Speaker 1: Had you actually read the email, you would know that
the podcast you are about to listen to could contain explicit
language and offensive content.
These HR experts' views are not representative of their past,
present or future employers.
If you have ever heard my manager is unfair to me.
I need you to reset my HR portal password, or Can I write
up my employee for crying too much?
Welcome to our little safe zone .
Speaker 2: Welcome to JDHR, the podcast by two HR professionals
who want to help you get through the workday by saying
everything you're thinking, but say it out loud.
I'm Warren.
Speaker 3: I'm Cece.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, our last episode ran incredibly long, but
the audio is better Not great, but better.
This episode will be able to make it even better.
Speaker 3: I blame the old fashioned, I was just on it.
Speaker 2: We need to do it more often.
Encourage it, encourage it.
So yeah, it was really good.
We're not going that long today , y'all, I promise.
I actually only have like one or two things on my agenda for
this, so yay.
But before we get too far along , I want to thank our original
jaded hr rock star hallie, michael and bill, our other
patreon supporters.
You too can support us on patreon, follow the the show
links.
Yay, get that out of the way, but we're really proud to have
some supporters on Patreon.
I was thinking just the other day I've been getting a hell of
a lot of solicitations from these companies that haven't
listened to JTHR, wanting to promote their persons on the
speaking bureau or whatever tour or whatever, and like, oh, this
person has a PhD and can bring this to your case.
Okay, yeah, you haven't listened to us.
You know that if you'd listened to one episode, you'd know
that's not what we're about.
Speaker 3: We're not your target demographic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not going to.
We're not going to fit that too well, but I haven't gotten one
in a long time, but I would get these just god-awful type of
solicitations.
Would you advertise our product ?
Non-name, brand personal body trimmers and uh, uh, uh,
medicines and things like that?
like no, no, no see that makes you shit your pants yeah, lose
20 pounds tomorrow, uh, but, uh, I haven't gotten any of those
along.
Not that I'm complaining that I haven't gotten any of those
along.
Not that I'm complaining, but I haven't gotten any of those in
a long time.
Nice, yeah.
So yeah, it's been a busy week for me and yeah, between work
and school and personal, but I'm looking forward to recording
this.
We talked about maybe postponing it, but I'm like no,
I got to do it today because nothing else is going to fit
before we have to publish my schedule.
But yeah, but I survived two whole weeks at home all by
myself and I didn't burn down the house.
I didn't starve to death.
Actually, the house is in better condition.
I did some touch-up painting from little dings and dents that
happened when we moved in almost a year ago and did some
other little things around the house.
It was a crappy three-day weekend and I ended up doing
chores.
Speaker 3: I kind of enjoy those weekends once in a while when
it's just like the weather is either extremely cold or just
crappy and you just get stuff done around the house.
I don't mind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got a lot done and I thought I did one
thing, but this morning it was our refrigerator.
You have this French refrigerator doors where you can
open the left one.
It has a little flap and it doesn't always catch.
I thought I fixed it yesterday and then this morning I go and
open the refrigerator and it did not.
So that might be for the upcoming weekend, if we make it
out alive after, depending on which station.
40 inches of snow in northeastern North Carolina,
what?
No, that's crazy.
It's legitimate apps and things like that are putting us
somewhere between 18 and 24 inches the next two days and,
yeah, it's going to be hecked by .
We'll say they're out there treating the roads in mass right
now, and I saw some plow trucks lined up.
I'm like, okay, they're planning ahead and things like
that, so maybe it won't be so bad I need to there's a weather
guy here in ohio.
Speaker 3: He's just like.
I'm trying to look it up really quick.
This is going to kill me.
Southwest Ohio weather freak.
He's just this amateur meteorologist and he's right
more often than the news.
So I follow a dude in Ohio.
Speaker 2: I don't have any of those local things.
Gosh, what was the weather app I used to have?
I took it off, but it would just say it's fucking hot as
balls oh yeah, it was called like wtf weather, I think it
would.
Just, I loved it.
