Ryan Mitchell: Hello, hello. Welcome to Offline Days. It's the podcast where we remember a simpler time when your biggest workplace problem was when your boss would just walk into your office. Instead of your boss sending you a Slack message at 9:47 p.m. that says, Quick question. So today we're talking about my favorite four-letter word. Coley, what do you think about that?
Coley: work. I hate work.
Ryan Mitchell: Ha ha ha.
Coley: But hey, do you do you just what curiosity, do you have those TPS reports for me? I I I don't know if if you have if you have those or not. but I but I'm gonna yeah you you did wrong, okay
Ryan Mitchell: T TPS reports. Let me let me but you know, now that you mention now that you mention the TPS reports, Office Space, you know, basically accidentally predicted the future of work better
Coley: Hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: than anybody, you know, when Office Space came out in nineteen ninety-nine. We thought it was just a satire, you know? We watched Peter sitting in that light gray cubicle, staring at his computer, having eight different bosses ask him about the same TPS report,
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: and then we thought, that's ridiculous. No workplace could be actually this soul sucking. Turns out Mike Judge wasn't making a comedy, he was making a fucking warning.
Coley: Documentary. That's two that he's hit. Just FYI.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Well you haven't you haven't really worked in an in an have you worked in an office or have you just so
Coley: yeah. yeah. I worked in the office in the early days.
Ryan Mitchell: So working in an office nowadays is like, okay, we're transitioning to salaria, but payroll is still in bullfrog. Did you see my newscock post? Submit your time card on Fire
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Place, then jizz me Snack Dot, SmackDog. Do not
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: upload the crackers without the Yammer approval. That's
Coley: Did did you say Jiz Me on Smackface?
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's I mean, and and and the genius, like circling back to office space, is that Peter's biggest problem was basically I hate having to go into this office every day. That's it, right? Imagine having that problem today. Now your office follows you home. Back then when you left work, you were done. You could physically leave the building and your job couldn't reach you, you know? if there was a quick question, there was a fucking landline, you know. If your boss called your house at night, your whole family gathered around the phone like it was a hostage negotiation.
Coley: Yeah. I think one of the biggest things when you think about it is like I think that's why a lot of companies are trying to go back to in person because people are realizing that in in a real work office, you probably only did about 15 minutes of actual work and the rest of it was just bullshit. A lot
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: of how's your how's your daughter? How the how was the dance recital?
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm. Show me pictures
Coley: Lot of water cooler, Doc.
Ryan Mitchell: a lot of water cooler talk. And I feel like I was you know, my earlier days, I was at an office for most of the time. And I felt I feel the same way. It was, you know, you were you were doing work, but you were taking many of coffee breaks. A lot of people took smoke breaks. and the camaraderie was there though, you know, at the work workplace because you could You could just hate work together from one location.
Coley: That's true. Also, I wanna do a small rant on smoke breaks. I wanted to take a a ten minute break every hour so that I could go just you know, not smoke but just just take a ten minute break. That's all I wanted.
Ryan Mitchell: And that was that a was that a tough did they approve that or was that something that
Coley: No are the only approved smokers.
Ryan Mitchell: Maybe maybe that's a sign that we should we should start smoking, right?
Coley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Ryan Mitchell: Well, the funny part is is when they when they're gonna come out with research like ten years from now that vaping is like a million times worse than smoking cigarettes and all the people that thought they're they're being healthier they're gonna be like, Nope. Mm.
Coley: yeah. Well it everything's gonna kill us regardless, so it
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Well imagine telling a nineteen eighty nine office worker that one day you'll carry the entire office in your pocket and you'll somehow still complain that you're too busy.
Coley: Yeah. Yeah, that's it's crazy that I mean we had full computers. I remember having like four monitors when I when I was working in a cubicle and I had like email on one and I had like and I mean this is this isn't even in the nine eighties and nineties, but like this is you know late two thousands and
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: And you just have giant monitors everywhere and now you can do everything from this. It's crazy.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. So I and that's it's you know, back then it was like I have to work late. Now the whole concept is I have forty seven unread emails, nineteen Slack messages, three teams notifications and someone just tagged me in a Google Doc, where is the bridge to jump off of?
Coley: See, on that case you just need to go get a beer.
Ryan Mitchell: You know? Yeah. Well, the funny part is is technology was supposed to make work easier and that doesn't seem
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: to be the case, right? So how is that how does that play out?
Coley: It yeah, it just made what did it do? It it just made us work more. and it doesn't matter what your job is, like you you're always gonna be connected. Like you might it even if you're a teacher, you you can check your email on a Saturday afternoon. You if you're you know, a stockbroker, you can buy you can buy things and sell things on a Sunday night. like
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: Yeah, I mean I know it's not gonna I know it's not gonna open up until Monday, but you can do everything, you know, and and in and you like you're just constantly connected. And i I see it like I have a lawyer buddy who was making phone calls on the golf course, right? I mean, like so you're here we're trying to enjoy this this fun golf experience and you see someone, you know, texting on their phone and or replying to an email, or it's like, we are way
Ryan Mitchell: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you have to actually ask yourself the question, did technology actually make work easier or did it just allow companies to give us four hundred percent more work?
Coley: That w yeah, w like in a in a in a When you think about eighties and nineties, the the typical job was was forty hours a week, maybe fifty hours a week if you worked a little bit of overtime. And now it's like you work forty hours a week, plus you might answer an email or two in the evenings, and then you might make a phone call on a sat on a Saturday morning. and and so it's like these companies get 40 hours a week, but they really get a 60-hour work week from the employer.
Ryan Mitchell: Exactly, exactly. And you know, you have you have PTO days, but do you really have time to to use Right?
Coley: Well, and that's you know that I think that there's a big there's a big generation gap between us and and Gen Z and Gen Alpha when it starts to come because I think that the Gen Z people, they use their PTO all the time. They don't care. You and I, we care because we feel like if we leave for X amount of time. we're gonna have so much more work that we have to do. and that like that's not healthy either. Like there there's gotta
Ryan Mitchell: No.
Coley: be a balance between the two.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, so it's like how are you really supposed to take a vacation or take time off, just knowing in the back of your mind that shit is gonna be piling up so much, so you can't even really enjoy it because that is literally all you're thinking about while you're taking time off is what is this mountain of shit that I'm gonna have to to to deal with when I come back?
Coley: Yeah. Right. What what shit show is is is happening while I'm gone, right? Like I've I've been lucky that I've changed my mindset with like, yeah, it's gonna be a shit show at work, but I am not gonna care right now because I'm I'm away and I don't man and teaching's a little different because it's like You know, as long as the kids are safe and everything, it's like, okay, you know, you have a substitute teacher and he's sh he might be showing a movie. Okay, great. You know, so they didn't learn one day. I'll be back the next.
Ryan Mitchell: Yep. And that's, you know, that's an interesting segment you mentioned with mentioned with Gen Z, right? So the previous generations were were basically told, find a job, keep your head down, be grateful. and Gen Z is kind of, I feel like, increasingly asking, why would I organize my entire life around a company? and millennials are like, I've had 14 jobs in 12 years, right? in Gen in Gen Z. Yeah, and that's the thing. It's like all the job hopping. So I'm I'm in tech, right? I've been in tech sales for
Coley: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: 15 plus years. And it's crazy how
Coley: Okay.
Ryan Mitchell: short people's stints are in jobs these days. And a lot of that is I feel like propelled by venture capital when companies infuse a lot of money and are unable to to to return those expectations. It all just like filters down to the employee to get kind of overworked and and and and burnt out, right? in Gen Z, you know, they might have three different income streams and no one knows where they actually work. So they're doing like odds and ends and they're doing, you know, they're kind of piecemealing it together a little bit to fit their their lives and and and maybe in their mind the end all be all is not the dollar, right? It's just How how is my work life balance?
