Quietly Profound HR: SHRM's $11.5M Reckoning and Chat GPT Recaps Our Year

Start with a candid reality check: the leading HR association just lost a racial discrimination and retaliation case, and the verdict wasn’t small. We unpack what an $11.5M judgment against SHRM means for credibility, compliance, and the daily work of HR practitioners who’ve been told to trust the “authority” voice on fairness and DEI. If the standard-bearer fails its own standard, how should we rethink where we place our time, money, and learning?

We walk through the essentials: what the plaintiff alleged, how the court weighed treatment and retaliation, and why the optics of a hard push to appeal could prolong pain without repairing trust. Then we get practical. If dues and big-tent conferences aren’t delivering real value, how do we build a better PD stack? We talk labor and employment law briefings, focused workshops, and choosing events that sharpen practice rather than inflate brand. Expect an unvarnished lens on HR keywords that matter right now—DEI credibility, retaliation risk, workplace investigations, and organizational accountability.

To lighten the load, we run an AI-assisted tour of our own year: weaponized incompetence finally clicking for teams, HR through pop culture that teaches better than white papers, and a grab bag of unhinged workplace moments we handled with restraint. We also call time on rage-bait content and the algorithm that rewards outrage more than insight. Our answer isn’t performative—just better habits, clearer choices, and PD that respects your attention.

If you care about ethical HR, compliance that actually works, and professional development that pays off, this one’s for you. Hit follow, share with a colleague who needs a sanity check, and leave a short review telling us where you’re investing your learning next.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open, Disclaimers, Table Set
• 1:00 Meet The Hosts And Catch-Up
• 4:05 Winter Weather And Life Logistics
• 9:10 Holidays, Burnout, And Party Season
• 12:45 Delivery Delays, QVC Nostalgia, Shopping Shifts
• 16:45 Main Topic: SHRM Lawsuit Verdict
• 25:20 Appeals, DEI Optics, And SHRM’s Future
• 31:00 Conferences, Alternatives, And PD Choices
• 34:30 Year-In-Review Setup With AI
• 38:30 Top Episodes And Moments, According To AI

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 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 gonna ride up my employee for crying too much.

SPEAKER_01: 0:27

Welcome to our little table. Welcome to HHHR.

SPEAKER_00: 0:49

So, anyways, welcome to JDHR, the podcast by two HR professionals who want to help you get through the workday by saying everything you're thinking, but say it out loud. I'm Warren. I'm Cece. Alright, so we lied to you the last episode. We we said we were gonna record two weeks ago, which we didn't, my fault, and then we were gonna take the rest of the winter off and start in January. But since we didn't record two weeks ago, we wanted to get something out there to you. And so here we are. Yay!

SPEAKER_04: 1:22

So just when you think we're gonna zig, wig zag.

SPEAKER_00: 1:26

Yeah. What it what from Game of Thrones zigzag, Brandon. Was it Brandon?

SPEAKER_04: 1:32

I don't know. I never watched Game of Thrones.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35

You didn't. Oh that's your wintertime assignment watching Game of Thrones. I thought that would have been right up your alley. Anyways, yeah, that's you gotta you gotta I've been picking up some of the things you watch. You gotta you gotta go through Game of Thrones.

SPEAKER_03: 1:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:53

Are you into sci-fi fan? Yeah, sci-fi, but fantasy world like Lord of the Rings and things like that. It's not quite Lord of the Rings as well.

SPEAKER_04: 2:01

Yeah, I did not like Lord of the Rings, but I I I heard about it. I I guess I could like it. I'll try it. I'll try it.

SPEAKER_00: 2:09

When when I worked with Patrick and others, we because it uh Game of Thrones, I think, came on on Sunday nights, and I didn't subscribe to HBO, and so I had to procure it elsewhere, which would usually mean either late night Sunday or Monday. So the the the code word we always say is did if when you walked in, did you do your homework? Did you do your homework? If if because the whole office, the whole HR team was watching it into it, and we would spend like Monday morning was work 50% and Game of Thrones 50%. That made it a lot of fun making a shared event across everybody and things like that. So yeah, I uh we did that. We uh that was that was good times. But there is a little bit gratuitous sex, if that's not your thing, then yeah, that and stuff like that. But it's it's a it's uh one of my top shows. Even I Dawn, who hates fantasy type of anything fantasy genre, liked Game of Thrones, so that that might give it a a leg up, but she really disliked the the all the the sex stuff in it. But anywho.

SPEAKER_04: 3:19

Yeah, I'll probably watch it. I'm I I don't know. I'll give it a try. I'm I'm down to give anything a try before I blindly hate something.