I ended up taking it off for whatever reason, but I was like
it's hot as balls, don't go outside, you'll die, yep.
So I guess on to the wonderful world that is HR.
First, to follow up on our last episode no new executive orders
, but no further guidance either on anything.
I've been doing some webinars, and it's just sort of everybody
holds, still, holds, still like okay, well, that was my plan all
along, but, yeah, no further word.
But I will say that that episode got a lot of downloads.
It seemed to be, even though it was an hour long, and 70
percent of people listened all the way to the end.
So, thank you if you.
You people made it to at least 95.
I think when they get, though, and the final goodbyes or
whatever, as people click next on their little podcast player,
they don't need to hear us say the ending.
So yeah, so if y'all like that type of stuff, let us know.
We can do more of that.
Speaker 3: What's going on?
We can just hide under our desks and eat our hair together.
It's fine.
Speaker 2: We don't know what's happening.
We really don't.
It's crazy.
Out there, I don't have any hair left to eat.
It's been gone.
That's what happened to it.
I'll use that as an excuse.
Let's see.
Well, one of the main things I had was and the story I read
wasn't related to HR, it was about the vocal minority and the
silent majority and it wasn't even politics.
It was more like family politics versus Republican
Democrat type stuff, but using those terms.
But some of the things it said in this it was a dumb article.
I think it was BuzzFeed or something, one of those places
that you hate to go.
So, but one of the things this article was talking about was
how you have like an aunt or somebody like that who is a
know-it-all and puts out these ideas, regardless how right or
wrong they are, and tries to put it out as the gospel of the
world that they live in.
Essentially and I was sort of pertaining that to an influencer
so that aunt would be like a social media influencer who's
putting out garbage that we were tired of hearing, like quiet
quitting and like the rage, resignations and all these
wonderful terms that we've had to put up with the last couple
of years.
I don't think a lot of people.
Well, I should go back.
I don't want to believe.
A lot of people think that this is the norm, but you do have
that very small group of people that are super highly
influenceable and they think, oh , I need to rage quit, or I need
to do this, or this is what's happening to me, whether all
this ghosting stuff on the internet people, companies are
ghosting you, applicants are ghosting you, and things like
that.
So I just sort of I took it that the vocal minority are
these influencers and the silent majority are the rest of the
family is like, okay, yeah, go ahead and have another drink,
aunt Susie, we know what's going on here and you can say what
you're going to say.
We're just whatever, but a few of them, oh, yeah, yeah, that's,
that's absolutely right.
Anyways, that's that's what I was I took away from the article
that like said, I don't know how I ended up down that rabbit
hole in the first place to to get there.
So, yeah, I just I just can't think people are that dumb and
gullible as like we see on social media.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they are no Like what it is.
It's the same stuff we've seen over the past few decades.
We're just putting a snazzy new label on it and then people get
like you know it's all in the marketing, so people buy into it
.
Speaker 2: Quiet quitting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the marketing is everything it's bad to it.
Quiet quitting marketing is that it's?
It's the same shit that's been going on in the past, or at
least in similar economic times, where you kind of see these
patterns, but now we just market it so it looks cute on a
hashtag yes, that's, that's it.
Speaker 2: Cute on a hashtag?
That's that's exactly what, because it's all soundbites and
it's all like.
I have several news aggregators and part of the things I
aggregate is HR news and I see all these things that come from.
One thing that's irritating me is I go through these.
Now I mentioned BuzzFeed.
Everybody knows they're just god awful, just got awful.
It's somebody with maybe barely a high school education that
found something and wants to write 250 words on something
stupid they saw on social media and have no clue what they're
talking about most of the time.
But there's companies like I'll call them out Forbes and Inc
and some other companies that used to do really good work and
now I'm saying you're just doing this clickbaity stuff.
That's style over substance and if that's the way you want to
take it, it's like is I?
Before I click on things, generally speaking, I look at
the source and if it's not a source, I want to read it from,
and a lot of times I'll even block if it keeps coming up as
something, for whatever reason.
