HR BESTIES - HR Besties Happy Hour: Updates From Jamie and Taylor Swift

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Welcome to our first Happy Hour of Season six, Besties! Whew, this is one hell of a week. In this Happy Hour: Updates on Jamie's layoff story Taylor Swift and Life of a Showgirl Cringe Corporate speak on the New Heights podcast The four quadrants of workplace communication Checking in with our old friend Thomas J. Henry Leigh's dream Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you’re the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at ⁠https://www.hrbesties.com⁠. Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: ⁠https://www.hrbesties.com/about⁠.  We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don’t worry, we’ll have a hard stop! Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,  Leigh, Jamie & Ashley Follow Bestie Leigh! ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto⁠ ⁠https://www.hrmanifesto.com⁠ Follow Bestie Ashley! ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod⁠  ⁠https://www.instagram.com/managermethod⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/⁠ ⁠https://managermethod.com⁠ Follow Bestie Jamie! ⁠https://www.millennialmisery.com/⁠ Humorous Resources: ⁠Instagram⁠ • ⁠YouTube⁠ • ⁠Threads⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠X⁠ Millennial Misery: ⁠Instagram⁠ • ⁠Threads⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠X⁠ Horrendous HR: ⁠Instagram⁠ • ⁠Threads⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ Tune in to “HR Besties,” a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you’re in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every Wednesday and Friday, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's happy hour. Cheers. I'm ready for a drink. I don't know about y'all. Cheers. Of course, it's only hump day. That's okay. You can drink any day.

What the hell is going on? I'm looking at Jamie here. If you listen, and of course you did, you listen. to the first episode to kick off our fall season here. Jamie shared, unfortunately, a layoff story, right? So she's very vulnerable with all of us, but created some waves, didn't it, Jamie? I mean, what the fun?

So we're going to get some updates from Ms. Jackson today. Like, what has happened since we aired that episode? Yeah. I mean, I didn't know I'd have an update. Jamie, you want to fill us in? Go back and listen to our first episode. It was coping with job loss of the season. It was two Wednesdays ago.

I tell my layoff slash letting go slash firing story. And it's pretty wild. But essentially, I received a lot of comments, DMs, responses, emails, phone calls. from everyone saying that they've been in similar positions, like where their job was eliminated so their boss's friend or brother, son, cousin, uncle could get hired. So first, I just want to say, I hate that this is even a thing. I hate that numerous people have gone through this. And that sucks. And that's not right. And I don't understand why corporate is so cutthroat. Like, it doesn't make sense to me. Like, it doesn't need to be, you know? We're all just there to do a job.

hopefully to do a job well and then get a paycheck. But there was some developments, oddly enough, on my side. And honestly, I'm insanely proud of myself. And I was a little cunt. And excuse my language there, but I was a little cunty. And C word. C word. I know. I'm sorry. To everyone who hates it, it is a power word for me. And I don't use it often, but it is my power. So let me let me dive in so apparently that episode in my story got around at my job of course it did of course it did love that the way I would run to my text messages to fly that around apparently a lot like they should have just aired it in all hands and I think that's maybe why we're back on the top Apple business charts because the entire company that's true like what I appreciate that so

So needless to say, I heard some rumblings that I was a liar. And one thing you have to know about me, and I know these ladies know this, is I'm 100% me, 100% of the time. I am unfiltered. I usually don't give a fuck what you think of me, what I say. And I realize that that's not everyone's cup of tea. And I know that. But I am not a liar. That is one thing I can stand on my two feet and scream, I am not one to lie. And I don't have a reason to, frankly, because I'm just telling a story of my truth and how it happened. So I decided, you know, it's kind of ironic that I'm being called a liar. So let me get on the work computer that I still have access to. God, they're so dumb. Because I was working contracts still. They are so dumb to do that.

They hadn't used me in a while, but I still had access. So I logged on. I pulled up that email from April 7th that I had sent to the general counsel with my email that was in PDF, the unaltered, and the altered email that, that toxic boss, SVP of people, air quotes, had altered, and I sent it to the president. Who, you sent it to President Donald Trump? The president of the company. Of that broke-ass biz. Okay, got it.

