Zemke and the Crew

Meet Zemke and the Crew

Zemke and the Crew is a comic strip about a small Aussie crew getting through the week: Monday site scrambles, smoko mysteries, lost tools, customers who are "five minutes away", and the eternal question of who forgot to check out.

ZimQi is now in early-access beta testing. Crew use Telegram.

Meet the crew

Zemke the emu

the ZimQi bot. Friendly, a bit nosy, and does all the polite nagging so nobody else has to.

Kev the koala

on the tools. Cheerful, reliable, occasionally vague about where he put his timesheet.

Sam the platypus

the supervisor. Calm, fair, and usually says "Fair. Approved."

Gail the giraffe

the owner. Sees everything coming, apart from where the good drill went.

Bec the kangaroo

the bookkeeper. Has receipts for everything, and a hard hat for the filing cabinet.

Monty the monkey

retired, but nobody told him to clock off.

New strips go up a few times a week. Every post has a full text transcript, so you can read it without the image, plus a short note on the real-world problem behind the joke.

The characters, sites and messages are made up. Chat screens in the strips are illustrative examples, not screenshots.

Three-panel comic. Monday 6:42 am, the old way: 47 group-chat messages asking who's at which site, and Monty the monkey with an upside-down map. Now: Gail the giraffe says 'Sites are sorted. Kettle's on.' At 6:58 am the chat asks Kev 'Where are you starting today?' with Northside Medical first, then Harbour St and The depot. Kev taps Northside Medical, and the bot says 'You're on the clock at Northside Medical. When did you actually start?' with Just now, Earlier and Change start time.

The Monday Scramble

#13 · 19 Oct 2026

Three-panel comic. 7:00 am: sunshine and Kev the koala says 'Beautiful day for it.' 9:30 am: hail; Kev calls it character building while Zemke the emu runs for cover. 10:00 am smoko: sun again; Sam the platypus says 'Four seasons by smoko. Standard.' and Bec the kangaroo says 'And you all laughed at my PPE.'

Four Seasons Before Smoko

#11 · 16 Oct 2026

Three-panel comic. Gail, behind the camera, tries to take a team photo. Kev the koala, Sam the platypus and Bec the kangaroo all do the same thumbs-up pose, and Bec says she's only got the one. By take 47 Monty the monkey has wandered in with a map asking 'Is this the Northside job?' and Zemke the emu is waving. Gail: 'Perfect. Nobody move. Ever.'

The Team Photo

#10 · 10 Oct 2026

FAQ

What is ZimQi?

ZimQi does timesheets for crews on Telegram. Crew check in when they get to site and check out when they finish, all in a Telegram chat, and their approver gets the record.

Who is it for?

Small and medium teams with crews out on sites (trades, cleaning and similar businesses) with up to about 100–120 people.

Do my crew need to download an app?

They need Telegram on their phone. There's no separate ZimQi app for crew to install.

How does check-in work?

The bot asks "Where are you starting today?" and lists the worker's assigned sites first, then the company's other active sites. It then confirms they're on the clock and asks when they actually started.

What if someone forgets to check out?

If a site has shift times set, workers who are still checked in get one heads-up on Telegram about 30 to 45 minutes before the site's end time. They reply /checkout to check out.

Is ZimQi available now?

ZimQi is now in early-access beta testing. Visit zimqi.com.au to find out more.

Who is Zemke?

Zemke is the emu who plays the ZimQi bot in the comics. The product is called ZimQi; Zemke is just the friendly face in the chat.

See how it works

Start on Telegram