September 23, 2025 • 29 mins
Julie and Jake discuss career experiences, touching on the transient nature of modern employment, including a detailed account of Julie's tenure at Cheesecake Factory. The hosts delve into the peculiarities of wearing and disposing of company-branded apparel, considering how they'd use or donate corporate swag.
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(00:03):
Welcome to garage sales Unhinged.
Where the characters are as quirky as the vines.
I'm Julie. And I'm Jake.
Join us as we dive into the wildworld of garage sales, yard
sales, estate sales, and anywhere secondhand sales are
happening from. Bizarre bargains to hilarious
haggles. You won't believe the stories
we've got lined up. Let's get unhinged.
(00:24):
How many companies have you worked for over your life?
Do you want an exact number or roundabout number?
Immediately exact number right now.
Not including the ones I own. Moving on.
I need to know how specific you want to get.
(00:45):
I'm going to guess I've probablyworked for 12 companies. 12
companies So what's the matter? Like you keep kept getting
caught stealing notepads. No, I think I really, you know,
when I was younger it was I'd work for somebody for a summer
or, you know, a semester or something like that and then had
(01:06):
to move on to something else. So and then early in my career,
you know, you, you want to get in the experience and then you
want to move on to the next thing so that you get more
responsibilities and bigger salary, all that stuff.
So. That's how it works, so yeah.
(01:27):
Yeah, I want to say like the first, let's see, after college,
probably the the five jobs I hadafter college, I probably stayed
with them for about two years each and then moved on.
And then my last corporate gig Iwas at for over 10 years.
(01:47):
Wow. I remember for a little while, I
think it was like one of your summer gigs.
You worked at Cheesecake Factory.
Yeah, I've I remember you sharing like the absolute unit
of a notebook of menu things youhave to memorize.
So it's so funny whenever I tellpeople, I used to work at The
Cheesecake Factory and we had a legit two week, maybe it was a
(02:11):
week of onboarding, I don't know.
But it was a long time of onboarding.
The other restaurants I worked at, you had like a shift to
figure it out. Right.
At The Cheesecake Factory, they sat us down and explained like I
not only did I have the menu like like the menu that all the
like regular people see, I also had like the internal employee
menu that had all the recipes. Oh, so you could say like this
(02:36):
has shellfish in it, watch out kind of deal.
Yeah, We were also trained on like, which herbal teas could
help certain ailments. So I did have one night there
was a lady that came in, she waspregnant, was having a headache.
And I like, oh, would you like to try this tea can actually
help with a headache. And she was like, yeah, sure.
That was a $3 up charge that just, again, it goes to my tip
(02:59):
and all that stuff. And the guy that was waiting
with me, he was like, I didn't know it could do that.
I was like, that's what I said in the training.
I got to go Cheesecake Factory and Doula Depot.
That's amazing. Yeah.
So I think I think your experience is true for a lot of
people. Can I?
(03:19):
Can I tell one more Cheesecake Factory story?
Yeah, let's have it. So OK, there was one night I
came in and it was going to be me and another server and we
were going to just wait on one table all night.
There's just going to be the twoof us because we had a table
coming in of like 20 people. And so it was going to be her
(03:40):
and I teaming up together to wait on this table.
And I made like $1000 that night.
If I ever felt close to getting stripper money, that was going
to be this night. And I never had to take my
clothes off and the group that came in.
I never had to. I did, but I didn't have to.
(04:01):
They gave me money to put them back on the group that came in.
One of the ladies in the group had just competed and won a
bodybuilding competition. So half of the table had been
starving themselves for weeks toget cut and everything for this
competition. And then they come to The
(04:22):
Cheesecake Factory and order everything.
And because there was 20 people,we had to automatically put the
Truity on the the tap. So yeah, it was.
And then a couple of the guys got into like, a fistfight.
So then the people felt really bad.
Our tip was so great. Wait.
They got wait, a couple of the bodybuilding people got into a
(04:43):
fistfight. Yeah, and.
Because again, whenever they've been cutting down, they also
haven't been drinking alcohol. Well, they ordered a bunch of
alcohol and these guys got stupid.
So yeah, I walked away with $1000 at night and that means I
split the tip with the other server and we and we tipped out
our bartender and the busboy. So like and I still walked away
(05:08):
with $1000. And back then, whenever I had no
money, I felt like was on cloud 9.
So yeah, for sure, like they $1000 for one night of work is
good no matter what. That's great.
The downside of the place where I worked is that the employee
bathroom was upstairs near the office.
And so like if I was in the middle of a very busy shift, I
(05:29):
was supposed to go upstairs to use like the employee bathroom.
I'm like, I'm not running up anddown stairs.
And I was like, I just go to thepublic bathroom and whatever,
like and still wash my hands. I mean, they still have the sign
in there that you must so. Yeah, right.
Anyway. That's an invitation in my blog.
(05:51):
No, I think a lot of people kindof have your experience and and
more people have a younger cohort.
That's the thing, right. It used to be that you'd work in
a place for your career. You know, you start off in the
mailroom and through pluck and bootstrapping miss you climb up
to, you know, regional executiveassistant to the director of
(06:18):
whatever, right. So that used to be the case, and
now, no, it's like, yeah, you'rein a place where you're, you
know, a handful of years maybe. Yeah, when you're wrong.
I also think especially with a new generation coming into the
workforce, they could give two poops a rat about titles.
(06:42):
They really want to live a life.They don't want to work.
