Zoom Safari
April 4, 2020 9:01 PM Subscribe
I just watched the "Customer Safari" episode of Superstore and want to brainstorm a Zoom version of this.
For those of you who have not watched Superstore, it takes place in a "big box" store and frequently shows tiny snippets of weird customer behavior. In the episode "Customer Safari," they turn it into a game in which Garrett has lists of weird stuff and people photograph them for points. I immediately wanted to play this, but, y'know, life.
So let's brainstorm a Zoom version of this: what weird shit might you see during a Zoom call that you could screenshot for a game. (Ask A Manager has suggestions.) Cat butts, people without pants, strange things behind someone on a video call, whatever works for you...
For those of you who have not watched Superstore, it takes place in a "big box" store and frequently shows tiny snippets of weird customer behavior. In the episode "Customer Safari," they turn it into a game in which Garrett has lists of weird stuff and people photograph them for points. I immediately wanted to play this, but, y'know, life.
So let's brainstorm a Zoom version of this: what weird shit might you see during a Zoom call that you could screenshot for a game. (Ask A Manager has suggestions.) Cat butts, people without pants, strange things behind someone on a video call, whatever works for you...
I see four main forms: people forgot they are visible to others, unexpected interactions inside the person's location, and people doing non-meeting stuff, and weird stuff on the shared screen like the above suggestion. Here are some suggestions including yours. Some of these might not be apparent in a screenshot, though.
People forgot they're visible: nose-picking and other private touching of themselves, rude gestures, unexpectedly underdressed or exposed, a trip to the bathroom, dressing or undressing (more than taking off a sweatshirt, but something you couldnt' normally do in a professional meeting at work, like change your shoes or shirt), eating/drinking (low-hanging fruit, I know), drinking alcohol or doing drugs, smoking
Unexpected interactions:
Pet jumps into frame, kids/roommates/partners walk in, other people at their home speaking into the meeting, home catastrophe occurring (e.g. something crashes) causing someone to leave the frame in a hurry, an argument breaking out at home, strange things going on outside the window behind the user.
Doing Non-meeting stuff:
people visibly muted but chatting with someone else, gaming, playing on their phone and ignoring the meeting, listening to podcasts or music (another case of people who forget they are muted -- omnidirectional mics are the enemy of a good meeting.
Shared screen stuff is great-- I move all of my browsers to and windows to a second-screen so it's not apparent what is on my other browser tabs, but browser tabs are always worth a read-- you never know when someone has pornhub open on another tab while they're presenting something. Inappropriate desktop background.
Other low-hanging fruit: people who are wearing headsets, visible boom mic (usually a desktop-mounted boom), messy background, visible trash.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:30 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
People forgot they're visible: nose-picking and other private touching of themselves, rude gestures, unexpectedly underdressed or exposed, a trip to the bathroom, dressing or undressing (more than taking off a sweatshirt, but something you couldnt' normally do in a professional meeting at work, like change your shoes or shirt), eating/drinking (low-hanging fruit, I know), drinking alcohol or doing drugs, smoking
Unexpected interactions:
Pet jumps into frame, kids/roommates/partners walk in, other people at their home speaking into the meeting, home catastrophe occurring (e.g. something crashes) causing someone to leave the frame in a hurry, an argument breaking out at home, strange things going on outside the window behind the user.
Doing Non-meeting stuff:
people visibly muted but chatting with someone else, gaming, playing on their phone and ignoring the meeting, listening to podcasts or music (another case of people who forget they are muted -- omnidirectional mics are the enemy of a good meeting.
Shared screen stuff is great-- I move all of my browsers to and windows to a second-screen so it's not apparent what is on my other browser tabs, but browser tabs are always worth a read-- you never know when someone has pornhub open on another tab while they're presenting something. Inappropriate desktop background.
Other low-hanging fruit: people who are wearing headsets, visible boom mic (usually a desktop-mounted boom), messy background, visible trash.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:30 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by bleep at 10:24 PM on April 4, 2020