it's the start of swim season, and you're outing secrets that people don't want to know. >> "20/20," all-new true c confessio confessions. the dirty little secrets to lure you in. life guards blowing the whistle just in time for summer. when you're fighting for your life, what are they doing? checking out bikini bottoms?

sink or swim. dirty tricks from bye-buying a to buying cosmetics. and is there a counterfeit bill in your pocket? >> i may not have a job after this. >> true confessions. now, david muir and elizabeth vargas. >> the weekend is finally here. time to shop, hit the mall. but what do people selling the things really think about you? and what do they do to make you spend more? tonight, true confessions. >> and we start tonight, with

spy cams to see what happens when you leave your car in the wrong hands. here's nick watt tonight. behind the wheel. >> reporter: we are in los angeles, where the car is king, where valets are everywhere, where the horror stories are legendary. to find out if the tales are true, we've hired the ultimate bait car. a $70,000 tesla. and it has an optional accessory, our hidden cameras. >> we've done some research on the internet to find some places that have complaints about their valet parking. and we're taking our car to those places right now. and before long, oh dear, we're capturing scenes like this -- yup, right there, three valets crammed into our exotic, electric sports car, making it their own, checking it out, playing the radio, opening everything that opens and shuts. they even take the tesla for a quick spin around the parking lot.

but are scenes like this the exception? or the rule? >> who knows who you're giving the keys to, really? it's more like valet parking roulette. >> reporter: ed ryder is on board, a real life valet, dishing the dirt. what's your boss going to say when he sees you on tv? >> there's going to be some heat, yeah. i might not have a job after this. we'll see. >> reporter: for now, at least, ed works at an upscale hotel in philadelphia. he says scenes like this, seen on youtube, valets gone wild at this st. louis hotel. he's says they're real. he says you should be afraid, be very afraid. >> rough driving is not unusual. i'm talking about full throttle acceleration, heavy braking, hard cornering -- that kind of thing does go on. >> reporter: and damage does happen. ed took these photos of bruised and scraped cars carelessly treated. this valet narrowly avoids disaster after he forgets to apply the emergency brake. another valet wasn't as quick on

his feet. and this hyundai sonata somehow ended up not on, but in, the dock down in ft. myers beach, florida. all that's left, the spare tire. so what happens in a damage situation? >> it's really up to the customer to find the damage themselves. we're not going to point it out to them. >> reporter: so if it's a scratch, the valet code is -- >> you keep your mouth shut and hope the customer doesn't notice. once you pull off the lot, that's it. it's -- they can forget about any compensation pretty much. >> reporter: so ed has just started his own business -- real valet control, selling these valet cards where you enter mileage, pre-existing damage, making the valet realize you mean business, that you will check for damage before you drive away. but ed's not entirely innocent. >> i brought the car up front. pulled it up to the curb and somehow i grinded the right front wheel onto the curb. >> reporter: so the customer came out, didn't see it, drove

off, end of story. >> yup. >> reporter: you still feel a bit bad about it, don't you? >> i felt terrible. but the supervisor said, "don't feel bad. she didn't tip. so this was, like, preemptive karma." >> reporter: okay, back to our high-performance bait car. would our tesla be in for rough treatment? now, if i was a valet parker, i just could not resist doing this. and neither could this valet at an upscale restaurant, testing the tesla's power. tearing off so fast we couldn't keep up with him in our undercover chase van. did we lose him? i have had a couple valets when they give me my car back say to me, "wow, that car's really fast." that's a compliment, right? >> not a good sign. i would say. >> reporter: now after paying eight bucks for parking, you'd expect our beloved tesla to be

kept in a safe and secure lot. but check out this valet. he ends up parking our $70,000 baby in this back alley -- a very dodgy-looking back alley, at that. another valet simply left it on the street. but what if you've left your car with a valet overnight? we've all heard the urban myth that valets take cars home at night. well, watch this. it's a myth no more. ♪ thanks to prince, who doesn't want to drive away in a little red corvette? well, in 2012, my abc colleague jeff deal of wftv in orlando dropped one of these beauties, rigged with gps, at a valet lot for cruise passengers. a few hours later, his phone beeped. the 'vette was on the move. and the station's chopper was in pursuit. that is the owner of the valet lot joyriding on dirt roads, zooming down the highway to dinner at applebee's, visiting ace hardware, loading in some lumber. he drove more than 60 miles in

