July 15, 2025 • 29 mins
Tom O'Keefe is the past president of South Burlington Rotary Club and chair of the 2025 Rotary Golf Tournament at Vermont National Golf Course. He is retired and lives in South Burlington with his wife Beth and has two college-age kids. Tom has been a Rotary member since 2018.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience.
Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience.
Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of the Trash
Talking and Giving Back podcasts. I'm Aaron Colefield Barker, joined
by my co host Joe Sinagra of Myers, waistand Recycle. Joe,
how's it going.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's going well.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It's things that are moving along here, progressing nicely at
at Meyer's Waste Recycling perfect.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I can't believe summer is just like kind of rolling
you can tell. I've back from vacation, got myself a
little tan. How is your? How is your?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You know, it's good, and it got me thinking, you know,
being summertime and it's you know, vacation season and everything.
And I know your kids are younger. My kids are older,
and it got me thinking about separate vacations and that
one of the big trends now is you know, like you,
I have a boy and a girl, and you know,
so you know that my daughter wants to go to
(01:07):
see a Broadway show and my son wants to go
to baseball game, and so a lot of families are
doing separate vacations and it's interesting not growing up that
would be unheard of. My parents would never So you know,
you're dragged along to whatever one vacation was so I
know what, obviously your kids are younger, so you can't
do separate vacations, But what do you think of the
(01:28):
whole separate vacation.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We kind of could. I kind of like that. I
feel like maybe it didn't happen as much back of
the day because of like I don't know limited vacation time.
But I feel like, especially when you have multiple kids, right,
like you have two kids. I have two kids, a
boy and a girl. For both of us, mine are
a year and a half and three years. Yours are
like flowing the coop kind of one of them's still
living there but should be. I think it's kind of
(01:52):
fun because I remember when I was having Ellie, we
were I was really nervous about people who said that,
like it would be hard for Jack, right because he
had all of mom's attention, and then now Ellie's here,
and how's he going to handle it? And I don't
know if that really changes the older kid gets and
so I feel like having like a mommy and me
trip and a daddy, right, Like, I feel like that
(02:14):
would just be kind of a fun thing for like,
for the relationship that a parent has with their kid too,
right like right now, Jack is so deep in his
like mom, mom, mom, like everything is mom, and so
like I want to be like, why don't you and
dad go on like an adventure, like I send him
to get bagels this morning, and Jack's all for it,
but it's like, go do something fun with dad. And
(02:34):
so I feel like I would say I'm pro separate vacations,
but it shouldn't always just be like gender specific right now,
always like oh, the girls are going to the Broadway
sow and shopping and the boys are going to the
sporting event. Like I feel like you also need to
like compromise and find something for you and the daughter
to do, and then something for your wife and the
(02:54):
son to do, because I don't know, and I'm sure
you've seen as the kids grow up, like it's why
to see like the people that they somehow become. And
I think we get so caught up in life and
work that maybe you miss some of it, so to like, yeah, my.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Daughter's always been into musicals and theater and I wasn't,
and so you do that type of stuff. And I
tell you what, She and I went to a Broadway
show a couple of years ago. And I had an
absolute blast and we're headed to Mama Mia here next month.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So yeah, see that's so cool. It makes you kind
of like appreciate it and like she dragged you out
of your shell into doing something that you maybe didn't
want to, but you did it because you knew she
liked it, and now you kind of understand.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
It more absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
But I do like the whole family vacation too.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Okay, I was going to say, what about just no,
you know, don't take Alex on a vacation, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Me plus the two kids. I mean, that would be nice.
Yesterday was that question.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Is a little different when you have little ones at
home than when you have tea.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, but I've done
like a girl's weekend. Although Ellie came with me when
one of my girlfriends turned forty. Ellie was still a
little in breastfeeding, so I was like, well, the only
way I can go is if she came. So she
did and it was great. I am going to like
a country music festival in Canada by myself, well with girlfriends,
but like no Alex or kids in August.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So perfect.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Maybe like an SOS at the Barker Household, But it'll
be all right. Could you vacation like totally solo, because
that's another trend, just like the solo by yourself, go
on a cruise or go somewhere with literally no one,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, I yes, I think I could. I mean I
did it.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
You know, Spring training was always a bucket list item
for me, and you know, my wife tags along, but
it's not really her thing.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So I actually did it alone this year. And yeah,
I had a great buddy.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Like just you you yourself, just.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Just me, you know, and yeah, just it was nice,
you know.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
All Right, Well, let's bring in our guest Tom and
put him on the spot here and see if he
is a solo vacationer a family vacationer. I don't think
we asked if he has children, so maybe if he
has kids, we'll see what they have done. Today's guest
is Tom O'Keefe from the South Burlington Rotary Club, who
always has great things going on. We are going to
kind of focus on their golf tournament, talk about everything.
(05:20):
But first, Tom, what is your take on the vacations?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Yeah, I'm thinking every time I took my son around
the Northeast to hockey games he played in, and I
was coaching that. Those were many vacations. We would sometimes
stop at the Bennington Monument. We would stop at you know,
various highlights along the road, and he'd be like scratching
his head, going why are we going here? Dad? And
my wife mostly took my daughter to Irish dance all
(05:47):
over the Northeast in Canada. And yeah, those were MENI
vacations because.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
To be fair, those aren't both sports that I know,
those outfits for Irish epients that are not cheap, and
I know hockey is is not cheap. So the Asian
budget got spent on the sports and they were tight.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
That's right. I had one of each time.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
My son played hockey all the way up through high
school and my daughter was a competitive dancer all the
way up into college.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So yes, I.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Yes, summer common Joe.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yes, fifteen years there vacations.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
War wasn't the beach.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It was oh, this squirt tournament in Maine, or this
dance competition in western New York or some.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Place in between. So oh yes, I know that, oh
too well.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I mean, and what's interesting you talk about vacations. I
would try to organize vacations like we're gonna go to
Keepe God, and then suddenly it's like, oh, there's a
dance recital. We got to cancel that. So all of
our vacations were going to some sporting event.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So eventually maybe it'll circle back around.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yes, yeah, they're they're ones in college and ones on
their way to college. And we did go to Ireland
two years ago. That was a real vacation, so that's fine.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Well, I do know a weekend you will not have
a vacation scheduled is the weekend of September fifteenth, as
that is when the South Burlington Rotary Clubs Golf Tournament
is happening at Vermont National. Tell us a little bit
about the tournament.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Yeah, so we've been doing it at Vermont National, which is,
you know, an exclusive club. You can't play there unless
you're a member or you know, you play in a tournament.
