Key Fob Camera Experiment

[nothere]

This story is so off-the-wall that I would not consider posting it without a bit of corroborating evidence. I will say right up front that I made a number of mistakes with the key fob camera. The caps are barely legible. Oh well. Perhaps somebody here will find it entertaining. I guess that this is the appropriate venue.

A friend of mine gave me the key fob camera. He intended to use it to record sensitive meetings, but he could never get it to work properly. I charged it up and put it on my key ring, intending to give it a try. I'm really more interested in the key fob's audio recording capability. I recently had occasion to regret not becoming familiar with using the camera. When an opportunity practically jumps into your face...

A few weeks ago, I stopped at a Long John Silver/KFC for a late lunch. As I was picking up my food,four girls and a guy burst through the door, all speaking at near full volume. They were arguing about something that had recently occurred. The girls were about 18 or 19. They were fairly cute, but not beautiful. The guy was in his mid 20s. They were self-centered, inconsiderate, profane and very annoying. They were oblivious of everyone else around them. Three of the girls were wearing the shortest skirts and dresses that I'd ever seen in a fast food restaurant in the daylight. The fourth girl was wearing a more modest summer dress. I chose a seat at the end of an interior partition and near the door. I wanted to be far away from that noisy group.

As luck would have it, the only place available for the group of five was a just vacated high top table with tall movable stools, four feet from my table. While the guy waited for the food, one of the girls grabbed an unused stool from another table. Climbing up onto the tall stools required the girls to momentarily spread their legs. There was a conflict about the seating arrangement. The single male was the brother of the modest girl, but was dating one of the other girls. They spent about a minute playing their own version of musical chairs. Due to their shifting from seat to seat, everyone in the dining area could inventory the undergarments on three of the four girls. The fourth girl, in a salmon-colored mini dress, had not bothered to wear an undergarment to shield her shaven female parts.

The customers were mostly senior citizens or moms with kids. The woman sitting next to me, a grandmother who was with three young kids, murmured "Oh my God" under her breath. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and then urged the kids to quickly finish eating. Most of her urgency was inspired by the vocabulary of the girls. "What the fuck" seemed to be the phrase of the day.

When the food arrived, their argument continued. I was bemused by the subject matter. It was surreal. It seems that the girls were about to graduate from a trade school program where they were learning to be medical office workers. The brother had driven them from another town for a school-arranged job interview at a local hospital. He was angry. He had warned them before they left their hometown that the interviewer would not be impressed by their ultra short skirts. He was right. Only his sister listened. The girls did not even get to the interview stage. They were collectively rejected by the human resources representative when she saw them sitting in the lobby. Ms Modest was guilty by association. The HR lady told them to try again when they learned how to dress appropriately. The brother was upset about missing a day's pay to drive them, all for nothing. The girls were indignant about being unfairly rejected.

Ms No Panties, who had her back to me, was the most vocal. According to her, "that fat old b*tch wouldn't know "hot" if she was on fire. She should have been glad that four hot girls would consider working in her dumpy old hospital. So, she could see up our skirts in the lobby. Big fucking whoop, who the fuck cares? She's a fucking perv! Everybody knows that when you wear a stylish mini, your ass sticks out. So fucking what? What's that got to do with the job? Duh! Nothing! The old b*tch was just jealous". To the best of my recollection, I am quoting her verbatim. It was a remarkable speech, delivered at a high volume.

The brother asked if it bothered them that everyone in the dining area could look up their skirts. All four of the girls shrugged and said no. His sister said that she really didn't care when she was at school or at a party. Some of the guys at school would even tease her when she wore her sexy Victoria's. She knew for sure that at least one of her teachers liked peeking. It was no big deal. It wasn't like people would go blind or something. If it bothers you, look away. Looking at her brother, she added that their mother had paid for her shortest skirts. Mom thought that they were cute. Her mother advised her that, since she knew that her butt would be showing much of the time, she should always wear nice undies.

See what I mean? Surreal. It was not a typical mid-afternoon conversation at Long John's.

After a few minutes of conversation in the same vein, the brother shook his head and said "screw this." He grabbed what was left of his sandwich and stalked out of the restaurant. A minute later, the girl that he was dating followed him outside. The remaining three girls wondered what had upset the brother. The disgusted Grandma, shaking her head and with her lips pressed tightly together, ushered the three kids away from their table immediately after the brother departed.

Just before the brother left, I remembered the key fob camera. I really didn't care about the immature girls, but the situation was interesting. I casually removed my keys and phone from my coat pockets. Since I was only four feet away from the group, everything that I did was visible. I needed to be circumspect. Grandma's departure with the kids provided me with a little bit of cover.

After remembering how to turn on the camera, I placed it about a foot away from the table's edge. I lined it up with the only direct view. The girl wore a bright red mini skirt and a semi-sheer white thong with a wide lacy red elastic waist band. She probably intended the red trim to tastefully match her skirt. When she shifted on her stool, her skirt rode up so high that the skin above her waistband was visible from my seat. She had a frontal wedgie. It is amazing how much detail one can see from 7 feet away.

The restaurant manager suddenly appeared at the girl's table. He firmly told them to lower their voices, pull their skirts down, quickly finish eating and leave. Grandma had complained about the girl's language and their exposed crotches. To their credit, the girls looked embarrassed about being told to leave..

The girls were very quiet after the manager spoke to them. The public scolding had made them nervous. Before tugging her skirt down as requested, the girl in the red mini dislodged her wedgie by reaching between her legs and pulling on the material that was caught between her labia. A world class move. The girls left the table about two minutes later, leaving their unfinished food behind.

