We're Here to Help - 289: WEIRD Here To Help: Seance At The Cheesecake Factory & Workplace Whimsy

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

Steve & Eric help a caller navigate the aftermath of an unprompted work trip seance at The Cheesecake Factory. Then they pitch some ideas for bringing a little bit of whimsy into the work...place.Want to call in? Email your question to weirdheretohelp@gmail.com.PATREON: https://patreon.com/heretohelppodMERCH: heretohelppod.comINSTAGRAM: @HereToHelpPodIf you’re enjoying the show, make sure to rate We’re Here to Help 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:01 This is a headgum podcast. Steve Berg, Eric Edelstein. Now, our last episode, we had a dozy of a problem. No one has ever been in more need of help than our brother, Steve Berg. Steve, you had a tick on your dick. A lot of listeners writing in, a lot of people concerned, a lot of amateur advice, a lot of professional advice. Please give us an update. You look okay. Your color looks good. You seem okay. But a lot of People wanted you to go get tested for lime. They wanted you to get on a dose of antibiotics. They said the bullseye is not always an indicator of Lyme disease.
Starting point is 00:01:07 Please update our good listeners. Things are good. We're healed up. Zero symptoms. No bullseye. Should I go to a doctor and get an antibiotic? Maybe. Should I go to a doctor in general?
Starting point is 00:01:19 Maybe. However, I'm choosing the natural path on this one. A lot of teacher plant, some vitamin D. Smoking wheat. Well, I mean, it's medicine. Okay. Okay. It's prescribed to me. But what about all the people?
Starting point is 00:01:36 Like, if you, because I, I've learned so much about ticks since this incident. I've been reading all the comments on Reddit, on Patreon. Are they a CIA creation? I don't know. Like they know. You might be. You might be a side. Well, I.
Starting point is 00:01:49 Well, there's some interesting articles I found on that, which I won't get into now. No, we'll get that for another show. That's for another show. Yeah. But a lot of people are saying just go to the doctor immediately if you're bit by a tick and get those antibiotics so it doesn't turn into lime. Yeah. You know me. I am a worrier.
Starting point is 00:02:07 Why didn't you do that? Oh, sheer laziness, Eric. I'm a roll the dice kind of guy. I like to wait until the problem appears and then freak out and go to the doctor. But, yeah, I didn't, you know, because, I mean, look, look, I've, I like to fly fish. I'm an outdoor kid. I've had so many ticks in my life. I've had one.
Starting point is 00:02:26 And this is the first time I've had one. I've had one deeper embedded in me. And I've just never, you know, I've just kind of the school. Like, hey, man, like it's okay. Like, people get bitten by ticks. Also, I will say Nebraska doesn't have a huge lime problem. Like, we, I think we don't, I know if we have, is it the deer tick that carries limes a lot?
Starting point is 00:02:45 It hasn't really reached this part. I mean, like, look, there is limes here. But it's not like a huge problem like it is in like Pennsylvania and New York and stuff like that. Because Chris Maloney from Law & Order, his sporess on all the time, and I get scared every time. I know, I know. It's not a joke. And he looks like he's been through hell. No, I trust Maloney, but, yeah, so far I'm good, and maybe I'll regret it.
Starting point is 00:03:10 Yeah. Oh, Big Maloney. Is there, Steve, a mark or a scar on your fallas? Don't see phallus to me. God. You've got a phallis. You're walking around the phallis, buddy. and Buzz coming out of the Midwest is you're packing a full lunch, king.
Starting point is 00:03:29 Is your fallace intact? Is there a mark on? It's okay. It's okay. Yeah, I mean, maybe a slight mark, you know, but I banished up a lot of vitamin E ointment on it and neosporan. So, no, we're healed up. We're operational again. We're open for business.
Starting point is 00:03:45 You're open for business. Oh, Mike. Somebody call it a better business bureau. Eric, I do want to slightly switch gears because. Please, Steve. Bring us out of this hell. The one you created. I admit it. I admit it.
Starting point is 00:04:00 Yeah, you brought it up. But you did something truly amazing this week. I did. Last weekend, I was invited to speak at Malvern Manor, which is a historically haunted location in Malvern, Iowa. And I gave a lecture about anonymous light phenomenon. Actually, on the Patreon, I made a little mini documentary of that situation, which will be up very soon. But I what was the the lectures went great the small I love small towns, right?
Starting point is 00:04:27 So to spend a weekend of small towns, it's like I am in heaven. There's like a thousand people there. One great diner that everyone was like basically Grand Central Station. Everyone goes there and the food was so good. Would you get? Weirdly, weirdly, I want because I know before I speak, I don't like to go heavy. So I want to be light and lively. So I got a Greek salad.
Starting point is 00:04:49 Normally I would not recommend doing that in a small town. out of a thousand. However, it was incredible. Lots of, very generous with the Greeks went everywhere. You can get a out there. They did. They did. In fact, I think ethics food is always a good bet in small towns, in my opinion. But Eric, what was
Starting point is 00:05:06 really fun and special about this weekend is I went ghost hunting in this place at night with some professional, I mean, I'm using that in quotes, ghost hunters, ghost investigators. And it was genuinely very scary.
Starting point is 00:05:21 Very, very scary. Really? You don't get scared much. I don't get scared much, but this place was vibed out. People had all kinds of instruments, EMF readers, dousing rods, ghost boxes, and like little things would pop up. One ghost called me a bitch. No. Are you serious? We went into a room where supposedly doesn't.
Starting point is 00:05:43 I don't know. They said before, I was like one of the few males on this little thing. It was mostly these wonderful women. And they were like, hey, so be warned before we go into this room, Gracie doesn't like male energy. And I was like, oh, well, you know, I'm friend-o-female, you know? Yeah, you spend your life winning over elderly women. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:06:06 That's exactly right. As we've said multiple times, we're in touch with our divine feminine. But we went in there, they were running instruments, and then they said something to the effect, some kind of question, like, what do you think about the man in the room? And then all of a sudden it goes, bitch. and so I got called up for being a bitch by a disincarnate voice, which is the first. Checked out the bucket list.
Starting point is 00:06:30 How many people can say that, though? Not many. I'm going to be honest. I love you, but she had your pegged. She had me pegged. I mean, I am a bitch, dude. Yeah, exactly. That's why we do the show together, buddy.
Starting point is 00:06:40 I'm catty, you know what I'm saying? Oh, please. I'm the Yentive Glossel Park. Yeah. Please. But it was a great experience. I will say I've always been kind of like a little bit like, I mean, look, I'm very skeptical about whether we were actually communicating with non-human intelligence.
Starting point is 00:06:57 No, if it called you a bitch, I think you were. I think you were right. You think that's the science? Yeah, I think you just proved ghosts, man. How else would it have known? So were the EMF readers going off like in Ghostbusters and the dousing rods? You know, on the bottom floor, we got like a lot of action. And the bottom floor is I had been to this place one time during the.
Starting point is 00:07:21 the day on a hot July day, and I was very scared. During the day of this place. Very sweaty. There was not a lot of AC in this house, and insulation is questionable. But I, there is this one hallway where people, and two people who I know personally, who I really believe that they experienced this to their knowledge, not saying what it was, but there is this shadow figure, like a shadow man that chases people out. And so I actually went down and sat by myself in this dark hallway, couldn't see my hand in
Starting point is 00:07:51 front of my face and sat down there and waited for the shadow person to come and it was the scariest like four minutes of my life i was terrified did you see anything no i found nothing i find nothing you know me i would not do that i would not invite it in i'm terrified of shadow figures i used to see them in my sleep and i thought they were trying to kill me and then my friend tegan told me to not take uh benedadryl yeah benedroo did benedroo makes the hat man come it truly did it was terrifying and I had recurring nightmares and night tears and I run around, then I quit taking Benadryl, and it's the different... It went away.
