You Are Being Unreasonable - 052 - In which we trade mismatched mugs back and forth until we die

Episode Date: August 29, 2019

"We don't care about GDPR: we're rebels!" We have another fine collection of jumping off points for 'bits' in this week's episode of your favourite B-list podcast. In this week's jaunt through Mumsnet, we open the cupboard full of mismatched mugs that every household in the UK has, we offer a lucrative internship at a world-class bank cleaning out the store cupboard while singing, we provide the best way to avoid bad reviews (the secret is not to do any work and to offer free scones), and we debate whether Rob Stewart is an A-lister or not and move on to the impermanent and fleeting nature of all fame and fortune.

Hello, driving on drugs feels better when their prescription. All I know, the world looks beautiful, the world looks so damn beautiful. I feel fantastic, and I never felt as good as how I do right now, except maybe when I think about I felt that day when I felt the way that I do right now, right now. I feel fantastic, and I never felt as good as how I do right now, except maybe when I'm Hello, welcome to your being unreasonable, a podcast about people being unreasonable on mumsnet.com. That's right. I'm Simon. And I'm Hales.

And we're here to talk about things on Mumsnet. And also things not on Mumsnet, because really they are just starting off points for bits. If we just talked about what was going on in the thread, this would be very depressing. Jumping off points for bits. They are. They are. Sosages with bits. It's like the suggestion that you get at the start of an improv show.

Yeah. And this is like the monologue. Yeah. Yeah. except we never refer to the introductions again. Exactly. Ever. A meaningless.

A waste of 30 seconds. Am I being unreasonable? Spatula. Am I being unreasonable? Pineapple. All those other classic improv things. I'm being unreasonable, film noir? Spatula, a classic improv thing.

Apparently so. I don't think I've ever had the suggestion for anyone other than an improviser being a bit knowing about the whole thing. I don't know that. I haven't done improv in years. I got bored with it, didn't I? Yes. And that's why we're doing this.

podcast. Shall we do the speed round? Am I being unreasonable or is this a bit shitty? The board? No, it is very shitty. That's why we're here. Am I being unreasonable swearing? Depends what's swearing. Am I being

unreasonable? Fucking fed up with fluctuating fulsomeness. Well there's some swearing right there and also some good alliteration. Yep. And last one for this speed round. Am I being unreasonable? Would you report a neighbour who didn't pick up dog poo.

On a narc threads. They're always trying to report people, aren't they? Absolutely loving reporting people on mum's net. Should we do a thread on that topic? Let's. Am I being unreasonable in not removing review? Contacted a tradesperson for urgent repair. Was told, no problem, they'd check the diary and phone me back within an hour.

Four hours later, no phone call, so I sent a text. Another four hours and still nothing. I will admit to being annoyed, so we'll admit to being annoyed, so I left a Google review stating the above. An hour later I got a text asking me to remove the review as they hadn't actually done any work for me and they were working hard to maintain their business. I didn't respond and have now had two more texts

asking me to remove the review. I'm now considering ignoring the text and blocking, removing my review but leaving another review explaining why, or just removing it altogether. Although my stubborn side is not leaning towards the third option. So, am I being unreasonable not to remove it? It's a good tactic by this company. Can't get a bad review if you don't do any work.

It's a shame that doesn't apply to other areas of working life. Can't give me a bad appraisal because I haven't done. Because I haven't been here. I wonder if it could apply to us. You can't give us a bad review if you never listen. Yeah, but you also can't give us a good review. No, that's how we maintain our unbroken streak. of five-star reviews on iTunes.

From eight people? Yeah. I'm fairly confident we have more than eight listeners, but... I've never reviewed a podcast in my life. I've never listened to a podcast on iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Hells. They ask you to. Please rate and review us. It helps other people to find the show. Yeah, please like and subscribe.

Yeah, I just don't. I mean, I subscribe, because I'm not going to go trawling through checking if there's a new episode to manually download each time, but I don't... You reap what you sell. That's why we only have eight. I'll be it five stars. reviews. Please rate and review. Sure. I don't leave a bad review like this person. No, because we will text you relentlessly asking you to remove it.

