Ugly Mistakes from Ugly People

Don't make an ugly mistake and skip past this link!

In this episode of Grossly Competent, Steve and Patrick chat about the times they've made professional mistakes and what they learned from them. Believe us when we say that when time travel becomes a thing, we'll definitely want to show our younger selves this episode to prevent those blunders... and destroy the space-time continuum.

Worth it. (Besides, have you SEEN this timeline!?)

But before all that jazz, Steve brings up a friendly reminder to engage people that make an impact on you while Patrick asks someone, anyone, to please Sit By Me.

Here are some links to stuff, yo;

• Sit By Me app https://sitbyme.com/
• Between Two Ferns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iG2d0U7k7k

And also: Send us your questions! We want to feature your inquiries on a future episode! And here's how:

• Instagram: @grosslycompetent
• Email: grosslycompetent@gmail.com

Come for the chat, stay for the laughs, we're Grossly Competent!

Hey friends, we love doing this, and if you like what you’re hearing and want to support the show, here are the best ways possible: 

• Give a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts,
• Visit us on Buzzsprout at grosslycompetent.buzzsprout.com. 
• Give us a shout on Instagram @grosslycompetent

We appreciate you for listening!

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:29

Hello, and welcome to Grossly Competent, the learning development and adulting podcast that doesn't claim to be pretty. I am your host, Steve Council, and I'm joined by my co-host, the Duke of Hurl himself, Mr. Patrick Ayleshire.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Thank you, Steve. You know, the Duke of Hurl, I think that was my nickname in my drinking days.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Oh, because when people would drink a lot and then they'd see you, that would cause exactly I'd am I wrong?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Uh you're close. Okay, okay, good. You know, Steve, I always have felt that you have big watched one documentary and now consider yourself informed at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

It's oh my god, I love that. Because uh do you remember when the movie 300 came out? I do. And everybody and their mother was a historian on the Battle of Thermopylae, I believe. Thermopylae. I I can't know how to pronounce it. Yeah. Kind of like that, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Well, it reminds me of the uh the fitness guy I follow on on the uh social media. I've been following this guy for 15 some years. You mentioned him like two episodes ago. Yeah, he was the one that says don't get your don't get your uh fitness advice from a Netflix documentary.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

But Hulu is acceptable.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Yeah, right. No, exactly. With commercials, yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Folks, it's so awesome to have all of you here and Mr. Patrick, it is always a pleasure, sincerely. We were talking off uh off air, is that correct? Off air, yeah. And I was just telling him that I love doing this with him each and every week, and I love being here for all of you folks each and every week. But do you know who I want to know about each and every week? That's our sponsor. So, Mr. Patrick, who is our sponsor of the week?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

This one was a uh a tough pull, but I I got it uh I got them to come on board. So this episode is supported by making eye contact with yourself in the microwave door. A brief but devastating reminder that you exist physically. Microwave reflection, heating leftovers, cooling confidence.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

I don't know why. That one just really tickles my funny bone.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

I was trying to read it without laughing watching you.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

So listeners, I don't know who the sponsor of the week is until we start recording. I just I don't know why I saw that and I it just just really hit my funny bone. So thank you so very much, big making eye contact with yourself in the microwave door. I I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say we really appreciate you in those times of need, and by need I mean I need to make this food as quickly as possible, and it doesn't taste that great. So thank you so, so much. We appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

This it kind of reminds me of something I read on Reddit one time. It was a random post on I don't know, drinking or what the deal was, but it was I I don't know if you've if you could picture this, Steve, or listeners, but yeah, someone was talking about I think it was either when they were like hi, I think it was when they were drunk, but when the the point of the night where you get to where let's say you're in the bathroom and you look over it at like in the mirror and you just make like a stupid grin on your face, like I laugh so hard when whatever user wrote that because it was I remember I text my brother, we were like dying. Like just that just that stupid grin on your face, like uh I'm feeling it.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

So when I like I heard about that uh the eye contact and microwave door was coming to our show, that reminded me of oh my god, that post was just so fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

What's so like crazy interesting about that is we all know what you're talking about, but it's not like you're doing that in front of people, so it's a very personal thing, right? But like we all know exactly what you're talking about, like we all know that smile, the yeah, like we know it. That's so crazy, isn't that like it's it's that kind of question that pops up like with uh like animal documentaries of like how do those baby animals know how to do those things? Yeah, when they haven't been taught that yet. And it's like is that just like encoded somewhere in our DNA of like stupid grin in mirror when drunk? Yeah, like just so crazy that's so wild.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Or there was the other one, uh, and then we'll we'll continue on, but there was the other one where it was the it was the look you give someone when you're just like a stranger, you're passing or whatever, and it's just a quick and listeners, you won't be able to see this, but uh just like a quick little you know you just like purse your lips almost, or like you smile, but you don't open your mouth.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

It's like a quick little your your mouth went from a uh a downward parentheses into a capital I. Yeah right? Like that's it. You just went just that look of uh I like how I explained it, yeah, but then knowing full well we're an audio only podcast, I made sure I really reiterated that by demonstrating again.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Well, it's like when you really smile smile to the camera with the bag on your head. Just like that. Just like that.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

