The Best One Yet - 😶 “I faked it” — Busted for fake working. Lululemon’s whale tail pants. Xbox’s credit card.

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Because ~8% of work done on computers is fake… 50% of companies now track their employees.Lululemon stock dropped 10% because of 1 single product… their worst pants ever.Xbox and Barclays just teamed up… for a video game credit card.Plus, the Olympic Village beds are getting a lot of attention… and they’re built using fishing line.$LULU $WFC $MSFT $BCSSubscribe to our Saturday Newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter  Watch us on YouTube Submit Facts & Shoutouts Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn (Nick) & LinkedIn (Jack)About Us: From the creators of Robinhood Snacks Daily, The Best One Yet (TBOY) is the daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. 20 minutes on the 3 business, economics, and finance stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal ritual. Hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, July 29th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This episode, this is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, Jack, hold on one second.

I got a surprise for you. You ready? Whoa, what are you thinking this? Look at this. Oh, my goodness. What? It's a T-boy racing jacket. Where did you get that?

It's got Lamborghini. It's got Rolex. No, I'm serious. Where did you get that F1-style racing jacket with the T-Boy logo on the top? Wait a minute. Are we sponsoring an F-1 team and you didn't tell me about it? First of all, I am working on that. But that's not the reason Jack.

What happened? A Yeti named Husnay and Chukot in Texas has a fashion company and he made us these like F-1 racing jackets. Wait, I'm getting one too? You're getting a jacket too, man. Yettys, you've got to watch this on YouTube. We're going to post this on Instagram at T-boy Pod. Coolest jacket I've ever seen. I've never felt faster, Jack.

On that note, should we start our engines, man? Start your engines. Jack, three stories for today's show. What do we got for the T-boy? For our first story, the newest trend in work is fake work. That's right. Pretending to work has never been more real. Because 50% of companies are actually tracking you.

For our second story, Lulu Lemonstock dropped 10% on Friday because of one single product. Lulu's breeze through yoga pants are a. little too breezy. And our third and final story. For the first time in history, a video game and a bank are teaming up. So Jack and I will tell you why Barclays is issuing the first ever Xbox credit card.

But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Game over MX, game over. Wonderful mixes stories. Love the mix, Jack. The most controversial part of the Olympics isn't the judges for gymnastics who get to randomly put up any number they feel is arbitrarily the score.

Hold these guys accountable. And it ain't the P-Tess either that every athlete has to take after every single competition. The biggest controversy in Paris for the next two weeks is the beds. The beds, the cardboard, super light Olympic Village beds.

The Olympic Village beds aren't foamy. They look flimsy. They're not like sitting on a box spring. They kind of look like you're sitting on boxes. The bed frame is literally made of stacked cardboard boxes. Honestly, it's been so unstirty looking. This bed at the Olympic

has been called the anti-sex bed. Because these mattresses skipped the chapter on lumbar support. But yet is, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style on your behalf, and this Olympic bed is actually a brilliant business. The company behind those 11,000 Olympic mattresses is called Airweave. It's a Japanese startup. And that mattress they invented was actually inspired by fishing. Yeah.

Back in 2004, Airweaves founder noticed that fishing line can be used like thread. Yeah, so this bledensens. Leonardo da Vinci in Japan sewn up a mattress using fishing line. And the result? It's actually the perfect bed jack. This mattress is 90% air and it's 10% fishing line and it can actually hold up to 600 pounds of weight. 600 pounds. So it turns out you can have a pretty good time on that bed jack.

Unless you're on the Sumo Olympics team. Yet is this Olympic mattress. It stays cool because it's full of air and it keeps people sleeping longer because it stays so cool. And the best part, when the games are over, they just hose down these mattresses because they're made of plastic fishing line. Boom, they clean off these mattresses as easy as cleaning off a plastic plate in the dishwasher. So they can donate all 11,000 beds after the games to some needy, worthy cause. Best is what Jack and I are telling you is that this bed?

This ain't just a bed, is it, Jack? It's a Nobel Peace-winning rocket scientist bed. Sleep on that, tempera panic. Kiss that, Casper. Hey, Seeley, you're going to squealie. Jack, let's sit at our three stores. years before this song. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. I need to practice. 50%. That's a fat

tip. Tea boy city on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. Our first story. There is a wild new trend across America's offices. And here it is, fake work and fake work gadgets. Companies are monitoring their remote workers' keystrokes. Yeah. We have some thoughts. Yeties, all across America, women are faking it.

And guess what? Men are faking it too. Now, we're talking, of course, about work. About work. About fake work. That's what we're talking about here. Pretending you're working, but you're not actually working. The story's about fake work products.

We're faking it all the way across the world, man. Physical devices that will move your mouse, that will click your computer keyboard, that will pretend that you're there at your desk. Apparently, your co-worker Sarah is out surfing, but her mouse at home appears to be surfing spreadsheets. For 20 bucks on Amazon, you can buy one of these things. It's like a treadmill for your mouse. It keeps it working.

