The Ben Mulroney Show - The Dilemma Panel - Not Inviting Classmates to Birthday Party

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

The Dilemma Panel Guest: Morgan Hoffman, Entertainment Reporter for The Morning Show and Global News Guest: Nicolas Mulroney, CEO of Bond Bakery Brands If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get unlimited grocery delivery with PC Express Pass. Meal prep? Delivered. Snacks? Delivered. Fresh fruit? Delivered. Grocery delivery? On repeat for just $2.50 a month. Learn more at PCExpress.ca. Welcome to the Dilemma Panel. No question is too awkward.

No problem too petty. And no opinion goes unchallenged. Our panel of over-thinkers is here to dissect, deliberate, and sometimes derail the conversation entirely. Grab your popcorn. This isn't just advice. It's a front row seat to life's most hilariously relatable train wrecks. Here's your host, Ben Mulrooney. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Dilemma Panel. And reminder, we can't solve your problems unless you tell us your problems. And the vehicle for that is an email address, askbenn at chorus and dot com. That's

C O R U S E N T dot com. And of course, I can't do this myself. I mean, I could, I could, let's be honest, I solve a lot of problems on a daily basis, but I don't want to, I want to share the wealth, I want to introduce you to really great people. And so let's welcome Morgan Hoffman, Entertainment Reporter for The Morning Show and Global News. Also started out as my intern. This is very true. Yes. Yes.

Look out and look at free and unfettered of Ben Mulroney. Look how high you fly. And okay. I want to, I want to make sure I get this guy's name right. He's the CEO of Bond Bakery Brands is Nicholas Mulroney. Mul, is that, am I getting that right? You got it Ben, happy to be here. My brother Nick, very pleased to have you.

I love you, you're looking terrific today. All right, let's jump right into the very first dilemma, shall we? Here we go. Dear Ben, every year, like clockwork, my husband and I start arguing about where to go for our summer vacation. I love culture,

museums, little cafes, and walking tours. He wants an all-inclusive resort where he can lay on a beach chair and not move for a week. Nick, guess which one I am there. I always end up compromising more than he does and I'm starting to resent it. I don't want to fight about it this year, but I also don't want to spend my time bored and unfulfilled. How do I get out of this cycle?" Signed, Isla. All right, so it was written by a woman. So we'll go to the woman on the panel first. What do you tell Isla?

What should she do? So here's the deal. I'm also the adventurer in my relationship. I like to see as many things as possible. So what I have found works is, I went to Sardinia last year in Italy, and the first five days it was go, go, go. And then the last five days,

we just chilled on a resort and didn't do much. So it was a good compromise. So everybody gets what they want. Yeah, because it's not fair. You're going to start resenting it and you want to look forward to your summer vacation, not feel like, oh, great, this is going to turn into a fight. Nick, there are a few people out there who have relationships as admirable as the one you share with your wife, Katie. So how do you make it work? What would you tell Isla? How could she be more like you?

Yeah, I don't feel like an expert in this situation. So I'd say, you know, I live by the rule of happy wife, happy life. So in this case, I think you can actually have both. I know there are some all inclusives that are that offer you the ability to go in town and experience certain things. So I think maybe start small, start with a tour and see how that goes. And then all of a sudden you start seeing perhaps your husband, your partner might see your perspective and see how much, you can go zip lining and you can go on ATVs and yeah, you can in fact go into towns as well. I would tell Isla, like, if you're starting to resent it, you do need to open up that line of communication because resentment doesn't go away, it festers and then it metastasizes and then you got a problem.

All right, let's go to a classic Reddit. Am I the a-hole for walking my dogs early in the morning, waking everyone else's dogs. I live in a gated community, every morning at around 5am I walk by two dogs. I have to do this early because I work during the day. The thing is my dogs get quite excited during these walks and start barking until we get to the main gate. While the barking itself isn't particularly loud, it causes the other dogs in the community

to start barking and before long, the entire community's dogs are barking. We've gotten some complaints about this, but the way I see it, it's technically all the other dogs causing the noise. The actual dog from my noise from my dogs is minimal. It's the other dog's reaction to my dogs. That's causing the noise. But I also understand that it's natural for the dogs to bark at my dogs. I think dogs a lot. And if I didn't go for a walk, everyone would be quiet. I can walk them later, but I've always been a person who wakes up early and likes to get my

responsibilities out of the way. Am I the a-hole? I'm going to go first. You most certainly are the a-hole. Absolutely. There is no two ways about it. You laid it out for us. I mean, you answered your own question. Nick, what do you think? I think you're wrong, but that wouldn't be the first time. You're talking about an adult situation. You don't know. There's a lot of reasons why somebody's awake at five in the morning. And I think that that needs to come, that needs to factor into this. And so if that's the only time of day you have, but it's not Nick, he says it himself. I can walk them later, but I've always been a person who wakes up early.

