Senses Working Overtime with David Cross - Josh Johnson

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Josh Johnson (The Daily Show) joins David to discuss anthrax, Louisiana, and more. Catch all new episodes every Thursday. Watch video episodes here.Guest: Josh JohnsonSubscribe and Rate Senses Working Overtime on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review to read on a future episode!Follow David on Instagram and Twitter.Follow the show:Instagram: @sensesworkingovertimepodTikTok: @swopodEditor: Kati SkeltonEngineer: Nicole LyonsExecutive Producer: Emma FoleyAdvertise on Senses Working Overtime via Gumball.fm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. I'm a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's Was it the shooting the shit shows? Um, it was a stand up show. Right, was it me doing my show with other people or was it a different, it was just a whole bunch of people. Yeah, yeah.

One more before we start. Yeah, Josh just sat down on his own. Oh, my bad. Yes, that'd be great, thank you. That's all right, I'll sit here. Sometimes I like to, well not even sometimes, I mean all the time I like to, what do I do with my phone? I like to give the guest the option

of sitting here or there. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. And it speaks volumes that you just plunked yourself down. It does. It's an assumption that this is the host chair and that's the guest chair, which is not incorrect because it hasn't been established, and I let the guest establish that. Oh, yeah.

So it's an awkward way to start. A little awkward. Nicole, are you feeling awkward? I'm feeling really uncomfortable, actually. Why? Just the vibes in here, something was off when I came in. It's not me. It might be the chairs.

No, it's me. I think it's the chairs. Now, you know what? I'm going to say that you made the right decision because I'm just going off a color coordination. Now most people listen to this. Some people watch it. Okay. I don't even know that. That could be completely incorrect. I don't know. Do you have any idea? Does anybody watch this? There's a decent amount. How about listen to it? Yeah. Because I like to... if I was sitting in that chair, these pants might clash with the chair.

Not clash, but you know, people might think I'm, you know, like that Gary Sinise character in Forrest Gump. Oh, yeah, I mean, I feel like maybe they would think that it was that deliberate of a decision, but I think they might let it slide. Oh, yeah, I think they'd let it, I mean, I would imagine, I mean, we'll get some comments, letters, anthrax, whatever, not anthrax, but powder that looks like,

that we're supposed to think is anthrax. I assume that's why anybody would send white powder in an envelope with, you know. That's actually how you know you're dealing with someone from like Gen Z, Gen Alpha or whatever, is if they're working an office job and they get the white powder and it doesn't even occur to them that it's anthrax.

They snored it. Like anthrax is actually kind of a throwback terrorist attack. Old school. It's very 90s. Yeah, it fills me with nostalgia. Yeah, yeah. So if you get a white powder,

I don't even think they'll back up and be like, spores, spores, I think that they will be like, man, somebody sent some dirty mail. That's wild. Some dirty mail. Okay. Maybe it's, I don't think people do drugs that much anymore, do they? Like the younger generation.

From what I'm seeing, it's a real split. People either do a ridiculously, almost like metahuman amount of drugs, or they're the most straight edge people you can imagine. I feel like that's the the with with more and more access to information and with that access to information being from the time you're born now like these these new kids have had the internet forever right and they've had the iPad since they could scream. So then you you take that and you go down two very specific roads. You either go down the road where it's like, maybe I want to try everything or like, wow, I did the research and this seems bad for you. But there's still going to always be like,

do you remember there was a it was maybe, maybe three months long, this drug that was, I think came in from Russia called Crocodile with a K. Okay, so you remember any information you got on that? Like literally there's no information of anybody going, this is awesome. It was, it like rots your skin, it almost like, your skin. It almost like, you know, in a real way, not in like, oh, I've got itchy.

I think it was Nickname Zombie. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, kind of like that shit that was, oh, that was the stuff that the guy in Florida where he ate your guy's face, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh, so wait, bath salts is different than crocodile though. Bath salts is different than crocodile, yeah.

But they're like the same, it's in the same world to me where you have the information that this is, I mean, how good can the high possibly be if there's a 50% chance your eyeballs will melt and you might eat a man's face? I don't think it's about the high being good for the payoff. I think we're thinking about it from a place that's too stable. Do you know what I mean? I look at like a new drug, any new drug, like a new religion, where it's like, why would you do that? Right.

