speaker-0: Yo, yo, yo, this is not the smartest guys in the room. We're back. I see my friend Tom. How are you doing today, Tom?
speaker-1: I'm good, man. I'm good. I'm just I'm trying to wrap my head around being back in in the office after like almost two weeks, which is like the God, it's it's the longest I've been away for a while. so so yeah, almost two weeks completely away. we left on we like we went out of town on Thursday, the 27th. And yeah, so today is literally two weeks since the last time I was kind of sitting at this desk in my office. So so yeah, so it's been it's been a little bit just trying to like wrap my head around it and get get back into the swing of things a little bit, which is why we're late this morning, totally my fault. cause cause I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things. How about you? How's your how's your Wednesday start now?
speaker-0: Well, Tom, I was gonna take a picture and bring it or bring it down. Liz had to take the dog somewhere this morning. She brought me back two sausage burritos. And you had said one week that you had never had a sausage burrito. Are you still living in that bubble of sausageless of sausage less burrito filled life?
speaker-1: I don't know. I mean, what is it is it literally just a burrito with just sausage in it or a tortilla around a sausage? Or like what what is a sausage burrito? What are you talking?
speaker-0: From McDonald's, number one, McDonald's has the best. So sausage burrito from McDonald's. But it's little chopped up sausages. It has cheese filled through it and egg. And then you can push your put your hash brown in it or put some hot sauce on it. And this thing is spectacular.
speaker-1: Yeah, I gotcha. I gotcha. Okay, so now now I remember what you're talking about. But yeah, I've I've never had one. I've n I I think God, I don't know. I've definitely had an egg McMuffin. I've definitely had a McGridddle. I think that's it. Maybe when I was a kid, maybe like 'cause McD I don't even know if they still do it. Does McDonald's still do the big breakfast anymore?
speaker-0: I th I think they do do the I think the pancakes. Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I don't ever I don't overindulge that much, yeah.
speaker-1: I think I had that when I was a kid one time because I really wanted the pancakes, which were not great. But, you know, I mean, like they're they're as good as like, you know, the frozen pancakes you could buy at the supermarket and like throw in the toaster. Like that's basically what they are. so they're not great, but yeah, yeah, yeah. but but yeah, I've never had a never had a a sausage. Bru I've had I've had a breakfast burrito.
speaker-0: Have had similar.
speaker-1: You know, so like that's that's not a new thing to me. but but yeah, I haven't had the the sausage burrito from McDonald's specifically.
speaker-0: Okay, understood. I got one more question for you, Tom. Something I was thinking about today. Before we jumped on today, I'm sitting here and I have these Air Macs and I moved over and thought I need to tie my shoes. And yesterday I was doing a podcast with somebody. And before I got on the podcast, like we just started talking and I said, Hold on, I need to tie my shoes. But I'm just sitting here. Is that a weird thing to have to tie your shoes before you sit? Is that a a man thing? Is that something you do? is it just weird?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I I so like I'm in my home office, just but preface, right? But like I'm barefoot right now. So so I I'm not wearing shoes in my in my home office. I mean my home office is also like upstairs in my house in like spare bedroom. So it's not like yours as I know down in the basement. So it's a little bit different. Like you got a cold concrete floor. You might want to, like, if I was down there, I'd probably have something on my feet because I wouldn't want, you know, because otherwise your feet just get real cold probably on the concrete floor. But but yeah, I mean if I have shoes on, they're tied. Like I I I don't like I don't think I ever wear shoes and not tie them. So like if I have shoes on, they're tied. And if they're not tied, I retie them. So so I I I guess I'm kind of with you on that. Like I don't know that I would make it to my desk and be like, my shoe, unless it had come untied. But like when I put the shoes on, they get tied. If they come untied, they get retied. but yeah, if I've got shoes on and they have laces, those laces are tied. I don't like I don't know what people are doing wearing shoes with laces and not tying them. That's a that that seems weird to me. I it doesn't make any sense. What
speaker-0: Yeah, you can never get
speaker-1: are you kids doing? Wearing shoes and not tying up pro like, I mean, I don't know. That's that's what I f I feel like I sound like, but yeah, I don't know.
speaker-0: Or you could never get it quite right. Like I remember back in the day with like Sebagos. This was the boat looking shoe that were like leather back in the day. And if you were a really cool kid, you had like these scrunchy things on both sides of your sabagos. It was about an inch on both sides that came out, it was your shoelace and that meant you were cool. But I never was cool. I never raised to the level of that kind of coolness to be able to do it, mine would have been oddly s unscrunched, Tom.
speaker-1: Well you had to like that was there was a whole way to like tie them like that. Like where you like would make a loop and then tie wrap the lace around the loop and then push it through to like pull it tight at the end so it would stay. but yeah, like I remember those when I was a kid, and that was like it was a very like preppy thing. but yeah, like a hundred percent I remember those when I was a kid. And like, yeah, I had those. and I and I tied the laces like that. I had the little like Coils on the outside.
speaker-0: That's word. That's the word. Coils. Well done.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it wasn't like a little like elastic thing. It was an actual leather like lace, right? The laces were leather and then there was this whole like technique, complicated technique to like tie them. It was a whole thing. It was very it was also like that was right before the era of like the crazy looking Z cavericci pants, right? Do you remember those? Like cause it was like preppy and then there was like this like z do you remember the Z cavericis? Do you not remember these?
speaker-0: Tell me more. I don't maybe I had to have a not a knockoff version. My mom would make like grandma sell me knockoff stuff. So we would resolve that.
speaker-1: They were the pants that were like super tight at your ankle and then had like four pleats and like a really wide waistband with like like two snaps or two buttons in the waistband. I don't God, I feel like I don't know how else to describe them. They were ridiculous looking. I mean, they were look they were ludicrous.
speaker-0: Like MC Hammer War or something.
speaker-1: I mean, but they were like, imagine if you took khakis, right? That had like three pleats on them. So like super pleated khakis, right? And then you made the ankles like super tight. like literally as tight as they could be, and you could still get your foot through it. So like really tight ankles and like kind of up your calf a little bit. And then they would kind of balloon out. And then they would get real tight at the top again. And they had like a wide waistband with like two snaps or like two buttons, depending on the on the on the style of them or whatever, was like part of their like sort of signature look. But but yeah, I mean they were they were weird, ridiculous looking pants. And I feel like it was like there was like a preppy era and like the Z Cavaricis, and then like by the time I got into high school, then there was like, you know, then it was like I was I for me personally and for like around me, it was kind of more of like a hip hop thing. And then also like you know, kind of like the sort of club party thing. So like the the crazy like parachute pants and like Jenko jeans and like all of that kind of stuff happened like when I was in like high school, early college, maybe late nineties.
speaker-0: Fair that about my about my genre. That's a good good segue here. And first, before it wasn't a good segue, but I will tell you, and I'm in that same world. And it one of the things that I always think is weird is like late 90s, mid-90s, whether you were like a gangster or listening, a grunge, everybody wore oversized clothes. It was just, and you wore your pants like real low. So we could all agree that. Pants like, hey, society, can we all agree on something? In the late 90s, we all agreed big clothes were cool no matter if they had if they were down by your waist or if they were corduroys or anything like that. Tom, all right, it's time. This is not the smartest guys in the room. We me and Tom, we are we try to be as authentic as can be. So we'll talk about coils and shoelaces or the 90s fashion. But today we're gonna talk about authenticity in business. And who is lying to you? So I wanted to talk about authenticity today, and I pitched subject to Tom saying, like, so many businesses are insincere, so many business owners are insincere, and you see it and you feel it, and sometimes I might have dealt with a business, and then all of a sudden I see something, and I'm like, wait a minute. That's not who I thought they were. And sometimes when that happens, they lose me. And so we did some research, we had some thoughts about it. So Tom, that's where I wanted to weigh in on it. What say you?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, look, I think authenticity is incredibly important. And and really, I think what it boils down to is authenticity has kind of been the buzzword around it for the last couple of years. the last few years, right? I like in in doing a little bit of research on this, I found articles going all the way back to pre COVID, right? Like 2019, 2018 talking about authenticity in business. So authenticity has been sort of a business buzzword for a while. Really, what I I think it ultimately comes down to is, as you said, honesty, right, and transparency. So who's being honest? And a great way to know if a company is being honest with you is just by looking at how transparent they are. How transparent are they with their processes, with their pricing, with their their you know, relationships. With other organizations, their political affiliations, whatever the case may be, how transparent are they? Right? Are they an open book?
speaker-3: or
speaker-1: Are they playing their cards really close to the chest? And usually if they're playing their cards really close to the chest, it's because they don't want you to know something. And what they don't want you to know is something that will turn you off from supporting their business, right? So they're not being transparent. And they may be duplicitous, right? They may be doing something that actively goes against your values or your interests, and they don't want you to know because they're afraid that you're gonna act on that, right? and so so I did, you know, there's a couple of like really big examples of this in sort of recent history. I think one of the most glaring ones is the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal. from from the aughts to the teens, right? So this went on for like more than 10 years. and essentially what was happening was that that in order to make quotas, employees were encouraged to open additional accounts for customers, often without their consent. Right. So if you opened a checking account They might also at the same time while you were on the phone or in the branch opening the checking account, they might also just go ahead and give you a credit card, right? Open up a credit card account for you. And this went on for a long time. And it was really, it was ultimately because Wells Fargo was imposing sales quotas on their staff. And in order to make these unreasonable, ridiculous quotas. the staff were resorting to you know, illegal and absolutely I mean, pr potentially illegal and definitely dishonest methods to to accomplish these goals and and ultimately ended up you know landing the company in a lot of hot water because you know this happened with the knowledge of you know, senior leadership. And so the organization ended up being held accountable to the tune of like two billion dollars. I think there's a couple of lessons to take away from that, right? I mean, none of us here, the likelihood is that nobody listening is in a position where their business can absorb a two billion dollar fine, right? just Gonna take a guess, but I'm I'm gonna guess that nobody listening here runs a business that can absorb a $2 billion fine. but the point is that if you're a smaller business, right, and you act dishonestly and you are called to task for it, there's a good chance it could put you out of business, right? most businesses can't absorb huge fines, and so they end up folding or going bankrupt as a result of malfeasance. And then The other side is that if you engage in this kind of behavior, if you once you go down the path of being dishonest, right, then you have to you complicate things for yourself. You have to keep those lies straight, right? You have to keep that deception going. And ultimately, odds are good that you're gonna get caught. Right. I mean, it just think back to when you were a kid and you did something and and you had to lie about it. There was a good chance, right? Some things we got away with into adulthood. And then kind of once the once you're a grown up, I think we all have that experience of like telling our parents that we did something and, you know, knowing that the statute of limitations has basically run out. And you can be honest with your parents about, you know, when you snuck out that time when you were in high school or something like that. and you can all kind of like have a laugh over it, over a beer as adults, right? But I don't know, I probably a bunch of us have had the experience too of doing that. And our parents going, Yeah, we knew. Right. We knew you snuck out. We knew you were sneaking out. We just, we, we trusted you enough to to let you get away with it. And we didn't, we since you didn't get in trouble, we didn't see a need to come down on you, or but we knew. We knew you were sneaking out, right? but there's always the chance you're gonna get caught. And and if you go down that path for your business, right, when your livelihood depends on a lie, you are risking a lot for very little gain. And so I think, you know, the the sort of the lesson I take away from this is be as transparent as possible. And I'm probably transparent to a fault. I l I literally will walk prospects through how we come up with our pricing, right? I'll walk them through what goes into what we factor into how we price our work and why it costs what it costs. and I I will answer all their questions about it. but at the end of the day, I I have no issue doing that because I got nothing to hide, right? I'm gonna charge what I'm gonna charge. If you want to pay it, right, and you can afford to pay it and you see the value in it, great. And if you don't, okay. But I'm not gonna lie to try to convince you that you should, right? I might, I might package things in a in a way that that helps you see the value. in what I'm doing, right? In the services that we provide. but I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie to you, right, to get you to buy because I all you're doing is painting yourself into a corner and ultimately, you're gonna have to get out of that corner at some point and you're gonna have to step in the paint and get caught for for doing it. So yeah. So I mean that's that's kind of where I'm at. I mean, I got, you know, there's a laundry list of other companies that have paid multi-billion dollar fines for deception, right? And for failures to protect and to be honest about you know lapses like the you know the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data breach, right? Facebook covered it up. they ended up getting caught and paying five billion dollars for privacy violations, right? Chapter anal or Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy because they couldn't afford the fines for the illegal illegally harvested data. So you know I mean there's unless you can absorb huge fines, You know, and have basically a monopoly, right? Like Facebook does, then yeah, I I I think the lesson's pretty clear. Don't lie, be transparent, be honest.