Coley: Yeah. I and I I d you know, like I think it it it's it's again that fine line of okay, if I if I don't necessarily care about work right now and I'm and I'm doing whatever I can to get the ends meet, to pay my rent, to pay my mortgage, whatever it might be, great. What happens when I'm seventy two years old? Right? So like living in the moment is and and that's and that's where our generation changes a little bit because it's like have a four one K. Make sure you're save you know you have a little bit of a savings account. Like that's that's where everybody like differ like that's where our parents like and and and it and makes sense because boomer the boomer generation their parents were part of the Great Depression so it's like save save save save save as much as you can and
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: then you and then you bring that to your kids and say you're like you need to go to college you need to save and then when you turn sixty two or sixty five now I think it is you'll have a nice nest egg and you'll be able to you'll be able to go do things that you want to do and you're like Okay, that's great. But also, like, what if I don't make it to 65, right?
Ryan Mitchell: Exactly. I mean, the whole what cracks me up is the boomers mentality of the whole, you know, work until you're seventy years old and enjoy the next two and a half years of your life until you start getting debilitating illnesses and things, you know, and and you're in one of those hover around scooters like visiting the Grand Canyon, you're like, Woo, look at this. So it's
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: it's I I feel like for decades the nine to five was just considered normal. So I think Gen Z looks at it as an outdating outdated operating system. You know, why does work have to happen specifically between nine and five? You know? why does productivity stop at five? Why does everyone have to be online at the exact time? if I finish my work at two thirty, am I supposed to to sh to to stare at Excel sheets until five?
Coley: Yes. You have to you have to pretend like you're working for the next hour and a half.
Ryan Mitchell: I'm still waiting for me, I'm just waiting for universal basic income to hit so I can just paint by the river.
Coley: There you go. Are you gonna live in a van? Down by the river? Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Or we c live in a van. I've started to see a lot a lot more of that these days is is people living in vans. And another this is kind of funny. I I'm trying to make this into a joke bit, but it's like the indicators the economy isn't doing well, I feel like they need to throw like people that buy metal detectors. I feel like the metal detector sales have have gone up. People are like looking for like buried gold as like a last resort.
Coley: You you get to find grandpa's gold tooth that fell out of his and
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: you get to find fifty cents and maybe a lost treasure that that a pirate buried there f a thousand years ago.
Ryan Mitchell: It's it's it's crazy. And and you know, part of this you have to you have to you have to look at the the cot how cost of living has changed the entire work equation, right? People didn't just suddenly become lazy. I think the math just got weird. You know, your grandparents could work
Coley: Yeah, absolutely.
Ryan Mitchell: one job, buy a house, raise kids, and retire. Today someone can work forty plus hours and still be Googling how much rice can I make with four dollars and seventeen cents.
Coley: Yeah, I mean well and if you think about it, if you have to work multiple jobs, like you're gonna get tired and you're and and it's gonna look like there are gonna be times that you're gonna look lazy and it's like no, I'm recharging, right? Like I've I've I just worked a 40-hour normal work week plus I walked six dogs and like I'm exhausted.
Ryan Mitchell: And it's the the it's like you know, part of it's like the digital exhaust, right? So you're on the computer all day and then when you get off work you try to unplug, but your phone's beeping and you're scrolling and and it's just it's an endless cycle. And and to piggyback on that, it's almost
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: like the American dream got a subscription model, right? Rent, car payment, phone, streaming. Internet, insurance, student loans, groceries. Somehow you're paying seventeen dollars a month for an app you forgot that you downloaded.
Coley: Yeah. Yeah. I I I think I think the hardest thing about all of it is like it's just get because this American dream got painted. You get a white picket fence, you and you one of you has to work and you one of you stays home and and hangs with the kids. And that's I mean, that's not the case. Because and then it's just it's it's mentally exhausting now because you're you're talking about I was that's where I was my head was going where it's like people don't realize how much mental capacity is physically exhausting. Like
Ryan Mitchell: True.
Coley: getting thousands of questions and reading hundreds of emails, that's exhausting.
Ryan Mitchell: It is. It is. And it's just it's you can just have a meltdown, right? You know, because of all that. And I think some people are better equipped to deal with it, and those are the people that are like potentially thriving, but then there's a subset of us that maybe aren't able to to to deal with that digital overload as much. And then You know, let's talk about the housing problem. You know, a huge psychological shift happens when working harder doesn't seem to bring the ownership of a house any closer any closer. I mean, I've got little shithole three bedroom houses in my neighborhood here that, you know, would cost like eighty thousand dollars in Kansas that are like eight hundred thousand dollars here.
Coley: Yeah. And and again, it's you know, you like when you when you if you compared the the front range of Denver to Kansas, there's not there's not a lot that's different. It's pretty flat, there's not a lot around. The only thing that's different is the proximity to the foothills and the mountains. And that's what and like that's what incre like that's that's insane.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, and I'm sure you could compare like maybe living in Parker or Aurora compared to like the west kind of of of Denver that's a little more I guess visually appealing, a little nicer. but still you go to Aurora or, you know, Kansas Denver and you're still not getting Kansas prices.
Coley: Yeah, seriously. You gotta go live in Colby, Kansas, which is about three hours east of Denver. Maybe four hours east of Denver.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. And and you know, I think it's and and you know, work work is you know, and and then y you see like the Gen Z, you know, they're they're looking at work differently, but you know, where will work be in ten years? You know? Is your boss gonna be an AI agent? I mean, are you gonna be interviewing with an AI agent?
Coley: Maybe you will have a bunch of AI people working for you. Then you don't have to do anything.
Ryan Mitchell: That that would that would be ideal. That would be and maybe it'll be a shorter
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: work week. Like what do you I mean, what do you foresee with like in the teaching
Coley: The they are trying to they
Ryan Mitchell: per in the teaching profession, right? I mean, I'm sure you've seen some changes. Like, I wonder if it'll ever get to the point where they just replace teachers with robots.
Coley: I mean I c I could I could have an entire, you know, fifteen episode podcast on teaching and my views on it and I think there'd
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: be a lot of teachers that would not like the way that I think. But They you talk about the shorter work week and like there's a s there's a school district in Brighton that does a four day school di they do a four day work school day. And so they they turn all their lights off on Mondays. So no one is allowed in the buildings. That's where they're saving their money because they have one and then they end up going to school like an hour l longer each day and it ends up you know, end up ends up being like a forty hour school day or school week. Yeah, it's no, they're not forty hours. They're only like seven hours a a day, but but still like it ends up working out and I I don't know, there's there's there's hit and miss between it. Bernie Sanders is trying to get everybody to do a 32 hour work week with a 40 hour paycheck.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. And I'm and I'm okay with that. And he's also
Coley: I don't know. I I I think
Ryan Mitchell: Go in.
Coley: I think Bernie I think Bernie Sanders I mean has the right idea. I I I don't necessarily I'm not a big Bernie Sanders fan in general, but like I think that the idea of you can get because I used to work four tens and God I loved it so much. Like I know that that was it seemed like so much more, but in reality it wasn't. It was two hours on each end of the day. So yeah, I was working a instead of an eight-hour day or a nine-hour day, I was working a ten-hour day. But I had a three-day weekend every weekend and it was all Awesome.
Ryan Mitchell: And I think that's, you know, shortening because maybe it's just the five day week is a bit antiquated, right? and people need more time to people need more time to recharge because of all this digital overload that we're getting. but I think that it's easy
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: for the corp it's easy for the corporate overlords to just not give a shit, right? And just continue to just cycle through people. But they don't also they don't want to lose control, right? I feel like AI to them, you know, it presents an opportunity to get more done with less. So that means they can reduce their staffs. And but at the end of the day, until it really becomes beneficial, they're using it to to make one peop one person do like two or three people's jobs. which isn't fair. and also I like the
Coley: Do do you know why the the f what do you like? I was
Ryan Mitchell: What's that? Sorry.
Coley: gonna say, do you know why the five day work week exists?
Ryan Mitchell: No, why?
Coley: So it was it was because people were working too much, actually. That people were working
Ryan Mitchell: Food.