two days and, yup, parked overnight at his own house. jeff deal swooped in. >> you recognize those people in the car? >> we're not driving anybody's car. so -- >> you're going to say you weren't driving that car? be honest with us. >> sir, you're completely wrong. >> reporter: while ed says most valets are just hard-working, honest guys, tales abound of sticky-fingered valets making off with your valuables. stanley arnoux, the saints linebacker, allegedly had his super bowl ring stolen by a valet at a posh miami beach resort. so, what happened with our tesla test? the good news, most places were absolutely fine, nothing taken. we left some cash in the car. those inquisitive valets we saw earlier? they find and gleefully brandish that cash. these two valets at l.a.x. thumbed through the billfold as well.

for whatever reason, these guys looked, but they didn't take. but this valet who works at a luxury hollywood hotel had no such scruples. he has no idea he is being filmed. there, he's found the money. he's counting it out, and, oh my goodness, he takes a $20 bill and slips it into his pocket. so i paid a visit to the manager of the hotel's valet stand. we left our car here. and unfortunately, $20 was stolen by one of your valets. and we have it on film. do you know him? >> yes. >> reporter: people give you their cars and i don't think they expect this to happen. are you surprised? >> yes, i am. >> reporter: has this kind of thing happened before? >> no, it hasn't. >> reporter: i mean, do you tend to have a lot of problems with the valets? >> no, not at all. >> reporter: what advice would you give somebody who's giving in their car? should people just take their valuables out of the car? >> pretty much they should take their valuables. >> reporter: just so that it's not a temptation. >> exactly. >> reporter: so how else can you give yourself the best chance that your valet won't indulge in any monkey business? simple.

ed gets paid just $3.83 an hour. the quickest way to a valet's heart is be quick and generous with the baksheesh. >> start out by putting a tip on the dash. >> reporter: before -- >> yes, when you arrive. >> reporter: preemptive tipping? >> yes. what that does is it helps to influence the level of care your car's about to receive. >> reporter: when you look at somebody, can you tell if they're going to be a good tipper or not? >> no, you can't tell. >> reporter: really? >> unless they have a foreign accent. >> reporter: and then they're bad. thank you. of course, we didn't learn about this whole preemptive tipping concept until after our hidden camera shoot. and maybe that's why this happened. >> we love your accent, nick. and the national parking association tells us their members are committed the safety and taking care.

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"20/20" continues with true confessions. here's chris conley. >> reporter: nothing turns a dream house into a home-glum like a bad contractor. interior desecrators who can make any owner want to split-level their skulls. >> you [ bleep ] abandoned us! you walked out in the middle of this job and left us in a death trap. >> reporter: now contractors responsible for such wretched renovations as these -- those who've fled unfinished jobs after the owner's check cleared are being forced to confess their sins and repent on camera, thanks to spike tv's "catch a contractor." >> this beam thing is really

bad. i mean, the whole thing could have crashed down. >> reporter: as adam carolla and company track 'em down, confront 'em. and then two by four them over their own shoddy workmanship. from busted bathrooms -- >> here is where they found saddam hussein? >> yeah. >> reporter: and sickly stucco -- >> this stucco looks like it's been put on with a flip flop. >> reporter: to totally contaminated kitchens. >> crickets. >> reporter: the show's also a tongue-in-groove fit for the no-nonsense funny man carolla, who built the studio where he records a daily podcast himself, >> and back in the day, labored in construction for 15 years. >> i did it out of desperation. i had to go to work.

so i just got a job. eventually worked my way up to carpenter. >> reporter: and carolla's got a confession to make, in those early days he hammered his way into some disasters himself. is there some family out in the metropolitan los angeles area right now that's looking at the way their wall comes together and going "that f'ing carolla?" >> there's definitely some houses out there that by now, stuff is probably coming undone. and they're probably cursing carolla's name. >> reporter: he knows why so many homeowners are cursing their contractors names now. >> i know a lot of bad contractors. these guys, you know and their goal is food, survival, a beer. >> reporter: so carolla's goal is to be an able avenger. still, he's an able avenger for couples like these. when they hired an underbidding contractor to transform their

home. the i'm-so-outta-here shambles he left behind was no one's idea of a playroom. a scuzzy, unsafe enclosure fit for neither man nor beast. >> that's a big hole in your ceiling. >> this was completely open to the rafters. it was so cold in here. >> reporter: their rage at the unfinished, unacceptable job really hit home. >> and ultimately all the frustration and all the emotions you feel toward the contractor ending up getting taken out on each other. >> it was the hardest thing that i've ever gone through. this was the ultimate. >> reporter: so the couple reached out after hearing about the show on carolla's podcast. >> i can take it, renovate it, and make some extra cash. >> this is what i do.

