I hate working in the 'hood...

[Biomortis]

Since you have stated that this job is essentially temporary until you attempt to work for Homeland Security (holding my tongue on that one) this job is a stepping stone in your life, not your end game. Therefore preserving your job over your life is a non-issue. If you deep conceal then no one will ever know and if you have to use it to defend yourself then you will have been in a situation where you would have most likely been killed anyways giving you the outcome of either being dead or being alive but unemployed. To me there is no decision to make, only a course of action to take and that is to have the ability to defend yourself.

For after the event should one occur:

Document every single incident of your attempt to officially protect yourself through the company and their failure to accommodate, including those lights. Civil court or arbitration could be a very good friend to you if a righteous self defense shooting occurs and you are fired as a result. You prove that corporate had knowledge of your situation and either did nothing or did not take adequate precautions and you could find yourself on the other side of a very nice settlement....assuming you're still alive of course.

Plus, your fiance has the same health benefits right? If termination occurs you may just have to visit the courthouse for a marriage certificate. Benefits restored....or even better check with HR and see if they recognize domestic partners. I receive full benefits from my woman's employer thanks to the gay rights movement and I'm in Georgia of all places. Remember, they can't discriminate based on gender so it works for domestic partners of any pairing. Sometimes the screwed up system works in your favor.

Seriously, check out those benefits. You may have a way out to afford working at a safer job for less money without any reduction in quality of living and not realize it.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[bladenbullet]

your correspondence with management should be documented thoroughly in the event there is a problem at least you can produce evidence that you tried...florida is a right to hire/fire state and you have the option of leaving the job if you do not feel safe there...your employer is not responsible for protecting you from the area you work in and they are not eliminating your ability to protect yourself...only limiting it...

their policy might have more to do with insurance regulations than nerves or anti gun sentiment...they might not have a choice in the matter due to carrier regulations that require a no firearm policy to maintain payments that are feesible...dont necessarily blame them for the decision...

that being said...your call....if you feel carrying will increase your chances of survival you are the only one who can answer the question...not us...i sure as heck would hate to see something happen to anyone that could be prevented...it could happen to any one of us but the probability in the area you work in is definately higher on your end...of course if the gun didnt prevent something from happening the spin would be "if he wasnt carrying a gun it probably wouldnt have happened...thats why we dont allow employees to carry"...

tough decision...the economy doesnt scream find a new job and that might not agree with your significant others work situation...break a leg...

[carry ok]

I also work 'in the hood', literally, when I am out of my work truck, in yards, streets, everywhere, when I respond to calls for service, at all times of the day and night. I am a shift worker, including graveyard shifts. My company also has a no weapons policy. You would know the company if I wrote it. You use their product 24/7.
I am always vulnerable to people accosting, and or attacking me, any where, anytime. I carry, regardless of company policy. I choose to have a chance to live, even though I would lose my job as a result of an incident. Seems like a logical choice to me.

[Deanimator]

I apologize for the length of this vent/rant... but I hope that some of you have stuck through it to get to this point. Do any of you have suggestions as to what I can do or try to make myself safer? Any thoughts and comments are much appreciated.

I know exactly how you feel. When I go to Apartheid Chicago this week to visit my mother, it will be the FIRST time I've left the house without a gun since a year ago last November.

While in Apartheid Chicago, I am routinely drafted to drive my various relatives from and to places I'd be reluctant to go to WITH a gun.

Lacking a meaningful weapon of any sort, I've determined to use my mother's car as a weapon if necessary. The Army taught me that the way to deal with a near ambush while in a vehicle (and that's EXACTLY what a carjacking is) was to drive through (and OVER) the ambushing element. I don't have the slightest hesitation about running over somebody threatening my life... or to drag them until they either get tired of hanging on or until I chance upon the police.

If I'm not in the car, I'm determined to do whatever it takes to prevail, whether it's thumbs in his eyes, bottle upside the head or ANYTHING it takes to keep me from being a victim.

Another forum has been having a discussion of canes. They're almost NEVER considered "weapons" and a substantial cane is about as good of a non-projectile, non-edged weapon as any other.

And as others have pointed out, AVOID trouble if you can. You may not be able to quit your job NOW, but keep looking (I know how bad it is. I'm unemployed.). I only go to Apartheid Chicago once a year. When my mother dies, my trips end forever.

[gdm320]

SIG P238 plus deep concealment would probably be my preferred rig. I like the Ruger LCP, but I'm a SIG man and barring financial hardships I'm willing to spend the money on the weapon.

My question then would turn to the method of concealment. What are people's thoughts on that? SmartCarry? Pocket Carry? Other?

