Celebrate Success

 Jen and Dagda kick off with snarky pop-culture banter before settling into a simple but surprisingly deep question: how do you celebrate success? Dagda admits he rarely “celebrates” at all, which leads to a conversation about what rewards actually look like after returning to work following a long break. From micro-celebrations (extra game time, snacks, small wins) to real-life practicality (new work clothes, budgeting, reliable boots, and the joy of not doing laundry constantly), they unpack the ways people recognize progress.

The episode wraps on a more heartfelt note about why celebrating small victories matters—especially after loss, major life changes, and the stress of re-entering the workforce.

#podcast #genx #celebratesuccess #selfworth #worklife #lol

Artwork: Kyra_Starr

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:03

Welcome to Everyday Life. Thank you for joining our podcast, Conversations Over Coffee. My name is Jen. And I'm Dagda. And we're gonna hit you with the explicit content warning right off the bat. This podcast does include adult situations and adult language from time to time.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

I'm an angel. I never fucking cuss.

SPEAKER_05 0:25

Okay. Anyways, you ready to go?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:29

Alright, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Beans. Coolio said beans, beans. What an amazing hero you are. You've killed a human.

SPEAKER_05 0:45

Quoting from what, Mr. I've got sugar in my beard.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

It's fine.

SPEAKER_05 0:51

For labor?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah. That's a flavor for you.

SPEAKER_05 0:59

You know, I work with some people I wish they'd maybe not keep things on their beard. Anyways.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

It's the good guys slash bad guys slash grim guys series. It's three separate series set in the same world called Beldrani. And it's a RPG, and the fucking quote unquote system is kind of snarky, and it will be like, oh, what an amazing hero you are. You've killed a human. Blah, blah, blah. You've learned to walk. Now you can walk without falling down.

SPEAKER_05 1:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Congratulations. What an amazing hero you are. You've learned to swim. Now you can swim without drowning. Yeah. So stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 1:40

Not for me, because I'd want to punch that fucking book like hard. Like fucking asshole.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Well, it's not talking to you, it's talking to the main character.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

I'd want to punch it for the main character.

SPEAKER_04 1:51

I mean, I don't know. Maybe the main character is going, phew, now I won't drown every time I need to cross the river.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

It also makes me kind of think of the land series because the land is kind of snarky, also. Aleron? Yeah, Allaron. And Allaron oftentimes his main character will be like, world or universe, you're a dick.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

Dude, I feel that because I did not I just have a little mantra to the universe I just said. Dear universe. I started out with Dear Jesus, but I was like, that's that's that's not the right way to say it in modern times.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Dear Jesus, baby Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

Dear baby Jesus, as we eat this delicious KFC. Anyway, he's how it's my son. Bless my son and Texas Ranger.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:39

My partner hates Will Farrell so hard.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:43

But I love that movie not because of Will Farrell, but because of John C. Riley. Because we got the shake and the and the bake. Shake and bake. And just like he got that crap. Just go to the light, baby. Go to the light. So we we fell in love with each other here because I got to pay on the winner. Anyways, we're not we're not going all over Tropic Thunder. Not Tropic Thunder.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Completely different.

SPEAKER_05 3:08

Tropic Thunder is epic. Just just playing a dude, playing a dude, played another dude.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Days of Thunder. That's the racing one. I was like, wait, Tropic.

SPEAKER_05 3:19

Let me out of the car, Cole, let me out of the car.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

I've never seen that movie.

SPEAKER_05 3:22

You've never seen Days of Thunder? What the hell is wrong with you?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

I mean, I'm not a real Tom Cruise fan, so I wasn't trying to watch a movie about people driving in circles.

SPEAKER_05 3:32

Well, I'm not a super Tom Cruise friend either, but there are some that I like. Top Gun, Top Gun Maverick. Of course, I like Top Gun for Anthony Edwards. I'm so sorry. What happened to you, Goose? I'm so sorry, sir. Um, but Robert Robert Duval, R.I.P.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Speak to me, goose.

unknown 3:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:49

Talk to me, Mav. Talk to me, Mav. I Michael Ironside's in there.

Sun's Finally Back!!

SPEAKER_04 3:53

It's just uh dip below the line iron.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Anyway.

SPEAKER_05 4:00

Anyways, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

I'm doing alright. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_05 4:04

I'm doing great. The sun is shining. Um, I got like my chores done. The sun came out tomorrow. The sun came out today. Uh, and it'll be out tomorrow, and another, and another, and yay, yay, yay.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

I have to bust out my shorts.

SPEAKER_05 4:19

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

In fact, I think I'm going to start carrying my shorts in my backpack to work from now on. It's about that time.