I still haven't blocked buzzFeed, but I see these
sources and I know what I'm getting into as soon as I see it
.
But, anyway, that was my little thing that happened to me this
week.
Speaker 3: I feel like BuzzFeed is the current day National
Enquirer, like it's the stuff you read while you're in the
bathroom or waiting in a waiting room.
Like that's what BuzzFeed is, and I just feel like it's kind
of a guilty pleasure.
You know what you're getting.
Yeah.
Speaker 2: And if you are gullible enough to think that
anything they say has any validity.
Oh, and I'm an HR professional with 27 years of experience and
I say this is the secret If an article starts with a HR
professional of 25 years says whatever, that instantly says
99.9% chance.
I'm not clicking unless it's just pure morbid curiosity.
And when I click it I say I know what I'm getting into and I
accept my punishment for doing it.
But yeah, I got the secret, and the secret that's going to get
you a job interview with Google tomorrow.
I got the offer tomorrow.
That's one rabbit hole.
I went down, but you had a little story to share as well.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Okay.
So I giggle because we're coming up on that time of year
where we're going to have a little pop and turnover because
people like to stick around, didn't wait for their bonus to
come, and then they peace out.
And I was on a call the other day and someone who was
presenting on the call was sharing their screen and as they
were sharing their screen, they closed the window and continued
the conversation.
However, they forgot that they were still sharing their screen.
They closed the window and continued the conversation.
However, they forgot that they were still sharing their screen
and, unbeknownst to them, they shared their most recent
documents, which happened to be their resume, which it said
right under there thank you, windows 10.
Like this individual has been edit was editing it earlier this
morning, to which I was like, oh my gosh, there's people on
this call.
Like this person's manager was on the call, by the way, but I
was like I need a texter, but I don't know people.
It was just not paying attention.
Beware when you share your screen.
Just a friendly PSA.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I told you and I'm not going to name the
university involved in this, but it went viral, on my algorithm
at least.
Apparently, a university professor was sharing his screen
if it's Canvas, blackboard, whatever they Moodle, whatever
they use on it, and you can see all their tabs that they have
open.
So they have these university type tabs, and then one of the
tabs they had open in the background was Pornhub.
Speaker 3: It's like, yeah, that that's a fail oh my gosh, you
absolutely take a screenshot, by the way.
That is the correct course of action in that situation
screenshot and share.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 3: I always laugh when people put like their personal
bookmarks on their browser and when they share their screen you
can kind of see, like what it is they do when they're not
working, especially if you're broadcasting to an entire like
audience or you're sharing your screen for you know the whole
organization Like why are you putting that on there?
Why are you putting such divisive things on there?
Why can't you just be a little savvy about what you're putting
out there?
Speaker 2: And sometimes I think people do some of these stupid
things sort of on purpose for attention.
I don't know if the Pornhub would be something on purpose
for attention.
I don't know if the porn hub would be something you do for
attention.
Speaker 3: I don't think.
I don't think that.
I think this person just made a mistake.
Speaker 2: Oh, man.
So yeah, it's, it's crazy, um, but oh, another thing I wanted
to share and I don't know if I talked to.
I don't think we talked about it on the last episodes.
We were all down the DE executive order rabbit hole.
I've been speaking for months about my son and his search for
an internship.
Oh, yeah.
And one company, I'll just say Disney.
He applied.
So he applied on Wednesday, january 29th for a position on
Disney and they only had it up online for five days and it went
down.
You go to LinkedIn.
It says no longer available, closed X many days ago, and
things like that, and you go to their website.
It's not there period anymore.
But he applied on the 29th and then on Friday, the 31st he got
a questionnaire to answer and he filled that and turned that in
immediately.
And then, leon February 7th, he got an unmanned video interview
where they tell you what the question is.
Give you 30 seconds to compose yourself, get it, come up with
an answer.
Then it records you making your answer.
We had one of those interviews.
Speaker 3: I have a pinball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're interesting.