Like, why would you, like, when I see a cult, I look at it the same way as I look at bath salts, where I'm like, we have some pretty decent- But cults have personalities to them. They have people that can, that are skilled at finding the, you know, the weak link in you, the chink in the armor, the Achilles heel psychologically and praying on that, not praying, you know what I mean, P-R-E-Y, and prayingiting that and drugs are just there. They're inactive. You have to take the drug. The reason that I draw that connection is because I think there's too much recorded history for a new God. I think a new God would have a lot to answer for. Like if you just told everyone- You mean like a replacement god?

Like just a full-on, like a new idea. Like a cult god is usually a guy who was born in like 85 or 92 and he's like... From Dayton, Ohio. From Dayton, Ohio. His name is Billy. Or the UPS. Yeah. He has too much of a government name, but he's like, y'all, I'm God manifest. Right. Right.

too much of a government name, but he's like, y'all, I'm God manifest. That's, to do that now with the internet is too much of like, well then why'd you let this happen? And why are you letting everything happen right now that's happened? There's too many questions. Whereas in old, we're talking like barely recorded history that BCE, AD type times.

Most people didn't even know anybody. Yeah, not just barely recorded, but recorded, I mean, I used to have a long time ago a bit about the idea that the Bible, you know, the New Testament was, and forget the Old Testament, that's just nonsense. I mean, it's all nonsense, but it's crazy, crazy town. But the New Testament was, I'm not going to do the whole bit, but basically, you know, written by people 30 to 90 years after Christ died who couldn't write, because they were transcribing to people who couldn't write, because that was transcribing to people who couldn't write, because that was not a high, in the village or town or city, you know, being a person who could

read and write was not like, it was not a, you weren't high on the hierarchy and being educated like that didn't mean anything. It was like being our America's Next Top Model. It's like, that's kind of cool, but. Yeah. I don't know if they got swag, but it was, uh, but yeah, I mean, it was not a thing that we go, you know, oh, good, you know, good for you. That guy can read, make sure he lives. Yeah.

It was, that was not important. But those guys wrote the stories from people, you know, when you think about the Gospels, 30 to 90 years after the guy died. So, they're telling stories that were told, that were told, that were told to a person who, you know, has limited vocabulary, limited skills to write things and whatever this guy's rambling on about. And then those stories were translated from dead languages and then completely re-edited and reinterpreted and then given to kings for them to take their favorite bits out and get rid of the other bits and And I'm I've forgotten why I brought this up Oh just the new gods versus like old right old gods Yeah, and I and I just I think that way about drugs because I just think that we have too many established

because I just think that we have too many established survivable highs to do a new drug that might make your skin fall off. So I think that by the time someone does that, they are in such a deeply, I'd like to not be in my mind or body place. Sure. That they're like- Nobody's starting, crocodile is not their first drug.

No, no, no. Well, I mean, there's probably some who were tricked, not tricked, but, you know, like people pressured into it, like, dude, this is really fun. I don't know. I don't... Because when that happened when you were a preteen or teenager, back in the day, it was usually weed, right? Like, you know, check it out and I wore alcohol,

you know, and, uh, I don't know, I don't know. And then you get sick and you're like, I'll never do that again. And then a couple of years pass and of course you do it, um, mostly cause you want to get laid, but you know, there's various reasons. And then you find yourself in that position of like, what's, I'm bored with life.

What's next? This life is boring. I got a shit job. I got no way out. of like, what's, I'm bored with life, what's next? This life is boring. I got a shit job, I got no way out, you know. That's why, like the idea from a long time ago that, for multiple reasons that weed wasn't legal was just like, wow, let him, let somebody get high. Jesus Christ, they're working all day in a shit job.

