WDYM What Do You Mean?
WDYM What Do You Mean?
The Proper Channels of dealing with YPs
Ever wonder what happens when podcast opportunity knocks but uses the wrong doorbell? Michael Gillespie opens this episode with a cautionary tale about business opportunities that don't follow proper channels. Despite tempting collaboration offers landing in his personal inbox, Michael's military background taught him to question why these potential partners bypassed his clearly posted business email. His thoughtful analysis reminds creators that legitimate opportunities typically respect established protocols.
The heart of the episode dives into Michael's experiences managing "YPs" (Young People) in the workplace, painting a nuanced portrait that defies generational stereotypes. We meet an exceptional young employee balancing her day job with entrepreneurial side hustles and film appearances, whose brutal honesty about Michael's music choices earned his deepest respect.
The episode reaches its comedic peak with Michael's introduction of "Thug 1" and "Thug 2" – particularly the latter, whose 4'4" frame houses an intimidating presence that has Michael genuinely scared despite their significant height difference. When she threatens to "put someone on a shirt" (referring to memorial t-shirts), Michael's entertaining fear perfectly captures the surprising dynamics that can emerge in workplace relationships. Through laughter and reflection, this episode offers valuable insights about authenticity, proper communication channels, and managing diverse personalities in professional environments.
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Intro by Kobeofei via Fiverr
Season 2 Artwork: Ishida1694 via Instagram
you're listening to the wdym, the what do you mean? Podcast, hamilton's number one podcast. Now sit back and relax. Here's hamilton's own, michael gillespie being hamilton's number one podcast. It's tough. It's tough out here in these streets of Hamilton. How y'all doing? Welcome to the show. I'm your host, michael Gillespie of the WDYM. Like Kobe said, how y'all doing? I hope everybody is good, hope everybody is well.
Speaker 1:This show today is a little I wouldn't say weird or anything, just I'm cautious. I'm cautious how I do things and everything. You know I haven't uploaded. I haven't uploaded in a while and you know, with things always happening and being busy and everything, you know, life, life always happens and all that stuff. So I'm not making no excuses.
Speaker 1:But when I am consistently loading and consistently doing the show, you know some attention does come my way and you know, with me being, you know, close to 100 episodes in to the podcast, when I get emails about the show, I kind of freak out a little bit. You know I kind of freak out because you don't you don't expect people who don't listen to or you don't know to hit you up. A couple months ago I got hit up by two separate people. Right, they hit me up say, hey, we like the show, we like what you do Sounds great, blah, blah, blah Putting the butter on the toast. If you get what I'm saying, they are buttering me up like thinking that I'm a podcasting rock star. That's not the case, but I do enjoy what I'm doing and everything. So, hearing this, you know say hey, you know, we like your show and we think that you can have, we would like to have someone come on your show and talk about X, y and Z. So I'm like, wow, you know, I think you know I with the butter, you know they buttered the toast and everything. I'm like, wow, you know, I think you know I with the butter, you know they buttered the toast and everything. I was like yo, I must have hit it big this time. You know, I'm finally getting some recognition and all that stuff. And mind you that I don't pay for advertising yet. I don't pay for advertising just yet.
Speaker 1:But it's like when this happens, I get the emails and all that stuff, I sit and wait on it, I sit and reflect on it before I respond, because I want to make sure that this is very thought out and that this is something that I want to do for the show and everything. So a couple weeks go by, I email them both back and say, hey, thank you for reaching out. If you're interested in the show or having someone come on the show, is there any monetary? You you know, am I getting paid for this, because you know nothing's free in this world. Am I getting paid for this? Who is the person you want to bring on and when do you want to do it? So immediately I emailed that to both of them and immediately I didn't get nothing back. So I'm like like, okay, this stuff is fake, this stuff, this ain't real, this is bots or something right. But then I got an email back from one of them and they're like, oh, thank you for reaching back to us. My name is this and that. I'm not going to put no names out right now because this still might happen. So, hey, we got this person that wants to do it and they send me links and everything about who this person is and everything. Everything seems legit.
