Wes & DeLaw | Grinding, Lying & Other 30-Something Survival Tactics

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We explore what our 25-year-old selves would think about our current career paths and discuss how traditional career advice has failed our generation.

We encourage you to share your own career journey with us on social media and let us know what advice you'd give your younger self.

Episode Transcript

Wes (00:00):
Hi everybody, welcome to another episode of the According
to Wes podcast, where webelieve to live is to suffer and
to survive is to find somethingor find some meaning in that
suffering, especially when it'stime to tell our wives what to

(00:24):
eat.
That's all Got me, wes.
You know what that's like?
Man Fucking ass.
Eat up there when you want toeat at and you run through eight
different things and it's justlike no to everything and it's
just like yo Just to circle, I'mgoing to go someplace, figure
it out.

DeLaw (00:40):
Just to circle back to the original place.

Wes (00:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
All the time, all the time.
It's an everyday thing, even ifyou're taking food out to eat,
like what we eat I don't knowSome pork chops in there, I
don't know this in there.

DeLaw (00:56):
I mean, I'm not even that hungry.

Wes (00:59):
Why are we trying to cook?
That's how I feel about it.
Yeah, but as always, we gotD-Law.

DeLaw (01:06):
We got D-Law, the dominant center on 2K between me
and Wes.
Hell yeah.

Wes (01:15):
Hell yeah, do you feel like 25-year-old?
You will be happy with whereyou are in your career right now
25-year-old me.
Mm-hmm.
First thing I remember where25-year-old me was Don't tell me

(01:35):
all the drinking, fuck that up.

DeLaw (01:38):
I want to say 25-year-old me, and I want to say just been
.
I want to say just been let goby the feds.
I crashed my car, I crashed myImpala and over the summer

(01:59):
before I turned 25, I got myUltima when I turned 25.
I don't think so.
I think it would be more of ashock.
So a 25-year-old wouldn't behappy I think it would be more

(02:21):
of a shock.
A 25-year-old me would havethought I would have been with
somebody else, along with doinga different career choice.

Wes (02:28):
as far as I say career specifically.
I ain't saying nothing aboutromance.

DeLaw (02:33):
I'm just saying, I'm just looking at the whole picture,
looking at the whole picture.

Wes (02:37):
All right, whole picture.
I guess, whole picture.

DeLaw (02:40):
You know, a 25-year-old me will probably be shocked that
this is the route that I took,or that you know that you know
this is what I'm doing, becausemost days I still can't believe
that I'm a state employee,because it's not what I thought

(03:00):
I was going to be doing.
So shocked in a good way orshocked in a bad way what I was
going to be doing so, shocked ina good way or shocked in a bad
way?
Shocked in a Did I not do goodenough in school to get to where
I wanted to be at?
But then when I'm looking athow the kids are now, I'm
probably better off.
I would have to come back andexplain to the 25-year-old me
why we're not in the schoolsystem teaching.
I would have to go back andexplain to them so 25-year-old,

(03:25):
you was like yo, you're going tobe a teacher.
Yeah, a 25-year-old was going tobe a teacher.
25-year-old me was not going tobe inventory or logistics for
any reason, because I had noclue what it was back when I was
25.
You know what I'm saying.
I had no clue what the fuckthat shit was.
But I would say not necessarilydisappointed or happy, just

(03:52):
more shocked.
Then they'd be like well, youcouldn't get back.

Wes (03:58):
You said you go back and you say yeah, I'm about to
explain to 25-year-old D-Lawlike yo.
This is why you're not in theschool system.
How does 25-year-old D-Law likeyo?
This is why you're not in theschool system.

DeLaw (04:07):
How does 25-year-old D-Law take that information.
25-year-old D-Law, how does hetake it?
He takes it as so the kids arethat bad.
Okay, cool, I'm glad we madethat choice.
But how come I can't get backto the feds?
That would be the because, youknow, like I said at 25, at 24,
I just got to let go from thefeds.

(04:28):
So a 25-year-old me is walkingaround on unemployment, you know
, trying to get back into thefeds.
So the question that a25-year-old me would have would
be like so how come we didn'tmake it back into the feds?
Like, were we that bad, likeinto the feds?
Like, were we that bad?
Like we?
Just, I had to explain like,man, look, our resume was some
cold garbage trying to get areal job in the feds and somehow

(04:51):
or another, we ended up in thestate after working logistics at
a warehouse.
Probably be like I worked in afucking warehouse.
What the hell?
What you mean?
It's like I would have to.
I would have to explain and sitmyself down and concentrate.

Wes (05:07):
So you're going to sit yourself down toss you a drink,
oh yeah.

DeLaw (05:11):
I got some stuff.
25-year-old me, I was in myprime with the drinking Jeez
Louie, that's bad.
We were still drinking.
Bad decision, you know what I'msaying.
And we only called it thatbecause we knew it was cheap as
pocket.
It was like $10 for a handle.

(05:32):
You knew when you woke up inthe morning you made a bad
decision.

Wes (05:38):
I think what I would probably as far as my career,
25-year old me would be would besomewhat I don't know.
I think 25 year old me wouldhave some questions too, because
it's kind of like yo, you gotto a point of you're in the

(06:02):
field, but how come you didn'tgo further?
Well, how come, yeah, how comeyou didn't go further?
Or how come you're not makingthis amount of money?
I already know that's what25-year-old me is going to say.
Computers are the future.
Everyone say computers are thefuture.
You are part of the future.

(06:23):
Why aren't you making futuremoney?
And I got that shit to him.
Right, yo, it should be.
I gotta explain, like yo, what Ithought uh would get me back,
could not get me back, thiscomputer shit.
I should have started waybefore college and I didn't have
the resources to start waybefore college, nor did I have

(06:47):
the, the influences and mentors,because it was kind of like a
new but not new thing Likenowadays you could probably bump
into like your, your, your son,for example, you could probably
bump into somebody that's incybersecurity or it or something
like that, like it ain'tnothing when we were young to

(07:10):
someone just by happenstancethat did that stuff like
especially not in our uh, not inour community, so it's a lot of
stuff.
I would have been like yo uhstart doing this now, because
there's a lot of stuff at 25that I wasn't doing.
I would have been like yo startdoing this now and in five

(07:31):
years uh, you know you gonna beuh you gonna be that nigga.

