Smells Like Humans
Top 5% global podcast! Smells Like Humans is a seasonal podcast dedicated to bringing a humorous perspective to quirky and curious aspects of human behavior. Each show, the SLH crew will focus on a different topic, and share personal stories and observations in a way that sounds like you’re hanging out with your funny friends. The stories and commentary are presented with humor and warmth, since let’s face it: we all smell like humans. (Contact us: contactSLH19581980@gmail.com)
Smells Like Humans
YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME
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Jaimee and Cohost Madeline join Ross to discuss old bosses. Tangents include: Naked "Jacuzz"; Bowling Balls; Gold's Gym; Rusty and Gil; Pin Monkeys; hernias; job interviews; Jabba the Hutt; Grade School Election Slogans; Frito fingernails. Real live boss names like "Rusty", "Gil" and "Thad" are mentioned.
Notes:
Contact us: contactSLH19581980@gmail.com
But then later in life, I had a boss who was um he was always wanting to be naked.
SPEAKER_04What? Yeah, let's return actually to the importance of unions.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to another episode of Smells Like Humans. This is the podcast where we explore the curious things that people do, the very human things that grab our attention and cause us to wonder what and why. I'm Ross, your host, and today my guest is one of my favorite people and someone who would make a great collectible action figure, Jamie. Hello, Jamie.
SPEAKER_06Hi Ross.
SPEAKER_02Glad to have you. And this week, our sparkling Iboo and Razor Sharp co-host is the fabulous Madeline. Hello, Madeline.
SPEAKER_05Hello, thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_02And welcome everyone. Please share our show. Let's grow our community. I know you can do it. I have confidence in you. Let's get started. One thing we know is just about everyone at some point will have a boss or even be a boss. But we also know that not everyone is good at being a boss or good at being bossed. And I'm wondering, Jamie. Yes. Have you ever had a boss that you just didn't necessarily see eye to eye with or just maybe didn't feel comfortable with?
SPEAKER_06Yes.
SPEAKER_02Tell me about it.
SPEAKER_06Okay. So uh when I was in high school and and for a few years after I graduated high school while I was going to college, um, I worked for Gold's Gym. Oh, okay. Yep. Um, and it was great. I worked there for a long time. Um, and I I was there long enough that I became a manager there. And they were opening up a new location, and when they open up new locations, they set up a trailer outside of where the location's gonna be, and they have people stay in there so people can come and buy memberships from you.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_06So it's super boring. Not a lot of people came into the trailer because who would think to do that really? Really? Right.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_06Um, but I had to work with the owner of Gold's Gym, the Utah franchise of Gold's Gym's son. Okay. Yes.
SPEAKER_05Oh.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Nepotism never ends.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. He was very like entitled and you know. Um, but also he was definitely on something. Oh boy. I'm not sure what it was. My guess is heroin because he would just be like he would just like nod off all the time while we were it was just me and him in this trailer sitting there. And he would just be constantly nodding off, or he would be biting off his fingernails. And I'm not talking about like biting your fingernails like a normal person, but he would like bite them down to where there were no fingernails. And there was no music playing, there was no background noise, it was just me. And this guy him crunching on his fingernails.
SPEAKER_02Snacking.
SPEAKER_06Horrible. Yeah. So we worked for a while.
SPEAKER_02Did you ever say anything to him? Like, hey man.
SPEAKER_06I didn't I was like a teenager, you know. I didn't really feel like I could. He was the owner's, not just like my boss's son, but like the owner's son, you know.
SPEAKER_02And it's the milieu you're presented with. Like this is the world that you're working in now.
SPEAKER_06Exactly. And also it was just like kind of known throughout all of the employees that this was like a thing, that everyone knew it. Right. Everyone was aware, his parents were aware, you know. And so we all just kind of dealt with it.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So one day I go to the trailer and I'm sitting at my desk and I'm waiting for him to show up. And I'm waiting and I'm waiting, and he doesn't show up. And it's been hours. And I'm not supposed to sell the memberships, I'm supposed to let him do it. I I could, you know, if someone called in sick. Anyways, I called um the owner and just let him know that he didn't show up for work that day. Chaz is not present. Yeah, he his name was Thad, actually. Oh my god, I was so close. Thad is Thad. Thad. Yeah. Wow. But he didn't come to work. I called him, I let him know that he didn't show up, and they went to his house and he was dead.