That is one of my mistakes I'm gonna talk about later.

unknown 7:13

No.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

God, no, Jesus. Oh man. Okay, anyway. Enough about me. Enough no, I'm just kidding. Well, actually, enough about me is right. Because uh we mentioned this last week, folks, and I feel like it is worth mentioning again. Mr. Patrick and I want your feedback, we want your questions, we want your deep-seated ooh, I've always wanted to know that about Patrick and only Patrick and about Patrick, nothing about Steve, just I just want to know Patrick. That's it. No, genuinely, folks, we would love your feedback because we are thinking about doing kind of a uh mailbag episode coming up here where we can kind of suss through some things, pick out some of the fun questions that you have, maybe comments. Uh, is it something work-related that you would just like some advice on or something that you've noticed? We would love all of that. So, Mr. Patrick, if somebody, anybody, was willing to contact us in some way, how would they do that?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Not sure. Now they can go to good message us on Instagram at grosslycompetent, or they can send us an email, grosslycompetent at gmail.com. And as we mentioned last week, we'll pick through and read off our favorites in an upcoming episode.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yeah, I I don't know, man. I don't know, but you I'm genuinely really excited for this. I'm excited because we do get people to interact with us, but sure there's never maybe I'm wrong, because it maybe you get some that I don't where I never get somebody to ask us like questions. It's always a response to something we've talked about. So I'm curious to hear what people might say, like, oh, I really wonder what you guys think about this, or why do you think Patrick gets locked in bathrooms?

SPEAKER_00 9:35

You know, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

You know what is really, really funny about that, dude? Oh my god. I just holy shit, it was last night. I just read an article. I'll see if I can find it. Ah, that's my problem. I just like page and I see articles and I read them, and then I don't register in my head. I'm like, where did I read that from? Actually, it might have been from Buzz Sprout, honestly. And the context was AI podcasts are here. How do you differentiate? And one of the ways that they talked about it, and I'm not trying to give AI any ideas, was keep your mistakes in. And in my head, when I read that, I was like, Well, jokes on you. We're all mistakes, like that's it. Like, we that's all Patrick and I do.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

I don't know, man. But uh, that's so funny you say that about the AI mistakes. You know, we should reach back out to that uh Instagrammer and just be like, hey man, do you still think we're AI? I think that'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

That would be great. Let's get them on the podcast. I was just thinking that.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Oh my god, if we could actually track them down, be like, dude, I we might need to do that. That'd be awesome. Okay. That's my new life mission. I gotta see if they're available. I don't know. I don't can we afford them? I don't know.

unknown 11:48

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

I don't know. We have like a we have a big sponsorship list, so I'll find out.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

That's fair. Do you have uh do you have anything wild and crazy going on in your world? Are you just kind of you know is this week just kind of one of those weeks?

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Yeah, it was actually it was kind of a a nice coasting week. I mean, uh but we just wrapped up one of our leadership programs uh a couple weeks ago and we had Hell yeah, man. We had a we did a virtual, it's it was a virtual course that one of my uh co-worker, my uh one of uh a woman on my team, she essentially runs that program. But yeah, I I facilitated one of the sessions, and then she always invites us to like the graduation, and so we just wrapped that up uh a week or so ago, and now we're kind of in the in the early summer stages of ramping up our training schedule. So this week was kind of looking at and you know, we like to freshen up our our courses, you know, at least once a year you go through and say, okay, what needs to be tweaked because there's always new information out there or new uh ideas for activities, small group things. And so that's kind of how I was this week. And um, yeah, outside of that, nothing nothing crazy. So, how about uh what's going on in your world? What's going on in your neck of the woods?

SPEAKER_04 13:06

Wow, okay, Al Roker.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Got him, got him, just kidding. No, dude, uh, I'll I'm going to admit I'm jealous because my last couple of weeks have been rough. And um no, this is not a pity party, I promise you. Um however, this actually has a a nice, happy ending to it. So uh yeah, my my last couple weeks, specifically with work, uh personal sunshine rainbows, like my kids got done with school, great, whatever. Just work has been really, really rough. And yesterday, so we record on Thursday, so this has been Wednesday night. I get this ding on my phone, a notification uh from LinkedIn. Ooh, and it is from Spencer Jones. So I've mentioned him on the podcast a previous episode, I don't know, maybe three, four ago. He was somebody I met at a conference, so nice, like such an awesomely nice dude. Um and his message kind of came out of nowhere because like I haven't interacted with him in a couple weeks, and he sent me an audio message, which number one, I didn't know you could do on LinkedIn, so lesson learned.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Um but I didn't know you could either.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah. But dude, his message was it was a minute long, man. Like, not like some long thing, but it was just really nice. He just said, like, hey, thank you so much for helping with this, this, this. Um, keep being awesome, keep being you, and we'll chat soon. Like, it was like really simple. But I gotta tell you, man, like it made my week. Like, it was one of the like you know what I mean, man. Like, yeah, you just get that message from somebody, I was like, wow, thank you. I really appreciate it. So I I guess why I thought it would be a good thing to bring this up to our audience, is that don't wait to tell somebody if they've made an impact on you, right? Like, if somebody helps you out in some way, even the most minuscule way, let them know. Like, say something to them because you have no idea how much it might really mean to them to hear that, just like Spencer when he did that to me. And I I wrote him back right away. I was like, dude, you have no idea how much that meant to me. Thank you so much. And his response back was like, I'm sorry you've had a rough week, man. Uh, glad my message could help you out, and like, you know, better days to come. Like, simple. Yeah, but dude, that makes such a huge difference. So let it let people know how you feel.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

