CCTV of swimming pool playing in cafe

[Imdunfer]

Looking for advice on whether it would be rational to make a formal complaint about this.

The gym I use has just started playing the live CCTV feed of the swimming pool area into the cafe.

I'm very unhappy about being watched in my swimming costume by people I can't see watching me, but also there are children's swimming lessons going on in the pool as well and that feels like a safeguarding issue.

I've talked to the guy manning the desk and he brushed it off.

UABU - you are being unreasonable, there's nothing wrong with people you can't see being able to watch you and little children in wet swimming costumes.

UANBU - make a formal complaint

At both the pools I go to the cafe forms part of the pool viewing area. There is floor to ceiling glass so everyone having a coffee, and also everyone simply walking past the cafe to the reception desk, can immediately see into the pool.

The cafe is at a slightly higher level than the pool, so when in the pool you can't see everyone in the cafe. So very much like the CCTV in your cafe. It's a non issue. Both pools have been set up this way for at least the past 20 years.

I can see your point about it being shown in a public area. But on the other hand, a characteristic of CCTV is that people you can’t see will be watching you.

I agree with OP. It doesn't sound like this has much purpose and it's obviously going to give pleasure to creeps. People don't need to watch their children having swimming lessons: that's excessive, helicopter-style parenting.

It's a small pool so it's obvious who is in there and what they are doing. I don't do lengths I'm in there to sit in the water after a weights session or a treadmill walk and use the spa facilities.

Presumably they are playing it because:

Parents can chill a bit while they keep an eye on their children having the lessons or their teens. I used to watch mine from outside the pool, because it was behind glass. It is always a mess and a crowd if parents want to stand by the pool itself.

The guys working on the cafe are keeping an eye on the pool themselves. Maybe because there has been bad behaviour or mess and the lifeguard may need some help to control it at times.

I’d feel exactly the way you feel @Imdunfer i can’t understand the complacency at being watched all day, everywhere we go. Even when we’re supposed
to be relaxing.

I feel the polar opposite of most posters here. I think “what right has some maybe-voyeur-maybe-not to be giving me a good looking over, at his leisure, without me knowing about it?” Some of us just don’t like the feeling. And there’s nothing unusual about my size, shape, physicality.

In that scenario, I don't see how someone who is in the cafe who can see into the pool is unable to be seen by the person that they can see in the pool. That sounds physical impossible.

It’s so that parents can see what’s going on poolside and can have a coffee and sit down at the same time.. making them money. Being seen by people you can’t see isn’t any kind of a safeguarding issue. What exactly is it you’re doing that you don’t mind people seeing in real life but are absolutely aghast at people seeing on a small screen?

There is nobody working in the cafe. Drinks are served from the gym reception and taken into the cafe by the purchaser. The screen is not visible from the gym reception, they have their own CCTV feed out of general sight.

Same setting on ours. Pool is to the left of reception, fully surrounded with glass. Cafe area is above reception and along the pool, with glass all through.
That is the family and lessons pool.
The lengths pool has a pretty large arena sitting, so you can sit comfy and watch the kids/ teens.

I don't walk down the street in a wet swimming costume.

@Imdunfer You don't like the idea of being watched and that's fair enough. But do you have any reason to believe that this is actually happening?

When you go into this space/cafe is it full of guys ogling the swimmers, or the odd swimming parent with most of their attention on tiktok? I think that matters.

I’m not confident at all in a swimsuit,
so I get that but the reality is that the camera isn’t going to be zooming in on anyone, the picture quality is unlikely to be top notch and it’s going no wider than people who are using the facilities in the building. If it was streamed online I’d have an issue. Paedophiles and other perverts will find ways of watching anyway. How do other people feel about it?

Oh come on.

Dodgy guys getting their kicks are doing it in the public viewing areas, the CCTV in the café is the same thing.

But you do walk around the pool in one, and I assume there are other people present?

I assume it's a private pool, in which case, there may not always be a lifeguard, in which case, it's probably for safety - perhaps the cafe is one of the areas most likely to have a staff member in it, in which case, they could be the first to spot an unconscious body in the pool.

ETA - Cross-posted - I see it's an unmanned cafe. So it's probably for parents to watch children.

You can give feedback to the place about safety and safeguarding, then see what they say. Your other option is to find another pool.

How is it a café then, and not a seating area?

I think your feelings are very understandable. However this is the way life is now in lots of public and private spaces. You can be filmed in public and footage posted on social media. It's one of the things contributing to the increasing narcissism in society and the breakdown of community because it all results in the objectification of other people. Unfortunately if you don't like it you will probably have to create a life for yourself more aligned to your needs eg move to a quieter place where you can swim in the sea, lakes or local community pool without being watched. A gym is always going to be a hideous environment in terms of being watched. I think accepting that this is the way life is and making choices to build a better, happier life for yourself is the way to go rather than trying to get a gym to change. They simply won't give a fuck.

It’s a bit odd, but it doesn’t feel like a big issue.

If it makes you personally feel uncomfortable then you should leave the gym and go somewhere else that you think is more suited to your needs.

What you can't do is tell whoever owns the gym that it should be run according to your personal body issues about whether "a stranger" sees you in a wet swimming costume - how do you manage on holiday ?

I agree with your feelings - but I wouldn't do anything about it.

I use 2 swimming pools, one with no viewing, and 1 with a massive viewing area, that is always full of parents (Kids lessons and adult swim happen next to each other).

I do find the one with lots of people more uncomfortable.

But I know that this is an irrational feeling. None of them matter, none of them are there to look at me - they are all there to watch their kids, and it is entirely my own anxiety/insecurity. So, I just get on with it and swim.

That is what I'd recommend for you.. the chances of a creep sitting in the cafe to try and catch a glimpse of you in a CCTV camera is tiny. Chances are no one is watching and those that are, are parents watching their kids, paying no attention of you. So although I agree it would be nicer without. I think you should be able to get past it.

What difference would that make if it was a window would you check who was there before you got in

it’s the fact it’s gone from no one to everyone being able to watch the pool you don’t like which is absolutely fair enough I think your just looking for a reason to validate your feelings which you don’t need

just get a large micro fibre towel wrap yourself in it and leave it next to the pool in the floor doesn’t matter it it gets soaked as you can spin it and dries in 5 minutes

One thing I'd say is that there is literally no difference between a dry or wet swimsuit surely? (Unless the water is particularly cold I guess)

@Imdunfer Because of the angle of the view and positioning. When swimming I can only see the first row of cafe seats, but when I walk through reception I can see the pool from a distance away because I am (a) at a higher level and (b) either standing up or sitting on a chair, not prone in the water. When I stand up on poolside I can see further into the cafe, but obviously I am not doing that, I'm swimming.

Does the pool have a lifeguard? I’m wondering if it’s so that staff can keep an eye during quieter periods when there are no classes on.

I think it may be a safeguarding issue - but a positive one to keep swimmers safe.