I Work as a Security Guard for a Mall, Our Rules Get Weird After 8pm.

So I don’t really know how to start this but assuming you read the title you understand the basic premise here. I work as a security Guard for a Mall, I Probably shouldn’t say where I’m from or Where the mall is located but it is a Normal Town, Well as Normal as the South can be I suppose.

Anyway Let me just work through the basic’s and help you understand the job and Ill just go through the rules as they were given to me, I Wont be able to go into All of the Rule In this post but if its a rule I have Personal Experience in ill attempt to give context to what it means some of them are rather… Vague.

So There are rules for the basic’s Like radio Etiquette and How to Act in the Public, they really harp on trying to maintain professionalism and a certain decorum during main business hours.
The first portion is all about opening the main mall doors and back alley doors at specific times, making sure the vending machines are plugged in and working before the public enters. we have regulations for finding or being handed items believed to be lost from the public or other staff like House keeping, That’s the name we have for the General staff that help keep the mall clean or maintained.

During normal operation hours, 8am – 8pm its pretty basic stuff making sure people are not stealing from the stores, making sure no ones running in the mall, at 3pm we have a shift change where first shift and second trade off the maglocks. The maglocks are basically little magnetic batons that scan a small metal tip that’s placed in spots around the mall, you’ve probably seen them before if you’ve ever looked hard enough they’re small round dots that sit on the wall next to like the main entrances or the elevators, there’s 35 in our mall all around but most of them are located in the back hallways that the public are not allowed to roam.

after 8pm the mall closes its regular operations, its at this point we do the announcement over the intercom and tell people to leave, its in the hand book in Big Bold red letters “Make Sure The Public Leaves Before 8:45” its one of the core rules in the book, that’s where the main hand book ends actually, but my boss has a hand written book of rules he keeps and reads from when teaching new employees. After 9pm the night begins but Night shift doesn’t officially start till 11pm.

After About 8:50 is when the hard portion of second shift begins, We have to check to make sure every store in the mall is closed and all the main staff from each store has left for the night, double checking that there isn’t any of the public left wandering the mall before 9pm, sometimes stragglers didn’t hear the announcement’s or just ignore the warnings. After 9pm a the other set of rules kick in.

The first main rule “Ignore the flashing lights” – Maintenance will NOT change the bulbs. To be completely honest here I’m unsure as to why this is a rule, There are quite a lot of bulbs in the main mall section that flicker I’ve never really tried to change them because they’re way too high off the ground but I’ll try to ask on my next shift why we Ignore them.

The next rule is “Stare at every turn when you take one” – I thought this was kind of a obvious thing, You don’t want to run into someone in the back halls or in the main mall, just basically pay attention so you don’t run into someone by accident. There is a turn in the back halls that I Make sure I’m looking whenever I take it however, it just looks weird no matter what direction I face when I take that corner specifically it just looks like someone’s standing Right there, I’ve stumbled a few times thinking I’m about to run into someone but no ones ever there.

Okay this next one seems rather obvious again its “Don’t walk backwards down the back halls” – Again just one of those things, you really don’t want to run into someone by mistake and get hurt, plus those back halls are super creepy and you really want to look where you’re going, you don’t want to end up somewhere you don’t want to be.

This one is probably one of the weird ones but its hard to explain “There is a Seam that runs the length of the mall, Do Not Step Directly onto the Seam” – So… if I could post a picture of what this is talking about it would make this easier to explain, but it basically looks like think of a pull down gate, if you’ve ever seen one set in the ceiling it looks almost like one of those, its about a foot across and it really does run the length of the mall, I think it was something put in during construction of the mall but I really cant say what it is or what its for, I don’t step on it cause it looks really weird and the center dips down a little bit and I don’t want to hurt myself stepping on it, with my luck ill twist my ankle stepping wrong or something stupid like that.

The rules get progressively weird from here “if you hear popping sounds from the vents stop and listen, if it gets louder ignore it, if it stops above you run” – I’ve heard the sound before and it does just continue to get louder for a bit and then get quieter and vanish, I think its something bumping around in the vents I don’t have the slightest clue what it could be because it sounds big but its never stopped abruptly before so.

This rule has a stipulation to it “if you can’t hear electricity ignore. check the fire alarms, if they’re buzzing then they’re fine, if they’re quiet you have to reset the alarm box in the back halls, don’t let IT see you” – so I do hear the buzzing sound, and yes I’ve had to reset the alarm box before, Its kind of deep in the back halls and its really hard to miss, Big red box the says “Alarm” on it, its a quick flick of three switches, wait ten seconds and switch them back on. The “IT” they’re referring to is something I’ve nicknamed ‘James’ it just looks like a James. Its this tall framed guy in a suit, he sounds like he’s lost and he stumbles through that section of the back halls, I’ve only ever caught glimpses of him I don’t stick around long enough to try and find out what happens if he sees you.

“Clean out the Floor Scrubber and Refill it before the end of shift. You Will find cuts on your hands afterwards that were not there before” – This one’s pretty weird, it does happen pretty frequently however so its more of a normal thing to most of us at this point, the scrubber gets backed up from picking up trash and needs to be cleaned out each night so it wont become backed up with trash, I think something on the inside is so sharp that you don’t even notice that it cuts you, more times than I can count have I been moving it back inside to charge and I have to take wipe down the steering wheel because I’m bleeding all over it again.

“If you Hear Mary Laughing, Ignore her. If She’s Crying in the Back Halls Keep Walking and Don’t turn Around” – This one made me laugh the first time my boss told me about it but the dead pan look on his and all the other officers faces told me it was not a joke. I’ve Heard Mary she sounds like a little girl, she Laughs at night between 1am and 3am, it sounds like she’s playing with someone or something. she’s always just out of sight and its just far enough you can’t really make out what she’s saying though. I’ve only ever heard her cry one time and I hope I don’t ever hear it again. The rule dose not do it justice, its the inhumane screaming cry that makes your skin crawl, it makes every hair on your body stand on end and I wanted to turn around so bad but Thankfully my boss was with me at the time and reminded me of the rule, we had to very calmly walk out of the back halls, looking for the closest exit without turning around even once. he walked behind me with his hand death gripping my shoulder the entire way, when we finally found our way out he looked like he had aged twenty years, hell I felt like I had.

“If you Hear a Rolling Cart Behind you Check, its probably someone taking out their trash and are lost. they would appreciate it if you hold the door for them” – this one seems harmless enough until you realize everyone who worked in the mall except for security has left for the night. I don’t know who it is that takes out the trash and you never see the same face twice but they’re there, and they do seem to appreciate when you hold the door for them, they give you a small smile and a head nod or tip of a hat and they head outside. they never come back inside.

“Ignore the writing on the wall, the mall opened in 1978″ – this rule is still kind of odd to me, but the walls in the back hallways are covered in writings, the date isn’t there because the mall is old and so many people have written on the walls over the years, its because a lot of the dates on the walls are from before the mall ever even opened. I’ve seen as far back as 1812 which clearly isn’t possible but they’re there ether way. there are notes from previous security guards at least some of them are claiming to be that is, but those notes always seem to actually be helpful, some of them even talk about the creatures of the back halls I haven’t experienced anything horrible like some of them though.

Anyway this is as much as I can write about today, If anyone’s interested in anymore of the more weird or specific rules I can always ask my boss for more and post any that sound interesting.