So, and I don't say that in a negative since, is that they
have discovered that there's a bunch of ways to make money that
don't require someone to climb acorporate ladder that is
archaic. Yeah, though honestly, it's one
(07:03):
of those things I feel like whatit's one of the things that we
kind of missed or intentionally just kind of ignore the
opportunity to turn the page around.
COVID is like really kind of think about how people like
their relationship with work haschanged or could change or like
was in the process of changing and like, you know, enough,
(07:28):
enough senior executives like no, the toothpaste goes back in
the tube, you know. Yeah.
But no, it's, it's true. It's like, so that kind of
dovetails with what I was wanting to talk about.
Like for the companies you've worked for, some of them like,
OK, like there was you're, you're including the various
(07:50):
kind of one off kind of thing. Like oh I I worked at Cheesecake
Factory and served cheesecake tothese meatheads and watch them
punch each other in the face. And for anyone that loves The
Cheesecake Factory carrot cake, one slice of that is 1400
calories. Whoa, cool.
Yeah, so gross. OK, OK.
(08:12):
Well, no, we got you here. Well, we've got you here if you
like. Are there any healthy items on
that menu? Sure, Yeah, you can take, you
can eat a salad, you can have the soup go light on the
dressing for the salad. There's there's lots of healthy
(08:32):
options. I mean is there a healthy
cheesecake, not one that tasted?Right.
OK. Yeah, that's true.
Categorically no. But I'm like, if you're
honestly, if you are, if you're going out on a for dinner with
friends with on a date and you're like, you know, I'm
really health conscious. Don't go to the cheesecake.
(08:54):
There, Yeah, if you like this person, but you don't want to go
back to their place after, go toCheesecake Factory.
You won't want to anyway. It keeps the bubble guts from
moving the relationship forward.Right.
So in the course of what you did, like Cheesecake Factory,
(09:17):
surely you wore some sort of like some clothing that was
like, I work here, some kind of Cheesecake Factory polo or
something, right? No, you just like, yeah, trust
me, I'll. I'll take your order.
No, I'm trying to, I think our uniform at the time, Here's the
(09:38):
thing, because I also worked at another restaurant and I'm, I
think I'm getting it mixed up. The other restaurant.
I don't think I am. I think the uniform at the time
was black pants, white button upin a tie.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
And then my my Cheesecake Factory apron, but I don't think
it had the emblem on it. When you when that when that
your term there ended, you had to give back the apron, right?
(10:02):
Yeah. But the clothes you kept.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess you donated those,
right I. Probably threw them away there.
Probably had free stains on them.
Yeah, probably, yeah. Are you planning a garage sale,
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So yeah, I, I think the clothes we wear as part of our jobs are
(10:46):
an interesting thing when it comes to the second hand
conversation. You mentioned having to wear
certain stuff that you probably know.
You go to the store and buy the the pants and the shirt and the
tie. They give you the apron.
I remember there was one day I met Rich for lunch at, I don't
(11:08):
know, some some some mom and poptype restaurant.
Hold on. For our listeners, Rich is our
oldest brother. Yeah, it's fine.
And people are really going to write in going.
I demand to know. I'm just trying to put into
context. Sir, Sir, who's this third
character? I I can't keep up with this.
(11:30):
I think Jake, you got to make sure the plot is all there.
Jeez. So and I I met him there during
my lunch break and I was wearinga button up shirt for work and
because I was in a button up shirt on the way out from lunch.
We finish our stuff, we're walking out and a nice older
(11:51):
lady is coming into the restaurant.
She sees a guy in a button up shirt and she tells me how many
they would like to have a table for.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can I tell the story of the time
that you and I went to Target? Yeah, please do, because I don't
know it. So you and I went to Target.
(12:11):
This is probably early 2000s andyou wore the wrong outfit.
Oh, did I wear a red? Polo and a red polo shirt.
And I don't know what we were looking for, but this young
woman comes over to you in the music section whenever you would
have a music section at Target. And she wanted to know if you
(12:36):
had the new Selena CD also pour one out for Selena.
But you looked at her and just go, I don't work here.
And she just stood there lookingat you and you're like, and you
finally just no, we don't have it.
She's like, OK, I'm like, walkedaway.
He's like God wait. I don't remember that.
(13:01):
It it wasn't like you were even impersonating an employee.
You were told her like, no, I don't work there.
She's like. A bad fashion Joy.
Yeah. Which, honestly, I guess you
could still do today. That'd be fun.
Not hard to impersonate some employees.
I mean, watch the news. You say it's fun and I just
picture like, strangers walking up to me asking questions like
(13:25):
my own version of hell. Like no, don't come up to me.
Look, then you can get the. It's the easiest thing in the
world to give them answers because you can just add your
will. You know, it's like, yes, we
have the Selena CD. No, you can't have it.
Yeah, no, I don't. I just, I don't want to talk to
(13:45):
people. I know that you and I have a
podcast, but I don't want to talk to.
People. Well, yeah, but no, I don't
know. The the the nice little lady
asked me for a table for four and I was like, yes ma'am, it's
right over there and left. Roger got set in his section.
He's wondering what happened. No one told him.
(14:07):
So like in other jobs of yours, did you ever get Andy kind of
like company swag? So much so.
Oh yeah. Oh, I mean, I've had to design
company swag. I've had to order also because I
own my own companies. Today I still get company swag
on clothing. Well, your own companies, yeah.
(14:30):
Why? You're the only one that wears
it. No, I'm not.
So I do have some nice pieces ofclothing that I wear for client
meetings, stuff like that's business, business casual type
things that has my logo on it. You know, aprons.