SPEAKER_00: 3:27

You don't hate it. I don't think you'll hate it. It may not be your your cup of tea, but I doubt you'll hate it. I hope yeah. Oh, I'll probably love it. But I think my wife and I have probably seen it three or four times all the way through. So yeah. I've been trying to keep this at the beginning, so I want to thank our Patreon contributors, Allie, the original Jaded HR Rockstar, Bill and Mike. So I so yeah, thank you. Because our bill for the recording comes up, and y'all's combined annual contributions let me pay for that without letting my wife know. Yay! So, how is your winter going weather-wise out there in the Midwest?

SPEAKER_04: 4:09

I'm gonna show you how my winter's going.

SPEAKER_00: 4:12

I I see your Snuggie thing there.

SPEAKER_04: 4:15

This is not a Snuggie. This is this is a full-on, like ultra-large hoodie. It's like better than a Snuggie.

SPEAKER_00: 4:24

Yeah, is it closes?

SPEAKER_04: 4:26

Yes, because remember, the Snuggie only covered the front. It was like a blanket with you know, it's the blanket with arms. This is like um this is like a blanket that's a hoodie, and it is the best. But we got hit with like four or five inches of snow on Saturday night, and it was like what'd they say? They said on Saturday at 12, like we were gonna start to see the snow. I went to Kroger that morning, the grocery store, and it was a freaking madhouse. It was snowmageddon. Everyone was getting their milk and their bread.

SPEAKER_00: 5:01

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_04: 5:03

And and uh for some reason they're also there to get their chuck roasts because I guess everyone thought the weather was dropping, so they might as well go make a nice chuck roast. So I don't know, it was like it was insane, but it was a nice weekend because I just got to sit in the house. I didn't even have to leave the house. It was great.

SPEAKER_00: 5:21

See, this winter has been crazy for northeastern North Carolina. I'm on the coast, so you know, I mentioned in January we got that eight inches of snow, which has never happened here. Well, not never, but it's been a very, very long time. Since October, we've had four snowfalls here. Uh and each time we've had snow, the next day it's like 60 degrees. So Saturday we no, Friday we had uh what the one of these days we had, I don't know, the days are all blue, we had snow. I was driving home in a shitstorm of of snow, and the next day it was like 60 degrees. And then this weekend, Saturday was yeah, Saturday was really nice. I was I went outside to do some work. I'm all bundled up and everything. I go outside and it's warm. And I'm like, oh wow. So uh but yesterday we got snow again, and we've had accumulation in our area. Not when I say accumulation, I'm talking an inch or less. But accumulate that's a lot for our area. We can go years without seeing a single snowflake. Something really crazy is going on right now. I'm looking at my temperature, it's 25 degrees outside. When I went out to work this morning, it was 12 degrees. I'm like, somebody's got this confused. I'm not North Dakota, I'm in North Carolina. Please keep this weather way up north where it belongs. This is not the way it's just it's been so crazy, this weather. I'm thinking, it it's this is only the beginning of the year. The beginning winter isn't technically here yet. We got another week to go.

SPEAKER_04: 6:52

It's it happened so fast. It got so cold. It was seven degrees today. So yeah. Wow. I didn't have I left that I left the house to go drop the baby off at daycare and then my or daycare with my parents, I should say. And then, you know, Mr. CC picked her up on the way home, and I didn't leave the house since then. It was great.

SPEAKER_00: 7:12

Perfect. Yeah, I I'm just I'm over this this weather.

SPEAKER_04: 7:17

I like it. I like it not now. Like I I like it in January when I'm all peopled out from the holidays and I don't want to leave the house. So then it like snows, and I'm like, oh, the weather's so bad, I have to stay in tonight. That's that's when I like it. So as long as it stays like this in January, it's my hibernation month.

SPEAKER_00: 7:39

Okay. I'll I'll take it. I I'm just and then again, the end of this week, right now, like I said, my my computer's showing 25 degrees outside, and but it we're gonna be in the upper 50s uh by the weekend, which I'm I'm looking forward to. So I have things to do, but uh yeah, it's that's a little bit crazy.

SPEAKER_04: 7:58

So it just sucks right now because I don't I don't know if I told you this, but basically everyone's birthdays are also in December. So so it's like we do and we also celebrate all the holidays. So we have it starts with my mom's birth. Well, this year it started with Hanukkah, and then it's my mom's birthday this week, and then Mr. Cece's birthday, and then and then we have Christmas, and then there's like all the Christmas holiday parties. So we're doing like he has a work dinner tomorrow, so we're going to that, and then it's just it's like one thing every single day of the week. So that's why by January I'm like, I'm done. I'm gonna sit in my oversized hoodie blanket and no one talked to me.

