Jaded HR: Your Relief From the Common Human Resources Podcasts
Jaded HR is a Human Resources podcast about the trials and tribulations of life in a human resources department….or just a way for Human Resources Professionals to finally say OUT LOUD all the things they think throughout their working day.
Jaded HR: Your Relief From the Common Human Resources Podcasts
The Kiss Cam Moment — And What It Says About How People Act at Work
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Ever notice how once you start paying attention to people…
you can’t really stop?
This episode starts with something small — a kiss cam moment at a Coldplay concert — and turns into a much bigger conversation about how people behave when they think no one’s really watching.
Because that’s the interesting part.
It’s not the moment itself.
It’s how people react to it.
The hesitation.
The awkwardness.
The way people suddenly become very aware of themselves when attention is on them.
And once you see it there… you start seeing it everywhere.
That carries over into a completely different setting — Costa Rica — where just sitting back and watching people becomes its own kind of case study.
Not in a creepy way… but in a “you start to notice patterns” way.
Different environments, same behaviors:
- how people carry themselves
- how they interact with others
- what confidence looks like (and what forced confidence looks like)
- how quickly people adjust depending on who’s around them
And that’s where it starts tying back to work.
Because the same things show up in the workplace — just with a different level of awareness.
People perform differently when:
- they think they’re being watched
- they feel out of place
- or they’re trying to fit into an environment that doesn’t quite match who they are
There’s also a layer of self-awareness that comes into play.
The idea that:
- most people think they’re being subtle
- most people think they’re blending in
- and most people are… not nearly as invisible as they think they are
By the end, the conversation isn’t really about a concert or a trip anymore.
It’s about something simpler:
Once you start noticing how people behave —
in public, at work, in unfamiliar situations —
you realize how much of it carries over no matter where you are.
And more importantly…
how much of it you probably do yourself without realizing it.
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. Welcome to Jaded HR.
Welcome to Jaded HR
WarrenWelcome to Jaded HR, the podcast by two HR professionals who want to help you get through your workday by saying everything you're thinking, but say it out loud.
Cee CeeMy name's Warren. I'm Cece.
WarrenAll right. So we took a week off and I was by the way for the audience. This is take two. We had a little technical issue on my fault, so take week. So thank you very much. I love seeing things like that. People go into our back library and downloading things, or maybe you've shared it with a friend that decided to listen and download some episodes. So keep up the good work on that. I did not get a chance to look at if there were any new reviews, but please, if you do have a review, put it out there, let us know. I will read it. Good, bad, indifferent. So go to your favorite podcast player, preferably apples. They use the. They're the, the almighty of podcast reviews. But if you have something else, I'll try and find it there too. So I know good pods. We have a couple of pod friends. There's a review on there and things but. But of course the world revolves around Apple.
Cee CeeYes, it does.
Costa Rica Vacation Stories
WarrenSo I was on vacation.
Cee CeeI'm playing my Apple watch on the screen.
WarrenYeah, I've only had one Apple product in my life. But yeah, we took the week off as I was on vacation and I went to Costa Rica and had just an incredible time. Everything was so great, Everything was nearly perfect. I got a couple of stories, I think, out of it from people watching, essentially, and I really couldn't ask for anything better. It all went perfectly the activities, the weather, the excursions, the people we met, everything it was just. It was all perfect. I would have liked to see more wildlife, but you can't really pick and choose when animals appear. We did get to see everybody wants to see a sloth when you go to Costa Rica and we got to see more than our share of sloths and for me, I like snakes. So I got to see the most venomous snake in Costa Rica and I forget its name, but I guess it's a relative of a rattlesnake, and we saw it from the safety of our van. How?
Cee Ceevenomous. Are we talking?
WarrenHuh.
Cee CeeHow venomous are we talking?
WarrenI don't know. But the other venomous snake we saw was called eyelash viper and if you check those out online they're really cool looking and they're not that big. They're like a foot or two long. But we were getting this close to it and it didn't care. It really just it was chill, it didn't care, got some good pictures of that. I only got to do the red-eyed green tree frog I forget what its name is the green tree frog-eyed green tree frog.
WarrenI forget what its name is, the green tree frog, I think, but I wanted to see other frogs, like the poison dart frog, the blue jean frog, and I made a list of all these animals I I was hoping to see. We saw monkeys. We saw howler monkeys and the white face monkeys and and crocodiles. We saw crocodiles and things like that. So it was, the wildlife was really good. I didn't see a toucan. I wanted to to see a toucan. We saw all sorts of other birds, but nothing really. You know, no Froot Loops or anything like that. That's awesome, though, like.
Cee CeeI'm so jealous hearing about this experience.
WarrenIt was. It was great. I can't wait to go on our next vacation. My wife and I are already starting to think about where we're going next year. So cool.
WarrenAnd for those of you who are like me, speak very, very little Spanish, it is so American friendly. I had one person I interacted with who spoke the amount of English that I speak Spanish, and we were able to get my Uber driver one day. He didn't speak much English, I didn't speak much Spanish, but we got through and I got. We actually were able to converse at a very minimal level, but it was. It worked. So, if you're like me, costa Rica is a very native English speaker friendly area to go to, and even not in, as we were on a resort and we went to a tourist town. But also we went to. My wife and I went to a town called philadelphia, which spelled with f, not a ph, and it is not a touristy town, and still people there spoke beautiful english and things like that, and everybody was so nice it was. It was a great experience I love that so how about you?
