[ARCHIVED THREAD] - things you learned working security? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 2/29/2016 6:29:52 PM EDT
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i have learned that the people in that industry talk about it the same way strippers talk about their industry.
you either love the industry or you are just doing it because nothing else is hiring. |
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Its shit work. No matter which way you slice it.
You are shit. Your job is shit. People think of you as shit. Becoming a Sgt or Lt is DEF shit.... the shit just NEVER ends. A security guard is nothing more than a $10 scapegoat. Whatever the fuck happens, just blame it on security... No worries, there is always some illiterate Somalian lined up ready to go on foot patrol of that 25 acre, 30 story Section 8 apartment complex in downtown Baltimore... Retarded janitors get more respect and have better j9b security. Fuck working security. 
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All you'll ever need to learn:
http://lonelymachines.org/mall-ninjas/ hello friends,
Last year I made the decision to trust my life on the street to Second Chance body armor. I got the level IIa because it stops the most rounds. plus I got the Trauma Plate for the front. What scares me is that, although I can fit an extra trauma plate in the front, I cannot fit a second one in back. As of late I have taken to duct-taping a second trauma plate to the area of my back where the heart and vital organs are located. Then I put my vest on. Here is the questions. The ducttape solution, although tactically sound, is hot and painful to remove. I would like to go to the single-plate solution in back. What I am worried about is repeated hits to that area with .308 ammunition. I have a high-risk security job and I fear that I would be the target for repeated long-distance shots to my back. Are any of you aware of a thicker plate that could stop, say, .338 Lapua or something like that? Is there a better way to do the second plate? BTW, I am, of course, usually carrying a pair of ceramic plates in my briefcase so that I can shield my head. My SO (we work as a team when necessary) has a similar accessory containing a breakdown NEF single-shot 300 WinMag with an 18" bbl. The plan is that I shield us with my body and “catch the rounds” while she assembles the NEF. I lay down covering fire with my 23 (Bar-Sto .357 Sig barrel) and she makes the long shots. I will then throw smoke grenades to obscure the area while continuing to lay covering fire. The problem, of course, is when I have to turn my back to run, and then the problem crops up. Thanks! |
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Quoted:
It sucks, low pay, usually shitty hours, and too many are just mouth breathers that cause more problems than they are worth. A lot of companies are actually only looking for something with a pulse. This only really applies to contract uniform security. In other words, the typical rent-a-cop mall ninja types. Proprietary and corporate security personnel can do much better. Prior team I was on started at $42k/year, and most guys were at $50k+ within the first couple years, and that's not including OT. Security management at my current gig (which is what I do) is anywhere from $50k to $100k. |
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Quoted:
Its shit work. No matter which way you slice it. You are shit. Your job is shit. People think of you as shit. Becoming a Sgt or Lt is DEF shit.... the shit just NEVER ends. A security guard is nothing more than a $10 scapegoat. Whatever the fuck happens, just blame it on security... No worries, there is always some illiterate Somalian lined up ready to go on foot patrol of that 25 acre, 30 story Section 8 apartment complex in downtown Baltimore... Retarded janitors get more respect and have better j9b security. Fuck working security. Where did security touch you? |
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Quoted:
This only really applies to contract uniform security. In other words, the typical rent-a-cop mall ninja types. Proprietary and corporate security personnel can do much better. Prior team I was on started at $42k/year, and most guys were at $50k+ within the first couple years, and that's not including OT. Security management at my current gig (which is what I do) is anywhere from $50k to $100k. Quoted:
Quoted:
It sucks, low pay, usually shitty hours, and too many are just mouth breathers that cause more problems than they are worth. A lot of companies are actually only looking for something with a pulse. This only really applies to contract uniform security. In other words, the typical rent-a-cop mall ninja types. Proprietary and corporate security personnel can do much better. Prior team I was on started at $42k/year, and most guys were at $50k+ within the first couple years, and that's not including OT. Security management at my current gig (which is what I do) is anywhere from $50k to $100k. Is this in DFW by chance? Internal security gets taken care of contract security gets shit on. |
| That lots of women carry vibrators and dildos in their purses out in public. Like to public venues like coliseums, parks, events, concerts, etc. where backpacks are prohibited and women should be expected to have their purses checked before entering. And that women seem to like having their items found out, at least from the blushing and shy smiles they give security. |
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Where did security touch you? Quoted:
Quoted:
Its shit work. No matter which way you slice it. You are shit. Your job is shit. People think of you as shit. Becoming a Sgt or Lt is DEF shit.... the shit just NEVER ends. A security guard is nothing more than a $10 scapegoat. Whatever the fuck happens, just blame it on security... No worries, there is always some illiterate Somalian lined up ready to go on foot patrol of that 25 acre, 30 story Section 8 apartment complex in downtown Baltimore... Retarded janitors get more respect and have better j9b security. Fuck working security. Where did security touch you? My wallet. |
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I have never worked security, but I do interact with security workers quite a bit. My job requires that I enter all types of buildings (telecom) and I have found that if I follow their rules and be respectful, the guys who were an ass in the morning are nicer by the end of the day.
