Wombat Snatching and Conservatorship Drama: The Week's Wildest Stories for 3/19/25

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Dawn Robinson of En Vogue is living in her car despite creating hits we still hear today. Lawrence and Meryl unpack this shocking revelation about the music industry's exploitation of artists who received mere pennies per sale while creating cultural touchstones. How many other stars from our youth are facing similar financial hardships behind the scenes?

Meanwhile, Harvard University just revolutionized college accessibility by making tuition free for families earning under $200,000 annually. This game-changing approach could transform higher education, especially for middle-class families caught in the awkward financial gap of making too much for aid but not enough to comfortably afford elite schools.

The hosts also tackle Wendy Williams' disturbing conservatorship situation, Forever 21's latest bankruptcy filing, and a terrifying American Airlines engine fire incident that adds to mounting concerns about aviation safety. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's latest public dispute over daughter North's music involvement raises questions about parental rights in the digital age.

The episode doesn't shy away from emerging cultural phenomena, from the worldwide Tesla boycott following Elon Musk's political activities to "revenge quitting" - where employees strategically leave jobs during critical periods to maximize disruption. Plus, an American influencer faces deportation after stealing a baby wombat from its mother for social media content, highlighting the dangerous extremes of content creation culture.

Ready for thought-provoking perspectives on today's most fascinating stories? Subscribe now and join the conversation about the financial extremes, ethical dilemmas, and cultural shifts shaping our world.

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Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello everyone, Welcome to this week's episode
of Thirsty Topics.
I am Lauren Selrod.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
And I am Meryl Clemo.
I almost started clappingimmediately.
There you go.
No, we have to earn our clap.
We have to earn our clap.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
So how are you doing today, Meryl?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I'm doing really well .
It's been rainy here inCalifornia and then the past
couple of days the sun isfinally out, so I feel like a
spring is in my step and this isvery sweet.
But my boyfriend just got mesome flowers.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
So they're not open yet, but very, very sweet,
because he got me flowersbecause he was being a little
bit of a pain on our vacation.
So everything comes with aprice.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, at least he knows how to make it right.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Exactly, and I'm sure he would love me sharing this
publicly.
But it's still very good.
It still very good, it's allgood.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yes, definitely.
Well, we actually have a greatshow today and we're going to
start off.
I don't know if you know who EnVogue is.
The group.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I do.
This is actually a troublingthing.
That just came up, dawnRobinson, she's an original
member of the group.
En Vogue and she just recentlydisclosed to everyone that she's
been living in her car.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I saw that.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, the sad part about it is that she had talked
about, she had a few interviewsabout it, and she kind of said
that when they were making theirhits they literally each were
getting around $0.02 per sale.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
It was amazing to hear.
But it goes back to how theindustry basically treats us
artists.
It's kind of sad to see Evennow you still basically treats
us artists.
Yeah, and you know it's kind ofsad to see even now.
You know you still hear herstuff every so often.
And all these artists that waslike selling millions and
millions and millions of records.
It's amazing how many of themyou know are starving, are

(02:18):
literally broke.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, especially ones that got deals in like the 80s
or 90s.
I feel like even back then alot of the stuff wasn't known
knowledge and people just signedcontracts and then made little
to no money.
Our podcast listeners won't beable to see this, but I was
going to show you this picturethat I actually went to like see
in Vogue a few months ago, ormaybe about a couple of years
ago at this point.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
I'm showing.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Lawrence right now, like me with with the band I
don't know which one it was, but, um, it was at a casino and we
were all not laughing but wewere all like now I feel way
worse, but it definitely waslike not a very packed crowd and
you know, a lot of these boysto men slash in vogue right now
are doing like casinos that havea couple hundred instead of a

(03:02):
couple thousand that they'reused to.
And then if you split thatbetween tour managers and bands
and booking agents, it's likepeople are not making a lot.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's true.
That's true and you know, Ithink it kind of goes into the
new trend now where a lot ofartists now don't even want
anything to do with labelsbecause of what they've done to
artists over the years.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Do you think that, like I saw some comment under
here that people were like maybeshe wants to sleep in her car.
But in this day and age I justdon't know.
I mean, I know some people wantto sleep in their car and
travel and just have that remoteflexibility, but this didn't
sound like that.
Like it didn't sound like, oh,she's traveling the world in her
car happily.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
it sounded like she's under some financial situations
no, I think what she's doingand I could be wrong, but I
think she's just letting,sharing her story with the world
and trying to own her situation.
Yeah, she, she has social media, um, even though she does live
out of her car.

(04:05):
Starving artists is a lot morecommon than people think it is.
This is just one of the famouspeople that you've heard of, but
there's a lot of starvingartists out there.
I always say that if you'regoing to go after your dream of
doing something, always have away and I tell my son this
always have a way to feedyourself.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
That's the reality.
I mean, the good part isnowadays you don't have to live
in like New York or California.
You know you could live inAtlanta or a different city
where hopefully it's a littlebit less, and especially maybe
if you share rent with a fewother artists and you could be
creative.
But but then when you'resomeone like in Vogue and you're
used to being one of the topbands performing, it's probably
pretty hard to go from likeprobably lavish hotels and stuff

(04:49):
to like the decline of how theyare now.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah, and I think you know.
I think it goes back to what wealways talk about.
Is you really got to understandthe business side of your craft
?
Yeah, Because that's where youlose the most money.
That's where you're takingadvantage of yep.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Now, if you were in the group, like if you were
another member, would you do?
You think you would find, wouldyou feel pressure to basically
like come out and say, okay,well, she needs a place to stay
with me, I can stay with her, ordo you think it's like, I don't
know, basically like thatalmost doesn't reflect good upon
the people Around her, I think.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
I think it depends on the relationship.
I mean, if there's a greatrelationship, no question about
it.
Obviously, if it's okay with mywife, I'm clear with her.
Or if you're a woman, thenclear with your husband.
But it depends on therelationship, because If the
relationship, because if therelationship isn't that great to
begin with, then that wouldn'teven be an option.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
It's tough, it's very tough.
I was very surprised to hearabout that.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's so funny, but I feel like musicians going down
in their number of people theyperform for makes me so much
sadder than like old actors, or,for some reason, musicians make
it even sadder Because, like I,used to work in a venue and we
would have people very much ontheir way up and down you know
in the industry and some of theolder, especially, like the
blues artists.
We had people that had gonethrough a few divorces and you

(06:30):
could tell their ex-wives tookthem for basically everything
they had, and it's a little tinyman just up on stage playing
guitars and it's I don't knowwhy, but it's like so sad for me
the thought of a musician justgoing like losing everything or
not having or performing for theyears and years and really not
having anything to show for ityeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
That's that's true.
I mean again, I think I thinkshe's young enough, because I
want to say, I want to say she's57, I believe, wow, so she's
not old, so it's not like shecan't revitalize her career.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Right.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know.
So I just hope that she landson her feet and things get
better for her.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Me too, and this would be perfect too If a
producer out there is watchingor something.
I feel like En Vogue would makegreat judges On music programs.
There has to be something, evenif it's not like an ABC or CBS.
There should be some smallerthing that could use their Just
their experience and theircelebrity power.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Oh, I agree, I agree, and I think that there's going
to be a point where people reachout to her, if they're not
already doing that now.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, I think so too.
Well, they were very nice and Igot to.
Now I feel bad that I actuallygot to meet them for free when
other people had to pay.
My payment could have been thedifference.
It's okay.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, we'll definitely keep her in our
prayers.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yep, we will.
Okay.
Well, one thing maybe she cando is attend Harvard for free,
because Harvard just somethingtells me she might not want to
drive her car and attend Harvard.
But Harvard has expanded itsfinancial aid program to make
the university free or lowercost for students whose families
earn less than $200,000.

