Good Morning BT | Work/Life balance in the Post-Covid Era | Influential Teachers - Good Morning BT with Bo Thompson & Beth Troutman

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What does it mean to slide into someone's DMS.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
That sounds like a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (00:04):
Okay, we're not ready for that.

Speaker 4 (00:05):
Forms talking eleven ten and ninety nine three DOUBLET.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
And then what does that have to do with anything?

Speaker 5 (00:11):
It has everything to do with anything.

Speaker 4 (00:13):
This is good morning, Beatty with quote Thompson and Beth Trout.
That's all over the second we ride up De Troy.
Fuck it.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Maybe I should travel region because Jesus your heart to
rely on?

Speaker 5 (00:41):
I never find it in the kitchen.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
You couldn't even pay rent for three months.

Speaker 6 (00:48):
Oh how do I get it to your book?

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh you?

Speaker 6 (00:55):
Oh its head money, it's smoke. Oh my, Solly Hunt's
before it's worked.

Speaker 5 (01:04):
They didn't make.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Beautiful babies reads.

Speaker 7 (01:07):
Enough to be a couple.

Speaker 6 (01:09):
Couple of monsters like a mother and the father eventually
twenty forty so little girl like me.

Speaker 5 (01:22):
So Beth and I walked in together this morning. That's
that's not always the case. Sometimes. I just most of
the time, you get here a few minutes earlier or
later than me.

Speaker 7 (01:31):
I love when that happens there. I feel so safe.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Can well, we're walking on safe, but he's not.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
Sometimes we're walking in and she says, I thought she said,
my tummy hurts, and then I realized she was trying
to tell me what her song was today.

Speaker 7 (01:45):
He thought I was telling her. I was telling him
I was sick.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
Yeah, and you know, a pretty hip of you, Renee
rap I am him, so.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
He's a little with her before it's.

Speaker 8 (01:55):
Work they do.

Speaker 7 (02:00):
Yesterday was the obvious. I love how I.

Speaker 5 (02:04):
Mean, she's all the ready right now, right Renee rap It.
Well that's all I hear about. When I hear the
kids talking about the big hits, I have to.

Speaker 7 (02:11):
Give like full disclosure here, guys. And I was telling
botha on the way in which I think he thinks
I'm a crazy person, but I am currently.

Speaker 5 (02:18):
I should do or do.

Speaker 7 (02:22):
I think I make all of your tummy hurt? Tummy's hurt.
I am currently obsessed with this show on Netflix called
Building the Band. It premiered in July. I just now
came across it. I mean, this is several days ago,
but now I have Craig hooked on it as well.
It is kind of like the Voice meets Love is Blind,

(02:44):
and it's these young people all auditioning for each other
blindly and having to create a band based on pure
like emotional chemistry and then they meet and sing together
and form a band, and I am so in love.
There's one group that is kind of these four just
incredible human beings. They're just these lovely people and they

(03:06):
came together and they started singing together and it's two
guys and two girls and oh, oh, you have to
you have to watch this show that it's.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Kind of Renee Rap came from that show.

Speaker 7 (03:17):
Well, one of the girls in the group that I
love auditioned with this Renee Rap song. It's which in
the very first episode, which is how I kind of
got introduced to Ray Rap Ray And I just want
you all to watch. You have to give it a
second because it's kind of cheesy when it starts out

(03:38):
in aj from the Backstreet Boys as the host and
even whatever.

Speaker 5 (03:41):
But wasn't there a show called Making the Bands.

Speaker 7 (03:44):
In the early two thousands? That's how Old Town came
to be.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
I just wanted to play that.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
I set you up for that.

Speaker 7 (03:54):
I've totally watched that show too, in the early early
two thousands. I totally watched that show. This is kind
of again, it's like the voice meets love is blind.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
And you're obsessed with this.

Speaker 7 (04:07):
I there's one like girl that's the kind of the
villain of the of all of the bands. They've narrowed
it down to six bands now who are competing against
each other, and the girl from the Pussycat Dolls is
one of the that one Scheschinger, Scheshinger, I can't say it, Nichols.
But what's interesting is one of the coaches. One of

(04:29):
the coaches is Liam Payne, who passed away in October
of last year down in Buenos Aires. So they had
to do this whole kind of thing at the beginning
that they certainly weren't expecting because it just was released
in July. But Liam Payne is one of the judges,
He's one of the coaches.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
This playlist is getting more eclectic by the day.

Speaker 7 (04:49):
I'm so concerned now about what Spotify is going to
spit out as recommendations.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
Now we should also put u Otown on there just
for kicks? Then, oh oh you think?

Speaker 7 (05:06):
Do you know what's so funny about when Otown first
became a band after the show making the band.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
One of their.

Speaker 7 (05:16):
First big performances, and I kind of always felt a
little sad about this, one of their first big performances
was that the Miss America Patch.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Wasn't that the Diddy show making the band miss America pet? No,
not in the band was, Yes, it was Steve.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
Steve says he was in the second season.

Speaker 7 (05:32):
He was season two. The first season was the guy.

Speaker 5 (05:35):
I don't think he's on the current season.

Speaker 7 (05:40):
The first season was the guy that put together the
Backstreet Boys and like in sync and and by the way, Pearlman.

Speaker 5 (05:47):
Yes that guy. There's a there's a documentary on Netflix
about his whole rise and fall.

Speaker 7 (05:53):
Well, I've heard he's pretty awful like it, I mean,
just an awful man.

Speaker 5 (05:56):
Yes, that's that's pretty much the walk away that I had.

Speaker 7 (05:59):
Really, I have not watched the documentary. I just had
always read articles about him not being the greatest person.

Speaker 5 (06:04):
Well, Netflix kind of specializes because they have the whole
They have like the Dark Side of thirty for thirty,
like it's called untold.

Speaker 7 (06:12):
I love Untold.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Struck.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
I heard in your Boys, I sure do.

Speaker 5 (06:20):
We struck a chord? It sounded like this, Oh man
all right? Six thirteen on Newstock eleven ten WBT.

Speaker 9 (06:29):
Watch Building the band Everyone Une not an ned Renee
wrap or Otown.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
I don't think Boomer walked either of them up on
the old Magic Oldies ninety six. Yes that is correct, Okay, yeah,
can verify yes, yes it was no, yes, you should
do or did not. We had big nights. Mecklenberg County

(07:09):
Commission proves a sales tax referendum for the November fourth ballot.
Two hours forty five minutes of a public forum last night,
a lot of people at the Government Center. Here's how
the vote sounded. In the end, he's been moved and seconded.

Speaker 10 (07:30):
We have already had discussion all those in favor. Let's
see by show of hands.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
So I know you can't see you can't see the
hands that were raised, but all the hands but one
were raised from the County Commission last night. In the end,
most unanimous to put this on the ballot on November fourth.
The only dissenting vote came from Susan Rodriguez McDowell last night.

Speaker 7 (08:07):
And there were so many people. The thing that I
do love is when issues are really important to folks,
they do show up, and in this case, really showed
up in numbers.

Speaker 5 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean the public forum last night, Like I said,
nearly three hours and a lot of recognizable names, and
we'll go through some of this, and we'll do it
throughout the morning. And I want to give you a
good cross section of the yeses versus the nose, because
there were people there who were supporting this and then
there were some that were not. But again, the county
commissioners voted to place the Pave Act, which includes a

(08:42):
sales tax increase, to be in a referendum in November.
The tax hike would generate nearly twenty billion dollars over
the next thirty years to fund road, rail and bus
projects across the county County of Mecklenburg. So let's start
with some of the speakers last night, a former United
States Congressman, among other things, Mel Watt.

Speaker 11 (09:03):
In nineteen sixty nine, there was a referendum on the
ballot in Atlanta. It was a transportation referendum, and the
referendum was defeated. It took them fifteen to twenty years

(09:24):
to get public transit that and they had to turn
to Rhodes in the interim. And so I'm concerned that
at this critical juncture in the city of Charlotte, we
not make the same mistake that Atlanta made and lose

(09:48):
fifteen twenty years to improve our transportation system.

Speaker 5 (09:53):
Hadn't not seen mel Watt in a long time.

Speaker 7 (09:55):
I know that's a name I hadn't heard in a while,
quite frankly.

Speaker 5 (09:59):
Of course, congressman, and of course, at one point in
time was Harvey Gant's campaign manager when Harvey Gant ran
for Senate against Jesse Hilms back in the day. So
mel Wad a former United States congressman. The next voice
you hear a very familiar voice, former city Councilman Braxton Winston.

Speaker 12 (10:17):
You're being asked to hold a referendum on whether or
not to fund a plan that will increase revenue to
invest in much needed infrastructure. However, this tax does not
promise to provide the solutions that we actually need to
effectively move people in into and through Mecklenburg County. It
is a tax with strings attached that will ultimately handcuff

(10:40):
future generations from investing, just like we feel today as
our community navigates the segregation created by transportation investments made
by urban renewal policies of governing bodies generations ago. This
is a maximum tax that promises minimal returns.

Speaker 5 (10:57):
Braxton Winston, hard no as far as the referendum goes,
he doesn't believe this does what it's set out to
do in the beginning, at least.

Speaker 7 (11:06):
Right He doesn't think it does enough. He wants to
see more done in the way of making sure that
we have transportation infrastructure, especially for parts of town that
haven't gotten the infrastructure that he believes is necessary.

Speaker 5 (11:18):
Now, Braxton was a no. Jennifer Roberts, former mayor, spoke
last night. She was a no. We'll hear from her later.
But here is the mayor of Cornelius wood you wash him.

Speaker 13 (11:29):
I'm here, as mayor of Cornelius asking you to please
place this on the ballot. Our community is, without a question,
choked with congestion, and our businesses and communities are suffering.
If you've ridden through my town, you know that the
balance struck at this bill and plan allowing the town

(11:50):
of Corneis to receive approximately five point seventy five million
dollars in the first year of this tax is transformation,
without a question. It'll help our road system finally get
to a decent place that we can get around through
the gridlock.

Speaker 5 (12:09):
So Cornelius Mayor very much in the yes category. Some
of the other notable names last night Malcolm Graham very
much in the yes category. At Driggs, his colleague on
City Council as well, Alan Durgis, is a realtor locally
and he may not be the most recognizable names to you,
and at it's not a politician, but his moment last

(12:32):
night actually probably brought the crowd to the most laughter
in the end.

Speaker 14 (12:36):
I live in the North Charlotte side of town, up
by Malhally Huntersville. When I first moved up there twenty
five years ago, it took me twelve minutes to get here.
That commute now is twenty five to thirty five minutes
with bumper to bumper traffic coming down Brookshire Freeway. We

(12:59):
have to be proactive in this. It's conducive to our children.
It's conducive. I'm on the other side. I'll be in
a home sooner than later. But I want my children
to be able to come see me in a timely
manner and bring me Sunday dinner after church if I

(13:25):
have to watch it on zoom, so I implore you.
I think the bigger thing is that we put this
referendum on the ballot and then we educate our communities,
educate the people who are saying no, find out why
they're saying no, and educate them that this is so

(13:46):
important to our way of life. We do not want
to be Atlanta.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
So there you go. Some of the sounds from last
night's very spirited nearly a three hour public forum ahead
of this referendum vote.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
This is good Morning Beat.

Speaker 5 (14:06):
Thursday morning, August seventh, Bow and Beth and the Zoke
and Bernie and Steve. We are apparently in the hardcore era.
Did you know that? Yes, you're you're working should probably yeah,
you might clify more words companies. Companies are in their

(14:27):
hardcore era. How's that that better?

Speaker 10 (14:29):
Yes?

Speaker 7 (14:29):
And you know what, we hear more and more like
the busy traffic reports we heard just a few minutes
ago audio about investing in infrastructure and crowded roadways and
people needing to take you know, different kinds of transportation.
And a lot of it has to do bo with Beth.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
This hardcore talking to you Bo.

Speaker 7 (14:49):
A lot of it has to do with this hardcore
era because people in leadership positions that a lot of
these major companies are demanding that employee come back to
the office. You know what that means that means more
people on the roads at certain times a day getting
to and from the office. What's that called brush hour.

(15:10):
But the whole point is is we went from covid
era to people working from home and having more flexible schedules.
And now these company CEOs, for example, like AT I
just want to say this guy's name, like AT and
T CEO, John Stanky, he is he's saying that all
of their employees have to come back to the office,

(15:33):
and a lot of employers and I'm sure a lot
of you out there are feeling it. If you're in
traffic now heading into work, you probably have at least
a minimum of days that you have to show up
in the office.

Speaker 5 (15:43):
What she's trying to say is Hugh, as you listen WBT.

Speaker 7 (15:47):
But now people are saying that they are feeling more stressed,
that the work life balance selling point of the job
market is no longer a thing, and that as people
are looking for jobs, bosses, employers, CEOs are expecting employees
to come back to the office and roll up their
sleeves and get to work. And that's the hardcore part

(16:08):
of it.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
Allow me to quote mister Stanky, he said, quote if
the requirements dictated by this dynamic do not align to
your personal desires. You have every right to find a
career opportunity that is suitable to your aspirations and needs.

Speaker 15 (16:23):
I E.

Speaker 5 (16:24):
And that's the end of the quote.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
I E.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
During COVID it was like, hey, how can we make
this situation more conducive to your lifestyle? You know, you
could look work from home.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
You can.

Speaker 5 (16:34):
Now it's like, hey, get on board or get off
and go somewhere else.

Speaker 7 (16:38):
And when the job market it gets more competitive, which
is what we're seeing a little more of now based
on what's going on in our economy, then employers feel
more empowered to do things like this because they know
that people are competing, so many people are competing for
certain jobs. They're saying, hey, we want the person who's
going to come into the office and roll up their

(16:59):
sleeves and work in a group setting.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Or portion of it.

