Alone or with a partner(s)?

[NRM_Oz]

I usually worked solo or had a few shift partners who would come in for 10 hour shifts with an hour either side alone. I was also like a `flex officer` where I would fit in this extra work with my own contract stuff. A few times I did 7 x 14's and 2 hours travel and I thought of the $$$ with those 4 weeks with no day off. I was lucky as I could bring in whomever I wanted to work with and usually had a few bodies I knew well or asked to work with.

However a few times I worked high risk and found the relief to be a ghost and me expected to find out where she / he is. Not easy when you have been called in on 4 hours sleep - done 14 hours now (2 on o/t) and will wait a further 3 hours for a relief to be found and finally go home.

1 time I worked a CPP role and found my employer had phantom charged for another CPO with me (did not exist) and had the hide to charge the client (a tv star for 2 of us but paid only me). Ghosting was common when people were caught short at a site and staff were spread all over the place. 3 man teams went down to 2 or 1 man sites with the Ops Mgr covering the short fall on paper with 5 other sites. I could never do this with my own company as would often cover a site until I could bring in someone earlier or another officer to cover the site for me.

[jer6141]

Ive had "unofficial" partners.. The same I'd always work with the same 2 ppl and we'd do our own thing compared to the rest of the guys working.. Spent allot of time bored but the shift went by faster with one of them to talk to.. Used to tick management off with our cars pulled up next to another talking..

Had another job where in the morning there were supposed to be 3 guys working, often it was just me and one other person, so we abandoned post and did regular patrol and got more done that way than babysitting post.. They'd never make him my official partner when we had to have them at night because we made the rest of them look bad..

Worked 3rds alone for awhile in a mall.. Hated it. Once walked in on a burglary/drug deal in progress in a back corridor, got cornered and was completely unarmed.. No dispatcher, no one ever told city police we switched to a different channel at night, so I had to wait for them to get scared and leave for me to get where the cell would get reception.. Not a fun experience..

[tattedupboy]

I have never worked with a partner. I do in house security at a check cashing store, and I suspect that it is because the regional manager of the company is too cheap to pay more than one guard. Also, the schedule for security at this chain of check cashing stores is fixed, so no matter what time of month it is, I work the exact same number of hours every week. It kinda sucks not ever getting any overtime, but I also like being able to plan my time away from work knowing that I won't be working any hours besides what I'm scheduled for.

[Hank1]

Frack that. I beg for overtime.
My check I got for my latest 2 week pay period had 80 straight hours and 64 OVERTIME hours. Do I like working 72 hour work weeks? No but it means that I will be able to pay off my car insurance and most of my home insurance. The 72 hours I work this week means I can pay off my car note early.
If my phone rings I go.

EMT~
Some do not have the work ethic as you. We have guys that crave the OT when it's offered. A few will not work more then the standard 40 hours.

Be Safe,

Hank

[NRM_Oz]

Many f/t staff I worked with looked for 1 extra day every 4 off to just survive as the f/t wage is very low. Some people lived on o/t and when it did not come through, they were angry with the company as most were living not for the basics but well beyond their means. I refused to work with a few people as a casual relief because they were either lazy, incompetent or were an accident just waiting to happen - not on my shift it was not going to happen.