Speaker 1:With the second one the first one they disappeared. The second one, on the other hand, is like oh, okay, this is legit. They want to bring this lady on to talk about this. I'm like I can talk about this for a good 20, 30 minutes and get an episode out of it, get paid for it and everything. I was like yo, this is the chance to move up a little bit in the podcasting world. You know, move up a little bit and get in. You know, getting those real serious digit numbers. You know, that's what I'm thinking, until I start thinking and I'll start thinking like, wait a minute, I have a business email on every show description, every show description description. You want to email the wdym? There's an email for you to email me and then we could talk about whatever you want business related. We could talk about it through that email. Did they go through that email? No, they didn't. They didn't go through that email, and that's's the thing. That kind of like makes me wary and stuff like number one how did you get this email that you're emailing me on? Number one and number two, why didn't you go through the business email that's on every show description that I've laid for the past three, four years? I'm a little curious about this. Like now, I'm like, wait a minute, this might be fake altogether because they didn't go through the proper channels.
Speaker 1:I am a former military guy, I'm a veteran and I know beating my head as a trainee is that if you don't go through the proper channels, you're not going to get what you want. And that goes with anything in life. If you want a Whopper, you better not go to mcdonald's or wendy's. You know what I'm saying. That is the proper way of doing things. If you want something to eat from burger king, you better take your butt to burger king. That is simple for me and it should be simple for you. But this person did not go through proper channels and, lo and behold, I didn't go through with the interview.
Speaker 1:Now, is this a fear of success? It possibly could be, but what is it a fear? You get what I'm saying. What is it a fear when somebody reaches out to you, gives you links, websites, bios of the person that wants to do the whole guest shot, but they don't go through proper channels. Am I wrong for not having that? Having them on the show? I mean it could have been something significant and make the WDYM even bigger and brighter and everything.
Speaker 1:But I want somebody to go through the proper channels. Like, where did you get my email? Now I'm curious. Like, where did you get my email? Now I'm curious, like where'd you get my email from? Huh? Now, how'd you reach out to me on this email when I got the other email posted, the business email posted? So I'm just a little curious on how things go down. So yeah, needless to say that that didn't happen, and I'm not saying that it won't happen in the future.
Speaker 1:But I just want you to go through the proper channels. I mean, is that too much to ask for? You ask anything in life goes through the proper channels. You want this, you go ask this. If you want this, you go email that. If you want this, you do go through the proper channels. And that's all I'm asking. It's like, why didn't this person go through proper channels or anything like that? I didn't email him about it, but I was like, you know, let bygones be bygones and let it go, and you know the line is always open For you guys to do that. But I just want you to go through the proper way. That's all I'm asking. I don't think that's too much to ask for when it comes to these things and all that stuff. But you know, the cool thing about it was that if I would have did it, money would have been pretty nice. But you know, oh well, you can't cry over spilled milk if you didn't have milk in the first place and you only had water, right. So, anyway, to be continued as far as that. Hopefully, you know, other opportunities come in and maybe they'll come back around and say hey, sorry, we want to go through, we want to do this, we'll go through proper channels and it's that and the other. But we'll see, we will see. So stay tuned for that. Hopefully that does come back around, but if it doesn't, oh well, we keep this moving, we keep it moving, we keep it moving.
Speaker 1:Ha, so this episode is about the YPs in life and you may be asking yourself like, what is a YP? Michael? A YP is a young person, or plural for young people. Yps is this new generation of teenager young adults that this generation, they don't give a you-know-what. You know what I'm don't. They don't give a you know what? You know what I'm saying? They don't give. I'm gonna say it. Some of them do, some of them don't. Um, a couple examples of the some that do care um, there's this one young lady that I've come across, young person again, but this one is one of the peak level YPs, one of the peak level YPs that do care. They do give a you know what. Again, this is a G show, so I won't be cussing much more, or it's going to be edited out.
Speaker 1:One of the two. She cares. She cares a whole lot about her job and everything. Uh, never had a problem with her showing up for work. Never had a problem with her anything, no attitude or anything like that. Not like that she's been. She's been pretty good in fact, not a lot. She's been great at it.
