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I'm security not a babysitter

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  • I'm security not a babysitter

    This one is about 11 years back at a small sci-fi convention in Salt Lake City.

    I had volunteered to work side door security so that the the person who had been assigned there could break for a few hours and hit a panel or two, and as it was a side enterance close to check in, it was a prtty laid back and slighty boring spot.
    Suddenly from out of nowhere comes this 3 foot bundle of ZOOM racing by, and then back again. As the blur comes by again, I manage to stop the little speed demon and after checking for a con badge I give him the ususal "you'll hurt yourself or someone else, so you need to go back to teh panel that your dad is in" (He provided this info when I stopped him).
    All's quiet for about 10 minutes when sudden deja vu kicks in with a pint sized blur. Stopping him again, I let him know that he'll be in trouble if he keeps it up.
    Dejected, but accepting (good natured kid, just LOTS of energy as with any 8 year old) he heads back to the panel.
    TWO FUCKING MINUTES LATER! Zoooom!
    this time, I have to break out the angry face on the kid, and his response? "Well,, daddy says to play out here and that security will watch me!"
    Now it all makes sense. I tell something along the lines of "I'm sorry buddy, but it's quite now, but if something happens I need to be able to take care of it. Go back to your dad, tell him that security says that if he sends you out here again, we're going to goin into the panel to get him. Can you tell him that buddy? Thanks."
    So, the bday continues uneventfully, I'm about to get off my shift and enjoy the con when the security chief comes to me and we have the following conversation
    Security Chief (An awesome kind of SC!) :"Redbeard, did you tell a boy that you'd pull his father out of a panel if he didn't stop playing in the halls, and that security isn't a babysitting service?"
    Me: "Sure did chief! Let me guess, he complained?"
    SC: "Better than that, he wanted me to take you off of security" (She gets a BIG grin at this point)
    Me: "Oh yeah? What did you tell him?"
    SC: "That not only are my security personell NOT his personal free babysitters, if he pulls that crap again I'll yank his badge and have him escorted off the property. He shut up and left REAL fast"
    I said something to the effect of "Awesome SC is awesome" and went back to my hotel room to have a well deserved drink.
    Last edited by Redbeard; 02-07-2012, 08:34 PM.

  • #2
    I'll second that "Awesome SC is awesome." Glad to see the chief stuck up for her people.
    "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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    • #3
      A beautiful story with a happy ending.
      "Life is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid" Redd Foxx as Al Royal - The Royal Family - Pilot Episode - 1991.

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      • #4
        Quoth Victory Sabre View Post
        A beautiful story with a happy ending.
        If only we could get more happy endings like this...

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        • #5
          No kidding!
          Too bad that generally only comes around with volunteer positions like that one

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          • #6
            Ug. This has been a bigger problem every year. The sucky fanbois are becomming sucky parents. I'm glad I'm a video room guy, and just have to shush people occasionally.
            The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
            "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
            Hoc spatio locantur.

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            • #7
              Quoth Geek King View Post
              Ug. This has been a bigger problem every year. The sucky fanbois are becomming sucky parents. I'm glad I'm a video room guy, and just have to shush people occasionally.
              Just wait till said sucky parents decide that dumping their tots in your video room is their babysitting service.

              I know we get that all the time in the video gaming room at my home convention. We've had signs up stating that the room is not a babysitting service.

              It does make me wonder how many of these parents are aware that their precious angels are watching people play games (and sometimes joining in) like Modern Warfare and Saints Row the Third.

              ^-.-^
              Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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              • #8
                Dragoncon just annoucned that they're shutting down their limited daycare, should be interesting to see how many people do the responsible thing and either stay home or find a sitter

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                • #9
                  Let me offer my thanks to you, even though I haven't been to a con in years, I always appreciated the security people.
                  When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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                  • #10
                    I wonder what booth the kid's daddy was at.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Andara Bledin View Post
                      Just wait till said sucky parents decide that dumping their tots in your video room is their babysitting service.
                      No problem, as long as they're quiet, or doze off, they're just like any other convention-goer.

                      If they do start acting up, They get the same one warning, then out with them my crew give anyone else. Lost children get passed to security, and taken to con ops to play with lost & found until the parents are found.
                      The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                      "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                      Hoc spatio locantur.

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                      • #12
                        Wow. If it hadn't worked for the Little Shop of Horrors for six years, I wouldn't have believed it. (The employees there got the 'free babysitting routine,' too.)
                        Customers should always be served . . . to the nearest great white.

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                        • #13
                          It does make me wonder how many of these parents are aware that their precious angels are watching people play games (and sometimes joining in) like Modern Warfare and Saints Row the Third.
                          If the sucky parents I see in my local Game store are any barometer, I would say most of them even buy those games for them.
                          There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Redbeard View Post
                            Dragoncon just annoucned that they're shutting down their limited daycare, should be interesting to see how many people do the responsible thing and either stay home or find a sitter
                            or make the kids dress up in costume and join them for everything

                            but yeah there's gonna be at least one sucky person who leaves the kids running around.

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                            • #15
                              Actually, this is where that "Free Espresso and a kitten" rule would come in handy. Lets see how you like us after we implement that protocol.

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