We will ignore you when you're trying to get in touch with us about the podcast, and then you'll leave a bad review, and we will hound you. Excuse me, you've said this in your cup of tea. Maybe you just didn't get the jokes. We're very dry a lot of the time. Excuse me, we're just being ironic. Was anyone like to sign up to a text service where we over-explain all of our jokes in individual texts. Because that's the thing that we could offer. The first level of our

Patreon is we'll text you inside a commentary on all of the episodes, a blow-by-blow commentary. The next level of Patreon is we don't do that anymore. Yeah. But if you ever sign up for the first level and then you cancel as a patron, then we will continue. We will hound you daily. More incisive commentary. The only way to get out of it is to sign up for this next level. and we don't care about GDPR We're rebels I care about GDPR Boring

Nerd alert Should we get back to what this person's saying Yeah so this This trades person Didn't turn up They didn't ever say they were going to turn up Says they were told no problem Oh they would check the diary

Yeah Checking the diary is not I'm going to turn up Yeah absolutely If it was that urgent After the first four-hour bit, I would get in touch and say, I'll contact somebody else. Thanks, never mind. Let's leave it. Yeah, I'd contact someone else. It can't be that urgent that they waited for eight hours, then left a bad review.

It doesn't sound like they've got it fixed at this point. Days have passed, and now they don't care about the fact that they've got no plumbing. All they care about is getting vengeance. The issue here is there was never a verbal contract to do any work. Just, I'll check the diary. If they'd gone one step further and said, yeah, we'll send someone out, they would have had a reason. That would be reasonable, I would say. Yeah. But they didn't. This is just, this is living on the edges, the boundaries of

socially acceptable behaviour. And to be honest, if I was this company, I really wouldn't worry, as long as the review explains exactly what's happened, that wouldn't put a normal person off. If I saw someone and they have mostly four and five star reviews, and then there was one, and it was a review from Karen, who's a local guide, who leaves on average one-star reviews for everything, saying, well, I sent a text, and then I didn't get to text back, so I won't give them one star. I feel like, oh, whatever. I think that would affect me. I think I'd not want to work with them if they don't get back to you promptly. In that case, fair enough. I think it's unreasonable. I've heard to lead that review, but I think it would also put me off, because I only do

very cursory looks at the review. Skim through life. Skim over the top of life, like a pebble over a pond. That's being a straight white man. world. To be hear from the thread, bloody hell, O.P. You didn't get a response to eight hours, so you left a negative review about someone you barely had any involvement in. That's barely the length of the working day. Remove the review.

Yeah, that is barely the length of the working day. If I sent someone something at work at nine and then by the time I was leaving at five, I hadn't heard from them, I'd move on. But I wouldn't start by claiming it was urgent, but I don't think this was as urgent as the O.P.'s saying. If it was that urgent, they would have contacted somebody else. Neither of us working jobs where we get reviews.

from customers. No, that's true. I mean, I did work in a job once where customers were constantly trying to offer reviews of me, but no one wanted them. And it was an environment in which, if a customer expressed dissatisfaction, we would

just give them a voucher for a scone. So, they could tell me all they like, that they wanted to speak to my manager to tell my manager what an instant piece of shit I was. But then my manager would just be like, have a scone and get off the line, we're busy. I wish I could just offer people scones. Yeah?

Yeah. Sorry, I can't fix your IT problem. How about this voucher for a scone? You could make vouchers for scones. I could make virtual scons. I could write a software program that generates scons or scone vouchers, more likely. Yeah, and I mean, that's just sowing the seeds of greater Discord later. Yeah, then the scone machine doesn't work.

Yeah. The scone website. Give me a scone.com. You would be better on. off just having some scones in a freezer somewhere so that if it all goes to shit you can get one out to the frost. I don't deal with people in face-to-face. I'm IT support. Yeah, but I don't know, can you put it through the internal mail? A scone? Yeah. Not really. And not to a student. Oh. Like if a student has a problem comes to me with an IT support, can't fix it. How am I going to get them

a scone? This is why I need to make. Give me a scone.com. It's available. Available. It's available. I'm glad it's available. Someone has said, it's nasty and vindictive, but more importantly, it's of no help to other customers. But you disagree. She's not a customer. Well, that's true. This person's not a customer. Which is why, yeah.

Like, if I call IKEA and say, can you give me a call back in an hour? And they don't. I'm not a customer of IKEA. I've never stepped foot in that. Why would you want IKEA to phone you? I don't know. It fell apart as soon as I was saying it. Yeah.

