# Hospital Security Guard Does Stupid Thing. Quasi Goes Ballistic! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576 "2002-12-13T18:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/21 "2002-12-14T16:58:23Z")
Having worked both as an EMT and as security I will give this a shot > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quasimodem \* > We left it that nothing would be said to anyone about this, but he took it hard. > > I didn’t get to see him before I left this morning, to cement our agreement, so I hope he will be okay. Unfortunately for him, in his position, he is generally obligated to self report, If he was in violation of policy for handling such objects then he should be disciplined. If he was not it creates some new problems. Depending on the political climate of your workplace, invoking the displeasure of advanced medical personell could be very career damaging. Combined with his obligation to report the incident it creates a situation where if his supervisor in security finds out later that he concealed the incident he could be disciplined and or terminated for concealing it. Sometimetimes its a bigger deal not to report than to do it in the first place (I believe a medication error would be an apt anology) Many terrorist incidents are designed to make us fear everyday routine things, the breifcase could be a bomb, that letter could have anthrax in it, airliners might crash into the place where we work. Unfortunately we still have to go on with our lives. > [@](#): > > "Hey Sir! You forgot your brief… **BOOM** > > Sorry. I’m taking this hard too. \*\* Hundreds if not thousands of purses and breifcases get left behind every day all over the world. Where I was security it was 3-4 a week that we picked up. Over thousands of occurances over 10 years in an amusement park with hundreds of children around nobody died. The odds are **very much against** the probablility that the case in question was dangerous in any way. You did overreact, you attacked someone who from the sounds of it did what would be expected of him then asked him to conceal the fact from his superiors… If he was in violation of any “abandoned objects” policy hes screwed either way. If not written apology to him via his supervisor. That way him **and** his supervisor are aware of your feelings on the event and that there is no lingering bad feelings between the ER staff and security. Especially since those are two teams that definitely have to get along. ---
**Author:** ![Slainte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Slainte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slainte)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/22 "2002-12-14T17:37:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by drachillix \* > \*\* > Many terrorist incidents are designed to make us fear everyday routine things, the breifcase could be a bomb, that letter could have anthrax in it, airliners might crash into the place where we work. Unfortunately we still have to go on with our lives. > > Hundreds if not thousands of purses and breifcases get left behind every day all over the world. Where I was security it was 3-4 a week that we picked up. Over thousands of occurances over 10 years in an amusement park with hundreds of children around nobody died. The odds are **very much against** the probablility that the case in question was dangerous in any way. You did overreact, you attacked someone who from the sounds of it did what would be expected of him then asked him to conceal the fact from his superiors… > > \*\* Maybe it’s just me but you seem to be contradicting yourself a bit here. The first paragraph I agree with 100%. We do have to go on with our lives (but we must also be a little more vigilant). The second paragraph - not so much. The odds were also very much against 4 aircraft being hijacked & used as weapons. How many thousand flights have taken off in 10 years without ever being hijacked flown into buildings? Plenty, but it still happened. **Quasi** said he: > [@](#): > > chastised him (in private) by telling him it was a stupid thing to do, and he could have lost his life and/or someone else’s if the damn thing had had explosives inside. Which hardly seems like he: > [@](#): > > attacked someone who from the sounds of it did what would be expected of him then asked him to conceal the fact from his superiors… . And overreact? Maybe but not by much. **Quasi** does not owe anyone an apology, written or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/23 "2002-12-14T17:47:08Z")
No. It got “handled” between the two of us, and that is where it will remain. As far as the “ER Staff” is concerned, there will be nothing said. He has gone above and beyond his job description many times to help us, and we appreciate him. And as far as your accusations against **me** asking him to conceal anything, I take that upon my shoulders, and I do so willingly. I was there, you were not. Probably, it would have been better for me not to post this in the first place, but what can I say? Yes, I overreacted, and yes, I feel badly about it. Got a time machine? ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/24 "2002-12-14T18:33:59Z")