SPEAKER_05 4:27

To bring forth your white legs. Oh my god. Yeah, you need to start getting some color. Because I mean, you do wear shorts about 10 months a year. Yeah. And it feels like this year, you know, you've actually had pants on for like almost four months the last six months, four months that you probably had shorts on. Put my pants on one leg at a time, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I I think I put my pants on sooner than what I normally do, and have been wearing them longer than what I normally have.

SPEAKER_05 4:52

And yeah, because I think you started wearing pants around Halloween, and it's usually like two weeks before Thanksgiving where you start wearing the pants again. Yeah. But I think it might have been before Halloween because we got a few like cold days.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

And of course, I think it's also different with your health changes and everything that you have to be a little more cognizant right now.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah, and I stopped wearing my leather jacket.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Um, and so with my current bare cow to bed bear jacket combination thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

The um the amount of air that flows through the jacket when I'm not wearing the windbreaker is enough to wear us like, okay, I don't want to be wearing shorts and this and then have to put on my windbreaker on top of this.

SPEAKER_05 5:38

I mean, if I was a dude, I wouldn't want to get my nether ya-yas too cold either because I wouldn't want to have to go home and figure out how to get my nuts back out of the inside of my body every day. Exactly. Where do I have to punch myself to make that happen? Um, so cat's out of bag. Everybody knows now that we're we're working. And those who don't know, if I forgot to text you, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Computer working.

unknown 6:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

It's a little flashback for you. Uh um way, way back, before my time, even. Wow. What was before your time? I mean, that was from the 60s or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 6:18

Right. Uh, you know, my favorite throwback is shall we play a game? I like that when we talk about computers. Anyways.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Global thermal nuclear war. Now about a nice game of chess. No, global thermal nuclear war.

SPEAKER_05 6:33

Anyway. Leave it up to a teenage boy to bring destruction upon the earth. Just saying. Uh, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

And that's only because there wasn't boobs.

SPEAKER_05 6:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

He would have been distracted had that been the real internet.

unknown 6:47

Right.

SPEAKER_05 6:48

Well, I mean, technically, it was not it was the internet we had at that time. It was a military internet.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

The real internet didn't even get boobs on it until day number two. So, you know, hey.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure it had them on there even with the coverage. Oh, damn.

SPEAKER_05 7:05

Well, somebody was sending uh 531-8008.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

He hee hee. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:11

You I you know somebody was. Well, anyways, so the cat's kind of out of the bag. Everybody knows uh that we don't have to um rip our eyes out and sell our plasma for money anymore. We're getting, you know, we have jobs where we're making enough to pay the bills, but we have more fun doing this. Yeah. Um, so I was gonna ask you, how do you celebrate success?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

How do I celebrate success? I mean, I generally don't really.

SPEAKER_05 7:38

Really?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I mean, I hardly ever celebrate anything. Uh usually nine times out of ten, if I'm celebrating something, it's because somebody else is celebrating, not me.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Um, although on occasion somebody will want to celebrate for me or whatever, but 99 times out of 10, 100 99 times out of one, that doesn't happen. Uh and so, and I don't really care.

SPEAKER_05 8:05

Um so then so, so obviously the struggle to find work was was very real. Um, so then how do you reward yourself if you're not celebrating that yes, I hit this smile post, I had this time off, I did some schooling that you're almost done with, like 98% of 94% ish ish-ish of the way. Um, so so if you're not actually doing a self-celebration of some kind, what kind of a reward do you put out there? Okay, I am now working, so I'm going to reward myself with Netflix.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Oh, wait, I already had that. Um, I haven't really I mean, well, the things that I've done are kind of you don't see see as rewards? Not really, because like the the only thing that I've done so far is just I guess I've bought myself dinner.

SPEAKER_05 9:02

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Uh but I mean I celebrated, I bought you coffee and lunch. Yeah, I mean it wasn't really a celebration, it was I'm fucking lazy and I need to eat something. I don't want to cook, so I'll fucking buy myself dinner on the way home at the safe way.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

And you're like, yay me. Yeah, I earned this, I went and earned this money for this.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah. Which for a while there I was like, okay, I have to fucking cook this, this, and this.

SPEAKER_05 9:31

Yeah. Which you still need to do anyways. Yeah. But you've given yourself uh a breath.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

And you know, because it's it's it's I'm telling you, yeah, I'm telling you, getting back into that force, that workforce like that, it's it's hard and it's a struggle. You know, you might laugh at me for going, oh my god, what the fuck is happening? There's so many people listening now. You might laugh at me because I'm like giddy about it. I'm like, yes, the 90th squirrel found us. Yay! I might be giddy like in that direction, but um but there's a bigger purpose in life, obviously. But in like two more weeks, when your dog ass tired, you might be like, All right, people, listen, this is this is Dag speaking to you now.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

You guys need to get your shit together and get on the paid program.

