While working for CPP one of the places they took over was the now closed Bank Centre a conglomeration of old Banks on forth street in Downtown Pittsburgh turned into a shopping mall of high end
shoppes and a movie theater with 23 stories of offices above .
It spanned 2 blocks of both Smithfield St and forth street and was at one time the wall street of Pittsburgh
They kept all the significant features and of course the vaults which some shops where located in.
Because I had to work with snakes and tattletales and fools for partners I always checked them out to see what they where in this case they where tattle tales and assholes who could not be trusted I said a couple things to get a reaction and right away I get a call from a supervisor so it told me I could not trust them .
Knowing this I just kept away from them as far as possible not some one to trust your backside little girls instead of men with balls. We had very few problems in the centre other than making sure homosexual activity was not going on in the mens room and the occasional drunk you showed the door from the disco club called the library . It was a nice place to guard inside and out of the elements. One day while walking thru the mall on my regular patrol the head of Maintenance Mike M. was working on an AC unit and off handed I mentioned I was graduating from Connelly Skill Center with a Refrigeration Mechanics certificate in couple of weeks. Really he said where looking for a maintenance man to join our crew put an application in . I said sure in mean time Maurice knew I was graduating from school and looking for full time work in the refrigeration field and all these ass hole guard outfits have this rule they did not like you going to work at a place you guarded. Once again I told Maurice to screw off I was working maintenance job not as guard for them .
In mean time I had a job interview at Suburban General Hospital now a rehab facility after is was downsized
arranged thru Connelly skill center for similar position as stationary engineer I was suppose to start at $ 5.00 and hour but when it came time to fill out the paper work the screw off in human resources said the job started at minimum wage as I was already making more as a guard I told him to take a flying *&^ I was promised $5.00 an hour . With that I took the $6.00 an hour offer from The Bank Centre and told Connelly job councilor how they tried ripping me off at Suburban General they took them off the list of places they referred students for jobs . Connely Skill centre no longer exists due to poor way they ran that school as well. Good thing I did not take the hospital job I heard all kind of story's out of this place and relations they had with employees there. I never should have taken the job at the bank centre either ends up they where a bunch of back stabbers as well working for them. While I was busy doing things Fred the Cleaner and Tom and Joe they would be off premise shopping or drinking and not doing there work then I would get blamed for work not completed. They also had this bitch of a union steward who thought she was queen bee for the cleaners one time I stopped the elevator car in transit and told her off and to go tell management I could care less If I lost my job. This point I had built up enough side work I did not need this job . She did and when management called me to office I told them everything going on and if they did not get it stopped the place would be out of business in couple years exactly what happened. They said they could do nothing about it she was the union steward. Eventually she was fired for stealing when detectives caught her stealing from offices in the building and Fred and Tom I caught them red handed at Kaufman's dept store where I was working a detail for CPP who asked If I could come back and work part time for them while getting my business going they where hurting for help. I called one of the bank centres owners at home and told them what was going on and he called down to the bank centre and demanded to know where they where and when the phone was not answered they both got written up of course they where union so nothing happened in the end . There where some really nice people I worked with the night engineer and one of the cleaners the rest where mostly snakes and back stabbers.No wonder this place was always advertising for help.
But thats the way many of the employers who where union shops played the game and still to this day do. You worked for 6 months then they always found a way to fire you before you became a union member and unions wonder why I have such a bad taste in my mouth for them. not for the individual hard working individual but for there management. You can always tell these places when you read the want ads same position comes up twice a year to be filled.I learned to watch and never apply at a place like that in the future.
Because the unions had such a tight squeeze on The Bank Centre and they had so many bad employees they could do nothing about and there was a very bad turn down in the economy after the mills almost all closed and the place was expensive to keep maintained they closed and sat empty for well over a decade.
It now is the Library and offices for Point Park College
Ironically after I stopped working for CPP I worked part time for McGlenon Detective Agency who had the original contract, for the Bank Centre a much better company to work for.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
The Grease Job
One place I will never forget working as a guard where they make vegetable oil and corn syrup products. It sits on a hill side looking down over the valley and is a large sprawling place which consists of plant , boiler house and offices .
You sat in a small guard house at front of plant which had no heat the radiator in it never worked you had to bring your own small electric heater .You would start out with a walk down a long narrow road way past a large water condenser unit for the ammonia based freezer unit and could always smell ammonia when you went by it . They had an emergency breathing SCBA unit near by if there was a leak but they never taught guards how to use it if you needed to escape you where just expected to run if you came upon a bad leak. But that was pre OSHA days after some complaints they changed the units around to a better design. You would then walk down a steep gravel ramp past some large oil storage tanks to the big old brick boiler house which had 2 enormous boilers in them which they expected you to push a red button to restart boilers if they shut off and you saw pressure going low .I told them no way I would never do it and risk an explosion since these where low pressure oil guns on the boilers . In first place no one other than a Qualified Stationary Engineer should have been going any where near or doing anything around these boilers. but these people who owned this place could care less . One early morning the pressure went down and I called plant supervisor and he was all mad I would not start boilers I told him I smelled heavy oil smell he better get down there good thing he did had I hit button there could have been an explosion the ignition gun had shut off and flooded boiler with oil. After this incident they no longer had us pushing the button and they eventually put new boilers in and tore down the old boiler house some years later .