i'm truly passionate about my work. >> last time i saw him was when the last check got cut. >> he's like a vibrating bed at a cheap motel. stop feeding the quarters in. it stops. >> reporter: so skip's p.i. spouse allison began to track down the contractor. >> this guy drives fast in that range rover. i had to eat a couple of red lights, go through a couple of stop signs. but finally he stops at a construction site and i could approach him. >> reporter: there, she lured his unsuspecting self to a meeting at a sting house. >> i need to get some work done on my house, and i was just wondering if maybe i can have you come over for an estimate -- i don't really know anybody. >> yeah. >> okay. come on in. >> reporter: the trap was set. and then, the trap was sprung. sam and scott were vibrating with rage as they saw their contractor confronted by adam and skip.

>> i'm going to take off. >> you want to run out there and punch him in the face. and you're at the same time going, "yeah, adam, skip, get him!" >> reporter: see that bodyguard? he made sure the contractor didn't flee as adam convinced him it was time to fess up and make things right with scott and samantha. >> i think what they want is for you to apologize for putting them in this position. >> what happened happened, and i'm sorry. let's fix it so i can move on. >> there is a psychology. a kind of relax. we're not here to cause you any harm. we want to put this thing to bed just like you do. >> reporter: once their contractor acquiesced, he returned to their house to fix the mess he made, amid plenty of heckling from carolla.

>> where did you find these tile guys? >> somewhere through craigslist. >> they understand, all right we're going to give you some crap now. you can take a little pounding, but when we are done you're going to come across as a good guy. >> there you go. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: and when it was done, well -- >> i had no idea it was going to look this beautiful. so of course i cried. >> reporter: how can a typical homeowner avoid needing this show to save them? >> rule number one, never give a contractor more than half the money up front. never. >> reporter: you get what you pay for, says carolla. some homeowners pay cheap. >> a lot of the guys we've dealt with don't know enough to know what is going to take to do this job. i say to people, you know, surf and turf is expensive, but if somebody says "hey, i've got surf and turf for you at

$3.99", how good can it be? >> the new san of catch a contractor starts back up on spike tv this fall. stay with us. next, they're selling you all right. a bill of goods. from computers to cars. to the makeup counter. >> the minute they sat in the chair, the amount of money they spent went up double, if not more. >> tricks of the trade, when "20/20" returns. [ female announcer ] how do you want to feel this spring? ♪ [ woman 1 ] radiant! [ woman 2 ] confident! ♪ [ woman 3 ] optimistic! [ woman 4 ] inspired! [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] spring is the time to make it happen with the new kellogg's special k simple 5 plan. no counting, no keeping track.

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true confessions continues on "20/20." now, with dan harris. >> reporter: between you and

whatever you want to buy stands the salesperson. immortalized in such classic movies as "analyze that." >> anyway, let's get serious. you want to buy this car or not? yea or nay? >> reporter: and used cars. >> hey, i like that watch, great shoes, love 'em. so, stan, you want to buy this buick centurion? good choice. >> reporter: and tonight, we've got three former salespeople who are sharing their secret tactics, starting with perhaps the most feared figure of them all, the car dealer. >> at my very worst, i was a bloodsucking salesman. >> really? >> oh god, high pressure. >> reporter: by his own admission, ray lopez spent 26 years as a manipulative salesman. and he says the hustle begins as soon as drive onto the lot. >> i've already psychoanalyzed you from the moment you got of your car. >> reporter: as soon as you open your mouth, he applies a label to you, like "an easy mark", someone who needs to buy a car immediately, a "lay-down," someone who accepts the first deal put out there, a