That's a really great story. Yeah, sorry to hear that. Ah, uh, work's been rough, you know. Whatever, man. The the cool thing is that it's you know, you're you're a week away or a day away from things turning around. So that's oh god, yeah. Absolutely. It is always nice to hear from people, especially uh when they're complimenting you and when it's spec specifically when it's unexpected.

unknown 16:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Those are like the definitely the best. Yeah I mean it what you're saying too, though, it kind of goes to the whole life is too short, and make sure you tell people how you feel about them before it's too late. And it that it could be just be a hey, I'm appreciative of what you have done for me in the past, or a quick message to someone. Hey, just think about you, how's it going? Um we're all so busy in our lives, and it it's you know, if you want to like reconnect with someone or whatever the deal is, and it's it's sometimes it could just be a hey, I I I know we're both swamped, probably can't get together, but just wanted to say hi. Just a quick little text or a quick call or whatever email message on the gram or Facebook or whatever. I think that can go a long way because again, it just shows that little effort. I know sometimes it's like, oh, that's something I'm gonna do later, but a lot of times later never really comes. Tomorrow's not guaranteed, and so I think that's just really important. And I think on the flip side too, is a good tactic is to when someone says thank you, you go, you have to this takes a little bit more effort, but if you say the words you're welcome, rather than like no problem or yep. Because in now that might not sound so bad to someone, but when the person is coming out and saying, I really appreciate it, or thanking you, they are most likely genuine. And so a whole kind of a backhanded, like uh, oh no problem. Like they really meant that. So just tell them that oh, you are absolutely welcome. I'm happy to do it. That those little like little things kind of go they add up and go a long way.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Dude, we could have an entire episode on this because I'm I'm guilty as charged. Like, dude, we might have to have its own episode on this because I I this is gonna sound crazy to people out there, but I can't I ooh, it feels really weird um when people like legitimately compliment me or give me gifts. Like, I don't care if it's my wife. If she gives me a gift, it feels like I'm breathing underwater. Like it is the weirdest thing. So I have come a really long way in what you're saying. And I'll actually stop now because you had your mouth open like you wanted to say something, so please say it.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

I'm okay opening gifts from someone if it's just like them in the room. I don't like opening gifts in front of people.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Oh, sure, sure, sure. I get that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Like whether it's I don't know my family already knows this, that they're literally gonna listen to this, but like family stuff or birthdays or holidays, like can I just open these later? I I know I I never say that because like, no, because you want the person purchased for you and they want to see your reaction and everything, but I just don't like maybe it's just that attention, which is weird to say because when I'm facilitating in front of a room, there's obviously a tension on me, but that's different. That's different. It's just I don't know, the the forced attention, I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

What I I hear you saying is that if you're an LD, you're just kind of fucked up.

unknown 19:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Yeah, that's not no. I'm and by the way, that's our lonely F bomb that we get from Apple Podcasts. So you're welcome, Apple. You get one freaking we have already been dropped in the E list. We're good. Um, no, you're you're right, and I I definitely agree with you in that context, too. Um, yeah, I it's it's such a weird thing. So uh to your credit, which I a hundred percent agree, and I feel like I've or really made some serious progress, and that is yeah, just let people know. Like, hey man, I really appreciated that, or hey, thank you so much. It really does go a super long way. And if we're gonna tie this into the professionalism bit, like we talked about on our networking episode. Man, saying that thank you goes a long way. Holy hell. Like, yeah, it's people recognize that and they remember that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

They do, even if you throw it up, it wasn't that bad. That helps the facilitators out. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

That was uh endurable.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

I just no Steve, I told that story to someone like within the last few days about uh how we were talking about that. I don't remember if it was who it if it was a coworker or what. I don't I just I told the story though, and we laughed. I was like, yeah, it was uh you get this, yeah, not too bad. And that's it. You gotta you gotta take those when you get them.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yeah. And for somebody that's new to learning and development, like they're not expecting that. They're expecting it's like everyone standing up clapping, like obvious. Well, we get that because we have a podcast. Yeah, like we we're so used to that, like people just throwing cash at us, like, hey, put that next to my super yacht.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Right. But uh yeah, it's it's such a funny thing. So speaking of being new to LD or professional or whatever, I know I mentioned that yeah, I I I had a crummy week. Boo-hoo, crimey river, whatever. I thought we could do something fun this week and do something a little bit more lighthearted and let everybody kind of enjoy in our misery, and that is um screw up stories, man.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Like I have told I have told the bathroom story a couple times on here, all right? I don't want to revisit that.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

I guess that's oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

I actually wasn't even thinking of that. But I was kind of just thinking, like, dude, we talk a lot about like advice for uh professionalism, new and Current employees or veteran, whatever you want to call it. But what are like the the big mistakes that you and I have made, or like the things that went wrong that we wish we could kind of go back and go, wish I could fix this, or we really learned a serious lesson from? Like, let's make fun of ourselves, but do it in a way that's um productive, yeah, constructive for our listeners out there. Like, what I don't know. That was my thought.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Uh, yeah, how long are we recording this week?

