HR BESTIES - HR Besties Happy Hour - People Be Peopling Everywhere

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

Welcome back to another Happy Hour, Besties! We’re sure as hell glad it’s Friday. In this Happy Hour: Is Friday the most productive day? Leigh's trip to Iceland Addressing the tragic passing of Denise Purdom Everybody deserves support (yes, even HR) Who's coming to see us at HR Tech? Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you’re the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at https://www.hrbesties.com. Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: https://www.hrbesties.com/about.  We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don’t worry, we’ll have a hard stop! Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,  Leigh, Jamie & Ashley Follow Bestie Leigh! https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto https://www.hrmanifesto.com Follow Bestie Ashley! https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod  https://www.instagram.com/managermethod https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/ https://managermethod.com Follow Bestie Jamie! https://www.millennialmisery.com/ Humorous Resources: Instagram • YouTube • Threads • Facebook • X Millennial Misery: Instagram • Threads • Facebook • X Horrendous HR: Instagram • Threads • Facebook Tune in to “HR Besties,” a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you’re in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every Wednesday and Friday, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy Friday besties. We made it again. What a long work week that was. Yes. What the heck? Well, I know, especially after a short one last week for those of us in the US that had Labor Day off. Going from four days back to five days is like, it's like working a month.

Yeah, it really is. It feels like the longest week ever. And you know, research says you don't get a lot of productivity out of five days employers. Why don't you drop that back to four? For real, for real. I know we need to move that way, right? Gosh, looking Henry Ford back in the day with that five day work week. Why don't you drop that back to four? For real, for real. I know. We need to move that way, right? Gosh. Looking Henry Ford back in the day with that five-day work week.

Of course, versus seven. Right. I was... Yeah, I know. I always dog on Henry Ford in my memes and people are like, but he changed it from seven. I'm like, you'll get the point. It's just a joke. But what would you say is your least productive day of the week?

I'm curious. Friday. Oh, absolutely. Really? Yeah. Oh my god, I feel like I'm the most productive Friday because like I've not done shit all week. So then you're hurrying.

So I'm like cramming it all in on Fridays. I would say probably like Tuesday for me. Like Mondays I'm pretty busy, but like Tuesdays I would say that I'm. See, I do my cramming Thursday. Yeah. Prepping for goofing off on Friday. Friday is like when I do all my appointments and stuff. Oh, yeah. I mean, I fit in those errands and I'm having the lunch date or whatever.

I fluff up Friday. We need to ask that question in our stories. Yeah. Because I'm just curious about that. I plan on being productive on Friday, so I'm not likely. I rarely. Although I did get my hair done this morning, so there we are on Friday.

But I think I'm going to be productive, and so I plan on, and then I just don't feel like it. And so I'm really at my worst self, really. So I should do something about that. But here I am on yet another Friday. I know. Talking to us. Yeah, it's just a mess.

So here we are. Oh gosh. And it's harder for me because last week I was on vacation. Yes. And you know how that is. Like you have a taste of freedom. I want to hear all about San Diego. Exactly. Yeah. San Diego looked different than I thought it freedom. I want to hear all about San Diego. Exactly.

Yeah. How does San Diego look different than I thought it would? I thought it would be. Yeah, there was a lot more ice and magma. I know, right? There was like fire and ice in San Diego. But you know how it is. Like you have this taste of freedom and then you come back to responsibilities and it's

just like, wow, like it really slaps you in the face doesn't it? But I went to Iceland and it was my first time there and it was it was really gorgeous so I was able to tick off quite a number of bucket list items but I saw things of course that I've just never seen before in my in my life right so like a geyser like that was really cool. I haven't been to Yellowstone yet. I saw Old Faithful once. That was nice. But I imagine it looks even more scenic out there. Yeah. Yeah. And there was no people. It was just very empty. So that was cool. I saw a geyser. Saw some glaciers, icebergs up close. I, hadn't seen that. Right? Very cool. Went to a glacier lagoon.

That was cool. And then saw an erupting volcano, which was like the major bucket list item for me. I've always wanted to do that. So to see the lava and the shoo, the eruption, that's what that was. Shoo means eruption. Shoo, shoo.

But to see that, I mean, when I first saw the volcano, I started crying and I was filming that. So I started crying like, oh my God, there's a freaking volcano. What the fuck? That's crazy. And to them, it's normal. All the lava beds. I think one of the highlights of the trip, I won't do the full bring out all the photos and take you through the whole trip thing, like back in the day, right? The film strips and all that. Slideshow. Someone got up to go to the bathroom.

We'll wait. We'll wait till you go back. We'll recap the trip. But a couple of cool things, of course, was staying at the Blue Lagoon. That was one of my bucket list items, was going there and letting the salt water of the geothermal pools heal me. I just kept saying that all creepy. Heal me, heal me. Every time I got in the water, people were like, oh my God, that's really weird. But, oh, heal me water, heal me. Whatever you can

do, help me, please. But the other highlight, and again that probably the biggest bucket list item for me was going to the erupting volcano and you know we went out there at this is freaking crazy but midnight and freezing temperatures of 50 miles per hour wind gusts. No flashlight. Did have the sticks though. I bought the, what is it? Like the hiking sticks, the hiking sticks, the walking stick. Oh, I think I'm like the Halloween glow stick, like for safety. I'm like, oh, how much light did that light? No, I bought flares, right? The stick, the flares. No, no, no. No, I bought on the Amazon, like the travel kind and had that in my carry-on, which apparently that's totally okay, TSA says, to take. But my nail

clippers or whatever. But anyway, that's a random American rant to the side. So I had the sticks or whatnot because literally hiking, like no trail, right? I mean, you're hiking this old lava bed that's covered in moss. You can't tell if there's a, what is it? Crevice, crevasse, whatever, like a hole in the damn ground. I mean, you know, like people, you know, they die out there doing that. Middle of the night, right?