It keeps your computer away. It keeps it going, like a little mouse on the mouse wheel. That's actually kind of, that works. Yeah, it works. And the Wall Street Journal just cited a report. Get this, Nick. 8% of all work done on computers in America today. 8% is fake work.

One out of 10 of your colleague says that they're on Slack right now, but they're actually getting a little ice cream. We see you, David. So plug in that mouse jiggler. Pop over to Plotties and still get paid because you were clocked in the whole time. But besties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. There's another surprise about the other side of fake work. Fake work products have created some kind of cat and mouse game, pun intended.

Literally, like, we're talking about your mice here yetis. Because your boss doesn't want to be duped by some $19 chotchky that you have bought on Amazon and keeps your computer awake. So with the rise of fake work mouse movers is the counter rise of mouse surveillance software that tries to catch you in the fake working act. All right, Jack, you shared a wild stat with us like a minute ago. Can I share a wild stat with you, please? Please. 50% of you as companies now use some kind of electronic worker surveillance system. Half of you.

Half of you have bosses who are monitoring your keyboard movements. They're checking your clicking. And they want to know that you're actually there on your computer putting the hours in. Jack, a whole bunch of Yetis just paused the pod and are looking around a little nervous. But this fake work tit for tat, it's escalating like the Soviets and the U.S. nuclear programs. Because what Jack and I are saying is that the more sophisticated. The sophisticated the fake work device, the more sophisticated the fake work monitoring software. Just last month, Wells Fargo fired 12 workers for fake work because they caught them fake working.

And Jack, how did Wells Fargo catch someone fake working from their home? They had new software that tracked keystrokes and discovered that the keystrokes that were happening on the computers were clearly done just, you know, robotically by a mouse jig. Carolyn accounting just keeps pointing her mouse in the upper right hand corner doing a circle. And then get this, the Wells Fargo manager publicly hanged their mouses to make an example out of that. We haven't verified that yet. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone working in America? If you're counting clicks, you're missing what matters. Yeah, it is, Jack and I are big believers that the most important part of work isn't how you do it, but the result.

Being productive is more important than being busy. So yeah, Jack and I get it. A mouse mover that someone bought on Amazon, that can be an insult. If you're a manager, it feels like you're being lied to. But a manager shouldn't be tracking mouse movements in the first place. Exactly. Great point, Jack. An employee's performance should be based on what they produce, not how long they've been working. If Sarah delivers the top TPS report and she has time to go surfing, don't just sit there.

Promote her. On the other hand, don't promote her just because she's been moving her mouse for 10 hours. Instead of surveilling work, companies should monitor results. If you're counting clicks, you're missing what matters. For our second story, Lulu Lemon stock just dropped 10% because of one single pair of yoga pants. Lulu Lemon is pulling its biggest new product of the year because it stretched your patience. Yet is, last Friday, Lulu Lemon should have been celebrating Team Canada, right, Jack? Because this Vancouver-based company did the entire,

Olympic uniforms for their native Canucks at the opening ceremony. But here's the thing, Basties, Lulu Lemon, they weren't celebrating, eh? They were pulling leggings from the shells, eh? And probably apologizing, Jack. This $30 billion company, Lulu Lemon, their top selling product historically has been the Align Yoga Pants Leggings. Ah, the Align Leggings. Odds are 90% of our listeners right now are wearing Align Leggings.

The $98 pants are Lulu Lemon's most rated pants. But Lulu Lemon just launched. a new concept. They're called the breeze through. They're pants and shorts that are the next level of yoga pants. But here's the funny thing, Yetis. This brand new yoga pant just dropped Lulu stock by 10%. Three billion dollars of company value was eliminated thanks to this one pair of pants. Like Shavasana, which means corpse, by the way. Corpse. Really? Yeah. That's what Shavasana means, Jack. Dead body pose? A little awkward being in Shavasana now, isn't it? I know. That I thought it was like sleeping pose.

I kind of wish I hadn't jumped in T-boy style of that one. But Yeti's Lulu Lemon has gone viral. Usually, virality is a great thing for a company. But Lulu's new pants went viral for getting ripped on in the comments section. The breeze through pants were supposed to do two things for customers. Yes. First, they were going to be the lightest and thinnest yoga pants ever. And second, they were going to have no front seam.

