The Final Episode of Jaded HR | Thank You for 6.5 Years of HR Stories, Workplace Lessons & Laughs

Jaded HR Finale: Thank You for 6.5 Incredible Years

After more than six years of workplace stories, HR debates, employment law discussions, and more than a few sarcastic rants, this is the final episode of Jaded HR.

In this bittersweet farewell, Warren and CeeCee explain why they're ending the podcast, reflect on how both their careers—and perspectives—have evolved, share favorite memories from years of recording, thank the listeners and Patreon supporters who made the show possible, and squeeze in one final HR legal story before signing off.

While this may be the end of the podcast (for now), the entire Jaded HR catalog will remain available for listeners to revisit over the coming years. Whether you've been with us since the early days or recently discovered the show, thank you for being part of this incredible journey.

In This Episode

🎙️ Why Jaded HR Is Ending

After 6½ years behind the microphone, Warren and CeeCee explain the decision to end the podcast. Between increasingly busy careers, changing priorities, and simply not feeling as "jaded" as they once were, it felt like the right time to close this chapter.

❤️ Thank You to Our Patreon Supporters

A heartfelt thank you goes out to Hallie, Bill, and Mike for supporting the show throughout the years. Warren also explains how Patreon contributions were used to keep the podcast archived and available for future listeners for at least the next three years.

🎢 Vacation Stories, Theme Parks & People Watching

Before the emotional goodbye, the hosts share stories from Warren's Ohio vacation, including:

• Columbus Zoo
• Cedar Point
• Theme park etiquette
• Strollers, wagons, Speed Passes, and unforgettable people-watching moments

As always, the conversation quickly goes off the rails—in the best possible way.

⚖️ One Final HR Employment Law Discussion

No Jaded HR finale would be complete without one last workplace case.

The hosts discuss an employment law dispute involving a software engineer who was terminated after making a sarcastic comment about her CEO, leading to an NLRB ruling that reinforces an important HR principle:

Consistency matters.

If employers don't consistently enforce workplace policies, disciplinary decisions become much harder to defend. It's one last practical HR takeaway before saying goodbye.

🎧 Looking Back on the Journey

The conversation turns nostalgic as Warren and CeeCee remember:

• The evolution of Jaded HR
• Favorite guests over the years
• The challenges of independent podcasting
• Why producing a podcast show takes far more work than listeners ever see
• Whether Jaded HR could someday return in another form

Never say never...

Thank You

To every listener who downloaded an episode, shared the show, laughed with us, argued with us, supported us, or simply listened during your commute—

Thank you.

You've made the last six and a half years an unforgettable experience.

As Warren says one final time:

"We were here helping you survive HR one what the fuck moment at a time."*

Topics Covered

• Jaded HR finale
• Why the podcast is ending
• HR careers and burnout
• Employment law
• NLRB protected concerted activity
• HR compliance
• Workplace free speech
• HR leadership
• Dave Matthews Band
• Cedar Point
• Columbus Zoo
• Theme parks
• Independent podcasting
• SHRM
• HR podcast farewell

Connect With Us

Although Jaded HR has reached its finale, the full archive will remain available for listeners who want to revisit past episodes, workplace stories, HR discussions, and interviews.

Thank you for making Jaded HR part of your journey.

Transcript

Untitled

 [00:00:00] 

Warren (2)Warren: Right. Well, we missed a week, two weeks ago. We missed a episode. So, we're a little bit behind, but, we have an episode for you today. But, I was just gonna start off, in the month since we've recorded last, I, Oh, I should ask, how are you? I'm not gonna just talk all about myself today.

CeeCee: Rude.

Warren (2)Warren: Like normal, yeah.

CeeCee: Well, I'm great. Thanks for asking. Um, um, yeah, so I, I went to a concert last night. I went to go [00:01:00] see The Strokes. Super, super fun, and I had a realization while I was in the crowd. And mind you, this is, like, almost, almost a sold-out show. There were so many people around us who were probably in their 20s, like, mid-20s, like...

And I was like, "Okay, this is cool. I'm jamming." And then I did the math, and I was like, I saw The Strokes for the first time in 2006 when a lot of these people were just toddlers. But that being said, 'cause I was a 20-something-year-old seeing The Strokes in 2006. But I do have to say, I'm very impressed of their longevity and, the fact that, like, a new generation has discovered them.