Speaker 1:And then come to find out that this, this young lady that I'm talking about right now, she is on her grind, so to speak, and I mean, for a young person to be on a grind like this is amazing. So much so that she's even, like, offered to help me launch this, make the podcast bigger. I'm like, wow, that's really cool, because, one, that means she's listening to the podcast and two, she's offering me help and I appreciate that a lot. And you know, the thing with her is that, like, I guess she's on the grind, she has her own business on the side. She's even doing movies on Tubi. So, you know, props to this person that is doing her thing, because it's it's remarkable. People her age don't do the stuff that she's doing and and it's amazing, it really is amazing, um, really proud of you know working with her and everything. And every time I see her, you know she's real, she is so real and I think that's one of the aspects know, working with her and everything, and every time I see her, you know she's real, she is so real and I think that's one of the aspects that I like about her a lot A prime example of her being real.
Speaker 1:I'll give you two, but number one as you know, as a manager of a, you know of a department this, that and the other I've always been the one that that. Hey, you got to set the example of how things work, things operate. You got to be the one to say, hey, I come in with a clean uniform, I come in, you know, properly dressed, good attitude, willing to help, yada, yada, yada. And that also comes from the music too, right, right, if we, you got to have music when you work. I cannot imagine a place where we don't have music.
Speaker 1:So I'm playing my music, but I play Safe music, safe music that has no cussing. Some of it may not even have words and some of it may be Out my realm of Of being an adult. You know what I'm saying. I will play music from the 80s, which is majority, is safe, some music in the 90s. I'll play wrestler theme music. I'll play cartoon music. You get what I'm saying. Like I'm playing safe music.
Speaker 1:Well, one day I'm playing my safe music, she comes in and says Michael, I'm sorry, my safe music. And she comes in and says Michael, I'm sorry, but your music is again. This will be edited out. You won't hear it. But I'm saying she said I'm sorry, but your music is. It's just like.
Speaker 1:You know, I looked at her first. I'm like yo, I respect that. I respect that so much because she's telling the truth. It is Come on, man, I'm from the 90s, I'm from the hardcore hip-hop era where you had the Jay-Z, dmx, nelly, eminem, et cetera, et cetera. That is my genre of music, so to speak, and I could play that. But you know I can't control what they say, so therefore I'll play something different.
Speaker 1:And she called it out and there's like even more respect for her. So I was like you know what I respect you, yp. You are probably the best YP I've worked for in a very long time, right. So, again, props to you. And, hey, I respect you. I respect someone that is real, honest, hard-working, dedicated to the job. That's what you asked for. You ask for people like that, and that might be my only example of a good yp, of a great yp. Everybody else that I'm about to mention, no, no, no, no, not so much.
Speaker 1:One example of a YP that just didn't have her stuff together was this one young lady I was working with. Again, I'm not going to do names or anything like that for protection or anything like that for protection, but either way, she would never call to call off. Like, when you call off, you pose a, you know, physically or not physically, but talk to somebody as opposed to text. That was the rules. You don't do that. And when you don't call and text you, hey, look, this is unacceptable, the rule book says this and you have to call somebody to call off unless, like the only time I accept a text message, if you work the morning shift and it's five o'clock in the morning and you got to be there at six, don't, don't call my phone, we ain't having that. I'm gonna come in there with straight mean mug and like, look, call me again. Like that I'm gonna hurt you. But either way, that is the thing. What she did was right.
Speaker 1:She was complaining like she was leading up to this call off because, again, this was linked to a weekend. She was off on a weekend and this was a friday and she was you know she's like, oh no was a Friday. And she's you know she's like, oh no, I'm not feeling well. I haven't been feeling well going to school. People got sick. She's just basically laying it out there and I'm cooking at the time. I'm just looking at her like uh-huh, okay, you know, blah, blah, blah, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 1:So I get a text because she worked the morning. I get a text saying Michael, I'm sick, I'm not coming in today, and I'm like, and I told her, like, look, you need to call. This is unacceptable. She's like that's not acceptable. I said, yeah, go read your employee handbook. It says you know you have to call somebody.
