Office Ladies - Friday Chit Chat 8

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

This Friday on Office Ladies 6.0 it’s the first Friday Chit Chat of 2026! The ladies talk about “Little Fixes, Big Wins” where doing a small task in your life leads to greater happiness. Then the Office Ladies team answers the fan questions “What’s your ideal date” and “Do you return your shopping cart every time?” Happy Friday, enjoy!  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question for Around the Town, Chit Chat and The Paper: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Follow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on TikTok To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This Friday chit-chat is presented by Macy's. When you look good, you feel unstoppable, and Macy's is the destination to discover fashion that will help you show up as your best. Shop in store or at Macy's.com. You know, how when you look good, you feel unstoppable? Yeah. Well, that's what you need this time of year. And Macy's makes it easy to treat yourself to fashion that helps you show up as your best self. You know, January is the time of New Year's resolutions and restart.

and re-energizing yourself. And I was just re-watching with my family, the Boys and Girls episode, and Jan has a quote where she says, dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Oh. Because, you know,

you add that piece to your wardrobe and suddenly you get a new confidence. You become a new person. Yeah. Well, I can tell you this. Macy's has everything you need for that power outfit. You know I had to do

all this press for the cookbook. I went to Macy's, and I got myself some sharp-looking outfits so I could go on all these talk shows and do everything. You looked really cute. Thank you. Macy's makes it easy to treat yourself to fashion that helps you show up as your best, whether that's crushing it at work or taking that well-deserved getaway. Shop now at Macy's.com or in store. Oh, happy Friday. Happy Friday, chit-chat, everyone, our first one of 2026. Yeah. You know, we've been talking a lot on the

pod about our resolutions, our shared resolution this year, Angela. Yeah, we have a BFF shared resolution to get off the hamster wheel. And to do one thing at a time. Yeah. And I have another one. What's that? They're all just like permeations of the same thing. Okay.

Mine was let's get off the hamster wheel. Yes. What are you bringing at me? I'm bringing little fixes, little wins. Ooh, I like that. So like not coming in hot with giant goals and like major plans. Yeah. Little things.

Little adjustments. Little things. But that like make things run smoother. I did this years ago, and I love it. Okay, here's my little fix of the week. Okay. This is my example. My hand towels in my guest bathroom have been dingy for a while.

I just haven't replaced them. Right. Because who has the time? Who has the time? And it's not a big deal, you know? But when we had our Christmas party, at Christmas, I was like, oh, I got to put out the dingy hand towels again because I never fixed to that. So I fixed it. You got new hand towels.

I love them. That's the thing. They're just green striped towels. They're not a big deal. But I like them. And I looked at the little tag, and then I found the website where I got them years ago. And I ordered two new ones, and they just arrived, and they're making me very happy. They're fresh towels.

Fresh. Fresh. But I did tell my family, guys, that fresh ones are for the guests. We're going to keep using the tingey ones. But if someone comes over. Put the nice ones out. I'm putting the nice ones out. I have one.

Okay. A little fix for a big win. Okay, you know the thing that holds a toilet paper and you have to pull it back and there's a spring. Yeah. So whenever you have to change your toilet paper, you got to do the spring. Which feels like such a big effort, which is why people always just set it on top. Well, ours, I don't know who made our springy thing, but when you pull it back, the freaking thing like springs out. Oh, yeah.

And then I'm like on the ground. I'm getting the spiral thing. I'm putting it back in. I'm putting the thing back together. Yes. Then I'm getting the toilet paper. Yes. So the other day, it sprung out and it like snapped my finger.

Like it, I don't even know how I did it, but it like kind of hit, you know when you hit your fingernail at an angle, then it feels like a nail bed bruise. Where's the win in this story? It's coming. Okay. But have you ever done? Yes, of course. Yes.

So then your fingernail hurts. I was like, to hell with these things. I'm done. And I was like, Josh, there's a lot. There's got to be a better solution. There's got to be a better way. And he found the, now look, there's some toilet paper holders that's just a hook and you just slide it on. Yeah.

He found one that's like a little arm that goes, it just lifts up. You put the roll on and it just clicks back down. Oh. So guess who has those in all the bathrooms minus one. We didn't count them up enough. But yeah, we've got them in almost every bathroom now. Wow. I know. No more springy thing. I'm done with the springy thing. Gosh, that is big win.

