Alright, so a lot of my posts lately have been playful and fun but i think its time i write something more serious for the moment. Something that I have been contemplating on writing for a long time now and didn’t because I thought it wasn’t worth it.. Till tonight but i will get to that later. Keep in mind I’m venting some here and realize that I am fully aware there are worse jobs out there. However I’ve yet to work one that’s as thankless as something like this. Call it bad experiences, call it bad luck. This is my viewpoint (hence the name of the blog). Also keep in mind This is my viewpoint from California I’m sure there are different states that may have it better. If anyone reading this has any stories to share feel free to do so in the comments.
Lets start off with the occupation I’m speaking of: Security guard.One of the most thankless jobs out there and I’m serious. Thankless from ALL directions.
Here I will list several different things that make being a security guard difficult in this day and age.
Now, don’t get me wrong. If you want to go into this occupation do so. Just expect some of the following to happen. I’ve not been in this super long. Only 5 + years now but i can tell you what to expect from being employed by multiple security companies.
Lets start with most security companies themselves. You get hired and your excited but all you are to them is a drone. Some of these companies have the great idea to put you in a field or worse A BAR with nothing but a flash light and radio. I’m not lying about this. Triple A security in California is EXTREMELY bad about doing this among with others.
Now on top of that to keep things costly even though the company themselves are making a profit from the client that they feel they can pay you minimum wage or close to it. On top of that they WILL put you some place that can be extremely dangerous and tell you that your only to carry a flashlight (and some places don’t even give you that). A lot of the companies will give you ONE SHIRT then tell you to buy your own pants and you’ll be lucky to get a jacket or long sleeve shirt for the winter and you will be working five days a week but they will REFUSE to put you on paper as a “full time” employee. I’m sure your asking yourself why right? SO they can save money and still make cash off you.
Lets face it while your making minimum wage your employer who is making more then enough to actually give you a raise of some sort denies to do just that. Even while its you on the front lines most of the time. I’ve seen employee’s get punched for no reason just because someone was pissed off. Hell, I GOT HIT BY A TRUCK and my company at the time advised my supervisor that I should NOT press charges. Is that their choice to make?
Now lets say you worked for a place so long that you knew more about the clients work place then the client them self knows. That you have saved past employee’s from fires, fights, harassment, lawsuits, and any other hairy situation that I cannot think of at the moment. Even if you save a LIFE. You are still a drone to this security company and the moment they see you as either a threat, thinking outside the box, or anything they disagree with. They will replace you with the quickness despite you’re long list of achievements in their behalf.
Now lets move on to the client. I am sure your probably thinking to yourself “the client can’t be thankless right?” oh, the client in some cases are worse then the actual company that hired you. Think of it this way, your in between a person with a shotgun (The client) and a person with a crossbow (The company you work for) in some of these situations. Your gonna be fucked one way or another.
Now don’t get me wrong the clients are not all bad either. however in some cases they are more horrible then anything else. You have to follow their policies on top of the policies set for you from the company itself that you work for. So again its like having two bosses. The company wants to keep the client happy (which is understandable). However YOU’RE happiness doesn’t matter. You are a replaceable drone remember? So the client can make you do what ever they want even if its outside the boundaries of your skill. I’ve had to personally do electrical work at a old job i worked for because they didn’t want “Maintenance” doing it. Can you believe that? Well do or don’t.. It happened. The client doesn’t want something heavy like a couch or a huge desk in their office? Guess who gets to do the heavy lifting ALL BY THEM SELF in most cases. That’s right, you guessed it. THE SECURITY officer! I’ve had this happen also. I’m moving about 400 pounds worth of stuff from area to another in a dolly while the client who asked me to do this simply sat and watched me sweat it out. I can go on and on but what I have said here so far I think what I have said here explains enough on the client.
Hecklers… The people that see you as a security guard and think they wanna fuck with you because they have seen Paul Blart Mall Cop a whole lot of times and think its funny to do so or just want to impress their friends because well they just have no other real talent but talking shit. May god or Allah or who ever you fucking worship bless those people because they are not blessed in the head LOL.
Let me put it this way:
People who hate authority see us as this:

The media makes security look like this:


When really all security guards are doing is trying to do their job just like you and everyone else out there with a job. The biggest thing that people need to remember is that its not always a guards fault if something bad happens to you. Remember they are most likely THE FIRST on scene, the one who calls the police for you, and the one willing to stand in the freezing cold and rain with you till the cops get there to assist you with a theft report (The good ones at least…All things I’ve done in the past.) So think twice before you blame a “rent a pig” for something getting stolen. Most places this day and age are understaffed. Respect someone who is respecting you. Even as a security guard that is the way i do things.
Its truly easy to see why people don’t respect security. I’ve been called every thing from “rent a pig” to “snitch”. Which by the way you are only a snitch until something happens and you have to report it. Its funny how that works right? Also, am I the only one that finds it extremely funny that most people that calls someone a “snitch” has probably committed some sort of crime themselves and doesn’t want to be “snitched” on?
Also, please for the LOVE OF GOD KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SECURITY AND THE POLICE. You would be utterly surprised at how many people think that Observe and Report goes with Protect and Serve.
You would not be shocked to find out how many people are ignorant to the difference between the two. When I used to train security guards one of the things I stressed a WHOLE lot was “Do not act upon the word ‘think'”. Meaning if someone says “I think they stole something” do not detain the person, do not talk to that person, and do not hinder that persons rights as a citizen in any way. Why? Because as I was trained back in the day “I don’t have 10,000 dollars to be sued for. Do you?”. To put it bluntly SECURITY HAS THE SAME POWERS OF ARREST AS ANY OTHER CITIZEN. Unless we witness a crime we cannot act upon it. Just like a citizen has the power for a citizens arrest. Just because we get to wear a badge doesn’t mean that we are police. Do you know what it takes to get a guard card in California? Answer: 180 dollars give or take providing you do not have a felony on your background. We receive NO SPECIAL training (unless you pay more money for it) other then “CALL FOR HELP IF THINGS GET BAD”. The badge we wear may as well be crayoned on that’s how much its worth.
Speaking of Security being mistaken for Police this subject brings me to what brought me into wanting to write this. I was at my post working and one of the employee’s of the client walked by looked at me as a man with a open can of beer walked by (Keep in mind the clients right next to a bar)and said “you are just gonna let him walk around with a can of beer?” to which i responded “Ma’am, I am a security guard not a police officer, my priority is you and the other employee’s here getting home safely, the moment this person pesters, harasses, or molests you then He will be my priority also” her response to me was “isn’t that a part of your job too?” I chuckled and told her to have a good evening.
Well, I have said my say in what i wanted to here. However I’m not going to leave saying that ALL security is good. I’ve worked with a few people in my time that have actually lived up to the security stereotype. However next time you think on giving a security guard a hard time. Try and remember all the other shit they deal with on a day to day basis. I could probably give you 100 more stories proving my point or just some funny situations in general but I’ll end it here. Thanks for reading and expect more goofy stuff in the future.
Many thanks and much love for reading if you did. I’ll have more character diaries out soon.
Wyldfyre1