(08:12):
A move that comes in the wakeof last year's Supreme Court
ruling that banned rates frombeing a consideration in the
admissions process.
I feel like this is huge newsand the fact that this isn't
like everywhere is crazy for me.
So basically, if a student'sfamily makes less than $200,000
annually, the cost of attendanceis free.
Their tuition is totally free,and if they make less than

(08:36):
$100,000 annually, the cost ofattendance is free, including
tuition, food, housing, healthinsurance and travel costs,
which is crazy.
That's like insane.
So I don't quite understand.
Normally I was just going tosay too usually the sticker
price now for attending Harvardis an estimated $80,000 a year.

(08:59):
So I don't quite understand.
I don't know if you do at all,but like how this could happen.
I don't know if it's throughprivate funding or through, like
, federal funding.
I don't really.
I read the article and I don'tquite understand how that can
happen, um, but they said thatthere are more than 100
universities that have adoptedsimilar practices.

(09:21):
Some smaller schools have beendoing it before, like MIT,
carnegie Mellon and Universityof Pennsylvania.
To make tuition free oraffordable and that is crazy to
me, Like I honestly feel likethat's enough that if you're
parents and you have a childthat is going to Harvard, it's
like worth your while to almostnot have someone work a second
job or, you know, like to staybelow that median, because

(09:44):
that's a huge difference.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, and you know the one thing I mean.
I have mixed views on it.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
There's a catch somewhere like Especially since.
I have a son in college and I'mpaying for it.
So you know, I think the thingis is that colleges definitely
do need to do a lot more to makeit affordable and achievable
for people.
And you know they want to setthat, that break, at 200,000.
That's fine, but I think youshould have that.

(10:12):
You know, let's say, inaddition to that, if you make
over 200, let's say from 200 to300, you know, instead of
getting 100 percent, maybe youget yeah, oh, that's really
smart Totally, and if you gofrom 300 to 400, then you maybe
just get 25% of it.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Right, because that's not fair if a family is
bringing in like $210,000 andnow they have to pay like
$85,000 a year, yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
And the crazy thing about it is that a lot of people
don't understand that.
And here's a great example$100,000 is not $100,000.
If you make $100,000, there's afew things that happen.
One you're going to get hitwith an additional tax because
now you're in a higher taxbracket, that's the first thing.
Second thing is as you get upto and including $100,000 or

(11:04):
more, you start losingexemptions that you can't get
anymore oh yeah, yeah, that'skind of like a double tag and
then also, because of thatincome, you don't get any help
when it comes to college.
That's on you and you knowyou're making too much to get
help, but you don't make enoughto pay for it.

(11:24):
So you have to take out astudent loan in order to pay for
college, and of course we allknow about all the issues with
student loans.
So you're kind of like a tripleor maybe a quadruple tax at
that point.
So that's why I was saying that$200,000, don't get me wrong is
a blessing to make that kind ofmoney if you're making it, but
it's not a true $200,000.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, it totally does , and that's, at least I feel
like, especially in thisinstance, at least somewhat good
for Harvard for at least tryingto entice like some middle
class families and I feel likethe Harvard that we all think in
our minds like years and yearsago wouldn't have even you know,
in our minds it's only for,like rich legacy people.
And like and so, but this showsa step to me in somewhat of the

(12:12):
right direction.
I still like it will stillmaybe be even wealthy people,
but like obviously it's veryhard to get into, it's one of
the best schools ever, but likeI don't know.
It'll just be very interestingto see, like, how that affects
the alumni and how the school isperceived, and just the rate of
admissions.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, I think what it's definitely going to do is
attract a lot more admissions,and I think what it does it's
going to open the door to a lotof students that never would
have.
Even if they have the grades,never thought they could ever
get into Harvard financially.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
So I think that's a good thing.
Oh, and I just found it too Okay.
So it said the financial aidwebsite says that the funds come
from a variety of sources,including Harvard endowment
funds, gifts from alumni,general tuition revenues and
federal and state grants.
Okay, so it's all of thosethings.
And then it said between 1980and 2020, the average price of

(13:11):
tuition increased by 169%.
Wow, so at least okay.
The other thing, too, thatmakes me happy that if it is
Harvard alumni like if you wentto Harvard and you're making,
you're like a multimillionaire.
How nice to be able to give to.
Like I mean, I can't think ofbetter ways to spend your money.
That's like helping the nextgeneration of people and, you

(13:32):
know, helping your college andstuff.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Sure, now, the one thing that they didn't say and
I'm quite sure there is there'sprobably a certain number
they're basing that off of.
So that's probably going to bea first come, first serve, I
would imagine.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Wait, so say that again.
So for people that like get thetuition, you mean oh, oh, yeah,
yeah, that's true, cause theycan't have the whole school full
of people that every otherparents make less than a hundred
thousand.
Yeah, correct, I get that.
Yeah, yeah, so, but but yeahlike I said, I tip my hat off to
him.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
That's actually with all the craziness going on.
That's actually great news.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, it is.
Now.
I feel like an idiot, forwhenever my college contacts me
for like $25.
I'm like, no, I don't have itGo away.
Meanwhile people are donatingmillions.
But I'm like, why don't youhelp me?
Sarah?

Speaker 1 (14:18):
I hear you.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, totally.
I've never once like.
I'm like, what I gave you isall my mission money for four
years.
That should be more than enough.
Why are you asking me for moremoney?

Speaker 1 (14:28):
That is so, so true.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Right and random fun fact that will just take 20
seconds is that I used to.
When I worked, I went toSyracuse University and I worked
in the call center, where weused to be the people that would
call alumni and ask for moneyand while I was doing that job I
choked on one of the dinnermints like the red and white
dinner mints and I had to do theHeimlich by myself in front of

(14:55):
everyone and then I quit the joband I cried.
I ended up living, obviously,but like that was just karma for
trying to get people to pay foralumni.
Those dinner mints will get you.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
You probably will remember that for a long time.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Oh, my parents.
It was no joke.
My parents had to come get mefrom school.
They drove hours and I like itwas so bad because I started
crying.
I don't know if you've everchoked knock on wood, I hope it
doesn't happen but it's liketruly a traumatic experience.
And then it was those littlelike you know, the red and white
like dinner mints, and Icouldn't breathe and everything,

(15:34):
and I had to pop it out myselfand then I took two weeks off of
school because it was like sucha thing, wow.
And now whenever I see thosemints at restaurants, I tell
everyone like stay away.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Well, we're glad that you made it through.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Thank you.
So just all to say that nowpeople should enjoy free
admission in Harvard with nodinner pizza.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, this is an interesting topic here.
Wendy Williams is back in thenews again.
Yay, we hope.
She took a trip out to get.
I believe it was lunch and itwas her niece that took her out.
So there was a big controversyabout, you know, she didn't have

(16:13):
permission, they snuck her out.
And then also she had anappointment with a doctor where
she was escorted by policeofficers and she took a
cognizance test, escorted bypolice officers and she took a
cognizance test and you know sheactually, you know, aced the
test but they say is it's morethan just getting the answers
right, it's how this answer.
You know how they answer andstuff like that.

(16:35):
So it's a little bit morecomplicated.
But, um, that was actually goodto hear that she at least was
able to answer all the questionswith no problems.
And then you know she's been,she was on the View by phone and
you know she was talking abouthow she's being held hostage and
all this stuff like this.
And you know it's coming backinto the forefront again about

(16:56):
these conservatorships and youknow, the other thing too is
that I think part of the problemis we're talking about her
health without knowing thebackstory to her health, right,
right?