Let them go home and watch TV and eat whatever they want and fucking get high who gives a shit Yeah I mean I wish that one of one of my big wishes mainly because I just know so many people like suffering with long-term illnesses that we would do do like a very in-depth look at what is and isn't legal and actually engage in research because you know research is there the research research is or even like the coca leaf and stuff yeah oh I didn't know

that yeah the research is all there for you you know, what, I mean, it's just, it's money. Money is the reason why, you know, we have, why weed is illegal and, you know, there's an attendant kind of culture warship, but it's mostly money. It's the reason why we incarcerate so many people It's the reason why we incarcerate so many people vastly more than any other country on the planet. And it's just money. It's money. The research is there. I feel like one of the most harrowing ones that I heard, and this may not even be true. I pardon me, hope it's not true, but I think it is. There was a rumor going around whenever we got really close to being legal in New Jersey that one of the things that stopped it was the police union,

not even because of arrests or because of, you know, like not even because of procedural stuff. Apparently, they had spent too much money on training the dogs and they'd have to get new dogs if they made... This is what I heard. Apparently, if they made weed legal and now all of a sudden, these dogs aren't sniffing for weed, but they're sniffing for the other stuff, it causes too much confusion to be like, oh, let's go in there. And they have a bunch of weed.

Swap the dogs out with another state. I mean, we're right next to Connecticut. Or New Jersey. New Jersey's next to, no, it isn't, is it? No, it's not. But you would think that. It's, I'm trying to think of my geography here. It's New York that's next.

To New Jersey? I don't know if, no, but New Jersey doesn't border Connecticut at all at any point, does it? Nicole. Yes. Does the thing about Jersey and Connecticut, does New Jersey border Connecticut at any point in time, in history, in the vast history of this great country

Are you from New Jersey? No, no, this is just it was the royal we when you said we oh, yeah Yeah, well There was the royal we because it was told to me by someone who lives in New Jersey So we were talking where you from I grew up in Louisiana. Oh shit. Yeah. Where? Alexandria. So you wouldn't know it. Yeah, there's only one good answer. But you've had a good life, you know, so you don't need to know it. It's better for me not to know it. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we do our best, but woof. Like even when you're there, even when I visit, people are like, man, I'm really glad you made it out.

People who still live there are like, I'm glad you're not here experiencing what this is like. Well, fucking Louisiana is, I was just in New Orleans about a week and a half ago, which is one of my favorite cities. It's one of the most, to me, very American city. It feels very American to me, the good and the bad of it. And it's a great city. It's one of my favorites.

But it's, I'd say it's one of the top three cities in America in one of the three worst states in America. And that's by every metric. Every metric. Yeah, I mean, you saw the 10 commandments thing, right? Yeah, yeah. There was like some, I don't know what all of the like Robert's Rules of Order or procedural things

in like the House is, but there was someone who was basically debating before it went to a vote to put the 10 commandments in all of the classrooms. And then one of the people was like, but you realize they still can't talk to the kids about religion. Like in a public school, that part is still elite.

And they're like, well, we're hoping that it will spark a discussion that they can have with their parents later. And it's like, well, we're hoping that it will spark a discussion that they can have with their parents later. And it's like, all right, but you realize we're like 48 in reading. So they won't know what they're looking at when they look up at the 10 commandments in their classroom. It's like hieroglyphics. Yeah, yeah.

And it was a moment where I had already said to my friends, I was like, we're pretty low in reading to be thinking like putting something on the wall is gonna spark discussion. It's not that it can't, but. Yeah, well, it was spark discussion amongst the wrong people, and then you have like contentious school board meetings.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, also, it's the the corruption is next level in that state. And the, you know, the also the prison system is disgusting. And it's just, it's a bad, it's dumb. And it's a really dumb state. It's a bad, it's dumb and it's a really dumb state. It's a rough place to like visit. I mean, people are uneducated is what I meant. You know what I mean? Like this is how I feel about it,

is that a lot of people hold the view of it without going into detail of why so many aspects of the state are underperforming and are bad in a way that we don't do that as much for California. So like you look at California and you'll see like especially like conservatives always bash California and stuff like that and they're like look at San Francisco, look at people in the streets, blah blah blah. And it's like, okay, you would, and my friend even said this actually.

He was like, you would have me there if whole red Republican run places weren't also like pretty shitty. Right. And it's like clearly there's something that speaks to policy that's like not working no matter who you give total control to. And I think that's because of, like you said before, the sort of corruption.