Unfortunately, from the table itself, the key fob was about level with the legs of Ms Modest. The camera's view up the red skirt was mostly blocked. Furthermore, the lens was facing a bright window glare. More window glare came from my left. Not good. The key fob's preset wide angle lens is very light sensitive. The table top occupies about 60% of the frame. Had I known about the wide angle perspective, I might have tried putting the key fob on top of my phone for elevation.

When Ms No Panties was leaving, she saw through a window that Grandma was talking to the brother in the parking lot. She went to a booth next to the window to peek out. Instead of sitting down on the booth seat, she leaned across the length of the table. She placed one knee on the bench seat to push herself forward. That caused her skirt to rise up, exposing her anus and the hairless adjacent fleshy bits. Ms Modest saw how exposed she was and ran over to block the view. She grabbed Ms No Panties' arm and practically dragged her out of the door. I tried to shift the key fob to capture the moment, but the angle was bad. Most of the video was of the ceiling, my hand and my cell phone.

I really goofed when I downloaded the video from the camera. It was very hard to see details due to the light conditions. I used some filters in VirtualDub to try to make it legible, and then saved it as an xvid avi. Another goof, I didn't reset the compression quality. Previously, I had severely compressed a family video for emailing. When I saw the finished product, I was ready to kick myself. The original poor quality was now virtually unwatchable. Compounding my mistake, I copied it over the original. This was not my best day as a either a cameraman or a video editor.

The few stills captured from the ruined video are not really worthy of posting. They just sort of illustrate the high points of my description of the events. There are no money shots or anything dramatic. While I normally resent people who scribble on pictures to belabor the obvious, I'm going to do it in this instance because of the poor quality. Now that I am more familiar with the characteristics of the camera, I'll know what to do in the future. Note: the date stamp is wrong on the pictures.

Based on the overheard conversation, there was not an overtly sexual motive for the girls' exhibition. Their main concern was peer approval for their stylish sexy clothes. Style will always trump taste

[bradmajors]

You tried your best with the camera, but at least gave us your thousand words to replace a picture. Great story! Normally stories about upskirts don't do much for me, but a situation where the upskirts are the topic of discussion seems much more intriguing. Hope the camera fob comes in handy later on for you!

[Fluffykins]

Very, very interesting.
But this is not a 'goof', it's a training exercise for next time!
I was thinking about getting a key fob cam, but I have enough trouble with a large conventional camera. Not sure I could get it in the right position and aim it correctly without . . . being arrested.

[jimbojeta1]

Well done mate.

I look forward to seeing and reading about any future experiences you have with this camera. I am also looking to see what quality you can actually get with such a cam. As it is something that i may want to buy in the future. But thanks for the attempt and the brilliant story.

[todd_cheese]

Unbelievable. And yet there is no doubt in my mind that these girls acted exactly as you described. My guess is it's the result of the look-at-me reality TV culture that's so prevalent in society today. (There I go again, sounding like the old man I'm slowly becoming. ) I wonder if they'd be the least bit embarrassed at seeing themselves online? Imagining not.

Sorry you missed out on being able to share the entire vid, but hopefully you've got it figured out for next time. Couple of questions: Does your device in fact record audio? And what brand/model is it? I've debated picking up something like this for the longest time but don't want to buy a piece of crap.

[4andy4]

keep trying, hope to see more

[nothere]

Originally Posted by todd_cheese

Couple of questions: Does your device in fact record audio? And what brand/model is it? I've debated picking up something like this for the longest time but don't want to buy a piece of crap.

The Key Fob audio capability is what interested me. I still do some freelance writing, and the key fob is unobtrusive and is not intimidating to interviewees. It does record audio very well in mp3 format. I tried it at a breakfast meeting last week. The people around our table were very clear. Interference from the ambient background noise could be a problem at certain loud events. but it clearly picked up everyone's voice at our meeting, along with the sound of forks hitting plates. I think that it is potentially a useful tool. By the way, it made a clear recording of the jelly dispensing rack.

I am not sure of the brand. It was a gift. I think the original owner paid around $15. There is no brand on the device.

[DRDavenport]

Originally Posted by nothere

The Key Fob audio capability is what interested me. I still do some freelance writing, and the key fob is unobtrusive and is not intimidating to interviewees. It does record audio very well in mp3 format. I tried it at a breakfast meeting last week. The people around our table were very clear. Interference from the ambient background noise could be a problem at certain loud events. but it clearly picked up everyone's voice at our meeting, along with the sound of forks hitting plates. I think that it is potentially a useful tool. By the way, it made a clear recording of the jelly dispensing rack.

You should be aware that local laws vary on the legality of recording conversations.Some require that all parties consent to be recorded. Not implying that you are doing anything more than making sure you get facts and quotes right, just thinking you should be aware.

DR

[nothere]

Originally Posted by DRDavenport

You should be aware that local laws vary on the legality of recording conversations.Some require that all parties consent to be recorded. Not implying that you are doing anything more than making sure you get facts and quotes right, just thinking you should be aware.

DR

I've been doing interviews for a long time. I ALWAYS inform the subject if I use a recording device. In fact, that is one of the first items that I mention on the record, given the legal ramifications that you mention. However, a small device like the key fob has a way of fading out of the subject's immediate consciousness, resulting in a more free flowing and candid conversation. I have never employed ambush tactics. Consequently, I've enjoyed the privilege of follow-up conversations without my integrity being an issue. I am not an admirer of "gotcha" journalism.

I should mention that most of my writing was sports related or was a specific freelance magazine assignment. I did not do political interviews where catching somebody abusing their position was an issue. The political assignments are where one would be tempted to use covert recording.

[ez2b0e]

a great story .. i wish i was there