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes, I didn't hear the VIEW interview.
Do you know if, like I meanright after it sounds like they
should send someone immediatelyto like go check out the scene
again?
I don't know how many timesmaybe the police have been like
over there just to check I don'tknow if it's zero or like once
a week, or I don't know how manytimes maybe the police have
been like over there just tocheck.
I don't know if it's zero orlike once a week, or I don't
know.
But that's so scary and sad andI hope that people take it
seriously.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, I agree, and you know, the crazy thing is and
this is what's making thisdifficult is, you know, when
she's talking, she's WendyWilliams, she understands what's
going on around her, she's ableto have a fluid conversation
with you, but, again, withoutknowing the backstory is okay.
Is she like this all the time,or is this just like spells

(17:53):
going in and out?
Yeah, because the dimension,depending on what degree it is.
You know, sometimes they arevery fluid.
They knew what's going on, theycan have a conversation, and
other times they literally don'tknow who you are right and
especially with, how we saidbefore, with her money and
managing her assets and estatesand everything you know just we

(18:13):
don't know how able she is to dothat really well, um, but still
that's so scary and like justher being wheeled around getting
lunch and it's just.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
It's either very.
Either way it's tiring for thefamily.
I'm sure, whether or notthey're like not wanting it to
come out, they're takingadvantage or they're just trying
to help her, but to me, like Ifeel like if it was one of my
parents and this was happening,I would like go on the TV with
her Like.
I would be as you know, open aspossible and I would like almost
hold a press conference and belike ask me anything.

(18:45):
Here's her doctor, how muchthey can say about her doctor's
stuff.
But it feels like that's partof the issue.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
I think the only way, I think, in my opinion, the
only way to really address thisis to have her do a full panel
to see does she still havedementia?
Because she's complaining thatyou know, one of the things that
she alleges is that theymisdiagnosed her.
Yeah, you know, at one time shehad a drinking problem, um, and

(19:17):
you know it's not.
It's not, um, anything that washidden.
Everyone knew that right.
So you know.
Now she says she doesn't drinkanymore and she's understanding
what's going on around her.
So I think that's the only wayto really put this to bed,
because you know it keeps comingup.
And here's the crazy thingabout it If they're really

(19:39):
holding her hostage, as she says, she wouldn't.
In my opinion, I don't thinkshe would be able to call into
the view, I know, or call intoother places and do interviews
over the phone, or be able toleave out and come back.
And I could be wrong, but itjust seems like you don't really
know what the full story is.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
I think you're right, and I feel like if they were
really holding her hostage, thenshe even if she called into the
view that it would be a wholedifferent story, she would say
like, oh, I'm being, I'm fine,I'm, you know, I'm just.
People are taking care of me,like they would almost make her
say the opposite instead ofbeing able to fully speak.
What's happening?
I wonder too, if, like whenthey go out in New York, if, if,
if they're calling thepaparazzi on themselves because

(20:22):
I know that happens a lot youknow where people will say, hey,
like, catch me at this Chipotleon the corner soon, or if
paparazzi are just like stakingout 24 seven in front of her
house hoping for anything to see.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
It makes you wonder.
I mean, unfortunately, you know, they know where she, you know
where she's, where she's at now,you know where the facility is,
so it's not hard to stake itout because it is, I believe, in
Manhattan.
So it's hard to stake it out atthat point.
But I don't know.
I think it's just gettingcrazier and crazier by the

(20:56):
minute.
Now Britney Spears proved that,though it may be difficult, you
can come off a conservatorship.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yes, but yeah totally , and I hope I mean, I guess, in
a good way.
Britney's fine if she's justtwirling around on her social
media like dancing with knivesIn a good way.
We haven't heard anything liketerrible.
You know it's almost been likethe same, but hopefully what
goes on in her life is waybetter.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Sure sure you know, so Something tells me Wendy
Williams will be back in thenews again.
I know.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
If I was a producer, I'd start a show and I'd put
Wendy Williams and the womanfrom En Vogue and it would be
like Lottery Dream Home, where Iwould just help these people
out.
I'm drooling.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
That would be one hell of a show, right.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
It's called like Conservator or something I could
honestly see Lifetime doing itor some weird TLC channel.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Actually, that is definitely a Lifetime show.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Isn't it?
Yeah, to watch everyone, but Ihope she's okay.
Yeah, I'm thinking about WendyWilliams.
It seems like every monththere's something and the fact
that you're right, the fact thatshe did call into the View at
least she feels like she hassome type of lifeline to talk to
people, you know that's true,that's true I have a feeling

(22:16):
that, like either way it's, it'snot easy on the parent, or you
know the family and her, like Ifeel like for if I had to guess,
I both sides probably areprobably a little bit
frustrating to work with I wouldimagine so too, so we will
definitely be watching yep, wewill.
Um, okay to this.

(22:37):
To my lifetime show I wouldalso add forever 21, who has
just announced for like the 10thtime they're filing for
bankruptcy.
This time it seems really realbecause it plans to, quote, wind
down its us operations unlessit can find a buyer for the
whole business or some of itsparts.
Um, now, I definitely rememberwhen they filed for bankruptcy

(23:00):
in 2019, just because at thattime I was kind of shopping a
little bit more there, not notso much anymore, but um, since
then it survived as kind of azombie brand with fewer stores.
You know, malls in general arekind of going out of business
and I feel like Forever 21 wasalways one of the big flagship
stores at malls.
But the chain has struggled tofind life beyond the mall and

(23:22):
now they have rivals like Timuand Sheen and a bunch of other
people that are able to shipgoods like very cheaply from
China and other places.
So, you know, I don't know, Ihave mixed thoughts on this
forever 21,.
They got bought out by um.
They sold in the early.
Uh, after the bankruptcy, thechain sold and I felt like ever

(23:46):
since then their quality wasalready pretty low of clothes,
but like since the sale it goteven worse.
Like they quality was alreadypretty low of clothes, but like
since the sale it got even worse.
Like they do collaborationswith like bratz dolls and it
just seems like even like 11year olds don't want to wear it
and, like you know, definitelywomen in their 20s and 30s kind
of age out of it.
Um, so it seems like almost thetype of thing that just going

(24:07):
behind the barn and justshooting it dead, it's the best
thing to do?

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah, I think with Forever 21,.
I forgot who was still inbusiness.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
to be honest with you Really yeah, I think of it a
lot just because it does have ifyou're going to a festival or
something it does have good,cheap options.
Yeah, remember a few months agowe talked about that fast
fashion documentary and justabout how all the clothes like
wash up on the shore and stuff.
I feel like Forever 21 is a bigoffender of that.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, I think that, for whatever reason, a lot of
the big box stores haven't madethe switch to to online, to
online.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Because the reality is they really only make money
one time of the year, that'sreally at Christmas time, which
is when most big box stores maketheir money.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Right.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
So to me it's amazing that no one has thought about
hey, maybe we save this by youknow kind of doing a model
similar to Amazon, to where weput, you know, instead of you
know, 80 to 90% effort into ourbig box stores, maybe we do 80
to 90% online, a small portioninto the stores, and then the

(25:22):
stores can act, as you know,like little mini warehouses, and
then what you do is, instead ofhaving these big, gigantic
stores have a very small, asmaller footprint, because you
know a lot of places only carrya certain amount of stuff in
inventory the majority of stuffyou have to go online to see,
and that's how you save yourbrand.