Warrenwhat did, what did you have for the last week?
Cee Ceenothing crazy. I mean, I was kind of in the I was trying to get this project over the finish line, which I think I did. It's tomorrow, so I think I did. Anyway, I'm doing an internal podcast, so for, like one of our learning initiatives, we're doing a podcast, so did that, and the first episode airs tomorrow. So the past, like week, has just been very work focused. And then we had a friend fly in though from Florida and he came like stayed with us and we like went to the pool and it was just fun. I want the baby, you know low key.
WarrenNice, I really want a low key. I've just been so busy this whole summer. Every weekend I've had something going on and up and through, like the third week of August, the third weekend of August. It's hard to believe it's almost August. I will launch this on Thursday. Most of you probably listened to it on Thursday or Friday and that's August 1st. Crazy, the year is poof going by?
WarrenI'm really not happy about it Next thing, you know, we'll be talking about how instead of how hot it is, how cold it is and the snow and that sort of stuff again. So I'm sort of stressing about the holidays like, oh my god I did see a countdown to to christmas already on one of the social media sites, but I had to go to home depot the other day and they've got their halloween stuff already all out at Home Depot and HomeGoods has it out too. I'm like, really I don't like that. It's July and you're doing Halloween.
Cee CeeYeah, we went to the liquor store the other day and they had pumpkin beer out already. I'm like it's July, yeah.
WarrenSlow down. Yeah, that's one thing. I drink local beers in Costa Rica, the Imperial one as the big name brand. It's pretty good. I couldn't distinguish it from that and say I don't even know what type it was supposed to be, if it was a lager or not, I think it was. Then they had a brand named pilsner which was like five, five, no, five percent alcohol and it was that was actually my favorite beer.
WarrenThen on one of my the tour guides, we were talking about drinks and stuff like that. So we're on the excursion and you have a driver and there's only like 10 people in the van, a driver, the tour guide and we're talking about drinks, and he just pulls over, has us go to this convenience store in the middle of nowhere seemingly, and he's talking about different drinks and I went in. I got a Cuba Libre, which is a canned rum and Coke. It wasn't that good. It wasn't Coke, it was a cola, it was like it was your generic cola versus a coke and I don't know I didn't care for it. It was only eight percent, so it it left more of a bite than most eight percent drinks. I think would leave a bite, but it was good and, like someone else got this cucumber or sprit which they just loved.
WarrenThey said they're going to take a 12-pack back to America with them. So yeah, that was a little fun little side adventure that we did so well, the one thing that, because we didn't record, we missed out on being sort of on top of the story was the Coldplay Kiss Cam, and I saw the article like I forget the day after it happened and I sent you the link immediately and said we've got to talk about this. But then I had no idea it was going to blow up
The Coldplay Kiss Cam Scandal
Warrenthe way it did. And I will tell you also in Costa Rica, like my Spanish is very, very poor, I'm like a pre-kindergarten vocabulary level or something like that.
WarrenBut I'm sitting there waiting in line for the restaurant and someone beside me is on one of the social media networks and they're seeing the thing about the Kiss Cam and they're talking about it in Spanish and things like that. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like got worldwide appeal on that's awesome this cam and it, yeah. So what I? I don't want to cut, I halfway, don't want to cover it too much because it's it's been, it's been covered, it's been covered, it's been covered, it's been covered, it's been covered.
Cee CeeI just want to say like I feel bad for the families and this was very entertaining. Both things can be true.
WarrenYes.
Cee CeeBut I was just so. It took me a couple days Because I'm like ha ha, like the CEO and the CHRO are like messing around. And now they got busted in the most ridiculous way and oh, Chris Martin even called it out.
WarrenI thought that was hilarious.
Cee CeeLike all these things. It took me a solid couple days and I'm embarrassed to admit this. It was like all of a sudden I like popped out of bed in a cold sweat or something and I was. I just said, oh my god, the power dynamic it's, it's her boss. And then from there on out, I was like that makes it even more layered.
WarrenIf they just gave each other a little peck? No, the world would never know. Their spouses would never know. No, whatever happened. I don't know where the concert was Was it in Vegas? Whatever happened at the Coldplay concert would have stayed at the Coldplay concert. Right, it was their reaction. It's not like they're putting it on cnn at that point. It probably made its way onto cnn at some point and actually I read that the man, what is his name, andy byron, is now contemplating suing coldplay over to kiss cam and he might actually have some legal ground.
WarrenI'm like dude, you got busted. It's not cold place fault so reddit went deep.
Cee CeeApparently I don't know if he has a case, I think he's just talking big, but apparently, like in fine print, there's an agreement that by attending the concert, like you're forgo, like you're giving them the permissions to like, record and use commercially and yada, yada. So yeah, I don't think there's not, there's not a lawsuit there at all.
WarrenLike, dude, you got caught, you got caught, just take the l and slink away and the thing is he's not gonna be able to get another job and, honestly, neither is she and I. I saw something on social media and it might have been from something like a tmz or something like that, but she was spotted the other day not wearing her wedding ring. So, yeah, so yeah yeah, it's, that's just.
