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Calvin Tilokee 0:02
Hello and welcome to the midlife crisis podcast. I’m your host Calvin, also known as Revparblems on Instagram. I’m excited to do this talk show with my best friends from high school and college. Steve and Mikko, what can you expect on this podcast? Well, I like to call it a talk show for Men of a Certain Age. We’re not quite old. But we’re the kind of guys that have to make sure we don’t mix our alcohol on a night out, you know?we’ll chat about current events, trending topics, and things that we just need to get on our soapbox about knowing us. We’ll be laughing the whole time. And ladies, don’t worry if you ever wanted to know what your husband or boyfriend talks about in the man cave. Stick around. Now, keep in mind, we’re old enough to remember when Parental Advisory stickers went on CDs. If you don’t know what CDs are. You’re too young for this podcast. Speaking of which, make sure you have your headphones in. It’s NSFW as these kids say. We’ll be bringing that flavor to your ear weekly on your way to work while you’re shaving. Or just sitting around wondering why your back hurts but let’s get this show on the road. Hello and welcome to midlife crisis podcast. I’m your host Calvin here as always, with my boy Steve and Mikko bringing that flavor to air on a weekly basis. On today’s episode, we’ll be discussing workplace culture. we’ll of course bring you our Chris Rock quote of the week. I don’t like that jerk. I don’t know that shit. And as always get off my lawn. But first, how was the week fellas?

Mikko Miller 1:23
We just have a full shot down here in California. I don’t know what it’s like in Ohio and New York, curfews at 10 o’clock. No more outdoor dining. No more indoor dining.

Steve 1:33
Damn.

Mikko Miller 1:34
Yeah, they’re just locking shut down. So just nothing happened throughout the week. And then I think on Sunday, I was like the last day the malls were going to stay open. So we’ll just hit up the mall just for old times sake, you know, walked around and you know, saw a few people and then what the fuck back home? That was it.

Man.

Calvin Tilokee 1:55
Damn man. That’s crazy.

Steve 1:57
It is crazy.

Calvin Tilokee 1:59
There’s like an uptick in cases or something like that?

Mikko Miller 2:02
I think we’re hitting if I’m not mistaken. Don’t quote me. But I think we hit like 10,000 in one day. Oh, new cases. Yeah. We’re like breaking records. Like every day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nasty nasty out here.

Steve 2:17
We’re not in any better. We’re where I’m at.

Calvin Tilokee 2:19
No?

Steve 2:20
no, I mean, we’re breaking records left and right. But overall, I mean, that didn’t have a big impact. On my week. I started doing home automation stuff. Like with the Christmas lights and shit. Starting off with that. I’m getting some other ecoutrement, if you will. Nice. Nice. As the days go on, but yeah, I started getting into it. And I got my kid convinced that she can use the Force to turn on the lights in the living room.

Calvin Tilokee 2:48
That’s fantastic. I love it. Yeah. As you said,

Steve 2:52
it’s not working. It’s not working. I got to concentrate. You have to really use it. And she goes and does it. By that time. I’ve opened up the app, and I’ve turned it on and all that shit. It’s fun. Nice. Man.

Calvin Tilokee 3:07
I love it. That’s fantastic.

Steve 3:09
How about you man?

Calvin Tilokee 3:11
This week is cool, man. We drove up to Vermont took a little road trip. Get out of the apartment for a little while. So actually, we have we’re having a first on this podcast. I’m sipping a cocktail, as we record this evening.

Mikko Miller 3:27
Fancy

Calvin Tilokee 3:28
Yeah.

Steve 3:29
What are you drinking?

Calvin Tilokee 3:30
It’s a cocktail called good old boys from a place called homestyle hotel. We went there last night and they actually do some to go drinks. So it’s really dark and windy roads up here. So I’m like, people really shouldn’t drink and drive in this state. Because it should is kind of is treacherous. Like

Mikko Miller 3:52
or period.

Calvin Tilokee 3:54
Well, period. Yeah. But I mean, wait, listen, let’s be real. We’ve all had like, you know, like a, we’ve all had a drink and be like, I’m cool enough to drive. I can get home here. You know, I’m a little buzzed or whatever. But like, not just like, you don’t even want to mess with the shit at all up here. It is dark, like 430. Now of course, these roads are windy as hell even during the day, that’s in them driving with my head up like like both hands on the wheel and shit. You know? Yeah. It’s like, you don’t want to mess around with this shit up here. So I had one drink with dinner. And I was like, I’ll take one to go because this one was highly recommended. So but drinking it tonight and I’m like, Yo, this is good, but I’m shocked by how good the food is up here. Almost everywhere we’ve been to. You could find amazing food that like biscuits, chicken and waffles. You name it. They got fucking crazy.

Steve 4:44
Where are you again?

Calvin Tilokee 4:46
We’re in a town right now called Ludlow, Vermont. So it’s like Southern Southern Vermont. But we’ve been all of our trips have been kind of around here. The three places we’ve been all within like 10 miles at a spot. We are right Now, but everywhere we’ve been, I mean, ice cream mazing we haven’t had a bad meal anywhere. Which is crazy, because you don’t think about from mogh when you think about places to go eat. Yeah.

Mikko Miller 5:11
Yeah, that’s true.

Steve 5:12
That’s fantastic, man.

Calvin Tilokee 5:14
Yeah, it’s really cool. So we rented a house, were up here for, you know, the next week. And the other day, we decided, Hey, why don’t we get a little Christmas tree to kind of liven it up around here while we were staying. So yeah. And there’s a bunch of farms, obviously, up in this wood, we’re driving, and we go to this farm that we had passed by. Last time we were here, pull in there. We got the car. And this is a place where they got a bunch of livestock, right. So there’s this rooster walking around. And he’s like one of these really cool looking ones. He kinda looks like a peacock. Like those, like very colorful. He’s got like, like a rock star hair cut looks like Rod Stewart back in 80s.

So like, Yo, this is pretty cool. As I’m taking pictures of him and shit. And I go in the farm store, nobody’s here. So we kind of figure out you know who else? Nobody’s there. So we’re like, let me walk around and see if somebody is just somewhere else and he’s like following us around. When we started joking around like, oh, he must be the manager because he’s just like, walking around everywhere with us. So at one point, me and my wife separate because I go a little further off to try to find a person and she’s looking at the lifestock they had like rabbits and pigs and goats everything. And he’s like walking with her. So I come back and he’s like walking right next door. And then we’re getting ready to get in the car and get ready to leave. I go. Like I’m about to walk around the car to open up the door for her. This motherfucker standing in between the two of us jumps up and pecks me in the leg.

