Lying Influencers, Mistaken Billionaires & Delusional CEOs: Just a typical day

Are firings fair game for social media spectacle? That's the firestorm we're stepping into as we examine the Soundfire firing controversy that's blazing across the internet. We're not just bystanders—we're dissecting the viral video of an employee's very public termination, weighing in on its authenticity and pondering the long-term fallout of such personal moments turned public. But the digital realm holds more than just drama; a new HR podcast, 'Corporate Pizza Party', slices into industry insights with the sharp wit of our colleague Dan from HR, and we can't help but raise an eyebrow at the tales of a Gen Z worker who reportedly would rather hit the gym than the boardroom. 

Now, let's clear the air on a few things. Mark Cuban's hiring comments ignited a firestorm of their own, but EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas was quick with a correction, reminding us all of the legal lines that can't be crossed in employment. And speaking of lines, we're drawing a bold one as we confront the serious allegations against Vince McMahon, shining a spotlight on WWE's internal wrangling and the critical importance of legal savvy in HR. As we gear up for our fourth anniversary with an "Ask Me Anything" episode, we're tossing the mic to you—so share your questions, and your wildest HR stories, for a chance to be featured. Join us, CeCe and Warren, as we tackle these hot topics with the thoroughness they deserve, and with a hint of humor to keep things lively.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 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 have 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 JDHR.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Welcome to JDHR, the podcast by two HR professionals who want to help you get through the workday by saying all the things you're thinking, but say them out loud. I'm Warren.

Speaker 3: 0:54

I'm CeCe.

Speaker 2: 0:55

And Heather's is quite quitting on us.

Speaker 3: 0:58

Oh no, no one is safe.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Yeah, we're not even safe from our own stupid hashtags. So no, he's just still got a lot going on in his world, but he will get back on. Just our recording schedule isn't the most convenient for his timeframe right now, and especially being he gets up at ODark 30s. He's one of the sickos who runs all the time, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:23

I don't understand. I run from things, I don't run for fun.

Speaker 2: 1:26

Exactly. Well, before we get started, I want to make a big public apology to Bill I did. I thanked Halle, the original JDHR Rockstar, in the last episode, and I forgot to thank Bill, who is also our supporter on Patreon. So you can be like Halle and Bill and support us on Patreon. This episode is dedicated to you, bill, so thank you very much for that contribution. So, yeah, we got a lot going on. Well, there's a lot in the news and some of it's more interesting than others, but actually I will go completely out of order what we were talking about just 10 minutes ago. I want to start with the soundfire termination. We spoke about the last episode.

Speaker 3: 2:14

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:15

Because in a couple of tie-ins to either our last episode or one before, we were talking about HR Podcasts, I just accidentally stumbled across a new HR podcast which I've subscribed to and I encourage everybody else to, but it's Corporate Pizza Party and who is one of the hosts of it? It's our friend Dan from HR. So I've listened to a few episodes. So far I haven't downloaded the whole back catalog yet, but it's really good. Y'all Got to give it a listen, so download that on your favorite podcast player.

Speaker 2: 2:45

So their guests on their last episode at the time of our recording this was Amy Lintz, and one thing they talked about towards the end of the podcast was the soundfire firing, and Amy seemed to have a take on it that what was portrayed on that viral TikTok video was not as it seems. You know, I can see it very much that it's not. As the president of the company said. No, we have not done any layoffs. This was purely performance driven. And now, does it change the fact that sound, sound, flare, fire or whatever the name is, did a bad job at terminating her? No, it doesn't change that fact. They did a very bad job at doing it, but it doesn't seem like it is what she made it seem. There was not any mass layoffs or anything like that, and maybe was she even possibly waiting to be fired so she could do this video. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 3:44

If so, I fell for it hook line sinker Because sometimes I'm a little jaded and sometimes I like to expect the worst. But If that's the case, I seem to wonder. If you're someone who does one of these videos and you pose it in a way Like that, what is that? Save for your future employment and like endeavors. Like exact, you just got caught lying, so I don't know if she was lying, I don't know not, but I was just going kind of down that rabbit hole of yeah, what's, what's? What is Brittany Peach's next move?

