Are security officers really the issue?

o.k. so I was on a social website for professionals, in there I was looking at a site where they were talking about the lack of professionalism of security guards. One of the big questions was whether this lack extended all the way throughout the industry or if it was only limited to certain areas. Now I have a bit of experience in this area and I got to thinking, the real problem is that you expect them to act professional, but you refuse to treat them like they were professionals. You call them names, you pay them poor wages, you refuse to give them the training or tools they need to do their job, you work them like you would work no other employee and then you demand them to be professional as well. That is why a lot of people who MIGHT have been great assets who have considered being in the industry aren’t. These things are why there is a high turnover rate and this is why you can only get people to work for you that are less than the best or at least less motivated than most. Think about it! What kind of conditions do the security officers, that you know, work in? I know of one job near me where the security officer sits in a “Room” up to 12 hours a day. The room is little more than a closet measuring about 6 feet by 4 feet. The walls are all painted a dirty yellow and the only items in there are a radio clock, a grey institutional desk and a camera monitor that is hooked to cameras that do not actually work. The standards of operation dictate when to turn the monitor on and off, and even though the monitor has NO use whatsoever the officer is still expected to follow those procedures. The officer is tasked with preventing any trespassers but at the same time the company insists that certain doors to the outside not only must remain unlocked but they have to be propped open to allow air flow through the building to keep people from suffering heatstroke or worse. And ALL those doors are outside of the view of the officer in his room. Sometimes the officer is required to maintain the premises and the machinery of the business when other employees are unavailable basically then doing the job of those other employees AND his own job simultaneously while still getting paid little more than minimum wage. Right down the hall from his room is a bulletin board where the company lists the starting wages and positions that are open in the company. Every wage on that list is higher than anything the officer can look forward to but because he is contracted with the business and not a direct employee he is ineligible for any of those positions. So he is stuck in a job that pays 10 cents over minimum wage even though he has already proven that he CAN do any of the jobs at the business, because he DOES do ALL of the jobs, simultaneously, whenever the regulars are gone.) All of that and yet when the business cannot seem to keep any regular officers on the post they complain that “no one wants to earn their paychecks anymore.” I kid you not this was actually said to me one day as someone in the business offices was complaining about the lack of decent help. I told her to consider all the information I just presented here but she refused to hear it. There is no respect for the officers there, only spite. So maybe now I can ask you, if those are the conditions that a security officer faces, What do you think the answer is to the question about the lack of professionalism of security guards?

Family time

Wow school is almost back for us and I was just thinking how short time can be. My little baby, who to me was born just a little while ago, is going into third grade. THIRD GRADE!!! What the heck happened??? She isn’t old enough for that! Sadly she is. Her little sister is going into first and we are trying to figure out what we will be doing for preschool for her other little sister in just a short time. I mean, next year they will all be going to a school. How does this happen? I think that what needs to happen here is when a man becomes a dad or a woman a mom they ought to be allowed, even paid to stay at home with their families. Until they can get the kids to the point where they are out of the house, the job of the parents ought to be simply to raise their kids. There should not be any point where the parents are going to have to look back and say “how did I miss those moments?” At least that is the way it ought to work, I think. Think of all the things that kids do these days. Cheerleading, Christmas plays and concerts, Little league, AYSO, Scouting (boy or girl) Church events, Art shows, Piano recitals, ballet, … the list is huge! So many things that a parent can miss. So there you go. My solution to these problems in a nutshell. Pay the parents to be there for their kids. To share in the memories and the joys. The triumphs and the losses. To kiss every scrape and cheer every smile. AND maybe if we did that there would be stronger families making happier kids and giving us all a brighter future.

What I would like to see in MP3’S.

