HR BESTIES - Questies for the Besties

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

Today’s agenda:  Ear licking (yes, ear licking) Cringe corporate speak: “Fun Fact" Hot topic: Answering Bestie Questions Most bizarre job interview experience Hiring based on social media Employee side hustle Questions/Comments  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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ear-licking. Here we go again. I know. Here we go again, right? But ear-licking. Oh, gosh. Did you know that you can get in trouble for things that you do outside of work by your employer?

Yeah. I, unfortunately. Did you know that, Ashley, the hair-curly attorney? I did employer? Yeah. I, I, unfortunately. Did you know that actually? I did. I did know that. But, but I'm curious how that ties into ear licking. Yeah, ear licking. Okay.

So imagine that you are at a bar having a happy hour with your team. And, you know, you're having a good time. Was I not? Yeah. See, so it's associated, right? With coworkers. With coworkers. With coworkers, that's right. There's no one else there with your party except your team.

And you're having a good time, and you're maybe an hour to win, right? So you're a little sloshy, right? You're feeling it. You're feeling good. And then people want to take a group photo. Wasn't that dumb? I was going to say sweet, but really, that's the dumbest

thing I've ever heard. That's the beginning of the party. Yeah. Yeah. But yes, that's the beginning. No, it's not, right? But evidence, right? Oh, sorry.

Evidence? That's just Jamie? I mean, I would be doing like happy hour evidence from the workplace, right? But during that photo, guess what happens? I have a... You can guess, right? Because I already kicked it off a little ear and ear was licked. A supervisor licked the ear of one of his employees, his team members. His former team member at this point. Correct. Somebody's either fleeing the job or

going to be fled. And he did a little ear swirl in there. It was an ear swirl. I was wondering what the position was and then where if it was just the tip of the ear. Like a bite. Was it a nibble? It wasn't a nibble. It was literally like a little like a circular like. Was that caught on picture? It was very close on the photo. It was like a live photo. Oh I know. This is back in the day a little bit.

I don't think those photos were moving. It was like a boomerang. We got you on live phone. I can't even see it. Could you imagine? I can and now I remember. Yeah, you can. Those are things we would investigate.

Oh, turn that photo on. Let me see it. Yeah. No, I think it was a little bit back in the day before our photos came to life. Wow. But could you imagine having a supervisor do that? Which were you in the situation?

Were you supervisor, Lee? Oh, no. Uh-uh. No, I'm not into that. Well, maybe I am Which were you in the situation? Were you supervisorly? Oh, no. Uh-uh. No, I'm not into that. Well, maybe I am. But not in the workplace. That's in state school. That's in state school.

I thought liberal arts school. That's not a liberal arts level of, we'll dip our toe or our ear in it. We'll try it out. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, of course, as these things go, as you start investigating, you realize, oh my gosh, so this is the workplace creeper.

Yeah, you know, the supervisors always doing creepy shit like this. What else can no one had ever shared anything because people do make the assumption I'm going to talk from my position as an HR leader that we know everything we do not we only know what you all share with us and that we see. Right. You know what I mean? Like we literally have to see it or you someone has to tell us and that we see. You know what I mean? We literally have to see it, or someone has to tell us about it, right?

We don't always get the rumor mill that so-and-so's a creeper down on the shop floor, believe it or not. They have to be comfortable too to share that information with us. Absolutely. Because there's always fear of retaliation, right? Because this was the supervisor who's doing the ear licking.

Exactly, it makes it that much more difficult a supervisor who's doing the ear licking. Exactly. It makes it that much more difficult. But let's go back to that moment. Did the person jump scare? What was the reaction in the moment of the person licking? I would have swung. Oh, yeah. No.

I mean, I think she took the photo. I think it was like a quick swish in the ear and then, you know, like we're taking the photo, you know, which is a gross exploitation of power right there. You know what I mean? She's like paralyzed right there. And I think, you know, she had shared with somebody else who then reports that and you know what I mean?

So then it kind of gets bubbled up and you start investigating and realize, well, this is the grossest person ever. Who's like going station to station out on the shop floor and like being uncomfortably close to people and, you know,fortably close to people and you know, like ghosts with the clay, you know, like Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore sort of shit. You know what I mean? They're not looking as pleased as Demi is in that situation. They have that like parallelized where you're like, well, what face do I have to make to not get fired? Yeah, and it's sad. I hate when those would pop, you know, I hate that shit.

