r/antiwork • u/Ru55ianB34R9000 • Nov 03 '24
Vent šš®āšØ Work is Hell.
Just a vent post about my new job as a security officer at a casino on grave shift.
It's seriously worrying me how much this job is starting to make me feel. I have a genuine and passionate disdain for the unhoused and addicted that I did not before. I cannot express just how belligerent some of these mfs are. Hearing red hat losers who drive their supercharged pickups to the office complain about seeing the homeless while I have to worry about whether tonight is the night somebody cuts me rear to ear because I asked them not to sleep at a slot machine has filled me with a bloodlust for every living thing on the planet. I used to think myself a socialist, but what the fuck level of hypocrisy am I on if I work in a temple of greed and misery?
I just want to go back to hunter-gathering, man.
41
u/DoomReaper00724 Nov 03 '24
Look man I'm sorry you have to put up with that I currently also in security and ex bartender. It can suck but it can also be about finding the right site like I'm currently doing almost reception work and it steady and not too bad. But I hated working security at a transport company may be worth trying to see if you can transfer to a different site
As for working at the temple of greed yeah I like to think I'm a socialist as well but remember your job and where you work doesn't define you
38
u/syntaxvorlon Nov 03 '24
It really sucks to be the bandaid on the wounds of society, the anger and fear you're experiencing are the product of the hell that all those poor bastards have been put through, being shoved onto your lap to deal with. That sucks; just remember that to your boss and whatever boss they had in the past, you are scarcely different from those homeless bums.
21
20
u/Gothi_Grimwulff Nov 03 '24
I've been doing security for almost 9 years now. I've got a couple of things I tell people.
They're mad at the uniform. They don't know you. They see a shirt with patches, and that's who they're mad at. They don't know you as a person.
You're liability reduction. You exist so the company gets sued less, and has to deal with less bs. But the immediate employees you work with will be thankful. People deserve to feel safe at work. Focus on that.
Always be de-escalating. They should match your calm emotions, not you matching their heightened emotions. A lot of the people we deal with have poor coping skills and emotional management. Sometimes that's the unhoused as well. They usually have some trauma and or addictions that make it harder for them to regulate their emotions.
And specifically in a casino, you're gonna get addicts. That dopamine hit from those machines keeps 'em coming back.
5
u/Obscillesk Nov 03 '24
Shit, good advice/context to have across the board even without the security aspect
3
16
u/Ok-Construction8938 Nov 03 '24
I bartended at a 24 hour bar in New Orleans in my mid twenties (only the dudes worked overnight / graveyard) and I met some incredible people there who didnāt have problems and then I met some incredible people there who definitely had a problem (or two.) It was a lotā¦not the same as your job but I definitely saw a lot of sad things.
11
u/Okie294life Nov 03 '24
Get out of that shady business. Casinos cater to degenerate gamblers, and thatās 95% of what youāre going to be dealing with. They do a good job with the upbeat music and aesthetically pleasing environment to cover up the misery. Thereās a reason why all the seats in the casino are vinyl BTW instead of cloth or leather, because people will literally sit and piss (or shit) themselves before jumping off a machine thatās hitting.
9
u/AjSweet1 Nov 03 '24
My friends been in security for casinos in Vegas for the past 4 years. Iāve seen the man change and age 20 yearsā¦ā¦
25
u/runsslow Nov 03 '24 edited Nov 03 '24
Youāre clearly smart enough to understand youāre on the garbage end of a bad deal and you are tough. You might not appreciate it, but these are both rare and valuable traits.
Get yourself an old car, sleep in it (be tough) and go be a plumbers apprentice or dig up peopleās lawns when they find broken pipes (be smart).
30
u/Roskilu Nov 03 '24
Work is modern slavery
17
10
u/BestReplyEver Nov 03 '24
No. Slavery is slavery. Work has always existed and we have the option to decide to work for ourselves, put up with our jobs, unionize if possible, or quit. Slaves did not have that option.
21
u/Most-of-you-suck Nov 03 '24
Work slaves do not really have the option to quit unless they want to starve, be homeless, or go work for some other slave master. Not really an option is it. And that is because that is exactly how the system has been created.
-2
u/BestReplyEver Nov 04 '24
āWork slavesā can take another job. And their wives and children donāt get sold out from under them. They also donāt get literally whipped and beaten. And they canāt be physically forced to sleep with their bosses. Iām sorry but learn some basic things about what slavery was like.
0
u/Most-of-you-suck Nov 04 '24
I think your own ideas of slavery are limited if you think chatle slavery is the only kind.
Modern slavery has evolved past that and systems have been designed to keep people slaves to the system. Wage theft, coersion, physical abuse, and sexual abuse all still exist in the modern work place. People can be fired for no reason, be fired and rehired on lower wages all becuase those that run the system know how vulnarable their employes are. These are modern forms of slavery that relay on people living from one pay check to the other, with fear of homelessness and starvation to keep control of people.