Coley: like ten to sixteen hour days, six, seven days a week. So like we almost it's almost been like a pendulum swing, when you think about it. So it was like in the early nineteenth century, people were working like crazy hours like we do right now. And then So in nineteen thirty-eight it was called the Fair Labor Standards Act. and
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: so that created the forty hour week, five days a week. And you and people had to it was a law, like people had to abide by it if they were gonna hire people. And then that's why they could then they could get fairer wages and and and then the other thing is it's also a there multiple religions across the board kind of go with it because a lot of religions deal with sunday as the day or saturday as the day. and so it's like they didn't want people working on the holy days that they wanted. So then they really started working on those five days, those main five days. So that's why the five day work week exists. And if you think about it with different with different ideas Of how today's world is, we don't need a five-day work week. We like er you you can still you can still use Sunday as a holy day, you can still use Saturday as a holy day, and you can still maybe do two hours of work to still get your 40 hours. Like it doesn't have to be eight consecutive hours in a row.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, very true. And that's interesting kind of how it started, but as we talked about, it could be an antiquated system here and you know, time for time for for updates. But again, this all threatens the control of the the the corporate o you know, overlords that want to kind of keep people boxed into that that way of life. I mean, I just I just Googled good.
Coley: Yeah, sorry, my computer's about to die. Keep going. What'd you Google?
Ryan Mitchell: I just Googled something I just googled bartending jobs in the Caribbean. That's where my head is.
Coley: You know what you know what I go you know what I you you know what I Googled the other day is I
Ryan Mitchell: What?
Coley: asked or I got an email from a from a a cruise company that was looking for comedians. And you go and you make and you make like fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred dollars A week you gotta have 45 minutes of a solid 45 minutes. but you do one show a night, and then you for
Ryan Mitchell: A forty five minute set.
Coley: like a week or two, yeah. And then for like a week or two, you are just on the cruise. And I was like, Man, that's what I'm gonna do when I retire. Like, I'm gonna go be a comedian on a cruise ship and and just go to different places.
Ryan Mitchell: Yes. Yes. Yes. and it's funny you mentioned that 'cause I was actually I was actually thinking about that, but maybe you know, maybe you're looking at the more established cruise ships, but maybe you know, I start off on the on the on the more rinkity dink cruise ships that only need a twenty minute set.
Coley: Yeah. Yeah, totally. You know what? I hear deadliest catches hiring comedians. Maybe we go do that and we'll we'll we'll do our set while water is crashing down on us. It'll be freezing cold.
Ryan Mitchell: yeah. that would be that would be that would be a good that'd be a good like reality show. Coley and Ryan just on a on a cruise ship
Coley: This is
Ryan Mitchell: chasing their their comedy dreams into the sunset.
Coley: I like thinking you're like on a cruise ship. We're we're gonna be on the guy we're gonna be on who was what was the the guy in Jaws, I can't think of his name right now. G get on his get on his boat and and and start telling jokes and then he's like, All right, shh, the shark's coming. Shark
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Another thing we have to kinda ask ourselves Yeah, you're like what? Another thing we kinda have to ask ourselves philosophically is, you know, speaking of jobs, did capitalism stop working or did we just get bad at capitalism or is it time for some sort of hybrid model of capitalism?
Coley: I don't think capitalism ever stops working. I think that that's I mean, that's every it it doesn't matter what profession you are, you always want to try to get ahead and you always want to try to make as much money as you possibly can. I do think that there are people out there who are like, money isn't as important to me as experiencing life. And so I get
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: that. But like I guarantee you, if you ask those pe those same people and you'd be like, hey, here's a thousand dollars, put it into the stock market, see what happens, and then wait ten years and then and then see what you can do on your day to day life, right? And they'd be like, Yeah,
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: absolutely. I'm gonna do that. I don't know. I think I
Ryan Mitchell: That but but but how do you how does how does capitalism work ten years from now when potentially twenty five percent of jobs just disappear because of AI? So that would be my question to you.
Coley: Well, I think capitalism will work with the with the CEOs. That's that's where it'll work because that's when you think about it, that's where they're going right now. If if if I can save money by having AI instead of paying health insurance, I'm gonna do that. So I'm gonna save money that way and it's gonna bring me more money into my pocket, right?
Ryan Mitchell: But that's not that's not helping everyone, that's just helping the Uber rich.
Coley: No, it's no, it never helps anybody. It only helps the Uber rich, right? Like that's
Ryan Mitchell: Well that's that's why we have to figure that's why we have to figure 'cause you know, we were t we were told go to school, get a job, buy a house, have a family, retire. Now it's go to school, get a job, get a second job, start a side hustle, monetize your hobbies, die with forty seven unread Slack messages.
Coley: Yeah, yeah, that's what we do now. I don't know. I don't I don't know what I mean unless unless you go unless and we don't need to talk politics obviously, but like unless you go socialism. but but again, like think about if that was you and even I'm not talking making billions of dollars, but even if you made some sort of money in in the stock market and then they're like, guess what? All that money you just made, that's gonna be spread out b for all of us. And you're like, okay,
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: but I that was that was my hard earned money that I put into there. And I mean I know I didn't necessarily earn my money. I got lucky with the stock market, but you know it's like where where do you find that line, right?
Ryan Mitchell: So a another another idea f coming from Bernie Sanders and some other people are, you know, public ownership kind of in AI, right? so proposals suggest
Coley: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: setting up an American AI sovereign wealth fund to dis distribute economic upsides. so discussions involve private private labs potentially contributing a small percentage of equity to public benefit funds. So when all these companies start to make money hand over fist with AI, that should a a percentage of that should go back to the public, in my opinion.
Coley: Yeah, I mean I think that that would be great. If it yeah, it and it like again, if if a company is saving X amount on on not paying health insurance with certain peop with certain things with AI, yeah, that that absolutely makes sense in in most people's in most people middle class eyes, right? Does it make sense if you're the CEO, right?
Ryan Mitchell: But we don't I don't give a fuck about the CEO. That's the thing. You know, I don't I feel I feel like these the these C these
Coley: I know. I don't either.
Ryan Mitchell: CEOs are making too much damn money now. And I'm not a s I'm not a socialist. I'm not a socialist. I know that people kind
Coley: Yeah, I agree. No, I
Ryan Mitchell: of like I I I'm looking in between capitalism and socialism. For example, how could you make a company like Norway, Sw or a comp or a country like Norway, Sweden? Some of these Nordic companies have they aren't socialists but they're not capitalists. They have kind of a hybrid model there.
Coley: Right. Yeah. I I I think I think the idea and I am a hundred percent on board with you, Ryan. I I just think that there are too many CEOs who are capitalists that are gonna that it's it's gonna it's gonna be almost impossible to to drive something like that, right?
Ryan Mitchell: I don't I I I'll push back a little bit. Once you you know, for example, five years from now, if we just have like twenty five percent unemployment for some reason, and then you people aren't able to make money, support their families, then you're gonna start to see a solid amount of civil unrest that leads to violence, that leads to other things. So unless there are safety nets built in as this starts to explode quickly, there could be There could be problems on the on the
Coley: Yeah,
Ryan Mitchell: on the
Coley: absolutely. I think that It's gonna be chaos if if something doesn't happen shortly. Like it is. It's it's I mean that's that's human nature. If if I can't if I can't afford bread, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get that bread, regardless of rules.
Ryan Mitchell: You mean if you just can't you can afford whole wheat but you really want sourdough. So you're gonna walk in there with like an Uzi.
Coley: Yeah, no, I'm gonna buy wonder bread like real bread.
Ryan Mitchell: I mean, I the way I look at it is we're we're just at we're at a breaking point.
Coley: I don't know. I yeah, I I think you're right, Limited.
Ryan Mitchell: We're at a breaking point now. And a lot of people don't see it because it's we're at such the tip of the iceberg of what AI can do, how jobs are changing, who's still holding on to the power, all those things. So so I think a lot of people are just uncertain now with just cause.
