Reflections off the amber glow of a beer bottle....
Finally home. Looking forward to that one day off I have before I hit back to back 12 hour shifts Sunday and Monday. Should be a freakin' party. BYOB people...I can't support everyone's habit, just mine!
Today, 30 minutes into my shift, we had a medical call. Global Securities' golden gem of an assistant Lynn collapsed at her desk today. I realize none of you know her, but she is the sweetest woman you'd ever meet in your life. She's one of those special ones who gives all she can of herself and deserves twice as much back...but fate always seems to interfere. She's had more heartache than a dozen people deserve, a thousand lifetimes over...and now, she's most likely lying in a hospital bed.
What we seem to understand is she had a seizure and collapsed, possibly hitting her head on her desk on the way down...making sense of the blood. She was conscious when the ambulance arrived. I had to be the one to call 911, being that I was Security Operations Center Operator today. What a day I picked to come in and cover an open shift. The ever-present search of overtime put me in the captain's chair today, and according to my supervisor Ryan, he wouldn't have had anyone else sitting there given the situations. My daily report was roughly 6 pages, not to mention monitor point status checks.
I got praised for how I handled the situation, as did the entire responding security crew (Mr. Bill George, Ryan Niznik, and our Guardsmark facility manager onsite, Cary Richey). We kept our cool when Lynn's coworkers were losing theirs. That's required of us.
And ya know, for the first REAL time, I feel less like just a security guard and more like a contributor.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Lynn and her family, as she works to heal herself. God bless.
Upon suggestion by Jeff Lemoine, my client, my boss, and a man I consider a friend, I add this poem. It means a lot.
If
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
Today, 30 minutes into my shift, we had a medical call. Global Securities' golden gem of an assistant Lynn collapsed at her desk today. I realize none of you know her, but she is the sweetest woman you'd ever meet in your life. She's one of those special ones who gives all she can of herself and deserves twice as much back...but fate always seems to interfere. She's had more heartache than a dozen people deserve, a thousand lifetimes over...and now, she's most likely lying in a hospital bed.
What we seem to understand is she had a seizure and collapsed, possibly hitting her head on her desk on the way down...making sense of the blood. She was conscious when the ambulance arrived. I had to be the one to call 911, being that I was Security Operations Center Operator today. What a day I picked to come in and cover an open shift. The ever-present search of overtime put me in the captain's chair today, and according to my supervisor Ryan, he wouldn't have had anyone else sitting there given the situations. My daily report was roughly 6 pages, not to mention monitor point status checks.
I got praised for how I handled the situation, as did the entire responding security crew (Mr. Bill George, Ryan Niznik, and our Guardsmark facility manager onsite, Cary Richey). We kept our cool when Lynn's coworkers were losing theirs. That's required of us.
And ya know, for the first REAL time, I feel less like just a security guard and more like a contributor.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Lynn and her family, as she works to heal herself. God bless.
Upon suggestion by Jeff Lemoine, my client, my boss, and a man I consider a friend, I add this poem. It means a lot.
If
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!