SPEAKER_00: 8:42

Go away. Go away. Uh I I I can't blame you. And I yeah, December has been crazy. I I had to go to out of town for a work trip, and then I so the it was a the work Christmas party. So we do that up north, and then the next day is my fraternity Christmas party. It's always the work one's always the first Friday and Saturda in December, and the fraternity one is always the first Saturday in December. So it's like drive, you know, all the way from way up north, and where it was snowing its ass off the whole time there, driving up there and driving back, and then going to Greenville to to that, and then yeah, just a lot of a lot of, and then the other office of the other our local Virginia Beach office party was on the 12th, and it's just it's just too much. I'm uh I'm I'm burnt out and it's not even Christmas yet.

SPEAKER_04: 9:40

Nice.

SPEAKER_00: 9:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 9:42

I need to, you just reminded me, we have I guess the virtual version of a holiday Christmas party. We're having like a ugly sweater like Zoom or something happening with the HR team. It's like our monthly HR call, but we're doing like ugly sweaters and Christmas stuff, and I just realized that I need to figure something out, and I need to figure something out fast because it's coming up on Thursday, and I don't know about you, but Amazon is taking forever to get things here, like for me at least.

SPEAKER_00: 10:15

Well, I live out in the sticks, and we don't get to there is no two-day delivery with Amazon here.

SPEAKER_05: 10:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:21

Like five days is the norm for us, but strange. Home Depot, Target, they'll get it to you in two days, but Amazon doesn't was not, but that's that's you know, we we've learned to live with that.

SPEAKER_04: 10:34

Yeah. Well, I'm spoiled. I get a lot of things either same day or overnight because we have a distribution center.

SPEAKER_00: 10:40

So yeah, it's we need one of those. Jeff Bezos, if you're listening, we need uh we need one in northeastern North Carolina closer to my house.

SPEAKER_04: 10:51

I heard something interesting and funny. You just talked about Jeff Bezos. So I heard that, like, remember QVC?

SPEAKER_00: 10:59

Yeah, yeah. They were headquartered not too far from us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 11:03

Okay. So apparently QVC is making some kind of a comeback because people like they have decent deals on things, but apparently people are tired of giving Jeff Bezos money. So it's a whole thing on like trying to find other ways to per like it's probably let's go back to the way things were.

SPEAKER_00: 11:22

Let's go back to 1980 and get all drunk in our pajamas and watch TV of senseless gar oh, honestly, that sounds like a time. Actual parties where they watch QVC and mock the people and and things like that, because it was oh, isn't this, you know, replica plate of you know the battle of 1812 or whatever it is? I love it. Isn't this a wonderful thing? And it can be yours for three easy payments of$9.99. But there's only 3,000 of them left, so you better call it.

SPEAKER_04: 11:57

You've got to act fast.

SPEAKER_00: 11:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 12:00

How about this beautiful cubic zirconia? Yeah, pendant for five easy payments of$23.99.

SPEAKER_00: 12:08

Yeah. Oh yeah. I don't know if they were headquartered in this area, but they had a lot of locations. I kind of think they were, but I I I don't remember that far back. So you're doing what? Anyways, so that's fun. But so we I think we have two topics for today. I think we'll start with a serious one. Uh, and I know very little about this, so I'm gonna be relying on CC a lot for the update of the Sherm lawsuit, the conclusion. And that I thought it was gonna be a longer lawsuit. I thought it was gonna be like weeks and weeks, but it seemed to happen, everything happened pretty darn quickly.

SPEAKER_04: 12:48

It was, and I that's why I'm like, I'm I'm curious I'm curious about all the things. But uh apparently, yeah, so Sherm lost uh bad in their lawsuit, and I don't know, bad, but I think it's bad. 11.5 million dollars was part of the verdict to go to the I guess it's the plaintiff, I think that's what I'm saying. Yep, there you go. I I I can say things in law, but apparently it just kind of broke down to this individual. Her name was Rahab Mohammed. I'm really sorry if I butchered that, but it was over racial discrimination. So she is a black Egyptian instructional designer, and she alleged that she was treated less than favorably in comparison to her white colleagues, and was retaliated against when she raised complaints. I had read somewhere, and I might have misread it, but I think it went all the way up to Johnny C. Taylor as far as the complaints went.

SPEAKER_00: 13:49

I've seen something to that extent too.

SPEAKER_04: 13:52

Yeah, so apparently sh those complaints went all the way up to him. And so yeah, so they came back and said, I guess there was enough there there for them to say, nope, Sherm is in the wrong. So they awarded her. So go off. Even you know, even when you're like the a professional affiliated group, you too can you know get caught up in this. Yeah, you could screw the pooch.