Speaker 1:So she sends me a picture. She sends me a picture on the cell phone with tissues in her nose and she's holding the tissue box and I'm supposed to be like oh, that means you're sick. She sent me the picture like I'm supposed to be like oh, like oh okay, now I see all these tissues in your nose and tissues in your hand and the tissue box in your other hand. That's supposed to imply that you're sick, right? I said no, ma'am. I said great effort, but no, ma'am, I'm going to need a phone call. I'm not calling you. I'm not calling you. Why are you trying to trip? You need to call me. Does she call me? No, sir, no ma'am, no ham, no bacon Won't be doing it. No, she did not call me. She didn't call me. And then here's the kicker she called the other server who was there and said hey, did you talk to so-and-so? Because she's not coming in. I said no, I did not talk to so-and-so and because of that, if she does not call within the allotted time, she's going to get canned. Did she call? No, she didn't. And, lo and behold, she got canned. And here's the thing about it. I worked with her family, like her mom set her up to come here and work at the facility that I was at. And you know she's like what's going on? Like why is she not coming to work? And she was like she didn't know herself. She's like what do you mean? She ain't coming to work and I showed her the stuff and all that stuff, she said oh heck, no. She said oh heck, no, and then that was the last I seen of her mom. Needless to say, that didn't work out.
Speaker 1:Another one, another YP. This young person came in half-baked All the time, all the time, and this guy was already in trouble. Again, these YPs don't care. This YP's like yo, you know he knew me from a previous job and everything. He's like yeah, mike, I heard you know you're a good boss. He's like yeah, what do you want me to do? I said hey, man, if you can make these cakes, make a I'd appreciate it, because you know I'm working to focus cooking and all that stuff. You can make the cake, it will be good. Again, why people don't care.
Speaker 1:He's up in there grabbing the cake mix and everything and grabbing milk, and he's grabbing chocolate, chocolate chips and all that stuff. And I'm just, you know, as I'm cooking, I'm walking by, you know, doing my thing to make sure he's doing his thing. He's taking a really long time to get this stuff done. I'm looking at him, like you know, like yo, what's wrong with this cat? Like yo, like you know, YP, you know he's had the smell on him, didn't cover himself. You can. You know, I've been around like, I know what marijuana smells like. I was like okay, so he's sitting there thinking like, and I just walk up to him like is there a problem? You okay? He's like yeah, no, it's cool, bro.
Speaker 1:I was just like wondering, do I need to put milk or water for the cake mix? I said, technically it don't matter. But you know, for this cake that's already complete, all you gotta do is just, you know, add some water. He's like well, how much water should I add? Man? I'm like well, um, if you read the back of the um bag, it's going to tell you how much water to put in and how to do it right. He's like oh, I got it, got it, got it okay.
Speaker 1:I said I was like what's the chocolate chips for dog? He's like oh, yeah, uh, I was gonna, I was gonna spice this up. And he didn't hear that he's always, always, rubbing his hands. Yeah, I'm just gonna spice this up. Man, make this a good chocolate cake. I'm like okay, I mean, you know, maybe this is what you do, maybe everybody likes.
Speaker 1:When you come in and you're like this is my favorite cake because this YP, this young person, is like, yeah, he makes a good cake, so I let him be, I get my food done, get the cake out and it's falling apart. It is falling apart and it's the driest thing I've cake I've had in the longest time. I didn't know you could make cake taste like the desert or what the desert would taste like. This thing was dry, like so dry it's like a Popeye's biscuit dry. But you need water immediately because it sucks, it evaporates all the water in your mouth. Okay, I said, young man, you're not making cakes ever again. I'll find somebody else to make cake or I'll come in and do the cake my daggone self. But, bro, I was like yo, this ain't going to work.
Speaker 1:Again came in on a higher level of mental preparedness, whatever you want to call it, and he just couldn't make a cake and I was like I don't understand how you don't make a cake. So another one, another one and now this one. This one is linked to another one. So this YP young person is someone that, um, I used to work with before, and this YP and this YP, she's got a thug mentality, but it's with reason, right, if you get what I'm saying. Not everything is white picket fence, sunny day and everything, and I get that and I get that with her right, and you know I feel like working with her in the past and everything is that, um, she needs someone that say, hey, look, you never had an example of a good friend. This is what I say to her when we have private conversations. Like this is an example of what a good adult friend should be like, and you know there's ups and downs with this one, but I think she's slowly starting to understand like, what is a good friend.