You then went into a rickety old office building looked like something out of the 30's and door locks where always acting up. One of the workers was a big fitness fanatic he had a treadmill in corner of his office and sweat suits hanging on a hook next to the machine he wore when working out on the machine . After checking the office building you climbed up some steps but beside the steps was a open air plant that mixed manure products talk about a smell when it was running , After climbing the steps you went across railroad tracks as they had a siding to bring rail cars full of corn oil into plant. Carnegie at one time had a very busy railroad yard, but no more only a single track goes thru town now and a train is rarely seen where one time there had been many fatal accidents with trains and cars at the several crossings you never here that any more . You would start in the back of plant you checked small hut where sprinkler pipes for fire protection to plant came in to see heater was on in winter time and water pressure was correct then you walked thru the plant and production lines with pipes going everywhere some of which leaked product at some of the joints which they caught in buckets .
Even thou we walked thru production area where food products never had to put on hair nets or booties something you must do today when the line is working or not in most plants which deal with food products . Then you would walk thru production offices and lab like offices where they worked on making sure product was pure and came up with new items. and back to the booth you went every 2 hours you did this .
One sunny late afternoon I was walking down the ramp and heard what sounded like a riffle discharge and something hit one of the tanks. I looked across valley and there some one in white jump suit had a hunting riffle standing on the old foundations of the transfer facility Browning & Ferris once ran where city of Pittsburgh garbage trucks would off load and B&F would load into bigger trucks to be taken to land fill and there he was shooting at the tanks I took cover and ran to boiler house luckily there was a phone with outside line to call supervisor I called Carnegie police who sent an officer immediately to the old transfer plant but they got away. The officer then came over and took a report from me as to what all took place. Hair raising to say the least. The CPP Supervisor Bill ? a WWII vet came by and took a report as well , I like wild bill as we called him . he often talked about his time in the jungles of pacific and fighting the Japanese and how he got scar on his chin from a Japaneses officers sword but was saved by a Sargent who killed the officer. Do not know if any of it was true because most guys I knew who where in WWII rarely ever talked about it.
including my uncles who served .
But thats the way it was with lots of the guards I worked with all had these big story's what they did makes you wonder what they where doing working as guards unless it was for retirement income.
I remember Maurice got all mad because the one guards a retired army major had a tie clip that looked like a M16 he told Maurice to take take a flying fuck and quit over it. He was only doing the job to fill in some time he had on his hands. Lots of retires work as guards. the final night shift I worked at the plant I ended up saving lives while patrolling I saw smoke and what looked like a small flame near a houses attic as I got closer my worst fears where realized the house was on fire I called the towns dispatch and they got fire fighters there in time to save the family who where soundly sleeping. The house was torn down and its a vacant lot now.
You sat in a small guard house at front of plant which had no heat the radiator in it never worked you had to bring your own small electric heater .You would start out with a walk down a long narrow road way past a large water condenser unit for the ammonia based freezer unit and could always smell ammonia when you went by it . They had an emergency breathing SCBA unit near by if there was a leak but they never taught guards how to use it if you needed to escape you where just expected to run if you came upon a bad leak. But that was pre OSHA days after some complaints they changed the units around to a better design. You would then walk down a steep gravel ramp past some large oil storage tanks to the big old brick boiler house which had 2 enormous boilers in them which they expected you to push a red button to restart boilers if they shut off and you saw pressure going low .I told them no way I would never do it and risk an explosion since these where low pressure oil guns on the boilers . In first place no one other than a Qualified Stationary Engineer should have been going any where near or doing anything around these boilers. but these people who owned this place could care less . One early morning the pressure went down and I called plant supervisor and he was all mad I would not start boilers I told him I smelled heavy oil smell he better get down there good thing he did had I hit button there could have been an explosion the ignition gun had shut off and flooded boiler with oil. After this incident they no longer had us pushing the button and they eventually put new boilers in and tore down the old boiler house some years later .
You then went into a rickety old office building looked like something out of the 30's and door locks where always acting up. One of the workers was a big fitness fanatic he had a treadmill in corner of his office and sweat suits hanging on a hook next to the machine he wore when working out on the machine . After checking the office building you climbed up some steps but beside the steps was a open air plant that mixed manure products talk about a smell when it was running , After climbing the steps you went across railroad tracks as they had a siding to bring rail cars full of corn oil into plant. Carnegie at one time had a very busy railroad yard, but no more only a single track goes thru town now and a train is rarely seen where one time there had been many fatal accidents with trains and cars at the several crossings you never here that any more . You would start in the back of plant you checked small hut where sprinkler pipes for fire protection to plant came in to see heater was on in winter time and water pressure was correct then you walked thru the plant and production lines with pipes going everywhere some of which leaked product at some of the joints which they caught in buckets .