So, yes, and I still have a horrible crush on Julian Casablancas

Warren (2)Warren: Okay. I don't think I'm familiar with them. The name doesn't sound familiar, but, maybe if I heard something I would,

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: so yeah. In the past 10 years, years might be pushing it for when I went to a One Direction concert with my kids.

CeeCee: Nice. Nice

Warren (2)Warren: other than that, I've only been to Dave [00:02:00] Matthews Band concerts. 

CeeCee: ah, ah.

Warren (2)Warren: I started liking them in college when they would come for $2 to $3 a night. When they would come, it would be $2 or $3 at whatever local bar. And I actually bought the Remember Two Things CDs from one of the guys in the band, at the door as we were leaving 

now it's a bunch of my fraternity brothers, we still get together and go to, Dave Matthews every year. He comes to Virginia Beach every year, usually within a couple days of my birthday except for last year. He missed last year. But, Dawn has taken me for surprise, twice about gotten me tickets for, for that.

But,

CeeCee: Have we not talked about the Dave Matthews Band? Because I will say, first of all, like, you seeing them, like basically annually with your frat brothers is basically really just on, on, on par for the Dave Matthews experience. And I say that because, Mr. CC, who was also in a frat in, in college, he discovered Dave Matthews in high school.

And so he has [00:03:00] been to... I wanna... He can't, he can't really count, but he thinks he's seen them play 70-some times

Warren (2)Warren: Oh, wow. Nowhere near. I'm nowhere near

CeeCee: Yes. So, 'cause you know how Dave would come to, like, big venues and he'd do, like, multiple nights? So that's where he, like, really racked up his, like, all the shows that he's seen with them.

But ever since dating Mr. CC and then being married to Mr. CC, I have been myself to about 10 or 11 Dave shows now. So

Warren (2)Warren: Okay.

CeeCee: it's always a fun time

Warren (2)Warren: One year they didn't play, like, hits. They were like all artsy fartsy, new wave, jazz, the whole concert. And I was like, "What the..." You know? That year I was like, "I'm not going. If this is the way it's gonna be, I'm not going to more, concerts." But, this year was really good. We used to sit in the lawn. Now we're just so old, we splur- splurge for the seats.

CeeCee: Yeah, you have to

Warren (2)Warren: like, we're not at [00:04:00] the amphitheater. And the brother, the fraternity brother who introduced me to Dave Matthews, he's from the Richmond area, the very first concert, the Dave Matthews concert I went to, I'm sitting, I'm doing nothing.

I, I, Lord knows I wasn't studying or anything like that, and he just comes to my apartment and he goes, "What are you doing tonight?" I said, "Probably nothing. Video games. I have no idea." He says, "You're coming with me, we're going to see, this band." I'm like, no." I said, "I'm not going." Because the downtown bar and band scene was not my thing.

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: like the clubs, I didn't like the bars. I mean, I would go to be social with people. I was like, "Ah, I don't wanna go." He says, "You don't have a choice, you're coming." So we ended up going and it was, like I said, the venue was called The Attic. It's not even around at VCU anymore. And I will say place held a few hundred people.

This was like a Wednesday night or something. There were maybe 60 people there.

CeeCee: Ah, yes

Warren (2)Warren: And it was a good old time. I enjoyed it. Like I said, I bought the CD from one of the guys, And it was like the day or two after it came out. I think [00:05:00] the Dave Remember Two Things, CD came out. I bought it right there from him and, every time they'd come to town we'd go I'm nowhere near in the 70s mark. I might be in the 20 to 30 mark,

CeeCee: Neif

Warren (2)Warren: at best over, over all those years. But, yeah, it's, it's still a good time. But next year, I've got a ChatGPT alert to let me know when the Dave Matthews tickets go on sale in Richmond, because I'm taking the guy who originally introduced me to them.

And we'll go, I'll go up there and probably spend the night with him and, see it then.

CeeCee: It's awesome

Warren (2)Warren: looking forward to that. Yeah, it, you know, it, it's good music. This year they did a cover of Cameo. What's the name of that song? Uh, the famous song by Cameo, the only song he had in the '80s.