And he recognizes if he didn't walk the dogs, no dogs would be barking. He absolutely is the a-hole. All right, you are the deciding vote here, Morgan. Sorry, Nick, he's the a-hole. I'm just saying, because if he didn't say, I just like to get my responsibilities done early, this is the way I like to do things,

you have neighbors complaining if you didn't have that. And it was like here and there, your dog barks. But yeah, if you can do it an hour, even 6 a.m. 5 a.m. is awfully early, 6 a.m. let's compromise. Yeah, 6 a.m. I think 6 a.m. like, if people should be getting up or you can understand that people are up at 6. There's a, 5 a.m. That's for weird people like me.

Okay, let's go. You need to wake up at three in the morning, Ben. I know, that was awful. Oh, for the morning show. I would wake up, I would wake up as people were going to sleep. I would wake up and Donald Trump was still awake. And so I'd wake up to him rage tweeting in the bathroom.

And I had to turn him off on my Twitter because I wake up to anxiety. I stopped following him on Twitter. Fortunately, Twitter took care of that and kicked them off. Okay, let's go to the next one. We got time for another one. Yes, I work in a mid-level position at a company I've been with for almost five years.

I've always gotten good performance reviews and I get along with everyone. But over time, I've learned that several coworkers with the same job title and responsibilities as me are making significantly more money. Some are newer to the company than I am. The thing is, I'm not the most assertive person. I've never asked for a raise before.

I've always figured if I did good work, it would just happen. Now I feel stuck, part embarrassed, part resentful and part unsure how to even bring this up without sounding ungrateful or unconfrontational. How do I approach this without making it weird or burning any bridges? Signed Daniel. Daniel Nicholas, you employ a number of people. You're the CEO of a company. What would you do if you heard through the grapevine that you had an employee like this?

Yeah, hearing this problem is familiar. I think that a lot of people face this. They don't want to come and ask for that conversation, which I think is very, very important. You always have to have that two-way dialogue. And again, I think it's important for you to focus on the dialogue. You might have certain demands, but it starts with the conversation. You might want to come prepared, explain all the things you've achieved, all the things you want to achieve that you want to bring to the company, but be be direct and be collaborative, see what what the company needs from you to get to that point. And I think that you'll have a really strong

sense of purpose when you do open that line of communication. So that's where I would start. Is there a scenario where two people could be doing similar jobs, have similar titles, but there's a justification for why one would make more than the other. That's all. It's all situation dependent. Yeah. You could have people working on different projects at different times and one project

might, you know, it might seem more important because there might be a time commitment. But I think that the really the important process is whether it's somebody that you report to, whether it's human resources, that you open a direct line of communication and see what does the company need from me, and here's what I can offer the company, and here's what I wanna strive to achieve. And it all starts with a collaborative conversation.

So yeah, so if you're saying, if somebody comes in and advocates for themselves and highlights what they think is an issue, so long as it's addressed in a way of, I want this to serve the company, I want us to all do better, that will be well received from the corporate side. Absolutely, I think that it's,

you have a lot of people that say, okay, we're a team, we're a family, and oftentimes those messages ring hollow. And so I think it's really important to say, here's what I'm willing to do, and here's what I need on a personal level to feel fulfilled professionally. So I think that's a really important communication.

Anytime you develop a bond with the person that you report to with, in that case, I think that it benefits you professionally as well as personally. A bond from the CEO of Bond Bakery Brands. Morgan, listen, you've been rising the ranks in entertainment television for years. You have to advocate for yourself.

I know I speak from personal experience as well. Does this ring true to you? Oh, it's as if I wrote this myself. I had this exact experience. I actually asked my therapist how to handle this because I'm not the most assertive. I also think, oh, I work hard. At one point in time on another show

I was working with six other reporters. I was on paper doing way more interviews, traveling way more. And I knew for a fact I was getting paid the least amount. And so I very calmly went in, talked to my boss and opened my line and it shocked him. And I just said, I want to let you know, I'm not happy here anymore. And it's like he really stood up, listened, and then I explained to him what's going on. I had to lay out all my responsibilities, and within a month I got a huge raise. Good for you.

But it was very hard, I had to go to my therapist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes you hope the work is gonna speak for itself, but that's not. Oh, I've learned it does not. That's not always the case. And so yeah, you gotta pump your own tires. You gotta learn how to do it with, all while projecting that you want the best for the company.