But he had that on the 7th and then, like on the 12th, they
sent him an email following up with him and saying, basically,
we're going to do a real human I forget what they call it online
interview with you using Zoom or whatever the tool is that
they use.
They sent him this 13-page interview guide from Disney what
to expect and what to think about and things like that and I
was like wow.
I read through it.
The only thing that I would say is the links on the PDF they
sent him did not work and I found it, the document title.
I Googled it and I found it on Disney's website itself and
still the links didn't work, because it talked about it had
an FAQ section you could go, but it was still really cool,
really well done.
The interview guide told them about behavioral interview
questions and how they want them answered, and it was just like
they're giving you a roadmap not to fail the interview.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I did too.
I thought it was really the end of February and early March,
and they gave them a whole time frame of everything, all the
steps from here.
I was like this is they've been on the ball.
Oh, and they even told you to start following the people on
LinkedIn.
So he followed the recruiter who he's been in contact with
not directly, just only via email, and we cyber stalked the
head of the department that this position would be working on.
But it tells you everybody has a LinkedIn profile, Please
research them and all this other stuff.
I was really impressed, especially for a entry-level
position, helping a college kid with not much experience get
through, be ready for the interview.
Speaker 3: First of all, I wonder if this is the same thing
stuff that they provide like higher level roles, or if this
is just part of their like internship it's geared more
toward entry level.
Yeah, yeah, like I'm thinking that that's just cool.
I think that's such a good service to put people who are
doing that entry-level role they don't people don't know.
This is awesome, that they're basically giving you the roadmap
to success and I.
Speaker 2: I downloaded a bunch of behavioral-based interview
questions and I started quizzing my son.
And they even give you, they want you to use the STAR method
I think that's what it's called to answer the questions.
Yeah, and so I quizzed him in some of the most common
entry-level interview questions for behavioral interview
questions and I would help them work through going through the
STAR method and I said let's get five or 10 of these down so
that you know if the question's not exactly the same, you can
manipulate it into how it's going to be close enough,
because you don't have any real in-depth experience that they
can drive into.
But I said if they ask you about school stuff, you've got
that, that's what you're doing.
So I'm looking forward to hearing how the interview stage
goes for him.
But I can only imagine he's moved pretty far along because
to apply do the questionnaire I'm sure everybody submitted a
resume, got a questionnaire and the questionnaire weeded some
people out.
That little video interview weeded some people out.
So I got a feeling that there's not a long list.
But oh, and they said you must.
They'd say must.
It was like super highly encouraged to have questions to
ask your interviewees.
So we thought of about 10 questions and he's like why do
we need 10?
I said they may answer some of these questions during the
course of the interview and you're not going to ask the
question that they just answered .
It looks like you're not paying attention.
You're not ready.
So, I said just have it on your piece of paper and if they say
something that we came up with just during the course of the
conversation, scratch through it and move on to the next slide.
Between he and I, we came up with some really unique
questions.
I told him you don't want to Google this, you don't want to
chat GBT questions, ask interviewers.
You're going to get something really stupid that the
interviewers heard a billion times and they don't want to
hear it again.
So I said let's use our minds and come up with some questions
of our own.
And yeah, I think we came up with a nice list.
So I'm really excited.
Hopefully this will go well.
This will be a dream for him.
I think I've mentioned before he's obsessed with roller
coasters and theme parks and to work at one.
For, oh, this is a six-month internship too, it's not just a
summer internship.
So, yeah, we're hopeful, but we're still applying.
We're still chugging along and discussing it every day.
I'm probably overly involved.
I don't want to be a helicopter parent or something like that,
but I think he does get the gist that I've been in HR and I've
recruited.
I've spent many years.
When he was very young, I was a college recruiter and I did
this and worked with it.
So I think he can appreciate my help.
At least he's pretending, at least to me, that he appreciates
my help.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's everything .
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, that's what's going on in our little
neck of the world, other than we're.
I don't know if I mentioned this earlier because of our
technical difficulties, but depending on which app and
weather station you watch, we're going to get at least 10 inches
of snow in the next couple of days, maybe two to three feet,
nobody knows.