Mikko Miller 6:46
Oh, damn.

Calvin Tilokee 6:48
So I’m like yeah, what the hell is this about? Like, I just like jump back. I’m like, What the fuck is like we will cool everything was cool. We walking around hanging, you know? Like it really do be your own like we had a bond and i and i was saying you you want to step up on my chick. And you cock blocking

Mikko Miller 7:02
Literally.

Calvin Tilokee 7:05
Yeah, I was like this guy! Like I know we I’m gonna come back. I feel like Bernie Mac when he sees like when ever I see this motherfuckers gonna be a misunderstanding

Mikko Miller 7:17
furniture moving.

Calvin Tilokee 7:21
bus him down to the white meat. Exactly. Wait. Next post on the Instagram page will be me eating a chicken sandwich. Remember I was making fun of Popeyes?

Mikko Miller 7:38
Like it’s the best thing on Earth

Calvin Tilokee 7:47
Oh, shit. But yeah, so this week’s episode, we’re going to be talking about workplace culture. And this came up because I have been. Some of you may know on this show. I am a longtime Patriots fan. So I’ve been following the whole Tom Brady situation. Tom Brady Bill Belichick situation very closely. Because to me, obviously, being a fan, it’s interesting to see the question is, is it a player? Or is it the coach? And I kind of take it further? Is it the employee or the company, and Tom Brady has been with the Patriots for 20 years, 20 plus years, obviously the most successful player in his position and just looking at him as an employee of an organization as opposed to somebody on his own. So I won’t go into all the details because this aint, you know, ESPN, I’m at Stephen A Smith. But I won’t go into everything. But a lot of what caused Brady to leave the Patriots is a friction between him and Belichick. And it started from when he’s known for taking a lot of pay cuts and restructuring his contract over the years, so that the Patriots could field a better team around him. And in his mind, that was never returned when it was time to give him the contract. At the end, he wanted a three year contract. And Belichick is like you dude you’re 40 years old, we’re giving you like a one year with a one year option. We’re not doing that. We’ve never done it for anybody else. And we’re not going to do it for you. Basically what it came down to Belichick also tried to trade him a few years ago when they kind of drafted his replacement in Jimmy Garoppolo. So again, looking at it from Tom Brady, the employee of an organization you’ve won. At that point when they were trying to trade him You won five Super Bowls for this team you’re generally regarded as the greatest to ever do what you do. And your boss tried to trade you? like that, obviously can’t feel good, and doing everything that he’s done. You would expect some preferential treatment and I could understand that from his standpoint where he would expect that, but I also see the Bill Belichick side of it. It’s like listen, we haven’t won consistently for 20 years by breaking our rules for anybody, whether it be you Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, you just go down the list of Legends who have had a parts of play and what the pages have done. We didn’t break those rules for them, guys. So Who the hell are you? So they split ways. Now, Tom Brady goes to Tampa Bay, first game of the season, he threw like two interceptions. And his coach throws him completely under the bus, in the media after the first game of the season. And that’s when I really perked up, I’m like, that has got to be a real slap in the face. Because as much as Belichick could be who he is, and he’s a, he’s a tough boss, he wasn’t breaking the rules for anybody. He has never. And I’ve been a pats fan since like, 92, I have never seen this guy call out a single player in the media ever, ever. It’s always they have bad game, it’s Listen, we need to do everything better with the play better coach better, everything that’s on all of us. I have never seen him call out one single player in the media ever in the history of me watching this guy over two decades. And the first week you get on the new job, your new boss is like, Nah, fuck you. It’s your fault.

Steve 11:13
Wow.

Calvin Tilokee 11:15
That that can’t feel good. And that’s continued throughout the season. And you can see that there’s a power struggle with him and the new coach now because he comes in and he’s Tom Brady, and he’s got people to play with him, he got Gronkowski and Antonio Brown, his friends are coming to play with him. And he’s kind of taken over power of this team. And the new boss, his new boss doesn’t like that. And that’s where I think a lot of this is coming from. So I’ll leave it there on the sports tip. But I wanted to bring this to the table to talk to you guys about Have you ever dealt with situations like that? Or how do you relate to these type of stories?

Mikko Miller 11:51
Hmm, well, I can take it from a workplace environment where my previous department that I work that that I was laid off from, like that culture was different than I was rehired back into that same department five years later with a different manager. And that culture was completely different. We went from a culture of basically stressing the fuck out, being on edge, cuz the manager before really was like, I don’t want a tight ass. But it’s more like a expect a lot of things from you. Like, to the utmost wanting to be the best at every single thing, whether or not you are the best, or you’re capable of being the best as a department. Whether you have the tools in place to be the best, you always expected the best, which is not a bad thing, not a negative trait. But you know, when you have a bunch of BS students, yeah, you expect perfect LSAT scores, like, something’s wrong there. You don’t I mean, you got to tone down your expectations based on the people that you work with. Yeah, to the culture where now it’s, maybe you have the same type of people. But now the workplace is better so that they can strive versus relying on the people to put you at number one spot. We’re using our collective minds now to put them in better positions, so that they can strive. There’s like a subtle difference between the two, our previous boss really didn’t put technology to use, they didn’t really put workflow to us, they kind of stayed archaic. what’s worked before is going to work now because it has always worked before, like that was that mindset, yeah. And the mindset of the boss, now it’s more like, we have these technologies that we’re not taking advantage of, let’s take advantage of these. And maybe our people can use this advantage and really, like help us go over the edge. Hit that next team, you know what I mean, using tools to become better and not just relying on the people’s hard work. I’m telling you, the stress level is different. Because when you are stressed to the point where you can only squeeze so much out of yourself in other people, you run out of options, yet the expectation to perform is still there. Whereas now, you’re not squeezing so much out of yourself, you’re not so stressed, you’re actually using tools to get better. You’re using the things around you to get better and the stress level night and day. Honestly, before it’s like throwing up feeling queasy, feeling nauseous feeling anxiety to where now it’s like, Hey, we’re gonna come into work, and what can we do to get even better because now we have the tools and we have the people that’s willing to make mistakes. Whereas before you make a mistake, you’re fucked. You know what I mean? Like, you’re in that culture where it’s, like finax. Now it’s like, No, you can make a mistake. Let’s see, why do we make a mistake and let’s fix it. What can we do to not make that mistake again, or to even avoid it? And that’s the culture now and I tell you, man, it’s 1,000% better.

