my big bust

And so ends another week of summer.  Today's agenda includes finding ways to beat the heat.

Yesterday, we helped Meego move a few big items from his college rental to his next address. The college "Lake House" was a good setup for the last 3 years, now it's ready for another round of students, most likely.

Meego's moving in with a friend who recently bought and is renovating a house. How a 20-something guy was able to procure a house in the current market is a bit of a mystery. But he's a nice, hardworking "kid", so more power to 'im. 

I say "we" helped move some stuff, but really, Magnum got the truck and helped load.  I was at work while that was going on and met up with them later to unload a couple of little things and check out the new place.

Speaking of work, we have two new coworkers. One, I will call Sangria. She is replacing Martha - recently left to sell everything and head for the greener grass of Mexico. Next, we acquired a work study student whom I will call Donatello. 

Both seem to fit in well and round out our little group of seven: Boss, Assistant Boss, four part-timers, and a work study.

Speaking of working yesterday, I bagged my first bust. 

We're open Mondays thru Fridays, typical business hours. And we're also open for four hours on Saturdays. Weekdays typically have 3 to 4 staffers, sometimes a work study. We all rotate the Saturday shifts, which staff two people.

So I was on yesterday with Assistant Boss. It looked to be a typical mellow Saturday, and for the most part, it was. People who came in for testing were friendly and well prepared. One woman "warned" us that she was pregnant and may have a sudden need for the restroom...

We give tests for professional certifications/ licenses, and we also administer makeup or accommodated tests for students at the college.  A college student came in for a makeup math exam, and we got him set up. His was an online exam, so we locked down his workstation so he couldn't access any websites other than his exam.

There are surveillance cameras set up at various angles to observe people while they're testing. We also have remote access to what testers have on their computer screens.  

Do we constantly watch these cameras and monitors?

Oh, heck no. Invigilation is not that invigorating.

Assistant Boss and I were hanging out, talking about our cats or something, when we noticed College Kid acting kinda suspicious - looking around at computers near him rather than his own screen. Being a Saturday, the room he was in was nearly empty. It looked suspicious, but he wasn't breaking any rules. 

Then there was this bit of activity flurry - Pregnant Lady needed the restroom, Insurance Guy left his ID behind, and Water Treatment Guy needed a score printout. 

Assistant boss signed out Pregnant Lady and got Water Treatment Guy's report while I ran down Insurance Guy in the parking lot. The dust settled, and I was sanitizing when I  happened to glance at College Kid's monitor. He had reached over to the adjacent computer, googled some math references, and was pondering his search results.

Still footage of the crime. His test is on the monitor to his right.

Alarms blared, lights flashed! We stormed the testing room, guns a-blazing!

Well... actually, Assistant Boss went in and told College Kid he can't do that while I shut down his search remotely. Redundant, because College Kid most certainly knew he can't do that. 

Meantime, we got screenshots of his googling and time stamps of how long he engaged in the covert activity. Plus, we got the video footage of the brazen scheme.

We filed the appropriate documentation and spoke with his instructor.

"Welp, he gets a zero", her wrath rang down.

Exciting times in test proctoring. Assistant Boss told me this was the first cheater caught since COVID began. Is it a sign that we've turned the corner on the pandemic?

Or as Tigger would say, "The start of a new error!"