I feel like you in your HR career have had this game of operation of the different body parts that you've had in some of these between toes. I know, there's more. I can't wait. I can't wait. But that's something. But that's probably the topic for some of these episodes, or things that happen outside of work that can't. People think that it's like the Harry Potter invisibility cloak of like, I'm out of the office. Yeah. I can't be held liable for this. I have First Amendment rights. This is a U.S. concept. I have First Amendment rights to do anything. And sometimes people get a shock. What does that have to do with you? When was it happy hour? And often I will say, I don't give a shit what you do outside the office. However, if you're doing it to your coworker and you're doing it non-consensually, and that person is your supervisor doing it, oh no, no, no.

I've had some issues with things people have done outside of the office that have nothing to do with coworkers, but that's for another episode. For now, I'm just, I'm literally like, I hate a wet willy. Maybe there are people that like that. And so I don't want to shame anybody. No, no, we're not. We're not. You do you.

You're just trying to fathom. But there's people that'll be like, oh my God, fuck. Yeah. Because when their supervisor does that, they're like, that is my ticket. And that's what they put in their back pocket. And that stays in their back pocket until something happens to them.

I've got a golden ticket. You've got a golden ticket, which is the performance issue. It's giving Wonka the golden ticket. Let me show you this photo of my supervisor licking my ear. And then that conversation changes very, very quickly. Or like use it as leverage. Like, I want a 25% raise. That's right. That is the golden ticket. And HR professionals are nodding and you are listening because you can think about those golden tickets get revealed and it's like the reverse, you know,

card. And it may not even be the person whose ear is licked that gets the golden ticket because if a co-worker sees that, it could be consensual that you're looking at a photo. There could be an affair there. Right? And now there's favoritism. And then a peer sees that, and they escalate that up too. Oh, something's going on with those two, and this isn't fair, and we got this. Oh my God. Right? All the things. Right? There's so many scenarios. But in this one, she did not appreciate the tongue in the ear. Imagine being the first person to ever send a payment over the internet. New things can be scary and crypto is no different. It's new, but like the internet, it's also revolutionary.

Making your first crypto trade feels easy with 24-7 support when you need it. Go to Kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Welcome everybody to season three, right? I mean, here we go. We're kicking it off by filming in San Antonio, Texas. Yeehaw! Yeah, there you go. That was a little weak, a little weak yeehaw. But it was like, yeehaw! It's more of a fold than a robust thoroughbred.

Dave Ramsey would not approve of more of a donkey than a thoroughbred this morning. But it was still cute. Well, we'll warm up. Yeah. But we were just commenting how much we love San Antonio and how beautiful it is here. Yes. Everything. The architecture, the streets, the trees.

The people. Oh my God, yeah, the people are amazing. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's so beautiful. Yeah, and I'm not just saying that because of course I'm biased because I'm born and raised here and all of that. It's absolutely stunning. Yeah, yeah, we love it.

We love it. Big fans come, definitely. I mean, it is a good, it's been a great place to visit. Yeah, we love it. And so hopefully we can come back and film here again. I'm getting ahead of myself because, you know, this is like episode one of season three. We're just now starting. But no, we do love the San Antonio.

So definitely come and visit if you haven't. That's my little, you know, for the Tourist Bureau, you know, my little stick. Jamie and I are relatively objective and we echo that. Yes. Oh, good. Okay, good. So we got five stars so far. That's good. What I'd love to do too is just run through the agenda for this episode, right? So we are going to get into some cringe corporate speak and Jamie's got that for us today, which is great. And the hot topic for this meeting is all the questies for the besties, right? So we get a lot of

questions from you all and we're so thankful for that and so we are gonna answer a few of those for you all today so you can learn a little more about us which is always fun and we can share a little more about us, which is always fun. And we can share a little more with you all. And then, of course, we end with some Qs and Cs. We transition into questions and comments. Sound good? Awesome. That's like a warm blanket.

When I hear the theme song come in and I press agenda, I feel right with the world. I'm still obsessed with our theme. I know. We picked a good one. Jamie, what you got? Well, yeah, I'll kick it off. So for our season three, first cringe, corporate speak is fun fat.

I just shuddered. Yeah. And let's be honest, this is typically heavily used by HR. It is. We are guilty. I'm totally, I'm not guilty. I'm guilty myself. I'm totally guilty. I'm not guilty.

I hate that shit. I personally hate it too. I get why we're doing it right. We're trying to like loosen up the crowd or the meeting or the all team, the all hands, whatever. And I get the point of it. But there are people that are introverted or who don't truly just don't want to share a fun fact. So it's, it can make it a little

awkward to start a meeting that way. Yeah, like that is a way. Oh, yeah. Like I, you said introverts, right? Well, I'm an introvert just FYI. I can play both sides though. I'm ambidextrous, personality-wise. I'm an actress. But anyways, it is, man, when someone says, we're going to go around the table, everyone give a fun fact. I mean, inside, I'm destroyed. Oh, even myself. I need a pill. If I'm not the one asking the question, I'm panicking.