DeLaw (07:45):
You know 25 year old me if I, if I told him every choice
I've made to to get to where Iam now choice.

Wes (07:52):
I'm just saying yo see, I'm from like work joy, yeah, yeah,
yeah, oh, I see what you'resaying.
He even makes it yeah, why didI?

DeLaw (08:01):
well, yeah, this ain't go this way.
Blah, blah.
Like did I do this?
No, no, you didn't do that.
No, no.
Like it'd just be one of thosethings where it's like, look, we
made the best choices that wecould make to get us to where we
are.
I can't tell myself, man, justbe happy, that's what we got to.
Like I can't say that to my 20years old, so I can't say that

(08:24):
to my 25-year-old self.
I can say we could have madebetter choices in college to
help us.
I could say we could have madebetter choices when we worked
for the fifth and a 25-year-oldme if I had made better
decisions and did what I wassupposed to, versus not follow

(08:45):
the rules.
But it was.
You know, yeah, it's one ofthose things, but it would have
been different.
25 year old me might've stillbeen in the feds, or I'm about
to end up like my cousin who wasat department treasurer once he
graduated college and he saidwell, thank you for your service

(09:08):
, best of luck in your futureendeavors.
Same shit could have happenedto me, yeah, so that's been long
.

Wes (09:20):
Yeah, I think I would also probably tell him, just based
off of what I know now, thatthat the yeah, I think I would
also probably tell them, uh,just based off of what I know
now, that, uh, that the um thatthe life society tried to to
program us program us with wasalready dying before we even had
.
Like it was never.
It was a real thing, uh, at onepoint in time, but that was

(09:44):
like it was a real thing withour parents.
It wasn't a real thing at onepoint in time, but it was a real
thing with our parents.
It wasn't a real thing with us.
Like, oh, go get an internship,go do this, go do that.
Internships wasn't abundant.
They were trying to sell me agood GPA.
Gpas don't mean shit.

DeLaw (10:02):
They tried to sell me on the teaching career.
When I go to my student teacherthey were like, oh, by the time
you get in here they'll bemaking at the very least $70,000
.
Right now we're making $45,000to $50,000 just coming in and by
the time you get in you'll bemaking $70,000.

(10:22):
They ain't making no goddamn $.
Right now You're still making50, 55.
I'm like man, you know and notthat I was a bully, because I
think when I was originallygetting in, the kids were still
manageable.
And you know, if you get in atthe right time while they're
still manageable, yourreputation goes around the
school of either you're just ashard-ass teacher or that you're

(10:45):
like somebody like hey, yo, he'scool, like don't make no waves,
but I'm like he gonna look out.
Now, you know you give them,motherfuckers, a centimeter.
They try and take a wholefootball field.
People are like, all right,look, I'm gonna let that slide.
Next thing, you know, theycoming in 40 minutes like, oh, I
thought you were going to letit slide again.

Wes (11:03):
No, nigga, I can't do that when you're going to learn.

DeLaw (11:07):
Right, it's always something like that, I think.
You know, as far as stategovernment, I think you'll be
shocked.
I think the I wouldn't beshocked, because I was already
tutoring.
The thing would be oh so Istarted a business.
Oh, okay, cool, all right, thatain't that bad.

(11:29):
Am I making hundreds, thousandsof dollars?
No, that might be like thething.
What we doing, what we doing.

Wes (11:39):
Yeah, that's probably what my 25-year-old self would be
like too, what we doing, likeyou say in high school, like
society ain't what it was orlife ain't what it was Like they
said it was going to be.
I'm just like yo, you didn'tget no internship, you didn't
start off at no prestigiousorganization and stuff like that

(12:01):
.
Like those internships are nota dime a dozen, or those places
to work for it's very highlycompetitive.
All the good jobs arecompetitive and that's what no
one that's what they don't sayto you Like oh yeah, you're good
at a good job.
Lawyers with a good profession,this is a good profession.
Doctors are good.
Yeah, they all good professionsbecause they're competitive and

(12:22):
everyone wants to do that.

DeLaw (12:24):
Goddamn job I remember I applied to the bank.
I think I just I just got letgo from the feds.
One of the alumni from thefraternity was like yo oh, I
work at bank of america.
I'm gonna put you in contactwith this person, they're gonna
let you apply, you do whatever.
So I'm thinking all right, I'mabout to start working at a bank
, be Be a bank teller.
All right, cool, I get past allthat initial part.

(12:49):
He's like okay, you seem likeyou're going to be a really good
candidate, so we just need youto do this questionnaire and
from there we'll decideeverything else.
So I do the questionnaire.
Clearly, I answer honestly, youknow, not knowing.

Wes (13:01):
Would you steal money if it ever came about?
And you said yes.

DeLaw (13:05):
No, you know, not knowing how would you steal money if it
ever came about?
And you said yes, no, I ain'tsay yes to stealing money.
I said I ain't like helpingmotherfucking.

Wes (13:09):
Oh yeah, I remember you told that story.
You was not getting that job Iwasn't getting that job.

DeLaw (13:13):
And so the guy called the cops like hey, you know, I
never got a response back.
And then he's like oh well, letme check what happened with
your uh, your self-evaluationtest.
Oh, I'm sorry, it was too late,there's nothing we can do with
you.
Goodbye, I'm like damn, noteven All right, look, I'm going
to see what I can do.
I'm going to see if I canreopen this test, kind of like

(13:36):
redo it and see what happens.

Wes (13:37):
Your brave man was like I don't like helping people.

DeLaw (13:40):
Look, they asked the same question like seven different
ways.
I got confused.
I'm a college kid at 25.

Wes (13:47):
You also an adult at 25.

DeLaw (13:50):
Yeah, I'm an adult at 25.
But why are you asking me do Ilike people seven different ways
?
Why are you asking that ifsomeone asks me for help, will I
help them seven different ways?

Wes (14:03):
At that point you're in customer service and they need
to be firm on their decision ifwe want to hire this guy,
because the negative stereotypeof bank tellers, dmv employees
and what else the post officepeople are the angriest people.

DeLaw (14:16):
Why are they asking me if I see somebody put a dollar in
their pocket, am I going toswitch?
You don't have to ask me thatseparate different ways you do.