Speaker 2: 4:18

well, I don't know what's up for Miss Peach's. It sounds like she should be working for some dollar bills. But anyways, I I'm not gonna be mean, I I'll be jaded. I try not to be mean, but I am what you mentioned. You fell hook, lying and sinker.

Speaker 2: 4:38

I came very close to falling hook, lying and sinker for one of these HR shysters and and even I I ended up texting you asking you about this, this story. So I have a Google news feed that sends HR related news stories directly to me, so I don't have to search them. In one of them and it was reported on like five or six times from various sources was a HR influencer who caught a lot of shit for Slamming a Gen Z person and this influencer is also Gen Z Before their boss. They have quarterly meetings and one of them is in person at 8 am once a quarter, and the this employee couldn't make it because it's her gem time, and so the boss was expressing their Frustration in the situation and the the influencer you know Stood on the HR side of things like look, it's your job, you can put the, you could go to the gym earlier, later, whatever it is. But as I went into the rabbit hole of searching and I, before I did my homework, I was texting you say, oh, this might be a good guess were to show, but that I dug some more and I really feel that this might be one of those Shiestars like a day in from HR would be busting online. I don't want to say this because I know I'm old geezer but doesn't have an HR career, their careers in content creation and movies and things like that, not HR and Trying to make this HR advice show and in things. So I, as I dug deeper and then I actually they have a podcast.

Speaker 2: 6:16

I listened to that podcast and oh you know I wasn't terribly impressed. It's not bad. But I heard the comment directly from her podcast about it. I was like, yeah, but the video. And then it went to the new, all these news agencies and then apparently she issued on TikTok an apology for her, her comments and like, but it was an apology, not apology.

Speaker 2: 6:38

But as I'm going through something, okay, she's a content creator and a media person, I'm putting dime to dollars that it's all fabricated and that she made the past release herself, because it's really nothing. There's no there there, as they like to say, yeah, nothing, there's nothing to make it up. It should probably never hit my newsfeed in and their podcast, with a whole whopping two episodes had like a Thousand reviews on Apple podcast. I would that when I die, dive, I, dive deep and I could go on fiverr and have 10,000 Reviews on Apple podcasts on J to HR tomorrow. Not gonna do something like that. Had enough friends quote-unquote friends make comments on there. But yeah, it's, it's very interesting and it just makes me. It irritates me so much that there's these, these eight people are portraying themselves as HR experts. Oh, and this person's also on the speakers the speakers tour, if you will and was talking about all the places she had been.

Speaker 2: 7:39

She mentioned. She spoke this place and this prestigious place several times and I was like this is, this is all about you. It's not about HR and career advice and and things like that.

Speaker 3: 7:50

So that will. Hr beaker circuit is very I don't know like I think we talked about it very suspects and it annoys me and it frustrates me because, yes, she's probably a content creator and she probably does like all that kind of stuff. She's probably fueling this to do some kind of like a speakers, I don't know, like Journey. But at the end of the day it's kind of that thing where people are like anyone can do a jar and it's it's. Exactly, that's exactly where I was going with it too.

Speaker 2: 8:23

I've shared with you some ideas I have I'm not gonna go public with them on Chated HR yet, but about these influencers and some ideas I have of my own. But anyways, speaking of HR influencers, this is not necessarily an influencer, but this comes to us from CNBC, morgan Smith, from the land, the job series, and this was published today, february 5th, in the title to total clickbait title the number one mistake to avoid in a job interview. It gives hiring managers the biggest. It says new research.

Speaker 3: 9:04

Well, I already know what it is. I don't know, but I can just imagine and take a wild go for it.

Speaker 2: 9:10

Go for it.

Speaker 3: 9:11

That's probably about asking salary right off the bat.

Speaker 2: 9:15

Oh no, no it. Even for that I. That's a good good guess. It's being late, but they like to an error.

