Biggest mistake you made?

[Jeremy]

Hey guys,

I know its been a while since I posted. Looks like the discussions haven't died down, but are getting better here .

I made a huge mistake at work. We are supposed to check the building's roof hatch during building tours. Last night I forgot to check the roof hatch, and maintenance had left it open since monday morning

We had LOTS of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain all afternoon and night into the morning. There is water damage in the building and the client has to pay $25,000 for a company to come and fix the damage (building is leased and I think there was probably insurance for this) The building's maintenance engineer was afraid he would be fired and I feel horrible about it. Security was supposed to be the last line of defense.

The client is discussing implementing a wand and button tour system in our buildings, and they will probably put a button near the roof hatch...(and that also means buttons all over the place -sigh-)

To make matters worse, our contract is up and is currently being negotiated.

I learned my lesson..... I'm interested to hear feedback or other experiences you guys have had personally, or with other officers.

The maintenance engineer, who was the one that opened the hatch, got way more heat than us for the incident. The only person I spoke with was our account manager, who woke me up after 2 hours sleep to ask me if I checked it....other than that, nothing.

So most of the blame is on maintenance, but I feel personally responsible for it right now....

[JB diligence]

Sounds like the maintenance guys fault. Some times it's not always possible to hit every location, things come up. It's not like you intended on flooding the place.

Jeremy, we all make mistakes, it's when we remember not to make them again that helps us become better at our jobs.

Keep on keeping on!

[Badge714]

One of my screw-ups was when I leaned on a big red emergency stop button in a computer room while chatting up the keypunch girl back in the early 80's. Back then, computers had to be loaded with large reels of magnetic tape. I killed the power to 4 mainframes and it took something like 120 man hours to bring back up.
The company got a pretty hefty bill, and I got sent to an F-Troop account for a few months.
I worked the account to cover for a sick guard about six months later, and saw that they installed a plastic cover over the big red button!

[copelandamuffy]

Working at a shopping mall at Christmas. I left work at 2300 hours, ready
to go home. I went to forth deck looking for my car. Now mind
you I had been up since 0430. Ran up and down the parking garage looking
for my car, but alas I could not find it. I called my wife and told her I
had bad news, our car was stolen. She said to me. "Were you suppose
to bring the Securitas Car home for the weekend, because you were
working at different posts

I must have walked past this Chevrolet three times, orange strobe lights
on top of the car, and the Securitas Logo on the side of the car.

I thanked the Good Lord, I had not quite called the police to report a
stolen car.

[Curtis Baillie]

As a young Security Officer, while working for NASA I became very nosey and waundered into a part of the nuclear reactor that I wasn't supposed to be in. As I prepared to leave the building I stepped into the radioactive measurement machine, and all the bells and whistles went off. I spent the next 24 hours in decontamination. No harm - and I don't glow in the dark.

[Jeremy]

One of my screw-ups was when I leaned on a big red emergency stop button in a computer room while chatting up the keypunch girl back in the early 80's. Back then, computers had to be loaded with large reels of magnetic tape. I killed the power to 4 mainframes and it took something like 120 man hours to bring back up.
The company got a pretty hefty bill, and I got sent to an F-Troop account for a few months.
I worked the account to cover for a sick guard about six months later, and saw that they installed a plastic cover over the big red button!

Wow I don't feel so bad now. Do you still work for that same company today?

[HotelSecurity]

As a young Security Officer, while working for NASA I became very nosey and waundered into a part of the nuclear reactor that I wasn't supposed to be in. As I prepared to leave the building I stepped into the radioactive measurement machine, and all the bells and whistles went off. I spent the next 24 hours in decontamination. No harm - and I don't glow in the dark.

How many children do you have?

[HotelSecurity]

Mistakes? I don't make misteaks

[Black Caesar]

In December 1998 I was a rookie with my Department, fresh off Probation and working on my own over the Christmas/New Year Holiday. College was closed and I was working deep nights, got off at 7am.

Made a patrol at 6am then went and sat in the office reading the paper till my relief arrived. Phone rings at 0645, it's my relief and he wants me to come to the dock entrance.

Between 6am and 6:45 someone spray painted a GANG MURAL on the Dock entrance wall. I'm not talking about a little graffiti, I'm talking about a 10 foot tall MURAL, the kind of thing that had to take more than one person and they had to stand on the chairs on the dock to get that high.

It was visible from every direction and you could see it from the light rail station 2 blocks away. And it happened on my watch...

The Chief came and looked at it, as did his boss the Vice President, and the Director of Facilities, and the College President, and then the Chancellor of the College District came on campus to pick up something from his office across the street from the college, he came to see it too.....