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Dude, uh there's no time limit. Well, the there technically is. We only have so many hours and minutes on BuzzPro, but every week or every month I get charged for more.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

So I guess I don't really care.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

You know, like let's just go for it. I've I've screwed up a lot and have likely forgotten most of the times, but I'm sure I can wrangle up a few stories in this old maggin.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Well, alright. Um Do you want to start? Oh, you okay, you want me to?

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Yeah, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Alright, fine. Um, I don't have anything.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

I'm just kidding. You are punishing in every single way.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Totally, totally full of it. So um let me see when's here. All right. I got one. Early in my learning and development career, I was introduced to the idea of having video. Like introduce video into training, but also introduce video as a way to like get people excited about training and like new projects and whatnot. So I'm like, okay, I can do this. And my first video, it's awkward. Like, ooh, it's real awkward. Do you know where that is? I'm not telling you because no one's ever gonna see the light of day in that one. It is abysmal. Like it is in our show notes. No, it's so bad. Um, you know what? Maybe I'll see if I can't find a couple of couple of nugs and and put them in our show notes, honestly, because I have some they're not they can't all be zingers. Um, but there was one where I collaborated with our uh safety manager, and he's a really good friend of mine. Uh, we decided we were gonna do a video that where we talked about some of the uh updates and like cool things that were happening in safety and the cool things that were happening in training, and just kind of like collaborate on that, right? And I I honestly don't know if it was his idea or mine, but I was like, what if we did it in the style of between two ferns? And if you're not familiar with between two ferns, it's uh like a parody Zach Galfinakis. Yes, yes, it's a parody interview show where Zach Galifanakis interviews celebrities, but he plays the world's most awkward interviewer. Like he's it's oh, it like makes you just like crawl out of your skin. So I was like, oh my god, they'd be so funny. So what we thought was funny, no, it just was awkward.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Oh that is didn't land you didn't land the plane very well.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Ah no. So we went back and forth and we like we ribbed each other in the same way that between two ferns does, but what between two ferns has going for it that we didn't is that everyone is a in on the joke, yeah, and b everyone knows the context of the jokes, yes, right? That's not the case between two schmucks. It was like a five-minute video. We recorded it, I edited it, I thought it was hilarious. I released it to our company, and I think it was less than a maybe six hours. I get a call from my manager. I was at a conference, and she's like, What is this video?

SPEAKER_03 27:12

No, so I had to explain, like, so this was the context of it.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Don't you think it's funny? No. Oh, good. Okay, that's great. Wow. Um, that was a failure.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

So my learned piece to that was if you're going to do something that you think is humorous, a know your audience, which I clearly thought I did, but I did not. Um, but B, make sure that everyone's in on the joke. And to further this, and I I promise I will stop talking after this. Um, oh gosh, I'm trying to remember when this was. It was actually shortly after this video. I was talking to somebody much smarter than I am, and they said, Oh, the Ghostbusters. I was like, What? What are you talking about? He goes, the reason why the Ghostbusters, like the film, the 1984 film, why it is so good at what it does, is the audience is in on the joke, but none of the actors are. Oh, sure. And that's what Between Two Ferns is all about. The audience is in on the joke. The two actors are not, or at least not supposed to be, right? So I was like, oh, so if you're going to make a parody kind of a joke thing, make sure you abide by the Ghostbudser principle. Like I was like, that's that's good. Yeah. So that's my first one, man. How about you?

SPEAKER_00 29:45

So the first one I can think of is goes back to my teaching days.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

I know, right? Uh it was that was dumb. That was dumb. Essentially, it has to do with I was teaching fourth grade, and we were learning, I was teaching the kids about square feet and square yards. So a math lesson. Oh for some I had thought of this idea and I was like, this might be really good for them to be able to like use to measure and be able to do these problems out. Because they were kind of having trouble with the idea of like, well, what do you mean square feet? And so I said, Oh, well, you know what's got there's a perfect square foot are the tiles on the floor like in the hallway. Yeah. So be perfect. And so I had a flashback to because I was like, well, how am I gonna do this? We can't like draw on the floor. And I'm like, oh, you know what? We can. Because when I remember when I was student teaching, we hit you know the smart board, or not the smart boards, but the dry erase boards, right? Yes. I had a I had a teacher that accidentally used permanent marker. Oh, crap. Well, a quick fix, actually, if you're not aware, uh everyone, and you have a dry erase board around and this happens to you, if you take a dry erase marker and you scribble over the permanent marker and then erase it, it takes the permanent marker off.

