Things that bug the heck out of me at work

[craig333]

Smokers. Some background. I've never smoked and live in CA which has some of the most restrictive smoking laws anywhere. Even my last work in a factory we only had a couple of smokers. I only have one friend who still smokes. You can't smoke in any building here and if you travel in the right circles you might even think smoking has just about died out.

Well I know where they all hang out. My building. Not inside, no, but they don't even have the courtesy not to smoke by the doors. The parking garage has a continual haze of smoke to the point where I'm hesitant to patrol it anymore.

And this is a medical building. These are doctors, nurses, medical assistants etc, who you would think would know better. The patients arent' much better. I keep wanting to yell at them "quit smoking and you probably wouldn't be here" but of course I can't do that.

Rant 2. Loud motorcycles. I cringe everytime one comes in the parking garage. How many alarms are going to be set off this time? All the way up to the fifth floor. Of course that leads to rant 2.5, why the heck are car alarms so sensitive as to go off like that. Does anyone really think that makes their vehicle safer?


Thanks, I feel better now

[HotelSecurity]

Quebec only allows smoking in private homes, in smoking rooms of hotels & I believe in specially ventilated rooms of long term old folks homes. There is even talk of allowing landlords to put a no smoking clause in their lease. Not only is it illegal to smoke in a hospital but it is also illegal to smoke with 25 feet of the entrance to any medical building or school. The hospitals all have blue lines painted on the ground showing where the 25 foot area ends.

I'm 51 & never bowed to pressure (believe it or not) to even try 1 cigarette. My mother died at age 44 due to lung disease due to cigarettes. My dad who never smoked is still alive at 78. Unfortunately (And I blame my job of working 3p.m. to 11p.m most of my career) my 26 year old daughter does smoke.

[craig333]

Oh, its not legal what they're doing. But its tolerated by building management. They won't do anything that might upset a doctor.

[HotelSecurity]

Oh, its not legal what they're doing. But its tolerated by building management. They won't do anything that might upset a doctor.

Quebec has government anti smoking inspectors who actually goes around inside the buildings looking for evidence that people have been smoking. He found butts in our garage & issued a warning.

[Minneapolis Security]

Oh, its not legal what they're doing. But its tolerated by building management. They won't do anything that might upset a doctor.

Make an anonymous call, someone at the state must know who enforces this law.

[Rooney]

Rant 1.... I smoke but do NOT smoke around a building or even inside my house. If I am somewhere that allows smoking I will still ask the people around me if it will bother them. If it does I just wait until I'm somewhere it will not bother anyone.

Rant 2..... I completely agree. I have heard that they like their bikes loud so other people will see them. I don't agree. I do however have a person that lives down the road from me that works until 2 a.m. and drives by my house every night at 2:30 with the pipes blaring. I have confronted him and only had explitives in response. I also called the sheriff, he decided to wait in my driveway one night as the bike was driving by. He got a fix it ticket for loud exhaust and still has not done anything about it. I hate people that do crap with no regards to anyone around them (related to rant 1 and 2).

[craig333]

Okay, I found out its considered a code violation. Sent in an online complaint form. We'll see what happens.

[HotelSecurity]

Last week the Rental Board in Quebec ruled in favour of a tentant who had been taken to court because smoke from her cigarettes was entering the landloard's appartment & the landlord had a newborn baby. They ruled that she could continue to smoke. The bi*tch was all over the news smiling at her win. (It's people like this that I encourage to continue smoking so they get the hell off the earth before the hurt others!).

The Board did say that had there been a clause in the lease saying the tenant could not smoke the verdict would have probably gone the other way.

[Maelstrom]

I agree, smoking is a disgusting habit and the secondry pollution shouldn't be inflicted on anyone else period!

My primary rant is people who blame others' and/or equipment for their own mistakes...

[FireEMSPolice]

Here is my list:

1) Smokers. This mostly applies to my Security Officers who feel they will die without it. They spend so much time BS'ing while they smoke, it leaves the floor wide open for anything. I dont know how to control this issue. I am a non-smoker

2) Laziness. Security Officers at my work who make a few laps of the place and come back to sit down for 20 mins at the office with no real reason to be there.

I guess thats it for now.

[Guest]

...

Ok...here goes...

1. Know-It-All's: I run into people on here and at work who seem to know everything there is to know about security. Especially newbs or those who jump from company to company all the time.

