18 June 2009 - Paranoia can be good, but keep it under control.
Sometimes a little paranoia can be helpful. But you have to keep it under control or you will become a complete paranoid, losing sleep as you stay up to listen to George Noory.
But this is really sound thinking and a good approach to your daily like, you have to follow me for a little while so that I can illustrate how.
Back in 1991, I was working at the Americana Lake Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, as a Security Officer. The job was mostly reactionary in nature, but we also had to do Loss Prevention reports for management. There were other duties that I was specifically assigned, but that is for another time.
Anyhow, the resort closed in October 1990. The plan was for major renovations for the place. And it was an incredible place. Key word there is WAS. And now it is again.
For those of you who never heard of it, it is now the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa. In 1968, Playboy Enterprises opened the resort. The place had two 18 hole golf courses, a ski hill, an airport, a skeet and trap range, a fitness center with indoor tennis courts, a 335 room hotel, dozens of condos and a convention center. Oh, it also had its own sewage treatment plant and network of fire hydrants.
I admit it, the job was pretty sweet overall. Not much happened there during the winter when we were closed. I worked two of those winters. The summers were different. The hotel was opened for the summers and it was a busy place. Often times it was insanely busy.
OK, so I have set the scene. Summers busy, Winters not busy.
During the winters, the security staff would get bored as hell. I usually worked second shift during the week and third shift on Friday and Saturday nights. Even slower during those hours. I'd drive around property a few times in my eight hour shift. Never saw much. I walk through dark and empty buildings at least twice during my shift. Most of my time was spent hanging out at the front desk during the winter doldrums.
Then it happened.
On a Thursday night at shift change in March 1991, I made a comment to Pete Bauman and Mike Slein, two of the Security Department supervisors. I ran down a litany of oddities that I had experienced in my 10 months working there. Then I said, "at this point, nothing can happen here that will surprise me."
Mike immediately said to me that I should never say such a thing.
I arrived early for my Saturday shift. It was 11:15pm and I did not officially start until midnight and I wrapped at 8am on Sunday. Traditionally, the morning shift would get in by 7:30 so the third shifter could duck out early if paperwork was done.
As I walked in to the building, I heard a strange trickling noise. Thought it was melting ice running down the building. I checked in at the office and mentioned this to Pete. Then I went to punch in and I heard some noises in the Boiler Room that I didn't recognize. Maintenance was gone by 9pm, so I knew they were not doing any work.
As Pete was leaving, he noticed that running water noise was quite loud. He came back to get a flashlight and I joined him out front.
We found the problem....melting ice does not melt upward 18-24 inches, it runs downward.
The sprinkler system main burst, the high volume pump was working constantly (the noise in the Boiler Room) and that cause the trickling to become a nice little fountain in the front of the hotel.
Pete called the Chief Engineer, who lived on property, while I went to shut off the water supply lines to the pump. Ironically, we were just given an introduction to that part of the system a week before.
Gene, the Chief Engineer, came up to the hotel, cursing a blue streak that I hadn't heard since watching a Richard Pryor stand up performance. Now for the record, prior to this point Gene didn't like me or anyone else who worked in Security. We were responsible for his staff shrinking in his mind. Television thefts by his staffers was the cause in our minds.
Anyhow, Gene is jumping on me for not noticing the problem early and implied that we were a bunch of lazy, no-good, so-and-so's and were going to cause him a problem. I snapped at him and let him know that I caught the problem before I punched in for my shift and failures due to "poor maintenance" are things that I can only report.
Yeah, not making friends here. Neither was Gene at this point.
Pete came in and detailed that he was outside at 10:30 and downstairs near the Boiler Room at 11:00. There were no problems at that point. Pete then explained that once we found the problem, we could not check the Boiler Room because we didn't have a key.
Gene was paranoid. He was a paranoid control freak which just made things worse. Especially, when it came to working with other departments. This was acutely apparent at this time.
Anyhow, once Gene got past blaming Pete and I for the situation...the one that we prevented from getting worse, he finally got the Boiler Room open.
There was SIX FEET of STANDING WATER in the Boiler Room. This is not a small room. It is about 40 feet wide by 100 feet long. Quick math for you 40 times 100 is 4000 square feet. That is nearly TWICE as big as my house. And it had 18 foot ceilings. Big room....and now, it was a swimming pool. A very dirty and dangerous swimming pool, but that is what it was. Oh, back to the math, 4000 square feet times six feet deep is 24,000 cubic feet of water....minus the displacement of the parts of the boilers and other equipment in that water.
Gene called two of his best guys in to help out. But at this point, all we could do was wait for it to drain. Pete and I wanted to let the General Manager, Don Willey, know what was gong on. Gene begged us to wait until we knew the extent of the damage.
So, Pete went home and I continued on my shift. I checked with Gene to see how things were progressing. By 4am, the water had drained. Gene and his staff then were able to go in to the Boiler Room to check on damages.
Remember how I said that a little paranoia is a good thing? And how I said that Gene was a paranoid control freak? Well, it paid off.
Nothing was damaged.
Four hours underwater and NOTHING was damaged at all.
Gene's paranoia over worse possible scenarios led him to make sure that everything was prepared for those worst possible scenarios. Oh, and he was DAMNED lucky.
By 6:00am, Gene insisted on calling Don to let him know what happened. He told Don that the diligence of the Security Department kept the situation from getting out of control and prevented damage to things in the Boiler Room. Gene even apologized to Don, not a control freak but a guy who liked to know what was going on at his resort, for not waking him. Gene's spin was that there was not time because we were all working together as a big happy family for the greater good of the result.
Clearly, this was something that I would have to throw the ever popular "Yellow Flag of Caca" on. But by this time, I didn't care. It was a "bonding" experience for the two departments.