And the it's a Jack Nicklas course, it's you know,
one of the nicest courses in the state. And we've
been doing it there for well, we've been doing their
Hunts at the time, but for twenty seven years we've
(07:35):
been running this tournament and it's a great event. We
have one hundred and twenty eight golfers that play, so
it's a very full course, but not it's very well run.
The folks at Vermont National do a phenomenal job. I mean,
they do this all the time. And fortunately for us,
(07:55):
the general manager, Chris Bancroft, is a member of our club,
so he may sure that this sernament goes off without
a hitch. So it's great. It's a combination of We
have a lot of sponsors, including Myers. You guys have
been a sponsor I think for the entire run that
we've been doing this, so really thank you guys for that.
And we have a lot of sponsors that come back
(08:17):
every year for the fact that you know, you just
can't get on Vermont National except through this type of
an event, and so we get we get a lot
of sponsors, and then what's left we have a few
other We have a few just teams that will come
and play as well.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Now you know, we participate in a lot of different
golf tournaments and I participate in some and I love,
since I'm not a very good golf for all the
side attractions that go on, you know, winning a car
and the ten thousand dollars and the beat the pro
and all this other stuff. But you folks have one
that I haven't ever seen. As far as one of
(08:54):
your contests, maybe tell a little bit about your one
of your un your usual soonships you're still looking for.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah, So we have a few, We have a few contests.
We have the longest drive for men and women close
as the whole men and women. We do have a
hole in one contest. We're still trying to get our
sponsor finalized. That that's I'm pretty sure that's going to happen.
Heritage Forward is our Heritage Forward, tell you what it
has done that for a number of years and we're
(09:26):
just waiting for them to pull the pull the trigger
on that. So a lot of the types of contests
that you would see at a tournament are in play,
and there's prizes for all of those things. And but
this year actually Chris Bancroft came up with the idea
of a flamingo hole. So great idea. And so a
flamingo hole is one where when you drive the ball,
(09:48):
you have to do it on one leg like a flamingo,
and there is a there is an opt out if
you're really just not comfortable doing that. You can pay
your way out of doing that, and so we're that
sponsorship is also still open. We're we're working on a
actually an organization that has a bar and there. The
(10:13):
idea is that, you know, maybe we'll have some kind
of flamingo drink or something. So it's still being formulated
as to how it's all going to work out, but
it's definitely kind of exciting. Chris already got the flamingos
that are going to be planted into the into the
UH into the T box. So that should be a
fun one and one that we talked about for years.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Tom, are you a golfer and have you tried to
do this yet?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I am a golfer and I have not done this,
although when I was a kid.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
We used to.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I can't remember what the name of the movie is.
I know I've seen it a few times with the
kind of hockey Adam Sandler movie whatever. He used to
try to we what was that happy Happy Gilmore? Yeah,
we used to happy Illmore all the time when were kids.
You know, you take two or three running steps and
step up to the ball and see how far we
can hit it. And mostly we're hitting it pretty far
(11:08):
up into the woods, so, you know, not very accurate,
but a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I think that you're onto something, right. A lot of
different golf courses have tournaments, which is great, but you're
definitely onto something with being at Vermont National, which, as
you mentioned, you can't just call up and get a
tea time there, right, And so it's a unique way
that people could be able to go and play Vermont National,
and I'm sure that that helps fill this tournament every year.
(11:33):
Do you guys still have any openings four teams this
year or are you almost full? Where are we at?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Yeah, we're very close to full. We're not full, We're
kind of it's kind of like selling something on Craigslist.
The first one that shows up with cash gets in.
But we have I think as of this morning we
met this morning, there's like six teams, six or foursomes
open right now. But I will say that we have
a combination of teams and sponsors that are kind of
(12:01):
on the bubble. They just haven't pulled the trigger yet.
So if there's folks that are thinking, oh my gosh,
I should do that, then just get a hold of
me as the tournament chair and we'll see where it
ends up. If there's a spot available, we'll fill it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Now, you guys do so many wonderful things in the community,
and this is a big fundraiser for you. Maybe tell
us a little about where some of this money goes,
you know, some of the things that you you support
in the community.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Yeah. So every year we have a what we call
kind of a a beneficiary, kind of a primary beneficiary,
and it's been different groups over the years. This year
it is Josh's House in Colchester, and I'll talk a
little bit about that. But the in the in the
(12:51):
balance of the money goes to South Carolinton Road Road
Charities and with that money we give to a lot
of organizations in the community. I'll talk first a little
bit about Josh's House. I'm not an expert in this,
but you know we have had the had that organization
(13:12):
come and talk to us about what they do. And
our our tournament partner is Vermont Construction, so there are
title sponsor, if you will, our largest sponsor of the tournament.
And they came up with the idea of Josh's House,
so they have a longtime relationship with them, and Josh's
House was formed uh By, I guess josht his parents. So,
(13:38):
Josh is a military veteran and he unfortunately took his life.
He just it was it was too much for him
to handle the PTSD and his parents wanted to do
something to provide an outlet for veterans, and so Josh's
House in Colchester, it's all in the old fort, provides
(14:02):
a space for veterans to come in and really they
play pool, they can play darts, there's all kinds of games.
