Screaming at Trees Improves Your Dating Profile; Unlike Podcasting

Feathers' dating profile took a dive.
Click bait - 30 jobs that wont be around in 2030
Dont do the booty dance in your company's suite at a Beyonce concert
Feathers' major feat (pun ?)

Transcript

Announcer 0:02

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've ever heard, my manager is unfair to me, I need you to reset my HR portal password, or can I ride up my employee for crying too much? Welcome to our little safe zone. Welcome to JR.

Warren 0:49

We're recording. I'm Warren. And this is Feathers, who's drinking bourbon. Yes. I need to be doing a little bit of that myself. So good to be back. It's been too long, so yay.

Feathers 1:16

I just want to point out that it's a Tuesday night and we're recording at 9 10 Eastern, and I'm having a pretty heavy bourbon right now. The story tells you where my first 48 hours of this week has gone so far. Yay week.

Warren 1:30

You deserve it. So yes, yes, yes. So let's see here. Before we get too far into the episode, want to thank our original Jade HR rock star Halley who supports us on Patreon. We did get another review in the last week on Apple. Yeah, it was a five-star review, but no comments. So we went from 18 to 19 reviews, but there's no new comments. So thank you for the five-star review, whoever you are. I I would love to read your comments, but please leave us a review, tell a friend, share a story. If you want to be a guest, get in on DMs and let us know. We'll we'll connect with you and see what we can make happen for you. So yeah, we're we have a lot going on. We haven't had much going on in terms of new episodes, and I've had to whittle down my list of topics for today. So, but before we get into HR-related topics, feathers, I've got a bit of bad news for you. In a prior episode, you were saying how difficult it is dating at our age and getting go, we were talking about getting ghosted and uh and ghosting is a normal thing.

Feathers 2:35

Where the hell are you going? Where are you going with this? Where are you going with this?

Warren 2:38

Well, your your stats just got worse. Uh, in an article in the New York Times by Gina Cherillis on March 6th, she wrote an article about why women don't date men who do podcasts. I copied so much of it, but I didn't copy the title of the article. So uh let's see here. Yeah, so I didn't copy the title of the article. But, anyways, here's some interesting stories from it. So to Zayn Robertson, a student at Cal State University Northridge, was approaching one year of an off-again, off again, on again, off again rating relationship with a coworker when she came to a realization she would have eventually announced to her followers on Twitter, my biggest mistake in life so far was dating a man with a podcast. Things were fine when we were together, as long as Miss Robinson didn't think about his extracurriculars. It's like you're having to affair your extracurriculars. Until one day he sent her a link to a show inviting her to listen and share her thoughts, which she heard, what she heard turned her off. For Miss Robinson, it wasn't just the content of the man's podcast, but that he had one at all. Like many other women she associates, boy, my reading is not I I haven't had any bourbon, and I'm not reading very well. Like many other women, she associates the form with a certain kind of man, one who is endlessly fascinated by his own opinions, loves the sound of his own voice, and isn't the least bit shy to about offering unsolicited opinions on masculinity, sexuality, and women. Many women have taken to social media to mock that kind of programming and the men who make it. Let's see here. In interviews with, I'm skipping down, in interviews with a handful of men who work or have worked in podcasting, some said they have come across romantic prospects who view their profession as a potential red flag. And even among those who haven't, some preemptively adjust their presentation of themselves to make a clear distinction. Tyree Rush, a 29-year-old podcast producer in Atlanta, said he makes it a point not to list his profession on his dating apps profiles. Instead, he usually says he works in digital media. I was on a date in Chicago, he said, that night. I said I do digital strategy at first. She recalled, he recalled an interview. So she kept pressing me and I was like, actually, I produce podcasts. Now, maybe it's because I lied and I said I did digital strategy first. She was not into it. But I also think that when she heard podcasts, it was just a cause of concern for her. She said, Don't tell me you're like doing a Joe Bouden podcast or something like that. So, anyways, this just goes on about talking about broadcasts and how basically men who do podcasts are uh their stats get lowered. So I'm sorry. We're making your life even more difficult right now.

Feathers 5:42

I think I'm well I'm gonna refute one thing on this. Okay for the New York Times, and my opinion of the New York Times went down dramatically over the course of I think this weekend, when I saw they put out an article, almost a puff piece, on the one Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted for the whole of her Theranos things. And the article is basically like, forget about Elizabeth. This is Liz Holmes, the stay-at-home mom. Like she's committed to motherhood. The fact that they're writing a piece that's defending Elizabeth Holmes. Um, yeah. New York Times, cool. Thanks. I'm okay. I'm okay.