"researcher," who has done his or her homework, or "an analyst," someone who's all business. >> if you are very monotone and just give me precise answers, i immediately, i know you're analytical. so i know how to play you now. >> play me? he does that by responding in the same way, giving precise answers, no extra information. they feel like they're not getting worked? >> exactly. now you're comfortable. you think that i'm your friend. >> reporter: now you're more likely to trust the final deal. but what if you're a researcher and you really know your stuff? here's ray's come on -- >> you're a very intelligent person, you've done your due diligence. so we can cut out the b.s. >> reporter: but that's bs too? >> yes, because i'm playing up to your ego. >> you guys are malignant psychiatrists. >> reporter: in fact, says dan, manipulative dealers will start working you before you walk on the lot. with questionable ads like this one.

zero down, zero due at signing. we asked these car owners to squint hard enough to read the fine print. >> due at least signing. so then that's confusing because you're like, wait a minute. >> holy crap, is this legal? >> reporter: actually, it's not, according to the federal trade commission. the dealer agreed to take them down, though did not admit to wrongdoing. ray says it's all about getting you into the store. >> because once you're there, we're going to play you. >> reporter: ray did finally decide to change his ways. he's now the author of a book called "inside the minds of car dealers." i knew this was going to be bad, but i am really surprised at how devious you guys are. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: okay, so that's the car dealership, but it turns out there are also dangers lurking at the mall. women, beware of the makeover chair. >> the minute they sat in the chair, the amount they spent went up double. reporter: for seven years

cara phillips lured women into free makeovers. she says makeup artists keep adding product after product to your face so that you eventually feel obligated to buy. and if not -- >> some people would actually just lie and say, oh, no, there's a minimum purchase of three items. and just hope they didn't get caught. >> reporter: management pressure to hit quotas was intense, she says. so one trick used to boost sales, convince women to pull out their current makeup stash, and then react with "the face." >> look at something and be like, oh. and if you make the right face the customer will be like, what's wrong with it? i knew this wasn't right for me, and immediately they're going to buy whatever version that you have. >> reporter: she also revealed that there's nothing makeup salespeople hate more than customers who don't buy anything. at one store they even used a secret code, 612, to warn one another about these looky-loos. >> it was like a game to come up with a way to incorporate

612 into something, oh, your train leaves at 612 today. >> reporter: not everyone needs makeup, but in this tech-saturated age, the electronics store is unavoidable. it can be a confusing place, and you assume that your geek guide knows his or her stuff, right? what are the odds that the salesperson has no idea what they're talking about? >> yeah, the odds are pretty high. i've witnessed co-workers telling customers things that with such conviction that were just blatantly false. >> reporter: former saleswoman ashley myers says the real thing to look out for are salespeople that try to talk you into buying expensive add-ons like an extended warranty. >> there's almost no profit margin on actual hardware, the margin on actual hardware, the computers, cell phones, tv stuff

like that. stores don't make much money on the big ticket items. that's why the prices are so low. they make most of their dough by upselling you. for example when we bought $350 laptop, we were also pitched an extended warranty, accident protection, and an antivirus program. final cost, $609. a huge increase. >> you have to say i want what i want and i don't want anything else. >> reporter: david pearce, of tech website theverge says you should really just buy accident coverage for gadgets you actually carry around with you, period. and he told us the single most shocking thing we heard. it has to do with these hdmi cables you have to buy every time you get a new tv. >> i've tested $6 cables, i've tested $600 cables, and for every use case imaginable for an average human being, they are exactly the same. >> reporter: very long cables are the only exception, pearce says. otherwise, no difference. really? >> are you ready for this? >> yes!

>> reporter: we got a group of kids to watch the movie monsters inc on side by side screens, to see if they can tell the difference in picture quality. the tvs and dvd players are identical, the only difference, is the cables connecting them. so one of them has a $6 cable and the other one has a $380 cable. >> that's like a total opposite. >> exactly. so we want to see if you guys can see which television has the better cable. >> that one might be the cheap and that one might be expensive. >> i cannot see the difference. >> reporter: this one has the $380 cable. >> no i guessed that one. >> reporter: you were right the first time but then you changed your guess. you'd think with that huge price difference the winner would be obvious, but the results were a draw. what would you do with all the money you saved, if you could

spend just $6? >> i'd just put it in my piggy bank. >> buy a dragon. >> reporter: a dragon? >> dragons aren't real. >> only if they were real. >> reporter: actually, depending on where you shop, the dragons may be very real. coming p, what this man is about to confess may put him in prison. >> i am the world's best counterfeiter. >> if you have one, you're stuck paying it back. so, what's in your wallet? next. passion... became your business. at&t can help simplify how you manage it. so you can focus on what you love most. when everyone and everything works together, business just sings.