SPEAKER_04 31:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

So my in my mind, I was like, oh, this is perfect. We'll get the yard sticks or the meter sticks out in the hallway. Well, I'll give them some like small problems, and we'll just on the tile floor in the in the hallway outside our classroom, we'll use dry erase markers. Um, or I'm sorry, we'll use permanent markers, and then uh we'll and then we'll just use the dry erase and erase and I'll be good. Oh no. Doesn't work the same way. Uh whatever gloss or shine or whatever that the maintenance guy would use on the floor, that doesn't work the same way, Steve. And so the kids were telling me after the lesson, like, Mr. L Shire, the marker's not coming off. Hmm. You sure about that? Yeah, look it. So we did our best. But the uh the next day, I had a visit at from the our uh our we'll call him our maintenance guy. Hey, uh, was that you? What do you mean?

SPEAKER_04 32:11

No, no, it's my students.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

With the with the markers on the floor. Uh yeah, I'm really sorry. He he was able to get the marker off, but it he had to do a special kind of run through and code or whatever. He's like, he just looked at me, he was a nice guy, and we had a good relationship, but he basically looks at me like, don't do that again. Fair enough. So my lesson was like, don't try to be too fancy or creative. And if you're gonna do something like that, like just maybe like, hey, is that something I could try? I would say no, it's it's not gonna work. But I just went what I thought was gonna work, and it completely backfired, and I felt so bad, but it was like the kids learned about square feet, so lesson learned, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:01

No, uh, I think that's a really valid point, man. Like, yeah, you can have an idea on something, but I think something that you touched on is really important is just because something works in one parameter doesn't mean it works in everyone. And I'm not please, I'm not making fun of you on that because like I come across that almost daily of like, yes, just because that works for you in your department here does not mean it works that way here. Like, no, no, no, no, they're they're different things. So, to your credit, hell yeah, lesson learned, man. I no, I I get it. Um, oh, that's awesome. I love it. At least dude was able number one. At least dude was nice. What do you remember his name? Kurt. Kurt, you are amazing, and you're my shout-out of the week. Actually, you're my second shout-out of the week.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Thanks, Kurt.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Yeah, I I have it anyway. Um, but yeah, at least he was able to help you out, and he wasn't mean about it. He understood what you were trying to do, but oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Yeah, oh my god, that's great. It was a good laugh between the other teachers too when I told my. Oh, yeah. They're like, oh, good call. Or uh they say it was like uh that's a good idea. Just uh maybe keep it in the classroom next time.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Maybe, maybe you don't graffiti. Maybe you don't uh draw all over the walls. Yeah, maybe you don't do that. Did you take lipstick to the walls? Did you do that? No. I could do crayon, yeah. Crayon. Okay, good. You can do crayon's fine too. Lipstick's rougher because it's waxy. So anyway, okay. I have no idea why I know that. I digress. Um okay, so uh it's me, right? I'm up next. You're up. This one's a beast. Um I'll give you the lesson I learned in advance of the story. Okay. Uh the lesson, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Mask on.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Yeah. No, the the lesson is if you're going to propose anything, like so. If you're in learning and development and you're gonna propose like a new learning structure, or if you're a manager and you want to propose a new project or um method or process, always, always, always get buy-in from management. Always. So now that I've set the record straight, uh, when I was fresh in my learning and development, I'm adjusting my tie here.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Can you hear that? It's a clip-on. Yeah, there you go.

unknown 36:05

Flip, clip, clip.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Yeah, when I was fresh in my learning and development years, um, I worked in pest control, and there was this issue that kept coming up, and I was like, oh, that's a really easy fix. So I wrote up this whole idea of like, well, why don't we just do this? It was simply simply put, um, whenever a service professional would go onto a site, they had no idea how many things they had to check. Simply, how many bait stations or whatever they need to check. So as the young upstart, I thought, well, we'll just number them. Which I know to anybody out there listening, they're like, wow, how novel.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

But dude, this was like game changing.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

So I was like, oh, simply put, if there are four bait stations in the basement, it would be B1, B two, B three, B4, because B for basement. If there's two in the garage, it's G1, G2, right? If there's any in the attic, it would be A1, A2, A, whatever. And you just kind of subsequently move her on, right? Simple, easy. That was it. Like, so if I fill in for somebody or somebody fills in for someone, they would know where everything's located. So this was your idea. This was my idea.

unknown 37:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

So I wrote it the whole proposal up, I had everything all set, like it was good to go. I got approval from the operations manager. He loved it. Yeah, that's great. I didn't run it by anybody else. You know, like the managers that actually have team members that need to push this forward. So I had a training class, and towards the end, I was like, hey, everybody, and I am new to this industry. Brand new to this industry. I'm like, hey guys, I have this process I'm gonna share with all of you, and I think it's really gonna help you out. And I explained the whole thing. And one manager was like, no, I'm not gonna let you get away with this because you didn't ask my opinion. And he proceeded to just stab every single time he could. Well, what about this? What about this? What about and he knew I couldn't answer these questions because I was I was a noob. And he just drilled the whole presentation, just torpedoed it to the point that I left that day and I was like, do I need to put my resignation in? Like, did I did I just talk myself out of a job? So the next day after I licked my wounds, next day I went in, spoke to management. We had a actual meeting of all the managers of like the the service professionals, and I was there. I'm like, okay, so um the meeting yesterday that that didn't go the way I thought it was going to. Um, did any of you have any suggestions? And I handed them all out the proposals. Do you want to know what they changed? Nothing. They changed absolutely nothing. They agreed with everything.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