Warren 6:25

Yeah, I just heard about this on another podcast, and I thought it was funny, so I thought I would No, it was good.

Feathers 6:33

That's good. I mean, yeah, I'm already I'm already in the fetal position crying in the corner drinking my bourbon, so it's fine. Just pile on that. Yeah, it just adds to my issues.

Warren 6:46

Uh let's see here. So topic number two of the day. That was actually a topic. Oh yeah, well, kinda. I'd written down notes, so therefore it's a it's a topic.

Feathers 7:00

So in this article apart and I'm just saying we can break that other article apart and be like all the different things in the HR podcast that we do, we definitely um yeah, we don't do the things they're talking about. Toxic, yeah, whatever.

Warren 7:15

We're not a we we aren't quite a brocast, uh, even though we did one episode.

Feathers 7:23

I would say we're too we're two middle-aged old guys. Like talk about HR.

Warren 7:28

We're not forgetting too for forgetting about their day jobs. Exactly. And helping you forget about your day job, dear listener. Right. And give us uh give us a five-star review.

Feathers 7:43

Yeah, that's what thanks. I was I lost my words there for a second.

Warren 7:48

Well, I almost never click clickbait y titles because I know what I'm getting into. And I didn't even, I'm not going to cite the sources. I don't remember it, but uh the clickbait title was 30 jobs that won't exist in 2030 because of AI. And of course, of the 30 jobs, each one of them is on a different page with 500 different ads that takes five minutes to download one page as they've got so many damn ads on it. But I persevered for you, dear listener, and I went through this list. So give me your thoughts on these 30 occupations that won't be here in 2030. And I'm not going to do them in David Letterman style or anything like that. So the first one they list. Yeah. The first one they list is travel agent. Who the fuck uses agent? Hasn't that been gone already for a while? Yeah. Unless you have more money than you know what to do with.

Feathers 8:45

Yeah, I don't think that'd be like a concierge. That wouldn't that be a concierge travel assistant or something?

Warren 8:51

Like Oh yeah, the titles are gonna be gone.

Feathers 8:55

Oh yes, it'd be some fancy ass title.

Warren 8:57

Now, the only thing that I talk to someone once who does use a travel agent and they're actually our age, once they get to know you and know who you are and what you like, they can like hit you up with some, hey, maybe you didn't think about trying this place out. But yeah, give me Travelocity or hotels.com or whatever. I'm I'm on my way. That's all I need. The next one they list, cashier. I mean, we hell, you're already checking yourself out. It's not gonna be 2030, it's gonna be September of 2023 when your all the cashiers are gone. Number three, mail carrier. Now, I don't see this one going away anytime soon. Mail carriers, I mean, drone technology isn't quite there yet, or and I don't see it being there in the next seven years. So I completely disagree with that. The next one, fast food cook.

Feathers 9:53

I don't I don't know if it'll go all the way away, but it'll definitely be scaled back.

Warren 9:58

Oh yeah. You know, Amazon's doing drones, Walmart's doing drone shipping. There's a hell, at East Carolina, you order your Uber Eats from one of the on-campus stores have these little robots that bring it to you.

Feathers 10:13

Yeah, I have frightening. I've crossed like I've crossed like 10th Avenue or 10th Street, whatever, and be like, yeah, what is that thing? Oh, that's the that's so weird.

Warren 10:21

And they're waiting at the crosswalk to cross the street at the at the crosswalk. And it it's it is weird. It's interesting. So mail carrier, I'll put all sorts of delivery or people in with that. Fast food cook. We've already seen some restaurants like fast food joints that are done completely by robots. I mean that's that's some uh next job textile worker. Being here in North Carolina, there's very, very few textile jobs left. And but I don't think it's going completely go ways. I think the ones that are left are really more boutique type centered, you know, specific fabrics and and things like that. So I don't see that going away. Number six goes right along line with travel agent. It's bank teller. I avoid at all costs going to the bank and dealing with tellers. If I can't do it from my phone, I get pissed off. So um uh yeah, bank teller, that should be gone away. Number seven is something that's close to you and my hearts here: sports referees and umpires. And having been a baseball umpire for 15 years, I will say hogwash on that. Judgment calls are are going to be part of the game forever. And I don't think that AI can can take a judgment call. You know, in basketball, was it a flop, was it not, or hockey, was it a flop or not? You know, all these sports, you have to use your judgment and discretion. And I don't think that it by 2030 it'll be there. Number eight is one I want to see go away, and all the people who do it die a horrible, painful death, and that is telemarketers. So they can't go away quick enough, they're like cockroaches. Number nine, I don't know anybody who does this job, but I know it's out there, a lumberjack. Uh yeah, but I I've seen automated things on Instagram and things of people machines doing lumberjacking, so it's not an industry I would have ever thought of. I don't know. I I don't know.

