I worked in security at a tech firm, I saw tech i was never suppose to understand.
I worked Security for a long time in Ottawa. The city is dubbed the most boring in Canada, all politics and no night life. Only the first half is true. The night life in this city is hidden at night, which is why most places close no later 11PM. Some things are just not made to be seen and often need to be up and out much later for this city to finally smile back. I've debated where to start, I've seen so much that must at least be documented, but at the same time tell it in a way to expose the truth without NDA's being broken. It's been well over 10 years since i left the security business, so perhaps It should be safe to unveil Ottawa's Teeth. Let's star at one of my first gigs.
In Ottawa, there's a place dubbed the old Nortel Complex. Y2K anyone? Probably showing my age... anyway the complex is now belonging to National Defence, probably for good reason... but between Nortel's bankruptcy and National Defence taking over the complex, It was rented out to other tech companies from the silicon valley. All doing their own work. I was doing security guard work at one of them. For NDA reasons i wont say which, and only Initialize any persons mentioned to keep them safe. If they read this they'll know who they are. Believe me I learnt NDAs are not actually there to keep companies safe, they're for your safety, that is to say the public.
The Job was simple enough, 2300-1100, Friday and Saturday, At minimum 12 staggering patrols with a punch wand with one partner at all times at the desk, 2 way Radio. All things that were standard practice. The one Oddity, which was for safety reason, there was a blue wrist band we had to wear on the property even before entering the parking lot. We never knew why, It wasn't to swipe anything for access, those were our ID badges, it wasn't for patrols, the two guards would swap their punch wands between Patrol. All we were told was for staff safety the wrist bands must be warned. At the time it's whatever, but today I still have mine along with only 5 extra, I wished i had more.
My Partner, A.C. was a great guy, we hit it off on the first shift, we'd talk Anime and Metal and bring roms and emulators for whoever's turn it was at the desk. Long nights like that, you needed anything to keep you awake. If mobile patrol passes by and you were sleeping, instant termination, caught playing a link to the past on a snes emulator, they'd just shrug, at least you were alert. Couple with all you drink free Van Houtte coffee, and this was a solid gig for 1.50$ above minimum Wage. Pay was not why I left, but a good excuse.
During Patrols, mostly the quiet of office cubicles who's silence would only be broken entering server rooms for patrol was about the Majority of the run. No one was normally in the office after 11 at night. and there was the weekend warrior regulars in around 8-9 AM. It didn't take long to know routine. Routine became mundane and often boring. So I would often settle curiosity during my turn on patrol and read the latest tech they were testing. 5G networking. Something we all use today sure, but this was at the time when the Blackberry Pearl and Torch were top of the line. Cell communication to my understanding was 2.5G with 3G around the corner. So reading 5G at the time was huge! And the majority side effects... well let's just leave it at say one thing wrong in public often leads to cancellation. But I had no idea at the time, Science and research often use math and equations not often privy to a regular dude just getting into college. But still, great reads, was looking forward to speeds and network stability.
I'd often meet A.C. after patrol back at the entrance desk and we'd grab our keys and have a quick dart just outside of the entrance. I've since quit smoking, but at the time, it was something to do every hour to kill the boredom. I'd often tell A.C. what I've read up , 50/50 if it was anything he'd be interested in, often citing ( you know the NDA is a lot easier when the less you know the better right?) I'd often reply (yea yea I know, just fucking bored is all). I remember commenting once of an upcoming test they were doing in the lab for the 5G trials, the only reason was the next week on the Friday night we were in, we all got an email from our Supervisor K.S. that an employee had been fired and arrest for nearly killing an assaulting another employee during the 5G testing. It was crazy, me and A.C. were flabbergasted. The two guys were best of pals often working together on the weekends, they were some of the weekend warriors I've mentioned earlier. I won't dare mentioning their initials here but the incident was messed up to say the least.
That Saturday morning, the other guy would come at his regular 8:30 time on the dot, and I was waiting for A.C at the desk. I'm to curious for my own good, but I needed to ask what Happened. I would have Morning coffee with these guys all the time, and the employee that commit the assault was one of the nicest family man a person could know, often asking if i wanted to go on fishing trips with them during the week, only turning them down for professional reasons. Security has to be imperative when dealing with clients so there's no conflicts of interest, blah blah blah. But I was happy to have weekend coffee with these dudes, they were cool and nerdy like me and A.C. Naturally When A.C. came back from patrol, I told him I'd skip this morning dart hack to just check up on the employee. He told me i shouldn't pry, and i promised i wouldn't over do it.
So I went to his cubicle, 2 cream 2 sugar French Vanilla Van Houtte in hand ( Hey..., seen the email was wondering if you wanted coffee and maybe an ear to listen). He knew I meant well, I wanted to ask him about the heavy duty belt and pant suspenders, Dude was often casual wearing the typical rapper baggy pants. Never knew him for the uptight apparel but i didn't bat an eye. (yea,... can't talk about it much) he glance at my blue wrist band (... good your wearing it... yea he... ugh... we were doing a maximum capacity test... look you can't take this out of here but i really need to tell someone) I looked around the cubicle area quickly, saw no other desk light on and wheeled a computer desk from the cubicle beside. (all ears man, just us, you know J.T. doesn't come in till after 9, usually it's you and well... that come in before 9, all that to say, you clear to speak openly.) I told him with a relaxing expression.