The all told me it wasn't my fault, I didn't even get a verbal scolding for it (the college president said that I "couldn't be in 2 places at one time") But I was MORTIFIED.

Now, 10 years later, I patrol right up till shift change .

[OccamsRazor]

Mistakes? I don't make misteaks

LOL!

Text added in white font for length reasons.

[OccamsRazor]

I seem to remember filling out this job application.

[Badge714]

Wow I don't feel so bad now. Do you still work for that same company today?

Yes, I do. I worked for Midwest Patrol from 1977 to 1984, and worked for a few other places over the years, but I came back in 2000. Of all the places I've worked security the past 30 years, Midwest Patrol has treated me the best.

P.S. I've done a few things that were even worse, but some things should remain a mystery, don't you think?

[Chucky]

In December 1998 I was a rookie with my Department, fresh off Probation and working on my own over the Christmas/New Year Holiday. College was closed and I was working deep nights, got off at 7am.

Made a patrol at 6am then went and sat in the office reading the paper till my relief arrived. Phone rings at 0645, it's my relief and he wants me to come to the dock entrance.

Between 6am and 6:45 someone spray painted a GANG MURAL on the Dock entrance wall. I'm not talking about a little graffiti, I'm talking about a 10 foot tall MURAL, the kind of thing that had to take more than one person and they had to stand on the chairs on the dock to get that high.

It was visible from every direction and you could see it from the light rail station 2 blocks away. And it happened on my watch...

The Chief came and looked at it, as did his boss the Vice President, and the Director of Facilities, and the College President, and then the Chancellor of the College District came on campus to pick up something from his office across the street from the college, he came to see it too.....

The all told me it wasn't my fault, I didn't even get a verbal scolding for it (the college president said that I "couldn't be in 2 places at one time") But I was MORTIFIED.

Now, 10 years later, I patrol right up till shift change .

BC are you sure that you were not hacked as opposed to malicious vandalism? During my many years at M.I.T. hacks were a way of college life. http://hacks.mit.edu/ The dome was just across the street from our campus PD and no one ever saw (ACK ACK) the Police Car with a box of Dunkin Donuts on the hood constructed on the dome over night. Another clandestine caper was turning the dome into a Droid from Star Wars. Another good one was when the kids erected a full bulletin board over the door way to the new deans office. The next morning when the dean went to where he thought his office was actually was not there just a wall with a BB.

[Security]

Hey guys,

I know its been a while since I posted. Looks like the discussions haven't died down, but are getting better here .

I made a huge mistake at work. We are supposed to check the building's roof hatch during building tours. Last night I forgot to check the roof hatch, and maintenance had left it open since monday morning

We had LOTS of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain all afternoon and night into the morning. There is water damage in the building and the client has to pay $25,000 for a company to come and fix the damage (building is leased and I think there was probably insurance for this) The building's maintenance engineer was afraid he would be fired and I feel horrible about it. Security was supposed to be the last line of defense.

The client is discussing implementing a wand and button tour system in our buildings, and they will probably put a button near the roof hatch...(and that also means buttons all over the place -sigh-)

To make matters worse, our contract is up and is currently being negotiated.

I learned my lesson..... I'm interested to hear feedback or other experiences you guys have had personally, or with other officers.

The maintenance engineer, who was the one that opened the hatch, got way more heat than us for the incident. The only person I spoke with was our account manager, who woke me up after 2 hours sleep to ask me if I checked it....other than that, nothing.

So most of the blame is on maintenance, but I feel personally responsible for it right now....

That's not bad. Last winter (this was before I worked there) we had a guard forget to check one of the valve rooms to make sure the heat was on. Turns out he forgot to check it and the pipes ended up freezing over. $40K+ in damage. Anyway, this guy is still working here after his very expensive mistake, so I'm sure everything will work out fine for you, too.

[N. A. Corbier]

BC are you sure that you were not hacked as opposed to malicious vandalism? During my many years at M.I.T. hacks were a way of college life. http://hacks.mit.edu/ The dome was just across the street from our campus PD and no one ever saw (ACK ACK) the Police Car with a box of Dunkin Donuts on the hood constructed on the dome over night. Another clandestine caper was turning the dome into a Droid from Star Wars. Another good one was when the kids erected a full bulletin board over the door way to the new deans office. The next morning when the dean went to where he thought his office was actually was not there just a wall with a BB.

Ex went to CalTech.

Damn kids rapelled off a multi-story building to get somewhere. They rapelled off a multi-story building. Undetected.

See also: Steam Tunnels.