You hate when people phone you. Have you picked up your phone? And it was like, hi, it's IKEA. you gave us a very open brief, what can we do for you? That would be so anxiety-inducing, surely. I wouldn't answer the phone. Ikea have called, and they don't know why, so they've called expecting you to explain why they've had to call you.

Oh no, this is really bad. Yeah, you've messed this right. And it's a bank holiday weekend. They are busy at IKEA. I've had car rental companies do that. They call up to say, you've booked a car with us in a few months. Yeah, yeah? Do you still, how is everything with the, how is it?

That sounds potentially like a training need on the part of whoever's in that call center. Like they just get told they have to call these things, but they want to train them on what the purpose of the call is. Yeah, I'm sure it is. They need to find their super objective. Yeah, these people without their super objective. Yeah, that's why these aimless calls happen. And then someone here has said, remove the review, you crank. I think that's fair.

There we go. What else can we say? Shall we do another thread? Yeah. Have a crank. Am I being unreasonable to not want mismatched mugs? Just a light-hearted one, really. But why were people buy random mugs as a gift?

I can't understand wanting a mug bag that doesn't match anything else. All of my crockery must match. Are other people hoarding mismatched mugs and cups at home? Are people doing this on purpose? Also, cushions. Why would someone buy a random cushion for someone's house that doesn't match anything else. This happens all the time in my friendship group.

Shouldn't cushions match the sofa exactly? Can't stand it. Am I being unreasonable? Got bad news for this person. Everyone has a cupboard full of mismatch mugs. That's what cupboards are for. Yeah, every home, every kitchen in Britain has one cupboard full of mismatch mugs.

Because we're all just trading mugs back and forth until we die. Mugs are just a very nice, easy thing to have, aren't they? Yeah. Oh, I saw this funny mug and thought of you. Yeah. And I know you need a mug because everyone needs a mug. Exactly. Because no one's going to say no to a mug.

They're just going to put it in the cupboard with the mugs. Yeah, and then eventually they might fob the mug off on a charity shop. But all that means is it'll be cheap and it's probably a novelty, so someone else will get it in secret Santa. Yeah, and that leaves half the cupboard free for more mugs in the future. Yeah. Mugs are just common property, really. You can never truly own a muck. No, you're just using a mug for now.

Yeah. Yeah, we've all got hordes of mismatched mugs. We've all got that big Sports Direct mug for some reason. Yeah. None of us shop at Sports Direct. But there's always one. It usually comes with the flat if you're a renter. Kit Katmugs.

Kickat mugs are all over the place. Yorkie mugs. Yeah. All over the place. In common trade. We might just be showing here that we are renters. I do wonder, like, when you come to own your own home. Do you...

And there's not an assortment of shit that came with the flat. Maybe you don't have a Sports Direct mug. I'm not going to... to Tesco and buying a six pack of white mugs. That way madness lies. Oh yeah. I like that she says all of my crockery must match. Must match. Must. Must. It's not that it must. It's just that you prefer it to. It must match. Highest synth bouquet over here with a matching cushions. Yeah and also a cushion that matches the sofa exactly. It's just asking for trouble because if one starts to discolour at a different rate to the other or anything, it'll really show up.

Whereas you could have nice contrasting cushions. Pick some colour themes that work for you or if you're not joyless just get some cushions that you like and ignore the colour themes yeah we didn't get any cushions with this sofa so we may do with our existing cushions which have you know a cat in a top hat a Yoda in a top hat those were presents and they do not match each other exactly but that's fine because i wouldn't expect cushions to match exactly a cushion with the coordinates of ikea's HQ on i like that a london cushion A cushion with an adult-grown pig That's the best one

Simon tried to get me a cushion With a picture of Babe on it But the internet lied to him When it turned up it was just any pig Yeah Babe's very distinctive Because that tuft of hair on his head And also he's a piglet

And this is a full-grown adult pig Yeah It's very much just any pig It's a long boy as well It's like a bacon pig Long pig Long pig The rare is still I can see

We've got some A couple mugs Mugs that go as a couple. Yes, we do. So there's the mug with the cats and dogs drinking coffee. Yep. They go together. Maybe I am as bad as this poster, because I don't like to put tea in those mugs.