Word Up.

CeeCee: Oh, nice

Warren (2)Warren: they did a cover of that and it was so good, and this year they mashed up, with Led Zeppelin, they, they always do-- they don't always, but most of the time they do the, Jimi Hendrix Watchtower song, but they mashed it up with, Led Zeppelin. I forget what Led Zeppelin [00:06:00] song.

And that was Watchtower by Dave Matthews, already one of my top favorites. And when they mashed it with the Led Zeppelin, I was like, "Wow, this is, this is really, really awesome." That was great. So anyways, yeah. But I was about to say, I, I went on vacation to your neck of the woods, and, we started in Columbus, went to the Columbus Zoo, and then, we made a detour through Dayton, and I guess you can guess why we went through Dayton,

CeeCee: the Dorothy Lane?

Warren (2)Warren: the Dorothy

CeeCee: Love it

Warren (2)Warren: And then, like I said, the detour, since we're already driving all over God's green acre, we went up to Sandusky for, Cedar Point.

CeeCee: Nice

Warren (2)Warren: We had a good old time. But, so first day of the trip, we went to the Columbus Zoo, and it is an incredible zoo. I loved it. But the day we went, it was a light, misty rain in the morning. We planned on getting there a little before nine o'clock when the gates opened. We got there at like nine fifteen, nine twenty, and we still [00:07:00] got to park in the front row. And first half of the day was like we had the zoo to ourselves. We sat at the gorilla exhibit, which is probably one of the best, coolest gorilla exhibits, I've been to at a zoo. We sat there for half an hour with only the volunteer being there and wanting to talk our ear off about everything. We just wanna there and watch the gorillas. We went to, the tiger exhibit, and they were active at that point in the morning and, that exhibit all to ourselves for like twenty minutes. And wasn't till the afternoon we, there was like really anybody else there. I think going at a light, it was one of those, if you're driving, I would call it an annoying rain because it's enough rain that it's raining, but it's, you know, unless you have a bougie car with automatic wipers, or something like that, it's like even your lowest intermittent isn't gonna be enough.

So it was an annoying, little misty type rain. It wasn't bad, and the temperature was great. But when my family goes places, especially my wife and [00:08:00] I, one of our favorite things to do is people watch. And overall, I'm gonna rate Ohio as one of the boringest places to people watch.

CeeCee: Why is it switching? Okay, hi.

Warren (2)Warren: you go.

CeeCee: Boring? Boring? Why would you say it's boring?

Warren (2)Warren: Okay, let me get back. Day one at, the Columbus Zoo, the most interesting people to watch, you know, when you go to the zoo, a lot of kids will go, or kids and families will get their faces painted like, you

CeeCee: Love it

Warren (2)Warren: monkeys or, tigers and things. one family got their face painted as Kiss, and that was awesome.

CeeCee: that's awesome

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah, I, I was, Kitty." But, I thought that was awesome, but there was no, like, absurdly weird people. Everything was, like, so normal. My wife and I commented on that, about how normal everything

CeeCee: Well, I do have to say, I feel like for people watching, I don't think Columbus is the place to people watch. Like, you gotta go in other places. I'm surprised you didn't see [00:09:00] anything interesting in Sandusky

Warren (2)Warren: Well, I'll get to that.

CeeCee: Oh, okay.

Yeah, 'cause I'm gonna say Columbus is like a college town

Warren (2)Warren: The zoo is in, like, a bougie

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: judging by the houses and things like that. Okay, here's one thing I noticed about it. It seemed everywhere in Ohio. There aren't trash cans in the parking lots of, like, shopping centers or, like, in front of the shopping centers. There aren't, like, trash cans, like...

It's like we- we're on a road trip. We wanted to empty the trash out of our car. We- one time we went to Walmart. Usually, in North Carolina, Virginia, everywhere else we go, at all the cart corrals, there's a trash can. There's no trash cans there. And, and besides, in the bougie area where the zoo is Even the little 99 cent sample things are locked up at Walmart.

And, my wife wanted some lotion or something, and she just wanted a sample size, so ... Or the, the travel size so she could, you know, just didn't need to buy a whole thing. But everything was locked up like Fort [00:10:00] Knox

CeeCee: That's interesting

Warren (2)Warren: in the morning, and they weren't busy, so we were actually able to get someone to, to help us.

