One of the popular movies of late is the movie Mall Cop. It is one I would like to see. One of the reasons being that I used to be a mall cop. Well, not totally, but mall cop was part of the job. I was also the maintenance man and custodian. I did it all. It was part politician too, and as it was a little slow on the weeknight shifts, I was also entertainer.
I was 19 when I got this gig. For a young man of 19 years of age, there could not have been a better job. There were about 30 stores and shops on the 3 floors of this mall. Each of these stores were staffed with 1-3 young females between the ages of 17 and 20. Good math for a young man, 75 young bored girls and 1 guy to help keep them from their boredom. Not to mention friends of all these young ladies. It really was a single guys heaven.
I would arrive about 4 and meet up with the day people and get the low down on what had to be done that day, what to watch out for, and all of that kind of work stuff. Then from about 4 until 8 I would basically just walk around the mall, flipping the ash trays, picking up big garbage, chasing kids off the escalators, and of course talking to all the young women. About 8 I would make my final rounds and get locked up by 9, saying good byes to the ladies as they left. After that I would clean the bathrooms and mop some floors till midnight.
There were of course those unpredictable things that always went on too; the toilet clogged and overflowed, the box crusher got jammed, suspicious characters to follow around. Friends would come by to hang out, ladies in the stores would create problems that I HAD to come and fix. One of my favorites was the girl who was trying on one of the store dresses and the zipper jammed and she needed my assistance getting out of the dress ;o) It was a success. Do young women always wear sexy undergarments to work?
Some of my favorite days were when we had special events. Of those, the city festival was always the best. We had a beer garden for that weekend with some top talent that would come to play. I got to meet a number of music stars there which was cool, but I got real satisfaction out of making sure everything went smoothly both for the entertainment and the people who were there to be entertained. All the shows I worked always went off without a hitch, and I got free beer and access to backstage.
One of the worst events was when a small child got his foot caught in the escalator. It was a really scary event. When something like that occurs, you kind of snap into emergency mode. You act and react without emotion taking charge of the situation. Fortunately the young child was freed without serious injury. The rescue personnel cut the shoe and out popped the boys foot, a little bruised, but unbroken.
I think of all the jobs I have held in my life, that one is my favorite one.
2 comments:
I loved that movie.
Right after my divorce, I went to work for Hecht's Department Store (bought out by Macy's a year later). During training, I met one of the loss prevention guys and instantly felt an attraction. I worked at that job for EIGHT MONTHS because of my crush on him. Unfortunately, he was engaged. He didn't tell me that because he didn't want to scare me off...but he was having serious doubts about marrying her. He ended up marrying her (he and I never did anything but flirt until he broke up with her briefly, and even then we just kissed) -- and they're still happy, I assume. But I learned quite a bit about loss prevention during that time. I also learned loss prevention/security guys tend to be unfaithful to their girlfriends/fiancees/wives, but maybe that was just my particular store...
Well, I was lucky to have no one to cheat on at the time.
The job does lend itself to lots of free time to flirt.
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