But they wanted you to get, they wanted to be able to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

They wanted their say. Um, there was like, I I kid you not, like one or two things that were changed, and it was so minimal. Like, I swear to God, one of them was like the font. Like, it was so dumb. I was like, fine, I can change that. That's no problem. Um, but the moral of that story, if you're going to put forward some form of program, my god, do yourself a favor and get the management approval. Like, get their thumbs up. They might honestly have the dumbest changes on the planet. And I remember some of the changes. I looked and went, okay. And I changed nothing. Like, I was like, no, we're good. And they were like, this is exactly what I wanted.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

I know. I know it was. Um, but the point was it wasn't that they didn't agree with the proposal, they didn't agree with being consulted as professionals in the industry. Sure. So for all of you out there new or veteran, get that approval, hands down.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

Yeah, that's a good point. Um that reminds me of I I read something probably on LinkedIn years ago or whatever, uh, recently, I think. I don't even know if it was years ago, but it was about how there someone was turning in a proposal for something, and it wasn't it was like eight, let's say eight pages just making this up, and they're like sure the person wrote back like, uh, this we just need more. And so the person they just essentially made the font bigger, and it was like 11 pages, and they're like, this is great, I love it. You know, something like that, where it was.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

But it's you're right, it is that dumb. Like, I I can't stress it enough. It is that stupid of like, oh well, I italicize this. Well, clearly it's um it's magnificent. No, but it is people, and I think we all are all guilty of that, right? Like, you just want to be able to say your two cents. And if I come to Patrick, the subject matter expert in learning and development, and I say, Hey, I want to do this training. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 42:17

You're gonna give me your feedback, but versus if I've just gone and done the training without coming to me.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

Yes. And you'd be like, Oh, how much time you got? I'm gonna take a red pen to this bad boy like there's no end. Yeah, exactly. We just want to feel appreciated, so do that, please. That's really learn from me, man, because that was a brutal mistake.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

That is that's a great story. Yeah. Oh man. Um, my next one is kind of like uh it's hindsight, um, but it's a it's a good and I'll tell the moral of this one too ahead of time, just so you can it's basically trying to pretend to know more than the experts or those of that have been around for a while. Okay, so this is a mistake I made uh three or four years ago when I was at I was Oh, I thought this was like last week. Oh uh well there it there's plenty, but this is this was the first one I made though.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

I'm joking, man.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

The so uh at my organization, we were trying to do training for the Department of Transportation, and my boss at the time who had hired me, who had since retired, uh, he was like, I really want to get this training going this year, like let's get this kicked off or whatever. So he brought in like 10 people that are part of the transportation. We were gonna be training people at the airport, on the people that work on the highways and the fleet division, all that. And so we planned to do like four trainings throughout the year. Nice, and so we had a couple we wanted to try to sneak, so it was gonna be like fall and then a couple like in winter and then s and then get to the spring. And so the leaders were like, Okay, we we can do we can give you September, October, but then we can't do any training in like December, November, December, because it's too close to the seat the winter season and we're it's gonna snow. And this was so this is back in the summer now, okay? Six months prior to this. And I said, I understand that, but I I I know my boss really wanted to try to get these trainings in. So I said, I think we can sneak those couple in. I said, like, we'll we'll we'll do September, October, and then we'll we'll do a couple there. And I said, let's get one right in December. We have the day open, you guys have the day open. I said, honestly, when's the last time it snowed in December? Like, because for the long it hadn't really ever snowed, and they're like, okay, we can give you X amount of people to go through this training. I'm like, it doesn't snow in December. It rarely, when's the last time we had a white Christmas? Right? They're like, okay. On the day, the day of it snowed like six inches, they canceled the class because they had to get their snowplows out. The people that I was supposed to be training. And I remember thinking, my boss was like, what are the odds? And I was like, I know this. I mean, remember this conversation we had? I said, and they told me, they're like, We told you, like, December's not a good idea for training for us because it's gonna snow and shh. So what I should have done is let these guys that had been working there for 15-20 years like we don't schedule these things in December because the possibility of snow and ice and all that stuff. And so I was like, well, it does have snow in Wisconsin in December. Because it hadn't in so long, and sure enough, the day we had the training, it was like Dude, you're not you're not wrong.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

I get it. But oh, that's so funny. There's a reason why they have that mentality.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

I totally, I I only had my foot in my mouth. That was like, of course. So then, of course, we I reached out and was like, oh, looks like it snowed today. I guess we'll have to get this in the spring. And they're probably like, yeah, jackass. So we had to wait for a while.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

Who could have guessed?

