Saturday, September 25, 2021

Hoofer Staff Suspected of More Thefts

Are UW/Hoofer staff at it again? In the past, student Wis. Union employees have been caught stealing money in the Rathskeller, and Hoofer staff have committed various crimes including theft and fraud and embezzlement, among other things.

To try to deter ongoing criminal behavior, Wisconsin Union management installed hundreds of surveillance cameras throughout the building. Cameras are ubiquitous in commercial areas like Outdoor UW and the Rat. In the small Outdoor rentals area alone (photo), there are no fewer than five surveillance cameras, with more in the hallway.

Blanket surveillance serves two purposes. For one, it deters theft and other crimes, for obvious reasons. Secondly, it allows Union managers to spy on persons of interest, individuals they don't like, cute girls, etc. Many Wis. Union managers are pervs who would do that. They'll argue that surveillance is necessary given the Rathskeller thefts and past thefts from Hoofers of outboard motors, tools, equipment, etc. that were probably committed by employees. In the Rathskeller thefts scandal, several students were handcuffed and dragged away, prompting some 20 other student employees to quit in protest. Naturally they didn't like the idea of being handcuffed themselves and taken away in front of friends and other people. Hence we can assume that everyone who quit was also stealing from the till.

At Hoofers and Outdoor programs, the situation is similar. What's to stop an employee from pretending to ring up a sale, then simply pocketing the money? It doesn't work when someone uses a credit card, but plenty of people pay in cash. T-shirts and other items disappear, and no one really knows or cares what happened.

Except Big Daddy, who is watching on a dozen surveillance cameras. Hell, they could probably create a 3D model of you, the coverage is that good. Not coincidentally, some of the cams provide a good look down a bikini, too.

So why did the Union remove its webcam of the Terrace? Hoofers also used to have a webcam that you could use to check the flag, see if there was a sloop avaliable, check lake conditions, etc., but not anymore. Surveillance is only for those in authority. The rest of us get surveilled.