They serve food, and they also provide various kinds of
services social services to folks that want to take advantage
of them. I think with the idea that makes those
services a little more accessible than otherwise. It is certainly
(14:24):
not a requirement for anyone to enroll in services. Is
really more for the fellowship of hanging out with other veterans,
and they do great work, and so we thought that
was a phenomenal idea is to select the Josh's House
for our primary beneficiary for this year's tournament. I can
(14:48):
tell you a little bit about other things that the
club does other organizations.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I was going to say, I know, I'm the daughter
of a rotarian, I'm the daughter in law of a Rotarian.
I was in the Interact Club. I know that Rotary's
big mission is service above self, and so this golf
tournament is a big thing you do, but it is
just one of so many things that you guys do
throughout the year. So just share with us a little
bit more about the Rotary Club and what you guys do.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah, so the Rotary is an international organization. It is
actually founded by Vermonter and I have a funny story
about that. I don't think any have the time for it,
but anyway, I was founded in Chicago and by a
bunch of businessmen that thought back one hundred years ago
or more that you know, we could probably do better
(15:37):
in life than just counter own money. We can probably
give back to the community. And really that's what they
did they started, which is really I think just getting
together for lunch and talking about, you know, maybe what
they could do in the community in Chicago. And back then,
you know, the life was not as easy as it
(15:57):
is today, and so there's a lot of opportunities for
them to help. So the club over time, you know,
it turned into a lot of local clubs around the country,
and then it turned into a bunch of local clubs
around the world, and there's I think one point two
million Rotarians around the world today and they're all they're
all dealing with issues in their local community. But we're
(16:19):
part of a large organization. So the way that we
operate is, first of all, there's the first thing I
would say is there's fellowship. So we get together. Our
club gets together every Thursday morning at seven point thirty
and this morning, and we meet and we discuss various
club activities. So I gave an update on the golf tournament.
(16:41):
I said, hey, we've got six lots left. And people
step up and tell a little bit about what's going
on in their life. What we call happy find People say, hey,
you know, my kid's going off to college next week,
or my daughter's getting married, or so they're just ways
for people to step up and just talk a little
bit about of the positive things in their life and
(17:02):
keeps everyone in the club kind of up to date.
So there's a lot of that that goes on for
the first half hour and the second half hour we
usually have a speaker, and so last week we had
I know you're going to know this, who is the
health the director of health during COVID that we all got.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
To know Mark Levin.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Mark Levin, Doctor Mark Levine gave us an update on
public health last week.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It was great.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
I mean, he's a great speaker, and so we have
a committee that organizes and brings in speakers every week,
and so so it's an hour a week that we
get together. We just kind of chat, we get to
know our friends. There's about forty folks in our club.
On any given week, there's at least twenty five of
us there, and we meet at the Senior Center in
South Brolington, which is, you know, in the same building
(17:49):
as the library in the City Hall. So that's the
big part of fellowship is just getting to know people.
And as a professional, there's also networking. So you know,
my wife and I had to do our end of
life stuff a few years ago, and well I met
a lawyer in our club. It was like, well, I'm
friends with her and so suddenly, you know, she got
(18:09):
a little business from me, and I felt trustworthy that
I met her, And so that happens as well. As
it's a little bit of networking goes on. It's not
the primary focus, but it's part of really the history
of roadary because it's typically you know, professionals that get together,
some that are former professionals, retired folks, but we also
have folks in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties,
(18:33):
so we have a pretty diverse club and we've got
probably five new members this year, so really we're having
some pretty good success. The other thing I think what
people really see us in the community is we raise
money and we give it away. Simply, that's what we do.
And so we raise money by running events. So our
(18:53):
golf tournament is our second largest fundraiser, and our largest
fundraiser is our curling tournament, which is a lot of fun,
and we were talking about that before the show started here.
It's at Carnes. It's in March. We had a lot
of people and we raise a lot of money and
with the money that we raise, we give it out.
We give it out to organizations in the community. There's
(19:16):
a picture there of the food shelf, So the South
Bromington Food Shelf were a big, big advocate for In fact,
we bought a fifty thousand dollars electric van for them
so that they could be more effective in the community.
Before that they were using some volunteers Toyota to go
down to the grocery store and try to pick up whatever.
(19:36):
Now they got a van. They can load palettes of
food from grocery stores or from the Vermont Food Bank,
so now they can serve a lot more people. So
that was a great, great effort. That was a five
year commitment that we made to provide fifty thousand dollars
for them so they could buy a van. So that
was a big one. Another organization that we support in
(19:58):
the community on the youth side is Scouting Boy Scouts
of America and in South Barrlington. In boy Scouts in
the US is a declining entity for different reasons that
kids have a lot of alternatives, a lot of choices
in life as to what to do. In South Burlington,
(20:19):
it is a growing entity. We have over one hundred youth.
We have four units in South Barrington. We have a
cub Scout unit, we have a Boys Scout unit, we
have a Girls Scout unit, which is you may not
even know that that a few years ago BSA Boy
Scouts of America allowed for girls units. They have to
be run by female leaders. But basically these girls are
(20:42):
like Hey, I don't want to just sell brownies. I
want to go We do hiking and things like that
that the Boy Scouts do, So we have that. And
then there's a crew which are for kids that are
a little bit older. They've already got Eagle Scout and
they want to keep doing it, but they want to
be with older kids. So that from fifteen to twenty one.
And so we have a crew of Venturing Crew they
call it. And so those are those fourth groups. They
(21:06):
are busy, they're out on they're out in the woods
every month, they're helping in the community. They're selling popcorn,
they're selling well phone popcorn. But it's a that's a
great success story and so we've been sponsoring them for years.
You might see a couple of trailers around town, equipment
(21:26):
trailers that have you know, Scouts on it and roadary logos.
So that's another big sponsor sponsorship that we've had long term.
