I read an interesting story yesterday
Hooky Detectives Track Corporate Ferris Buellers about how bad things have gotten with corporations hiring private investigators to spy on employees in their personal lives over such petty things as sick-time. The story brought back memories of feeling as though one corporation viewed me as its property and slave.
I sensed one of the reasons why a former employer had its own on-site cafeteria was in hopes employees would stay on the property at lunchtime. Regardless of the accommodations, I started wandering off the property at lunch hour and believe they must have noticed I was off my virtual leash a bit too much before things began going haywire politically. In another observation, one place I worked had so badly wanted to keep employees on their property at lunch time that they even offered a free lunch each day. Both employers had strong patriarch figureheads.
One can argue perhaps those companies that participate on spying on their employees' personal lives don't deserve employees! Many people, including myself, hope these fascist little business enterprises get boycotted. For the past decade there's been a general trend towards combining sick time with personal vacation days for employees to use their time as they wish. The employee earns the time allotted to them by their hours worked. Many companies use their attractive personal days off packages to lure qualified employees. Regardless of the dangling carrot, once you get hired the company or law firm makes it clear they won't necessarily grant your time off request depending on various factors including staff availability. I learned they thought nothing of involving politics and favoritism in their decision on whether you got granted time off. In the meantime I felt as though I was dying.
They're called "wellness" days my corporate overlord, and lest ye forget we are humans and not robots. You give us those days and whether we use them when we're sick or not is really none of your business. If you know of a company that does spy on their employees, do not buy their products. This is another instance of corporations thinking they own you just because you work for them, and people wonder why Americans a fed up with work. - SFGate article comment
People who give their lives completely over to highly political corporations most likely develop symptoms of paranoia wondering if their boss is spying on them even in their private lives. From my experience, single women are especially under the microscope at corporations. I've spoken with many employees at law firms and one of the common threads among them is how paranoid they all have been about losing their jobs. The anxiety hangs over their heads each day no matter how many years they've been at their employer. There's always a sense of dread for these poor employees that the ax could fall anytime.
The courts haven't been much help to protect employees from corporate invasion into their private lives either. A landmark case about corporate snooping set the precedent after a female employee complained she was being spied on in her personal life for extended medical leave. After the employee sued, the court ruled that reasonable suspicion is sufficient justification for an employer spying. But what is reasonable? It's all really up to the discretion of the corporation.
My question is, since nearly all non-contract jobs in America are at-will, if an employer doesn't trust their employee, why go to all the trouble to spy on them? If the work relationship is that bad that the employer doesn't trust their employee why don't they just terminate them and not bother with paying thousands of dollars to a private investigator?
Based on my experience being in the corporate world for 30 years it's my opinion the reason corporations prefer to spy is due to the power and control men desire over women. In other words, the true intent of many men high up in corporations is female conquest and domination over selected females.
Big Brother works for Corporate Amerika damn it and doing a fair job of invading people's privacy.
It's a shame because if American workers receive what their European counterparts receive (pay, benefits, compensation, the whole wad) there would be less hooky and productivity would likely go up as well.
The culture of fear, intimidation, low wages and invading your private life is fascism, plain and simple. Ef that, that's un-American. - SFGate article comment
Basically, men tend to be highly instinctual and therefore spying on women at corporations feeling domination and control is part of their manhood thing. Since the Court of Appeals gave spying on employees a green light, there's virtually nothing barring powerful corporate men from spying on their female employees lawfully.
This video shows companies RFID chipping their employees treating them as their property.
Back in 1997 I felt one company practically wanted me RFID chipped to track me by satellite even after I left, that's how control freakish they were. The suspicion wasn't too far fetched considering today there are actual companies known to chip their employees.
A few years later I suspected Nazi-like management at a law firm was spying on me at night in my job using video camera wireless technology. Other employees I spoke with had also felt the same being watched paranoia, that we felt relieved that at least they couldn't spy on us in the bathroom. (Those employees were laid off in 2008 and 2009.) I actually went so far as to sweep my area for bugs with a detector device. I got a lot of static on the meter but it was inconclusive. Years later I learned a former employee sued the law firm for wiretapping her incoming cell phone calls and listening in to her conversations due to her EEOC complaint. (see
Fight BigLaw site for lawsuit details)
What can employees do to get out of this personally offensive situation of privacy invasion? Some suggest forming unions. For myself the answer was simply to start my own business and I've been content ever since. I don't make nearly as much money but I don't need to anymore. My goal was to work smarter and I think I've achieved it thus far. I'm a lot happier now and couldn't imagine slaving for anyone nor will I ever again.
Regardless, the male instinct is so powerful, certain men I've described throughout this blog are trying to keep me in fear as they did in the corporate world in very dark ugly ways. I even question if my life is somehow endangered. It's all only confirmed to me that there's an undeniable primal urge to dominate and control women by unevolved control freak power hungry matrix men everywhere. (see
Plugged Into the Matrix of False Reality).
Retailer Walmart is implementing government spy order statements on its monitors at check-out lines at hundreds of its stores.
Radio commentator Michael Savage comments on Big Sis activities.
I hope others find a way to personal freedom and fulfillment too. Many of today's corporations are little fascist run organizations that have secret agendas of class warfare that think nothing of driving their employees to heart attacks.