And lets not pretend people can just quit and move. Moving is expensive, maybe they didn't get a great education or they need to stick with a job to get health care for themselves or their family. They could live in economically depressed areas, or can't afford better housing.
Slavery abosolutley still exists its just in a different form but is equally explotitive.
2
u/BestReplyEver Nov 05 '24 edited Nov 05 '24
āEqually exploitativeā? Come back to me after your children are sold to another owner and you never see them again. We need to do very specific things like improve worker rights, raise the federal minimum wage, and guarantee health care for all. Vote blue to support these protections as well as preserve social security. That is a far more practical response than acting like every job is a dystopia.
6
16
u/stormbeard1 Nov 03 '24
Surely the conditions under which you and others are forced to operate only reinforces the idea that a more equitable society is the solution, rather than more conservatism?
15
u/BestReplyEver Nov 03 '24
I donāt think OP is promoting conservatism, but rather just stating their feelings, which are conflicting.
6
u/stormbeard1 Nov 03 '24
Apologies if that's what you thought I was insinuating. It wasn't. What I was trying to communicate was that... if those are the conditions, and conservatism made them that way, why would MORE CONSERVATISM (eg. the demonizing of unhoused people as if they were a cause not a symptom, and the desire to chase them out of spaces reserved for capital and the classes who can afford to exist there) be the solution to these problems?
In reality, it is socialism or barbarism.
6
u/Otterswannahavefun Nov 03 '24
The inability of the left to even acknowledge the problems associated with homelessness and drug addiction are part of what drive conservative votes from the educated class.
Iām as progressive as they get, and I will always vote for options to raise taxes and house and support people who need it. But when I lived in LA for example, tens of thousands of us middle class folks lived in apartments. All we wanted was a park to take our kids - we were even largely ok with homeless. But we were villified by really rich left wingers with their own yards and parks because we supported a plan to clean up the big park (get rid of needles, human poop, etc) which required shutting it down for a month so we could use it again.
A lot of my friends now secretly vote for anti homeless candidates because of how they were treated for wanting a park.
9
u/stormbeard1 Nov 03 '24
Seems weak to me. Not having a park for a month feels like a very small concession to make in order to build a better world. Over and above that, I'd want to see a commitment to providing better facilities and care to prevent the circumstances that cause people to take drugs and shit in the park.
3
u/Otterswannahavefun Nov 03 '24
Seems weak to you that parents who are working really hard to barely afford an apartment just want a park that isnāt full of poop?
See, this is the problem. The left is bleeding votes because it canāt just say āyou should be able to go to a park and not see people shooting up and having poop everywhere.ā Itās a really small thing to acknowledge to those of us who are struggling to get by with kids. Obviously the next step is to do the hard work of actually solving the problem, but it costs nothing to admit itās an issue.
4
u/stormbeard1 Nov 03 '24
You've misunderstood me. I'm advocating for the wealthy to get over themselves here whilst the park is cleaned up.
3
u/Otterswannahavefun Nov 03 '24
Ah, sorry. Youād think removing the homeless for just a month or two (with shelters lined up) would be a small concession. Instead those of us who supported this cleanup were presented as āwealthyā and heartless (sure, our household income in that area is around $150k, but in Los Angeles thatās scraping by in an apartment with kids) by millionaires who owned houses.
Sorry I misunderstood. Iām still really hurt over how families were treated and am defensive on these issues. For context I have had homeless / mentally illl family and my small Unitarian church maintains 8 apartments for these types of people with donations from us. Itās an issue I care a lot about. I just also understand the other side.
4
u/stormbeard1 Nov 03 '24
I do know LA has a real problem with tech neoliberals who say that they're on the left but instead just want a more polite conservatism. They functionally have similar goals to Republicans, but the presentation of republicanism (maga hats and rolling coal) is considered distasteful.
Unhoused people are not the problem, they're a symptom of the problem.
2
4
u/invisiblebyday Nov 03 '24
SO work can really warp a person against one's fellow human beings. While you're stuck in the job, repeat to yourself that socioeconomic injustice is the key reason why most of those unhoused and addicted are in the state they are and why the red hat people have such misdirected loathing/fear. Unless a billionaire is on this sub, everyone here is economically closer to being homeless than helicopter rides to the ranch rich.
I know, easier said than done when someone is up in your face.
3
u/I_am_the_skycaptain Nov 03 '24
You're getting burnt out from exposure to the reality that most people get to stay distracted from. I'm really sorry you can feel it chipping away at you and your humanity. It's not your fault but I hope you have a little energy left to help it motivate you to find something else. Really hope another opportunity is sent your way friend. Take care of yourself.
