Perpetual Ruminations

Friday

It's seven thirty and my day is about done. Tomorrow will be a long day, starting around three in the morning. That means it's about time for bed for me. That's the one thing I don't like about opening shift at work, I have to be up so damn early. The yard gates open at five so I have to be there about a quarter to the hour, which means I have to leave home around a quarter after four, or a little sooner, when possible.

The good part is I get done with work early and have my full afternoon to do what I want. That's how it works out on paper, but in reality things tend to be different. For example, I may get done with the job at eleven, but it's usually closer to eleven thirty when I get out of work. Then if I have to stop and pick anything up, it's another hour. Add in the time to drive home and I'm back at the house around one in the afternoon. Still a lot of the afternoon left, and it's mine to enjoy.

Unless someone has plans for the afternoon, but even then, it's usually something enjoyable. Of course, some afternoons I have to send my e-reports off, send faxes, make calls, and do interviews. Other afternoons I have to go back in to talk to someone about a problem, or to discuss schedule changes or a hundred other reasons a supervisor needs to speak to someone; and lets not forget about training and retraining people. This is done on my time, off the clock and for free; well not free as in no compensation, I get paid a little more per hour because of the demands on my time off the clock.

So much for the old adage that says it's not good to take work home with you, or home problems to work. In my case, it's a big part of my job to bring work home with me. For instance, if someone can't get clocked in or out over the phone system we use, they call me to make the corrections.  If they can't make it to work, or if they have problems, they call me. After all, I am the site supervisor.

But, since we cannot have our phones at work, and even if I could take calls while working, I wouldn't be able to do anything until after work. So my cell phone rings all hours of the day and night as guards call in time corrections, schedule needs, and any problems they have. I also have to send reports, faxes, and make phone calls, all of which I can't do while at work, so they get done at home. When we take applications, I screen them on my time, I set up interviews on my time, and I often do some of the training on my own time. For example, the guard we just re-hired needed to start doing an opening shift this week so I could get a few days off.

Since she had not done an opening shift in over six months, I came in on my day off and met her at work, did a quick refresher for her, then came home to enjoy the rest of my day off. It gets kind of frustrating sometime, but it comes with the position. I do wish they paid more for all of this, but like my boss pointed out, most of the supervisors don't do a quarter of the tasks I do, they just sluff it off since it's on their time. Still, a raise would be nice; I mean if they are being honest about how well I'm doing my job, and how well our site performs, that is.

Luckily, I know a few doctrines and understand that as a Christian, I do not work for man, but should do my job as unto the Lord. I also understand that my promotions and advances do not come from man, but from God. I also know that His timing is perfect; I may not understand or agree at the time. It's difficult to wait, even though we are commanded to wait on the Lord. After all, I'm just a mortal, and I stumble along quite a lot of the time. In the end, however, his plan and timing reveal that the timing is in fact, perfect, and had I had my way, blessing would have been suffering instead.

I had recently received a comment on my blog, a nice comment from someone who also does security work, only they will not be doing that after a couple more weeks. I don't know how I would take such news. I mean, our company is in a different state and fills a lot of sites with security guards. But if they lost the contract they have with the business I work at, I would likely be out of a job just like that.

I kind of stumbled into my job as a security guard, and was very unsure at first. But I soon found out that I enjoy the work and had made a good career change. I have a business degree and I have done quite a few different types of work, but never anything like this. In a few short months I found myself promoted to supervisor, which surprised me, but I accepted the promotion and found I had finally found a job I enjoy and could also apply my business knowledge.

Sometimes I question whether I want to continue on as a security guard and a site supervisor, but the answer is always the same, "Yes."

It can be hard at times, it's trying at times, and it can be overwhelming at times. Some days I put in over twelve hours, and then have to come home and put in a few more. Sometimes it's a real pain in the butt to have to come in on a day off, especially when I only get the one day off and then have to fill in for someone. There are headaches and stress that come with the job, and sometimes it seems like the entire crew is so ungrateful, and have not a clue what their supervisor has given so that they can get the hours they wanted, or a day off when they want. But, in the end, I have to admit, I like the position, and I like the job.

The pay is too little, the demands too high, and the hours too long. But, it's my job, I do it to the best of my ability, and I know, when the time is right, if I have done my job well, I will be rewarded.