I, I wear that stuff to conferences and whatnot, but I
(14:53):
also make funny T-shirts based off of whatever I teach people
things about. And I do it as a lead generating
thing. So people fill out the form and
then I send them a free T-shirt after the fact.
And so I have a lot of people walking around with my company
Swag, no? Ma'am, Well, kudos to you.
(15:15):
I guess we're figuring that partof, you know, everything out.
But I think, I think the thing Iwas wondering about is look the
company swag you get say you work for Footlocker.
Yep. Truly, those guys have to give
back the striped shirts when they, you know, if they quit, if
they're fired or something like that, they've got to get back
(15:35):
the striped shirt. No, a lot of companies just
count the company swag towards the cost of doing business.
OK, so if I I've worked at Footlocker and like, hey man,
this has been really cool. I'm going to, you know, go this
other direction. OK?
Yeah, thanks. Bye.
And now I'm at home and I've gota Footlocker striped polo in my
(15:57):
closet. Yep.
Wow. Now the aprons like the table
waiting aprons that servers wear, there's no reason.
So the reason why an employee would keep a polo AT shirt, some
type of wearable swag is hygienereasons like if you give it back
(16:20):
they would have to wash it. It's not going to be as vibrant
as it what it once was. The aprons, they wash it and
they just give it to the next person because it's not touching
their skin. It's over their pants, OK?
OK. And I guess that answer makes
sense because if you go through a Goodwill, when you're going
through the clothes, maybe you've come across a few branded
(16:42):
pieces of apparel. They probably came across my own
stuff because I've donated my own stuff.
Right. So you're going through there
and you're like, hey, if I if I want to go and pretend to work
at Chili's, I guess I could. Yes, great Halloween cost.
And I will say the Goodwill nearme has it almost looks like a
(17:02):
spirit Halloween sign up on their building and it's the
Halloween like one stop shop, whatever the the signage says,
but it almost looks like a spirit Halloween sign.
Very cool. So they're trying to bring in
people to buy their costumes at Goodwill.
That's smart, but no, it was a question as to whether do we
(17:23):
feel like it's OK to sell corporate swag or sell or donate
it. Well, OK, so I'm going to ask
the reverse of that. Do you feel OK throwing the swag
away? Absolutely.
(17:43):
So here's my thing is it's stilla usable shirt and I don't want
it to go to a landfilled. I'd rather sell it or so
whenever I say throw it away is it's going to a landfill.
The other part of like, I'd rather donate it and somebody is
going to be able to use it whether it's a rag or it's a
painting smock for their kids orwhatever that is.
(18:07):
But I don't want it to go to a landfill if it's not actually
torn up enough to go to a landfill.
I will tell you, like, there's more than a few T-shirts I've
gotten from previous employers that have been used to kind of
wipe up a grill. Oh, yeah.
Or like, absolutely. Kind of I go to whatever
convention that we have to go toand we get the shirt and thank
(18:30):
you. And immediately on the way away
from the convention, drop it offat Goodwill.
I'm laughing to myself now because I'm like, what if
somebody did, have you seen the T-shirt quilts?
Like somebody may take all the T-shirts that they've collected
at concerts over their life and they create a really cool quilt
out of it. But what if you did that with
all the swag you got from formeremployers?
(18:52):
And that's kind of like your resume now.
So whenever companies like can you send us your resume be like,
OK, it's about 30 lbs to ship it, so where do you want me to
send it to? Yeah, I think you'll agree that
I'm very qualified and you're very comfortable and this, this
gap that's for your Wiener. Too soon, I don't know how.
(19:16):
To respond to that, yes I can. Oh no, no.
So. We're like, that's the other
question. Do you feel like it's OK to buy
corporate swag? Yeah, I mean to say like, you
need a shirt, you need a shirt. And if it's a it's a quarter,
it's a quarter. But I and I understand companies
(19:41):
update their branding, you know,time to time.
But odds are like you could go into a Goodwill, find that
Chili's Polo, and either the branding is the same as it is
right now, or it's not that different and you damn well look
like a Chili's employee. You can catfish so many people.
(20:03):
That's right. You really ring reel a man like,
hey look, I got the connect on those fried nachos, you know
That's right. Fried nachos?
That does sound like a Chili's dish it.
Probably is. I made it up, but it's probably
true. Not that chow.
There's a sorry, there is a, a local sports bar that we go to
(20:24):
and they do have Irish nachos and those are instead of I'm
trying. To figure out what what would
make it? What would constitute an Irish
notch at? Well, instead of the tortilla
chip, it is waffle fries. Wow, that sounds pretty damn
good. Yeah, man, when you're drinking
(20:44):
and there's sports going on and it is delicious.
We're not. So OK, then here's the question.
What do you feel might might be the best or worst brand apparel
to buy or donate? I mean Hooters outfit because I
(21:14):
feel like that it's tailored to one specific body type.
That's true. That's good.
I like that there was a lot of companies out there and I was
more thinking in terms of brand reputation, but I think your
answer is probably a lot more practical, yeah.
Well, I was also going brand reputation and I'm like, well,
you know, anything like faith-based and like, you know,
(21:38):
promoting your church or synagogue or something like who
do you know is going to wear it?And like, what are they going to
do? Like, are they going to show up
on the news wearing your church,your synagogue, your temples
thing? And I'm like, oh, now they're
associated with. That's right.
Oh no, now we have all the bodies in the freezer.