And if we're both having drinks, I like the cups to be with their natural partner. There you go. You won't matchy mugs too. No, but their natural partner doesn't necessarily match. Like, you've got a mug that is sort of relatively small and says Simon on it. And I've got a mug that is sort of relatively small and says something like, I don't know, it's from the force it's a simon. who I'm probably going to find out a problematic because all the old feminist stuff is

but I don't know. And in my mind they go together because they're like they don't have a pair. There are individual mugs. Yeah. And they're similar in size. They don't have to be... But there's a Mr and Ms mug that go together. These couple mugs go together and maybe if we were a family

of four, if the cats could drink from mugs we'd feel the same way. Maybe we'd want four matching mugs for tea time. The cats are able to drink from mugs. We just discourage it. The cats love to drink from mugs. The cats are able and willing to drink from mugs. Yeah, I mean, they find it a great indignity

that we give them water in a bowl on the floor. Let's hear from the thread. I have an eclectic collection of mugs. Some Emma Bridgewater. The birds range, not the hearts. Some Denby, a few handmaid. Some from the society I'm archivist for. I have a photo mug, a stripy one.

A lovely one with a fox on it. Don't you need different mugs for different things? Coffee needs a tall and slim mug. Slim lip to the... cup. Tea in a thicker mug. Hot chocolate needs a wide bowl-style mug for the marshmallows. I didn't know that anyone cared this much about mugs. This person with their eclectic collection is, if anything, worse. They seem like more of a snob than the person who just wants matchy stuff. The matchy person at this point just seems like, okay, fine, you're probably a bit basic.

You probably don't understand that things can go together without being identical to one another. That's fine. You don't understand aesthetics. This person... And we've just been describing some of our mugs. Maybe I just can't stand to listen to people talking about mugs. Sorry if this has been unbearable. It's the fact that they use brand names. They're showing off that they've got designer mugs. Oh, yeah, that's probably it.

That's weird, right? I don't know where any of our mugs come from. I wouldn't be able to tell you a famous mug designer. I know that Wedgwood make fine crockery, but that's not what we're talking about here, is it? When we're talking about a cupboard full of mugs, we're not talking about Wedgwood. We're talking about Sports Direct.

Lots of people think there are different mugs for different occasions, and then the OPs come back and said, Yes, I have different types of mugs. They all match, though. I'm sure that your mugs are lovely, but doesn't it bother you at all? Why are you all such snobs? Why is this the only thing that you have going on in your life that you can feel snobby over? It must be really hard being a snob, but having nothing worth being snobby about going on in your life.

I don't think I'm especially snobby, but the things I am snobby about, I've carefully selected to be things that I have an element of control over. So maybe for this person, mugs is their thing. But who knew how common it is for people. to be so into mugs. Everyone's using mugs as some sort of class signifier. This board is a hellscape. It's like, there was a thread, wasn't there?

When we first started the podcast and someone was like, oh, if you put your fruit bowl on the coffee table, it means you're a pov-o. Yeah. And this is how this feels. I don't know. Yeah, there's nothing we can't turn into a class signifier on this board. Am I being unreasonable to think I'm incredibly annoying?

Is that a fred? Oh, you asking me? Hey now. It's a thread. I'm being unreasonable to think I'm incredibly annoying. I have a relatively new job after decades of not working. I love it so much. I turn up on time.

I don't call in sick. I volunteer of extra needs done. I work hard. I'm clean and polite to everyone. Customers and co-workers. I'm honest if I make a mistake. I get excellent reviews. And to pass my probationary period, no problem.

I'm not binging myself up, I'm far from perfect, but these things are true. However, I'm very lacking in confidence and terrified of being sacked. As much, as such, I often ask for reassurance from my bosses that I'm doing okay, because my anxiety overwhelms me with the feeling that I'm not doing okay. I suspect this makes me a massive pain in the ass and a nightmare employee. Am I being unreasonable? At least I get excellent reviews from customers. Yeah.

That's very important. I bet she calls back within the hour. She always calls back within the hour. Yeah. She says she's going to check the diary. She does. She'll check it over the phone. Bam.

Yeah. She'll just, they don't have whole music. She'll just sing you a little ditty while she checks the diary. It's a long way to tip a rary. Hang on. It's a long way to go. The 19th you said, it's a long way to tipperary. Yeah, we're free then.