And I C-Ced one of the partners at our, I guess, parent company, if you want to call that. It went without trying to give away too much information because, once again, I ain't trying to get sued, y'all. And I said, hey, should have probably sent you this back in April because I sent it to the general counsel. I said, but here you go. And by the way, if you could please get me a return shipping label and a return box for this laptop. That'd be great. Jamie just put her son Guts is on. So you still have the laptop, of course.

They haven't done shit. Of course. I still have it, actually, to the same. Go it in the garage. Yeah. So I'm to kid you not, y'all. Within five minutes, my access was gone. Because I, of course, went back to check.

My access was gone. But yet, I still have not received a return shipping label or box for my laptop. So since you all are listening, if you could go ahead and ship that to me so I can get this piece of ship think pad back to you, that'd be great. Thanks so much. Man. Stored in the garage until then. That's my pro tip. Fuck their laptop. Now, when you were thinking about who to send this to, what made you choose the president? Is that who called you a liar? Do you believe? I do believe that she was at the helm. And I do believe that she might not have been told about it. So she might have been saying I was a liar, or maybe she was the one who told them to alter. I don't know,

nor do I care. No, no. My point is, is I was definitely going to make sure that she knew I was not a liar. This did happen. And I have proved. And for all those asking, of course, I emailed myself those copies. Duh. You have all the receipts, all of the receipts. We've seen the receipts. Did you label them as Exhibit A? Exhibit A. C. I would have done the italics C, Exhibit A, you know, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Trust that that president was told you've resigned. Yeah, more than likely. And then that toxic boss, ex-toxic boss of yours, said, oh, I'm going to take this opportunity to upgrade with my friend, basically. Ooh, dirty. That's dirty work right there. Well, we've got some questions. So I do have some questions for you, Jamie. But one,

that people kept asking was, wait, hold on, please. Please say that a head of HR said that they altered. And it's not a resignation letter that you'd written. It was a letter that she had requested your last days. Like, you know, you're going to be gone. That's not your choice. So it's not a resignation, but like confirming your last day. But someone said, you're telling me a head of HR did not understand that her making those changes to your letter would impact your eligibility for unemployment. That's what she told me when she apologized. I mean, highly unlikely to me. I actually do think it's totally possible depending. And again, I don't know, I don't know, this person's background in those things. It's weak. But there are people that are put into

leadership roles. And people listening will know this. HR is one of them. There's plenty of others. Technology, marketing. I mean, there are people put into leadership roles that have never done the job. And you don't have to have, you know, you probably haven't done every job. And so it takes knowing things. But for those that are not in HR, it is a pretty basic thing to know that there's huge difference when it comes to unemployment if you lay someone off or whatever, you and their employment as an employer. And if they resign and not knowing that piece, that's like not one of those things of like, oh, Chief Technology Officer may not know this little, you know, technical. Like, that's basic as stuff. Well, and that's what I explained. It snowballed into so many other things.

I mean, yes, highly unethical to change someone's, I don't even want to call it a resignation letter, but essentially change someone's last day letter since you're firing me to a resignation. But the snowball effect that it marked me as voluntary term instead of involuntary, it then proceeded to, I would not be eligible for unemployment. I actually ended up not even electing unemployment. That's a completely different story. I just chose not to But yeah

I mean I feel as though As a senior leader Of people You should know what that affects Maybe I'm wrong But that's like the basic That's HR 101 fucking one That stuck out to me

But I could totally see it It just shows So those that are in senior leadership polls In HR if you're listening to the truck I did not know that In the US at least Just now you do So you've learned that

You've learned that Yeah Also, sit with your HRBP and learn some of the basic shit so you don't make a dumbass mistake like that. It still is just so odd to think of go and adjusting someone's letter. Like, she had to sit there at a computer and do that, and it's so weird. And it looked like it was from my email address. So when she went to forward it, she had to go into my email and backspace and remove a sentence and change it to, I resign. Y'all are such good people to think the best of others, because I really do not think she's incompetent.