I have been moving out of the dark ages of music slowly and there is one point I would like to make about WHY it is taking so long for me to do this. When I was a boy we got our music out of the magic box that spoke to us about the weather and played songs. There were many of these magic boxes all over the place. They were called radios. They were in cars and homes and businesses and all over the place. They brought an interesting world to our attention. One that we could not really experience in any other way. But we were somewhat subjected to their whims. Oh sure if I wanted to listen to a certain genre I could tune in a specific station that played that type of music otherwise you got what you got whether it was really what you wanted or not. Of course if there was a specific thing I wanted to listen to, say for example “Surfer Girl” by the Beach Boys or “Yesterday” by the Beatles then I could always turn to my trusty record player. The record player gave me choices that radio did not and it gave me a little bit of control over what I was listening to. Then there were Cassette Tapes. A magnificent invention which allowed me to take MY music wherever I went. Much more compact and useful. I would like to pause for a moment and point out that I got VERY good at both placing a needle in just the right groove to hear a song that I specifically liked and also at fast forwarding a cassette to the song that I wanted. But back to my original discussion. Briefly the recording industry realized that people wanted more ability to listen to what THEY wanted WHEN they wanted, thus the “8-track” was born. This gave even easier control over finding your song choice as well as allowing you to be able to listen to the same songs on a loop until you really got tired of it. This was also useful to D.J.s all over the world since they could get singles on an 8 track format and they never had to worry about rewinding the tape or anything. Sadly the 8-track never really got the chance to shine like it should have. For a couple of reasons… one, it was a niche type thing, a popular niche but a niche nonetheless. Two, it was bulkier than regular cassette tapes and thus limited the amount of music you could carry. OH and three, it was soon confronting a new technology, one which promised better fidelity and experience… the CD. WOW the CD… clear crisp sound over and over, no worries about proximity to magnets didn’t tear or break easily… often touted as “indestructible”. Of course we know better NOW still at the time in comparison to 8 tracks and cassettes it WAS a technically superior product. Of course one other point that went in it’s favor is the fact that, due to the laser coding of the disks the players for the cd’s could jump you straight to the exact song/s you wanted. They could also randomize the song/s, they could play them in a programmed order, you could really control the music the way you wanted. Enter the MP3. Selling point/s? (1) You can carry TONS of music all on a tiny device that fits easily in a pocket or your hand. (2) It sounds about as clear as a cd because it too is digitized. (3) You could find more individualized songs and set things up so that you weren’t stuck with just one type/genre. But here is where the problem comes in for me… Too many of these things are simply taking us back to the point where we had little to no control. I have had a few mp3s now. I think each of them had something that was good in them. But they don’t have ALL the things I want in one package. I started with a really cheap mp3 that actually let me program the order I wanted the songs in. it contained a lot of songs and it was great. The problem was it WAS cheap in the construction and did not last long before it pretty much broke. (not in software or whatever just in the case shattered.) I think one of the drawbacks there was that it was TOO small and thus too easily damaged. Of course then I got another that one was ok too. But there were a few issues there. This one didn’t let me categorize my music how I want. In fact it has a rather stubborn insistence that all the songs HAVE to be played in alphabetical sequence. There is no allowance in it for either MY wishes or the wishes of the makers of the music. In fact if loaded two different CDs (albums) onto the player it would have a fine disregard for all points except “which SONG comes first alphabetically?” However the MP3 also played video (AWESOME!!!) although it was small on the screen that was cool. It also will access FM radio so I get to listen still to other music as well and get news reports. Still I would have really liked to be able to listen to music in the order that I want not in the order that IT thinks is alphabetically superior. Well soon I will go onto a new player. I am unsure if this will be mine, or one that I give to my girls. The first mp3 I bought for my wife she immediately filled with lullabies and then “loaned” to the girls, talk about making me feel selfish. Her second mp3 she claims to be unable to make work the way she wants and for the most part she just listens to the radio now (full circle there huh?) although it does have features like the ability to do live recording so you could literally put what ever you want on it. So we will see, my next player has already been ordered and is on it’s way, I chose one that has a “Large screen” of 4 inches and hope that we may be able to use it to keep our youngest child occupied on an upcoming long trip. If it works well I may be allowing one of my girls to take over the old one, or I may let them have the new one… like I said, we will see. I hope that some day I will find the mp3 that is right for me. Until then…

Olympic time again.

