How to piss off a Divemaster?

[Akimbo]

That's body-language for "leave me the hell alone". Not everybody wants to talk or wants "help." ....

It can also mean “None of you people have proven yourself to me yet”. The trouble is that Dive-masters have just as much reason to be skeptical of the competency of their customers. There are horror stories on both sides.

I come from a world where tenders are paid to assist the diver in every way without getting in the way. It isn’t that hard. Unlike tenders, Dive-masters are in the hospitality business. Like tenders, they “should” anticipate needs while remembering their job is to serve the needs of the diver. I think handing someone their fins, pointing out a dangling strap, or steadying them in a rolling sea is a common courtesy. Turning valves without permission or intimating they are somehow superior is obnoxious.

It takes time to earn respect on both sides of the ledger.

 

[cocoajoe]

His (her) job is to ensure your safety. Let them do their job.

Id id be more pissed if they just didn't care.

You have to be joking, would you want anybody you didn't know fiddling with your gear? C'mon man!

 

[Dr. Lecter]

His (her) job is to ensure your safety. Let them do their job.

Id id be more pissed if they just didn't care.

We've covered this exact issue ad nauseam in an earlier thread or three, so suffice to say they can do their jobs without touching my gear without permission.

If I'm falling off a rec boat with a single tank, that kind of idiocy would usually only get a gentle reminder that they'd better keep their hands to themselves. In doubles/dry suit and/or doing a negative entry, there will be physical intervention before their hands touch my valves.

Between the risk of dying because I was an idiot, and the risk of dying because someone else was an idiot, I'll take the former every single time.


Sent from my Shearwater Petrel using Tapatalk

 

[nimoh]

since this thread is specifically about what divers do to piss of DMs and not the reverse, perhaps we could just drop the whole "DM touched my gear" issue that has been discussed many times in other threads.

I for one am enjoying reading some of the stories being told.

 

[flots am]

OK, want to hear the other side? What would you say/do if a DM put his hand on your valve and turned it (to make sure gas was on presumably) just before entry?

Don't care. The DM fiddling with the valve is no more dangerous than the rental tank that might be filled with sludge.

I assume my stuff won't work at the most inopportune moment, so if the dyslexic DM happens to turn off my tank, I always have a pony slung in front or am diving sidemount Also, I can reach my own tank valves and still have a free hand to flip off the DM.

---------- Post added December 17th, 2013 at 08:00 PM ----------

It can also mean “None of you people have proven yourself to me yet”.

If I signed the wavier, showed my c-card and paid for the dive, and they took my money, I don't have to prove squat.

In fact, the DM evaluating diver capabilities would be a huge liability.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

If I signed the wavier, showed my c-card and paid for the dive, and they took my money, I don't have to prove squat.

In fact, the DM evaluating diver capabilities would be a huge liability.

I think Akimbo was referring to some divers' non-interactive presence on the boat being a form of 'let's watch and see what kind of child-lecturing bottom tiller I'm dealing with today' re: DMs. If they show they have their head screwed on straight, then they're possibly worth talking to...but until then, sit back, get your gear ready, and politely indicate their presence is surplus to requirement.

 

[Centrals]

I had never experienced un-guided dive in SE Asia except on tec dive. I had witnessed on plenty occasions that the dm was really pissed off by the behaviour of some divers(experience count nothing, actually those who claimed to be experienced are the worst)!!
I do not envy their job/duty and actually feel sorry for them most of the time. They will get all the blame if the dive turned out badly eg. there is only one small reef shark, no Harlequin ghost pipe fish etc etc.

 

[bracko]

^^ I admit I'm sometimes a pain in the ass when on holiday, It's usually (exclusively thus far) been about groupings on the boat... What does annoy me is being lumped with groups that clearly aren't appropriate for what I want out of my holiday which I am paying good money for. I understand that not everything goes according to plan. but (as an example) putting the pretty girl in the boat leader's group because you want to hit on her and splitting the 3 photographers up on the boat is just plan incompetence.


Most of my DM experience is with assisting courses...

Divers that know much more than you about everything to do with diving.... who are OW students.
Divers who cannot cope with a female instructor (this happens more often than I would have previously believed, and not just alpha males)
Certified Divers who are on the boat doing a rec dive and argue, annoy, one-up for the sake of it when you are assisting a class. (this is my biggest pet peve and has resulted in 2 divers not being welcome on the boat when a class is onboard)
[Mainly Certified] Divers who wait till you've surfaced swum 100m to announce they're not sure about their setup
Student Divers who keep signalling OK when their eyes are the size of frypans and you (I) keep looking over my shoulder expecting to see a Great White hurtling toward me.

that's probably it. the rest would be things I've read more than once in this thread... not listening, not being interested...​

 

[Mike]

If I signed the wavier, showed my c-card and paid for the dive, and they took my money, I don't have to prove squat.

Exactly. I'll show the dive master the same courtesy and respect I'll show the local bag boy at the super market, the waiter at the restaurant, the person I sit next to on a airplane flight... they are just people like everyone else

Recreational divers go on dive vacations to go on vacation. Diving is a recreational activity. Many of us dive for personal fun and enjoyment, not to prove we can hover or frog kick or demonstrate the skills that develop by doing the same activities every day for 4 years in a row like dive masters do. A dive master might know how to use a saw or drive some nails, but if he comes on my construction site he won't perform at the level that one of my full time carpenters can. Neither will a recreational diver on vacation be a professional diver.

The people under your care are there for fun and probably on vacation, they paid a great deal to get away maybe once every 3 or 4 years, saving for years to enjoy the place that you work in everyday, what's so old hat to you, what's grown so routine is brand new and exciting to them. So what pisses off a dive master? I don't really care.

If you're pissed off, get out of the service industry. I'm quite frankly sick and tired of people in the service industry who aren't people persons, who aren't excited about serving their customers. If you think being a diver master is about the diving you still haven't figured it out yet.

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

Silent people annoy me. They will be on the boat for the best part of a day not talking to anyone. When questioned about their diving interests, their replies are vague and they look disinterested- it's really hard to plan a dive site for these folks. They can really change the dynamics of an otherwise upbeat group of people. Communication is important- it makes everyone's life so much easier. Everyone has bad mornings, but I've had multiple days with the same people on the boat.

I have to agree. Not as a DM, but as a fellow boat passenger. These types of divers creep me out. A disproportionate number of the incidents/accidents I've seen on boat dives have been perpetrated by these silent, withdrawn, incommunicative types.

Be an introvert, fine. But beyond a certain point, your lack of communication can affect everyone's safety.