Coley: Yeah. And and I think a lot of it is is is not necessarily being educated about it. You wanna make sure that you you know, you're reading about this stuff and and and I do think you're right, it's the tip of the iceberg. Like it people see this and there's this problem that nobody sees or only a few people see.
Ryan Mitchell: Well, it's it's hard for the average American, the working class, which is almost they're pushing them down it's pushing them down to like the lower tiers. So so it's it's hard for them to keep their
Coley: Yep.
Ryan Mitchell: eye eyes on the prize because they're just trying to make ends meet. Especially y you know, you have you have a child, people that have children, it's not easy to quite as easy to raise children or afford children these days. So so that's the disconnect is that the people that it affects the most don't have the time to advocate for themselves.
Coley: Yeah. Well in in that in that aspect what's happening is the is the middle class is going away. So you either have to choose do you want to be really poor do you want to be do you want to be poor? Like do you wanna be a rich poor person or do you wanna be
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: a poor rich person?
Ryan Mitchell: And and that's something I've thought about too. I don't have kids. And I don't plan on having kids. So in my mind, I'm like, okay, I've been in this tech world for many years making good money, but seemingly unhappy. Would I be happier making a lot less money, not being as stressed out? And I think because it's the the age of consumerism that we live in right now, where you're p constantly getting ads to buy things and And comparing on social media, it's like the only way to to kind of go against the grain of keeping up with the Joneses is just not playing that game. You know what I mean?
Coley: Yeah. That's what I did. I didn't want I was in the corporate world forever and I was like, this is soul sucking. I need to do something that's not gonna be soul sucking. And
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: then yeah. Again, check out my other podcast, not really, but check out my other
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: rants on teaching.
Ryan Mitchell: it's it's and I love getting in the boomer. I got plenty of boomer rants, right? 'Cause I think the problem with the boomers is is they just they
Coley: Yeah, right.
Ryan Mitchell: do not understand how technology has kind of fried people's brains and changed the work landscape. and they're holding on to the and
Coley: Yeah, because they're not on it.
Ryan Mitchell: No, they're on the tail end of their careers now and We're having to just sit here and deal with the world that they left us after they sucked the economy dry with their pensions and all the stuff that all the stuff
Coley: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: that set them up pretty and now they're looking at us like we're just lazy POS's that that that don't want to work and kids that are graduating college now cannot even
Coley: Which sucks.
Ryan Mitchell: it's taken them years to even find jobs because AI's replacing everything. So
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: so I'll tell those We need to like get a boomer on here to just have like a nice argumentative rant, you know, about like a battle royale.
Coley: All right. Here's what we'll do. We'll find a boomer. I'll get you, you guys, and then I'll just kind of be a mediator.
Ryan Mitchell: Ooh, I like that idea. I like that idea. And I'll just destroy this person. Just dis
Coley: I'll probably take more of your side. I was gonna say I was gonna probably take more of your side. I'm probably not a great mediator. There's a lot of things
Ryan Mitchell: it's
Coley: that you and I totally agree on when it comes to this stuff.
Ryan Mitchell: I agree yeah, it's it's Yeah, I think I think I think this to kinda close the loop, it's technology has exploded so much and then the productivity side, how much more they want us to produce and in on the product it's like we're competing with AI. So so we've gotten technology
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: that has made our lives more fragmented because we're having to log into these different platforms, do this, and maybe we just aren't at the point yet where it's making jobs easier. And And it's all getting kind of shoved down the workers' throat now. So I'd kind of say we're we're we're we're in a transitional between a rock and a hard place, finding jobs, being out of
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: jobs. It's it's and and it seems like it's not getting any better. But I think we'll just have to hope that there's some policies in place and there are some things that happen in the future that turn the table if you get my directive.
Coley: That's all I'm hoping for. I get it. That's all I'm hoping for. Just just a tiny little bit of a relief to to help us. And and maybe someone is gonna figure out AI can make that relief or something like that. I don't know. Who knows, ready? I guess we just gotta keep living that
Ryan Mitchell: Well it'd be l well, it'd be like AI eventually just being able to
Coley: life.
Ryan Mitchell: it'd be like AI eventually being able to cure cancer like this, or cure diseases, or or or
Coley: Right.
Ryan Mitchell: I think we're just not at the point yet where we're seeing all these benefits and and hopefully I I die before that happens. Just kidding.
Coley: Yeah. I agree.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, now I'd love to just not to be able to reap any of the benefits. well, this has been a good conversation. I've I've
Coley: Right.
Ryan Mitchell: in I've enjoyed this.
Coley: I enjoyed it a lot. Yeah. Should we promote ourselves though? Since even though
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Yeah.
Coley: we were having a conversation we should do offline is that where you find us
Ryan Mitchell: I feel like you're you're you're
Coley: on the platforms of Facebook.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, you you do that. I feel like you're better at promoting. I'm shitty at it.
Coley: Anyway, all right. So we're on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. That's offline days d-a-z-e like dazed and confused. Also don't forget, as soon as we hit a thousand Facebook followers, we have two hundred right now. We get a thousand Facebook followers. We will have a drawing for your Blockbuster, two drawings actually, for your Blockbuster giveaway that you can pay your Blockbuster late fees. But Ryan says that you have to pay your late fees. You can't just buy whatever you want.
Ryan Mitchell: No. You have to pay back your blockbuster fees.
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: so that's and then don't forget about the the polo contest. So we're gonna be launching a contest soon where you can win you
Coley: Polo contest, yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: can win. We've partnered with a cool golf brand, you can win a flamingo polo. and we're still gonna we're gonna post I'm gonna post a video about that probably Monday. Talking about it, but it's essentially you're gonna
Coley: Nice.
Ryan Mitchell: you're gonna put in the comments what irritates you most about technology. And whenever we find the funniest, we're gonna ship someone that fresh new polo. And let me grab let me grab it
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: over here. Let it grab it over here. It is in in the plastic bag. You can see these flam it's crisp, the flamingo
Coley: Ooh, it's crisp still.
Ryan Mitchell: polo on a skateboard. How often do you get to see a flamingo polo on a skateboard? So I think that's cool and
Coley: I mean, I wore my flamingo shirt too.
Ryan Mitchell: I love it. And also where where can you where can we find you next performing? You know, we're both stand up comedians. so so is there is there are any shows on the docket for you, sir?
Coley: Yeah. I had a show on August 30th at in Louisville.
Ryan Mitchell: Okay.
Coley: and that's a that's a all teachers, all teacher comedians are doing that show. So it's at the Louisville
Ryan Mitchell: Love that.
Coley: Underground. That's the first time I've ever performed there, so I'm excited.
Ryan Mitchell: That is exciting. And and we and and we do have a standing ca
Coley: And you're you're coming you got something coming up too.
Ryan Mitchell: Yep, so the twenty-sixth of September. let me get let me get the let me let me find out exactly where it is again. The twenty-sixth of of September I will be performing at it's in Colorado Springs. let's see here. Good of my messages, just bear with me, folks. This is but it's gonna be an interesting kind of
Coley: He's so popular.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, right. So popular. so so here's here's the here's the idea. This will be at it's it's a it's an event for mental health, which which I I support in Colorado Springs.
Coley: Nice.
Ryan Mitchell: and it's currently bringing up the the name of the venue. Strength in Comedy at Wackadoo Brewing Brewing Colorado Springs, Saturday, September twenty sixth. seven to ten PM and it's gonna be it's gonna be an interesting format. what is it? It's kind of like some improv. They're doing some different stuff now where you like pick a topic out of a hat and kind of do some improv fun fun comedy that way. So I don't know what the hell I'm getting myself into, but there it goes.
Coley: Nice. Nice. Well, hopefully
Ryan Mitchell: All right. Well that's that's exciting.
Coley: you're just not getting smacked by a All
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, right.
Coley: right. Well clearly I think it's the time to wrap it up, right?
Ryan Mitchell: It is time to wrap it up, but thanks everyone for the time and our nice conversation about work and how it's changed pre internet now. And we'll post some clips on social media when we release this so so people can chime in on on their own thoughts of of this topic.
