Armed And Dangerous II

 Once the test was graded, he told me to call him in a few days to set up a date to qualify for the handgun. Mind you, prior to this, I'd never fired a handgun in my life. So, I call back, he gives me the date and time to show up to this office. I show up early, and waited 2 hours. His response, I got the time wrong. Me? I repeated the time several times before writing it down to make sure their was no miscommunication. Oh well, you can't have everything.

 So, when four other guys showed up, he took up into his office for a brief pep talk on how to unload a gun, his gun. After that we went to the range and basically had target practice. He gave us the option to "go by the book" or do it his way. So, we all took turns popped off rounds at the minimum range, 9 feet. That was the only thing we did to qualify. One of the guys who showed up shot from a .380 handgun, after that, he left. How professional huh?

 My first assigned post as an armed guard was for the Fiesta Mart, Inc on 1020 Quitman St Which, by the way is not in the best part of Houston, as many neighborhoods. But, what can you do, that's life, no disrespect to anyone.  But, to put a white, armed security guard with no real training, you're asking for trouble. Luckily I have God looking out for me and nothing dangerous happened. 

 My two other posts, one of which I was removed from because of a miscommunication with management, long story. The last armed post was at the Fiesta Mart on 14315 Bellaire Blvd. That was great for me since it was less than a mile from my apartment complex.  My list of duties consisted of patrolling the parking lot in a golf cart, running off solicitors, helping Loss Prevention/Managers chase after shoplifters, and escorting managers emptying the Coin Star machine. And, escort the Liquor Store employees transporting cash to the store. 

 Did I have a bullet proof vest? Trained to combat would-be thieves in cash of a robbery? Anything of use to make me more than just a phony cop in a cheap uniform? Had I the money, I'd train myself instead of relying on unprofessional companies who do not provide anything but a lousy paycheck. 

 Over the course of employment their, I met several other guards lacking the same training, and carrying pepper spray, to which they had no license for, and didn't care. Good luck. You can get arrested and fined for that. A majority of them were upstanding, a lot where slackers who couldn't care less. I guess you get what you pay for. By the way, the guard who had the pepper spray was chasing a shoplifter and attempted to subdue him/her by using his illegal weapon. He ended up spraying the whole can on a Chronicle newspaper salesman. Way to go!