SPEAKER_00: 14:23

I you know, I I I we were talking off air that I'm about a month behind at least on my podcast. And so the Bessies were doing a really good job covering this with Ashley, and they were even mentioned in the lawsuit in some of the pretrial briefings that you know and things. So listen to the Bessies, you can see all that. But I I have not listened to the episode, any of the episodes since the verdict came out. So I need to get myself a little bit caught up as I think that's gonna be great. I and uh going back to some of the pretrial stuff, they were trying to get Sherm's uh position as the leader and authority of all things HR not included in the trial. And the judge said, hell no, to that, because you you're you're becoming uh uh an HR shit show, then uh you're you're whatever you want to say is you you can't say that you're not an HR professional organization when that's what you are to to do this. So that was that was a really interesting, I thought. So do I I don't know. I've uh we're obviously not the biggest Sherm fans on this episode, and I've even asked who what organization is gonna replace Sherm because there needs to be something else out there, something better that actually represents the the practitioners of HR. And is this gonna potentially lead uh to the to the end of Sherm? But I do of the few things I've seen on this, I saw Johnny C. Taylor said they're gonna appeal this to the highest level. And so, you know, this this lady, you know, this happened like five or six years ago, if even longer, these allegations, and when she got terminated. So these things don't move quickly, and they're gonna drag it out further and further by appeals and appeals and things like that. So uh yeah, I I uh is this gonna mean the end of JCT? Is it gonna be the end of Sharm? I I I I can't see HR professionals wanting to back and support an organization that is blatantly guilty of the things that they uh profess to be experts in.

SPEAKER_03: 16:39

And yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:41

I don't know. It it's gonna it's gonna be some interesting times for Sharm. It it really is.

SPEAKER_04: 16:47

I think the irony that they pulled they were trying to pull back a little bit on DEI and all that kind of stuff, trying to rebrand it. And I'm like, that's this is the year that you're gonna get slammed with a lawsuit. Like, that's for me ironic.

SPEAKER_00: 17:06

Yeah. Yeah, it it it it I don't know, there's there's just so much there there.

SPEAKER_04: 17:13

Yeah, there really is. It's just so funny. I mean, I I I don't doubt that they're gonna appeal it. I don't that's a lot of money, so of course they're gonna try to. Yeah, it it's crazy, but uh I don't know, and I like I said, I'm not I'm not on the HRHR side, I'm on the the talent and learning side. But I do remember like being on HR teams where we would have situations where there would be a lawsuit or something. I I feel like if there wasn't really anything there, maybe there'd be like a settlement. Like if there was something there, maybe they would just do a settlement. But no, this was like courts, and the courts found something, and the courts were like, okay, there's like there's definitely something that had happened, and there was enough evidence that something had happened that yeah, now they're liable.

SPEAKER_00: 18:05

Yeah, and they tried to get it thrown out multiple times in multiple ways, and the judge said, Oh no, you know, the the judge was sort of you know ready to to you know not let Sherm try and steamroll them. So I I think that's pretty interesting overall. It I I want to see what the blowback of all this is, and I think at some point Sherm's gonna just have to say, you know, okay, we'll we'll eat this one and you know your membership dues will go up. So we can pay for for this and all the other wonderful things Sherm does.

SPEAKER_04: 18:41

So the next the next conference is gonna be like way more expensive than before. Instead of$1,400, it's gonna be$1,700.

SPEAKER_00: 18:51

Well, I had sort of my annual along with my review, my annual planning meeting with my boss. And yeah, you know, I went to the Virginia State Sherm conference this year, and she's asked me what uh about my professional development goals and things like that. And I told her, look, I'm not doing Sherm State again. I I said I will support my assistant 100% in doing that for them, do it letting her go and she can make her own decision. But I I I I'll find other ways to to get my continuing education and and stuff. I'll I'll go to some, you know, there's several law firms in the area which do excellent labor and employment law things, and that's what I I really prefer to do. So I I told her that's why I'd like to spend my professional development funding on versus the state Sherm. But like I said, I'll support my assistant a thousand percent if she that's what she wants to do. So yeah. So what I had in mind was doing a retrospective show. All the shows do retrospective shows for this time of year, looking back at the year. So because I'm lazy, I asked, or friend at ChatGPT to tell me give me a list of the best episodes of Jaded HR for 2025. Also include the the top top 10 moments of the year the what have I lost my spot the the top episodes of the year what ChatGPT I thought were the best episodes of the year and some of the funniest moments of the year. So I fed it our RSS feed with the that has the transcripts and see what it said. So well first is there any episode that stood out to you as a better episode a more fun episode or just one that stands out for you?

SPEAKER_04: 20:46

I I'm gonna say I tend to really enjoy the episodes where we did the office that we should probably pick back up again. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00: 20:56

I do like the office episodes we do need to pick that back up I don't know any of those have been fun for me.