Coley: Hundred percent. All
Ryan Mitchell: All right. Thanks everyone.
Coley: right. Bye everybody.
Coley: work. I hate work.
Ryan Mitchell: Ha ha ha.
Coley: But hey, do you do you just what curiosity, do you have those TPS reports for me? I I I don't know if if you have if you have those or not. but I but I'm gonna yeah you you did wrong, okay
Ryan Mitchell: T TPS reports. Let me let me but you know, now that you mention now that you mention the TPS reports, Office Space, you know, basically accidentally predicted the future of work better
Coley: Hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: than anybody, you know, when Office Space came out in nineteen ninety-nine. We thought it was just a satire, you know? We watched Peter sitting in that light gray cubicle, staring at his computer, having eight different bosses ask him about the same TPS report,
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: and then we thought, that's ridiculous. No workplace could be actually this soul sucking. Turns out Mike Judge wasn't making a comedy, he was making a fucking warning.
Coley: Documentary. That's two that he's hit. Just FYI.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Well you haven't you haven't really worked in an in an have you worked in an office or have you just so
Coley: yeah. yeah. I worked in the office in the early days.
Ryan Mitchell: So working in an office nowadays is like, okay, we're transitioning to salaria, but payroll is still in bullfrog. Did you see my newscock post? Submit your time card on Fire
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Place, then jizz me Snack Dot, SmackDog. Do not
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: upload the crackers without the Yammer approval. That's
Coley: Did did you say Jiz Me on Smackface?
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's I mean, and and and the genius, like circling back to office space, is that Peter's biggest problem was basically I hate having to go into this office every day. That's it, right? Imagine having that problem today. Now your office follows you home. Back then when you left work, you were done. You could physically leave the building and your job couldn't reach you, you know? if there was a quick question, there was a fucking landline, you know. If your boss called your house at night, your whole family gathered around the phone like it was a hostage negotiation.
Coley: Yeah. I think one of the biggest things when you think about it is like I think that's why a lot of companies are trying to go back to in person because people are realizing that in in a real work office, you probably only did about 15 minutes of actual work and the rest of it was just bullshit. A lot
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: of how's your how's your daughter? How the how was the dance recital?
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm. Show me pictures
Coley: Lot of water cooler, Doc.
Ryan Mitchell: a lot of water cooler talk. And I feel like I was you know, my earlier days, I was at an office for most of the time. And I felt I feel the same way. It was, you know, you were you were doing work, but you were taking many of coffee breaks. A lot of people took smoke breaks. and the camaraderie was there though, you know, at the work workplace because you could You could just hate work together from one location.
Coley: That's true. Also, I wanna do a small rant on smoke breaks. I wanted to take a a ten minute break every hour so that I could go just you know, not smoke but just just take a ten minute break. That's all I wanted.
Ryan Mitchell: And that was that a was that a tough did they approve that or was that something that
Coley: No are the only approved smokers.
Ryan Mitchell: Maybe maybe that's a sign that we should we should start smoking, right?
Coley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Ryan Mitchell: Well, the funny part is is when they when they're gonna come out with research like ten years from now that vaping is like a million times worse than smoking cigarettes and all the people that thought they're they're being healthier they're gonna be like, Nope. Mm.
Coley: yeah. Well it everything's gonna kill us regardless, so it
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Well imagine telling a nineteen eighty nine office worker that one day you'll carry the entire office in your pocket and you'll somehow still complain that you're too busy.
Coley: Yeah. Yeah, that's it's crazy that I mean we had full computers. I remember having like four monitors when I when I was working in a cubicle and I had like email on one and I had like and I mean this is this isn't even in the nine eighties and nineties, but like this is you know late two thousands and
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: And you just have giant monitors everywhere and now you can do everything from this. It's crazy.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. So I and that's it's you know, back then it was like I have to work late. Now the whole concept is I have forty seven unread emails, nineteen Slack messages, three teams notifications and someone just tagged me in a Google Doc, where is the bridge to jump off of?
Coley: See, on that case you just need to go get a beer.
Ryan Mitchell: You know? Yeah. Well, the funny part is is technology was supposed to make work easier and that doesn't seem
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: to be the case, right? So how is that how does that play out?
Coley: It yeah, it just made what did it do? It it just made us work more. and it doesn't matter what your job is, like you you're always gonna be connected. Like you might it even if you're a teacher, you you can check your email on a Saturday afternoon. You if you're you know, a stockbroker, you can buy you can buy things and sell things on a Sunday night. like
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: Yeah, I mean I know it's not gonna I know it's not gonna open up until Monday, but you can do everything, you know, and and in and you like you're just constantly connected. And i I see it like I have a lawyer buddy who was making phone calls on the golf course, right? I mean, like so you're here we're trying to enjoy this this fun golf experience and you see someone, you know, texting on their phone and or replying to an email, or it's like, we are way
Ryan Mitchell: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you have to actually ask yourself the question, did technology actually make work easier or did it just allow companies to give us four hundred percent more work?
Coley: That w yeah, w like in a in a in a When you think about eighties and nineties, the the typical job was was forty hours a week, maybe fifty hours a week if you worked a little bit of overtime. And now it's like you work forty hours a week, plus you might answer an email or two in the evenings, and then you might make a phone call on a sat on a Saturday morning. and and so it's like these companies get 40 hours a week, but they really get a 60-hour work week from the employer.
Ryan Mitchell: Exactly, exactly. And you know, you have you have PTO days, but do you really have time to to use Right?
Coley: Well, and that's you know that I think that there's a big there's a big generation gap between us and and Gen Z and Gen Alpha when it starts to come because I think that the Gen Z people, they use their PTO all the time. They don't care. You and I, we care because we feel like if we leave for X amount of time. we're gonna have so much more work that we have to do. and that like that's not healthy either. Like there there's gotta
Ryan Mitchell: No.
Coley: be a balance between the two.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, so it's like how are you really supposed to take a vacation or take time off, just knowing in the back of your mind that shit is gonna be piling up so much, so you can't even really enjoy it because that is literally all you're thinking about while you're taking time off is what is this mountain of shit that I'm gonna have to to to deal with when I come back?
Coley: Yeah. Right. What what shit show is is is happening while I'm gone, right? Like I've I've been lucky that I've changed my mindset with like, yeah, it's gonna be a shit show at work, but I am not gonna care right now because I'm I'm away and I don't man and teaching's a little different because it's like You know, as long as the kids are safe and everything, it's like, okay, you know, you have a substitute teacher and he's sh he might be showing a movie. Okay, great. You know, so they didn't learn one day. I'll be back the next.
Ryan Mitchell: Yep. And that's, you know, that's an interesting segment you mentioned with mentioned with Gen Z, right? So the previous generations were were basically told, find a job, keep your head down, be grateful. and Gen Z is kind of, I feel like, increasingly asking, why would I organize my entire life around a company? and millennials are like, I've had 14 jobs in 12 years, right? in Gen in Gen Z. Yeah, and that's the thing. It's like all the job hopping. So I'm I'm in tech, right? I've been in tech sales for
Coley: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: 15 plus years. And it's crazy how
Coley: Okay.
Ryan Mitchell: short people's stints are in jobs these days. And a lot of that is I feel like propelled by venture capital when companies infuse a lot of money and are unable to to to return those expectations. It all just like filters down to the employee to get kind of overworked and and and and burnt out, right? in Gen Z, you know, they might have three different income streams and no one knows where they actually work. So they're doing like odds and ends and they're doing, you know, they're kind of piecemealing it together a little bit to fit their their lives and and and maybe in their mind the end all be all is not the dollar, right? It's just How how is my work life balance?
