Let me give you an example: A few weeks ago I attended a D32/D33 training class and the discussion came around to the Equal Opportunities Act and the fact that we are not allowed to discriminate against any class of society. I agree wholeheartedly with this principle and if a man or a woman can do the job best then they should get the job ... regardless of their sex, colour, race or religion.
But where do we draw the line? One of the points that cropped up on the course is the fact that we can no longer discriminate against a person because they have a tattoo or have their nose pierced or they have long greasy hair tied up in a ponytail. And what 's more, if that person thinks they are being discriminated against they can now take you to court over the matter and are quite likely to win.
Day-glo of the jackal
Most of the people involved in the discussion were from the teaching and education sectors and in their field I have to go along with what they say. The right to education is one of the freedoms of our nation and an education should be available even to those who wish to puncture themselves and fail to wash or even the guy in my local pub who likes to wear his hair in a day-glo green Mohican cut. Here is a classic example, he is one of the nicest lads you could wish to meet but just can't understand why he can't find a job. (I remarked one night that from the side he looks like a bright green lavatory brush. He said that I shouldn't get jealous just because I can't grow it anymore.)
I believe the security industry is a special case and should be exempt from most of the Equal Rights Bill. My reasons for saying this is that we have to send our employees into someone else's home or property to set up the security. Because of that we, the employers, end up having to make that judgement of character on behalf of a third party. Inevitably, we end up discriminating against anyone who doesn't "look the part". I don't care if a lad is the world's best alarm engineer with qualifications coming out of his ears, if he has bright green hair, or a multitude of tattoos and rings through various parts of his anatomy he is unemployable to a security company.
Dregs and druggies
Some years ago this was pointed out to me in no uncertain terms. I arrived to fit an intruder system at the home of a lady who later became one of my favourite customers.
I knocked on the door and waited in the porch. The lady who answered was like a younger version of the Queen mum, very smart. She looked at me and waved me back out into the daylight, I was given the once-over with a stare that would have scorched the paint off the pantry door and finally she said "You'll do – come in".
Later, over the first of many cups of tea, her story emerged. This lady had retired after 30 years on Wakefield market selling fruit and veg. During that time she had seen the worst side of all the dregs of humanity. She had to serve people who couldn't afford food and would have stolen it if they had the chance, drug takers, drunks, professional con men whose cheques bounced and pram pushing mums handling the goods and dropping fag ash everywhere.
Needless to say after 30 years of that she could spot the untrustworthy and people she didn't like with astonishing speed and uncanny accuracy. I soon learned not to let appearances deceive; this quiet, well-spoken, very smartly dressed lady was a real tough cookie. She told my brother who did the survey: "I am very fussy who comes in my house ... if I don't like the look of him when he arrives the job is off and I will send him away." Her reasoning was simple, after 30 years of smile and serve she felt that she had earned the right to make her own decisions about who came through her door. The job was taken on that understanding.
You may or may not agree with her attitude and opinion but one thing is clear, we have all got the right to refuse entry to anyone we don't like. There is also the point that perhaps we all discriminate every day. If we are interviewing for a new engineer the tendency today is to go for the better-qualified man and we are impressed by bits of paper like the City and Guilds 1851 qualification.
What if the other person is the far better engineer but has learning difficulties like dyslexia, and has subsequently failed to pass the exam? For example, if our illustrious editor had been looking for my qualifications as a writer I would have never got the job. (That reminds me Mike, where is the rest of the money you owe me? –Ed)
So, if we are sat facing a potential employee who has tattoos, earrings and a scruffy ponytail are we going to discriminate? The answer has got to be a resounding yes if we want to keep our business. My argument on this front is that by wearing ponytails, earrings and tattoos a person is exercising their right to be an individual. They should also take into account that they have made themselves unemployable in some fields ... ours being one of them, and to save our businesses we should be quite at liberty to discriminate.
Parky pooper
Something else is getting up the noses of more than a few people within our industry. That is the apparent downgrading of the NVQs. I received an earful from an irate character who had just spent the best part of three years getting his NVQ level two only to find that there is now an NVQ in car parking. He was very annoyed because he had learned all about Ohms law, circuitry and wiring, surveying and a whole lot more. As he put it "There's a lot to learn to get that qualification, and then some guy comes along and gets the same qualification for a job that could be done by one of the PG chimps. I feel that I've just totally wasted my time, what's the next one ... an NVQ in cleaning toilets"? Then he turned on me and said "Why don't you put that in your bloody column"? OK I have, and I will add a challenge; can anybody offer this young man an explanation? If they can they can e-mail me.
It's a pc world
I know it's all about being politically correct and the reasoning being that whatever your trade you can prove your competence at the required level. But is it really fair that one man can hold a level 5 NVQ (the equivalent of a university degree) and be seen by the public to be no better qualified than the man who parks the cars. It makes you think a little.
Whilst we are on the subject of being politically correct, what about the current trend in our trade's education system where no one fails an exam or assessment. They are deemed to have "not yet reached the required standard". When do we actually get round to telling them that they will never make an alarm engineer as long as their backside points towards the floor and perhaps it's time to apply to Tesco's for a job stacking the shelves. I know that all this is politically incorrect but wouldn't it be more kind to the hopeless at the end of the day?
Now there's a funny thing ...
During the course of my day to day work I come across quite a few little stories. All the following are true ... I can't name names but you know who you are! Who was it who persuaded his non-driving wife that the new top-o-the-range company car had a special device to detect rain on the windscreen. When switched on it would detect rain and when there was enough on the screen to interfere with driving it would remove the rain with a single wipe. You and I know it as intermittent wipe.
Who was it who, (after his wife had been told by the optician she needed glasses) almost had her believing that she would also need a 'prescription windscreen' on her car.
Was it the same man who tried to persuade his wife that she would have to have a 'prescription mirror' when she complained that she couldn't see to put her eye make-up on without her glasses?
Who was it who threw the mobile phone at the wall after it steadfastly refused to change the channels on the telly.
And who was it who, after a night out on the town with his wife, volunteered to make cheese on toast for supper. After much clattering of pots from the kitchen followed by black smoke and a strong smell of burning she went to investigate. Her husband had laid out the bread, buttered it and grated cheese over it. He then laid the electric toaster on its side and fed in the bread and cheese sideways. ...
Talk about recipe for disaster.
Source
Security Installer