SPEAKER_05 10:18

I'm gonna say you might be like that, you don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Nah, I will say they need to uh comment do they want to be referred to as squirrels or nuts?

unknown 10:30

Right.

SPEAKER_05 10:33

Well, I personally think there are squirrels that are nuts.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:46

And those nuts are squirrely or hairy nuts. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

The squirrely nuts.

SPEAKER_05 10:51

Welcome to the hairy nuts club.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

For all you squirrels out there.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

The squirrel nuts.

Dagda:What Counts as a Reward

SPEAKER_05 11:01

I said to somebody, somebody the other day, so I was teaching somebody at work um how to basically do merchandising. To kind of look at how to set up displays and how to have a better flow, because you know they're they're young and they don't know how. And it was like, and it was good to hear them say, I feel accomplished, I feel good, I learned that, and now I kind of have this idea in my head. And because, you know, they're um the cat of a different color, right? And um and I said, Well, how you should be proud of yourself because you did a very good job and you acclimated and you understood, and you found a way to think about this in your own way. They were like, Yeah. And I was just like, and they were like, like the celebration was interesting because it was like they were like, you would have thought they were playing chess and just one, you know, that that really smart chess kid because they were like, yes, championship or whatever. Yeah, yeah. You know, like they were they they put their hands together and fists and they were like, Yes, yes. And I was I just looked at them and I was like, That's squirrel, this that's right, squirrel, this is your world. Get your nut, it's all good. And I'm really glad she didn't get her nut. But, anyways, uh, but so it made me think though, that seeing that kind of a celebration, and I'd said to them, I was just like, Is this how you celebrate success? And they had a very simple answer. I celebrate when I feel I'm successful, I celebrate myself with an extra hour of game time, or I celebrate by buying an extra bag of checks mix or or like whatever, but like they celebrate everything. And that's okay. Like, I know for me, nobody's gonna believe what I did to celebrate working again, which is a success.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 12:44

I bought 10 pairs of underwear.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 12:47

I hadn't bought any brand new, I have to buy underwear every year. I, you know, because I don't buy like it's so many people out there. Like, let me tell you what, so many people out there have 40, 50 pairs of underwear. I don't know how they do it. I'm like, that's just too much of a mess to keep a hold of. You need you literally need one for every day of the week, one for an emergency, one to go in a go bag, because you gotta have at least one pair for an overnight go bag, right? Yeah, and then one spare. So you gotta have at least 10 pairs.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I probably have 40, 50 pairs of underwear, but that's because I don't throw them away. I just buy new ones. So it's like I probably should go through and audit my fucking drawers drawer.

SPEAKER_05 13:25

Right. Well, in 2015. At the end of 2024, I bought five brand new pairs of uh of underwear to celebrate walking away from an abusive workplace, uh, you know, with the moving and storage. And then I haven't bought any since, and I was just like, well, and you know, as I'm getting older and my digestion's changing, I've laughed about I've literally blew a hole in underpants. But then it was just like, um, I have four pairs of underwear left. So I had to, I had to buy some. So, but that's how I celebrate. Like, I bought a new two new shirts and I bought some new underpants and I need to get some pants so I can have some clothes to work with because I'm getting tired of doing laundry all the time.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, I need to buy new shoes soon.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Um, I'll probably do that with my next paycheck. But I always consider buying like a pair of custom fit boots.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

But those are like$500,$800. Um, but they last a real long time. And if you get the right kind, you can get them resold and stuff, and that's usually what fails on them.

SPEAKER_05 14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Um, well, it's the main wear point.

SPEAKER_05 14:43

So I feel like every year, at least once a year, and you know, there's gonna be people out there who maybe think like once a week, once a day, once a month. I don't know. But I feel like once a year, if you are not in jail for murder because there's so many idiotas out there, um, I feel like you should celebrate, not killing another human. I think it's you should celebrate.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Shit, I should be celebrated every fucking day for not murdering people.