SPEAKER_05Oh no. What?
SPEAKER_06Horrible. Dead. Dead. Oh, yeah. And and he had like started a movie that morning. The movie was not over when they got there. So he had like just died.
SPEAKER_02Fresh dead.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What was the movie? Good question. Oh no. That's probably the wrong question. Like, was it a really bad movie? Like, how did he die from? Like a bad day new moment? Yeah, yeah, it was an overdose. I thought maybe it was the meat cute. He just I don't believe it. I'm out.
SPEAKER_06It was bananas. No, that's very startling.
SPEAKER_02I don't mean to make light of it. That's a lie. Let me start. I am making light of it, but I couldn't. That's what I'm saying. So, yes, so go back to you. So this happened, and then what? Were you thinking like, it's my trailer now?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, kind of. Like it was really sad, obviously. Yeah, yeah. But he was also just like such a like a mean, like b bad person. I I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but he was just a really, really bad boss. When I was working in the trailer, I had uh hernia. I got a hernia. Whoa. Whoa. Lifting fingernail clippings? Lifting all those heavy fingernail clippings. It was tedious work. Yeah. I'm sorry to hear about that. I had a hernia and I had to get surgery. Um it sucked. And I wasn't supposed to lift more than five pounds. That was the limit. That was the limit after surgery.
SPEAKER_02Big hoagie sandwich.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. But we had this big um A-frame sign that I was supposed to put out in the morning so.
SPEAKER_02But it was more than five pounds.
SPEAKER_06And it was full of sand to so it didn't blow away. I know. And I told old Thad that there's I can't like it. I physically can't. Like I might pop my stitches or whatever, but he lost his mind. He was so mad.
SPEAKER_02Wait, which one? Which boss?
SPEAKER_06Thad.
SPEAKER_02The fingernail. Okay. This is before handling. This is before. He was on haunting the trailer.
SPEAKER_06Right. Return of theft. Right. Revenge of theft. Yeah. He refused to just pick it up and put it outside himself. He called the he called his dad, the owner. Daddies! Daddies! And tried to get me fired for not putting out the A-frame sign in the mornings. I couldn't do it for it was the recovery time was like, I don't know, a couple weeks or something. You that I that he would have had to walk 30 feet to put a sign outside. He refused to do it. He wouldn't do it.
SPEAKER_05A thing about me you should know is that I get much more angry on behalf of other people than I do on behalf of myself. And I would just really like to murder someone for you. Right? Oh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna remember this.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You are moving to the top of my list.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. Call me, seriously.
SPEAKER_06This person was injust to me. Yeah. What?
SPEAKER_021-800.
SPEAKER_06The worst part was that his dad, when he called him, was actually going to fire me. No. Yes. And then I think they talked to my manager that's like a big thing. Well, I mean, that would have been illegal for one. Definitely. And that's what she told him. That's why I didn't get fired. But it was only because my manager like intervened and was like, you like legally cannot do that. But there was a brief moment they were like, well, I guess this is my last day of work because I can't move this. Wow. That's it was insane. Yeah. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Everybody out there dealing with that. I I feel for that. And to the extent that you can get out of those situations.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Get out of them.
SPEAKER_05Know your rights and stay in the job long enough to find another job.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Union! I was so stoked to not have to hear him chew it on his like corn chip fingernails anymore. It sounded like someone eating Fritos, you know. It was terrible. Yikes. So I got a new guy and yeah. It was better. It was way better.
SPEAKER_05I mean, that's good.
SPEAKER_06But yeah, it was a it was a crazy thing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I think it's fair to speak real of the dead.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Let's be real. Let's speak real of the dead. It's not great. Yeah. And he wasn't good at selling memberships either. There you go.