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once again, "20/20"'s true confessio confessions. here's brian ross. >> reporter: the country is awash in tens of millions of dollars in fake money. it's turned up at a strip club in peoria, illinois. >> a majority of it was given to the dancers for dances. >> reporter: at this grocery store in connecticut. >> it is very, very frustrating. it costs us time, it costs us money. >> reporter: and at this hot dog joint in new york city. >> they have the right paper they have the right ink. >> reporter: much of the counterfeit is $20 bills, andrew jacksons, and most of them are not that good, with more than

3,000 people arrested each year for doing it. >> we're working hard here and to get fake bills is just like an insult. >> reporter: but for the last four years u.s. authorities have been quietly tracking the one counterfeiter who has produced a fake $20 bill that is that good, described by authorities as virtually undetectable. this is really good, isn't it? >> it's very good. >> reporter: and this is the man who says he did it, coming forward out of the shadows tonight on "20/20" to unabashedly admit something that could put him in a u.s. prison for years. his name is frank bourassa. >> i am the world's best counterfeiter right now. no one better than me. it's me. >> reporter: we found the artful faker in a small town in canada, outside montreal. it was here that the 44-year-old bourassa, a small time drug dealer with a big time passion for money. the real kind. when you tilt the bill it changes color.

>> reporter: the real kind, says he secretly set up an operation that would put him into the upper echelons of the criminal world. was it a thrill? >> it was a thrill, absolutely. it was supposed to not be possible. and people like me, you know, we thrive on that very much. >> reporter: the people in the u.s government who print and safeguard the real $20 bills have gone to great lengths to stop counterfeiters like frank bourassa. but new security features added years ago to the twenty dollar bills have not been updated, and in fact, bourassa says the secret service web site actually provided him a convenient road map to produce his counterfeit andrew jacksons. >> i know nothing more about bills than you do. so i started from scratch. >> reporter: step by step, bourassa says he found suppliers on the internet from europe to china that could provide the same security features and, most of all, the unique paper made of cotton and linen. described in detail on that u.s. secret service website. >> it has to feel right cause if it doesn't you know, you're screwed. >> reporter: how do you get the

right paper then, that's such a key to it? >> well, that was an undertaking. >> reporter: bourassa started by setting up a fake company that supposedly needed the special paper for corporate bonds. and then he tricked this small paper mill in germany to agree to make the special cotton paper with linen shreds, even adding an andrew jackson watermark. >> i was surprised, to some extent. >> reporter: american currency, not that hard, you're saying, to counterfeit? >> the easiest of them all. >> reporter: and then paper was shipped to canada. enough to make a quarter billion dollars' worth of fakes, according to bourassa. when that shipment came in with all those ingredients, what did you think? >> that was the coolest thing on earth cause from there once this is done, the rest is nothing. >> reporter: lots of shopkeepers count on these anti-counterfeit pens to detect fakes. a slash or an "x" will produce a dark black line. but as canadian mounted police investigators tasha adams and dan michaud showed us, bourassa's twenties easily passed the pen test. >> it stays fairly light.

and if it was counterfeit, it would usually go black. >> reporter: within months, after bourassa began selling his counterfeit money in bulk to criminal groups, they started showing up from california to las vegas to florida to the northeast united states. >> it was being sold at 30%. >> reporter: 30%? >> yeah. >> reporter: for bourassa it was a complete victory over the u.s. government. >> it's a fight and i won. so it was good. i was happy. >> reporter: it didn't bother you conscience at all? >> not, at all. also to the contrary, it was, you know, like, you know, screw you. >> reporter: but the real victims are not the u.s. government, but all the shopkeepers and consumers stuck with fake $20 bills the bank won't accept. >> that comes back to us as a loss. we lose that. so if it was $500 in bills, it's $500 that we take a hit on.