Speaker 3: 9:23

Hey, no, duh.

Speaker 2: 9:27

You haven't seen my show notes, but that's exactly what I put under. It's being late, duh. Yeah, my gosh, somebody's actually being paid to write this Stuff and I don't. I haven't done a deep dive on Morgan Smith, what her background and experiences or where her research comes from. If it's whatever tick-tock Influencer or something like that, it's. It's really, really. It's not journalism, it's, I don't know, it's a sixth grade project, school project type thing. That that's what I say though I did.

Speaker 3: 10:05

I did. I was late for an interview once I know it was it was. It was embarrassing, but at the same time it was kind of one of those things where you leave the house super early, you like look at the traffic, you figure out how long it's gonna take you to get there. And I did all of that because I'm like I I will sit in the parking lot 15 minutes Like to kill time rather than be late. And on this day I must have been. As soon as I left my house a car accident had happened on, like an impassable one-way situation, and by the time I figured it out it was too late. I was caught in it and I was panicking and I Called them and they didn't pick up and I was like, oh no, I emailed them. I'm like this is a situation. Long story short, I got the job anyway.

Speaker 2: 10:51

So you know well see, I Don't think being late is Unrecoverable and they give some advice, you know, they say don't ignore the situation, that you were late address. Yeah, I'm sorry I'm late, but you did all the right things, I think you you called them, you I've, you know, I've not been late to interview, but I've had people relate on me and we've hired them and things like that and it's. It's just all how you do it and how you present yourself after. Okay, if you know what, that's a great situational interview situation, because situational situation.

Speaker 2: 11:25

But you, you were faced an obstacle and how did you react? How did you overcome and things like that. And yeah, it happens. Now I think I have a pretty good nose for telling when somebody's giving me the old line of crap. But you know, especially when they start over explaining things, it's like okay, yeah, sorry, there's a car accident on whatever highway and what have you. So one day we'll have to do an episode. We've done a little bit of this in the past, but a revisit has been so long ago horrible interview Situations that we've been in either as the interviewer or interview we so that that'll be a yes.

Speaker 2: 12:06

Good situations I've I've been involved in quite a few. Well, the next story I have for today comes to us from X, formerly Twitter, is. They're all saying now Someone. I'm actually you know, I've gone on record I'm a fanboy of Elon Musk and I don't want to get it. I think he's a brilliant person for a lot of things, but he does some really boneheaded things in other ways. But here comes another person that's maybe less controversial than Elon Musk without him a fanboy up mark Cuban. So on January 29th he posted on X and I'll quote it here I've never hired anyone exclusively on race, gender, religion. I only ever hired the person I'll put my business in the best position to succeed. And yes, race and gender can be part of that equation. I view diversity as a competitive advantage. Now, how would you dot, dot, dot and he get you know it's mark Cuban, he's got a billion followers or whatever. And one of the replies was from Andrea Lucas, the EEOC commissioner, and she replies to him at mark Cuban or mCuban Commissioner, eeoc commissioner, here, unfortunately, you're dead wrong on this black letter, title seven, law.

Speaker 2: 13:26

As a general rule, race and sex can't even be a motivating factor, nor a plus factor, a tiebreaker or tipping point. It's important that unburst employers understand the ground rules here, and this made a lot of. This got a lot of attention on social media. Oh, once again, people like dumping on on billionaires, I guess. Yeah, so common theme. But Honestly, for someone who's not an HR not in a no, I Can see it as a. Once again, I'm a fan boy, maybe I'm making up for his comments or anything, but how many times do you think how many people actually think that's the way it should be? Yeah, it can be a tie-breaker, it could be. Oh, I need to hire more fill in the blank under representative group there. And, yes, it is a sometimes a conscious effort. Especially if a company is in a bad situation, they need to get underrepresented groups in there. They have to, you know, make some actual extra effort to do that.