SPEAKER_02So it's yeah. Well, I mean, it would be distracting if you're going to sign up for a gym membership area.
SPEAKER_06It's like all sweaty and puffy and he keeps like nodding off.
SPEAKER_02It sounds like Jobba the Hut in a bad way.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Was there ever a good job of the hut?
SPEAKER_06Was there a good way?
SPEAKER_02Job of the Hut was always in a bad way.
SPEAKER_06Maybe when he was a kid.
unknownMaybe.
SPEAKER_06Oh, baby job. Baby Jaba. Baby Jaba.
SPEAKER_05The next Star Wars baby edition.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like Baby little earthworm. Before he started eating his feelings.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, um, Madeline, how about you? You I imagine you lived the charmed life and your boss has evolved. That's why you're here. We need the another point of view.
SPEAKER_05There we go. I've I've had some some weird or bad boss experiences. I haven't had a single boss that was just like horrible all the way around. I'm very lucky in that regard, but I've had I've had some some stuff. I had one one person hire me. Um, speaking of nepotism never ends well, this was, you know, tangential nepotism, but my friend's dad uh owned was a owner of and manager of uh bowling alley that I ended up working at and uh kind of got an easy in as needing a job because I had this friend to to vouch for me.
SPEAKER_02Um you got in at the bowling alley.
SPEAKER_05I had an I had an in at the bowling alley.
SPEAKER_02Were you a pin setter?
SPEAKER_05Uh I no. I had I would occasionally do them. I know where the reset button on the pin returns are or the ball returns are, uh, which uh the only usual people who go to a bowling alley who know where the ball return reset is are leak bowlers, and they're also the most entitled bowlers, so they're the only ones who would refuse to touch it. So it's this, you know, this this catch 22 of no one is ever gonna use the ball return reset.
SPEAKER_02Well, um just hold your space. Because in the old, old days, there were real humans that would be back there.
SPEAKER_05Aaron Powell Yes. Yeah. So there are automatic pin setters now, but there are still um people who are like technicians who take care of them when they get clogged and things. And I can fix some of the really basic stuff, but nothing more complicated than that.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell But you weren't a pin jockey sitting in the background at the front.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I was at the front checking people in, doing the tickets for the arcade. Yes, I cleaned a lot of shoes. It was a great job in a lot of ways, honestly. Really good people there. And I really did like um there was one person I worked with there though, who I did genuinely quite like as a person, but who also definitely was was involved in my hiring and definitely was like thought I was cute and was like, no, that's fine, so we'll we'll hire you. So like that had some weird energy around it. It ended up being fine, like I said, lovely person.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think a lot a lot of that goes on. I think a lot of people get to be bosses for the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh power trip. Sometimes it's uh um sometimes it's because of nepotism, but uh a lot of times it's because they're good at something, some aspect of the job, and so that there's this assumption, well, you're good at setting pins, you're a good pin monkey. Right. Maybe you should be in charge of the shoe department. Right. Or you should run this bowling alley, or you should be in charge. And they have no actual no Right.
SPEAKER_05Because management is its own skill.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and a lot of people, you know, if they're put into roles that they're not qualified to do, and then then they're doing all this strange sort of controlish behavior that is dysfunctional. And so it's not surprising that a lot of us run into uh people who are we have to report to who actually don't know what to do. I gotta say though, yeah, there was a time in my life. There's a dark chapter in my life. One of many where I actually had one of many. Why do you have to flavor it that way? Why can't it just be one dark chapter? There is a dark chapter where I had my own bowling ball.
SPEAKER_05Ooh, you were a league bowler.
SPEAKER_02I have never admitted this to anyone.
SPEAKER_05You were like those, there was this one guy who would always go, hey sweetheart. It was always hey, sweetheart. It was, hey sweetheart, we need a reset. I mean, you know where the button is. You're the only person who knows where the button is just press the button.
