Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Funny, isn't it? I felt exactly that way when, back in my Industrial Security days, I was issued a nice shiny silver whistle on the end of a nice shiny silver chain and told to wear it on my uniform. Bleah.

Until, naturally, I had to actually use it. <img src="images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

1. I was walking down a corridor in one of our larger buildings when I heard some odd sounds coming from around a corner. I sped up and turned the corner to behold two of our janitors trying to kill each other with their bare hands. A serious fight between two Koreans who I knew did not speak English. Not only could I not likely reason with them due to the language barrier, but they were seriously pissed off!
One hard loud blow of my whistle later, they were staring at me in shock and I was glaring at them in anger. With my free hand, I pointed in the direction of the cafeteria and they marched. I sat them down on opposite sides of a table and let them yell it out until they reached some sort of resolution. Then, as they left, I made them use different exits. End of conflict, and I never had to speak a word. (The whistle blast hurt my ears too, not just theirs, but I didn't let that show.)

2. I had called 911 for an employee who had ... oh, gosh, I don't remember now ... something happen to them, and then left them in the care of another company Medical Team member and ran outside and down the block to wave the ambulance in. Soon, I heard sirens approaching. I stood at a hard turn in the street just north of a T-intersection where the ambulance would come into our office park from the major city street. They came in and stopped at the stop sign at the T-intersection and I started waving my arms. You'd think a uniformed Security Officer would be more easy to spot ... apparently not. They turned south and started driving away from me!
One hard loud blow of my whistle later, their brake lights came on and I saw a head pop out a window and look my direction. I waved them back and led them to the incident, where they took over and handled everything nicely.

I didn't use it much, but when I did it sure was useful.

Stay safe,
J.T.