The goal was to eliminate the camel toe, so there's no seam between the legs. But Jack, what was the actual? results of these brand new innovative pants? The light material I told you about earlier, it made the pants unsupportive. It was like compression pants with no compression. Oh, and that's not even the worst part, is it, Jack? The interesting seam architecture built a kind of built-in, exaggerated whale tail above the butt on the backside of the pants. And if you check out the Reddit comments, no one was liking that whale tail. So now, just two weeks after debuting, their big, new engineered pair of yoga pants, Lulu decided to pull the product

from all stores and make them unavailable online. Like we said, Shavasana. Lula tried to innovate with a cutting-edge pair of pants, but they should cut these pairs of pants from the pipeline. But, Jack, I'm sorry, I gotta pause the pod for a second because I'm looking back through the history of T-Boy, and haven't we heard this story before, man? When Nick and I just started covering business news,

Lululemon had a story just like this. Yeah, 11 years ago, Lululemon faced its famous 2013 sheer pants problem. Their yoga pants were see-through. Yeah, it was. They were too sheer. It was embarrassing. And the result? Lulu Lemon lost $60 million for calling those pants a decade ago, and their stock dropped 5% on the day they announced it. You think their quality control people would have stopped this

breath-through product from reaching the shelves in the first place. Like we said, breeze-through was a little too breezy. Shavasana. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone at Lulu Lemon? When you stretch investors' patience too far, you're going to get ripped. Yeti's wild development on Friday, at least three different investment banks downgraded Lulu Lemon stock, citing execution issues. The stock fell a whopping 10% all because of this one pair of pants. But here's the reason Jack and I think why.

Before this whole breeze through breakdown, Lulu Lemon was already suffering. Lulu stock is down 50% from its all-time high. The stock is at a four-year low because of a bunch of inventory problems this year and a bunch of color issues with customers this year. So what we're saying is that investors were already frustrated at Lulu Lemon, but now they're furious at Lulu Lemon. It's a trend we've seen on Wall Street before. The more a company is suffering, the lower investors have tolerance for mistakes. The more a company is making errors, the smaller the margin for more of those errors. If Lulu Lemon was at an all-time high right now, investors probably would have been more forgiving for this mistake. The stock wouldn't

have fallen as hard. But Lulu was already down, and that is what we're at. Why a simple pair of pants cause such a big stock drop. A simple whale tail cause such a stock splash. Because, Bessie's, when you've already stretched investors' patience, it's easier to get ripped. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story. For the first time ever, video gamers are feeling seen by the U.S. finance industry. Credit cards are finally going after gamers because gaming is America's forgotten pastime.

Now, Jack, you and I, let's talk about extremes here. More than any generation, us millennials, we have been defined by one love and one hate. What is it, man? We're pro video games. We're anti-credit cards. So over the weekend, Jack and I noticed that the Wall Street Journal profiled a 37-year-old dude named Matt, who plays 50 hours of video games a week. That's a lot of video gaming.

Full-time job. I've been feeling he's doing some fake working, if you know what I mean, Jack. I think that's what Matt's doing. Well, Matt doesn't want his controller to get greasy. so he uses chopsticks to eat his potato chips. Now, Yetis, you might picture teens and college kids when you picture a gamer. But Jack, is that accurate? Mm-mm.

The average video gamer in America is 36 years old, which is our age neck. But here's the funny thing, Yetis, while Matt loves his PS3, he hates American Express. Earlier this year, Yeties, we told you a story about millennials using credit cards less than any other generation. And why are we doing it? Well, because guys like Matt graduated in college in... 2009 into the Great Recession, which was caused by debt. Matt probably struggled to get a job fresh out of college, and it was all because of debt. And that's why millennials are anti-credit card and pro video game. Wall Street has a plan to change that. Get this, Yetis. Banks are now using

that one thing we hate to crack the other thing we love. Or I'm sorry, the other way around. The other way around. Yeah, the other way. Banks are now using the one thing we love to crack the one thing we hate. Here's the news, Yiddies, the British Bank, just launched a video game credit card. That's right, the first gamer card. It's like the dream credit card for a World of Warcraft buff. It's Discover card for Donkey Kong. It's Visa for Zelda. Could I say it's the Capital One for Pokemon? I'll let you say that. I think I stuck the landing at the Yadis will too. Yadis, we've talked about credit card travel perks. But the Barclays Xbox MasterCard, all the perks are based on video games, not travel. $50 for a sign-up credit and $5x the points for any spending on digital gaming products.

And because gamers are probably streamers too, you get three times reward points on any streaming subscriptions like Netflix. Oh, and since you can't break a FIFA record without some pad tie in your mouth, you get three times the points on Grubhub and DoorDash food deliveries. Hey, Barclays, your next thing you should do is add cheat codes to the rewards. Yeah, they got to add cheat codes to these things. Up, up, down, down, AB, AB, AB, AB. I just unlocked invincibility mode. Boom, you unlock 2% cashback. Oh, you're a PlayStation guy, not an Xbox guy. Capital One actually designed a video game card for you too.

