Welcome to Comic-con!! Part 1

If I said once, I said it 10,000 times... I am back from my journey to San Diego and Comic-Con...What is Comic-Con? Originally showcasing comic books, science fiction/fantasy and film/television (as was evident by the three circled figures appearing in Comic-Con's original logo), and related popular arts, the convention has expanded over the years to include a larger range of elements and genres such as anime, manga, animation, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels... (thank you Wikipedia). Set in downtown San Diego at the Convention Center it attracted (like a bug-zapper attracts flies) over 100,000 "visitors" and fans during its five day run. As you all know, I got a call out of the blue from the other security company I have worked for a couple of times (once) asking me if I wanted to make the journey to San Diego and work the convention. Since the summer is slow for security work, I welcomed the chance for a road trip and a chance to escape the heat in the valley for the cool temperatures near the ocean in San Diego.

I arrived at the downtown office around 8 am on Tuesday of last week and was immediately recruited to go to the rental office and drive one of three minivans back to load up the 22 employees that were making the trip. The gig included transportation, hotel stay and a per diem food allowance, plus guaranteed hours every day... (how many hours was up in the air). If I have learned one thing in my "career" as Security Man it's that the only thing that remains the same is that everything changes all the time... We loaded up the vans and the boss asked me if I wanted to go with one of the guys who was driving his own car... (let's see--cram in a minivan with 6 other people or ride in a car as the only passenger? tough one). So we set out and after a couple of pit stops for the obvious reasons we arrived in Carlsbad, California and the Motel 6 that would be our home for the next week... (no, I didn't meet Tom Boudette but he did leave the light on for us). We were all paired up with a roommate and after unpacking we were told by the boss that he was taking us to dinner at a Chinese Buffet... So we piled in the van and headed over to dinner. Carlsbad was about a 35-40 minute drive north of San Diego (depending on traffic). Anything closer was completely sold out for the convention... After dinner, everyone lined up and the boss gave out the schedules for the week... (he told myself and 3 others that we would be supervisors for the event--congratulations of my promotion). For my schedule he said, "you start tomorrow at 2pm." What time is the shift over? "You start tomorrow at 2pm." End of conversation.

I went back to the room and talked with my roommate (a man who rivals and even surpasses my ability to chatter--hard as it is to believe). He even continued to yammer when I put a book in front of my face in an obvious attempt to stem the flood of conversation... (subtle wasn't working). But he was going through some very tough times and obviously needed to unburden some things and I eventually provided a sympathetic ear... (I don't know what it is, but people just seem to want to tell me their life stories and problems... if I wasn't a recovering alcoholic I would have made an excellent bartender... that's not a bad idea!). Then it was off to bed. Up at around 7am, I took a long walk and explored my surroundings... found a 7-11 (coffee is always a necessity on these gigs) some restaurants and a outlet mall within walking distance... then it was back to the hotel and into my working clothes (black pants, shoes and socks and a white t-shirt). They provided the uniform shirt at sign in. The 4 supervisors went in the car and had to be there for a 2pm call...the rest of the crew was scheduled for 4pm.

Another constant in the security biz is that the first day of an event is usually the equivalent of a chicken running around with its head cut off...the work gets done but the directions and re-directions and who's in charge and where do we reports gets a little confusing as everyone gets used to the surroundings... (plus the fact that the company only had about 2 weeks to plan and staff the event... and they did one hell of a job, despite the first day jitters). We were told to meet at the wrong hotel (Hyatt instead of Marriott), the shuttle to the parking lot and back got caught in horrible downtown traffic, we had trouble finding the command center to sign in, but we got there and were ready to start our shift... once they decided where they wanted to use us, that is...