Security....

I HATE SECURITY!!!!!

Okay, that's not entirely true. I love my job. I really enjoy working in the Security field. Especially Hospital Security. It's fun and challenging and sometimes exciting.

What I hate, is how we're dealt with.

Administration is, for all intents and purposes, fucking retarded.

Let me elaborate.

Part of working Security is making your presence (or the presence of the Security Department) felt by not only the staff, but also by the public and, in the case of Hospital Security, patients. The best way to do this is to monitor high traffic areas (hang out at the Main Entrance to a building, for instance). This is something that any decent Security minded person will tell you. Your mere presence acts as a deterrent for a lot of problems.

Also, you can give directions, help people in and out of cars, answer questions...general customer service kinds of stuff.

Now, the other day, I was approached by the hospital's Chief Operating Officer (C.O.O.) while hanging out near the valet stand (right outside the Main Entrance). We'd just started construction (or rather, pre-construction destruction of the hospital's main driveway), and I was explaining to the Valets how things were going to change, based on the proposed plans for parking and construction, and Security issues and such, since none of them are privy to any of that information, but it affects them greatly.

Normally, at that time of day, there would be two Valets at the Valet stand, but on this particular day, one of the Valets from across the street (at the Heart Tower of our Medical Center) had come over, and was talking to her Main Hospital counterparts. The C.O.O. came outside and looked at the freshly started construction, and then walked up to me, and we had the following conversation.

Him: "What's going on? Is there a problem up here?"

Me: "No. I just came up to check on the construction, and hang out up here at the Main Entrance. Ya know, make my presence known, that kinda thing."

Him: "Well, they've got three men (one of whom was not a man) up here. I don't think they need you hanging out here."

Me: "Okay. Fair enough."

So, I took off, and did another patrol of the hospital's floors (which I'd done less than 15 minutes prior), and returned to the Security Office. Now, I've been hanging out with the Valets like that for months (right outside the glass wall of his office, and there hasn't been any problems. I've answered questions, given directions, looked up directions, escorted people where they need to go, helped out with Valet duties when they get busy, all while handling my normal Security Officer duties. I still answer the Security Mobile, which is where all the calls to the Security Department go to, and my Security duties always (and have always) take precedence.

Why the hell should I hide in my office (because I've already been told I spend too much time in the lobbies, monitoring traffic, too much time in the parking lots, monitoring traffic, too much time in the ER, monitoring the craziness that goes on there) when Security should be SEEN?!

Now, this C.O.O. and I have had run ins in the past. Not in person, mind you, but run ins nonetheless. I have tattoos up and down both of my arms. My left arm has three visible (in my uniform) tattoos, one of a pair of stone dragons, one of some stone tribal, and one of a tree. My right arm has six visible tattoos. The Superman S-Shield, the Bat-Symbol, Captain America's Shield, Thor's Hammer, a Punisher Skull band around my wrist, and a Sh'iar Death Mark (it's a comic book thing).

I worked night shift for eight months when I first hired on, and nobody ever had any problems with my tattoos. Not doctors, not nurses, not patients, not visitors, not coworkers. Nobody. Then I switched to day shift.

The C.E.O. doesn't mind my tattoos. My boss, and my boss' boss doesn't have a problem with them. There are people with larger tattoos than mine, with more tattoos than I have, and with clearly NSFW tattoos, and they get to leave them uncovered.

The way the hospital's dress code policy is written is very vague. "Tattoos that may be offensive, or cover too much area should be covered. The final decision is left up to the employee's manager." Now, what constitutes too much area is left up to my direct supervisor. Simple enough, but when his boss' boss' boss' boss says "You need to write him (me) up for having exposed tattoos." there's not much my boss can do. I get that.

What gets me is the fact that he has (on multiple occasions) stared me in the face, shook my hand, and spoken to me in a pleasant manner, and then waited a week before ordering my immediate manager to write me up for having exposed tattoos that "make him look like a thug".

Now, I get the Punisher Skull being offensive, especially in a hospital. It's a skull, which isn't something you wanna see in a place where people come to get healthy I get that. I'd even understand the Sh'iar Death Mark, if EVERYONE in the world was a super comic book nerd. This is the tattoo, and it's from a relatively normal issue (nothing fancy about it) of Uncanny X-Men (issue 480 something, I think), but not many people know what it means. (See below)

So yeah. That's the tattoo, and he doesn't even have a problem with that one. It's the Superman and Batman symbols that apparently trip his retard trigger. Really? Seriously? Superman and Batman make me look like a thug, but skulls and "death marks" don't? What the fuck, man?

Ugh. I guess it just boils down to the fact that he can't stand me for some reason.

Fucker...

I'm so glad I'll be out of there in a year.

On a lighter note, I passed the entry exam for the local college's Police Academy. With any luck, in December of 2012, I'll have my TCLEOSE certification and I can go to work out here in this city and not be under his retarded ass thumb.