Camera or cell?

The security to get into the office building here is very different than getting into the building in West Des Moines. When you walk in, the females go to one side and the men to another. All bags are searched and you weren't allowed to bring a camera in. We wanted to get a few pictures of the office and the team so we went through all the hoops to get permission to bring the camera in...or so we thought. The first day we brought the camera, they stopped us at security and said that we didn't have permission so they put it in a locker in the security office. Later that day, we were told that we had the permission and we could get the camera. When we went to pick it up, they told us that we needed permission from the security director and he had left for the day. Oh well, we'll just try again the next day. So we went through security and told them that we had the camera and they let us in with it. In the afternoon, we took pictures of the team and then went to different floors to get some pictures. On one floor, a security guard saw us getting off the elevator with the camera and started following us, talking on his radio. He came up and asked what our name's were and once we told them he said it was ok. We got the rest of our pictures taken without any problem. That is until we were leaving. The car was late but it was pretty nice outside so we were just sitting by the door waiting. After a little bit, another security guard came out that we realized later was the security director. He asked if we were the ones with the camera in the building. At this point I was pretty frustrated with the whole situation and almost said that we were the only white girls in the building so yes we were the ones with the camera. But I held back. We just told him that we were and he said that he hadn't given approval for it. I told him that we were told we could and eventually he went back inside. On the drive home, he passed us on his motorcycle and I really thought about taking a picture of him but decided it was just too much work to get my camera out of my bag.

However after the "camera day", security would ask if we had a camera or cell and check our laptop numbers. We had been coming in every day for over a week and they had never asked us before. After a while it became a joke especially the day that the security lady pulled a feminine product out of Shelly's bag and held it up, asking what it was. Oh, I should mention that most of the security people didn't speak English. I was putting my bags back together and heading to the elevator as Shelly was stuttering and trying to figure out how to explain/describe to that was. Eventually she got my attention and I just told the woman that it wasn't a camera or cell. This apparently was an acceptable answer because she put it back in the bag and sent us on our way. I don't know why it seems like I always get into situations like this but at least it makes for a great story.