SPEAKER_04: 21:02

Why what about you? Well yeah what about you?

SPEAKER_00: 21:04

I like the office episodes I'm trying to see what else uh I was looking through the list here of some of the top episodes I I like the weaponized and competence episode that's one of the ones ChatGPT picked out strangely enough I like to we only had one guest this entire year we Bill our Patreon supporter that was the only guest we we had all year which is is sort of strange but it yeah just schedules are not working well to for coordinating guests but his episode with you know the the rubbing one out in the bathroom one was pretty darn good oh that was hilarious I'm trying to to think of that so oh this is a you know sort of going back to the office good old days recognizing when you're living your best work life you know we were talking about that that episode I thought I like that episode but you've mentioned it several times we're we're not as jaded as we used to be we're not being as snarky or what have you as we used to be but I could I could I've I've had some things that I would love to share happen but I'm I'm just not going to not going to share that sport that's not for public consumption and things like that. So anyways so here are the top 10 moments of 2025 according to Chat GBT so I'll start at number 10 doing David Letterman's side nice resume rescue the never again mental blacklist they chose it because it demiss it demystifies hiring without cruelty right we weren't cruel in that hugely cliffable it says and this early year episode still aged very well is what it says number nine from AWS outage to HR snark crisis reveals culture why it works tech failure and leadership mirror it shows HR's invisible labor clearly I don't know what that means either a clean blend of current events and timeless insight rage bait when companies failed claim to eliminate HR calling out engagement farming that wench I forgot about her oh okay I meant to bring this up we haven't really talked you know we did one episode a month ago we haven't done a lot of talking I saw her on Fox News the other day in her I forget the name of her company but I recognized the name and it took me a little bit as I was watching walking by the TV monitor I was like why do I know that name why do I know that name and I you know I couldn't hear what she was saying but she was on there again. So she's making a profession out of being stupid things she's making a profession out of saying outrageous things apparently and getting herself continually to be can I just say I am I am over the rage bait culture.

SPEAKER_04: 24:01

I am so over it and if that's your marketing like idea and if that's your business plan that you're just gonna be like I am so not interested I will definitely spend my money elsewhere. I think it's so like as far as marketing goes that is just lazy. So go do better.

SPEAKER_00: 24:23

Well I I think AI is I'm sitting here cheating using AI to find me what to do with my episodes I didn't do any homework AI is really becoming the end of certain things like all these clips and I I'm I'm really going to make my New Year's resolution to give up social media this year finally and for good. Because you go through it doesn't matter I'm only on to Facebook and Instagram and my my grandfather taught me this or a New York City bartender taught me if it's if your thing starts with whoever taught me this I know you're coming up with complete garbage that nobody really cares about. Just like I was this this many years old when I learned or I was today years old.

SPEAKER_04: 25:04

Oh if I see something that starts with I was today years old I'm like starting to get raged on on this I the other one I hate is when they're like oh HR hates this one trick and then you like click into it and it's like how to do a behavioral interview.

SPEAKER_00: 25:20

Like I hate it or I'm an HR professional and I think whatever you know the HR professional is how many years I have 25 years of experience and I whatever. Those get me and I think it's all because of AI and people are trying to figure out the or trying to work the algorithm and things like that.

SPEAKER_04: 25:39

So well the algorithm that's a TikTok algorithm and it's the TikTok algorithm has learned that both negative reaction and positive reaction are both good things. So the algorithm actually I think it's I could be wrong but I think it's the TikTok algorithm that is solely responsible for the whole rage bait as it is now like today. Like there's always been rage bait like but as it is today it's yeah that's TikTok's fault.

SPEAKER_00: 26:08

Oh speaking of TikTok I don't know if it's related or not I think I've single handedly killed the whole 6-7 thing on Saturday by myself. Here's how my son comes home and we're talking and at some point he goes hey well how are you doing I said 6'7 and so when a 50 some year old guy says that to something it's like he's spreading the word oh this has got to be done now or done my dad said 6'7 when I asked how he's doing my wife just my wife had no clue about it and so yeah she had no clue what we talk about but my son didn't think it was funny but I did so when he doesn't think something's funny that makes it even funnier for me.

SPEAKER_04: 26:55

Honestly I stand by this that's what killed Facebook Facebook was awesome when it was only people like in college because you had to have a back in the day you had to have like a college like an EDU email because like it was only for people in college and then then grandma got on and then it just killed Facebook I can't disagree with that.