I think she's a cruel-ass bitch. That's what I think. And she got what she wanted at whatever cost. And unfortunately, you have a third of leaders at that level who are narcissistic, says the research. I'm sure it's actually more because that's really hard to gauge. And there's like five different levels of narcissists, whatever. It's complicated, right? But basically there's a whole bunch of assholes that are very, very cutthroat leading organizations

because a lot of people are called to lead not because they actually give a shit about people, but because they give a shit about themselves. And that is just, oh, it's so detrimental to everyone else around them and who they are leading, you know, because you can feel when someone gives a shit about you or not, you know, and it hurts when someone doesn't care. But you look up to them as someone that should care. That's the thing. We look up to our leaders, whether we want to admit it or not, as people that should be doing the right thing, that should be ethical, right? And we just have all these examples all around us all the time, every day, everywhere, of the exact opposite.

And it hurts. And then it makes people never trust someone again. And when you have a leadership and an HR leadership role and someone that does something so unethical, so unethical. agree. It's unethical. It's a crime. I truly believe in my heart of hearts. She may not have known that that would impact unemployment. That level is incompetence, but the level of changing that to make herself look better, that is cruelty. So she can say to the president, oh, I talk to Jamie, I massaged. Yeah, she resigned. Whatever that conversation, she resigned. Like, she understands, we're good. She'll help us out, you know, da-da-da-da-da. However that went. But that happens,

and it absolutely shows why people mistrust. And HR is not immune to having people. people that only care about themselves and surrounding themselves with their friends and supporters. Let me ask you this, Jamie. Other people have said, we've gotten messages, plenty of comments on Spotify, what you can leave, is why didn't you have an attorney reach out? And again, not trying to get too much into your personal business, but to the extent you want to answer. Yeah, well, truthfully, and my own father asked me this question. Shout out, Dad.

Because he didn't even really know the story because I just didn't share it. But I did speak to a few lawyers. Ultimately, I decided I just wanted to walk away. Mentally, I was going through a lot more than I thought I was. And I just wanted to be away from the situation. I just wanted to run. And now looking back on it, I kind of wish that I had put up a bigger fight. But, hey, I have a fucking podcast.

Yeah. You have a platform. Yeah. I mean. And they are embarrassed and they should be. Yeah. Like I said, it's not on my LinkedIn. Y'all aren't going to find where I've worked.

It's funny. Someone even said, why don't you drop the podcast link into their glass door reviews? I don't actually even have to do that because the glass door reviews are so bad. They're already shooting themselves in the foot. So it's not even necessary. Do you have any idea how people reacted when they heard this podcast? I mean, no, not really. like you mean the people that heard it like your old co-workers did you hear from any of them yes but i don't

want to get anyone in trouble of course of course because i mean i think that's the other thing is the people that know me know that there's no reason for me to make up a story and i told a lot of people too because that was my last week i had told as many people as i could within the few days i was leaving because I was like, this is insane. And I need people to know how insane this is. So anyone who would listen, like, I had someone reach back out to me and they're like, why didn't you tell me? And I literally scrolled back up in the text, screenshot it and said, I did.

I literally sent you this on April 7th that I had been crying all day when I had found out. I'm like, I did tell you. That's the thing. Like, I was telling anyone who would listen because I wanted people to know how fucked up that was. And to be careful. Yeah. Right? I mean.

Yeah, because I mean, that person can't be trusted, especially not in HR. Do you ever wish that you had an HR legal bestie in your pocket? 650 is just that. Your trusted, always available ally for your employment law questions, minus the hefty price tag of a lawyer. Compliance may not be your favorite chore in HR. But it's important and it's hard. but 650 is here to make it easy. With 650, managing multi-state HR compliance is a breeze.

Their tools help you to understand complex state laws and craft compliant documents effortlessly, but also keep everything up to date automatically. They have a comprehensive, what's the law in this state library, to a 50-state employee handbook builder. 650 turns compliance into convenience. So, HR pros juggling multi-state teams

simplify your compliance today. Visit 650.com slash besties. That's S-I-X-F-F-T-Y dot com slash besties and discover how to stay ahead with 650's seamless solutions. Hungry now. Now. What about now?