I'm panicking. I revert back to seven-year-old Jamie counting paragraphs of which I'm going to read next and up for the class. Making sure you know how to pronounce the words. I know. I'm definitely guilty of it, but also guilty not even saying as much as like, I love it because I love to learn information about other people. But I think it's like that cringe that you look and people are like, what the fuck? Not a good fact, it's not a fun fact. It's like, I like this fact.

And so it is that. And so I'd done an interview with Carla Miller from the Washington Post, who's great. And we had talked about this. And I had said in this interview, like someone literally said that to me. we were going to have like an icebreaker meeting. She's like, can we not have these? Like, it makes me very uncomfortable. And I was like, oh my God, I'm really glad you told me that. And like, it just opened my

eyes on that. And again, I felt like I was vulnerable and I just think it's important for people to speak up and say when they change the comments section, like, oh my God, people are like, you dumb ass bitch. Of course people don't like that. And I'm like, okay, I understand. I remember reading. I know there's, yeah, there's this, I thought comments section on social media or something, comments section on news articles are a whole other ball of things. But I just think it's, it's, it's just one of those lessons that it's so important for

anybody. And sometimes you're not a leader quote unquote, you're not managing people, but as a colleague, you may do certain things. And just recognizing one of the great things about work is that it's one of the very few places in life that you actually do encounter people very different from you. And you can kind of curate your social media, your friends, marginal your family, but just recognizing what's comfortable isn't comfortable to others. And for me, that's been something that I've loved is when people do open up and share. And sometimes you may learn that, but you learn that when they're comfortable

and as they're comfortable sharing. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck your fun facts. Make them optional. Just make everything optional. I started doing at one company that I worked at, we would always have an HR department-wide all-hands meeting and we'd always do an icebreaker. And so I found that if I was presenting the icebreaker fun fact for that, I would give it to people like a day in advance. Have them submit it. And it seemed to help and there was better engagement and better responses. And sometimes people brought like show and tell with their fun fun.

But still, I understand. Like I said, I even get anxiety when it's asked of me and I wasn't prepared. I'm like, fuck, I gotta think of something good. Well, that's probably that. It's more that, right? Yeah. It's my idea. Right? Yeah. What's interesting? Like, what did I see? The best thing is this is why I moved to Australia.

I didn't move to Australia for my family, for my, for my, my, just for your fun fact. Yeah, just exactly. So I could come back. I could come back. Yes. Yes. That was, that was it. That was the, that was the only reason really I didn't, you know, the whole time I'm there and collected go to it. She can have a fun fact. Yes, yes, that was it. That was the only reason really.

I didn't, you know, the whole time I'm there and collected things. So, oh, well, fun fact. Oh, tell me about something there. Well, I have a list of 10 of them I created so that I have, that's it. That's the whole reason. Oh, there we go.

Australia. Yeah, that's pretty good. So that's your fun fact then? It's my go-to, obviously. Obviously. And the problem is that people know that then I have to go deep and think, well, what story could I share from Australia? But it's a fun fact. People

from Australia probably don't think living in America is a fun fact because we're not as fun as Australians are. But yeah, I have a go-to fun fact. Or like, that's why I do unusual things. I went to clown camp. I'm sorry, what? What? would you say clown camp? Well, I went to I went to educational camp and it included I took a math course and a clown course. And this is why I don't have these stories about state school and being adventurous personally. Wait, hold on. In college, you went to middle school. Oh, OK. OK. OK. A little bit better. But anyway, so I have but the things like that, you can say that. And I would think that's fun. And they're going to be everybody else in the meeting is going to be like, fucking just another thing of this complete weirdo. Yeah, that's it.

There you go. You could just have a meeting of just all your fun facts. Yeah. But that's when you do unusual things, that can be helpful. So what do you, what's your guys? That's what I'm going to say. Well, that can be the first question then of the quest for the besties then we can go around and we can start with a fun fact piggyback off the cringe corporate speak. I don't like have a go to one like I don't always switch it up. But like I'll say something really stupid and generic to like, But like, I'll say something really stupid and generic to like, Halloween is my favorite holiday. Or, you know, I like keep it very basic and simple.

When I respond to a fun fact, like what fun fact about you? Yeah, I always my my go to because I do have like, kind of a go to is, I'm the only only child on both sides of our family that we can trace back for like eight generations. Oh, that's pretty wild. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Cause I come from a massive family. My dad's one of 11, mom's one of seven. And so, and then they're, you know, they're big, you know,

my grandpa, lots of kids, lots of kids, lots of, yeah, yeah. So just a bunch of bunnies, you know, in my family tree, you know, except my parents. And now I don't really want to talk about that. Because that's kind of crunchy. I know, exactly. I was like, OK, that's gross. Well, it's awesome.