I can't tell you how much happier I am. Yes, now we're out of toilet paper. I'm like, I don't have to deal with the spring anymore. Amazing. Well, done. So I want to look for these like little things and the effort that it took. It was minimal. It was minimal. Because that's all I got. I got minimal effort to make little fixes. Josh found them at the hardware store. We just swapped them out. The other ones. Put the other ones in. I love it. All right. Well, listen. For this Friday chit-chat, we are going to you all. We've got a chit-chat suggestion from Freya in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. What is Freya going to ask us?

I don't know. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Hi, office ladies. My name is Freya, and I am from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. And I love your podcast. I listen to it every day when I visit my patients. I'm a home health nurse, so I drive a lot. and my question is what is your ideal date or like an ideal romantic date with your significant others

and Cassie and Sam please answer this as well thank you I love you guys bye oh okay yes okay I remember this I remember choosing this one and I had said something at dinner I said oh I'm going to be sharing on the podcast what my ideal date is with my significant other. I did the same with Josh, because I was like, you have to be part of this answer. Well, it's funny, my daughter piped up and she said, I know what it is. Oh, yeah? Movie Monday. Oh, you do.

You guys love to go to a movie together. You do like a little matinee thing. We do a matinee movie Monday. This was a thing we started a few months ago, and we love it. We go during the day. I mean, listen, we both work from home, primarily. So we have that kind of flexibility. Sure.

But the kids are at school, so we don't have to get a sitter. Right. And we carve out a couple hours on a Monday. And maybe we'll go to lunch and then see the movie or maybe we'll see the movie. And then the kids will meet us up at the mall where we see movies for dinner. And we'll have dinner in the food court. And it's fun. They're getting used to.

They're like, oh, dinner in the food court on Monday because mom and dad did movie Monday. I love a food court. Well, because everybody can get what they want. Everyone wins. Everyone gets what they want. Exactly. Okay, well, I was actually talking to Josh at breakfast about this. I was like, we're going to do this question about an ideal date.

And he was like, well, we know what that is. And we just, we do. So here it is. We love, like, this is in an ideal world where we have like maybe a weekend away, you know, this is our favorite thing. Where we get up in the morning and we go for a hike or some kind of nature walk, like some big, like hike. But you're out in the fresh. share. We're out in nature. It's like somewhere where there's lots of green and trees and maybe some water, like get out there, right? And then we would then stop off some little spot local for lunch,

you know, and just kind of explore whatever little town we found. And then, you know, then it's like an afternoon in the hotel because nobody's tired. You're not too full. And then maybe it's just like, like just picking some random movie and being cozy and watching a movie and then lights out by like 9 o'clock. I mean, that sounds amazing as well. Yeah. I think the thing I love about our little movie Mondays is they make me feel kind of like we're back in our young dating lives again because, you know, when you're... You're going to the movie. Yeah. I mean, we did that all the time and we're such movie buffs and we love to talk about the characters and the plot afterwards. And but also like, I don't know, being out in the day like that, it just feels like young and spontaneous and special. And clearly it's working for us because our daughter was like, you guys love your movie Mondays. Yeah.

And we do. I think that's great. And when we can't get out of town, we just try to go for a walk. Just like a neighborhood walk makes me happy. And we like talk and he is so patient. He stops while I take a picture of a flower that I, you know, it could be the same patch of flowers I walk past all. the time, but I'm like, oh, that one's blooming. I should take a picture of it. Can I say something else I love doing with Lee?

What? That I consider, like, sometimes this is like a date. I love going grocery shopping with him. Oh, yeah. Because we used to do that. Again, like, before we had kids, before we got so busy, you know, now we have to divide and conquer. Like, there's, if somebody's grocery shopping, the other person's doing laundry. Like, we can't do that together. But, oh, my gosh, every once in a while, I love to do like those. Erin Day.

I get very excited. Aaron Day. Listen, we're going to drop some things off at the cleaners. Then we're going to stop by and, you know, maybe finally get that rain gauge I've been wanting. Yes. Sometimes our married dating is doing chores together or errands together, but we're in the car alone. Yeah. And then we go grocery shop. And then we come home and make a meal together. Like those moments, I love that. Yeah, me too. Because usually at this time, with the kids, the age they are, everybody's always going in different directions. So busy. I know. So to do something together, I love it. My mom will say, I'll tell her about our day. She'll be like, y'all are so busy. Because we have kids doing all these different activities. This is the busy time. It's the busy time. All right. Well, Sam, Cassie, are you willing to share? Yeah. All right. I'm a big fan of just wasting time with the other person. Oh, yeah. On New Year's Day, my girlfriend, Stephanie was in town and we watched all three Lord of the Rings, extended versions. It took 12 hours, I think. Yeah.