Steve 14:59
It’s good to hear that It’s better,

Calvin Tilokee 15:00
I can definitely relate to that last part that you were talking about is you have people that have these hyper perfectionist traits. And the, the way I see it is you don’t learn unless you make mistakes. I’ve managed quite a few people in my career and this boss said, I was working for one time, I had a staff at the time of maybe five or different raise agents. And, you know, she came up to me one time because this newer agent, she had made a mistake. And she’s like, you know, you need to be watching what she does. And that. And I explained to her I mean, my approach is, I need to kind of let you work for the first couple of weeks, obviously, with with some guidance on what to do, but I don’t know where your way to train your where you’re weak, unless I let you make a mistake. Right? You know, for me stand over your shoulder 24, seven, okay, don’t do this, don’t do this don’t how is that person going to gain any kind of confidence in their role in what they’re doing, then then is going to get to a point where anytime they have a question, or they feel uncertain about something, then it’s going to be well, let me ask him, you as opposed to making a decision. You know, and I’ve also been on the receiving end of that, even at a director level, I had a VP who was like this, where was every little thing, you couldn’t do anything. And I remember once I tried out a new system, right. So that was working at a Marriott property where the system was old, so you couldn’t run credit cards. And what that means is what we’d like to do at some point during the day is kind of just authorized everybody’s credit card to see if it will go through for that night’s chart. And that way, if we haven’t heard from you, and your card declines, we figure you probably want to know show, but we know hey, maybe we could oversell a couple of those of you who have been on the receiving end of a walk, you get walked another hotel, this is how it happens. People like me getting greedy. There is a strategy behind it. Because like anything else, a restaurant, a airplane, you know, people are not going to show up and or people are going to cancel at the last minute. So we have to try to sell every room every day. We can’t sell extra tomorrow to make up for today’s money lost. No. So that’s the reason behind it. Anyway, so I spoke to the GM about this. And ultimately, it’s his call as far as spending money in the building. That’s what he’s there for. Right? So I explained it, I said, Listen, I want to outsource this, because we don’t have the bandwidth to sit here and run credit cards physically, it was just me and one other analysts. But we have our reservations team that remote, maybe they can do this. He’s like, hey, let’s give it a try. We do it somehow where it gets to the VP of operations, and she loses her mind. Then it goes to my VP of revenue. And she she’s calling me and she’s like going through like, Well, let me see the report. And I literally just got the report back that day. So I haven’t even had time to analyze it or anything it’s either worked or didn’t. And then he’s going line by line. She’s like, Well, what about on this day, we spent $40. I’m like, we sit in it took my $40 the budget for that hotel was 19 million. Yeah. I’m talking to you about 40 bucks. And I’m like, Okay, you know what, if you want to stop anybody’s creativity, or ability to think outside the box, just do that. Because I remember a few months after this, we had a full meeting. So all the hotels in her portfolio, she brought all the directors of revenue for meeting. And like a brainstorming session. You know, this guy’s This is the time to get creative and think about things and nobody said anything. And I’m like, you wonder why? Because you’re gonna bite our fuckin head off if you don’t like the idea if it doesn’t make sense to you, or if it wasn’t yours. It’s a bad idea.

Steve 18:35
As I’m hearing you guys talk about this it, you know, going back to the original question there. I’ve certainly not done the due diligence that I would now do on a company’s culture. Before and, you know, as I’ve been thinking about this, leading up to our conversation tonight, I was trying to determine what state of mind I was in when I was switching jobs. You know why I wasn’t why I didn’t do more homework on the company. And I was the company in question. So I’m in the, again, I’m in the software space. And I had gone to there was this company, it’s a very well known company. They do a lot of good. They do a lot of good out there in the world as a corporate entity, but I just found the culture to be toxic. And I did not do my homework going into this company. In both of the scenarios. You guys each described. I face there, and I was there. I was there less than two years and I had five bosses. And I was working on my six. Wow. And it was just because

Calvin Tilokee 19:43
not a good sign.

Steve 19:44
It was that much turnover and it was turnover at a very senior level as well. And there were a number of things I could have done to like prepare myself for what was the culture like I didn’t ask to have lunch with my boss. I didn’t ask to speak to anybody. I was so enamored with the company. And I was so excited about a company that I thought everything was just going to be okay. And I had read reviews about the company on Glassdoor because that’s a big place where I go, you know, to understand a lot about a company’s culture. I go on Glassdoor. I read the reviews of what people have said about him. And I read the reviews about this one, this company in particular, but I thought, No, that’s different, you know, all the normal bullshit, someone says to themselves to rationalize whatever the hell they’re trying to do. Right? And it’s sucked. It sucked so bad. I mean, everything from drinking, stupid on like a Tuesday to Wow, the guy who interviewed me, one of the managers who interviewed me. Within two months of me getting hired, was fired for dropping his cocaine. This fucking goofball, and while I knew, like, I mean, you know, I’m not a babe in the woods. When I was in my interview with this guy. I noticed his pupils were whacked. And I thought, if I didn’t know any better, I would think this guy was on cocaine, because he was just talking a mile a minute. And come to find out this is the guy who got fired. And, and then cocaine, Adderall, tons of drinking. And it was just a shitty, toxic culture.

Calvin Tilokee 21:27
I mean, that’s just an idea. You might have to drop that name in the chat. I might have to apply this don’t sound so bad to me.

Steve 21:40
You know what, man? Any other? Many other professions? It would be like, yeah, you know?

Calvin Tilokee 21:46
Yeah, of course.

