But You Don't Look Like A Spy

Do you mean big companies really hire spies to prevent fraud and criminal activities? Yes, but more Betty Crocker and less James Bond.   Our guest today,  Jean Hughey was adjusting to a cross country move and so she looked for a part time job.  She didn't expect to wind up as a spy for a one of the US' biggest companies.  She turned out to be pretty good at it. Dorothy observes, "This seemed a wild story to me and I wondered if companies still hired spies. I easily found 6 different companies that provide what they now call company monitoring. When Jean Hughey started as a spy for Amtrak from 2004 to 2008 she recalls that she was cautioned to remember that "I'm not James Bond." She recalls, "I was an employee of Amtrak as a computer programmer, when my husband retired at 55 as the National Agricultural engineer in Washington DC.  My boss introduced me to The Protection Unit and they wanted me to be a spy on the west coast. They had people working on the east coast, but were anxious to see how I would do on the west coast. "They sent me emails with information on what employee to observe and which train to ride." Jean had to work out a method of recording her observations of subjects. (spread sheet in a puzzle book).   Also the report had to include description of employee and how they handled the interaction. "After the observation was over I had to write up a report and send the spread sheet with the time and items bought in the cafe car. and who was the LSA. "Amtrak compared my observations with the register receipt that the LSA turned in." Some observations: In cafe car: Box over register so customers couldn't see what the LSA entered. LSA sold items that were brought on board (water etc) and pocketed the money. Getting on train: Conductor being observed. Paying cash (kicked off train - yelled at by conductor) Had to go to Seattle to an Amtrak Court to testify about one LSA (Lead Service Attendant) who was fired. He was the one who put the box over the register and pocketed the money for items. I got threats from this employee but nothing came from it. " The notes are very cryptic and spy-like.  It's a wonder anyone ever got out of there alive.  Last month, news surfaced that major companies like Walmart, Starbucks, Delta and Chevron were using AI to monitor employee communications. The reaction online was swift, with employees and workplace advocates worrying about a loss of privacy. But experts say that while AI tools might be new, watching, reading and tracking employee conversations is far from novel. AI might be more efficient at it — and the technology might raise some new ethical and legal challenges, as well as risk alienating employees — but the fact is workplace conversations have never really been private anyway. “Monitoring employee communications isn’t new, but the growing sophistication of the analysis that’s possible with ongoing advances in AI is,” said David Johnson, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. Thanks, Jean, We'll be watching for spies on our next long distance trip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices