So this morning, my wife got a flat tire. We exchanged cars, and she continued on her way to work in my pickup. I went to the tire store, they told me the hole was irreparable, so I told them to replace the front tires while I went next door for breakfast. $300 later, I went to her work to again exchange cars. I needed my truck to run an errand to Home Depot to haul some supplies home.
I found that the teacher’s lot is blocked by traffic cones, presumably to keep students from parking there. I moved ONE cone to get into the lot and exchange cars, with the intent of putting the cone back where it come from on my way out. I parked her car, and as I was getting out, I was met by the head of school security, whose first words were: “You are going to put that cone back, right?”
Me: “Well, yes. I was going to get it on my way out. I am swapping cars with my wife.”
He then went on about how much time it takes to set up the cones each day, and how I am making his job harder. Note that at no point did he seem to care that I was a person unknown to him on school campus during the day.
I was VERY polite, and I told him that I was intending on doing so. Even though I was tempted to run over 6 or 8 of those cones on the way out, I did not.
Why do security people have to be assholes? It’s like you give people a bit of authority, and they let it go directly to their heads. This is what people talk about when they talk about de-escalation. It isn’t about negotiating with knife wielding maniacs, it is about not TRYING to throw the weight of your authority around. It is about basic human decency.
There is an old saying about “An armed society is a polite society.” The truth behind that saying is caused by a balance of power. If both people involved in an interaction are on equal terms, they tend to be more polite. It is only when one feels that he has more power than they other that he feels the need to flaunt that power.
My guess here is that, if he had suspected that I was armed, he either would have been VERY nice to me, or would have run scared in order to put the school on lockdown, even though I presented no threat to him. I don’t need to push other people around in order to validate my own inadequacies.
5 Comments
Kid · April 23, 2021 at 10:13 am
Lucky it wasn’t female security.
Jonathan · April 23, 2021 at 10:49 am
I notice it seems the insecure go crazy when given a little power… the secure (including experienced and wealthy) don’t seem to feel the need.
The same is true for police – I’ve run into several rude arrogant officers with a chip on their shoulder. I’ve also run into polite, kind helpful officers…
Mike Austin · April 23, 2021 at 11:53 am
I live in an apartment building in northwest Oklahoma City. I never go anywhere unarmed—as in open carry with a spare magazine—even to take out the trash and check the mail. These apartments, over time, have become “diverse”; that is, with a large majority black occupancy. Never have I encountered any problems, neither from my black neighbors nor the management. They probably see me as “that crazy long-haired old guy with a gun.” Which is, naturally, exactly how I wished to be seen.
I am of course pleasant to everyone, but always understand that something “entertaining” can happen in an instant. There are very few absolutely safe places anymore. One must constantly be on guard. Even in my apartment there is a loaded and charged gun in every room. If something happens I intend to survive.
It is not that I want to live this way, it is that I must live this way.
Cindy Emmerich · April 23, 2021 at 8:55 pm
You get it and “it” is not good.
21stCenturyCassandra · April 24, 2021 at 12:02 am
“Why do security people have to be assholes?”
If you ever saw the Big Bang Theory episode where the guys get cut off from a special screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, “I’m the petty functionary with the clipboard, bitch.”
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