Feathers 12:34

Yeah, mm-hmm.

Warren 12:37

Yeah, I th I think that's gonna need a a huge human element one way or the other. Uh number 10, taxi driver. And they say automated drivers will take over. So I don't know if definitely not in my area, there's not gonna be automated taxi drivers. I think Ubers and Lyfts are gonna be here for a while. But while I was up in Alexandria, I did actually take a taxi. I was actually got off the train. I'm trying to get my Uber app to work, and I see a guy just sitting there with his taxi. I'm like, hey, I'm screw Uber, I'm gonna jump in the taxi real quick. Number 11, something I didn't know still existed. Printing press operators. Ben Franklin at a spinning printing press. It's all digital now. Though I one of my best friends from high school, he did that through high school and sometime after that as well. Number 12, dispatchers, taxi dispatchers, they say. If taxis aren't gonna be around, why the hell would you need dispatchers? So I don't know about that. Right. Number 13, I completely disagree with truck drivers. I know Elon Musk has his self-driving trucks and things out there, but that's not going to be by 2030. I don't think we'll see majority of them be by 2030. I think there'll be such a small, tiny number of truck driver, automated truck drivers out there. Number 14, pretty brainless thought, assembler and fabricator. Yeah, automation, automation, automation. Uh you know, not going to be needed much. Number 15, legal secretary. I I see this one both ways because in my six years at a law firm, I did see the role of legal secretaries change significantly with automatic transcription services and things like that. So I I'd sought that change, but I don't think I don't think AI will ever completely take that over. Number 16, something else I didn't know still existed, data entry clerks. Why why do data entry? You can if it's a document, you can scan it and OCR it. If it's a other you can transcribe what transcribe a voice, etc. I I just didn't know that was there. Here's something I completely disagree with. Farmers. How the hell are we going to get what? Yeah, we can't Andy, they're coming for you, buddy. I I don't see listen, listen, you're not taking away the farmers. You're not getting rid of the farmers. Number eight, waiters and bar staff. I can see that to a certain degree, but because even like it started with like a very first time I saw order at the table with the little tablet thing was like an Applebee's or something like that. And now I've been on some higher-end restaurants that have that as well. So that aspect is going away, but you can obviously quickly make a machine to pour his drinks. But I think people also go to restaurants for the atmosphere, and your staff provides that atmosphere. Uh number 19, something I've advocated for for ever and ever with my military friends, military pilots and soldiers. You know, some of those Boston robotic dogs can be ground soldiers modified, and we already have unmanned aerial vehicles of all types, which is great. Uh number 20, a job I completely have never understood, stock traders. How the hell watching those videos? My my only videos of watching people on the north uh on the stock exchange yelling and screaming and that stuff. How are they actually doing anything? How is anything getting accomplished? I have no idea, but so I don't know enough about that job to say. But with like e-trade and go back, go back and watch trading places.

Feathers 16:29

That's it. You can learn everything.

