When thinking about a potato, you probably begin to think about variations of them. You might think of french fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, tater tots, or even sweet potatoes. This is where you and I differ as people. If someone says potato around me, I automatically start laughing because I think of a former head lifeguard, Al.

Al was a white 19-year-old, with blonde hair and blue eyes, about 5’4, and had a longer torso then legs with a gut. He had been a lifeguard for two years and became a head guard at the same time I did. Al would always show up early and would do any task he was given at any time of day. Granted, he was the lifeguard that no one really liked and was walked all over because he was always loud and way too happy about literally everything. We all knew when he applied for leadership it was going to be bad. When he got the position the power went straight to his head with no stop. He started walking around like he was the best thing ever and popped off at people for no reason. He stopped caring about work and constantly stayed in trouble with the supervisors. This is how he got his new name, The Potato.

Al became The Potato because of the reference of “a lazy potato.” When he stopped caring about everything but himself, we thought it would be fitting to call him that, and also because of his shape. He went along with it because he thought it was cool for the in-crowd to have a nickname for him. When he would have some attitude or put his hand on his hip, we would call him a sweet potato. The Potato’s new nickname got out of just being used by leadership, and suddenly the lifeguards started to call him that, and then it got to the point everyone at the park called him that because they all knew how lazy and uncaring he became once he got the position. There is no way to run an effective waterpark with a good team of leaders if one of the leaders is to busy stuck in the ground.

The Potato stayed through the whole water park season, but knew he would never get his position back as head lifeguard, which is also why he started to care so little about his job performance. When at a job, you never should promote the person who has been sheltered their whole life or given no real rules, because that is a setup for power to go to that person’s head. Never work for that situation because it is an unhappy place, and effective leadership is key to an effective workplace. Power-hungry people will eventually do bad things if given power, and more than likely will be fired for something much worse. Which is what happened to The Potato who had to much power.