Speaker 7 (17:04):
I keep hearing that does mean, you know, like get
to the grind, just wear short sleeves, grind out bootstraps.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
But I'm wondering, and we have a lot of we
have a lot of people who listen to this show
who are bosses, and we have a lot of people
listening that work for bosses. But I'm curious, whichever side
of this year that you're on, do you feel like
you've entered into this era now where it's basically, uh,
you know, you conform to us, we don't conform to
you anymore. Has that really been the sea change that
you've seen?

Speaker 7 (17:31):
And if it is, if you or maybe are an
employer or an employee who has who has been experiencing this,
how has it impacted the work life balance? Do you
feel overwhelmed? Do you feel overstressed? Are you getting less
time with your family? It's kind of all of those
things combined, because if people are spending more time commuting,

(17:51):
if people are spending more time working at an office
rather than working at home, and kind of you know,
when people were working at home, they could do a
zoom call and then go to a lot to laundry
or start a call and then you know, put dinner
in the crock pot kind of thing. Whereas if you're
at the office all day and you're on the road
for an hour two hours some people, then how much
time do you have to actually have a conversation with

(18:12):
your wife or help your kids with their homework.

Speaker 5 (18:15):
What it really also sort of comes down to is
work life the work life balance that you hear talked
about so much is work life balance as far as
as employers are going. Is that a thing that's gone
by the wayside now because that has been the hip
phrase for so long, at least since the you know,
it's in the last ten years, the work life balance.
A lot of bosses now don't care about your work

(18:36):
life balance. You know, you do that on your own time.

Speaker 9 (18:38):
And they just come about the work right right because,
like you said, they're making dinner, they're.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Taking a dog for a walk or whatever. It's like
the it's got to be.

Speaker 9 (18:45):
If you're working from home all the time, you're not
working as much as if you were in the building.

Speaker 7 (18:49):
Well, some people say that they do a better job
and get more done working from home because when you're
in the building, you end up in meeting after meeting
after meeting. That they feel, you know, it's pointless. There's
kind of it. There are two arguments to this. Some
people feel that the distractions of being in the workplace
with other people who want to chat with you or
who just want to take your time in these very

(19:11):
very long meetings, people feel like they actually get more
accomplished at home. And I think it really just depends
on what kind of worker you are. I would be
a terrible work from home person. I would never I
need the I need the experience of having other people all.

Speaker 5 (19:26):
We know, we know well.

Speaker 9 (19:30):
I think that would be like like that, I would
be in isolation.

Speaker 7 (19:36):
Well, I also need other people around me to push me.
Like I can't work out on my own either. I'm
not a Oh let me get a treadmill or a
home gym. I would just sit and stare at it,
like I did during COVID, I subscribed to one of
the online dance classes, and I am not lying. I
sat there and watched the guy and I thought, man,
he can dance, and I ate a bagel.

Speaker 5 (19:57):
I mean, I think there's totally something too. And I
did this show during the at the height of COVID
for about a month. I did it from my basement
and not with Jason basement, but in my basement, and
it was I mean, it was doable. But I remember
thinking at the time, it's strange not being able to

(20:18):
talk to people and sort of have conversations. And that's
a big part of our show here. But the other
thing is the act of getting up and getting dressed
and being out into the world. If you just sit
home and wear your pajamas all day, I feel like
that sort of it takes away from my productivity because
I need to be in work mode.

Speaker 7 (20:34):
One hundred percent. I mean, I remember during COVID, I
felt accomplished if I got to the post office. You know,
it took me like an hour to get myself motivated
to get to the post office.

Speaker 5 (20:44):
For those of you who still go to the post.

Speaker 7 (20:45):
Office, I love the post office. You guys know this.

Speaker 5 (20:48):
You hit the post office and she went to the
ticket office.

Speaker 7 (20:50):
But there's something about being you do get more productive,
but that's our personality. Some other people, my husband loves
working from home and feels like he gets more done,
but he's he's also in a situation where they do
want everybody back at the office.

Speaker 5 (21:07):
But work life balance was such a buzz phrase for
so long, and I feel like in the era of
COVID and coming out of it, it was something that
employers worked with you on. And now I feel like
employers are saying, you do that on your own time.

Speaker 7 (21:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:21):
Yeah, And if you can balance it great, but don't
don't don't make the balance here.

Speaker 7 (21:25):
And if the job market is competitive, they can say
whatever they want because you have to do You're you're
playing by their rules.

Speaker 5 (21:40):
Look, when the CEO of AT and T's names Stanky,
can't get it out of my head. So, as you'all
know on this show, sometimes I have to get it
out of my head by playing it. So there you go.
What o the rest of themselves? Through music? I know?

Speaker 7 (21:56):
Time is John Stanky, John Stanky, John, he has.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
A leg, Judge deemos hopefully too.

Speaker 5 (22:03):
Come on, what other morning show is going to bring
you that right there?

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Probably none?

Speaker 7 (22:07):
Yes, I don't think there's a single one in the country.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Not this year anyway.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
Yeah, come on here a good morning this morning. I'm
gonna play it on myself people.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
That was a good morning DT humble.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Bread if I do say so myself.

Speaker 7 (22:20):
Yes, But listen, the reason why we're talking about Stanky
leg and the AT and T CEO John Stanky is
because he's part of a Business Insider article suggesting that
we are now out of the work life balance era
and we are in the hardcore area or era rather,
it's what we're calling it.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Cord area.

Speaker 5 (22:41):
We are all up in your area.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Oh no.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
E.

Speaker 7 (22:49):
The hardcore era means that the CEOs employers are wanting
employees to come back into the office and put in
a good amount of time to the work process. And
we started talking about this and our text line has
gone absolutely nuts. Bob sent a semesterage again, our text
line seven oh four five seven, Oh.

Speaker 9 (23:09):
That's okay, Bob's here five seven commercial member kind of
workouts are gay?

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Bob's here account tempts Yeah, he was like the fill in.

Speaker 7 (23:18):
We have actually a couple of Bobs joining our text
line driven by Liberty gmc. Bob says, my wife works
from home half the week and she works into the night.
She is self motivated and expects the same from her reports. Sometimes,
quite often I have to tell her to shut it down,
and that's usually at ten pm, and she showers and

(23:40):
dresses like she is going into the office even when
working from home.

Speaker 5 (23:44):
See, this is what I was talking about. It's a
it's a whole mentality that going through that process does
for you. I think there is absolutely something to that.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
So you would say she works the night.

Speaker 7 (23:54):
Shift, oh, into the night shift at ten pm.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
Okay' dueling djsos.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Get leg.

Speaker 7 (24:06):
We also have another Bob. This is Bob G.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Bob who sent us.

Speaker 5 (24:09):
A message, Like Jim said, Bob is here.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's okay, Bob's here. What is Bob backwards?

Speaker 7 (24:17):
Bob G says, good morning team. There is a reason
that they call it work and not play. I have
done both for forty years, home versus office, and I
like this. Beth, you nailed it.

Speaker 10 (24:29):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (24:30):
Beth?

Speaker 7 (24:30):
You nailed it by saying it depends on your work
ethic and personality. Employers have the right to say where
your work location is. And it's true because if you
are competing for a job, if they are hiring you
and offering you a paycheck, they they they can tell
you where to do the work. They they they they
have that, Yeah, they have. They certainly have the power.

(24:52):
And it sounds like they're taking they're taking that power
in now.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
There They've got a song for every se there is
that when I think when I hear you say that,
and that's true. But you know how our email system
now will send you an email if you send it
to somebody else if it's off hours, and say you
can send this during work hours you know what I'm talking.

Speaker 16 (25:12):
About, you guys, So you can schedule the email send
whenever they're like online.

Speaker 5 (25:16):
And I always kind of laugh to myself, thinking I
didn't know that we could turn it on and off.
It's just I never turn it off.

Speaker 7 (25:21):
Well, I think that's the worst part about technology is
people expect you to be available at all hours of
the night. It's why certain states, certain places have said
I think it was California right who said they can
find employers for reaching out to people or trying to
do work past six pm, you know, for people who
work the standard business day. But I think that's the

(25:42):
thing that makes me. It takes my breath away, you know,
increases anxiety in people, is that people expect you to
be ready, available at any time via text or via email,
and you can't shut it down. You can't get away from.

Speaker 5 (25:56):
It, says the person who sends story ideas to the
other person at three o'clock.

Speaker 7 (26:00):
In the morning, Sorry, away from Bill.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
That's how we both roll. But the reason I brought
up that email prompt that says you can send this
during office hours. Look, I have my work email on
my phone. It's integrated into my regular email.

Speaker 7 (26:15):
And it's kind of stressful sometimes, isn't it well?

Speaker 5 (26:17):
But if I didn't do that, I would miss so
many things.

Speaker 7 (26:20):
I have it on my phone too, and I miss
so many things most of the time. And BO realizes
this about me, that BO will send me a text
did you see said email?

Speaker 5 (26:28):
Because I know your algorithms now, like your phone may
be on, but I know when it goes dormant. I
know when it falls down a well, and it tends
to fall down a well at the same time every night.
But I will say this bedtime. But I do wonder
if there are people listening who still shut things all light, Like,
can you really, in this day and age shut it

(26:49):
off when you leave and ignore emails? It's one thing.
It's one thing. It's one thing to have it turned
on or off. But it really comes down to do
you act on emails that you receive or texts that
are work related after five? Whenever your five ppends on
who sends them. Oh, but that's an excellent point. That's
another layer to all this. But it's just the line

(27:11):
is so there's not a straight line when it's off
and on anymore. People can say, you know by clothes
of business, what does clothes of business mean anymore?

Speaker 17 (27:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (27:20):
Well exactly. But on the flip side, are you one
of those people who can't shut it off? Who is
responding to emails at ten pm? Who is responding to
three am, three am? Two? The other day? I know,
I texted Booth Stories at five thirty am on a
Sunday morning, and then I started thinking, I wonder if.

Speaker 9 (27:37):
It's fun see to me, text is different than email
because I mean, you could have alerts for emails, but
text you're going to see an email. Michael, you don't
have to respond. I'm just sending it now. I'm thinking
about it, but Sunday you can look at it Monday.
And I'm not meaning like an urgency. A text to
me is like you're going to see the text, and
that will.

Speaker 5 (27:52):
Get tell Curtis to stay on the line, because he's
got an interesting sort of layer to this. As we
talk about when, well, it's kind of morphed into when
is the close of business?

Speaker 17 (28:02):
Yea?

Speaker 7 (28:02):
When is it appropriate to say I'm not responding?

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Well, I know that my phone just fell down?

Speaker 4 (28:08):
A well, what are you smiling like that?

Speaker 3 (28:11):
I just like to smile.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Smiling is my favorite.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
Make work your favorite. That's your favorite? Okay, what work
is your new favorite?

Speaker 4 (28:16):
From News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three w BT.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Did you enjoy the opera there?

Speaker 5 (28:22):
Oh I'm so good.

Speaker 7 (28:23):
I almost beat my pants.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
This is Good Morning Beauty with Bo Thompson and Beth Troutman.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
My Man's best.

Speaker 7 (28:37):
It's the business time coming.

Speaker 14 (28:40):
What you're trying to say, you're trying to say, it's
time for business, It's.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
Business time to morning, it's best, It's business time.

Speaker 5 (28:50):
Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm talking about
your jobs.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
The flight of the conference.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
Maybe we're talking about what is now called the hardcore
era of companies. Basically, boss is saying COVID's over, the
hangover's over, and you need to get into the office.
You need to work, work, work, and this whole thing
of work life balance. Well you do that on your
own time.

Speaker 7 (29:13):
Yeah, they said that, that's basically gone out the window.
We need you to come into the office and we
need you to roll up your sleeves and do the
hardcore work.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Roll up those sleeves.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Curtis is Online Number one. Curtis has called seven oh
four five eleven ten, where you can text driven by
a Liberty Bui at GMC or you can call you
can go old school. Hi Curtis, Hey, good morning, y'all. Hey,
what's up.

Speaker 7 (29:35):
Hey?

Speaker 15 (29:35):
I was just thinking I was one. I'm grateful you
guys are bringing this up because I talk about this
with my peers all the time. But I was thinking
about the level of anxiety that our students and our
kids are walking through, and just what the cost of
reflection I have of It wasn't like this for us
when school was over. It was over. Yeah, But watching
my daughter at NC State having midnight deadlines on Saturday,

(29:58):
my daughter at University at Tennis see all weekend, all holiday,
they come home for breaks and the deadlines are in
the middle of the weekend, the middle of the night.
So there's never an off button for them either. What
with Oh my gosh, it's absolutely that way.

Speaker 5 (30:13):
He's exactly right. The Saturday night papers do what Like.
I have a son in college and he's had those before,
and I think I don't remember having to turn things
in on a Saturday night.

Speaker 7 (30:23):
No, you turned it in during class time. That was
your time to turn in a paper. It was class time,
the paper was in, and then you went out and
let your hair down.

Speaker 15 (30:31):
Absolutely, But and five o'clock on a Friday, you were done.
Whether you did well or you did bad. You had
the weekend to evaluate or the night to evaluate and
reassess and reset. That doesn't exist anymore. And there's got
I don't know if it's causation or correlation or both,
but the level of anxiety that these kids are going
through has got to be tied to that on some level.

Speaker 7 (30:54):
Well, yes, this shocks me. You know, I don't Curtis,
you probably know this. I don't have children, so I
haven't ex experienced college passed my experience in college, which
was still the analog years. I mean, we had just
gotten email when I was in school. So I can't
imagine having a school deadline on a Saturday, because I
was a bit of a perfectionist in school and that

(31:16):
would have given me stomach aches.