There's someone on Facebook that posted something.
I don't know if it's real or not.
Of course it's Facebook, so it's got to be real.
But someone was calling for 40 inches of snow here and I'm like
geez, louise, it's crazy.
Speaker 3: And if you are an employer, don't make your people
come to work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, my boss sent out an email saying it's
not supposed to start till midday tomorrow.
And she sent out an email just don't come to work and be safe
and take your computers home.
And yada, yada, yada.
And when I was leaving tonight I told her yeah, it was like
I'll see you when I see you, because I'm not coming tomorrow.
I'm probably not coming Thursday.
Friday is up in the air, depending on everything, how
things look.
But yeah, she's like, yeah, just if you can make it on
Friday, make it.
She's like I'm not expecting you Thursday either.
She knows I have an hour and a half one-way commute and she was
really cool about that.
Oh, story Not related to HR at all.
She was actually scheduled to come in tomorrow, but I know the
airport's going to be closed down here in the South.
They don't prepare everything.
So on Sunday I called the airline and I got a customer
service agent.
Well, first I tried to make the change online myself, but they
wanted like a $400 change fee and I said look, there's a
winter storm coming and I think this will make it easier for you
.
You have to deal with one less person on Wednesday and we don't
have any headaches.
And the customer service person was sticking to the book and
said, well, we can't, unless there's a winter storm warning
in effect.
We won't make those changes without the fee.
And I was like, oh okay, well, I figured Sunday or no Monday.
That was Sunday.
Monday I called again, got a different customer service agent
and she started going down the same list oh, I see there's not
a winter storm warning in effect for the destination yet, so we
can't do anything.
I said, oh really, I don't want her to be stuck in Baltimore,
for who knows how long is that's where her layout is.
It would have flown her from Utah to Baltimore, no problem,
but getting from Baltimore home would have been the problem and
she'd be stuck there.
And I said I really would like to see if there's anything that
can be done.
And she said hold on one sec.
And so she Googled the weather for Norfolk, virginia, and she
goes oh my God, and it was saying like 18 inches of snow on
Wednesday.
She goes oh no, I'm changing this.
No fees.
And it just took.
Someone did OK, there's no winter storm advisory, which the
policy probably says is two people said it to make the
change without a fee.
But this lady, she took it on herself to Google the weather
for Norfolk, virginia, and it says 18 inches of snow on
Wednesday.
She goes oh no, oh no, I'm changing this for you and I mean
it made us very happy.
Obviously it didn't take anything off of her nose and
we're happy to continue.
It's Southwest Airlines.
I'll say if I do book generally , I like booking with them.
You have your Frontier and your Spirit, the discount airlines,
but by the time you pay the baggage fees and this and that
and the other thing.
it comes out the same day.
Trap you with that low oh, fly to Utah for $99.
Well, oh, but each bag is $50.
And they charge you for carry-ons too $25 for carry-ons
With Southwest, you get two checked bags.
Anyways, that's my little unpaid advertisement.
But if you want to pay us Southwest I will gladly take
your money.
But of our little experience I was just thinking that's the
type of employee I want to have as the second plane.
You know the first one.
Yeah, they were doing their job , they were following the
procedure.
But it took the second lady.
Just, she said, oh, hold on two seconds.
She Googled the weather and said, oh, no, we're changing
this.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And now they have one less person to put up in a
hotel in Baltimore tomorrow or wherever it is.
Speaker 3: Listen, I'm all for a solid, but today's flight was
an adventure of its own.
Yeah, exactly, I'm glad she's back home safe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: I can appreciate a standard operating procedure,
but I also appreciate that layered with some common sense
of the situation, exactly, You're not always going to be
able to bend the rules, but I'm not asking for anything special.
Speaker 2: The change fee when I went online to try and do it
myself was like $400.
Yeah, the change fee when I went online to try and do it
myself was like $400 a change.
I was like I've spent enough money recently that I don't want
to take on a $400 change fee.