See the same security guy on the job often enough, and they many times get to know me and relax the rules, even help me get to where I need to go much faster. Just my .02 |
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Quoted:
I have never worked security, but I do interact with security workers quite a bit. My job requires that I enter all types of buildings (telecom) and I have found that if I follow their rules and be respectful, the guys who were an ass in the morning are nicer by the end of the day. See the same security guy on the job often enough, and they many times get to know me and relax the rules, even help me get to where I need to go much faster. Just my .02 I'm pretty cool with the vendors that come where I work. The associates not so much. 5% of them make the job harder than it needs to be. |
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When I did it I had no training, I think ny requires you to take a class now. I rode over to the security guard company, filled out an application and was hired on the spot, or I think I went to the police station, got a background check then was hired when I returned. Zero training. They handed me a uniform and told me where to show up for work. When you showed up for work a shift supervisor would drive up and tell you what to do, like make people sign this book, patrol the building at 8 and 11. We never were told what force we were to use or when. Basically we were told to call the police if anything happened. A fair number of guards were idiots. Many were non combatants, very old men, fat 19 year old girls etc. I stopped two guys stealing a phone ( who knows, it was a big rotary phone, weird ) who were being chased by an employee of the place I was guarding. I jumped over the security guard desk thing, blocked their way out and said to give me the phone or I'd kick their asses. They tossed me the phone and ran out the door. The employee was pissed that I did not try to stop them or chase them, I asked if she wanted me to call the cops, she just shook her head and walked away. I didn't call the cops, fill out a report, nothing. No one had told me about any reports or what to do if there was a crime. I was "unarmed" ( wink wink). If I had ordered them to sit down and wait for the cops they might have. They were pretty young. I could probably have beat them both up, but I couldn't pin two guys until a cop showed up. And if they had started to get the best of me I'd have stabbed them and been arrested. There was another guard one floor up. But we didn't have radios, I had no idea who it was and they were guarding a different door. There was no back up on that job site. When they ran out in the dark the employee asked if I was going to chase them, I laughed at her. Really I just figured I wasn't risking getting arrested for $ 3.35 an hour. |
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Many cops think they are above the sign-in/out rules.
Women will flash their tits at you by bending over stuff---it is deliberate. If it is convenient, there really isn't any security. Regular clock-rounds as prescribed by the insurance companies is a stupid way to "patrol" facilities. Randomness is safer. If you don't know where you are going to be in the next couple of minutes, how the hell is a perp going to guess. Frequent revisits of problem areas, especially if you can approach from different directions each time, keeps people on their best behavior. See the randomness above as well. Treating everyone as a decent human being, when you and they know that they really aren't, keeps them out of mischief around your beat. Empty buildings in the middle of the night are not haunted, and actually quite mundane places to be. It's a good post when you are a student and need to study. If you are assigned to a "shitty" post, expect your relief not to show up, and to be there a lot longer than promised. If you are always looking for trouble, but never start it or exacerbate it yourself, you won't find much. Daily activity reports are never read, and not worth doing. Incident reports, however, are read and scrutinized. Most security officers cannot write a coherent sentence. |
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Quoted: Many cops think they are above the sign-in/out rules. Women will flash their tits at you by bending over stuff---it is deliberate. If it is convenient, there really isn't any security. Regular clock-rounds as prescribed by the insurance companies is a stupid way to "patrol" facilities. Randomness is safer. If you don't know where you are going to be in the next couple of minutes, how the hell is a perp going to guess. Frequent revisits of problem areas, especially if you can approach from different directions each time, keeps people on their best behavior. See the randomness above as well. Treating everyone as a decent human being, when you and they know that they really aren't, keeps them out of mischief around your beat. Empty buildings in the middle of the night are not haunted, and actually quite mundane places to be. It's a good post when you are a student and need to study. If you are assigned to a "shitty" post, expect your relief not to show up, and to be there a lot longer than promised. If you are always looking for trouble, but never start it or exacerbate it yourself, you won't find much. Daily activity reports are never read, and not worth doing. Incident reports, however, are read and scrutinized. Most security officers cannot write a coherent sentence. |
| I worked security in college. I found that you can basically become a supervisor within 2 weeks if you're halfway intelligent, show up on time, and have your uniform squared away. Had a guy get pissed that I was put in charge after 2 weeks when he'd been there about 6 months. Problem is, he was a local neckbeard drop-out that was 75 lbs overweight and couldn't figure out how to tuck in a shirt. |
