Disillusionment - it doesn't take long!

In the course of one night, my enthusiasm for the job managed to dwindle to zero. I'm now looking for other work.

Here's a few reasons why:

Western Australia, being backward to the rest of the civilised world, only recently decided to join everyone else and introduce daylight saving on a trial basis, starting from 2am (3am) this morning. It was decried by those who claimed abuse of democratic process, on the grounds that, 16 years ago, people voted against it in a referendum. 16 years ago, society existed in a different state and a whole generation of people were unable to exercise their say in the matter. But apparently, the decision should never be reviewed again. However, I digress.

When the clocks were moved forward from 2am to 3am, we would, in effect, lose an hour's pay. This was something I could live with, but it also meant the licensed premises, specifically the bars and nightclub, would stay open to between 4 and 5.30am. Clearly, security management didn't anticipate or plan for this, resulting in a panic when, at 3am, they realised that they didn't have anybody standing on the doors. It thus fell to us poor shmucks to take up the slack. Normally, we rotate between one hour's 'roving', in which we also take our breaks, and one hour on a fixed point, usually a door to one of the various establishments. I had the extraordinary honour of being given four hours of consecutive fixed points. Commencing from my completion of an hour's 'roving' in a fixed location, which is essentially a fixed point with a little more mobility (contradictory as that may sound) in a themed pub, I was then placed on the door of said pub. An hour later, I was asked to go to a somewhat distant location to relieve an officer so he could take his break. Thanks to the travelling time for all involved, I ended up standing on the door for forty minutes. Whilst on the way back, I was told to take a break before my next scheduled 'fixie'. Again, thanks to travelling time, this translated into a ten minute break. Had I taken my full fifteen minute entitlement, I would have been late for that fixie, which would have resulted in whoever I was to relieve complaining that they were relieved late. Towards the end of that fixie, I was informed that I had to stay on the other door of the themed pub from which I had stood before. So, in reality, it was more like five hours, if one counts the hour of 'fixed roving' in the themed pub. When I asked why this hadn't been anticipated in advance, I was greeted with indifference and answers of "It's always like this", "Tough" and "There aren't enough staff". Fantastic - nice to know the issues are being tackled.

This series of events compounded the frustration I was enduring from an incident that had occurred earlier in the night. A group of four males, rejected from the themed pub due to being intoxicated and aggressive, attempted to get in the secondary casino entrance, and had been knocked back from there. Abusing the staff and threatening to charge the door, they moved to the main entrance of the casino, on which I was stood. One of them then decided to stroll through the door, hoping that, since it wasn't the same officers as had been on the other doors, we would not recognise him. He had not accounted for several thousand surveillance cameras or a radio network in which the doors inform each other as to who they'd knocked back and who to look out for.

We asked him to stop, and he carried on. As he was committing the offence of trespass, since we had withdrawn his right to remain in the premises, we took hold of him to stop him from entering further. He began to arc up, pushing against my colleague. Two more officers turned up, dragged him out and shoved him against the door, where they pinned him until he calmed down. Meanwhile, his three other mates came in to try and confront the officers, and were advised to stay back by reinforcements who had arrived. He calmed down and was removed, and was told to stay outside and not enter any part of the building. I was relieved from the door, but remained in the area should he try and come back. A few minutes later, he returned. This time there were two female officers on the door. I approached the male, who was pretending to read a sign next to the door. My suspicions were aroused when he deliberately looked over or around me as I approached him, even though I was straight in front of him. Either he was on drugs, or he knew damn well he shouldn't be there and was trying to see how much he could get away with. I told him that he had been knocked back several times, had tried to charge the door and had been explicitly told he could not be in the area. I asked him to leave through the door, gesticularting accordingly for the benefit of surveillance. He refused to leave. I tried several times, fully explaining why I was asking him to leave, each time to no avail. Eventually he moved to near the glass doors inside the main entrance, next to two shallow steps down. He again refused to leave, and started to become aggressive, stepping up to me and challenging me. Given what had happened before, I feared for my safety and, since he had been uncooperative, needed to both get him out and create space between him and I. I gave him a palm heel strike to move him back, accompanied by me shouting at him to stay back and leave the area immediately. He stepped back and down a step, still on his feet. He left. Job done. A few minutes later I was called in to see the boss - apparently surveillance complained that they thought I had been too heavy handed. My justifications fell on deaf ears and I was told off.