Steve 21:47
But fuck, you know, I interviewed with them at like, 1030 in the morning. So this guy was tooting line

Calvin Tilokee 21:53
Oh, shit

Steve 21:55
at in the AM. You know, in the last boss I had, I was warned about her from like, a ton of people. And she was this type where if so there’s managers in my profession, you can get to be a manager without ever having been a salesperson, which is kind of odd, because you’re managing someone that is, then you’re just yeah, people manager without ever having any context. And that this individual was like, and so we just didn’t see eye to eye on basic strategy. And I am good at what I do. And she did not understand just basic fundamentals about not only the product, but a number of areas, saying she was unqualified. And again, doing the due diligence around the culture, more Initially, I would have been able to sniff things like that out not saying her specifically. But like, the guy who was my manager, I would have known what a maniac he was. So pulling it all together. There’s a number of ways that you can start diving into what the company’s culture is. glassdoor.com is a great piece, a great thing to use having lunch with your manager, if your manager won’t even have to have lunch with you. I mean, again, provided that the positions the right position and all that. There are some red flags. And if they won’t let you talk to any of your future co workers, I’d say those are red flags to watch out for.

Calvin Tilokee 23:20
Yeah, no, that’s, that’s all great information. And we did get a question about that about what’s the question asked there in an interview, and there’s no one question to ask, you know what I mean, I think you need to pay attention to a lot of those signs. And a lot of those resources you mentioned, would be great places to start. I have a similar story about an interview process that I went through one time where this was during that period while I was out of work, and I touched on that in our intro episode. But I was out of work for almost two years. And during that time, I mean, you’re desperate you just want a job right? Like we just need to get get the bills paid. So you know, you need your right state of mind. So there were things that happened that obviously if they were to happen now or in any position away, I was employed, but maybe look into grow, I would have never dealt with stuff. So I get to this hotel. And first of all the hotels in Suffern New York, you don’t get to have an ego when you’re in suffer. I like there’s nothing there. You don’t get to act like you know you’re just shit or you know people are beneath you when you’re in fucking suffering. I don’t care if you just work there. It’s suffering. I just so like give it a rest. So I show up announced myself at the front desk Sam here for the interview. Cool. I then I get this Okay, go have a seat. I go have a seat. This guy, like 45 minutes past the interview time. I’m still waiting. So I keep checking. I’m like, Yeah, but I keep checking. I keep going back to the desk. The girl goes back or uses the phone or whatever she did. And but oh you know he’ll he’ll be right with you. You know, that’s fine this this wait a little longer. And again, I’m desperate to wish I was there. Typically like now, if at the interview time, we’re not talking I don’t have some word from you that hey, listen, I’m sorry meeting was running over he’ll be within minutes, whatever getting the hell out of there. Right huge red flag talk about red flags. I mean, that’s a huge red flag. But I sat and I waited. I think no joke. It was like two hours that I sat there past the interview time to finally see this guy. He brings me in his office. And he’s like, slouching back in his chair. He’s got his feet crossed and shit. He’s like, not really paying attention to when I’m talking. So like, ask me a question. And then he’s like, looking around. And I’m sitting there like, oh, man, you just got this voice in your head, like, I really just want to punch this guy in the face. What but I just got to go through this process, because I really need this job. So I’m talking and midsentence, his phone rings, he answers it. And then hands me the phone and says, this is somebody else coming to apply for this position? They need directions. What luck? Really?

Yeah, really happened. This is a true story. And I would love to tell you that I told him to go fuck himself and walked out. But I gave the person directions. And I finished my interview.

Steve 26:18
Wow.

Calvin Tilokee 26:19
Because you catch people desperate like that, you know? And maybe he knew that? I don’t know. I mean, I think by the time I walked in the door, like to his office, you if I sat there for two hours waiting for you, you know, I’m desperate. So probably is figured I’m just gonna, I’m gonna fuck with this guy. Because he’s just an asshole that way. I guess you know what I mean? Like, you don’t do shit like that to people. But yeah, yeah, that should really happen. I went through all that. And something else you were talking about Steve with the drinking and stuff like that. So this is actually the opposite side of that same topic. So the company I was with for a long time, is like work hard. Play hard is the embodiment of work hard, play hard. I mean, I have been at parties with, you know, my VPS, the chief revenue officer and stuff like that, and we’ve, you know, we all drink, but the first time it catches you by surprise, and I was remember growing up, my dad would tell me, Hey, listen, you know, if you had played these cocktail parties, happy hours and stuff like that, you know, have one drink till you know, make sure you go mix your own drink, if you just got to get a soda, just you know, that looks like a drink, do that. But you always want to keep your head on because this is where business is done. And you don’t want to make an asset It is so true. I go in my first experience with these guys. And it was Vegas. So we would go every year for the huge industry conference. And they were rules. So like our VP sent out an email before like, you know, attendance is mandatory to all the functions, there’ll be parties, but if you’re not at the functions, we’re going to know and this and that. So I’m going in like, like my straight A student mode. A one I’m like, I had this Vegas but not fucking around. I don’t want to be that guy. Especially not on my first but blah, blah, blah. So that first night is typically there’s like, VIP parties and all of this stuff. I was like, No, I’m not going. I want to be at the stuff tomorrow. I’m not doing any shit. They’re like you sure? like yeah, ain’t gonna be me. So, the next night is the big party for the whole conference. So it is like three 4000 people. And it’s open bar. My VP is broke off as I saw my chief revenue officer doing a handstand. I’m sitting there holding my wondering that my dad’s away, but I’m like, fucking what I love this company. I like that was a bit, you know. But at the same time, however, they built the culture. It worked. Because you know what, when the party was done, and we all went back to work, nobody thought about that stuff. It’s not like I looked at my VP the next day and was like, Huh, now look down on her any kind of way. Like, you could just tell Listen, we’re here. We’re having a good time where a team, everybody can let loose. But when it’s time to work, it’s time to work. Yeah. And I totally respected that. And that was a good way to kind of be immersed in the culture. And that was the good side of Steve’s story. You know what I mean? Like, it can go too far. But with these guys, it was good. And I mean, I’ve seen my counterparts, you know, my colleagues, people at my level, Director level pletely, trashed and VPS are like, go get your water and make sure you’re good. Well, you know, it’s real. Yeah. Everybody kind of took care of each other. So you could tell it was like I look judgment around here with this. Where team, we’re having a good time, but when it’s time to work ima till whoop yo ass on Monday.

Steve 29:38
That’s fantastic.