He nodded (Listen, we did a maximum capacity test of the prototype 5G rig in the lab, He forgot his bracelet, I think it's what made him snap, he was fine before that, we just had a double date the day before with our wives... but then.... It wasn't just the chocking... One hand grabbed my neck while the other...) He began to sob and cry before finishing. You ever see a grown man cry? my neither, it was fucking jarring. Comforted the employee best I could, told him no worries he didn't need to explain further. a cell signal turning people violent, possible but come one, the blue wrist bands were nothing more than glorified negative ion bracelets found in the health food stores, a pseudoscience at best... or so i thought.
Nothin happened for a couple of weeks, post incident led to stricter patrols, our supervisor K.S. was a little harder on our ass, stating only one person could go for smoke break at a time, no one should leave the desk, blah blah blah. K.S. was a royal Cee yoU Next Time kind of boss, but it was a job and we listened. Though me and A.C would prank K.S. often reorganizing K.S's cubicle for fun. It passed the time and between us and the other daytime guards could she really say it was us. Not for her lack of trying, K.S. got one of those camera clocks from WISH, i guess the equivalent of TEMU at the time, man I'm old... Anyways it was a great plan, until the memory card was popped out of it, Come on K.S., if your reading this today, for our boss your wit should of been better. Anyways about a month goes by and we receive an email from K.S. Stating this weekend there was to be no outdoor patrols, which also meant no going outside for hacking a dart. They made the first prototype 5G tower and were doing a perimeter outdoor testing remotely between the indetermined hours of 2-5 AM. Sure, no problem, but I was having my smoke anyway.
A.C. warned me, ( dude you can't go out for a smoke, she'll fire you) I replied (please our Union would never allow it, the worst she'd do would ask the paying client for a DNR <DO NOT RETURN> and really for a smoke, it's overkill, even if she suspected us reorganizing her desk now and again. I'm not worried, besides I forgot my blue band in the car, that employee from the weekend begged me to make sure I was wearing it today.) A.C. shrugged.
So about 1:30 AM, I finished my patrol, came back to the entrance desk, got my car keys and smokes to which A.C. gave a single finger salute because i wasn't following the rules like a good boy scout, and left the front entrance. The pathway to the car was very foggy, not all that uncommon for March, the cold snow melting in the warmer air. Spring was nearing. Got to my car, got my blue band from my glove compartment, and light a dart on the way back, the puff of smoke barely adding to the mist. getting back on the main path to my left was a group of three male deer. Hard to tell this time of year as their antlers fall during winter, but the buds of new antlers to be were visible. Dad's a hunter so you pick up a few things, and the old Nortel Complex is surround in the woods. It's a nice thing to see, I checked my watch, 1:55 AM. I grabbed my Radio (B.D. to A.C., be advised, just gonna be 10-47 for an extra 5-10 Mikes. Got some Delta Echo Echo Romeo's present near my 10-20, just outside the door.) (10-4 Alpha Hotel) Alpha Hotel and abbreviations for a clever way to say asshole as I'm taking an exterior break right before the test. (10-4 I got my 10-21 if you get lonely, should be 10-8 around test time.) The wildlife in the area was always a meditative experience. Wasn't uncommon to share chips with racoons or birds. A complacency this night would never again let me forget.
The male deer became more and more agitated all of a sudden, Grunting, snorting. Then they started to ram each other. I was trying to make sense of it, Turf war? no... they were chilling the last couple of minutes... what was happening? I started to walk back towards the entrance when i snapped a small branch under my feet, alerting them to my presence. Before I even had a moment to react, I herd them pause a moment, and guttural yell towards my direction. Not good I started to run for my life towards the entrance hearing the clacking of hoofs behind me, I made it to the entrance quickly swiping my pass on the reader and moved to open the door and close it fast as I can, moment i was inside, the 3 male deer crashed against the window of the door. ( WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!) A.C. yelled as i fell down from the entrance doors panting. (I don't know, they were cool one sec, fighting each other the next then they chased me bro) The deer kept smashing the door for a few more minutes, their guttural noises could be herd clear as day beyond the double doors. then as if they suddenly stopped the proceed to attack the other deer, and then... mounted themselves. Me and A.C. could not believe what we were seeing, first off Mating season is over, second those were all male deer. I might have had a hard time seeing the fresh beginning of antlers before, but they were clear now beyond the glass. Me and A.C. could not make any sense of it, It was levels of wrong, beyond so, they we're biting each other in the mix of it, me and A.C. went thru the security Turnstile beyond the security desk. Fuck protocol for a second, we needed to be safe, and that glass double door despite holding wasn't a guarantee, we made for the first floor Van Houtte machine and got some much needed coffee... As we got there, the clock on the wall read 2:15 AM. The 5G max capacity exterior test was under way... looking at my blue wrist band, something finally clicked. The male employees, the male deer, the employee begging me today of all days to make sure i had the bracelet on.... I knew where to get more and more I got.
It's been years now, needless to say, yes K.S. did get the client to DNR me on the accusation of meddling with supervisor desk.... but little did she know I didn't want to come back,... this was years ago, the 5G cell towers have long since been active, evidence of their working is subtle but... well that day made it obvious what the real side effect was, and more and more i hear about it. Not to say there wasn't always, I'm no fool, the only thing in 2026 is how many are genuine and how many are the towers influence, seems they got a hold of the proper power rating at least, nothing violent has come from it yet anyway so that tells me one thing, the current 5G towers are not at max capacity, none the less... I'm keeping this blue band on me even years later. And I'm never going back there....