5 Places You Might Encounter a Hidden Cam
When you left your home this morning, you probably didn’t check your makeup and hair, as you would if you were going to an important interview or planning on appearing on television. But chances are, by the time you go to bed tonight, you will have appeared on at least one hidden cam. In fact, if you conducted much business today, you were probably photographed or videotaped several times in the course of your day.
You may be on video all day at your office; many workplaces harbor a hidden cam without employees’ knowing it. While the thought of a hidden camera recording your workplace activities may be a little unnerving, it’s probably not a reason to up and quit your job. Many employers find that using a hidden cam protects them and their employees.
If there’s a problem with “shrinkage” (employee theft) or employees leaving early, a hidden cam can document the behavior and support termination of the employee. This means the remaining employees don’t have to carry that dead weight.
A hidden cam can also capture evidence of sexual harassment, as well as verbal or physical abuse in the office. And of course, if there’s a robbery, the hidden cam can provide evidence in prosecution. So there are many situations where concealed cameras in your office are a good, rather than a bad thing.
If you use a nanny cam, or regularly visit someone who does, of course you’re showing up on that hidden cam, even if you’re not the nanny or sitter the camera was designed to watch. These cameras are nothing to worry about, but you may not even realize that you’re being recorded, if you’ve gotten accustomed to the hidden cam.
If you visit your bank’s ATM, you were definitely recorded, by a not-so hidden cam. You probably saw the camera recording you as you punched the buttons. And if you went inside the bank to conduct your business, you may have seen surveillance cameras. Chances are, in the lobby, you were also captured on at least one hidden cam, concealed to make it more difficult for bank robbers to just cover the cameras with spray paint.
Did you stop for fast food at lunch, or pick up burgers on the way home from work? Yet another hidden cam, probably. Many double-drive-through lanes have cameras to help crew members make sure they get the right order to the right car. Even a single drive-through may have a hidden cam to make the order fulfillment process easier on both the crew and the customer.
If you went inside the restaurant to purchase your food, you were probably on a hidden cam designed to protect employees in the case of robbery, and to protect the restaurant from employee theft. This type of hidden cam may not be all that well hidden; most restaurants like for people to know they’ll be seen doing anything criminal or inappropriate.
And if you went in a small store of any kind, particularly a convenience store, you may have been recorded, not only by a very visible security camera, but also by a much less obtrusive hidden cam. These establishments use very public cameras to protect their employees from would-be robbers, but also use at least one hidden cam to catch people who think they’re evading the security camera.
So, you see, if you’ve been captured on a hidden cam several times by the end of the day, you’re probably not being actively targeted for surveillance by a hidden cam. If you read much, or follow the news, you probably know that quite often criminals are caught by a surveillance camera at another business.
So being caught on a hidden cam from time to time is not that big a deal, since you’re not actually under surveillance, but merely in front of cameras throughout the day.