A
dance involving one
employee (short), a
security card ,
smart card or
security badge that can be
swiped at a distance from the
card reader and a secured door.
The dance is a simple one and involves no music and thus the participant has no need for any sense of rhythm , which is fortunate since the dance is normally danced by IT professionals who generally have no sense of rhythm anyways.
The basic requirements are as stated above but to fully enjoy the dance the security card must be attached to the waist area of the dancer, normally on a piece of string that is so short it is of little relevance or by a plastic clip that has the amazing ability to be too tight when the wearer is trying to remove it yet loose enough that it can fall off when the wearer is not looking.
The second essential ingredient is that the card reader should be fixed to the wall beside the security door at a height of around 6 inches above the point that the security badge is afixed to the waist of the employee. It should also be able to read the card at a short distance, that distance being any distance less than 6 inches.
Thus the dance begins as the employee approaches the security door and realises two things, that he cannot be bothered wrestling the security badge off his belt and that the card reader is too high up to read it from where it sits. To get through the door he must dance the dance. As he approaches the door he swerves gently toward the card reader, still some short distance away he is almost touching the wall. At the last moment, just as he is about to come parallel with the reader he does a slight hop or jump and pushes his hip up against the card reader, thus activating it and allowing him to open the door.
Varients exist wherein the card is not immediately read and the dancer must stand up on tip toe rubbing his hip toward the reader and waiting for the click off the lock going off.
Another commonly seen version is the 'spin, click, spin', where the dancer has the card on the opposite side to which the reader is placed as he makes his door approach. He must then 'spin' to approach backwards and hop up and get the 'click' and then swiftly 'spin' again to catch the now open door in time before the lock resets.
In any of its forms the Security Card Shuffle is a delight to all modern dance enthusiasts.