VIDEO: How much do car guards make?

They are some of South Africa’s most familiar yet unknown helpers. Some appreciate them and some think that they are a nuisance. Wearing old takkies, old jeans, a jacket, a yellow security bib, a beanie and fingerless gloves, I learnt what it is like being a car guard.

This experience at three locations was both enlightening and degrading. At the first location there were three of ‘us’ guards watching the cars. We each had a section. I was the new guy and got the worst area. I anticipated that drivers would go past me, despite my gestures, to park in a better spot closer to the shop. I experienced plenty such instances.

What I did not anticipate, however, was that people were very rude. About half of the time people did not respond to me when I greeted them. Usually they didn’t gesture back or even look at me when I was pointing out empty parking spaces to them. Though they experience this every day, I could see that the other guards did not lose vigour in doing their job and were still generally polite.

In total I ‘earned’ R17 and an orange in one and a half hours. The orange came as a surprise but I was very grateful for it.

Geoff (45), the other guard at the third location, said that sometimes people are rude to him but they also sometimes buy him food. “They ask if I’m hungry. I can’t lie. I say I am and they buy me something,” he said.

He does not enjoy his job but said that it pays enough money to get by so he has no choice but to continue doing it.

This situation does not affect Geoff’s mood much. He might have been hungry when I was with him but he was very hospitable in allowing me to help the drivers in his lot and he continued doing his job with pride.

He was also jovial, making jokes with drivers.

You cannot lose your concentration for too long. Even at smaller parking lots cars are always coming from and going in different directions, while some people require help with their groceries and trolleys.

I was surprised at how trusting some drivers are. At the second location I had not been on the scene for 60 seconds before someone gave me a tip for watching his car. At the same location, however, drivers driving on a busy road more often than not ignored my signal for them to stop when cars were coming out onto the street. I have learnt how inconsiderate many drivers are and that they always seem to be in a great hurry.

All the car guards I was with were passionate about doing their jobs well and it rubbed off on me. When I saw how badly people drive in parking lots and how drivers have to try manoeuvre out of parking spaces at their peril, I tried to improve my guarding. You could say I have new respect for car guards.

Car guards are not paid a great deal, but enough to live on. Geoff told me that he earns between R70 and R80 per day. Fridays are his best days, when he usually earns between R150 and R200. Sundays are his worst, when he generally earns between R30 and R50. According to these figures he would earn R2 360 in four full weeks (28 days). This is not too bad, but the job entails eight hours per day, every single day.

I earned R17 in one and a half hours. At this rate I could earn R90,67 in an eight-hour day and R2 538,67 in four weeks. I could be an adequate car guard!

The different locations also yielded different returns. At the first location, where there was a popular store and the parking lot was closed off, I received R5. At the second location, where there was no car guards and the spaces were at the side of a busy road, I received R10 and the orange. The third location, which was very secluded, had small stores, and where people did not stay long, I received R2.

The Record donated the R17 and the orange to the other car guards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlpqvO-nHJQ