speaker-0: Tom Fair, thank you. Glad you took it there and glad you mentioned Facebook. Before we get to Jason and Randy on their thoughts on this, I'm gonna tackle Walmart. I'm thinking about who's lying to you, this authenticity. And I see Walmart with these rollback, the smiley rollback in the store. They make you think that they're so kind. There's smiles everywhere around the whole brand. The brand started as made in America and then they switched. They switched with really not telling the world they switched. They were still selling on made in America when they switched. And then all of a sudden people were like, wait a minute, this wasn't made in America. Then shelving practices at the store. I don't know if any but to get yourself on the shelves at Walmart, you basically have to. play at a loss and they dictate profit margins and everything like that. They're the player. They're you want in, that's what you got to do. Okay, so I'm thinking about all these. So that as I start thinking about it and looking at fair practices, labor, healthcare, wages where they just kind of skip our employees don't need that. Our employees don't need healthcare. Our employees can cut hours there so many times. That Walmart has got called out for these kind of things. And I'm I'm just thinking that like I just was thinking of these top of the head. And then as I started going into it, one of the worst things that they did was built stores close together, put every put mom and pops out of business, and then close their stores and open these super centers. Once they close once they were close. They closed the other stores because they were able to lower wages or they were able to lower prices. The other the mom and pops had to close. Then they close the first door and make Super Center. Man, they did a lot of dirty things. And all along they're selling me on a smile and a kind hearted person at the door. So I'm not sure Walmart's being authentic with me. Tom, before we get to Jason, you wanna weigh in on that?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean Walmart is for sure not being transparent or honest with with with its customers. I mean, yeah, for from from what you're talking about, the whole like we care about community. Have you seen their commercial campaign where they've got like multi-generational people who work at Walmart like, you know, talking about like, you know, what a great career path it is and whatever. but like you said, you know, it the there's a huge percentage. a massive number of people who work at Walmart who are also on public assistance because they cannot earn a living wage at Walmart. Why? Because Walmart intentionally hires more people, but lowers the hours for each person. So they don't have to provide them health care. So they don't have to pay them benefits, right? they don't have to put them on a retirement plan. They don't have to give them paid time off, right? As part-time workers, they lose a lot of the rights that full-time workers have. And so those people, in order to fill those gaps, right, go on public assistance, receive you know, Medicaid benefits, they receive SNAP benefits to to supplement their their nutrition and their ability to buy groceries. And then what do they do? They turn around, they spend those that's those snap dollars. At frickin' Walmart, right? So, like, I mean, Walmart is really talking out of both sides of their mouth, for the most part. I another one just popped into my head was the the sort of the Amazon tax. Are you familiar with this? so basically Amazon has for sellers and merchants, they have a pricing policy. it's in their agreement when you when you agree to sell on Amazon, that You can only, as a merchant on Amazon, you have to provide Amazon with the lowest price for your product, right? But the problem with that is, is that Amazon charges huge fees, right? For both as a as a as a piece of the sales commission for being on the platform, right? but then also if you do your fulfillment through them, etc., you can end up paying 50%. Plus percent of the of the retail price, the the advertised price, 50 plus percent of that could go to Amazon and only half of it goes to the actual seller, right? So you end up with a situation where the seller has no choice but to raise their price, or else they're losing money on every transaction, right? So to be on Amazon, they have to raise their price. But what does that mean? Because Amazon, as a policy, has to have the lowest price for those products. Guess what it means? It means they have to raise their prices everywhere. So everywhere they sell, they have to raise their prices because they raised their price on Amazon to be able to afford to be on Amazon, right? And because Amazon is such a big fish, right? It's really difficult to actually sell well if you're not available on Amazon. And so people are kind of retailers are sort of forced into selling their products on Amazon, which means that they then have to raise their prices everywhere else. So even if you buy their product not on Amazon, you're paying an Amazon tax essentially, right? Because it costs more than it would if Amazon wasn't selling. So like everywhere you go, you're kind of you're you're paying this Amazon tax. And most people don't realize it. They think, well, Amazon has the best prices. It's like, no, no, no. Amazon has the same prices everywhere else. It's just that everywhere the prices are inflated to make up for the fact that. the lowest price has to be the price that Amazon has. So it doesn't, it's not discounted on Amazon. It's the same price on Amazon as it is where everywhere else and everywhere it's inflated. That's the Amazon tax. So there's another thing that like is just sort of a common deception that's happening right in front of us. and nobody at Amazon's talking about it. They're they're not trying to fix that for you.
speaker-0: Tom, we're probably gonna get blocked on all websites by the end of this show. So who's lying to you? Authenticity in business. This is not the smartest guys in the room. Our friend Jason is in the house. Jason, what say you on all these thoughts? We got a bunch of things going on here.
speaker-2: You seguated to too many things and didn't central off enough on your main thing.
speaker-0: Okay, so you got an answer?
speaker-2: You went too far.
speaker-0: What do you got? So you got something for me?
speaker-2: Well, I mean, okay, so if I if I were to evaluate, you know, I love Tom's dissension. I love the way that he put things, right? But is it really lying or they can choose to do that and you can be the buyer to choose to react to it? Right? Now it's not me my job as a consumer to understand how you delineate your cost to the consumer. My job is to get you to buy. And I was writing something down, and it's like attention brings them in, right? So let's say the sale, but desire makes them spend. It's a very simple business principle. It it doesn't go get any better than that. So when if I talked about Walmart or any other major conglomerate, you know, supplier to retail to the consumer, yeah, it destabilizes a lot. Because they can afford to. They can get a supply. They can make things cheaper. And so it makes companies who make really good goods question whether they can continue to sell to people. Like, for example, Snap on Tools. Here's a big one. Snap on tools has been known to every mechanic or machinist out there as the brand you can trust when it comes to tools, right? They don't break easy. They have a great return policy. They have a great warranty policy on all the tools. Now, they had to majorly change how they dealt with business because you had subpar tools made by Husky or Duraast or whoever, you know, these companies that come from overseas. And if Snap-on can't produce out of the United States and Canada for its own consumers. And people can't buy it and they go out of business, whose fault is it? They just had to look at, well, when I when I bring a cheaper good to distribution and people want to buy and times are tough, people are going to keep going for the cheaper. Now, for the real hardcore addict, like like I'm sure I could talk to Tom's Tom's mind mindset, where see, like he's he's he's got bikes for his triathlons and he needs quality tools.
speaker-1: Fourse.
speaker-2: Who's he gonna go to? He's gonna have to look at how he spends and how often he spends. But can he really afford the great quality tool in the long term? He might now take him to the other other side of the spectrum where the consumer's getting into it. Bought an expensive bike, but I can't ex I can't afford the expensive tools to take to take care of it. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna go wherever I can get it, you know. But that means back to your central question about authenticity and who's lying to you in business. If you took three days to evaluate every purchase, would you still buy it? You know, because that's really where authenticity comes from is, you know, your your desire to spend.
speaker-0: Jason, I want to follow up with you on this authenticity versus lying. And if Jason, if the Jason I see on TikTok, the Jason that I see that comes into the room, hey, by the way, your mic sounds really good today. The Jason I see here, if all of a sudden this Jason isn't the Jason that I see. So when I talk about Walmart per se. Walmart gives me this happy, smiley, we are good. And then they do these things behind the bat, behind the scenes that aren't happy and smiley. So I believe it's inauthentic. I believe they're lying to me. Now they're a much larger business, maybe larger than me, Jason, Tom, not the smartest guys will ever get. So they can get away with things, but if we use those same practices. If Jason wasn't who he is on TikTok in the community, would would you be able to get away with it? So that's where I'm going with lying and authenticity. Would what will you answer that, Jason? Speak to it?
speaker-2: You know, I'm gonna have to bring stoicism into this. You don't have to have an opinion. And I know gentlemen in business that I've learned from, sometimes I've lied to them. And they didn't dismiss me right away, but they gave me an opportunity to like carefully craft questions to me. And and I had an opportunity to either stand up and say, you know what, you're right. what I was trying to get across was more important than your needs. And they respected me for when I did say that, but from when I didn't, it was a trickle-down effect of, you know, sorting people out and just like, look, I won't have you in our ethos anymore. I gave you an opportunity, but my interest, your small your your inauthentic self or your lying self was a small cost. Compared to if I overly invested in you and cost me big. You know, so I think that people forget, remember, you can have observations and recollections and reflections. And when you find out somebody's lying, like look at your emotional self. You get out of yourself and you start reacting to a liar, you know, how much did it really cost you? Really time? You know, bonds, friendship, like all these things. Yeah, same with brands, you know. I used to trust Levi beyond the shadow of a doubt. I used to love Levi's as a kid growing up in seventies and eighties. They they were built to last. That's what mom bought and could afford. Well, times changed, eve Levi started falling apart. You know, and then I couldn't trust Levi no more. And so I'd buy Kirkland, you know, Costco jeans. I've had a same pair of Costco jeans for 10 years and they've held up against Levi's where Levi's fell apart. Am I am I mad at Levi's? No. You know, when it comes to people, you just have to look at like, is this gonna get me out of my own reasonableness? So hop hopefully that understands. And by the way, Dom, I picked, I got the copy Violent Disturbance, you you one of your published products, and I love the first five pages where I'm at. It's definitely hooked me in. I like it. It reminds me of another book.
