Being comfortable with being uncomfortable

Being a private investigator is challenging. We sometimes get asked to do things that we would not ordinarily want to do. In this job you have to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. For example, I once had a surveillance in West Hollywood and had to follow a gay gentleman around for the purpose of documenting whether he was truly as injured as he alleged to be. On my third day of surveillance I followed the gentleman to a club that was for people of the same relationship interest. I am not homophobic, but I have to admit that it took some mental preparation for me to "man up" and go in. After having a mental conversation with myself about the what ifs: what if someone see's me that I know, what if someone hits on me, what if the person I am watching see's me in the club and notices me in there, will that burn the job for me for the rest of the assignment? In the end my professionalism won the debate, I was there for a job and if I wanted to work in a comfortable environment that I needed to pick another profession. I went into the bar, and got a drink and watched my subject at the bar. The music was good, everyone seemed to have a great time and folks were extremely nice . The few that asked me to dance or why I was alone thought nothing about the excuse I used for being there, and I got the videotape that was needed to show that my subject was not as injured as he said he was, he danced, joked around, and had the time of his life all while I sat at a table with a covert camera taking it all in. All of the trepidation's that I had used as a reason to not go in the club in the first place went out the door. 

Another example, I once had to serve papers on an individual. This individual knew that she was going to be sued and did everything she possibly could to conceal where she was residing, the problem was this individual in her effort to be clever outsmarted herself, she told my client to fax all correspondence to a particular number. I ran a trace on the number and found out that it belonged to a specific company, a call over to the company and I was able to confirm that my subject worked there. The challenge is that this subjects position was accessible by appointment only, I made one for the next day. The following day I get to my subjects place of employment, I am dressed in a suit and have hidden the papers that are needed to be served, I go to the desk and let the receptionist know that I am there to see Ms. Smith. The receptionist walks me over to the desk of Ms. Smith and informs me to wait. I wait for a few minutes and two women, one who invariably was Ms. Smith approached the desk and both took a seat across from me. Come to find out Ms. Smith was being evaluated by her supervisor...but I too had a job to do. Once I confirmed who Ms. Smith was I advised her of who I was and why I was there. Ms. Smith was not a happy camper, and I am surprised that she withheld all of the profanity that she wanted to spew at me, I was informed that security and the police would be on their way, I have never ran in a suit before, but I did that day. 

The point is if you are going to be in this business you have to learn to adjust to whatever openings are out there, if you wait to long for them to be more comfortable for you, then you may have missed your opportunity. And your clients aren't paying for you to sit back, they are paying for you to go out and do something about their problem. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com  or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!