Last time I checked, surveillance weren't my bosses. They sit in an office high above the gaming floor and only see, not hear, what is happening. They have no idea of context or what is actually happening at the time, yet see fit to pass judgements about things they have no experience of themselves. They're also clearly not on the side of the employees, something that was reinforced by both other security officers and croupiers who had dealt with surveillance whilst trying to solve gaming disputes.

Once again, management show they are too spineless to actually allow us to get on with the job of performing security duties. Whilst, in the majority of cases, most people can be spoken to and persuaded to do things, there are instances in which they will not comply, are aggressive and threatening and can cause an officer to fear for their safety. It would seem, however, that management do not condone us using any force on patrons, unless it is the 'approved' techniques which I have not yet been taught. The reason for this is simple - they are scared. They are scared of being sued, as if initiation of legal action against the employer means that the employer has lost by default, when it should instead be viewed as the opportunity to present, justify, explain and defend one's actions. Most likely they fear court action because of negative PR. It therefore logically follows that they would rather we be seen to have no control of the situation, including risking being junured, than to be seen to gain control of the situation even though it doesn't 'look good'. This was something that was implicitly imparted to me, and is a style of working that I do not agree with and cannot work under. Screw them, I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

If I am placed in a position in which I have to regularly deal with drunk, aggressive, abusive and physical patrons, I should be afforded the discretion to deal with the situation in a way that is justified and proportionate, and to be able to be supported by my colleagues and managers accordingly. This is obviously not the case at this place of work, and it has been made clear by management that if any action arises from anything we do, and the matter is taken further, we are left to fight it on our own. This complete lack of support removes any incentive or motivation to perform the job, care about the patrons we protect and/or deal with or go above and beyond what is required of us. Instead, as mere drones expected to blindly comply with prescriptive policy irrespective of circumstance, we are expendable. At the same time, I also expect to be damned if I do and damned if I don't.

Case in point - earlier that evening, a senior gaming officer followed a female out of the main door, pointed her out to be and said that she had assaulted a male who was now bleeding. Pending finding the male and ascertaining whether or not he wanted to press charges, I asked her to accompany me to the security office whilst we investigated the matter, which she did of her own accord. It became quickly clear that it was a domestic and that, when we found the male, he didn't want to press charges. I was then told off by one of the managers for bringing her into the office. Instead, I should have tried to ascertain what had happened by taking her to one side outside the main entrance before taking her in. Quite aside from the fact that questioning someone about a criminal offence in a public place is hardly the best way of conducting an initial investigation, there was every chance that she could have complained of the indignity of doing so, and I would have been told off for not bringing her in the office. Furthermore, had she decided to leave and the male wanted to press charges, I would have been told off for not detaining her.

I get the distinct impression management exist only to screw us, which, combined with the constant ignoring of any justifications or explanations for actions as well as not receiving ANY formal training on how to do the job, as well as a complete lack of support, has completely destroyed any interest I have in the job. From now on, I shall simply act in a completely detached and uninvolved manner. No longer caring about the patrons, only intervening in fights if colleagues are threatened and blindly following procedure without question. I shall become the unthinking drone that they desire, until I am able to find something better. Which, with my background and experience, won't take long. It is, believe it or not, even worse here than it was in the police in the UK. I am getting the impression that I think too much and am too independent to work in this increasingly over-prescriptive and unncessarily procedurally standardised industry unless I am in management. If I do stay in, I will no longer be working in an environment in which I am expected to deal with dangerous situations but management go out of their way to prevent me from doing so effectively.