnt hurt. I dont have a problem with people who know what their doing, and are experience in their field. but when it comes down to rudeness and boasting about how great it is what their doing.... that doesnt cut it. As a introductory technical diver, i hope i dont turn out that way.
Just something to think about guys.
)