SPEAKER_02I was in high school and I did not say hey sweetheart. I was not smoking a cigar and I wasn't bald.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02I wasn't overweight or bald.
SPEAKER_06Exactly what I was picturing.
SPEAKER_05You're like two out of three there for real, though. There was no cigar. The rest of it was true though, yes. Hey, pin monkey. I mean, basically.
SPEAKER_02No. So it's a whole there's a whole sorted story of how I ended up a couple of months in a bowling league.
SPEAKER_01Yes. But I don't mean to put leagues in a bad light. I'm sure they're very fun.
SPEAKER_02It was fun, but it was just um it's like most people who know me would say, what? How did this happen? But you know, it's just a little sock hop for you. People are multidimensional. Just never forget that. You think you know a person, but you don't.
SPEAKER_06Then you find out they owned a bowling ball.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, owning a bowling ball.
SPEAKER_06I don't know you at all.
SPEAKER_02It had my initials.
SPEAKER_06I was gonna ask if you had your name etched. It's like an LL beam bowling ball.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was like an LL beam bowling ball. But here's the funny thing. So the funny thing, skipping all the weirdness of why I was doing it, so I actually won a trophy for high game of the season.
SPEAKER_05Do you remember what the score was?
SPEAKER_02248.
SPEAKER_05Of course you remember. That's quite good.
SPEAKER_02But so but when I joined this league, I because of just the weirdness of me, but I listened to older music at the time, and there was a group called Junior Walker and the All-Stars.
SPEAKER_05Oh, I know Junior Walker vaguely.
SPEAKER_02So Junior Walker and the All-Stars was the name of a group. So instead of signing up with my real name, I said my name is Junior Walker.
SPEAKER_05Oh my god, that's so good.
SPEAKER_02So, anyway, long story short, I win this trophy and they say, and we're high game. So I go up to get the trophy and it's j dot r dotwalker.
SPEAKER_07Oh my god, that's so good.
SPEAKER_05I worked at two different bowling alleys and had some interesting bosses at both.
SPEAKER_02I didn't understand what was wrong with the first boss at the bowling alley.
SPEAKER_05Just a little interested in me. Not in a creep not in enough of a way to be creepy, but just borderline.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I always I I have a low threshold for that. If there's even just a little creepy, I think it's creepy.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Totally. It got better, was the was the good part about it. Like if it had not gotten better, I would have left.
SPEAKER_02But so that was what was happening. I'm glad that you weren't overly creeped out. I'm I'm not a great employee anyway, because I always have my own ideas. I never want to do it the way I'm supposed to do it, and I'm just oppositional. So I I I I'm just putting that out there that I'm hard to manage.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02So I had one boss whose name was Rusty.
SPEAKER_05That's a good boss name.
SPEAKER_02You like that?
SPEAKER_05Classic boss name. Yeah, exactly. Like sitcom boss name.
SPEAKER_02Here's Rusty. Yeah. So Rusty was his management style was to keep poking at me until I flipped my my brain.
SPEAKER_08No.
SPEAKER_02So that that's when he knew that I'd gotten the message. So we would just go, hey, you gotta do this. Are you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it? Are you doing it now?
SPEAKER_05Stop checking in with me. You hired me for a reason. Trust me to do it.
SPEAKER_02Checking in with me. And he would just do that and do that and do that. And I finally flipped. So, long story short, I get pulled in in front of the big boss.
SPEAKER_05Ooh.
SPEAKER_02Gil.
SPEAKER_05Again, sitcom names. Gil and Rusty. Gil, Gil and Rusty.
SPEAKER_02Gil and Rusty. And Rusty loved Gil and Gil loved Rusty. Both of them. I wish them happiness together. Not like me. Gil was the big boss, and he was like Mr. Born-again Christian slash military slash.
SPEAKER_05So they probably were not actually dating then.
SPEAKER_02I would not put it anything past them.
SPEAKER_05Okay, who knows? Okay. I mean I don't I'm I don't mean to put people in boxes.