WarrenBut was their reaction? But the power dynamic you mentioned of the two people in a company that should know better is the, the director of HR, the chief people officer and the CEO. You, you have to, you have to. You know, of all the people, those are the two that should not be having this issue with. So, yeah, that was interesting and they're getting roasted every which way on every social media site, everything like that. But I got this from? Was it Yahoo News? I didn't get the. I didn't take the. Usually I like to give credit to it, but it says Cabot, his HR chief, joined the company only months ago. So this is a. You know, somebody moved very quickly in this.
Cee CeeOr it's been happening before.
WarrenOr maybe he brought her in, Maybe they had a prior thing going on. Maybe they had a prior thing going on, but her LinkedIn profile she describes herself as someone who, quote wins the trust of employees of all levels, from the CEO to managers and assistants.
Cee CeeWinning trust, all right.
WarrenAnd you know, like I said, I do feel for the families, but all the ridicule that happens here is only going to get their spouses more money in the divorce. You know the humiliation factor and whatever. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. Now I saw something. Now Gwyneth Paltrow is now a spokesperson for the company, or something like that.
Cee CeeI'm like so they hired her, I think they hired her. I'm like, so they, they hired her, I think they hired her. I'm afraid to say anything. Is anything real or is it all AI anymore? But I did see the video and it was it's her. And she just starts explaining like oh, we're so glad that you're interested in this company and just has spikes and she kind of talks very tongue in cheek and cute about it. But it's just funny that it's her with the Chris Martin connection.
WarrenOh, does she have a Chris Martin connection?
Cee CeeThey used to be married.
WarrenOh, okay, see, I never. I'm not good at any of that stuff, so that's funny. Oh, and does she have a chris martin connection? They used to be married. Oh, okay, see, I never. I'm not good at any of that stuff, so that's funny yeah yeah, and with paltrow she's a whole another type of special of her own in her you know what I'm saying?
Cee CeeI think it's, I think it's layered, because they were married and I think ch Martin cheated on her.
WarrenOh really.
WarrenSo I think, that is like the real punchline in that PR thing. I've seen all the memes that are actually quite funny that you know Coldplay hasn't made a single in 20 years and they made two in one night. Oh my gosh, yeah hasn't made a single in 20 years and they made two in one night and things like that it was. Some of the memes were just either brutal or hilarious. And also when I was in costa rica, our tour guide, his facebook page, he took someone, made it the, the man holding a sloth, and then it said underneath reminder don't get uh, don't get caught touching the animals is apparently you can get fined or things like that. Before, but I it just seemed that people putting that everywhere on everything and then you know, mimicking the, the faces, putting in other people's faces, and they're like dwight and angela. I saw one that was Dwight and Angela.
AnnouncerSo good.
WarrenAnd things like that. So it's yeah, this is going to live on for a little while until the next big thing sort of takes it off the front.
Cee CeeHonestly, it's kind of starting to cool down. I'm just nosy about what's happening next, but I think they're all slithering into the abyss.
WarrenAnd it's going to give the hr haters out there just another piece of ammunition. Yeah, they're going to dislike on hr4, so yeah it's.
Cee CeeI mean, that is, let's be honest she was very, very much biased to the corporate side.
WarrenShe was definitely there for the company took one for the tea, oh my gosh.
Cee CeeSo uh, just messy, messy. Just don't be messy about it. You're not happy in your marriages, you just get a divorce and go your separate ways and then you do whatever you want. It's very weird, the whole behind people's backs very messy, and I'm like that's why I don't really feel bad that they got caught yeah, yeah, like all they had to do was give each other a little peck on the kiss camp.
WarrenNobody would have ever known, it would have just disappeared. But to act that way, and then chris martin call them out and say something like uh, they're either camera shy or having an affair, or something like that, that just made it even better, apparently. And so, yeah, hr is going to take the lumps on this one for a little while at least. So, yeah,
Disturbing People-Watching Experiences
Warrenfun, fun, fun. But let's see here, okay, before I get to my other topic, this, the week before I went on vacation was a very unique week at work because we had more drop-in, unannounced solicitors at my office than I can remember. Actually, we have conference rooms in office, but they don't hold more than like a dozen people. So if we do something big, we just do it in the lobby, and we just happen to be doing my recruiter's five-year anniversary award plaque money. So we did that and we're all in there and the president of the company is there and a copy machine salesperson comes to the door and it's a secure building, so they have to be buzzed in. And the person closest to the door, and it's a secure building, so they have to be buzzed in. And the person closest door was, of course, our president. You know he's like trying to be all cool. Oh, all this for me, you know. And he said, well, I'm with whatever copier company, nope, we're not interested. Thank you, goodbye. And it was. It was great.
WarrenThat's really the second time it happened. Our receptionist was out of the office and I just happened to be getting ready to start a meeting and I'm going to the conference room and somebody's at the door so I go into the door to answer it, and it just happened to be a payroll company doing door to door. I was like nope. I said first I said, well, he asked to speak. I was here, I wanted to speak to Warren and I said, well, I just happened to be Warren and I could see the name of the payroll company on his shirt. I said, look, I'm getting ready to go in a meeting. I have zero interest in changing any payroll companies. And I said it's just not period going to happen. And I I said, but I've really got to go. And he handed me a card and gave me a lottery ticket, which I haven't scratched off yet, to see if I get anything out of it, but I just the drop in unannounced solicitors. I just that's such poor taste, I, I feel aggressive.