It's like if the money goes missing, if the money goes missing, it doesn't matter what we believe. There's no money to do the things, right? Like there's no money to build the roads and to make the schools better, to have like updated textbooks. Well, there is money, but it gets, you know, given to people who aren't going to apply those things. And it's just the same kind of corruption that you see in the military, which is, sorry, I shouldn't say it's the same corruption, but the idea that there's a no bid contract for this thing that's going to be built. There's no regulation and then people are paying other people and all the money is trickling down to the folks who were contracted to do this thing and they're ever all palms are greased and then the thing never happens or it goes way way over budget,

whatever the public work is, you know? Yeah, I mean, I, I feel like I've said this before, I was talking to one of my buddies actually one night after we saw a movie. What was the movie? Deadpool versus Wolverine, One of my buddies actually, one night after we saw a movie. What was the movie? Deadpool vs. Wolverine, which was. How was it? Pretty fun. Okay, cool. It was pretty fun.

And we were taking a long walk after we were talking about the movie and then we got on to all these different topics. And then basically, you know, I was saying how taken aback I am that even the people who are in full support, let's say you are like guys Military is number one. It should be our number one priority

God protect ourselves from the aliens or whatever foreign entity is like gonna invade us any day now It's gonna happen because we're not we're not America And no one is deathly terrified of our nukes. And so even if you believe that right it is weird that the money that people spend even the people who are in In league with the people who want as much money to go to the military as possible are not taking a step back to say the gun still shoots and We still have the nukes. So why can't any of this money go to like veterans

or to like guarantee like a certain livelihood for people who start, you know what I mean? Like that, I would almost be- Well, there's an answer though. The answer is, you know, if somebody wants to keep their job or attain a job in politics, whether it's on a local state level or representing the state or federally, defense is like an easy thing to...

You look at various places like Connecticut, in Groton, there's like a, a naval base, sub base. And like, okay, so we're going to earmark a bunch of these funds and that locally, you keep getting elected because the money goes to jobs and, you know, creates a community that is, you know, uh, people work in that industry there and supports the state and et cetera, et cetera. And you think about all the other states that have, you know, NORAD is in the Midwest and we're gonna pump a bunch of money there.

And that just is, you're not going to win or hold office by going like, we're gonna not support this anymore. And you know, I'm sorry that it's like, you know, what happened with the coal industry, right? So you want, you want votes. And you know, and because we have an electoral college, you know, you can't say, ah, we don't care about West Virginia. And so we're going to, remember Hillary Clinton said something about like, we're going to take coal miners and we're going to retrain them to work with computers.

And, you know, people went, what the fuck? Oh yeah, the learn to code thing. I mean, my thing isn't necessarily, I'm saying you don't need to take any work with computers and people went, what the fuck? Oh yeah, the learn to code thing. I mean, my thing isn't necessarily, I'm saying you don't need to take any money away. I'm saying, let's say you're like, guys, we need 600 billion for the military for 2025, just trust us, we need it.

I'm saying even if you believe that, it's weird that the people who believe it, who do want to get elected, who get elected by the people who also believe that we need that money, there's just no accountability towards the action of like, yes, there's the big contract, but the weapons are only going to get so advanced. It's getting to the point now where there are some military-grade weapons that are upgrading the way that iPhones upgrade, where it's like the camera's slightly better.

We don't have lasers. Like, for as much money as we're allocating to weapons and the defense contract, we should be able to fight space now. And I'm saying that even if you kept that amount of money the same, where you allocate it could be different and would actually make you more popular. Like think about it's like you talk about all those all those local places. If the person was like, not only do I support this, but you're going to get paid more. That's that's more enticing. But I don't see how that happens to every single place. Literally, if you say, and also 600 billion is,

I wish it was just 600 billion. Oh no, I'm making up that number, yeah. Also we invent bogeymen that need to be kept in check, and there'll be the in check, you know, and we, uh, there'll be the occasional like China has developed, uh, you know, whatever, uh, an army of robotic spiders that, you know, carry COVID, um, you know, and they're going to release them in schools or whatever. And we have to, you know, whatever, they invent these things that are, that we have to keep on top of and we have to, whatever, they invent these things that we have to keep on top of and we have to be better than.