speaker-0: Wow, beautiful. Thank you. Violent disturbance. Paul Laps, he he's a great writer. A manufacturer that wrote a brilliant book. And so I believe in the guy, but crazy to be in one world and then transition into another world. So that's the leap he's making right now. So thanks, Jason. Okay.
speaker-2: Isn't that a beautiful hook?
speaker-0: Yeah, well done. Absolutely. Hey, okay, so it is time for the turn of the show. The point you've all been waiting for. It is Tom Stumbs. Tom, always full of opinions. This is gonna be a tough one for you. I'm excited about this one. I and I have a feeling you're gonna be like, so Tom, today I want to ask you something very important. I want to know your thoughts. Thumbs up or thumbs down to HOCO and prom proposals. This is high school students these days have to make elaborate proposals to their the girls they're gonna ask to dances. This is signs, this is all this jazz. What does Tom say about this?
speaker-1: I'm g Hoko is homecoming, right?
speaker-0: You got it.
speaker-1: Okay, all right. So all right. So what do I think about homecoming and prom proposals? I mean, first of all, like the name is kind of weird to me, right? Like it's a little bit weird that they're called proposals. You're not like I what are you proposing that we go to the dance together? Like it's not a proposal in the way that we traditionally think of when you say the word proposal, when you're saying someone proposing to someone else. Like that's marriage, right? That's what I'm thinking. I think that's what most people, our age, most people think of when you say that word, when you say, I'm gonna propose to so and so. It's like, you're gonna ask them to marry you, right? So, so I'm thinking that now I I also think that high school is a tough time for a lot of people, right? Like it is tough sometimes. To find people that you know, that you're comfortable with, that you're comfortable asking to a dance. it can be a time, you know, people are, you know, you're a teenager, you're going through either going through or have just gone through puberty, you're a little bit awkward, you're trying to figure out who you are as a person, trying to find your place in your world, right? there's the social pressures of high school with sort of hierarchies and clicks and You know, are you popular? Are you not popular? Right. and then and then also, as we all know, and I mean, I, you know, maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but like, you know, teenagers tend to have relatively fragile self-esteem, right? We're we're not well established in the world yet. Well, we haven't notched too many years under our belts. we don't have any sort of you know big accomplishments really to to you know lean back on or fall back on. to shore us up. And so we're a little bit fragile, right? with with our self-esteem. And so I think to pile on top of that, right, as hard as high school is to begin with, to make it culturally to put this pressure on kids to have to come up with these elaborate ways of asking someone to the prom or to homecoming. Especially when there's the chance that they're gonna say no, right? When you've gone to a whole bunch of trouble, you've sometimes involved other people, you've done arts and crafts, like all kinds of craziness is happening. You've you're videotaping things, right? So this is gonna go on the internet and live forever, could haunt you through your whole adult life, right? you being you could get memed and be the guy. That got shot down spectacularly, asking someone to homecoming or to the prom, to pile all of that pressure onto teenagers just seems unnecessary. Like, what are we doing? Right? Why are we because I I can't imagine that this is solely the creation of teenagers, right? That there aren't parents involved in like encouraging this kind of stuff. And and so I just I'm wary of any sort of like. Cultural movement that makes an already difficult time period in people's lives and in our development as people, as adults, right? As human beings, an already difficult time and making it more difficult for no real benefit, right? What's the benefit? You get a funny video, or like you get a cute picture, maybe, or you get tears. and and somebody who who it it takes you know years to recover from the trauma of of being shot down publicly on the internet by somebody that they had a big crush on in high school, right? I mean, I am so glad that I grew up in a time before the internet, before any of this was even a possibility. But for me, thinking about it even as a parent. Like I would do everything I could to guard against my teenage child, who I mean, Isla is years from being a teenager, right? But I would do everything I could to guard against my teenager being subject to something that could potentially cause them harm, a real emotional harm for years to come, right? Unnecessarily. Right. We all have to go through trials and tribulations of growing up, right? You You have to go through rejection, right? It's it's something we all have to learn to deal with because we are going to deal with it throughout our lives. Rejection is not inherently bad, right? But to take that rejection and put it under a magnifying glass, to make it public in in in a way that could be you know, long lasting and and could be on the internet, which we all know the internet's forever, I think is a bad idea. And so yeah, I at the end of the day, I just don't see the value. If it's a sure thing and you know it's good, they're gonna say yes, right? Fine. Then go do the big elaborate thing and like make a production out of it. but I kind of feel like this falls into the category of like the the gender reveals, right? And all of that kind of ridiculousness that we've got making everything an event, like it doesn't have to be a big event, right? It doesn't have to be you know, balloons and and confetti and sparklers and whatever, right? It doesn't have to be that. It could just be somebody going up to somebody that they have a crush on in high school and asking them to go to the prom. It could just be that. Why do we have to make everything ridiculous? so yeah, for all of those reasons, yeah, I give it a thumbs down. I think it's it's gotten out of control.
speaker-0: Tom, well done, man. And you came off kind hearted, I think kind hearted and soft there, and won me over definitely at the end. And I think I'm in your camp, but at the end, when you said, wouldn't it be special if the Ask E, Ask her, Ask E, if I just came up to you and asked you and you remembered that and I didn't have we were here, we were there, and you remembered when. The person came up and asked you and how special it was. Did the sign and everybody being there and trying to beat somebody else's sign make it better? But somebody with four boys is here. So I wanted to get Julie's thoughts. I I Julie's got 50 things going on, but Julie, four boys, you want to weigh in on that?
speaker-2: Well, two of my boys have done that before, but obviously Tom is not a girl and doesn't know how girls like to feel so special and over the moon. Now I think got these little boys should be smart and make sure it's a yes before they do it. But it's just fun. It's all for fun and games. And I I missed 13 years from now, Tom, you you may change your tune when someone drives up to your house and does something elaborate for I La. That's it. But I'm for it. I think it's cute.
speaker-1: I mean, I he here's my pushback to that, Julie, right? Is like, does it have to be a public spectacle? Right? I don't think it has to be a
speaker-2: We want to feel like princesses. I know I don't think boys thought this up. Like if you think about it, what boy would think up doing something like this? Probably the girlfriends made the boys do it. And that's kind of how it is in my house. The girlfriends asked the boy my sons to do it for them. So it's kind of funny actually.
speaker-1: I I mean, I would guess probably more the moms than the girlfriends.
speaker-2: True. Okay. I'll give you that one.
speaker-0: Hey, Jason's flashing here too. He's probably prom posing back in the day. What do you got, Jason?
speaker-2: I got turned down twice for prom and I I you know it's it's looking back then I was crushed but it was just something, it was a rite of passage. I don't take away the obstacle and I have three girls, right? And my middle child, I didn't get to really talk to her, but I remember my mom talking to her and about prom and she's like her boyfriend just asked her. That's it, not just it. Just aster, you know, like and that was because they had a relationship. But like what if you're single and you create these grand to Tom's point, if you create too much grandiose, is it setting too a bar too high that you can't keep? Right? So what happens after a prom and the girl likes the boy, but he can't keep affording like a limo and a tux on a date, or what's her expectations of value of a person? So I agree with Tom, but see you can't take away the obstacles from the kids. So If it makes the kids creative and say, okay, I as a parent am a father to a son and telling him, like, look, remember who you are and everything that you do. If this makes you take outside yourself and you spend so much, what's left afterwards, you know? So are you gonna do that? And it's my job as a parent to install the values that hopefully he will practice, but I still gotta let them fail. So I think it sometimes and to Tom's point, yeah, it's despicable. But I don't have to have an opinion about it. What is I ask my kids, what would you think? You know, if we talked about this and it wasn't about them, what would you think? And does it make them think? So I I I think it's good and bad at the same time. Don't take away. I mean, I just like let them think about it. Like, do you really want to connect with a girl that, you know, you're gonna connect that one time? That's what she wants. She wants to be treated. But what about reality if you like her after prom or before? Maybe it's your segue in. I can you keep it up? So yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think I I I agree with you, Jason. I appreciate you sharing that. I mean, I think Julie in the comments said we all want our say anything moment. and and I just think it here's what popped into my head, right? Is if everything is a big deal, then nothing is a big deal, right? If every moment is over the top, then nothing is special anymore. So I just think that. It we're setting we're setting ourselves up for disappointment, setting ourselves up for failure. And these kids, right? Encouraging these kids to do the same because if they go through this big elaborate thing for their promposal, well, like, I mean, I know, I know, I know Dom and Liz are the exception of the rule, right? But like, how many people are actually still with their high school sweetheart, right? Not very many. So, like, if if people aren't with their high school sweetheart, then like. You know, maybe s this girl's boyfriend it senior year in high school went nuts and got the whole town involved in like their in his promposal to her, right? And so like they had this huge event thing and he all this elaborate stuff. Now, what happens when later she's in love with somebody and he decides he wants to propose? Like, how does he live up to that standard? Now he's gotta do what? Like, you know, take her to on an exotic vacation and like you know, enlist the the help of like the the entire crew on a cruise ship or something to like create some sort of elaborate, insane proposal in order to sort of live up to or exceed the standards set by this promposal. It's just crazy to do that. Right. So like I just think if everything is a big deal, then nothing is a big deal. And so we have to be judicious with where we kind of place emphasis and put effort into making things a big deal. So yeah, I mean, it just it that that's kind of like summarizes my thinking on it a little bit better. and and to answer Jim's question or Jim's statement in the in the chat, Jim said Tom's been rejected in high school LOL. Well yeah, Jim, I was rejected in high school more than once. and I'd be willing to bet Most of the people listening here were right. Like, and maybe even Jim was, right? Like you know, I most of us got rejected by somebody in high school. So it happens to all of us. but but yeah, I mean, yeah, I got rejected in high school. Like, welcome to the club, right? Right. Like I I don't feel alone in that. and it sucked. And I'm glad it wasn't public, right? I'm glad it wasn't on the internet forever. I'm glad it happened quietly, right? And and without receipts. So so yeah, I'll just you know, I'll I'll leave it there. I I think yeah, you you gotta make sure it's a yes if you're gonna do it, but also like just be wary of going too big too quickly with too many things because ultimately you set a bar that it's impossible to live up to. and you've dug yourself a hole you can't get out of. So yeah, I I think I think we'll leave we'll leave. Promposals there, Dom, if you're good with that, and maybe let's pivot over to a PSA. What do you think?
speaker-0: Okay, if we're pivoting to PSA, I'm taking it a completely different direction today.
speaker-1: All right, sounds good. I will I will get the get the graphic up real quick, get the clock on for you, and then you can take it away. All right, you ready? Are you looking at your camera so you don't block your face with the
speaker-0: I don't think I'm I don't think I'm I don't think I'm clipping this one. Just in the case. Yeah.
speaker-1: All right. Well I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna throw up the clock regardless. Here you go.