Calvin Tilokee 29:40
Yeah, that was great. It was great. It was great. But one thing I wanted to bring back up to the to the Tom Brady part circle, should you expect to get favorable treatment at a new employer if you’re a rock star like that? No.

Mikko Miller 29:56
No. flat out No, I agree with Steve flat out no

Steve 30:01
to think that you get what whatever kind of treatment does a wild amount of disrespect to everybody who has worked there before you and made that organization what it was made that organization attractive enough for you to waltz you’re pretty ass into? No You should go in there humble as fuck, and then earn the right that’s why I do love the sales industry because you have a good month you have a good month or a good quarter a good year, but then yes, year month quarter your shit. Europe your fucking dogshit until you prove yourself and you do it all again. Yeah. If he’s going in there really expecting anything? Hmm, I mean, better. You know, I could say something ignorant like offerup Gisele or something to the team. But I’m not ignorant. And I won’t say something like that. But no, you can’t go into a situation. expecting you know,

Mikko Miller 31:04
you kind of did.

Steve 31:08
I kind of what I kind of said something?

Mikko Miller 31:15
No, yeah, you’re right. It’s hard to think that someone would have to cut corners to walk into a situation like that and just be like, praise me. Here I am. You know, treat me like a king treat me like a god. I mean, you’re only as good as yesterday. And you know, today’s you just got to prove yourself. And I think that’s the mantra that I prove to my current employer. Now it’s, you know, I bring the best of myself every day. yesterday. Yeah, we did great things yesterday, but that was yesterday. You know, today’s a new day, no one gives a fuck what you did yesterday. And that’s the mindset that we go through. And it’s facilitated a great culture where, you know, hard work isn’t taboo. It’s actually like, you know, praised and it’s loaded, because it’s like, hard work pays off. And it’s true Hard work pays off, innovation pays off, all that stuff pays off. And it’s because you bring that energy, you bring that attitude every day and not live off of your like, accomplishments from yesterday, yours, you know,

Calvin Tilokee 32:12
right, right. 100%? I mean, I agree with you both. I don’t think that I’m not suggesting that he did, or anything like that. But I just kind of feel like the human side of most people would probably feel that way, right? Because the reason he left, or part of the reason he left an organization he was very successful with for two decades, is because he felt he wasn’t treated to the level that he deserved. So I would just think that naturally, I mean, there’s got to be some part of the, of your human experience is going to say, Well, I’m going here, and they’re gonna treat me better. You know, it’s kind of like you leave a girl that you’ve been with for a long time to go with another one, you don’t expect her to, to worse, or, or equal, she’s supposedtreat you better, right? You know? So I, to me again, it’s just been interesting to watch and to watch his new boss, basically fuck him off in the media every, every time they lose a game. It’s hilarious. It’s hilarious, like, Oh, that’s what you went for huh? you thought that was gonna be better for you? Yes, it’s, it’s funny to me man. But we’re gonna answer a couple mailbag questions that we got, oh, let’s do this episode. So we’ve got one, I think we answered this first one, the first one that was asked about the best question to ask during an interview to learn about company’s culture. we’ve, we’ve paid attention to that. And we’ve given you a lot of red flags and some signs, definitely pay attention on the interview. And you know, if their pupils are dilated at 1030 in the morning, Run,

for sure. But check out revpargrowth. We actually did a post on that this week. So when you’re listening, if you want to know the answer to that question check us out there, because we’ve got a good answer for that. Second question is how do we replace a culture of scarcity with one of service and advocacy? And I needed to find out what the hell culture of scarcity was? Because I wasn’t too. I wasn’t too sure.

Mikko Miller 34:13
Yeah.

Calvin Tilokee 34:14
But yeah, so just to explain, companies that promote that there’s only quote unquote, so much to go around. So for example, only a few people will qualify for raises, while everyone gets cost of living raise, despite everyone contributing to a productive year. And the reasoning from the company is always Oh, well, there’s only so much to go around. Only one or two people can get a bonus or raise. What do you guys think about that? have you dealt with it?

Steve 34:42
So I’ve not been in a management role where I am determining bonuses. I have been in a position where, you know, you get a team performance bonus, or some other sort of Performance bonus. And when I was in college, I mean, I worked in a place in in Yeah, you just got, you know, cost of living if that I’m okay with performance bonuses, whether as a team or individually. I think it makes sense. The higher up in an organization to me it makes sense having the individual bonus, the lower in the organization, the team bonus. To me that makes sense. And I’m only basing that because I’m coming from a performance driven role in a performance driven industry. Right. But yeah, I mean, I think performance driven bonuses are the way to go. If you’re just there to collect the paycheck, versus someone who is there busting his butt or her butt to do their job well, and that person, the other person should probably get a bonus over you.

Calvin Tilokee 35:48
Yeah, I don’t disagree with any of that.

Mikko Miller 35:50
Yep.

Steve 35:51
If it’s a shitty enough situation where you’re busting your butt, and none of your other team is Welcome to the world of corporate, where you can move around team or something like that, you know. So, just wanted to round that thought out.

Calvin Tilokee 36:06
Yeah, I totally agree what about you Mikko?

Mikko Miller 36:08
we have kind of something like that, where we have like attendance bonuses, where if you called out less than 10 times in a year, for example, you qualify for like a bigger piece of the bonus versus someone who’s called out more and they get less. And it’s to incentivize people to not call out because the idea is you don’t call out, you get a bigger piece of the pie. And even though it’s a collective group, you know, we’re based on like, one big number, but individually, you know, you get like an extra check. If you call that, like, for example, the bonus for the department, let’s just say we hit it at 99%. Out of that 99%, we get like 500 bucks each, and then the 500 bucks. And then now they look at, okay, so who called out under 10, under 10 times those people got an additional 500 people are called out more than 10 only got like 100, that people are called out like 15 got nothing. They do it that way. But also I’ve seen it, where as managers, we’ve been told, hey, there’s not enough money to go around, the company didn’t make X amount of money this year. So bonuses are only, you know, a small amount. And, you know, out of you three managers, we can only give it to the person who got like the highest performance score. And not to toot my own horn at that year, I happen to get like the biggest bonus, I had like a 15% raise where my counterparts got zero of a bonus to give to people and they just decided to just give it to one person in the department versus like, you know, spread 5% to everybody, which wasn’t worth it. Right