So that's never gonna go away, unfortunately, and it's just huge business, you know? Well, that's where it almost feels like tantamount to corruption for me because like, I was this- It is corruption. The same thing I was saying about the military, I was saying for like like even like local police, where it's like, in the trunk, you have a shotgun,

you have like an AR-15, you have a couple of weapons that you really don't use because by the time you need them, you usually call SWAT, right? So like when a cop is holding an AR-15 in like, you know, Times Square or whatever, you know, when you're walking down and you see them, the fact that it's a new one every year, which I'm making this part up. I'm just using that as an example.

It being a new one every year, you're holding your vacation. Yeah. Like, I see what you're saying and there is a logic to it. Yes. I, I mean, and I mean, you know, that's the least of it when it comes to the specifically New York City police department whose budget is in the billions. Um, not on paper, but when you've taken all the overtime and how much, how much, uh, you have to pay out to the people who have been victimized by the New York City cops. And you know, civil rights and stuff, they just paid 12 million to somebody here.

Yeah. Yeah. 12 million. That's our money. Yeah. Hey, I'm Jake Johnson, host of the podcast, We're Here to Help. But this episode right now that you are listening to is sponsored by Brooklinen. Brooklinen provides luxury bedsheets, pillows, comforters and blankets

delivered straight to your door. How do I know this? Because Brooklyn and delivered me a quilt, sheets, pillowcases, and I love them. Plus, Brooklinen has been tested and awarded by experts, including Good Housekeeping, GQ, Wirecutter, and the host of We're Here to Help. So listeners can save a ton by purchasing a hardcore bundle, which includes a core sheet set, which is the thing I got, extra pillowcases, and a duvet cover.

You can also mix and match. They do this stripe thing that's cool, but that's a dealer's choice. So are you ready to build your dream fall bed? Visit in store online at brooklinen.com. That's brooklinen.com B-R-O-O-K-L-I-N-E-N.com. Get 15% off your first brooklinen order and save extra when you bundle. It is money that like, you would, like a part of me that knows like damaged people who have become cops, like, you know, I've known cops my whole life.

So it's like, you know, growing up in Louisiana, I knew some people with the restaurant I worked at who I would serve who were cops and stuff and then I made friends with people in Chicago who were trying to get into the you know police academy become cops and everything and it's like knowing that you have like... So you knew people who were actively trying to take their GED? Like actively or had just taken the GED and were like one dude scared me so bad, cause he literally said to me, so we were working the same job at the time, right?

But then- Which was what? I used to work at a grocery store. Which one? Jewel? I've worked at a couple, but I did work at Trader Joe's. Okay. And I enjoyed that very much.

So this was not at Trader Joe's though. This is at the other one that I don't talk about very often. This is in Chicago? In Chicago, yeah, yeah. Jewel? Nah. What's the other local one? It starts with an O, right?

You know, I've said a lot of things. Why won't you? I've just said a lot of things about them and I feel like our longer timeline. I don't even know you, Josh Johnson. I mean, that's fair. From The Daily Show. That's fair.

What is the chain? What is the grocery store? It's... I'm really curious as to why you're hesitating to... Is it a major national brand or? Yeah, it's semi-national. It's international. It's international.

Yeah. Shit. Started here? No, no, no. I don't know where it actually started. Aldi, Lidl, you know? Little, Lidl, or Aldi? It's a...

It's one of those two. Why won't you say? I don't know, because I like really hate them. And I feel like I've said so many things. Well, you hated your experience there or you hate the... I hate the mindset, the structure and like, yes, some of my experience, some of my experience was good, but that was more due to the customers I served and the people that I worked with. But the overall, you know, the management, the work environment, the structure, the.

Yeah, the structure and like the mindset is like what's leading to everything that I think is wrong with the world right now. Is it the one from Germany? Sure, yep. And that one is LIDL, right? No, ALDI. I actually don't know what LIDL is. That's a train of- LIDL.

Yeah, it was, they're in England and there are a couple here in America too, but I think they're out of, I know there's some in England, but- Oh, okay. I don't know if it's LIDL or LIDL. Yeah. No, I don't know if I've heard of that one.

So it's Aldi and Aldi is, aren't they German? Yeah, they're German. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And does it, is it what you would imagine a German company would, how they would Yes, and at the worst of times. Yes, yeah, absolutely.

