I moved from New Zealand where I worked in diving for several years to Egypt where I worked as an Instructor for nearly 7 years, often you are in an environment where there are too many people looking for diving work, those who are good at their job will eventually stand out and get a reasonable ammount of work while the other type will end up spending most of their time sitting in a bar somewhere.

Some things I take issue with, firstly the "I paid for it so I'm the boss" line, to be frank working as a dive guide you meet all kinds of customers just as you have meet all kinds of guides, arrogant, rude, obnoxious and often their skill are alot poorer than they make out. You bend over backwards to try and give your customers a good time and in return they treat you like the hired help and for what? How much do you think a guide gets paid? In the areas I worked the going rate was 8- 10€ per dive, 8- 10€ for diving for up to an hour you say?

How about I do 3 guided dives in one day, as a guide I'm at the dive centre at 8am checking equipment, making sure the O2 and first aid kits are in good order, filling in the paper work for the day, loading tanks and equipment onto the pick up, checking weather conditions to make sure we go somewhere where the customers will have good, safe dives etc. Then the customers turn up, the first time you meet them your getting them to fill out forms, sorting out equipment, working out buddy pairs, giving them the full Rules, regs and safety breifing (if you don't give these breifings and something goes wrong who do you think the finger is pointed at? ) etc.
Then your out for the whole day, when you get back to the dive centre, more paperwork, more tanks, cleaning etc etc.

I love my job, I really do BUT IT IS A REAL JOB and what you get paid for it in some areas can be seen as insulting. Not to mention that diving day after day can take a physical toll and quickly degrades your equipment, paying for insurance and replacing equipment is your own problem.

The customers can really make a guides day totally miserable, not listening, talking down to them and "going missing" during the dive. Then you have the "experienced" photograher who likes to stomp all over the coral to get their photos, guides aren't just there to look after the well being of the customer, they are there to look after the well being of the dive site that all too many customers show little care and consideration of, the guide is there to make sure certain types of divers obay the rules and don't go shooting off to 80m with a single tank on their back and never return.

And try telling a customer who knows everything that their bouyancy is totally shocking and they are a hazzard to themselves and the environment around them.

A good guide will give a full and thorough breifing on first meeting the customers, he/ she will take them on an easy dive first to assess their skill level (you never take their word for it or trust their log, read lie, book ), then decide on which sites are appropriate for the divers, as time goes on and the guide feels the divers have the skill, experience and can be trusted not to do anything stupid or break off chunks of coral to take home to show the lads they will become far more relaxed with them.

A good guide doesn't want you to follow them around at speed and give orders and signals every 2 minutes they want you to have a good safe time, treat them with atleast a bit of respect and courtesy and leave the centre happy ready to return to request them back as a guide.

As guides can be a pain in the ass to you, so can customers be a pain in the ass to guides, believe me I and my friends have had to rescue many from themselves, often putting ourselves at risk to do so.