Poor communication between management and front line guards.
Changing expectations with no notice.
No specialized training for loss prevention.
Not paid to attend court. I had to ask the crown for cab fare home. Not a good look for Paladin.
No slash vests despite working in an extremely risky profession in risky locations.
They don't practice what they preach. There is no ongoing coaching or anything. It was just "here's your store, go catch shoplifters".
New loss prevention staff were chosen by the loss prevention supervisor based on whether they had "the knack"... which has some truth to it, but even with "the knack", people still need to learn skills specific to the position.
Poor client training. Clients' staff need to be constantly reminded not to interfere with active investigations. Paladin afraid to upset client by asking anything of them.
Pressured to meet a hidden arrest quota. Paladin claims there is no quota, however, a client revealed to me that there was a quota and I learned that my numbers were being used to justify demanding more arrests from the other guards without understanding that my numbers were atypical due to location, time, skill, and willingness to utilize on site resources such as uniformed security guards working the same site and could not be expected from new loss prevention officers.
Lastly, the issue of discrimination is one that needs to be addressed. I was told to target First Nations peoples as they were considered more likely to steal. That led to the other guards becoming complacent and not thinking nicely dressed Chinese or White people would steal. This discrimination is a lot more pervasive then one might expect. It was evident in candid discussions with client managers and uniformed guards as well.
The real Paladin does not match the outward image they keep trying to portray.
