The other night I hopped over the fence of my first security-guarded construction site. When I checked, the guard (or at least a guard) was in his car, reading with the interior light on, on the opposite side of the building. However, he (or another guard) soon discovered me in the parkade.

He was puzzled and annoyed, and took a disapproving paternal attitude towards my hobby. "You don't seem like a troublemaker. But you are young, and have much life ahead of you to live, and you must live honorably. If you get in trouble with the police, that could make your future very difficult." I explained that this was a risk I was willing to take, and that I hoped my harmless exploring wasn't too inherently dishonorable. He wanted to know (inevitably) how I'd gotten in, so I walked him back to the low part of the fence, then apologized again, hopped back over it, waved, and went away. He watched me, scowling, till I was out of sight.

So exploration isn't quite a victimless crime. Charming and disarming as I tried to be, that security guard's night probably wasn't exactly improved by our encounter. Whether or not he was technically breaking the rules by letting me go, he must have felt a little put-upon. He wouldn't engage in small talk with me, because, as he pointed out, his job was to keep people off the site at night, so I wasn't letting him do his job.

I like to think, though, that I am perhaps doing some small good. I am perhaps planting the seed of the idea that not everyone who hops fences at night is a troublemaker. And perhaps, for every vulnerable point of entry that I am forced to divulge, I am also making a little point of entry in the hearts of security guards all over town.