speaker-0: This PSA is only for the people here. You can spread it, you can tell people about it. But if you have a dog and your dog leaves your yard and leaves your yard over and over and over and poops in somebody else's yard, like a neighbor, and you know your dog's leaving your yard, if you let your dog out, out of your yard, what do you think your dog's doing? And when you do, When you let your dog out of your house and you know your dog has to go to the bathroom and it goes out of your yard, what do you think your dog's doing? Your dog is going to the bathroom in the neighbor's yard, in somebody's else's yard around the neighborhood. Follow your dog. Don't let your dog off the leash. Whatever. Go pick up your dog's crap. PSA. If you let your dog take a crap somewhere, go pick it up. There you go, Tom.
speaker-1: So in summary scoop the poop.
speaker-0: Well said, Scoop poop.
speaker-3: Scoop the poop, scoop the poop.
speaker-1: I think I good. Good good enough. good enough.
speaker-0: I told you I was taking in a different direction. Not it's all you now.
speaker-1: All right, I like it. Here we go. I'm gonna throw up a clock for myself. All right, so here we go. So I was watching a reel just early this morning. and it was a reel that was kind of centered around age, right? And I was born in the nineteen hundreds, in in nineteen seventy eight, actually, to be exact. And so I'm a little bit older. And it was asking all these people who were born in sort of like the late 90s, early 2000s, who were all teachers and professionals, which is kind of wild to me. Hard for me to wrap my head around because I'm still like 25 in my head. asking them, the question was Duran Duran was hungry like a blank, right? And I would not consider myself a big Duran Duran fan, but I knew right away it was Wolf, right? Hungry like a wolf. And yeah, so there were a lot of there were a lot of people who who were not able to answer that well and did not get the answer out. and I just it it occurred to me that while we may be older than we like to admit sometimes or like to think of ourselves, we also are only as old as we feel. And as long as I can get out and keep running and swimming and biking. and being active and lifting weights and throwing my daughter Isla around, then I will continue to be young at heart, even if I can answer the question, who is Duran hungry like? So yeah, that's that's my that's my PSA. You're you're only as old as you feel.
speaker-0: Tom, you've been out very positive today. you pro pro teenage boy not getting his feelings hurt, pro really love. and now pro living your best life at whatever age. This is really you've come a long way.
speaker-1: Well, I mean, I have been on vacation for two weeks. So maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe some of the some of the bitter cynic washed off at the lake. but but also yeah, man. I mean, I think I don't know, I'm in a good mood. I'm having a I'm having a good time. I mean, you're you're you're kind of you're doing the same thing, right? You're you're embracing living your best life, right? You made an announcement. recently on on social media signing up to run your first marathon. so yeah, I you know I'm just I'm just trying to match your energy, Dom. I'm just trying to I'm just trying to, you know, meet the meet the mood of the minute.
speaker-0: I I've been jealous of you and I I'm a big big believer in stepping out of your comfort zone. So that's why the marathon. I can't gotta put my money where my mouth is. I've been wanting to do it for a long time. If I'm gonna do it, I should go for it and try to do it the best I can. So that's where I'm at. Hey, somebody asked a question down here. I got multiple things here. This is not the smartest guys in the room. Every week we pick a topic and then we do a Tom Stom's, we do a PSA, we do a memory lane, we do a wrap up. But we talk about media, we talk about business, we talk about current events going on, and that's the flow of the show. Basically, it's always an hour. It's then you can listen to them in podcasts. They're edited up a little bit. But before we get to memory lane, Tom, one of our favorite things on the show that Tom will like here. We have Tom, we're talking about authentic authenticity today in business. And we have somebody who wants to offer in the comments. They want to offer. We haven't met them before. They don't follow the page. They have a brilliant business proposal where you can work from home and own passive income. You can earn $3,400 in three days of trading on just one investment for $200. Tom, I mean, this seems to fit with our vibe of authenticity. This person that we don't know. What is your thoughts on this?
speaker-1: I mean, it seems super legit, right? and and I think if anything, what really has me convinced that this is a solid, solid proposal backed by fact, right, and honesty, is that Jennifer Fred, which is an interesting name, that Jennifer Fred popped into the room, threw her little business proposal in the chat and then has left the room. So obviously she is so so steadfastly behind her offer that she has left to go give it to as many people as possible to make sure this gift is shared, you know, with everyone. and so so yeah so I think I don't know about you, but I'm definitely gonna immediately DM Jennifer and probably click on the link in the in the chat and and just give my bank information. I think that seems like a great idea, right?
speaker-0: Tom, I was I was thinking you would say that and and we should all take Tom's advice and jump on that. Find Jen, find Jennifer, where's she at? We need we need to know about this deal.
speaker-1: Yeah, just and and for anybody listening who's never heard of sarcasm before, that was all sarcasm. yeah, obviously this is one of those like it what what boggles my mind is like, does this ever work? Like, does this actually work? I mean, and how often does it work? How much time do you have to spend? I'm genuinely curious about this. Like for for something like this, right? For this obvious scam. That Jennifer Fred is involved with, right? Like when you do the math of how much time she has to spend, I mean, it's probably a bot, right? Let's be honest. It's probably not a real person doing it. But how much time do you have to spend programming the bot, getting it all set up, monitoring it, following up, you know, covering your tracks? Cause obviously this is illegal, right? Like, obviously, if they're just t there, cause there's no chance. That they're actually investing people's $200, right? Let's just be very clear about that. They're stealing money from people. So they are promising an investment return and then they are taking the money and disappearing, right? Like that is almost certainly what's happening here. so so if if that's the case, like if you do the math and you all the work that goes into it, how much are you actually making like per hour doing that? I would venture to guess that it's probably Probably not very much. And it's it and probably when you look at it, like, you know, is it worth making $8 an hour to pop potentially go to jail? Right? Like, is that $8 an hour worth it? Or like, are you better off just like getting a job at Walmart? Right? Like, I just I I mean, I not that I like Walmart, but like I just think there's there's better ways to make Probably not very much money per hour when you look at all the work that goes into like actually executing these scams. So, because I can't imagine this works very well. Right? Like it's a volume game. They're they're betting that like someone is gonna click on that link and they're gonna be able to like install some malware and steal their information or whatever, right? But like, I don't know. I just I feel like there there are not. Like a lot of individuals, like Jennifer Fred, whoever the real person is behind that account, is probably not getting rich off of this. And so I just think it's, I don't know, it just doesn't seem worth it to me. But like I maybe that's just me. But yeah, it's just, it's yeah, it's a it's a little crazy. But but but yeah, I mean, I I'm I'm definitely gonna definitely gonna give her give her my my account number and and routing information for my bank for sure. Soon as we wrap up.
speaker-0: Absolutely. Let's get let's get on a one-on-one call with her. T Tom, before we go here, we got two more things to do. You ready for a memory lane?
speaker-1: Hit me with it. Take me down memory lane.
speaker-0: Let's do this. So today for Memory Lane, this is a strange one, but this is something that has always made me smile. And Halloween's coming. So I I believe I got this a few years back because I was easy E one year for Halloween. Easy E, the rapper. And we so when I was easy E, I got this sweet wig here. So Tom only this is a wig with curly hair that I just put on. And this wig makes me happy. So then I've combined this wig with other things in my life that have made me happy. So the Steelers are starting now. They're they're about to come. So here's my terrible towel. So every once in a while I'll wear this wig to Steeler games, just because I'm so excited. I just think it's funny and it makes me happy. And then my mom had hair that somewhat looked like this. So I decided to start impersonating her to my kids. wearing this wig and they used to laugh. So the memory lane is this beautiful little wig offers me so much joy, Tom. Now I don't know why it's all matted down. It's probably 20 years old, but every time I find this even today, I'm happy. And sometimes when I wear it to a steal a game, somebody will come up to me and they'll be like ready to make fun of me or ready to say something. And then they realize it's the coolest wig ever and then they give me a big High five and they are happy too. So this wig that you are seeing spreads joy.
speaker-1: I I like it. I think I kind of wanna see that wig, just because it's like it's not the bright orange, I think that wig with like clown makeup would actually be really funny. cause it would sort of almost look like it was just the person's regular hair and they were wearing clown makeup. and and also just because I think it'd be funny to see you in clown makeup. so so yeah, so that's that I think you should be a clown, but with that wig. For Halloween this year. also, you didn't put any makeup on when you did the easy e thing, did you?
speaker-0: No, no makeup. Just those big clothes we were talking about from earlier. I used to rock dickies when I was in high school. I walked like giant dickies and size thirty-six jeans when I was probably a size 30. So I I I was cool, man. So Tom. And I'm never sure what direction this wig is supposed to go. So I put it this way, but I don't know if it has a front or not. But okay, Tom, I believe that we have been Authentic today. This is us. So can you put a bow on this puppy and wrap us up today?
speaker-1: I mean, I think yeah, I I I can. I don't know if it's gonna be the most elegant wrap up I've ever done. and I don't know that we have like a very clear to use a word that you love to to quote me on a I don't know that we've presented really a cogent theme or argument throughout the entire episode today, but I will say this. you know, we were talking about authenticity in business and honesty in business. and I think at the end of the day, it just doesn't pay to be dishonest, right? Especially as a small business owner, especially if you're just starting your business or launching your business. The best thing you can do to earn trust, to earn loyalty from your customer base, to create long-term. beneficial relationships with your audience and with your customers is to be honest, to be authentic and to be transparent, right? When you're authentic, you automatically right kind of filter out the kind of people you don't want to work with, right? And keep the people you do want to work with because they see you for who you are, they see your business for what it represents, and they choose to stick around because of those things, right? and the people who disagree with those things, who disagree with you on values, tend to leave because they disagree with you on values. And so you end up with your customer base, your audience sort of self-selecting to be the kind of people that you want to work with. and then at the end of the day, also if you're honest and authentic and transparent in your business practices, then you never have to worry about a lie coming around to bite you down the line, right? Because they will. And if you start out lying, if you once you start lying, you always have to worry about that lie coming back around to bite you, right? until it either does or doesn't someday. but you always have that hanging over your head. And I think as challenging as it is to start a business, grow a business, run a business, the last thing you need to do is make that more complicated, add more pressure to it by lying. so just be honest, be transparent, and reap the benefits of it from the relationships you're able to grow with your audience and with your customer base. in the same way that I think you shouldn't add pressure to promposals and homecoming proposals and all of that nonsense that we talked about earlier. So anyway, that's where I would kind of leave it. at the end of the day, yeah, put on a wig if it makes you happy, I guess. is is what we're taking away from today. And everybody gets rejected in high school. It's okay. and it doesn't need to live on the internet forever. So so that's yeah, I mean I think that kind of puts a pin in it. Let's wrap it up there. I will I will leave it at that since and I I called it out it wasn't going to be the most elegant wrap up I've ever done and it was not true to form. so I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back for that transparency and that honesty and that authenticity. In the meantime, I'd like to thank everybody for being here with us. We appreciate you guys. We thank you guys for for being a part of this community, for being part of not the smartest guys in the room. we love you. We appreciate you. we thank you. for Dom, who can't seem to find which direction to wear that wig, I'm Tom. We are not the smartest guys in the room. and we will see you next Wednesday at nine thirty AM Eastern Time. Until then, have a great rest of your week and a great weekend. We love you. Thank you.