SPEAKER_00: 27:19

So anyways that was that was what we went off some tangents which we're great at doing so good at that so good. ChatGPT's number seven episode weaponized incompetence when the phrase finally clicks why it sticks turns a buzzword into a usable diagnostic listens and listeners immediately recognize their coworkers and it's extremely practical. That's so funny number six this is why we can't have nice things episode one bad actor ruins everything why it resonates universal HR truth explains policy bloat rather better than any white paper ever could boy I can't speak and rage plus resignation and perfect balance number five HR through pop culture diversity day disaster why it lasts pop culture and real HR consequences still painfully relevant and perfect training by contrast episode number four Sherm's blueprint for an overpriced dumpster fire why it lands final evolution of the Sherm critique arc and you know we we dumped on Sherm quite a lot this year. Steps like we did earlier to be honest exactly it's low-hanging fruit it really is stop expecting better and start explaining why it matters is what it says and cathartic for HR practitioners number three the creepster diaries creepy behavior in plain sight that was insane uncomfortable but necessary it perfectly captures HR's we see it but can we prove it trap oh no that means dark serious and handled with rest we handled it with restraint. Oh wow good for us on us I I I think that is the episode we did this year that has scarred me the most I don't I don't want to I don't want to know what people are writing in their freedom journaling scarred that that was number three number two the good old days realizing them while you're living them why it hits rare emotional honesty from the HR hosts yeah rare emotional honesty it speaks directly to mid-career burnout without nihilism and quietly profound easily re-listenable so quietly profound I I think that's gonna be my new tagline quietly profound quietly profound yeah no I'm I was thinking about that the other day actually I I I still feel the same way I'm still in the good days so we're still chugging along man we're enjoying it I I I had in addition I mentioned I had my review well talking about my professional development for next year where I had my annual review and I I was just you know I I have a very good open relationship my boss I said I'm not a you know me I'm not a brown noser but I love it here and I said I I in my place this is where I belong and I said you know I I I can't imagine myself being anywhere else so that was that was our part of our conversation but and she knows I'm not a brown noser so yeah but I and I I just I feel weird saying things like that but it's the honest truth.

SPEAKER_04: 30:54

So yeah it does feel weird sometimes but at the same I'm like and then I'm thinking on the other end of it like how your manager probably felt hearing that it probably felt really good.

SPEAKER_00: 31:05

So say it more tell your boss how you how you feel positively every week yeah and the number one episode according to chat GPT and you know honestly the download numbers on this one sucked but it's their number one episode you won't believe who's on your payroll why it wins oh yeah real world stakes HR sudden suddenly becomes mission critical and not overhead and it redefines the onboarding and trust for more modern workplaces. So that was ChatGPT said that was our number one episode for 2025.

SPEAKER_04: 31:45

Well good good for us.

SPEAKER_00: 31:46

I actually like that episode that was horrifying I did too honestly the downloads numbers were horrible I there's no two ways about it. I haven't looked at it re so I'm gonna pull it up as we're speaking so if you if you're listening to this and haven't listened to that it is it's it was our last recorded episode November 20th and here we are almost a month later yeah we normally get more downloads in a single day than that has in basically a month on that episode. So but also I will say October November December are usually every year it's very cyclical you can see the downloads are lower this time of year.

SPEAKER_04: 32:30

I was gonna say maybe ChatGPT liked that topic because it was an AI bot talk like and we were talking about AI bots.

SPEAKER_00: 32:40

I mean it just it resonated with it the most yeah maybe maybe yeah there there are some episodes we get within hours have more uh downloads than that has in the entire the month that's practically month that's been up which isn't it crazy because I think of like the whole thing of the fake employees and where we're going and I'm like it shouldn't shouldn't that be more of a bigger thing and maybe it isn't a big thing. Maybe that's just sensationalized but at the same time I'm like no I know a company right now that's dealing with it like 30 fake employees all have access to their shit like why aren't we why aren't we making a bigger deal of this yeah I I I think I think it's one of the things that's probably happening and more companies are realizing it but they're not they're not putting oh look at us we have we got caught with having 30 fake employees.

SPEAKER_04: 33:33

That is very true because like I said I'm not supposed to know what I know and it's hugely confidential. So it's and again it is not the company I work for it is not it is the company of a friend but I'm just saying like that is yeah they I don't I think you're right. I think it's happening more and more but no one wants anyone to know.

SPEAKER_00: 33:52

Yeah I I I I can see that happening. Yeah so one of the questions I asked Chat GPT were what were the funniest episodes of the year?

SPEAKER_04: 34:04

Let's see robot do you have a sense of humor?

SPEAKER_00: 34:07

Let's see so uh number number 10 was the good old days and it it renames it sort of renames the episodes knowing them you know as you go aging without denial humor gentle self-awareness laughs funny because it's accepted and not fought so gentle self-awareness laughs that is creepy as fuck number nine AWS outage episode where we had to record off schedule or I think we missed the episode actually put up a best of Deadpan Chaos understatement in comedy and anyway HR fixed it. Anyway HR fixed it Rage Bait the Rage Bait episode mock influencer cadence C A D E N Cadence boy my reading is not doing well y'all sorry you can tell I'm not reading from a script when we do this because I we did a LinkedIn parody done right and the impress the impression is the joke and I don't know what that is maybe I don't know.

