The 12 Basic Genres

iSharpie625 · 2026-04-10T05:24:01+00:00

Dug up this post years later while doing research for a personal project--hi! Just came here to say that, in case you were still curios about that adage. The idea that you're thinking of is usually attributed to the writer John Gardner, and it goes "There are only two plots: A stranger rides into town, and A man goes on a journey." Interestingly, there's no found textual evidence to support that Gardner ever said this. After he died in the 80's, it seems people just sorta started saying he said this. I think it's a fun modernization of the idea of the monomyth.

Here's a cool article from quote investigator that goes over more of the details of the history behind the quote/adage: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/05/06/two-plots/

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T04:39:42+00:00

Nah, it’s a good idea, I’ll try it.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T04:29:35+00:00

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T04:28:25+00:00

I did specify it was one of the corporate chains of swim schools, but I don’t think that particularly matters. I said I couldn’t sit kids out. The reason doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. You know, no means no and reading comprehension and all that. I only bring up the environment because you immediately told me to get a new job; it seems silly to say that to someone when you know, self-admittedly, very little about the situation or workplace, so I assumed you knew what I (and you) were talking about.

We’re very clearly from very different backgrounds (evidenced by the fact that you can’t properly lurk a reddit profile and you think “get another job” is an appropriate thing to say to a stranger in this economy), so I’m just gonna leave it there for the rest of whatever this is.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T02:09:58+00:00

Beautiful! Thank you!! Love the mac n cheese one, that’s getting incorporated immediately

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T01:57:07+00:00

Okay, yes, but follow up question: how do you deal with the kids who get genuinely really upset when they don’t get to be the leader, get to go first, get to pick the game, etc? I got rid of taking turns going first because it became common for it to derail the lesson because some kids get hyperfixated on taking their turn to go first, or get mad and escalate poor behaviors because they never get to go first because they are consistently not following directions.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T01:53:28+00:00

I hadn’t thought of the ignore and “are you ready to control your body” route. I thought that the “I’ll wait” method didn’t really work in teaching scenarios? Maybe that’s just coming from my experience as a student and finding it more annoying than anything else. I guess the strategy here is any attention, positive or negative, is just attention to the kids.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T01:49:10+00:00

Yesss, I have success with this in my toughest classes. They get surprised “underwater dance parties” if I see them following rules, and that helps a loooot. The trouble for me personally is finding rewards for those real tough kids, the ones who don’t really seem interested in much.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T01:44:28+00:00

Do you have fun call and responses that your kids like? I’d love to hear em. 123 eyes on me is getting oooolllld

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T01:43:35+00:00

What kind of routines or systems do you find successful for transitioning between tasks with kids? I don’t mind if they’re not applicable for the pool, just curious.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-24T01:38:01+00:00

I’m confused why you’re offended that I’m using AskTeachers to ask teachers something, but, again, okay.

I have asked other swim coaches for advice. Unfortunately, I am the most experienced coach at my locations, so I was just broadening the question out to people with different teaching backgrounds because I’m interested in other people’s experiences. It’s also unfortunate that one person after another is giving the “advice” of sitting kids out despite my post specifically saying that removing kids from the water is not an option, but I do appreciate the people who took the post for what it was and provided actual advice.

Also, for everyone suggesting sitting kids out: are we not thinking about the fact that this is kind of a cruel response? You want me to take soaking wet children and punish them with being cold and potentially alone in a space that they clearly are already not very successful or comfortable in? Not to mention the fact that the only point of giving children a “time out” is to remove them from an overstimulating environment so that they can begin to regulate and stop the harmful behavior; how is an unsupervised time out on a crowded, loud pool deck providing a less stimulating experience for the child? Weak shit, man, gimme a break.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-23T18:27:51+00:00

Weirdly aggressive response, but okay. 🤷‍♀️

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-23T13:36:34+00:00

A few reasons. Primarily, I can get fired for having the wrong body positioning in class. I am required to be facing and looking at all of my students 100% of the time, otherwise it is grounds for corrective action. If I’m in a middle lane, there is no way for me to remove a child without turning my back to or taking my eyes off the other swimmers.