SPEAKER_02I'm all I'm all good with whatever they were doing, but neither one of them was having sex with this guy.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_01That's the real problem. That's the that's why I'm that's why I'm unhappy.
SPEAKER_02Nobody ever real boss wants to have sex with me. That's my problem. Um so Gil pulls me into his office, and it his he wants to, you know, you know, uh it's it's supposed to be a come to Jesus moment, and he wants me to understand that sometimes you just have to deal with your boss. That's his I was a younger person, and that was gonna be his his takeaway. So but he gives me this parable um where he says, uh, so when I was uh when I was a young, when I was a young buck, he didn't say that, but it was that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_05I was a young warthog. Yes.
SPEAKER_02When I was a young warthog, I had a boss, and if he didn't have the morning paper on his desk when he showed up for work, he would be just beside himself for the rest of the day.
SPEAKER_00Get a dog.
SPEAKER_02So, so this is a story he's telling me, and I'm like 20, whatever, and I'm hearing this and I'm listening to like where is this going? And he says, So, this other guy and me, we would trade off every day, getting up early, going to the place, having it on the boss's desk, you know, going getting the paper, having it on the boss's desk, even though it meant we had to get up early and blah, blah, blah, because the boss came in early, so we had to beat him to work. And he said, It was weird, but we just did it, you know, so we could all just, you know, have some peace. And so he tells you.
SPEAKER_05That doesn't sound like Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You you and I, Madeline, would have you it would have been great to have you there if somehow that was um metaphysically possible. Yeah. So, because in that moment I hear the story and he looks at me kind of like, get the point. And I say, at what point does somebody say this is dysfunctional? There you go.
SPEAKER_05There you go.
SPEAKER_02And he looked at me like that a dog was talking. It was like like, what? And in that moment, he realized that I had no, that I was never, never gonna fall in love, never gonna work out. Um, so yes, um, I did I did leave there. There was no.
SPEAKER_05Let's take a moment to talk about the importance of unions. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Unions! Unions! The importance of unions, people.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh, is that it? Is that all I did? No, that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_05I mean, shout out to Elbi Local5.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there you go. Um But then later in life, I had a boss who was um he was always wanting to be naked.
SPEAKER_04What? Yeah, let's return actually to the importance of unions.
SPEAKER_05Did you work at a strip club? No, yeah, I cannot think of actually any situation in which this would be appropriate.
SPEAKER_02Do you know, do you know the thing about strip clubs is that when I was I I remember the first time I ever went to one was I was 18, and when you're 18 in Southern California, you could get into a strip club. You couldn't drink theoretically, but you could get in. And my friend, who might even listen to this podcast, hi friend, got coupons from this like small newspaper in LA. I think it was called the Herald Examiner.
SPEAKER_05Paper coupons to a strip club.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so you gotta discount admission to like one or two different strip clubs, and we went. Oh man. And there's nothing more exciting than when you're 18 and going to a strip club, and there's nothing more depressing than being in a strip club.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're very dark and disturbing places to be. I always found them to be extremely depressing. Never stayed more than 10 minutes. I mean, I think we were always like 10 minutes, and we'd be like, let's get out of here. This is not a happy place. It's not a happy place. Now it might be different depending on who's doing the stripping, but back then it was just a depressing place to go. And I remember one place was called the cave.
SPEAKER_01Oh.
SPEAKER_02And we go in and it's dark in there. It's dark. You cannot see, you can see the stage, yeah, but it's dark. You can't see any people anywhere to sit. And this place was called the cave, and they had like fake rocks like made out of like fake, you know, like you know, whatever they were using to construct just to make it seem like it was a cave. So we're going in there and we can't see.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And the bouncer from the back sees us like blindly stumbling.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you're like, hey, you guys, take a seat. And we're like, so we climb up on these fake rocks and we're like clinging like we're on it, we're going caving or whatever the thing is, where you're like hanging from these rocks, and then the lights come off. The lights come off with the chairs, everybody. What are you doing? What the hell are you guys doing? We're up there like, hi, we're here to see some naked parts. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we got out of there.