Yeah. Well, that was a very good chat. We've got more coming up on the Dilemma Panel after the break. Don't go anywhere. This is the Ben Mulroney Show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show and welcome back to the Dilemma Panel. I'm joined by Morgan Hoffman and my brother, Nicholas Mulroney. And before we jump back into the dilemmas themselves, if Nick, there's a dilemma that a lot of Canadians are going to be

going through over the next few months. It's barbecue season. And so we need to know what the best bun is for the different things that we put on the grill. For example, what's the best bun for a juicy hamburger? Like a big one, not a smash burger. I think that's a Portofino brioche bun. And what about for a smash burger? I think that's a Portofino potato bun. There we go. And for a hot dog? I think it's a Portofino hot dog bun.

I actually didn't know. Yeah, I didn't know you had a hot dog bun. All the tools in the toolbox for you barbecue season. Oh, yeah. Okay. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. Yeah, I gotta be careful. Sometimes I start talking food on this show and my bread, my tummy thinks that I'm gearing up for a meal. I am not down boy. Yeah. When you started talking about your favorite fast food for 30 minutes. All right. And Morgan, you're on the entertainment beat. And this is that time of year with a big tent pole, the movies. What movies are you looking forward to this summer? Well, we were just talking about this. big tent pole, the movies, what movies are you looking forward to this summer?

Well, we were just talking about this. At the end of the month, I'm gonna go do interviews for Superman. I know. I'm not trying to make you jealous, but how cool is that? Can I tell you, that is gonna be the only movie that I've ever seen with my other brother, Mark.

We're gonna go see, I haven't seen a movie in the theaters with him in maybe 40 years. Oh, wow. We're gonna to go see this one together. Oh, Nick's going to feel left out. What are you doing there? Nick, you can come too, if you want. Nick's like, nah. No, that's okay. He's building a business. Okay. So Superman, definitely. Superman materialist. I want to see that's coming out very soon with Pedro Pascal. Chris Evans is in

that. Dakota Johnson. She's a matchmaker. So yeah, there's definitely some really cool projects. F1. Oh my gosh. F1 with Brad Pitt. Hello. I just want to So yeah, there's definitely some really cool projects coming up. F1. Oh my gosh, F1 with Brad Pitt. Hello. I just want to see like, how fast does he really go in those cars? That looks amazing. That looks great. All right, back to the dilemmas.

Sometimes my mouth, I think it's the food. Okay, Dear Ben, my son is turning six next month and we want to throw him a fun little birthday party with a handful of close friends from his class. The issue is the school has a rule that if you're handing out invitations at school, everyone in the class has to be invited. I understand the reasoning. No one wants their kid to feel left out, but hosting a party for 25 kids plus parents is not financially or logistically feasible, nor does my son even play with most of them. What would you do in this

situation? Signed, Nancy. All right, Nick, I'm gonna go with you first. I have a horror story to tell about a birthday party, which I will in a second, but you go first. I think the rule is really important in this case so that people don't feel left out. But that being said, you understand the cost of living is high in Canada. And so I think if you can go around it

with some selective emails and teach your child, some type of candor, some discretion, exactly. But also there's an opportunity for you to perhaps send in some cupcakes to the school on the birthday and represent it that way. There are little tokens that you can respect the rule, but perhaps even go around it a bit. Morgan, is the, I mean, the solution is paperless post.

I mean, a hundred percent. Yeah, I mean, listen, I actually love this rule. You don't want people to feel left out, but what's gonna happen then is you're gonna have sneaky birthday parties and people are gonna find out about it anyway. But regardless, yeah, I mean, in this case, if I had a kid, I would definitely say a handful of people,

I'll be in charge of the invitations, I'll handle this with the parents and we'll keep this on the down low. So years ago when my sons were, I wanna say like eight, maybe seven, my wife was out of town and so I was doing their birthday party at the Cineplex at Yorkdale.

Of course you were. And we invited everybody in the class and I figured I'd just get a bunch of quarters and in anticipation before we went into the movie and then we had the pizza, we would just play video games. And the parents kept dropping their kids off and they're like, you sure you don't want me to stay? I was like, I got it. It's good. Go have two hours to yourselves. And then, and so they left. But then what I noticed is I didn't have a list of how many kids were there. I hadn't checked anybody in. And also, it was an open air.

