Monday, January 09, 2012

What if your boss goes undercover but you don't want to be on TV?

It seems TTC Chair Karen Stintz went undercover as an ordinary TTC worker as part of a reality TV show called Undercover Boss.

Stintz was introduced to her TTC co-workers as Ruth Bear — her middle name and her mother’s maiden name. To explain the cameras, the TTC employees were told that Stintz/Bear was the subject of a documentary about a woman re-entering the work force.


But what happens if you actually are an ordinary TTC worker (or an ordinary worker in some other workplace) and your boss decides to do something like this, but you don't want to be on TV? Suppose you're assigned to work as part of their team, or you're the person whose job it would normally be to supervise the newbie? If one of your team members is being filmed, it might not be logistically possible to stay out of camera range.

Do they even take this into account? Are people given the option of another assignment if they don't want to be on TV? Or are people forced to be on TV just because someone near them is being filmed?

6 comments:

CQ said...

They're probably persuaded afterwards. Harmless for most.
The Toronto Star published a mainpage photo online a couple of nights ago AND identified an 18-year old husky male sitting with a later murdered woman. His father, her recent companion, is the accused.

Today they were issuing out a rubbish story of a real hockey game with Harper vs. Putin. At least they are public figures.

OneWiseKiwi said...

They can legally only air footage of people who have signed a release for the use of their image. I'm not certain, however, that they had to be informed of the specific uses to which the footage was being put (as in, they may have believed it was ot be a small documentary, rather thana national television show or whatever)

laura k said...

They would need signed releases from everyone on camera, or else they digitize or otherwise anonymize faces. The release specifies what the footage can be used for, but like all media, once it's out there you can't control what happens to it.

Lori said...

I'd much rather work alongside an undercover social scientist (or maybe Barbara Ehrenreich) than an undercover boss.

laura k said...

Lori has a good idea for a useful TV show.

impudent strumpet said...

Even with blurring the faces, I wonder if it's still possible to protect the anonymity of the person whose job is to supervise the newbie. They'd have to show the newbie responding and reacting to the supervisor's instructions, which means they'd have to televise their voice at least. As the person who often ends up orienting newbies in my own office, I'd find that utterly humiliating.