Have you ever wanted to see what was happening behind you or wonder how other people seem to know what is happening behind them? Sometimes I want to know just because I’m curious and other times it’s for my safety. I worked for years as an armored car guard in crazy areas and always wanted to know what was happening behind me. Here are some cool tricks I learned in those years that you can use to keep yourself safe or just amaze your friends.
I used reflective surfaces all the time. Mirrors are the obvious, and some stores have them up all over the place to help with shoplifting. Others most people don’t think about are windows, cars, and polished metal. All will reflect what is going on behind you. When I walked around with money half the time I just looked like a pissed off shopper because I was looking at the window displays as I walked by. I wasn’t looking at the stuff in the display, I was using the windows to see who maybe following me, or who was watching me as I passed by. It takes a little practice to focus your eyes on the window correctly, but just try it a couple times and it will become easy. Polished metal and shinny cars work the same way.
The easiest way to see what is going on behind you is turn around. But we don’t want to look paranoid or crazy always turning around real fast to just see what’s behind us. I use two things to double back without looking paranoid and to catch people that may be following me. First is the “I forgot something look.” I would snap my fingers and say dang real loud as I turned around to go back the other way. Just like I’d forgotten something. People that use to follow me as a guard for various reasons never knew what to do when I turned around. The other thing I use to do is pat a pocket like I was looking for my keys and then turn around and start walking the other way looking at the ground. People that are trying to follow you will generally walk by or get caught looking at you trying to figure out what to do next. Either way, you just used eyes in the back of your head.
When walking through parking lots I generally don’t walk straight to my car. I will walk at least one isle over and then cut through cars towards mine. This gives me a chance to look at my vehicle as I approach it to see if anyone is around, and also gives me a chance to see if someone is following me. I will use the reflections off of cars and the side mirrors on bigger trucks to help.
When someone tried to talk to me I always walked around someone. Generally I never stopped when I was carrying money, but if I wasn’t carrying anything I might stop to talk to you. But I would always take another step to pass you, than turn around to talk. That way no one could grab me from behind when I stopped to talk to you.
Lastly, think about putting up some mirrors in any place you might want to see behind you. At the armored car company we had mirrors stuck on every door and in every location that a guard might stop to look at the truck. You may want to stick mirrors next to your door if you live in a bad apartment complex, a little mirror next to your business entrance that you have to unlock early every morning, or next to your garage door that is in the dark alley.
Stay Safe,
Ben