Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Jul 2005
- Posts
- 13,122
- Location
- The Orion Spur
Couple of times I've been to Boots recently to grab some toiletries, on both occasions I heard quite a loud speaker announcing "Alert", "This is CCTV", "We are recording you live", I, as well as a few people in the shop were looking around a bit bemused, I assumed that maybe it was a security CB that had been left on by accident on loud or something, week later I pop in Boots again to grab some mouthwash, again I hear the announcement "Alert", "This is CCTV", "We are recording you live", "This can be used as evidence against you in court", now this time I was suspicious as staff members were starting to follow me around the store and standing either end of the isle I was in, felt very uncomfortable, I was looking for a cheap antibacterial mouthwash reading the ingredients on a few of them, eventually I just went to the counter and asked if the Boots branded version was as good as the Corsodyl one, she was very offish with me and I had staff lingering right by me, I purchase the mouthwash, leave the store pretty annoyed but tried to shrug it off.
Couple of weeks later (Today), I'm walking through the town with my mum, she says "I'm popping into Boots are you coming?" I joke and say "you remember what happened last time!", but I think what the hell, lets see if it is happens again and my mum could actually witness it, now I honestly didn't expect anything to happen, but by the time I'd walked halfway into the store yet again an announcement over the store tannoy speaker "Alert", "This is CCTV", "We are recording you live", I say to my mum "Look I think I've triggered the CCTV security system again, she was quite surprised, then we had members of staff gathering either end the isle watching us/me.
This is the amazing thing, suddenly an announcement on the speaker said "this is a message to the man wearing a grey backpack and a black cap, we are recording you live, this can be used as evidence against you", so a personalised message direct to me!, now other customers in the store are all looking over to me wondering what the hell is going on, one chap near me looks like he is about to grab hold of my arm to be some kind of have-ago-hero, my mum is starting to get very worried at this point, she said we should speak to the manager, I asked at the checkout if we could speak to the manger and while waiting the tannoy speaker says "Please leave the store now", "Please leave the store now", me and my mum at this time was waiting by were you pick up prescriptions, I say the the pharmacist "what the hell is going on this is ridulcus?" he doesn't want speak at all and runs into the back, me and my mum look at eachother an question whether we should leave, at this point the manager comes out and mum starts asking what is going on, the manager explains that this is a new system rolled out to all the stores across the UK for the staffs protection, she was being quite defensive about it, I was questioning her saying that surely you can't call out customers live over the tannoy in such a manner but she seemed to think it was reasonable, she said "the system gets triggered all the time", to which I replied so are these people that trigger the system all the time all thieves? which she didn't answer.
Anyway, I left the store completely fuming, after a bit googling it seems a while back Boots moved over to a centralised manned security system, all the Boots stores are now monitored remotely from one building with security staff that can access stores speakers systems and talk directly to 'suspected' criminals in store, what do you guys think of a system like this? I honestly felt like it was something out of George orwell's 1984, was really surreal.
I'm sure people are going to ask what I was wearing, regular jeans, walking shoes, Trespass walking jacket, and a winter lined cap.
Couple of weeks later (Today), I'm walking through the town with my mum, she says "I'm popping into Boots are you coming?" I joke and say "you remember what happened last time!", but I think what the hell, lets see if it is happens again and my mum could actually witness it, now I honestly didn't expect anything to happen, but by the time I'd walked halfway into the store yet again an announcement over the store tannoy speaker "Alert", "This is CCTV", "We are recording you live", I say to my mum "Look I think I've triggered the CCTV security system again, she was quite surprised, then we had members of staff gathering either end the isle watching us/me.
This is the amazing thing, suddenly an announcement on the speaker said "this is a message to the man wearing a grey backpack and a black cap, we are recording you live, this can be used as evidence against you", so a personalised message direct to me!, now other customers in the store are all looking over to me wondering what the hell is going on, one chap near me looks like he is about to grab hold of my arm to be some kind of have-ago-hero, my mum is starting to get very worried at this point, she said we should speak to the manager, I asked at the checkout if we could speak to the manger and while waiting the tannoy speaker says "Please leave the store now", "Please leave the store now", me and my mum at this time was waiting by were you pick up prescriptions, I say the the pharmacist "what the hell is going on this is ridulcus?" he doesn't want speak at all and runs into the back, me and my mum look at eachother an question whether we should leave, at this point the manager comes out and mum starts asking what is going on, the manager explains that this is a new system rolled out to all the stores across the UK for the staffs protection, she was being quite defensive about it, I was questioning her saying that surely you can't call out customers live over the tannoy in such a manner but she seemed to think it was reasonable, she said "the system gets triggered all the time", to which I replied so are these people that trigger the system all the time all thieves? which she didn't answer.
Anyway, I left the store completely fuming, after a bit googling it seems a while back Boots moved over to a centralised manned security system, all the Boots stores are now monitored remotely from one building with security staff that can access stores speakers systems and talk directly to 'suspected' criminals in store, what do you guys think of a system like this? I honestly felt like it was something out of George orwell's 1984, was really surreal.
I'm sure people are going to ask what I was wearing, regular jeans, walking shoes, Trespass walking jacket, and a winter lined cap.
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