Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Figure Of Scrutiny

Several years ago a self-storage facility popped up about a half mile from my house. The two story building has rows of large windows on the wall that faces the road, which showcase the bright red doors of the interior storage rooms on the second floor.

The speed limit on the road is 40 miles per hour, fast enough to drive by the building without seeing all the details.  It wasn't until I was out walking one day earlier this summer that I noticed a security guard standing on the second floor next to one of the storage room doors.  When I took a second look I realized it wasn't a real person.  Instead, it was a cardboard cutout of a security guard.

After that I started being more observant whenever I passed the building.  It's always fun to see what the 'guard' is up to. At night the corridor is brightly lit, and the figure really stands out.  During the day it's less visible, but definitely there if you know what to look for.  The cutout shows up in different areas on the floor.  Sometimes there are two identical models, each looking over half of the area.   

We live in a safe neighborhood, and I'm sure the building has a good traditional security and surveillance system in place.  To the casual observer it also looks like the facility has a 24 hour lookout, too.  And just the sight of a guard, real or not, is probably a enough to deter people who have the wrong idea.

Five years ago today: You Can Never Have Too Much Garlic
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10 comments:

  1. Kathy's KlotheslineNovember 8, 2017 at 9:31 PM

    What a good idea. I wonder if I could find some that are water proof and put them next to my dumpster. Many years ago, my husband worked for institutional food distributer and had access to a lot of the promotional materials. Remember Bartell and James wine? Maybe it was just in the south. But they had life-size cutouts of the two guys, Bartell and James. My kids asked for them, unknown to me. They put them in our dormer windows and when I was raking my front yard, I looked up and thought I had intruders in my attic! Memories .....

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    1. Kathy GNovember 9, 2017 at 7:23 AM

      Yes, I remember Bartell and James. They put together some funny commercials. I bet if you tried hard enough you could find something to put by the dumpster to keep those kampers in line!

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  2. BootsandBraidsNovember 9, 2017 at 12:34 AM

    How interesting (and maybe a little funny or scary) would it be to occasionally put a live guard in the mix.

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    1. Kathy GNovember 9, 2017 at 7:24 AM

      Ooh, if someone was casing the place THAT would freak them out.

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  3. ChristineNovember 9, 2017 at 7:02 AM

    Kind of spooky but a smart cost saving idea.

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  4. Joanne NoragonNovember 9, 2017 at 8:24 AM

    We occasionally have a police car stationed in the school zone, with a department store officer on duty. I ask you...

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  5. Silver in AZNovember 10, 2017 at 12:28 AM

    how weird!

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  6. StrayerNovember 14, 2017 at 11:31 AM

    That's awesome. We have a lot of break ins in the area where I live, both houses and cars. I've thought about creating stuffed people to stare out windows, and to move around, maybe an entire family. For fun too.

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    1. Kathy GNovember 14, 2017 at 7:00 PM

      You could get really creative with that...how fun!

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