Calvin Tilokee 37:44
now. Yeah. I mean, I don’t see anything wrong with that. I mean, I think your your raises and your bonuses should be earned. Now, I think to answer the person’s question, if multiple people deserve it, and then they’re saying, Oh, well, we only have got so much to go around. So we wouldn’t give it to one or two. That may be unfair if another eight people have actually earned their bonuses. But again, I mean, I come from a you know, performance driven role, where it’s all about hitting ref par numbers and ADR numbers and how you performed against your comp set and budgets and all of this stuff. So it’s very black and white. If I hit it, I get it. If I don’t, I don’t. And my team would also get bonuses. So once you make it to revenue analyst, at least you you would also qualify for bonuses because they play a huge role in executing a lot of strategies too. So I’ve never had to really worry about that type of thing. It’s free. It’s real straightforward for me, you know, I know, pretty early on if I’m going to get that bonus for the year or not. And it’s really, most mostly down to me and how I perform if I perform my competition, then I’m getting something if not, then I guess I get no Christmas gifts this year.

Mikko Miller 38:54
It’s cool that that’s that’s how it is. But like I said for us, you know, we could hit the goal as a department, we can hit the numbers that we need to hit and we can get that bonus. But then, you know, there’s other people that didn’t pull their weight. And the company really like frowns upon the people that didn’t pull their weight. Yeah, as a collective with the number but they also look individually, which is kind of cool. In my eyes.

Calvin Tilokee 39:16
Right? Yeah,

Steve 39:16
that is cool that they can take that. That detailed view.

Mikko Miller 39:21
Yeah. And they do it every fucking year. And people should bricks come April because that’s when the bonuses and when they realize oh shit, I called out 15 times this year. Oh, I’m not going to get 18 $100 and, you know, bonus checks. I’m only going to get the 500 because the department medic because you know, people don’t call out and it brings up averages. And, you know, they feel some sort of way to be honest. A lot of women yet they do it every year they fuck up every year and still want that bonus check and it’s like no, it doesn’t work that way. You didn’t pull your weight. You know, you look you got the 500

Calvin Tilokee 39:52
Right. Exactly, exactly. That’s it should be earned.

Mikko Miller 40:00
Exactly right. So

Calvin Tilokee 40:01
we’re gonna end on this one and take this one. This one is kind of funny. It came across, should it be normal or customary to hug coworkers?

Unknown Speaker 40:12
No.

Mikko Miller 40:15
It’s Is it clear? Here? workers or co workers or managers? Sorry, Steve. Yeah, how we looking at it?

Calvin Tilokee 40:24
Take it however you want. But, uh, so I did follow up because I found the question pretty amusing. So I was like, hold on a sec. I’m in the person followed up with, you know, like, how does a non hugger infiltrate hugger culture, I cant take it

this female. And I think this is why a lot of it comes from because She’s like, I don’t feel comfortable just hugging random people. So you’d have, you know, random people that come into the office, either from somebody who’s a client of yours, or maybe they’re transferring from a different office. And right off the bat, they want to come and hug you. And she’s like, I don’t feel comfortable with that. And I had to actually, personally implement a no hugging policy, because I get like these weird, creepy hugs from clients. And I was like, that’s a whole. That’s a whole different part of it. But

Steve 41:21
I’d love to know, is she the only one they’re hugging? Is this just the normal thing? I mean, fortunately, now, because of COVID. She shouldn’t have to rush that, really, at all. I mean, and you shouldn’t have to deal with that, at least for the next three years. I don’t see a shaking hands, you know, for some time, even when we eventually go back to heaven, face to face meetings or whatever. But shit. If you’re not comfortable with someone hugging, you, just stick your hand out, like as they’re walking in the room, stick your head out. It’s super easy. You need to take ownership of that. Because if you don’t like them, hugging you, there’s a million ways you could say don’t hug me just simply say, Oh, hi, how are you? And just extend your hand. And if they sidestep your hand and like try to get in there for a hug. I think you can then sidestep them with a you know, a slap to the back of the head and say, mind your manners.

Calvin Tilokee 42:18
With that Mike Tyson rabbit punch.

Steve 42:23
Bam, bam, bam. No but just stick your handout.

Mikko Miller 42:28
Yeah, that’s situation Steve. Steve’s right. You know, if it’s someone that you don’t really know, coming into your department and they want to hug you, that’s a little creepy. Stick your hand out a handshake, I’m pretty sure they’ll catch the gist of what you’re trying to do. I was thinking it was like between like co workers or something. And like, my employees, they hug each other all the time when they greet each other pre COVID. Now it’s more like, you know,

Calvin Tilokee 42:48
yeah, this is all pre COVID. Yeah. Yeah.

Mikko Miller 42:52
But coming in as a random stranger to a department and wanting to hug the person that’s gonna greet me and it’s so creepy. I don’t know. It’s just fucking dummy. Yeah, I guess I can see like southerners do it. Not trying to be regionalized or whatever. But, you know, like that whole southern hospitality thing where you know, do you hug and kiss on the cheek and Europeans do the same thing? Yeah. Yeah. You know, I know.

Calvin Tilokee 43:19
Actually. My first the first time, the first time I met my father in law. Dude, kiss me on the cheek. I was like, whoa. Like, okay, yeah, yeah, no, but I mean, the first time it happened, cuz I mean, I’ve got my hand outstretched to shake his hand. And he comes in and like, you know, plants one of these cheek and I was like, okay, that’s what we doing. Okay, that’s cool. That’s cool. But I mean, yeah, I think outside of, you know, obvious cultural things. Right? Yeah, I think it’s, it is creepy. And I had an employee once who came to me, and a lot of time it is women, because I think women feel scared to say something or obligated or they feel like they’re gonna be perceived a certain way for if they don’t want to. But, you know, she was a younger girl. She was probably around 25 at that time, and there was an associate around the building, who every time he saw her, and she would say, Hello, he just come right in for the hug. And she was like, it made her feel weird. And, you know, then she tells me about it. And then I was like, Well, okay, if you want me to say something to him, or gonna probably take charge, because I don’t want anybody in trouble. I was like, see, that’s where the problem starts, you know? Because, yeah, like, you can’t be worried about that. You told me because it made you uncomfortable. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have said anything to me. You know, so don’t don’t worry about that, because, and he may or may not even be trying to be a creep. But that may just be who he is how he is, you know, but you need to let him know that you’re not. And there’s a boundary there. Like when the question came across, instantly reminded me of that Eddie Murphy skit, when he’s like go over there and kiss your aunt bunny but she got a moustache

Steve 45:13
Dude, side note, the number of times I’ve ran that bit through my head when my daughter’s doing that fake cry. cracks me up every time. Every every single time. And I started doing that. Yes. Funny.