But, I thought that was interesting. But anyways, so the zoo was awesome. The people watching was, there was nothing, you know, nothing.

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: it was a big fat nothing burger. Next day we go to Cedar Point. Day two at Cedar Point. Now, the people watching was a little bit better, but we're talking by better.

There was not, like, anything going, uh And I'm go- This is gonna sound completely mean. We're in line for their newest ride, the Siren Scream, my son and I are behind a mother and their child, and they both seem to be a little mentally deficient. And the mother's talking, you know, as you're in line, you can see, the bolts in the structure, and they put the little markers on the bolts to make sure that they haven't come loose or anything like that, the paint, the mark. And she's talking to me [00:11:00] about every time she's in line, she's checking each one of those bolts that she can see, And she's telling me this and that. And, her son asks if my son and I, have rode this other ride yet. I said, "No, we're going to. We're going around sort of clockwise, and we'll get to that probably later."

And he says, oh, he wants to go on the other rides with us, too.

CeeCee: No.

Warren (2)Warren: and he,

CeeCee: got some clingers?

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah. He was an adult, but like I said, he had some,

CeeCee: Oh, yeah. Okay, 

Warren (2)Warren: And he's, like, telling me wants to go to Austin, Texas, to another theme park out there and do the rides, And now let me tell you, the line for the Siren Scream, it's a brand new one, is very long.

It's like an hour plus. And then finally, after I don't know how long, she turns her, the mother turns her direction away from us into these two Army kids. And they're not kids, obviously. They're in the Army in front of us. And she's, like, becoming their college counselor and telling them what classes they need to take in college and this and that.

And [00:12:00] they're being very nice to her because I, after, I don't know, 30, 40 minutes, I was, struggling to

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: With her. But that, that's, like, the most people watching we had on day two. They were interesting, but that was about it. But day three did not disappoint.

CeeCee: Okay

Warren (2)Warren: I- going into Six Flags, you ha- first thing you have to do is go through the security lines where

CeeCee: Oh, so the,

Warren (2)Warren: and

CeeCee: so you're saying your most interesting people watching happened at a Six Flags?

Warren (2)Warren: Yes

CeeCee: This tracks. Okay, keep going

Warren (2)Warren: Oh, yeah, that other thing was also Six Flags Cedar Point there. So we're in line, and the lines are pretty long to get through security. And we get, like, almost to the front. We're not quite to the top yet, the front yet. And this... They have lines for wheelchairs, strollers, wagons, and things like that, special set-aside lines. And this lady was in the line we were in. They were not letting her go through with her [00:13:00] wagon and things like that, which I'll tell my theory on that, uh, wagons and, and stuff like that later. But, they sort of pulled her to side and, you know, "Oh, the wagon, stroller, wheelchair line is over here." And she is red in the face, veins protruding from her head and neck, and she's yelling and screaming at this security guard. You know, and if she, "Oh, I'm sorry, I never saw the signs, then, uh, could you help me get... You know, I've already waited half an hour in this line. Could you help me get through to the other side?" If she'd been a normal human being and nice, maybe he would have let her, but she's, like, screaming at the top of her lungs and red face, veins bulging and everything. So what do I do? I start chanting, "Tase her. Tase her." And my son joins in, and I got, like, six or eight other people around us going, "Tase her.

Tase..." And she just turns, "Shut the fuck with her veins and everything like that. And she-- But she's yelling at the guard. There is no signs. There are signs. They're not [00:14:00] the best

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: about where to, you know, the strollers and things. There are signs. I saw them. That started the day off with a win for people watching. 

CeeCee: I have to say, I don't think you're people watching. I feel like you're also people instigating as well

Warren (2)Warren: That was instigating. Now, the first line we got in a ride in, we were behind this dad and a daughter. I would assume the dad is my age or older, and he's like this big muscle guy with a muscle shirt, and he- his-- all the tattoos and his Fu Manchu, and his skull cap, like a, like a biker wears, and things like that, a bandana skull cap. But let me tell you, if that man didn't bitch and moan and whine and cry, I wanted to just smack the sh- every time somebody who had Speed Pass went through the Speed Pass line, like, "Bitch, how come I can't?" Like, you had an option. I had an option. We could have paid the hundred and seventy-five extra dollars and gotten ourselves a Speed Pass. We did not exercise that option, [00:15:00] so here we are in line.