SPEAKER_05 15:10

Well, right now you're using the public transit system, so it's kind of hard not to run into knuckleheads and want to bash their brains together. Um, yeah, it's it's insane. But I was wondering how you do celebrate successes because do you recognize your successes? Um occasionally, I think because you understand it's a really big deal because um, so I did not work for 15 months, you did not work.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

I mean, yes, you were helping your uncle at his toy shop, right? Helping him, that's not the same as working.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:45

And so you did not work for 18 months.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:51

And so for me, that that is a cost for celebration because there's, you know, you were entering back into the job market literally at one of its busiest points. Literally, the start of the year is a very busy point. Employers are getting rid of all their sh oh, I had to keep you for the winter, you you're you little shisty little bitch. Get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:13

You know, I mean, it's it's crazy because I I wondered for a little bit, I didn't understand for a little bit why you weren't getting the job offers pouring in. Once, like, once I put my name back out there, it just it happened at the right, it finally like I put my name out there, nothing happened for a very long time, and then boom, it did.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

And when it did, it wasn't just like one or two people wanted to talk to me, it was several people. And I was just like, well, this doesn't make any sense because we've worked together for so long. Why aren't you getting the calls? And like, I keep, I'm not gonna say, but I keep getting emails from uh right, redacted. I keep, and let me tell you what, there are some days where I'm like, oh, well, maybe I should, you know, because but I you know, I don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

Um I had to look at the fact that we did we specialized, even though we both can do the same thing, right? So if you if you look at the infinity loop, like customer service had heavy and production work or customer service heavy, inventory production work. And you're more uh inventory production work, customer service. So we overlap differently, and yeah, and it is so that because I was like, there's nothing wrong with Dagda. Dagda is a really good, you're reliable, you don't miss, you have never, it's been a long time since you've missed any time of work.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, and I don't think yeah, I've never like missed a day because I was being lazy or something.

SPEAKER_05 17:48

You've literally only missed days that I'm aware of in the last 15 years for medical reasons, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Um and legit medical reasons, not I stub my toe. Yeah. Um and even like timeliness, like being late or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

The last time I was late for work, um, it was because I was getting a ride with my roommate at the time, and he fucking would consistently try to get to work exactly on time.

SPEAKER_05 18:25

Oh my god, that's late in my book.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

And knowing that traffic is like what it is, you can't fucking you can't realistically try to push it, at least not in this area, where it it can be fucking very um inconsistent.

SPEAKER_05 18:45

Not yeah, not living this close this close to the military base.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah, and so like after being late like three times because he was trying to push it to fucking being there at exactly on time, I was like, okay, fuck it. I'm not riding with you to work anymore. I'm just gonna ride the bus and fuck it. Um I'll get there early. I don't give a shit.

SPEAKER_05 19:07

Yeah, I mean, it's just like when you and I so when I moved back into this neighborhood happily and luckily and blessedly, um, and it was just like, hey dummy, we live we we live four blocks apart. Is it four? Yeah, one, yeah, it's like four blocks apart basically.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Four, maybe five.

SPEAKER_05 19:25

Maybe five if if you go up an extra block. I don't know. If you take the if you take the quick way, it's four. If you go up, it's five.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

But anyways, um, you know, even then you know, you and I were always on the same page about getting there at a certain time. And then we had that one day where traffic sucked. And remember, we called Mama D, and it was just like, shit, but we still got there seven minutes. We got there three minutes late, but seven minutes with an open and still got it done.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

And it was like from then on, we're like, fuck it, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna go early, we're gonna leave earlier. And we left earlier because it wasn't the way I look at work days, I don't schedule anything else to be done on those days.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yeah.

Jen:Necessities as Rewards

SPEAKER_05 20:06

If I need to schedule something, it's one hour, and I'm very, very particular with one, who I'll schedule it with, two, the time I schedule it with. Yeah, and I will tell everybody the same thing at this time. I'm done no matter what, because I have a routine for work. I like to get into work um a few minutes early, kind of get a vibe for the day, see how everybody's doing. Hey, how you doing, Miss Jane? How you doing, Mr. John? Like, I like to do that. I just kind of like to get a quick look around and get a feel because it lets me know what kind of day I'm gonna have. And then I'll go up and talk to my boss and be like, okay, what's on the register for the day? Yeah, you can't be in management without giving up a few minutes of your time every week if you want to be successful.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:53

And and I say that because if you sit there and say, I'm not doing shit until this exact moment, you're already behind for the day.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:02

So if you take it as investing in yourself, investing time in yourself and what you're doing, that I'm investing this camaraderie with because it's not just subordinates, you know what I mean? It's not just boss and employees or supervisor and supervisees. It's it's not that, it's more than that. You first and foremost have to be a team player. Yeah. So it is you checking in with your team. I am here to help you think about if you need something, let me know. I'm gonna check with the big boss, see what they need from me, and we're gonna figure out how to get it done for you.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:40

And it's it's a passion for me that on time is late.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:46

