July 13, 2025 • 6 mins
Gen Z has coined a new term—'task masking' and we do a deep dive into what it really means. Inspired by the employee who was fired after management reviewed 50 hours of his search history, the team got vulnerable and shared their own. Let’s just say, he might not be the only one heading for the unemployment line...
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Is it fits in with Katelyn podcast. The man has
been fired from his job after his bosses printed out
fifty hours worth of his online search history. Fifty hours.
That's a low blow, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
How can somebody be judged or called out for their
search history, especially dating back fifty hours.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, Josh had been working as a customer service administrator
for three months, so they went through They said, you know,
working from home. They had to question him, Josh, what
are you doing at home? Mate? So they've actually done
some research gone through it. His last few searches were
(00:46):
Simon Cow's botched botox, Pretty keen? Does turkey teeth hurt?
What's that's? I don't know what that means teeth?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Don't google it.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
He also said, look, I had a couple of sick
days and came up with some stupid excuses. What he's done, though,
josh silly move is that he has then gone on
to TikTok to say I got sacked today because of
this of my search history, and he was laughing. The
thing is now whip. Local businesses have seen the TikTok.
It's gone viral and now he can't get a job.
(01:21):
That's annoying.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Does he go into on his TikTok? Does he talk
about what's what else was on his search history? I mean,
there's nothing criminal there. He can't be sacked if the
if the boss is saying you simply weren't working, that's
one thing, But he can't be sacked on what his
history was.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You know what, We've got the open office in Nova
now they've taken all the walls out.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
The only thing with that.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
There's certain I feel for certain employees here because your
computer is right in the view of everybody else's and.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I'm always researching.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
If you do want to sneak in a quick simon
Cow's botch botox search, everyone's going to see it. And
there's certain areas of the building here where the bosses
are where I mean these people will our promotions department
are right outside the bosses door. I feel for them.
I mean Paul Vayer and Dylan.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And they're a fiend for searchers like this.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You know, I do not want to have a look
at what Dylan's been looking at. Tommy. What is the
company policy on search history? Can they do they have
the right to go through it? Are they all right,
I'm sure they do.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
They recently blocked us from accessing I think it was
ticket Master.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah. I tried to buy the tickets.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Buying too many Taylor Swift tickets.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, too much time trying to buy Taylor Swift teachers,
which is kind of ironic as they do that themselves. Tommy,
can we have a quick look at your search history
or should I just have a guess? Let me it'll go.
Kendall Jennet dua leaper, Kendall Jenner dual leaper, Kendall Jenner
dua leaper like black black black blank.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Oh, and we've got Ian here who has been working
in the military now for seventeen years.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Helloween on military.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Military dot com. Man, It's so no I've been lately.
For me, I just had a quick look. What I
googled one of the best songs by Savage Garden.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That's cute, right, What else have you got?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Whip?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Can you go to yours? Here? Here we're going back.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
How to buy a miniature cow, how to buy a
dog a King Shepherd.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I've also I've got some of Eminem's original rap battles.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Okay, that's good.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
That was a really good That was a good hour
that I wasted that day.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Where can I buy a La Boo Boo doll?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, he's one that I had to check out because
I saw a video with Sabrina Carpenter. Yeah, I actually
google does Chapel Roan stink?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So you could lose your job for that, mate. This
is the thing. You never know what's good? What about this?
What sort of oh what sort of glasses should a
man aged forty five be wearing?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Good?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
What?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Can?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Can you go to your last chat GPTs because you
you you you're the genius when it comes to AI.
Is there anything in there that you've been suching?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Let me see if I can get the history of
what it was.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
See. This is the thing, Like I mean, it says
a lot about you. You've got to have moments throughout
the day where you can go on and just look
for this stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
This INPT manpowered flying machines. What's coming up in the future?
How to change eats a dress?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You'd be looking to an invest in these companies as well?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Exactly what dog fertility? What else is on here? Best
coffee overview? How to die behind red Bull? Are you
going to get a Saint Bernard. Mate, this is there's
a bit. This is a big discussion in the whip
Flee family at the Huge Dog A lot of dog chat,
a lot of malting.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I mean, you will have hair and saliva all over
the house and you're the only one that usually does that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Fits in with Cape Bridgie podcast Swanny. We need to
talk about what gen Z and this is blown up
on TikTok, what they're into when it comes to making
sure they look busy around the office. It's called task masking.
Task masking.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Okay, great, I've got a pin out because I need
to learn from gen Z.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
They've got all the answers. Plus they've had a look
around and they will tell you they've got all the
answers as well. They've been told to come back into
the office. They don't want to come back into the office.
They don't understand why would I need to be in
the office when I can do it all from home.
So task masking is making sure that yes, okay, if
I'm in the office, I'm going to look busy, but
I'm not actually doing anything. They're all pretty standard.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, if you if you can learn that art and.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I see a lot of the exec team here at Nova.
The walk as.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Simple as walking around with a pad of paper. Yeah, gotcha, yep.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And that the modern day version of that swanny is
a laptop under the arm. Just tuck it under a wing,
walk the floors, say hello to a few people, keep
the chat short and keep moving on with your laptop
under your arm, and if we fine, love it.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Another one that I found in the office, if you
can get yourself one of those those phone receivers that
the microphone that comes out like Madonna.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I was going to say that you can get them.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
They're just like a little tiny piece and you put
it in here.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I don't even need to talk to anything.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You've got that in so too busy? Do you know
what I was trying to work out straight away? Can
you buy fake air buds so you could just put
them in your ears and then when someone goes to
talk to you go.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Sorry, I'm I'm just on the phone.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah you could people, I don't know whether you're you
could put a couple of cashews in your ears. No
one would pay.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
You're ready to task. Asking sits in Whippa with Kate
Ritchie is a Nova podcast walk. Great shows like this
download the Nova player, fire the app store or Google
playing the player
Is it fits in with Katelyn podcast. The man has
been fired from his job after his bosses printed out
fifty hours worth of his online search history. Fifty hours.