Starting point is 00:08:24 Hydramine H-C-I, so thank you, Tegan Quinn. Yeah, there's like Reddit threads about people taking... about people reporting their Benadryl experiences. First off, do not take Benadryl to trip out and see the hat-man, folks. No, I wasn't. I'm doing it because I'm the most allergy-ridden soul there is. Yeah, you're allergic. Nettles.
Starting point is 00:08:43 But, like, I would see these terrifying shadow figures that were trying to, like, steal my breath when I slept. Yeah, you don't want that. And then finally, Teigen's like, do you take Benadryl? I'm like, oh, yeah, I'd take it to sleep. And for allergies and they went away. But what happened in that house, Steve, that it's so haunted? It was an old care center.
Starting point is 00:09:02 A lot of people, I think there's been 200 confirmed. Yeah. And it used to be, it started out. There's no way I'd go. There's no way I would step in there. Was a fuel parlor in the 1860s. And then got turned to like a care center for like people with like a psychological disorders like tuberculosis and stuff but oh what are you doing dude don't you
Starting point is 00:09:23 don't you don't worry that those shadow figures and ghosts will follow you like I would never walk in there my wife worries about that I don't because I'm like well that would be great because I could bring it home and then I could study it so oh god no you're so much braver than I am you're actually not really a bitch that goes well I am I'm thank you so scared I'd never go back that ghost lied I wouldn't even say anything bad about that ghost That's how scared I involved. We really came full circle on this. You know, at first you thought the ghost was
Starting point is 00:09:53 random money about call me a bitch, and then you saw a reason and saw that I'm a brave, valiant soldier. Yeah, much braver than I. In the world of the paranormal. Much braver than I. I'm scared of spiders. Well, my friend, Steve, we got some amazing calls here. Are you ready to get into it, you little bitch? Hell yes.
Starting point is 00:10:08 Okay. Eric, God, dang it. We'll talk off the air. Never call me a touch in front of the air. Sorry, the ghost started, I'm just going to finish it. But we have some truly incredible calls today. And we can't wait to get into it. So without any further ado, it's Weird Here to the Health.
Starting point is 00:10:25 Don't you ever call me a little bitch again. Sorry, bitch. Well, my friend, welcome to Weird Here to Help starring Eric Edelstein and your little buddy, Stevenberg. Could you tell us what your name is, where you're calling from, and your favorite book, movie slash TV show? and album. Sure. Okay. So my name is Beatrice.
Starting point is 00:10:53 I'm calling from Minnesota. Where in Minnesota if you don't mind? I'm just the suburbs of the Twin Cities. Oh, I love it there. I love it. I am a massive Minneapolis fan, St. Paul. I love it. Hussker Due, the replacements to my favorite bands of all time.
Starting point is 00:11:09 The people couldn't be nicer. It's gorgeous. Great. You have a lot of Windigo sightings. Yeah, it's great. Have you ever had breakfast or lunches? at French Meadow. No.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Oh, friend. It's so good. And I'm going to say this. This is going to be controversial to my brothers and sisters and thamesers in the northwest. Minnesota is the friendliest people on the planet. And it's genuine.
Starting point is 00:11:32 They're the kindest, nicest, best people. I went there and visited my good buddy Scott Sayeredas. Everybody go to Mill City Sound, his record store. But when I first went there, I was so confused by how genuinely wonderful everyone was there.
Starting point is 00:11:45 And I looked it up. And I found the prince quote, The cold keeps the assholes out. And I sure think that's true. Yep, that's the match in Minnesota right there. Oh, yeah. So Beatrice, first of all, I love your name, beautiful name. Yeah, what, talk to me about some of your pop culture thingies, you know, book, album, TV, movie, that kind of stuff.
Starting point is 00:12:10 Can do. So I feel like I should answer Prince, but I'm not going to. So please don't come for me. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I shook his hand once. One day I'm going to finally tell the story on our first Unc show.
Starting point is 00:12:21 But yeah, you're allowed to. You could also say Bob Dillan, he's from Hibbing. That's true. I can say all those. But I'm not going to. I'm going to say the greatest hits by Abba. Oh, yeah. I love Abba out of Bashedly.
Starting point is 00:12:37 They're great. Yes. Yes. Books, this might be cheating, but I'm going to say the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit. I just have to have them all. allowed. You're allowed that. This is your world, friend. We're just inhabiting it today. Love those books. Thank you. Thank you. And then TV show Shitts Creek, hands down. Okay. So great. Oh, we miss Kauffin-O-Hara. Shitt's Creek. Finally, they let C-Biscuit out of
Starting point is 00:13:02 the stable and let him run the great Chris Elliott, Schitts Creek. More Canadian television, please. Right. Yeah. More Canada, everything. Minnesota's like Canada adjacent, I feel like. Like the Northwest is kind of, but there's like a very shared, you know, it's cold. They're funny. They're legends. We love it. Yeah. Yeah. They're legends. They also, they also have a signature kind of pocket sandwich called the pasty. Have you ever had a pasty, Beatrice? No, I feel like you're putting me to shame. That's okay. That's okay. I don't know. The other Minnesota thing is, what do they call it, Beatrice is a hot plate? Everybody has their own hot plate and it's like hot dish. Hot dish. Yes. Steve, do you know about hot dish?
Starting point is 00:13:44 Is it like a tater tot situation? It's made, for you. What's in it, Beatrice? Sell Steve on a hot dish, because I know he'd love it. If you're going to go for like your classic tater tot hot dish, it's tater tots, usually ground beef, some kind of vegetable like carrots, peas, et cetera, and then a mystery cream, usually cream of mushroom. Oh, that sounds good. I'll tell you, would that stick to your ribs, Midwest Fair right there? I am all about that kind of cuisine. I'm not good at cooking here. I have a little experience, but boy would I destroy a plate of hot dish right about now. It might destroy you too, but yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:20 Yeah, it might. I have a sensitive belly of my own dish. You had him in mystery cream. He's yours. Careful with the mystery cream. It binds everything together. The meat, the potatoes, some hot dishes have cheese on top. Everybody has their version of it.
Starting point is 00:14:37 It's part of what makes Minnesota the best. Yeah, it really is. No, no, Beatrice, I'm sure you didn't. call in to regal us with the stories of hot dishes and whatnot. Maybe she did. Well, if you did, that's fine, too, because we can chat about that for 20 minutes. No problem.
Starting point is 00:14:54 But, sister, is there an issue that you think my cohort double E? And I can help you with that. I've never called you double E. I like it. It felt good. It felt natural. You're, you're crushing today, Steve. If I had a gradie, it's an A-plus. It makes you sound like you're just like a walking bra. A brazier. What?
Starting point is 00:15:13 What? Anyways, never, never mind. All right. Let's switch down to 93, Beatrice. He's plunging. I have no idea what he's. You said hot dish and now he can't think of anything else. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 00:15:24 Like I'm so, I'm confused right now. But seriously, uh, Beatrice, how can we hop in today, my friend? Yeah. Okay, so let me give you a little context because context is important. He sure is. It's a question. It's key. Okay.
Starting point is 00:15:36 So one, the first thing to note is that my boss is retiring in about three weeks. Okay. Is that good? Is that good? Off the bat, is that good? It's great. It's not listening to the show. I think we're safe here. Yeah. We're putting him in the canoe on the river with a bottle of booze and a hot dish and saying,
Starting point is 00:15:55 you've done your job, float off, bye. And then we find out the boss has one of my calendars on their refrigerator, so, you know, you never know. In that case, we love you. Stop that canoe, come back in. We're lost without your friend. We love you, boss. We need you.