SPEAKER_05Um anyway. So that's where your boss worked.
SPEAKER_02So no, I but I'm just saying, anyway, so um, so yeah, I had this one boss, Don, and it was always like, let's take a steam. Oh no. Let's take a jacuzzi. And he would talk like that. And it was always naked time. Let's take a steam. Let's go sit in the jacuzzi. You guys want a jacuzzi? I don't so uh one time. We're sitting in the naked jacuzzi. And it would almost uh not always always be me, there'd be other people. Huh? I think so. Cause it was like that's what every that's what everybody does here.
SPEAKER_05And when in Rome I have never experienced peer pressure to nudity in a workplace situation.
SPEAKER_02Well, uh, you need to like work some more places.
SPEAKER_01So um so we're sitting of a charmed life. We're we're sitting in the jacuzzi. The jacks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, and he's telling me he wants me to, he's gonna promote me to president of this small company. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, where's this going? So um so then he says, but there's gonna be time, times when you disagree with me. And and I'm because he's gonna be the the chairman of the company.
SPEAKER_05And when you do, I want you to point at me and go, jacoos.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that would have been great if he had said that. Because I could have done that.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, could have made that happen.
SPEAKER_02But he's but he said, You even if you disagree with me, you I need you to support me always.
SPEAKER_05No.
SPEAKER_02And so I said, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_05Good for you.
SPEAKER_02I can't do any of it. I can't do any more naked stuff. No, and I can't I I'd rather not.
SPEAKER_05I cannot be your naked president.
SPEAKER_02And again, and again, it was like the same thing. It was like Gil looking at me like, what? Like you're turning this down?
SPEAKER_08And it's like no, because there are 16 young men behind you who would be honored to be naked president and do everything I say.
SPEAKER_02That's right. There were 16 young naked men behind me. And they were ready to do anything, they were ready to do it all. When I was in uh I think it was second grade, maybe first grade, I decided I wanted to be president of the class.
SPEAKER_05I love it.
SPEAKER_02But when you're like seven years old, like for me, I didn't really have a great platform.
SPEAKER_05Right.
SPEAKER_02And my only slogan when I was going around trying to get people to line up to vote for me was I'll go easy on you. Where did I learn that?
SPEAKER_05Were you going hard on them before?
SPEAKER_02No, I wasn't president, but I was gonna be president and I'll go easy on you.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02And then I had like um, what do you call the guys that helped like campaign managers? I had so I had kids kind of like like uh on my side who were going around saying, You gotta vote for Ross. He'll go easy on you. And you could see the kids like thinking, like, what? I don't understand what does that mean. No one asked because we're only seven.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_02So we don't really and I don't I'm trying to figure out where did I even get that idea. I never no one ever used that in my life. No one ever went easy on me.
SPEAKER_01There was no going easy.
SPEAKER_02I did not win that election. And it's a good thing. Okay. I I I I don't know, I can't remember who I lost to, but they were much more qualified.
SPEAKER_05Gotcha.
SPEAKER_02And they were less threatening.
SPEAKER_05We didn't have seven-year-old Ross drunk with power.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I would have gone easy on them.
SPEAKER_05And I don't really think there was any power because it was like drunk on the city.
SPEAKER_02It was a Catholic school, so the the Irish nuns were always in control. Right. They weren't gonna give up much power. Right. But I'm pretty sure they were you know, the nun reported the results. How do we know? Right. There would definitely be.
SPEAKER_05Yes, your creativity, your too outside the box. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I don't know about that, but they definitely worried about me. We had like a talent show, and uh, we were gonna have a big school-wide talent show, and they had everyone do their act in front of uh the school. Scott and everyone, and in front of the nuns so they could see is this gonna be okay for prime time when we know.
