Thanks can mean a ton.

[decompression]

I'm posting this in this forum in hopes that new or soon to be new divers can take away something from this.

i got an email today, a recent student, just wanted to thank me for my patience (she termed herself a "problem child") and was very appreciative as she believed she had more than the usual amount of fear and anxiety. She finished a holiday in Maui and said the best part was being able to dive with her husband.

it made me reflect on over 12 years of teaching and hundreds of students. How many thank you's have I received, many by email, some by card, even small gifts. And in recent years posts on FB, SB and other media. Besides the smiles and excitement I see, the thank you's are a reminder of why I do this.

So, take the time, in your own way, to thank your instructor/DM or assistant. Your thanks feels better than new dive gear.........well.......almost.

dive safe.

 

[TSandM]

There was a cave diving fatality a year and a half ago or so, where a woman panicked because she got disoriented in a cave she knew. After that accident, I wrote to all of my cave instructors, to thank them for the thorough and critical training they had given me. I got a report that one of them got tears in his eyes when he read my note, because nobody ever does that. (The other one never bothered to answer me.) Anyway, I was very happy to hear that my note had meant something to him.

 

[tplyons]

A little thanks goes a VERY long way. I'm no pro in scuba diving but have trained people in other skills. I agree 100%!

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I have had many students offer informal "thank yous" and a couple of nice notes and letters. Every one of them was welcomed and helped make my day. "Thank yous" are always appropriate, not only from students to instructors, but also the other way around. I thank students who help with loading and unloading gear and tanks. I thank students who are attentive and invested in a class. And I thank every student for the opportunity to work with them and dive with them. They choose us, and that's a nice thing. Thank you.
DivemasterDennis

 

[avengerki]

I have made sure to thank my instructor a few times now, both in class and out of it as he has helped me with different things and questions.

 

[Dive the World]

I am going to this right away.

 

[o2dependant]

I usually follow up wih a comprehensive tripadvisor review or something like that. That way they get my appriciation and maybe some more business out of it too.

 

[nolatom]

Who you haven't heard from are the many buddies who have dived with your graduates, and have silently thanked you for teaching divers well. I have had several insta-buddies who, though new, knew what they were doing. What a pleasure to see the result. Thanks to their instructors, whoever they may be.

And thanks to mine too (Dave and Sunday Delger at Caribbean Dive Shop in New Orleans), who didn't cut corners in their teaching either. The result that I saw, was that "their" divers tended to stay out of trouble, and to be the ones who went the assistance of those who did.

Sort of like, "if you can read this, thank a teacher"? So thanks out loud to those I have formerly thanked silently. You know who you are, I don't ;-)