Starting point is 00:16:08 Okay, I'm sorry. Please continue. Okay. So a little bit about the situation. I was at work travel. And as part of the work travel, we went out for a dinner because that's what you do as a team. And we chose the classiest place. We went to the cheesecake factory in a mall.
Starting point is 00:16:22 Large menu? Oh. Everyone wins. Once blew out my sciatica picking up their menu. That's right. Yes. Yes. So we sat down.
Starting point is 00:16:32 We're there. We finished dinner. We're in between dessert and dinner and dessert. And my boss says, I would like to practice my medium work. and she puts her hands out, palms up. She closes her eyes. She gets ready to call forth the spirit. No.
Starting point is 00:16:48 And my coworker that's sitting next to her, her eyes just like explode. She's a fairly religious person, the coworker. Her eyes explode. She looks at me and she's like, hey, can we please like go to the mall just to like get something for my husband? And I'm like, sure, let's go. And so she has to like awkwardly like interrupt my boss, right? As she's like trying to call down the spirit to scooch past her in the,
Starting point is 00:17:10 in the booth. No. So she gets out, we escape into the ball. We're out there for like maybe 15 minutes. We come back and my boss is livid. Like she's pissed. And I'm like, hey, what's wrong? Were we gone too long?
Starting point is 00:17:23 And she's like, yes. And she beelines it for the car. We all beelined it behind her. The next two days are really awkward. It's just silent treatment. Oh. We can come. So then Monday I get called into a meeting with her.
Starting point is 00:17:35 And she proceeds to tell me that my behavior at the work travel dinner was inappropriate because I left the dinner and I did return time. And okay, oh, I don't know if I mentioned this. She's my, she's my HR manager. So I'm an HR. She's my HR manager. She's an HR. Incredible.
Starting point is 00:17:55 She's an HR manager trying to summon spirits of the cheesecake factory. You know what? Long may she run. I'm seeing why she's retiring. This is legend behavior, but isn't anything I don't want to be around. But like, we have to acknowledge we run across. us a really unique American. We have to acknowledge the budget behavior.
Starting point is 00:18:12 This is an all-timer. Like, Beatrice, congrats. You're already in the top five calls, and we're only eight minutes in. Like, don't let that glow of your head. But like, this is amazing, insane behavior. Right. It's why corporate America won't have me because I would do the same thing. But Steve, if you did it, you would make sure everyone around you was comfortable.
Starting point is 00:18:35 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, like, because, like, look, when you're, when you're doving into the the dark arts or seances or occultism or esotericism, it is not, you should never force anyone or put anyone in a position where they're feeling bad about not participating in a ritual because that is a sentence is a ritual. You're all agreeing to do a separate protocols to try to create an event. Go back to that word, Steve.
Starting point is 00:18:59 You're all agreeing. Agreed. Exactly. And let me just tell you because I'll call a caller out. I don't care. you did the most perfect HR thing ever. You got that person that was uncomfortable out of there. You took him to Hot Topic, to Foot Locker,
Starting point is 00:19:17 to Cinnibon, probably got him a couple of minibons and a mochalada chill. And, like, handled that situation with Grace and decorum, I hope you're taking over your boss's job. Because out the gates, your behavior was perfect. And your boss is crazy. Check her crawl space. I bet there's at least a couple people up there, maybe still alive.
Starting point is 00:19:38 I'm going to add a caveat to that. I'm going to say your boss, because Eric, we acknowledge this legend behavior. Yeah. And a lot of respects is crazy awesome. Because like, like,
Starting point is 00:19:49 here's where the boss this lady was called her. Let's call her Meredith for our cheesecake factory. Right, right, right. On its face, on paper, what Meredith did is one of the coolest things
Starting point is 00:20:02 I have ever fucking heard of my life. However, if you are, If you are going to be mad at someone for not participating in a magical ritual at a public space, then you probably shouldn't be using mediumship or any kind of magical skills. Because, like, first off, if you're being selfish, you're forcing people into bending randomness without the consent. And I don't think that's cool to do. What she should have done and said, guys, I know you know I'm retiring. I'm going to try to be a medium.
Starting point is 00:20:33 I'm going all in. If anybody wants to, you're going to. you're going to get free dessert right now. Anyone not? The mall's right over there. Go crazy. Go to foot locker. But to put that on people,
Starting point is 00:20:44 because I'll say this, and I know I got a reputation of being hippie, woo-woo, I've never done a Ouija board. I won't go near a Ouija board. Steve teases me and threatens to bring Ouija boards to my home, and I don't want it.
Starting point is 00:20:59 My wife wouldn't even let me use mine. No. I'm a wishi board pariah over here. I had nine years of Catholic, and it's stuck and I won't go near those things. And for somebody to do that, and also to ruin, you know, we may make jokes about the large menu. I've never had a bad meal at the Cheesecake Factory.
Starting point is 00:21:16 When I was starving, I've never really been starving. Let's be honest. When I had no money, my parents had come to town and they would take Derek Waters and I to the Cheesecake Factory. And it was every single time, we would put on the calendar and look forward to it so much. They never should have taken the mile high meatloaf off the menu. we should do a seance for that. That was bad.
Starting point is 00:21:36 I love me, Loaf. But you just, I think you already know, you handle this perfectly. But what did your boss say to you in that meeting afterward? Because to me, that should have been an apology being from her and saying, thank you for saving my ass. But this is someone that's quitting. It's not afraid about HR. Yeah. Right.
Starting point is 00:21:53 So that's my question. It's like, do I report her, right? Or do I just let it go under the bridge because she's retiring in three weeks? Can I ask a question about that? Can I ask you a question about that? because that's what I was just thinking about. It's like you're about ready to move up in the world, right? And I think you have been kind of dealt a shitty card by this whole situation
Starting point is 00:22:15 because it is a quandary. Like, what do I do? I think a lot of times I would be like, you know what, they're retiring in three weeks? Maybe they're going through a weird phase and they're panicking because they don't know what to do with their life and their time after they retire. Let bygones be bygones. However, you're in the middle or,
Starting point is 00:22:32 starting your career. And if you, I mean, like, part of your job is to report inappropriate behavior, am I right? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Berg understands what HR is. By the way, that was a shot in the dark.
Starting point is 00:22:49 I wasn't sure. I'm glad he got it right. I'm glad. You nailed it. It would have been bad for the pod. To me, I'm looking after my own. You're in the middle. You have a long career ahead of you.
Starting point is 00:22:59 And also, I think the higher-ups are going. got to respect that you don't fear a boss. And like, you can even kind of say like, look, here's a reality situation. Meredith tried to do a say-in-ness with the Chief Trade Factory. It's just a fun sentence to say. Which is so fucking fun to say. I can say it all day, right? And like, and like we acknowledge, like, the caveat aside, like, this is legend behavior.
Starting point is 00:23:24 On paper, this is one of the coolest things a boss could ever do. But for you, it's even put in a difficult position. If I'm you, I report it because if I'm the boss, I feel like, you know what? Beatrice is not scared of like seniority and stuff like that. Something inappropriate happened and she had the guts to report it right away. Like that's just my take. Here's my take, Steve. I'm about two things.
Starting point is 00:23:51 I'm about no snitches. I'm about no narks. I don't think you need. But you're an HR, dude. It doesn't matter. She's leaving three weeks. I'm about to offer a solution that on the sum is going to seem insane. It's going to seem crazy.
