‘You can see them and they can see you’: Man at entrance greeted by hotel security. She’s a remote worker on a screen
Since the pandemic, remote work has become the norm. With a computer, you can work anywhere you want whether it's in a different town... or another country. And that includes jobs you probably didn't consider could be done from one far-off vantage point. Like, say, a cashier or a door person.
A recent video showing a remote door person was viewed 9.1 million times and uploaded on X by user @levelsio as he walked down the streets of Uruguay. “So, in Uruguay and Argentina, you see this a lot,” he said, walking in front of a building’s entrance. Inside was a woman behind a screen with a headset on and zoomed in. “It’s a security person that does remote security. So, she can see us if you wave,” he added, waving, though here the woman didn’t notice.
However, the security woman didn’t just oversee one building. “She does, like, hundreds, thousands of buildings at the same time,” the content creator stated. Then, @levelsio dashed down the street to another building and peeked inside it where the same woman was there.
“That’s South America. Uruguay,” he concluded.
@levelsio added in the post, “In South America I saw this too A LOT. Many hotels, shops and office buildings had remote security people and doormen. You can see them and they can see you. Not sure where they work from but might as well be the cheapest country in South America (or the world!). Remote jobs going to the next level now.”
Attached to the thread was a photo of another user’s experience in New York City where the cashier was doing her job behind a screen.
The Daily Dot reached out to @levelsio via comment and direct message. In the comments section, users were less than thrilled about the idea of remote security guards.
“Holy smokes. Feels more dystopian than futuristic,” one user wrote.
“wow this is new norm soon,” a second stated.
On the other hand, some noted that this trend isn’t common in Chile or Brazil.
In addition, others shared their similar experiences.
“I have one in my building, they are quite useless when a security issue happens, like an open door at late night. They have in avg 8-16 screens simultaneously,” one commentator shared. “The idea is that it costs 1/8 of a full time security guard, but you also get 1/8 of the service.”
“My [sister’s] building implemented that. The person who is on the screen attends multiple buildings. They work from Argentina,” a second commented.
So what exactly is a virtual security guard? It's using “security cameras, advanced analytics, and the internet remotely to oversee and manage job site security. It is also known as remote surveillance and virtual guard monitoring and is a new approach to security,” per Valley Alarm. And yes, they can speak to people along with “manage access to lobby areas, maintain visitor records, and lock and unlock doors remotely.”
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