(25:43):
Um, but the the days of peoplewalking in throughout the year
to a store I think those daysare gone.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Right, especially in in exactly what you said about
the online ordering and likeforever 21's website I know for
a fact cause I tried to order.
It's like there's almost somuch inventory that it's hard.
Even like the cataloging systemis weird, like if you type in
red hoodie or something, thenthey're going to give you like
sweatshirts with Mickey mouse onit and we cheap and confusing

(26:13):
to use online, which I think alot of people like me just get
frustrated because the firstlike 10 pages of search results
just look very cheap, butthey're not conditioned to
exactly like how Amazon gives usexactly what we want and we're
able to like always find itpretty much on like the first or
second page.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah, I think what they think they're doing,
because I've experienced thattoo in a lot of different places
, where you put in something andyou get all this other crap
that you need to do.
And most of it has nothing todo with what you put in there,
and what they don't realize isthat you're not showing me
anything.
You're really just pissing meoff because it's like, okay,

(26:49):
screw this, I'll just gosomeplace else.
That just pissing me off,because it's like, okay, you
know, screw this, I'll just gosomeplace else.
That's all you're going to do.
It's almost like when you go tothe grocery store and every so
often they change where stuff isbecause in their minds they
figure well, we're going to makethis person look at what's on
the shelf.
Now I can't speak for othershoppers, but for me.
That just pisses me off.
Yeah, me too.
Me too, because now I'm runningall over the store finding

(27:11):
something that I used to be ableto just walk in, grab and go.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, I do, you're right.
I think it's a lot of thingstoo, because I feel like like
women like me who kind of grewup on Forever 21, we're aging
out of that and our bodies justlike can't fit into like a teeny
, weeny, extra small, like HelloKitty shirt, which is what
they're offering, you know, andso, and I also think you're
right about the, the onlinesituation too, where it's like

(27:36):
if you just had a store that youcould go into, but even the
stores, too, are like teenyboppery, but that's not what,
where the teeny boppers aregoing anymore.
So it's like everyone isgrowing apart from the brand,
and so, yeah, that's reallyinteresting, but interesting,
but and and I think people arejust trying to be more, uh,
economical and not like not gowith fast fashion so much, or

(28:00):
you know, I know I believe a lotof the younger gen z people are
like thrifting more or justbeing more conscious than, like,
my age was no definitely,definitely.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
And you know the thing is is even in the stores,
when you see that they onlycarry um a certain up to a
certain size.
Yeah, and it's like you dorealize like the bigger guys
like me actually have the moneyto buy your product yeah,
exactly like I'll go to forever21 and I'm like this won't even
fit on, like my right leg, oryou know what I mean like it's

(28:31):
it's a mini skirt that's likethis big and I'm like I honestly
would't even fit on like myright leg, or you know what I
mean.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Like it's it's a mini skirt that's like this big and
I'm like I honestly would shophere.
I'm still in like arresteddevelopment.
Like I you know I'm not readyyet to graduate to like Ann
Taylor loft or you know whateverthe the like grownup woman
brands are.
Like I still want to dress likeI'm 15, but like, yeah, it's,
it's not fair.
Like it's definitely not fairand it's just gotten so.
Like Tweety bird shirts, it'sjust like you know, no, 11 year

(28:56):
old that I know would wear this,but also no, like 40 year old.
So it's like who is yourdemographic now?
And that's where I think likeTimu and Sheen have gotten
really cool.
Like they, even though it'slike fast fashion.
Like they are, they're morestylish and they've kept up with
the trends more, you know.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
That's true.
That's true, I mean.
The one thing about it is youhave to be careful when you have
niche stores like that, becauseif you don't have a huge
following that's dedicated toyou, it's very risky Because,
like you say, people will growout of those.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah, yep, I see Forever 21 a lot Like in the.
If I ever like go thrifting atGoodwill or something.
It's stuff that people tend towear a few times and then just
get rid of because the qualityis not that good.
Very interesting, I know.
Last week we talked aboutHooters going out of business
and now it seems like all thesebig brands that we're seeing,

(29:45):
like the Forever 21, the Hootershopefully not Red Lobster, but
all these ones we'll see.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yes, definitely, definitely so.
We'll watch the merry-go-roundon that one.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Exactly, I will not be ordering the $8 Miss Piggy
t-shirt, but yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Now talk about round and round again.
It's amazing that we're Talkingabout this again, but An
American Airlines engine caughton fire.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Oh my gosh no.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Passengers say it was very nerve-wracking.
It was terrifying.
The Boeing 737, which took offfrom Colorado Springs Thursday,
headed to Dallas, when the FAAsays that the crew reported
engine vibrations and the flightwas diverted to Denver.
Once the flight ended in Denver, the famous video is of people

(30:42):
getting out, walking on the wingof the plane and moments later,
a big fire on the engine.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
I can't Wait.
Did you say was it AmericanAirlines?
Oh my gosh, come on.
Did you say, was it AmericanAirlines?
Or what was?
Oh my gosh, come on.
Like if you're the PR personfor American at this point,
you're also, I mean, theaviation industry in general,
but specifically AmericanAirlines.
But this one, I feel like Iwonder if it is like a Boeing
fault, or I know the bird flewinto an engine, but it's like

(31:10):
where are we going wrong withthis?
You know like what is.
Or maybe a pilot is saying likewe didn't go wrong anywhere
with this and this was exactlylike what was supposed to happen
and everyone handled it well.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, I mean, you know, thank God that you know
it's very rare that we actuallyhave a true plane crash where
people lose their lives, but Idon't know.
It just seems like within thelast six to eight months we've,
especially within the last threeor four months, we've had a
hell of a lot of instances.
Yes, your missus, you knowplaying a member of the plane

(31:41):
that was upside down.
Yeah, Engine catching fire.
Remember, at one time you knowtires and stuff falling off
planes and stuff.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yes, oh my god and I think that's what's so scary too
is like it seems like, you know, with a car, if you get into an
accident, you're not guaranteedto be like blown up or like
falling from the sky, and Ithink it's just so weird.
Um, I was gonna say too that itmade it seem like oh, at this
point I don't understand howthey can't make it so that birds

(32:10):
can just like somehow getchopped up and not go in the
onion in the engine and like itseems like for how, how, like
high quality we've made planeslike.
Doesn't it seem like a birdshould be able to go in there
and somehow not like wreck theentire plane?

Speaker 1 (32:25):
You know what?
I guess it depends, because Ikind of think the same thing is
like it's amazing that one birdcan bring down the whole plane.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
I because I kind of think the same thing.
It's amazing that one bird canbring down the whole plane.
I know how.
Have they not developedtechnology that is able to not
have that happen?
I don't understand.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
I mean, I would think that something as simple as a
mesh wire on the front, and theonly thing I can think of is
maybe it interferes with eitherthe weight balance on the plane
or maybe the way the engineoperates.
But I would think that thatwould be such a simple.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
I know it seems like, because I feel like a bird in a
plane has brought down a few.
That has been a reason that youwould think they would be
working 24-7 on that to solvethat issue.
And in this day and age, ifit's not going to be a bird,
it's going to be like a randomdrone that someone's flying, or
something.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Yeah, but I'm just glad everyone got off safely.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Oh come on, I'm going to start taking the train
everywhere and I don't care if abird gets a train.
It's crazy.
And imagine like if you'rethose people too, where you're
just like already nervous andyou're like okay, chances of
anything happening, and now allof a sudden you're on the news
running from a burning engine.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
Oh, definitely, Because I know they showed the
passengers inside before theplane landed, how the I think
the cockpit the plane startedfilling up with smoke too.
Oh my gosh, I can't.
I mean, it's just been crazywith all the stuff going on.
You know, yeah, AmericanAirlines have had a few issues,

(33:59):
but you know, it's kind of beena few airlines, you know, with
the near misses and stuff.
Yes, and I don't know.
Do you remember the story?
And I want to say it was likemaybe a couple weeks ago, where
a plane, a passenger plane, wasabout to land and, for whatever
reason, a private plane crossedpaths and they had to veer back

(34:20):
up in the air.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
No, oh my god.
Imagine that I would like losemy cookies.
I really truly may like get aprescription to Ativan or
something like just a littletiny milligram for every single
flight.
I go on yeah it's been a lot ofcraziness going on lately, so I
know which is so in like,because I really really used to

(34:45):
have like severe flight anxietyand then I got over it and now
it's like but it's crazy, how tohave this?
Because I used to have thislike fear where it was almost
surprising to me that I wouldlike make my flight Like.
You know what I mean.
It almost gets how my body wasfeeling.
But now and I know now like thechances of anything happening
are still so minuscule and wehear like so many flights a day
would go off without anything,but still like this does not

(35:08):
help the nervous flyers of theworld.
That's true, that's true.
So I used to like land and likecry and be like I can't believe
.
Like I landed in the pilot,everyone would be like why would
you think you wouldn't land?
It's just so weird.
It's so weird, but I don't know.
Okay, well, just as crazy.
Um, kanye, I don't know ifyou've seen the craziness that

(35:31):
came out this weekend between Yeposting some screenshots with
Kim Kardashian, his baby mamaand ex-wife.
So on Saturday he posted a songcalled Lonely Roads Still Go to
Sunshine on X and it's a newsong by Diddy and it features
Diddy's son, king Combs, andNorthwest and the new Yeezy

(35:55):
artist from Chicago, jasmineWilliams.
So, obviously, like, this justblew up and because people were
saying, how can you haveNorthwest on the Diddy song?
How can you do that?
And before Kanye shared thetrack online, he posted
screenshots of an alleged textbetween himself and Kim.
He quickly took it down, butpeople were able to get screen
grabs and it was saying kim wassaying that she trade.

