App Lets Mischievous Employees Escape Online Meetings

Sam Lavigne, a developer has created a handy tool for everyone who cannot tolerate their online meetings anymore. The tool is known as Zoom Escaper and helps people to sabotage their online Zoom meetings. He unveiled the tool on Twitter that helps you to eliminate yourself from the Zoom meetings. He told his followers that the application will make one’s presence unbearable leaving no option but to eliminate yourself from the meeting.

It works by making your presence unbearable to your fellow attendees and does simple things such as make a series of annoying and fake sounds. There is a whole range of sounds that you can choose from and use in your meetings. With all the annoying sounds unbearable to your colleagues you can quietly excuse yourself.

Lavigne wrote: “Zoom Escaper is a tool to help you escape Zoom meetings and other telecommunication scenarios. It allows you to self-sabotage your audio stream, making your presence unbearable to others. Add different real-time effects to your voice, making it sound like you have a terrible connection, or that you must go and comfort the man weeping in your apartment.”

He made an explanatory video and explained how the tool works. He explained the video by giving examples of the sounds available such as the capacity to add reverberation to your voice or to make it sound like you have a terrible association. Others incorporate the sound of a cranky child, dogs yelping, and most strangely, a man sobbing in your condo. Further, he said: “Just do this until no one is willing to be on a Zoom call with you anymore.”

He confirmed on his YouTube channel that apart from the Zoom application it also works on Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, and all the other video meeting platforms that have gained popularity during the pandemic. With the unveiling, many doubts were raised in the comment section and Lavigne replied to them.

To one he replied: “Yes – it should work with any program on your system that uses a microphone.” He is also open to suggestions for new sounds and one person wrote that he should add a sound of children fighting, and Lavigne thinks it is a great idea. With the global pandemic lasting so long, Lavigne has found his target audience. He unveiled another application earlier this month named ‘Zoom deleter’.

In his announcement, he said: “Zoom Deleter is a small program that runs in your menu bar/system tray. It continually checks for the presence of Zoom on your computer, and if found, immediately deletes it. Looking for beta testers!” Till now 107 people have downloaded the application. In a conversation with The Verge he said that his application aims at “deliberate shutdown, reducing productivity and output [and] self-sabotage’.”

Many commented and some of the comments were “Almost exactly one year into Zoom life and this is so deeply tempting”, “revolutionary”, and “the one thing no one asked for but we all needed.”