Even thou we walked thru production area where food products never had to put on hair nets or booties something you must do today when the line is working or not in most plants which deal with food products . Then you would walk thru production offices and lab like offices where they worked on making sure product was pure and came up with new items. and back to the booth you went every 2 hours you did this .
One sunny late afternoon I was walking down the ramp and heard what sounded like a riffle discharge and something hit one of the tanks. I looked across valley and there some one in white jump suit had a hunting riffle standing on the old foundations of the transfer facility Browning & Ferris once ran where city of Pittsburgh garbage trucks would off load and B&F would load into bigger trucks to be taken to land fill and there he was shooting at the tanks I took cover and ran to boiler house luckily there was a phone with outside line to call supervisor I called Carnegie police who sent an officer immediately to the old transfer plant but they got away. The officer then came over and took a report from me as to what all took place. Hair raising to say the least. The CPP Supervisor Bill ? a WWII vet came by and took a report as well , I like wild bill as we called him . he often talked about his time in the jungles of pacific and fighting the Japanese and how he got scar on his chin from a Japaneses officers sword but was saved by a Sargent who killed the officer. Do not know if any of it was true because most guys I knew who where in WWII rarely ever talked about it.
including my uncles who served .
But thats the way it was with lots of the guards I worked with all had these big story's what they did makes you wonder what they where doing working as guards unless it was for retirement income.
I remember Maurice got all mad because the one guards a retired army major had a tie clip that looked like a M16 he told Maurice to take take a flying fuck and quit over it. He was only doing the job to fill in some time he had on his hands. Lots of retires work as guards. the final night shift I worked at the plant I ended up saving lives while patrolling I saw smoke and what looked like a small flame near a houses attic as I got closer my worst fears where realized the house was on fire I called the towns dispatch and they got fire fighters there in time to save the family who where soundly sleeping. The house was torn down and its a vacant lot now.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Off Duty officers as security guards in PA. there have been some problems.
In Pennsylvania there has always been controversy where it comes to law and police officers working off duty as security guards for business. By law they are suppose to be act 235 certified in addition to Act 120 they must have to be certified as a municipal police officer.
which requires filing a wavier which some have and some have not .
However I see a massive review of all this and new legislation coming about after City of Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper was indicted and expected to plead guilty to funneling funds meant to go to the city coffers for off duty officers assignments to a slush fund accounts set up in the local FOP ( Fraternal order of Police) credit union .
which requires filing a wavier which some have and some have not .
However I see a massive review of all this and new legislation coming about after City of Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper was indicted and expected to plead guilty to funneling funds meant to go to the city coffers for off duty officers assignments to a slush fund accounts set up in the local FOP ( Fraternal order of Police) credit union .
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/03/22/harper-indicted-on-public-corruption-failure-to-pay-taxes/
A Sheriff over in Beaver County George David is in trouble as well for providing sheriffs for football games when the county's charter specifically forbids it.
http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/sheriff-will-continue-outside-security-services/article_f0df1098-354b-5bbf-a4b6-6f517326e937.html
All in all this could all end up badly for officers state wide once the courts get involved.
especially in light of several incidents in the past month where off duty Pittsburgh officers are being accused of abuse.
and Chief Harper is still being looked at over dealings of favoring contracts to the owner of a private security guard outfit which also has a division which provided police car equipment installations etc.
Looks like time will tell as the security game keeps going on in Pennsylvania
There is even a problem going on in the gas fields with a unliscensed company using guards with louisiana sheriff badges
In the city a strip club formerly known as the Edison hotel now called Blush is suing the city after it has refused to provide officers off duty
A Sheriff over in Beaver County George David is in trouble as well for providing sheriffs for football games when the county's charter specifically forbids it.
http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/sheriff-will-continue-outside-security-services/article_f0df1098-354b-5bbf-a4b6-6f517326e937.html
All in all this could all end up badly for officers state wide once the courts get involved.
especially in light of several incidents in the past month where off duty Pittsburgh officers are being accused of abuse.
and Chief Harper is still being looked at over dealings of favoring contracts to the owner of a private security guard outfit which also has a division which provided police car equipment installations etc.
Looks like time will tell as the security game keeps going on in Pennsylvania
There is even a problem going on in the gas fields with a unliscensed company using guards with louisiana sheriff badges
In the city a strip club formerly known as the Edison hotel now called Blush is suing the city after it has refused to provide officers off duty
What a mess but this is politics as usual in Pa. yes its going to be an interesting summer once more as they play the security game here in pa.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)