Wes (14:25):
If it's my bank, I need to ask that 10 different ways.

DeLaw (14:28):
Fuck the 7th.
There's no way that Nah.

Wes (14:34):
I need to ask that 10 different ways.

DeLaw (14:35):
If I had, gotten that job , I would have been a bank
teller and I more than likelywouldn't have left the bank
industry Like at that age of 25,.

Wes (14:46):
Would you try to be a manager of your own?

DeLaw (14:48):
branch.
I've been trying to move up.
They make good money, why not?
With that said, I think allroads lead to what you know
you're good at.
Am I good at counting money?
Of course I do numbers for mostof my life.
Am I good at counting money?
Of course I do numbers.
I did numbers for most of mylife.
Am I good at talking to people?
Yeah, it's hit or miss.

(15:11):
It's hit or miss, you know.
If it's one of the homies, hey,what's up, fam, you know,
whatever.
Whatever it's a little cutie,hey, you know, how are you doing
today.
If it's a regular, ordinaryperson, hello, how are you Like?
You know, it doesn't depend onwho was in front of me that day,
you know, you know 25 year oldme.
You see, a little shorty, thatcute.
Of course you're going to belike hey, you know what's up.

(15:32):
Hey, well, you know I'm off at.
Like, oh, what you getting into?
You know, all right.

Wes (15:49):
But yeah, man, but yeah, man, I mean, you did touch on
something interesting though,like um, starting at the bank,
right, what I, um, what I feltthat my 25 year old self didn't
know, is that, um, what's whatwas missing from, uh, my
experience on my my, what I knewat that time was that there are
it's better to take anentry-level job, it's better to

(16:13):
take an entry-level job at anentry-level organization, rather
than always shooting for the,the top tier companies you know,
as you would, because when I,all I knew was, like, probably
this is where I should be aimingfor.
These are the only companiesthat I know of not knowing that
all organizations at that time,let's just say, for it, it's

(16:34):
going to need an IT departmentor something that's dealing with
that, or just even with um.
I'm not too uh, well-versed inthe, in the math side of things,
but I'm pretty sure that youknow every organization needs
payroll or every organizationneeds some type of auditing
system or something like that.
Like it's probably been, itprobably was a bunch of

(16:56):
companies you could have, likeyou know, apply for even if you
had to leave the state, or someshit like that.

DeLaw (17:04):
There was, but I knew the person at Bank of America that
was trying to get me in.
He was high level in there toget me in.

Wes (17:12):
I'm just saying in general I just fucked it up.

DeLaw (17:14):
I just fucked it up.
There ain't no way around it.
I just fucked it up, me, Ifucked it up.
But I mean at that age, yeah,entry level, entry level into
something.
You're young.
You got a little bit moreleeways than me at 40 trying to
get entry level with anything.
You know what I'm saying.
Because me and my age trying toget entry level, they're like

(17:36):
what the hell is wrong with you.
You got all these years on yourbutt.
You trying to get entry level.
Yeah.

Wes (17:43):
I would also tell myself, not that I job hopped, but you
know you didn't.
This is what I tell myself,which is also crazy too.
Even though you didn't job hop,it was possibly best if you job
hopped, because you could havedeveloped more experience uh,
very quickly than staying, youknow, at one company for a long

(18:04):
time hoping and trying to workyour way up.
But that's another thing.
That's a myth too, like puttingthat it used to work for our
parents back in the day.
Oh, your grandparents stayed atthis organization or this
company for 30 years.
They give you a pension.
Jobs are hard to come by.
But our generation and younger,they're like yo, I'm gonna hop

(18:24):
around, they're gonna offer yo,I'm going to hop around, they're
going to offer me competitivesalaries, I'm going to learn
some things.
Because it shouldn't take mefour, it shouldn't take me five
years to master something.
If I like what I'm doing andI'm good at it, probably six
months.
Take that somewhere else.
Get more money, get more money,get more money.
Even that long Shit, dependingon what it is, I'm saying six
months.

DeLaw (18:44):
Even now I mean come on, I got to the department.

Wes (18:48):
You ain't gonna be a brain surgeon, and you know what I
mean.

DeLaw (18:51):
I got the department to help me.
They said, you know, oursystem's a little complicated,
this isn't this.
And I was like I said, okay,well, let me see the system.
And I looked and I was likethis ain't complicated, it's
stupid, it's not user-friendly.
Look at me complicated.

Wes (19:13):
I definitely tell myself like yo, all that shit was a
myth.
If I would have thought aboutthat.
I'm seeing YouTube videos.
This is how I earned $200K ayear because of this, this and
this, and it was mainly juststaying at jobs for six months
at a time and just like, allright, it's time for me to move.
I learned a bunch of stuff here.
It doesn't seem like I'm goingto learn anything else.

(19:34):
Keep this job until you findanother job, but don't do
whatever you know.
Probably do that a maximum ofthree times and then look for
the place you probably want totry to stay at.
Yeah, I wish I would have knownthat.
That's what I would have told my25-year-old, See I never really

(19:54):
hopped around jobs too much,Neither did I, Because it was
frowned upon.
But when we in 27, 30, mid-30soh now that's what everybody's
doing I was like everybody wasdoing that.
I thought we weren't supposedto do that, Following the rules
and shit.

DeLaw (20:08):
Now that you say that because you know it was a lot of
people I knew Exactly Every two, three years I'm like, oh man,
how you like it over there?
Oh, no, I left.

Wes (20:17):
I don't work there, no more .

DeLaw (20:18):
I'm gone.
Yeah, I went to another placethat offered me more money.
Oh okay, cool, all right.
I figured my mom was a fedemployee from the time she got
out of college and she took theOPM test to the time she retired
.
She'd been a government worker.
These people, people in thestate they said they've been

(20:39):
there 30, 35 years.
I'm like shit.
I said so am I not supposed tostay?
Am I supposed to stay?

Wes (20:49):
It was always told to us stay at your job, get your 401k
pension and this, this and that.
That's what was told, and allthe people that make the money
is the ones that break the norm,break the rules and shit.

DeLaw (21:03):
When I look at the, when I look at people's emails and I
see that they don't have anumber at the end of their name
and they say they've been there25 years, I'm like that means
you've been at.
You might not have been in thesame position for 20, 25 years,
but you've been with the samedepartment for 20, 25 years,
like I'm like.