Calvin Tilokee 45:34
Oh, man. All right, cool. Well, Google,

Mikko Miller 45:39
Google.

Calvin Tilokee 45:45
My jokes.

Steve 45:47
They stick their heads in the lake. They come up, they go gonneygoogoo

Calvin Tilokee 45:53
Go up to Sanchez Sanchez? Gooneygoogoo

Steve 45:58
Sanchez?

Calvin Tilokee 46:01
I thought I learned some new Spanish shit. Oh, all right. Cool. So that was a good chat about workplace culture. At the end of the day, you want us in your workplace, you’re going to laugh and we’re not going to be creepy and hug you when you don’t want it. So facts. Work with us. Alright and now it’s time for Get off My lawn

Mikko Miller 46:32
mine is just simple. It’s everyone’s pet peeves. It’s, it pisses more people often I think people care to admit, it’s people who talk to God damn loud in public. Huh? We’ve kind of touched on this before, but it’s like no one wants to hear your conversation. And it happens to always be and I’m not trying to be judgmental. But it almost always happens to be like, someone that’s I don’t want to say ugly because that’s just like mean. You know what I mean? It’s, it’s all it’s like always like the weird looking person.

Steve 47:13
The unfortunates.

Mikko Miller 47:14
Yeah. You know, like, why do you need that kind of attention to yourself?

Calvin Tilokee 47:29
Cuz cuz cuz he can’t FaceTime nobody. Like, like,

Steve 47:39
see draw attention to the thing that they should be detracting attention from? They should? Yeah,

Mikko Miller 47:44
that’s what I’m saying is like, let your actions speak louder than words. I don’t need to hear you like you made that way for a reason. That sounds terrible. But it’s like

Calvin Tilokee 47:54
you should be not seen and heard.

Mikko Miller 47:57
It sounds so fucked up. I’m not really that kind of guy. But he’s like the Chris Rock skit, right? I don’t I don’t want to get into that one. About the black women. Big. No. More than

Calvin Tilokee 48:15
like she got some bread baking in her shoe

Mikko Miller 48:18
baby ya foot ready yet?

She got her anklet on her ankles.

Steve 48:33
Fucking to of you.

Mikko Miller 48:39
Oh, yeah, people talk loud in public Fuck, y’all.

Steve 48:47
Might I’ll be real quick. It’s the same person. I know. It’s the same fucking person. It’s the same person who stops at the top of the escalator? Or who decides to stop and sort their shit at the store? It’s the same fucking person. Yes, we’ll pull out all of a sudden from an intersection. When there’s like no one behind you. And you’re the only one there it’s the same fucking person who does that. Now all you sons of bitches out there. Stop into check your pocketbook or your fucking phone. When you get off the elevator or off the escalator. Yeah. Me the icy cold deck of winter. slap you across the testicles. So fucking hard.

Calvin Tilokee 49:43
I felt like I stepped aside, motherfucker. You’re gonna get pushed. Yeah,

Mikko Miller 49:48
that’s right.

Steve 49:48
It got on my tits so much this fucking weekend. I had a great weekend. I was out shopping doing some shit, right? But there were so many fucking people just stopping like At the entrance, and it’s snowing out, you know, and I’m just trying to get in the store with my kid. And this person’s just sitting there apparently needs to balance their fucking checkbook right there at the entrance to the store. I almost lost my shirt a couple times.

Calvin Tilokee 50:16
who got a checkbook?

Mikko Miller 50:17
Yeah, right. First of all cut that shit out

It was incredible

Calvin Tilokee 50:28
mind mind you can kind of already did a little segue for us the you know, people who fuck up when they’re driving and then won’t get mad at you.

Mikko Miller 50:37
Yeah,

Calvin Tilokee 50:38
so yeah, you know, recently here recently, I made a left turn signal, right? So there’s gonna be oncoming traffic, as soon as it should turn the car in front of me. This lady is like she’s you can tell she’s like digging on the floor on the passenger side in a bag or something. So I beat the horn. And it wasn’t that ignorant beep or at least I wasn’t intending for it to be that but it was just kind of like, like a wake up, you know. And there’s a great Kirby enthusiasm episode about that you guys should look that one up where you say he’s like, there needs to be like a secondary horn for just a little bit. But say, Hey, wake up. And you don’t want it to be at a bank, pick the ignorant. But it wasn’t one of those. So I do that. Then she wakes up, sees the left and drives off. But then before she does that, she’s got to give me a finger. Sunlight Oh, boy. And of course, as luck would have it, when we both make the left, we come up to each other at that next light. Well, I just drive up real slow next door and just kind of just look out the window. I didn’t intend to saying shit to this woman. I just wanted to give it that look. But guess what? You know. So I pull up next door. And I just look at her. Then she pulled up a little bit further. So I pulled up more so she could see my way I want you to know I see you. I mean, don’t don’t don’t try to get out that easy. Right? So then then she rolls out a window and gets dramatically. Why are you harassing me? I was. So I started laughing. I just started laughing. And I was like some you want to say to me so you so you talk to a lot of shit. Because like this is something you wanted to say. And she’s like, She’s like, No, sir. You know? How about Go fuck yourself? I was like, right? So then I go Well, how about learn how to drive. And I roll up my window and take off. And I see this lady loser shit. Oh, like, I can do a lot worse than that. You know? Learn how to drive is very very thing for me. But yeah, if you can’t drive and you if you fuck up on a road and somebody is bringing it to your Don’t get mad at them. Don’t take it out on them. You fucked up. So just put your hand up give it universal my bad signal. today. Yeah, we all do it. We all do. Yep. Fucking any. Now it’s time for got the drug this week. We’ll be jerking off this week.