SPEAKER_05Is this okay for Jesus?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02And for the parents and for our whole look of what we're trying to present here, which is a paramilitary operation. So I uh w did a comedy, you know, I'm now I'm in third grade, so I do I rec write a comedy routine with this other kid. So we have this comedy bit, we're doing a sketch, and the people liked it, but then I know the nuns didn't like it. And so they figured out a way. Uh they trumped up a reason to punish me, and my punishment, interestingly enough, was you can't be in the talent show. So I'm like, okay, I see how I see how it is. Mostly when you go to get a job, they always want to interview you, right? That's normal.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. That's a couple rounds sometimes.
SPEAKER_02Let's do a couple rounds of interviewing. Most people don't know that the interview does not predict job performance.
SPEAKER_07No.
SPEAKER_06But yeah, that doesn't surprise me. I can't attest. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, so I want to talk to you about that, but but it's it's the thing that managers, so-called managers, feel most confident in because they believe they're great at judging somebody in an interview and they're not. And there are all the reasons why that makes sense that an interview would not be predictive of future job performance. But why did you say I can attest?
SPEAKER_06Well, uh, I've been a manager several times, but I also currently own a barber shop and have employees and have had many employees over the years. We've been open for seven years now, so uh cycled through a few people, and everyone is always on their best behavior in the interview. They're always delightful and personable and say the right things and they don't show up with a bowling ball with their name on it. Uh the wrong name on it. Yeah. So uh I've had people that I've interviewed and really liked and was excited about, and then they started and I was like, oh no. Oh no, this is this is bad.
SPEAKER_02Right, right, right. Yeah. You can be charming in an interview.
SPEAKER_05Yes, there's something about being on your best behavior. There's something about it's I feel like it's kind of like with standardized testing where people talk about how standardized tests don't actually test the material, they test your ability to test take. And I think that's kind of true of interviews too. It doesn't actually determine what you're gonna do for the job, it determines how well you interview.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Everyone knows the right answers. Everyone knows what the interviewer wants to hear, and they're not gonna say And if you don't, you're not getting jobs, even if you would be really qualified and good for that.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_05Because just like being a manager is its own skill. Right. Interviewing is its own skill.
SPEAKER_02Right. So it's it's a perfect storm where you have people um who are good at interviewing and managers who are bad at evaluating their their they think they're good at judging character as if that's the only thing that matters.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_02And they're judging it in a very unrepresentative environment and under very narrow time constraints. So even if you do multiple interviews, you can still charm the pants off people, not to go back to the naked thing.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_02But you can still be charming. And if you have any sort of uh charisma or personality, you know, you're running a cult. You know, you're in charge. So it's easy to get through it. Um, and it's easy to impress people that way. And the things that predict best are things that are basically whatever your whatever the job is to actually give you something that's similar to the job you're gonna be doing and see how well you do it. Right. Yeah, job-based evaluation.
SPEAKER_05Yes. The last few interviews that I've had have all been at the company I'm currently working with at you know different levels for internal job postings, and they have all included some sort of practical portion, whether it's a you know, prepare this ahead of time and bring it in, or like we're gonna give you 10 minutes to look at X, Y, and Z.
SPEAKER_06Right. Yeah. I always do a formal interview and then a practical interview. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05That makes sense. Right, Barber. I could interview great at your barber shop, yeah, but do not put clippers in my hair.
SPEAKER_02Then she shows up with some hedge clippers and is like, next.
SPEAKER_05Uh-huh. Won't end well.
SPEAKER_02We do one cut here.
SPEAKER_05Right. Man, I've got pictures of when I was cutting my own bangs. It did not end well.
SPEAKER_02Oh, wow, that's brave. Uh to cut your own hair.
SPEAKER_05It was early, it was early pandemic days, you know, something had to be done. Those lawns were closed. It did not go well. Did not go well. Also important for interviews, being kemped. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah. If you show up unkempt and you're unkempt, then they're not going to want to kemp you.
SPEAKER_01No. Nope. I want to be more kemped. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Overkempt and underkempt.
SPEAKER_02I'm over how it's overkempt.
SPEAKER_05I don't do put together. I mean, I feel like you probably put together. It's situational, right? It's like to line up with the expectations of this social situation.
SPEAKER_06Wear a ball gown together. Overkemped for a situation.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, a ball gown. That would be that you would stand out.
