Camera found in the bathroom at work.

[>Charlotte<]

Who spreads their coat out on the floor of a public bathroom, on purpose, for any reason?

The coat could have been hanging up, and being knocked off the hanger could have caused any number of odd scenarios. Or the guy set up the camera so he could record women peeing.

I'm just imaging that I'm Thelma in HR, sitting in my office, and suddenly Ethel from Dispatch is telling me Gladys found Herb's video camera turned on in the bathroom. Herb comes in and says he just had it in there charging. It's a plausible explanation, and I'm going to take the path of least resistance. Plus, where's Ethel's proof that it wasn't just in there charging?

More importantly, Thelma's not going to require counseling, suspension, drug testing, or letters of apology from Gladys because she found a camera. Thelma might require it if Gladys found a camera, found out it was Herb's, and then went running willy nilly all over the place yelling "OH MY GOD I FOUND HERB'S CAMERA IN THE BATHROOM IT WAS RECORDING ME HERB'S A PERVERT HE WAS GOING TO POST IT ON THE INTERNET WHAT IF HE WEARS MIRRORS ON HIS SHOES HE'S PROBABLY A CHILD MOLESTER OH MY GOD PERVERT PERVERT PERVERT LETS SIGN A PETITION AND HAVE HIM FIRED...by the way can we sue the company for this?"

And for the record, yeah, I think Herb's a pervert who did it on purpose. Prove it.

 

[cyjeff]

Who spreads their coat out on the floor of a public bathroom, on purpose, for any reason?

The coat could have been hanging up, and being knocked off the hanger could have caused any number of odd scenarios. Or the guy set up the camera so he could record women peeing.

I'm just imaging that I'm Thelma in HR, sitting in my office, and suddenly Ethel from Dispatch is telling me Gladys found Herb's video camera turned on in the bathroom. Herb comes in and says he just had it in there charging. It's a plausible explanation, and I'm going to take the path of least resistance. Plus, where's Ethel's proof that it wasn't just in there charging?

More importantly, Thelma's not going to require counseling, suspension, drug testing, or letters of apology from Gladys because she found a camera. Thelma might require it if Gladys found a camera, found out it was Herb's, and then went running willy nilly all over the place yelling "OH MY GOD I FOUND HERB'S CAMERA IN THE BATHROOM IT WAS RECORDING ME HERB'S A PERVERT HE WAS GOING TO POST IT ON THE INTERNET WHAT IF HE WEARS MIRRORS ON HIS SHOES HE'S PROBABLY A CHILD MOLESTER OH MY GOD PERVERT PERVERT PERVERT LETS SIGN A PETITION AND HAVE HIM FIRED...by the way can we sue the company for this?"

And for the record, yeah, I think Herb's a pervert who did it on purpose. Prove it.

The proof can only be provided by the police and the BEST proof was lost when "Herb" was handed back his camera after it was discovered.

Did anyone bother to see if there was actually any film in the darn thing and what images were on it?

 

[Perky]

I'm still wondering what the general manager determined. It's possible that he checked the camera and found that it wasn't recording, or that it had only recorded the inside of the coat. I agree that it's still a problem if it was actually recording, but OP hasn't explained what happened after the general manager was notified.

 

[wmubroncofan05]

Thanks for the replies

Hey everyone.. Thank you all so much for the replies. This helps a lot to see this from a differnt prospective. In regards to some of the statements on here.. Here's to sum up some more of the unanswered questions people commented on.

After this happened, I did not say anything to anyone except the manager. I am just the opposite, I didn't want anyone to know. The comment about "oh my gosh, i found a camera," was just the opposite. The only one that knew was the manager, who was just coming on shift for his weekend schedule.

Regarding legal dues, I do not want anything from this company, except a simple explaination as to why when this was reported did they turn on their employees. It's their responsibilty to protect them.

There really isnt' more to the story than exactly what was stated. However, regarding the charging of the camera. There is only one outlet in the bathroom. Right when you come in on the wall below the mirror. If it was charging the cord would have had to run entirely across the sink, on the floor, under the coat. The coat didn't fall on the floor, it was on top of the backpack and stacked up on books that were pulled from on top of the closet shelf.

In regards to drug testing, etc. I should have explained this more in the first part. This was a new company policy that if you are a paramedic or working in dispatch and can be pulled out on the road as a medic, they will be randomly giving drug tests out due to new company procedure. This did not happen right after the incident, and it was all of us in dispatch who work on the road as well. There were 7 of us that day who had it done.

I love my job, I'm not looking at getting back at the company or pursuing any further options, I was just curious what other's thought. I know I should have grabbed the camera and called the police at that time, but when it happened it was more like "oh my gosh" and now going yeah, that's what I should have done, but I didn't.

Thank you all for the replies. It put things in futher prospective for me. Have a good afternoon!