Cee CeeI don't like it. I don't like it when people come unannounced at my home oh yeah, text before you come over, but yeah, you're at work like it when people come unannounced at my home oh yeah, text before you come over. But even at work it's just so. You're going about your business, you're running into meetings, you're trying to, and someone just shows up and it's just rude.
WarrenI understand they're trying to do their job and that's what they do and things like that, but that just I have not seen. You know, aflac used to be the worst when it came to door-to-door sales business for at least HR-related stuff, and then some of the temp agencies followed behind Aflac and but I hadn't seen any in forever and I do our office manager. She sits at the front desk. I think she does a good job of shooting them down, so I don't even know. A lot of them come by, but she says it's been busier lately again Anyhow, and as you know, I deeply despise solicitors.
Cee CeeOh, as your LinkedIn profile says, yes.
WarrenYes, yes, so my my top. Another topic I had for today was some of my people watching experiences while I was in Costa Rica.
Cee CeeThat is my all time favorite hobby.
WarrenMy wife and I lived in the DC area. This was before children time. We would actually take our bikes, put them on the metro drive into the downtown mall area of DC just to ride our bikes around and people watch. This was pre-9-11. You could ride your bike pretty much anywhere. At that time there always seemed to be protests at the International Monetary Fund building so we'd always make sure that was on our route and things like that and just the people watching was very much top notch in the DC downtown DC area.
WarrenBut now you know, living in the sticks there's not as much, but going on vacation, there's always something going on for people watching. But this vacation offered me some really eye-openers. I'm gonna try some of them. I'm not gonna be able to relate to hr, I just think they're funny as hell and I want to share the story. A couple of them. I want to relate to hr in some way, but here's the the most disturbing people watching uh, my wife and I experience and I can't relate it to HR, so this is just a funny story.
WarrenSo all the beaches in Costa Rica are public. There's no private beaches. Your resort doesn't have its own private beach or anything like that, but the beach that my resort is on only has two entrances the resort entrance and a public entrance which is 50 yards north of the resort entrance and a public entrance which is 50 yards north of the resort entrance. So my wife and I, you go down and we got our place on the beach and it's a wide-open beach. There's not that many people. We went like 100 yards away from the resort entrance, the main entrance, to get away from people, just be able to sit there and enjoy ourselves and have some drinks and watch the ocean and things like that. Go swimming, enjoy ourselves and have some drinks and watch the ocean and things like that. Go swimming.
WarrenWell, a couple comes and so we're a hundred yards from the main entrance, we're probably 50 yards from the next closest group of people, and then there's hundreds and hundreds of miles, like in North Carolina. The beach goes on forever. There's rocks and cliffs and things, but it goes on for several hundred yards beyond us where there's absolutely nobody. But this couple comes and, I kid you not, they're like 20 feet in front of us and it's a male and female and they are she's like directing the guy to take these pics and she's like I mean they no nudity, but she was making some very sultry type positions and facial expressions and she took, like, the bikini top off and was covering herself and doing these little positions and she's directing the guy who's taking the pictures oh, get higher, get lower. She was not wearing a thong.
WarrenBut she pulled her whole bikini bottom straight up her ass to make herself have a thong. And she's like getting on her all fours once again, bathing suit, bikini undone and covering with one hand. And she's telling get behind me, get this angle, get that. And she's going to town and my wife and i're like looking at our which she could have gone another 100 yards this way, we would have never seen them. But and they had to know we're there, we're 20 feet from them and she's just going on and on directing him and and so on, so forth, and it was just, it was awkward for us. Like we're on our towels sitting here on the beach, are we going to get up and leave, or it was just, it was just incredibly uncomfortable, it was it was just like over, just jaw dropped there and I feel
Cee Ceelike for minutes I feel like this is a real life situation. Um, I don't know if you've ever been on the reddit instagram versus real life or instagram versus reality or something and it's like I wonder what her final instagram or tiktoks were like the fully edited one, versus what you were seeing, the chaotic behind the scenes that was to get there.
WarrenAnd I will say and I'm not trying to be mean I think the man might have had some developmental disabilities, judging by some of his mannerisms and behaviors and things like this. And anyways, my wife and I we didn't know what type of relationship they had. She was obviously older than him. We didn't know if it was one of those whatever you call it spring winter relationships or you know where there's a big age difference or anything like that. So well, the next night they're sitting near us at dinner on the resort and we paid for. They had three levels of I don't know what you. They have standard, deluxe and VIP. We got the deluxe, so we got preferred seating in the restaurants and things like that, which was actually great. But we got to sit outside on the patio and for dinner at this restaurant but they were like on the other side of the wall and window from us.
WarrenSo the first thing that happens as they sit down, the lady gets extremely rude with the waiter. And she had the same waiter we had and he was fabulous. He was awesome. I had no complaints with any of the service I received anywhere the whole time, but he was absolutely fabulous. But she just says and when he comes to take her order. Well, I didn't bring my glasses, so you're just going to have to read the whole menu to me.