If it helps, I wear khakis with an un-tucked microfiber button down shirt (per dress code). I wear the un-tucked microfiber shirt because it is light and breathes very well in the Florida heat and humidity.

[gottabkiddin]

Pocket carry.

[gdm320]

Pocket carry.

Got a particular pocket holster that you like?

[gottabkiddin]

I use the Blackhawk 1 for my LCP and love it. Mine is very comfortable and keeps the pistol upright for quick access. Here's a picture of one like it. I think mine was something like $10 or so and change. Very good investment IMO. Good luck to you! And I hope this helps..
Blackhawk1.jpg


GBK

[cz75luver]

There are other options too. My situation is similar in some ways. I teach in an inner city public high school in Miami FL. That neighborhood, too is full of the bad guys. Most of the REALLY bad BAD GUYS are outside our perimeter. They have no interest in "school" for their own academic benefit. They like the school as a "customer base." The MS13 guys are easy to spot and avoid with all those tats. Of course I can't carry at school and my parking situation precludes then carry to or from as well.

But when things are really wild and wooly sometimes I take my plastic travel wrench IMPACT KERAMBIT - SHOMER-TEC in my pocket or a SHARKEY marker from "Cold Steel." Pocket Shark

Last year, a teacher was jumped in my hallway after school. He was tutoring the kids for FCAT on his own time. There was no security available after school there. He'd confiscated an iPod during his class that day and the female student had slapped him. She was given an outdoor suspension although she should have been arrested according to district policy, but the principal at that time was a wuss and didn't go that route. She came back after school and ambushed the teacher (sheep) outside his class which is right across the hall from ME. I usually stay late to grade my papers, but that day I was out sick with the flu. The perp brought her crack addict mom and her golden gloves boxer brother. They busted the teacher's jaw in three places. The next day the girl (student) shows up looking all innocent and stupid. She was THEN arrested on the spot. The teacher, never returned.

I was asked by my kids what I would have done and am I now "scared to come to work?" I laughed at that one. Out loud. I looked at my class who was waiting expectantly for my answer:

"Look, I'm too young to die and too old to get my butt kicked. So ... I'm just gonna kill ya." They were mostly stunned. But a few of my guys all kind of yowled and said: "Yeah we sorta figured you'd say something like that! You GO, sir!"

Once I got a bad kid expelled and he made all sorts of DIRE threats. Nothin' I'd not heard before, especially when I was getting some dirtbags probation or parole revoked while I was a badged parole officer. I heard that stuff in court sometimes. This case made the other teacher's afraid. I guess the kid had a "rep." So I started walking around school with a section of the Miami Herald rolled up under my arm. My Aikido Sensei had been working with me on this particular improvised weapon quite extensively and I felt very confident that I could use it to best advantage against one or more opponents any time they cared to step up. None ever did. Personal bearing is everything in my business.

"If you look like prey you WILL be eaten."

I grew up in South Florida and at age 18 left (late '80s) and never went back. There is no way in hell I'd go back to live and I only visit because my parents still live there. I've tried to convince them to leave, but it's hard for them when the house is paid, cars are paid, etc. and my dad is retired. He doesn't want to incur a mortgage at his age.

Anyway, I had an Economics teacher in high school that was just awesome. Really great lady and truly cared about the students. I remember a lesson changed from economics to sex education when a male friend of mine asked me a question, I didn't know the answer and I, in turn, asked a close female friend of mine and she broke out laughing. Naturally, the teacher asked and I informed her of the matter. She went on to explain everything and was just awesome. She was a wonderful lady, single parent with a daughter, in her late 30's or early 40's. Someone put a bullet in her head, the year after I graduated, in the school parking lot. Mind you, this is back when local gangs were just losers hanging together. Things are much worse now.

Exsoldier, I commend you on sticking it out and providing a service rarely appreciated and way underpaid for the area. You and the OP have bigger "cojones" then I do and I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan. The difference is that in Iraq and Afghanistan you open carried and could draw as needed.

[xsigma40cal]

The short and easy of it is this, the company knows you are in a high risk area and also has documented inquiries into the "no carry" policy. Therefore they have acknowleged that it is a forseeable risk that one of their employees may be assaulted. since you are technically considered an employee, your duties to your employer stop once you have left that store for the evening and are not subject to company policy.

Im not lawyer(yet), but should you get into an altercation where deadly force is acceptable under Florida statute, you are immune from civil suit, but not firing from your company. Thats where it gets complicated as to whether you'd want to fork out a bunch of money to sue for your job when the company didnt much give a crap for your safety in the first place. If you were shot/stabbed(god forbid), you could be entitled to damages from the company.