Starting point is 00:24:05 And yet, I'm in for it. And Steve, I'm so sorry. I think you're going to have to be in for it too. I think you should go to your boss and say, I'm friends with, I'm a friend of a program that dowels in the paranormal. And they would love to have you on to do a seance. They get big numbers. There's a whole buzz.
Starting point is 00:24:26 And Beatrice, we will let her come on and cook. And if she wants to do it remotely from a cheesecake factory, she is welcome to do it. She can get the southwestern egg rolls and talk to the dead. And I will thank her. And, you know. Yeah, right, Steve? We'd have her on. Well, and here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:24:49 Beatrice, we have something in common. I have also broken bread with a psychic medium. I'm not joking. Also, she was very pretty. And the whole time I was, like, worried that she was thinking, like, oh, is he like, you know, anyways, and we'll get into that.
Starting point is 00:25:03 No, I want to, I want to circle back to that, Beatrice. You got to, if you have a minute. So hold on. No,
Starting point is 00:25:09 no, no, no, no, you're stuck in this now. Congrats. So you're worried the whole time, like,
Starting point is 00:25:14 I don't want to think she's attractive because she'll know. Yeah, so I was like trying to play my name. So are you like trying to think of like a pink elephant,
Starting point is 00:25:21 like don't think she's attracted. Yes, exactly. I was like, think about baseball. Think about George Brett. You know, like, think about George Brett.
Starting point is 00:25:27 Like, I think it's highly sexual to think about George Brett. He inspired the song. He inspired the song Royals because he's such an erotic, good-looking guy in those powder-blue uniforms. He really was. No, we're not leaving this. Sorry, buddy. Was there a vibe between you two?
Starting point is 00:25:40 There wasn't. She was married. I'm married. There was two other people there. But we were having a conversation getting to know each other, blah, blah, blah. I never met her. And we were at a big foot conference, of course. Which is a way I spend my time sometimes.
Starting point is 00:25:56 We're not here to join. We're not here to judge. We just offered this lunatic legend of spot on the show. Steve is getting sweating. I felt like I was being polygraphed. Steve, your forehead is sweating underneath that fantastic head of hair. Well, it's, you know, my husband will say grandma butt to help him calm down.
Starting point is 00:26:12 Oh, that's a good one. Steve, take that. Did you say he'll think about his grandma's butt? Well, to calm down, yeah. Yeah, that works. That will work, Steve. Is that how you beat a polygraph? Next time you find yourself insanely attracted to a psychic or a big foot researcher,
Starting point is 00:26:24 you think about your grandma's butt. You thank Beatrice's husband. Thank you. Mr. Beatrice. This is why we need HR involvement in our show. Yeah, I don't think we need to tell on her with three weeks left. I think we need to like keep it clean and like you don't want to create an enemy. Here's the thing, though.
Starting point is 00:26:41 This could not be a more. Or if you do it, say it in a funny way. Okay. I, Eric, you know what? Like on paper, I totally agree with you. The only thing I think about is if I'm just hired someone to do Beatrice's job, And then they were around a very red flagged, egregious, like, you know, foul in the HR world. And they didn't report that because there was other employees there.
Starting point is 00:27:07 I mean, it might get back to Jim Bob, who's running the whole company. And Jim Bob's going to be like, dude, why don't you tell me that, like, Meredith did a seon inside the cheesecake factory? You know, like, I'm worried about you than I am Meredith. Meredith is retiring. She's going to go be a second medium at Casadega and Upstate New York. and love her life. But you have a long career head of you in the HR game, and I think, like, if you start this new position
Starting point is 00:27:34 with overlooking something, just because it's a superior, I don't know. Like, I guess if I was Jim Bob and I ran the company, I'd be like, you know what, that's badass. You had the guts to come to me about this. She should not have been trying to summon the dead. She's got back to them all. I mean, like, call me crazy.
Starting point is 00:27:53 Call me a stickler to the rules, but I believe that is in that I believe that's in the bylaws page 42 Z 49 line no seances in chain restaurants. That's got to be. That's got to put it in the company. Yeah, we have to now going forward. Now here's the question I have because, and I have a million questions. I could talk to you for an hour about this because it's such legend behavior, which you did. But did you get a report on how the seance went after you left?
Starting point is 00:28:25 Okay, so I didn't, but here's the thing. A little backstory. I've been with this organization for about three years. The first month I started, we were on a work trip in Chicago, and she did a one-on-one seance with me. Just go right on. She's a freaky rudo. I love this.
Starting point is 00:28:45 Yeah, Steve's going to have to think about his grandma's butt when we have her on the air. Yeah. Yeah. How did the one-on-one seance go? Was it real? Um, well, yeah, so personally, I, I, I, I don't believe anything she said because she seemed to rehearsed and like she kind of says the same thing and also, it's just, she's a bad medium. Not even good.
Starting point is 00:29:08 She's not even good. Not even good. Not even good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:13 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I just kind of like, hummed and hard my way through it. Cause I'd only been on with, like, she'd only been my manager at that point for about a month. Oh. I was like, what the hell do I do? That is also a...
Starting point is 00:29:26 Beatrice, it's so great. It's so fun. If you saw in a movie, you'd be like, this is not real. What was wrong with that writer? This is my love life. Unfortunately, I think we've kind of come to this place where Eric and I are at a bit of a crossroads,
Starting point is 00:29:38 which doesn't happen often. I am 100% for you. And like, look, you wouldn't think I'm going to... Steve, oh, you're the guy who's into the weird stuff. Snitches get stitches. But however, I'm looking at your... But it's HR. But it's HR.
Starting point is 00:29:53 They're literally the job. Can you do it in kind of a funny conversational way? Like, look, we love this legend. She's leaving. I think you could soft for it. I don't want it to be awkward when I'm eating. I'm assuming she's going to have a goodbye party with hot dish because it's Minnesota. I don't want that to be awkward for you.
Starting point is 00:30:07 Maybe we can kind of mel the two. I think Steve's probably right. And Steve is better at day jobs than I was. I got a pizza plate by the health department. You were. You were good Barnes & Noble employee. I was pretty good. What if you did it and like a kind of a whimsical friend?
Starting point is 00:30:23 fun way of like, look, some legend shit went down to the Cheesecake Factor. I know she's leaving. But just so you know, because that's also taking care of your religious co-worker who should feel comfortable at work. That was a major, major league intrusion, breach, insanity. And for your boss to get mad that you took her out of the situation, what you did was perfect HR behavior means your boss is truly crazy and truly, really crazy. very welcome to come on here for a special episode.
Starting point is 00:30:56 We're actually big fans of this lady. Yeah, I mean, this is the funniest shit ever. All just aside, like, if I was writing a screenplay, like, the next thing I ever write, if I ever write anything again, I will absolutely put that scene in there. I'm stealing there because it's one of the funniest set up. But people wouldn't believe it. No, they wouldn't believe it. It's so crazy. Yeah, it's so crazy. It's hard to ruin a meal of the cheese.
Starting point is 00:31:18 I do think, I think. With that menu, there's something for everyone. I agree. I agree. And I think Eric kind of. nailed it. I think, like, I think you do turn her in, but you soft shoe it and kind of, like, with a smile and a little bit of a giggle under your breath, like, so this is what happened. Pam got a little uncomfortable because she's an evangelical or whatever and, like, had to go to go buy some summer sausage and chill out. She went to seize candy. She just got a bunch of fudge.
Starting point is 00:31:46 She got so much fudge. She let her get extra sample. I'm actually now turning her in because. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you don't have, you're not like, you know, the police here. But like I do think you could do it in a way, kind of like how Eric, Eric was pitching, where you're kind of giving it a little bit of a soft shoe.