Speaker 15 (31:19):
Absolutely. And my wife is doing her master's degree, same
exact thing with ECU, with her same exact thing. She'll
be in her office till eleven thirty eleven forty five
trying to get an assignment or a peer review or
something in before midnight, because that's the deadline.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
You know. I unfortunately, I think It all goes back
to what you carry around in your hand all the time,
the phone. It's awful because as long as they know
that you and whoever they is, whether it's school or
business or what, as long as they know that you
can be reached. And it's not like the old days
where you call and if somebody's not there, you leave
a message or it's cheap, there's a record of whether

(31:55):
or not you didn't answer, which that wasn't there when
we were younger.

Speaker 7 (31:59):
Either, right, there was a whole like you left a
message on a little tape recorder. Sometimes that little message
tape recorder thing got chewed up. Maybe you got the message,
maybe you didn't get Maybe you got it two days later,
and no one was pressing you for a timely response.
That it was just accepted and expected that you responded
when you got around to it. And now that's a

(32:20):
completely different thing. The expectation is different absolutely.

Speaker 15 (32:25):
Well, like they say that experience is the comb that
life gives you after your bald I think we're going
to end up with a real bad problem down.

Speaker 7 (32:33):
The road, Curtis. That is I'm going to needle point
that on a pillow.

Speaker 15 (32:38):
Experience.

Speaker 5 (32:40):
I'm going to needle point that said analog bes need.

Speaker 7 (32:44):
It on a pillow experience is the cone that life
gives you? What's you're bald?

Speaker 4 (32:49):
See?

Speaker 7 (32:50):
It's so great. But here's the thing I would wonder,
I would venture to ask. The smartphone is a pretty
It's a remarkable invention in that it exists, But is
it maybe potentially from a societal perspective, is it maybe
like the worst invention because it led to these social
media you know, comparisons, It led to all of this

(33:13):
kind of trolling. It led to all of this fake
the fake videos, fake information, the inability to know truth. Now, like, ultimately,
when you think about it, good versus bad? If you
made a pro a pros and cons list about the smartphone,
would the cons list be longer? I'm just asking, Yeah,
I think so.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
I mean, I remember when I was in college, the
phrase that always used to get tossed around is work hard,
play hard, work hard, work hard, play hard, play hard.
But how do you play hard if you never know
when work stops, if it.

Speaker 7 (33:44):
Doesn't ever stop. I can't imagine the shocking and maybe
a lot of people know this because I this was
the first time I had heard it. A Saturday night
deadline for a term paper or something in college. I mean,
maybe that's why I was projecting this morning with my
song Tummy, because that would make my tummy hurt.

Speaker 5 (34:02):
He's trying to make me play again.

Speaker 7 (34:03):
I know it was because it's such a good song,
but I can't the stress of that. It's making me
feel sweaty and stressed for the young people who are
experiencing that right now. Because I loved the fact that
if my paper was due, I knew that it was
due at nine am on Friday morning. I turned it
in and then I went to breakfast.

Speaker 5 (34:29):
Utter in a million years did I think I'd need
this song for this station. But you never know. Seven
thirteen on WBT Traffic check right now, Boomer Boomers get.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Ready for bath Man the Biscuits. Boomer walk up, Stanky leg.
Oh that'd be great, stackery.

Speaker 5 (34:46):
Stanky dude, Come on, dank he's staking up.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
The players.

Speaker 5 (34:54):
Work hard, stank card.

Speaker 7 (34:57):
Well, that kind of works, doesn't it. If you work hard,
you kind of.

Speaker 5 (34:59):
Do stay Here's somebody's got to do it, and that's
a good I vote for for race.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
I just want to bear to hear the stage.

Speaker 5 (35:05):
Do we go France, or do we say France.

Speaker 7 (35:07):
I think you have to say to France. Maybe I
what do you.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
Think your international I know nothing about cycling, of course, is.

Speaker 7 (35:15):
Going to say France. But he'll say piano, you're internationally known.
What do you say?

Speaker 5 (35:22):
Let's say you I'm not internationally known all right, but
I'm known throughout the microphone.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
This is good morning beat with Bow and Beth.

Speaker 17 (35:35):
Oh, come on, dad, this is really Ray.

Speaker 5 (35:39):
Come on now, Russ. You don't want to look like.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
A tourists, do you?

Speaker 5 (35:43):
All the French were these national has. Yeah, work hard,
play hard? But when is the los of business? Now
that everybody's connected and now professors have papers due on

(36:07):
weekends and we're always gettable. You can always contact us.

Speaker 7 (36:13):
I don't know what to do, and man, is this
lighting up our text line? Curtis called just a few
minutes ago to talk about the stress and anxiety created
by the digital age on students because they are constantly
connected and don't have or don't know when their downtime
is that. I was amazed by this. I didn't know

(36:35):
that this was a thing, and that has garnered a
lot of responses seven oh four, five, seven oh eleven, ten,
on our text line, Matt says, just because the deadline
is on a weekend doesn't mean that you have to
work on the weekend, work harder during the week, and
turn your paper in by Friday. He's not wrong, I
get it.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
Oh, but I mean, come on, most, I say, most
college kids will sort of adopt that mode of Okay,
I'll put it off another day. I got a party
to night, put it off another day. I got this
to do. And then you get to the professors know
how it works. They know procrastination happens.

Speaker 7 (37:13):
Oh so, even though I was a good student, I
am the queen and always have been the queen of procrastination.
I think it's one of the reasons news worked for
me because there was always a hard deadline and it
was usually day of so I just had to work
and work under pressure. I would do better work if
I were pressured to meet the deadline. So if I
were a student right now, I would totally be doing

(37:35):
that paper at eight pm on a Saturday.

Speaker 5 (37:37):
Well that's what I'm saying. Like, I know, we've gotten
some people on the text line who are teachers, and
if you're a teacher, or if I was a teacher,
I would. I still I know that if you say, OK,
it's due Sunday night, well you could have a whole
you have weeks to do it. But you know that
if you put it on a Friday night, or you
put it on a Thursday night, then no matter who
it is, if they're gonna have to they're gonna have

(37:59):
to do the much thing at the end. At least
they're doing it during the week, and then they'll have
their weekends free, right.

Speaker 7 (38:04):
They don't have the option of procrastinating until Saturday. To
your point, both Sandra is a is a professor. She says,
I'm a professor and I assigned papers that are due
on Sunday at midnight. But my students have all semester
to know when the paper is due so that they
can work it into their schedules. So Sander's saying by

(38:24):
doing that, they're teaching time management. Maybe someone should have
taught me time management because I was terrible about it.
But I think some people have things have brains that
are wired that way. People are have organized brains, and
then people have scattered brains, like chaos brains or easily
distracted brains, or maybe work under pressure brains. Or I
think it's I think it's. It varies by It's the

(38:47):
same as though you can work from home or work
from the office. I would be a terrible work from
home person. Some are great at it, and I think
it's just there. People are unique.

Speaker 5 (38:57):
This is from Barry. He says, good morning, bow and
bath and thank you for what you do. I work hard,
I play hard. I also participate in an on call
rotation at my workplace when it comes to providing instant response.
Because I also carry a so called smartphone. Don't count
on that. I refuse to go there. When I'm on call.
I'm on call, and that means don't text, as I

(39:19):
might miss that. Also, if I'm not on call, I'm
not on call and my phone might not be anywhere
near me. Bo and Beth, keep up the good work
and if you need anything please call.

Speaker 7 (39:29):
During these Oh that was Barry. Barry is my Barry's
my kind of person. That's that's how I function in
the world.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
We got Barry's number, now I'm.

Speaker 7 (39:38):
Going to We're just going to call Berry. I would
I would have put out the Christian sent a message.
And he makes an excellent point too that I talked
about term papers term papers being due, he said, I
wanted to comment about what Beth said about term papers
a few minutes ago. I wanted to say that nobody
even uses paper anymore because we're in the digital age.

(39:59):
So why I would students in college be turning in
a term paper? Do they call them something different?

Speaker 17 (40:03):
Now?

Speaker 7 (40:04):
Is there? Is it like a term digital writing? What
is it called?

Speaker 5 (40:08):
That's a good point because I don't know the term report?
Do you no idea when you when you write a paper?

Speaker 13 (40:13):
Now?

Speaker 5 (40:14):
You know what, based on what my experience has been
seeing my kids go through high school when they have
basically a portal that they upload things to.

Speaker 7 (40:21):
Do they call it papers.

Speaker 5 (40:22):
I don't know. I mean, I quote unquote paper. But
I do wonder how many professors. Maybe the person that
texted us can tell us whether she uses it.

Speaker 7 (40:30):
She right, Well, it's Christian. Actually it could be a
man or a woman. Okay, yeah, Christian Christian man woman.
I would love that wasn't at all.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
From now on?

Speaker 5 (40:43):
Well, you know, when you inner names in there, I
want you to put Christian man woman question mark. But
you know what, that's an excellent point.

Speaker 7 (40:52):
We don't use paper anymore, which makes me sad. I
loved the paper. I loved I had one of the
print that you had the little the holes on the
side and you had to like use the perforated line
and tear the and I'd be so stressed out because
I was rushing, because I procrastinated rushing to turn my paper,
my term paper in and I was afraid I was
gonna rip it. It was gonna rip the rip when

(41:15):
I was tearing the little perforated edges.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah, these are these are eighties and nineties kids problem.

Speaker 7 (41:19):
You know, they don't even know well.

Speaker 5 (41:21):
And there's another story that we're gonna have to get
around to because it goes right into this about what
kids are arriving to college not being able to do. Now,
I get a paper hold that thought, because on my
paper here it says that we're about to talk to
Emily Ratliff here in a few minutes. On my paper
that where I write everything about what we're going to do.

Speaker 7 (41:38):
See, it's actually not even paper. Yours is like cardstock
construction paper.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
It's card stock card stock because it has to stand
up to the elements.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Oh nice, see here the race stage twoche.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
This is good morning, Beatty.

Speaker 5 (41:57):
All right, Thursday morning, August seventh, here in the Tyboid Studio.
August seventh is well, it's very close to August sixteenth,
just days away from the ninth annual Claire's Army Gala.
Come into the Casey at eighteen thirty seven North Tryon
Street in Charlotte. That's where it was last year if
you attended and remember Claire's Army. Their mission striving to

(42:20):
act as God's hands and feet for families fighting childhood
cancer by supporting their daily responsibilities, allowing them to put
time and focus on their child. And basically this dates
back to when Emily and Kevin Ratliffe were in the
hospital with their daughter Claire, who was battling cancer, and
it was a shock to obviously her system, but it

(42:40):
was a shock to their whole family system because they
didn't know what to do. They found themselves in the
hospital for an extended amount of time their child was
getting treatment, and so they had an army of people
that formed around them during that experience and really helped
them through the whole process. Ultimately passed away, but Claire's

(43:02):
legacy lives on in what's called Claire's Army, and they
now act as that that army around other families that
are dealing with with similar situations. I know some of
you know that story very very well because I've been
telling it for years. But we have new people into
the show every day and on this station and in
this city, and so I never, you know, lose sight
of the fact that people may be listening and learning

(43:24):
about Claire's Army for the first time. So we bring
on the WBT hotline one of our favorite people, a
member of the family here, Emily Ratliffe, who is Claire's
mom and the founder of Claire's Army, and she's back
with us because the gala is coming up. Emily, how
are you today?

Speaker 18 (43:40):
Good morning. We are We're about ten days out, so
we're in you know, just we're getting excited. We're getting
excited that it's already here, you know, less than it
seems like it was yesterday. We were celebrating from last
year and here we are again, you know, for the
ninth time. So we're just we're so excited.

Speaker 7 (43:59):
So the big question this morning for people who are
waking up and listening. Our ticket's still available for anybody
who's interested in attending the gala.

Speaker 18 (44:08):
So we do have a few, but please like purchase
soon because there's so many people that I know wait
till last minute. And we absolutely do have a max capacity,
so once we're sold, we really can't make space for
more as much as we would like to. So please
buy tickets Claarsarmy dot org and our homepager is a

(44:31):
link to the ticket. So we really want don't want
you to miss a chance. It's once a year and
please don't miss it.

Speaker 5 (44:37):
So I also want to focus on what people can
do if they don't come or if they do come,
because the silent auction and the auction that happens while
we're all there, those are really exciting things. And can
we talk about any of the big items that people
should know about this year?

Speaker 18 (44:55):
Yes, we have so many great things like always, but
lots of different trip experiences, whether it's you know, a
trip to the beach that's not far away, or we
have about seven different offerings to some exotic places in
the Caribbean and other areas. We have golf experiences and

(45:17):
a couple we have one to Costa Rica another trip.
We have some incredible things from windsor jewelers, like our
famous diamond dowser that we feature every year where that's
just a really neat chance of one and then one
hundred chance to win these beautiful diamond earrings. They also
have donated a necklace to us, and we've got wonderful

(45:41):
like gift baskets and gifts from places in Charlotte who've
donated for years like Showered Me with Love and Carolina
Grace and Paul Simon Charlotte and just so many great items.
We right now, we're at around ninety different auction packages
that are up forbidding in our Soul auctions. So whether
you're at the event or even bidding from home, there's

(46:05):
a chance to participate and really join the fun and
help families while you're doing it.

Speaker 7 (46:10):
And if you're at the event, you get to meet
one mister Bo Thompson because he will be mceing your
gala or i mean since the beginning he has been
there as you're EMC. But tell people who can't be there,
you just said that they can bid from home, they
can be part of the silent auction. How exactly can
people participate? How do they go about making that happen?