(21:23):
So.
I was like you know, hey, for20, 25 years, like I'm like.
So I was like you know, hey,how long have you been here?
25?
.
I've been here 30 years.
I'm about to retire in five.
I said so.
You only been here.
Yep, I only been here in thisposition.
And I'm just like oh, okay,that's cool.
It was like how long have youbeen here?
I said I've been here sinceJuly, but I came from department
and I don't expect to be heretoo much longer because I'm

(21:47):
trying to find my next bigpayday.
Yeah, you know, I ain't tryingto be sitting around making this
same money with no one tryingto move me out.
That's crazy.

Wes (21:56):
Yeah, yeah, sometimes you get to like.
When you get to like your 50s,you ain't really trying to move
nowhere forever.

DeLaw (22:05):
That's what I'm trying to get all done now.
Yes, me too, me too, definitely, once I hit 50, I ain't trying
to find no new jobs.
And if I find a new job, it'sto move up.
Yeah, it's to move up, like tolike assistant chief or
something, or deputy chief chief.
You know it's the.
It's to move up to make, tomake the my retirement money.

(22:28):
Yeah, yeah, I'm putting intoretirement my full and all those
other things.
But when I move up to that,that's to make sure that when
I'm done with working and theystart giving me my pension, that
I ain't just getting no 35Kbecause they're only going to
give you half of what yourhighest you know average of what
your highest pay is for likethree years.

(22:52):
I ain't trying to get 35.
Now, at this point I think theyraised Social Security like 67.
So even when I retire, evenwhen I'm ready to retire, I
gotta wait.
So this is like what do I do?

(23:13):
Yeah, I can't.
I can't be like all right, 62,I'm done.
I only have, I only have towork till I'm 62.
I only got to work till I'm 62.
I'll get my full pension tohome 62.
I only got to work to home 62.
I'll get my full pension andbut with getting my full pension
there's no early, early SocialSecurity is now higher, so that
means I got to wait to get earlySocial Security and yeah, I, um

(23:40):
, I don't know how long I gottawait to retire.

Wes (23:42):
It's probably like 62 as well, 64.
But I'll tell you one thing Iwould love to have a different,
uh, career change that pays morethan what I'm making now at 50.
Yes, it depends I, I like justsomething that's gonna.
When I say that pays a lot more, I mean a lot more, like if I
can find it at 50 and just kindof be done with the going into

(24:04):
the office type shit, like I gotsome investments or something
that's bothering me.
Why the fuck not?

DeLaw (24:11):
If I can't, if I can't find, if I can't get into the
feds within the next year, thenI'm going to stay with the state
for my next seven and I yearthat I'm gonna stay with the
state my next seven and we'lljust go ahead and get invested
so that what those 10 for thesenext.
So let's say, like within, likethe year, so like today, april
27, 2026, I don't, if I don't,if I can't get back into the

(24:34):
face, let's go early in my statecareer where it won't make a
break whether or not I stay ornot.
It's only two years.
It's not like I got seven yearsunder my belt and I'm like I'm
trying to go to the feds.
No, if I got seven years undermy belt, I'm staying the next
three to get vested.
But if I can find somethingsoon in the feds, then I will.

(24:58):
I'll dip out and I'll do therest of my career in the feds
doing logistics.
I will, I'll dip out and I'lldo the rest of my career in the
feds on logistics or whateverelse I'm going to do.
But if not, then I'll do my 10years.
That means just for the next 7,8 years.
I'll just have to grind and tryto get as much money as I can
so that when it's like up tolike 90 grand right, let's say I

(25:21):
get up to like 90 grand.
Right, let's say I get to like90 grand, 95 grand by the
10-year mark Then that meanswhen I get invested, that's my
pension.
I might not get it until I getto 62, but I can leave and go
get another pension fromsomewhere.
But the only way that works isif I grind it out and get more
money and get up to a certainamount to where okay, cool, I

(25:44):
got that or I got this, and Ican just sit pretty, get my two
pensions, social Security, 401kon up and do the shit that I've
been invested in.
Or maybe I become a millionairedoing sports better, who knows?

Wes (25:57):
That's the best way.

DeLaw (25:58):
If I can get me a cool two mil off of one back.
Now what Get the governmentthey have, you know, pay off the
house, get me my brand new carand shit, man, shit.
I wouldn't need to go nowhere,I'd just be like you know what,
all right, so now I have allthis money left right here.

(26:19):
Right, all right, I, now I haveall this money left right here.
All right, I done paid thishouse off, I done brought
another house and now I'm makingmoney on this house here.
That's paying for my lifestyleelsewhere.

Wes (26:32):
So At the end of the day, as long as you're able to live
comfortable, it's the morepeople we want a bunch of things
, you know.
Possessions and shit.
They be fucking them when itcomes to like finances.
Because if you go, let's justsay, typical life, you could
afford to eat out four times aweek Still get food in the house

(26:53):
.
Vacation, maybe two times ayear.
Yeah, spending money for likeclothes and you know whatever
year.
Yeah, spending money for likeclothes and you know whatever.
Whatever.
Some nice cars and shit, orjust you know some decent cars,
transportation and shit.
I think a lot of people wouldjump at that.
But you know, there's alwayslike I got a stunt, I gotta have
this, I gotta have that, andblah, blah, blah, and it's just

(27:14):
kind of like yeah, you can gothat route too, but I ain't
going that route because onceI'm dead, i'm'm dead.
That stuff, you know.

DeLaw (27:23):
I've never been that.

Wes (27:26):
And then you got a new the summer collection is out.
And then summer 25th, 35thcollection is out, and your
summer 2022 ain't really poppingno more.
Come on now.

DeLaw (27:41):
I ain't a flashy person like the most, the only flashy
thing I got is my bar.
That's about it.
Other than that, I don't reallybuy too much clothes.
My car is about you know.
I mean, if I'm really lookingat what I have, like as far as
like, let's say, I was make justbe making a shit ton of money,

(28:01):
a lot of my money doesn't go toclothes and it doesn't go to
other things.
It goes to like stuff for thehouse and my bar.
Yeah, so it might be like ohman, I can go buy this bottle.
I ain't thinking like, let me gobuy this chain and buy these
rings and go buy this clothesand go buy this car, because I'm
like these things, you, you getthose that day a new model of
it comes out tomorrow.
Yeah, you know what I mean.