Speaker 2: 14:34

And so, yes, it is not legal exactly what he said. But if you're not in the HR world, I don't think I know how many people are going to actually say when he different to then what mark keepin said. So I don't know. I I do think it's funny he got called out by ball people the EOC commissioner on this right I have. I have my own thoughts on the situation. I do think you know he had the best of intentions and he's probably doing what he hears. You know, diverse he's important always got to be. Look at diverse candies. Break the glass ceilings, promote those under representative groups. You need more women and minorities on in your board and on the higher levels of management. That right here, that on companies everywhere, and I think he's based my opinion. He's basically reiterating those thoughts and, and thank you, you know, maybe, maybe these companies do need to make a better effort to it. So anyways, not making excuses for him, but I did think of all people to be called out by the EOC. Commissioner, is is pretty good there.

Speaker 3: 15:38

Well, again anyone can do HR.

Speaker 2: 15:43

Yes, anybody, it's easy, Anyone, as long as you like people. It's just a very it's just very nuanced.

Speaker 3: 15:50

So it's like yeah, I think you're right, I think he just he comes from. That space of this is what's been Recurgitated to him, this is what he's been. You know, he's coming at, dare I say, the layman yeah of it and yeah, so I get that. But yeah, that's why, that's why you need, that's why you need HR in your corner, so they can help you not post things like that, and I Would be curious, and I'm not on X or anything like that, so I'd be curious to know if he followed up on that.

Speaker 2: 16:19

Oh, thanks for sending me straight, or oh, I didn't know. I really appreciate. I wonder what, what, or if he just ignored it. I don't know what happened there, but there were like 1500 replies at the time. I forget who I got this from, actually, where I found it from, but at that time there were 1500 reply, or, yeah, 1500 replies, and I'm sure there was more after that. So the final story I have for today and it's funny because feathers and I have a Connection to both Mark Cuban and this next person, john Hyman, has a second nominee. In the month of January he had two nominees for Worst employer, so he's like on the roll now.

Speaker 3: 17:04

I was gonna say we're at two.

Speaker 2: 17:07

Yeah, and this is a repeat offender, his first ever repeat offender, and this is from, I will go ahead and say, to East Carolina alumni Vince McMahon. He has made the list for a second time. I'll read a little bit of what John Hyman wrote Trade shift CEO, who was fired last year for gross misconduct on multiple grounds after management became aware of serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims that she was to quote, submit to her master in all ways and be quote, sexually available for her master when he needs sex and never to refuse him sex and To accept whatever punishment he chose to dole out. Dole out, quote Without being angry, swollen or frustrated with her master and she must thank him. After it gets worse, the well I'm no it.

Speaker 2: 18:07

It gets much worse. I don't want to go there for this show. This agreement also required her, according to the lawsuit, to dress in proper feminine way and keep her weight between 130 and 155 pounds and to send him weekly spreadsheets of her progress. Now Vince McMahon the amendment Lee, denies these allegations, claiming it's an ex-girlfriend who were in a Consensual relationship. But, however, it doesn't go too well that she has a Copy of this one quote slave contract that he has presented as part of her complaint. So this is his first, ever second nominee. He hired this person, janelle Grant, for sex Co-wrestling co-wrestler to sign a three million dollar non-disclosure agreement after his now ex-wife, I think, found out about their affair, but then he's stifter on the final two million dollars. The parent company of Wwe release a statement we take these horrific allegations very seriously and that they're addressing the matter internally. So Vince McMahon resigned and he goes on to say that the lawsuit is a bunch of BS.

Speaker 3: 19:23

But oh, my gosh, I think I Think okay. So what? I was in a podcast earlier where they're kind of going over this whole thing and the thing that cracks. I mean I didn't crack me up. The whole thing is like really whatever. The thing that popped out to me was that she had approached him because I guess they had People in common and they said, hey, why don't you talk to Vince, because he can help hook you up with a job? Because she was in between jobs and it was a quid pro quo situation. She ended up sleeping with him and he promised her a really good paying job, and the job that he gave her out of the gate apparently was like an entry-level position and I'm like, first of all, gross.