(22:00):
I will say I I have donated a lot of my previous company swag
to charities and I don't feel bad about it because I had to
change the company logo before Ileft.
So the things that I donated is the old logo and it doesn't have
the new logo stuff on it. I mean that that makes a lot of
(22:25):
sense. That's kind of practical.
But can I, can I ask you to dig a little deeper into like a part
of your comment you just made? Is it like you donated company
swag in the past and you don't feel bad about it?
Is the assumption that people ought to feel bad about it?
No, that makes me judging Jake up and I don't care what other
(22:47):
people do. Yeah, right.
Hey, look man, you want to wear that Hooters uniform even though
you're a plumber, you know? I mean part of it, because
here's The thing is, I'm not donating the brand, I'm donating
the clothing item. Right.
Now, as a marketing professionalwho is in charge of protecting
(23:13):
the company brand, I may hold onto things longer than I need to
because I want the company logo to change.
And that way if I donate something, it's not going to
reflect negatively on the company.
But in the big scheme of things,like if you think about
statistically of the people thatare going to commit horrible
crimes, they're probably not wearing your McDonald's T-shirt
(23:38):
or they're not wearing your company softball.
Like, they're probably just wearing a black shirt or like,
clothing that is non discriminate, like, And also if
they are wearing like a chicken onesie, they are not doing crime
correctly. You don't want to escape.
Yeah. Like Oh no, like the bean and
(24:00):
cheese Ripper that's responsiblefor 13 murders, but he was just
living Moss. Yoki Arrow less than 10 years.
That's all I want in prison. Less than. 10 No, I was trying
to figure out like what might belike if you were going through
the racks at, at Goodwill or something like that.
(24:22):
And I, I've got it like, whoa, like, I guess if I wanted to
impersonate an employee of this gas station chain, I could.
Yeah. Just a lot of really, a lot of
really questionable things kind of come to mind.
But what might be the worst brand?
Like what are some of the worst brands you could come across?
(24:46):
And I'm trying to figure that out because like a yeah, sure.
I mean, it's not to say there's potential for like mishaps if
anybody bought a, an official enough looking employee shirt
like so in that way, the brand doesn't matter.
But take that off the tape. Well, like like if there was
(25:07):
subway swag with their spokesperson, Jared, probably
Jacob almost spit out of. Strangers.
Yeah. He almost got a spit take out of
that one. Yeah, jeez.
Yeah, like, and I don't really want to wear that that, you
know, I think anything from Infowars can go straight in the
trash pile. Yeah, well, until the Onion buys
(25:31):
it. And God willing, they'll be able
to. Yeah, I'm trying to think of
like all the really horrible company brand or company or
brands that are no longer in business because of salacious
reasons. Like, I would honestly love to
have a Blockbuster Polo and I would block that thing out with
(25:52):
pride, but like. I, I really did think it's like,
what if I had a Lehman Brothers T-shirt?
I think it, I honestly, I think if you did start plastering
Enron on stuff, people would actually buy it because you're
you're it's, it's satire, but. Jacob, what if we created
(26:14):
company swag of these defunct companies today, but make it
like Enron spring Break 1988, like make up these like made-up
company events where it's like, Oh yeah, they were clearly
laundering money back in these days.
Yeah, like you know, Lehman Brothers 1992 annual Human
(26:37):
Sacrifice Roundup. Yeah.
Yeah, that'd. Be great.
I think like, you know, the Bernie Sanders, like, could I,
could you make a shirt that looklike almost like Tupac, but it
was the Bernie Sanders and like he's not dead.
It was all made-up. Yeah, but no, it's, I don't know
(26:59):
it, it, I'm sure if, if anybody listening like you do, do the
whole second hand thing. I'm sure you've come across a
few, a few of these items before.
But you know, it's, it's funny. I think there's like 2 schools
of thought. Some people feel like, oh, how
dare you. How, how could you?
Your company gave you that T-shirt at the conference they
(27:22):
forced you to work at. Well, I, I also think it's one
of those things as marketing professionals thinking about,
hey, the reality is that probably 80% of the stuff that
you give away is going to end upin a charity box and a landfill,
something like that. And that's really where like, I
don't, I work with a vendor thatthey will do the exact amount
(27:46):
that I need. So, and then they also ship
everything for me. So I don't have massive amounts
of T-shirts sitting in my house waiting to be waiting to go out.
But it's also on those things ofwhenever I think about company
swag, what items? And I purchase high dollar value
items because people will keep them and less chance of those
(28:07):
being donated somewhere else down.
The road, right? Well, it's just kind of a
interesting thing. I, it is always tempting.
You go through those racks and you're like, what would it be
like to work at IHOP? Like could I?
Oh my gosh. Do I see myself in a Golden
Corral? I think I do.
(28:30):
Girlfriend, you know, if I couldget a Waffle House shirt, I
would walk in there acting like I'm hey, I'm the inspector and
I'm like from Region 7. I got to get back there.
Like, come on, Waffle House shirt.
Yes, ma'am. If you wake up knowing you're in
a bad mood, just that's when yougrab that that Waffle House
shirt and you just embrace it, lean into it.
(28:55):
Yeah, yeah, it'd be great. I kind of want to go get a job
at Waffle House just so I could get the attire and then quit
right after they give it to me. Ryan just like, you know, go and
bash in a few skulls, you know? Yeah.
I mean, number one rule about Waffle House is that we don't
talk about Waffle House. That's right, but.
(29:15):
I like. I like the subject.
Yeah, that's what that's what came to mind.