(28:23):
Like I can get a.
Let's say I got enough money.
I can get me a 2025 Audi withall the bells and whistles,
anything that you can have in it.
It's in there.
Right, the 2026 might as wellhave something I want.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
So you know, for me, I neverput that much value on getting

(28:46):
cars and clothes and stuff likethat, because they go out of
style, they change the brand,changes, a new thing comes out,
and it's just you always earningmoney on getting those things.
Versus alcohol, unless they saythey change the recipe, that
shit the same.
So I can buy this bottle ofpure white Hennessy and leave it
in the bar and just chill.

(29:07):
You know to me and not thatalcohol is a good investment
it's not.
But it's something that I knowis going to ring a bell.
When you see it, you seeHennessy.
Hennessy been around fordecades, decades.
When you see it, you seeHennessy.
Hennessy's been around fordecades, decades, don Julio,

(29:27):
decades.
Bacardi I don't got no Bacardiin my bar, but Bacardi's been
around for decades.
These brands will be around fora long time and they're not
changing the recipe.
Unless it's bad, they might adda new.
Oh, we now have a Hennessy XXXO.
You know what I'm saying?

(29:48):
It's the smoothest Hennessyyou'll ever taste.
It costs $200.
I might buy that just to put itin the bar.
But guess what?
That's that one-time investmentthat I don't have to make again
.
I don't have to buy anothermodel next year because that is
the model that is for right now.
For the next 10 to 15 years,it's just one of those things.

(30:09):
A lot of it is.
Even if I made that type ofmoney, I wouldn't have no, it
would literally be giving themoney to my wife for her to
spend.
That's the only way I'd be ableto spend all of it, because I
wouldn't be able to.
What a new house All right,cool, I wouldn't spend all of it
.
The latest car of Audi andmaybe the latest Nissan Altima

(30:33):
Okay, that's still between thetwo of those, only really
$170,000, right, yeah, a houseabout $400,000 to $500,000.
So, right there, that's only.
That's not even a million.
I give whatever I don't want tospend.
I give my wife some.
I might give her $50,000.

(30:55):
She might burn it, she mightnot burn it, but then I'm still
left with this money that I gotto do something with, or I
invest it, or might not burn it,but then I'm still left with
this money that I got to dosomething with, or I've invested
, or however.
I want to do it, but it wouldn'tbe on buying clothes and shit
or doing vacations.
Maybe it might be.
I might call one and say, hey,I want 300,000 points.
How much it cost?
Okay, boom here, take this offthe thing.
Whatever, boom, it might besomething like shit that we can

(31:18):
do for free.
All right, you know what I'msaying.
All right, baby, you want to gointo Chicago?
All right, cool, you just gotto pay for the airfare.
All right, cool, what up?
We can pay for that because,you know, depending on when all
this happens, we already paidoff all these houses.
We're saving our money and ifwe agree to let someone stay
here, literally three, literallythree times that they pay us,

(31:38):
we put the money aside for thetaxes.
Put the money aside for thetaxes.
Whoever's maintaining the housefor us, put that money aside.
The rest of that money is inour pocket.
Hey babe, you want to go to StThomas?
The ticket's about $500 a piece.
All right, yeah, let's do thatin September.
All right, let's get thesechecks from these people.

(31:59):
Boom, all right, go on theSeptember.
All right, let's get thesechecks from these people.
Boom, all right, on the trip,we ain't got to pay them.
You reinvent your wealth andkeep adding to it.

Wes (32:06):
All right.

DeLaw (32:08):
In theory.
That's how I look at it.
Now.
We'll eventually do some clearbrush and buy something crazy
maybe, but I couldn't justify itto myself.
I wouldn't be able to justifyit to myself.

Wes (32:21):
I would be able to justify it to myself, All right.
So somebody needs your advice.

DeLaw (32:29):
I don't know if anyone needs my advice because I was
told I have no sort of empathyto anything and I'm hard to talk
to.

Wes (32:38):
Yeah, they don't know what they're talking about.
Somebody needs your advice.
This person is 25 and they justwant a simple job and life.

DeLaw (32:50):
Yeah, pull your pants up and get one.

Wes (32:54):
They say why is it this hard?
It's fucking exhausting.
I am the only one, am I theonly one feeling this way?
Like you're not asking for theworld, you just want a stable
job, a place to belong,something simple.
And yet it feels like you hadto jump through hoops on fire
while solving a rubik's cube,blindfolded, just to get a

(33:17):
chance.
Oh and all and all the do amasters or upskill this or try
this.
Unpaid internship advice justmakes it worse.
Like bro, when do I actuallylive?
The system is just broken in somany ways.
Linkedin feels like a highschool popularity contest.

(33:39):
Email is just digital beggingat this point, and the
four-stage interview circus anentry-level job.
Like, why do I need to do athesis defense to become a
junior or anything?
This whole setup is just notmade for humans.
It's made for robots with 10years experience at the age of

(34:01):
22 who love networking andwaking up at 5 am to meditate
and code.
What advice do you have forthis person?

DeLaw (34:15):
My advice for this person is stop complaining about being
a goddamn adult.
And that's almost 40-year-oldme.
Saying that 25-year-old mewould be like I know what you
mean, but, nigga, stopcomplaining about being a
goddamn adult.
I think the person soundedwhite, but I'm not how you get

(34:44):
there from words.
Well, when he said junior levelsomething, what niggas you know
looking for a junior levelanything?

Wes (34:48):
I was looking for a junior level something.
What junior networkadministrator at one point in
time okay, well, you looking.
Junior level sales who wouldn'tlook for junior level sales
either?

DeLaw (35:01):
that wouldn't look for junior level sales either.
That's what I'm saying.
We're going to assume that thisperson is colorless and we'll
just approach it as in what25-year-old would do At 25 years
old.
If you've already finishedcollege, it's a market hard, I
mean.
You don't know how to reallywrite your resume.
You're competing against peopletrying to get the same position

(35:24):
that already are five yearsolder than you, trying to do the
same shit you do.
The only advice I can give youthat little nigga fucking lie,
lie, lie and lie some more.