It's like- So is your Holocaust is what you're saying? It was akin to being, although you got paid. I'll let you say things. Outside of getting paid, because I don't think any people in Auschwitz got paychecks at the end of the week. I'll let you make assessments.

All right, that would be, wouldn't that make the whole Nazi regime a little bit, you'd have to give them a little bit of credit, like yes, they destroyed families and they took Jews and Poles and Gypsies or Romanians and, you know, gay people and people with disabilities. And yes, they put them in camps and they made them do slave labor. But they also look at the end of the week, every one of them tax free, they're not taking taxes out,

is getting a check for, this is the, you know, late thirties to early forties, and they're getting, you know, 87 bucks. That's not a insignificant amount of money. For a six year old who's out there, you know, 87 bucks, that's not a significant amount of money. For a six year old who's out there, you know, doing like hard labor, that's not, you sock that away, you got a good, wouldn't we look at the Nazi regime a little bit differently? I couldn't tell. Of course, it's a hypothetical, but I'm asking you to take a guess. Would we look at it differently?

Look at them differently? The answer is yes, Josh. Of course we would. Now, we all might go, why were they paying them? I don't understand. Is that supposed to, is that like a public service thing? Where it's supposed to rehabilitate their image? And we'd say, well, that doesn't really, you know, but you could

never deny that, you know, and if you survived, you got a good little nest egg. Right? I just didn't have a good experience. You know, you were in the Holocaust. Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Belson. No, the actual store. You know, oh, you're talking about Aldi, yeah. Yeah, and I just, I knew someone there who was,

I guess like about to start training to become a cop and just had all the wrong reasons for wanting to become a cop. Like just the lawsuit-worthy reasons to become a cop. Sure, I wanna beat the shit out of people. And I was just like. I to become a cop. Like just the the lawsuit or the reasons to become a cop. Sure. I wouldn't beat the shit out of people. And I was just like... I want to carry a gun. I was like, why would you even... I'd said at one point... I want to murder with impunity. I was like, why would you tell me this? Yeah. Like, like, and I mean, a part of me in my head was like, oh, I should encourage him to keep telling people this because then maybe he won't pass

any psych eval or whatever. But in my like, I almost couldn't let it I couldn't stop it before it left my mouth of like, why would you tell me this? Yeah, that's a wild thing. To it. What was his what was his response? Oh, he was just like, no, it's fine. Like, he couldn't understand what I couldn't understand. Have you kept tabs? Do you know if he's murdered anyone? No, no.

Or beaten someone like, you know, uh, giving them a disability or something? No, but I also don't think he made it into the academy. So what do you think he's doing now? Probably a security guard. Yeah. Or like backyard wrestling or something. Maybe he's a bouncer. You know, the thing about bouncers,

I've met a few bouncers. Maybe he's a bouncer at a backyard wrestling thing. He's not quite, he doesn't have the bouncer energy, even though he really wanted to be a cop. So I think bouncer was probably out. Yeah, bouncer, you gotta even be more restrained than a cop, you know. You would think so, but I think some of that restraint is not wanting to get involved because they're OK.

Well, you don't have a the shield, you don't have a brotherhood, you don't have Omar Tarte or what's the word, the mafia, Omerta, yeah, even the Omerta that the cops have. Even outside of that though, I think most bouncers are just fat men. I don't think that there's- Some fat men who could, there are a lot of fat cops.

Well, yeah. And there are fat men and they will fuck you up. They could. But they can because they can get away with it. Yes, but I think- A bouncer might not be able to get away with it. Yeah, but I think a lot of bouncers, I think if you really put them up to it,

fewer bouncers than we think can fight. Like I've seen one bouncer lose a fight because he was trying to kick somebody out and they really laid it on him and they had already had a couple drinks, so they weren't even like sharp. I feel so bad for those guys, man. Or women too, just like you have to deal,

what a shitty job, man, you have to deal. It's not great. And have you been like downtown LA, you know how they're kind of redoing, they've been, it's been in the works for quite a while, but 20 years ago there was nothing, 25 years ago it was just awful. And then cool hipster bars started opening up