WarrenAnd my wife and I sort of looked at each other and like, yeah, you can do something rather than this. And he played. He was very, and because it's all inclusive, you don't there's no tips or anything like that, and in Costa Rica tips are built into your bill. Anyways, when we went off the resort to go to dinner, I actually wanted to give the waiter a better tip than the inclusive one, but it didn't even give me the option. There was no option to give him and I didn't have any cash, either Costa Rican or US, on me at the time, so I did kind of feel bad, but anyways, I was like that man deserves a bigger tip from her In some way. She was just so rude and what have you? Well, later in the meal we discovered their relationship was mother-son and she, oh yeah, and she, oh yeah, and she.
Cee CeeOh, he was taking the pictures of his mom.
WarrenHe was taking the pictures of his mom.
Cee CeeOh no.
WarrenWell, there's the twist, yeah.
Cee CeeIt took me a second.
WarrenIt was a mother-son and we figured it out. Now the restaurant is a small restaurant. It has maybe 12 tables in it, not a huge restaurant, so you can hear everything that's going on in there. She yells at this. He has to be over 18. It was an adults-only resort. But he goes. Stop being such a dumb ass like your father. I'm like oh, yells at him. I couldn't hear anything he said or did. I don't know what caused that. I was like that's where we learned what the relationship was and my wife like oh my god, we kind of thought it was, but judging by the pictures, I thought okay, maybe it's a big age discrepancy.
Cee CeeIt sounds super healthy yeah.
WarrenWell, so that night goes. Then a third night we're waiting for our reservation at the resort steakhouse and we're just sitting fully dressed in our street clothes at the pool, people watching and things, and they come. As we're sitting there, they come to get in the pool. It's like nighttime, it's starting to get dark, and what happens in the pool? She's asking him to take more pictures and she's like you know, at dark the pool has lights and she's getting in front of it and she's like make sure you get my boobs. And then I was floating and like get my ass too. And she's talking to her son in this way.
AnnouncerI'm like if this is what they're doing out here.
WarrenI don't want to know what's going on in that. I wanted to like, like I said, I think the boy was developmentally disabled in some way. Just observationally, he didn't seem all the way there and I'm like what?
Warrenthe hell's going on dynamic yeah, that was, I was someone. Is this something we should be reporting to somebody? Because it was weird and it's just that. Oh, it was weird and we like, if we saw them, we sort of started heading the other way. We didn't have any other dinner reservations at the same time they did, thankfully, and things like that. That was, that was real weird.
WarrenAlso at the resort, the, the people in the room next to us. My wife gets mad at me. There's a redeveloping trend in a lot of the stories of my wife getting mad at me. But I call people that are my kids' age and younger, little boys, little girls, and obviously they're over 18 if they're at this resort and things. But the people and I call them little boy and little girl in the room next to us, they look like they're 15. I wouldn't have believed that they were 18. Girl in the room next to us they looked like they were 15. I wouldn't have believed that they were 18. But anyways, they were there and they're very young. They were actually in the pool enjoying the pool. They're in the pool too and they're walking around together and this guy comes up and he starts to talk to him. I don't know, it didn't seem like they knew him before and you could see they're trying to get away. They're sort of scooting backwards trying to get away and he's following. They did like a whole circle around the pool. Then they get out of the pool and said well, we have to go, we'll talk to you later. And I was like he seemed like a stalker. Part of me wanted to ask him is everything okay? Do you need help in any way? I didn't, because they seemed to get out of the pool and sort of got out of the area quickly. But that is another thing. But those are the two stories.
WarrenI can't really relate to HR, but I got two people watching stories. I can definitely relate to HR and I did two different excursions while we were in Costa Rica. The first excursion, the first day, my wife and I being in our 50s we were the youngest people on this excursion and there were some very interesting other people on this excursion. It's only a group of 10 people is the maximum size of these excursions, so it was a small group of people. You're in a van going from place to place together, so you're on the van, probably a total of three, maybe as many four hours together as you're going place to place and things like that. And the tour guides were awesome and they would sort of you know, do hey, where are you from and what do you do for a living? Why are you here? What do you want to do in Costa Rica, what brought you to Costa Rica, and things like that. So we got to know people. We had some very interesting people One guy who claimed he's a lawyer.
WarrenHe said he did real estate and criminal defense and I was like that's a weird combination but I wouldn't let him get me out of a parking ticket or close on a dog house for me. He was. He was a very interesting person. And another another gentleman was just one of the excursion we were on. The main event of the excursion was a river cruise to see wildlife up and down the river and he was nearly in tears because the boat we were on did not have life vests and he wanted a life vest and he was literally on the verge of tears about not having a life vest and it's the law, it's the law, it's the law. And I was waiting for a very interesting lawyer friend to chime in then and I'm like you got to remember you're in Costa Rica, not the United States, and take a ferry across. We've got ferries in my area. You don't have to put on a vest to go on the ferry and things like that. But anyways, he'd been getting on my nerves before that point.
Cee CeeWait, was he upset that you weren't being handed life vests?
WarrenNo, there were no life vests on the boat, that at least you could see. But he wanted to be wearing one and anyways, and I said well, why don't we find you a life vest? That way, if the boat goes over, you can be floating crocodile food, while my wife and I safely swim away.