There were no walls around the arcade. And so I was like, I don't know what I'm dealing with here. And then when we go into the theater, I had rented out more seats than I needed, but I didn't know how many seats. And I'm watching all these empty seats that are reserved for Ben Mulroney. There could be a child abduction imminent,

but I don't know yet because I don't know who I've got. We go into the pizza room and I'm waiting for the axe to fall. I'm waiting for the parents to show up and I'm just staring at their faces, hoping to God they immediately recognize their kid. And a couple of times they were looking around the room and I started panicking. By the grace of God, I didn't lose a single kid that day. I will never do that again. That was the dumbest thing I think I have ever done in my life. Oh my gosh. That's important to know today. I think you have a birthday today, right Ben? Well, yeah, it's my sister's birthday today and my daughter's birthday tomorrow. Ah, that's exciting. The camp counselor in me is panicking. Head count, everyone gets a number,

call out the number, one, two, okay. I got it, go have fun. It was the most stressful four hours of my life, or three hours of my life. That's amazing. It was awful. All right, back to the dilemma. So, did we solve that? Yes, paperless post, Nancy.

Okay, next one. Classic M, would I be the a-hole if I told my wife to get off her phone and take care of the baby. The title basically says it all but to add some detail, we have an 11 month old I work full time my wife stays home indefinitely take care of the baby. That was a mutually agreed arrangement that couldn't work any other way as her income would have been less than half of mine. My wife seems to have a phone addiction, where she will be glued to the screen for hours either watching reels videos or messaging or exchanging audio messages with friends. I have no problem with that.

I'm on my phone often myself. It is what it is. That's the way most of us decompress in 2025. The difference is I'm on my phone in my downtime and I can drop it at a moment. She's on it constantly. Would I be the a-hole for calling it out and saying that she needs to at least put in eight hours of phone free baby time every day and then we can split the evenings. Morgan, you go first. Okay, so hold on. The concern is that when he comes home, she's still on her phone or he's concerned she's not looking after the baby. I think his concern is she's not giving the kid the attention. I mean, if you're going to stay home, then it's not the act of being home.

It's the act of being present when you're home. Otherwise, what's the point? I mean, honestly, I think that's a wonderful question to have. I think, unfortunately, a lot of people don't really realize how addicted they are to their phones. Like you just do it until someone kind of calls it out and you're like, oh, right. You'd have to do in a very delicate way because I'm sure there's situations where it's like the baby's stressful.

This is how I decompress. But yeah, that would be concerned for you. I'm not going to lie if I felt like my partner was on their phone all the time and not giving the time to the baby as I feel like they should. Yeah, Nick, it feels like this guy has an important conversation to have, but if he doesn't deal with it properly, if he doesn't thread the needle, he is walking into a buzz saw and landmines. Bingo. I think it's important to note that, you know, as this person goes to

work, there is an outlet you have, you can speak to your colleagues about, you know, what you saw on TV or what happened in the news the day before. Um, you're at home with the baby. There's, there's no outlet for you. Your phone is your outlet, I guess. Um, so it's important to have that context, but yeah, you're right. Thread this needle very carefully. Yeah, I mean, listen, your wife is, you gotta remember, your wife is taking a hit for the team. She had a job, right? And she's the one staying home. You're out there living your life.

Yes, you are providing and that's vital to the family, but she is also providing in her way. And Nick is absolutely right. She's completely alone at home with a kid that is, let's be honest, in those early days, kids kind of suck. You sort of manufacture joy. Oh, the kid burped and smiled. Okay, take the win.

But she needs some sort of human contact. And if you go in guns a blazing and you, in an effort to get what you want, demean her motherhood, it's not going to end well for you. You are going to be back at the one yard line, close to your end zone, and you're going to be the doghouse. So I urge caution here, man. I urge real caution.

We put screen time on our kids. It'd be this guy having to put screen time on his wife. This was, this is a tough one. But yeah, yeah, it is. Anyway, I don't, I don't have time to get into another dilemma. So I want to get back into Bond bakery brands for a second, because you've got the Portofino, you've got the cake pops, you got the pizza. What else? Yeah, you got it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. So we're, we're coming up to barbecue season. Interesting to note that the weather has impacted us. Not something you really think of, but yeah, we're excited that the weather's turned. We're excited that you can enjoy our products across Canada. And it's going to be a good year. And look, as good as his bread is, nobody makes better pizza

than Nick. He's got a pizza oven at home. Like he, he legit lives by the bread code, legit lives by the bread. I was going to ask about the pizza. What's like your go-to pizza? He's got his frozen pizza, but he makes pizza. Oh, what's your specialty pizza that you make? Oh, it's whatever the group wants. Great answer. The toppings are the commodity. Hey, Pizzaria Nico. Hey, Morgan, thank you so much for joining us.

Really appreciate it. Nicknack, love you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. Knick Knack, love you. I will see you. See you at dinner tonight? See you Uncle Ben. All right, love you. I'll talk to you soon. I'll be back on the Ben Mulroney Show.

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