Everybody go buy an Enron T-shirt.
It's timely. The kids are like what's Enron?
Ask your parents. Good episode Jake, appreciate
it. See you later 5.
Welcome to garage sales Unhinged.
Where the characters are as quirky as the vines.
I'm Julie. And I'm Jake.
Join us as we dive into the wildworld of garage sales, yard
sales, estate sales, and anywhere secondhand sales are
happening from. Bizarre bargains to hilarious
haggles. You won't believe the stories
we've got lined up. Let's get unhinged.
(00:24):
How many companies have you worked for over your life?
Do you want an exact number or roundabout number?
Immediately exact number right now.
Not including the ones I own. Moving on.
I need to know how specific you want to get.
(00:45):
I'm going to guess I've probablyworked for 12 companies. 12
companies So what's the matter? Like you keep kept getting
caught stealing notepads. No, I think I really, you know,
when I was younger it was I'd work for somebody for a summer
or, you know, a semester or something like that and then had
(01:06):
to move on to something else. So and then early in my career,
you know, you, you want to get in the experience and then you
want to move on to the next thing so that you get more
responsibilities and bigger salary, all that stuff.
So. That's how it works, so yeah.
(01:27):
Yeah, I want to say like the first, let's see, after college,
probably the the five jobs I hadafter college, I probably stayed
with them for about two years each and then moved on.
And then my last corporate gig Iwas at for over 10 years.
(01:47):
Wow. I remember for a little while, I
think it was like one of your summer gigs.
You worked at Cheesecake Factory.
Yeah, I've I remember you sharing like the absolute unit
of a notebook of menu things youhave to memorize.
So it's so funny whenever I tellpeople, I used to work at The
Cheesecake Factory and we had a legit two week, maybe it was a
(02:11):
week of onboarding, I don't know.
But it was a long time of onboarding.
The other restaurants I worked at, you had like a shift to
figure it out. Right.
At The Cheesecake Factory, they sat us down and explained like I
not only did I have the menu like like the menu that all the
like regular people see, I also had like the internal employee
menu that had all the recipes. Oh, so you could say like this
(02:36):
has shellfish in it, watch out kind of deal.
Yeah, We were also trained on like, which herbal teas could
help certain ailments. So I did have one night there
was a lady that came in, she waspregnant, was having a headache.
And I like, oh, would you like to try this tea can actually
help with a headache. And she was like, yeah, sure.
That was a $3 up charge that just, again, it goes to my tip
(02:59):
and all that stuff. And the guy that was waiting
with me, he was like, I didn't know it could do that.
I was like, that's what I said in the training.
I got to go Cheesecake Factory and Doula Depot.
That's amazing. Yeah.
So I think I think your experience is true for a lot of
people. Can I?
(03:19):
Can I tell one more Cheesecake Factory story?
Yeah, let's have it. So OK, there was one night I
came in and it was going to be me and another server and we
were going to just wait on one table all night.
There's just going to be the twoof us because we had a table
coming in of like 20 people. And so it was going to be her
(03:40):
and I teaming up together to wait on this table.
And I made like $1000 that night.
If I ever felt close to getting stripper money, that was going
to be this night. And I never had to take my
clothes off and the group that came in.
I never had to. I did, but I didn't have to.
(04:01):
They gave me money to put them back on the group that came in.
One of the ladies in the group had just competed and won a
bodybuilding competition. So half of the table had been
starving themselves for weeks toget cut and everything for this
competition. And then they come to The
(04:22):
Cheesecake Factory and order everything.
And because there was 20 people,we had to automatically put the
Truity on the the tap. So yeah, it was.
And then a couple of the guys got into like, a fistfight.
So then the people felt really bad.
Our tip was so great. Wait.
They got wait, a couple of the bodybuilding people got into a
(04:43):
fistfight. Yeah, and.
Because again, whenever they've been cutting down, they also
haven't been drinking alcohol. Well, they ordered a bunch of
alcohol and these guys got stupid.
So yeah, I walked away with $1000 at night and that means I
split the tip with the other server and we and we tipped out
our bartender and the busboy. So like and I still walked away
(05:08):
with $1000. And back then, whenever I had no
money, I felt like was on cloud 9.
So yeah, for sure, like they $1000 for one night of work is
good no matter what. That's great.
The downside of the place where I worked is that the employee
bathroom was upstairs near the office.
And so like if I was in the middle of a very busy shift, I
(05:29):
was supposed to go upstairs to use like the employee bathroom.
I'm like, I'm not running up anddown stairs.
And I was like, I just go to thepublic bathroom and whatever,
like and still wash my hands. I mean, they still have the sign
in there that you must so. Yeah, right.
Anyway. That's an invitation in my blog.
(05:51):
No, I think a lot of people kindof have your experience and and
more people have a younger cohort.
That's the thing, right. It used to be that you'd work in
a place for your career. You know, you start off in the
mailroom and through pluck and bootstrapping miss you climb up
to, you know, regional executiveassistant to the director of
(06:18):
whatever, right. So that used to be the case, and
now, no, it's like, yeah, you'rein a place where you're, you
know, a handful of years maybe. Yeah, when you're wrong.
I also think especially with a new generation coming into the
workforce, they could give two poops a rat about titles.
(06:42):
They really want to live a life.They don't want to work.
So, and I don't say that in a negative since, is that they
have discovered that there's a bunch of ways to make money that
don't require someone to climb acorporate ladder that is
archaic. Yeah, though honestly, it's one
(07:03):
of those things I feel like whatit's one of the things that we
kind of missed or intentionally just kind of ignore the
opportunity to turn the page around.