Thank you, bye. I mean, to some extent, I understand it's difficult when you have anxiety. It's difficult if you've had a past employer who's been the shit to you and it does knock your professional confidence. It's nice to get reassurance from your managers as well. That's part of the manager's job. It is. And ideally, that's what they should be doing.

It is. Saying you've done this right when you've done it right, or could you do this a little better when you've fucked up? Yeah. Like, that's the job of the manager. So they should be doing that anyway. you don't necessarily have to bug them about it all the time. Also, I feel like there's a real turning point in this thread

where they go from listing how absolutely tip-top splendid they are and all the reasons why they're great, including being clean. Yeah, to suddenly lacking in confidence. Yeah, it feels odd. Sounds like you've got a lot of confidence. It sounds like you've got too much confidence, and it sounds like you have quite a high opinion of yourself, and it stresses out when other people aren't vocally sharing that all the goddamn time.

Yeah, certainly from the first half, by listing everything that, by implication, your co-workers are not, it makes you sound like you think you're better than them. And you're not, just because you don't call in sick. You're entitled to call in sick. Yeah. Being healthier than someone else doesn't make you a better person. And maybe people are trying to just discourage you

from thinking that somehow you're better because you're healthier, or maybe you're just someone who comes in and spreads germs around. I don't know. It's good of you to volunteer if extra work needs to be done. but also that's management's problem and they need to hire someone to do that work or pay you extra. And it also, for your colleagues, that's not great, is it?

Because, like, your colleagues might be there trying to write a business case for there needs to be another person in this team because they're all stressed and overworked. Yeah. And you've turned up, you've spread your germs around, they're all off with flu. Whereas you've carried on being a trooper when no one asked you to. It could have been that you had flu once,

but no, you've spread it around so much that now seven colleagues are off and you're just doing their work for free. making them look bad. They're trying to get... No solidarity. They're trying to write a business case for getting someone in

to clean up the store cupboard, getting a little intern or whatever. But what's that? It's a strange of... It's a long way to tip a area coming from the store cupboard because you're cleaning it up on your lunch break. So you can get a pat on the back

from the bosses now. I know what the world is coming to and everything, but an internship clearing a store cupboard off seems. I appreciate the job market it gets harder and harder every year. I think I meant a temp. No, no, it's an internship now.

For experience, for exposure. A lucrative internship with Merrill Lynch. Cleaning out the store cupboard. Cleaning out all the cocaine. Unpaid and you need to do three or four internships before anyone will consider you for an entry-level position. They're all in central London as well. So if you don't have parents, you can bankroll your rent

or who happen to live there, you don't stand a chance. And just because you've cleaned out a different store, cupboard. It's not the same. It needs to be a store cupboard in this sector. Yeah. Internship at the Weinstein Company, doing some shredding. Lots of shredding. Very good. Also, they say, oh, I suspect it's makes me a massive pain in the ass than a nightmare employee. Why should you keep asking? If you're asking and you feel like it's making you a bad employee. Yeah, the trick is to stop. Exactly. You don't need us to sell you to stop. It's fine. It sounds like you've got the self-awareness to get you to that point, you just need someone to make the decision for you.

Yeah. Well, I'm your manager now, and here's your feedback. Stop. Oh, my God. It took the very first poster, the very first poster who comes along, says, all the stuff you listed is what every employee is expected to do. No, you're not expected to not use your sick leave, and you're not expected to do more work than needs to be done and volunteer. I mean, yeah, you are expected to be clean and polite and do your job. Yeah.

But I think we need to uncouple some of this. Yeah, you're not expected to go over and above. No, like, oh, this thing on Mumsnet where they expect everyone to work way more than their hours and to do so when they're on death's door, does my head in? No. If I was the manager of someone who was going way over their hours and coming in with their on death's door and they were like, am I doing okay? I'd be like, you need to take your sick days, girl.

Like, what are you doing? You're making everyone else ill and you're going to burn out. Yeah. If my manager's listening, that wasn't quite verbatim, but thanks for always telling me to go home when I'm sick. I'm also telling you to go home when you're sick, but I'm not your manager. Yeah. I'm your husband, a podcast partner. Yeah, there was a pause there.