The game is like two truths and a lie when people play that. And so I've already told my fun fact, but I'll say this. This was like, again, my first job out of college, I've spoken about sometimes with cold calling and my email. The FUPA. But we once had a happy hour and it was two truths and a lie. But so the manager, it was like, you know, hours into it, thank God, no tongue-licking, but the manager was reading them and she was like,

what? I once drank two gallons of milk out of a tuba. And they're like, is that right? And they're like, no, it's true. But they made him up. There's a guy on the team that was a bit stiff. And so these people made up. Somehow you get tribute names. And so these people on the team made up. And she's like, what? And said the person's name. He's like, I didn't do that. But he was very stiff.

And so other people on the team as a prank made up facts. And that read for him. That gives me bully vibes. It was like, I think that's just now. That's kind of negative. I'm like, I'm not angry. That makes me a little uncomfy. You thought it was cute, but now we're like, gross.

I remember it because I remember being funny. Well, he was also in like a position of authority. And so he was like, it would be, you know, a slightly different with the power dynamics, but I remember he was just different. The things they made up were like wild and crazy. I would love to know if anyone has actually drank two gallons of milk out of a tube.

Well, don't do that now. I know messages that you have. Do you have it on video? But I remember that, laughing.. Again, we'd have a number of drinks at the time, so it was funny. People listening were probably driving me into work and they're like, that's strange. Oh gosh. Well, I think that's a wonderful transition into more questions. Yeah, transition away from this. We're going to parking lot. Let's parking lot that one. That one's good. But But you know, we do receive a lot of questions from you all, which are fantastic. And so we wanted to answer some of those for you all today.

The first one that I have here from the question bank, I literally called it that, share your most bizarre job interview experience you've encountered as an HR professional. And I guess that could be you interviewing or you interviewing somebody else. What do you all think? Do you have one? I have one. I have one. I was interviewing, but this was not in HR. This was legal. And this is when I was in legal and living in Australia in the company I was interviewing with knew I lived in Australia. And they scheduled my interviews that started around like 11 30pm midnight, my time and

continued on till 3 30 in the morning. My time and I got the schedule and I was like, hey, just wanted to confirm local data. Yeah, we know if you can make it work. This is when these people can make and they're very busy. And so again, this is why we talk about the interview feels like a prize. And so my dumb ass, what do I do? I stay up and I put on the blazer. I go out in my kitchen again, tell everybody, tell my tell you and tell me kids, if you guys have a bedroom, you know, go to daddy because mommy's got important important interview. What the fuck is wrong with me? Oh man. That's brutal. Yeah. I was, I remember taking off the blazer, climbing in a bed, trying

to get a couple hours of sleep before I woke up and did my real job. So I've shared a lot of these on my TikTok, you know, like the firing squad interviews. I mean, there's all sorts of different things that my dumb ass has done too, you know, but I had one very similar, which I was interviewing for a role with a startup, so like anything goes. And it was like on a Friday and they wanted me to sit there going back to back, like 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. no bathroom breaks, hour interviews. And I was like, can we break these up a little bit?

Like I kept asking, well, no, right? This is just when everyone's available and they're way more important than you. Right. That's basically what they're saying. Like, fuck your candidate experience. It doesn't matter. Wear a diaper that works for that ass. Well, didn't work out well, but that ass works across the country. Do it. Wear a diaper. For sure. But the first one, like each interview was very interesting. Like someone took their interview with me while on a boat with her dog and her lap. But one of them, we were having the interview and because you said tuba, I'll share this one. I still need to do a TikTok on this one because this is some, this is some shit. But I'm having it and he's

like in a den and I can see off, you know, I'm being distracted by a younger male, which I'm assuming is a son like over here here in the living room through some French doors. And the person I'm interviewing with, he's talking, he's asking me questions, but I'm watching this kid over here. And then all of a sudden, this kid pulls out a trombone. No shit. And he's getting a trombone prepared. He's practicing. I see him put a stand together. And I'm still trying to concentrate, but I'm kind of looking off this way. And I'm like, oh shit, this is what's going to happen here. And I'm still trying to concentrate, but I'm kind of looking off this way and I'm like, oh shit, like this is what's gonna happen here.

