East Indian Security Guard

Due to Hong Kong’s history as a British colonial outpost and the ties Britain had with India, there are many East Indians that have settled in Hong Kong.  Some had been successful in setting up businesses, but the majority has settled for blue collar work in Hong Kong society

In many local banks, it is common to see an East Indian security guard armed with a rifle standing at the main entrance of the bank.

I always find myself feeling sorry for the poor fellow having to stand there like a guard dog for hours at end. Out of pity, I usually give them a nod when I enter or leave the bank.

It is apparent that the bank has hired this man with the sole purpose of scaring off potential robbers by dressing him up in a security guard uniform and arming him with a weapon. However, my problem is that this guard is totally for appearance only and if put in the moment of peril, he will not stand a chance of survival. 

The East Indian security guard who I would typically see does not resemble anything like a highly trained specialist in fire arms with expertise in protecting the innocent public. Instead, he is usually an out-of- shape, middle-aged man, who is just trying to make ends meet with this minimum wage paying job.

I get the feeling that the bank’s management feels that just because he is East Indian, your typical Chinese robber will harbor 19^th century xenophobia upon the sight of his larger than average physical size (compared to the average Chinese) and his abundance of facial hair, thus abandon the thought of robbing the bank.

What’s more, the bank’s management has armed this man with a weapon which looks like a hunting rifle which you use to hunt elk. The type of rifle which takes about two minutes to load up for one huge shot—totally unsuitable for use in defending against an armed robbery. If you are to arm him, at least have the decency to arm him with a modern weapon!

He does not have any back-up at the premises working alongside him, nor is he wearing a bullet proof vest. (I am sure of this because you can see their chest hairs sprout out at the top of their buttoned up shirts; and in the summer time, I can see their perspiration through the shirt which frankly, looks more like a bowling shirt with stitched patches on the sides).

If someone was to plan an armed robbery at the bank, I can tell you that this poor East Indian will undoubtedly be the first casualty as he is the only other person with a weapon, thereby, poses the only immediate threat to the robbers’ task on hand.  Afterwards, it is just a matter of settling the unarmed customers and retrieving the money from the staff at a timely manner. (We’ve all seen the typical bank robber movies).

It is safe to say that the East Indian security guard would be a sitting duck. Before he can load up his heavy rifle, he’d be taken out from the start. He is a Rottweiler without teeth.

It would be better not to arm him with a rifle as robbers would not find him such a threat and would not find it so urgent to remove him out of the picture firstly. Regrettably, the bank’s management unabashedly did not give much thought to this man’s post or his prospects of coming out alive should the unfortunate case of a robbery occurs. He is being paid a very low wage, but is in fact putting his life in jeopardy.

Although his job is probably quite simple and stress free 99% of the time, I am saddened to think of the one-time possibility of his needing to fire his rifle.