"Making the rounds" for security guards minus the healthy walking

Walking? We don't need no stinking walking!

One of the few positives about being a security guard is that one gets to walk around quite a bit. Every time a guard has to make his or her rounds, it usually means walking at the least, a few blocks. Unfortunately, this is not as true anymore as it once was. Just the other night, I went to buy a few things at the HEB on Saunders and, lo and behold, zooming by came the store's security guard on his trusty Segway. I noticed that he was sporting a new, orange-reflector vest. I guess once you're fully motorized, you have to dress the part.

It wasn't long before I found myself thinking "but what about all the exercise that guy is going to miss out on?" He, for one, sure didn't seem to mind  his new, automated mobility. Then it occurred to me:  I guess the bottom line is that the store gets to move this guy around a lot faster to and from anywhere he needs to be. Well, I'm sure that there's all sorts of good benefits to that. But what if a particular guard actually prefers walking and getting in his or her fair share of exercise? Would they be forbidden from doing so? Could it be the store's policy that you MUST use the Segway?  Of course, the answer is yes, they could.

On the bright side, Segways may help put an end to a lot of discrimination against anyone who suffers from limited mobility. I'm sure that there's many other examples, besides security work, that you can come up with in which getting around would enable people to either keep working or going back to work. That always seem to be the story with technology. Like so many other things, it's a double-edged sword.