I have had many
conflicts when dealing with the public in my job as a security guard.
Since Security is viewed as a job for lazy people. Some people
believe that we can be abused and just pushed aside.
In this one occasion
I was posted in this small office building in the Chelsea
neighborhood of Manhattan. This woman came in wanting to go upstairs
to the Buddhist temple for the meditation. I told her that she would
need to show identification and sign in the guest book before she
would be granted access to the temple. She got irate immediately.
The argument went
like this:
Her: This is
ridiculous. I never had to do that before.
Me: That is why they
are no longer here. I do not make the rules.
Her: Well I am
already running late I do not have time for this.
Me: (suppressing my
rage) I am sorry for the delay but I can not allow you access until
you sign in.
Her: I don't have to
show you anything.
Me: As a condition
of entry you must show Id or you will have to leave.
Her: I am going
upstairs.
Me: Then please show
me Id and sign in the guest book.
Her: I do not have
time for you.
She proceeded to
walk past me and get on the elevator. I then put my foot to prevent
the doors from closing and keeping the elevator from going up.
Her: Are you really
going to keep me from going upstairs?
Me: Yes Please sign
in and you will be allowed access ma'am.
Her: You are an
@$$hole.
Me: Thank you for
the compliment. I am sorry for the inconvenience.
Her: I will have you
arrested for kidnapping.
Me: You can leave at
anytime I am not keeping you from leaving. You are just not granted
access into the building because you refuse to comply to the
conditions of entering this building. In fact you are trespassing and
I am doing my job preventing you from going up.
Her: I want to
speaking to your *&()ing supervisor.
Me: Yes Ma'am please
get out of the elevator and I will call him.
She gets out.
Cursing me out. I called my supervisor and tell him the situation and
put him on the phone with her.
Her: I don't want to
show him my ID. He might be a criminal. (seriously holding my rage
from this racist lovely lady) I come here all the time and I never
had to sign in. He never showed me his id. (my id badge is on my
shirt. I show it to her) No I do not want to see your id you @$$hole!
I am already late and this fat %^&* is making me later.
(seriously wanting to unleash on her but kept my composure)
At this point my
Supervisor tells her she will not be allowed access until she shows
id. That she is the making herself later and that she could be
arrested if she tries to come onto the property unless she signs in.
That we do this in case of an emergency to know who is in the
building to coordinate efforts with emergency personnel.
She was like okay I
will just show him my credit card it has my name on it. She takes out
her debit card but since it doesn't have a photo I refuse it as
proper identification. My supervisor backs me up. Impressed that
after her verbal abuse I am firm and polite despite her talking to me
like an animal. She takes out her state id and signs in after 15
minutes calls me an @$$hole one more time. I say thank you and please
have a blessed day. She goes up annoyed but no further conflict.
My supervisor came
to the site to commend me on keeping my cool and professionalism.
Also to laugh when I showed her my Id when she asked for it
immediately. And that is how I dealt with conflict. I stayed calm and
firm and contacted a supervisor to back me up.
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