Starting point is 00:32:03 It's like, this funny thing happened, you know, and then I think your boss probably like, all right, we're going to let it go. She's gone three weeks, just kind of grin and bear it. But thank you for telling me, I'm glad I hired the right person. Oh, that's my take. I'm a lot like Pock. I got a big Tupac streak of me. I don't like snitching, but I think this is the rare time.
Starting point is 00:32:21 I think it helps you. and it also, your poor co-worker was made to feel very uncomfortable. Yeah. And we want to acknowledge and allow anyone's religion, and that is truly insane. Yeah, she caused satanic panic in the religious co-worker. I mean, my God. We want to take care of that person. So I think for this, I'm going to let my inner Tupac go and say, let's snitch in a funny way.
Starting point is 00:32:45 In a funny way. Which, Beatrice, you already have such a great way of pitching this. You do. And I think you do it with a little wry smile already, and it will all. work out great. And then just have a giant smile on your face. Bring a nice hot dish for her going away party. And then let her know if she wants it. She has a place to do a seance right here with us. And I will have to mute my video to keep from laughing a whole lot because this person is the next level nut. When I hear about someone like this, I applaud them that they've been able
Starting point is 00:33:16 to survive this long in this crazy world being that insane that it took until three weeks before she retired to truly go off the deep end. But retirement's scary. She might be having weird stuff of retirement. I'm wondering that too. I also will think people pass away when they retire because they're not challenged anymore. Maybe she's looking for an amazing new challenge.
Starting point is 00:33:34 But I personally do not believe she can summon the dead. But there's only one way to find out right here on weird here now. That's right. Bring her on. Put your money where your mouth is. I would say in the interest of science and research, ask the other coworkers who were at the sands once you left. What went down?
Starting point is 00:33:51 line by line detail by detail. If you could find out what actually happened at the sance, we'd love to have you back on because like, while the mechanics of us helping you are fun with this call, the setup for this call is, I don't know will ever be beat. I truly, and I mean that, like, the setup for the sands,
Starting point is 00:34:14 a forced sance by your boss at the cheesecake factory, on paper is the funniest fucking thing I've ever heard in my life. and is such like Guinness book, like legend behavior, like Eric said, that my, like game, game recognizes game. And I have a lot of respect to this woman. However, I think, it's crazy. Okay, maybe that's what it is.
Starting point is 00:34:38 But please find out what happened. And if you can report back to us, I'm curious. We need at least one follow up. I feel like this could be a whole spinoff. Yeah. We need to know what went down to that seance. It's like crucial to our job. It really is.
Starting point is 00:34:53 It really is. So find out what happened there. And then whatever you decided with, you know, addressing this with your boss, we'd love to know. So please, like, I think this would be a great one for a follow-up. So if you wouldn't mind, like, you know, doing what you got to do, you know, get us under your belt, start in your position. But call back and tell us what actually happened at the sands and then how it went turning her in. All right. I'll think about it.
Starting point is 00:35:15 No, no, no. You don't have to. That's the HR response. That's a level of discipline. Look at that. Look at that. Yeah, I like it. But let us know.
Starting point is 00:35:24 Think about meditate on it. Think about what you do. But either way, we need to know what went down at that seance and let her know for her new career as a medium. She's got a jumping off point on a semi-hit podcast. We're ready for her. She'll be thrilled. Okay. Done.
Starting point is 00:35:38 I also would love to like, oh, I don't know. If I'm you, I go so deep into this. I would like go back to Tuesdaysad directory and try to find the server and go, is this something you've seen before? Like what was you? Did you notice the fans was being done, by the way? Was there an apparition of a weird old man, like, you know, lingering about later in the evening? Oh, yeah, yeah. I have to know what happened.
Starting point is 00:36:01 Like, I'm so curious. And if you don't want to come back on, just write it in an email. Please, Beatrice. I'm begging you. Got to know. Okay. Thank you so much for sharing this. You truly made our day.
Starting point is 00:36:12 Yeah. This is one of the greatest. This call is what we're all about. Yep. Yep. Thank you so much, friend. Glad to you. here. I aim to please.
Starting point is 00:36:21 All right. Have a go of Beatrice. You rock. You gave us a gift. All right, Beatrice. Thanks so much, buddy. Yes, this episode of the podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. If you want to know what's great about Squarespace, Gareth Reynolds, tell them about your website. Well, every, I keep building different websites because it's so easy with Squarespace. But I've been working with Squarespace for a while. could not be more user-friendly.
Starting point is 00:36:51 They make it very easy. And your website looks great. And we've built multiple websites on this show because it's so easy. They really, they help you find the domain. They help you get content out there. Here to help pod.com is our show website that is constantly evolving. And one thing I want to say, and that's a square space, guys, check out the website. Because it's starting to evolve a little bit.
Starting point is 00:37:15 So we've gotten emails from people being like, where do I find? the blank in the blank. We'll go to Heretohelppod.com, which is a Squarespace website to get all the answers you need. Squarespace gives you everything you need. It's got cutting edge design. It's got, you can put donations on there, fund directly on your website if you want. You can put your content on there. There's also is the SEO tools, which for a while I just kept saying it and I didn't know what it was.
Starting point is 00:37:45 I don't know what it is. I'm going to tell you it's search engine opt-eastern. So it's like if someone's looking for what you provide, they help you get higher in the search, which can be huge. That's cool. I think optimization's good. There you go. Well, coming in at the end. So check out Squarespace.com slash gill sent me.
Starting point is 00:38:07 Oh, miss Gil. Can we get a taste of Gil Buchanan reading the end of this copy? Jake Jotson, SEO tools. Talk about being left behind of the search that would be Gilbuket on an island by himself. Things are still going good. I've been talking into a microphone, but it's actually a shoe. I'm still in the closet waiting for someone to come find me. Actually, Gil, it looks like your microphone is not plugged in, brother.
Starting point is 00:38:28 Oh, God. Sorry. I didn't understand how that was. Anyway, Squarespace slash Gil sent me. We're back. We're saying 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using Gil sent me. We're back, baby. Hello?
Starting point is 00:38:48 This episode of the podcast is brought to you by booking.com. Booking helps you get it ridiculously, right, so you can find exactly what you're booking for. So we all have different things we're looking for if you're traveling. I travel a lot for work. Younger people, they travel for other things. I guess they call them hobbies, or maybe they're influencing. I don't know how it works.
Starting point is 00:39:09 But booking.com makes it easy to find a hotel or a holiday home that's not just generically right or right for someone else, but ridiculously right for you. Whether you're booking for yourself, your partner, your picky teens, your sleep, light, rise early mother, or your high maintenance group chat. I got one of those. You can find exactly what you're booking for. You're going to make them feel comfortable. You're going to feel comfortable. You're going to know what you're getting. And that is really something, again, I just cannot say enough that booking.com provides. Booking.com offers a wide array of hotel and vacation rentals across the U.S.