Whenever it hits you, wherever you are, grab an O. Henry bar to satisfy your hunger with its delicious combination of big crunchy salty peanuts covered in creamy caramel and chewy fudge with a chocolatey coating swing by a gas station and get an o henry today oh hungry oh henry last week was some big news other big news which was the announcement of taylor swift's new album which is either big news or no news depending on who you are it's very little in the middle but i did uh i'll take credit slash blame, but on our H.R. Besties' Instagram stories, I did. If H.R. Besties were Taylor Swift songs, what would we be? And Jamie's was my favorite to make, which was Vigilante shit, which is

the perfect song for Jamie. Yeah. Yes. It's a good anthem. What I love Ashley is that when that album dropped or the New Heights podcast or whatever, like the Taylor Swift stuff, Ashley texts us in the Vesties group and it's like, okay, Legit question, like all of her questions aren't legit, but so that was funny. But legit question, are you all excited about the Taylor's With Albert or not? And Jamie said something like really political or whatever. Like, you know what I mean? Well, I'm not necessarily a fan, but it's interesting, whatever she said, right?

And I just said, no. I mean, just no. But I am an ally. I don't not like her. She's just like not someone I follow, but could I probably? sing all her songs because they come across and I've just memorized lyrics. Absolutely. I mean, you know, but I'd go to a concert for free, you know, but I'm an ally. I support you. Yeah, like, I like her. I like her. Like, I don't dislike her. Yeah, I don't not like her. I like her, yeah.

I love how she infiltrated the NFL and made the Brad's and Chad's pissed off. Like, go girl. Yeah. I own two of her albums. That's it. I, what, oh, I met her once in 2009. Wait, what? All right, rewind. Were you wearing business casual? Well, I met a lot of celebrities. Oh, okay. When I was working at Renaissance Nashville Hotel, I was the HR generalist there.

However, I was single and I had nothing better to do. So I also bartend. I picked up shift as a bartender there. And back in like the early, well, not the early 2000s, but like 2009, 2010, there wasn't a whole lot of large hotels in Nashville. That was different. That was different times. Right.

Yeah. And so we had a lot of any kind of who's who award ceremonies or bright. And one, she was performing at. And so where we filled up our bar carts were at the very back. And I was filling up my bar cart. And she walked by. And she was so freaking polite. And I knew who she was because I live in Nashville.

So of course I knew who she was. She wasn't what she is today, right? Like, billionaire. Now I'd probably run up to her and be like, girl. But she was beautiful and her hair was curly, long, blonde, curly hair. And she was the sweetest thing. And I actually met Garth Brooks that same night, too. And he was also very nice.

Was he Garth Brooks or was he Chris Gaines? Oh, God. No, he's not. I want to go through a unhinged era like that or I just have a fake persona. I'm just going to slap a goatee on. Who's that? Who said it? Yeah, no one recognizes you. No, he was, he was actually Garth Brooks that night. Jamie, I, if I had met Taylor Swift, the first two words of our podcast would not have been Lee saying toe-sucking.

It would have been, excuse me. I met Taylor Swift once. Well, but it's not like, it's, it's not that cool. You know what I mean? Like, not like Taylor Swift is going to remember meeting me. You know what I mean? Like, it was just, I happen to be filling up my bar cart. All of the artists were coming in the back way. And she literally, because I looked up and she was like, hi. She's tall. You would have to look up. Yeah. And she's gorgeous.

And she was like, hi, I'm Taylor. And I'm like, I know. But she was like so nice. And I will never forget that because, look, I've met a lot of celebrities and not all of them are nice. That sounded really. I mean, in Nashville, they hang out. Yeah. Like in New York or something.