And I'm literally answering a question and all of a sudden, he starts practicing, he starts tromboning, right? And it's like, I jumped, I literally fell off my chair. I fell off my chair in the interview and I had to like recover myself back to the seat. The dad like, like he freaked out, he starts cussing at the kid. I'm watching all of this after I recovered from the floor because trombones are loud.

It was so scary. I was like, so scary. He's over there having a fight with this kid and then he's slamming the French doors. He comes back and it's like, my heart is racing. Like, I mean, I'm like shaking because it was so loud in my ear, you know? Like, cause I was like, oh my gosh, you know? But I don't know if he puts milk in it or not. Like, I don't know if he drinks milk out of the trombone, you know, but that was some shit. So that was the first of like five back to back interviews on a Friday where I'm wearing, you know,

spandex on the bottom. It's a party downstairs. The human mullet. It's the professional mullet. Yeah, it's the human professional mullet with the blazer upstairs. I think I was racking my brain while y'all were talking. It's like a typical meeting. You know, you guys waiting.

You're reading. You weren't listening to us at all. That's right. I know. Well, no, I was. I was. And one of, something that I found very odd, so I was first out of college and I was looking for a job and there was a staffing agency because of course my degree was in human resources,

a staffing agency and they were very interested in hiring me and I was very hesitant because that's not really where I wanted to start my career. Not that that's a bad thing, that's just not what I wanted to do. And the guy was like, so I interviewed, but he wasn't gonna make me an offer until if I came in the next day, and I worked a day for him. Remember, I'm like, what, 22?

I know. Taking full advantage of me coming in, working the next day, and he goes, oh, well, it's so-and-so's birthday in the agency, we're gonna have cake. Like, that was my incentive to come in. Ooh, cake, wow. And so, of course, I'm on the phone with him, and so's birthday in the agency, we're going to have cake. Like that was my incentive to come. Oh, wow.

And so of course I'm on the phone with him and I'm like, okay, what time do you want me there? And I'm like writing all this stuff down and I'm, and I'm thinking, okay, this is, this is my job out of college. And like, this is, and I'm like, I don't want cake that bad. Yeah. And I don't, I didn't want that job. And I'm glad that I didn't because I ended up getting the benefits assistant job with. And I haven't mentioned where it was on the podcast, but it was Tractor Supply Company. And I always shout them out, but they're such a good brand and great company to work for. But I'm glad.

Yeah. I'm so glad that I did not take that staffing agency job or get free cake. So you didn't go. No, I didn't go? No. I did. I wrote him an email the next day and I was like, thanks, but no thanks. Because I do think we get that sometimes. You're like, I had cake for breakfast.

Yeah, I can buy my own fucking cake. One of the things sometimes that actually better innovations is people or whatever uses of social media is people recording these experiences, recording or talking about them. And so I just saw one of someone that was like, I ended an interview after 60 seconds because of all these things they were surprised about. They were completely inconsistent. But one of the things is how you phrase that. And so I think people taking that and saying,

whether you say things like, this isn't going to work for me, if you feel more comfortable, not telling them straight up, sometimes you've got to do that. But saying candidly, these are pretty unrealistic expectations that make me not interested in continuing further in the process. Like I love when people can clearly communicate that and take themselves out and take that power, take that power back. But honestly, thank God for social media and us like speaking about how don't do a free

eight hour day of work. For real. Because at 22, I didn't know that. But I knew that I didn't want to be with that company regardless, but you know. And business owners don't do that. Don't require that. That is going to set you up.

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As HR. I mean, like I would definitely hire like an Ashley, right? Because she is professional and knowledgeable in her approach on socials. Whereas me, I'm like cussing and picking my work laptop and giving negative energy. So like you wouldn't think that you'd want to hire me, right? I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying on that. See, I think people think employers are really looking at their socials.

I've never looked at someone's socials. Oh, yeah. Me neither. Now, I have had think employers are really looking at their socials. I've never looked at someone's socials. Now, I think I had. Oh, yeah. Well, y'all are crazy. We've established that. Like, I'll pass on candidates and the hiring manager will be like, well, on their social media.

Right. Why the fuck did you check their social media? On their social, they're chugging milk out of a tuba. What the fuck? What the fuck? I find the people that check social media the most to be hiring managers. And that means the people that are hiring for the role. So the sales manager, I find it's those people that actually tend to go deep.

And then it's HR in smaller organizations where they, and at times that's because as HR, you're often in a smaller organization, have HR recruiting, all of that. And the CEO is expecting you to bring in those candidates. And so that pressure can lead people to go to inappropriate places. I'm trying to think. I don't. I'm all grammar. They're grammar and a social profile. I don't know. I've never looked at somebody's social before hiring them. Just personally. You know what I mean?