I have to be honest. When I was much younger I didn't really care about the olympics...I didn't really care about ANY sport. (not even when I looked at the ultra mega totally cute gymnasts like Mary Lou Retton. I liked the girl but the sport just left me cold. Of course I was a couple of years younger than her but...) I blithely went around totally oblivious to the events in the sports world around me. Today is a little bit different. The 2012 Olympics started and I watched them. in fact I watched the last few Olympics but this is the first time I have felt obliged to Blog on them. Why might I pick this Olympics to blog? well simply because this one has meant more to me than any other yet. I have decided to skip the politics or the questions in this blog... maybe those will come later, today I want to talk about the reasons why I like the Olympics now and why I choose to blog now. I have found that there are some sports that I really do like to watch. I like Beach Volleyball, Archery, Soccer/Football and Women's Gymnastics. The last one I think is because I have daughters and there are times that I see their determination or youth on that mat in the girls who are competing. the reason why I chose to Blog this though is what happened a couple of nights ago with the women's Gymnastics. I watched the Russian team trying to compete and no one can deny it was an utter disaster for them. My heart went out to them and as I watched one girl doing her routine I saw my daughter's face on hers. the determination and afterwards the pain I saw was one that I could easily have seen on my child's face. I think that is what helped me realize why I was not a big sports person before either, I just don't come by the killer instinct naturally like that. I had to have it trained into me. To go ahead and mash your opponent into the ground after they have been handed an enormous blow like that... I am not sure I could have done it so easily. I DID see the value and need for the American team to succeed and to do their best. I also am aware that they needed to perform at their best for the audience as well as themselves. I know that if the American team had not done their best they would have cheated themselves, the audience, the rest of the Americans they represented and even the Russians a grave disservice. I feel fairly confident that if I had to go out and do my best even though my opponent had suffered so badly I would have been able to do so. Still My heart truly did go out to those girls. This isn't the first time And I think that is one of the points to the whole event. How many of us held our breath when the Jamaican bobsled team had that crash? how many of us jumped into the air screaming for joy when the American Hockey team won against all odd and against the Russians? How many of us cried when we saw Derek Redmond or Kerri Strug continue on even when they were so badly injured? All of these moments the ups and downs are part and parcel of why we get so hooked on these sports. Yeah I guess the American team could have gone easier on the Russians, but if they had that would not have been the Olympic spirit. Possibly worse than that we can see the effect this attitude has on our society today. there are a lot of people out there who could be better if our society would let them. Anyway. I think I will go ahead and enjoy the Olympics. I have a better understanding of the whole thing and of myself. And that makes it worthwhile. Oh I gotta go... Swimming is coming on.

Children and Marriage

In today’s culture I see a lot of problems. And frankly I do not know how to address them when talking with my children. The biggie that hit me most recently was about being faithful to your marriage vows. I know several people who have been less than faithful. And I see/hear the reports in the news. It seems to be the “In thing” to get a divorce today. Then we have groups of people saying they want to change the fundamental understanding of what marriage even is. So what is marriage then? Well I would say that it is what happens when two people love each other and want to stay together forming a family. But if everyone is getting divorced right and left then what hope is there for that ideal? What is love? In first Corinthians (chapter 13 verses 4-7ESV) Paul tells us… “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it’s own way’ it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things”. The point here is that Love requires active work. We cannot think only of ourselves or our needs. We have to think of the other/s whom we profess to love. This is even truer in Marriage. For a good marriage to work BOTH sides have to come together to work at it side by side in the long haul. A lot of people get focused on the wedding and fail to think past that point. Now a wedding can be a very stressful event. And marriage can be stressful. I think that a wedding’s preparations are designed to be pretty stressful so that you can get the idea of how well you work together as a couple is stressful situations. The problem is that a wedding is designed with a goal in mind. A sprint if you will. A marriage however is a long-term deal. A marathon in comparison. The thing is that this marathon has no end in sight... I do not mean this to sound like it is a negative. But I would advise you to think about it. When you look at your beloved’s face can you wake up next to that daily for the rest of your life? What will you do when she gets cancer? Are you prepared to care for her? What will you do when he has a stroke? Are you prepared to do all the things for him that he can’t? This might include bathing him/her. Giving your loved one medicine/s cleaning up vomit or worse. Can you put his/her needs above your own? Even if it going to be for the next year? What if it is for the next 5 years or 15? Love isn’t just about feeling. Love is work! When he wants to watch Football, are you ok with that? Can you let him do that? Even though you want to go out to dinner? What about when she wants to go look at fabric and patterns at the fabric store. Can you go along and support her? Even if that means you have to give up the fishing trip? That is what love is. Putting their needs above your own. And it is not easy, BUT it IS worth it.