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Quoted:
When I did it I had no training, I think ny requires you to take a class now. I rode over to the security guard company, filled out an application and was hired on the spot, or I think I went to the police station, got a background check then was hired when I returned. Zero training. They handed me a uniform and told me where to show up for work. When you showed up for work a shift supervisor would drive up and tell you what to do, like make people sign this book, patrol the building at 8 and 11. We never were told what force we were to use or when. Basically we were told to call the police if anything happened. A fair number of guards were idiots. Many were non combatants, very old men, fat 19 year old girls etc. I stopped two guys stealing a phone ( who knows, it was a big rotary phone, weird ) who were being chased by an employee of the place I was guarding. I jumped over the security guard desk thing, blocked their way out and said to give me the phone or I'd kick their asses. They tossed me the phone and ran out the door. The employee was pissed that I did not try to stop them or chase them, I asked if she wanted me to call the cops, she just shook her head and walked away. I didn't call the cops, fill out a report, nothing. No one had told me about any reports or what to do if there was a crime. I was "unarmed" ( wink wink). If I had ordered them to sit down and wait for the cops they might have. They were pretty young. I could probably have beat them both up, but I couldn't pin two guys until a cop showed up. And if they had started to get the best of me I'd have stabbed them and been arrested. There was another guard one floor up. But we didn't have radios, I had no idea who it was and they were guarding a different door. There was no back up on that job site. When they ran out in the dark the employee asked if I was going to chase them, I laughed at her. Really I just figured I wasn't risking getting arrested for $ 3.35 an hour. The part about jumping over the desk is suspicious. |
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I didn't mind it at all. I mostly just sat and studied. I only had one location where I did anything. The others were office buildings on nights and weekends. Quoted:
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I learned that i would rather be doing literally anything other than security They had me watching gated apartment complexes in the south Phoenix / Maryvale area (the closest thing to a ghetto around here). Wasn't that bad but broken windows were almost a nightly thing along with occasional dumpster fires and other bs. Too bad extrajudicial punishment is frowned upon these days. |
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I learned that if you run in a crowd, the entire crowd will start running. A fast walk gets you there quickly without starting a stampede. I learned that eyewitness accounts should always be taken with a fistful of salt - when you're heading to a disturbance and you're told "it was a gang shootout", "some guy pulled out a sawed-off and started blasting" and "this guy was trying to plant a bomb and it went off", none of them were correct, although the mad bomber story was closest (guy was trying to toss a bomb in a carnival booth because he'd lost several hundred dollars there, well, he also lost most of both hands, when it was all said and done, and nobody else was seriously hurt). I learned that security officers can easily be categorized - there are the retirees who just want a little extra cash and out of the house, there are the folks who can't find any other work, there are the young guys either going into or just out of the military, and there are the guys working security while trying to get a better job (especially law enforcement). As a supervisor, I learned that I could be satisfied if officers showed up on time, in the correct uniform, and sober. Anything beyond that was a bonus. Like IT departments, security is a cost-center, and clients will go as cheap as they can get away with (with the exception of Quick-Trip - their policy was that if a store needed security, that security needed to be armed), which leads to low standards for security guards/officers. |
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Nothing really. Quoted:
Nothing really. This. Glad I only did it as a kid. Quoted:
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I learned that i would rather be doing literally anything other than security I read The Stand during 2 shifts. 
ETA: Only talking my limited work as a uniformed security guard and not as a bouncer. |
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Did a little security work when I used to bartend. Not a head knocker so much as keeping tabs on underage "patrons" and checking IDs at the door. Crazy shit I never would have expected. Underage girls that came in before cover and hid a huge bottle of vodka in a toilet tank. Some dumbass actually stealing a bottle behind the bar. The quality of fake IDs these days is impressive. The mental acumen of a 19 year old trying to pass as 25 is not up to snuff usually thank goodness. Protip: Ordering an "Amarillo sour" is a clue you are underage. If you are going to order a drink at least know the name of the drink. |
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I learned security is an illusion. Give me the right tools and I can secure the shit out of a person. In my general experience most people want the feeling of security they don't care that most of the guard force is below average as far as being able to handle curtain situations. |
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I did security for a couple of companies in college and I learned real quick in security you're only there to keep insurance premiums low. You're not there to save the world and no one gives a shit about your job and you're only in their way.
