“Tone is the hardest part of saying no.”
Jonathan Price

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This is part of my series of things I learned working the security company job I had in college.

This one is about Big Fred. That is what everyone called him. Big Fred was a mountain of a man. I am sure there was a lot of muscle hidden in there somewhere, but he was Jabba the Hut before there was Jabba. I am not sure he ever had to actually take any action because he was so intimidating.

Anyway. Big Fred’s job was always the same job at every event. He managed the artist/players entry area. He was the last line of defense to the performers. He said who got in, what got in and in general provided oversight for their well being. So when I was a backstage supervisor I was kind of de facto under Big Fred’s supervision.

I would say everyone I talked to thought Big Fred had the sweetest job in the company. After a couple of months watching Big Fred in action I was pretty confident if I paid attention I could learn a lot and very confident you couldn’t pay me enough to do his job.

• **       note: by the way, while I didn’t follow closely, I do believe he was recognized for ability beyond being big because I believe a number of bands hired him to manage their backstage tour.

Big Fred had a big job that was easy to miss because of all the glitz and glamour surrounding everything taking place.

Big Fred was constantly squeezed – by those within (the performers) and those without (those who wanted to be near the performers). He had to balance all that and make it all seem like it was under control. I am pretty sure I never once saw Big Fred freak out (even as the oiled up dancers came racing out of the Van Halen dressing room).

Let’s see. So. I have Neil Young at the back entrance wanting to be let in. I don’t have his name on the list (and you learn VERY quickly it doesn’t matter who it is, if you don’t have them on the okayed list they don’t come in). So me, capable of making many decisions, frankly ain’t gonna make this call.

“Hold on a second, will you Mr. Young.”

Back to Big Fred. Explain. Now Big Fred was a master of this crap.  He knew if he should ask someone, put someone on the list or just say no (all while he has one eye on caterers wandering in, random special guests and keeping riff raff out of the way). Here is where he shared an even bigger lesson to me (the kid). “Nope. He can’t come in” (“oh shit” bubble over my head), but he then says “hold on. Let me come with you and we can tell him together”.

Look. This may sound stupid, but to a 19 year old kid telling Neil Young “nope” was a big thing. And Big Fred kinda had a great sense for how to defuse things as well as delegate and empower. And he wasn’t willing to hang one of his employees out to dry.

I know I say in my bio I have always been a collector of moments and Big Fred gave me some of the most thoughtful formative management moments. I am unclear whether others saw the same thing, but I hope Big Fred is still doing well. He taught me some basics I still utilize today.

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Other CSC security job learnings:

corralling chaos (a management lesson)

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practicing actually means more relaxed

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action has its time

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gaining perspective

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“Before God, we are all equally wise, and equally foolish.”

Albert Einstein

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This is a college work experience story. Something I learned from working with CSC, Contemporary Security Company, that I have applied in business (and Life I imagine).

This one is about me and Nick Nolte.

It’s a Monday Night football game in the Los Angeles Coliseum. I am an on-field security supervisor. My job is essentially to make sure no nutjobs run out of the stands to attack a cheerleader or some football player who would probably crush them into a quart sized container size. But the other part of the job is to simply make sure the people on the field belong on the field. To a TV audience the sidelines and amount of people can often look a bit random, but the NFL has a shitload of rules on quantity of people. Celebrities, ex-football players, politicians, you gotta have a pass or you ain’t standing on a field.

Which leads me to Nick Nolte.

He is hanging out on the sideline with an attractive woman on his arm smiling at people and watching the game. My supervisor comes over and says, “I don’t think he has a field pass.” Now, to be clear, you don’t get into on-field supervisor positions without knowing you can make exceptions on occasion. So I double checked and said “That’s Nick Nolte, are you sure you want me to check?” Supervisor: “Yup. And get him off the field if he doesn’t.” Me, maybe 19 years old, says: “okay (feverishly thinking what the hell am I gonna do)”.

I walked over to Nick Nolte, who was sporting a wonderful Oakland Raiders warm up jacket, and asked him if he had a field pass. He wasn’t a jerk, he kind of looked a bit sheepish, and said “no, could you make an exception?” (kind of doing the guy thing making a side eye to the woman hanging on his arm like ‘could you help a guy out’). I said. “Give me a minute.”

I walked over to an LA Coliseum attendant I knew who managed a VIP section and asked him if he had any empty seats near the field; I needed two. To be clear. I don’t care if any game is sold out, there are always empty seats and they are almost always in VIP sections. He said sure. Just bring them to me and I will seat them.

I wandered back to Nolte, apologized for kicking him off the field, and then said “I got two seats for you if you follow me.” You know what? He shook my hand and said “thanks.”

I had a number of situations like this, but I remember this one the most because, well, it was Nick Nolte. But I learned some lessons with this stuff.

You can be a jerk or you can find a solution. Anyone can follow rules, but not everyone tries to do the right thing. The NFL, and the Coliseum, clearly had rules that should have been followed. Someone didn’t, probably because he was a celebrity and some young security guard was too intimidated to do the right thing, and someone needed to solve it – without being a jackass. Yeah. I dealt with some celebrities who were real dicks, but for the most part most celebrities were respectful if you were respectful to them. They all have jobs and they know other people have jobs to do. I would also note that I learned titles, professions, status, are irrelevant if you make them irrelevant. I can honestly say after this job I was never intimidated by who was in a room nor have I ever been star-struck by anyone. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out all of what I just said is just the business of being in the business. Ponder.

• ** Nick Nolte postscript: several months after this Monday Night Football situation I was working at the LA Sports Arena and a boxing event (I think it was a Thomas Hearns fight) and I was walking the arena just checking out what the security guys were doing before I went to my spot and I heard some knocking on the outside floor to ceiling glass panels – it was Nick Nolte waving at me from outside. I wandered over to one of the doors and said “hey Mr. Nolte, how can I help you?” he said “first, I want to thank you for what you did that night” (I couldn’t believe he remembered me) and then said “I have a ticket, but I was afraid someone would take .. and then he flashed me a small flask.” I said, “sure, show me your ticket and as long as you promise me you won’t throw the flask at a boxer, come on in.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was breaking the rules, but if you don’t think there aren’t exceptions for people who go into the VIP section, you are nuts.