Trying to think some of the other big ones. I mean,
on our website we have a long list of things
that we do, but we uh, you know, we sponsor
Habitat for Humanity. We spend a lot of money on housing,
(21:50):
on food, insecurity and so I'm gonna blank out right
now of all the different organizations that we support. On
our website, we've got a pretty long list of organizations
that we support, and so it's it's great. So that's
That's the other thing. And the last one is what
(22:11):
I'll say is what's the term I'm trying to think
of vocational. So it's like we go out and get
our hands dirty. So Green Up Day, we're out there
every year. We have a probably about fifteen twenty people
out there on side of some highway and we recruit
the Scouts as well, so we get a big bang
for our buck there. We're involved in the city Marathon
(22:36):
and a lot of different around town. People say hey,
we need some help the cemetery the city of sub
throwing those two cemeteries. So this Saturday we're going to
the Eldridge Cemetery which is next to the airport, and
we'll be I think fixing stones. Last year we cleaned
the stones. This year, I guess we're fixing stones and
(22:56):
we're just supporting the I can't remember the name of
the ORGANA does that there's a specific term, but there's
a group in the South Barrington government that supports those cemeteries,
so we're helping them do what needs to get done.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Very cool. So you guys stay busy all year round,
and I know you're always open to new members. You
guys have a great website. If people just google South
Burlington Rotary Club they will find it. You have a
Facebook page as well. Any other quick tidbits you'd like
to add before we let you.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Go, I just say, you know, I just think that
what Rotary offers people is, as I said, fellowship and
a way to give back. And I think in today's
world there's a lot of loneliness and you know, people
are like, oh, you know, I wish I could do something.
(23:48):
We're wide open, you know, and we provide a lot
of opportunity for people to join and do something meaningful
with their life. It's not a huge commitment, you know.
For me, I retired a few years ago, and as
I was leading up to it, I was like, you know,
I travel all over the country for my career. I
didn't do anything in town, so I really wanted to
(24:09):
do something locally and so the Rotary for me, provided
an opportunity for me to meet people that also wanted
to do something meaningful with their life and a very
easy avenue to do that. And so I would suggest
for anybody that you know come to our website check
it out, and it has a lot of information about
what we do and how you can be learn more
(24:31):
about rotary biding by coming by perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Tom Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, of course, of course, Joe, I know you're not
a big golfer, but I hears the thing I love about,
Like this isn't even actually golf. I don't know why
I said that. Rotary clubs have so many different like
each one has different events that are like kind of
like their thing, right, Like we're a group in Connecticut.
The big one for my home town was they do
the Lobster Fest every year and it was like the
(25:03):
big to do in town and people go and you
eat lobsters, and like I know, just up here in Vermont,
it's like there's a pie Day one that they do
in Sholburn, and like, I think it's so fun that
there's so many different events like that happen and go
on with rotary clubs and they find different unique ways to.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Raise money exactly exactly. It's wonderful and you're right. I
mean someone put on the home and garden shows and
some are doing different little festivals and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
It's it's, it is wonderful.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Have you ever spoken at like a rotary club or
what would be what would be your topic of choice?
Like what are you an expert on if you were
to go speak at something.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Well, I don't know about an expert on anything.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I was a rotarian for a lot for a number
of years, so I am a rotarian. And when my
role with Myers changed a little bit, we handed.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Off that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
So I have been to a lot of rotarian rotary
meetings and and yes I have spoken a few times
about sustainability and a lot of things we do here
at Myers about recycling and as such.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
So yeah, it's it's it's great organization, all right.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Were playing our game this week?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Well, of course we're playing our game.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Let's trash someone sorry real quick. I had a friend
and I told her about how the biggest thing you
should not ever put in your recycling is styrophone. I
was like, that's the big one, and clean your pickle jars.
So I'm learning from.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
You to jump, uh you know, so this little game
we have here, and sometimes I try to not let
my personal bias fall into it, but this is one
of the times where my personal bias will probably come through.
So trash, you're not. I've recently experienced this and it really,
uh actually got in trouble by my family because I
actually made a comment so trash here not speaking uh,
(26:51):
speakerphone in public.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
That's good, that's so bad. But you know what's worse.
There's one thing worse than bigger phone, and that's even
trashier FaceTime. Oh godle my mom is a speakerphone in public.
She'll just be walking around the store like wrap and
it's like, Mom, come on, Like the world, especially if
(27:15):
this isn't like an urgent phone conversation, like the world
doesn't need to hear it, like speakerphone in public, especially
in a populated place like in a store, like inside somewhere.
Maybe if you're like outside going for a walk, like eh,
kind of annoying, not as trashy, but like, yeah, speakerphone
in public, that's a rough one. Did you do an that?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I got in trouble. So we were out in a store.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Recently and there was this woman and I kind of
take it with grain of salt. You know, if it's
a seventy year old man or woman, okay, you give
them kind of a pass. But you know, if they're
our age, you know, thirty forty fifty, like, you know better.
So there was this woman, probably in her forties, and
she has that speaker phone phone out walking through the
(28:01):
store shopping and she's talking as loud as can be.
So we go around, you know, one side, and then
we double back and we come past her and she's
still on her phone. So I turned to my daughter,
I said, you know what my biggest pet peeve is
and she goes, what's that? I said, people who are
on their speaker phone when you're out in public. Of
course I got two dirty looks. But it is it's
(28:22):
just like, come on, you've gotta know it's different.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
You're like, hold on, let me like put this down
to a while, like, but you gotta know.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And the FaceTime I get like, oh, what do you
think of this thing?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Or do you want you know A or B? Or
how does this look on me? Okay, I can almost
tolerate that.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
But just chit chat, I you know, well, but the
FaceTime chit chat is the one my sister. I hope
my family doesn't listen to this podcast because now I'm
in trouble with my mom and my sister. But she
is the queen of Like We're like walking to the
beach and she's like, oh hi, like blah blah blah,
and I'm like, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So okay, so we're both the great
trashy Yes, trashy.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Okay, Well that's good to know, so you know good,
that makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah all right, Well with that, let us know what
you all think of speakerphone in public. We'll see. Maybe
there's some some very pro speakerphone and public people who
have great If you could justify it, then I'm willing
to change my stance, but I think it's going to
take a lot. Also, don't forget to like and subscribe
to the podcast while you're here, so you get notified
(29:29):
every time there is a new one uploaded, so you
can hear what Joe and I are up to, things
we think are trashy, but also learn a little bit
about what everybody's doing in our community and ways to
give back.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Until next time,
Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of the Trash
Talking and Giving Back podcasts. I'm Aaron Colefield Barker, joined
by my co host Joe Sinagra of Myers, waistand Recycle. Joe,
how's it going.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's going well.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It's things that are moving along here, progressing nicely at
at Meyer's Waste Recycling perfect.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I can't believe summer is just like kind of rolling
you can tell. I've back from vacation, got myself a
little tan. How is your? How is your?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You know, it's good, and it got me thinking, you know,
being summertime and it's you know, vacation season and everything.