SPEAKER_06That's true. They would remember you. That's true.
SPEAKER_02But I think that's the thing for interviews too. It's like sometimes if you're like going through a lot of interviews and you're not getting hired, it's like, I need to change this. Right.
SPEAKER_05Everyone's giving the same answers to the same questions. Yeah, I need to show up in a ballgown. A ball gown.
SPEAKER_02I need to be overkemped.
SPEAKER_05You need to be overkemped.
SPEAKER_02I should show up in a ball gown. You should.
SPEAKER_05You would be very memorable.
SPEAKER_02I know we get stuck in these situations where we feel like, ah, I can't.
SPEAKER_05Well then you're exhausted from work. So how do you job hunt when you're when you get home and you're just wiped from dealing with your terrible loss all day?
SPEAKER_02And like you feel also you you might feel, you know, financially at risk and you're like, I have to, you know.
SPEAKER_05You might be financially at risk. I mean, the reality of the situation might be that you are trapped. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And there's so many ways to feel trapped, even when you quote unquote are so-called making it, yeah, you can still feel trapped. There are lots and lots of people out there that feel trapped. And on the surface, they look like they got it going on and they got the car and the house and the whole thing or whatever they got going on, and you feel like, well, they're living it, but they even feel more trapped because their bills are insane to maintain the lifestyle. But anyway, I just always encourage people to the extent that you can liberate yourself from those situations, whenever they feel wrong, they're wrong. Yeah. You don't need to confirm it with anybody. You don't need to think about it. Your gut is always telling you when something's okay and when it's not okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there doesn't need to be a bigger reason. There doesn't need to be something you can point to on paper. It doesn't feel right.
SPEAKER_02And quit in your mind first. That's that's liberating to go like, okay, as soon as I can get out of here, I'm out of here. I'm looking now.
SPEAKER_05There's a great meme that everybody should look up that has a running skeleton on it that says uh if it's something about if it sucks, you can quit, hit the bricks. And it's got a whole list of things you can quit. It's delightful and charming, and you should just hang it on your wall when you are ready to quit something to just a little skeleton man to inspire you. If it sucks, hit the bricks. That's right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um, exactly. It's just so important, and I know that a lot of people struggle with that and they do feel like they can't. So quit in your mind first and then start planning your exit. Free your mind. Just doing that, just doing that, you'll start feeling more in control and better about a situation that you don't like. Yeah. Um, so please stay um, please try to spend as little time as possible in unpleasant work situations because it's not worth it.
SPEAKER_05If your boss does not respect you, they don't deserve your respect or your time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But they don't necessarily have to be murdered. I know that's where you want to go.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, well, if if it's someone else's, if it's if it's a friend's boss and and they're being a jerk, that's you know, if it's my boss and they're being a jerk, I'm just like, oh, this is probably fine. I should probably just deal with it. And then a friend says the exact same situation and I'm like, rampage.
SPEAKER_02That is really good to know. We'll take advantage of that. I will remember that. You are on call. You are on call.
SPEAKER_05Feel free.
SPEAKER_02And that's for everyone listening.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, absolutely. It's a service I provide. I will become enraged on your path.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. Uh, thank you both for spending some time with me today. It's been a delight. Oh, yeah. Thank everyone for listening, and please help us grow our community by sharing the show. You can follow us on Instagram. You can reach out to us on Instagram. Somebody did that recently and told me what they liked about the show. And that was really cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I love this.
SPEAKER_02So thanks all for being here, and we look forward to seeing you again. You can also support us on Patreon if you're feeling handy with the cash. We could use it. This costs money. And this beautiful recording studio that we're in, Portland Underground Studio, they think we're charming, but they ain't gonna do this for free. So if you can consider helping us through Patreon, we love that support as well. And we hope you will tune in to another episode because whether you are doing a naked jacuzzi with your boss or just someone sitting in a trailer, biting your fingernails, clean off! It's important to remember that we all smell like humans. Goodbye, everybody.