Speaker 3: 20:09

Second, of all Entry level.

Speaker 1: 20:12

So yourself a little bit higher Cool.

Speaker 3: 20:14

Yeah and um no. But then there's the crazy stuff about how he I think he had a business partner I'm not a partner, but someone else he was working with where he was a sex trafficking now because he had forced her to have sex with him. And now he's coming back and saying that because of the power dynamic of who Vince McMahon was, he felt pressure that he had to have sex with her.

Speaker 1: 20:40

Oh, I didn't know that side of it.

Speaker 3: 20:42

His hands were tied behind his back Like he had to Like, oh so. So there's that whole thing too. It's a wild story and I'm kind of I'm happy that she you know, first of all a non-disclosure agreement, where he didn't even pay her when he agreed on. So screw that NDA what? Burn it to the ground. It's worth nothing. But at the same time, like I'm glad that she's getting justice that she deserves, because this is so horrific and that guy is a creep.

Speaker 2: 21:17

He is a great a creep and it goes. I left out some of the details I've found there, on both John Hyman's site and elsewhere. I mean it gets. It gets pretty horrible. There's no two ways about it. Yeah, but I this is going to make a great dateline NBC or something like that at some point, and I will be. I will be watching that dateline NBC with with this story, it's just like to make this slave contract actually have it in writing and give her a copy of it. I mean, what else I mean?

Speaker 3: 21:58

not to be snarky, but isn't the number one rule don't put anything in writing.

Speaker 2: 22:04

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:05

It's everything's discoverable, yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:10

And yeah, I just. When people do something this stupid, it just makes me wonder, not what we're thinking, but how does, how does their mental thought process work? I, I don't. This will be. Oh, I'll put this in writing. Or or especially, let's have you sign this NDA, but and then not pay her the final $2 million. Gee, this is, this is a all too. I don't know, I don't know what the right one?

Speaker 3: 22:43

is. I happen to think at, like, at what point in the corporate ladder do you or does someone feel like they are untouchable? Because it's insane how he just thought this was fine. Like, at what point do you have that power where you're just like no, I can get away with this, it's fine.

Speaker 2: 23:06

It's a complete disconnect from reality. You think you're above the law, you think that you can get away with this and nobody else is going to find out. I mean that that's some real egomania there. That is just wow. I mean, I'm the type of person, I, I jaywalked in a city this past week and I, I, I was like I, I I even had to justify myself to my son as we're doing. I like, well, the sidewalk sound could under construction over there and we need to get here. I'm not going to go back, so let's just, you know, go across the street. And this city is known for actually busting people for jaywalking. But I was like, yeah, I'll, I'll roll the dice on that one. But you know, that's, that's the type of nerdy person I am.

Speaker 2: 23:55

I feel guilty for doing stupid things like that. I don't speed, I, I set my cruise control, drive like a grandpa, my kids, they'll tell you. I put my cruise control on like maybe five over, sometimes 10 over, if it's like an interstate, and I'll just sit there and cruise and I just I don't, my mind just can't get to that point of thinking at all and I I think it is a severe mental illness if somebody's mind can get to that point to justify this in any stretch of the imagination. I mean really, and, like I said, we're talking among the milder things, uh, sexual trafficking in this case? Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's crazy.

Speaker 3: 24:37

So I think he's the same. It's the same New York court that also busted Like, apparently they, apparently they're very hard, like they good, 90% of the people are like, always charged. But it's the same one who did the next see him out. No, if you remember that whole thing.

Speaker 2: 24:56

Oh, I watched a movie or a documentary, oh.

Speaker 3: 25:00

And then this is a weird thing, because I I was very into that, the whole, all the documentaries, because I'm like if there was ever a call that I would have gotten into, it would have been next to him, because it was all like leadership development and it was all like professional development stuff. I'm like I'm a sucker for that. That's like my bread and butter. I would have been sucked into that cult.