Warren 16:33

I don't need a uh excuse to watch a Richard Pryor movie. That would be Eddie Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. Oh, okay. Which one might I think of uh see them? I don't know. I don't know what I'm thinking of, but your age is showing. Yeah. I uh Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, don't have to tell me to watch that either of that stuff. 21, construction workers. I don't see that going away anytime soon. Yeah, you can they even have printing houses where they can use concrete and machines that sort of digitally print concrete and things, but I just don't see that happening. Number 22, I didn't know there were still such a thing, but parking lot attendance. I don't know when the last time I've seen one of those, but I don't live in a city or near a city that has parking lots with attendance either. 23, librarian. And I cannot disagree with this job more. I think a librarian working at a law firm, working at a university, I know the value of librarians and what they do. And I don't see that being going away to AI anytime soon. I think that's just sort of, oh, they stuck. Well, I think there's a lot more to it than that. 24, we've already seen coders. They're losing their jobs. I mean, you can go to ChatGBT and say, write me a code to do whatever, and it can do it pretty damn well. 25, I disagree with as well. Teachers, you know, we're already about as technically pushing the limits on teaching as we can. You do need human beings in there to monitor, and uh part of teaching, especially at the younger ages, is nurture, and that you can't get nurture from AI. So 26 goes along with our telemarketers, but customer service agents. Good riddance, because but most of those companies' AIs suck too. So, anyways. Right. Number 27, I never knew I didn't know they still existed because uh they've been so replaceable for a long time. Market researchers. Yeah, you can just Google what you need already for that. 28, accountants. I don't see that happening either. I think part of a accountant's job is not just bookkeeping and debits equal credits, but I think part of it is you you hire a good accountant to like, hey, let's find me the gray area here, how I can make this happen, and in creativity, which maybe I don't know if AI is going to be there by 2030. 29 graphic designers, I see that both ways. It's a creative job, but you're seeing this, these art AI platforms out there which do some really cool jobs. And then number 30, receptionists, I think that falls right on the line with waiters and bar staff. Yeah, there's things that can do their job, but they really set the tone. They set the uh when you walk in and you're greeted by a nice, friendly person, and uh they help you. I don't see that going away through AI. Now maybe, I don't know. But yeah, it was complete kick clickbait, crappy lists. I think I'm I'm surprised HR isn't on there. People want to get rid of us so badly. So anyhow. So final final article of the night, and this is from Jeanette Levy. She posted on LinkedIn on May 8th, and she posts the question Can you fire an employee who attends a pop concert while an FMLA meet believe? And uh, of course, Jeanette says, Q, every lawyer's stock answer, number one, it depends. So in this case, the person's name is Jackson. She worked for BNSF Railway. She had a since she's been there since 2002. In 2015, she got moved to a marketing manager position, had to relocate from California to Texas. She struggled, her supervisor put on a performance improvement plan, and guess what happens next? She requested STD leave. And I I haven't experienced this in a long time, but how many times when somebody's performance starts getting documented that they are not doing what they're supposed to be doing, here comes the FMLA, the STD, the ADA claim that, oh, you know, I have something going on. Not to say that some people legitimately don't have those things, just to say that that is a crutch that too many people start grabbing for when they get injured. And that's my editorial, not Jeanette Levy. So, anyways, she requested this leave. BNSF promptly promptly granted it, told her to take care of herself and let us know when you and your doctor think will be a good time to return to work. But later, a week later, she attended a Beyoncé concert in the BNSF luxury suite with co-workers and in the presence of other BNSF employees. The word got back to her supervisor who called her asking her, leaving her message she wanted to discuss her attendance at the concert. Miss Jackson rebuffed their attempts at communication. So BNSF fired her for leave abuse. She tried to sue. Alleging FMLA interference and retaliation, but the court system said they judged in favor of BNSF. Basically, uh, they already granted a request. They wanted to continue her availability, you know, and find more information. So there was no adverse action for FMLA leaves. The adverse action was because you didn't call back your boss and give give them some information. So that's the facts. But yeah, if you're if you're going to be on FMLA or short-term disability, anything along those lines, better not attend Beyonce concert, especially in their company's box. And probably dancing and, you know, having a good old time there in the box. Just like you see these private investigators, these people who are on disability leave, yet they're out there moving furniture and uh moving rocks and boulders, doing landscaping work outside. People just abuse it. So I I applaud that railway company for standing up to their little abusive employee there and pushing it. So yeah, so that's that's all I really had for today. Before we let go, I'll probably move this up to the front, but you you had a quite an accomplishment this past weekend. It's something I wish I I could physically do. But uh, tell us about your little journey this weekend.

