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Time to start hunting for a new job, I think...
Bleh, I HATE being in this position, because I generally like the job. But the mismanagement going on is starting to BADLY impact me.
I work in security, at a college campus, a big one (Big enough that the Campus has it's own bar). The security work? Awesome. I could see myself doing this long term.
However, recently things have gotten BAD, and I think the straw has drifted down to land on the camel's back. Here's a list of the recent stuff:
1. Our mobile unit was bashed up by a new driver. It took them three days to get us a replacement. This replacement did not have functioning headlights. Took another day to get an actual rental car.
2. Our mobile took a month and a half to fix. For reference, the door was badly dented, and the door panel needed to be replaced, as well as other dents banged out, and a repaint... standard bodywork. This wasn't so bad, as the rental car we got actually ran better.
3. When we gave them our mobile unit, there were NO electrical problems. It was running rough, however, and we had mentioned this numerous times. Their mechanic had the vehicle for a month and a half, fixed the damage, TEST DROVE IT, and returned it... with a nonfunctioning turn signal (Electrical system is pooched, various other things don't work as they should), and a buggered idler pulley. The car was taken back again two days later when same mechanic declared it needed to go to the Dealership. Why he didn't declare this during his test drives, we don't know.
4. We've lost several officers, including one of our mobile drivers, requiring I cover some of his shifts. A mobile driver was located, I was scheduled to train him... but he was never actually hired, nor scheduled to come into the site. He's now gone, and no replacement has yet been found, more than a week later.
5. Payroll has been consistently screwy. If you work the same hours every week, every month, your pay should be simple. But it never is. And not small issues. Deductions mysteriously appear on paychecks. Entire shifts vanish. In some cases, officers aren't paid AT ALL. My last check I was shorted 12 hours... an entire shift. I can't afford that.
6. Errors in Payroll are not dealt with in a timely manner. The problem with payroll happened on the 10th. I've been asking every day, every shift what's going to happen, when we will get our back pay, etc. I've now found out that it may well not even be included on our NEXT paycheck, and no one seems to know when we might get it recitified. The head office simply won't return our site supervisor's calls, and all he's suggested is we go down ourselves and deal with it. I'm a graveyard shift worker. I'm generally unconscious during normal business hours. This isn't the first time this happened, and last time I had to kick up a fuss to even get my money (They shorted me the hours I worked Christmas Day.)
7. I worked three full extra shifts this week. That's 36 hours of overtime in one week. In that time, asking our Site Supervisor a question, I was told if I didn't know the answer I shouldn't be working there (It was a position I didn't normally work, and had never done solo) and I got told to '
Off' by the Head of Security (Who works for the college, not our company) for not recognizing his voice on the phone (He didn't say his name or his title, he just called and told me to tell 'him' something. I had no idea what he was talking about). My Site Supervisor is now 'very disappointed' in me for not wanting to work ANOTHER OT shift until I get some kind of answers about my back pay.
8. The company has a history of flat out REFUSING to pay overtime. Which is illegal. I don't work much OT, so it never came up. But the paycheck where I'm getting the OT money, I will be going out of town... so I will both need that money in my account, and be unable to go in and fight about it if it isn't.
9. We are not provided the training stipulated in the security contract. We're supposed to get First Aid, CPR, Self Defense, Bylaw (Parking ticket writing) and Arrest Procedures (Basically allows you to carry handcuffs and place people under arrest) I believe... I've been begging for training since I started in November. I've gotten CPR.
10. The site is PERPETUALLY short staffed. When someone calls in, there is a great deal of buck-passing, and usually no one can be secured to work the shift. We've had entire weekend shifts simply fail to show up. Or worse, be told by various supervisors they could take the day off, because there's no coordination of these things.
Basically, I really like working the campus, and if the security was in-house or another company, I'd be happy there. But the current company is sleazy, and thoroughly ill-equipped to service a site like this. They're able to handle the small, graveyard construction site patrols, and when they took this contract they seemed to think they could get away with the same level of service (i.e. non-english speaking guards with no training).
Me refusing to work this weekend shift is going to seriously harm my standing with my site supervisor, especially because he knows WHY I'm refusing. But if they can't even guarantee the hours I'm owed on my next paycheck, then I don't feel the need to do them favors... especially if I can't be sure I'll get paid for them.