Speaker 18 (46:32):
So we have if we'll go on our website, there
is a number to text, and then they'll get an
automatic link to enter the bidding and they can even
go ahead and register now even though the items aren't live,
and that way they'll start receiving text messages when the
auction's open. It sends reminders to say you know that

(46:54):
you've been out bid and at another bid, and it's
just a great way to stay engaged on everything that's happening.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Wants to.

Speaker 18 (47:03):
Spin that text to start participating in the auction, and
that's also the same way that anyone that night will
participate is through that link, whether you're bidding, whether you're
participating in the Diamond Dowser, or even just giving that night.
That's really the portal to do so, and we'll share

(47:23):
that on the website as well. That text kind of
like a text to give link.

Speaker 5 (47:28):
It's a really great night and it's a lot of
things at once. Beth was that last year's gala, so
she knows how this all works now, and many of
you who are listening have attended. But this is a
celebration because the whole point of this is to have
a party the way Claire used to party, and how
Claire would be partying and it's a black tie signature
event for Claire's Army, dinner, drinks, live and silent auctions.

(47:52):
We talked about that, live music, and lots of ways
to engage and understand what you guys do all year,
because this is the endine that really funds and drives everything,
and that's why we need so much participation. Over three
hundred and seventy five thousand dollars raised last year. But
if you're looking for a great night out to end
the summer and to have some fun but also have

(48:14):
a really meaningful experience too, it's a great event that
kind of ties it all together, and it's back at
the Casey once again, which is eighteen thirty seven North
Trion Street. We as always will be keeping in touch
with you up until the event itself next week. But
anything else right now that you need people to know, Emily,
I think.

Speaker 18 (48:33):
It's the biggest thing is you know you can stay
tune what's happening the easiest way through Instagram and Facebook.
Just follow Claire's Army. That's how we're posting event updates
and silent auction items. But I think most importantly, just
people knowing that this event just really helps so many
people helps hundreds of families a year through our Meal program,

(48:56):
through the way that we direct assistance financially for help
with housing and food, and then just also making sure
that parents and caregivers s feel supported through every single
step of their journey. So every dollar really does make
a difference, and we love the more the more people
that join in, the more families we can serve.

Speaker 5 (49:17):
And we'll get more into this next week. But I've
seen this happen right in front of me, and so
is Beth. I mean, there are there are years where
we've had the gala where we're in the middle of
the actual event and Emily finds out about a need
during the event, and then you know, she ends up
us saying, well, here's what we've done in the last
you know, a few hours. There's very you know, the
red tape is is is gone from here. If you're

(49:37):
looking for an organization where you can donate and you
can know that the need is filled almost you know
the next day, that's how it works sometimes, and so
I've really marveled at how she gets all this done
every year. But it's good to talk to you, and
we'll stay in touch and again Claire's Army dot o
RG for all the details. Emily, I'll see you soon.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (49:58):
Thanks Beth, just wanted to say, hey, I thoroughly enjoy
the show.

Speaker 7 (50:01):
Thank you for taking the time to call in.

Speaker 4 (50:03):
Well, y'all keep it worried done?

Speaker 5 (50:05):
Great? Yeah, thank you man, keep on keeping on.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
This is good morning, Beaty with Bowen Path.

Speaker 5 (50:19):
All right, ten before eight o'clock right here on wbt
BOE in Bath here. And it was quite a night
at the Government Center. Meckenburg County Commission holding a public
forum regarding the sales tax referendum, and last night they
voted to whether or not to put it on the

(50:40):
November fourth ballot, and almost unanimously it was voted yes.

Speaker 10 (50:46):
All right, he's been moved and seconded. We have already
had discussion. All those in favor. Let's see by show
of hands.

Speaker 5 (51:04):
Well you can't see it, but a lot of hands
went up, all but one. In fact, the one dissenter
was Susan Rodriguez McDowell on the County Commission. And so
Mecklenburg County Commissioners have voted to place the Pave Act,
which includes a sales tax increase, on the November ballot.
This will generate nearly twenty billion over the next thirty

(51:25):
years to fund road, rail and bus projects across Mecklenburg County.

Speaker 7 (51:30):
And it's legislation that brought a lot of people out
to the meeting. People wanted to express their opinions, wanted
to express their thoughts on infrastructure, on transportation, on what
is positive about the bill, and other people really wanted
to talk about the shortcomings.

Speaker 5 (51:45):
Yeah, two hours and forty five minutes of people speaking
and really, as you'll hear here all over the map,
and a lot of names that you know, including former
city councilmen Braxton Winston.

Speaker 19 (51:56):
We cannot wait for folks who would say, I.

Speaker 5 (52:00):
Actually gave you the wrong one there. You could stay
with that one, Bernie, but let me properly intro it.
This is Larry Shaheen last night.

Speaker 19 (52:08):
We cannot wait for folks who would say there is
a better plan or there is a better funding source.
Because I can promise you having spent two and a
half years on this process with all of these people
who I don't agree with all the time, and they
certainly don't agree with me all the time, but we're

(52:29):
here together. This is the definition of coalition building. This
is the definition of government. This is how we get
things done. Mecklenburg County can't afford to wait. Our community
can't afford to wait. Every day we wait in gridlock.

Speaker 5 (52:49):
That's Larry Shaheen. He is a definite Yes, well known
conservative around town. Now in the category of no, I
was getting to this. Braxton Winston asked to.

Speaker 12 (53:00):
Hold a referendum on whether or not to fund a
plan that will increase revenue to invest in much needed infrastructure. However,
this tax does not promise to provide the solutions that
we actually need to effectively move people in into and
through Mecklenburg County. It is a tax with strings attached

(53:21):
that will ultimately handcuff future generations from investing, just like
we feel today as our community navigates the segregation created
by transportation investments made by urban renewal policies of governing
bodies generations ago. This is a maximum tax that promises
minimal returns.

Speaker 5 (53:39):
Raxton Winston, who is no longer on city council, ran
for state office and was not successful. But you've got
to wonder what his future plans are. I have a
feeling that he will find his way back into the
local mix. At some point.

Speaker 7 (53:52):
Oh, he'll re emerge as a candidate somewhere. Whether it's
statewide or whether it's local remains to be seen. But
this is getting people talked. Looking, even on our text line,
people who have thought about the transportation infrastructure, They've looked
at other cities. Jeff, one of our listeners, sent us
a text that said, Raleigh invested in roads and Charlotte
is solely focused on rail. This has been driving our

(54:15):
traffic congestion for decades. We already pay high fees and
taxes for road infrastructure, but our council always wants more.
If they want people to ride the rail, you need
to make it safer. It would be hard to get
me to vote on this, to vote yes on this.

Speaker 5 (54:31):
Ed Driggs is on city council now, and of course
when you think of Balentine, you can'tnot think of Ed Driggs.
They're in District number seven. Ed Driggs very much a
yes vote.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
This is not Manhattan.

Speaker 20 (54:42):
We cannot meet the mobility needs of a city that
has the population density that Charlotte does solely with public transportation.
Whether we like it or not, there will be a
continued reliance on cars, and the goal of this plan
is to achieve balance, to make investments in all of
the forms of mobility so that people in cars get
relieved from less traffic and other people who don't have

(55:05):
cars have a means of getting where.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
They want to go.

Speaker 5 (55:07):
As a recurring theme last night with a number of
the people that have been around Charlotte for a long time,
remembering a time when the city of Charlotte proper looked
a lot different because of there's so much development now,
I mean Valentine for example.

Speaker 7 (55:22):
Well, and if you really think about, like Ed was saying,
no matter how much we put into public transportation, the
way that our city is developed, the way that things
are developed, it's so spread out that people will rely
on cars. And I think the lack of forethought in
some of our infrastructure when it comes to roadways. And
I'm looking at YouTube seventy seven, I'm looking at the

(55:46):
exits on and off of I to seventy seven right now,
that was they were not created for the amount of
people who are getting on and off those roadways. I
have out got side swipes trying to get on to
seventy seven from Fourth Street because you're getting other people
are trying to get off and go to independence. Is
it's a nightmare. So anyway, I digress.

Speaker 5 (56:06):
So many names that we recognized last night. Mel Watt,
former congressman. He was a yes. He wants this to
be put on the ballot in the fall for a referendum.
We heard from Woody Washington, the Cornelius mayor, and then
back to people who are serving on council, City council
right now. Last night in front of the County Commission
was Malcolm Graham.

Speaker 21 (56:26):
When I came to Charlotte in eighty one, the square
was where the Corporate Center sits today. Was the Burger came,
the Ecker's drug store, the pawnshop. There was no panthers
or hornets. It was racing and wrestling. As a student
that smith we called going to unc Charlotte, going to
the country and the city limits stopped at South Park Mall,

(56:48):
no Balantine, no University, City, Harris Boulevard, a two lane
highway today Charlotte Regent. It's the home almost one point
four million individuals, one hundred and fifty individuals every day
come to this region looking for jobs, housing, and great

(57:10):
public transportation to get back and forth to work. I'm
here to specially request that you placed a one cent
sales tax referendum on They don't have a ballot giving
voters the opportunity to decide on a dedicated funding source
for critical transportation infrastructure.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
And Charlotte mcniberg.

Speaker 5 (57:28):
Malcolm Graham's been around, He's seen a lot. And might
I point out that he said Eckerds, you get the
s on it. You know that you've been around for
a lot. Actually Eckered or Ekerds not around at all anymore.
So I don't know what is that? What Walgreens is now?
Did we ever figure that out?

Speaker 7 (57:46):
They gobbled them all up, CBS and Walgreens gobbled up
everything because like write Aid, I don't even know that
right aid is.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
One on Monroe Road. That's like a medical office. Now
it's right there before you get into Matthews in Moorsville.

Speaker 7 (57:59):
The Rite Aid is now a library.

Speaker 5 (58:02):
I'm just looking for the Revco because I want to
go buy my GPX Maxell tapes at the Revco. Revco
was just a It's the whole new world.

Speaker 7 (58:11):
That's where I would get my cover girl blush and
my cover.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Girl mascara when I was in now what Bo was getting.

Speaker 7 (58:18):
Yeah, now, mascaron blush, No.

Speaker 5 (58:20):
No, I mean, but you know, if I went to Brindle's,
I could go to see yeah, we're not doing that again.

Speaker 4 (58:26):
To the fortune of the jib sleeve.

Speaker 7 (58:29):
There's something called a jib on a boat.

Speaker 4 (58:31):
There is and this is the slip. Yes, you was
Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three w BT.

Speaker 5 (58:37):
I'd like to introduce you to Captain Steubing.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
You certainly picked the right crew.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
This is Good Morning Beat with Bo Thompson and Beth Trout.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
Bill, welcome on board. I loved your entrance. I enjoy
your crew.

Speaker 14 (58:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (58:55):
I had Sammy Hagar on the mind yesterday as I
walked past WFNZ on the way out of the building.
And if you walk past each station here, you can
hear this little speaker in the hall. You can hear
what's going on and what Colin. Colin Hagger, who hosts
the mid morning show, there had a guest named Jim
Zochie who was calling in live from Panthers training camp.

(59:19):
I remember doing that and I heard you saying now
that I don't know how it ultimately turned out, because
you can tell us, but at that point in time,
you were telling Colin, well, we're here for a joint
practice and it's the two teams by themselves. They aren't
intermingling yet. So it reminded me hearing you say that.
I was all excited back. And this is like two

(59:39):
thousand and three or two thousand and four. Carl East,
who was our former assistant program director. He and I
went to the Sam and Dave show at the at
then called the Blockbuster Pavilion, and it was Sammy Hagar
and David Lee Roth and this was supposed to be
the big you know, Sam and Dave do a show together,
the guys who were the lead singers of Van Halen,
and you're thinking they're going to go out there and

(59:59):
you know, perform together. And I went to the whole
show and basically Sammy or David came out and did
like ten songs and then left, and then Sammy came
out and did song and they never intermingled at all.
And I've read stories about this about how it was
the Sam and Dave tour, but basically all that meant
was one comes out and like David Lee Off was
in his van rolling down the road and Sammy came out.

(01:00:21):
So when you said they're standing here. It's a joint practice,
but they're not mixing together. I was thinking about the
Sam and Dave show. Did they did they ultimately intermingle like.

Speaker 9 (01:00:30):
A middle school dance. They eventually all got on the
dance floor together afterwards. But practice starts at ten. There's
always like a stretching period. So I was on with
Colin at ten thirty, and I think the practice went
to like about eleven forty five. So the first half
was truly them doing their own separate workouts, and then
eventually they did like seven on seven drills and some
other stuff together.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
So that definitely did happen.

Speaker 9 (01:00:50):
But I would say in terms of like the years
of doing it, I remember back in the day, it
was like you go back ten years, five years ago.
Even it was more intense, like you walk around, there
be different offensive versus defensive line'm like more like throughout
the entire practice. So clearly Cleveland and Carolina got together
coaches and then said, look, we're gonna do it like this.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
The weather's this. Maybe that had an impact with it
with the rain, but it.

Speaker 9 (01:01:11):
Didn't seem as intense as what I've seen in past
years because it used to be like. That's why we
had more flare ups and little fights would break out
because it was a little bit more intense. I think
this was much more structured, and I wouldn't say toned down.
They got their work, in no doubt about it, but
it was not as aggressive as I've seen in past
years with other teams.

Speaker 7 (01:01:29):
How was the panther chemistry How Because there are sneaky
stories that are out there about Bryce Young's chemistry with
the t Rex guy t.

Speaker 4 (01:01:44):
MAC guy.

Speaker 5 (01:01:45):
I will tell you this.