(36:17):
Kanye can't do that because shetrademarked northwest before
and so basically, like, untilshe's 18, he can't use the
daughter's vocals on a song,especially with diddy.
Um, so this is messy and justcrazy.
I mean, it's just so weird tome that Kanye would want his
daughter to be on a track withDiddy.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Well, I mean, it doesn't surprise me, but I mean,
we're talking about the sameperson that had his wife butt
naked that's true At a horrorshow yeah, so this is the same
person that tried to sell shirtswith a Nazi symbol on them.

(37:01):
That's true, so yeah, nothing.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
It's like whatever the worst choice is is going to
be what he does and him postingthe screenshots that Kim is
writing honestly just makes herlook like a mom that's trying to
look out for her daughter.
Kim's not acting crazy in thetext, she's very even keeled.
It doesn't change anyone'sopinion of her.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Yeah, I just feel it's sad with Kanye, because
Kanye literally was he waseither about to become a
billionaire or he was abillionaire until he just
started going left and, oh myGod, I mean, he's losing money
left and right.
I know no one wants to dealwith him anymore, you know, and

(37:46):
it's like he's just he'sliterally killing his brand.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
Yep, he really is.
And there's that saying likepick your partners wisely.
I feel like one of the worstbusiness and emotional and
everything mistakes that Kim hasmade is partnering with Kanye
to have kids.
I feel like I would cry dailyand be like why did I do this?

Speaker 1 (38:09):
But you know, Meryl Kanye always have been a little
out there.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
But yeah, I I don't think anyone saw this coming no,
no, I think he totally changed,like I think he was always a
little bit, you know, probablylike full of himself and
arrogant and a little bit offthe whatever, but like, I think
he definitely changed a lot whenthey got together.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah, I mean like I said um, I'm I'm just really
shocked at the stuff that he'sdoing.
It's like it's getting worseand worse.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
I know it's also, don't you think, I mean, you're
a parent, like, I guess,trademarking your kids names?
I guess it's something that youhave to do when you are Kim
Kardashian or you're part ofthat family and people are going
to be trying to Start likeNorthwest makeup lines and all
that stuff.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
It's sad, but you have to do that, just because
people will take advantage ofyour family.
Yeah, it's sad, but you have todo that.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
You know you wouldn't think you'd have to do it
against the baby's father, butyeah, exactly, that's a very
good point where it's like youthink of, of just like hungry
shark business owners doing it,not, not the father.
So it's just so weird and Ifeel like at this point, why is

(39:20):
Diddy like releasing new music?

Speaker 1 (39:23):
It's just like, yeah, it's.
It's amazing that cause I guessmy question is when did he come
?
When did he work on this?

Speaker 2 (39:28):
I know, I don't know, and it features his son, which
is like I feel bad for the sonhaving to be involved with this
as well.
You know, like his teenage sonis probably just trying to make
it in the music industry andlike now this yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
I don't know.
I just think it's a crazycombination right now.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
But let's face it, there's not a lot of people
lining up to work with Diddyright now either.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
No, the Northwest, it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Yeah, we'll see.
Well, let's see here.
Ooh, this is a good one.
Now.
Did you know that there's aworldwide boycott for the Tesla?

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Oh is there.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
Big time.
Oh yeah, in fact I know.
In Chicago the dealership wasvandalized.
A lot of people are protesting,a lot of people stopped buying
Teslas.
A lot of people are sellingtheir Teslas.
They don't want to haveanything to do with it.
And I want to say the saleshave been down so far as about a

(40:41):
week or so ago About 15%worldwide.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
And that's probably why Trump did his Tesla
infomercial, when he bought aTesla.
I don't know if you saw thatwhen he was like I love Tesla.
That was the most ridiculousthing I've ever seen in my life
it really was and I'm like inthe middle of wars in the
economy and I'm like why are we,no matter what side you voted
for this is just not needed foreveryone.

(41:05):
Who's going to get influencefrom Trump buying a Tesla if
you're not?
I just don't understand that,like and I'm happy honestly,
like I said a million times,like with anyone voting for
whatever they want to I stillthink this is like a such a
weird thing to watch ourpresident do.
Yeah, and here's the reality ofit.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
Do you really think Trump's going to be driving a
Tesla?

Speaker 2 (41:26):
No, that's what a bunch of people said he's not.
Could you imagine him chargingit for like 45 minutes and just
like the fact that he walked inand he was like everything's a
computer and it's like, do wereally need that?
I think, obviously, like thisis part of the, this is the main
reason that it's gone down.
So I wonder if, like, there'ssome level of him showing his

(41:51):
support, because he also feelsguilty, I'm sure on some level,
for this happening.
But I was just driving theother day and I saw it, because
I mean, tesla is so big here inCalifornia, especially in LA,
and I saw like a Tesla but thenthe bumper sticker said Elon,
with like it crossed out.
So that has to be a weird thingif you're driving a car and you
like actively hate the founderand the whole company.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, that's true, and you know the reality is when
you are a business person andyou decide to get into politics.
To me that's a dangerous thing.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Because what happens is, instead of people looking at
you as just the owner of Teslaor whatever, now they're looking
at you as a political figureand, depending on whether they
like or dislike you, they'regoing to take that out on your
company.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yes, that's very true .
I would love to know, like astat on when people do sell
their Teslas, what, what they'regoing to, you know, like what
the next car of their choices?
I wonder what the trends are inthat way.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
That's true.
I mean, if someone really wantsto stick with an electric
vehicle, there are other optionsout there besides Tesla.
Yeah, oh, yeah.
So what's going to happen isyou're going to have a lot of
other manufacturers that aregoing to benefit from this.
So what's going to happen isyou're going to have a lot of
other manufacturers that aregoing to benefit from this Yep?

Speaker 2 (43:08):
The Kamala Mobile?
I don't know, Lovingly I don'twant to drive like a Biden
inspired electric car.
I feel like I'm not very goodat that.
Yeah, I mean, that's sointeresting and I think to me
like the combination of thishappening and the cyber truck
being what's available on Teslanow is just like so crazy.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Yeah, that's true, but I want to say there was a
report that Elon lost what wasit about?
$140 billion.
Wow, Even after losing thatamount, he's still, you know,
the richest man on earth.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
But it's like $140 billion with a B.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
And it's like I don't know To me there's so much good
that he could do if he reallywanted to Me too, and I feel
like knowing Elon if I had to.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
I mean not knowing him, but knowing what I've seen
from him so far.
Elon if I had to I'm notknowing him, but Knowing see
what I've seen From him so far,like if I had To guess it's less
even about the money and it'smore about now people like
hating Tesla or like turningthem in, or you know what I mean
like I feel like it Wouldn'teven be the amount for him.
It would be like the peopleviewing his Brand as, like, not
high Value anymore that is sotrue.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
That is so so true.
And you know, the thing is, Iknow he owns what is it?
Spacex, spacex, yes, spacex,and the last two or three kind
of blew up after takeoff.
Yeah, I don't know.
I think there's other things hecould be concentrating on,