and then the Staples Center and all that stuff, or I'm sorry, the Crypto Center, cryptocurrency Bitcoin arena? Yes, yes. It changed it from Staples. And you know, there was a concerted effort to put more nightlife and more. And, but because of that, you need more security because it didn't magically overnight become a, you know, universal city walk type complex. And, and when you walk down the street, every single, every place, uh, every store, like every pawn shop, every

seven 11, whatever has a security guy, not a bouncer, but a guy with the security jacket on. And, uh, and many of them don't look like th there you could, it's like going through them as a knife through butter. You know, I mean, they're not gonna, if you have bad intentions, that's, they're not going to stop you. But it's so bad that, and I just feel bad for what are they supposed to do? Give up their life? Same with people working at Bodega and some crazy motherfucker comes in.

And, you know, you're supposed to go no this this 82 stays in the register this is you know this is this doesn't belong to you it belongs to mobile gas and yeah you know like I do I think it's just a local version of a bigger thing like I think that, if you look at the broader scope of how the world works, we are letting some of the craziest people imaginable run the world. Oh yeah. And I think that you make it local and it's just

now this person that's like, I'm willing to kill you for these $43 in the cash register is just a more local version of like a Mao. You know, when I was growing up, uh, you know, the, uh, the shoes, people were getting killed for their shoes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sneakers. Yeah. Killed for their sneakers. Yeah. Yeah. Which I feel like is slightly different though, because I think that the, there's some of like, how do I put this?

There's some of what causes a place to need a security guard that is the desperation of a general community like spilling over, like I'm, I need something to eat. I haven't eaten in two days and the food's in there. I'm going to go get some food. And then there are the agents of chaos that are more like, it's, it's a little bit harder to find the, the empathy for them sometimes because they are like, no,

I'm here to wreck things. Right. And, and I feel like, and a lot'm here to wreck things, right? And I feel like- And a lot of mentally ill people who are in that latter category. Well, both categories. Oh, sure. Sure, sure. When I would work at the grocery store

that I don't like to talk about, I would have way more of the latter. I would be, I mean, we're different people, but I would have no compunction at all. I enjoy talking about how shitty Aldi was. Yeah, I guess it's just like... To me. I mean, I haven't had that experience and I... Yeah, yeah.

I've shopped there twice. Once in Atlanta, once upstate. But both times were fine. Yeah. But I didn't work there. They are okay experiences for, I think, the customer, unless it's in a bad neighborhood. Because I worked at one of them that was like in a proper,

it was like on the come up. So I'm sure if you go to that part of Chicago now, it's like fine. Fine, yeah. You know what I mean? But when I was over there, it was pretty bad. And man, we would have things happen. I have talked about the things,

but I just don't love talking about the place because then it just becomes, it gets me into a, you know how sometimes you have to stop yourself because you're about to like get on a high horse about like everything that's wrong with a place, but that's not the interesting part of the story? Yeah. And that's what all D is for me.

It's like- But we're not on stage. This is just two people shooting the shit. Yeah. I guess it's like, you look at everything that's happening with AI, right? And how AI could be a really beautiful tool that people use to communicate with each other better,

because now, like as an example, I just finished having a conversation about this with an artist that like, because I am not as visually inclined and I don't know the vocabulary of illustration, if I do a speech to image thing on AI, I can show that to an artist now and be like, like this, but not this, not this. Now we have a shared language. But what people saw,, like this, but not this, not this. Now you have a shared language.

But what people saw, especially like money, like Silicon Valley and Tech Bro saw, was a way to fire everybody. And that is like- Well, that has been around since Henry Ford. Yes, but I think even Ford, even Ford had enough of an actual business acumen to understand when Greed was spilling over into costing him money.

Because one of the reasons Ford paid his employees well is so that they could buy a car. Because he saw them as not only- you know, example of not, of giving people, you know, stimulus spending. It works, it actually works. And it has salvaged this country numerous times, even though people say, it's communism or socialism or whatever the fuck. It actually works because people take it and then they buy products that are you know we anyway

yeah you know and so no but I just I think that that that philosophy with Aldi is like why I have a problem with it it's like you stripped a grocery store down for parts you stripped it down to like the shittiest ingredients, the fewest workers possible. So now every, every time I walk in there as a, as a, um, uh, employee, I'm stressed. And half the time the customer walks in, they are stressed because sure, there are some slow days where it all just works. And it's like, I guess you came out on top because almost nobody was gonna come in that day anyway.