Like if I was hiring for someone for my social brands, I think it'd be different, right? Like I'd want to see what- Oh yeah. I look at LinkedIn. I've looked at LinkedIn on a number of occasions. I don't even usually look at their LinkedIn. I do. I do.

I think LinkedIn's bullshit. Well, that's also part of LinkedIn. It tells you a lot. It tells you a lot. There's a deficit on that. Yeah. But I do. But I tend to look at their, I tend to look at people's, people's LinkedIn.

But I frequently been in the position of people bringing things to me and I have that conversation. Oh yeah, same. Okay. And I'm like, why the fuck were you looking? Like we haven't even hired this person. Exactly. You can't. I haven't even interviewed them yet. I'm like, I thought you were so busy that you don't have time to do work.

That's why. Yeah, I know. But yeah, you're checking in. Okay. You know, and it's funny because I guess about two years ago on TikTok, I kind of got in a pissing match with a woman who said that employers are checking socials. And I'm not saying that it's not happening, but I can say in my 21 years and social media has been around just about that long that no company I have ever worked for ever has. Has officially.

Like I said, now all the record hiring managers, I know they have. I've seen, I know people that have based decisions on it, but at that point, especially when it's come through me, having been in both legal and HR, like I will generally be as legal telling people, do not look at these things. These are more or it's things of like, oh, this woman dresses inappropriately. And I'm like, have you gone to the beach? Like I back up, but I have been in situations and that's the thing like out of work types

of like very inappropriate posts. And in that stance, I've said like absolutely that those viewpoints are very concerning and illegal. So I have seen those situations, but then I'm always like, God, how did we get to this place? How'd you get so deep? I stumbled upon that. Yeah, right. Okay. Well, and I, you know, I'll throw in a millennial misery comment in here, but even, you know, back in the day and Facebook, we were like, told, don't post

your drunk bar pictures because your employers are going to see that. Well, shit's on private, but okay. I'm just amazed with what people will put on Twitter back in the day. Like I'm not a good Twitter person, but the things that people put on Twitter of like their musings and their rambling things and their like uses of like very like inappropriate terminology and I'm like, yeah, like that's not just job wise, like life wise, just fucking inside thoughts. Right. Inside thoughts. like life wise, just fucking inside thoughts. Right?

Inside thoughts. Or not don't have thoughts. Even better. All right. Next question here. Have we ever had a deal with a situation where an employee's side hustle interfered with their job performance? I've had, I have, I've had the candle seller, like in the workplace where it was just like

extreme trying to sell the damn candles and then the tacos. Because I had someone that was making the tacos and then bringing them in and then selling them. So I've had numerous taco situations that were the workplace. I've shared a couple already. But one where literally, I mean, it was just she'd making them.

She's late because of that. They're in a cooler. The cooler has to be brought in on a car, then she's selling. You're not doing your actual job. You're not the caterer. We didn't hire you for that, but I love your tacos. I mean, me personally, I don't think it has affected my job, but I know that since I've been posting on social media since September of 2020 is when I started Humorous Resources. I know

that numerous times that my TikToks have been brought up to my boss or my employer. And even though they're not cutting into my work or my time at work, that is my side hustle. This is my side hustle. And so that's disappointing because I think you can have both. And you can do both separately. Obviously not taco lady or candle lady, but especially in God and where we're living right now in this world, a lot of us have to have. Wow. Oh, yeah.

Side hustle. Right. Right. So I'm kind of that just don't, you know, don't have. Wow. Oh yeah. Right. Right. So I'm kind of empathetic to that. Just don't, you know, don't let it bleed over so much. Right. I mean, honestly, that we like, we could probably do a whole episode on that. I know, right. Okay. Side hustles will note it. It's the pressure of like the employee or often it's the leader who's like my child and that has the pressure of being like, oh your child's, you know. Selling chocolate. Oh yeah, like Girl Scout cookies,

but Twitter by will buy them. But I know someone who's in the social media world who has a side hustle and their company had them lead a session for people to show how you've had a side hustle and how they've been able to navigate, like making sure it's not competitive because that's a boundary I think is obviously fair because I've had that of like having a situation

where an employee was a salesperson and then they also had the other thing and they'd go to meetings for the company and they'd be like, well, if you don't wanna buy this, I also have the incentive, like that's a problem to have a conflicting thing that you're selling for, but this person's company and I was like, that is so cool. And so they had to talk about how they do that

from a time standpoint of like confidential information and how you navigate those boundaries and do that. And again, the point also is like, we don't want you to have to do that, but this is how you can do it. And I thought that was such a great like flip of the switch. So I think for people listening, thinking about that, if there's somebody there

that has like a very cool side hustle, like a photography business or something, like how you do that and how you navigate that as a company. I think there's a lot of opportunities there that people miss because you see like no side hustle. Yeah. So yeah, I had to turn my side hustle until full time hustle. Yeah.

