Alone or with a partner(s)?

[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.

[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

[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.

[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..

[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.

[Hank1]

We operate single officer patrol cars. However, we share patrol zones with zone partners and we always roll to every call together for officer safety. Very seldom do we respond to calls alone.

Be safe,

Hank

[CorpSec]

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.

That is the attitude to have in my opinion. Contract security around the Twin Cities seems to be a little different animal then it was 10-15 years ago when I was doing it. I talk to contract guys that don't get that much OT at all.

That is in stark contrast to the days when "flex" officers routinely put in 100+ hour weeks. I remember one officer being scheduled 5 doubles a week and then picking up shifts up the weekend. It was common to have to hold over a few minutes to allow these officers to travel from the post they were on to yours. Insane if you ask me.

Although I did average 60 hours a week while going through the police "skills" program up here, so I guess that was crazy in it's own right.

If it isn't all the time, overtime is great.

[EMTGuard]

"I put my 40 in, they ain't gonna bug me past my 40. They ain't gonna change my schedule. They can go to hell, cause I'll quit and go back to Securitas, they never asked me to work overtime..."

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.

[bigshotceo]

This whole thing is par for the course with most contract security firms, honestly, and some in-house firms as well. They don't have the resources to be able to fill positions.

And, lets face it. In this day and age, many people will simply refuse to answer the phone when their employer calls. Especially in low paying jobs like contract security.

"I put my 40 in, they ain't gonna bug me past my 40. They ain't gonna change my schedule. They can go to hell, cause I'll quit and go back to Securitas, they never asked me to work overtime..."

That's one of the main reasons security companies often hire recent immigrants despite the fact that for various reasons (such as not speaking English very well) they're not really suited for the job. If you call them, they will do extra hours if at all possible. They don't have the same way of though t as most of us non-immigrants, in which you put in 40 hours and that the rest of your time is entirely yours, free from obligation.

[N. A. Corbier]

from post #33 on down....my god that is so bad. What else is there to say about it? Ghosting? Abandoned posts? Management that does not have contingencies covered? The whole thing is pretty upsetting.

This whole thing is par for the course with most contract security firms, honestly, and some in-house firms as well. They don't have the resources to be able to fill positions.

And, lets face it. In this day and age, many people will simply refuse to answer the phone when their employer calls. Especially in low paying jobs like contract security.

"I put my 40 in, they ain't gonna bug me past my 40. They ain't gonna change my schedule. They can go to hell, cause I'll quit and go back to Securitas, they never asked me to work overtime..."

[junkyarddog]

from post #33 on down....my god that is so bad. What else is there to say about it? Ghosting? Abandoned posts? Management that does not have contingencies covered? The whole thing is pretty upsetting.

[N. A. Corbier]

Ah, yes, Ghosting.

I've seen people be up to three places at once before. God help you if the client finds out. Any of them.

[HotelSecurity]

I have abandoned post a few times in my career. I would never do it at my present job since I am management and have a mortgage. But, back in my contract days, after giving them several hours to find relief, I called them and asked them what their preference was as to where I left the keys, radio, and site access card prior to me leaving.

I never got in a bit of trouble. This company routinely had posts running "open" In some cases, the field supervisor would just go to the account, start a new sign in log for the day, and leave to go to another account that was running open to do the same thing. I am guessing that in a lot of cases the client was billed for an officer even though nobody was there. This was the largest company in the twin cities doing this!

During the summers while in Police Technology in college I worked for Pinkerton. Iwas working at a sugar refinery where we had about 6 Officers on duty. I remember being picked up in the middle of the shift by a patrol Officer & being driven to a one man site where the Officer had called in sick. I got paid for both sites at the same time because Pinkerton didn't want either of them to know what they had done.

[CorpSec]

I have abandoned post a few times in my career. I would never do it at my present job since I am management and have a mortgage. But, back in my contract days, after giving them several hours to find relief, I called them and asked them what their preference was as to where I left the keys, radio, and site access card prior to me leaving.

I never got in a bit of trouble. This company routinely had posts running "open" In some cases, the field supervisor would just go to the account, start a new sign in log for the day, and leave to go to another account that was running open to do the same thing. I am guessing that in a lot of cases the client was billed for an officer even though nobody was there. This was the largest company in the twin cities doing this!

[JB diligence]

Gotta love, going in at 06:00 and finally gettting a relief at 22:00