A few days ago, I found myself once again traveling in the wee hours of the morning out to Huntington via the LIRR. This type of trip is normally uneventful and sleepy, but this one sparked some thoughts on security.
I was sitting on the empty floor by the large board listing departures, near the rear of Penn station, watching the people that walked by as I waited for the track of my train to be listed. The station as a whole was mostly empty, and I had the place where I was sitting all to myself. A woman walked by a few times that attracted a bit of up close attention from the workers working and the strange persons lurking, and this attention did not appear to be a good thing, as she looked very uncomfortable. She eyeballed me, and the next thing I knew, she was sitting on the floor right next to me, wearing headphones like the ones I had on, and watching the board as she waited for her train. After that, people just assumed we were together and kept their distance.
The train to Huntington station was quite empty, and there were open seats everywhere. During the long trip, a woman changed her seat for the one arms distance away from me and directly facing me. She eyeballed me, smiled, asked me where I was going, and then curled up on the seat and went to sleep. At one point, a man walked by, peered at her, laughed, and said to me, “Your woman is laid out.” Once again, people just assumed we were together. I woke her when we hit the last stop for that train, Huntington station, and made sure she looked reasonably alert before I went off to meet my ride.
Now, I may be good looking guy (in my humble opinion, at least 
), but this was not flirting. I was used for security. Twice I was assessed, determined to be a friend and beneficial instead of a foe or threat, and then used to counter threats and mitigate risks. These people did so without scanning me with metal and chemical detectors, checking my identification, or making me feel harassed. They used their real world experience, applied it to me, my look, and my behavior, and made solid judgments based on the current situations. These are the types of skills necessary for people working in roles such as security screening at airports.
[...] Someone, a complete stranger, asked me to watch their beer to make sure the bartender did not take it away and to make sure no one put anything in it. I did what she asked, and it reminded of my post here. [...]