Imagine living in a neighborhood where there’s a guard gate and residents have to put visitors names on a list at the gate in order for them to be allowed inside the neighborhood.

If you were a security guard working at the gate, would you let people in even if they weren’t on the list, or would you make sure only people who met the exact description of the resident were allowed through?

In this story, one security guard tried to be relaxed about who he let in, but when that backfired, he went the exact opposite direction.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

How dare you try to do your job even though I gave you no information

I work security at a large HOA community and hear my fair share of verbal abuse and nonsense (why would you let my child in without checking their ID, even though they don’t have one and you see them every day?!?!).

This happened a month ago and I just heard the resolution today.

The interaction started out normally enough.

I work at a gate a few days per week and we have to take calls from residents so that we can put their guests on the “OK” list for the day.

We have to do this even if my line is backed up to the street, it sucks.

Anyway, a bossy lady (BL) called me and asked if I can put someone on her “OK” list for the day.

Sure thing.

BL: “Can you add a window washing company to my list? They’re coming in today to give an estimate.”

She didn’t have a lot of details.

me: “No prob. What’s the address and the name of the company?”

BL: “I don’t know the name of the company, but it’s a guy. Can you just put in window washer guy?” ( I get that everyday, and it’s never been an issue)

me: ” Sure, no problem. Have a wonderful day”.

About 30 minutes later, guy shows up from a window cleaning company with that address, check his ID, send him on his way.

BL was upset.

She calls back not 5 minutes later yelling “That’s not the right company! How can security be this bad! I can’t believe we’re paying to have…” etc.

You didn’t say the company, ma’am. You said… nevermind. She hangs up.

Fast forward a week, she calls:

BL: “This is BL at house with really tacky gnome golfers all over her porch which is technically against HOA rules, I need to add Uber to my list, they should be here in a few minutes. Think you can handle that?” I heard sarcasm in her voice I think, not sure, wasn’t paying attention.

But this time, he was going to make sure it was the right company.

Me: “You betcha.” I hang up.

7 minutes later, a driver shows up and asks for BL, picking her up from house.

Oh no. She asked for Uber, not Lyft.

I had the biggest smile i’ve ever had working a soul sucking job.

The Lyft driver was understanding but BL was not.

I called the number, lo and behold she didn’t answer, so I left a message.

Well, I’ve learned from my mistakes and apologetically turn him away.

He’s pretty chill, says it happens all the time and cancels the ride.

2 minutes later (I’ve been counting the minutes for my report) I get a call from BL, who proceeds to flip out.

She was upset, but he knew just how to respond.

BL: “WHY DID YOU TURN AWAY MY UBER! I CALLED YOU NOT EVEN 15 MINUTES AGO TO PUT THEM ON MY LIST!!! I’M GOING TO BE LATE FOR WORK THANKS TO YOU! WHAT’S YOUR SUPERVISOR’S NAME? I WANT THEIR NUMBER, E-MAIL, WHATEVER IT…”

me: “Ma’am, you did call for an Uber, but that was Lyft.”

She’s silent for a while and then hangs up.

I logged everything down in my report and submitted it at the end of the day.

She can argue, but he was in the right.

Turns out she filed a formal complaint against me, not only to my company, but to the HOA.

I had a meeting with the General Manager about 3 hours ago asking what happened.

Apparently she knows board members and really pushed them to try and get me fired.

My supervisor backed my story and the GM threw out the complaint as “it was technically a different company”.

That worked out really well. Maybe BL will learn to be more specific and accurate next time.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

It seems like there should be an easier way.

This person would be overly cautious too.

The residents need to know what’s required.

A lawn guy shares his perspective.

HOA guard gates are so annoying!

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.