I can't. It's and it's and it's a little bit different for like where you work, you have a certain start time. It's it's totally different because it's just like there there is so only so early you can get into your building.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Yeah, if I could fucking. If I had the keys and I could fucking let myself in um and like deactivate the alarm and all that, I would fucking show up like an hour early for work. Oh because I don't like to feel rushed when I'm trying to get ready for work. Yeah. I mean, once I get there and like am trying to set stuff up. So I would prefer to be able to get there when I get there, go to the bathroom, set myself up for what I need to do for the day, and then relax for a bit.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Then be like, oh shit, the boss isn't even here yet. I have to wait for them to even go fucking sign in. Yeah. Um, because that has happened once so far. Um, but usually they're there around the time because I get there like somewhere between five minutes early and five minutes late because of the bus. Because the way it is, either I'm gonna be there an hour early or I'm gonna be there almost exactly on time, depending upon the bus.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Um, and that kind of stresses me a little bit, not a whole lot, but it it it is something that's constantly in my head. Um Saturdays, the bus schedule is just fucked for me, so I have to ride, I have to get uh Uber or something.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

To go to work on the way home, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

But and so, like this last Saturday was the second time, and I wasn't sure exactly the timing of it, right? Because it's only like a 10-minute car ride, five minutes, something like that, somewhere in between there. Um, and so, and then you don't know when they're gonna show up or whatever. So, anyway, I was there um like almost a half hour early.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Um, and so then I'm sitting there waiting for a half hour. Fortunately, one of my other coworkers got there before me, even. Uh-huh. And they were just sitting there waiting, and so sit there and spoke for a while, and then a second coworker got there and we chatted, and then finally the boss showed up. Still, she was still like 15 minutes early.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Um, so it wasn't that it wasn't like, oh my god, why are we waiting for the fucking boss? Um she was 15 minutes early to open. Um well, not to open, to let us in, because we we show up like three hours before they open or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah.

Cause for Celebration: Basic Human Restraint

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Um so yeah, I mean, like when we were working at the other place for a while there, I was getting to work two hours before we started, or before I was supposed to start. Um and part of that was because of the situation going on at the time. Yeah. Like at that time, the boss couldn't drive. So I was given the corporate vehicle, and I'd go to work, start doing my job, um, then after about three hours, he would call me and say, Okay, I'm ready, and then I'd go drive and pick him up, yeah, and then drive him around to do his stuff all day, and then I'd drive him home, and then I'd come back to work and work for another hour or two to try and make sure that I got all my stuff done. Um so once I got in the kind of habit of doing that, um I continued to show up for work early because I didn't know what was gonna happen. So just to make sure, and then also like being at work by myself, it was very relaxing. There was nobody else fucking trying, hey Dagda, what do we need to do with this? Hey, I need this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so I could just fucking do my shit.

SPEAKER_05 25:52

And it was even better once I was there because after I got used to what routine you were doing, I'd be just like there half the time I'd be like, I'm not gonna make you drag these products to the back just for me to have to fucking do this anyway. This will stay with me, I'll get it organized for you. You go do that. Yeah, you know, it's always once you get your routine down at your new job, though, I think you'll be fine. It's just a matter of, you know, like maybe just call for your Uber at like they should have you should be able to schedule your pickup times.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Yes, you can do that.

SPEAKER_05 26:21

I've not messed with any of that yet, but and so what's it costing you to lift to work or Uber to revert?

SPEAKER_01 26:27

It's like uh 50, it's like$16 altogether. Um, without tip, it's like$16. The first time I did it, I had already walked to the bus, which is like a 20-minute walk from here. So it was it was like five dollars less.

SPEAKER_05 26:44

Um so so maybe that's how you reward yourself is you lift to work on Saturdays until you have another car.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:50

I mean, that's that that could be how you celebrate your successes. I mean, it's costing you like basically one hour of your work time. Yeah, but you don't first of all, you get to save your legs for the last like for me. I don't know about you for but for me, my last work day of the week, my legs are tired, my knees are tired, my back's tired, everything's tired, and it's just like, can't we just fucking get through this eight hours, please? Yeah, and you know, and it is because of what I do what I do to pitch in and and fill fill in the the blank space, baby. Um, but yeah, I mean celebrating success is different for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

I think I don't really think about celebrating so much because I I live a lifestyle where I fucking do what I want. Sure. I don't have kids, I don't have a significant other, so I don't have a bunch of other people with uh rights to my time, let's say.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Um so and then I don't also have a bunch of extraneous bills. Um, so basically, I when I feel like getting something, I get it. Usually, I mean there are limits. Obviously, I'm not fucking filthy rich, so I'm not out buying boats and houses.

SPEAKER_05 28:04

I know, I'm not gonna lie. I was kind of surprised when you got a Fitbit, and I'm like, motherfucker, you ain't even got a job. Why are you getting a Fitbit?

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Yeah. But it was the cheap one and it was on sale, so it was like$75.

