Internet Archive

15^th October 2016

Dear Internet Archive,

I take something of an interest in your posting for a book digitizer. I’ll grant you my work in security is out of left field for what you’re looking for, but a Security Officer is professionally patient. I can lift more than 100 pounds and have had a great deal of experience with scanners and digital photography.  I currently use a Canon 60D.

I do have a degree in Psychology and I understand the need to keep my research materials clean and understandable. I have worked jobs were my actions save lives and I imagine that the books aren’t going to come in under the influence of drugs or do anything nasty. Compared to what I do this is an easy job.

You have a safe day,

Richard Leland Neal

Hard Duty

19^th October 2016

My Dear friends at (Company) Security,

I’m a Security Officer with eighteen years of experience who has seen some of the hardest duty an unarmed person can have in the field. I learned that my big problem is that I express myself in a professional way, and that professionalism is not conducive to success with the companies I worked with.

With my last company I arrived on post to find guards out of uniform and sleeping in their car.  When I reported this I was told “Mind your own business”. Likewise, at the company before that I reported a fire door blocked and they said that it wasn’t an issue because the “Fire Marshal hadn’t been by”.

I take my job seriously as a Security Officer but I’ve worked at companies that feel that any guard is a good guard, but that means that the man who does his job well makes others look bad.

I’m a professional Security Officer and I need to work for a professional company.

I’m hoping this is one,

Richard Leland Neal

Hat in the Ring

26^th October 2016

Hello there Folks,

I saw your Craig’s List ad and figured that I should throw my hat in. As I’m sure you can tell from my Resume I’m a Security Officer by trade, but I have an interest in film and theater. I took a good many theater and film units in college and I presently have a BA in Psychology. My highest grade in school was an A+ in screenwriting.

In (Jr. College) and (University) I worked in the scene shop as a student carpenter. I’ve used a boom mic on shoots as well as DSLR cameras. In short I’m more the fellow who is good to have around when you’re filming because I deal with problems.

I’ve been on work sites where I was the go to guy for problem solving, computer acting up, they call me, toilet won’t stop flushing, they call me, can’t get a door to shut, they call me. So I’m sure you can find a place where I’d be a good fit for your company.

If all else fails at some point you’re going to need a Security Guard and I’ve got eighteen years of experience in the field.

Best,

Richard Leland Neal

Production Person

15^th December 2017

My Dear Friends at this New Production Company,

Your ad for a ‘Production Person’ stated that you require an educated and articulate person for the job. I have a four year degree in Psychology, I have lived in Los Angeles all my life and speak standard American English and have completed enough units in theater and film for a degree in that area. 

I have credits as both a voice and live actor on IMDB as well as credits as a writer. I currently edit digital footage in Adobe Elements, I have some experience with green screens, and DSLR. I have a strong knowledge of film history and interest in the industry.  

My primary occupation is that of a Security Officer, and in that area I have always been something of a jack of all trades. I’ve had to do everything from small electronics repair to painting the office I worked in. I’ve worked on film shoots and I’ve worked in vacant lots. I’m the kind of man who has had to adapt to new environments and tasks.

There is very little in this world that I haven’t come up against and working in the area of film should prove to be a new challenge with greater opportunities. 

Best,

Richard Leland Neal

I've Seen it All

28th October 2016

My dear friends,  

I am a Security Officer with eighteen years of experience working in all kinds of environments from industrial with big rig trucks to guarding stores and strip malls. I make it a point to be a professional at all times and treat every person as though they are a potential customer.

There are few tasks in security that would be unfamiliar to a man with my experience and I’m sure that I can acclimate to any position you have open.

Best,

Richard Leland Neal

Listened to a Crying Man

15^th March 2011

Dear Cassi,

         

Well, in my last letter I told you about my time working as a guard for (a phone store). I have to say one of the most difficult situations that ever arose at work happen at that place. A man arrived one afternoon on a bicycle loaded down with bags and such. He was an older ragged looking man with a long graying beard. My first thought was that he might have been homeless, but I had to say he was too clean. The old man had come for help with his cell and his questions took a supervisor more than two hours. Every now and again the supervisor would excuse himself and the old man would talk to me about his life. That was nothing of a concern, people had been discussing their lives with me from the day I became a Security Officer. He was an electrician by trade with one son who was out of work.

         

As the old man went on his stories became more upsetting. He told me that one of his friends had been cheating on his girlfriend when he was killed and his body parts had been spread over a highway. He said that the girl was never the same after that and who would be.  At this point I had to wonder if the man was insane because he was opening up to a stranger in a room full of people, but having experience in that regard I just let him talk. He just needed to vent I figured.

He told me that his brother was very rich, but that his brother’s son had committed suicide. Now that was a story that truly drew my interest, because this nephew had everything in the world, everything that you and I would want, and still took his own life. At first I didn’t believe, but then the man looked in his bags and came away with a file folder baring his nephew’s name and showed me a copy of the suicide note. I remembered that it said “I’m sorry, I can’t tell whether it is positive or negative,” the duration I can’t remember.

The most upsetting thing about this case is that the deceased had just started medication and it is likely that killed him. It is the sad truth about psychiatric medications used to treat depression that the time shortly after they are administered the desire for death has not been suppressed but the depression has. All too often the sufferer is given just enough will to die.

I watched tears well in the old man’s eyes as he spoke of his departed nephew and hoped that the ear I had given to his pain would relieve his suffering some.

Stay safe, Cassi

Richard Leland Neal

Another Cover Letter

It’s a cover letter. I’ve posted a bunch of them so I’m not going into it, but I will say that I’m painting this situation in a better light.

