The phones going down is not something Security can help you with...

[KuariKaydrith]

A couple of days ago there was a province-wide phone outage for both landlines and cellphones for the client company I do security for. It also affected cellphone service for a few other companies due to them sharing cell towers with the client company. Dealing with the issue is not my responsibility at all - I only sit at a desk and watch cameras and deal with my supervisor responsibilities all day. Nothing technical at all.

Now, we do have people who seem convinced that because the client company's name is plastered on the outside of the building that we are a commercial site for said client company. Despite it being plastered all over the door they have to come in through that we are NOT a customer service site at all, and the signs even tell customers where they need to go for assistance.

Well.

I suppose the guy who came in couldn't be bothered to read what is clearly plastered all over the door because he came in and insisted that I had to help him with his phone issue because he couldn't call out and was getting an 'all lines are busy' message. Not to mention that he couldn't get online with his DSL service either.

I told him about the outage and that as he's on DSL that his internet service is being disrupted as well, but that I knew that the techs were on it and working to fix it.

"That doesn't solve my problems! What are YOU going to do to fix this? I need it fixed right fucking now, you lazy bitch! I can't do a fucking thing thanks to you, stupid bitch."

Okay, sir. For one, you're going to stop swearing in my lobby. If you don't, I will be bodily hauling you out the door, and if you're lucky I'll open it first. For another, I'm building security - see all the labels sewn onto my uniform that say 'SECURITY'? That means I have nothing to do with technical support in any way, shape, or form. Oh, and did you miss the signs posted on the very door you came through that made it clear that this is not a commercial site at all? That's nice that you couldn't be bothered looking at all of them. Guess what? Here's a smaller copy of the big ass sign on the front door - see those phone numbers and addresses on it? You need to call any one of those, but preferably the customer service number once service is reconnected for the island. Don't look at me like that, sir. I can't use my phone either, and the only reason I have internet is because it's fibre op and doesn't run on phone lines like DSL does. And don't bother going to the big building the next city over that also has the client company name plastered all over it because it's not a commercial site either. Seriously, once the phone lines go back up, call the customer service number. Or you could go to one of the stores or kiosks listed on the piece of paper I gave you only to have them tell you the same thing - your services are all down because the phone/cell lines are down. They are being worked on.

Oh, and to the taxi driver that tried to tell me that Bell owns Telus? Yeah, you're wrong...Bell owns Bell, Virgin, and MTS. Telus owns Telus, Koodo, and Public Mobile. How do I know? What building did you just pick me up from? Yeah, I think I'd know who the client company owns after working at that site for over a year. Yes, Telus cell service was affected too but that is because they use Bell towers. Telus doesn't have a network of their own towers here, and they don't have landline service here either. Stop being a tool and just listen to me. I work at one of the buildings for one of the companies and my cell service is with the other. Yeah, I know what I'm on about. Just shut up and get me home already. Buh.

[Pixelated]

C'mon, Kuari, do you really expect people to read what's right in front of their bleary eyeballs? At my Main Job, there's a phone in the tiny lobby, with a sign saying that if you're here to see Bossman, please call reception. The door that leads to Bossman's domain has a sign on it, reading 'PRIVATE' in big letters.

Wanna guess how often people ignore the phone and the sign and just march right up the stairs?

One of 'em was a teacher.

[eltf177]

Customers...read...signs...

I surprised most of them can walk and breathe at the same time.

Okay, sir. For one, you're going to stop swearing in my lobby. If you don't, I will be bodily hauling you out the door, and if you're lucky I'll open it first.

I absolutely LOVE this line!

[notalwaysright]

I surprised most of them can walk and breathe at the same time.

Tell me about it. We have aisle numbers, and if I'm at the register I can't leave, so I say something like "yarn starts at aisle A33 and goes for the next five aisles." And instead of looking at the numbers, (it's a straight walk, all you have to do is look at the numbers and keep walking until you get to 33) I watch from the registers as the customer walks to about aisle 20, stops, looks around, walks back a couple aisles while peering down them, then goes in the wrong direction. After a minute an employee appears, walking the customer to the GIANT SECTION of yarn. That also has a sign over it saying Needle Arts. Later we joke, "boy, I hope she can make it back to her car... It's a miracle that she found our store."

So yeah, reading? Foreign concept for SCs. It's extremely idiotic to yell at someone in a security uniform, maybe he'll yell at a cop next.

[wolfie]

The guy is upset because his phone went down on him? Why doesn't he just sit back and enjoy the free phone sex?

The door that leads to Bossman's domain has a sign on it, reading 'PRIVATE' in big letters.

Do drill sergeants tell recruits "If you see your rank on a door, don't open it"?

[KuariKaydrith]

I know that reading seems to be highly optional when it comes to SCs, but I keep hoping. I should stop

A lot of people don't seem to think a female security officer is somebody to worry about. What they don't understand is that some of us are scarier than the guys when a situation warrants it. A few people who have witnessed me take a guy down who is twice my size and weight say it's scary to see because normally I'm fairly happy and don't look like the type of person who could do that.

[Aria]

Hello fellow phone slave! Well, security to fellow phone slaves! Or something.

You mentioned my employer there. Not going to say which one although I'm sure some people can guess.

[KuariKaydrith]

I'm pretty sure I can guess - I recall your address from the card exchange It's all the phone business, regardless of where we sit!

[judecat]

I know that reading seems to be highly optional when it comes to SCs, but I keep hoping. I should stop

A lot of people don't seem to think a female security officer is somebody to worry about. What they don't understand is that some of us are scarier than the guys when a situation warrants it. A few people who have witnessed me take a guy down who is twice my size and weight say it's scary to see because normally I'm fairly happy and don't look like the type of person who could do that.

The state office building where I used to work had a skinny little blond security guard -- picture Calista Flockhart only shorter. No one took her at all seriously until the day she single handed took down an armed gunman (who was holding one of the more physically imposing looking guards at gun point. It looked like all she did was grab his arm, but the next thing we knew the gun was on the floor, and he was on his knees and in cuffs. I think it had to do with pressure points or something.

[KuariKaydrith]

The state office building where I used to work had a skinny little blond security guard -- picture Calista Flockhart only shorter. No one took her at all seriously until the day she single handed took down an armed gunman (who was holding one of the more physically imposing looking guards at gun point. It looked like all she did was grab his arm, but the next thing we knew the gun was on the floor, and he was on his knees and in cuffs. I think it had to do with pressure points or something.

I can absolutely picture that in my head We use whatever we can to our advantage, and the fact that many people don't seem to think we are as capable as we are certainly works in our favour. Knowing pressure points is extremely handy - it helped me out more than once when I was a bouncer many years ago.

[PastryGal]

I know the outage your talking about. My boss was on the landline (different company rhymes with Dodgers) trying to figure out what was going on with his cell phone. He couldn't even connect to our wifi. I recently changed from Smell Compliant (hehehe) for my cell so I wasn't having any problems. Nice to see another local!

[NCIS4Ever2001]

I can absolutely picture that in my head We use whatever we can to our advantage, and the fact that many people don't seem to think we are as capable as we are certainly works in our favour. Knowing pressure points is extremely handy - it helped me out more than once when I was a bouncer many years ago.

What some folks don't seem to realize is that, if you know what you're doing (and hell, even if you don't) your ENTIRE BODY can be used as a weapon if necessary