Getting Paid to Hang Out & Walk Around at Night ... as a Security Guard

August 18, 2023 5:57 AM

Hi MeFites! Mrs. Zen and I are planning for my (hopefully soon) semi-retirement. I'm thinking I'll take on a part time job to supplement our 401(k) and Social Security income (after talking to our financial planner, of course). Anyone out there have any experience being a night shift security guard?

In my imagination I think it would be ultra-low-stress, and involve a lot of free time alone (joy!) to sit and write, read, and maybe do something a little more creative like playing my guitar or just a small 2-octave piano keyboard. Also, there might be some walking around the building to scan my card at different check-in points periodically, which also sounds like a cool, Zen-like ritual.

Could it be this good, or could there be other aspects that would add great suckage and give me a sad?

FWIW ...

--This would be in Connecticut

--I have a Connecticut firearm carry permit, if a specific position required it

--I have no criminal record

Thanks!

posted by ZenMasterThis to Work & Money (13 answers total)

Ok, I love that you have this dream and am only going off of observations of one building, but the security guards where I work sit at a desk watching the video cameras and greeting those who enter. They don't seem to be doing a lot of reading and writing or playing music. I think it would interfere with the "we are keeping a constant eye on things" vibe they are trying to give off. I wonder if there's a job where your job isn't "being constantly alert" and more "being there in case something happens." E.g. I wonder if some kind of facility has people whose job it is to make sure sprinklers go off and the fire department gets called in the unlikely event a fire breaks out. Or maybe you could be a parking lot attendant who sits in a booth, waiting for a car to pull up to pay. That job appears to be 90 percent waiting. I just wonder if you could find a job where you relaxing and enjoying yourself wouldn't be something you'd need to do discreetly.
posted by slidell at 6:12 AM on August 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

One thing about night shift work in general - you're still up all night. You're really messing with your sleep schedule, maybe especially when it's a part-time job where you are (presumably) switching back and forth between sleeping during the day and sleeping at night. Shift Work Sleep Disorder is a well-recognized condition, and just anecdotally I've seen people start night work and immediately age about 10 years, and I've seen others switch from night work to day work and start to look like human beings again.

Maybe the most chill job I ever had was working the circulation desk in a specialty academic library during evenings (3:30-midnight). Couldn't play music, obviously, but I did lots of reading and writing for sure, and some crafts (e.g. knitting). I believe I did have to do a walkthrough of the library a few times a night. There was a fair amount of customer service kind of stuff in the first few hours, though. But seriously I probably had 5 hours of free time a night. I was working on a masters in library science at the time and I got all my homework done at work and still had time for recreational reading and writing fanfic and keeping up with my livejournal friends (why yes this was the early 2000s).
posted by mskyle at 6:43 AM on August 18, 2023 [13 favorites]

Another better fit might be running the front desk overnight at a local independent hotel. My niece did that and read books and watched anime.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:03 AM on August 18, 2023 [10 favorites]

I had an older relative, now passed away, who worked as a security guard when he was in school, long before I was born. It was kind of like what you describe, a lot of walking around, and he and the other guards carried pistols. Anyway, one night they thought they heard a break-in and ran over with their guns. The break-in was a false alarm, but due to confusion (I think they were trying to approach from different directions) my relative came very close to shooting his fellow guard.

I tell this because that "almost" accident left a lifetime trauma for him. He would tell that story frequently and dwell on it more than 50 years later, and very much didn't think that the salary had been worth being in the position of possibly killing someone over what would have been at best a minor theft. My point is just, if you are looking at positions where you would carry a gun, really think through your feelings about that because there is a very low, but greater than zero, risk that you could end up in the position of using deadly force to protect whatever property you are guarding.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:17 AM on August 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

One of my relative's worked overnight security at an apartment building and he made required rounds and monitored cameras. He was in school at the time and I remember he wished he could have used some of the "down" time to study, but he was specifically not allowed to read, watch videos, or listen to anything. He wasn't even supposed to use his personal phone unless on break.
posted by fies at 7:23 AM on August 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

My first W-2 job in college was as a security guard at a small museum. I had the overnight shift in the summer. One of the "be there if something happens" guards, not a be alert at all times guard. It was very safe (really I was just employed to make insurance cheaper).

It was simultaneously very fun and very boring.

Pros: I could do whatever I wanted, as long as I did the basic functions of my job. I made friends with the pizza guy from the all night place. I don't like people, and it was literally my job to make sure they stayed away.

Cons: Nights we're very long sometimes. Your sleep cycle gets fucked up. Really fucked up.
posted by phunniemee at 7:47 AM on August 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

I can't imagine even the most benign management going along with their security staff playing guitars or even just a small 2-octave keyboard while on duty.

The semi-retirement part-time career that worked for me was teaching adults English as a Second Language. I would've preferred the afternoons but almost always, these classes were in the mornings, or evenings. Some of my colleagues would do both, the dreaded split shift.
posted by Rash at 8:30 AM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

just anecdotally I've seen people start night work and immediately age about 10 years, and I've seen others switch from night work to day work and start to look like human beings again

Yes, in my late 20s a bunch of friends seemed to all get 9pm to 6pm jobs at the same time. At first it was fine, then it was kinda novel (getting an afterwork beer at 6:30am! How weird!), but eventually they all came to feel it was destroying their lives. One of my friends started doing the literal same job in every way, but from 3pm to 12pm, and he described it as finally being released from prison.

One other thing to note: I did have a friend in college who took a night watchman type job because he thought he could study/read/play his guitar, and turns out his employer actually wanted him to work for the money they were paying him, not fuck around and write songs.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 8:52 AM on August 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Look into "Night Auditor" role if you're willing to branch out into hotels, it's an an entry level role and basically means doing front desk and some overnight admin in a hotel. Hotels are always looking for people to fill that role.
posted by furtive at 9:41 AM on August 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Some dude with with a dog just came by to ask why we college staff were screaming karaoke and drinking gin at midnight, so I think some places expect a little more proactive work.
posted by Iteki at 4:14 PM on August 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Hotels are always looking for people to fill that role.

Yeah, but where? I recently checked in to a San Luis Obispo motel with an unattended lobby. Instead, upon entry, a cheerful face in the monitor of a big machine at the desk greeted me, accepted my credit card, scanned ID, accepted signitures and then issued keycards and a receipt. When pressed, Cheerful Face admitted that she was actually in the Philippines.
posted by Rash at 4:34 PM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

I used to work in the box office of a live theatre, answering phones and taking ticket orders (before people did that with the internet!!) and I did a ton of reading and homework. It was only busy for a couple hours a day just before the show started. Very pleasant job.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:44 PM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

I worked as a security guard for three years when I started college. It all depends on where you are working. Some industrial locations involved seeing no one for eight hours and occasional rounds punching a time clock. The rest of the time you could read, do homework, whatever. And you could *definitely* play the guitar or keyboard so long as you noticed the patrol driver when he checked up on you.

Another site was a fairly large hospital and we spent most of the shift walking around rattling doors and escorting nurses to their cars. Also time for several hours of homework, but more fragmented.

During the last ten years of my later career I worked at a site that had guards at night. They had to make a round of the building once an hour and not much else. If you have the internal resources to deal with boredom it could be an ideal situation. One nice point is that at a single-night-guard location you are not expected to actually handle any break-in — you just call the police.

Training or lack thereof is a problem with this kind of setup. When I was 19 the idea that they allowed me to carry a gun with no training is now appalling. I would consider bypassing the “armed guard” situations in favor of the others were you me.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:04 AM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]