Speaker 9 (01:01:47):
They tell you they don't ever want to give anything
away in practice, so like they'll have like where the
especially the TV folks with their cameras, this is like
a shooting period. This is like no cameras period, and
a lot of it is like the STUF where it's
just like very minimal work going.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
On in the field.

Speaker 9 (01:02:00):
But then you can watch and people are the reporters
will have to tweet what they're seeing. Bryce Young, when
you see him in person, he is somewhat of a
magician with the ball. I will tell you he throws
a good football.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
And then he's seven on seven drills.

Speaker 9 (01:02:12):
I mean, you look at guys that are just look
completely covered and he'll throw to the back, right shoulder
on like a slant pass or whatever, and hits them
right on that part of the body where they could
catch it, where the defender is looking in front.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
But the balls just slightly behind or whatever.

Speaker 9 (01:02:26):
He has a really good knack with accuracy as far
as where to place the football, and sometimes it gets caught,
sometimes it doesn't. Obviously, there's times h Bryce gets intercepted
and practice things like that happen. But when you watch him,
you see the arm talent, like you see why they
drafted him and why they thought this guy has the
potential to be something special. So obviously you need to
translate that, and he did last year in the second

(01:02:47):
half of the regular season in games where it matters.
But you can see where that ability is when you
watch it in a practice in particular.

Speaker 5 (01:02:53):
How about Shador Did you see much of him yesterday?

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
Not much?

Speaker 9 (01:02:56):
I think it only through like five passes yesterday, and
like the ones I saw were kind of just like short,
kind of dumped down things. Joe Flacco got most of
the work, which is interesting because he's forty and he's.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Not going to start.

Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
He's a man.

Speaker 9 (01:03:05):
He's forty and he's not gonna start in this game,
thank you, But Shadour will be the starter. But they're playing.
They're not going to start their starters. They're going to
play with their twos and threes or second and third
string others. Maybe it's part of why Chadour's playing is
that he'll be with those guys. So didn't see a
lot of him. Saw more Joe Flacco and interesting, the
two guys who aren't playing are Kenny Pickett and Dylan Gabriel.
For Cleveland, they I thought took the most work at times.

(01:03:28):
Kenny Pickett in particular was the first one out there
doing stuff for Cleveland's offense. But he's just also coming
back from a hamsterring issue, so he's not going to
play in the game tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:03:35):
Is this one of those situations where there's added media
because of the interest in Shador Sanders?

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
It was packed.

Speaker 9 (01:03:40):
Well, you had the Cleveland media first of Allah and
me growing up in Cleveland. It's funny to see like
Mary kay Kaba, she's been covering the team. She actually
just getting inducted the Hall of Fame and took a
shot at Bill Belichick. If you saw that on social
media because about him saying things to her that she
kind of implied without saying was because she was a
female reporter. And her comment was, this Bill Belichick backtruck

(01:04:00):
was once the Browns coach many years ago, and so
she's becovering the team that long she is. I guess
you just at that time I was twenty eight. He
didn't know how to talk to a woman that old.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Oh wow, and it just took off.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
It was a logo.

Speaker 9 (01:04:15):
Oh it was like and they don't have a logo
even because of the Browns, but wow. Anyhow, the lot
of Cleveland media there, and there was national media there
because of the shoe door Sanders thing. And it's going
to be I think it's an ESPN game tomorrow. It's
ESPN r NFL network. I think it's ESPN in addition
to the local TV broadcast and the radio broadcast, so
you have the national folks in town for that too.

Speaker 5 (01:04:35):
He really said that he should do or did eight
thirteen on WBT. Got to lean into it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
It should be a promo.

Speaker 5 (01:04:45):
That's a copyright Beth Troutman.

Speaker 7 (01:04:48):
I don't think I want credit for that one, you know. No,
It's like Bernie said, as soon as we got off
the air, He's like.

Speaker 5 (01:04:55):
Yeah, you might have wanted to practice.

Speaker 7 (01:04:56):
You should have a trial run that one.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
I was going to the sports machine.

Speaker 3 (01:04:59):
Here we're going.

Speaker 5 (01:05:00):
I am going to the sports machine because you know
you said it should be a promo. It should be
a promo. In fact, maybe it is a promo.

Speaker 9 (01:05:08):
This could be really an interesting season for this team.
So I think there's a lot of excitement about this one.

Speaker 7 (01:05:12):
I love hearing about all the optimism. I mean, I
knew if that Canalis is optimistic, but I like hearing
the love.

Speaker 5 (01:05:16):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
I mean, there's nothing good.

Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
Hey, look you scorn and corn mixed whiskey. Should dour
Sanders on the other team, Brown, like we said, going
to start on Friday night and has been saying all
the right things in training camp so far.

Speaker 4 (01:05:30):
He should do her has.

Speaker 5 (01:05:33):
Good morning et with bow and past a lot of
sports in that segment we should do or did. What
I love is your southern accent too. He has welcome
back to he Hall.

Speaker 7 (01:05:48):
That's my real accent.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
Guys.

Speaker 7 (01:05:50):
I worked really hard to not not do that all
the time.

Speaker 3 (01:05:53):
Take the girl out of Concord.

Speaker 7 (01:05:54):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:05:57):
Back at it. At eight twenty one, on WBT Thursday,
August seventh. A lot of people on the text line
today seven oh four five, seven oh eleven ten, driven
by Liberty Buick GMC, a story we were talking about earlier,
and every once in a while we get one of
these where we get so much feedback we have to
come back around to it. Companies are in their hardcore
era as far as bosses dealing with employees. There was

(01:06:21):
a time after and around the COVID time of twenty
twenty ish where you know, it was a pretty regular
thing for people to be able to achieve the work
life balance of working from home, sometimes all the way
at home, and people would, you know, do the remote thing. People.
We even did stories here where people would go on vacation,

(01:06:42):
like would move to vacation type spots because it didn't
matter where they were. They could work from wherever home was,
and why not make home a more exotic place, right?

Speaker 7 (01:06:51):
They would work from a beach in Saint Thomas, but
you know, be an employee of a bank in Uptown.
And people really wanted to weigh in because this new
hardcore era is suggesting that most CEOs of these big
companies are requiring workers to come back to the office,
getting rid of the stay at home and work option,
at least coming back to the office for a certain

(01:07:12):
number of days per week, and that the work life
balance isn't something that employers are focused on at all anymore.
They're more focused on getting the work done and getting
people back to face to face communication in an office setting.

Speaker 5 (01:07:25):
And the balance more often than not now is you
do that on your own time. You know, if you
can balance it, great, but won't make that or don't
assume that the office is going to help you achieve
that or work to achieve that, and then you know
that led down the road of okay, when do you
when is clothes of business? If we all are connected
to our employers by our smartphone and work email, and

(01:07:49):
I know in this job, you know we're Beth and
I were talking about earlier. We send each other stories
at all times of the day, and I do mean
like three am sometimes, yep, that's how we roll. We
do a morning show. But in a nine to five environment, well,
it's a sort of like put it in those parameters
when is clothes of business? Because five pm if you
work to if you're a nine to five or so

(01:08:10):
to speak, five pm in many cases is just an
arbitrary number. Now, because you can be contacted at any
time of the day, When can you be expected to
be on the clock and off right.

Speaker 7 (01:08:21):
It seems that it's constant now that we can't let
go of the work anxiety because we know that people
can reach us at any time, and everything feels necessary,
everything feels like it's urgent. I have to respond to
that text, I need to respond to that email, I
need to take that phone call. People have been responding.
Like BO said, we've been getting tons of messages, so
we wanted to come back to some of them. This

(01:08:43):
one said, when I worked from home during COVID, I
started and ended my day on time. Now it's when
the Charlotte or Gastonia traffic allows. I loved working from home.
And now, like we were just saying, he is kind
of at work whenever. In his offer, this day is
maybe two hours longer because of the commute, maybe four hours,

(01:09:04):
two hours in, two hours out, just depending on how
far outside of Charlotte you live and the commute, I
think adds to the I think that you consider your
commute the work day, don't you.

Speaker 9 (01:09:13):
I do.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
Definitely the end of the day for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:09:16):
I've scheduled guests. I've booked guests on the on the
way to work before.

Speaker 9 (01:09:20):
I'm doing another WFNZ segment tomorrow, and I actually scheduled
it during the car ride into the stadium tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:09:25):
Yeah, I figure I.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Gotta be driving to work anyway, might as well. I
do airbuds. By the way, I don't hold a phone
while I'm driving.

Speaker 9 (01:09:31):
But it's like I think it's Yeah, I almost try
to plan certain conversations around the fact that it's work
related while I'm driving to work.

Speaker 7 (01:09:38):
Okay, so I'm going to bring up something else that's
controversial if if they are requiring people are probably going
to respond about this, if they are requiring people to
go back into the office, especially the offices in Uptown.
We had a conversation, was it yesterday day before where
we talked about the parking in Uptown is like twenty six,
twenty eight, thirty forty dollars a day? Are the companies

(01:10:00):
paying for the parking? And if they're not, then it's
you're making more money if you're working from home because
you're not paying whatever the monthly what the what is
the monthly rent on a on a parking space. It's
like two hundred hundred plus.

Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
Dollar two you know, center City.

Speaker 7 (01:10:17):
It's like an extra tax. That's like an extra you know,
really high utility bill.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
And even though gases under two dollars a gallon, it's
still very.

Speaker 16 (01:10:24):
Well And that spent it to drive. That was two
a month before, like right after COVID. That was like
three years ago, so it could be even more more.

Speaker 5 (01:10:31):
Let's go to Mike, who's online one seven four five,
seven eleven ten.

Speaker 4 (01:10:35):
Hi Mike, good morning guys.

Speaker 5 (01:10:37):
Hey Mike, Hey, sorry I.

Speaker 17 (01:10:42):
Missed the show yesterday. I had my colon oskby.

Speaker 7 (01:10:44):
Oh how did it go?

Speaker 17 (01:10:47):
They found some polyps, so now I got to do
it every three years instead.

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
Of ten years.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
Tough choices, listen to.

Speaker 7 (01:10:54):
Hey, but the propofol nap is real though, Oh.

Speaker 17 (01:10:59):
Gosh, thanks for sure, don't even I'm trying to forget
about it anyway. I was going to say, you know,
I work for myself, so this whole working at home
thing is really and nobody has like dead hours is
really disrupting my business because like people want me to

(01:11:21):
come at their house and work at weird hours because
they're working there and a lot of times I'll be
working inside their house and I'll be like, could you
could you not run your software to like twenty minutes
because I'm on a conference call. Uh, And you know
it's like, hey, I got to come over and look
at your deck or whatever. Well can you come on
Saturday's Like no, I don't work, you know. It's just

(01:11:46):
it's really like I'm was brought up in my in
my business construction. You know, you work Monday through Friday,
you know, and that's it. Your rest of your.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
Time is your time.

Speaker 17 (01:12:00):
And it's like it's all it's all mixed up loads
and home depots to blame a lot because people think
if they're open on Saturday at eight o'clock at night,
that I'm open at Saturday at eight o'clock.

Speaker 5 (01:12:15):
Well, have you lost business because you were unwilling to
go at off hours or so or what we would
think are traditional off hours.

Speaker 17 (01:12:23):
Well, I'm a sucker, so I usually.

Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
Go, but none.

Speaker 17 (01:12:29):
I haven't lost a whole lot because I usually, like
I said, I'm I'm I'm a sucker. I usually don't say, well,
you know, okay, I'll come out on a Saturday. But
my wife looks at me and She's like, why are
you telling them you come out on Saturday. I want
you to. I want you to paint the house today.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
You know that's a good reason to go to work,
actually to get away from painting.

Speaker 17 (01:12:51):
I mean we have sometimes it is sometimes it is
saving for me if somebody wants me to come over
on a weekend, but not very often.

Speaker 5 (01:13:01):
Beth and I have to draw the line somewhere, you know.
I mean, coming in and talking about home improvement on
Saturday mornings is just telements a little much for us.
So we'll leave that to John Gordon and David Dovill.
Thank you, Mike, we appreciate it. We got more calls
in the pipeline here, Billy, we'll get to you. If
you hang on seven oh four, five, seven oh eleven ten,
you can text to good.

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
Borrow Law, Good Borrows HEZ Goodmorrow bt you bet. I'll work.

Speaker 5 (01:13:28):
Well, that's what the bosses are saying. You better work.
You better be expected to work off hours. None of
this work life balance thing. That's your business.

Speaker 7 (01:13:38):
We're in the hardcore era. According to Business Insider.

Speaker 5 (01:13:45):
Okay, now is where it really doesn't make sense after
that point. But you get the point, and we got
a lot of people want to weigh in on this.
Billy is online number two. Billy, Welcome to Good Morning BT. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
I have to say, Beth, you're part of the problem.

Speaker 4 (01:13:58):
What what I do?

Speaker 2 (01:14:02):
We all agreed. Don't know what your comment is, but
that was perfect.

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
If you feel if you feel your work day starts
from your driving to work, well then why doesn't it
start when you get out of bed?

Speaker 4 (01:14:15):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (01:14:16):
I was asking. I was asking if that counted. Do
people consider it a part of their workday?

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Well, okay, so eventually it probably will be. And you
have an accident, so that's workers' comp You know, people
don't want to work. I owned a business and I
would it was an emergency type based business. I would
get a call three in the morning. I would get
out of bed and go to that, and I couldn't
get my employees to do it. Even at double pay,

(01:14:42):
they would not do it. That's when my business is
most lucrative. I eventually, you know, closed a business and
retired because I got tired of, you know, really doing
everything myself. And you know the other caller about working weekends.
That is why most of these trades are done by Hispanics.