SPEAKER_05 28:16

But I understand why for health reasons.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:18

And that makes sense because I'm not like my idea of celebration is to like go grab something to eat. Um that's just kind of what we do in this house. That's how we that's that's how we say congratulations, because it used to be like a big deal, like we'd we'd not get dressed up, but we'd go out somewhere and eat. And I'm just like, you know what? I have to deal with the public enough. I don't want to subject, first of all, I don't want to run into any of my customers. Uh and that's not saying anything about them. I I mean, I felt I've felt that way at every job I've been at.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:50

Because it's just like I don't want to run into them and say I'm having an off moment.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

I saw one of our old customers from the old place, uh not this Saturday, but the Saturday before last. Yeah. And I'm sitting there in my buddy Marlon's car at Walmart, and he was there to like get pickup or whatever. And this dude comes walking out, and I'm like, I know that guy. And fucking he was parked almost directly across from us. And so he looks over and he sees me. And I'm just looking like is he one of the jerks? He was one of the kind of special customers, so very special. Yeah. He I mean, he was far from the most problematic customer, but he was also not the best customer.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Um, one of those ones that would try to manipulate stuff. Um, but anyway, I'll tell you off mic.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Yeah, that sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

But yeah, he looked over and I'm pretty sure he recognized me. And I just impassively was like, just looking ahead. I told Marlon, I was like, I know that guy.

SPEAKER_05 29:57

Well, right. Well, so here's that's so funny because uh at my shop, at my new shop, I actually saw somebody that I recognized from the old shop and same situation, not one of the great ones, not a bad one, but it was just like he acted like he knew me, I acted like I didn't know nothing about him. Yeah, so I saw him one day, and of course, I feel bad because he's nonverbal, so he's all sign. But like I literally I had my I we had a cashier call out. So I had one cashier, they had just gone to lunch. I had 17, I'm not kidding, this is not an exaggeration. I had 17 people in my snake line to check out. He wanted me to stop everything to go help him with something. And I said, You need to wait, and pointed to everybody. And I said, Sorry. And he waited, but I didn't help him. I made my catcher help him when they got back. But you know, I just acted like I didn't know who he was, but I'm not kidding when I say I had 17 people in my line because another manager came up and said, Why don't you call for help? And I'm like, I did call for help. You're just now getting to me. Oh, that's right. That's why I came up here. Yeah, bitch, I called for you 12 minutes ago. Yeah, but in our house, how we celebrate successes, we usually treat each other to like a dinner or whatever. Um, you know, in in my park.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

The Zuma.

SPEAKER_05 31:18

Nah, we don't we don't go out there. Although the I'll tell you what.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

So yesterday's campollo is the best ever.

SPEAKER_05 31:26

As long as it doesn't have steel wool, sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yeah, that would happen one time again.

SPEAKER_05 31:31

So I said to my partner, I said, I I said it was a hard two weeks. I said, um, because I did a six, six on, one off, six on, two off. Yeah. And I said to him, and which is really that's really difficult when you haven't worked a whole lot. Like, I mean, I am super grateful. My boss knows I can work five or six days a week if I need, but I am super grateful I'm only working uh four to five days a week right now. I'm not committed to six days a week every single week.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:04

Um, you know, one of my co-manager thinks the boss hates her, which I wouldn't say I hates, hate's not the word I would use, but the other co-managers would use. I would, you know, I would say that the boss has a very strong opinion about their abilities. And um, the person had actually confessed to me, she'd confess to me. She's like, I gotta be honest. She goes, you know, I've been thinking about this situation with this person who quit. And I was like, okay. Because I'm done hashing it and rehashing it. Yeah. Done. I'm over it. And so she tells me that, and this is this is right before the person quit. And she said, I was thinking about it. And I she goes, you know, she goes, some people can't go from being just your average daily worker to being in management and then going back into being an average daily worker.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

And I kind of get that.

