Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Video record your home

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Video record your home

Some families leave the maid alone at home. There is the risk that the maid can bring in strangers to the home.

Here is a simple way to take care of this problem. Install a camera with a DVD recorder. Record the view of the entrance throughout the day.

When you return home, you can use 32X speed to view the happenings in your home. This can be done in 15 minutes. Any visitor can be spotted easily.

You do not need to do this all the time. If the maid is aware about the recording, the maid will not take the risk. It will be a useful deterent.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi,

Nobody likes being watched while at work, even for maids. I am sure that some of us in finance sector are already uneasy with ccd camera eyeing us while we deal.

That being said, Mr Tan's suggestion is to have just the main entrance wired up to ccd camera. The maid is not monitored in the house. The system only tracks who is entering and leaving the house. The corridor is a public place and so ccd camera will not run into legal problem.

However, like what i have said in the 10th comment in the tread " give maid a day off", the fact that we employ maid which are from indonesia and india, makes the education about the functioning dificult and almost impossible. After several tries to let the maid understands how the entrance camera works, i think if she asks to leave, you should take the opportunity to employ a filipino maid.

song; June 22, 2005 10:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Much can be debated about your suggestion.

No doubt it is useful for its purpose of monitoring outsiders' entry, but in my opinion, I feel that the very act of putting up such a device brings about undesirable repercussions as well.

It may just dilute the warmth of the owners as employers towards the domestic worker, and consequently prevents her to work to her fullest capacity for them. In other words, I am saying that the device acts as a barrier between the domestic worker and her employers. Instead of being incorporated (or made to feel) as part of the family by living and eating with them daily, she will be perpetually reminded of her agenda and status in the residence. Somewhat unequal to the extent that a home needs surveillance in any form.

The 'private' space for her employers and herself to live in becomes a 'public' space for her, as her employers undertook recording as a measure to draw the line. I find it rather unhealthy because in her position, she lives in where she works. On the contrary, most of us have the luxury to go back to our 'privacy' away from where we work, after we have performed our required roles for the day.

I understand that you only meant the recording of what goes on at the door. However, I argue that the very presence of the device may not be as simply read and interpreted by the domestic worker. I suggest this method be only employed as a drastic measure when all trust and understanding has reached a certain threshold. If the situation is still tolerable, such a measure should not be considered an option due to the multiple drawbacks that come with its alleged usefulness.; June 22, 2005 12:58 PM
Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang said...: The correct way of implementing TKL's idea is to have the camera installed before the maid starts work.

If you start taking your precautionary measures from Day One, then the maid will not feel offended.

For example, if from Day One you have always had the habit of locking the master bedroom when you leave your house, the maid will not feel offended when you do so. She will just take it as your normal practice / habit.

On the other hand, if you start doing this only two or three months after she starts work, she may feel that you do not trust her. And if she is an honest person, she will feel somewhat aggrieved.; June 23, 2005 4:21 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: I am glad to have a healthy exchange of views.

It is clear that the solution will have to be modified according to circumstances.

As the owner, we have the right to protect our property. Installing a camera at the door is a necessary precaution.

If the maid does not accept this right, it is better to change the maid.; June 26, 2005 8:14 AM
K.S. said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; July 15, 2005 12:23 AM
K.S. said...: I am not aiming the question at anybody in particular. Rather I will like to post for everyone to ponder.

Do the senior management employ some personnel into the company and start spying on what they do? Or should these senior staff trust these personnel or rather have trust in their judgment that they did not employ the wrong person? We don't spy on subordinates' whereabout or action, do we?

Likewise, maids are also human and employee, for goodness sake! They are here to work simply because they have had to sacrifice their 'freedom' and family-life to come to a strange country to toil so that their families out there in those poorer countries can live better! Isn't that a noble sacrifice?

Therefore, I have to condemn those people who do not trust the people they employ to work under. As Cao Cao said "If you distrust, do not use the person. If you use the person, do not distrust!"; July 15, 2005 12:26 AM
Angela Lau. said...: this leads us to the question of showing respect to the maid by respecting her privacy. its not ethical to begin with treating your maids like they have something to hide. but of cos, we've heard too many stories about maids and their little activities.

do a search on the census and statistics. abusive owners more OR straying maids more?

im sure there are more abusive owners than maids who stray; August 02, 2005 11:44 PM