But yeah, shout out, it was a good experience.
They made it happen.
Unfortunately, Today, when she did fly back today was my
daughter's day off.
They had some plans to go out to this that the other day,
shopping essentially but they didn't get to do that.
So, anyways, they had two weeks together, still Nice.
So, yeah, Anything else fun going on in your village?
Speaker 3: No, you know, we ended performance management
just to begin it all over again.
So that's where we are right now, with work, that goal
setting happening.
But other than that, life's quiet.
This is a week where nobody is sick, which is magical.
My voice is still cracking.
I had strep.
Oh, I don't think we talked, I had the best birthday of my life
, because I got strep throat on my 40th birthday.
So I had like we had these plans we were going to go out,
we were going to meet friends for dinner, we were going to go
to a bar, the baby was going to stay at my parents house, like
all this stuff.
And like the Thursday before I'm like, oh, I'm sick.
And then I went to the doctor and he's like you got strep.
I don't ever get strep throat.
My strep throat was worse than COVID that I got a few weeks
earlier.
Speaker 2: Yeah Well, you've knocked all the illnesses out
for 2025 already.
Speaker 3: I don't know man, Tuberculosis is out there and
measles is out there, so hey, there's still a chance.
Oh gosh, it's okay, I've been vaccinated yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: No, and the bird flu.
Don't forget the bird flu.
I could always get the bird flu .
There are $9 eggs in some places.
They're saying I haven't bought eggs but $9 a dozen for eggs.
Speaker 3: So eggs are kind of a big thing in our house, like we
eat eggs almost every morning.
The baby's eating and I guess that's our luxury now is egg I
don't know you might go get eggs or starbucks honestly, it's
probably this.
Actually, I think the eggs are more expensive uh, well, I
mentioned the snow.
Speaker 2: I did make the mistake.
I told my wife I'd go to the grocery store and pick up some
things.
I told her I'd do it Monday while I was out and about, as I
did run a couple errands Monday and I forgot to get them.
So I went to the grocery store today, the day before snowstorm,
and I got what I needed and it was a zoo.
It was an absolute zoo there and I was just like if I, and
then, like two of the self checkout registers didn't work,
they only had two cashiers working with lines out the union
everywhere.
That was not.
That is not a good thing.
Speaker 3: Honestly, could you imagine managing that situation,
like people call out you're understaffed, machines are down
and everyone's in there for milk and bread, that is a nightmare
situation that I don't wish on anyone.
Speaker 2: No, no, I do not either.
I think that most of the people in the store were behaving
themselves.
I was getting a little grumpy at the lines.
I was thinking, if you don't have that many cashiers, you
have lines and you don't have all your self-checkouts working,
you should get like 5% off for each self-checkout.
That's not either working or open.
Don't get me started on Walmart , my least favorite place on
earth, when they have 30 self-checkout registers and only
six of them are open and they don't care.
Just yeah, we don't have the staff.
You don't have staff for self-checkout.
Anyways, that's my loathe for Walmart as a whole.
Different story.
Speaker 3: Well wait, I thought the robots were supposed to take
the jobs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Why don't they please take those jobs?
Speaker 1: The robots are calling out this is where we are
.
Ai has totally come full circle .
Speaker 3: There we go.
Oh yeah, the robots have become sentient and they're having an
emotional day and they need to take a personal they're
unionizing, they're sick outing, uh.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we'll land the plane right there.
Please join us next week for our very special Diversity Day
episode of our rewatch of the Office.
So it's going to be a lot of fun.
So be sure to check it out, share, give us any ideas you
have for other shows to make an HR tie into.
So, with all that wonderful, the fun stuff said, I want to
thank Andrew Coppa, the voice artist, for the introduction and
the intro.
Outro music is the underscore, orchestra with the song the
Devil, the Devil, and, as always , I'm Warren.
Speaker 3: I'm Cece.
Speaker 2: And we're here helping you survive HR one.
What the fuck moment at a time.
Speaker 1: Yeah.