(01:15:04):
Now you know you need a roof on the don't
do it Saturday and Sunday fifteen hours a day because
it's it's the money, it's it's the income. Yes, you
need a balance, but like they say, work hard, play hard,
you know, but people don't want to do that. People
do not want to do that nowadays.

Speaker 5 (01:15:23):
So when you when you were working, you said you
were retired.

Speaker 3 (01:15:26):
Now is that what you said?

Speaker 1 (01:15:28):
Yeah, I bought rental property, so I just managed that.

Speaker 5 (01:15:31):
But so you found it when you when you had
employees they did not want did you tell them you
need to be prepared to work at all all different
hours or did you stipulate that and just say we
start now, we end now, and then this is what's
considered overtime.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
No, I would tell I would tell them you're required
to do it. Yeah, but the chances to get a
hold of any of them was not likely to get it.
And if you got a hold of them, they're either
drunk or something like that. And also you know it's
just you know, you say, well, co workers send you
a message, turn your phone off. Nobody's telling you got

(01:16:09):
to answer that phone if it's after out.

Speaker 5 (01:16:11):
Well, but see, I don't think it's that easy. I
don't think it's that easy, Billy, because I think once
you set the expectation, then if you decide to turn
your phone off. You know, I don't know about you
guys in this room, but I think there are a
lot of people listening that say, if I, just if
I tell my boss that I didn't I didn't respond,
I turned my phone off and something didn't get done,
that's not going to be taken very well.

Speaker 7 (01:16:30):
Well and Billy, if your employees had turned their phone
off for those three am calls that you ended up
having to take, Like, would you have been mad at
those people that that just turned their phones off and
were available to take that three am call?

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
Yeah, but they were required to have it on. That's
the thing. They were required to have it on. I'm
just saying it's you know, things are skewed both from
the employee and the employee point of view. I mean, yeah,
if you if you have a better idea, start your
own business. That's what I used to tell my employe.
If you know how to do it's better start your
own business.

Speaker 5 (01:17:02):
Well, now, you make some great points, and there's a
lot of gray area here, which is the problem. Billy,
thank you so much for calling. We appreciate it very much.
Now there's a We had a caller named Curtis in
our first hour, oh, actually the second hour because it's
kind of spilled over. But Curtis was saying that he
has has a kid in college who is regularly expected
to turn in papers on the weekends, like on like,

(01:17:25):
and I said, I do know of this because my
son is in college now and he's had to turn
in papers on Saturday or Sunday nights. Yeah, and that
that sort of opened the floodgates on you know, when
when you know college is one thing, but what about
just regular jobs? When is when you say I need
something by the clothes of business in the in the
age now with smartphones and connectivity twenty four to seven,

(01:17:48):
what is clothes of business?

Speaker 4 (01:17:50):
Right?

Speaker 7 (01:17:50):
And who sets the rule? And do you have to
to follow that rule? And if you want to keep
your job, I would think that you have to follow
that rule. We got an excellent message on our text line.

Speaker 5 (01:18:03):
Well you read it that who you read it? Like? Missus? Howell,
mister Holle.

Speaker 7 (01:18:09):
It's a really good it's a really good text. This
is from j D. He says, the company that my
wife d. This is from JD. Thank you, the company
that my wife and I work for in Gastonia changed
our plan so that we are back in the office
four days a week. The ironic part is that nobody
has conference room meetings anymore. Anyway, we find ourselves on

(01:18:32):
teams calls with people who are setting five feet away
from us. I think some leaders need to really rethink
their priorities and ask why are we doing this more often?
I hadn't thought of that are people required to go
back to the office but you're still doing stuff via zoom?

Speaker 5 (01:18:49):
Well, weren't you and me? What was the situation? We
were in the studio across the hall recently and we it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:55):
Was a text line we did training.

Speaker 5 (01:18:56):
It was the text line training, and Beth was you
were It was three feet for me, like you could
see me in the corner of your zoom call.

Speaker 7 (01:19:03):
Well, I didn't even have the sound on my computer
because I was listening to yours. I turn in the
computer to show Bo sitting right there next to me,
And it.

Speaker 5 (01:19:12):
Was because that's your proof of attendance, right, Like if
you need to log in and prove that you were there. Well,
Beth and I could have done the same one, but
we were worried that we wouldn't get credit for both things.

Speaker 7 (01:19:23):
Right because it wasn't coming from my computer and I
had to you know, type in my name and I
had to use my email address for my pass code.
So we legitimately were sitting in Studio D right beside
each other on the exact same training call, and then
we got into Shenanigan's which made it much worse for
the poor guy training.

Speaker 5 (01:19:39):
Oh, Shenanigans always make it better, especially when you're in
a boring zoom call. So there's one new wrinkle to this.
And it's funny because I sent I saw this story
the other day and I went, oh, my goodness, that
is a best story if I ever saw one. And
it sort of dovetails from this idea of turning papers
in to you know, in college on Saturday or Sundays

(01:20:00):
and when is off time. But when we come back,
I want to tell you something about what college professors
are now encountering with some of their students, something that
they can't do the students they're arriving and they are,
in many cases elite students that arrive in college and
from one professor's perspective, they're not able to do something

(01:20:21):
that's going to blow your mind.

Speaker 7 (01:20:23):
It made me curl up in a ball landline and cry.

Speaker 5 (01:20:26):
This is like Beth's worst nightmare.

Speaker 3 (01:20:28):
I bet I know what it is.

Speaker 5 (01:20:29):
It is. It actually is pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
Wait, they have to wear putty pajamas.

Speaker 17 (01:20:33):
Good morning, Bow and Bath hid the conversation this morning.

Speaker 4 (01:20:37):
I had to call it. This is good morning Beat
with Bow and Path.

Speaker 5 (01:20:46):
Lion the sky.

Speaker 4 (01:20:53):
Look, it's saying of.

Speaker 5 (01:20:58):
The elite college student who can't read books. This is
a story that I saw. I said, Oh my goodness,
I got to flag this. This is going to ruin
Beth's world. It's an article in the Atlantic, and I'm
going to read you the first little bit of this,
it says. Nicholas Dames has taught literature humanities at Columbia

(01:21:21):
University since nineteen ninety eight. He loves the job, but
it has changed over the past decade. Students have become
overwhelmed by the reading. College kids have never read everything
they're assigned, of course, but this feels different. His students
now seem bewildered by the thought of finishing multiple books
a semester. His colleagues have noticed the same problem. Many

(01:21:43):
students no longer arrive at college, even at highly selective
elite colleges, prepared to read books. This development puzzled Dames
until one day during the fall twenty twenty two semester,
when a first year student came to his office hours
to share how challenging she felt he had found the
early assignments this class often requires students to read a book,

(01:22:04):
sometimes a very long and dense one, and just a
week or two. But the student told Dames that at
her public high school, she had never been required to
read an entire book. She'd been assigned excerpts, poetry and
news articles, but not a single book cover to cover.

Speaker 7 (01:22:22):
Does that hurt y'all's hearts the way that it hurts
my heart?

Speaker 2 (01:22:25):
No, I don't like I'm actually in that camp.

Speaker 3 (01:22:27):
I can't. I don't even like reading. But that sounds
kind of crazy to me.

Speaker 5 (01:22:30):
Well, see you are this way, and my wife the
same thing, been known to tackle two or three books
in a weekend. I mean, sit down and read a
book in a day, just because you get into it. Now,
I've told you for years. I of course I've read
a book, but I don't like to read for pleasure
an entire book.

Speaker 1 (01:22:47):
What I do?

Speaker 5 (01:22:48):
This tells you all you need to know about me.
When Kendall came out, get my iPad and I get
like eight books on Kendle, and like every one of
them are kind of there open and I'll read, like
I'll read a chapter and then I'll move on to
something else.

Speaker 3 (01:22:59):
Botus reads for business, not for a pleasure. Do you
just reading for business only?

Speaker 5 (01:23:05):
When I'm on the clock.

Speaker 2 (01:23:06):
Maybe?

Speaker 7 (01:23:08):
Do you relate to this article?

Speaker 5 (01:23:10):
Then?

Speaker 7 (01:23:10):
Do you relate to this idea that it would be
difficult to read an entire book? I mean, do you
can you relate to these students?

Speaker 5 (01:23:18):
No, not from the standpoint that I've never read a
book because I grew up having to read books in school.
And yes, you know, contrary to popular belief, I have
read a book because I wanted to before that wasn't
assigned in school.

Speaker 2 (01:23:30):
But popular belief. Look, there's something circulated on the internet.
I have read a book.

Speaker 5 (01:23:40):
My wife laughs at me because one time I said,
you know, it's a popular misconception about me. She's never
forgotten that phrase. All eyes on bo But you asked
the question about is that a strange concept to me.
It's a strange concept that someone would get to college
and have never read a book.

Speaker 7 (01:23:57):
Well, it makes me wonder, especially in this this is
about an elite school. I mean, it's tough to get
into Columbia University and a student came in a first
year saying that she had never been required to read
an entire book in high school. I mean just my
senior year. Like, shout out to missus Smith, like she's
she still lives in Concord. She she Sandra.

Speaker 15 (01:24:20):
She.

Speaker 7 (01:24:20):
When I see her now in public.

Speaker 5 (01:24:24):
Everybody knows it's Sandra, It's miss Sandra She.

Speaker 7 (01:24:27):
I mean, we had a dance reading list that we
had to to get through in our senior year of school.

Speaker 5 (01:24:33):
I've been called dentse before.

Speaker 3 (01:24:34):
My teacher Jane Doe.

Speaker 2 (01:24:37):
To Popularic, Popular Opinion.

Speaker 7 (01:24:39):
My eleventh grade teacher, Missus Ewart, same thing we had.
Miss Ewart York Ewart or she had she taught She
kind of really taught me to love to read and
I did not, which contrary.

Speaker 5 (01:24:52):
To population, the difference she taught you to read. I
could never have gotten past her last name. You were
I love you could tell?

Speaker 2 (01:24:58):
Who said in the back row of school, so.

Speaker 7 (01:25:05):
We read so many of the classics. I mean, that's
I kind of wish. And I know that I'm a
giant nerd. I kind of wish I could go back
to a literature class and read these books over again
and take the class. I mean, I know that there
are book clubs now, but I would love to go
back and have a full on discussion about Shakespeare because
I wasn't I wasn't an adult yet, and I didn't

(01:25:27):
know how much I would want to talk about this stuff.
I want to go back and read Huck Finn and
talk about it with I would have hated.

Speaker 2 (01:25:33):
You in my class. Somebody, this is you forgot I
signed the homework for tonight I had.

Speaker 5 (01:25:38):
I was like, Huck, I get it. I'm done. I
don't need to ever go back to that guy.

Speaker 7 (01:25:41):
But do y'all did you guys not have reading lists?
Did you we had?

Speaker 9 (01:25:45):
I get it.

Speaker 4 (01:25:45):
I do it now.

Speaker 3 (01:25:46):
Summer reading.

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
I kind of almost get with today's kids.

Speaker 9 (01:25:49):
Like I used to read books, but on record, like
like the last fifteen years, I've not read a book
because I would buy them, I would never finish them.

Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
So I just got tired.

Speaker 9 (01:25:55):
I couldn't focus and finish it. So I kind of
get that the world they live in that were making
fun of them, but I can.

Speaker 5 (01:26:00):
See you with it.

Speaker 7 (01:26:01):
We don't make it fun of them.

Speaker 9 (01:26:02):
They're not presented with books to read cover to cover
in high school. It's not something that is natural because
of phones and computers and all that.

Speaker 4 (01:26:09):
And I get it.

Speaker 5 (01:26:11):
I totally agree with Jim. I. I don't see the
need anymore. But I when I saw this story. When
I saw this story, I knew it was going to
break your heart because you're one of those people who
it's not just it's not just reading reading text, it's
the whole. I mean, you've got your books embossed for
crying out loud.

Speaker 7 (01:26:27):
I bought an embosser.

Speaker 5 (01:26:28):
Yeah, so that it means you've got your books and
boss by you.

Speaker 7 (01:26:31):
Yeah, I boss and myself.

Speaker 4 (01:26:34):
But I I.

Speaker 7 (01:26:37):
It makes me worried for our use of language and
knowledge because with digital texts, digital anything that exists in
the digital space can be altered, changed, words removed, context removed,
stories changed. When I have a physical book that I
have purchased and it is on my shelf, no one

(01:26:59):
can ever change it. No one can take words away
from me. No one can take the lessons away.

Speaker 5 (01:27:04):
This is what it comes down to. This is Beth, Oh,
I love to get lost in a book.

Speaker 17 (01:27:09):
I do.

Speaker 5 (01:27:10):
This is bo I lost that book.

Speaker 7 (01:27:13):
My books, I will take them. I would take all
of your books.

Speaker 2 (01:27:18):
Some good sports books you can even have.

Speaker 7 (01:27:19):
I found out that they they were doing a renovation
at Davidson Library, and I found out that they ended up.

Speaker 5 (01:27:24):
I never went to David's in library.

Speaker 7 (01:27:27):
They had to get rid of some books, and they
did it based on a system of how many books
that hadn't been checked out or read or touched in
like fifteen twenty or something like that. If I had known,
I would have I would have taken them all. I
would have said, just give them to me, just let
me have all of the books, because because what if
they start taking our words away from us?

Speaker 2 (01:27:48):
Well, they still existed on formats, but what.

Speaker 7 (01:27:52):
If they stopped. What if what if somebody someday somewhere says,
you know what, we're no longer going to use this
word and they just take it away.

Speaker 5 (01:27:58):
Okay, I do understand what you're saying from this standpoint,
because we have had this conversation on the show before
about streaming and everybody thinks, Oh, the streaming service, you
have access to all this stuff. They can take that
away from you anytime you want to. So if everything
was digitized with the books, they can do the same thing.
So that's how I get it. This is why you
and Boston have built the library in your house.

