The way things work for anyone who has a job is that they listen to their bosses. Boss tells you what to do, and as long as it's legal and it falls in your job description(and sometimes not in the description), you do it.
Inevitably, though, there will be someone, somewhere, who will appear from outside your company(and sometimes inside) who is not your superior, or anyone else that you answer to. They, however, have decided that they know just how your job should be done, and proceed to tell you that what you're currently doing is wrong, and maybe even illegal.
Well, most of you won't get the illegal part.
With me, however, I do need to worry about the legalities of my actions, given my position as a security guard. I am responsible for making sure that the company or site I am posted at is less likely to be liable for damages. For all intents and purposes, I am a uniformed, and paid, witness.
So when I went to work today, I was sure it was going to be just another day at a site where nothing ever happens. However, I went, and did my job, to ensure that I would continue to receive a paycheck. So I get to the site, relieve the guy there, and do my job. Now, I am very technically out of uniform, because I am wearing jeans. My slacks are messed up, and I'm taking them in to the dry cleaner's on Monday(tomorrow) to remedy this fact. In the meantime, though, I am wearing a pair of black boots(OK with uniform standards), my uniform shirt, a black T-shirt under the uniform shirt, my watch, a black baseball cap with no logo, and a black trench coat(because it was cold and a bit breezy at the time, it warmed up later). Now, the way my coat was worn covered up my patches on my shirt, but that is to be expected, given I'm wearing a -jacket-.
Now, since I'm at the site, doing my job, and keeping things safe(and keeping myself rather visible, as a visible guard(or even just a visible person) will deter a crime), when at approximately 17:50(5:50pm) I move on to the platform for the track furthest away from the parking lot, Track 1. On Track 1, a train was due to arrive in four or five minutes, heading to San Bernardino. Now, as I walk down the platform, I note that there is a man there. He's an older man, about late 30s or early 40s, white, with blond hair. As I walk past, I see him start dialing his cell-phone.
On my way back to the main platform, I overhear him talking on the phone, saying "Yeah, he's in a black trench coat, you can't miss him.", and that he should call the police. Well, that won't do. To help clear up this misunderstanding, I turn to him and say, "Excuse me, sir, but that's not needed. I'm the Security Guard for this station."
The man proceeds to snap at me, saying that he knows exactly who I am, and lectures me about my clothing, declaring that I was effectively illegal because none of my patches were showing, and that my coat was not allowed. He added that if it were up to him, he'd have me arrested, and threatened to call the police to do just that. I responded that if my attire was truly illegal, that the police had many many opportunities to do just that when I spoke with them and identified myself as the guard when they were unclear about this. I also said that if it were truly illegal, my supervisors would have told me as well, and that I would be wearing a company coat instead of my own personal coat.
This apparently ticked him off even more, and he declared that he didn't care, because he knew the rules, as he was an account manager administrator for a security company, and reiterated that my uniform was "illegal", and that I was out of uniform. I had my fill by this point, shook my head, and walked off.
When I heard him say something else, which I thought was directed at me, I turned back around and asked him to repeat it, because I hadn't heard him clearly. He snapped that he wasn't talking to me, but to the Metrolink official on the phone, and in fact, that he did not need me. After that, I walked off, and just continued my job.
Needless to say, I was rather pissed off. But Thankfully, he got on the next train and left.
I really hope I don't have to deal with this guy again. Or anyone like him. I'm surprised I didn't blow up at him and really tell him off as I would have so desperately loved to.
irritated
exhausted
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