speaker-1: I'm good, man. I'm good. I'm just I'm trying to wrap my head around being back in in the office after like almost two weeks, which is like the God, it's it's the longest I've been away for a while. so so yeah, almost two weeks completely away. we left on we like we went out of town on Thursday, the 27th. And yeah, so today is literally two weeks since the last time I was kind of sitting at this desk in my office. So so yeah, so it's been it's been a little bit just trying to like wrap my head around it and get get back into the swing of things a little bit, which is why we're late this morning, totally my fault. cause cause I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things. How about you? How's your how's your Wednesday start now?
speaker-0: Well, Tom, I was gonna take a picture and bring it or bring it down. Liz had to take the dog somewhere this morning. She brought me back two sausage burritos. And you had said one week that you had never had a sausage burrito. Are you still living in that bubble of sausageless of sausage less burrito filled life?
speaker-1: I don't know. I mean, what is it is it literally just a burrito with just sausage in it or a tortilla around a sausage? Or like what what is a sausage burrito? What are you talking?
speaker-0: From McDonald's, number one, McDonald's has the best. So sausage burrito from McDonald's. But it's little chopped up sausages. It has cheese filled through it and egg. And then you can push your put your hash brown in it or put some hot sauce on it. And this thing is spectacular.
speaker-1: Yeah, I gotcha. I gotcha. Okay, so now now I remember what you're talking about. But yeah, I've I've never had one. I've n I I think God, I don't know. I've definitely had an egg McMuffin. I've definitely had a McGridddle. I think that's it. Maybe when I was a kid, maybe like 'cause McD I don't even know if they still do it. Does McDonald's still do the big breakfast anymore?
speaker-0: I th I think they do do the I think the pancakes. Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I don't ever I don't overindulge that much, yeah.
speaker-1: I think I had that when I was a kid one time because I really wanted the pancakes, which were not great. But, you know, I mean, like they're they're as good as like, you know, the frozen pancakes you could buy at the supermarket and like throw in the toaster. Like that's basically what they are. so they're not great, but yeah, yeah, yeah. but but yeah, I've never had a never had a a sausage. Bru I've had I've had a breakfast burrito.
speaker-0: Have had similar.
speaker-1: You know, so like that's that's not a new thing to me. but but yeah, I haven't had the the sausage burrito from McDonald's specifically.
speaker-0: Okay, understood. I got one more question for you, Tom. Something I was thinking about today. Before we jumped on today, I'm sitting here and I have these Air Macs and I moved over and thought I need to tie my shoes. And yesterday I was doing a podcast with somebody. And before I got on the podcast, like we just started talking and I said, Hold on, I need to tie my shoes. But I'm just sitting here. Is that a weird thing to have to tie your shoes before you sit? Is that a a man thing? Is that something you do? is it just weird?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I I so like I'm in my home office, just but preface, right? But like I'm barefoot right now. So so I I'm not wearing shoes in my in my home office. I mean my home office is also like upstairs in my house in like spare bedroom. So it's not like yours as I know down in the basement. So it's a little bit different. Like you got a cold concrete floor. You might want to, like, if I was down there, I'd probably have something on my feet because I wouldn't want, you know, because otherwise your feet just get real cold probably on the concrete floor. But but yeah, I mean if I have shoes on, they're tied. Like I I I don't like I don't think I ever wear shoes and not tie them. So like if I have shoes on, they're tied. And if they're not tied, I retie them. So so I I I guess I'm kind of with you on that. Like I don't know that I would make it to my desk and be like, my shoe, unless it had come untied. But like when I put the shoes on, they get tied. If they come untied, they get retied. but yeah, if I've got shoes on and they have laces, those laces are tied. I don't like I don't know what people are doing wearing shoes with laces and not tying them. That's a that that seems weird to me. I it doesn't make any sense. What
speaker-0: Yeah, you can never get
speaker-1: are you kids doing? Wearing shoes and not tying up pro like, I mean, I don't know. That's that's what I f I feel like I sound like, but yeah, I don't know.
speaker-0: Or you could never get it quite right. Like I remember back in the day with like Sebagos. This was the boat looking shoe that were like leather back in the day. And if you were a really cool kid, you had like these scrunchy things on both sides of your sabagos. It was about an inch on both sides that came out, it was your shoelace and that meant you were cool. But I never was cool. I never raised to the level of that kind of coolness to be able to do it, mine would have been oddly s unscrunched, Tom.
speaker-1: Well you had to like that was there was a whole way to like tie them like that. Like where you like would make a loop and then tie wrap the lace around the loop and then push it through to like pull it tight at the end so it would stay. but yeah, like I remember those when I was a kid, and that was like it was a very like preppy thing. but yeah, like a hundred percent I remember those when I was a kid. And like, yeah, I had those. and I and I tied the laces like that. I had the little like Coils on the outside.
speaker-0: That's word. That's the word. Coils. Well done.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it wasn't like a little like elastic thing. It was an actual leather like lace, right? The laces were leather and then there was this whole like technique, complicated technique to like tie them. It was a whole thing. It was very it was also like that was right before the era of like the crazy looking Z cavericci pants, right? Do you remember those? Like cause it was like preppy and then there was like this like z do you remember the Z cavericis? Do you not remember these?
speaker-0: Tell me more. I don't maybe I had to have a not a knockoff version. My mom would make like grandma sell me knockoff stuff. So we would resolve that.
speaker-1: They were the pants that were like super tight at your ankle and then had like four pleats and like a really wide waistband with like like two snaps or two buttons in the waistband. I don't God, I feel like I don't know how else to describe them. They were ridiculous looking. I mean, they were look they were ludicrous.
speaker-0: Like MC Hammer War or something.
speaker-1: I mean, but they were like, imagine if you took khakis, right? That had like three pleats on them. So like super pleated khakis, right? And then you made the ankles like super tight. like literally as tight as they could be, and you could still get your foot through it. So like really tight ankles and like kind of up your calf a little bit. And then they would kind of balloon out. And then they would get real tight at the top again. And they had like a wide waistband with like two snaps or like two buttons, depending on the on the on the style of them or whatever, was like part of their like sort of signature look. But but yeah, I mean they were they were weird, ridiculous looking pants. And I feel like it was like there was like a preppy era and like the Z Cavaricis, and then like by the time I got into high school, then there was like, you know, then it was like I was I for me personally and for like around me, it was kind of more of like a hip hop thing. And then also like you know, kind of like the sort of club party thing. So like the the crazy like parachute pants and like Jenko jeans and like all of that kind of stuff happened like when I was in like high school, early college, maybe late nineties.
speaker-0: Fair that about my about my genre. That's a good good segue here. And first, before it wasn't a good segue, but I will tell you, and I'm in that same world. And it one of the things that I always think is weird is like late 90s, mid-90s, whether you were like a gangster or listening, a grunge, everybody wore oversized clothes. It was just, and you wore your pants like real low. So we could all agree that. Pants like, hey, society, can we all agree on something? In the late 90s, we all agreed big clothes were cool no matter if they had if they were down by your waist or if they were corduroys or anything like that. Tom, all right, it's time. This is not the smartest guys in the room. We me and Tom, we are we try to be as authentic as can be. So we'll talk about coils and shoelaces or the 90s fashion. But today we're gonna talk about authenticity in business. And who is lying to you? So I wanted to talk about authenticity today, and I pitched subject to Tom saying, like, so many businesses are insincere, so many business owners are insincere, and you see it and you feel it, and sometimes I might have dealt with a business, and then all of a sudden I see something, and I'm like, wait a minute. That's not who I thought they were. And sometimes when that happens, they lose me. And so we did some research, we had some thoughts about it. So Tom, that's where I wanted to weigh in on it. What say you?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, look, I think authenticity is incredibly important. And and really, I think what it boils down to is authenticity has kind of been the buzzword around it for the last couple of years. the last few years, right? I like in in doing a little bit of research on this, I found articles going all the way back to pre COVID, right? Like 2019, 2018 talking about authenticity in business. So authenticity has been sort of a business buzzword for a while. Really, what I I think it ultimately comes down to is, as you said, honesty, right, and transparency. So who's being honest? And a great way to know if a company is being honest with you is just by looking at how transparent they are. How transparent are they with their processes, with their pricing, with their their you know, relationships. With other organizations, their political affiliations, whatever the case may be, how transparent are they? Right? Are they an open book?
speaker-3: or
speaker-1: Are they playing their cards really close to the chest? And usually if they're playing their cards really close to the chest, it's because they don't want you to know something. And what they don't want you to know is something that will turn you off from supporting their business, right? So they're not being transparent. And they may be duplicitous, right? They may be doing something that actively goes against your values or your interests, and they don't want you to know because they're afraid that you're gonna act on that, right? and so so I did, you know, there's a couple of like really big examples of this in sort of recent history. I think one of the most glaring ones is the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal. from from the aughts to the teens, right? So this went on for like more than 10 years. and essentially what was happening was that that in order to make quotas, employees were encouraged to open additional accounts for customers, often without their consent. Right. So if you opened a checking account They might also at the same time while you were on the phone or in the branch opening the checking account, they might also just go ahead and give you a credit card, right? Open up a credit card account for you. And this went on for a long time. And it was really, it was ultimately because Wells Fargo was imposing sales quotas on their staff. And in order to make these unreasonable, ridiculous quotas. the staff were resorting to you know, illegal and absolutely I mean, pr potentially illegal and definitely dishonest methods to to accomplish these goals and and ultimately ended up you know landing the company in a lot of hot water because you know this happened with the knowledge of you know, senior leadership. And so the organization ended up being held accountable to the tune of like two billion dollars. I think there's a couple of lessons to take away from that, right? I mean, none of us here, the likelihood is that nobody listening is in a position where their business can absorb a two billion dollar fine, right? just Gonna take a guess, but I'm I'm gonna guess that nobody listening here runs a business that can absorb a $2 billion fine. but the point is that if you're a smaller business, right, and you act dishonestly and you are called to task for it, there's a good chance it could put you out of business, right? most businesses can't absorb huge fines, and so they end up folding or going bankrupt as a result of malfeasance. And then The other side is that if you engage in this kind of behavior, if you once you go down the path of being dishonest, right, then you have to you complicate things for yourself. You have to keep those lies straight, right? You have to keep that deception going. And ultimately, odds are good that you're gonna get caught. Right. I mean, it just think back to when you were a kid and you did something and and you had to lie about it. There was a good chance, right? Some things we got away with into adulthood. And then kind of once the once you're a grown up, I think we all have that experience of like telling our parents that we did something and, you know, knowing that the statute of limitations has basically run out. And you can be honest with your parents about, you know, when you snuck out that time when you were in high school or something like that. and you can all kind of like have a laugh over it, over a beer as adults, right? But I don't know, I probably a bunch of us have had the experience too of doing that. And our parents going, Yeah, we knew. Right. We knew you snuck out. We knew you were sneaking out. We just, we, we trusted you enough to to let you get away with it. And we didn't, we since you didn't get in trouble, we didn't see a need to come down on you, or but we knew. We knew you were sneaking out, right? but there's always the chance you're gonna get caught. And and if you go down that path for your business, right, when your livelihood depends on a lie, you are risking a lot for very little gain. And so I think, you know, the the sort of the lesson I take away from this is be as transparent as possible. And I'm probably transparent to a fault. I l I literally will walk prospects through how we come up with our pricing, right? I'll walk them through what goes into what we factor into how we price our work and why it costs what it costs. and I I will answer all their questions about it. but at the end of the day, I I have no issue doing that because I got nothing to hide, right? I'm gonna charge what I'm gonna charge. If you want to pay it, right, and you can afford to pay it and you see the value in it, great. And if you don't, okay. But I'm not gonna lie to try to convince you that you should, right? I might, I might package things in a in a way that that helps you see the value. in what I'm doing, right? In the services that we provide. but I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie to you, right, to get you to buy because I all you're doing is painting yourself into a corner and ultimately, you're gonna have to get out of that corner at some point and you're gonna have to step in the paint and get caught for for doing it. So yeah. So I mean that's that's kind of where I'm at. I mean, I got, you know, there's a laundry list of other companies that have paid multi-billion dollar fines for deception, right? And for failures to protect and to be honest about you know lapses like the you know the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data breach, right? Facebook covered it up. they ended up getting caught and paying five billion dollars for privacy violations, right? Chapter anal or Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy because they couldn't afford the fines for the illegal illegally harvested data. So you know I mean there's unless you can absorb huge fines, You know, and have basically a monopoly, right? Like Facebook does, then yeah, I I I think the lesson's pretty clear. Don't lie, be transparent, be honest.