Wes (35:35):
No, no, that lying shit will catch up to you well, it
only catches up if you.

DeLaw (35:41):
Well, it only catches up if you don't take the initiative
to learn it some things thatpeople lie about.

Wes (35:47):
They don't have the opportunity to learn it within
the time before they get caught.
That is a dangerous thing to do.
You know what I mean.
I don't want to say.

DeLaw (35:59):
I've ever lied on my resume because we'll just say
that I have embellished, that Iknow how to do something.
But I also say that I know thebare minimum.
I never say that I'm a masterof it.
So like, let's say, the paymentsystem that we have in the

(36:20):
state, I knew the ground levelof it.
I knew how to log in.

Wes (36:25):
Oh God, I had to think I'm like where are you going?
I heard log in.
I'm like, oh, that's it.

DeLaw (36:35):
I know how to hit F1, f2, f3, f4 to get to whatever I
need to find that's it.
I don't know anything else inthat system, but the application
said active knowledge of thefeminist.
That's active knowledge, likein the movie Basic with John

(37:00):
Travolta and Samuel L Jackson.
You only got to.
It's not how you tell thestories.
As long as you tell the storyright, sure, yeah, think about
it In a perfect world for this25 year old applying to be

(37:21):
whatever.
If it says you have to have theminimum requirements of these
things.
Right, and you know a lot ofthings, you have no clue what
they are or you don't know, or,in his case or his or her case,
they don't know how toarticulate that they've done
this but not in the setting thatthey've done, to articulate
that they've done this but notin the setting that they've done
it.
I think that's where a lot ofus fall into that trap of, I

(37:43):
think, my application to getinto the state.
Have you ever purchasedanything on a budget or whatever
for a state agency or a federalgovernment?
No, I haven't, because I wasn'thigh enough to do that in the
state agency or the federalgovernment.
But I have purchased.

(38:05):
I didn't ask whether to have youpurchased or done procurement,
but I have done it in othersettings.
So it's all in how you word it.
You might have only broughtpencils for kids at a tutoring
center.
You are now a procurementexpert because now they gave you
a budget, you brought thefucking pencils.
Now you can say that youpurchased and planned all this

(38:27):
stuff and worked with the budgetyou had and gave back all of
the seats.
You are now a procurementspecialist.

Wes (38:35):
it's all in how you tell the story I, I, I'm afraid to
say I agree with you on that oneI'm afraid to say that because
it sounds yeah, yeah, but that,that, that is what this 25
yearyear-old is missing.

DeLaw (38:55):
He's missing whatever experience he has.
Now, if he has, or he or shehas no experience because you
weren't as fortunate as some ofus to actually have to work at a
younger age.
You have no experience.
Your parents did everything foryou.
You graduate college.

(39:16):
You have no experience.
Hey, man, you should have a lot.
You need to go over toMcDonald's.
You need to start building someskills so you can embellish
what you did for McDonald's andkeep it.
You know what I'm saying and Ifeel like a lot of the kids who
do grow up and don't have towork before college.

(39:36):
They're at a very bigdisadvantage than most of what
they had to work, because we canput our experiences at the age
of 25.
I had already worked atMcDonald's.
I had already worked at acleaner's.
I went back to McDonald's.
I already had taught.
I had already been a teacher.
I had already worked for thefeds twice.

(39:57):
I've had a mountain ofexperience that when you look at
my resume, instead of youthinking it was 25, you might
have thought this person was 35with the experience that I had,
but really I was just 25.
Now did I have the right toolsto write my resume, the right
way to get a good job?
No, but that's something I hadto learn.

(40:18):
And also, we even had chat GPT.

Wes (40:20):
Yeah, that is very true.

DeLaw (40:27):
Very true.
So I mean, it all depends.
I mean, it's just like youtalking about this other day how
a lot of women now they leadoff with their accomplishments
of how they take care ofthemselves and how they got
their own house, their own ownthis, they got their own job,

(40:47):
they do this and this and it'slike oh, whoop-dee-doo, Welcome
to being a fucking adult.
Like, men do it all the timeLike, I get it.
You rent your own apartment,Cool.
Or you got your own house Cool,yeah, you go to work every day.
You make $78,000 a year Allright, great.
You got your own car.
You pay your own bills.

(41:07):
You go on your own trip Allright, cool.
Everybody does it.
It's called being an adult, youknow.
And then let me lead off withthat.
When I was back in Dayton, letme lead off with I got my own
car, my own place.
I got a job that paid me 80K.

(41:28):
I got to.
Also, are you trying to get mewith money?
Yes, God damn.
Really, I'm trying to show youI'm an adult.
Listen, the only thing now.

Wes (41:39):
Really, I'm trying to show you how I'm going to do it.
Listen, the only thing I cansay to this young person is,
like yo, start the thing outsidethe box.
That's the only way.
In my experience, as we weretalking earlier, as far as how
people have been able to furtherthemselves than other people,
they thought outside the box,how, like, for an example, we

(41:59):
were staying at one company fora long time, or whatever have
you, it was like fuck that.
If I need to get the experience, if they own, if this company
is only doing this one thing andit's other companies doing
something different, I need towork at both.
So I need to work at both.
Like, I'm not saying that thatshould be what you should be
doing.
This person is obviously tryingto find a stable job, but you

(42:20):
might have to think outside thebox to get that money first, not
drug dealing, selling your assoff.