And I know your kids are younger. My kids are older,
and it got me thinking about separate vacations and that
one of the big trends now is you know, like you,
I have a boy and a girl, and you know,
so you know that my daughter wants to go to
(01:07):
see a Broadway show and my son wants to go
to baseball game, and so a lot of families are
doing separate vacations and it's interesting not growing up that
would be unheard of. My parents would never So you know,
you're dragged along to whatever one vacation was so I
know what, obviously your kids are younger, so you can't
do separate vacations, But what do you think of the
(01:28):
whole separate vacation.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We kind of could. I kind of like that. I
feel like maybe it didn't happen as much back of
the day because of like I don't know limited vacation time.
But I feel like, especially when you have multiple kids, right,
like you have two kids. I have two kids, a
boy and a girl. For both of us, mine are
a year and a half and three years. Yours are
like flowing the coop kind of one of them's still
living there but should be. I think it's kind of
(01:52):
fun because I remember when I was having Ellie, we
were I was really nervous about people who said that,
like it would be hard for Jack, right because he
had all of mom's attention, and then now Ellie's here,
and how's he going to handle it? And I don't
know if that really changes the older kid gets and
so I feel like having like a mommy and me
trip and a daddy, right, Like, I feel like that
(02:14):
would just be kind of a fun thing for like,
for the relationship that a parent has with their kid too,
right like right now, Jack is so deep in his
like mom, mom, mom, like everything is mom, and so
like I want to be like, why don't you and
dad go on like an adventure, like I send him
to get bagels this morning, and Jack's all for it,
but it's like, go do something fun with dad. And
(02:34):
so I feel like I would say I'm pro separate vacations,
but it shouldn't always just be like gender specific right now,
always like oh, the girls are going to the Broadway
sow and shopping and the boys are going to the
sporting event. Like I feel like you also need to
like compromise and find something for you and the daughter
to do, and then something for your wife and the
(02:54):
son to do, because I don't know, and I'm sure
you've seen as the kids grow up, like it's why
to see like the people that they somehow become. And
I think we get so caught up in life and
work that maybe you miss some of it, so to like, yeah, my.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Daughter's always been into musicals and theater and I wasn't,
and so you do that type of stuff. And I
tell you what, She and I went to a Broadway
show a couple of years ago. And I had an
absolute blast and we're headed to Mama Mia here next month.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So yeah, see that's so cool. It makes you kind
of like appreciate it and like she dragged you out
of your shell into doing something that you maybe didn't
want to, but you did it because you knew she
liked it, and now you kind of understand.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
It more absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
But I do like the whole family vacation too.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Okay, I was going to say, what about just no,
you know, don't take Alex on a vacation, you know, you.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Me plus the two kids. I mean, that would be nice.
Yesterday was that question.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Is a little different when you have little ones at
home than when you have tea.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, but I've done
like a girl's weekend. Although Ellie came with me when
one of my girlfriends turned forty. Ellie was still a
little in breastfeeding, so I was like, well, the only
way I can go is if she came. So she
did and it was great. I am going to like
a country music festival in Canada by myself, well with girlfriends,
but like no Alex or kids in August.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So perfect.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Maybe like an SOS at the Barker Household, But it'll
be all right. Could you vacation like totally solo, because
that's another trend, just like the solo by yourself, go
on a cruise or go somewhere with literally no one,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, I yes, I think I could. I mean I
did it.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
You know, Spring training was always a bucket list item
for me, and you know, my wife tags along, but
it's not really her thing.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So I actually did it alone this year. And yeah,
I had a great buddy.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Like just you you yourself, just.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Just me, you know, and yeah, just it was nice,
you know.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
All Right, Well, let's bring in our guest Tom and
put him on the spot here and see if he
is a solo vacationer a family vacationer. I don't think
we asked if he has children, so maybe if he
has kids, we'll see what they have done. Today's guest
is Tom O'Keefe from the South Burlington Rotary Club, who
always has great things going on. We are going to
kind of focus on their golf tournament, talk about everything.
(05:20):
But first, Tom, what is your take on the vacations?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Yeah, I'm thinking every time I took my son around
the Northeast to hockey games he played in, and I
was coaching that. Those were many vacations. We would sometimes
stop at the Bennington Monument. We would stop at you know,
various highlights along the road, and he'd be like scratching
his head, going why are we going here? Dad? And
my wife mostly took my daughter to Irish dance all
(05:47):
over the Northeast in Canada. And yeah, those were MENI
vacations because.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
To be fair, those aren't both sports that I know,
those outfits for Irish epients that are not cheap, and
I know hockey is is not cheap. So the Asian
budget got spent on the sports and they were tight.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
That's right. I had one of each time.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
My son played hockey all the way up through high
school and my daughter was a competitive dancer all the
way up into college.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So yes, I.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Yes, summer common Joe.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yes, fifteen years there vacations.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
War wasn't the beach.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It was oh, this squirt tournament in Maine, or this
dance competition in western New York or some.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Place in between. So oh yes, I know that, oh
too well.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I mean, and what's interesting you talk about vacations. I
would try to organize vacations like we're gonna go to
Keepe God, and then suddenly it's like, oh, there's a
dance recital. We got to cancel that. So all of
our vacations were going to some sporting event.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So eventually maybe it'll circle back around.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yes, yeah, they're they're ones in college and ones on
their way to college. And we did go to Ireland
two years ago. That was a real vacation, so that's fine.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Well, I do know a weekend you will not have
a vacation scheduled is the weekend of September fifteenth, as
that is when the South Burlington Rotary Clubs Golf Tournament
is happening at Vermont National. Tell us a little bit
about the tournament.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Yeah, so we've been doing it at Vermont National, which is,
you know, an exclusive club. You can't play there unless
you're a member or you know, you play in a tournament.
