I Encountered Some Strange People Working as a Security Guard in Florida
People different than you and I
It has been seven years since I last had a job. I’m on Disability now and I don’t miss working at all. I do think about some of the sites I worked at, and some of the strange people I encountered.
For the first few years, the jobs were typical for security guards. I worked for Defense Contractors and Condominiums. In those assignments, I never had to call the cops for anything.
It was interesting when it wasn’t terrifying
That all changed when I worked in the Low-Income housing community. It has been twenty years since I worked there. The building has been demolished and the Residents have moved on.
The people who lived there were nuts. I have forgotten a lot of the nuttiness, but a few people have stuck in my memory. I don’t know why I can’t forget these people, I’m sure they have forgotten about me.
She thought everyone was after her, but no one even knew her name
There was a woman who lived there, who was the most Paranoid person I have ever met. She thought there were cameras and listening devices in her apartment.
She was so sure that people were going through her belongings when she was gone. She demanded that the guards place a security lock on her door every time she left the building.
She would place an open Bible on the floor in the doorway
If she went across the street to the grocery store, we had to place the lock on the door. If she went to a church meeting, or any time she left the building.
She was convinced that everyone wanted to hurt her. I don’t think anyone knew her at all. At least she wasn’t a drunk or drug addict. She was harmless but nutty as a fruitcake.
He was no trouble, but he was still in Viet Nam
The one resident I felt bad for was a Vietnam Veteran. He never bothered anyone. He was too busy fighting the war to interact with anyone in the complex.
He would have loud conversations with his fellow soldiers in the jungle. He would have those conversations loud enough to be heard by anyone close by.
If he got too loud, We would yell at him to keep it down. He would apologize. He would resume the conversation in a whisper, the next day, the process would start over again.
She was nasty, but God help you if she saw a cigarette butt on the floor
There was one woman who lived there who annoyed me to no end. She was a big woman with long, scraggly hair that hadn’t seen soap or a brush in years. She never changed her clothes the whole time I worked there.
She would lose her ever-loving mind if she saw a cigarette butt on the floor. She would see the butt, then she would come to the guard desk raising Hell. I couldn’t stand her.
The bus terminals were a trip
There was so much going on at the terminals, I had a running commentary on Facebook. I had fans from all over the world. It was the terminal jobs that got me thinking about being a writer.
I called the cops a lot
There were a lot of tragic and sad things that I saw, there were too many to list. The one sort of funny thing happened one evening. One of the bus drivers approached me.
He said that it was all over the radio. There was someone in urine-soaked pants that was waiting on a bus at the terminal. I looked around, and my intuition told me who the person was.
I would not let him get on a bus
I waited until the bus arrived and he tried to get on. I was right behind him when the driver refused to let him get on the bus. I told the guy that I couldn’t let him on the bus like that.
“ I can’t help it, I have a condition,” he said in a rage. I told him that he couldn’t get on the bus in urine-soaked pants, and he couldn’t be at the terminal unless he got on a bus.
He called my bluff, so I called the cops
I told him I would call the cops if he didn’t leave. He said I would have to do that. So, I did. He ended up walking home after the cops arrived to set him straight.
One of the bus routes covered all the fun places. The County jail, the Methadone Clinic, and some other places I can’t remember. Most of my calls to the cops or Paramedics involved that route.
I regretted that I couldn’t help her kids
There was a young woman who had kids, one of them in a stroller. The stroller kept the woman from falling because she was always high on something.
I could do nothing about it. As long as she maintained enough to get on a bus. I watched her with her kids and raged inwardly. There was nothing I could do about it.
Some things were funny though
There were some amusing incidents. There was an older emaciated woman who wore too much make-up. Think Dee Snider’s ugly twin sister.
It was a slow Saturday afternoon. She was sitting on a bench. She waited until I turned her way. She then opened and closed her legs. She did it slow enough for me to get a good look.
EWWW GROSS!!!
She wasn’t wearing panties. I had never been so grossed out in my life. I don’t know why she did that, I was shocked and grossed out. She got on a bus before I could react.
I have been wondering what to write about. I hit a dry spot on occasion. Last night before bed, the memories flooded back. I thought I would write about them and get them out of my system.
Final Thought:
Be grateful that you are in your right mind and have moral values. A lot of people don’t have them. Be thankful if your parents raised you right. A lot of kids don’t have that. I have been around people that have no morals or sense of cleanliness or decency, and it’s not pretty.
Respect security guards, a lot of them work harder than you realize.