It's a Nashville thing that you don't go up to them and say anything because so it's not like, Oh, I have so many celebrities. Like, I'm not friends with them. I just see, have seen them out. Because it's a small town, really. I mean, you know, it's a big small town. Yeah, Fayette Hill and Tim McGrath and Toys R Us before. Like, you just see these people out doing normal people things, you know, so.

Someone, you know, Beyonce just came through Atlanta a few weeks ago in the Cowboy Carter tour. And someone asked, they're like, oh, gosh, do you think she remembers that now 11 years ago when I met Beyonce and got to add. In your business, cash. in my business casual and told her she was an inspiration to working moms. I bet she doesn't because she probably hears a lot of lines. But I wonder if that one stuck out. Well, I'll never know. Beyonce holler, if you hear this podcast.

Yeah. Beyonce, let us know. We know you listen to the pod. Same thing with Taylor. Totally. Well, last week when Taylor was on the New Heights podcast, she said she's never been on a podcast before. And I was so taken aback by that.

Of course, I went to go search and there's a million podcasts. about her. She's not lying. Like Jamie, Taylor Swift is also not a liar. But, well, she's a Sagittarius, too. I don't see, I don't know what that means. Like, I know you all, like, oh. Lee and I are Sagittarius. I know. I just never, I never, I like play along. We're fiery as shit. See, I don't know what those things mean. I always, but people always talk about that. Coming from a Pisces. Yeah, I know. I know I'm a, I barely know I'm a Pisces. Wait, are you a Pisces? You are right. Okay. So, I don't know what that. Exactly. I like to eat goldfish. but she said she'd never been on a podcast, but during the podcast, and we watched it.

Our whole family watched it like the moon landing on YouTube, on the TV. And she said, she said the word insubordination, and she said, circle back. She said circle back. Yeah, she said circle back. And she was talking about places she traveled on the heiress tour and talked about Australia. So I really think she has a home here on the HR Besties podcast. So between Beyonce and Taylor, we have quite the list of guests that we've, extending invites to. She talks cringe like us, huh? Yes. Oh, celebrities are just like us. That's right. Oh, wow. How long was that

episode? Was it long? It was one of those things where I was still paying attention. I was kind of just, you know, you get frustrated when the family's not paying attention anymore and I'm trying to gather everybody back around, kind of lost everybody. I mean, it was a good hour and a half, hour 45. Oh, shit. Really? Yeah, Yeah, it was, it was longer than this episode, so. Wow. Oh, wow. But I think, wow, like, that is good news for podcasts, right? I mean, like, people are legit watching them.

She broke the internet with that shit. She announced that on a podcast, like. Smart. She's, dang. Clever as fuck, that one. Imagine transforming your life by unlocking the power of your mind. I'm Amy Morin. therapist and best-selling author, and I'm here to teach you how with my podcast,

Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin. With actionable strategies straight from my therapy office and wisdom from the world's leading experts, I'll equip you with the tools to conquer whatever challenges life throws your way. Whether you're overcoming mental health issues or aiming for peak performance, this podcast is your gateway to becoming mentally stronger. Subscribe to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, your journey to unlocking full potential starts here.

We have to have come up with some good things to announce live broadcast on the podcast. Just make some shit up. Yeah. I'm going to have Jimmy Johns for lunch. Oh my God. It's crazy. Let me show you. I actually did have Jimmy John for lunch today, too.

I did too. It's funny. Not sponsored by just FYI. No, not sponsored. I mean, they could if they want. Well, they did used to require non-competes of all their sandwich artists. And so as a former subway employee, What?

Yeah. Oh, shit. They did. I know it was all of them, but they actually entered into government. They got either sued or like an action brought against it because of that. And so like even in the FTC's non-compete rule that got struck down, the government loves to pop that as an example because it's ridiculous. That's insane.

So. Speaking of ridiculous, my God. Oh. So I did see something about Taylor Swift where someone was ranting. It must have been LinkedIn. I just assume, you know, it's like an off comment about how, oh, great, like now I'm going to have to hear about all this Taylor Swift shit at work, which. So, like, why don't you just, like, lean in and embrace that and be like, oh, so you like Taylor Swift? Oh, cool. Why? I mean, like, just use it as a conversation starter with the insane Swifties in your office. Maybe they will even ask you, well, who do you like? Right. You're going to. like a real conversation here, you know, and actually connect with others at work instead of be like, man, fuck these swifties at work, you know? Like, it was like this really dark comment.