(44:43):
because I don't think I'd becomfortable getting in that
rocket going to go see anythingI know because you know the
vision is that.
You know you and I well, maybeyou I don't think I'll ever have
that kind of money can pay toget on a rocket to go to the
moon and come back, you know I'mnot going, if I don't even want
to go on like an americanairlines flight that's two hours
.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
I'm not going to go to the moon anytime soon, you
mean tell me, if you had themoney, you wouldn't want to do
it.
No, 0%.
I barely want to leave myneighborhood.
No, no, no, totally.
I don't want to go Otherplanets, not so much Countries.
Yes, I love going to othercountries, but not planets.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
I hear you.
Yeah, watching those rocketsblow up doesn't give me a whole
lot of comfort there.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
No, I feel like the beginning Teslas that Elon put
out was the only thing of histhat I like Him changing Twitter
to X and Cybertrucks and SpaceXI don't really like his
aesthetic.
I feel like he doesn't seem tomake things nicer.
I don't think he improves onthe design a lot for me

(45:46):
personally.
There's millions of people thatfeel differently, but I'm not
always looking at what hecreates being like wow, this is
so much better now.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Yeah, I think that most people buy a Tesla or buy
the Cybertruck as a statussymbol.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
I don't think a lot of people think that those are
sexy looking vehicles.
I literally think it's a statussymbol.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah, well, it's so funny because I feel like the
very first people that I couldthink of that wanted the Tesla
when it came out were like mymost liberal, like green friends
, you know who just wanted tonot obviously like go electric
and that's like so crazy nowthat just the 180 that we've all
done.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Oh, absolutely, and I just have a feeling that it's
going to get worse as far aspeople not buying those vehicles
.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, me too.
We're in for a ride.
I'm calling it.
I feel like Elon's going to hopon a Kanye song pretty soon.
That's going to be, Honestly,the pairing would make sense
right 2026,.
I could totally see Kanye andElon putting out a diss track.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
You know, the scary part is that if that happened,
no one would be surprised.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
No, I can't believe that already hasn't happened.
I can't believe Elon hasn'tlaunched a rap career yet too.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
That's true, not to say it won't happen, though.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Okay.
Well, this might be for a lotof people working at Tesla, this
new trend of something calledrevenge quitting.
So I mean, we've all heard ofthis and probably done it
ourselves, but this made newsweek now about how many people
are revenge quitting, which iswhen employees who feel
undervalued or frustrated leavetheir jobs in a way that's
abrupt and designed to cause asmuch chaos and dismay as

(47:33):
possible.
For example, if you're quitting, you know you wait until
basically a busy Christmasseason and then you're kind of
giving the middle finger toeveryone saying I'm out, you
know, right at the worst time,giving the middle finger to
everyone saying I'm out, youknow, right at the worst time.
I know a lot of jobs people tendto quit when, like their
managers during that time,especially in sales or something
, when they're like everyone, noone takes vacations, it's all

(47:55):
hands on deck.
I think that's a lot of timeswhen people are like, nope, not
me, I'm out, you know.
And so this is, as with manynew employment trends, it's
largely being driven by Gen Z,as the younger generation's
entry into the workforce hascaused major shifts in the

(48:16):
discourse just about theapproach to work.
And so I mean, I think a lot ofpeople feel at this point they
don't have the ability torevenge quit because the job
market is so crazy that it'sjust, you know, not having a job
doesn't seem like a very commonthing for people that they want
to have it.
So, yeah, I want to know haveyou ever revenge quit anything?

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Well, I have left positions before Now.
Supposedly you're supposed togive two weeks notice.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
There's a lot of industries, like the industry I
work in, where you give your twoweeks notice.
You're gone either the same dayor the next day.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Right, exactly, and it's like we're logging you out
of your password, your email,you know yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
And you know, if once they do that, they're not
obligated to pay you for thosetwo weeks, even though you get
two weeks notice notice.
So to me I feel that why evenplay the stupid game?
I'll just go ahead and quit.
Right now we're done.
You know, because technically,if they let you go, you have to
say you were let go and then youhave to explain why I actually

(49:20):
get my two week notice but theylet me go, blah, blah, blah.
Okay, I'm gonna make it realsimple for you.
I'll just just quit.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Exactly.
Give me as much money as youpossibly can and let me go.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
And I've seen people do this to where they leave
right at the time where, let'ssay, there's someone coming in
that they need to train, orlet's say it's a busy time of
the year.
Oh, I've seen it done.
And these are people that arereally, really angry too, that
have really been stepped on bythe company.
And the thing is what companiesdon't realize years ago,

(49:54):
companies they're always goingto look out for their best
interest, but they at least madeyou feel like they care.
And now it's the point to wherethey literally go out of their
way to let you know that, hey,you're replaceable, you don't
matter to us, we can go and getthis on the next day.
Well, now, especially with theyounger generations, they're
like OK, no problem, I'll returna favor.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Yeah, exactly, and I'll leave you high and dry and
I won't train the next personand like I understand where that
comes from, especially ifyou're working something like a
seasonal job and that stress isgetting too high.
You know what?
Like I feel like a lot ofyounger kids are just like why
am I?
I don't need this, you know Ican, I can leave, yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Oh yeah, and you know the crazy thing about it, merle
, is it's amazing If you lie,they can fire you.
Okay, you know you're looked atreal badly, but I mean, haven't
you ever gone to a job andyou've said to yourself these
fuckers have lied to your teeth?
Yeah, you know, maybe like 20of what they said is true, but

(50:58):
this is like, and exactly youtry and like.
Okay, you know you don't wantto bounce around you you try and
make it work.
Well, that's not the thing now,especially the special young
Gen Zers and all that theyoungsters I tip my hat off,
because once they figure outthat they've been lied to, oh,
they're out of there.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Right.
It is like a toxic relationshipwhere we've almost just I feel
like our generations have justbeen almost taught to be like
hang in there or take it on thechin, you know all that stuff,
because I, I would never, not, Iwould never.
But I have never been in asituation where I have like
revenge quit just because all myjobs seem to be more about like
I feel like I don't take jobsthat like quickly or feverishly,

(51:37):
or like I really take my timebefore I like take the next job
and I think about it, um, butit's definitely if I had had
worked like a seasonal job, Icould see myself at some point
just being like I can't do this.
You know I'm quittingimmediately.
But I don't think, even if mymanager sucked, I don't think I
would go out of my way to likescrew up things just because of
karma or just because I, youknow, I would hope that.

(51:59):
I don't know.
I just I hate the thought oflike leaving something a mess,
even if the manager is annoying,just for the sake of having it
be so disorganized.
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
I can understand that point.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
But I can see too.
If you're working at McDonald'sand people are just being
customer after customer is rude.
I can see a situation where Ijust throw fries at myself and
just leave myself and just leave.
Or with Starbucks, it's like Iwouldn't be mean, I think, at
the actual workplace.
But I could see just being sofed up with like whatever the
process is, that I would just upand leave immediately.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Yeah, I can definitely see that.
I mean, if you work in aminimum wage job.
I can see them like revenge,quitting without even giving a
second thought.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
I can see them like revenge, quitting without even
giving a second thought.
You know, yeah, yeah, exactly.
And like I mean I thinkmanagers tend to some can drive
people nuts and so sometimeslike if they're harassing you or
if you're not on the scheduleand they're making you come in
last minute and being passive,aggressive, then like yeah, I
probably would, I'd probably bea little bit more on the like

(53:11):
and where I just go someone anddon't reply back to them and
they get the hint eventually.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
But, um, I don't think I would like intentionally
screw up a place, knowing thatlike it would be hard to to
write that wrong.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah, that's true, but you know, the thing is is
that you reap what you sow yeah,exactly, exactly and that's,
and I think, like more, managersneed to be trained better too,
so that this doesn't happen.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
That is so so, so, so , true Talk about bad behavior.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Oh no, I think this is the one I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
This is unbelievable.
An American influencer she wasa tourist that went to Australia
, her name is Sam Jones and sheactually went and took a baby
wombat from the mother to gotake pictures to put on social