So, pick your battle. Its either with the company or that jive mofo Ray-Ray.

[OLDPUPPYMAX]

Another job is ALWAYS a "viable option" for a skilled, bright individual. Surely there are a number of firms which employ people with your talents and abilities. Your employer will not permit you to carry a weapon for their OWN legal protection and well-being, as they could be held responsible should you actually be forced to shoot someone. As far as they are concerned, sacrificing YOU is preferable to facing a law suit filed by a bottom feeding ambulance chaser on behalf of some "poor, young, innocent" THUG who was trying to shoot you! I suspect you are hoping to be provided some brilliant, magical solution, even though you already KNOW what the only real solution is. Find work with another firm in a different location, in or out of Florida. I lived in Lauderdale for a dozen years ('81-92.) West Palm is black and Mexican/latino/Cuban. Hence the high crime rate and dangerous living conditions. And it ain't gonna get any better, as you know. Martial arts training is great, but not terribly effective vs. three thugs armed with pistols or a shotgun. And these people invariably travel in groups. Carry a knife and it's the old saying about not bringing a knife to a gun fight. And even a Glock has to be drawn and put in battery...something which often takes more time than is available, especially with multiple attackers. In short, there is NO good solution to working in a bad, bad area. Big, young, strong and a martial artist is NO match to several armed hoodlums. Sorry, but my advice, worthless as it is, is to find a job where animals are less prevalent. And unfortunately, in South Florida those areas are becoming harder to find.

[gottabkiddin]

Another job is ALWAYS a "viable option" for a skilled, bright individual. Surely there are a number of firms which employ people with your talents and abilities. Your employer will not permit you to carry a weapon for their OWN legal protection and well-being, as they could be held responsible should you actually be forced to shoot someone. As far as they are concerned, sacrificing YOU is preferable to facing a law suit filed by a bottom feeding ambulance chaser on behalf of some "poor, young, innocent" THUG who was trying to shoot you! I suspect you are hoping to be provided some brilliant, magical solution, even though you already KNOW what the only real solution is. Find work with another firm in a different location, in or out of Florida. I lived in Lauderdale for a dozen years ('81-92.) West Palm is black and Mexican/latino/Cuban. Hence the high crime rate and dangerous living conditions. And it ain't gonna get any better, as you know. Martial arts training is great, but not terribly effective vs. three thugs armed with pistols or a shotgun. And these people invariably travel in groups. Carry a knife and it's the old saying about not bringing a knife to a gun fight. And even a Glock has to be drawn and put in battery...something which often takes more time than is available, especially with multiple attackers. In short, there is NO good solution to working in a bad, bad area. Big, young, strong and a martial artist is NO match to several armed hoodlums. Sorry, but my advice, worthless as it is, is to find a job where animals are less prevalent. And unfortunately, in South Florida those areas are becoming harder to find.

Good post except for the Bold...... Not true, the pistol should be carried in condition zero. It's a double action only pistol. Carry the pistol like it should be carried, ready for business. FWIW

GBK

[Hot Wing]

gdm320 ,

As a life long Florida boy , and would never live any where else.

Having said that , good ole Florida really for the most part sucks.

Having to work here and but up with a huge amount of scum bag

employers big and small makes no difference in Florida.

I have been in the skilled service industry in melbourne as a worker

and management for 30 years .Last Friday a co worker was shot

in butt while leaving store alone with nightly bank drop .

I must make nightly ban drop as well , this happened off military

trail in west palm beach .I work for one of the largest retailers

in our industry and they are pure scum when it comes for

well being and safety of the employee . We also have a no

carry policy , but these scums suckers have no problem telling

me to walk out of store with cash very late alone

and off the clock as well . I think you know where I am going with

this .I do carry daily they can eat a huge pile of steaming $ h i t .

This shooting happened on a Friday night I have been carrying a

Kel Tec , but that very Saturday morning I went and got a new

S & W 442 .38 also as a carry .SORRY ABOUT THE RANT

This stuff really burns me up .Carry daily brother .Also what it will

take in Florida is one huge law suite to wake these employers up

to do the right thing. Document every thing make sure your wife

has all the info in case something happens let the chips fall where

they may .My wife was not big on the whole carry deal till the

latest shooting and company stead fast rules to make us be in a

daily life threatening manner Be Safe .

[gdm320]

This is just a bad area... I can't wait to move from here.

[liljake82]

If you do decide to carry at work it would probably be best not to post it. To many people are already loosing jobs thanks to facebook and myspace. Just a FWIW.