You were right and you delt with it in a professional manner. I’m glad that he didn’t decide to quit over it and that he learned a valuable lesson. And **Eonwe** , you’re right in a way also. It is sad that it is an issue in this world today. I wouldn’t, however, leave it there if it was questionable, I’d probably call a professional. So the guy would get his briefcase back either way (maybe with a little embarassment when he realized the bomb squad had his briefcase as a potential bomb) without putting others at risk. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/25 "2002-12-14T19:00:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quasimodem \* > And as far as your accusations against **me** asking him to conceal anything, I take that upon my shoulders, and I do so willingly. I was there, you were not. Dosen’t sound like a pretty precedent but, such is life. > [@](#): > > Probably, it would have been better for me not to post this in the first place, but what can I say? > > Yes, I overreacted, and yes, I feel badly about it. > > Got a time machine? I also did not read the whole thread and did not realize that this is not a purely workplace relationship involving an otherwise exeptioanl co-worker. Sorry if I hit a little hard. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/26 "2002-12-14T19:38:48Z")
Why would someone want to bomb the sidewalk outside a hospital ER? ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/27 "2002-12-14T20:24:57Z")
For what it’s worth **Quasi** , I think you did fine. Sounds like the guy got a hell of a fright from this, and if that makes him more careful in the future then you have done him a service. Apart from anything else, surely the conversation should have happened the other way round, _he_ is supposed to be the one thinking in terms of the building and staffs security. To whoever it was that more or less said “being afraid of anonymous abandoned briefcases is letting the terrorists win”, so is letting them kill more people with a briefcase-bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Slainte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Slainte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slainte)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/28 "2002-12-14T22:38:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lizard \* > \*\*Why would someone want to bomb the sidewalk outside a hospital ER? \*\* I direct you to an earlier post of mine (in this same thread) where I said: > [@](#): > > And though a hospital isn’t an airport, it could be a likely terrorist target. If you take a large hospital out of commission, you can bomb some place else and there would be little to no immediate medical care available. Unfortunately, that is the world we live in today. And if you think this scenario is impossible or very unlikely, I would have agreed at one time - then September 11th unfolded on the TV in my break room at work. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![kirk280980](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c77e96/32.png) [@kirk280980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk280980)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/29 "2002-12-15T03:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Washte \* > **Twice now the building I was working in was blocked off and the bomb squad called in for such a thing. One package turned out to be shopping (thank the gods) but the other ended up being detonated.** Hmmm, sounds like what happened in Lincoln a year or two ago. We heard on the radio that the entire High Street had been cordoned off, and that bomb disposal experts were preparing to inspect a suspect package left underneath a bench. I can only imagine the look on the guy’s face when he opened the package to find… a set of saucepans that someone had purchased that morning and subsequently mislaid :D. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/30 "2002-12-16T16:29:59Z")
Happened [here](http://lacrossetribune.com/articles/2002/09/26/stories/news/1.txt), too. The lunch bag was just that: a lunch bag. It had fallen off the back of a little old lady’s wheelchair. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/31 "2002-12-16T17:54:54Z")
Part of it, is the nature of the beast. If you work at kinkos, the odds that something someone leaves behind will explode are around 0. But if you’re dealing with places where lots of people go, or places that provide emergancy services, and at which an attack would erode public cofidence then you have to treat unknown objects as just that – unknown. As for not reporting it… You should have. While I’m 99% sure that it was just osmeone who forgot a briefcase. There is a chance it was set there for a purpose to test security arrangements. But on the other hand: if you reported it the guard would have been given additional training or fired after getting a lecture about standard procedures. Probably he would have ended up carrying a grudge and might not perform his job as well as he should. As it stands now, it seems like he realized what he did, and what could have happened and now will probably be very alert and not let this happen again. So, it’s more or less a win win situation. He’s more attentive at the job and won’t let it happen again and he didn’t get reprimanded. But I should also mention that I’m probably paranoid in general. Or at least for some odd reason I dwel on matters of security and possible lapses in security… and how’d I penetrate various security setups I see. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/32 "2002-12-16T17:55:22Z")