2. Smokers/people who don't like smoking: I smoke, and it does not interefere with my job in anyway. IF I happen to take a smoke break while I'm at work, I find a way to do it while at a standing post, or I wait until lunch break/paperwork party time. On the flip side, if you don't like my smoking, don't come around me when I'm smoking. I cannot stand people who make a point of walking over to the smoke pit (30ft. from the office's only entrance) to complain about our smoking and warn us of the dangers. We know, we don't care.

3. Radio protocol: If you want to tell a joke on the radio or make dinner plans, you better hope that I don't get hurt while you're f-ing around on the radio. I will hurt you. Same goes for one of those I supervise being hurt. Radios are for work, cell phones are for play.

4. Getting hit with flashlights: If you shine the dang thing at me, don't shine it in my eyes. Almost all flashlights can be flashed by tapping the button. Or...you could shine it in a indirect manner. This applies especially to those who carry high-output lights.

5. Golf cart rangers/racecar drivers: I have been almost run down by golf carts in companies in the past. It is not fun. I also can't stand the fat arse guard who never leaves his cart. You wouldn't be such a fat joke to everyone if you would take the initiative to walk the site from time to time. I promise, walking has not been proven hazardous to your health.

6. Not being prepared: I hate having to carry extra gear with me so the guard working tandem can be prepared. If I had my way, you would be sent home for stupidity. But I cannot do that. Instead, I pack extra cuffs, mags, batteries, food, socks (yea it's true), rain gear, etc. So I do not have to babysit you all night.

7. Poorly dressed: Even if you are fat and ridiculous, wear your uniform in such a manner that you don't look like trash.

8. No confidence: I will not work with some of our weak-kneed officers anymore. I should not have to step in and be assertive when you are deaing with someone.

9. Super-Guard: This is the flipside of #8. If I am dealing with someone and did not ask for your assistance, do not offer it. I am very capable and besides, why aren't you on patrol instead of watching me?

10. Bad weather: I am of the mentality that my job is to be done come hell or high water, so I end up gutting out pretty rough weather to do my job. No, I don't make that much, but it's what I get paid to do. Rain on a 12-hr patrol sucks.

Just things I have noticed in a few companies I have had dealings with.

[Lawson]

9. Super-Guard: This is the flipside of #8. If I am dealing with someone and did not ask for your assistance, do not offer it. I am very capable and besides, why aren't you on patrol instead of watching me?

I was with you for the most part until here. I dont think swinging by officers contacts makes you a "super guard". Actually, someone who says that they dont want other officers checking in on them to make sure they're okay, seems to fit the bill of "super guard" more than one offering assistance.

If a guard is on a contact and I'm nearby, I always make it a point to stop by, I may not say anything, but I still stop by... this way the person who is being contacted, at the least, knows there is backup in the area.

[Guest]

actually

I suppose that was poorly-worded. I am referring to the guard who will come over and attempt to intervene when not needed. For example, I was dealing with a man who was trespassing on some property when I asked him to leave. He became beligerent and I was being calm and firm, telling him to leave. He was turning to leave finally when my partner arrived and started telling the man to leave immediately or he would recieve a CTN, etc, etc, etc. The situation changed for the worse and I had to resort to OC in order to regain control of a situation that had already begun to de-escalate just fine. I'm all for making one's presence known, but don't hang around and make the situation worse. Or even worse still, don't stand around and try that 'good cop, bad cop' routine. We had a few guys that liked to do that too. Needless to say, I don't work with them anymore.

[HotelSecurity]

I don't know, I have had lots of success with the Good Cop, Bad Cop way of dealing with disorderly guests.

I find one part of the above post a little hypocritcal (sp?) You write that you know smoking is bad for you but you don't care then you go one to write about how exercise never hurt a fat person.....

[Guest]

...

The point I was trying to make with that was this: The overweight guards I work with are taken to be more of a joke by clients and anyone else we deal with. We are not a strictly O&R company. In the words of my SGT "The bare minimum you must do is O&R, and we will pay you for the bare minimum." A guard who cannot even tie his or her shoes without getting winded is not going to have a snowball's chance in hell of restraining someone who desperately needs it. If you would have read the entire statement instead of pulling out one line, you would have seen that health was not the point of the statement. I really wish there was a 'sarcasm' button on here. Geez

Also, good cop/bad cop is just annoying. You aren't fooling anybody when you pull it. Anyone you are working with knows that is what you are doing. I will do it when messing with patrons who are persistent, but harmless problem, but not in anything even remotely serious.