COVID is like really kind of think about how people like
their relationship with work haschanged or could change or like
was in the process of changing and like, you know, enough,
(07:28):
enough senior executives like no, the toothpaste goes back in
the tube, you know. Yeah.
But no, it's, it's true. It's like, so that kind of
dovetails with what I was wanting to talk about.
Like for the companies you've worked for, some of them like,
OK, like there was you're, you're including the various
(07:50):
kind of one off kind of thing. Like oh I I worked at Cheesecake
Factory and served cheesecake tothese meatheads and watch them
punch each other in the face. And for anyone that loves The
Cheesecake Factory carrot cake, one slice of that is 1400
calories. Whoa, cool.
Yeah, so gross. OK, OK.
(08:12):
Well, no, we got you here. Well, we've got you here if you
like. Are there any healthy items on
that menu? Sure, Yeah, you can take, you
can eat a salad, you can have the soup go light on the
dressing for the salad. There's there's lots of healthy
(08:32):
options. I mean is there a healthy
cheesecake, not one that tasted?Right.
OK. Yeah, that's true.
Categorically no. But I'm like, if you're
honestly, if you are, if you're going out on a for dinner with
friends with on a date and you're like, you know, I'm
really health conscious. Don't go to the cheesecake.
(08:54):
There, Yeah, if you like this person, but you don't want to go
back to their place after, go toCheesecake Factory.
You won't want to anyway. It keeps the bubble guts from
moving the relationship forward.Right.
So in the course of what you did, like Cheesecake Factory,
(09:17):
surely you wore some sort of like some clothing that was
like, I work here, some kind of Cheesecake Factory polo or
something, right? No, you just like, yeah, trust
me, I'll. I'll take your order.
No, I'm trying to, I think our uniform at the time, Here's the
(09:38):
thing, because I also worked at another restaurant and I'm, I
think I'm getting it mixed up. The other restaurant.
I don't think I am. I think the uniform at the time
was black pants, white button upin a tie.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
And then my my Cheesecake Factory apron, but I don't think
it had the emblem on it. When you when that when that
your term there ended, you had to give back the apron, right?
(10:02):
Yeah. But the clothes you kept.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess you donated those,
right I. Probably threw them away there.
Probably had free stains on them.
Yeah, probably, yeah. Are you planning a garage sale,
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So yeah, I, I think the clothes we wear as part of our jobs are
(10:46):
an interesting thing when it comes to the second hand
conversation. You mentioned having to wear
certain stuff that you probably know.
You go to the store and buy the the pants and the shirt and the
tie. They give you the apron.
I remember there was one day I met Rich for lunch at, I don't
(11:08):
know, some some some mom and poptype restaurant.
Hold on. For our listeners, Rich is our
oldest brother. Yeah, it's fine.
And people are really going to write in going.
I demand to know. I'm just trying to put into
context. Sir, Sir, who's this third
character? I I can't keep up with this.
(11:30):
I think Jake, you got to make sure the plot is all there.
Jeez. So and I I met him there during
my lunch break and I was wearinga button up shirt for work and
because I was in a button up shirt on the way out from lunch.
We finish our stuff, we're walking out and a nice older
(11:51):
lady is coming into the restaurant.
She sees a guy in a button up shirt and she tells me how many
they would like to have a table for.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can I tell the story of the time
that you and I went to Target? Yeah, please do, because I don't
know it. So you and I went to Target.
(12:11):
This is probably early 2000s andyou wore the wrong outfit.
Oh, did I wear a red? Polo and a red polo shirt.
And I don't know what we were looking for, but this young
woman comes over to you in the music section whenever you would
have a music section at Target. And she wanted to know if you
(12:36):
had the new Selena CD also pour one out for Selena.
But you looked at her and just go, I don't work here.
And she just stood there lookingat you and you're like, and you
finally just no, we don't have it.
She's like, OK, I'm like, walkedaway.
He's like God wait. I don't remember that.
(13:01):
It it wasn't like you were even impersonating an employee.
You were told her like, no, I don't work there.
She's like. A bad fashion Joy.
Yeah. Which, honestly, I guess you
could still do today. That'd be fun.
Not hard to impersonate some employees.
I mean, watch the news. You say it's fun and I just
picture like, strangers walking up to me asking questions like
(13:25):
my own version of hell. Like no, don't come up to me.
Look, then you can get the. It's the easiest thing in the
world to give them answers because you can just add your
will. You know, it's like, yes, we
have the Selena CD. No, you can't have it.
Yeah, no, I don't. I just, I don't want to talk to
(13:45):
people. I know that you and I have a
podcast, but I don't want to talk to.
People. Well, yeah, but no, I don't
know. The the the nice little lady
asked me for a table for four and I was like, yes ma'am, it's
right over there and left. Roger got set in his section.
He's wondering what happened. No one told him.
(14:07):
So like in other jobs of yours, did you ever get Andy kind of
like company swag? So much so.
Oh yeah. Oh, I mean, I've had to design
company swag. I've had to order also because I
own my own companies. Today I still get company swag
on clothing. Well, your own companies, yeah.
(14:30):
Why? You're the only one that wears
it. No, I'm not.
So I do have some nice pieces ofclothing that I wear for client
meetings, stuff like that's business, business casual type
things that has my logo on it. You know, aprons.