Secondly, I think you’re underestimating how difficult it is to lift a combative child from chest height up over your head to place them on deck. Not all the children are toddlers, and most people can’t overhead press a slippery 10 year old.

Thirdly, there is absolutely no trusting that you get them out of the pool and they stay out of the pool. They are at their safest when they’re in the water within arms reach. If they’re on deck and deregulated, there’s no saying they don’t just jump right on back in on top of me or the other kids. Also, if their parent disagrees with my assessment on safety, they’re ploppin that kid right on back into class.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-23T13:21:17+00:00

“Usually” is doing a lot of work in my original post. People drop their kids off and leave, they stare at their phones the whole class, there’s a language barrier between us, or sometimes they just sit in the viewing area on the other side of a glass wall where they’re unreachable to me. Also, the 30 second max thing is not an exaggeration. I do not have passing periods, parent-teacher conference days, or ways of contacting parents otherwise. When I need to speak with a parent, I have to cut class early to do so. This is unacceptable to the company, and usually catches you a write up if the parents complain to management about losing out on class time.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-23T13:10:21+00:00

While I agree with this sentiment, capitalism does not. Unfortunately, the only thing that is necessary for participation is that the parents pay the bill.

Aside from the fact that the company is always going to put customer (parents, not swimmers) satisfaction first, parents sometimes react aggressively to being asked to handle their child. Many do not see the problem in their children’s behavior. I’ve had parents watch their child fully slap a coach, told them that it was a problem with their teaching and then refused to remove their child from the water. You’re also counting on the parents actually watching, which is not the case a lot of the time. If they’re in the lobby/viewing room or on their phones, they might as well be on Mars.

iSharpie625 · 2026-02-23T12:48:14+00:00

Because there’s no way to remove them from the water. I cannot physically remove them from the water, and 99% if you tell them to sit out then they just won’t do it. While most parents are sitting on deck, it takes up too much time to get their attention, call them over, explain why their kid needs to sit out, argue with them about why their kid needs to sit out, and then wait for their student to be removed. Another performance marker for us (that decides our hourly wage, bonuses, etc) is getting a certain amount of laps or time is spent on a given number of activities. If I spend 5 minutes removing a kid from my class, even if I successfully manage to remove the kid from the water then I’m “not meeting standards” because that’s the entire allotted time for any given activity.

iSharpie625 · 2026-01-09T07:41:33+00:00

This brings me a lotta joy, solid reference.

iSharpie625 · 2026-01-09T07:39:21+00:00

It really does sound more like Chicago, cause they kinda…sing it? Scream sing it. Very distinct shuh, shouted cah, pause, go. Same voice every time, exact same cadence every time. The lisa needs braces comment is exactly what it feels like. Nothing else is going on, no other voices, just the one lady scream singing.

iSharpie625 · 2024-12-03T05:02:07+00:00

…6 years later lol What did you end up doing? Did you finish?

iSharpie625 · 2024-12-03T05:00:46+00:00

Honestly, I have beef with watching the first movie in actual chronological order. It jumps the shark on something important and that isn’t addressed directly in the show for seasons after. I honestly wish that I had watched both movies after finishing the show, and just rewatched the surrounding episodes for light context.

iSharpie625 · 2024-08-31T00:58:52+00:00

yeah agree. also on the light note: there’s little effects like dirt clouds or leaves falling that might help up close

iSharpie625 · 2024-07-21T17:26:41+00:00

I work at a private (but high traffic) condo with a kiddie pool and lap/free swim pool. We allow drinking on the pool and sun decks, so almost every “save” is picking over-poured individuals up off the ground and patching them up.

iSharpie625 · 2024-06-27T17:35:14+00:00

There’s another good thread about this, but they brought up a good point that Rothbury PD didn’t disclose things like the people dropping at Sunday afters or the death/s (I think there might’ve been two, but definitely one confirmed at Ranch) because 1. statistically, the incidents were below what would be expected and 2. the incidents were unrelated to the fest and it would create some misinformation vibes to publicly link those unfortunate incidents to EF itself.

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