You did the right thing. If the guy is still thinking about quitting maybe he should just be reminded that you were chastising him as much for his own safety as anybody elses. He should stay on and learn from the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/33 "2002-12-16T18:29:09Z")
I think **Quasimodem** was right, and seems to have dealt with it tactfully. As someone else has pointed out, in the U.K. (and particularly) when I lived in London, a certain suspicion of “unattended packages” became ingrained. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/34 "2002-12-17T00:38:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lizard \* > \*\*Why would someone want to bomb the sidewalk outside a hospital ER? \*\* At my hospital, a bomb placed on the sidewalk outside our ER would completely destroy the communication hub of the hospital–my office–the place with control over the overhead paging access, locations to the gas tanks, Security dispatch, all local, state and federal emergency contact information, etc. It would also destroy the Security office, not to mention the damage to the ER itself. In fact, if you were going to attack a hospital (and there have been threats), the ER is the best/worst place. That’s where, in a normal situation, you would bring the wounded. Destroy that and you end up with chaos–especially in towns where there may be only one actual trauma center ER. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/35 "2002-12-17T01:50:07Z")
I’m very glad the guy decided not to leave his job. The best way to look at it, IMHO, is that he made a mistake, he learned from it, and now he can do his job _better._ I just do not understand the mentality some people have (not really visible in this thread, thankfully) that would call for the guy to be dumped, so they can get in somebody else who _hasn’t_ learned from this particular mistake. Errors are to be treasured, in my opinion. They’re how we learn. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/36 "2002-12-17T02:40:14Z")
I’m with **BF** on this one. . . Good call. I would have called the local police and let them handle it. Overreact? No. Tell the guy that you still think he should work there, but keep that in mind. Like **Cervaise** , I think he’d learn from this and would be careful in the future. It is one thing to blow the whistle and play Barney Fife, trying to “defuse” it yourself, but it’s much _much_ better to use some tact and quietly call the police, and let them take care of it. Tripler Budding EOD type. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/37 "2002-12-17T06:22:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quasimodem \* > \*\*He went out to the curb of our ER drive and picked up what looked like an abandoned briefcase and then brought it inside. > > When I asked if he knew to whom it belonged, he said no, whereupon I commenced to chastise him (in private) by telling him it was a stupid thing to do, and he could have lost his life and/or someone else’s if the damn thing had had explosives inside. > > Nothing harmful inside the briefcase. Just papers. > \*\* Um, not to be disrespectful, but how did you find out the briefcase just had papers in it? Did the security guard bring it inside and open it, and then you talked to him; or (shudder) did you and he open it together? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/38 "2002-12-17T15:56:31Z")
Doesn’t anyone else remember that warning from a couple of months ago? The one about hospitals being potential targets during the holiday season? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/39 "2002-12-17T16:17:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danalan \* > Did the security guard bring it inside and open it, and then you talked to him; or (shudder) did you and he open it together? \*\* Opening it with a witness would be normal to help offset the more common problem of claims of theft from the breifcase by whoever found it. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576/40 "2002-12-17T16:43:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CRorex \* > While I’m 99% sure that it was just osmeone who forgot a briefcase. There is a chance it was set there for a purpose to test security arrangements. While I was management at the same park I later worked security at (long story, changed jobs, went back PT). We used to set little traps for employees all the time. Intentionally putting extra in the register starting change fund, leaving money (or in a couple cases alcohol) where only one employee would find it. > [@](#): > > But I should also mention that I’m probably paranoid in general. Or at least for some odd reason I dwel on matters of security and possible lapses in security… and how’d I penetrate various security setups I see. There is always a way to get around any kind of security, just a matter of time, planning, and patience. A smart, patient, individual will consistently evade advanced security measures and capture. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hospital-security-guard-does-stupid-thing-quasi-goes-ballistic/142576.md?page=3)