speaker-0: Tom Fair, thank you. Glad you took it there and glad you mentioned Facebook. Before we get to Jason and Randy on their thoughts on this, I'm gonna tackle Walmart. I'm thinking about who's lying to you, this authenticity. And I see Walmart with these rollback, the smiley rollback in the store. They make you think that they're so kind. There's smiles everywhere around the whole brand. The brand started as made in America and then they switched. They switched with really not telling the world they switched. They were still selling on made in America when they switched. And then all of a sudden people were like, wait a minute, this wasn't made in America. Then shelving practices at the store. I don't know if any but to get yourself on the shelves at Walmart, you basically have to. play at a loss and they dictate profit margins and everything like that. They're the player. They're you want in, that's what you got to do. Okay, so I'm thinking about all these. So that as I start thinking about it and looking at fair practices, labor, healthcare, wages where they just kind of skip our employees don't need that. Our employees don't need healthcare. Our employees can cut hours there so many times. That Walmart has got called out for these kind of things. And I'm I'm just thinking that like I just was thinking of these top of the head. And then as I started going into it, one of the worst things that they did was built stores close together, put every put mom and pops out of business, and then close their stores and open these super centers. Once they close once they were close. They closed the other stores because they were able to lower wages or they were able to lower prices. The other the mom and pops had to close. Then they close the first door and make Super Center. Man, they did a lot of dirty things. And all along they're selling me on a smile and a kind hearted person at the door. So I'm not sure Walmart's being authentic with me. Tom, before we get to Jason, you wanna weigh in on that?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean Walmart is for sure not being transparent or honest with with with its customers. I mean, yeah, for from from what you're talking about, the whole like we care about community. Have you seen their commercial campaign where they've got like multi-generational people who work at Walmart like, you know, talking about like, you know, what a great career path it is and whatever. but like you said, you know, it the there's a huge percentage. a massive number of people who work at Walmart who are also on public assistance because they cannot earn a living wage at Walmart. Why? Because Walmart intentionally hires more people, but lowers the hours for each person. So they don't have to provide them health care. So they don't have to pay them benefits, right? they don't have to put them on a retirement plan. They don't have to give them paid time off, right? As part-time workers, they lose a lot of the rights that full-time workers have. And so those people, in order to fill those gaps, right, go on public assistance, receive you know, Medicaid benefits, they receive SNAP benefits to to supplement their their nutrition and their ability to buy groceries. And then what do they do? They turn around, they spend those that's those snap dollars. At frickin' Walmart, right? So, like, I mean, Walmart is really talking out of both sides of their mouth, for the most part. I another one just popped into my head was the the sort of the Amazon tax. Are you familiar with this? so basically Amazon has for sellers and merchants, they have a pricing policy. it's in their agreement when you when you agree to sell on Amazon, that You can only, as a merchant on Amazon, you have to provide Amazon with the lowest price for your product, right? But the problem with that is, is that Amazon charges huge fees, right? For both as a as a as a piece of the sales commission for being on the platform, right? but then also if you do your fulfillment through them, etc., you can end up paying 50%. Plus percent of the of the retail price, the the advertised price, 50 plus percent of that could go to Amazon and only half of it goes to the actual seller, right? So you end up with a situation where the seller has no choice but to raise their price, or else they're losing money on every transaction, right? So to be on Amazon, they have to raise their price. But what does that mean? Because Amazon, as a policy, has to have the lowest price for those products. Guess what it means? It means they have to raise their prices everywhere. So everywhere they sell, they have to raise their prices because they raised their price on Amazon to be able to afford to be on Amazon, right? And because Amazon is such a big fish, right? It's really difficult to actually sell well if you're not available on Amazon. And so people are kind of retailers are sort of forced into selling their products on Amazon, which means that they then have to raise their prices everywhere else. So even if you buy their product not on Amazon, you're paying an Amazon tax essentially, right? Because it costs more than it would if Amazon wasn't selling. So like everywhere you go, you're kind of you're you're paying this Amazon tax. And most people don't realize it. They think, well, Amazon has the best prices. It's like, no, no, no. Amazon has the same prices everywhere else. It's just that everywhere the prices are inflated to make up for the fact that. the lowest price has to be the price that Amazon has. So it doesn't, it's not discounted on Amazon. It's the same price on Amazon as it is where everywhere else and everywhere it's inflated. That's the Amazon tax. So there's another thing that like is just sort of a common deception that's happening right in front of us. and nobody at Amazon's talking about it. They're they're not trying to fix that for you.
speaker-0: Tom, we're probably gonna get blocked on all websites by the end of this show. So who's lying to you? Authenticity in business. This is not the smartest guys in the room. Our friend Jason is in the house. Jason, what say you on all these thoughts? We got a bunch of things going on here.
speaker-2: You seguated to too many things and didn't central off enough on your main thing.
speaker-0: Okay, so you got an answer?
speaker-2: You went too far.
speaker-0: What do you got? So you got something for me?
speaker-2: Well, I mean, okay, so if I if I were to evaluate, you know, I love Tom's dissension. I love the way that he put things, right? But is it really lying or they can choose to do that and you can be the buyer to choose to react to it? Right? Now it's not me my job as a consumer to understand how you delineate your cost to the consumer. My job is to get you to buy. And I was writing something down, and it's like attention brings them in, right? So let's say the sale, but desire makes them spend. It's a very simple business principle. It it doesn't go get any better than that. So when if I talked about Walmart or any other major conglomerate, you know, supplier to retail to the consumer, yeah, it destabilizes a lot. Because they can afford to. They can get a supply. They can make things cheaper. And so it makes companies who make really good goods question whether they can continue to sell to people. Like, for example, Snap on Tools. Here's a big one. Snap on tools has been known to every mechanic or machinist out there as the brand you can trust when it comes to tools, right? They don't break easy. They have a great return policy. They have a great warranty policy on all the tools. Now, they had to majorly change how they dealt with business because you had subpar tools made by Husky or Duraast or whoever, you know, these companies that come from overseas. And if Snap-on can't produce out of the United States and Canada for its own consumers. And people can't buy it and they go out of business, whose fault is it? They just had to look at, well, when I when I bring a cheaper good to distribution and people want to buy and times are tough, people are going to keep going for the cheaper. Now, for the real hardcore addict, like like I'm sure I could talk to Tom's Tom's mind mindset, where see, like he's he's he's got bikes for his triathlons and he needs quality tools.
speaker-1: Fourse.
speaker-2: Who's he gonna go to? He's gonna have to look at how he spends and how often he spends. But can he really afford the great quality tool in the long term? He might now take him to the other other side of the spectrum where the consumer's getting into it. Bought an expensive bike, but I can't ex I can't afford the expensive tools to take to take care of it. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna go wherever I can get it, you know. But that means back to your central question about authenticity and who's lying to you in business. If you took three days to evaluate every purchase, would you still buy it? You know, because that's really where authenticity comes from is, you know, your your desire to spend.
speaker-0: Jason, I want to follow up with you on this authenticity versus lying. And if Jason, if the Jason I see on TikTok, the Jason that I see that comes into the room, hey, by the way, your mic sounds really good today. The Jason I see here, if all of a sudden this Jason isn't the Jason that I see. So when I talk about Walmart per se. Walmart gives me this happy, smiley, we are good. And then they do these things behind the bat, behind the scenes that aren't happy and smiley. So I believe it's inauthentic. I believe they're lying to me. Now they're a much larger business, maybe larger than me, Jason, Tom, not the smartest guys will ever get. So they can get away with things, but if we use those same practices. If Jason wasn't who he is on TikTok in the community, would would you be able to get away with it? So that's where I'm going with lying and authenticity. Would what will you answer that, Jason? Speak to it?
speaker-2: You know, I'm gonna have to bring stoicism into this. You don't have to have an opinion. And I know gentlemen in business that I've learned from, sometimes I've lied to them. And they didn't dismiss me right away, but they gave me an opportunity to like carefully craft questions to me. And and I had an opportunity to either stand up and say, you know what, you're right. what I was trying to get across was more important than your needs. And they respected me for when I did say that, but from when I didn't, it was a trickle-down effect of, you know, sorting people out and just like, look, I won't have you in our ethos anymore. I gave you an opportunity, but my interest, your small your your inauthentic self or your lying self was a small cost. Compared to if I overly invested in you and cost me big. You know, so I think that people forget, remember, you can have observations and recollections and reflections. And when you find out somebody's lying, like look at your emotional self. You get out of yourself and you start reacting to a liar, you know, how much did it really cost you? Really time? You know, bonds, friendship, like all these things. Yeah, same with brands, you know. I used to trust Levi beyond the shadow of a doubt. I used to love Levi's as a kid growing up in seventies and eighties. They they were built to last. That's what mom bought and could afford. Well, times changed, eve Levi started falling apart. You know, and then I couldn't trust Levi no more. And so I'd buy Kirkland, you know, Costco jeans. I've had a same pair of Costco jeans for 10 years and they've held up against Levi's where Levi's fell apart. Am I am I mad at Levi's? No. You know, when it comes to people, you just have to look at like, is this gonna get me out of my own reasonableness? So hop hopefully that understands. And by the way, Dom, I picked, I got the copy Violent Disturbance, you you one of your published products, and I love the first five pages where I'm at. It's definitely hooked me in. I like it. It reminds me of another book.