CeeCee: Here we are

Warren (2)Warren: like, you're, you're teaching your kids to be a whiny little bitch rather than, just, "Hey, enjoy the line," and, and things like that. So that was-- But that really was the extent of people watching on day three. It was so boring, the people watching, other than those two little events.

It was great. But I will say, here's my theory on strollers and wagons and things like that. I think these theme parks ought to make like however m- me- you by the square footage you take and h- a combination of the square footage you take and how fast you can move through like a corridor that can measure your square footage and your speed. 'Cause you see these people with like the septuplet strollers for one kid bec- so they can pack a whole, I don't know what,

CeeCee: of their stuff, yeah

Warren (2)Warren: everything in the world and like it's, it-- You know, my wife and I, when we take our daughter when she was very little, we just had a little umbrella

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: But these [00:16:00] monstrosities of wagons and, strollers and things like that. And then there's a kid, and maybe he had some special needs. He's in a, a, a giant stroller thing and, I'm like, he's twelve. His ass should be walking. You know, I'm, he-- I, I don't know.

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: that's just ridiculous. But I think the theme park should make some sort of matrix of the square footage that you, your stroller, and everything take as you walk through at a certain speed.

If you can't maintain a certain speed, you're charged more. So it's a combination of square footage and speed and, charge people appropriately from

CeeCee: Speaking of strollers really quick, I remember we took our first trip to Florida, I went out and I got this stroller that's like a travel stroller specifically for, traveling through TSA, through the airport, through everything. It folds up into, like, a little square thing, and it's only, like, 10 pounds.

I can just lift it and throw it. And I remember, like, there's all these people who have these, like, Eddie Bauer limited edition [00:17:00] bulky strollers and stuff, and they're going through the airport. And, I was, like, taking it down the runway, and I folded it up into a little, little thing, and I just handed it over to the guy.

He looked at me, and my dad used to do ground crew with the airlines growing up. He retired from that. So I have a lot of empathy for the individuals who are working in the belly of the plane. So I just, handed him this little stroller and, this little cube, and he was just like, "What?"

And then he leaned in and he's like, "Thank you." 'Cause, everything behind me was all of these obnoxious wagons and strollers and stuff. And I was just like, "No, I got you." Like, be compact

Warren (2)Warren: I have one story, but we have something else to share with our listeners. I will ask you, leave the decision up to you, are we burying the lead or are we going with it?

CeeCee: No, we're gonna tear the Band-Aid off

Warren (2)Warren: Tear the Band-Aid off. All righty, listeners, here's the Band-Aid being ripped off.

CeeCee: Prrr

Warren (2)Warren: This is the last episode of Jaded HR.[00:18:00] 

CeeCee: It's the last episode

Warren (2)Warren: after six and a half years, it's time to, move on. So

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: First I wanna give a huge thank you to our Patreon supporters over the years. Last month when, CeCe and I decided that it was time to pull the plug, I turned off the Patreon, so I don't know when your payments get hit or whatever, but the end of June, there should've been another hit. But I took all the money from the Patreon, and I paid for the hosting for, it paid for a little bit more than two years, but they don't do fractions of years, so I kind of ponied up the rest. So the podcast will continue to be hosted at least for the next three years. So if somebody wants to listen to back episodes or things like that.

So, but thank you to Hallie, Bill, and Mike, for all your support over the years. Hallie was our very first, the original Jaded R-HR rock star,

CeeCee: Yay,

Warren (2)Warren: you all.

CeeCee: Yay, all of you. Thank you

Warren (2)Warren: Bill and Mike, and, it was, it was a... really wasn't a hard decision,

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: I'd been toying with it, and [00:19:00] then you brought it up, And the funny thing was, when you brought it up, I had just that morning been thinking about it.

Maybe it's time to put this baby to bed, that day. And so after you said it, it's like I just needed someone, a little push

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: in the right 'cause I'm too stubborn to give up, on my own.