I, I wear that stuff to conferences and whatnot, but I
(14:53):
also make funny T-shirts based off of whatever I teach people
things about. And I do it as a lead generating
thing. So people fill out the form and
then I send them a free T-shirt after the fact.
And so I have a lot of people walking around with my company
Swag, no? Ma'am, Well, kudos to you.
(15:15):
I guess we're figuring that partof, you know, everything out.
But I think, I think the thing Iwas wondering about is look the
company swag you get say you work for Footlocker.
Yep. Truly, those guys have to give
back the striped shirts when they, you know, if they quit, if
they're fired or something like that, they've got to get back
(15:35):
the striped shirt. No, a lot of companies just
count the company swag towards the cost of doing business.
OK, so if I I've worked at Footlocker and like, hey man,
this has been really cool. I'm going to, you know, go this
other direction. OK?
Yeah, thanks. Bye.
And now I'm at home and I've gota Footlocker striped polo in my
(15:57):
closet. Yep.
Wow. Now the aprons like the table
waiting aprons that servers wear, there's no reason.
So the reason why an employee would keep a polo AT shirt, some
type of wearable swag is hygienereasons like if you give it back
(16:20):
they would have to wash it. It's not going to be as vibrant
as it what it once was. The aprons, they wash it and
they just give it to the next person because it's not touching
their skin. It's over their pants, OK?
OK. And I guess that answer makes
sense because if you go through a Goodwill, when you're going
through the clothes, maybe you've come across a few branded
(16:42):
pieces of apparel. They probably came across my own
stuff because I've donated my own stuff.
Right. So you're going through there
and you're like, hey, if I if I want to go and pretend to work
at Chili's, I guess I could. Yes, great Halloween cost.
And I will say the Goodwill nearme has it almost looks like a
(17:02):
spirit Halloween sign up on their building and it's the
Halloween like one stop shop, whatever the the signage says,
but it almost looks like a spirit Halloween sign.
Very cool. So they're trying to bring in
people to buy their costumes at Goodwill.
That's smart, but no, it was a question as to whether do we
(17:23):
feel like it's OK to sell corporate swag or sell or donate
it. Well, OK, so I'm going to ask
the reverse of that. Do you feel OK throwing the swag
away? Absolutely.
(17:43):
So here's my thing is it's stilla usable shirt and I don't want
it to go to a landfilled. I'd rather sell it or so
whenever I say throw it away is it's going to a landfill.
The other part of like, I'd rather donate it and somebody is
going to be able to use it whether it's a rag or it's a
painting smock for their kids orwhatever that is.
(18:07):
But I don't want it to go to a landfill if it's not actually
torn up enough to go to a landfill.
I will tell you, like, there's more than a few T-shirts I've
gotten from previous employers that have been used to kind of
wipe up a grill. Oh, yeah.
Or like, absolutely. Kind of I go to whatever
convention that we have to go toand we get the shirt and thank
(18:30):
you. And immediately on the way away
from the convention, drop it offat Goodwill.
I'm laughing to myself now because I'm like, what if
somebody did, have you seen the T-shirt quilts?
Like somebody may take all the T-shirts that they've collected
at concerts over their life and they create a really cool quilt
out of it. But what if you did that with
all the swag you got from formeremployers?
(18:52):
And that's kind of like your resume now.
So whenever companies like can you send us your resume be like,
OK, it's about 30 lbs to ship it, so where do you want me to
send it to? Yeah, I think you'll agree that
I'm very qualified and you're very comfortable and this, this
gap that's for your Wiener. Too soon, I don't know how.
(19:16):
To respond to that, yes I can. Oh no, no.
So. We're like, that's the other
question. Do you feel like it's OK to buy
corporate swag? Yeah, I mean to say like, you
need a shirt, you need a shirt. And if it's a it's a quarter,
it's a quarter. But I and I understand companies
(19:41):
update their branding, you know,time to time.
But odds are like you could go into a Goodwill, find that
Chili's Polo, and either the branding is the same as it is
right now, or it's not that different and you damn well look
like a Chili's employee. You can catfish so many people.
(20:03):
That's right. You really ring reel a man like,
hey look, I got the connect on those fried nachos, you know
That's right. Fried nachos?
That does sound like a Chili's dish it.
Probably is. I made it up, but it's probably
true. Not that chow.
There's a sorry, there is a, a local sports bar that we go to
(20:24):
and they do have Irish nachos and those are instead of I'm
trying. To figure out what what would
make it? What would constitute an Irish
notch at? Well, instead of the tortilla
chip, it is waffle fries. Wow, that sounds pretty damn
good. Yeah, man, when you're drinking
(20:44):
and there's sports going on and it is delicious.
We're not. So OK, then here's the question.
What do you feel might might be the best or worst brand apparel
to buy or donate? I mean Hooters outfit because I
(21:14):
feel like that it's tailored to one specific body type.
That's true. That's good.
I like that there was a lot of companies out there and I was
more thinking in terms of brand reputation, but I think your
answer is probably a lot more practical, yeah.
Well, I was also going brand reputation and I'm like, well,
you know, anything like faith-based and like, you know,
(21:38):
promoting your church or synagogue or something like who
do you know is going to wear it?And like, what are they going to
do? Like, are they going to show up
on the news wearing your church,your synagogue, your temples
thing? And I'm like, oh, now they're
associated with. That's right.
Oh no, now we have all the bodies in the freezer.
(22:00):
I will say I I have donated a lot of my previous company swag
to charities and I don't feel bad about it because I had to
change the company logo before Ileft.