And the it's a Jack Nicklas course, it's you know,
one of the nicest courses in the state. And we've
been doing it there for well, we've been doing their
Hunts at the time, but for twenty seven years we've
(07:35):
been running this tournament and it's a great event. We
have one hundred and twenty eight golfers that play, so
it's a very full course, but not it's very well run.
The folks at Vermont National do a phenomenal job. I mean,
they do this all the time. And fortunately for us,
(07:55):
the general manager, Chris Bancroft, is a member of our club,
so he may sure that this sernament goes off without
a hitch. So it's great. It's a combination of We
have a lot of sponsors, including Myers. You guys have
been a sponsor I think for the entire run that
we've been doing this, so really thank you guys for that.
And we have a lot of sponsors that come back
(08:17):
every year for the fact that you know, you just
can't get on Vermont National except through this type of
an event, and so we get we get a lot
of sponsors, and then what's left we have a few
other We have a few just teams that will come
and play as well.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Now you know, we participate in a lot of different
golf tournaments and I participate in some and I love,
since I'm not a very good golf for all the
side attractions that go on, you know, winning a car
and the ten thousand dollars and the beat the pro
and all this other stuff. But you folks have one
that I haven't ever seen. As far as one of
(08:54):
your contests, maybe tell a little bit about your one
of your un your usual soonships you're still looking for.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah, So we have a few, We have a few contests.
We have the longest drive for men and women close
as the whole men and women. We do have a
hole in one contest. We're still trying to get our
sponsor finalized. That that's I'm pretty sure that's going to happen.
Heritage Forward is our Heritage Forward, tell you what it
has done that for a number of years and we're
(09:26):
just waiting for them to pull the pull the trigger
on that. So a lot of the types of contests
that you would see at a tournament are in play,
and there's prizes for all of those things. And but
this year actually Chris Bancroft came up with the idea
of a flamingo hole. So great idea. And so a
flamingo hole is one where when you drive the ball,
(09:48):
you have to do it on one leg like a flamingo,
and there is a there is an opt out if
you're really just not comfortable doing that. You can pay
your way out of doing that, and so we're that
sponsorship is also still open. We're we're working on a
actually an organization that has a bar and there. The
(10:13):
idea is that, you know, maybe we'll have some kind
of flamingo drink or something. So it's still being formulated
as to how it's all going to work out, but
it's definitely kind of exciting. Chris already got the flamingos
that are going to be planted into the into the
UH into the T box. So that should be a
fun one and one that we talked about for years.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Tom, are you a golfer and have you tried to
do this yet?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I am a golfer and I have not done this,
although when I was a kid.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
We used to.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I can't remember what the name of the movie is.
I know I've seen it a few times with the
kind of hockey Adam Sandler movie whatever. He used to
try to we what was that happy Happy Gilmore? Yeah,
we used to happy Illmore all the time when were kids.
You know, you take two or three running steps and
step up to the ball and see how far we
can hit it. And mostly we're hitting it pretty far
(11:08):
up into the woods, so, you know, not very accurate,
but a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I think that you're onto something, right. A lot of
different golf courses have tournaments, which is great, but you're
definitely onto something with being at Vermont National, which, as
you mentioned, you can't just call up and get a
tea time there, right, And so it's a unique way
that people could be able to go and play Vermont National,
and I'm sure that that helps fill this tournament every year.
(11:33):
Do you guys still have any openings four teams this
year or are you almost full? Where are we at?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Yeah, we're very close to full. We're not full, We're
kind of it's kind of like selling something on Craigslist.
The first one that shows up with cash gets in.
But we have I think as of this morning we
met this morning, there's like six teams, six or foursomes
open right now. But I will say that we have
a combination of teams and sponsors that are kind of
(12:01):
on the bubble. They just haven't pulled the trigger yet.
So if there's folks that are thinking, oh my gosh,
I should do that, then just get a hold of
me as the tournament chair and we'll see where it
ends up. If there's a spot available, we'll fill it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Now, you guys do so many wonderful things in the community,
and this is a big fundraiser for you. Maybe tell
us a little about where some of this money goes,
you know, some of the things that you you support
in the community.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Yeah. So every year we have a what we call
kind of a a beneficiary, kind of a primary beneficiary,
and it's been different groups over the years. This year
it is Josh's House in Colchester, and I'll talk a
little bit about that. But the in the in the
(12:51):
balance of the money goes to South Carolinton Road Road
Charities and with that money we give to a lot
of organizations in the community. I'll talk first a little
bit about Josh's House. I'm not an expert in this,
but you know we have had the had that organization
(13:12):
come and talk to us about what they do. And
our our tournament partner is Vermont Construction, so there are
title sponsor, if you will, our largest sponsor of the tournament.
And they came up with the idea of Josh's House,
so they have a longtime relationship with them, and Josh's
House was formed uh By, I guess josht his parents. So,
(13:38):
Josh is a military veteran and he unfortunately took his life.
He just it was it was too much for him
to handle the PTSD and his parents wanted to do
something to provide an outlet for veterans, and so Josh's
House in Colchester, it's all in the old fort, provides
(14:02):
a space for veterans to come in and really they
play pool, they can play darts, there's all kinds of games.
They serve food, and they also provide various kinds of
services social services to folks that want to take advantage
of them. I think with the idea that makes those
services a little more accessible than otherwise. It is certainly
(14:24):
not a requirement for anyone to enroll in services. Is
really more for the fellowship of hanging out with other veterans,
and they do great work, and so we thought that
was a phenomenal idea is to select the Josh's House
for our primary beneficiary for this year's tournament. I can
(14:48):
tell you a little bit about other things that the
club does other organizations.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I was going to say, I know, I'm the daughter
of a rotarian, I'm the daughter in law of a Rotarian.