Speaker 1:So her first couple days she's working hard and everything. And then my boss rolls up on her. She says hey, how are you? She turns around. She goes hey, man, who are you? I was like what and like I didn't. I wasn't there at the time. But my boss rolls up on me. She said hey, is that the new, the new server you got? I said, yeah, yeah, you know, it's like. You know what she said to me.
Speaker 1:I said what she said. She said who the f? Are you? I said, nah, she didn't. She didn't say that. She didn't, she wouldn't, she would never, she wouldn't do that. She's like yes, she did.
Speaker 1:I said, nah, I don't believe you like. She said yes, she did. I was like, okay, so I pulled her to the side. I said I said thug one, that's what I'm calling her for now, thug one. I'm like look, um, did you say who the f are you? She said yeah, because I didn't know who the F she was. I said dog y'all, you was going to kill me. I said yeah, like I done, brought your butt in from the streets of Cincinnati and you coming up a hill acting a monkey. I said I'm gonna need you to take that 10 down to a two. She said OK, you know, I just like don't blame me, so I'm just trying to find out who this person was.
Speaker 1:I said that person is my boss, and if she's my boss, I mean she is your boss. She said oh. I said Lord Jesus, you supposed to be. You supposed to be serving people, smiling, being happy, say hey, welcome to so-and-so, and not be going off on people like this. You just can't do that. She said oh, so okay. I said cool, so working with her regularly now we worked before, but it was just like a couple days and stuff like that working with her.
Speaker 1:Now, like I see things and I don't, I don't know. She's aware, she's aware of it, but she has the people's eyebrow right. She has one eyebrow that just fires up when she's angry, upset and everything, and it fires up all the time and then occasionally she'll get, she'll say something, and this is the thing. I don't think she means what she says, but she'll just say it Like ah, I call that rap energy. She's like all in her face like busting rounds, yeah, nah, yeah, like that. You get what I'm saying. So she has minor rap energy and some people don't know how to take it.
Speaker 1:But her intentions are good and you know, know, and that's why, like I rock with her. She knows how to do the job, she's great at the job period. But she comes off a little raw sometimes and it's like you know, hey, that could be coached and mentored with somebody. But you know it takes time for that and she's very young. She's a very young person, has mad potential. But you know it comes with time and she's very young. She's a very young person, has mad potential. But you know it comes with time and she'll get there. She will be. I guarantee you she's going to be great in about five to six years. She's going to be great. I believe in her. That's the number one thing. I believe in her and I think she can do great things. She puts her mind to it. But she does have a little distractions.
Speaker 1:But the main, the main YP, the main YP, and I'm going to call her Thug 2. This one Thug 2. Because Thug 2 and Thug 1, they know each other, they know each other right. And she's like thug one was like yeah, um, my friend, thug two, she needs a job. I said, man, say less, like hey, yo, if she's anything like you, I could take thug two anytime. I'll take her and we'll, we'll mold her up, we'll get her in shape. She'll be a, she'll be a, she'll be a good addition to the team.
Speaker 1:I interview Thug 2. And I'm looking across, she's like aw, aw, she's like little old button thing. She's just like aw, saying all the right things and everything. I'm like cool, like you know, she's saying the right things. Yeah, I used to work here and they ain't paying me squat and you know I need to get paid. And da, da, da, da. I'm like, okay, well, welcome to the team. We're going to get you, get you ready and all that stuff, and we're going to get you right.
Speaker 1:Thug 2 and my past of knowing short females is a dynamite. They are literally a stick of dynamite waiting to go off, and so, like there'll be signs of it, like I saw in the beginning. But you know, I didn't think nothing of it. You know what I'm saying? She only 4'4". Nobody should be scared of somebody. 4'4", a little Tootsie Roll thing.