Feathers 23:25

Yeah, so I completed what's called the Maryland Challenge. It in the longer term, it's kind of the four-state challenge, which we did not do, but I'll back up and kind of explain the Maryland Challenge. So the Maryland Challenge is you can start and go either northbound or southbound on the Appalachian Trail, and you want to complete the entire section of the state of Maryland in one day. We chose to start um north, start at the Mason-Dixon line inside of Pennsylvania, and subsequently went south on the Appalachian Trail 43 miles into Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. So you are completing three states, or you're you're touching three states from the course of the day, but you are completing the entire section of the Maryland AT. Um, so 43 miles, a little over 6,000 feet of elevation change, and it took us just shy of 16 hours. So I started about 510, 515 in the morning in the pitch dark because it's the time of the year, the sun came up pretty quickly, or we started at daybreak pretty soon thereafter. Finished about 9:30 at night in Harper's Ferry. It was beautiful because it was a full moon and you had the reflection coming off the Potomac River, which we were running parallel with for the last three miles on an old train trestle line, which is a part of the Appalachian Trail. Pretty incredible accomplishment. Given that I've done marathons before, that's 26 miles. That's a different type of mentality, type, different type of physical activity than hiking. But when hiking, you're carrying what I mean. We did it unassisted, which meant we had nobody helping us during the course of the day. So anything we needed, we had to carry on our backs or uh throw water bottles and got to state parks. Um, but it was an incredible experience. It's uh race against time, race against uh languish to try to just to push through to continue to to make those steps. But yeah, it was pretty fun.

Warren 25:23

And now out by Roanoke, I did like five miles of the AT, whatever that is by the Blue Ridge. Right outside of Roanoke, it's a but still it's it's not uh it's it's not a smooth walk. It's it's it's real terrain, it's elevation change. And that's almost a three mile an hour clip uh in those type circumstances.

Feathers 25:43

I think we've I think we came in about I think we came in about two and a half, two and a half, two point six is where we were at. Um some miles were definitely like 17, 18 miles because some miles were 31, 30 to 31 minutes because of either the the strenuousness of the climb, or to your point, like you're walking across rock. It's not like you can just do a quick step across the big field. Um what's what's amazing about the Appalachian Trail is it's so technical. So every single step, you've got to look to where you're planning your feet. Uh yeah. So it was it was it was awesome. Yeah, we yeah, we I think we stop for a total of 15 minutes over the course of the whole day. It just ignites my fire even more of wanting to uh full-blown sabbatical and do the whole thing at once, which would take about six months. Oh, at once, wow.

Warren 26:34

Uh I wish, I wish.

Feathers 26:37

But that can go against my dating pro it could go against my dating profile. Hey, I'm a podcaster, but I've also done the AT. It negates the podcasting. Yeah. Hey, at least I can make commitments. I committed to six months doing something.

Warren 26:51

Uh I think I think some women out there, especially when you get to our age, are looking for more than six months.

Feathers 27:00

But hey, at least I committed to something and I did it from start to finish.

Announcer 27:03

Yes.

Warren 27:06

Uh I I was uh uh amazed with that. I I'm jealous. I wish I could physically do that. Uh uh, it's just it's amazing. It's something I would definitely want to do one day, but time is not on my side. I'm not getting younger or thinner uh right now.

Feathers 27:23

So uh let's see. I'm I'm like, let's see, we did it on Friday. This is Tuesday, so I'm at four four days out or three or four days out. Like my body just now today feels quote unquote normal.

Warren 27:37

Uh I definitely, definitely want to do some of that. Maybe, maybe starting at the, you know, I know it's all the Appalachian Trail, but there's some flatter areas when you get further south. Uh yeah, yeah. No, there's a rough main.

Feathers 27:52

Yeah. Yeah. It's there there's so many miles that this this wonderful country has in terms of put aside for trails that you don't have to just do like the technical aspect of the AT, but still get out there and enjoy nature and get the mental health rewards of just being out there.

Warren 28:10

And probably not having cell coverage half the time, at least. So you're not getting ding ding ding. Which is wonderful.

Feathers 28:17

I mean, it is mental health month or mental health awareness month or something like that. So, hey, back to HR related, get outside, take a walk.

Warren 28:25

Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. So, well, uh be our best practice for today. Get out there and take a walk. Clear your mind. Uh new jaded of us today, but oh well. Yeah, uh, we'll get we'll make up for it later.

Feathers 28:41

Well, just scream outside. Don't scream at the employee or scream at the manager like I want to do half the time. Scream at a tree. That's our that's our tagline. Go scream at a tree.

Warren 28:52

Go scream at a tree.

Feathers 28:53

They won't respond back.

Warren 28:55

And they can't tell their manager about it. Uh that sure would be a squirrel throwing shit at me.

Feathers 29:06

Leave my tree alone. This is my land.

Warren 29:10

Uh our intro and outro music is double to double. Uh underscore orchestra, and our voice artist is Andrew Culpa. Uh as always, um Warren. Let me take a look at the same thing.