WarrenAnd my wife punched me in the ribs. I probably still have a bruise from that one because I was just sick of him by then. So, like, not that. Much later the the cruise boat pulls up, we're on the side of the river, five feet from a crocodile that's sunning on the on the bank, and we're all taking pictures and ooh, and things like that. And he goes on. Oh, I think this is a doll, this isn't alive, it's not moving. And the tour guide is like, oh well, they're cold-blooded and they, after they eat, they need to sit on the sun to help them digest. Yada, yada, yada and things like that. Then, all of a sudden, the crocodile decided he didn't want to be near the boat anymore and he turned around and slid back in the river. This man practically shit himself trying to get out of it was just so crazy and so ridiculous. And the lawyer person wanting to ask you know, where are the hippopotamus? Where are the tigers? I'm like we're in Costa Rica, there's no hippopotamus.
Cee CeeNow I know from watching Narcos You're an old man.
WarrenYeah, from being in Narcos watching Narcos, I know there are hippopotamus in Colombia, thanks to Juan Pablo Sandoval, but I don't think there are any hippos
Group Dynamics and Travel Experiences
Warrenin the river in Costa Rica. But my point, to tie this back to HR in some random, strange way the quality of the group you're around really impacts your experience. We got everything we wanted out of the tour. We saw monkeys, we saw crocodiles, we saw, we saw the jesus christ lizard now, he wasn't running across the water or anything like that, but we saw one I don't know what you're talking about.
Cee CeeNow I'm like the what and I'm like, oh, the little, yeah, he runs across the water.
WarrenWe saw him sitting on the shore and the boat driver stopped and was trying to like rev up the engine of the boat to sort of scare him to see if he would run across the water. He wasn't doing it. He wasn't having any part of it, but we got to see that. But that excursion we had a great time still and none of these people were going to ruin it for us. But the next day we went on a volcano and rainforest tour and we were a different group and in that group.
WarrenWe were probably the oldest my wife and I of people there, but it was a cool, fun group, a lot of interaction, a lot of fun. Uh it was. It was night and day difference and the experience was better. Going through the rainforest tour, we got to see a few snakes which I love snakes and we got to see the sloths. We saw plenty and plenty of sloths and then some birds. I didn't get to see a toucan our entire trip. I really wanted to see a toucan, but being with that group was just such a night and day difference.
WarrenThey were fun and jovial and they were making fun of me as I was. I was like getting close to the snakes and like you can have all the snake pictures you want and get a up, because I don't know that, yeah, this one's poisonous but it's not aggressive, and I'm looking at it and and the tour guides, yeah, you can get close, you can even get closer. I'm like I'm, I'm at my comfort level now of this snake and that was the eyelash viper. And then the other one I don't remember its name but it's the most poisonous snake in costa rica and it was about five feet long. But we saw it from the comfort of our, our van, and they started making money.
WarrenYou want to get out and play with this one? I'm like, no, I'll keep my distance. It right here, as I was really into the, the snakes we saw, but you know, everything else being the same, the, the, the, the group of people, and it has nothing to do with their age. I was just deprecating that I was the youngest in one group and the oldest in the other group, but it was.
Warrenit's like a work group essentially. You spent especially the second day. It was a two and a half hour drive each way to. So we were staying in the northwest corner of Costa Rica and we were going basically to the northeast corner, and so it's like four plus hour drive.
WarrenYou're in the van with these people and you know you're stopping here and there and doing some other things before that, but it was you get to know these people and doing some other things before that. It was you get to know these people and it was a much better environment. You know, even if we now I don't think my wife would have been happy if we didn't see any sloths. That's half the reason she wanted to go to Costa Rica was to see sloths, but we saw sloths in mass.
WarrenI love it, yeah, and it was great. So the group dynamic really made the difference and tying that back to HR. But the other people watching event I had well, yeah, the only other one I'm going to talk about is flying back on Sunday evening. Everything in the southeast was like thunderstorms everywhere. Our, our pilot told us as we're flying back, so I had to fly through the main hub of baltimore. Uh, hey, we're taking a different route. It's going to take us 20 minutes longer, we're going to be 20 minutes delayed, but we're going to be avoiding all these storms and turbulence and everybody will have a better ride. So we did that, and I was mentioning even coming from costa rica. We almost made it. I'm a nerd when I'm on a plane and my another thing my wife hates about me I like have my google maps open the entire time so I can see exactly where we are, and so trying to look out the window oh yeah, look at the wind.
WarrenWe flew going down. We actually flew coming out of Baltimore down to Costa Rica directly over Greenville, north Carolina, and from 36,000 feet. I also have my app on my watch that tells us our altitude and all that other fun stuff.
WarrenMy hiking app does that and I was like, oh, we're about, between Google Maps and everything, we're about to fly over Greenville. So I'm like, oh my gosh, there's Dowdy Ficklin Stadium where the ECU Pirates play football. So I got a picture of it from 36 000 feet, but anyways, that was the way down. On the way back our flight we were about 20 minutes late, like the pilot said, getting there. But we get to baltimore and my return flight to norfolk, virginia beach, uh, had been delayed because of the thunderstorms in the area, and okay, fine. And each time it got delayed, our gate changed, so we're at whatever gate. And then they say the flight's being delayed by an hour and a half and now you'll be catching it at this time at this gate. So like the whole group sort of gets up and meanders over together and our flight got delayed twice. But while we're waiting the second time, some flights across from us, across the corridor from us, got canceled and this one dude just completely lost his shit in the airport yelling and cussing.