Did my company take good care of me? Yes. However, I still believe that they didn’t do so willingly.

2^nd September 2011

Dear (Broadcasting Company),

I have worked as a Security Officer since late 1998 until being laid off at the beginning of this year. For most of 2011 I spent my time finishing my undergraduate studies. 

(My previous employer) looked after me as best they could. They gave me so many hours before losing a major contract that my unemployment is nearly as high as my paycheck had been. I could likely finish my masters without returning to work, but that would be irresponsible in this economy. An honest man should work for a living and better himself on his own time.

(Your company)is a name people can remember, a name I would like to add to my Resume.

Thank you for your time

Richard Leland Neal 

Letter to a Soldier: Lost Three Guards

I had forgotten about the time we had lost three guards at once and I was working so many hours that I couldn’t tell my head from my tail.

Would I trade now for then? Yeah, the economy was better.

25^th June 2007

Dear (Soldier),

Well, we lost another guard, and another guard, and another guard. I didn’t get to know number two but the first man was a long time officer and the last was a big guy who was new. The older guard quit because they started messing with his overtime. They can’t get people and now I’m working ridiculous amounts of overtime. It seams as if they should leave well enough alone.

(The big guy) was terminated, really terminated, for scribbling on the guard shack. I’ve been working double time all week because of this. It’s worse than normal. I really hope that I get a reliable guard in the morning shift. Well, you play the hand your dealt.

(Your wife) called me the other day and we talked for two hours. We are getting on as old friends now. She is happy, or appears to be happy, with the way things are working out, and that is also good.

My writing has taken a dive this week. I’m just not feeling in much the mood for it lately. Yet the world doesn’t weight for moods. I was working on yet another short at work last night when I just felt so spent that I couldn’t go on. I propped myself up in a corner of the shack and spent most of the night in a half asleep half awake state.

My relief officer came half an hour early, but it was (the swing shift Guard). He has been in the United States for about two years and came early so that I could help him with his English. He’s a Pole. “I will never speak as you,” he keeps saying. I ended up leaving right on time and had to drop things off at the main gate, some paperwork, which my company had misplaced.

I have to say that the state of things is very discouraging. Then you have it worse then I so I shouldn’t complain. When I was at (the junior college) it seemed as if every time something came within my grasp it was pulled away. Now I wonder, having to stay late is a really big issue. I was thinking of taking three years more to get my degree yet now I just want to get out of security.

Anyway, my friend I hope all is well with you. I’m once again off to work. They haven’t told me yet, but I’m working a twelve again. At least I’m paid by the hour.

Peace and long life,

Richard Leland Neal

Letter to a Soldier on Deployment in Iraq "News of the Week"

This was me being a good friend to a fellow who was in truth no friend of mine. Sometimes I would write to him three times a week.

Funny thing is being a good friend never did a thing for me.

In any case there was a lot going on in my life at the time, and all those wonderful plans I had then fell to dust. It comes to me that over my life everyone has fought with me and that fighting was all I could do.

Funny how it turns out that way.

29^th May 2007     

Dear (Soldier),

As always, I hope that my mail finds you in good health and I wish that I had something good to say. It’s the nature of the world that nothing wonderful happens or that something wonderful is happening every day dependent on your outlook on life.

My week was going well aside from the fact that I had not been to the gym more than once this week, then I arrived a work Friday looking forward to a three-day weekend. The first thing that happened was that my boss told me that I would be attending work Sunday. Not only had I already made plans, but I was leaving to spend the weekend with (our mutual friends) from work that morning. This put me in an understandably bad mood but there was nothing I could do about it so I limped along as you do until four o’clock.   

It was at that time when a man from the (Shipper’s) office came up to me and said “where are the other guards? Are you the only one out here?”

“Am I the only guard out here?” I looked around. Yep, one guard working four trucks, not good, “I have to be honest with you, sir, I have no idea where the other guards are.”

“I see,” he said and walked off.

As I was working on the trucks I could see him making a phone call from the guard house. He walked back up to me and said. “I left a voice mail with the head of security and your boss.”

That was when one of the guards did show up to get a major tongue lashing from the client. “He’s been out here alone for half an hour” and so forth.  Long story short my boss up at the office got a pissed off message from me, and he called me back and made hollow promises and gave me Sunday off.     

I spent the weekend watching movies, playing (video games), and cooking. It was fun. The fact that this was a group of men primarily put a damper in it but you have to take your fun as you can get it.

I just got your message. Sorry, my phone was charging in the next room. I hadn’t thought any of my mails had gotten to you yet. (Your step father) thought they would take three weeks. Did you get the letter with my play and the book? I Figured if you had not responded to my letter that you had a good reason so don’t worry too much about it. I remember working myself to death and not being able to write you.   

As far as the play goes I didn’t start out making a short, but it came to me that the jokes would get old after some time. It really is the same thing over and over again, and I couldn’t think of anything ells that would illustrate my point. I suppose that I could go through pregnancy and have the two of them pretend that they don’t have a thing going still, but the main thing is “did I get my point across.”

The other reason I’m working on short plays is because that’s what the school wants me to start with, and I need a good amount of them to bring the semester off right. I would like to show the class twenty pages of material a week and that is nearly double what I have now. That’s every thing I have written to this point doubled including both of my full length plays.

This class is the best opportunity I will have in my writing career, and I intend to fight for every thing I can get out of this experience. It really doesn’t look like I will have another shot at this, so I have to make it count.

Anyway, old friend, that is the news of the week. I’ve never been good at letters.

I hope I’m not boring you,


Richard Leland Neal