The day finally arrived when the captain had to head off to local training. It just so happened that the day before (Sunday), as always, an unplanned party broke out, and 8 people ended up sleeping in our small basement xDDD. Having barely slept or eaten, the captain headed to the scene. While I was on the subway, I felt more and more that my English might let me down, in the sense that I would understand less than half of the material. Moreover, when I walked into the classroom, I was a bit embarrassed to be the only white guy there. My program manager warned me that the dress code was formal (white top, black bottom, shirt, trousers, all that), but as you might have guessed, I was the only one dressed like that. Then our instructor walked in.
His name is Max, 43 years old, Spanish by nationality, has lived in the US since he was 10, served 20 years in the NYPD, and retired 3 years ago because he almost took a bullet to the head on duty. He chose a career as a security guard and teaches in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey.
Along the way, we were handed books about 150 pages thick. Everyone's eyes popped out at the sheer volume, but Max calmed us down, saying we definitely wouldn't be covering every chapter. Officially, our course lasted 24 hours – 8 hours of basic and 16 hours of advanced training. In reality, we worked from Monday to Wednesday from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM, with a one-hour lunch break, and Thursday was paperwork day. A normal person would ask – what can you actually learn in that time? Especially since a lot of time was spent on discussions and jokes.
Frankly speaking, as soon as I arrived, for the first half hour I was only thinking about how not to pass out after a sleepless night. After those 30 minutes, when Max started talking, I forgot what sleep was! The man speaks with such delivery, so loudly, that every word pierces your brain. The greatest joy for me was that I understood 98% of what he said. During the break, I even specifically went up to him and said, look, I'm from Russia, my English is still a bit shaky, I understand, but if you ask something and I'm thinking about how to answer better, don't look at me like I'm an idiot. Actually, it takes quite a lot of energy to understand such fluent English, but it was pure English, without the accent like, for example, Black or Asian speakers have.
How the process went. These books only look big. They contained printed slides from the presentations he ran in front of us. Next to each slide were notes sections. We didn't even write much; we were given markers to highlight the main points on the slides. On the very first day, we were given a test. BEFORE they gave it to us, we went through it all together on the projector, i.e., in theory, you only had to check the boxes at home. And still, no one got 100%))). Everyone failed on a stupid question where the wording was changed. The captain got 98% on the first test. The funniest thing is – the test is given as homework, it's already solved in class, you have the book at hand – what kind of knowledge check is that? But wait! The material was explained so well that I could take the same test right now without preparation, no worse than the last time. Even all of Max's jokes and banter were relevant and to the point, just like the discussions. After the first day, I was just thrilled. This is really a place you want to come to every day; at least I haven't noticed such zeal for university before. The next two days went by on calmer waves, especially since the end of the month is clouding life again. We didn't go over the second test; moreover, we went through a third of the questions at home by ourselves. The captain got 90% on the second test. The last day (Thursday) was paperwork day. We filled out some registration forms, Max told us about the license application process in the smallest detail, how much everything costs, how to behave at the interview, in short, everything.
The license is valid for 2 years, and you need to take an 8-hour course every year because the laws here change often. All this costs 142 dollars.
Then came the solemn moment of handing out the certificates. To applause, the captain was the first to be handed the coveted folder with documents. Then, everyone congratulated each other and slowly dispersed.
In reality, I cannot express all the gratitude I feel towards Max. Besides everything, he works in a studio, teaches ProTools, does video editing, and in a week he will set off for a month to ride across the states on a motorcycle with friends. A very interesting person from whom there is really something to learn. I hope we will meet him again.
