Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Candid Camera
Monitoring a cause for concern

Food Service workers in the Main, Deco Deli, Edens and Frogbytes have extra pairs of eyes watching them.

Last month, Sodexho began installing the first of 38 cameras around cash registers, food areas, kitchens and storage rooms. Rick Flores, Sodexho general manager, said the changes were made in order to monitor slow service areas and determine where problems exist.

Sodexho deserves some credit for making an effort to improve efficiency. There is enormous traffic in and out of food service locations at lunch and dinner time. Nothing is less appetizing than a winding line and a 10 minute wait for food.

But it does not take 38 cameras to detect long lines. It does not take that many cameras to look at the clock to see when those long lines occur. How does this justify the $30,000 to $50,000 that Sodexho is spending on the cameras?

Sodexho makes money when students and faculty swipe their cards and purchase food. Indirectly, the money used to buy the cameras is due to business from the TCU community. Even though food prices will not be affected by the purchase of cameras, we still have a monetary stake amid the changes.

Flores said adding the cameras is a proactive approach to prevent theft and enhance feelings of safety. How safe and how scrutinized would you feel if a camera and our employer played “Big Brother” and tracked our every move? The addition of cameras is an enormous pressure on food service workers who already are already underappreciated.

Employees were not hired on the terms that cameras would monitor their every move.

Cameras were not part of the equation when workers signed the dotted line on the application form. Even if they have nothing to hide, workers should be concerned about the possible invasion of privacy.

We live in an age where employers routinely spy on employee e-mail. Now, with the use of video cameras, workers have no place to hide.