Gene became a little less paranoid. Vigilant would be the term Gene would have used to describe his stance. After the great Boiler Room flood, I'd agree.
The lesson for me came not only from watching how Gene acted, reacted and changed, but from the need to be vigilant in my boredom as well.
Like I said, a little paranoia is can be a good thing. Too much, can be self destructive. See Richard Nixon if you disagree.
The surprise obviously was the events that happened. But also the slight change in the working relationship between departments.
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Where did this come from? Well, I was in a parking garage earlier today.
You are probably scratching your head over that. But think about it. Parking garages and parking lots are places that you should really keep all of your senses on high alert. There are millions of stories of people being attacked in parking lots and parking garages. Men, women, children, groups, etc., have all been victims in these settings. A family member of mine can testify to this first hand.
I do not worry much about me. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is not something that leave you oblivious to your surroundings, at least, not for me. In my case, I tend to be hyper-aware of what is happening around me, to the point that I am distracted from what is right in front of me.
When walking through a parking lot or garage, I am always looking for things that do not seem to be in place. A person sitting alone in their car gets my attention and I try to make eye contact.
This comes from the time at the resort. Often times, people would park in the back of the lot. Usually up to "no good" of some sort. Like the guy waiting for his buddies who were trying to steal all the towels of a maid's cart. I stopped them with their "booty" and called the Sheriff's Department. In this case, the Deputy had me look in the car for resort property. In my search, legal as a private individual, I found two gallon sized bags of something that I do NOT think was oregano. I also found a couple of 35mm film can sized vials that were not resort property. I set those outside the car and they popped open and had a rock of some sort in them.
The resort got their property back, so we did not press charges. However, the witness to the private search, the Deputy, had to do his job.
I am not bragging in sharing this story, just explaining that it is important for people to be aware, sometimes hyper-aware, of their surroundings.
Like in the case of the resort, I was familiar with my surroundings. If something was out of place, it was easy to catch. But when it is not your job to look for it, this can lead to complacency. Sort of like most traffic wreck with injuries or fatalities happen within ten miles of home, you need to stay aware in places you know too well. Those are the places where you can more easily catch the things that are out of place.
Just some friendly advice. Take it for what it is worth, or dismiss it. Up to you.
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I guess the bigger point that I may be getting around to is this. Have had times in my life to be paranoid about things. I have actually had suspicions about not getting jobs in the past. And my suspicions proved true in some cases. I remember a certain promotion at CompUSA that I did not get and my suspicions over why were true.
In others, I was not concerned and I either got the job on my own merit or lost out to some perceived as better qualified.
I bring this up because someone asked me about it the other day. It was in jest, but it is worth addressing.
I am not paranoid. Frustrated, obviously.
In April, I got excited about a job that I was well qualified for. I knew that I nailed the interview and had an excellent background for it.
But I didn't get it. I wasn't as connected as the person that got the job. Some people thought that I felt I was "blackballed" from the job. I don't think that was the case, I just wasn't political enough to benefit from what could be called a patronage job. I've never played those games well, and if someone was equally qualified but better connected, of course that person gets the job. I get it and, while I don't like it, I can accept it.
I am trying to find work. If I lose out on a position, I lose out. It happens.
There are ten million Americans out of work right now. Jefferson City, Missouri, has a lower than the national average unemployment rate. This is a good thing. But, the opportunities for those of us out of work seem limited here. In my case, it is not that people don't want to hire me, it is that they don't have a place to put me or know what I could bring to their organization. The former, I can't fix. The latter, I have to sell myself on.
So, I have missed out on some jobs. It happens. I know this.
And obviously, I am not important enough to have someone blackball me.
What I do know is that I could leave this area for what may be a quick fix to the lack of employment situation. But even that doesn't seem like a good idea.
A friend on Facebook shared with me that she applied for a radio job in a very small market. It was a job that she would be a great fit for, even though it was in a much smaller market than she worked in her last two stops. Over qualified, but she wants back in the game.
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY people applied for this job. A job that would have looked crummy just eighteen months ago.
She didn't get the gig. However, it is safe to guess that someone with less experience got the job because they will work for minimum wage to gain experience. She is clearly frustrated. She has been out longer than me.
For me, I am better off sitting put in Jefferson City and trying to find something here. Kathleen has a really good job and if I got a job somewhere else, there is no guarantee that she could replace what she has.
I have joked about our situation in ways that should illustrate that I am the OPPOSITE of paranoid...and this is due to Kathleen.
Everyone likes her and wants to keep HER here....so people are motivated to find me a job....to keep HER.
So, while I may bitch, whine and moan. And some of you may think I sound paranoid from time to time. I wanted to explain this is not who I really am right now.
I am simply a frustrated guy without the creative outlet that I once had.
That is unless you are all really out to get me. If so, I will have to rethink things.
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In closing, someone asked me last week if I was tired of people asking about my employment situation. I told her I wasn't....I was tired of giving the same answer.
Spin doctored that situation, but that IS how I feel. If people ask, they are concerned, even if it is just being polite. I appreciate that and I take the inquiries as sincere concern. Maybe I am naive, but I would prefer to think the best of people, not the worst.
Thinking positively about things is always the best approach.
But maining vigilance, as I mentioned earlier, should be kept with that approach as well.
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A rare afternoon entry. And three this week...go figure.
I am rethinking my approach to things and trying to figure out what I can create for myself in the way of a career.
I will have a job and that may become a career. If not, I am going to have a backup plan.
Again, vigilance...not paranoia.
I was blindsided on 6 February 2009. Don't want that to happen again.
All the best...comments welcome.
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