Early Arrival : Protect Your Sanity

SPEAKER_05 32:55

I get that too. But she said, she goes, I'm one of those people. And I said, I'm sorry, what? And she said, I was here for X amount of years. I left the company and I could not stand having no control over my department. She goes, I have to have control of everything in my life. And I'm just like, okay. I'm like, control is nice, but you work at a company where your sole job is to make sure you're supervising the people to do exactly what the boss wants. You're not making, you're not the manager, you're not making the decisions. Yeah. Well, kind of turns out she's been making decisions behind the manager's back. So now that she's come back and the manager's like, oh, really? Really? So this assistant manager. See, there's there's a key here word here, people have to understand. Yeah. Because if you are not the manager, you're the underling, period. It doesn't matter if you are the cashier. It does not matter if you're production, it doesn't matter if you're the stalker or or event, it doesn't matter. You are an underling. And you can't go, you cannot sit there and say, Well, my opinion is this, and my opinion matters. I ran into a situation on Saturday where a worker said to me, Hey Jen, this is what I'm thinking, and I'd like to do because this, okay, why why do you want to do that? Who's did did Big Boss set this up before? Well, I've been here this long. This is what they said. I've been here this long, and my understanding from other people, and they pointed right to a workstation of uh Mr. Cat urine, um, told me that Mr. Lazy Ass is the one who set it up that way. And it wastes a lot of space. And I said, Oh. I said, hmm. So what do you think is gonna work better? Well, I think, and and they explained to me why they thought what was gonna work better. And I said, Okay, well, here's the thing. I was like, I'm the newest assistant manager here. My opinion is you've given me a valid reasoning for wanting to remove that cardboard workstation out of there and to it and put it in here. I said, however, because I don't know the history of the company, I suggest we wait for the other assistant manager to put their two sits in. Because although you've given me a valid explanation as to why you'd like to do ABC, I'm not gonna be the one to go across the big boss. And you can't tell me definitively, you know, like in you cannot give me any definition of the big boss said they don't care. Yeah, all you're telling me is rumor, and I don't deal with rumor. Yeah, and they appreciated that and they said that's fair. But when they explained it to the other assistant manager, it was Jen, Jen agrees with me. And I'm like, and I made sure that the other assistant manager knew that although they gave me sound logic, I agree with what the big boss wants. So all that happened. We get to Sunday, and I said to my partner, if you drive, I will buy you California burrito, breakfast burrito. Because I'd I'd been up.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

I'd I'd like Burritos, California.

unknown 36:04

Oh my God, yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

That's a pretty good place.

SPEAKER_05 36:07

Yeah. I had so I had gone to bed. I tried to go to bed at like 10:30. I could not. I ended up fucking droom scrolling here in the office. I actually did a little bit of work and I'm like, okay, if I'm awake, I'm gonna do some work. And I got bored really quick. And I'm like, I gotta do more of, I gotta do more of this on Pixabay and Canva before I can finish doing this on Facebook. I'm gonna go, oh, what's that song? I just want to know all the words that one song I keep hearing at work because it's on a set replay. And so I go look that up and I'm like, oh. And then it led to oh and oh. And next thing I know, it's 2 41 in the morning. I'm fucking doom scrolling. I'm like, what the fuck is this?

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:48

So by the time I go into bed to go to bed, my partner, my partner splayed out like somebody get ready to get flayed. And I'm like, I'm trying to come to bed. I'm trying to come to bed. Move. I got to go to bed and lay on the very, I'm not a little person, so laying on the very edge of my queen size bed and being and I just got mad because I fell asleep for like a half hour, but I woke up because I started falling off the bed. So I got back up until they got up. And once they got up, I was like, I mean mugged him. I'm such a bitch. I mean mugged him. I'm like, I'm going back to bed. What why? I didn't sleep last night. I'm going back to bed. I went back to bed and I slept. And I mean, I slept, I slept so hard that when I got up and I was just like, okay, I'm like, my brain instantly goes, these are the things I need to get done. And he'd already done them. He'd already been out and done his chop and shit. It was great. So I was just like, nice. So I'm like, I'm like, why are you sitting there looking like that? I I didn't sleep that long. It's nine even eleven. Oh, my inner child's mad because I didn't go get chicken and jojo's. I'm like, it was a disaster the last time you had chicken and jojo's two days in a row. It was an ass disaster. It was, it was astoundingly disastrous. Disastrous. So I said, I was just like, oh, well, if you want to drive, uh, we can celebrate that uh I got this done. And to say thank you for taking care of everything, it'll be my way of saying thank you. I'll buy it because this is my biggest paycheck that I've gotten since going back to work.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Yeah.

Celebrate the Small Stuff Too

SPEAKER_05 38:25

And um, so I have an extra X amount of dollars that I wasn't intending on having, yeah, which is fucking nice, right? Yes. And uh, right? Yeah. And uh, uh no, if you want to drive, nope. I said I'm I said, listen, here's my rules for Sunday. I ain't putting a bra on, I ain't putting socks on. Me either. I will, I will, I will put a hoodie on, I will grab my debit card, and I will slip shoes on with no socks, and I will buy you whatever you want from burritos, California within reason. I want a breakfast burrito. He hemmed and hawed for like an hour and a half before he was like, I was gonna say, and I'm in here trying to work, and I was just like, shit. I'm like, okay, but just a minute. So we celebrated me not killing anybody, and we celebrated my my store winning our store wide, our our our company-wide competition. Nice. So that's how we celebrate in this house. We eat food, that's why we're not fucking skinny. Yeah, that's why we why we jiggle in places we don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Yeah, I don't know. Occasionally, no, usually if anything like that is happening, it's because somebody else is like, hey, let's go celebrate this. Right? I don't really come to to doing things like that, like buying myself something to celebrate or anything like that, is like maybe buying a video game. Um, but I like I was saying before, I just fucking buy stuff when I want it for the most part. I mean, obviously within reasons, I'm not fucking Bill Gates or anything like that.