I was in the Interact Club. I know that Rotary's
big mission is service above self, and so this golf
tournament is a big thing you do, but it is
just one of so many things that you guys do
throughout the year. So just share with us a little
bit more about the Rotary Club and what you guys do.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah, so the Rotary is an international organization. It is
actually founded by Vermonter and I have a funny story
about that. I don't think any have the time for it,
but anyway, I was founded in Chicago and by a
bunch of businessmen that thought back one hundred years ago
or more that you know, we could probably do better
(15:37):
in life than just counter own money. We can probably
give back to the community. And really that's what they
did they started, which is really I think just getting
together for lunch and talking about, you know, maybe what
they could do in the community in Chicago. And back then,
you know, the life was not as easy as it
(15:57):
is today, and so there's a lot of opportunities for
them to help. So the club over time, you know,
it turned into a lot of local clubs around the country,
and then it turned into a bunch of local clubs
around the world, and there's I think one point two
million Rotarians around the world today and they're all they're
all dealing with issues in their local community. But we're
(16:19):
part of a large organization. So the way that we
operate is, first of all, there's the first thing I
would say is there's fellowship. So we get together. Our
club gets together every Thursday morning at seven point thirty
and this morning, and we meet and we discuss various
club activities. So I gave an update on the golf tournament.
(16:41):
I said, hey, we've got six lots left. And people
step up and tell a little bit about what's going
on in their life. What we call happy find People say, hey,
you know, my kid's going off to college next week,
or my daughter's getting married, or so they're just ways
for people to step up and just talk a little
bit about of the positive things in their life and
(17:02):
keeps everyone in the club kind of up to date.
So there's a lot of that that goes on for
the first half hour and the second half hour we
usually have a speaker, and so last week we had
I know you're going to know this, who is the
health the director of health during COVID that we all got.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
To know Mark Levin.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Mark Levin, Doctor Mark Levine gave us an update on
public health last week.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It was great.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
I mean, he's a great speaker, and so we have
a committee that organizes and brings in speakers every week,
and so so it's an hour a week that we
get together. We just kind of chat, we get to
know our friends. There's about forty folks in our club.
On any given week, there's at least twenty five of
us there, and we meet at the Senior Center in
South Brolington, which is, you know, in the same building
(17:49):
as the library in the City Hall. So that's the
big part of fellowship is just getting to know people.
And as a professional, there's also networking. So you know,
my wife and I had to do our end of
life stuff a few years ago, and well I met
a lawyer in our club. It was like, well, I'm
friends with her and so suddenly, you know, she got
(18:09):
a little business from me, and I felt trustworthy that
I met her, And so that happens as well. As
it's a little bit of networking goes on. It's not
the primary focus, but it's part of really the history
of roadary because it's typically you know, professionals that get together,
some that are former professionals, retired folks, but we also
have folks in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties,
(18:33):
so we have a pretty diverse club and we've got
probably five new members this year, so really we're having
some pretty good success. The other thing I think what
people really see us in the community is we raise
money and we give it away. Simply, that's what we do.
And so we raise money by running events. So our
(18:53):
golf tournament is our second largest fundraiser, and our largest
fundraiser is our curling tournament, which is a lot of fun,
and we were talking about that before the show started here.
It's at Carnes. It's in March. We had a lot
of people and we raise a lot of money and
with the money that we raise, we give it out.
We give it out to organizations in the community. There's
(19:16):
a picture there of the food shelf, So the South
Bromington Food Shelf were a big, big advocate for In fact,
we bought a fifty thousand dollars electric van for them
so that they could be more effective in the community.
Before that they were using some volunteers Toyota to go
down to the grocery store and try to pick up whatever.
(19:36):
Now they got a van. They can load palettes of
food from grocery stores or from the Vermont Food Bank,
so now they can serve a lot more people. So
that was a great, great effort. That was a five
year commitment that we made to provide fifty thousand dollars
for them so they could buy a van. So that
was a big one. Another organization that we support in
(19:58):
the community on the youth side is Scouting Boy Scouts
of America and in South Barrlington. In boy Scouts in
the US is a declining entity for different reasons that
kids have a lot of alternatives, a lot of choices
in life as to what to do. In South Burlington,
(20:19):
it is a growing entity. We have over one hundred youth.
We have four units in South Barrington. We have a
cub Scout unit, we have a Boys Scout unit, we
have a Girls Scout unit, which is you may not
even know that that a few years ago BSA Boy
Scouts of America allowed for girls units. They have to
be run by female leaders. But basically these girls are
(20:42):
like Hey, I don't want to just sell brownies. I
want to go We do hiking and things like that
that the Boy Scouts do, So we have that. And
then there's a crew which are for kids that are
a little bit older. They've already got Eagle Scout and
they want to keep doing it, but they want to
be with older kids. So that from fifteen to twenty one.
And so we have a crew of Venturing Crew they
call it. And so those are those fourth groups. They
(21:06):
are busy, they're out on they're out in the woods
every month, they're helping in the community. They're selling popcorn,
they're selling well phone popcorn. But it's a that's a
great success story and so we've been sponsoring them for years.
You might see a couple of trailers around town, equipment
(21:26):
trailers that have you know, Scouts on it and roadary logos.
So that's another big sponsor sponsorship that we've had long term.