So I quit the corporate thing. You know what I mean? The thing. Nearly 20 years was enough for me. We appreciate those questions. Thank you so much. And I think that we can transition into questions and comments. And maybe we can ask each other some more questions,

like fun facty questions. I have a question. I have a go-to icebreaker that I like to use. Okay. If you weren't doing what you were doing now, right? Or when you were younger, what would the dream job be? Like if you could do it? Okay.

She's so ready. She's ready. She has all the fun fact questions answered. What I am doing is partially what I wanted to do my whole life is partially what I am doing now that I went two decades without. And this is when I was a kid, I did want to be a lawyer, and I didn't really want to be a lawyer. I just said it. And so I made a sheriff's badge at the Kentucky State Fair. That's it. Ashley Vensel, my my baby when I was 10 years old, what a fucking loser. But actually not like

corporate lawyer. And I don't know, I didn't have any lawyers in our family, my parents at that point in time, I think both neither had graduated college at that point. But anyway, but what I really wanted was to be a playwright. And I ended up going to the Youth Performing Arts School in high school and taking classes for playwriting had played performed at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. I got second I think in this playwriting competition when I was a kid in like the whole city. So often,

I loved it and I want to do it. And then I went to college and I just put it to the side. And so I then like the way I do it now is with my TikToks. I script, you know, I script. Your newsletters are fire. That's your best work. I'm sorry. I love the newsletters. She's a good writer. So, but is, but yeah, write my shit for me. I'll perform. This thing, if there, if you are listening to this and you're like, but I always wanted to do this, there are ways that you can leave it in. And sometimes people wake up at 4 a.m. and do that. I fucking cannot do that.

But if you find ways and snippets to do it, I have come alive in doing it. Even though I do it about like HR things, which isn't exactly what I thought I wanted to do. But what I wanted to do. But my, my, what I wanted to do is write a spec script for the office. And I talked about this 15 years ago called woe manager for a day and do a script about how Michael Scott realizes there's no managers, female managers, because there weren't a Dunder Mifflin. And so he had a competition to have something called woe manager for a day for a female

to become a manager. And so I had this whole spec script and again, didn't like nothing with it, but I have now woven that concept into some of my TikTok videos with Luke. But so that is my thing. And so I think you can find ways to make it come alive, but I've always wanted to be a player. I do have a whole screenplay on something else. That's awesome.

That's cool. That's so growing up. This is actually really funny. I always wanted to be a radio DJ. I know that's why it's so funny right now that like, here we are having a semi successful podcast. So, I'm having a successful one. You can keep your semi shit to yourself. We're in the top 10 of the Apple business podcast charts. A humble brag. Anyway, but no. So I used to have this cassette recorder and my mom actually, I still have some of the cassettes.

And so I would like literally record myself a whole like morning show, radio morning show. So it's very funny that I'm sitting here on this couch with you ladies. Mic in your face. I know. That's so cool. Yeah, I know. Isn't that wild? But yeah, I'm a very creative person.

So creating Humorous Resources for me was like a great outlet. And I don't think I realized how much I didn't have an outlet because in HR, it can be black and white, but you can get some fun in there. But this social media and this podcast has really allowed me to, you know, kind of flex my creative muscle. You've done it. What about you, Leigh?

Yeah, I wanted to be a checkout person at the supermarket. Cause remember back in the day, it was like the laser, like red asterisks. Do you remember that? And the doo-doo, doo-doosterisks. Do you remember that? And the doo-doo, doo-doo. Yeah. So I had all these pictures that I drew

when I was like in preschool and kindergarten because I wanted to do that. And then I wanted to be an Egyptologist and I learned hieroglyphics all crazy and I'd write in hieroglyphics and I loved that. And that's still like the number one place I want to go is Egypt. That is really fucking cool.

I haven't been yet. So it's like the top place for my whole life. That should be your first time too. Did you ever work at a grocery store? No, no, but I still feel like I want to do that just part time sometimes. Yeah, I really like to. I work at the Dixie. I work at Kmart. It is very, it's very satisfying.

But sometimes now the self-checkout you have. Yes, the guns are there. If anybody's ever worked at a grocery store, I'm going to say four oh one one. And you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about. You know what I mean? No, of course not. Because I work at a grocery store, I'm going to say 401-1, and you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about. Do you all know what I mean? No, of course not, because I worked at a grocery store. Is that a banana?

