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How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
41–50 of 71 posts
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quite the opposite - a positive for restaurant managers and business owners: "The software is intentionally set so that a restaurant manager gets only an electronic theft alert in cases that seem to clearly be misconduct. Otherwise, a manager might be mired in time-consuming detective work instead of running the restaurant." Equals: "managers: persuade your boss to buy our product and you will have more free time" "T…
In fact, it's conceivable that this may be a PR piece commissioned by NCR - the author is a freelance writer/photographer, and I know from experience that PR staff/agencies do contact writers to craft positive articles for newspapers. Could be wrong - either way, this kind of stuff does happen unfortunately (a huge network of incentives which generally have negative impacts on the uninformed/powerless).
And if I was being even more cynical, I might theorize that they chose the subject of surveillance (even though this is far removed from ubiquitous monitoring, even if the implications can be similar) because they know it's a hot topic for social media discussion and SEO value at the moment.
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
You think a person who makes minimum wage-ish + tips can hire one of your friends to sue their manager / boss / restaurant owner over wage / tip discrepancies? Do you think your coworkers who depend upon their waitstaff job to support their family / college education will agree to testify or be deposed in proceedings against their employer? Have you really thought about this?
http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/er/labor_standards_bureau/publicati... States all have their mechanisms where a worker can file a complaint without needing a lawyer.
The person assigned to investigate a labor standards complaint will mail the employer a letter informing the employer of the complaint, who filed the complaint and what will happen next.
Since unpaid wage complaints involving minimum wage or overtime issues may affect other current/former employees who are not listed in the complaint, the department may request the employer conduct a self-audit of its place of employment if the complaint before the department proves to be valid.
Yes that sounds like a fantastically powerful tool for workers to wield against their employers. I bet it keeps everything above board. /sarcasm
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sympathy has nothing to do with it. If you feel your wages are too low, negotiate for higher ones. If that doesn't work, accept it or quit. If you've been wronged, you have access to redress from the courts, and the courts are very sympathetic towards workers in disputes with employers.
This is funny. I worked close to minimum wage at a restaurant before. There was no wage negotiation. We had people coming in every single day looking for a job to work minimum wage. I would have been replaced in an hour, there was no leverage. What was I going to do?
Reading your post closely, I infer a couple of things.
First off, you were being paid more than minimum wage, and could be replaced at an hour's notice with someone willing to work at minimum wage.
So at some point you successfully demonstrated a higher value than those others, thereby getting a higher wage.
Secondly, you are no longer there at that wage. So you did something to demonstrate even higher value and a higher paying job.
My advice: do more of that, since it was working for you!
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quite the opposite - a positive for restaurant managers and business owners: "The software is intentionally set so that a restaurant manager gets only an electronic theft alert in cases that seem to clearly be misconduct. Otherwise, a manager might be mired in time-consuming detective work instead of running the restaurant." Equals: "managers: persuade your boss to buy our product and you will have more free time" "T…
In fact, it's conceivable that this may be a PR piece commissioned by NCR - the author is a freelance writer/photographer, and I know from experience that PR staff/agencies do contact writers to craft positive articles for newspapers. Could be wrong - either way, this kind of stuff does happen unfortunately (a huge network of incentives which generally have negative impacts on the uninformed/powerless).
I suspect you are right.
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Forgive me for making assumptions about you, but, you sound as though you have never even known anyone who worked this kind of job. What you're describing would likely earn you enmity or a very antagonistic working relationship with your coworkers.
> What you're describing would likely earn you enmity or a very antagonistic working relationship with your coworkers. I.e., the old crabs in a bucket story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality
Thank you for that link, I had never heard it referred to as Crab Mentality. Note I wasn't describing my own life philosophy, but rather my observations.
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#47Our current society really tends to mix up dangerously the notions of "trust" and "surveillance"... at all the possible levels.
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Forgive me for making assumptions about you, but, you sound as though you have never even known anyone who worked this kind of job. What you're describing would likely earn you enmity or a very antagonistic working relationship with your coworkers.
I do understand that demonstrating higher value and then successfully negotiating for a raise can earn you the enmity of your coworkers. People are only human, after all. On the other hand, I knew coworkers who were thieves and justified it with their notions of entitlement. I didn't exactly feel inclined to trust them, either, and trust is a basic element of friendship. So I guess we all get to make our choices and…
Nobody is trying to justify thievery and of course you shouldn't trust thieves. My point is that if you pay your workers the lowest possible wages, you shouldn't be surprised if quality suffers.
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Where did you get that idea? Details of cases I am familiar with, and talking with lawyer friends who tell me that, although it is not supposed to be that way, jurors and judges often give the benefit of any doubt to the perceived underdog. There's a reason why lawyers carefully dress their clients in certain ways, select jurors based on socioeconomic status, etc.
You think a person who makes minimum wage-ish + tips can hire one of your friends to sue their manager / boss / restaurant owner over wage / tip discrepancies? Do you think your coworkers who depend upon their waitstaff job to support their family / college education will agree to testify or be deposed in proceedings against their employer? Have you really thought about this?
A lot of employment lawyers will take cases on in exchange for a portion of the damages if you have a valid case. Almost every employment lawyer will listen to you enough to figure out if you might have a case.
Re: How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study
#50Some anecdotal evidence: I took over a restaurant a few months ago. Half the surveillance cameras don't work. I don't have video for every incident I know occurs there. But just having the cameras look like they're kind of working is enough. I had an employee that stole a bunch of cheese and pastrami (I know, right, what's the point of stealing $50 worth of cheese and a block of pastrami?) inside empty pickle buckets…
Nothing ever comes for free. $2,982 x .15 = 447.3 (best case) I don't have any good numbers but its safe to say that the amount of theft prevented (the amount the their income has decreased since this was implemented) is greater than the extra $20-$70 ish dollars that their income has increased from increased sales. In other words, their net income is down. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the net increase in sales…
I don't follow your math here -- their revenue increased by $2982/week after installing the monitoring software, not decreased, due to the effects of employees who felt observed being more conscientious.