Like, you weren't sure if you were going to go for a husband or if you were going to go for some sort of business relationship. I'm your entertainment associate. Oh, the OPs come back and said, I know I'm only doing what's expected of me. I'm not anything special. They do sound a bit like they're constantly. vying for someone to tell them they're wonderful but mum's that's not the place for that this is that thing where um all the kids who were told her were special at school apparently need a lot of validation in their lives i was always told i was special at school and i don't

think a particularly in validation no it's nonsense it's just like a twitter myth yeah oh and it's from the people who were special at school they're the ones who perpetuate this and it's literally just that they want an excuse to start a thread about how special they were at school yeah You've got anxiety because of capitalism, not because you were told you were special at school. Not because you were gifted and talented. I'm glad that you managed to find a way now as a 30-year-old adult to start a thread

about the time that you went to nag to do some extracurricular activities. Well done. Yeah, I mean, lots of people are just saying you seem quite annoying, to be honest. Oh, and now people talk about imposter syndrome. It's not imposter syndrome. I don't want to be funny, right, but it doesn't sound like this person's got like a super. super famous job where everyone says they're the best one in the world.

I thought imposter syndrome was about something quite specific where you really were like the absolute pinnacle of whatever it is that you're doing and people look up to you and you have a massive reputation for it. I didn't think imposter syndrome was, I passed my probation at my ordinary job. Am I an imposter? It seems so overused. Again, people on Twitter who are just like, oh my God, my imposter syndrome. It's like, no, structurally, you've been told you're not as good as other people.

We need to break down some structural. things here. It's not imposter syndrome. It's capitalism or the patriarchy or white supremacy or heteronormativity or any combination of those things. Yeah. Imposter syndrome.

You're an intern cleaning out of cupboard. Long way to bring. Should we move on? Yeah. It's annoying to constantly ask for validation. Please like and subscribe. Am I being unreasonable? Rod Stewart, A-lister or not? I really like

I like Rod, great songs, lots of charisma, etc. But am I being unreasonable to ask if he's an A-lister or not? I say no. D.H says he is definitely A-list. I really like Rod. I really like Rod. Great songs, lots of charisma, etc. Comes around to dinner and he never complains about the mugs I give him.

Or the cushions. He's only a wee thing, isn't he? You probably need a little cushion to sit on the dinner table. I really like Rod. Five-star reviews all across the board. always cold back within the hour hey Rod can you do a concert here

let me just check my door we are sailing we are sailing yeah I can do that yeah thanks Rod and I don't want to be I don't want to be rude but some of Rod Stewart's most recent

appearances I suspect that that has been a level of thought that's got into accepting gigs he's just humming sailing to himself and he's like yeah looks like I'm free I'll do it

lots of charisma, etc. What's the etc? there? That's not a list. That's just one personality attribute. I love when people use etc. And it makes no sense. My favourite time I've ever, ever, ever seen it is somebody listing their music interests as the cooks, Brianna, etc. I don't know how to extrapolate from that. What is the Venn diagram there? You've only given two things and they have very little in common, except that they were big in about 2006. Yeah, it's like, you know, when you're putting numbers in a scale down Excel, you have to put like one, two, three, four for it to get the pattern when you drag it down. Yeah. You can't just put one and then drag it down.

It doesn't know what you mean. Charisma in the first cell, drag it down. Then it would just say charisma over and over, though. It would assume you wanted to copy paste. Great songs. Lots of charisma, charisma, charisma, charisma, charisma, charisma. I'm going to start an Excel spreadsheet that says the cooks, Rihanna. and then drag it down to see what happens.

Yeah. But am I being unreasonable to ask if he's an A-lister or not? You've been to see Rod Stewart in concert. This might inform while I think that Rod Stewart is just there on his own mobile humming sailing while he decides what gigs to take. Because you were a Rod Stewart groupie. No, I saw Rod Stewart at the Ribnick Speedway, and I paid 50 Zottie for the ticket at a time when the pound had value,

so it was probably like 10 pounds. 1950s-Ottie now is like... And this is Ribnik in Silesia in South Poland. Yes. And I went because it was the week that I'd moved to Poland and I got a Facebook message saying, we're all going to see Rod Stewart, it's 50s-Otti, that's about 10 pounds.