DeLaw (42:27):
And stable is a very relative thing, because stable
to me might not be stable tothem Exactly.
To me, stable means I ain'tgetting fired, that's stable to
me.
Ain't getting fired, that'sstable to me.
Well, yeah, that I'm going toget a decent enough paycheck to
live on my own.
Now, to them, stable might bethat they it's a certain dollar

(42:48):
amount, they're going to getincreases.
But that's not stable toeverybody.
Like, think about, think aboutall the people that work at the
state that been there for yearsI mean decades, like they done,
seen different administrationswalk into their departments.
To them that's stable.
And a lot of them are so low onthe totem pole they make about

(43:08):
as much as I do when I just gotto the state.
So to them they're stable.
They can pay any bills, theycan put groceries on the table.
Ain't nobody fucking with them,they just riding the shit out.
To them, that's stable.
So when you say stable, youhave to be very, very specific

(43:29):
about what is stable to you.
He wants a stable job.
Mcdonald's is stable.
They don't fire nobody.
Yeah, they do.
I mean they do.
You gotta fuck up for real.
But even when they fire you,they bring you back if it ain't
that bad true yeah, I'm justsaying listen, think outside the

(43:55):
box, young person.
Yes, think outside the box,young person think outside the
box or put into, since now yougot chat GPT as a 25 year old.
15 years ago I didn't have nochat GPT.
I had to pay somebody to lookat my resume and tell me what
chat GPT could have did.
And then, at that, they mightnot even did a great job.
I still might not got a damnjob, and then you would have

(44:18):
still had to pay that resumewriter.
And then, at that, they mightnot even did a great job.
I still might not got a damnjob, and then you would still
have to pay that resume writer.

Wes (44:26):
Fifty to about five hundred dollars for them to work on
your resume.
Yeah, I remember I was.
I was on my wife one of thembecause she we, she one of her
friends knows not know someone.
But it's real, a friend of afriend is dating this girl,
basically, and she does that andshe gets people like people
have spoken highly about her andshe's got people with numerous
jobs with what she decides toput on her resume out of words

(44:48):
stuff and the rate was $200.
I was telling my wife I waslike yo, I'll pay for that shit
if it means you won't get abetter job doing it in time or
whatever, but means you won'tget a better job doing that at
the time.
But she ended up getting a jobbefore I could spend the $200.

DeLaw (45:02):
Thank goodness.

Wes (45:03):
I was like shit.
When I'm looking, I might haveto holler at an old girl and be
like yo.
It resume.

DeLaw (45:09):
You ain't got to do all that.

Wes (45:11):
I'm not doing the JGVT thing, because everyone's doing
that.

DeLaw (45:15):
Well, so my boy, I remember I told you I was trying
to get to Northland Grumman andso I put my resume up.
Northland Grumman called meright and they asked me to send
my not my Indeed resume, but myofficial resume.

(45:35):
And I was like, okay, well,that's easy enough, so I send it
.
I'm trying to take stuff outand everything else, but if I
had had chat GPT I could havelooked and narrowed down what
they were looking for and hadthem spell it out for me better.
My boy, who just got into NorthCarolina doing warehousing, he
was like he put it in there andit gave him this.

(45:57):
So then he put what they putthere to make it more specific
so that it really captured whathe did, so he didn't have to lie
about it.
So he sent me what he did and Ilooked at I was like that
sounds like exactly what we didwhen we worked at that warehouse
.
I said no, I said that and hesaid yeah.

(46:17):
So I try to make it as specificas possible, like what
everybody's doing with ChatGPTright now.
They're just taking thebroadness versus getting it.
Right, instead of getting itvery specific so that it don't
sound like ChatGPT.
And honestly, I think thatthese employers, they want
ChatGPT so that they can.

(46:39):
Honestly, I kind of think theydo, I kind of think they like
the chat GPT because now theyreading the shit it is why would
you, why wouldn't you use?

Wes (46:55):
it.
I hear you.

DeLaw (46:56):
It don't say on none of those companies resumes or
applications please do not useChatGPD.
From what I can tell everyonethat's used, it is working, nice
, paying jobs.
They say, oh, they frown uponit.
But you got a job, they ain'tfrown upon it about too much.

Wes (47:15):
Yeah, you ain't wrong.

DeLaw (47:18):
Hey look, I forgot who said it.
It ain't fined a pound abouttoo much.
Yeah, you ain't wrong.
Hey look, look Like I forgotwho said it.

Wes (47:23):
It ain't cheating if you don't get caught.
Yo don't say that out loud, itain't.
Don't say that out loud.
If you're listening and youdon't know what context you're
saying it in, people will betexting me like yo.
Man, remember that fuckingepisode.

DeLaw (47:39):
We did it all depends on who sees the YouTube videos or
whatever.
Okay, and then you know they'llput a meme up of your wife
asking you about who this bitchis on your phone.
Thank you.

Wes (47:56):
I'm using this as a clip, I'm just saying that's the only
way I can.

DeLaw (48:04):
I got you, I got you, I'm fucking with you.

Wes (48:06):
If they listen to the whole thing they're going to
understand the concept of whatthe fuck you were saying.

DeLaw (48:12):
That concept goes, unfortunately, I say
unfortunately.
It goes to a lot of things.
It ain't cheating if you don'tget goes, you know.
Unfortunately, I sayunfortunately.
It goes to a lot of things.
You know, yeah, it ain'tcheating, if you know.
If you don't get caught it'snot a crime.
If you don't get caught, itpretty much it ain't nothing if
nobody catches you doing it.

Wes (48:28):
You still, you know, you're still throwing your hands up,
like you just tried to.

DeLaw (48:33):
You know I'm just look, I know a chick.
When I was working for the USStockpile, she wanted to get on
the client side to where, like,she was a contractor for CDC and
she's like I was like.
So, from what I know about you,you worked in retail and at

(48:54):
Costco your whole life.
What made them think you werequalified to really do what
you're doing?
Oh, I lied.

Wes (49:04):
I lied.

DeLaw (49:07):
But no, that's a concept.
You can put anything in If youdon't get caught.
Hey, you know, look, if theycan't catch you, that you did
something wrong.
It's only a crime if you getcaught yeah, it's only a crime.

(49:28):
I mean, think about it.
Look, I know you watched WWEwrestling back in the day, so
remember when Stone Cold won hisfirst Royal Rumble?
Right, stone Cold got thrownover the top rope.
He was eliminated.
The refs didn't see it.
He rolled back in thatmotherfucker.
You know who eliminated himBret Hart.
He rolled back in thatmotherfucker.

(49:50):
He kept fighting.
Eventually, he threw Bret Hartover the top and won the Royal.
Rumble.
I'm just saying I know it'sscripted.

Wes (50:01):
It always results back to wrestling.

DeLaw (50:03):
Always.
I'm just saying it makes sense,don't it?

Wes (50:08):
Perfect sense.