speaker-0: Wow, beautiful. Thank you. Violent disturbance. Paul Laps, he he's a great writer. A manufacturer that wrote a brilliant book. And so I believe in the guy, but crazy to be in one world and then transition into another world. So that's the leap he's making right now. So thanks, Jason. Okay.
speaker-2: Isn't that a beautiful hook?
speaker-0: Yeah, well done. Absolutely. Hey, okay, so it is time for the turn of the show. The point you've all been waiting for. It is Tom Stumbs. Tom, always full of opinions. This is gonna be a tough one for you. I'm excited about this one. I and I have a feeling you're gonna be like, so Tom, today I want to ask you something very important. I want to know your thoughts. Thumbs up or thumbs down to HOCO and prom proposals. This is high school students these days have to make elaborate proposals to their the girls they're gonna ask to dances. This is signs, this is all this jazz. What does Tom say about this?
speaker-1: I'm g Hoko is homecoming, right?
speaker-0: You got it.
speaker-1: Okay, all right. So all right. So what do I think about homecoming and prom proposals? I mean, first of all, like the name is kind of weird to me, right? Like it's a little bit weird that they're called proposals. You're not like I what are you proposing that we go to the dance together? Like it's not a proposal in the way that we traditionally think of when you say the word proposal, when you're saying someone proposing to someone else. Like that's marriage, right? That's what I'm thinking. I think that's what most people, our age, most people think of when you say that word, when you say, I'm gonna propose to so and so. It's like, you're gonna ask them to marry you, right? So, so I'm thinking that now I I also think that high school is a tough time for a lot of people, right? Like it is tough sometimes. To find people that you know, that you're comfortable with, that you're comfortable asking to a dance. it can be a time, you know, people are, you know, you're a teenager, you're going through either going through or have just gone through puberty, you're a little bit awkward, you're trying to figure out who you are as a person, trying to find your place in your world, right? there's the social pressures of high school with sort of hierarchies and clicks and You know, are you popular? Are you not popular? Right. and then and then also, as we all know, and I mean, I, you know, maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but like, you know, teenagers tend to have relatively fragile self-esteem, right? We're we're not well established in the world yet. Well, we haven't notched too many years under our belts. we don't have any sort of you know big accomplishments really to to you know lean back on or fall back on. to shore us up. And so we're a little bit fragile, right? with with our self-esteem. And so I think to pile on top of that, right, as hard as high school is to begin with, to make it culturally to put this pressure on kids to have to come up with these elaborate ways of asking someone to the prom or to homecoming. Especially when there's the chance that they're gonna say no, right? When you've gone to a whole bunch of trouble, you've sometimes involved other people, you've done arts and crafts, like all kinds of craziness is happening. You've you're videotaping things, right? So this is gonna go on the internet and live forever, could haunt you through your whole adult life, right? you being you could get memed and be the guy. That got shot down spectacularly, asking someone to homecoming or to the prom, to pile all of that pressure onto teenagers just seems unnecessary. Like, what are we doing? Right? Why are we because I I can't imagine that this is solely the creation of teenagers, right? That there aren't parents involved in like encouraging this kind of stuff. And and so I just I'm wary of any sort of like. Cultural movement that makes an already difficult time period in people's lives and in our development as people, as adults, right? As human beings, an already difficult time and making it more difficult for no real benefit, right? What's the benefit? You get a funny video, or like you get a cute picture, maybe, or you get tears. and and somebody who who it it takes you know years to recover from the trauma of of being shot down publicly on the internet by somebody that they had a big crush on in high school, right? I mean, I am so glad that I grew up in a time before the internet, before any of this was even a possibility. But for me, thinking about it even as a parent. Like I would do everything I could to guard against my teenage child, who I mean, Isla is years from being a teenager, right? But I would do everything I could to guard against my teenager being subject to something that could potentially cause them harm, a real emotional harm for years to come, right? Unnecessarily. Right. We all have to go through trials and tribulations of growing up, right? You You have to go through rejection, right? It's it's something we all have to learn to deal with because we are going to deal with it throughout our lives. Rejection is not inherently bad, right? But to take that rejection and put it under a magnifying glass, to make it public in in in a way that could be you know, long lasting and and could be on the internet, which we all know the internet's forever, I think is a bad idea. And so yeah, I at the end of the day, I just don't see the value. If it's a sure thing and you know it's good, they're gonna say yes, right? Fine. Then go do the big elaborate thing and like make a production out of it. but I kind of feel like this falls into the category of like the the gender reveals, right? And all of that kind of ridiculousness that we've got making everything an event, like it doesn't have to be a big event, right? It doesn't have to be you know, balloons and and confetti and sparklers and whatever, right? It doesn't have to be that. It could just be somebody going up to somebody that they have a crush on in high school and asking them to go to the prom. It could just be that. Why do we have to make everything ridiculous? so yeah, for all of those reasons, yeah, I give it a thumbs down. I think it's it's gotten out of control.
speaker-0: Tom, well done, man. And you came off kind hearted, I think kind hearted and soft there, and won me over definitely at the end. And I think I'm in your camp, but at the end, when you said, wouldn't it be special if the Ask E, Ask her, Ask E, if I just came up to you and asked you and you remembered that and I didn't have we were here, we were there, and you remembered when. The person came up and asked you and how special it was. Did the sign and everybody being there and trying to beat somebody else's sign make it better? But somebody with four boys is here. So I wanted to get Julie's thoughts. I I Julie's got 50 things going on, but Julie, four boys, you want to weigh in on that?
speaker-2: Well, two of my boys have done that before, but obviously Tom is not a girl and doesn't know how girls like to feel so special and over the moon. Now I think got these little boys should be smart and make sure it's a yes before they do it. But it's just fun. It's all for fun and games. And I I missed 13 years from now, Tom, you you may change your tune when someone drives up to your house and does something elaborate for I La. That's it. But I'm for it. I think it's cute.
speaker-1: I mean, I he here's my pushback to that, Julie, right? Is like, does it have to be a public spectacle? Right? I don't think it has to be a
speaker-2: We want to feel like princesses. I know I don't think boys thought this up. Like if you think about it, what boy would think up doing something like this? Probably the girlfriends made the boys do it. And that's kind of how it is in my house. The girlfriends asked the boy my sons to do it for them. So it's kind of funny actually.
speaker-1: I I mean, I would guess probably more the moms than the girlfriends.
speaker-2: True. Okay. I'll give you that one.
speaker-0: Hey, Jason's flashing here too. He's probably prom posing back in the day. What do you got, Jason?
speaker-2: I got turned down twice for prom and I I you know it's it's looking back then I was crushed but it was just something, it was a rite of passage. I don't take away the obstacle and I have three girls, right? And my middle child, I didn't get to really talk to her, but I remember my mom talking to her and about prom and she's like her boyfriend just asked her. That's it, not just it. Just aster, you know, like and that was because they had a relationship. But like what if you're single and you create these grand to Tom's point, if you create too much grandiose, is it setting too a bar too high that you can't keep? Right? So what happens after a prom and the girl likes the boy, but he can't keep affording like a limo and a tux on a date, or what's her expectations of value of a person? So I agree with Tom, but see you can't take away the obstacles from the kids. So If it makes the kids creative and say, okay, I as a parent am a father to a son and telling him, like, look, remember who you are and everything that you do. If this makes you take outside yourself and you spend so much, what's left afterwards, you know? So are you gonna do that? And it's my job as a parent to install the values that hopefully he will practice, but I still gotta let them fail. So I think it sometimes and to Tom's point, yeah, it's despicable. But I don't have to have an opinion about it. What is I ask my kids, what would you think? You know, if we talked about this and it wasn't about them, what would you think? And does it make them think? So I I I think it's good and bad at the same time. Don't take away. I mean, I just like let them think about it. Like, do you really want to connect with a girl that, you know, you're gonna connect that one time? That's what she wants. She wants to be treated. But what about reality if you like her after prom or before? Maybe it's your segue in. I can you keep it up? So yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think I I I agree with you, Jason. I appreciate you sharing that. I mean, I think Julie in the comments said we all want our say anything moment. and and I just think it here's what popped into my head, right? Is if everything is a big deal, then nothing is a big deal, right? If every moment is over the top, then nothing is special anymore. So I just think that. It we're setting we're setting ourselves up for disappointment, setting ourselves up for failure. And these kids, right? Encouraging these kids to do the same because if they go through this big elaborate thing for their promposal, well, like, I mean, I know, I know, I know Dom and Liz are the exception of the rule, right? But like, how many people are actually still with their high school sweetheart, right? Not very many. So, like, if if people aren't with their high school sweetheart, then like. You know, maybe s this girl's boyfriend it senior year in high school went nuts and got the whole town involved in like their in his promposal to her, right? And so like they had this huge event thing and he all this elaborate stuff. Now, what happens when later she's in love with somebody and he decides he wants to propose? Like, how does he live up to that standard? Now he's gotta do what? Like, you know, take her to on an exotic vacation and like you know, enlist the the help of like the the entire crew on a cruise ship or something to like create some sort of elaborate, insane proposal in order to sort of live up to or exceed the standards set by this promposal. It's just crazy to do that. Right. So like I just think if everything is a big deal, then nothing is a big deal. And so we have to be judicious with where we kind of place emphasis and put effort into making things a big deal. So yeah, I mean, it just it that that's kind of like summarizes my thinking on it a little bit better. and and to answer Jim's question or Jim's statement in the in the chat, Jim said Tom's been rejected in high school LOL. Well yeah, Jim, I was rejected in high school more than once. and I'd be willing to bet Most of the people listening here were right. Like, and maybe even Jim was, right? Like you know, I most of us got rejected by somebody in high school. So it happens to all of us. but but yeah, I mean, yeah, I got rejected in high school. Like, welcome to the club, right? Right. Like I I don't feel alone in that. and it sucked. And I'm glad it wasn't public, right? I'm glad it wasn't on the internet forever. I'm glad it happened quietly, right? And and without receipts. So so yeah, I'll just you know, I'll I'll leave it there. I I think yeah, you you gotta make sure it's a yes if you're gonna do it, but also like just be wary of going too big too quickly with too many things because ultimately you set a bar that it's impossible to live up to. and you've dug yourself a hole you can't get out of. So yeah, I I think I think we'll leave we'll leave. Promposals there, Dom, if you're good with that, and maybe let's pivot over to a PSA. What do you think?
speaker-0: Okay, if we're pivoting to PSA, I'm taking it a completely different direction today.
speaker-1: All right, sounds good. I will I will get the get the graphic up real quick, get the clock on for you, and then you can take it away. All right, you ready? Are you looking at your camera so you don't block your face with the
speaker-0: I don't think I'm I don't think I'm I don't think I'm clipping this one. Just in the case. Yeah.
speaker-1: All right. Well I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna throw up the clock regardless. Here you go.