What a deal? Do you want to come? And I was like, well, I can't say no to this, obviously. And the reason I couldn't say no to it was not because he's A-list celebrity Rod Stewart, but because I didn't know anyone there. I didn't want the first impression people got of me to be the girl who said no to Rod Stewart.

Yeah, everyone banging on about Rod Stewart all year. Exactly. And you weren't there, and you missed it. Exactly. To go, I don't know, eat parogi. Alone, because I'd only live there for three days. Didn't know anybody. Everybody I knew was at Rod Stewart.

So, I mean, that's one thing. Good, whatever. Seems like a slightly odd venue. How was the Rod Stewart concert that you went to? Tip-top. Wow. No complaints. Encore?

Yeah, probably. Second encore? I don't know. No. It was really good, though. He was doing Do You Think I'm Sexy? And then he had this slideshow behind him of quotes that, like, his own quotes of him in the 70s or whatever, saying, oh, I don't want to be an old man 30 years from now still doing, do you think I'm sexy? Oh, that's funny. That's some quality self-awareness. Which suggests to me that Rod Stewart doesn't believe he's an A-lister. Yeah, no, I like that. I really like Rod. Yeah, I mean, it was a charismatic move to put up those quotes. etc.

That's a good self-awareness there. In addition to that, I... A rye look at Rod Stewart. I'm on some sort of mailing lists for seat filling. So if there are shows and there are tickets available last minute and it's better to sell those tickets than not, you get emails saying like, oh yeah, you just pay an admin fee and you can go along to these things. Rod Stewart has appeared on those a lot this summer, like a lot. And always at like slightly odd venues, like racing.

course is kind of nowhere near any towns or cities. These courses. I don't know how much of an A-lister he is at this point. He might have been an A-lister before. Well, this is it. We've been dancing around the question, but it's time for us to level our opinions. Is Rod Stewart an A-lister? I think there should be a separate set of lists for people who used to be A-list, but now they're

not, because it's not like he's B-list. Oh, yeah. No, that was going to be my answer. These lists are not immutable. You can move up and down the lists. I think he very much used to be an A-lister. Yeah But now

Maybe he's down He's B or C now I don't know So who else Be on the B list With him in your mind Tom Jones That's really interesting

Let's read talk about Tom Jones Let's find what the people On the thread have said Tom Jones used to be A list Is now B or C list So someone said I put him in the same category As Tom Jones

As Tom Jones and A-lister There we go Great minds The OP has come back And said Tom Jones Is C list at best Whoa Wasn't he on the voice

Exactly Yeah He was on the last the voice. This is what you do when your B-list used to be a list. You do some shitty reality show to try and boost your profile again. I don't think Rod Stewart bothered though. Rod Stewart just went and did speedways and race courses and various other slightly odd venues. Yeah. I suppose you can go on a shitty reality show to try and claw your way back up the list. I think of anything that's just... Or you can accept it like Rod Stewart seems to have done. Reality TV is a snake,

not a ladder though, isn't it? Like, if people know you for being Rod Stewart at the pinnacle of your fame and then other people don't know you, you'd be on the A list of some people and not on the radar of others. But if everyone knows you because you went on Strictly and got booted off in week two, you're instantly on the D list for everybody. You fucked it. Yeah, this is the gamble. I think Rod Stewart's playing the game well, but I do not think he's A-list. No, no. Do I see the Rolling Stones as you were scrolling through there? They're A-list. Yeah. Oh, people are actually saying now, the Rolling stones do Hyde Park, whereas Rod Stewart and Tom Jones do places like

Litham-Proms and Cartmel races. Yeah. She's kind of what I was saying. Someone said B-list for me. That's the whole thing. It's so decisive that I imagine this person's got every single person categorised into lists in their head and they just know. If you'd asked me a few years ago, I would have said Elton was dropping into the B-list. No. Elton is A-list. Yeah, now, definitely. But a few years ago, before Rocket Man and before this new tour that he's doing, I'd have said he'd dropped out of the public eye. So what we need is the Rod Stewart biopic?

Yes. And that would make him a firm A-lister. Yes. Who would play Rod Stewart in the Rod Stewart biopic? The Rod Stewart biopic titled, Do You Think I'm Sexy? Yeah. Richard Madden. No, you can't just say Richard Madden's been in all the biopics.

