History Main / SurveillanceStationSlacker

* ''Film/WarGames''. Two U.S. Air Force officers are in a missile silo control room carrying out their standard routine - they're fairly bored and not expecting any problems. Suddenly there's an alert message from NORAD telling them to prepare to launch their missiles.

* ''Literature/TheSwordOfSaintFerdinand'': The armed sentinel posted at the walls of Malgarejo Castle tends to fall asleep during the night watch, and he will continue to sleep even after being woken up by a suspicious noise. It gets him killed when the main characters sneak up on him and put a bolt in his head.

In a variety of jobs, a person has to be watching out for something important, poised and waiting for a certain emergency situation. For example, a big satellite dish could be constantly listening for any signal, any sign of life from the stars. Or it could be some sort of asteroid early-warning system, or it could even be an inbound-missile warning system on a space station. And in movies and TV, at the other end of all that surveillance equipment is a tiny shack/room absolutely stacked with computer equipment, one integral computer screen, and the Surveillance Station Slacker. He's usually one guy (very rarely female) sat watching the readouts for weeks with absolutely nothing happening, in a state of utter boredom. Invariably this guy will be goofing off all day knowing that the screen will never bleep, eating pizza and watching a portable TV or something, and due to this is often portrayed as overweight.

If the computer screen DOES bleep all of a sudden, the alien signal IS picked up or whatever, the Slacker will quite often [[RedAlert panic and not know what to do]], maybe even having to refer to an old set of instructions for this eventuality. He might even ignore the signal, putting it down to a faulty system, and just turn back to the TV.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, [[MurderInc Assassin]] Miss Alice Band is explaining to a pupil that the new {{Magitek}}-based security systems promise to make life interesting for an Assassin, especially when you are carrying metal weapons and Security around the client is based on the metal-that-loves-iron. However, as she points out, the weak point in such systems will invariably be the human attendant supervising them who is resonsible for raising the alarm. And such people are generally bored, inattentive, paid very little, and are therefore not drawn from the best human material available - "You get what you pay for. When you pay pennies, you get the labour you deserve."

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In practice, Theo considered watching the calm basins, swinging pendulums, and trembling indicators one of the most boring jobs in the world. He wasn’t going to take a nap while he was on duty, but he also wasn’t going to stare at the hands moving across never-changing charts all the time. That would lead to him falling asleep for sure.\\
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''Now what’s this noise?''\\
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* Two examples from ''Anime/Interstella5555''. At the start, three Blueskin soldiers are too busy watching a concert to notice the BigBad landing troops, and near the end, the record company guards are too busy watching a soccer game to notice Octave sneaking in and attempting to steal back the group's memory discs.

-->'''Guard One:''' ''Hey!'' You can [[CountingSheep count sheep]] at home.
-->'''Guard Two:''' ''(unimpressed)'' Why? I get paid to count them here.
-->''(Guard One shakes his head in disgust and walks off. Camera pans down to show our heroes entering the building on the monitor)''

* ''VideoGame/TheDig'' opens with a cutscene showing a tracking station in Borneo, whose operator (Creator/SteveBlum, playing a SouthernFriedGenius) is on the phone to his "darlin'", explaining that the most interesting thing there is a day when it doesn't rain. Until an asteroid on a collision course with Earth shows up on his scope...

Subtrope of ProfessionalSlacker (people who are disengaged at work) and TheSlacker (people who make little effort). Often overlaps with RadarIsUseless, InsecurityCamera[=/=]UselessSecurityCamera, and TheGuardsMustBeCrazy, and they may be PlayingGamesAtWork.

Subtrope of ProfessionalSlacker (people who are disengaged at work) and TheSlacker (people who make little effort). Often overlaps with InsecurityCamera[=/=]UselessSecurityCamera and TheGuardsMustBeCrazy, and they may be PlayingGamesAtWork.

* Two examples from ''Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}''. At the start, three Blueskin soldiers are too busy watching a concert to notice the BigBad landing troops, and near the end, the record company guards are too busy watching a soccer game to notice Octave sneaking in and attempting to steal back the group's memory discs.

* Though averted earlier in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', once Syndrome leaves to carry out his EvilPlan his mooks are seen enjoying the havoc being inflicted by the giant robot on live television, instead of watching the security monitors showing that the Parr family have escaped their confinement.

* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Tony Stark calls out a SHIELD MissionControl op for playing ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}'' while on duty. The guy goes right back to playing the game after Tony leaves.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Contact}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/contact_2431.jpg]]]]

* ''Film/ACureForWellness''. A male nurse is supposed to be monitoring the protagonist Lockhart while he's in a sensory deprivation tank. A female nurse enters and exposes herself to him, so he's too busy engaging in ADateWithRosiePalms [[DistractedByTheSexy to notice]] that Lockhart is on the point of drowning.

Subtrope of Professional Slacker (people who are disengaged at work) and TheSlacker (people who make little effort). Often overlaps with InsecurityCamera[=/=]UselessSecurityCamera and TheGuardsMustBeCrazy, and they may be PlayingGamesAtWork.

Often overlaps with InsecurityCamera[=/=]UselessSecurityCamera and TheGuardsMustBeCrazy, and they may be PlayingGamesAtWork.

* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' CutawayGag from episode "The Thin White Line" revealed that Peter once worked security at Music/GeorgeHarrison's house. He was busy watching ''Series/CharlesInCharge'' and dismissed the sound of a window breaking as Harrison partying or something...on December 30, 1999, the night a crazed man broke in and stabbed Harrison over 40 times.

* An early ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' CutawayGag revealed that Peter once worked security at Music/GeorgeHarrison's house. He was busy watching ''Series/CharlesInCharge'' and dismissed the sound of a window breaking as Harrison partying or something... the night a crazed man broke in and stabbed Harrison over 40 times.

* ''Webcomic/{{TREVOR}}'': {{Downplayed}}; The security guard was getting ''just'' bored enough to open a porn tab on his computer, and thoughtlessly put his coffee cup in front of the footage for the live feed from the autopsy room. He [[SpitTake gets the shock of his life when he moves it to take a sip.]]

* In ''Literature/StanleyBagshawAndTheFourteenFootWheel'', young Stanley is beckoned into a wheel factory, and is given the task of pulling a lever when a clock reaches thirty-two. But he falls asleep, and the hands on the clock keep turning, past the red danger sign, until the machine goes bang, and a fourteen-foot wheel is produced.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode "[[Recap/RugratsS2E1ToyPalaceSandHo Toy Palace]]": Tommy and Chuckie decide to stay at the titular toy store overnight and sneak out of their strollers replacing themselves with plush dolls. Though the store has an elaborate security system complete with dozens of cameras, the security guard doesn't pay attention at all as he eats doughnuts and watches his portable TV. When Stu and Chas finally notice their sons are missing, they rush back to the store and explain the situation, but the security guard doesn't believe them because the store is equip with a movement-sensitive security system that would've detected the babies (which it did, and the only reason the guard didn't notice is because he was too distracted by his portable TV). Eventually, Stu and Chas see their sons on one of the security screens and as they rush out, the security guard takes a look at the monitors, and spits out his coffee in shock, then follows the dads out the door.

-->'''Guard One shakes his head in disgust and walks off. Camera pans down to show our heroes entering the Building on the monitor)''

* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''. A security guard tells off his colleague at the gatehouse for being half asleep at his post. [[spoiler:He becomes dead at his post when Trinity drops a motorcycle on top of him.]]

* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''. A security guard tells off his colleague who's watching the screens for being half asleep at his post. [[spoiler:He becomes dead at his post when Trinity drops a motorcycle on top of him.]]