So you really slid into home for everybody. But by and large, it's just a shit show. It's like the stock market for groceries. And it's just, you know, people are like running up to your cash register and they're like, why are the grapes this price? It's like I have no idea and you're also you know, you're dealing with with With it with a structure that's like it's like the most Aldi thing

Which I can't put this on them because they're not actively doing it right now But you've heard about the like live pricing that they're trying to implement Okay so I think it was Wendy's that said that they were going to take the prices off everything and the prices would fluctuate like live. Like when you drive up to the drive-through at one minute, like at 406, a burger might be 384 and at 407 it might be 322 and it was all going to fluctuate like a- Like a like a foreign money exchange yeah, like an actual like stock ticker right and

they got universally trashed for it and then they released a statement which blamed us for Misunderstanding them and they were like no we were never gonna do that We were just like you know toying with the idea of fluctuating the prices, like in a, in a way that would benefit customers, not in a way that would like gouge the price, whatever. And so then a lot of other places backed off, because you know, KFC isn't just KFC, KFC is like Taco Bell and all these other places. It's part of the Yum brands. And now it sounds like Walmart is in a real, like, we don't give a fuck like we don't give a fuck

We don't give a fuck vibe and that they might be the first ones to actively try it and do it and so many places are food deserts Yeah, they could pull it all business model is you know decimated towns and that was part of the business model So there's nowhere else to go for a lot of people. So and can do whatever the fuck they want. It just feels like the sort of rampant terrorism masquerading as capitalism that I experienced at Aldi at like most stages of how the business works. Well, what a great way to come full circle. Josh, we have to wrap it up a little early.

I know- Oh no, it's okay. There was, you know, as is normal in New York City, you know, transportation issues. Yeah, I was incredibly late for the listener. I was like remarkably late to the point where I can't believe that you had me on. I was going to, if you were a minute later, I was gonna give you the option of like coming back

and doing it again at full. Which is still very kind. This entire show has been an act of kindness because I was so remarkably late. Now, is there anything you wanna plug? Yeah, if you felt like at any point I was actually fun and you'd wanna hear me do stand up or any of that, you can just go to Josh Johnson Comedy on YouTube, on TikTok, on Instagram.

I post new sets every week and I talk about topical stuff, some political, a lot of pop culture stuff and I'm on tour. So if you go to joshjohnsoncomedy.com, you can get tickets. Where are you going? Going to lots of places. A lot of the tour is very thankfully sold out, but I'll be in Ontario next week. I don't know when this will come out.

Canada or California? California. Okay, you gotta make the distinction. I'll be adding shows in Portland, which will be in December. And yeah, I'll be adding to shows that are already on the list. Okay, cool. Now, Josh, I'll be adding to shows that are already on the list. Okay, cool.

Now, Josh, I close every show with a question from my daughter, who is seven. And this is your question. When you order something, why do drinks always come first? I think it's to keep you at bay. I think that, I think that they know how long it takes to fry the fries, but if they bring the drink first, there, there's this like semblance of like we, we've got some sort of chain of service happening, right? You're getting something. You're getting something right away and you you may get nothing for a while.

Right. You know? And because the drink is the easiest thing to pour, if it doesn't come first or right away... You know to leave. Yeah, you're like, oh wow, they really don't care. Because it was just a lemonade. And you can pour a lemonade, it takes a second.

They don't want me here. Yeah. All right, good answer. Oh, okay. Josh, thank you so second. Yeah. They don't want me here. Yeah. All right, good answer. OK. Josh, thank you so much. Thank you, man. Sense is Working Over Time is a Headgum podcast created and hosted by me, David Cross.

The show is edited by Katie Skelton and engineered by Nicole Lyons with supervising producer Emma Foley. Thanks to Demi Druchen for our show art and Mark Rivers for our theme song. For more podcasts by Headgum, visit Headgum.com or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and maybe we'll read it on a future episode. I'm not going to do that. Thanks for listening.