That's a low blow, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
How can somebody be judged or called out for their
search history, especially dating back fifty hours.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, Josh had been working as a customer service administrator
for three months, so they went through They said, you know,
working from home. They had to question him, Josh, what
are you doing at home? Mate? So they've actually done
some research gone through it. His last few searches were
(00:46):
Simon Cow's botched botox, Pretty keen? Does turkey teeth hurt?
What's that's? I don't know what that means teeth?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Don't google it.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
He also said, look, I had a couple of sick
days and came up with some stupid excuses. What he's done, though,
josh silly move is that he has then gone on
to TikTok to say I got sacked today because of
this of my search history, and he was laughing. The
thing is now whip. Local businesses have seen the TikTok.
It's gone viral and now he can't get a job.
(01:21):
That's annoying.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Does he go into on his TikTok? Does he talk
about what's what else was on his search history? I mean,
there's nothing criminal there. He can't be sacked if the
if the boss is saying you simply weren't working, that's
one thing, But he can't be sacked on what his
history was.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You know what, We've got the open office in Nova
now they've taken all the walls out.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
The only thing with that.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
There's certain I feel for certain employees here because your
computer is right in the view of everybody else's and.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I'm always researching.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
If you do want to sneak in a quick simon
Cow's botch botox search, everyone's going to see it. And
there's certain areas of the building here where the bosses
are where I mean these people will our promotions department
are right outside the bosses door. I feel for them.
I mean Paul Vayer and Dylan.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And they're a fiend for searchers like this.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You know, I do not want to have a look
at what Dylan's been looking at. Tommy. What is the
company policy on search history? Can they do they have
the right to go through it? Are they all right,
I'm sure they do.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
They recently blocked us from accessing I think it was
ticket Master.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah. I tried to buy the tickets.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Buying too many Taylor Swift tickets.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, too much time trying to buy Taylor Swift teachers,
which is kind of ironic as they do that themselves. Tommy,
can we have a quick look at your search history
or should I just have a guess? Let me it'll go.
Kendall Jennet dua leaper, Kendall Jenner dual leaper, Kendall Jenner
dua leaper like black black black blank.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Oh, and we've got Ian here who has been working
in the military now for seventeen years.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Helloween on military.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Military dot com. Man, It's so no I've been lately.
For me, I just had a quick look. What I
googled one of the best songs by Savage Garden.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
That's cute, right, What else have you got?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Whip?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Can you go to yours? Here? Here we're going back.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
How to buy a miniature cow, how to buy a
dog a King Shepherd.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I've also I've got some of Eminem's original rap battles.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Okay, that's good.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
That was a really good That was a good hour
that I wasted that day.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Where can I buy a La Boo Boo doll?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, he's one that I had to check out because
I saw a video with Sabrina Carpenter. Yeah, I actually
google does Chapel Roan stink?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So you could lose your job for that, mate. This
is the thing. You never know what's good? What about this?
What sort of oh what sort of glasses should a
man aged forty five be wearing?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Good?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
What?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Can?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Can you go to your last chat GPTs because you
you you you're the genius when it comes to AI.
Is there anything in there that you've been suching?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Let me see if I can get the history of
what it was.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
See. This is the thing, Like I mean, it says
a lot about you. You've got to have moments throughout
the day where you can go on and just look
for this stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
This INPT manpowered flying machines. What's coming up in the future?
How to change eats a dress?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You'd be looking to an invest in these companies as well?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Exactly what dog fertility? What else is on here? Best
coffee overview? How to die behind red Bull? Are you
going to get a Saint Bernard. Mate, this is there's
a bit. This is a big discussion in the whip
Flee family at the Huge Dog A lot of dog chat,
a lot of malting.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I mean, you will have hair and saliva all over
the house and you're the only one that usually does that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Fits in with Cape Bridgie podcast Swanny. We need to
talk about what gen Z and this is blown up
on TikTok, what they're into when it comes to making
sure they look busy around the office. It's called task masking.
Task masking.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Okay, great, I've got a pin out because I need
to learn from gen Z.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
They've got all the answers. Plus they've had a look
around and they will tell you they've got all the
answers as well. They've been told to come back into
the office. They don't want to come back into the office.
They don't understand why would I need to be in
the office when I can do it all from home.
So task masking is making sure that yes, okay, if
I'm in the office, I'm going to look busy, but
I'm not actually doing anything. They're all pretty standard.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, if you if you can learn that art and.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I see a lot of the exec team here at Nova.
The walk as.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Simple as walking around with a pad of paper. Yeah, gotcha, yep.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And that the modern day version of that swanny is
a laptop under the arm. Just tuck it under a wing,
walk the floors, say hello to a few people, keep
the chat short and keep moving on with your laptop
under your arm, and if we fine, love it.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Another one that I found in the office, if you
can get yourself one of those those phone receivers that
the microphone that comes out like Madonna.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I was going to say that you can get them.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
They're just like a little tiny piece and you put
it in here.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I don't even need to talk to anything.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You've got that in so too busy? Do you know
what I was trying to work out straight away? Can
you buy fake air buds so you could just put
them in your ears and then when someone goes to
talk to you go.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Sorry, I'm I'm just on the phone.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah you could people, I don't know whether you're you
could put a couple of cashews in your ears. No
one would pay.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
You're ready to task. Asking sits in Whippa with Kate
Ritchie is a Nova podcast walk. Great shows like this
download the Nova player, fire the app store or Google
playing the player
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