CeeCee: Yeah. And it's nothing even crazy, honestly. It's just life is just busy, and, um, and, like, there's a li- I don't know what it's like for you, but there, there's also a little piece of me that's like I'm so, like, loving my job. And we always joke about it, we're like, "It's not even jaded anymore." It's just like...

And I feel, I just feel like now it's time to close the book on this

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah, You're right on track. I'm not as jaded as I used to be. I'm not as cynical. I'm in a good place with my job and my career and everything, and it's hard to come in with these crazy, silly stories that I used to have once upon a time and things like that it's hard. don't wanna say jaded. We're seeing the bad of the HR [00:20:00] industry, but it's just, it's not as easy to do. And plus, putting the podcast together and recording and editing and everything, that planning, editing, it takes some time, and that's one of the reasons we haven't had a guest in so long since we had Bill, the Patreon supporter.

Because it's so hard to coordinate those things when, like two weeks ago, we had life. Even yesterday, we had life going on that, we couldn't record as planned.

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: it's-- I've got, I've got so much going on. You've got so much going on in our life. It's just, time to free up a few, a few extra hours a week on, on this.

So yes, it-it's, it's bittersweet, but, yeah. But I was also thinking just this morning when I was thinking about how to do, the episode. This is the second incarnation of Jaded HR. It started like, twenty thirteen-ish as a blog, and like most people and their blogs, it didn't-- I didn't keep it up.

CeeCee: A blog

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah, Jaded HR, I owned the domain, and then

CeeCee: I love it[00:21:00] 

Warren (2)Warren: I, I put a couple of... I, I didn't renew the domain, domain, and then when I went back for the podcast, hey, it's still available. So, yeah, the, the blog. So maybe sometime down the road there'll be a third iteration, who knows, of Jaded HR.

CeeCee: Ooh

Warren (2)Warren: But anyways, whatever new technology comes out sometime down the road, maybe there'll be a third iteration. I, I don't know. Holograms. No, but, know, we did, we did one whopping episode of YouTube after saying we were going to do it forever and ever. We did one whopping episode. And, you know, unfortunately we couldn't keep up with our Office rewatch, as that was a, a little, little weird. Or, you know, it wasn't weird.

I loved the

CeeCee: Yeah.

Warren (2)Warren: We

CeeCee: was really fun

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah, it was fun to keep up, but it was just hard to keep up with as it required an extra hour because you had to watch the episode, take notes, and be ready to, be prepared. It's not you're just watching it for entertainment purposes.

You're watching to repurpose it.

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: Was fun. But, I was also thinking over the years we've had a lot of really [00:22:00] good and interesting guests. John Hyman's been on a few times. David Nicholas. Suzanne Lucas has been on once. Jasmine and Christina,

CeeCee: Oh, that's right

Warren (2)Warren: Baked HR have been on many times.

CeeCee: From,

Warren (2)Warren: J-

CeeCee: HR Besties

Warren (2)Warren: Which I don't know if they're recording anymore either. I haven't seen them on my podcast,

CeeCee: are

Warren (2)Warren: I have not seen them. I'll have to look. I haven't seen an episode in quite some time

CeeCee: Isn't that funny though? 'Cause like, I feel like I've also fallen off of podcast listening as much as I used to. So I'm like, yeah, I just, I just fell off that too. I'm a mess. I fell off all the wagons.

Warren (2)Warren: I am not listening as much as I used to. I still have my, my go-tos, but I got rid of a lot of things, off my list. If it wasn't like at my top list, I let it go. So checking... I'm on, Listen Notes now since I'm at my computer. Yeah, they have not released an ep-

CeeCee: Oh yeah, May 13th.

Warren (2)Warren: So it's been a couple months, it goes to show, [00:23:00] podcasting is not easy. There's not much money in it. Now, I'm sure they were making a hell of a lot more. They had ads

CeeCee: Oh, yeah

Warren (2)Warren: Patreon and everything. They were making a hell of a lot more money, but there's not quit your job type money in it.

I never expected there to be quit your job type of money,

CeeCee: The best thing is to have a hobby that brings in a little fun money. So at least you, break even, you know?

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah. Well, never quite broke even, on the cost, but it's okay. I always tell my wife as we're redoing our budget to, we're gonna take on a new expense. And, I was like, "Well, my podcasting host fees is, they just come out of my checking account every month. I said, I've just prepaid for three years."