Cee CeeWhat's in that airport that people forget how to behave like humans?
WarrenOh, the airplane too. Oh, okay, I'm going to tell this story too. It's not HR related, but to the point, security had to come and escort him away and I'm just like he was just yelling and cussing, like, like I almost said, little girls don't would hate me. But the lady at the at the ticket counter, the gate there, she has zero control of the weather. And at the airport many of the arrival departure boards, they have weather maps of the whole country there and you can see the whole Southeast is lit up and there's more red and orange and there is green and yellow in a lot of these maps. And I was telling my wife, oh, our flight's going to get canceled too. Luckily for us it wasn't, but it was just severely, severely delayed and we spent like six hours in the Baltimore airport versus like two, but it was. But like what? I leaving on the day I saw someone from work. She's actually taking the same plane from Norfolk, virginia Beach. I was to Baltimore but she was heading out elsewhere and we saw her in the airport.
WarrenBut what if you never I've been in airports and places you never think you're going to be like? I've been in Montana and oh, I'm running into somebody I know in an airport. What if you run into a coworker that just sees you losing your shit? I don't know, I would. I sort of think that person becomes unemployable at that point If you can't handle. I know flying and traveling is a stressful situation, especially for a lot of people, but you know, it's, it's life, you know, go to the ticket counter, get your voucher for a hotel and they'll get you on the flight sometime. Another flight sometime tomorrow. And yeah, yeah, life sucks sometimes but the lady at the ticket counter can't control that. The flight cancellation, the weather, anything like that, and to lose your shit like that was just so stupid. It's so stupid, but here's the story. I was not going to tell, but it popped my head. So the airport in costa rica we landed out it's liberia airport and it's a tiny airport. It's only got like six gates and one of them you actually have to popped my head.
WarrenSo the airport in Costa Rica we landed out it's Liberia Airport and it's a tiny airport. It's only got like six gates and one of them you actually have to walk out on the tarmac to get on and off your plane, which we didn't have to do. Thankfully it's only got one runway that doesn't have any separate taxiways or anything. So there's one runway where planes are both landing and taking off and there's no other taxiways or anything.
WarrenSo we're in line, so we're perpendicular to the runway now, waiting for other planes to land, and then the captain gets on the microphone and says unfortunately we're not going to be able to taxi for departure, we're going to have to miss our window. Somebody is in the laboratory and we cannot taxi with somebody in the laboratory. And I'm just like, because we're 90 degrees degrees, I can look at. I had a window seat, I could look out and I could see there's like four, when there's four airplanes waiting to depart behind us.
WarrenSo this person who couldn't hold their stuff together for to get into the air is not only delaying us, but they're delaying four other airplanes and I'm going to watch these other planes land. And it's not only delaying us, but they're delaying four other airplanes and I'm going to watch these other planes land and it's not like there's room for these other planes to pass us on the way to get onto the airfield. So that was something else. I'm going to tell them stories. I'll go ahead with one Our flight attendant who gave the announcements? It was Southwest Airlines was hilarious, going between Baltimore and Norfolk. It's a 25-minute flight and he says, because of the turbulence and the length of flight, we're not going to release the unbuckles, the laboratories will not be open, we're not doing refreshment services or anything like that.
WarrenAnd he's doing it all funny, he is drop-. Hilarious. And he goes and if this, if this flight to norfolk should turn into a cruise, he says, girlfriend, I quit. But he says but the other flight attendants, they will assist you in getting the light vest from under your vest and things like that. And but also, when he was talking about the the laboratories being closed, he says so that means no getting naughty in the potty today, people.
Cee CeeNo, getting naughty in the potty, what else?
WarrenHe was saying so many oh. And he says, because of the short flight and everybody's going to need to remain buckled, he goes don't even bother pushing the blue light over your head. No, that no. Girlfriend quit last week and he was just going. I was almost in tears listening to him. You know, because I've everybody's heard the, the announcements a hundred times. And you know, don't put your mask on the baby first. You know everybody's heard this. He made it fun, he made it interesting. I just wonder how much southwest would condone. Oh, and as we were landing. We know you have lots of places to choose when you make your flight arrangements, but just remember Southwest is the airline that
Airport Behavior and Travel Etiquette
Warrenthe only thing they love more than you is your money.
AnnouncerOh my gosh, and he was just going off and things like that he was.
Warrenhe made you know after being in the airport it would end up being six hours. He made the 20 some odd minute flight. Just hilarious and great.
Cee CeeThat's awesome. Well, southwest was the one that like, wasn't that the one? That big case study of like they had an employee do that and then they had some people. It was almost like this grassroots of they would just employee do that and then they had some people. It was almost like this grassroots of they would just have fun with those announcements and they were known for that. And then the was it corporate? Tried to like make it mandatory oh and that was like it lost the sauce when they tried to like mandate it.
WarrenBecause some people can't do that.
Cee CeeSome people just can't, and it's fine, but yeah, they're kind of known for that.
WarrenSee, I've flown Southwest. They're one of my first choices because of the cost and up until recently, you get two bags free and we booked our flight so we got our two bags free each and things like that. But another employment-related test People putting away and getting out their carry-on baggage oh my gosh, that's like an IQ test for people. It was very much frustrating to me. And oh, the girl crossed the aisle and once again she wasn't a little girl, but the guy taking his suitcase out, like lost control of it and smacked her in the head with it.