Starting point is 00:39:42 So you can find exactly what you're booking for. There's something for everyone, even those who are impossible to please. find exactly what you're booking for. Booking.com, booking dot, yeah, book today on site or in the app. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Quince. Lately, I've been more intentional on what I wear day to day, leaning into pieces that feel easy, comfortable, and put together. It just makes getting dressed simpler. Quince has been my go-to. The fabrics feel elevated. The fits are clean and everything just works without needing to overthink it. This is real talk. Literally tomorrow going on the road for about 11 days, and it's all quince. It's all quince. If it's not quince, it's because it's soon
Starting point is 00:40:22 to be quince. It makes getting dressed easy, and I know that maybe sounds wild to some people, but quince is my go-to. I know that I look as good as I can. I've bought probably nine quince shirts. I do a bunch of the black t-shirts, and lately I've done the short-sleeve collared shirts and I'll tell you why. I can wear it on the pod. I can wear it out socially to a lunch, easy, but I can also wear it to a business of it. I'm not kidding. I have a closet rack in my Honda Odyssey. This is getting sad, but I do, and it's just all Quince stuff. Refresh your every day with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com slash here to help for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash here to help for free shipping
Starting point is 00:41:10 and 365 day returns quince.com slash here to help. Caller. Hello, friend. You are live on the air. We're here to help. We want to help you. What's your name and where are you calling from?
Starting point is 00:41:24 And if you want to give us a fake name and location, that's fine too. Hi, I'm Carrie and I'm calling from Philadelphia. Ooh. Hi, Carrie. The city of brotherly love. We love Philadelphia here. It's awesome. It is.
Starting point is 00:41:39 It's a great time. I've been to shows at the Tower Theater, great food. The other thing, Carrie, I hate to bust you, Philly folks, some of the friendliest people I've ever met. I think the whole city of brotherly love thing is real. Don't they throw batteries on? No, not, keep it quiet. We like you. You showed respect.
Starting point is 00:41:56 But Philadelphia is awesome. I love going there. I always say if I got like a long-term gig in New York, I'd live in Philly. Just take that train, hang out the legends, try to live in the neighborhood where David Lynch's old house is. Yeah, in the Philly. They got great uniforms. I mean, no, there's a lot of good things about it. My wife went to college there.
Starting point is 00:42:13 She loves Philly. That's a great ballpark, too. And Philadelphia fans are amazing. Kerry Kiske, you a very serious question. And this question would be, I'm going to need, if you wouldn't mind, telling us, if you would tell us what your favorite movie slash premium TV show is, favorite book and favorite album are. Just so you can get a handle on who you are.
Starting point is 00:42:33 It's a great question, one I was expecting, but that didn't help. I would say my, well, my favorite, I'm not a big movie person, I'm a TV person, and it shifts all the time. But right now, I've been doing a lot of American Dad really enjoying it. I never got into it when I was like, I don't know, a little younger, and it's just, it's so much fun. So I've had a lot of fun with it. It's hit now. I like it. Respect.
Starting point is 00:43:00 Look, I'm not trying to be that guy and yet I've been dragged into being that guy. You want to see Mayor Woodside and American Dad? It's the big guy. It's me. I've done about seven or eight episodes. It is so much fun, and they're the nicest crew in town, but it is a blast. But, you know, get lost to my episodes of American Dad especially. I highly encourage me.
Starting point is 00:43:18 That goes for all you listeners out there. Right? Yeah. All right. We love American Dad because they paid me. So that's a, you're one for one, friend. Yeah. You're one for one.
Starting point is 00:43:28 Now give us an album and a book and preferably involving me too. I'd be thrilled. So let me think. So my book, are you familiar? with Storyworth. This isn't technically a book, but are you familiar with Storyworth? No. It's where you give like a grandparent or someone in your life like basically prompts and then it compiles into a book. Oh. And so I have that like partially completed from my grandma and my grandfather's working on one now. So that'd probably be one that I would always want to have with
Starting point is 00:44:02 me. Oh, that's sweet. I love that. What a cool idea. And I'm so, glad my dad did that. He has such good stories. It's so cool you're having my grandparents do that. And I kind of now think every other book that every other person's given is bullshit second tier. Because you are going to carry the love of your elders with you.
Starting point is 00:44:22 And that's awesome. You know we love elders on this show. We're here to help, but we're here to help is a pro-elder pro-90-year-old experience. So we are accepting story worth from you and applauding it. And then give us an album. Yeah. So, probably
Starting point is 00:44:39 purgatory Tyler Childers your failure? Oh sure. We like Tyler Chilers here. Love. And have you seen him live, friend? Yes, I saw him here in Philly
Starting point is 00:44:51 and then I'm going to see him more in like Central Pennsylvania this summer. Hell yeah. That's awesome. We're in Central Pennsylvania. Hershey? Oh, the great Hershey.
Starting point is 00:45:04 Yeah. I hear Hershey's great. Hershey's great. I've been to Hershey many times. The World International Dog Grooming Convention is in Hershey, Pennsylvania. And Steve, imagine a town that revolves around chocolate. Yes, please. And gets the best live music bands.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Bob Dylan's played there. But we want to give a big shout out to Barclay, doing incredible things in the world of dogs. And we love the World Dog Rooming Expo in Hershey, Pennsylvania. But Hershey, also seeing someone country like Tyler that fights the good fight, Hershey's a place to go. You get a little bit out there, you'll get people coming in from the sticks. And Tyler is amazing. One of the best live shows in the plane.
Starting point is 00:45:44 I will also add about Central Pennsylvania. It is a hotbed for UFOs and Bigfoot to be seen in conjunction with each other, especially in 1973 and 1974. But, Kerry, that is not what you're calling about, I'm guessing. Might be. It might be. If it is, I can certainly help. Come on.
Starting point is 00:46:02 Well, Carrie, talk to us, sister. What's going on? How can we help you? Yeah, so I currently work, you know, it's a corporate company. We're kind of in like consulting. And I am actually taking on a new role this summer within the company. So I'm going to be doing our event planning, kind of running some of like the day-to-day operations in terms of kind of like employee experience.
Starting point is 00:46:27 And we're a pretty small office, like a pretty young small office. And I just wanted some suggestions or ideas of how to kind of bring some whimsy back into the nine to five, you know, like I think almost planning some of the big events are kind of the easier part, you know, when it's like a whole day spent somewhere fun. But I think just little day to day, you know, like in school you'd have like Spirit Week and things like that, like just little things that aren't going to take too much time out of someone's day, but just make the day a little more fun. I like Stephen, please allow me here because I'm going to do, I'm going to give, I think, an obvious idea.
Starting point is 00:47:04 I've been watching Mad Men. Oh, yeah. And in Mad Men, those guys are drinking at the office all day. All day. And I think it's a tragedy as a society we've gotten away from that. Because they were doing great work at Sterling Cooper. And I think an incredible shortcut to whimsy is a spirit or a beer or wine. So that would be my first big pitch is, you know, one, okay, maybe not during the day,
Starting point is 00:47:31 but having some off-site activities where people cut loose, have a couple cocktails. Everybody stays very appropriate, of course. This isn't the 50s. We don't want some of that other dog Draper stuff going on. But I think, you know, just for afterward, I think some team bonding like, oh, go to the cheesecake factory, go to chilies, go to Fridays, like some team bonding for some fun meals.
Starting point is 00:47:55 Like, each chain places. Go to IHOP and get a chicken crisper and never look that. I know. Shout out to the Chili's at the Tulsa Airport. They're such good people. I mean, I think first off, you got to start with having people spend some time outside the office together is so much fun. One, and then, boy, when I was watching Mad Men, I just can't believe how much booze people
Starting point is 00:48:19 are drinking. They best work. Yeah. And you're looking for, like, little things to, like, generally lift the energy of the office. So, I hear you. Like, doing these event days. like, hey, we're all going to go to play paintball together, you know, at a Joe's paintball shack down in Shreveport.