>> reporter: what do you say to people who are looking at their $20 bills tonight. watching you on "20/20," what should they look for? >> i honestly don't know how to answer that. >> reporter: because what you made was so good? >> yeah, yeah, it was good. >> reporter: and in the end, it was bourassa's arrogance that caught up with him. authorities began to track his every move, after an undercover agent in one of the criminal groups buying bourassa's counterfeit led them to his small town. he was under constant surveillance, even when he bought a snack at a convenience store. and then canadian and american authorities moved in, seizing his printing press, his carefully crafted plates, and about $1 million worth of the fake twenties. >> this is going to affect the americans and it was important to get this right away. get this off the street, get it off the market. >> reporter: the mounted police investigators showed us how well bourassa's bills matched up with many of the key details of the real twenties. >> to detect the counterfeit on this one is very difficult. >> the feel is very similar. >> reporter: so if you closed

your eyes could you tell the difference between real and fake? >> no, i wouldn't. >> reporter: but even after his arrest, bourassa still had a card to play. authorities did not know where the rest of the fake bills and paper, in various stages of production, was actually hidden. >> and that made them crazy. sect service was following me around all the time. >> reporter: so bourassa was able to cut the deal of a lifetime for a criminal. earlier this year he turned over stacks of boxes holding the ingredients for more than $200 million in counterfeit money. and in return, the canadian government dropped most of the charges against him and agreed not to ever send him to the u.s. for prosecution. >> reporter: so you're safe from u.s. extradition, you're safe from u.s. law? >> i'm safe, absolutely. they can't do nothing about that. >> reporter: canadian authorities say their investigation is far from over, and that bourassa has ties to organized crime groups who they think he is trying to protect. >> evidence suggests there's more stashes of paper, more stashes of paper, more stashes of the counterfeit notes out there and there's more people

involved. >> reporter: in the end, bourassa spent only a month and a half in a local jail for counterfeiting all that u.s. currency. the u.s. secret service says there are now no charges against, and bourassa today is a free man. so you beat the system? completely? >> yeah, i did. >> reporter: you are the master counterfeiter of this decade? >> i am. >> coming up, confessions from the life guard's chair. are they high on the job, flirting on the job, instead of focused on the job? next.

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re i look, i see a and a congress standing in the country ready way.ove forward... their budgets are late; jobs bills are stalled... and special interests run rampant. as an economics teacher at stanford, i know education means good jobs. so here's my plan: i'd start teaching computer coding in public schools right away. open doors for women in science and technology. and prepare young people for middle class manufacturing jobs. i'm ro khanna and i approve this message, because change starts with us. thank you!

thank you! dedicated bankers born to go the extra mile. you've been such a big help. it's what i like to do. so you can choose a bank where helping people comes first. chase. so you can. "20/20" continues. here's reena ninan. >> reporter: with the sun finally shining and summer on the horizon it's time to hit the water. and these are the young men and women charged with protecting our lives while we swim. lifeguards. buff, busty and brave, ready to

jump in at the first sign of danger, right? well, maybe not always. sure, they may look hot in their signature red bathing suits, ripped abs and tanned torsos like on "baywatch." but what do we really know about the dudes and dolls behind the shades? ♪ it's the start of swimming season and you're outing secrets that people don't want to know. meet 23-year-old harris, a former lifeguard at several pools in texas. tonight he is blowing his whistle on the secret practices that he says sometimes occur high atop the lifeguard stand, and we do mean high. are lifeguards using drugs? >> yes. there were a couple of lifeguards who smoked weed before coming into work or they would be still rolling from the night before. >> reporter: that's something many lifeguards confessed to us. and according to harris, at one pool not only were lifeguards

coming in hung over, they would blaze up right on the job. >> they'd check chemicals. >> checking chemicals? it's a code word? >> yes. normally when you check chemicals it's to check the ph, but what they were doing is they were going back and smoking weed. >> reporter: but there were kids whose lives are potentially in your hands, and they're getting high? >> yes. it's very irresponsible. >> reporter: it's doubly troubling, harris says, because actually checking the chemicals is really important to keep the pool sanitary. as they say, what happens in the pool stays in the pool. >> if you're going to the pool, don't go at the end of the day because it's full of urine, and it's really quite nasty. >> reporter: oh! how do you know that? >> you can tell by the color. at start of the day it's really, really blue, and at the end of the day it's, it's more yellow. >> reporter: ick factor aside, discolored water can pose a more hidden health hazard. it makes it harder for lifeguards to see people. take the tragic case of mom marie joseph. look at this security video. that is marie coming down the