I was like, damn, okay. Like, it's just a singer. Like, it's okay. I need to find that so I can be like, oh, okay, we get it. You hate women. No, literally. That's how I interpreted it. Well, yeah, that's how I would do. Okay, we get it. Really, there's a countdown clock somewhere there. Like one, there's a national debt countdown clock, but there's another one that's the number of minutes that leaders have spent talking about their golf round or their kids' little league games. And I'm just saying that clock is so big and so large if you just take a little of it and just give people. I did see some examples because I made some videos about this. I made videos like if your boss isn't a Swifty and you are, if you're a Swifty and your boss isn't, or if you are Swifty and your boss isn't, but as a golf fan, three questions you could ask. your boss and hopefully they in exchange. But I had comments of people that said, oh my gosh,

my boss started our meeting, who's not a Swifty, started the meeting and said, like, let's say, Jesse. Okay, Jesse, you have five minutes to tell us about Taylor Swift and the craziest Easter egg. Please, like, you're on the clock. Go for it. And she laughed and totally, I love that. That's what I said. It's, I recently came up with this leadership, this communication framework at work. And I made blog about it, videos about it. But I say there's going to four quadrants to communicate. at work, and a lot of people default into, as a leader in particular, only talking about the stuff that you're interested in or talking about the stuff that you're interested in that others are interested in, which is better than just you, but that means you're really focusing on like

a core group. But when you can shift your communication to focus on things that interest the other person that have nothing to do with you, it creates such a level of leadership at work and in life of like, just think about it. If somebody remembers something, and it really has nothing to do with them. So they're not chiming in, like, waiting to say, like, yeah, me too. Me too to your story. But when people do that and have a vested interest, it literally means the world. And so your people, whether it's a Taylor Swift thing, whether it's something else, take notes about the things that they like. You don't have to keep it all in your head like a super server at a restaurant. But if you do that and you remember that and ask people about things that interest them and keep that conversation focused on them, and just give them a little container to fill with their information, it's just like water in the desert. Yeah, I love that. And that's how, like, I was thinking about it, about how, wow, this is actually a really great opportunity for connection, you know, or inclusion at work.

God forbid, we pretend we care about others or just be interested in others, you know? But, like, what if you leaned into it that way? I have a funny chat GPT prompt that I'm going to put in our weekly newsletter, and I'm not going to hint it here. I'm writing it down so I don't forget. But that it will be that you can use for these type of situations if you're kind of struggling to find commonality, how you can do that, that will be memorable for your teams. You know what's so funny? Like we didn't pre-plan this conversation, but I just screenshot of this conversation of someone in my DMs that asked me, how do you handle a boss that shares TMI about their personal life? So it's kind of like what we're talking about how like sometimes those bad bosses in particular, like they only talk about the things they like.

or enjoy or whatever. And it's like, okay, they ask you no questions about yourself. And I was like, ooh, like what? Like I was curious, what's this boss talking about? Oh, he's always talking about the most random irrelevant stuff. Stories about his wife. His all rude. Stories about his wife, all irrelevant. His neighbors, his dog, his college parties, parties he went to at the Playboy mansion. Like that escalated so quickly. Yeah, it was like all these things seem like normal work conversations where's the TMI and then exactly you name it he's talked about it at this point and I just said well he sounds like a lonely narcissist but anyways that is so weird to okay talking about your dog okay great and do you have pets but then to be like hey have you also

been to a party at the playboy mansion let me tell you about my experience there that's really weird for the for the workplace just FYI have you been in the grotto? That's a bit cringe. I mean, right. That's a major ick shit right there. God, we got a long way to go, don't we? Yeah, for sure. So yeah, I totally welcome a Taylor Swift conversation. Yeah, it's nothing compared to, right. If you don't want Taylor, you could be doing a lot worse. Now, Lee, you had something you wanted to share. Oh, yes. Well, I had texted y'all that I had a dream with Ashley in it not too long ago. Hello. So if you've heard other episodes, sometimes I my dreams. I dream vividly every night. What's our guy's name? We even talked about him in months,