Speaker 7 (01:28:18):
So well, speaking of reading books, have y'all read.

Speaker 5 (01:28:20):
Beth is a Dewey decimal system?

Speaker 3 (01:28:22):
Then well, I have an avata.

Speaker 2 (01:28:23):
I do want to do a defer settle.

Speaker 5 (01:28:25):
I do want a card catalog doune with microfees.

Speaker 7 (01:28:28):
Did y'all read nineteen eighty four? Did y'all read or
Well's nineteen eighty four?

Speaker 2 (01:28:31):
Yes, okay, as usually I read part of it.

Speaker 7 (01:28:33):
So there there's a whole thing about changing and taking
away words. So if you don't, if you take away
words from people, then they no longer know the meaning
of them, and then they can't conceive of them. So
like what if some day somebody said we're just going
to take away the word freedom and nobody remembers what
freedom is, so then they don't have a concept of freedom,
so then they can't fight for it.

Speaker 9 (01:28:54):
Oh well, this is just an example. I'm not trying
to be polarizing. But like the Washington former football team, Yeah,
they took that word away, you certain words you know, right,
there's a president trying to bring it back.

Speaker 7 (01:29:05):
Well, like there's a difference in taking away like an
offensive like slur versus a word that's a full concept.
You know, that's a full that's something that means something
to a population, you know, something that has real impact
as a word that slaps.

Speaker 3 (01:29:23):
Like that word like that. Hey for that one to
go away?

Speaker 5 (01:29:26):
That's right word Bernie.

Speaker 4 (01:29:32):
From Mes Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three double bet. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:29:36):
The energy in this place is just amazing trure energy.

Speaker 4 (01:29:40):
This is Good Morning Beats with Bo Thompson and Beth
Trout with.

Speaker 7 (01:29:44):
What I'm talking about is the pulse of the collection.

Speaker 2 (01:29:47):
A little percussion.

Speaker 5 (01:29:53):
You asked for percussion, I give you percussion. Did you
really get a note from a teacher that you had
in grade school?

Speaker 4 (01:30:02):
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 7 (01:30:03):
I didn't get a grade school teacher note, But I
got a note from our listener, Kim, who also had
Sandra Smith as an English teacher, and she said I
loved her, I loved her family as well, and she
gave me a love of reading. She had my same teacher,
the one that you said said was fake.

Speaker 5 (01:30:24):
Do you as I say that in this room? I said,
do you remember the teacher that taught you the most?
And by that I mean like that made the impression
on you that made you actually interested in learning?

Speaker 7 (01:30:37):
Can I tell I have a giant handful of them?
Killer Miller she was my sixth grade and my eighth
grade English teacher. Killer Miller taught me to love diagramming sentences.
She was just such a great grammar teacher. But she
also taught books like Animal Farm. She was fantastic. People
called her Killer Miller because she was so tough, but

(01:30:58):
loved her, absolutely loved her. Joyce Moore she was my
my history teacher in eleventh grade, and I went to Washington,
d c. With her, went to New Orleans with her,
went to Europe with her. She was so incredibly brilliant.
When she passed away, I was devastated and actually wrote
her eulogy because she was such a remarkable teacher. Miss

(01:31:18):
Ewart my eleventh grade English teacher. Miss Smith, my senior
year teacher. I named the faculty my professor in college,
Professor Hoffert oh Man. She taught history, My introduction to
her was an intro history class. I took like four
more of her classes because she was so incredible. Professor Hoffert, Steve,
you do you have an immediate favorite teacher?

Speaker 22 (01:31:41):
I can immediately think of three from high school and
two from college.

Speaker 5 (01:31:46):
So pick one?

Speaker 7 (01:31:47):
Oh well, am I supposed to pick one?

Speaker 22 (01:31:49):
I guess it kind of depends, but you know, I
guess the first one I would think of from high
school was mister Rico was my freshman biology teacher, and
you liked him because well, number one, I've.

Speaker 5 (01:32:00):
Never had a teacher like him before or since.

Speaker 22 (01:32:04):
And he was the one who taught me things that
will never leave my brain, like, for example, the longest
word in the English language I learned in ninth grade
biology and fragilistic exquiala new mona ultra microscopic silicicon volcano coniosis.
I also know the chemical compound for glucose is C
six H twelve oh six because mister Rico wouldn't let
us forget it. Things like that, those are the things

(01:32:25):
that stuck with me. So yeah, ninth grade biology, Bernie
favorite teacher immediately. I had a probably two teachers that
really struck a chord with me. I had an English
teacher in ninth grade named mister Wetzel at Providence High School,
and he was very eccentric, I guess probably the right word.
He was super out there, but he would get you involved,

(01:32:46):
like he would make you care about what you're learning about.
And I also had a teacher in Civics, mister Dickerson,
and he was hit or miss with some people. He
either did not like you or he liked you.

Speaker 16 (01:32:56):
So if you tried in his class and paid attention,
he wouldn't give you a hard time. But if he
noticed you were goofing awful lot, he would heckle you relentlessly,
like he would make you the butt of every joke
if you just wouldn't pay attention, and he would make
you look stupid, and quite honestly, you didn't want that
to happen. So if you just paid attention and tried,
even if you were wrong about certain things, he wouldn't

(01:33:16):
he wouldn't hack you for it like he would he'd
work with you on that kind of stuff. And I
really I feel like I got to see side of
a really great teacher who when you were invested, he
was invested in you. And I feel like that makes
you kind of buy into what you're learning.

Speaker 5 (01:33:32):
I feel like the best teachers that I ever had
were the ones that made me work the hardest. And
that doesn't mean that I had the most enjoyable experience
with them, but they were the ones that made me
learn the material and what I realized the further you
get away from it. That was a strategy, that was
a way to get you engaged. I mean, we had
a guy at Myers Park High School. He taught he
taught world history. And anybody from my era is going

(01:33:55):
to remember the name Dave Layton at Meyers Park. But
he taught world history in my tenth grade. And actually
in tenth grade it was a dual class like for
two periods. So it was it was English with Missus Goodlow,
and then that was it was World history. So it
was humanities is what they called it.

Speaker 7 (01:34:11):
We had one of those. It was like an experimental
thing that they did when they were trying to figure
out if they wanted to go to block learning.

Speaker 2 (01:34:17):
Was that the thing.

Speaker 5 (01:34:18):
I don't know if we were an experiment or not,
but I was pulling down the lower end of the
grade in the class. But so, but I mean, this
was this was the toughest class I ever had in
high school. And it was harder in a lot of
classes I had in college, to be honest with you.
But but he was famous and he taught world history.
He also taught European history, but he was he was
the go to history guy. And I've always wondered, you know,

(01:34:42):
I have not heard about him. I don't know if
he's still living or not. But he was legendary and
and he would do this thing where you had to
learn sort of like he would give you notes and
he would do lectures. But then he would do and
then he would have these tests and I remember it
like it was yesterday, because they come on that you know,
that purple mimigraph machine. Oh yeah, purple ink, Oh absolutely,

(01:35:02):
And he would all he would handwrite his tests and
the blanks and everything, and they were three or four
pages long, and they were notoriously hard tests, but you
had to figure out like he would do. He would
do a lecture and he would like make it sound
like something was really important, and then he would say
something kind off to the side, not even a little thing.
And those were the things, the little details that he

(01:35:23):
didn't accentuate. But he would include and you had to
figure out because those would be the things that would
be on the test, and you had to figure out,
like he's going to drop these little easter eggs, and
so you had to learn how to take his tests.
But now I remember things that were on the tests.
But I remember he would also do this thing where
we would take the tests and then he would collect
the tests and then he would pass him back out

(01:35:44):
so that you got your test to grade, but it
wasn't your test, and then he would call out the
answers and you would grade another person's test, and then
he would call out your name and someone else had
to read your grade.

Speaker 4 (01:35:56):
Oh wow.

Speaker 8 (01:35:59):
Too.

Speaker 7 (01:36:00):
Never, that never happened.

Speaker 5 (01:36:03):
I mean, that's what I'm saying. He's sort of tall.
He made it a competition, but then you had to,
I mean, if you wanted to survive in that class,
you had to get competitive. And then he would do
this other thing where he would be during the lecture.
He would be talking along and be like, yeah, you know,
and you kind of and I was sat on the
kind of the back road because my last name it
was a T and we were saut in alphabetical order,
so I was never at the front of the class

(01:36:24):
because I was later in the alphabet. But I remember
one day he would do these lectures also, and he
would in the middle of the lecture like could be
like and you know, down the road they came and
then in nineteen night and then you'd go, BO, what
happened next? Because it was from something you had to
read the night before. And I remember he called on
me one time and you weren't paying attention. I wasn't

(01:36:44):
paying attention and he caught me and there was this
long pause and he like stretched it out and it
was like, BO, tell us what happened next? I'm gonna
give you the pause. This is like you shouldn't do
this in radio, but this is what it sounded like.
And by what happened next? What's happening? BO is about

(01:37:06):
to give birth.

Speaker 3 (01:37:08):
To an idea? Sculding something massive right now, sir.

Speaker 5 (01:37:12):
And I've never in my life forgotten that moment. Dave
Layton's like, BO is about to give birth to an idea.
And the whole class fell on the floor when he
said that. But that's the kind of stuff he would do.
And uh he I mean, of all the teachers that
I had, and I wasn't his best student. If you
if you talk to him right now, I would not
even have made the honorable mentions. But but I learned.

(01:37:36):
I learned how to take a test, I learned how
to take notes. I learned how to sort of retain things.
So maybe I didn't make the best grade in that class.
I wasn't somebody that he bragged about to other teachers,
but he sort of taught me how to learn and
retain well.

Speaker 7 (01:37:51):
And that's a huge deal. I am sitting here thinking
about all of the because I know that I named
like five teachers that and I named the faculty I know,
but I still need to my algebra teacher, mister Dobie,
and we had an economics and pre law class my
ninth grade year, mister Hart. He was amazing. I had
so many amazing teachers, and I went to public school.

(01:38:11):
Like I think, there are teachers have such an impact.
I don't know that. I don't know that all the
teachers realize how how much they change the lives of
people and the young people that they're around. I'm not
sure that people say thank you enough to them, or
if they know enough, how incredible, Because like you're telling
a story of a sentence that mister Layton said he

(01:38:33):
may not even remember saying that to you.

Speaker 5 (01:38:35):
I guarantee you he doesn't, and is it. Certainly didn't
think that this kid's going to be talking about it
on the radio some days.

Speaker 7 (01:38:40):
It had a profound impact on your life, and I
think that that is remarkable. And there are so many
things that happen during the course of a day where
we get to have an impact on people, all of
us as individuals, everyone out there, and we may never
remember that thing that we said that may stick with
somebody else for a lifetime.

Speaker 5 (01:38:58):
I'm sure there's somebody out there listening, maybe multiple people
who are thinking the same thing. One of these days,
Bo's gonna give birth to an idea.

Speaker 4 (01:39:08):
This is Good Morning, bet.

Speaker 5 (01:39:12):
All Right, nine twenty on WBT, Final stretch on your Thursday,
August seventh, Big Friday Show tomorrow. Hancock is off tomorrow.
Sean O'Connell returns to the show from CBR talking summertime movies,
and then at nine thirty five tomorrow, our old buddy
Nick Wilson. He's in Cleveland now doing afternoon drive radio

(01:39:36):
for the flagship station of the Cleveland Browns and of course,
you know, the Browns are in town not only for
the practice yesterday, but for the game tomorrow night. And
so Nick Wilson, who used to be over at WFNZ
for a few years, we got to know him, and
you know, any excuse an excuse to catch up with
our buddy, Nick.

Speaker 7 (01:39:53):
Yeah, we're gonna get to talk trash to him, because
maybe maybe the Panthers are awesome this season, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:39:59):
I mean, look, Tomorrow night's a big deal. They're obviously
getting set in Cleveland to watch Shador Sanders and see
if he amongst all their other quarterbacks, see what they
have there. But in Charlotte, you know, I think everybody
is waiting to see Bryce get out there in a
real game situation, because he ended well and there's all

(01:40:19):
this reason to think that he's gonna pull it together
this year. But we need to see it.

Speaker 7 (01:40:24):
I'm shuder. Everyone's excited.

Speaker 5 (01:40:27):
Well done. Last night County Commission meeting. This was this
has been anticipated for a while, but two hours and
forty five minutes of a public forum Mecklenberg County Commission
approving a sales tax referendum on the November fourth ballot.
This was a unanimous vote to all of the group,
just about almost unanimous because Susan Rodriguez McDowell was the

(01:40:50):
one dissenter. A lot of people in the room last
night in favor of putting this on the ballot. There
were some that were not. And I when I go
through some of the names, because you're going to recognize
a lot of these names. This was not just your
average public forum. This was you know, the who's who
who've served in city and county government over the last
few years and.

Speaker 7 (01:41:10):
Really decades well and even US government.

Speaker 5 (01:41:13):
Yeah. As speaking of actually Bernie, let me go to
number two here because mel Watt, remember Mel Watt, Yeah,
District twelve US congressman for a long time there and
years before that. The first time I ever heard of
Mel Watt, he was he was Harvey Gant's campaign manager
back when he was running against Jesse Hilms back in
the nineties, when I was at Myers Park High School

(01:41:34):
as a sophomore writing for the Hoof Print. If we're going,
if we're talking about teachers, the teacher's name was Missus Freeman.
It was journalism. I was writing for the Hoof Print,
the school newspaper, and the first story I ever read
or ever read. First story I ever wrote for the
school newspaper was covering the helms Gant Senate race in
nineteen This would have been nineteen ninety and the first

(01:41:57):
interview that I ever did was with mel Watt. I
went to his office and sat down and did a
one on one with me with Melwatt. Cool all these
years later. Mel Watt last night at the County Commission
meeting saying yes, we want a referendum on the ballot.

