Thursday, September 02, 2010

Last week I left my building to go get two cookies from my local Potbellys, and there was nothing but determination in my eyes. I work out, I pay my taxes, and I talk to God at least once a week, so I think I am entitled to two cookies once a week. Its the American way...anyway, as I left the building, the security guard looked at me and the following conversation went down:

Security guard: "Have a good night sir!"
Me: "I'm just going to get a cookie my man, I'll be back!"
Security guard: "Ok then we'll see you shortly" (I hate when a singular person uses the plural form..why not just use the third person and be all the way annoying?)
Me: "Alright then."

Right before I headed out of the door I realized I forgot my wallet, so I headed back towards the security guard, and headed towards the door that led to my office. But before I could get there, the same security guard put his hands on my shoulder and stopped me, which led to this conversation:

Me: "Whoa, whoa, what's with the touching?"
guard: "I need to see your ID"
Me: "Man I haven't even left the building yet, and we just had a conversation, and you KNOW I work here man..plus you could have said my name, all the touching wasn't even necessary"
guard: "Just show me your ID please"
Me: "You're really on your job today man"
guard: "I'm just trying to do my job sir"
Me: "I see that"

Now, so that I did not risk my job or being detained somewhere, I shut my mouth, got my wallet, and went on about my business of cookie purchasing. But I remember telling my lady later on that night, that sometimes security guards don't use common sense to do their damn jobs. When I first come in the building in the morning, I understand being ID'd..I can understand it after lunch when masses of people are coming in and out..I can even understand it if I left the building for an hour and then came back. But when I leave, talk to you, and then turn around and walk by you, all in a 15 second span, and you STILL ID me? That's not in the spirit of what security guards are for..

But when I see incidents like the one that happened at the Discovery Channel yesterday, I'm a bit more appreciative of the measures that are taken to be sure I am safe. You never know what can happen on any given day, and there are times when even security guards aren't save (like last year at the Holocaust Museum in DC). So this morning when I walked in the building, I went to the security guard who jerked me around last week, and apologized for sassing him, and he returned the favor by apologizing for touching my shoulder. It was a tender moment, and I'm sorry it wasn't taped (actually it probably was on the security cam), but I meant what I said.

And since no one died in that hostage incident, except for the person who caused it, I can make a semi-humorous observation. With the exception of the movie, "Inside Man", have you EVER seen a successful hostage situation? Does anyone ever break in a building, get hostages, negotiate terms of their escape, break free, then show up at Chik-fil-A the next day? It never works, yet people do this every year, and it blows my mind..I suppose that's why they are criminals though right?

3 comments:

Jazzbrew said...

Great post. It's sort of like being pissed off about a flight delay due to mechanical problems but you'd much rather they catch it and fix it BEFORE you get on that plane. Same with the random searches in airports...

Great video. Sammy Davis is my cat.

Janelle said...

"show up at Chik Fil A the next day"??? Classic! hahahahahahahaha

yes security guards can be overzealous but I'll take the overzealous one over the one asleep at his station when I come home late at night. smh

Unknown said...

I thought the same thing about the hostage situation. I mean there has got to be a better and more successful way or getting what you want. I, at times, also hate the Discovery Channel programming choices (i.e. 19 Kids and Counting, Kate Plus 8, anything with multiple births), but what happened to writing a letter? How does one skip to holding people hostage!?