our best friend. Thomas J. Henry. Thomas J. Henry. I couldn't remember where the J. went in that name. Jay Thomas, Thomas J. What's he up to? Is he thrown any parties? Yeah, Thomas J. You know what? I lost track of him. I get the occasional commercials, but I don't know what he's up to. I don't know if he's planning a big birthday party or he's always planning some shit. So I don't know what the I just looked at the news. I just looked in the news. Again, I don't, I do not know him, but I was in Texas and I saw a commercial and I about lost it textingly. They're always on. And I'd never heard of this person. Now he's, now he's my whole personality. He has gifts on Instagram, remember? Oh, yeah. No, he's a thing. Yeah. He's like a billionaire from

lawyering. He put in, this is so good. Lee, I can't believe you don't know this. Have you heard about the arena? He wanted, he wanted. He wanted. He wanted. to put his name on an arena and made the biggest bid for an arena in the American Bank Center. Is that in Corpus Christi or San Antonio? Corpus Christi. It's going to go to a different, a different personal injury law firm, too. Hilliard Law. Do you know them? I don't know them. Yeah. But he's bigger. I don't know what happened. But he's not, I heard he's not happy about it. so justice for Thomas Jay he offered 20 million dollars to according to the according to MSN.com he pledged 20 million dollars to put his name on the building

oh that's wow yeah wow case you're wondering why Ashley's talking about Thomas Jay Henry I had a dream about him that he laid off a whole bunch of people or had me do it and then through a big carnival in the parking lot while I was doing layoffs. I was so rude. Well, and that legitimately is really rude. But yeah, I had a dream with you, Ashley. Okay. Okay. What was I? What was I doing? Did I get the naming rights to the arena? No, no, no. But it was really random because I was off doing something else. Then all of a sudden, I like came to like I was drugged or something. I came to in a pedicure chair.

And Ashley was giving me a pedicure. And, like, one foot was already done, I think, and she was, like, working the other one. And I'm just like, where am I? And I was like, where's my mom? Like, because I had been searching for my mom. And Ashley's like, oh, she flew to Brownsville, which she's never done. That's like in South Texas for work. Like, she flew down there for work.

Sorry, she didn't get a chance to tell you. Like, why does Ashley know that? and why is she giving me a pedicure? But it was weird because then like all of a sudden the pedicure was done and I look down. And well, one of the weird things is that my big toes were where my little toes were. So like that looks weird, right? Like my feet are like inverted. But my toes are dipped in red wax like a maker's mark bottle.

Like she had done that. I don't know if that was like that Kentucky part of her coming out on my feet or something. like it's a bourbon right what is it it's a whiskey i don't know it's something i don't drink but she did my toes and wax like and it was coming down like to my to my ankles on my big toe parts which of course was the outside instead of the inside on my feet it was weird man but it was just really in depth like that was like oh man like why did she drug me how did i end up there Like, why the maker's mark, Ashley? I don't know.

Why the red wax? But I feel like that could be a thing. Well, I know. You said that. And now I'm like, oh, that would be a... Expensive service. It would honestly look better for, like, you know, those people that have like the cute handwriting or they're good at doing manicures and pedicures.

That's not me. Sadly, it's not me. And so if I were to dip your feet in wax, it would come off looking better as if I tried to hand-painted and self. So you were lucky in that. But I do think it's a Kentucky aspect of it. And the bourbon thing is interesting because bourbon. So, like, bourbons are all whiskeys, but not all whiskeys are bourbons.

So it's, you know, it's kind of that complex thing. But I do, I am a Maker's Mark, a Maker's Mark fan. So I really support this dream. Aside from your toe misarrangement, I'll fix that. Isn't that weird? Like, it was just like, I mean, envision it. Look at your feet right now. And it was just like weird as hell.

