Fuel for Thought

Checking In

We have all been there, it is pre-dawn and you are just arriving at a shipper for your pick up. It is cold, windy and snowing. You make the turn into the driveway and up ahead you see the security booth. You can not miss the stop sign and as you ease a little closer, your headlights begin to illuminate another sign “ALL VEHICLES MUST CHECK IN WITH GUARD”.

You come to a complete stop, set your brakes and prepare to check in with the security guard on duty. As you glance over at the security booth from your driver’s side window, you notice it is too low for trucks and you must get out in the cold and check in from ground level at the sliding window. You remove your seatbelt, grab your coat, find your notepad with your pick up number on it and prepare to brave the cold to check in.

Ever notice that some security guards have no idea what is going on? This one had to be the biggest airhead I have ever encountered. I have never been to this facility before. I have no idea of their procedures and I could not get anything out of this security guard either. This was the biggest blockhead I have ever found in a position of authority. While English is my first and only language, I am able to recognize some others. There was definitely no English coming from this security guy. As a matter of fact, I don’t recall hearing anything from him. Basically, this security guard just ignored me completely. This was the most unhelpful security checkpoint I have ever encountered. At no point was anything discussed about why I was there. I did not need to provide a pick up number, bill of lading, contact person, license plate number or my company name. And I guarantee you he never saw the the big name on the side of my truck, because he just kept looking straight ahead while I was parked and was standing on his left side. The only good thing about this guard was his uniform. While he definitely was dressed in full uniform, that was about the only professional aspect of him.

After standing at the window for brief time, while being ignored by this security guard, I decided to just go ahead and enter the property. Oh that was another thing, there was no gate that I saw, no arm blocking my way, just the signs directing me to stop and check in.

I climbed back into the truck, started it up and proceeded to the warehouse ahead of me. No one stopped me. I went to the shipping office and found that they were not open yet, found a parking spot and waited. About a half an hour later, the shipping clerk came in and I was able to give her my pick up number and get a door assignment. I was quickly loaded, sealed and ready to go. Then I remembered the security guard on the way out I was going to have to deal with again. This time it was daylight, it had stopped snowing and I was prepared. As I approached the security booth, I got ready to document the encounter with the camera on my phone.

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I could not pass up the opportunity to grab some photos and share a good laugh.

    

As I stepped out of the truck when I arrived, this was the last thing I expected to see. I had only glanced at the booth and it wasn’t until I looked in the window that I saw the armless guy sitting there. I looked around to see who was watching and smiled all the way to the warehouse to pick up my load.

You may have noticed that I did not divulge the location of this security checkpoint, I hope if you also encounter this security guy, it will catch you “off guard” and brighten your day too.

See you down the road,

Greg