(54:00):
media.
I mean, to me this is gettingout of hand.
This is just ridiculous.
It's ridiculous.
And the thing is is that youknow Australia is thinking about
deporting her yeah, from thecountry.
And you know there's a fewthings here.
One, the obvious thing of youknow there's nothing wrong with

(54:20):
taking pictures of nature.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Don't go over there messing with them, right, and
why pick it up?
I know she said I wanted to makesure they're okay, they're on
the side of the road, but, likeyou can see, the video is
horrendous and like the videomakes it look, I think, worse
than even because, like the waythat she's running to the car
and like the mom is screamingand the baby is screaming, it's

(54:45):
like how on on earth, like ifyou're an animal lover, what,
how stupid you have to be tolike take a baby from its mom
and like I mean, if you're, ifyou're that concerned, then like
grab something from your carand like usher them off.
But but you should never likepick it up and like run to your
car and then, like a lot ofanimals, the mom won't touch
them after.
If a human touches them, solike you know, the mom may shun
it, or like not feed it and itcould be left to die and stuff,
and like it's so funny because Iwe talked about this before we

(55:07):
went on air, but it was justsome things make me like so, so,
so mad and I feel like I don'tknow if I want her deported, but
it's like I want her liketaking off social media or like
losing any brand deals and likeit's just you know, you know my
thing is, if you're sointerested and caring and you
want to get these pictures,here's an idea Find a grizzly

(55:31):
bear.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Yeah, with their kids Go grab one of their cubs, not
when the mother leaves, when themother's sitting there.
Exactly, let's see how thatgoes out, exactly, maybe.
Yeah, go find a polar bear withher cubs, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
A great white shark or tickets.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
maybe that would impress the hell out of me.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
You might not live to tell the story, but still you
know, let's see you do that.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Right, we all did young stupid things.
But I was trying to think backlike when I was a teenager.
But I really pick up a wildanimal and run, like laughing,
towards my car and I couldreally say, like, of all the
stupid things, no, I wouldn't dothat because it's just, you
have to have some thing.
We all have this innate thingwhere it's like you just don't
take a baby from its mom and runto your own car To be missing.

(56:16):
That chip in your brain is soweird to me.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
In all honesty, Meryl , you don't see too many black
people doing that.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
You know we, we don't play with wild animals like
that.
No, it's a, it's an annoyingwhite woman thing and it's like
it's and it really is, and it'slike and I just don't even
understand I don't.
I don't it's so terrible andlike I mean I don't know, of
course, like the amount of angerI feel towards her is probably
not justified in like what theactual punishment should be.
But hopefully she really feelsshame and like feels bad about

(56:51):
it, cause I think I was seeingsome posts from her that kind of
seemed defensive and it's likeokay, okay, this isn't that bad
and like I do understand I thinkshe was getting like death
threats and everything, which Iunderstand the emotion behind
that, but that's obviously notthe answer.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Yeah, and she's lucky she wasn't bit, because some of
those wombats can be veryvicious.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
I know, or they have rabies, we don't know what they
have, or any diseases oranything.
I mean.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
I don't wish bad on anyone, but wouldn't it be
something if that wombat motherbit her, and he did have rabies
she did have rab babies, youknow, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
I think it would be if I saw the story, because we
always hear things about likeokay, they got a selfie with
like a buffalo and then itattacked them.
But seeing the video is socruel, how she just like keeps
going towards her car and likeactively separates the baby from
the mom.
I know it's probably likeoverblown how angry some of us
feel, but it's just like I don'tknow.
You could almost just feel, andif you're the mom, if you're

(57:48):
the mom wombat, just likewondering why someone is taking
your baby.
It's just like so weird.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
Yeah, I mean it was kind of heart wrenching to hear
the mother wombat screaming theway.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
Yeah, I don't understand how you can do that
as a human, I really don't.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
But and you know, I think it's more than just Sam,
it's also the people that arewith her, because obviously,
when she was doing this nonsense, there was someone actually
videotaping her doing it.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
I know and to post that It'd be one thing to have
that happen and then be likeokay, well, I felt really weird
that I just did that.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
Like, let's take that down you know, yeah, but um, I
think that, um, there's going tobe places that that are getting
you a little sick of this andagain, when you do stuff outside
of america, people forget thisyou're in a different country,
which means you're in adifferent rules, so the the

(58:45):
liberties that you enjoy in thiscountry won't be the same all
over again.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
Some countries, she'd literally be in jail for her
life almost yes.
There's some people that go tojail for messing with the rocks
on the trees.
Oh yeah, it's just so weird.
I'd like to have some piece offorgiveness in my brain for like
youth and stupid things, justbecause we're all able to make

(59:11):
mistakes, but like this is justreally like I wouldn't trust a
person like that and I feel likeyou kind of have to be a crappy
person to have done somethinglike this.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Yeah, I agree with that?
I agree, but I think that atsome point countries are going
to get sick of this nonsense,and even in America they're
going to get sick of thisnonsense give up on their youth
when they, after they've beentouched by humans and they just
like let them go, you know.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
So they kind of become like shunned by their mom
.
So even if you like return itafter three minutes, it still is
not good, that's true.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Cause.
The problem is, some peopledon't think about the
consequences of their actions.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Yep, oh, that got me heated.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Let's hope that that she learns her lesson Exactly,
you know.
Again, I don't know what thepunishment is, but there's got
to be some repercussions to that, because that was just
ridiculous that was justoutright ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
You know, I feel like this week the theme is we're
smushing people together likeKanye and Elon, and now we're
going to smush from last week,the woman that hit the other
person in the head with a baton.
I feel like that woman and thewombat stealer are now going to
live together in a house.
That's my punishment.
They're going to share like acell block and see what happens.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Okay, well, my last one is pretty crazy.
The US government paid people$5,000 to eat junk food for a
month.
A 20-year-old Florida collegestudent named Sam Shrisada lived
the dream life, if ever.
So briefly, for a month, samate rich, fatty, ultra-processed
foods as part of a scientificresearch study to see what

(01:01:02):
happens to our bodies when wejam them full of bad stuff like
chips, sugary cereals, chickennuggets.
He was the guinea pig from aresearch person named Kevin Hall
from the National Institutes ofHealth, and so this is kind of
crazy.
I was just going to say what hehad to do in the name of science

(01:01:22):
.
He had to get his blood drawnoften and for long stretches so
they could collect up to 14vials at a time, and he had to
go into this like metabolicchamber with an airtight room
where he was slapped with abunch of sensors that monitored
how his body processed food andhe could go outside.
But for the most part, likethis is a lot of work for $5,000

(01:01:44):
for a month to basically makeyourself have an ultra-processed
diet.
Now, admittedly, I bet what heate was a lot of what I eat
normally in a week.
But I was going to ask you,would you get paid.
What would be your price to gothrough all this?

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
I would have to have more than $5,000.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Me too especially with 14 vials of blood, and like
you're missing if you'remissing a day by being in the
metabolic chamber like it justseems like a lot of wear and
tear on your body.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
Oh, yeah, and then the other thing too is, the
research only looks at theshort-term effect.
Right you don't know what thelong term effects are, Because
sometimes people have issuesgoing on in their bodies and
unless there's some kind ofsymptoms you have no idea.
So this kind of a diet can makeit 10 times worse.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
You know you got to ask yourself is it really worth
the 5,000?
I know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
I do it for 50,000 and then hire like a nutrition
coach immediately.
But also also, I don't know whyI'm acting so shocked because I
before this, I really just didhave like a handful of chips and
I was like, why don't you justpay me?
I'm already living like this.
I need to change my diet around.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
But and also, I think the important thing is do you
have to do this every single dayor only certain days of the
week?
That's true, that's huge,because if I have to do it every
single day, I would not do itno but if it's like, okay, you
have to do it three or fourtimes and the money's right yeah
oh no, you know exactly, andit's like a 20 year old kid.