Amazing. That's the best. We fell asleep during it. We paused it and got up and went for walks. And just like it took 12 or like 20 hours to watch 11 hours of movies. But it was great. It's just nowhere to be. No set schedule.

Just spending time with someone who loved. That's wonderful. Jinks. Oh my gosh. Cassie? Yeah, I really related to both of you guys talking about movies and afternoon stuff and all that. But yeah, I think my ideal date, like we love to. get up early in the morning and, like, go check out a new coffee spot. Oh, yeah. The L.A. River is really

nice because they have those coffee shops that are always popping up and you can walk up and down the river. And then later in the evening, would love to see, like, an L.A. Sparks game, get good seats and then pick up Taco Bell on the way home. It would still be in bed by night. Magically, yes. Maybe, maybe. Or by 11. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're all going to bed early. We're all going to bed early. Taco Bell on the way home. I mean, that brings me back. What is your order at Taco Bell? My favorite item, it's called cheesy bean and rice burritos. They're so good.

They're so good and they're only like a dollar. Yeah. It's awesome. Yeah. Oh, my God. I love that. Oh, that question made me so happy. Thank you, Freya.

All right. Well, our next Friday chit chat comes from Peter R in Chandler, Arizona. And here's what he has to say. Hey, office ladies. This is Peter from Chandler, Arizona. I was calling to see how you guys felt about people that don't put their shopping carts back where they belong. I want to know if you guys lean on the side of, you know, hey, let's give them the benefit

at the doubt. Maybe they were in a rush. Or, you know, maybe do you guys feel like we should shun them socially of some way, you know? I don't know how that would happen, but, or is it something that doesn't even matter because you're putting quarters in your shopping carts. So you don't have to worry about that. Well, you know, this is a very loaded question.

This is in Mike Scher's book. Remember his book? It's the how to be perfect, the correct answer to every moral question. And Mike talked about this. This is like a litmus test. Oh. I looked it up just now because I wanted to get it right. And it says, in a nutshell, the shopping cart theory of morality states that an individual's

capacity to self-governed depends on whether or not they are the type to return a shopping cart or leave it next to their car or elsewhere. I always return it. I return my shopping cart. Same. Also, I think let's address how you return it to the little cart catty thing. Do you just kind of slam it towards it so it bounces off the side and doesn't really go in? Like you've done it, but you've done it half-assed, as my dad would say.

Don't half-ass it. Don't half-ass it. That's something I say to the kids all the time. It's like, yeah, you unload the groceries and like the apples are in the little baggy. Go the extra mile. Finish it. Lady, you know that's our thing. That's our thing.

Are either of you familiar with the Instagram account Cartnarks? No! What is this, Sam? It has 1.2 million followers. It's C-A-R-T-N-A-R-C-S. It's a guy who's a fictional parking lot enforcement. He doesn't work for the company. Is he the Dwight Shrews?

Yes, he goes around shaming people who don't put their cars away. He's the deputy sheriff. He has magnets made that he sticks to your car. And when people, like, he has a bag of when people get out of their car angly and throw him off. He just throws two moron. It's great. Oh my God. I'm looking this up right now.

Well, Cassie, Sam, do you return your shopping cart? Every time. Oh, yeah. I get really mad if someone doesn't either. Yeah. You know what? Because you're civilized. You're civilized.

And now, I'm not like, I'm not going to get like hostile or aggressive, but I am going to shoot you a side-eye snark look. But let me ask you this question. So I feel like the, you know, shopping centers, they used to have a lot of cart returns. And I'm noticing I just went grocery shopping recently. There were none. Like, they're getting rid of them to make more parking maybe. So in order to return your shopping cart, you have to walk it all the way back up to the entrance of the store. And I wonder, am I obligated to walk it back up to the store if you've removed all the

cart returns, like you've made it more inconvenient for me to do it. I think you are. You're still obligated. Get your steps in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it also sounds like in that scenario, they probably don't have the labor to have somebody go out and check every 30 minutes and bring cards back in to.

So you think it was like they did layoff. So it's not that they were trying to make more parking spaces, but they were actually like, I don't want to hire someone to collect them. so I'm going to get people to put them up at the entrance for me. Yeah. I mean, that pisses me off. Yeah, me too. That annoys me.

