Zemke and the Crew
The Guesstimate
When crew estimate their hours instead of knowing them
The problem in this strip
What do I do when the crew guess their hours? 'About half an hour' turns up on a lot of timesheets, and I'd rather have the real finish time than a guesstimate.
What ZimQi really does
At check-out, crew can type a short note of what they did ('📝 Note saved.'), then ZimQi asks 'What time did you finish today?' with 🕔 Just now, ⏱ Earlier and ⬅️ Back. Earlier asks when they actually finished and they type it, for example 16:30 or 4:30 pm; ZimQi replies '✅ Finish time saved: 4:30 pm (8h 5m).' Then the approver approves or rejects.
ZimQi is now in early-access beta testing. Crew use Telegram.
Watch animated Zemke & the Crew Shorts on YouTube: @Zimqi-online
Panel by panel
Panel 1: Checking out, Northside Medical
Kev the koala types a note into his ZimQi chat while checking out.
Kev: Close enough, yeah?
Panel 2: Meanwhile, in the chat
Zemke the emu scratches his head, thinking.
Zemke: "About" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, Kev.
Zemke: No guessing. When did you actually finish?
Panel 3: 4:50 pm, in the ute
Zemke on his toolbox with his phone; Sam the platypus, the supervisor, gives a thumbs up.
Zemke: Real time. Over to you, Sam.
Sam (supervisor): 8h 5m. Not 'about'. Fair. Approved.
Characters, sites, names and chat messages are made up. Chat screens are illustrative examples, not screenshots.
Questions about this strip
What if a worker finished earlier than when they check out?
They tap ⏱ Earlier and ZimQi asks 'When did you actually finish? Type it, e.g. 06:30 — or 12/08 06:30 for an earlier day.' They type the time, for example 16:30 or 4:30 pm (a plain 4:30 is read as morning). ZimQi saves it and shows the hours, for example '✅ Finish time saved: 4:30 pm (8h 5m).'
What happens if the approver rejects the hours?
When an approver rejects in Telegram, ZimQi asks them why, and the reason is recorded on the timesheet. The worker then gets a message with the reason and can check in again to re-submit.