'Cause when you're not recording new episodes, they have a archive rate,

CeeCee: Hmm

Warren (2)Warren: $5 a month, so that you can, archive it. And so it'll still play if someone pulls it up. So like I said, I had enough to do two plus years, and I just paid the rest to get it to three years.

So we'll be going for at least three years and, yeah, see what happens. But yeah, that's the [00:24:00] big story. And we're almost at half an hour and haven't gotten to the HR story that I dug up, which isn't that interesting or anything like that.

CeeCee: Well, we could. I mean, we could celebrate with our last HR story

Warren (2)Warren: That's the HR story. So, let's see. I got this off of Law360. It's a law blog that I subscribe to. it's... You know, that's another thing. It's been hard to find interesting stories that haven't been covered to death.

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: like, the Kiss Cam, and we covered, some of the other big, big things.

But if it's not that big, or it has been covered to death, 'cause I don't wanna... If I've heard it on three other HR blogs, I don't wanna talk about it again. I'm sure people are listening to J to the HR are also listening to other, HR out there. So anyways, this comes to us, from Law360 blog. the company's name is Atlassian, Atlassian Corporation, and this lady, [00:25:00] Denise, was a software engineer there. And, she got fired for making comments about the CEO of the company, who also happens to own the Utah Jazz. She made a satirical jab at the CEO's, wealth, writing, dialing in from my NBA team's headquarters to yell at people whose careers I've pummeled," she said about her employer. But that's it. Well, you know, that's

CeeCee: that's funny.

Warren (2)Warren: It, it's funny, but on a scale of one to 10, how bad

CeeCee: That's so not offense- Like, it's really, like, I would, yeah, I would give that a two. Like a little, "Mm, you probably shouldn't have said that, but I'm gonna laugh when I leave the room."

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah, exactly. she got fired for that.

CeeCee: Oh

Warren (2)Warren: the NLRB judge ruled that these comments are protected concerted activity because it's talking about working conditions. And this all happened in twenty twenty-three. The company stated that her behavior violated company guidelines, but the [00:26:00] judge stated that the company failed to prove that it strictly enforced those guidelines in the past.

So there's your rule. You gotta be consistent. You can't

CeeCee: Gotta be consistent

Warren (2)Warren: You have to do it for everybody. So, yeah. So that, that's--

CeeCee: Yeah, that is so mild. I was expecting her to say something really saucy, but I mean, it's very tongue-in-cheek. It's fine

Warren (2)Warren: Law360, now that's what I get for not... the snippets I get for not paying. I don't know if any of these other sources that had it. I'm gonna, see if I can, find another source. I don't know if there's more, but if that's all she said, really? You're gonna fire someone for that?

Eh, let's, uh, let's rethink our,

CeeCee: And she was a software engineer?

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah

CeeCee: So she wasn't even like in a leadership position where she said something out of term. Huh,

Warren (2)Warren: I, yeah, I,

CeeCee: interesting.

Warren (2)Warren: I don't get

CeeCee: I don't know if I would've made that call, but I'm also wondering if the CEO was truly that offended over [00:27:00] something, then maybe leading to protect your ego isn't the best thing

Warren (2)Warren: And I'm thinking if you're the CEO and you're part o-owner of the Utah Jazz, yeah, there's no other sites I can get more detail on, what you said. But, you gotta think, I mean, if the, if the basketball team's having a bad year, you're gonna get all sorts of really, you know, horrible Hey, I'm rewatching Ted Lasso right now so I can be ready for the new season coming

CeeCee: Oh, so good

Warren (2)Warren: The way the fans and everybody, react initially, the beginning of Season 1, react to Ted Lasso. You gotta have thick skin. Or like Ted Lasso says to, the player Sam, you gotta be a goldfish," you know?

CeeCee: Gotta be a goldfish. Forget about it.

Warren (2)Warren: And,

CeeCee: Ugh

Warren (2)Warren: You know, there's got to be more to the story, and like I said, I'm not gonna pay for the rest of it because, none of these, sources give me too much more.

