Do Your Research

For the last few days I've been going back and forth with a fella on Rebreatherworld.

Here's the shortest possible version of the initial post: a diver curious about rebreathers got taken by a known con man, consequently got ripped off and insufficiently trained.  Now he's having a giant temper tantrum which included spending a likely not-insignificant amount of time making this sign.

At first glance it's laughable but I'm reminded of that last scene of The Graduate.  After the giggles wear off reality sets in... and this sign is right.  Not just in the rebreather world, but in the dive world at large.

I personally have known at least a dozen instructors who shouldn't have been allowed to teach anyone to tie their shoes, much less how to dive at any level.  But the industry allows it for a variety of reasons, some of them based in their own immobility and greed... but mostly the industry responds to customer demands.

Students don't really know enough yet to know what they're looking for, so they default to things they're familiar with: cost-effectiveness, time constraints, and Yelp/Trip Advisor savviness.  But what they are really looking for, without knowing it, is shitty training.  Even in the case of the guy who made this sign, he doesn't really recognize that he has been insufficiently trained, he's more pissed that he got ripped off.

It is a shame that we don't serve our customer base better.  Instead of retreating behind QAs and only responding when students (who, again, barely know what they're talking about) accidentally notice something is amiss and complain, why aren't we more prophylactic?

At the instructor level, sadly, there are forces we have to deal with such as needing to comply with shop or local norms to work or not wanting to get friends or coworkers in trouble.

At the shop level it's keeping up with the competition (and not really being taken seriously if you report the competition).

At the agency level... well, there, I admit, I lose focus.  That's where I tend to want to place the blame.  This is the level where the marketing for better, longer, more expensive training could be decided and where the rules are carved in stone.  But I'm not certain,I have never operated at the agency level, so I don't know the challenges there.

I do know that I, personally, have been guilty of letting the system grind on at the instructor and the shop level, though.  I'll always feel bad about those past actions and spend a lot of my energy these days trying to undo that karma by sending the best divers possible out into the world.

I hope it helps move the mountain.

In the meantime, we might as well post this sign in every dive shop window.