Starting point is 00:48:37 That's fun, of course. But, like, I like Eric's idea of adding, like, maybe once a month. I would do it also on a Thursday. Maybe, like, the last, like, you know, just a little bit of work. Like, you can, you can, like, cut work the last half hour out of the day and then, like, you know, have some, like margaritas, something like that. And then, you know, if people want to go to, you know,
Starting point is 00:49:01 Shawnee O'Hallahan's down the street afterwards and keep the party going. And they do. And they do. That would be good. I would not do it on a Friday because Friday people want to leave
Starting point is 00:49:12 and go the fuck home. Yeah. Oh, that's brilliant. They're dying at home get their weekend started. But Thursday is kind of like that it's like a spicy Friday. You know, it's like you're feeling kind of wild.
Starting point is 00:49:23 Like Thursday, like I don't drink a ton anymore, but Thursday is my favorite day to have beers if I'm doing that. There's something about Thursdays. It's a magical day. But I'm like. I think, Steve, I like that idea of Spirit Week. Like, I think if that's your first idea, I think Spirit Week sounds awesome.
Starting point is 00:49:41 And what if you guys all dressed for like a Phillies game? Or if it's Friday and the Eagles have a big old game, have everybody do the ultimate casual Friday. You come in a Randall Cunningham jersey and never look back. Yeah. Like, doesn't that sound? I mean, I think, you know, sometimes the subconscious. is an amazing thing. You said Spirit Week. Bring back Spirit Week. That was so fun in high school.
Starting point is 00:50:06 I want to throw something. It's a little angular out there. But what like, look, when I think of Philadelphia, I'll be honest. I think of Benjamin Franklin. I think of Ben Franklin. What if you held a Benjamin Franklin like impression contest? One Friday afternoon, maybe, you know, you bring out some, some, you know, alcoholic celtzers, some high noons or white claws. whatever, and then everyone, the people who want to participate are going to, like, do, like, a Benjamin Franklin monologue with, like, the little, like, funny glasses and stuff like that. That would be fun. Or even if, like, it was, like, you know, you have to recite something of, like, your favorite
Starting point is 00:50:47 Philly person. I mean, there's so many. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know if I could tell a Benjamin Franklin impersonation. I could hold up a key, but I don't think I would know what to say. That's good, though. That's it.
Starting point is 00:50:58 Just don't take it outside because we don't want to. messing around the electricity too much. We're not legally binding. But there's so many incredible Philly legends from Alan Iverson to David Lynch that I think having a Philadelphia. So let's get in the weeds a little bit. What kind of business is this? Like what are you guys making?
Starting point is 00:51:14 What are you guys doing? Yeah. What kind of beeswax is happening here? Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like business consulting adjacent. So I don't know if that helps. What is that? What is that mean?
Starting point is 00:51:25 What does that mean? Like I hear because I'm, like, I'm asking because I'm a, I'm a. I'm a dumb actor. I just do make them up for a living. We will, like, advise, like, other companies are our clients, and we will advise, like, strategic decision-making in terms of, like, marketing or, like, talent acquisition. I got you.
Starting point is 00:51:45 Yeah. I got you. I got you. I got you. Yeah, it's straight. That's straight-up beeswax right there. I want to think of some other, like, I wonder if they're, like, this sounds crazy, but, like, what if you got, like, a gaming system?
Starting point is 00:51:58 Like, maybe an Xbox or a play. station and you had some like dumb games that everyone could play. Not like John Madden's football. Yes, exactly. Yes, Mario card, Golden Eye James Bond. That would be so much fun. And then you have like prizes you know like oh my god this guy gets
Starting point is 00:52:14 a gift card or you know this gal gets like you know something else but like have like little prizes just like you know a competition during your lunch break or and you could like even like have like a March Manus bracket and can go through the whole month. Oh yeah. Create like a bracket and then the grand
Starting point is 00:52:30 It doesn't have to be like a huge monetary thing. Maybe they get a, get a free day off. I don't know if you can make that happen, but like. Well, maybe. I can try. Maybe. I think she can. That is a good thing.
Starting point is 00:52:41 I think she's being humble. Yeah. Or they can just show up for work drunk or like tripping on acid. It's totally illegal. Go for that. Go for that. We do already have a TV. So that makes it easier.
Starting point is 00:52:53 You're halfway there. Well, if you have a carry, if you have a TV, then I think the next great thing you need to do two words karaoke lunch oh brother with prizes oh brother and I think
Starting point is 00:53:08 you know it doesn't have to be mandatory but it kind of should be everybody has to sing one song because there's a magic about seeing people their most vulnerable
Starting point is 00:53:16 and what they love the most and that's music yeah and if you started doing a karaoke lunch and I think we can already tell you have the skills to emce this and be the ultimate karaoke host
Starting point is 00:53:26 but all these things are steering this onto the path of a very, very fun workplace. Also, since you do consulting, it might be a hilarious thing to do, you know, consulting cosplay, like, okay, take a nightmare business situation. How would you consult for Enron in 1994?
Starting point is 00:53:44 Yeah. Some case studies. These other companies. All right, Jack in the Box had a horrible E. coli thing in the 80s. Everybody give your best pitch for a Jack in the Box, because they almost closed. They were saved because of business consulting. Yeah, the lady who got her left,
Starting point is 00:53:58 And McDonald's by the hot coffee. Classic. Yeah. How do you fight back from the hot coffee? And you say everyone like, okay, we are representing a company that just had somebody's lap burned by hot coffee. Give us your best pitches on Friday. Winter gets a half day off.
Starting point is 00:54:11 All that kind of stuff. And then are people mostly coming back into the office to work rather than remotely? Yeah. We have a couple days remote. But for the most part, we're all pretty present. No. I would say if you have a remote day, You do a show and tell where people show their favorite stuff they have at home and we get to meet everybody's pets.
Starting point is 00:54:34 Oh. You all get to know each other so much better. You know, Lee the dog makes quite a few appearances ever because he's a very needy poodle terrier mix and he'll cry. He's 15. He needs his dad. But I think people like it when Lee makes an appearance on the pod. They do. You know, he has been mean to Steve before.
Starting point is 00:54:51 Yeah. He doesn't like Steve. He's trying to poison him. Yeah. But like all of a sudden things are a lot more, you know, fun at work. work if you're like, man, I saw into this guy's soul because he has this cat that he loves so much. Yeah. And we're a big pro cat podcast here.
Starting point is 00:55:05 Yeah, we are. So I think on those remote days, you do old school show and tell. And just like I think your idea of Spirit Week is so brilliant and you should straight up do Spirit Week for Philly Sports, March Madness, get going Villanova, Temple. Got some incredible sports teams there. But like go retro. Bring it back to Show and Tell, Spirit Week, all that kind of stuff. And I think even some people that are maybe a little eye-rolly at first, once they're holding their cat or gerbil,
Starting point is 00:55:32 they're going to be loving life. I love the pet thing is unique in such a great angle. And also, that's something everyone can participate in. And if you don't have an animal, it may inspire them to get one. I will also just say, I'm not sure what the petty cash situation is at the old business. You're there. Send a check to Stephen Burns. Well, I'm sorry, Eric.
Starting point is 00:55:53 Warren Buffett. I'm sort of getting there. But for like an end of the year. year blowout blast. I mean, you know, for a Southwest flight in a shared room in Philadelphia, you can bring Eric and I out and we'll do a little in-office show.
Starting point is 00:56:07 Maybe we'll do an act from True West. You know, do a little two-handed. That would be so amazing. Yeah, well, maybe we're in. We're both, you know, Eric's a natural baritone. I'm a natural bass. We harmonize well together. We come sing some Sinatra
Starting point is 00:56:23 classics. I'll sing Sammy. Yeah. Well, we'll Up. We'll lead everyone in line dancing. I'm talking about part. We'll go out with everyone afterwards. Yeah, Redding Terminal Market. We can hit it up.