SPEAKER_04 40:11

You're not Victor Von Doom? Yeah, yeah, you're not Anthony Stark?

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Not even close.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

You're not Reed Richards?

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Yeah, you might be Reed Richards, he was poor broke. I'm like Reed Richards' poor fucking dumb brother. Um because that dude is super smart on no one.

SPEAKER_04 40:30

So you're like Groot, I got nothing, I have nothing, but I'm cool.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

Give me some dirt and some light, and I'm happy.

SPEAKER_04 40:36

Right.

SPEAKER_05 40:36

Um Well, I know that that's how I celebrate things for you, is I I try to. We've always done that positive affirmation.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Yeah, I think you celebrate stuff for for me more than I celebrate anything for anybody.

SPEAKER_05 40:51

I it's really sad. It's you know, it's um, you know, we kind of have this because I know the day's getting long and we gotta wrap up. Yeah, but I celebrate um because and and I'll tell you why. One of the hardest things about going back to work was not working for Mama D. And knowing because we so sadly lost him, Chuck wasn't gonna be there to make my day better. Yeah, so um it's why the things, it's one of the reasons why the things that to most people wouldn't matter matter to me, and it's why I want to celebrate little things because it's just like you didn't kill anybody this week. Congratulations, that's awesome. Because I will tell you what, when you look at the world right now, people aren't hesitating anymore. Yeah, like literally, no joke, not even four miles from here. Two women got into an argument with a stranger, and one of them, one of them shot in critical condition, the other one's shot dead. And that's all that I could find on the redacted files, you know. Yeah, so but especially it was really that was probably the hardest part for me going back is Mama D wasn't coming in to take care of banking stuff. And I I knew no matter how I was very spoiled. 15 years of having this lovable person who you would just look at like a big brother or another dad, or just even you know, just another cool best friend. He had such a unique way of looking at life, and he had such a unique way of making me feel important on the days where I didn't. So having that removed was almost as difficult of as going there, like going to kindergarten for the first time with no friends because you weren't there. And I remember telling my partner, I'm just like, it's just I've worked with Dagda for so long, it just feels unnatural that he's not there. So, anyways, I celebrate for everybody because I don't know when my last celebration's gonna be. True. And uh it's right now, motherfucker. Don't say that. For fuck's sake, if you curse me, I swear to Jesus, I will haunt you forever. I will figure out ghost-to-ghost communications and haunt you forever. Be like, oh, you want to talk to Stephen Hawking? Nope. Nicolas Tessa? Nope.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

Edison, no, pull up a seat, Stephen. Oh, I see you blocked your own.

unknown 43:22

Anyways.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

That was Hawkwood.

SPEAKER_05 43:25

That was very Hawkward. Anyways, I was just kind of wondering how you celebrate, but you celebrate yourself.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

Um, you don't celebrate but I look in the mirror and say, Oh my god, you're amazing. Oh god, George Takai, oh my lord.

SPEAKER_05 43:39

It doesn't sound like you necessarily celebrate because you treat yourself in as you feel you deserve, when you deserve, and when you can put it in the budget.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Yeah.

The Wrap Up

SPEAKER_05 43:51

And you it sounds like um the rest of us spoil your rotten. Because somebody's the golden child. Which which is which is good, because I don't It's kind of you were raised in a different environment from us. So I was I was not raised for with participation awards or anything like that. Neither were you. So it's kind of like, I don't know, we don't have participation boards, but you didn't kill anybody this week? Let me buy you coffee.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:16

Right? So, anyways, that's how I celebrate is with food. It sounds like you pretty much start doing the same thing when you do celebrate. Because we're taking you out and we're doing coffee or whatever. And maybe do a little Irish jig. I didn't go to jail this week.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

I got away with it. Because there were no kids.

SPEAKER_05 44:38

Anyways, I uh hope you guys figure out what way you celebrate and know however you celebrate, as long as it does no harm to other humans or animals, that's the way you should celebrate if it makes you feel good. Yeah. Just don't become a gooner over it. Oh, Jesus Christ. Have a great day, you guys.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Later.

SPEAKER_05 44:58

Bye.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

Okay, everybody. That's all the time we have for today. So I want to thank you for stopping by to enjoy the conversation. Uh, we're glad you're here. And please share and share again and share some more. And if you haven't already, subscribe. We'll be having another chat and another cup soon. We'll talk to you then. Look forward to seeing you.