Speaker 11 (01:42:11):
In nineteen sixty nine, there was a referendum on the
ballot in Atlanta. It was a transportation referendum, and the
referendum was defeated. It took them fifteen to twenty years

(01:42:32):
to get public transit.

Speaker 1 (01:42:38):
That and they had to.

Speaker 11 (01:42:40):
Turn to Rhodes in the interim. And so I'm concerned
that at this critical juncture in the city of Charlotte
we not make the same mistake that Atlanta made and
lose fifteen twenty years to improve transportation system.

Speaker 5 (01:43:02):
That was a recurring theme last night, Let's not become Atlanta,
especially as it relates to traffic in Atlanta. So you
had mel Watt there last night. Braxton Winston spoke Malcolm Graham,
Ed Driggs, former Charlotte Mayer. Jennifer Roberts.

Speaker 8 (01:43:17):
I believe this is a regressive tax in a year
when people are losing healthcare, they're losing food benefits, they're
losing their jobs, and the pain is going to be
felt by hourly workers. They're going to pay the majority,
the bigger proportion of their incomes for this and yet
get the least out of the way. This is structured
now because the buses get twenty percent, whereas the rail

(01:43:40):
and the roads for the paybat get forty percent. Now,
food is not tax, but other things people buy every week,
paper goods, clothing, school supplies, fast food, all that will
be tax. In fact, if you go to McDonald's and
get a meal, your tax will be nine point twenty
five percent. That's higher than New York City's sales tax.

Speaker 5 (01:44:02):
A lot of mayors there last night, current mayors within
Mecklenburg County and former mayors right there. Jennifer Roberts. You
had Woody Washam, who's a Cornelius mayor. He spoke last
night and the next guy you're gonna hear this got
the most spirited reaction from anybody who spoke, and he's
not a mayor. He's a realtor, a guy named Alan Dargins.

Speaker 14 (01:44:22):
I live on North in the North Charlotte side of town,
up by Malholly, Huntersville. When I first moved up there
twenty five years ago, it took me twelve minutes to
get here. That commute now is twenty five to thirty
five minutes with bumper to bumper traffic coming down Brookshire Freeway.

(01:44:45):
We have to be proactive in this. It's conducive to
our children. It's conducive. I'm on the other side. I'll
be in a home sooner than later. But I want
my children to be able to come see me in
a timely manner and bring me Sunday dinner after church

(01:45:10):
if I have to watch it on zoom.

Speaker 4 (01:45:14):
So I implore you.

Speaker 14 (01:45:16):
I think the bigger thing is that we put this
referendum on the ballot and then we educate our communities.
Educate the people who are saying no, find out why
they're saying no, and educate them that this.

Speaker 5 (01:45:32):
Is so important to our way of life.

Speaker 14 (01:45:34):
We do not want to be Atlanta.

Speaker 5 (01:45:36):
So there you go, that recurring theme about not wanting
to be like those folks down nine eighty five stuck
in traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:45:43):
Well, so here's the thing. Now it's going to be
on the ballot after last night's vote, Here's the big question.
How many people out there in Mecklenburg County will vote
for it? I mean I was waiting to hear someone
bring up like what Jennifer Roberts said, kind of talking
about how people feel strapped for money because of how

(01:46:05):
expensive everything is across the board, and adding attacks, how
do people feel just personally do they are roads more
important than the money and their wallets? I wonder how
people are going to vote when this shows up, and
because of when it will be on the ballot, how
many people will actually be responsible for voting this down

(01:46:25):
or voting for it.

Speaker 5 (01:46:26):
Well, one thing's for sure, there were certainly a lot
of people in there the crowd last night, and just
the cross section of people that spoke, I mean got
kind of a who's who of Charlotte politics both now
and another day. I mean Mel Watt, I hadn't seen
him in a long time. Then to get people like
Jennifer Roberts, and then you had Ed Driggs speaking last night,

(01:46:47):
and of course you know Braxton Winston who I think
we all believe we'll figure back into politics somehow in
the future, or at least we'll try to be. So,
you know, a very interesting night if you're a long
time Charlotte tean to kind of see a lot of
history right right there, getting behind or not a cause
that is now going to be on the ballot.

Speaker 17 (01:47:07):
Good morning, Hell are you guys?

Speaker 1 (01:47:08):
We're good now, excited to talk to you.

Speaker 3 (01:47:11):
Guys, have no idea bo We are like twin from
another mother kind of thing.

Speaker 17 (01:47:16):
The music that you'd like and everything you guys talk about.

Speaker 7 (01:47:18):
I absolutely adore Christine. Do you say, do you say piano?

Speaker 4 (01:47:23):
No, I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:47:24):
Good morning to Beat with Bow and Beth say Christine,
you had your chance? Just yes, yes, I do, yes,
thank you, thank you, thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (01:47:35):
It's like.

Speaker 17 (01:47:37):
And you've got us feeling all right.

Speaker 5 (01:47:43):
Yeah, don't ever say I don't lean into things.

Speaker 7 (01:47:46):
May I just say too? I want to give a
big shout out to Christine because she texts us on
the WBT text line now and every time she does
she says, it's it's piano Christine.

Speaker 19 (01:47:57):
M You know.

Speaker 5 (01:48:00):
I mean, you guys have listened to this show for
a long time. But you can't see everything that happens
behind the scenes. See, you know, Bernie's got his soundboard
over there, and then I have mine over here.

Speaker 7 (01:48:09):
We call it your magic box.

Speaker 5 (01:48:10):
But computer, I unpluged you so well, and I did
that on purpose. I unplugged my soundboard every once in
a while, and then I plug it back in, and
sometimes I forget to plug it back in. So that's
what just happened. So you know, behind the scenes, good
morning be two.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
Typically I catch that I wasn't paying attention.

Speaker 7 (01:48:27):
It's a live radios like copy goidmore.

Speaker 3 (01:48:29):
Where were you on that one? You know, I can't
say the other words.

Speaker 5 (01:48:31):
Oh, trust me, you were. You were there much more
often than you're not. Bernie. I'm I'm like, I'm like
a whack a mole if you're working with me. I
got that throws so much at the person that's in
Bernie's situation that I know I'm a pain in that,
you know what?

Speaker 3 (01:48:43):
No, I like that actually makes me keeps me on
my toes, keeps me awake.

Speaker 5 (01:48:47):
They used to tell me. When I first started working here.
I remember the program director this is back in would
have been nineteen ninety six. He said, if you can
run the Carolina Panthers pregame show, then you you can
catch anything that anybody would throw at you.

Speaker 4 (01:49:02):
And so I did.

Speaker 5 (01:49:03):
I learned how to run because back in those days,
when the Capital Sports Network and WT were a joint
venture running the Carolina Panthers radio network, the pregame show
was run out of here. Now that the game is
produced out of the stadium, but back then it was
out of this room right here. And when I was
in college, I said to that. I said to the
PD I said, I want to.

Speaker 17 (01:49:22):
I want to.

Speaker 5 (01:49:22):
I want to get to the point where nothing that
comes at me as something that I'm not used to.
And he said, okay, well learn how to run that show.

Speaker 3 (01:49:29):
And I did.

Speaker 5 (01:49:30):
And that's what I've told Bernie before. I said, you
know that, that's if you can catch all the stuff
coming at you, then everything else will seem easy.

Speaker 3 (01:49:36):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:49:36):
So that's how Bernie is. I throw all this stuff
at Bernie every day. I like unplugged things and plug
them back in, and you know, Bernie just rolls with me.
So still, everybody, it takes a very takes a very
uniquely qualified person to uh to put up with me.

Speaker 4 (01:49:51):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:49:52):
I know, I don't think that you don't call it
putting up with you, bo, I call it loving you exactly.
That's what my wife says to me all the time.

Speaker 7 (01:49:58):
I said, thanks for I'm just like I think we
all have our people, and we have found our people,
the people who worked the same way. We are all
whack and moles over here.

Speaker 5 (01:50:08):
Good morning BT whack and moles and taking phone calls
and we get this one on the text line seven
oh four five, seven oh eleven ten, driven by Libertyview
at GMC says, Hey, guys, just wanted to say how
much I enjoyed this segment about teachers. I retired about
twenty five years ago, or after about twenty five years
at Providence High School. I happen to still be in

(01:50:30):
touch with Phillips, Dickerson and Gary Wetzel. Tell Bernie I'll
pass along to them what he said, love the show.
Thanks Carl.

Speaker 16 (01:50:38):
Oh, that's incredible, and I actually just responded. But my
one of my best friends, Zach, became a writer because
of mister Wetzell, and he kind of inspired him to
write and he has had several stories published, so he's
he's definitely carried that on and he always I mean
he always goes back to mister Wetsall.

Speaker 5 (01:50:57):
I talked to Zach.

Speaker 3 (01:50:58):
Pretty frequently, so it's just it's really cool to get
that kind of text.

Speaker 7 (01:51:02):
Yeah, that's actually really amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:51:03):
Now I didn't have mister Church, but I've heard great
things about them.

Speaker 7 (01:51:08):
I really do think that teachers have so much more
of an impact than they ever know. I mean, maybe
some do know because people like you, like you, Bernie,
you reach back out and you told the story.

Speaker 16 (01:51:21):
Well, then I don't think we as students realize it
in the moment. A lot of times, how much of
an influenced teachers are having on it. You spend eight
hours a day in this environment they have I mean,
they're with you, they know who you are, they get
to know you. And then if you're there for four
years plus, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:51:36):
I would give just I would just give anything to
be to go back. And I mean some of my
favorite teachers have now passed away, but I would I
would give anything to go back into those classrooms as
an adult with the knowledge that I have now of
life and the world, and have those same classes and
listen to their enthusiasm and have those discussions about those

(01:51:58):
books or there's times in history or math. I mean,
Miss Jordan was my geometry teacher my ninth grade year,
and you know, tap proofs like a chief. She just
was amazing and I loved proofs. I loved geometry proofs,
and I loved We had the statewide proofs test I
guess when we were freshmen, and thanks to Miss Jordan,

(01:52:19):
got a perfect score.

Speaker 5 (01:52:20):
She's about to tell us next that she loves quadratic equations.

Speaker 7 (01:52:23):
I do love quadratic equations. I do love quadratic equations
thanks to Miss Moose in trigonometry and Miss Martin in
algebra are calculus.

Speaker 5 (01:52:31):
You love quadratic equations equations.

Speaker 7 (01:52:34):
I bought the gr study book just so that I
could redo. I could figure out how to do quadratic
equations again, and the Pataga theorem and the Patagorean theorem,
all of the theorems.

Speaker 3 (01:52:44):
Can you say, shaking his head, you just say you
love quadratic equations again.

Speaker 7 (01:52:48):
I love quadratic equations, but that's thanks to teachers who
made them interesting. That's true, right, I mean I had
Miss Moose was hilarious. Miss Martin sounds a great name.

Speaker 3 (01:53:01):
This moves she sounds like a good time.

Speaker 7 (01:53:02):
Eleventh grade trigonometry. She was hilarious, and Miss Martin I
just just a light, an absolute light, and taught ap
calculus and made it interesting.

Speaker 5 (01:53:12):
I'll never forget I'm my kindergarten teacher, Missus Summers, Miss Summers,
and Miss Nash.

Speaker 7 (01:53:16):
I had Miss Zuerella.

Speaker 5 (01:53:18):
I'll never forget driving down East Over Elementary School. So
this was I was in kindergarten, I think nineteen eighty
and I remember this is about I don't know ten
fifteen years ago. I had both my kids in the
car and I said, you know what, riding down Providence Road,
we're gonna take a ride on parent Place and we're
gonna go down here and I'm gonna show you where
my whole school career started. I'm gonna show you Miss

(01:53:39):
Summers and Miss Nash. And then the next year I
graduated to the building upstairs and I had missus Pfeiffer
and I don't remember her assistant. But we drove down
the road and I'm like, going on, here we go, kids,
We're gonna drive it. And we drove up and the
building was gone.

Speaker 7 (01:53:56):
Time marches on.

Speaker 5 (01:53:57):
That's right, it was gone. And well, on my word,
it was here, but I tried, We have tried today.
We we we we tried a lot of things that
we got to that I meant to get to, and
then some things that you took us there on the
text line and the seven oh four to five seven
zero original call in line. That's the way the show
is designed. We drive it, but sometimes you take a

(01:54:18):
detour with us.

Speaker 7 (01:54:19):
Yeah, yep, jump right down, jump right down the rabbit hole.

Speaker 5 (01:54:25):
All right, Thanks to Mark and to Boomer and to
Zoke and Steven, Bernie, good talk back.

Speaker 7 (01:54:31):
You know what, you did a pretty good job talking.
I just miffed that one.

Speaker 5 (01:54:34):
Now.

Speaker 17 (01:54:34):
We'd love to stay in chat about world affairs, but
duty costs, Annibal.

Speaker 4 (01:54:40):
I love it when a plan comes together.

Speaker 7 (01:54:42):
You've been listening to Good Morning BT.

Speaker 5 (01:54:44):
Hear us live weekday mornings six to ten on WBT
AM and FM eleven ten nine to nine point three.

Speaker 7 (01:54:50):
You can listen to us anytime right here at WBT
dot com

Speaker 5 (01:54:53):
Or wherever you get good podcasts

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Good Morning BT | Work/Life balance in the Post-Covid Era | Influential Teachers

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Good Morning BT | Work/Life balance in the Post-Covid Era | Influential Teachers