WarrenAnd I was like don't be so stupid people. But yeah, I was just that that that annoys me people in their carry on. I don't, I carry my backpack as my personal item and I stow it under the seat and things like that and I check everything else. I don't want to deal with that, but it takes 10 minutes longer to get off the plane because all these intellectually challenged people getting their bags in and out of the carry-on.
Cee CeeSee, there's a system you put the carry-on a couple seats before your seat and that way when you get out of your seat to exit the plane, it gives you room to take step, step, grab your bag and go, instead of if everybody put behind you and then you're holding up the line. It's very awkward. You got, that's my method.
WarrenOh, I like that, If you are permitted to carry, carry on baggage my wife and I would we carry our book bags has a change of clothes, just in case our bag we make it and our bags don't.
WarrenIt has our phone chargers, it has snacks in it, it has just the bare minimum stuff you need if something were to to happen, but that's all. I've literally had this book bag. It's since before my daughter was born. I know I just remember having it up in DC before she was around and things like that. It's been everywhere with me and yeah, that's the way I prefer to travel. Just check the damn bag. I've never had one of my bags get lost. I hear horror stories about it happening. But, like I said, I've got a change of clothes, I've got my phone chargers, I've got the things I absolutely need are right there and the airline will get me my luggage tomorrow, most likely if it were lost.
WarrenYou know, I just don't see the need of of this. So anyways, yeah, yeah. So not a too much of an HR related episode, more more me venting and telling stories than anything else. But we did cover the cold pay, cold play, kiss cam. So that yeah it. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. You know he was. He resigned like the next day or day two after this. I'm sure the board told him oh, by the way, you are resigning yeah you're.
Cee CeeYou are resigning like we're telling you to leave, but making you feel like you have a choice in the matter exactly, and I'm sure the same went for the, the hr director, I'm sure, officer she's dpl you know my opinion on hr titles are are just useless.
WarrenBut anyways, yeah, I I do want to see what happens with them and I know not that I'm going to pay that much attention. But if, if the ceo gets another job anywhere, he won't just like that cole ceo who you know got busted cheating after only a few months on the job as well and anyone's gonna be like, oh, like I don't want to hear, like why should he get like fired for his personal life or anything?
Cee Ceenow, that's your integrity if that's how you behave. If that's how you behave in your personal life, then how are you behaving as the leader of a multimillion dollar, billion dollar, whatever organization?
WarrenAnd every article mentioned that they're both from this company called Astronomer, so the company's name is absolutely tied to the story, and so he made the company look bad. So, yeah, I just want to see more of the fallout of this. And whether they ever get jobs, we'll probably never know. And if this guy's lawsuit against Coldplay goes anywhere, I really, really doubt it.
Cee CeeI am sorry, sir, you are not a victim in this situation.
WarrenAnd then I see all the things. Of course, I do feel bad for the other spouses and children that are involved.
AnnouncerYeah, I do.
WarrenBut you know people are. You need to stop sharing this video because there are children involved. I'm like, oh, you know it's out the door now you can't unring that bell. Yeah, so crazy, crazy stuff.
Wrap-Up and Episode Preview
WarrenSo let crazy stuff. So, uh, let's see, in two weeks we'll have another episode and at the end of August we will do a office for episode four, which is gosh, what is that? So it's a it's a hot girl Alliance. Oh, the Alliance, the Alliance, yeah, it's the Alliance. So, yeah, we'll have fun with that. Yeah, that's going to be a good one. So, anyhow and it sort of falls into what I was saying about the team you're on and the group you're working with makes all the difference.
Cee CeeThere you go. That's a case study.
WarrenA case study. So anyways, so anyways. Well, I do want to put out our thank yous to Hallie, the original Jaded HR Rockstar, bill and Michael, who support us on Patreon. Follow the links in the show notes. You can support us there too. You can leave us a text. There's a link to leave us a text. I'd love to hear from you Get your ideas. You think we suck, we think we're stupid. You think you got an idea for a show. You know that's.
Cee CeeWe're awesome. Don't put those ideas in their head.
WarrenThat's how Cece and I met. She contacted me some way once upon a time, but first time she was a guest on the show.
Cee CeeI was like oh okay, that's true.
WarrenGet online with us and interact.
Cee CeeWho knows what will happen, that is true.
WarrenWe should really capitalize more on that story. I'm gonna have to dig up that email or dm or something is. I don't delete anything. I've got like a hundred thousand emails in my gmail account and things like that, but it was just a call for guests and I was like I'll be on and then that was it here we are.
Cee CeeMaybe we should do something like that again yeah, so, but I'm.
WarrenI don't want you to go anywhere as I've lost.
Cee CeeNo no.
WarrenFor good reasons. Both of them were good reasons. You know, having children and other responsibilities in life. So, yeah, that's, that's good. So, anyways, thank you to all of them. Leave us a review, contact us on our social medias. I'm not going to get any more active on social medias things are about to start getting busy again, but maybe I'll try every once in a while.
WarrenI don't know when we made our last, we'll do our best oh, the underscore sort of does the theme song devil to devil, and then I'll say, as always, I'm Warren. I'm Cece and we're here helping you survive HR one. What the fuck moment at a time.
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