Coley: Yeah. I and I I d you know, like I think it it it's it's again that fine line of okay, if I if I don't necessarily care about work right now and I'm and I'm doing whatever I can to get the ends meet, to pay my rent, to pay my mortgage, whatever it might be, great. What happens when I'm seventy two years old? Right? So like living in the moment is and and that's and that's where our generation changes a little bit because it's like have a four one K. Make sure you're save you know you have a little bit of a savings account. Like that's that's where everybody like differ like that's where our parents like and and and it and makes sense because boomer the boomer generation their parents were part of the Great Depression so it's like save save save save save as much as you can and
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: then you and then you bring that to your kids and say you're like you need to go to college you need to save and then when you turn sixty two or sixty five now I think it is you'll have a nice nest egg and you'll be able to you'll be able to go do things that you want to do and you're like Okay, that's great. But also, like, what if I don't make it to 65, right?
Ryan Mitchell: Exactly. I mean, the whole what cracks me up is the boomers mentality of the whole, you know, work until you're seventy years old and enjoy the next two and a half years of your life until you start getting debilitating illnesses and things, you know, and and you're in one of those hover around scooters like visiting the Grand Canyon, you're like, Woo, look at this. So it's
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: it's I I feel like for decades the nine to five was just considered normal. So I think Gen Z looks at it as an outdating outdated operating system. You know, why does work have to happen specifically between nine and five? You know? why does productivity stop at five? Why does everyone have to be online at the exact time? if I finish my work at two thirty, am I supposed to to sh to to stare at Excel sheets until five?
Coley: Yes. You have to you have to pretend like you're working for the next hour and a half.
Ryan Mitchell: I'm still waiting for me, I'm just waiting for universal basic income to hit so I can just paint by the river.
Coley: There you go. Are you gonna live in a van? Down by the river? Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Or we c live in a van. I've started to see a lot a lot more of that these days is is people living in vans. And another this is kind of funny. I I'm trying to make this into a joke bit, but it's like the indicators the economy isn't doing well, I feel like they need to throw like people that buy metal detectors. I feel like the metal detector sales have have gone up. People are like looking for like buried gold as like a last resort.
Coley: You you get to find grandpa's gold tooth that fell out of his and
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: you get to find fifty cents and maybe a lost treasure that that a pirate buried there f a thousand years ago.
Ryan Mitchell: It's it's it's crazy. And and you know, part of this you have to you have to you have to look at the the cot how cost of living has changed the entire work equation, right? People didn't just suddenly become lazy. I think the math just got weird. You know, your grandparents could work
Coley: Yeah, absolutely.
Ryan Mitchell: one job, buy a house, raise kids, and retire. Today someone can work forty plus hours and still be Googling how much rice can I make with four dollars and seventeen cents.
Coley: Yeah, I mean well and if you think about it, if you have to work multiple jobs, like you're gonna get tired and you're and and it's gonna look like there are gonna be times that you're gonna look lazy and it's like no, I'm recharging, right? Like I've I've I just worked a 40-hour normal work week plus I walked six dogs and like I'm exhausted.
Ryan Mitchell: And it's the the it's like you know, part of it's like the digital exhaust, right? So you're on the computer all day and then when you get off work you try to unplug, but your phone's beeping and you're scrolling and and it's just it's an endless cycle. And and to piggyback on that, it's almost
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: like the American dream got a subscription model, right? Rent, car payment, phone, streaming. Internet, insurance, student loans, groceries. Somehow you're paying seventeen dollars a month for an app you forgot that you downloaded.
Coley: Yeah. Yeah. I I I think I think the hardest thing about all of it is like it's just get because this American dream got painted. You get a white picket fence, you and you one of you has to work and you one of you stays home and and hangs with the kids. And that's I mean, that's not the case. Because and then it's just it's it's mentally exhausting now because you're you're talking about I was that's where I was my head was going where it's like people don't realize how much mental capacity is physically exhausting. Like
Ryan Mitchell: True.
Coley: getting thousands of questions and reading hundreds of emails, that's exhausting.
Ryan Mitchell: It is. It is. And it's just it's you can just have a meltdown, right? You know, because of all that. And I think some people are better equipped to deal with it, and those are the people that are like potentially thriving, but then there's a subset of us that maybe aren't able to to to deal with that digital overload as much. And then You know, let's talk about the housing problem. You know, a huge psychological shift happens when working harder doesn't seem to bring the ownership of a house any closer any closer. I mean, I've got little shithole three bedroom houses in my neighborhood here that, you know, would cost like eighty thousand dollars in Kansas that are like eight hundred thousand dollars here.
Coley: Yeah. And and again, it's you know, you like when you when you if you compared the the front range of Denver to Kansas, there's not there's not a lot that's different. It's pretty flat, there's not a lot around. The only thing that's different is the proximity to the foothills and the mountains. And that's what and like that's what incre like that's that's insane.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, and I'm sure you could compare like maybe living in Parker or Aurora compared to like the west kind of of of Denver that's a little more I guess visually appealing, a little nicer. but still you go to Aurora or, you know, Kansas Denver and you're still not getting Kansas prices.
Coley: Yeah, seriously. You gotta go live in Colby, Kansas, which is about three hours east of Denver. Maybe four hours east of Denver.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. And and you know, I think it's and and you know, work work is you know, and and then y you see like the Gen Z, you know, they're they're looking at work differently, but you know, where will work be in ten years? You know? Is your boss gonna be an AI agent? I mean, are you gonna be interviewing with an AI agent?
Coley: Maybe you will have a bunch of AI people working for you. Then you don't have to do anything.
Ryan Mitchell: That that would that would be ideal. That would be and maybe it'll be a shorter
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: work week. Like what do you I mean, what do you foresee with like in the teaching
Coley: The they are trying to they
Ryan Mitchell: per in the teaching profession, right? I mean, I'm sure you've seen some changes. Like, I wonder if it'll ever get to the point where they just replace teachers with robots.
Coley: I mean I c I could I could have an entire, you know, fifteen episode podcast on teaching and my views on it and I think there'd
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: be a lot of teachers that would not like the way that I think. But They you talk about the shorter work week and like there's a s there's a school district in Brighton that does a four day school di they do a four day work school day. And so they they turn all their lights off on Mondays. So no one is allowed in the buildings. That's where they're saving their money because they have one and then they end up going to school like an hour l longer each day and it ends up you know, end up ends up being like a forty hour school day or school week. Yeah, it's no, they're not forty hours. They're only like seven hours a a day, but but still like it ends up working out and I I don't know, there's there's there's hit and miss between it. Bernie Sanders is trying to get everybody to do a 32 hour work week with a 40 hour paycheck.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. And I'm and I'm okay with that. And he's also
Coley: I don't know. I I I think
Ryan Mitchell: Go in.
Coley: I think Bernie I think Bernie Sanders I mean has the right idea. I I I don't necessarily I'm not a big Bernie Sanders fan in general, but like I think that the idea of you can get because I used to work four tens and God I loved it so much. Like I know that that was it seemed like so much more, but in reality it wasn't. It was two hours on each end of the day. So yeah, I was working a instead of an eight-hour day or a nine-hour day, I was working a ten-hour day. But I had a three-day weekend every weekend and it was all Awesome.
Ryan Mitchell: And I think that's, you know, shortening because maybe it's just the five day week is a bit antiquated, right? and people need more time to people need more time to recharge because of all this digital overload that we're getting. but I think that it's easy
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: for the corp it's easy for the corporate overlords to just not give a shit, right? And just continue to just cycle through people. But they don't also they don't want to lose control, right? I feel like AI to them, you know, it presents an opportunity to get more done with less. So that means they can reduce their staffs. And but at the end of the day, until it really becomes beneficial, they're using it to to make one peop one person do like two or three people's jobs. which isn't fair. and also I like the
Coley: Do do you know why the the f what do you like? I was
Ryan Mitchell: What's that? Sorry.
Coley: gonna say, do you know why the five day work week exists?
Ryan Mitchell: No, why?
Coley: So it was it was because people were working too much, actually. That people were working
Ryan Mitchell: Food.