Thank you. Oh my God. That's so good. When I worked with Dixie, we had to do a test of all the codes, but that's your telltale if you worked in a grocery store. You'll never forget 401-1. Yeah. But then I grew out of the Egyptologist thing, and I always wanted to be an opera singer.

So I'm operatically trained. You sang this morning. You sang a Vita to us. You have a beautiful voice. I know it all. Yeah. So I do. But, you know, I'm a mezzo.

You can tell because my voice is so low. But you know, I'm like, I'm not a soprano. Like I would love to be the lead. Because I played the violin too and I was always the first violin. Would you sing for us? No, I'm not going to sing on this ship. That's extra. You got to pay extra.

It's way too loud. No, it's actually really, really loud. I had to stand it to sing with my diaphragm and all of this. If you actually wanted the opera, I can do it for you later. Yes, please. It's a little different here. I can't just do it. Come on, perform Lee. No, no, dance monkey.

True. It's like when you make a video and people are like, great, now make one about a completely different topic. But I would if I could. Lee sang this morning. Jamie and I sang. It was on our stories. But I wasn't good enough to make money. You know what I mean? It was all about money. But I remember I did see something somewhere that said, if you didn't have to worry about money,

all of us would be doing the arts. Of course. It's true. It's so true, because we love to create. Humans actually want to create, they crave it. Cues and sees, anybody else got a cue? I was just gonna, my question for y'all was, what is your go-to icebreaker? I can go first if y'all want to.

Yeah, because I don't do them. So I will usually ask like if you, what would be your at bat music? Yeah, at bat music. Yeah, like you know how it went and baseball like, yeah, they walk up and they have like a hype up song. Smooth by Rob Thomas and Santana. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah, I just love that song. It feels like a rhyme. Yeah, I just love it. Yeah. Dun, dun, dun, dun. Yeah. You know how it starts. I like that a lot. I mean, probably Welcome to Atlanta.

Oh, that's a good one. Welcome to Atlanta, Mother, please, please. Exactly. I love that. I get all excited when I go to Rave's game. Yeah. Okay, there you go. What about you? Mine, so I don't know if I've ever mentioned this on the pod,

but I literally wanted to be Little Kim. I wanted to be... I can see that. I've always been obsessed with her. So probably be the jump off. That's a great, that's a great, you got matching booties. Like little Kim. I seriously, that's amazing. I could say, I can totally see that. Yeah. I love it. I love that too. Okay. So we talk about corporate cringe and this doesn't have to be a corporate word. So just quickly, what is a word that you like saying? Feels good when you say it.

Karla, you can cut that out. Karla is our producer. She's trying to get that word out of here. Don't you dare exit that. Like try to be all positive. Let's give people a go at you. You're licking in my ear with that. Oh my gosh. Fun.

Come on. I love three syllable words. I love when this sounds so weird. This is me. I'm all poetic and shit. Like syllable. Right? Syllable.

I just love... Check in real quick. I do, you've seen my content. There's this art of language and I just like the timing of everything and the cadence of everything. I think about all of that. And so I love the longer words because I can keep them in my mouth longer and I can do things with them, right? Cause I'm kind of like a voice actor.

That's so dirty. It does sound dirty, you know? That's what I say, but it is like, it just like, brings me life, right? It's one of those things. Like that's what I'm saying. But it is like, it just like, you know, brings me life, right? It's one of those things. Like that's my thing, right? So you see my voice. Yeah.

I just alliteration is so beautiful. Serendipitous. I don't know if I have a word that I love saying. Besides queer. I really like, I can't think of anything. I love like, obviously with all my brands, I love like a, like Millennial Misery, horrendous HR. Like I love-

You love alliteration. Oh, parody parenting. Alliteration. Yeah, good alliteration. Like I love all that. And like then, obviously my husband and I both have J names. Our last name's a J. Our kids are Js. So like all our dogs are B names.

That was not completely on accident, but B names. We got biscuit, blue and biggie. So like, you know what I mean? I don't, I think, I just love alliteration. Yeah. I got that. What about you? Did you say one? I didn't. I like sassafras. Yeah, I got that. What about you? Did you say one? I didn't. I like Sassafras. Oh, that's a fun one. Oh, I say razzle dazzle.

It's kind of like, yeah. I feel like there's like glitter that comes up. Rhythm. Totally. Glitter. Razzle dazzle. I love Chicago. Such a great music.

Oh, yeah. I know, right? Well, thank you so much for letting us give you a little razzle dazzle and sassafras and squirts. Oh, that's oh god Well, not like that Jesus But anyways, you know, that's a wonderful segue to finish this meeting before some of us get written up Thanks for letting us share some of our fun facts with you besties.