SPEAKER_04: 35:19

Saty what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00: 35:21

Okay yeah I wish I knew number seven the funniest episode number seven resume rescued dark recruiter humor that's a forever note energy and quiet but brutal so this was actually one of my more favorite episodes The Office called and wanted their 1990s whatever that that title of that was oh yeah The Office called your 1990s management style wants its policy back is the full episode title. It said shared trauma and comedy you laugh before the phone the hosts even finish their sentences and familiarity equals the punchline number six weaponized incompetence recognition humor a relief last laughter and listeners think finally someone said it so weaponized incompetence other other than rage bait weaponized incompetence is the second thing that'll get me going like yes I hate it I will I will walk you over to whatever I will show you I will sit with you I will hold your hand and you will never have this excuse again now number four was our and we talked about it afterwards the Encore episode of Spooky HR spooky spectacular and I I really listening to it I I didn't like our delivery and that was Patrick and I season one our delivery was still very stiff and not as as loosey goosey as we are now and things like that but they cite old trauma becomes comedy why is this still happening type humor and gallows laughs for veterans. The the dumpster fire episode it says faux enthusiasm equals immediate teardown laughing through frustration and peak jaded HR tone so yeah number two the Cold Pellet Kiss Cam in Costa Rica Oh I forgot about that elite people are watching it's petty observational yet unfiltered we were petty we were freaking petty and it shows that HR problems are just human problems the number one funny episode of 2025 was a line of coke then rub one out nervous disbelief laughter absurdity absurdity so high it short circuits professionalism and you laugh because silence could be worse that was the most unhinged episode that or I no I take that back that was the most unhinged story I've ever heard yeah I I definitely I definitely agree so that's what ChatGPT tells us were some of the the funniest episodes the best episodes and the funniest episodes of the of the year. So yeah I I think we had a a good year. Down you know I mentioned this last episode had very few downloads but downloads are still up overall for the year and it's it's been a lot of fun. Love to get more downloads so share it with your friends you've got to tell your friends you've got to leave ratings reviews etc on your podcast player but tell people because we do have some really good things in lenty twenty five and I I hope to bring back the office episodes 2025 or 2026 yeah that's how burned out I am I want to go back and I'm only drinking a well you can't see me is my camera's not working today I'm only drinking drinking an orange crush so oh that's the best yeah not but okay in Greenville North Carolina home of East Carolina University is the number one college bar in the country year after year. It's called SUP Dogs. And they have this thing called a SUP crush and this is crack it it's legalized crack. It's two jiggers of vodka freshly squeezed half an orange and then like seven up sprite something like that a citrus need drink. It is the bomb and so I I got upgraded a few games ago one of my my friends is actually has his own suite and he had an extra ticket in a suite so I I went to sit with him and we're up there and they have one of these subdog bars in the the suite area and And oh I I had a of course I had a blast. I loved uh his seats. I wish I had just a tenth of the the cost to afford the the the income to be able to afford those myself. But anyways, we went to the bar and I'm talking to the bartender and I'm like as she's squeezing the orange, she's getting it all over. I said, You must hate the smell of oranges when they're when you go home and she goes, Oh, it's the worst, it's the worst. She goes, The first you like it. And anyways, I just casually we we bought like six of them, these sub crushes, and but we only you can buy them in singles or doubles, double the the vodka. Yeah, and I said, You can make it an extra heavy single, and she I you can't see me. I'm pouring the bottle upside down. She looks away and goes, Oh, is someone calling my name? And she pours it into the bottle and uh pours it in, and I was like, Oh, you're so cool. And she got a she got a very nice tip for for that. And my friends can't believe you just ask her to tour it extra heavy. I'm like, What's she going to do? The worst she's gonna do is say, Yeah, right, old dude.

SPEAKER_04: 40:56

Yeah, worst she can say is now.

SPEAKER_00: 40:58

Yeah, and you never know. It was it was just a good old time there, so okay, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I I kind of like this chat GPT, these answers. I I would I want to hear from you. What did you think, uh listener? What is your favorite episode? In our show notes, you can click text us, text the show, and it'll sing send a text directly to us through our podcast provider. Now, it isn't I can't reply to it because it goes through their systems, and then I get it in my system, but it's cool, and I will read them on air or in the show notes. There is a text number. You can text us directly, and I will reply with that. So yeah, I think 2025 was a really good year. Looking forward to 2026. And like I said, we've got some ideas to to improve and some things that we we want to hit harder, like the office episodes and and things like that. So now here's a question for you. Are you one to make New Year's resolutions?