SPEAKER_00 46:09

So it it was great. I took it in stride, obviously, but I was like, yeah, they were they were right. They I was the young, I was I was new to the the uh team, and just you know, look I'm my high horse of like it's gonna, it's not gonna it's gonna be a green Christmas again.

SPEAKER_02 46:26

You know, I I think that's one of those moments that like boomers love. And and please anybody out there that is a boomer, I am not saying that as an insult, but it is kind of a tried and true characteristic of the boomer generation that in the professional workforce they are the ones that really uh they resonate with like somebody that takes their licks. Yeah. Right? Like, you got you gotta get bruised up in order to be in this. Like you have to go through the trials and tribulations in order to be accepted as one of them, right? Like, and what you did, you you put your foot down and you're like, no, we're gonna do this. Like, come on, you guys, be reasonable. And then sure enough, it blows up in your face, and there you know that they gave you crap behind your back. Oh, like you know that they're like, Oh, remember how Captain L and D is But if you would have not owned it, been like, Well, that was a fluke, like okay, but if you owned it, they're like, Alright, like we're gonna raz you for a bit, but yeah, you at least you took a shot, you tried. Um, and that is that's not actually one of my uh my my mistakes, because god, we don't have enough time for all that, but I do genuinely think just owning your mistake, like just own it. My god, just if you don't and you try to come up with excuses or whatever, it's worse. Like, would you not agree? Like, it is you're setting yourself up for failure, then ah man, yeah, definitely scrolling pride, you know. Yeah, I mean, come on, man. We all screw up, we all make mistakes, yeah, and just there's nothing worse than somebody that does not admit it when they're wrong, like, oh god, dude. Yes, yeah, yes, oh my god, I totally agree. Um, I'm guilty of that, man. Like, I uh I'm trying to think of any like specific story, but I'm gonna I'm gonna ride your coattails on that one of like that pretending you know more than those that should know more. Um, and I think that anybody starting an industry, because you said like you did this like very early on in your industry. Yeah, man, I did the same stuff. It's kind of that fake it till you make it, but it's funny because what have we been advocating so much for on this podcast in the last two, three, four months of just dude, be authentic. But there's a reason why we say that because you and I have learned, we've learned that lesson, and we're just trying to make sure that other people don't fall victim to it. Like, just God, don't be us. Like, please, right? Have you seen it? Have you seen our faces? Yeah, it's but just that pretty it's okay to uh it's okay to reach for the stars, right? Like it's okay to like reach farther than you may need to, but when it comes to people that have been in the environment for longer and they tell you something like, no, we don't schedule things in December, you you should probably listen. Yeah, like why? Why is that? And you can question it, God, question it, please. Why is it? That's weird. I don't agree with that. Like, then have that debate. That's okay. They'll have that with you, or maybe they'll dismiss you and like you're an idiot. But at least engage on that. You're gonna get a lot more out of it than just ignoring it, and especially if you ignore it and then capitalize and it fails.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Oh god, like just because it wasn't just pulling people off the off the roads, it was the scheduling. It was you know, pulling the first the first shift, the second shift, and then rotating, switching people in, and all of a sudden it was like uh all hands on deck, the the freeways need some plowing and some icing and some salting. And it just it was like uh the perfect storm, but uh it but they they said this is this is why we don't schedule these trainings in December, January, February, you know.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

So that's so funny. Um no, I I totally, totally agree with that. Um yeah, man. The funny thing is I know there's been infinite times I've made mistakes, I've screwed up. I've probably talked about them like ad nauseum on this show, but I think the two that I've mentioned are the ones that resonate with me the most because like those were foundational in the way that I've like approached training. Sure. Oh sure, okay, I always need to make sure, and ever since I have applied those lessons, yes, things have gone way better.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Steve. Do you know who made us their biggest mistake?

SPEAKER_02 52:08

I certainly have an idea.

SPEAKER_03 52:10

Is it the Spinaruski?

SPEAKER_00 52:15

It is indeed while my co-host fires up the wheel. A reminder for all new listeners, each episode we spin the Spin Rooski, a wheel of names that might belong to the woman who so generously shoved us into the ugly club all those years ago. The goal eventually we'll land on her name and thank her property. Alright, Steve. You ready? We got a first timer out here.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

You know what? I just took a screenshot of us doing the spinnerouski. So I am ready to spin the spinneroski when you are ready. But you need to lead me off because I will. I wait, wait, hold on.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

Do you have your gloves on? Okay, good. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 53:14

Okay. All right, I'm good now.

SPEAKER_00 53:17

Thank you for meeting me earlier this week to hand off the big wooden wheel.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

Well, I had to get a U-Haul trailer, but you're welcome, Dick.

SPEAKER_00 53:26

All right. Spin that roosted going around. Going around.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

We have a winner. And her name is Harper.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Oh, Harper.

SPEAKER_02 53:56

Harper.

SPEAKER_00 53:57

So much, Harper. We truly appreciate you for all you've done. I mean, you have been living rent-free in our head for eons, decades. So many minutes, seconds, hours, weeks. It's been incredible. And so we really appreciate you, Harper, and you were magnificent that night with your brute force. And my brother-in-law Joe says, what up? No, Harper, he's married. But if that was you, feel free to come on and say hi.