He's worked his way up. He's had bigger and bigger parts in the biopics. I don't even know what Ed Stewart looks like. Doing drama at school, no matter how good you are. You're not going to get to play a main part until you're at least year nine. So we've got some pictures of young Rod Stewart so we know what we're working with and I'm going to say the lanky lad from the Inbetweeners

Oh interesting Or null fielding I can see null fielding But that's one particular picture I'm looking at Maybe playing Rod Stewart in different Maybe different characters playing in different ages What like the Bob Dylan film? Like the Bob Dylan film

I like the idea that everyone has a crack at playing Rod Stewart It's just one of those characters you've got to play Like Hamlet And for old Rob Stewart, Bill Nye You're just saying that Because that character that Bill Nyee plays in Love Actually That's probably based on Rod Stewart Someone's come along and said

Elvis, Brad Pitt and Al Pacino are the A list What weird A list? Just three men Brad Pitt and Al Pacino From very different time periods and contexts. When was the last time El Pacino was in a good film? Doesn't matter, he's A-List. There's this Martin Scorsese film on Netflix,

but he's digitally de-aged because he was A-List in the past, and Elvis. Now someone said everyone from the UK is a B-Lister. I assume they're saying... Yeah, I think what they mean is, like, to be truly A-List, you need to be from the US.

But instead, what they've said is that every single person in the UK is a B-lister now. That's talking. What about Paul McCartney? B-List. Paul McCartney, of the Beatles. B-List.

John Lennon. Even better in his day. B-List. B-List. Yeah. Be-List. They're on the same list as Andy Burnham and... Gillian Duffy.

Jillian Duffy. The man who owns Wetherspoons. And half the people you see it, Weather Spoons, they're all on the same list. Wow. This sort of arrogance, this sort of idea that, people, everyone here is a B-lister is how we ended up in the mess that we're in as a country. Yeah. Terrible. A lot of us

are not B-lister's pals. What list are you on? As in, as a podcaster, occasional film reviewer, writer. Yeah. I don't know, like, N, O? The O list. Yeah. The O list sounds like the title of a really bad piece of, like, Kindle erotica.

I was going to say, yeah. Sounds like maybe a bad partner. Let's do another speech round then. Am I being unreasonable lifestyle YouTubers Yeah Did you see that one where they made They did a makeup tutorial for how to become Pepper Pig Yeah, super weird

Loved it What? The eyes weren't even the eyes No The eyes were just in Pepper Pig's skin That's the only good lifestyle YouTuber Am I being unreasonable To hate it when people say At least you have your stepchildren

Yeah But at least you have your stepchildren Am I being unreasonable Some people have become sensitive to minor inconveniences. I couldn't imagine that on this board. I know. I can't imagine talking about that here.

Imagine someone not calling back within eight hours. I would leave a review. Am I being unreasonable? Chicken dilemma. Should you eat a chicken? Or let the chicken live with you? Grow with you. Become your son.

Raise it as your own. It's a tough dilemma because chicken's delicious. But you could train it up. You could send it off to college. Or you could have some sweet, sweet nuggets. Imagine a chicken wearing a little school universe. form. So proud. So proud. Chicken,

the little mortarboard. You're like, yeah, my chicken's got a degree now. It'd be a good way to cut the wheat from the chaff in terms of friends because only a true friend would stay in your life after you... Adopted chicken. Yeah. So I need to talk to you about something. You look different from the other kids at school and from me, because you're adopted. What? She ended it there? That's the punchline.

Thanks for listening to our B-List podcast. Do rate and review us, if you like us, that helps us go up in the charts, apparently. I don't know. Yeah, sure, and it helps other people to find the podcast. I've got so much stuff to plug. I've got a show on the Clap and Fringe. It is on the 12th of October,

Saturday the 12th of October at 3pm. It's smashing it. It is the capitalist patriarchy. game show. I've got a show before that on the 21st of September in Manchester as part of emergency festival I'll be taking part with an abridged version of my Capitalist Patriarchy game show 9pm at Stun Studios and Hume. And some other stuff on the horizon. What about you? Nothing much. I wrote a view of Christian Petzol's new film Transit which we both went to see and loved so that's at medium.com slash at Simon XIX if you want to have a look at that but that's it.

great thank you very much for listening thank you very much for listening bye