Trying to think some of the other big ones. I mean,
on our website we have a long list of things
that we do, but we uh, you know, we sponsor
Habitat for Humanity. We spend a lot of money on housing,
(21:50):
on food, insecurity and so I'm gonna blank out right
now of all the different organizations that we support. On
our website, we've got a pretty long list of organizations
that we support, and so it's it's great. So that's
That's the other thing. And the last one is what
(22:11):
I'll say is what's the term I'm trying to think
of vocational. So it's like we go out and get
our hands dirty. So Green Up Day, we're out there
every year. We have a probably about fifteen twenty people
out there on side of some highway and we recruit
the Scouts as well, so we get a big bang
for our buck there. We're involved in the city Marathon
(22:36):
and a lot of different around town. People say hey,
we need some help the cemetery the city of sub
throwing those two cemeteries. So this Saturday we're going to
the Eldridge Cemetery which is next to the airport, and
we'll be I think fixing stones. Last year we cleaned
the stones. This year, I guess we're fixing stones and
(22:56):
we're just supporting the I can't remember the name of
the ORGANA does that there's a specific term, but there's
a group in the South Barrington government that supports those cemeteries,
so we're helping them do what needs to get done.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Very cool. So you guys stay busy all year round,
and I know you're always open to new members. You
guys have a great website. If people just google South
Burlington Rotary Club they will find it. You have a
Facebook page as well. Any other quick tidbits you'd like
to add before we let you.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Go, I just say, you know, I just think that
what Rotary offers people is, as I said, fellowship and
a way to give back. And I think in today's
world there's a lot of loneliness and you know, people
are like, oh, you know, I wish I could do something.
(23:48):
We're wide open, you know, and we provide a lot
of opportunity for people to join and do something meaningful
with their life. It's not a huge commitment, you know.
For me, I retired a few years ago, and as
I was leading up to it, I was like, you know,
I travel all over the country for my career. I
didn't do anything in town, so I really wanted to
(24:09):
do something locally and so the Rotary for me, provided
an opportunity for me to meet people that also wanted
to do something meaningful with their life and a very
easy avenue to do that. And so I would suggest
for anybody that you know come to our website check
it out, and it has a lot of information about
what we do and how you can be learn more
(24:31):
about rotary biding by coming by perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Tom Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, of course, of course, Joe, I know you're not
a big golfer, but I hears the thing I love about,
Like this isn't even actually golf. I don't know why
I said that. Rotary clubs have so many different like
each one has different events that are like kind of
like their thing, right, Like we're a group in Connecticut.
The big one for my home town was they do
the Lobster Fest every year and it was like the
(25:03):
big to do in town and people go and you
eat lobsters, and like I know, just up here in Vermont,
it's like there's a pie Day one that they do
in Sholburn, and like, I think it's so fun that
there's so many different events like that happen and go
on with rotary clubs and they find different unique ways to.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Raise money exactly exactly. It's wonderful and you're right. I
mean someone put on the home and garden shows and
some are doing different little festivals and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
It's it's, it is wonderful.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Have you ever spoken at like a rotary club or
what would be what would be your topic of choice?
Like what are you an expert on if you were
to go speak at something.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Well, I don't know about an expert on anything.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I was a rotarian for a lot for a number
of years, so I am a rotarian. And when my
role with Myers changed a little bit, we handed.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Off that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
So I have been to a lot of rotarian rotary
meetings and and yes I have spoken a few times
about sustainability and a lot of things we do here
at Myers about recycling and as such.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
So yeah, it's it's it's great organization, all right.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Were playing our game this week?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Well, of course we're playing our game.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Let's trash someone sorry real quick. I had a friend
and I told her about how the biggest thing you
should not ever put in your recycling is styrophone. I
was like, that's the big one, and clean your pickle jars.
So I'm learning from.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
You to jump, uh you know, so this little game
we have here, and sometimes I try to not let
my personal bias fall into it, but this is one
of the times where my personal bias will probably come through.
So trash, you're not. I've recently experienced this and it really,
uh actually got in trouble by my family because I
actually made a comment so trash here not speaking uh,
(26:51):
speakerphone in public.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
That's good, that's so bad. But you know what's worse.
There's one thing worse than bigger phone, and that's even
trashier FaceTime. Oh godle my mom is a speakerphone in public.
She'll just be walking around the store like wrap and
it's like, Mom, come on, Like the world, especially if
(27:15):
this isn't like an urgent phone conversation, like the world
doesn't need to hear it, like speakerphone in public, especially
in a populated place like in a store, like inside somewhere.
Maybe if you're like outside going for a walk, like eh,
kind of annoying, not as trashy, but like, yeah, speakerphone
in public, that's a rough one. Did you do an that?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I got in trouble. So we were out in a store.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Recently and there was this woman and I kind of
take it with grain of salt. You know, if it's
a seventy year old man or woman, okay, you give
them kind of a pass. But you know, if they're
our age, you know, thirty forty fifty, like, you know better.
So there was this woman, probably in her forties, and
she has that speaker phone phone out walking through the
(28:01):
store shopping and she's talking as loud as can be.
So we go around, you know, one side, and then
we double back and we come past her and she's
still on her phone. So I turned to my daughter,
I said, you know what my biggest pet peeve is
and she goes, what's that? I said, people who are
on their speaker phone when you're out in public. Of
course I got two dirty looks. But it is it's
(28:22):
just like, come on, you've gotta know it's different.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
You're like, hold on, let me like put this down
to a while, like, but you gotta know.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And the FaceTime I get like, oh, what do you
think of this thing?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Or do you want you know A or B? Or
how does this look on me? Okay, I can almost
tolerate that.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
But just chit chat, I you know, well, but the
FaceTime chit chat is the one my sister. I hope
my family doesn't listen to this podcast because now I'm
in trouble with my mom and my sister. But she
is the queen of Like We're like walking to the
beach and she's like, oh hi, like blah blah blah,
and I'm like, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So okay, so we're both the great
trashy Yes, trashy.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Okay, Well that's good to know, so you know good,
that makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah all right, Well with that, let us know what
you all think of speakerphone in public. We'll see. Maybe
there's some some very pro speakerphone and public people who
have great If you could justify it, then I'm willing
to change my stance, but I think it's going to
take a lot. Also, don't forget to like and subscribe
to the podcast while you're here, so you get notified
(29:29):
every time there is a new one uploaded, so you
can hear what Joe and I are up to, things
we think are trashy, but also learn a little bit
about what everybody's doing in our community and ways to
give back.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Until next time,
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