Coley: like ten to sixteen hour days, six, seven days a week. So like we almost it's almost been like a pendulum swing, when you think about it. So it was like in the early nineteenth century, people were working like crazy hours like we do right now. And then So in nineteen thirty-eight it was called the Fair Labor Standards Act. and
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: so that created the forty hour week, five days a week. And you and people had to it was a law, like people had to abide by it if they were gonna hire people. And then that's why they could then they could get fairer wages and and and then the other thing is it's also a there multiple religions across the board kind of go with it because a lot of religions deal with sunday as the day or saturday as the day. and so it's like they didn't want people working on the holy days that they wanted. So then they really started working on those five days, those main five days. So that's why the five day work week exists. And if you think about it with different with different ideas Of how today's world is, we don't need a five-day work week. We like er you you can still you can still use Sunday as a holy day, you can still use Saturday as a holy day, and you can still maybe do two hours of work to still get your 40 hours. Like it doesn't have to be eight consecutive hours in a row.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, very true. And that's interesting kind of how it started, but as we talked about, it could be an antiquated system here and you know, time for time for for updates. But again, this all threatens the control of the the the corporate o you know, overlords that want to kind of keep people boxed into that that way of life. I mean, I just I just Googled good.
Coley: Yeah, sorry, my computer's about to die. Keep going. What'd you Google?
Ryan Mitchell: I just Googled something I just googled bartending jobs in the Caribbean. That's where my head is.
Coley: You know what you know what I go you know what I you you know what I Googled the other day is I
Ryan Mitchell: What?
Coley: asked or I got an email from a from a a cruise company that was looking for comedians. And you go and you make and you make like fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred dollars A week you gotta have 45 minutes of a solid 45 minutes. but you do one show a night, and then you for
Ryan Mitchell: A forty five minute set.
Coley: like a week or two, yeah. And then for like a week or two, you are just on the cruise. And I was like, Man, that's what I'm gonna do when I retire. Like, I'm gonna go be a comedian on a cruise ship and and just go to different places.
Ryan Mitchell: Yes. Yes. Yes. and it's funny you mentioned that 'cause I was actually I was actually thinking about that, but maybe you know, maybe you're looking at the more established cruise ships, but maybe you know, I start off on the on the on the more rinkity dink cruise ships that only need a twenty minute set.
Coley: Yeah. Yeah, totally. You know what? I hear deadliest catches hiring comedians. Maybe we go do that and we'll we'll we'll do our set while water is crashing down on us. It'll be freezing cold.
Ryan Mitchell: yeah. that would be that would be that would be a good that'd be a good like reality show. Coley and Ryan just on a on a cruise ship
Coley: This is
Ryan Mitchell: chasing their their comedy dreams into the sunset.
Coley: I like thinking you're like on a cruise ship. We're we're gonna be on the guy we're gonna be on who was what was the the guy in Jaws, I can't think of his name right now. G get on his get on his boat and and and start telling jokes and then he's like, All right, shh, the shark's coming. Shark
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Another thing we have to kinda ask ourselves Yeah, you're like what? Another thing we kinda have to ask ourselves philosophically is, you know, speaking of jobs, did capitalism stop working or did we just get bad at capitalism or is it time for some sort of hybrid model of capitalism?
Coley: I don't think capitalism ever stops working. I think that that's I mean, that's every it it doesn't matter what profession you are, you always want to try to get ahead and you always want to try to make as much money as you possibly can. I do think that there are people out there who are like, money isn't as important to me as experiencing life. And so I get
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: that. But like I guarantee you, if you ask those pe those same people and you'd be like, hey, here's a thousand dollars, put it into the stock market, see what happens, and then wait ten years and then and then see what you can do on your day to day life, right? And they'd be like, Yeah,
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: absolutely. I'm gonna do that. I don't know. I think I
Ryan Mitchell: That but but but how do you how does how does capitalism work ten years from now when potentially twenty five percent of jobs just disappear because of AI? So that would be my question to you.
Coley: Well, I think capitalism will work with the with the CEOs. That's that's where it'll work because that's when you think about it, that's where they're going right now. If if if I can save money by having AI instead of paying health insurance, I'm gonna do that. So I'm gonna save money that way and it's gonna bring me more money into my pocket, right?
Ryan Mitchell: But that's not that's not helping everyone, that's just helping the Uber rich.
Coley: No, it's no, it never helps anybody. It only helps the Uber rich, right? Like that's
Ryan Mitchell: Well that's that's why we have to figure that's why we have to figure 'cause you know, we were t we were told go to school, get a job, buy a house, have a family, retire. Now it's go to school, get a job, get a second job, start a side hustle, monetize your hobbies, die with forty seven unread Slack messages.
Coley: Yeah, yeah, that's what we do now. I don't know. I don't I don't know what I mean unless unless you go unless and we don't need to talk politics obviously, but like unless you go socialism. but but again, like think about if that was you and even I'm not talking making billions of dollars, but even if you made some sort of money in in the stock market and then they're like, guess what? All that money you just made, that's gonna be spread out b for all of us. And you're like, okay,
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: but I that was that was my hard earned money that I put into there. And I mean I know I didn't necessarily earn my money. I got lucky with the stock market, but you know it's like where where do you find that line, right?
Ryan Mitchell: So a another another idea f coming from Bernie Sanders and some other people are, you know, public ownership kind of in AI, right? so proposals suggest
Coley: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: setting up an American AI sovereign wealth fund to dis distribute economic upsides. so discussions involve private private labs potentially contributing a small percentage of equity to public benefit funds. So when all these companies start to make money hand over fist with AI, that should a a percentage of that should go back to the public, in my opinion.
Coley: Yeah, I mean I think that that would be great. If it yeah, it and it like again, if if a company is saving X amount on on not paying health insurance with certain peop with certain things with AI, yeah, that that absolutely makes sense in in most people's in most people middle class eyes, right? Does it make sense if you're the CEO, right?
Ryan Mitchell: But we don't I don't give a fuck about the CEO. That's the thing. You know, I don't I feel I feel like these the these C these
Coley: I know. I don't either.
Ryan Mitchell: CEOs are making too much damn money now. And I'm not a s I'm not a socialist. I'm not a socialist. I know that people kind
Coley: Yeah, I agree. No, I
Ryan Mitchell: of like I I I'm looking in between capitalism and socialism. For example, how could you make a company like Norway, Sw or a comp or a country like Norway, Sweden? Some of these Nordic companies have they aren't socialists but they're not capitalists. They have kind of a hybrid model there.
Coley: Right. Yeah. I I I think I think the idea and I am a hundred percent on board with you, Ryan. I I just think that there are too many CEOs who are capitalists that are gonna that it's it's gonna it's gonna be almost impossible to to drive something like that, right?
Ryan Mitchell: I don't I I I'll push back a little bit. Once you you know, for example, five years from now, if we just have like twenty five percent unemployment for some reason, and then you people aren't able to make money, support their families, then you're gonna start to see a solid amount of civil unrest that leads to violence, that leads to other things. So unless there are safety nets built in as this starts to explode quickly, there could be There could be problems on the on the
Coley: Yeah,
Ryan Mitchell: on the
Coley: absolutely. I think that It's gonna be chaos if if something doesn't happen shortly. Like it is. It's it's I mean that's that's human nature. If if I can't if I can't afford bread, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get that bread, regardless of rules.
Ryan Mitchell: You mean if you just can't you can afford whole wheat but you really want sourdough. So you're gonna walk in there with like an Uzi.
Coley: Yeah, no, I'm gonna buy wonder bread like real bread.
Ryan Mitchell: I mean, I the way I look at it is we're we're just at we're at a breaking point.
Coley: I don't know. I yeah, I I think you're right, Limited.
Ryan Mitchell: We're at a breaking point now. And a lot of people don't see it because it's we're at such the tip of the iceberg of what AI can do, how jobs are changing, who's still holding on to the power, all those things. So so I think a lot of people are just uncertain now with just cause.
Coley: Yeah. And and I think a lot of it is is is not necessarily being educated about it. You wanna make sure that you you know, you're reading about this stuff and and and I do think you're right, it's the tip of the iceberg. Like it people see this and there's this problem that nobody sees or only a few people see.
