Best Security Guard Story Good or Bad

CC Yes they are pretty much PITA! Thank You. I said it!

 

In my opinion most are okay. Like all people some are better than others.

Best story I have is when I loaded in the middle of nowhere Illinois. I wasn't told to scale before I loaded. When I got to the plant in Texas the guard didn't understand why I didn't have a weight ticket. She wanted me to go up to the J and scale so she could put the net weight on the paperwork. Took about 10 minutes of explaining that without an empty weight we couldn't figure a net weight. Finally told her I would stick the tank and we would have to multiply the gallons by the weight per gallon. Basically she was use to a certain way and just couldn't understand that this was a unique load, it wasn't in the book and she was lost.

The company had basically bought their own product back from the people in Illinois. The people there were not real shippers, like they didn't even have placards for me and certainly didn't have a scale. I had to pump the product back on with my own pump. Just one of those strange loads that drivers get from time to time.

 

At a Publix in Florida; pulled to the gate, rolled the window down, showed the security guard my bills. He said, "set your brakes & walk to the end of this building he pointed to." I said, "set the brakes and park right here blocking the entrance?" He said, "that's right, set your brakes and take the bills to that building", which was about 200 yards walk. So, I set the brakes, walked about 5 steps & he started screaming, "what are you doing, you can't block the gate!" He looked at some other drivers standing there and said, "what's wrong with this guy, is he crazy?" The other drivers were glaring at me; they hadn't heard what the security told me to do. Anyway, I calmly, without saying anything, got in the truck and drove to the building.

At least the security guard at the auto plant in Delaware that was high on pot was easy to get along with. He opened the door to the guard shack and pot smoke poured out. Told him I had a drop & hook, and he said, "##### it, go for it." Happiest security guard I've ever dealt with. I asked him who would sign the bills, he said "I don't give a ##### I'll sign them." Happy, laid back security guard.

 

Wallula, WA circa 2001: I had a hot load there that I was rushing to get picked up after unloading in Seattle that morning. Hot enough they were going to live load me at an IBP plant! So I didn't take the time to top off the reefer fuel on my trailer as it was 3/4 full and my deadline ship time was within 2 hours of my arrival at the gate.

However, Mr. thinking-is-above-my-paygrade Rent-a-Cop insists that no trailer is allowed on the property unless the reefer tank is full. No matter that he's looking at my load and sees that my drop-dead time is under 2 hours away. Nor that he had a note that I was to go back into door #xx. Nor that I could crack the fuel line on the reefer and not run out in 2 hours. NOPE!

"My papers say all trailers must be full of fuel."

I was leased to PBX at the time, and a quick call was made. Unfortunately, the planner on the IBP side was out of his office, so we decided it'd be quicker for me to just go get fuel and come back. I did get the pleasure of the guard on the next shift apologizing for the other idiot and explaining the he had gotten at least half of his rear chewed off just before shift change. You see, the load crew was waiting for me to get there so they could go home for the long weekend, and basically had to sit an extra hour for me to get back.

And this type of no-thinking-allowed behavior is extremely prevalent among security guards.

 

Ethos, that tanker work can be tricky. I know 2 drivers that hooked up to each others trailer by mistake. The trailer numbers were the same except the last 2 numbers were reversed. For example the last 2 numbers might have been 38 on one trailer and 83 on the other. Same product but different strengths. No one caught it from the shipper to the receivers. Even the labs goofed and didn't catch it. They delivered cross country and met up at a truckstop after the delivery. Talking over coffee, they realized what had happened. They swapped paperwork and turned the paperwork in when they returned and never heard anything about it. Security guards at both plants or no one else caught it. You would think at a least someone would have noticed the addresses and plant names didn't match.

 

We had a guard that was a real jerk, mouthy and rude to the drivers, even though it was our lot. Mouthy and rude to everyone that came in there, which was why he eventually got fired. Anyway another driver and I were sitting side by side at the exit gate, in a puddle with mud and gravel and he gets out there between the two trucks back by the tandems and says we should drag race so being the obliging fellow that I am, I put it in 6th, mashed on the pedal just a tad bit and dumped the clutch. Even with mud flaps I think I did a good job of altering the look of his uniform for the night.