Hospital security often involves dealing with life-or-death situations, but sometimes ill-advised policies create unneeded obstacles.

One security officer found himself tasked with enforcing a pointless rule that kept staff out of the main entrance.

That is, until he found himself in an awkward confrontation with the CEO of the entire health system.

Read on for the full story.

Sorry sir, you can’t enter (your) building

A few years ago, I worked armed security at a hospital.

The greater health system owned three large hospitals, each with a 24-hour trauma center.

It also had a couple smaller county hospitals and dozens of clinics scattered across three states.

This particular hospital definitely kept him busy with some crazy interactions.

I worked at one of the bigger hospitals in a rough part of town.

There were legitimate security threats on a daily basis here.

But then his boss made his job even harder for no reason.

One day, I was told to stand at the main entrance and “keep staff out.”

Me: “Huh?”

Of course, the bright idea came from middle management.

Apparently, some middle management person wrote a new policy that staff members were to enter and exit the building through the West entrance only.

The main entrance was to be used by patients and guests, and they didn’t want employees cluttering it (because God forbid people see medical staff upon entering a hospital).

My task was to stand at the door and tell nurses, doctors, cafeteria staff, facilities, janitors, etc., to use the West entrance.

Anyone who refused had their name written down and would be reprimanded later.

The security guard was insulted, as he had much better things to do with his time.

Now, I had other things to worry about, like EDPs fighting people in the ER, people running onto the helipad to take selfies with life-flight patients, or dudes on PCP yelling at the wheelchairs.

Or the old woman with dementia who wandered off and couldn’t find her room.

You know, ACTUAL SECURITY PROBLEMS.

The main entrance posting was a waste of my time, and it dragged on for several days. Until one day…

But one fateful day, he would get a chance to prove just how dumb this new rule was.

A man wearing a suit was leading a gaggle of important people, all in business attire. The ringleader had an employee ID badge and was speaking enthusiastically to the group.

They were heading straight for the main entrance.

Following orders, he stops the group.

Me: “Sorry folks, gotta use the West entrance.”

Ringleader: “……what?”

Me: “Hospital policy, all employees must use the West entrance.”

Ringleader: “We’re going to use this entrance,” as he points to the door.

Me: “Ok, but I’ll need to take your names down. Your supervisor will be informed.”

So that’s exactly what he did.

The ringleader stared at me like I was the biggest idiot alive and held his ID badge in front of my face for an uncomfortably long time.

I took his name down and every single member of his gaggle with painful slowness.

I should add, they were all very polite despite my obvious lack of cares to give. Shortly after, the security supervisor arrived.

Supervisor: “How’s it going?”

Me: “Not bad, I have a dozen or so names.” I showed him the list.

But immediately one name stuck out from the rest.

Supervisor: “………..is that?” He pointed to the ringleader’s name.

Me: “I don’t know, his badge said ‘Chief-something-Officer.’ He looked important.”

Supervisor: “CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER!?!?”

Me: “Yeah, I think that was it.”

The situation was even worse than he thought.

The supervisor quickly walked away. It turned out the CEO of the health system was bringing a group of potential investors for a tour of the place.

He was never informed of the main entrance policy change and was greatly embarrassed to be stopped at the entrance of his own hospital by some rent-a-cop.

So you can guess what happened next.

Suddenly, as if by magic, staff could use the main entrance again. I could finally return to actual security work.

It’s always a great day when common sense beats out bureaucracy.

What did Reddit think?

This user imagines all the conversations that must have followed.

This commenter believes that hospitals definitely shouldn’t have CEOs.

The higher up you are, usually the more out of touch you are.

It’s always a great thing when leadership see their ill-advised policies fail in real time.

Leaders often need to see rules fail with their own eyes before they’ll do anything about them.

Thank goodness this security guard could get back to the work that actually matters.

Sometimes sticking to the rules can reveal just how absurd they really are.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.