Yeah, that's up there with the self-checkout for me. I don't work here. Oh, I don't mind the self-checkout. I get really excited. No, what are you talking about? No, I like, I love this sound. It's very satisfying, like, beep. It takes me back to being a kid.

Like, when you were a kid, didn't you want nothing more than to do the little, like, boop-boop gun? Oh, my gosh. I remember I was so excited when Isabel was little, I got her one of those little mini kitchens, you know. She was so excited. And we would just spend Saturday morning cooking stuff. And then we made a whole grocery store. Me and Isabel and Cade one day spent all day making a fake grocery store.

We made aisles because we had gotten a Fisher Price little mini register that had the little scanner. Yes. It's so fun to scan it. And then we made Josh and Jack come and shop at our grocery store. it was so fun. We do an elaborate diner with a little register. And our little register has a, what you call it? Microphone.

Microphone. I don't know why we need that in our diner, but yeah, same. I love that. Yeah. So anyway, I love a self-checkout, Sam. I'll work for you, okay? If you and I go to the grocery store together, I will do yourself checkout. Sure.

But I think ultimately, yes. To answer Peter's question, we think you should return the shopping cart. We think you should return the shopping cart. By the way, because this reminded me of Mike Scher's book, I looked up some of the other moral questions that he goes through in his book, and they're so good. Here's some of them. Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people? Oh. Why bother being good at all when there are no consequences for being bad? Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason? But he says, in parentheses, no. I mean, I guess you just have to say,

say, what is my moral compass? Yes. But in his book, he provides you an answer to all of these questions based on his in-depth study of ancient philosophers. And human behavior? Yes, and he's so smart. I loved this book. It was very funny as well, so this is reminding me of his book, so I'm giving it a plug. Ah. Well, there you go. Those are two of our chit chats. Thank you so much to Freya and Peter for writing in and sending us your audio clips. I really enjoyed those conversations. Yes. Now listen, before we go, we've got some office ladies news, and it's some pretty big office ladies news. We do. It's bittersweet office ladies news because our beloved producer Cassie is moving on. And Cassie, you've meant so much to us, but this is also an exciting time for you.

And today is actually her last day in the studio here. We have a few more work days, but this is her last day in the studio with us. Yes. And I guess the day you all are hearing this is actually her last day, the way the episode's going to come out. But gosh, Cassie, we just love you so much. Thanks, guys. It's been an absolute pleasure working with you and Sam for the past five years. And we've had a lot of adventures.

So I'm very honored to share this chapter with you all. Five years, Cassie. I know. I don't know if people know, but you started as our transcriber way back in our Earwolf days. And you moved to being our producer. I went back to our digital clutter, Cassie, and you started as our producer in November of 2020. Wow. It's a long time.

But you're ready for some new adventures. Yeah, yeah. It's just time to be challenged in a different way. Yeah. Well, your office ladies family is always going to be here for you. I really hope that you pop up and say, ladies, I got a chit chat. We need to discuss. Yeah, I'm sure I will.

And we'll just be always here for you, Cassie. your office ladies family forever. And we have a few little things for you. We're going to give to you after we say goodbye here. But really, thank you so much for everything you've done. There's so much of your job that is behind the scenes. And you just showed up for us so many times time and time again. So we wish you all the best.

Thank you so much. Getting a little emotional here. I know. It's going to be weird not to have your face in the booth moving forward. Sam, no pressure. Yeah. I know. Good luck, Sam.

I know. Well, the second part of this news is that we've got a new face and a new producer, and we're excited to introduce you to our new senior podcast producer, Matt Beagle. Matt, say hi. Hey, office ladies. Matt, you've been training with Cassie for the last couple of weeks, and you're about to take over. How do you feel?

Are you ready? No, I'm just getting. I'm ready to go. I'm thrilled to be here. really big shoes to fill. Cassie's been amazing, getting me up to speed. And I'm so happy to be here. I can't wait to meet and chat with and hear from Office Ladies Listeners and ready to go.

Yay. Yay. Well, 2026, some really fun new beginnings for all of us. And we love you guys. Office Ladies Listeners, the family and support you've been to us all these years is so meaningful to us. And thank you. Yeah. All right.

Happy Friday Chit Chat, everybody. We'll see you next week. That's right. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer

and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz. Our theme song is Ruppertree by Creed Bratton.