slide. her head bobs above the water for a moment before she sinks to the bottom of the pool. multiple lifeguards were on duty including this one directly in front of her. >> i just don't see how they missed it. someone wasn't doing their job. >> reporter: but the water was so murky, none of them noticed her submerged body. see here as the pool went from blue to dark green. an investigation later revealed that a pool manager held off on chlorinating the water to reduce costs. this photo shows children swimming in the pool 24 hours after she drowned. joseph's body wasn't discovered for two days. >> water's really strange. either you're having fun or you're dying. >> reporter: roughly 4,000 americans drown each year. and one in five children who drown in swimming pools do so with a lifeguard present. >> it's silent, it's quiet and it's sudden. >> reporter: kathleen pluchinsky's 4-year-old son drowned at this ritzy country club pool.

she believes too few lifeguards are trained properly. >> i've talked to hundreds of guards, literally, and i ask this question. how many of you feel like you would recognize a swimmer in trouble immediately? not one hand has ever been raised. never, not one. >> a lot of lifeguards, they're not prepared for something really bad happening. >> reporter: and here's the thing, it's actually quite challenging to spot a kid drowning, as i found out for myself with a test dummy named timmy. i've got my underwater camera. they are going to hide timmy somewhere in the pool. i've got to find it. how hard can this really be? timmy is right at the edge of the pool just feet in front of me, a spot where many young kids called wall huggers drown. i scan the pool over and over again and can't find him. >> i never saw it.

>> getting ready to start an aquatic facility operational audit. >> reporter: meet rac carroll. he is no ordinary water park guest but rather an undercover boss. the head of ellis & associates, a lifeguard training company. today he's here at an indoor water park in pennsylvania, playing a game of cat and mouse with his trainees, armed with a video camera, to secretly see who's paying attention. >> we want to be able to see a guest in distress within ten seconds so that we're not being reactive to a situation where somebody may already be on the bottom. >> reporter: carroll does this regularly because frankly his video archives are awash with examples of lifeguards behaving badly. look at this lifeguard totally tuning out the pool. listening to his ipod. >> no lifeguard should ever be provided any electronic equipment. certainly no texting or talking on the phone. >> reporter: this guy seems to have something else on his mind besides safety. he's looking everywhere but at the swimmers.

is he checking out that woman's behind? worst of all may be this guard. he's gone into full hibernation mode. fortunately no one is swimming. let's hope he returns from la-la land before some kid cannonballs into the deep end. but secretly surveilling the guards is only step one. carroll also conducts surprise vigilance drills. can lifeguards spot timmy in ten seconds? they have become superb at the drill. the average response time is three seconds. >> we're not just people who just tan, you know, big macho people with their shirts off. we're actually like, we're saving people's lives. >> reporter: but harris warns that's no reason for parents to mistake the pool for day care. >> parents will drop their kids off at the pool and they don't have any supervision except for the lifeguard. >> reporter: so, parents think you're just a cheap babysitting service? >> i guess. >> reporter: and not only do kids need to be monitored constantly, rac carrol says so do the guards. but isn't it uncomfortable to

have to go to the lifeguard or the manager and say, "sorry, i don't think he's scanning the pool?" >> it may be uncomfortable, but it's a whole lot more comfortable than dealing with your child being on the bottom of the pool. ♪ ♪fame, makes a man take things over♪ ♪fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow♪ ♪fame, puts you there where things are hollow♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. ♪fame i've been claritin clear for 6 amazdays. at the first sign of my allergies,

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before we say good night, we want to give you a sneak peak of next week. a good-bye tribute to abc's barbara walters. >> you had these questions. what's the biggest misconception

about you is one of your big questions. why? >> well, tell me something i haven't heard about before. >> what is the biggest misconception about you? >> that i'm flakey. but i'm a little flakey, so that's okay. >> that i'm not a real person. that i'm a bitch. >> why do people think that about you? >> i have standards. >> next friday on "20/20," two hours, starting at an abc7 news report sparks an investigation into this

woman. what she is suspected of ding and the charges she faced [doorbell rings] hey. hey. what's this? it's u-verse live tv. with at&t u-verse... you can watch live tv from your device. hey. hey. anywhere in your home. [doorbell rings] hey. hey. so you won't miss a minute of the game. call now to get a u-verse bundle for the same great price for 2 years. guaranteed.