DeLaw (50:10):
He ain't the only one that's been thrown over because
the refs didn't see it.
X-pac did the same thing.
He got thrown over one time.
X-pac got thrown over.
He got thrown over one time.
X-pac got thrown over.
He got thrown over one time andnobody saw it.
He rolled right back in thatmotherfucker.
Yeah Was one of the last fours.
He didn't win, but he rolledback in that gym.

(50:31):
So, I'm just saying, you know,until that 25 year old hey man
saying you know, I tell that25-year-old hey man, look, it's
time to be an adult.

Wes (50:42):
It's time to be an adult.
It's time to be an adult.

DeLaw (50:44):
Hey look, you want a stable job.
I get it.
But you kind of got to take ajob and work your way through it
.
I mean, the job is only asstable as dedicated as you are.
I mean the job is only asstable as dedicated as you are.
I mean, that's what it was.
You could work at a place thatis a big turnover, but if they
like you, they know you'rehardworking, you're dedicated,

(51:07):
they can get rid of you.
They're stable there.
You could practically almost getaway with murder, like when I
did a stockpile once.
They were like you know,d-law's the guy.
I could've dropped a $100,000pallet on the floor and would've
got a slap on the wrist, aslong as it wasn't vaccine.

(51:30):
Yeah, vaccine's a littledifferent.
Somebody's head got to roll forthat.
Shit Might even go to jail.
Sure, nah, as long as I ain'ttaking out the facility, I ain't
got to go to jail.
I couldn't drop a milliondollar pallet.
I couldn't do that.
That's different, because that'sa vaccine that's probably
saving somebody's life.

(51:50):
And then we got to spend thatmoney again.
That might be a write up and ortermination, but for certain
things I'll get that leeway of.
Nah, we can't get rid of him.
Give him the write-up, let himknow don't do this shit again
and keep it rolling.
But let it be something else tosomebody else.

(52:14):
Maybe walk him out the frontdoor.
But a job is only as stable asmuch as they like you is, until
you become obsolete.
And sometimes they just keepyou around because they're like
you know, we like you a lot.
You're older, blah, blah.
This, that, that thing.

Wes (52:30):
I would get kept around because they like me, me neither
.
It just never happened.

DeLaw (52:37):
They tried to Like.
When I got my job at the state,they tried to be like you know
you might want to stay afterthis.
We're making everybodyfull-time here, Really.
Yeah, oh, okay, that soundscool.
I mean hooray hooray yay, I mean, the way I had to look at it

(53:04):
was I was making a certainamount with the stock value and
when I got my first check fromthe stock value I mean my first
check from the state it was lessthan what I was making at the
stock power.
Was it less?
It was not less.

(53:24):
It might have been around thesame amount, maybe a little more
, but it wasn't enough for me tobe like man cool.
You know what I'm saying Inretrospect.
If I had left sooner, soonerI'd have been making 10 grand
more.
But because I left when you'reabout to make everybody full

(53:45):
time, I technically was making10 less yeah so that's just.
You know the reality of it now.
Now I'm making five grand morethan what I was going to be
making at the stockpile, butI'll take that, you know.
Hopefully I can make more and Ican keep advancing.

(54:06):
But we want to keep you onboard because you know we really
like you.
You ain't got no retirementplan here.
We ain't got no contract.
Y'all want to keep me hereuntil it's time to go, and then
I got to go find a job.
I got a wife.

Wes (54:22):
You got shit to do.

DeLaw (54:23):
I got shit to do.
I can't you know.
Mind you, if I stayed, my oldsuper buddy, he found a job
somewhere and he was like yo,he'd have been like, yeah, come
with I left and I'd have gonewith him there and got myself
stable there.

Wes (54:40):
So I you know you can always choose to say no.

DeLaw (54:44):
But it's one of the things where, when I looked at
it, I was like, if I had stayed,if I had stayed, would I still
be better off?
Looking at it now?
Yeah, I would.
I would not better off.
Would I have still been allright?
Yeah, I still would have beenall right.
But would I want to take thatgamble?

Wes (55:04):
No.

DeLaw (55:05):
No, I wouldn't want to take that gamble, because who's
to say that you know the stockhas been closed for since last
year, since last year January?
Who would have said I wouldhave found a job by then?
Who would have said I wouldn'tbe working at McDonald's trying
to make a little?
Gone to a tutoring companytrying to tutor, like who would

(55:28):
just say that I would have foundsome?
So you know, I yeah, I took thefirst thing smoking, and this
25 year old might have to do thesame thing.
But once you take the firstthing smoking, you now become
marketable because it's likehaving a girlfriend.
Other people start saying, okay, well, he's hired by this
person.

(55:49):
I wonder what made?
Okay, let's bring him in seewhat's going on.
You know what I'm saying.
You know what I'm saying.
It's like that, like if youdon't have a job or you don't
have a girlfriend, you're notappealing to nobody.
It's once you get those thingsthat you become appealing to
what you're trying to get.
You're trying to get a betterpaying job.
You've got to have a job.
You want to meet this girl.

(56:09):
You want to meet other girls.
Oddly enough, you've got tohave a girl.
You won't get it out of her,because a lot of times we don.
You gotta have a girlfriend,you can get well-behaved out
there, because a lot of timeswe've got a girlfriend and some
chicks that you ain't know.
Oh, that's your girl.
Oh she cute.
I didn't know you had it likethat.
I don't want to know whatyou're working with.

Wes (56:29):
Now they carry that.
They're missing out.
But you was already missing outwhen you ain't give me that
chance.
Now I'm going to have to digdown your friend just off the
terms of the game.
Not even you, a friend.
I need you to hear about iteven more.
I need you to do what Megan didto Kelsey and fuck with Tory

(56:50):
Lanez, even though my homegirls.
I'm not even going to say yousaid that because that's what
happened.
That's what happened.
I didn not even going to say,because that's what happened
that's what happened don't killme.
I already know how to edit this.
It's all jokes.

DeLaw (57:10):
Tori doing this like a G.
He doing it like a G andhonestly I think he's innocent.
But that's neither here orthere we thank everybody for
tuning in.

Wes (57:26):
D-law definitely wants to smoke by saying that we don't
know what's what, and you knowhow sensitive people are to that
, so we're going to end the podright here.
We thank everybody for tuningin and see you guys next time.
Pod right here.
Thank her for tuning in.
See you guys next time.