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
I mean thinking back to like I still eat this way a
lot, but I think in college,like I was eating ramen packets
every single day, like you know,and eating at the dining hall
and stuff, so I feel like thiswas that's probably just like a
fun way to make five thousanddollars and eat how you're
already eating, you know that'strue.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
I mean, if you're gonna do it for, do it, do it.
Do it for young people because,let's face it, most of them are
eating like that anyway, sothey might as well make a few
dollars doing it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
So what's it called?
Um, they're like the viral oh,those have you ever heard of.
Like the bulldack noodles uh,they're ramen.
I bet you'll probably see themafter this.
But they're like ramen noodlesbut they have like cheesy
carbonara flavor, but they're so, so spicy and like the young
people eat them.
Like I mean by young people Ialso mean I eat them too.

(01:04:05):
But but but they're like if youlook at the ingredient list,
there's like 70 things andeveryone's like don't eat more
than one pack in a month oryou'll get an ulcer.
Like they're very, very highlychemical all righty now yeah so
it also like to me is like do weneed a lot of research on what
happens to the body?
We kind of all know you.
You'll develop diseases, you'llget hypertension.

(01:04:26):
I don't feel like I need astudy to tell me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, let's face it, romannoodles are good.
Yes, they're definitely notsomething you want to eat every
day.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
No, but they're addictive.
Whenever I have a packet it'shard to like.
That's definitely, like youknow, the sodium, and everything
does get addicting.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Oh yeah, and you know , the crazy thing about it is
and I never understood this buthealthy foods, even the simplest
foods, are so expensive, wheremost of your fast foods are
cheap.
Yeah, there's no such thing ascheap anymore.
Less are expensive.
You would think it would be theother way around.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
I know I feel like to .
Really, at the grocery storeyou really just almost have to
buy single ingredients like anonion, a pepper, a sausage.
Then it gets a little bitbetter, because I feel like if
you're just buying wholeingredients and not the pre-cut
up stuff, it's a little bitbetter because I feel like if
you're just buying wholeingredients and not the
pre-cut-up stuff, it's a littlebit better.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
I get in trouble because I like to buy the
convenient, the cut-uppineapples and the salads that
are already made.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
But it's boring, oh yeah, I saw this one skit on
social media and it's hilarious.
Oh yeah, I saw this one skit onsocial media and it's hilarious
, and it's showing this woman atthe cash register and she looks
up and she likes probably likeabout three or four items, and
it's already two hundred dollarslike oh, my god.
She's like oh, my god, my god.
And then the cashier ishilarious, like okay, okay, stop

(01:06:01):
looking at it, you're onlymaking it worse, we'll get
through this.
And then she puts one morething across it $90.
It's like what the?
hell.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Yeah, no.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
And I'm like this is hilarious, but so true though.
It is you blink your eye andit's like wait a minute, Hold on
.
How is this $200?

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
What the yes, and it's like, if you have the means
to a lot of people, don'tchoose to buy the rice out of
the bins and the big black beansthat are.
You know what I mean.
It's almost like you really dohave to trade time, because it's
like soaking the beans andgetting everything prepared.
It's like you have to be sodisciplined about it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
Yeah, that's true, that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
I really thought about taking DoorDash off of my
phone the other day because I'mlike I cannot, I need to delete
that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
Yeah, like I said, we're not paying $20 for eggs
yet.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
Right?
Not yet, exactly Not yet, butwho knows?
There's ways to earn money ifyou want to be in a scientific
study and gorge yourself full ofcupcakes.
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
Hey, even though with Twinkies they said, twinkies
will last 20 years.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
I know they're probably still inside of us,
right?
We haven't gotten rid ofTwinkies yet I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
It's one of those things where if you're going to
enjoy it, enjoy it and don'tlook at the ingredients.
Yeah, you know you'd be likewhat, what?

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
What do you think like the most processed thing
Like for me it, honestly, isprobably ramen.
Like what do you think the mostprocessed thing that you like
is or mine would be Doritos likeCool Ranch or regular Doritos.

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
I, or mine would be Doritos Like Cool Ranch or
regular Doritos, I would sayprobably potato chips, because
as I've gotten older I've triedto eat a little bit healthier,
so I don't eat a lot of stuff Iused to Like.
For example, I used to loveTwizzlers, so it's like every
Blue Moon I eat those.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
Roman noodles.
I don't eat anymore.
I haven't eaten those in years.
You know that's so good, eventhough they're very delicious,
you know yeah, but it's almostlike.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
It's almost like just close the can of worms and
don't even go near it.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
Like just to not even have it be an option now the
one thing I used to used to eatgrowing up, but I will never eat
now.
You ever had those Viennasausages?

Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
Oh, yeah, those are so good, those are so good.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
So I'm like, okay, as you get older, I'm like, okay,
I'm going to try to eat.
And then one day you make themistake of reading the
ingredients.
Oh my God.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Yeah, yes, and there's some stuff like if I got
a Little Caesars pizza orsomething, yes, and there's some
stuff like if I got a LittleCaesars pizza or something, then
the next couple of days I justdon't feel well, like my mood
feels lower and I feel like sopuffy and it's just.
It's amazing how it reallydirectly makes us feel oh, yeah
because I rarely eat any redmeat now.
Really.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Every so often, often .
And the thing is it has to begood red meat when I do do it,
because my body instantly,instantly reacts to it, because
I rarely eat it now, yeah yeah,yeah, just so, like big and
heavy, you could just tell thedifference of like your mood and
your creativeness andeverything oh yeah, definitely.
It's amazing when you give upsomething for a while, you

(01:09:22):
really, truly don't miss it.
Oh yeah, I think you would.
You know, yeah, and there'll be.
There'll be times where, like Ihaven't drank for you give up
something for a while you really, truly don't miss it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Oh, yeah, thank you.
Yeah, and there'll be, there'llbe times where, like I haven't
drank for like weeks or even amonth or whatever, and then I
almost feel hungover from thefood.
You know, like I'll have like apizza party or something, and
then the next, day.
I'm like, oh my God, I activelyfeel hungover.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Oh yeah, definitely, Because your body is like hey,
we left this alone, what are youdoing?

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Yeah, it's like you don't want dominoes, even though
you definitely do Also rightnow.
This is reminding me that Ihave a burger ready for me to
make.

Speaker 1 (01:09:54):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
Good timing.

Speaker 1 (01:09:57):
Well, talk about timing.
What do you have coming up,Meryl?

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
Oh my gosh.
I have a fun show on Friday atthe Comedy Store in Hollywood
and I'm hosting it, so it shouldbe very fun.
So I will not have 10,000 bowlsof ramen beforehand, otherwise
I'd have no energy.

Speaker 1 (01:10:18):
Nice, nice, and you said, there's this Friday coming
up.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
Yep this Friday at the Comedy Store in Hollywood.
And, of course, if anyone evercomes to one of my shows and
you're one of our listeners, sayhi, because I would love to say
hi to people.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
Oh, that would be awesome if they did that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
Yeah, I've had some from other stuff I've done.
I've had some people come toshows before and I had one girl
come by her and she was so cute.
She came by herself and she waslike so sheepish and nervous
and I'm like oh my god come onNow.
She's like my friend andeverything Nice.

Speaker 1 (01:10:50):
Well, this was a fun, fun show.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
It was Also your teeth look so white and bright
and healthy.

Speaker 1 (01:10:56):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
It's all the non-red meat that you're consuming,
totally worth it for you.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
Well, I try, I try, I try.
Well, everyone, thank you forwatching.
We had such a great time.
Thank you all for watching andsupporting us.
Please continue to support usand tell as many people as you
can to watch us and also listento us as well.

Speaker 2 (01:11:20):
Yes, all the things.

Speaker 1 (01:11:22):
I am Lawrence Elrod.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
And I am Meryl Clemo.
Have a great day everyone.
All the things.
I am Lauren Zellroth and I'mMeryl Clemo.

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Have a great day everyone.