So anyways. Yeah, a stupid [00:28:00] story to wrap up the season with. There's no real there there. I just

CeeCee: That's not there,

Warren (2)Warren: and you know, I did try and look to see if there was anything crazy came out of the SHRM Conference. Apparently

CeeCee: No

Warren (2)Warren: Out of the norm happened.

You know, everybody loved Oprah apparently, and, your SHRM fees are paying to get these big names in like, Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, George Bush came one year. I mean, their speaking fees are not low, and that's what your SHRM fees are going to, regardless of what you think about them or their politics or anything else like that. Yeah,

CeeCee: I would've liked to see Michelle. I'm like, "Hmm." But I'm like, I also don't wanna pay SHRM's fees, so

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah. As long as my company is continuing to pay for it, I'll, I'll do it. I actually did, just renewed my certification, and so I'm good for another, three years. And I actually have a webinar on Friday for two, credits. So, yeah. We'll... I'll, I'll keep that going and, but I, I just despise...

And every year, the rates just go up and up and up. I [00:29:00] forget what I even, put on my company credit card. I didn't pay it. I put it on the company credit card, but I forget what it was this year to renew. And I didn't even get cool out of renewing. I didn't get a tumbler or the shopping bag or anything.

They didn't offer me any swag

CeeCee: No,

Warren (2)Warren: like they normally

CeeCee: no HR boss babe like there, like a few years ago that went over so well

Warren (2)Warren: get that. I did get the small, like a highball tumbler,

CeeCee: Mm-hmm. That's cool

Warren (2)Warren: A Yeti knockoff. But it- that's, that's a... I got that for renewing one year, and that, that

CeeCee: Yeah

Warren (2)Warren: yeah, if they're-- which goes to me, the shopping bag, no, just, just keep that shit.

I'll- I don't, I don't need a SHRM shopping bag or anything like that. But, but come up with... Give me... For the amount of money we're paying, give me something.

CeeCee: Something good. Give me... It's like the PBS, remember those old PBS, telethons where it's like, "If you pay $120 donation, we'll send you this tote, this canvas tote."[00:30:00] 

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah, exactly. Oh, geez.

CeeCee: to be honest, I'd rather be supporting PBS than, SHRM, so

Warren (2)Warren: Yeah. can I pick none of the above, there? Yeah, I, I don't know. And you know, with the whole-- I won't go down my PBS rants, but, yeah, they're commercial-free with commercials somehow. I, I don't... Or they get donated, not advertisements, or what... I don't know. Anyways, not gonna go down that rant hole.

WarrenWarren (2): Oh. righty. Well, what would an episode of Jaded HR be without some technical issues?

CeeCee: It's fine. We're fine

WarrenWarren (2): screen just said all of sudden, "Your, your computer encountered a major problem shutting down." And when I restarted it, it wanted to do an update, so I had to restart like three times to get through whatever update it was doing.

Like, come on, people. We, we just want to give the grand finale here and wrap things up, so. Yep, what would, what would it be without that? So, yeah, I, I, I don't know exactly what I was saying when we, we cut off, but, you know, it's been a [00:31:00] great run. Enjoyed immensely having you as my co-host, co-host the last, few years.

And yeah, it's been, it's been a lot of, a lot of fun. So,

CeeCee: Yeah, it was fun. I'm so happy that you, you know, out of the pile of people who came to be your co-host, you chose me.

WarrenWarren (2): Well, I think I've covered, you reached out on Instagram and then we had you on the show two or three times under your, fictitious

CeeCee: Yes

WarrenWarren (2): podcast listeners go in and, try and find out what fictitious name she used. Who she was when she, came on as a fictitious name.

And then, when Feathers decided, I, I, you know, I, I thought of the people who'd been on the show and who I had a good chemistry with and good interactions with and things like that. So I, I thought of you, and I thought, "Yep, no, I will, definitely invite CeCe to, to come back." So yeah. It's been a lot of fun. But, yeah, that's, that's really all I have to say. But thank you to everybody, [00:32:00] and, go from there. So who knows what the next version of J&HR, if there will be one, might be.

CeeCee: Thanks everyone for listening. I appreciate it

WarrenWarren (2): So I, one last time we'll say, as always, we were here helping you survive HR one what the fuck moment at a time. Ah, that's it

CeeCee: Yay