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Is there a way to give security guards at museums something more interesting to do?

I was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and noticed that the security guards were totally miserable. I've never had that kind of job, but I can imagine that the time would go by excrutiatingly slow. On the contrary, tour guides have a fun job. They get to express themselves full throttle. In comparing the two jobs: security officer and tour guide, you can really see the difference in personal satisfaction. So, do you know any way to help security officers have a more interesting job?

Public Comments

1. It is a miserable, low paying, on your feet 8 hour, boring, job....a lot of security guards are given paper work to do to help both the company and the give the guards something to occupy the time.....they have rounds to check into, that helps....most are night time and that is boring in itself.......good luck
2. Not much you can do. Many security guard jobs are like this. As the other guy said 8 hours of nothing. Thats one of the good jobs. Try 12 hours of being bored with nothing to do. In a museum it's better then most other positions since you get to interact with people. I've worked 12 hour night shifts at a military base in the desert. Now that was boring. Nothing happened all night, no one was around, all I was there to do is watch a door, make sure no one opens it. In a military base guarded by M.P.'s what do you think is going to happen? Not much. Some museums actually combine the tour guides job with the security guards to make it more interesting, keep them active. Showing a group of people around is more exciting, and its the same as conducting a foot patrol of the property.