Steve 53:08
So I’m reading this article from the New York Post about this woman out in the UK. Who was cleared of knowingly having sex with a 14 year old. And now this mother of three has an only fans account.

Calvin Tilokee 53:25
Oh god.

Mikko Miller 53:25
Oh, whoa

Steve 53:27
are an asshole. of the strongest magnitude. And wow, someone stops in front of you on top of the escalator. Love

Mikko Miller 53:40
she’s causing a lot of jerks this week.

Calvin Tilokee 53:42
Right man?

Steve 53:44
Just got some funky tattoos and

Calvin Tilokee 53:49
so she hasn’t met a jerk she don’t like

Steve 53:55
I mean shit. That’s just

Mikko Miller 53:58
God.

Calvin Tilokee 53:58
Dang. Anyway. Yeah,

Steve 54:02
she’s an asshole.

Calvin Tilokee 54:03
Yeah, I bet

Mikko Miller 54:05
I gotta do what you gotta do. Man times is hard, bro. times is hard.

Calvin Tilokee 54:11
You got that many kids.

Mikko Miller 54:13
Yeah.

Calvin Tilokee 54:15
Put the dick down.

Mikko Miller 54:16
Put the dick down.

Calvin Tilokee 54:21
Get a job. Get a job holding dick.

Steve 54:23
Oh my god,

Calvin Tilokee 54:24
whatever you do, get paid to do it.

Mikko Miller 54:35
Perfect. That was perfect.

Calvin Tilokee 54:39
All right, now it’s time for I don’t know that shit, keeping it real! this week’s host, Steve.

Steve 54:49
So, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna give you all a trivia question. And you can feel free to answer. Calvin will tell you how to answer

Calvin Tilokee 55:00
So if Mikko knows the answer, he just gives you the answer. Hmm. And then we we tell him he’s a smart maufucka. Okay, if he doesn’t know what he has to say, I don’t know that shit keepin it real

Mikko Miller 55:15
real dumb

go ahead good hit me with hit me with it.

Steve 55:24
All right, which 90s rapper? was also on America’s Most Wanted.

Mikko Miller 55:33
Oh, oh, I’m gonna get my street card pulled for this.

Steve 55:38
I may have gone too deep on it.

Mikko Miller 55:41
That’s what she said, man. I don’t know that shit. Keeping it real. Who is it?

Steve 55:51
busy bone, busy bone years old man. And he was one of the first kids who they got back from America’s Most Wanted.

Calvin Tilokee 56:10
Ah, all right. Well, you’ve got a bunch of them. That’s episode. But now it’s time for the official Chris Rock quote of the week

Mikko Miller 56:21
since we were talking about jobs, so I had to find a Chris Rock quote that kind of like, meshed with a theme well, and I think from bigger and blacker. It’s when he talked about what the fuck did Clinton do? They was charging him with some shit. I didn’t know what the crime you got some gifts. So what he got a gift that’s his friend. Your friend if he tried to get a job? You can’t get your friend that job. Shit. 90% of people in this room got the job because a friend recommended them. Is it against the law to get your friend the job? She blew him for a couple of months. The Lucy could do was get a recommendation

Calvin Tilokee 57:08
Fantastic. Oh, man, I love it. I got one next. Go for it. Go for it. You’ve been so miserable at work that you just spent extra time sitting on the toilet? Should you even got your pants down just sitting in a shed? Yo, true story one time I was so tired at work. Y’all have to go and take them toilet naps? Please tell me I’m not the only one.

Mikko Miller 57:44
thought about it. I’ve never had but I’ve thought about it a million times. For

Calvin Tilokee 57:50
Dude, that dude, I’ve done that shit man. I just go into stall. And like just sit on the toilet. Like you said you ain’t got your pants. I’m just sitting on the toilet like lay my head on the side. Take a nap bro. One time I was snoring I woke up and it was like dudes giggling at the urinal because I’m like

Mikko Miller 58:17
yeah, see? That’s why I don’t do that. Because I know I snore when I sleep and then I know for sure I’d be caught so I don’t even try.

Steve 58:31
I’d be afraid of falling off. Oh, could you imagine falling off and just your face hit the floor and

Calvin Tilokee 58:36
oh, yeah,

Mikko Miller 58:37
I just fell in the toilet seat. Dude. They open it up.

Steve 58:42
scarred you. Monster shit.

Calvin Tilokee 58:54
That would be bad if you don’t tell the truth. You definitely make up a story.

Mikko Miller 58:59
One time it’s okay to tell a lie kids

Calvin Tilokee 59:04
Definitely makes up shit up on that one. I tell nobody. That true.

Mikko Miller 59:08
Snake came up and they’re trying to bite you slipped off.

Calvin Tilokee 59:11
Yeah.

Steve 59:15
I’ve not gone to another bathroom. But I have gone. I’ve gone into another office to have a quick nap. Yeah, but I knew somebody in another office. And I was like, Hey, I’m gonna use this desk. for like half hour.

Mikko Miller 59:28
I have done that.

Steve 59:29
I’ve done that.

Calvin Tilokee 59:30
Nice. All right, so I’m the only one who actually took a day with the toilet. Okay, that’s fine.

Steve 59:39
blazing new territory.

Calvin Tilokee 59:47
Tune in next week on midlife crisis podcast when I tell you about the time. The random places I’ve slept.

Mikko Miller 59:57
Exactly. Exactly.

Calvin Tilokee 1:00:00
All right outro time this is Calvin, aka Revparblems aka revpartravels, aka revpargrowth, aka Revparblems.com,

Mikko Miller 1:00:09
and this is Mikko the Filipino. I’m gonna follow Calvin’s little thing and say, aka Mikko underscore eats at Instagram.

Steve 1:00:18
Hey, this is Steve, you can hear me every week with Callen Mikko on the midlife crisis podcast.

Calvin Tilokee 1:00:23
Right. Thank you for joining us on another episode of midlife crisis podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave us a review on iTunes and tell a friend we have a culture of sharing on this show. See what we’re up to in between episodes on Instagram at midlife crisis podcast. Show Notes for this and all episodes are available on midlife crisis podcast that we also sign up with. Drop us a note, let us know what topics you’d like us to discuss. Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll catch you on the next one.

Steve 1:00:54
Let’s go