SPEAKER_04 54:45

That one really got me. That was pretty good. Holy okay. Wow. Anyway, oh well.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

So Patrick.

SPEAKER_00 54:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:54

Should we do some shout-outs?

SPEAKER_00 54:56

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 54:58

You fire away first, man.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

I'm gonna give a shout-out to a new friend. Name is Brad Steckert.

SPEAKER_02 55:04

I don't believe you. You don't have friends.

SPEAKER_00 55:09

I'm gonna give a shout-out to Dumb. Uh it's a character in a book I was reading. His name was Brad. Yeah, it's my new friend Brad. Uh he founded the company Sit by Me. And I went to the kickoff event last Saturday at a local establishment here in Milwaukee. It is a great, and I'm gonna read about it in just a minute. It's a great concept to connect people who are already out doing their thing, whether it's having coffee, getting a drink, looking to network, etc. And from the Sit by Me app, it is a social app that anyone can use to find their people at events, coffee shops, bars, and everywhere in between. No awkward intros, just real connections. So essentially, you download the app and you would log in and it'll tell you whoever else is on has the app. So if, for example, I want to go to a coffee shop, but I feel like maybe networking with someone, I want to bounce some ideas about how to improve my website or business ideas. It's weird to just go up to someone and be like, hey, can I bother you? Are you into websites? But if I open the app and there's someone that else is already connected on the app at the coffee shop and they have their connection like on, that means that, hey, do you wanna you want to chat? Are there to wanna make a connection, whether it's a friend or just bounce ideas off?

SPEAKER_02 56:27

So it's pretty uh Do you know what I I love about that?

SPEAKER_00 56:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

Like, I'm being genuine. I know I obviously joke around and talk a lot of trash and everything else, but what I really like about that is oh god, and I already know there's gonna be somebody out there that rolls their eyes when I say this. Um but it brings back the authenticity of what social networking used to be, right? Like it's when social networking first started, it like in its infancy, yeah, the idea was pure was to actually get people to interact and engage in a way that would bring people together. And what your friend Brad has put together is this platform. Dude, I love that. So is uh do you know is sit by me available anywhere, or is it exclusively to like no larger cities? So even Poe old me and my little old You could neck of the woods.

SPEAKER_00 57:37

They're going to you could yeah, you I don't know if it's reached out that far, but I th I would uh you could download the app and then it's cool just to be able to connect because even though it's like did you like my southern drawl, by the way?

SPEAKER_02 57:48

Was that yeah? Good thank you. I thought I really really nailed it. I was I I was proud.

SPEAKER_00 57:53

Quite the boonies now.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

Because I live 45 minutes. Shout out to school before we get canceled because I'm I'm I'm doing terrible southern accents. Um, yes, I do have a shout-out, and this is to a coworker of mine who I'm not even gonna pretend she listens. Um, her name is Jackie, and actually Jackie and I went to high school together, so we've known each other forever. Um funny enough, she gave a presentation on documentation to a group of um CNAs, and she was all not up in arms, but uh beforehand, she's like, This is gonna be terrible. I hate it, I don't want to do this, blah. Uh, and she crushed it. Like, she did so awesome. She's the type that she didn't want me to watch, which I was totally fine with. I'm like, okay, fine. My office is located directly next to like our learning center. So I just was in my office, I shut the door, and the group was laughing and they were having fun, and I could hear them engaging. It was awesome. Like everything that you want a training session to be, she nailed it. So it was just really cool to see her kind of step out of her comfort zone and do something like that and just crush it. So it was so awesome. It was just a really, really great thing. It was a great way for me to cap the day off because it was the last thing I had on my day. I was like, that was awesome. So uh, Jackie, cheers. Cheers to you.

SPEAKER_00 59:36

Well done, Jackie. That's a great shout out, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:40

Well, folks, uh, I'd like to remind you to not forget to send us your submission for the QA episode by either messaging us at grossly competent on Instagram or email at grosslycompetent at gmail.com. What do you say, Steve?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:00

Hells yeah, man. Yeah, seriously. We are so looking forward to hearing what your questions might be. I hope they're embarrassing for Patrick.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

That's fair. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:15

No, I really am. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be it'll be really cool, exciting, and um, yeah, just a great way to interact with all of you fine folks. But um I don't know, man. I I think we're kind of at the end. Do you have anything else you want to share?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

Let's see neither. All right, let's let's wrap her up.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:34

No. Uh goes, that's it for this episode. And um I know I said it earlier that uh I was having I was having a rough week. Actually, last two weeks. But um the highlight of my week has been hanging out with all of you and Mr. Patrick. You know I love you. This is great. I always enjoy this. I look forward to this every week. I am a glutton for punishment. But uh folks, seriously, thank you for joining us. You have no idea how much we appreciate it. And um I guess we'll see you next time. Yeah, right. You got it. Yeah. So, um, shall we? Shall we? We shall. There's there's nothing I embody more.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:26

Preach