Lin shares the job with one other man, each of them working alternate twenty-four-hour shifts, arriving before 8 AM and leaving at about the same time the next morning. A third guard comes in every night from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. When he is not at work, Lin usually stays with his youngest son. His own home, where his wife and eldest son live, is a two-hour drive north of Taipei. Another son has settled in southern Taiwan.
Off and on during the day, Lin shares his room with several chauffeurs who work for residents in the building. The younger men often tease him. Today, one of them kids him about his many trips to mainland China to visit relatives. But Lin is unbothered by the banter and seems proud to be able to help support the family members he left behind when he came to Taiwan as a young serviceman in 1949. Much of his savings go toward this purpose, as well as for his travels to the mainland.
A retired sergeant, Lin speaks Mandarin with a strong southern Chinese accent. Despite his thin build and slightly bent back, he looks younger than his age. The sweater vest that he wears over his clean white shirt seems somewhat too warm for the weather. Lin is a humble and polite man in the traditional mode, although once he gets to know a person, he doesn't mind sharing a few complaints and a bit of gossip.
I took this job as an apartment security guard five years ago. Before I took the job, I'd owned a grocery store for eight years. When all the 24-hour convenience stores started opening, my grocery store couldn't compete. So I closed up. Later a friend told me about this job opening, and I thought I might as well try.
Even though I'm an old man, I think I still have to work. Otherwise I'd just stay at home and sleep. That's not good for my health. At first, my children didn't want me to work at this kind of job. They thought they'd lose face. They didn't want their father to be a security guard. But I wanted to try. They couldn't stop me. l like to work. They don't know that my health would get worse if I just stayed at home. I don't want to stay at home and do nothing. My health was deteriorating.
Now I'm much stronger. I wake up early in the morning, then take the bus around six o'clock and arrive at work before seven-thirty. Even though my work hours start at eight, I'd rather leave home earlier. I don't want to get stuck on the road in a traffic jam. After I arrive, the other security guard can leave.
When I'm working, time passes by quickly. My workload is all right. As long as the residents are cooperative, nothing bothers me. I do have some problems communicating with the mailmen. Sometimes they ring the bell and I'm busy with something else and don't open the gate right away. Then they drop all the mail outside the gate and leave. This is really not good. Somebody might take that mail. Some of the residents might think we were lazy and didn't pick it up. The four-o'clock mailman always does this.
I also have to collect the maintenance fees and do some paperwork. Those are all easy jobs. Most of the residents are reasonable and give me the money at the end of the month. I don't have any problems doing this kind of job. There have been some cases when a few residents refused to pay the maintenance fee. I couldn't do anything about it. I'm only a little security guard. I could only report it to the security committee. Sometimes even the security committee can't do anything about it. Some people might want us to turn on the lights earlier. Others want us to save electricity. Basically, I tend to save electricity. I'm a thrifty person. I hope the residents can save some money, too. I treat this apartment like my own home.
Generally, the residents here are all nice people. My friend who works at another apartment building told me that some of his residents often get drunk and get in fights. Sometimes some residents might ask us to do something. Usually, I say yes all the time to give them face. For instance, they ask me to trim the bushes. Actually, everyone has his own character. I earn money. I have to endure. If I really can't endure it anymore, I'll quit. I can easily find a similar job in another apartment building.
After being here five years, I've gotten to know all the residents. I see everything that goes on. Actually, I always know who did what to whom. I just keep my mouth shut. Last year, one family's shoes on the seventh floor were slashed by some unknown person. [Many Chinese families remove their shoes before entering their apartment and leave them in the hallway.] As a matter of fact, I know who did it. I just didn't point it out.
You see the young boy who just passed by. He's kind of a strange person. He's a good student, but he's mentally unstable to a certain degree. The lady who lives on the third floor is a strange one, too. She keeps more than ten dogs in her apartment. She's had all their vocal cords removed—so the dogs have lost their voices. She never lets anybody into her apartment. Nobody dares go in there, either. It's so smelly. The young boy on the sixth floor is also a troublemaker. He smokes and doesn't go to school. His parents are too busy to pay attention to him. They even bought him a motorcycle. I think sooner or later that boy will be big trouble. I see everything that goes on. But being a security guard, I have to keep my mouth shut.
Sometimes I don't feel well and I leave early. Some residents ask why. I eat rice, too [I'm a human being, too]. How come I can't get sick? In the beginning—I didn't tell you this part—a few of the residents were so unreasonable. You see how long I work every day. I have to arrive here before eight. I work all day. I go to bed around ten. We just sleep beside the elevator. There's no place for us to change clothes. It's really inconvenient. Young girls pass by all the time. It's inconvenient. So when I sleep, I always turn off the light. Then I wake up early in the morning again. When the other security guard arrives, I can leave. Anyway, as long as I work, I just do what I should do. Most of the residents are nice to me. They always say hello. I'm friendly to them, too.
I'm getting old and I have no ambition. I've gone back to Mainland China seven times. I spent at least two hundred thousand [US$7,700] for each trip. The money I earn isn't enough for taking trips to the mainland. Now I earn fifteen thousand five hundred [US$600] a month. Each time I go back to my hometown [in the mainland], I donate money for building temples and roads. I like to do good things. I'm going back this coming spring. Each time, I stay for a month and I ask my friend to work for me. I left the military in 1965. My pension is only a few thousand dollars [about US$120]. After that, I worked as an auto mechanic. My boss liked me very much. He valued me highly. When I decided to quit, he asked me to stay. Wherever I've worked, my boss always liked me very much. Now I just work for fun. If I weren't happy with this job, I'd just quit.
—interview by Yvonne Yuan