So the things that I donated is the old logo and it doesn't have
the new logo stuff on it. I mean that that makes a lot of
(22:25):
sense. That's kind of practical.
But can I, can I ask you to dig a little deeper into like a part
of your comment you just made? Is it like you donated company
swag in the past and you don't feel bad about it?
Is the assumption that people ought to feel bad about it?
No, that makes me judging Jake up and I don't care what other
(22:47):
people do. Yeah, right.
Hey, look man, you want to wear that Hooters uniform even though
you're a plumber, you know? I mean part of it, because
here's The thing is, I'm not donating the brand, I'm donating
the clothing item. Right.
Now, as a marketing professionalwho is in charge of protecting
(23:13):
the company brand, I may hold onto things longer than I need to
because I want the company logo to change.
And that way if I donate something, it's not going to
reflect negatively on the company.
But in the big scheme of things,like if you think about
statistically of the people thatare going to commit horrible
crimes, they're probably not wearing your McDonald's T-shirt
(23:38):
or they're not wearing your company softball.
Like, they're probably just wearing a black shirt or like,
clothing that is non discriminate, like, And also if
they are wearing like a chicken onesie, they are not doing crime
correctly. You don't want to escape.
Yeah. Like Oh no, like the bean and
(24:00):
cheese Ripper that's responsiblefor 13 murders, but he was just
living Moss. Yoki Arrow less than 10 years.
That's all I want in prison. Less than. 10 No, I was trying
to figure out like what might belike if you were going through
the racks at, at Goodwill or something like that.
(24:22):
And I, I've got it like, whoa, like, I guess if I wanted to
impersonate an employee of this gas station chain, I could.
Yeah. Just a lot of really, a lot of
really questionable things kind of come to mind.
But what might be the worst brand?
Like what are some of the worst brands you could come across?
(24:46):
And I'm trying to figure that out because like a yeah, sure.
I mean, it's not to say there's potential for like mishaps if
anybody bought a, an official enough looking employee shirt
like so in that way, the brand doesn't matter.
But take that off the tape. Well, like like if there was
(25:07):
subway swag with their spokesperson, Jared, probably
Jacob almost spit out of. Strangers.
Yeah. He almost got a spit take out of
that one. Yeah, jeez.
Yeah, like, and I don't really want to wear that that, you
know, I think anything from Infowars can go straight in the
trash pile. Yeah, well, until the Onion buys
(25:31):
it. And God willing, they'll be able
to. Yeah, I'm trying to think of
like all the really horrible company brand or company or
brands that are no longer in business because of salacious
reasons. Like, I would honestly love to
have a Blockbuster Polo and I would block that thing out with
(25:52):
pride, but like. I, I really did think it's like,
what if I had a Lehman Brothers T-shirt?
I think it, I honestly, I think if you did start plastering
Enron on stuff, people would actually buy it because you're
you're it's, it's satire, but. Jacob, what if we created
(26:14):
company swag of these defunct companies today, but make it
like Enron spring Break 1988, like make up these like made-up
company events where it's like, Oh yeah, they were clearly
laundering money back in these days.
Yeah, like you know, Lehman Brothers 1992 annual Human
(26:37):
Sacrifice Roundup. Yeah.
Yeah, that'd. Be great.
I think like, you know, the Bernie Sanders, like, could I,
could you make a shirt that looklike almost like Tupac, but it
was the Bernie Sanders and like he's not dead.
It was all made-up. Yeah, but no, it's, I don't know
(26:59):
it, it, I'm sure if, if anybody listening like you do, do the
whole second hand thing. I'm sure you've come across a
few, a few of these items before.
But you know, it's, it's funny. I think there's like 2 schools
of thought. Some people feel like, oh, how
dare you. How, how could you?
Your company gave you that T-shirt at the conference they
(27:22):
forced you to work at. Well, I, I also think it's one
of those things as marketing professionals thinking about,
hey, the reality is that probably 80% of the stuff that
you give away is going to end upin a charity box and a landfill,
something like that. And that's really where like, I
don't, I work with a vendor thatthey will do the exact amount
(27:46):
that I need. So, and then they also ship
everything for me. So I don't have massive amounts
of T-shirts sitting in my house waiting to be waiting to go out.
But it's also on those things ofwhenever I think about company
swag, what items? And I purchase high dollar value
items because people will keep them and less chance of those
(28:07):
being donated somewhere else down.
The road, right? Well, it's just kind of a
interesting thing. I, it is always tempting.
You go through those racks and you're like, what would it be
like to work at IHOP? Like could I?
Oh my gosh. Do I see myself in a Golden
Corral? I think I do.
(28:30):
Girlfriend, you know, if I couldget a Waffle House shirt, I
would walk in there acting like I'm hey, I'm the inspector and
I'm like from Region 7. I got to get back there.
Like, come on, Waffle House shirt.
Yes, ma'am. If you wake up knowing you're in
a bad mood, just that's when yougrab that that Waffle House
shirt and you just embrace it, lean into it.
(28:55):
Yeah, yeah, it'd be great. I kind of want to go get a job
at Waffle House just so I could get the attire and then quit
right after they give it to me. Ryan just like, you know, go and
bash in a few skulls, you know? Yeah.
I mean, number one rule about Waffle House is that we don't
talk about Waffle House. That's right, but.
(29:15):
I like. I like the subject.
Yeah, that's what that's what came to mind.
Everybody go buy an Enron T-shirt.
It's timely. The kids are like what's Enron?
Ask your parents. Good episode Jake, appreciate
it. See you later 5.
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