And then like imagine like your big toe part, especially like all dip with that red wax. And it's like going to, I mean. And I'm like, your mom will. be back soon. Yeah. I mean, like, help. She's safely. Safely on that plane. Don't you worry about that. Oh, shit. So, yeah, we should market that service. That'd be pretty good. Yeah. I'm going to buy the domain for that, I think. Oh, jeez. Makers marks toes. I know. I bought some, I bought some new domains recently, but I haven't bought that one yet. Oh, my God. What'd you buy? Do you even know? Or are you just out of control? Wow. No, I know. I know. I know.

I remember one of them. I texted y'all because I was like, oh, I was out at dinner. Summer, and my kids were camp, this one's kids were at camp, and she was talking about all these things she was doing when her kids got back. And it was just a lot. And she's like, I think I need to stop caring as much because she's like, I care. Nobody else notices what I'm doing. And I care so much.

And she's like, my husband doesn't do any of this stuff. And we have pretty good dynamics in our house. I'll say that. But when she was talking, I said, you just need a mom like a man. And I said, whoa, wait a second. That has a nice ring to it. You need to, like, I had a ring, sounds like the thing. I'm not, you know, like I do, I get a wild hair and I go and buy the domain.

So yeah, I did buy that and shed and all the others. Did you buy a mom like a dad? No, because that's, that sounds a little problematic to me as I hear that. Mom like a dad. I don't know, maybe that's, I mean. Or dad like a mom or dad like a woman. I don't know. I just buy them all.

By the time you hear this. I just, square space, square space and go daddy. Again, go daddy, there's a reason you haven't seen those, you mean those Danica Patrick like GoDaddy commercials? I don't know how I remember those like from years ago. They don't need to do those because I keep them in business by every time I have a, you know, not even a glass of wine, just a thought. I go and go buy more domains.

How many do you have you think? Just 50 to 70, I'd say. Wow, that's intense. Shut the hell up. I was going to guess 30 as reaching. Mm-hmm. No, you have more. Yeah.

Oh, damn. That is cool. I mean, everyone collects something. What do you guys collect? Not domains, but I think that's unique. Thank you. It's an investment. And what?

It's not. It's useless IP. It has a potential for it. I think so. More than, like, should I collect? I collect rocks. I've always collected rocks from all over the world. Places I probably shouldn't have taken rocks.

It would be a crime for real. I won't even name them because I don't want governments to come after me. No. But I have a lot of stuff like that. Basically just stuff I steal, I collect. That's what basically that comes down. I steal stuff and collect. No, I'm kidding.

I don't do that. I don't just steal random shit. And then I collect makeup, man. I basically collect makeup. makeup, eye shadows, have all the palettes. I mean, I just covet, like, shiny things, pretty things, you know? I'm one of those. Those eyes, though, you have to with your...

Oh, thank you. That is an investment. See, yeah, like just a, like a browser or whatever, an IP. Jay? Memes. Oh, yeah, you collect memes. Like, that's all my phone is. And T-shirts, but I love, like, silly T-shirts.

Like, my T-shirt right now has a tatted up Marilyn Monroe. giving the middle finger like i love funky shirts weird t-shirts like those are like my favorite love that yeah yeah oh gosh what do you collect besties oh damn we'll get like toenails scabs oh wait like that one guy may he rest in peace remember in a story that was season one wasn't it yes yes oh gosh that is crinching Hi, I'm Tampson Fidel, journalist and author of How to Menopause and host of the Tampson Show, a weekly podcast with your roadmap to midlife and beyond. We cover it all, from dating to divorce, aging to ADHD, sleep to sex, brain health to body fat,

and even how perimenopause can affect your relationships, and trust me, it can. Each week, I sit down with doctors, experts, and leaders in longevity. For unfiltered conversations, pack with advice on everything from hormones to happiness. And of course, how to stay sane during what can be, well, let's face it, a pretty chaotic chapter of life. Think of us as your midlife survival guide. New episodes released every Wednesday. Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.