I learned not to get involved with people at the site. Just give a friendly nod and a quick greeting and go about your business. Don't attempt to start conversations with people if they aren't your co-workers, people just assume you're a loser or a moron. When people actually showed interest in you it was fun to see how surprised they would be when they realized you weren't retarded. Keep your mind occupied and try to stay busy. The guys who worked mids for a long time were weird and socially awkward. Working in security made me realize the job really sucked, my coworkers were dumbasses the bosses sucked even more. It made me want to do more in life and not be like the people I worked with. |
| They can be predatory criminals with a plan to kill you. I staked out the center my store was in after another shop owner had her alarm activated starting inside. This intruder entered before closing, then left after the owner did. It was a salon/beauty store gated from spa rooms in back for use after store hours. The owner was widowed while we were business neighbors and I took a dim view of anyone making trouble for her so I came back that night. I videotaped a female Securitas officer in uniform in a company vehicle B&E another store and followed her down the street. The cops found her with the cash drawer, her duty gun and illegal CCW'ing a small caliber drop gun. Still makes my blood boil. |
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I did it in the 70's. Held a few races in the parking lots.
LOOK you guys want to fuck around in those junkers. Why not make it interesting. NO ONE gets hurt, too drunk and EVERYONE leaves by 10:30. Kept the lower lifes down to a minimum. Easier knowing where they were, instead of seeing then take off as you approached. Another one was theft prevention. Seems management was concerned there was "suspicious activity" in the parking lot after 2 in the a.m. Few guys smoking pot. Look i know, you know they know, you're doing something in the lot. Cut me some slack and steal something. Easier on you then busted for weed. Back then they hammered dopers. Other than that boring, slow and decent pay (cash  ) for the time. Yes they went with low cost help. Didn't care it, was hot rod and mc money.
Not bad for a kid just out of H.S. . |
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Quoted: The part about jumping over the desk is suspicious. Quoted: Quoted: When I did it I had no training, I think ny requires you to take a class now. I rode over to the security guard company, filled out an application and was hired on the spot, or I think I went to the police station, got a background check then was hired when I returned. Zero training. They handed me a uniform and told me where to show up for work. When you showed up for work a shift supervisor would drive up and tell you what to do, like make people sign this book, patrol the building at 8 and 11. We never were told what force we were to use or when. Basically we were told to call the police if anything happened. A fair number of guards were idiots. Many were non combatants, very old men, fat 19 year old girls etc. I stopped two guys stealing a phone ( who knows, it was a big rotary phone, weird ) who were being chased by an employee of the place I was guarding. I jumped over the security guard desk thing, blocked their way out and said to give me the phone or I'd kick their asses. They tossed me the phone and ran out the door. The employee was pissed that I did not try to stop them or chase them, I asked if she wanted me to call the cops, she just shook her head and walked away. I didn't call the cops, fill out a report, nothing. No one had told me about any reports or what to do if there was a crime. I was "unarmed" ( wink wink). If I had ordered them to sit down and wait for the cops they might have. They were pretty young. I could probably have beat them both up, but I couldn't pin two guys until a cop showed up. And if they had started to get the best of me I'd have stabbed them and been arrested. There was another guard one floor up. But we didn't have radios, I had no idea who it was and they were guarding a different door. There was no back up on that job site. When they ran out in the dark the employee asked if I was going to chase them, I laughed at her. Really I just figured I wasn't risking getting arrested for $ 3.35 an hour. The part about jumping over the desk is suspicious. |
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I was lucky to do nine years at an easy, well paying security job. It was contract but fixed to one location with no chance of reassignment (it was their only site in that state). It was their only non-fed/mil contract but they held it for many years so they kept it. At one point they had almost 400 officers (all armed) and they issued everything but boots and undergarments (Glock 22).
Got two girlfriends out of that place totalling four years. One of them was WAY out of my league. Lots of lovely ladies but I decided dipping my pen in company ink twice (and getting away with it) was pushing my luck enough. Later went to an in-house job but left for a local government job just before my boss jumped ship. The security people were taken over by the shipping manager so I'm sure it's a complete clusterfuck. Still have a security gig as a second job. I told them what site I'll work at and refused any others. Been here a year but I'm a white guy who speaks English (most are Pakistani/Iraqi/whatever) so they don't fuck with me. I also let them know what I would work for. They said they start people at minimum wage. I got up saying "I guess we're done here" and I got what I would work for while these poor bastards are getting $7.25hr. I watch new cars in a very safe city, walk around and read ARFCOM & Garage Journal. |