Speaker 1:She's just a little bitty, itty bitty. I ain't scared of her until I saw the thug in her. Huh, no, she, she talks. She talks the game, she talks straight thug level street. Okay, I look, I know she foe foe, but I'm scared of her.
Speaker 1:Y'all, y'all think I'm playing and the thing about it is I know her family and that's the beauty of it. Right, like she'd be like yeah, I work here and my boss, his name is Michael, and she's like Michael, like I know Michael. And then she's like yeah, and then her mom's like yeah, uh, he's a big old nerd. And she comes back and tells me that and I get mad at first, like oh, I can't believe she talking about me because she used to be part of the band. Like you, a band geek, don't you talk about. Talk about me. But she's not lying. She's not lying, I am. I'm a big old nerd. Hey, you, you should see the studio. I got Captain America's shield, I got Dragon Ball posters, I got Marvel posters, I got just nerdy stuff everywhere in this room. So she's not wrong. And again, I don't mess with her.
Speaker 1:When she comes one way, I go the other way, because she literally scares me. She gets mad and there's a vein in her forehead that pops out. She comes in with bruises and scars, like, and I'll be like, hey, thug two. But um, uh, I'm scared. I'm scared to approach her. Y'all think I'm playing like um, uh, thug two. Um, oh, uh, how'd you get that scar or that bruise on your face? And then she snaps at me like, yeah, well, guess what? You should see the other person and what I did to them. I'm like, uh-oh, I am scared to death to ask what you did to that person Because she fo-fo, she dynamite, she ready to go off. I'm not playing with her. She comes one way, I go the other. I check my wallet, make sure it's still in the back pocket. Okay, she didn't take that yet. I'm like I ain't never seen this before.
Speaker 1:I am terrified of Thug 2. But the thing that got me the worst is that there was one episode where Thug 1 comes in and says hey, you got to check what Thug 2 did. I said, oh boy, I don't want to witness a murder. I said I don't want to witness a murder. She's like no, you got to see what Thug 2 did. I said what did she do?
Speaker 1:She plays a clip of her talking smack and I'm like, look, there's smack talking like, hey, I'll mess you up. Well, I'll mess you up. Well, I'll mess you up too. That you know that's the general talk of like when I was a kid or that's, you know, general talk when you're talking smack. No, no, no, thug 2 is real.
Speaker 1:She says, hey, look, keep playing with me, I'm gonna put you on a shirt. I said put you on a shirt. Like she makes shirts on the side, like that's a good business, because you know my wife, she makes shirts. She said, no, at the funeral, you know you wear. Rest in peace, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:I said, oh Lord, jesus, keep playing with me. I said, oh Lord. I said who we got here. I said, lord, no, I am scared of thugs. She said I will put you on a shirt brother. And I said who she say brother to?
Speaker 1:She said that to a black guy. I said, oh, she for real. And he said this black guy is over six feet tall. I said, but she for full. She said Thug 1's like, and I'm like yeah, I tall. I said but she, she fo fo.
Speaker 1:She said thug one's like, and I'm like yeah, I am scared of thug two. I ain't never, ever, ever, seen somebody as thugnicious and that's the new word thugnicious as she is. I am terrified of thug two. This is why, like hey, if I'm done cooking. She's like, hey, I need a cheeseburger. I said, yes, ma'am, I'll get your cheeseburger, because I'm scared of thug 2. She real about it too. That's the thing that scares me the most. She is real about it and it's like yo, I'm not, I'm not having anything. But you know, at the same time, like, if somebody comes through and tries to rob the place, I think she'll be like hey, I'm strapped. I think. I actually think, I actually think she is strapped, to be honest with you, and that's the why P's. Why P's Young people, if you didn't know that Are crazy, some good ones and there's some bad ones, and there's that in between Thug one is in between Thug two.
Speaker 1:Uh-uh, I better quit talking, because I'm getting this feeling that she is listening to the podcast right now and I'm sorry. Okay, don't you hit me, don't you hit me. Young people love him. My name is Michael Gillespie of the WDYM. Back on the grind, as normal. Thank you guys for listening. I appreciate you and I'm out. Girl Scout, boy Scout, see you next time. Peace, watch out for thugs, man.