Speaker 2: 25:21

Oh, oh gosh. Well, thank goodness you did not, but that gives me an idea for a podcast Cult members in your work. I'm sure people have dealt with it if you're in in certain areas of the country that have a higher propensity to cult Activities much my area we don't have any of those. Those people are in a swamp dead now. I think so. Things like that don't happen in Eastern North Carolina, not for long.

Speaker 3: 25:54

They happen once and I always say like there's always culty things happening. Like it might not be a cult, but I do see I've seen co-workers in the past where I'm like, are you in a cult? And I used to work with this guy and I don't know what your opinions are on Dave Ramsey, but he followed Dave Ramsey to a tee, to the point, or like he, we have an amusement park here, like literally around the corner, and because he had like the season pass, he got like the meal pass. He would leave the office, go into the theme park, have his lunch because was already paid for, and then he would come back to the office. Like that's how committed he was to this.

Speaker 2: 26:42

Yeah, and that's a good point, because you know, you think cults, you think of the nexiums, you think of the Gosh what was the one that the hell bop comet people, that you think of all these, really the Manson family, you think of all these wild crazy, but there's some, like really Benign cults out there too that they'll never make the news just because they're not doing anything stupid. But there's some. And how. A friend of mine who who's been on this podcast is Call, he is into Crossfit and he calls it a cult. It is a cult mindset. But he and he says that cult mindset makes him keep going each, every time. And you know he's my age and he is a picture of health other than he smokes like a chimney, but other than that he, he's up a complete picture of healthy. You know, I Admire it very much and it's made me thought man, maybe that's something I could do, but I'm not gonna drive somewhere to be tortured and things like that. I think that's, that's behind me.

Speaker 3: 27:48

There's a fine line this would be. This would be an interesting thing to dive into. And now I want to. I want to ask people like what organizations have you worked for where the corporate culture has turned a little Colty? I feel like, you see, that With a lot of these companies, that kind of like fell apart and there's like secrets being kept and there is like you know, I don't know. I feel like there's something there, like I feel like there's something there there is.

Speaker 2: 28:17

But before we end the podcast, two things. Our four-year anniversary is coming up. We'll be starting season five in April one and I think we'll be actually dropping a new episode on that exact date, april one, if I my calendar memory is correct. But we want doing to ask me anything episode again. We did it at the end of season one, patrick and I. We only got like a handful of AMA questions in our way, but reach out to us on social media, the Instagram account, dms, your AMA question, no matter how dumb, how stupid. You want to ask, I don't know something personal, want to get a stupid reaction out of us, I don't care, go for it. And I've got some plans for this episode. So go ahead and any ideas you have, put it out there. We'll have a ask me anything episode for our fourth anniversary in April. So hard to believe. We're wrapping up four years, I guess. So we're finishing up. Yeah, season four going into season five. So, yeah, two things.

Speaker 2: 29:15

Once again want to thank bill for sponsors on patreon. This episode is dedicated to you. So, and not to forget Halle, our jaded HR rockstar, the original, and you can follow the show notes in our link and links in our show notes to go to our patreon and go to our Instagram when you can send us a DM. I'm gonna work on. We had a phone number once. I'm gonna work on getting that back up or a phone number if it's not the same one so you can text us on your feedback.

Speaker 2: 29:46

I want to have going forward a lot more audience interaction. I haven't. I haven't asked for a lot, but we haven't had any listener emails in a very long time. So if you have a crazy story watch here, put it in the email and get it to us. Somehow we'll get it on there. But yeah, definitely want your input for this. Ask me anything episode, ask us anything episode and see what we can do for that. So our best practice of the day is Don't put your slave contracts in writing, your employees in writing. That's your best practice for today.

Speaker 3: 30:21

Yeah, just now. No, those are best in verbal agreement.

Speaker 2: 30:26

Yeah, yeah, but I want to thank Andrew Copa, the voice artist, who does our intro and the intro out. Mutero music is double the devil by the underscore orchestra, as always, on more and. I'm CC and we're helping you survive HR one. What the fuck moment at a time.