speaker-0: This PSA is only for the people here. You can spread it, you can tell people about it. But if you have a dog and your dog leaves your yard and leaves your yard over and over and over and poops in somebody else's yard, like a neighbor, and you know your dog's leaving your yard, if you let your dog out, out of your yard, what do you think your dog's doing? And when you do, When you let your dog out of your house and you know your dog has to go to the bathroom and it goes out of your yard, what do you think your dog's doing? Your dog is going to the bathroom in the neighbor's yard, in somebody's else's yard around the neighborhood. Follow your dog. Don't let your dog off the leash. Whatever. Go pick up your dog's crap. PSA. If you let your dog take a crap somewhere, go pick it up. There you go, Tom.
speaker-1: So in summary scoop the poop.
speaker-0: Well said, Scoop poop.
speaker-3: Scoop the poop, scoop the poop.
speaker-1: I think I good. Good good enough. good enough.
speaker-0: I told you I was taking in a different direction. Not it's all you now.
speaker-1: All right, I like it. Here we go. I'm gonna throw up a clock for myself. All right, so here we go. So I was watching a reel just early this morning. and it was a reel that was kind of centered around age, right? And I was born in the nineteen hundreds, in in nineteen seventy eight, actually, to be exact. And so I'm a little bit older. And it was asking all these people who were born in sort of like the late 90s, early 2000s, who were all teachers and professionals, which is kind of wild to me. Hard for me to wrap my head around because I'm still like 25 in my head. asking them, the question was Duran Duran was hungry like a blank, right? And I would not consider myself a big Duran Duran fan, but I knew right away it was Wolf, right? Hungry like a wolf. And yeah, so there were a lot of there were a lot of people who who were not able to answer that well and did not get the answer out. and I just it it occurred to me that while we may be older than we like to admit sometimes or like to think of ourselves, we also are only as old as we feel. And as long as I can get out and keep running and swimming and biking. and being active and lifting weights and throwing my daughter Isla around, then I will continue to be young at heart, even if I can answer the question, who is Duran hungry like? So yeah, that's that's my that's my PSA. You're you're only as old as you feel.
speaker-0: Tom, you've been out very positive today. you pro pro teenage boy not getting his feelings hurt, pro really love. and now pro living your best life at whatever age. This is really you've come a long way.
speaker-1: Well, I mean, I have been on vacation for two weeks. So maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe some of the some of the bitter cynic washed off at the lake. but but also yeah, man. I mean, I think I don't know, I'm in a good mood. I'm having a I'm having a good time. I mean, you're you're you're kind of you're doing the same thing, right? You're you're embracing living your best life, right? You made an announcement. recently on on social media signing up to run your first marathon. so yeah, I you know I'm just I'm just trying to match your energy, Dom. I'm just trying to I'm just trying to, you know, meet the meet the mood of the minute.
speaker-0: I I've been jealous of you and I I'm a big big believer in stepping out of your comfort zone. So that's why the marathon. I can't gotta put my money where my mouth is. I've been wanting to do it for a long time. If I'm gonna do it, I should go for it and try to do it the best I can. So that's where I'm at. Hey, somebody asked a question down here. I got multiple things here. This is not the smartest guys in the room. Every week we pick a topic and then we do a Tom Stom's, we do a PSA, we do a memory lane, we do a wrap up. But we talk about media, we talk about business, we talk about current events going on, and that's the flow of the show. Basically, it's always an hour. It's then you can listen to them in podcasts. They're edited up a little bit. But before we get to memory lane, Tom, one of our favorite things on the show that Tom will like here. We have Tom, we're talking about authentic authenticity today in business. And we have somebody who wants to offer in the comments. They want to offer. We haven't met them before. They don't follow the page. They have a brilliant business proposal where you can work from home and own passive income. You can earn $3,400 in three days of trading on just one investment for $200. Tom, I mean, this seems to fit with our vibe of authenticity. This person that we don't know. What is your thoughts on this?
speaker-1: I mean, it seems super legit, right? and and I think if anything, what really has me convinced that this is a solid, solid proposal backed by fact, right, and honesty, is that Jennifer Fred, which is an interesting name, that Jennifer Fred popped into the room, threw her little business proposal in the chat and then has left the room. So obviously she is so so steadfastly behind her offer that she has left to go give it to as many people as possible to make sure this gift is shared, you know, with everyone. and so so yeah so I think I don't know about you, but I'm definitely gonna immediately DM Jennifer and probably click on the link in the in the chat and and just give my bank information. I think that seems like a great idea, right?
speaker-0: Tom, I was I was thinking you would say that and and we should all take Tom's advice and jump on that. Find Jen, find Jennifer, where's she at? We need we need to know about this deal.
speaker-1: Yeah, just and and for anybody listening who's never heard of sarcasm before, that was all sarcasm. yeah, obviously this is one of those like it what what boggles my mind is like, does this ever work? Like, does this actually work? I mean, and how often does it work? How much time do you have to spend? I'm genuinely curious about this. Like for for something like this, right? For this obvious scam. That Jennifer Fred is involved with, right? Like when you do the math of how much time she has to spend, I mean, it's probably a bot, right? Let's be honest. It's probably not a real person doing it. But how much time do you have to spend programming the bot, getting it all set up, monitoring it, following up, you know, covering your tracks? Cause obviously this is illegal, right? Like, obviously, if they're just t there, cause there's no chance. That they're actually investing people's $200, right? Let's just be very clear about that. They're stealing money from people. So they are promising an investment return and then they are taking the money and disappearing, right? Like that is almost certainly what's happening here. so so if if that's the case, like if you do the math and you all the work that goes into it, how much are you actually making like per hour doing that? I would venture to guess that it's probably Probably not very much. And it's it and probably when you look at it, like, you know, is it worth making $8 an hour to pop potentially go to jail? Right? Like, is that $8 an hour worth it? Or like, are you better off just like getting a job at Walmart? Right? Like, I just I I mean, I not that I like Walmart, but like I just think there's there's better ways to make Probably not very much money per hour when you look at all the work that goes into like actually executing these scams. So, because I can't imagine this works very well. Right? Like it's a volume game. They're they're betting that like someone is gonna click on that link and they're gonna be able to like install some malware and steal their information or whatever, right? But like, I don't know. I just I feel like there there are not. Like a lot of individuals, like Jennifer Fred, whoever the real person is behind that account, is probably not getting rich off of this. And so I just think it's, I don't know, it just doesn't seem worth it to me. But like I maybe that's just me. But yeah, it's just, it's yeah, it's a it's a little crazy. But but but yeah, I mean, I I'm I'm definitely gonna definitely gonna give her give her my my account number and and routing information for my bank for sure. Soon as we wrap up.
speaker-0: Absolutely. Let's get let's get on a one-on-one call with her. T Tom, before we go here, we got two more things to do. You ready for a memory lane?
speaker-1: Hit me with it. Take me down memory lane.
speaker-0: Let's do this. So today for Memory Lane, this is a strange one, but this is something that has always made me smile. And Halloween's coming. So I I believe I got this a few years back because I was easy E one year for Halloween. Easy E, the rapper. And we so when I was easy E, I got this sweet wig here. So Tom only this is a wig with curly hair that I just put on. And this wig makes me happy. So then I've combined this wig with other things in my life that have made me happy. So the Steelers are starting now. They're they're about to come. So here's my terrible towel. So every once in a while I'll wear this wig to Steeler games, just because I'm so excited. I just think it's funny and it makes me happy. And then my mom had hair that somewhat looked like this. So I decided to start impersonating her to my kids. wearing this wig and they used to laugh. So the memory lane is this beautiful little wig offers me so much joy, Tom. Now I don't know why it's all matted down. It's probably 20 years old, but every time I find this even today, I'm happy. And sometimes when I wear it to a steal a game, somebody will come up to me and they'll be like ready to make fun of me or ready to say something. And then they realize it's the coolest wig ever and then they give me a big High five and they are happy too. So this wig that you are seeing spreads joy.
speaker-1: I I like it. I think I kind of wanna see that wig, just because it's like it's not the bright orange, I think that wig with like clown makeup would actually be really funny. cause it would sort of almost look like it was just the person's regular hair and they were wearing clown makeup. and and also just because I think it'd be funny to see you in clown makeup. so so yeah, so that's that I think you should be a clown, but with that wig. For Halloween this year. also, you didn't put any makeup on when you did the easy e thing, did you?
speaker-0: No, no makeup. Just those big clothes we were talking about from earlier. I used to rock dickies when I was in high school. I walked like giant dickies and size thirty-six jeans when I was probably a size 30. So I I I was cool, man. So Tom. And I'm never sure what direction this wig is supposed to go. So I put it this way, but I don't know if it has a front or not. But okay, Tom, I believe that we have been Authentic today. This is us. So can you put a bow on this puppy and wrap us up today?
speaker-1: I mean, I think yeah, I I I can. I don't know if it's gonna be the most elegant wrap up I've ever done. and I don't know that we have like a very clear to use a word that you love to to quote me on a I don't know that we've presented really a cogent theme or argument throughout the entire episode today, but I will say this. you know, we were talking about authenticity in business and honesty in business. and I think at the end of the day, it just doesn't pay to be dishonest, right? Especially as a small business owner, especially if you're just starting your business or launching your business. The best thing you can do to earn trust, to earn loyalty from your customer base, to create long-term. beneficial relationships with your audience and with your customers is to be honest, to be authentic and to be transparent, right? When you're authentic, you automatically right kind of filter out the kind of people you don't want to work with, right? And keep the people you do want to work with because they see you for who you are, they see your business for what it represents, and they choose to stick around because of those things, right? and the people who disagree with those things, who disagree with you on values, tend to leave because they disagree with you on values. And so you end up with your customer base, your audience sort of self-selecting to be the kind of people that you want to work with. and then at the end of the day, also if you're honest and authentic and transparent in your business practices, then you never have to worry about a lie coming around to bite you down the line, right? Because they will. And if you start out lying, if you once you start lying, you always have to worry about that lie coming back around to bite you, right? until it either does or doesn't someday. but you always have that hanging over your head. And I think as challenging as it is to start a business, grow a business, run a business, the last thing you need to do is make that more complicated, add more pressure to it by lying. so just be honest, be transparent, and reap the benefits of it from the relationships you're able to grow with your audience and with your customer base. in the same way that I think you shouldn't add pressure to promposals and homecoming proposals and all of that nonsense that we talked about earlier. So anyway, that's where I would kind of leave it. at the end of the day, yeah, put on a wig if it makes you happy, I guess. is is what we're taking away from today. And everybody gets rejected in high school. It's okay. and it doesn't need to live on the internet forever. So so that's yeah, I mean I think that kind of puts a pin in it. Let's wrap it up there. I will I will leave it at that since and I I called it out it wasn't going to be the most elegant wrap up I've ever done and it was not true to form. so I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back for that transparency and that honesty and that authenticity. In the meantime, I'd like to thank everybody for being here with us. We appreciate you guys. We thank you guys for for being a part of this community, for being part of not the smartest guys in the room. we love you. We appreciate you. we thank you. for Dom, who can't seem to find which direction to wear that wig, I'm Tom. We are not the smartest guys in the room. and we will see you next Wednesday at nine thirty AM Eastern Time. Until then, have a great rest of your week and a great weekend. We love you. Thank you.