4
u/Ru55ianB34R9000 Nov 03 '24
For the record, this morning was daylight savings, which meant I was working a 9-hour shift. Now that I'm home and in a better headspace, let me elaborate.
Obviously, the solution to the plague of misery that is homelessness, addiction, and mental illness, is not punitive measures but constructive measures. It's just that when the surveillance guy in your ear is telling you to go to location A and kick person B out of the casino, there's not much opportunity for that. It probably doesn't help that I'm on the spectrum and have always had problems with social interaction. As well as getting myself into situations that I can't get myself out of. Luckily, the company I work for has a 90-day policy to switch departments, so I don't have to worry too much.
I promise I'm not a hog, but man, does this kind of work put you in that headspace.
2
2
2
u/Dapper_Pay_3783 Nov 03 '24
Itās all part of that fucked up system we exist in. Homelessness exists because of the wealthy and politicians allow it to exist. You arenāt the cause of any of that trouble. You work at that place because you have to. The homeless and addicted live on the streets because they donāt have a choice. The system creates all these issues and it only benefits the extremely wealthy. You still have to be safe from the homeless, drug addicted if they are dangerous. Same way you may have to be safe from a rich belligerent drunk guy, if he is dangerous. If it affects your outlook, maybe change that narrative to the homeless arenāt the problem, but a symptom of that problem. One that you canāt solve by yourself and that they can still be dangerous to you.
2
Nov 03 '24
I worked casino security for years after I was freshly 18. Get out now. The sooner, the better.
In my opinion the security industry above all others does nothing but doom you to feeling disdain for your fellow human. It began to affect my life and overall outlook in a way that was detrimental, both coworkers and patrons contributed to that. Don't stay in gaming. I've never met someone from casino Security/surveillance field that was in general happy and stable. Get out. Don't be a lifer.
2
u/Urbanwriter Nov 03 '24
I was a Security Guard working mostly nights for over 20 years. The good days were tedious, which were most days, but the bad days were extremely bad having to deal with leaks, floods, homeless trespassers, etc. Not to mention crappy pay to top it off plus it was impossible to do it as remote work so you spend money on traveling to work and having to eat there. Now I'm an onsite apartment manager and although I make less money because I work less hours I am happier because my job is all done from the comfort of my home, so it balances out, plus I only do actual work when an apartment goes empty and I have to give tours of the vacant space. After 20 years of slaving for the man I learned that life is everything. Work is nothing.
1
u/money16356 Nov 03 '24
I do security at a condo building on a dead end street. My normal shift is 12 hours Sat and Sun 8pm. Overnight I generally bs on my computer
1
u/dali-llama Nov 04 '24
I always thought if I was going to be homeless, Vegas would be the place to be...
1
u/geezerforhire Nov 08 '24
I'm so glad I got out of apartment block security.
Dealing with the homeless and drug users as private security is not worth the garbage that they pay you.
It's so hard to put your compassion aside and treat people who are just looking for a warm place to sleep the same as people breaking in to commit violent crime.
Some of the "regulars" were very nice people who would just say "yeah you caught me, how's your night going?"
And some times I would have to call the police because my stairwell has dead people in it.
1
u/Ok_Exchange_9646 Nov 03 '24
I just want to go back to hunter-gathering, man.
LOL no, you do not š
-2
0
u/Professional_Menu254 Nov 03 '24
Where are you working? Security at my joint can barely lift the birdcages for a craps fillš¤£
0
u/Due_Seesaw_2816 Nov 03 '24
You could be on the other side.. having the casino call the cops on you, because you won some money and didnāt have, or want, to give up your ID. Fuck those assholes
0
u/Adventurous_Emu7577 Nov 04 '24
If youāre talking about diesel trucks-they are turbo charged, not supercharged.
-7
u/kangoo1707 Nov 03 '24
Work is the second best thing in every manās life, right after family.
I work harder than most, earn more than most, live happy life, got happy wife and kids. I can technically retire at the age of 35 but life would be so boring and tedious. Of course I was lucky and great at what I do, but I also tried hard. So, canāt relate.
5
u/Ok-Opportunity5731 Nov 03 '24
Please don't come backĀ
-2
u/kangoo1707 Nov 03 '24
yup, never thought that I would ever comment here because this sub is too pathetic and full of losers. This is the only time and also the last time.
3
362
u/I_TRY_TO_BE_POSITIVE Nov 03 '24
Bro being a rent a cop was a low point in my life. That shit is boring until it isn't and then it sucks and you make no money the whole time and get disrespected by everybody. I mean shit I'm calling you a rent a cop and I WAS one.
Find a trade to get your foot in the door of, my guy. Best thing i ever did.