I sometimes earn a little extra money as a security guard at a non-profit organization that I used to work for as a teen. You see, every Satuarday night, this organization has teen nights for those 10-15 to do activities instead of getting into mischief unsupervised. This past Saturday night was no different then any other. I suited up for work (casual clothes for the uniform :smile, grabbed my Maglite, and pocketed my Surefire 6PD and Spyderco Native and OC spray, just in case.
Bout halfway through the night, a group of heavyset kids decided to bully a group of smaller kids. These heavyset youngsters were pretty big for teens. Two of them were almost 6 foot, and all of them were wider then me (three of them had to be over 200 lbs). It was hard to believe they were just 14-15. I was keeping an eye out for this, and had a good chat with the heavy guys, telling them they couldnt be bullying, or roughhousing, or using profanity, or else we ask them to leave or call the cops. They seemed to agree. For the most of the night after I talked to them, they seemed ok.
About ten minutes before we're supposed to close the place down, the leader of the trouble group decides he's had enough of the smaller kids "disrespecting him" and he bodyslams one of the younger kids against the wall. He kept yelling that he was going to "kill the so and so". I saw him do it and interspersed myself between the two (the smaller kid didnt even fight back) and the big guy backs off, flanked by his enormous buddies. Im pissed at this time, Im yelling at them, telling them to back off or Im calling the cops. They take the smart way out and decide to leave at that time. After checking with the bruised kid, I go talk to the parents of the big guys, and let them know that they are no longer welcome at the Teen Program any more. I logged down everything in the security journal, and went on my way. So all ended well and good.
Heres the scenario that (thank God it didn't but) could have occurred, and the one that I discussed with the supervisor that runs the program. Had the heavy kid been joined by his buddies (they seemed to be ready before I stepped in) and started whaling on the little one, and I (unsuccessfully) tried to stop them from hurting the kid, I flat out told the supervisor that I would have had someone call the police and then after repeated warnings would have used the OC spray on them.
She was horrified, telling me that I couldnt do that to the "children" (hell these guys were huge). I simply told her that since I was not a police officer and could not physically grab the youngsters (if I had they would have probably would have thrown a punch, and then its on ! :blackeye. If they were beating the kid pretty badily I would have taken it upon myself to dose them with OC spray to try and alleviate the situation.
What would you have done?
Postscript: I also talked to the admin about adding one or two more security type people to the event. That evening there were nine of us working: the supervisor, me (the singular guard), a pregnant lady taking tickets, another woman at the front desk, and 4-5 lifeguards for our pool. Normally we dont have many kids attend (norm is 30-45), but on this night we got 100. I was the only guard.
Bout halfway through the night, a group of heavyset kids decided to bully a group of smaller kids. These heavyset youngsters were pretty big for teens. Two of them were almost 6 foot, and all of them were wider then me (three of them had to be over 200 lbs). It was hard to believe they were just 14-15. I was keeping an eye out for this, and had a good chat with the heavy guys, telling them they couldnt be bullying, or roughhousing, or using profanity, or else we ask them to leave or call the cops. They seemed to agree. For the most of the night after I talked to them, they seemed ok.
About ten minutes before we're supposed to close the place down, the leader of the trouble group decides he's had enough of the smaller kids "disrespecting him" and he bodyslams one of the younger kids against the wall. He kept yelling that he was going to "kill the so and so". I saw him do it and interspersed myself between the two (the smaller kid didnt even fight back) and the big guy backs off, flanked by his enormous buddies. Im pissed at this time, Im yelling at them, telling them to back off or Im calling the cops. They take the smart way out and decide to leave at that time. After checking with the bruised kid, I go talk to the parents of the big guys, and let them know that they are no longer welcome at the Teen Program any more. I logged down everything in the security journal, and went on my way. So all ended well and good.
Heres the scenario that (thank God it didn't but) could have occurred, and the one that I discussed with the supervisor that runs the program. Had the heavy kid been joined by his buddies (they seemed to be ready before I stepped in) and started whaling on the little one, and I (unsuccessfully) tried to stop them from hurting the kid, I flat out told the supervisor that I would have had someone call the police and then after repeated warnings would have used the OC spray on them.
She was horrified, telling me that I couldnt do that to the "children" (hell these guys were huge). I simply told her that since I was not a police officer and could not physically grab the youngsters (if I had they would have probably would have thrown a punch, and then its on ! :blackeye. If they were beating the kid pretty badily I would have taken it upon myself to dose them with OC spray to try and alleviate the situation.
What would you have done?
Postscript: I also talked to the admin about adding one or two more security type people to the event. That evening there were nine of us working: the supervisor, me (the singular guard), a pregnant lady taking tickets, another woman at the front desk, and 4-5 lifeguards for our pool. Normally we dont have many kids attend (norm is 30-45), but on this night we got 100. I was the only guard.