Starting point is 00:56:37 Absolutely. Oh, yeah. And I think off-site lunches sounds so fun to me. Yeah. Where you just go off-site. We're going to look the other way of Don from accounting orders a cocktail. But, like, there's a whole bunch of fun in that. And I think the thing is as people are going back to work, we all got pretty darn comfortable
Starting point is 00:56:56 at home. For me right now, it's a massive achievement that I am wearing pants. And they may not be there for the next collar. Not by choice. It's not by choice. I made him put pants on. No, but like, if you start doing stuff like this to make coming back to work more fun and free meals and contests and spirit week and show and tell when they are working remotely, I think you're really going to build some team building and you're clearly the right person for this job. Well, thank you.
Starting point is 00:57:24 Another easy thing you can do That I honestly think is so fun And call me like I'm a very Midwest mother like this But bring a covered dish day And you have like an appetizer Like you know Late afternoon You know like yeah
Starting point is 00:57:41 Oh you know Carrie brought her famous Ambrosia salad Oh look what Toby brought He brought bruchetta with little crustini's Like you know like Yeah Yeah Steve a potlock
Starting point is 00:57:52 Love a pot lock We do a Thanksgiving potluck, but we don't really, we don't really do one anytime else. We could do like, you know, like Fourth of July. I feel like that's the time people have potluck. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's when you have people dress up like Ben Franklin. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:58:09 We should have a centennial party. Is it a centennial? Is that what it is? Did it already happen? That sounds about right. I think so. It's 250 years. What's that called, Steve?
Starting point is 00:58:18 Boy, I'm not. What's that called? I'm not a math guy. It's called something. I'm sad about these. of a Kansas degree and a Gonzaga degree that neither Steve is it a sesquitennial maybe that sounds about right that's a large big swing but yeah you have to do something because Philadelphia is the birthplace of America and let me also say this we're thinking Ben Franklin uh that guy was deep into the life
Starting point is 00:58:40 he was boozing he was swinging he was having himself a good old time he was also performing dark magic with a hellfire club is that true I think it is I don't mind a little bit of dark magic No, I'm pro dark magic. No, have a Ben Franklin day and be like, this is not the Ben Franklin from grade school. Leave your kite, leave your key at home. We're getting really weird. Yeah, yeah. We're getting very strange here.
Starting point is 00:59:03 Make Ben weird again. Yeah, make Ben Franklin weird again. I don't know why we went away from it, but he was loving life. He was having a good old time. Oh, yeah. Deep in the skin game. And if he was in the skin train. Yeah, and like, you know, obviously we're going to have healthy boundaries for all this stuff.
Starting point is 00:59:21 but I think we're really getting an exciting way of all these events to keep stuff going and keep checking in with us because we have more and more and more ideas. Yeah. But I think already we got 10 great ideas here. And then it's just like fine-tuning, getting stuff cleared for work. But I think if you start doing Thursdays at these theme days, and I think you started us off at Spirit Week. It's just you are taking Spirit Week to a new and fun adult workplace. Yep.
Starting point is 00:59:47 I love it. I love it. I mean, no, is there any, are we missing any? kind of like vibe or tone that you're trying to create. Like if I know, I know like when you came out and said like, look, the big events are kind of easy to plan. It's these little things. And I feel like we have given you some little things.
Starting point is 01:00:04 Some are a little bigger in scope than others. But do you feel like you have enough ammunition to get a good start on this? I do. I think, you know, in terms of like the vibe, honestly, it is cliche, but it is very like work hard, play hard. I don't think anyone takes themselves too seriously. So I do think there would be a lot of. of fun. I think my concern is just, I don't want to make it too much of a commitment where it's
Starting point is 01:00:28 like a couple people are really going hardcore and then everyone else is kind of like, I have to work. You know what I mean? That's why I would, like some of the ideas about like my Ben Franklin impression contest. That may be for like year two, but like I would start off small with a lot of these things, you know, like whatever is the most like whatever is the most like everyone, like player friendly like everyone, like everyone could purchase. spit in. Like, I do think it's starting slow and then, like, getting people, like, used to, like, oh, we're doing these kind of weird little things every once in a while. I really like the video games and I really like the karaoke as well. And actually one of my
Starting point is 01:01:03 co-workers saw a karaoke bus. Have you seen those? No. She saw one of those go by and she was like, we have to do it. Yeah. Yeah. You could also do like a fun walking tour. I did the tour of Philadelphia when I was there. I'll tell you what else I did in Philadelphia. That's shockingly fun. the bus tour. Yes, it's a lot of fun. And you go to all these different Philadelphia spots. And I actually love doing that. Whatever city I first get into, it's like, let me see the most basic stuff. Let me be a tourist. I always thought it'd be really funny to do like a dark, bleak, toned Bourdain-style travel show. Then it's just me getting on those tour buses. But you see a shocking amount of history in an hour doing the Philadelphia one. And it might be a bunch of fun. And the idea, our secret goal for
Starting point is 01:01:50 this is to bring the quiet folks out of their shell. There it is. To let people into their life and see who they are, whether it's them showing off their dog at home or getting them on a double deck or tour bus and seeing where America was born in our 250th anniversary. And I think you've got to go all in for the 250th. Yeah. Philadelphia birthed America. Let's lead into it, sister. Yes. Yeah. Yay. I'm excited. Okay, so we feel good? Yeah. Okay. As you know, you're stuck with us. Any other tweaking on these ideas? We stand ready. We're here. Producer
Starting point is 01:02:25 Wendy now has a very vital email going for Weird Here to Help at gmail.com. But please keep us involved. And I know we threw a lot of fun ideas out of you, but we want to hear what you're doing, how you're doing. Then you also clearly can take a nugget of these ideas from these two big
Starting point is 01:02:42 weirdos and take it to glory. And we can't wait to see what you do. Yeah, no, I love it. And it'll be a few months until I'm, you know, really, really in it. But I will definitely follow up and send some pictures of some of the events once we get rolling. Well, that's perfect. Like end of summer, you'll be taking over right as autumn starts.
Starting point is 01:03:01 Oh, it could be. You're lined up for success. Trust me. Starting anything new in the fall is a good time to start. Let me tell you. Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Whimsy unlocked.
Starting point is 01:03:14 Wimsy unlocked. Carrie God-tier. Boom. Boom. Carrie, well, if you have any pictures, let us know how it goes. We are definitely curious. We'd love to have to do a follow-up. But in the meantime, we're very excited for you.
Starting point is 01:03:28 You are going to be, they hired the right person. You're going to bring the whimsy back. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. All right. Awesome. And lean into Ben Franklin's weirdness. We'll do.
Starting point is 01:03:39 Yeah, yeah. He was a ritual magician. He was a wildfire club. Look it up. Oh, yeah. Let's go. Bye, Carrie. Weird here to help.
Starting point is 01:03:48 It's hosted by Eric Edelstein and Steve Berg. If you'd like to be on the show, please email us your question at weird, here to help at gmail.com. That was a Headgum podcast. Hi, I am Mandy Moore. Sterling K. Brown. And I'm Chris Sullivan. And we host the podcast, That Was Us, now on HeadGum.
Starting point is 01:04:08 Each episode, we're going to go into a deep dive. Yeah. From our show, This Is Us. That's right. We're going to go episode by episode. We're also going to pepper in episodes with different guest stars. and writers and casting directors. Are we going to cry?
Starting point is 01:04:22 Yes. A little bit. Are we going to laugh? A lot. A whole lot. That's what I'm hoping, man. Listen to that was us on your favorite podcast app or watch full video episodes on YouTube or Spotify, new episodes every Tuesday.

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