I work in security, at a college campus, a big one (Big enough that the Campus has it's own bar). The security work? Awesome. I could see myself doing this long term.
However, recently things have gotten BAD, and I think the straw has drifted down to land on the camel's back. Here's a list of the recent stuff:
1. Our mobile unit was bashed up by a new driver. It took them three days to get us a replacement. This replacement did not have functioning headlights. Took another day to get an actual rental car.
2. Our mobile took a month and a half to fix. For reference, the door was badly dented, and the door panel needed to be replaced, as well as other dents banged out, and a repaint... standard bodywork. This wasn't so bad, as the rental car we got actually ran better.
3. When we gave them our mobile unit, there were NO electrical problems. It was running rough, however, and we had mentioned this numerous times. Their mechanic had the vehicle for a month and a half, fixed the damage, TEST DROVE IT, and returned it... with a nonfunctioning turn signal (Electrical system is pooched, various other things don't work as they should), and a buggered idler pulley. The car was taken back again two days later when same mechanic declared it needed to go to the Dealership. Why he didn't declare this during his test drives, we don't know.
4. We've lost several officers, including one of our mobile drivers, requiring I cover some of his shifts. A mobile driver was located, I was scheduled to train him... but he was never actually hired, nor scheduled to come into the site. He's now gone, and no replacement has yet been found, more than a week later.
5. Payroll has been consistently screwy. If you work the same hours every week, every month, your pay should be simple. But it never is. And not small issues. Deductions mysteriously appear on paychecks. Entire shifts vanish. In some cases, officers aren't paid AT ALL. My last check I was shorted 12 hours... an entire shift. I can't afford that.
6. Errors in Payroll are not dealt with in a timely manner. The problem with payroll happened on the 10th. I've been asking every day, every shift what's going to happen, when we will get our back pay, etc. I've now found out that it may well not even be included on our NEXT paycheck, and no one seems to know when we might get it recitified. The head office simply won't return our site supervisor's calls, and all he's suggested is we go down ourselves and deal with it. I'm a graveyard shift worker. I'm generally unconscious during normal business hours. This isn't the first time this happened, and last time I had to kick up a fuss to even get my money (They shorted me the hours I worked Christmas Day.)
7. I worked three full extra shifts this week. That's 36 hours of overtime in one week. In that time, asking our Site Supervisor a question, I was told if I didn't know the answer I shouldn't be working there (It was a position I didn't normally work, and had never done solo) and I got told to '
Off' by the Head of Security (Who works for the college, not our company) for not recognizing his voice on the phone (He didn't say his name or his title, he just called and told me to tell 'him' something. I had no idea what he was talking about). My Site Supervisor is now 'very disappointed' in me for not wanting to work ANOTHER OT shift until I get some kind of answers about my back pay.8. The company has a history of flat out REFUSING to pay overtime. Which is illegal. I don't work much OT, so it never came up. But the paycheck where I'm getting the OT money, I will be going out of town... so I will both need that money in my account, and be unable to go in and fight about it if it isn't.
9. We are not provided the training stipulated in the security contract. We're supposed to get First Aid, CPR, Self Defense, Bylaw (Parking ticket writing) and Arrest Procedures (Basically allows you to carry handcuffs and place people under arrest) I believe... I've been begging for training since I started in November. I've gotten CPR.
10. The site is PERPETUALLY short staffed. When someone calls in, there is a great deal of buck-passing, and usually no one can be secured to work the shift. We've had entire weekend shifts simply fail to show up. Or worse, be told by various supervisors they could take the day off, because there's no coordination of these things.
Basically, I really like working the campus, and if the security was in-house or another company, I'd be happy there. But the current company is sleazy, and thoroughly ill-equipped to service a site like this. They're able to handle the small, graveyard construction site patrols, and when they took this contract they seemed to think they could get away with the same level of service (i.e. non-english speaking guards with no training).
Me refusing to work this weekend shift is going to seriously harm my standing with my site supervisor, especially because he knows WHY I'm refusing. But if they can't even guarantee the hours I'm owed on my next paycheck, then I don't feel the need to do them favors... especially if I can't be sure I'll get paid for them.
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