Oh, and Jack, did you hear what happens if you don't pay the minimum on this credit card? Game over. You get a call from Wario, and he hits you with a barrel. That's Dunkin'Connor. Either way, he's collecting that debt, Jack. Video games, Yeties, and finance have always felt at odds. So why at this moment are banks finally going into basements for the first time? Well, it's because Jack and I found a shocking,

statistics. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in finance and gaming? Video games are America's biggest forgotten pastime. Yeties, credit cards love to target our biggest spending categories. Travel, grocery, shopping, and Costco. But video games deserve to be right up there as a top spending category, and the data proves it. Because get this, between 2003 and In 2020, American spending on video games six-ext. Between 2003 and 2003. Yeah. We went from $10 billion spending on video games to $60 billion a year.

Sit down, stand up, and toss that pad tie back in your mouth again. In fact, today, for every $1 we American spend on movie tickets, we spend $6 on video games. That's right, video games are six times bigger than Hollywood. Video games are a massive industry in the United States. And now video games aren't as glamorous as some other industries. Video games, they happen in the shadows, literally. But in 2024, the big finance firms are finally seeing the light. Video games, they are America's biggest forgotten pastime.

Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Half of America's companies are using computer software to catch fake working. It's a cat and mouse game, but if you're checking for clicks, then you're missing what matters. For our second story, it's Lulu Lemon. stock fell 10% on the decision to pull their new yoga pants, the breeze throes. Because when you stretch investors, patience, it's easier to get ripped. And our third and final story is Barclays. They've launched an Xbox MasterCard with reward points really valuable to video gamers. Up down, up down, left, right, live right, video games. They are actually America's biggest

forgotten pastime. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, UPS just had its worst day ever. The stock of UPS plummet 11% last week. And the big reason is surprising UPS is blaming Shian and Timo for their problems. Yeah, it looks like Shian and Timu sent 600,000 packages to the United States every day. But they use the slowest cheapest UPS service. $3 tube tops, three-week shipping. Yeah.

Those Shian orders are taking up valuable UPS resources. And second, the weight loss drug, OZemPEC, is facing some fresh competition. Viking Therapeutics has developed their own GLP1 weight loss drug, similar to Wegevian Ozempic. So Viking stock jumped 28% while Eli Lilly and Novo Nordist stock fell 5% and 3%. And finally, 13 sharks off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine. It happened to an area of Brazil where there is a bunch of drug production, actually. So the sharks seem to have absorbed the drug.

runoff from the drug cartels. The scientists noticed because the sharks were really hard to catch. Sharks already never sleep. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Gary from lovely bikini bottom. It's a real hometown, is it? Great guy, great guy. Well, last week, Jack and I told you about the greatest race going on in the world right now. The world snail racing championships. Yeah, it took place in England and the snails were moving at 0.000006 miles per hour, there was a winner just last week. It took the winning snail two minutes to go the 13 inches of the very scores. But Jack and I were wondering, particularly Jack, about the snail shell situation and why

snails have shells in the first place. So you know they have those beautiful shells on their back? Get this. The shells grow as the snail grows. So the shell isn't something they just find. The snail is growing the shell while it lives out its life, kind of like you grow out your hair. Yeah.

So when the snail gets bigger, he doesn't ditch the shell and find a new shell. Right. The shell gets bigger too. The shell and the snail are one in the same, and that is a beautiful thing. Does that mean shells were once alive? Jack, that sounds like a fact for another pot. Yeties, you look fantastic to kick off the week. And remember, if you're furking right now, fake working, then your secret is safe with us. We won't tell anyone that you're firking.

So simple and so genius. I really think this word works. Spancies, remember to call your roommate and tell them to move your mouse for you. That friend is now your fur, buddy. Remember to click to follow the show to get us every single day, and Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, congratulations to Yeti, Catherine Eyring, who's got a new job in Provo, Utah at Goldman Sachs.

Not too shabby, congratulations, Catherine. And happy birthday to Sam Serberg in Great Falls, Montana. Sam loves our ad lib, so Jack, I feel like a cookie crisp is necessary. It's kind of the only gift you can give right now. Goh-h-key, Chris. Thank you. And Kevin Brown in Manchester, Connecticut is biking and hiking and just crushed an exam

while celebrating a birthday. And whose name's showcott, thank you and the whole merch main team for the epic, legendary T-boy racing gear. You look like you just won the Indy 500. And I can't wait to feel the same way. It feels fantastic, Jack. And to anyone else,

celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Island Stock of Netflix, and Nickel in Stock of, Lulu Lemon. Hey, where is this effigy people keep getting burned at? I would just say avoid effigy. That was a vocab word of mine in like 11th grade.

And there's only one sentence structure that works. Only one way you use it. Only burn a public figure in effigy. And only mobs can do it. You can't visit effigy. You can't like tickle an effig. You can only burn an effig. If you could massage an effig, that'd be great.

I would love to effigy. But apparently when you go to effig, you get burned in effigy. Ha ha ha.