Ryan Mitchell: Well, it's it's hard for the average American, the working class, which is almost they're pushing them down it's pushing them down to like the lower tiers. So so it's it's hard for them to keep their
Coley: Yep.
Ryan Mitchell: eye eyes on the prize because they're just trying to make ends meet. Especially y you know, you have you have a child, people that have children, it's not easy to quite as easy to raise children or afford children these days. So so that's the disconnect is that the people that it affects the most don't have the time to advocate for themselves.
Coley: Yeah. Well in in that in that aspect what's happening is the is the middle class is going away. So you either have to choose do you want to be really poor do you want to be do you want to be poor? Like do you wanna be a rich poor person or do you wanna be
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: a poor rich person?
Ryan Mitchell: And and that's something I've thought about too. I don't have kids. And I don't plan on having kids. So in my mind, I'm like, okay, I've been in this tech world for many years making good money, but seemingly unhappy. Would I be happier making a lot less money, not being as stressed out? And I think because it's the the age of consumerism that we live in right now, where you're p constantly getting ads to buy things and And comparing on social media, it's like the only way to to kind of go against the grain of keeping up with the Joneses is just not playing that game. You know what I mean?
Coley: Yeah. That's what I did. I didn't want I was in the corporate world forever and I was like, this is soul sucking. I need to do something that's not gonna be soul sucking. And
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: then yeah. Again, check out my other podcast, not really, but check out my other
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: rants on teaching.
Ryan Mitchell: it's it's and I love getting in the boomer. I got plenty of boomer rants, right? 'Cause I think the problem with the boomers is is they just they
Coley: Yeah, right.
Ryan Mitchell: do not understand how technology has kind of fried people's brains and changed the work landscape. and they're holding on to the and
Coley: Yeah, because they're not on it.
Ryan Mitchell: No, they're on the tail end of their careers now and We're having to just sit here and deal with the world that they left us after they sucked the economy dry with their pensions and all the stuff that all the stuff
Coley: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: that set them up pretty and now they're looking at us like we're just lazy POS's that that that don't want to work and kids that are graduating college now cannot even
Coley: Which sucks.
Ryan Mitchell: it's taken them years to even find jobs because AI's replacing everything. So
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: so I'll tell those We need to like get a boomer on here to just have like a nice argumentative rant, you know, about like a battle royale.
Coley: All right. Here's what we'll do. We'll find a boomer. I'll get you, you guys, and then I'll just kind of be a mediator.
Ryan Mitchell: Ooh, I like that idea. I like that idea. And I'll just destroy this person. Just dis
Coley: I'll probably take more of your side. I was gonna say I was gonna probably take more of your side. I'm probably not a great mediator. There's a lot of things
Ryan Mitchell: it's
Coley: that you and I totally agree on when it comes to this stuff.
Ryan Mitchell: I agree yeah, it's it's Yeah, I think I think I think this to kinda close the loop, it's technology has exploded so much and then the productivity side, how much more they want us to produce and in on the product it's like we're competing with AI. So so we've gotten technology
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: that has made our lives more fragmented because we're having to log into these different platforms, do this, and maybe we just aren't at the point yet where it's making jobs easier. And And it's all getting kind of shoved down the workers' throat now. So I'd kind of say we're we're we're we're in a transitional between a rock and a hard place, finding jobs, being out of
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: jobs. It's it's and and it seems like it's not getting any better. But I think we'll just have to hope that there's some policies in place and there are some things that happen in the future that turn the table if you get my directive.
Coley: That's all I'm hoping for. I get it. That's all I'm hoping for. Just just a tiny little bit of a relief to to help us. And and maybe someone is gonna figure out AI can make that relief or something like that. I don't know. Who knows, ready? I guess we just gotta keep living that
Ryan Mitchell: Well it'd be l well, it'd be like AI eventually just being able to
Coley: life.
Ryan Mitchell: it'd be like AI eventually being able to cure cancer like this, or cure diseases, or or or
Coley: Right.
Ryan Mitchell: I think we're just not at the point yet where we're seeing all these benefits and and hopefully I I die before that happens. Just kidding.
Coley: Yeah. I agree.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, now I'd love to just not to be able to reap any of the benefits. well, this has been a good conversation. I've I've
Coley: Right.
Ryan Mitchell: in I've enjoyed this.
Coley: I enjoyed it a lot. Yeah. Should we promote ourselves though? Since even though
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Yeah.
Coley: we were having a conversation we should do offline is that where you find us
Ryan Mitchell: I feel like you're you're you're
Coley: on the platforms of Facebook.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, you you do that. I feel like you're better at promoting. I'm shitty at it.
Coley: Anyway, all right. So we're on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. That's offline days d-a-z-e like dazed and confused. Also don't forget, as soon as we hit a thousand Facebook followers, we have two hundred right now. We get a thousand Facebook followers. We will have a drawing for your Blockbuster, two drawings actually, for your Blockbuster giveaway that you can pay your Blockbuster late fees. But Ryan says that you have to pay your late fees. You can't just buy whatever you want.
Ryan Mitchell: No. You have to pay back your blockbuster fees.
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: so that's and then don't forget about the the polo contest. So we're gonna be launching a contest soon where you can win you
Coley: Polo contest, yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: can win. We've partnered with a cool golf brand, you can win a flamingo polo. and we're still gonna we're gonna post I'm gonna post a video about that probably Monday. Talking about it, but it's essentially you're gonna
Coley: Nice.
Ryan Mitchell: you're gonna put in the comments what irritates you most about technology. And whenever we find the funniest, we're gonna ship someone that fresh new polo. And let me grab let me grab it
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: over here. Let it grab it over here. It is in in the plastic bag. You can see these flam it's crisp, the flamingo
Coley: Ooh, it's crisp still.
Ryan Mitchell: polo on a skateboard. How often do you get to see a flamingo polo on a skateboard? So I think that's cool and
Coley: I mean, I wore my flamingo shirt too.
Ryan Mitchell: I love it. And also where where can you where can we find you next performing? You know, we're both stand up comedians. so so is there is there are any shows on the docket for you, sir?
Coley: Yeah. I had a show on August 30th at in Louisville.
Ryan Mitchell: Okay.
Coley: and that's a that's a all teachers, all teacher comedians are doing that show. So it's at the Louisville
Ryan Mitchell: Love that.
Coley: Underground. That's the first time I've ever performed there, so I'm excited.
Ryan Mitchell: That is exciting. And and we and and we do have a standing ca
Coley: And you're you're coming you got something coming up too.
Ryan Mitchell: Yep, so the twenty-sixth of September. let me get let me get the let me let me find out exactly where it is again. The twenty-sixth of of September I will be performing at it's in Colorado Springs. let's see here. Good of my messages, just bear with me, folks. This is but it's gonna be an interesting kind of
Coley: He's so popular.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, right. So popular. so so here's here's the here's the idea. This will be at it's it's a it's an event for mental health, which which I I support in Colorado Springs.
Coley: Nice.
Ryan Mitchell: and it's currently bringing up the the name of the venue. Strength in Comedy at Wackadoo Brewing Brewing Colorado Springs, Saturday, September twenty sixth. seven to ten PM and it's gonna be it's gonna be an interesting format. what is it? It's kind of like some improv. They're doing some different stuff now where you like pick a topic out of a hat and kind of do some improv fun fun comedy that way. So I don't know what the hell I'm getting myself into, but there it goes.
Coley: Nice. Nice. Well, hopefully
Ryan Mitchell: All right. Well that's that's exciting.
Coley: you're just not getting smacked by a All
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, right.
Coley: right. Well clearly I think it's the time to wrap it up, right?
Ryan Mitchell: It is time to wrap it up, but thanks everyone for the time and our nice conversation about work and how it's changed pre internet now. And we'll post some clips on social media when we release this so so people can chime in on on their own thoughts of of this topic.
Coley: Hundred percent. All
Ryan Mitchell: All right. Thanks everyone.
Coley: right. Bye everybody.