SPEAKER_04: 41:57

No.

SPEAKER_00: 41:58

No, okay.

SPEAKER_04: 42:00

I am not. I am one to have goals that I will set for the year, but I do not make resolutions.

SPEAKER_00: 42:06

Okay. I I generally don't make resolutions. I can't say things like, I'm gonna lose weight, I'm gonna do that. And I know when I say I'm gonna do it, things like that, it it's not gonna happen. So my I am gonna try my hardest to give up social media. It's just becoming dumpster fires right now.

SPEAKER_04: 42:23

Can I be honest? I took off I took off Instagram and Facebook off my home screen, like off my phone, but you can still have it in your library, but you have to like take a couple steps to get there. Yeah. Just taking it off my phone screen, I'm like, I forget that it's there, and I probably go on those probably twice a week. Okay. Like just having it out of sight is the best thing.

SPEAKER_00: 42:50

Yeah. I I I can't disagree with that. I actually went a while and had just completely took it off my phone, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't get it. And I I went back and I don't know why I I went back and did it, but yeah, we'll we'll see how well I do with that. But no, I I generally don't make resolutions, but I do I do want to except for I do want to get Jaded HR's social media presence going, is that I think that'll help. But I say I've said that forever, and I'm just the worst at getting the social media going with that. So we will see if that happens. So yeah, and any big plans besides all the holiday festivities y'all got going? Any big plans for the upcoming for the next couple weeks for before we head into 2026?

SPEAKER_04: 43:36

No, I'm taking like a week and a half off, maybe like a week and a week and a few days. So I am super excited to just take time off and hang out at home.

SPEAKER_00: 43:48

Yeah. Yeah. Um I'm the same way. Classes are finished. I got my ass kicked, but I came out ahead of the game. I'm really, really but I I'm my stress level is gonna hopefully come down soon. I'm taking a week off myself. My daughter's flying in from Utah. My son just came in, as I mentioned, on Saturday. So we'll have the whole family here. I haven't seen my daughter in two years, so it's gonna, or not, she hasn't been here in two years. I went last summer to Utah to visit her, but it's gonna be nice to have her and her hubby here and having some fun. So yeah, I'm I'm really looking forward to that. And yeah, that's that's all I've really got. So nice. Thank you, all the listeners, for listening to us and and putting up through some of our better episodes and some of our sucky episodes. As I know there's been some ones as I'm editing, like, really? Oh well.

SPEAKER_04: 44:41

It happens.

SPEAKER_00: 44:42

This wasn't our best. This wasn't our best episode.

SPEAKER_04: 44:44

We're human.

SPEAKER_00: 44:46

Yeah. But you know, that's happened in editing when I think something's not our best, but when as most I'm I'm easily a month behind on my podcast or more, but then I l as I'm doing the editing, I'm thinking, uh, this one just sort of eh, whatever. We'll publish it anyway. There's never been one bad enough to say I'm not going to publish it that since you and I have recorded. Yeah. I know that Feathers and I just we got to the point where we just both looked at each other, this sucks. Let's call it quits. We suck. Let's move on. But no, we I haven't gotten to that point. But when I listened to it in the car as a as a listener, not through the think mind of editing, yeah. I'm like, oh okay, that that turned out better than I thought. I was I was good. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 45:31

So we're just amazing, it's fine.

SPEAKER_00: 45:35

Yeah, exactly. So tell your friends how amazing we are, and what are some of the quotes ChatGPT said to us? We are, gosh.

SPEAKER_04: 45:44

Oh, I forget.

SPEAKER_00: 45:46

Anyways, HR quiet but brutal. We're quiet but brutal.

SPEAKER_04: 45:50

We're quiet but brutal.

SPEAKER_00: 45:52

Yeah, what else did it say? I'm trying to oh, one of them was smart, meta, and timely. I don't think I mentioned that one.

SPEAKER_04: 45:59

Smart, meta, and timely.

SPEAKER_00: 46:02

Yeah, so yeah, we're oh this was it. This was the good one. Quietly Profound. That's gonna be part of the title for this episode. Quietly Profound.

SPEAKER_04: 46:11

So Quietly Profound.

SPEAKER_00: 46:14

So you can be quietly profound too. Join us on Patreon, give us some support, Libreview. Let's thank Andrew Copa, the voice artist, and the theme song is Double the Devil. And with that, I will say, as always, I'm Warren. I'm CeCe. And we will see you in January, or probably the first or second week in January. Stay tuned, we'll let you know. And we're here helping you survive HR one what the fuck moment at a time.

SPEAKER_04: 46:42

See you next year.