Till like 1.30 a.m., those winds are crazy. Can't hear shit, right? Not weatherized, I'm Texan. Not weatherized to that shit. To get hiked a half mile to get to this ridge point to have a better viewpoint of the erupting volcano. And just that, I took really shitty, I don't know if you all saw my stories, really shitty iPhone videos because you can't, it was so windy, you can't do it. You can't stabilize the phone. Even how to stabilize, you can't stabilize it. But it's one of those events in life, and I know you all know these sorts of events or things you see where pictures, they don't do the shit justice.

You can't feel the heat or the glow or the, just the vibe of being out there in the stars. It's crazy that it was one of those like momentous moments. And I'm there with National Geographic photographers like laying on that ridge. It was like crazy, you know. That's what I was just about to ask. Like, did you at least have like a tour guide or something? No, no. Chat GPT? No chat GPT, no AI at all. Like just went out there old school.

This sounds like a good team building exercise. Don't talk about the hiker. Let's go to a volcano in the middle of the night and freezing temperature. Let's see who's all in. Work hard, play hard. No, geez, we didn't mean that hard. Please.

Exactly, exactly. Of course, since I was there, I was getting all these reels. And that's what was washing up on my, you know, my algorithm trash can. And this one all crazy, that same eruption, just like maybe the day before I had been out there, one of these tourists had gone out and literally hiked the full mile, mile and a half, mile and a quarter, something like that, from where we were to the rim. And a local guy filmed it with the drone. And so, he's showing the tourists, we should share it in the stories so you can see what I'm talking about, is sharing how this

tourist is like, hi, like sitting at the rim. Hi, bye. Hi, I might die. And the local guy, the local guy was freaking out because he's like, he could see in the drone that there's all these red like fissures under him. Like he was just on a like a crusty spot and the guy struggled to get down. He could have fallen right through, obviously, and been just eaten up by the earth. Like what an idiot to go out there just like like hi, he's all waving and all, you know, and the drone guy is like freaking out. Oh my God, this guy. So maybe that guy got a little too close.

So people be people in elsewhere. Yeah, people be people in Iceland. People be people in. So to your point about team building, you know, like you take the company out there and then you always got that one coworker. That one dumbass. That goes on ahead and ruins it and just gets sucked up by lava, you know, gets burned alive by lava. You know, that's how every team building goes, you know.

Yeah, that's right. Exactly. But highly recommend and just a couple of fun facts from the Iceland. You can't do right on red. Oh, did you? How'd you learn that? Yeah, I was gonna say, did you get pulled over? No, the rental car people are like, no, right on red. Oh, did you? How'd you learn that? Yeah, I was going to say, did you get pulled over? No, the rental car people are like, no, right on red. I mean, they're like really adamant about that,

right? Oh, well, that's good. You have to be careful. You have to buy all sorts of crazy insurance when you go there for the cars. If you take a car because it's so freaking windy, it rips the doors off the cars. Wow. Can you believe it? It is so freaking wind that wild. Seven Icelands can fit into Texas. Because of course, as a Texan, you always run that stupid stat on the Google or whatever. How did we? Did they tell you that?

No. I Googled it. She Googled it? Yeah. Yeah. Listen, this is the most helpful rental car company. I know, right? They tell you, hey, just that.

Oh, you're from Texas? Oh, well, seven of us can fit in you. That's what she said. Oh my gosh. I was going to say that is what she said. Reminds me of my college days. Went to a state school. He said, he said, he said, he said by the Rim Shore volcano.

Oh, heaven. And then Iceland is the size of Ohio, fun fact. Oh, okay. So seven Ohio's can fit into Texas. You can tell I took the logic part of my law, small school exam. I made it. Population there is only 380,000. And I say only because my county is 2 million. Oh, wow. So for when I showed up there, it was like, it's so quiet. And people are like, oh my god, it's so busy and traffic. And I'm like, oh, OK. That's how many people are in my neighborhood,

like back home, right? So it's actually pretty small. And that's not counting the tourism or how many people. I think it's a couple million a year that fly through there. But to me, it was really relaxed. And I guess it's a reflection of that. The speed, km, whatever the hell, I want to say miles per hour, but it's not. 90, which is like 55. And so the reason why it takes so damn long to get everywhere on the island, it ain't traffic or the fact it's two lanes. It's that damn speed limit.

So it's all safe there. No one's like, I never saw an accident. Well, it's because everyone's like, don't let the doors fly off in the wind. We already have enough of a risk. We don't need Lee from Texas and her no speed limit coming through. Exactly.

Going 90 MPH, which I wanted to do. Similar to temperature, it's hard to convert, but I once, I ran a half marathon when I was in Sydney, the Sydney Running Festival. I actually did a pub crawl with my girlfriends until about two in the morning, went home and got up at five and took the train and did this half marathon. Well, it was so slow that I ran out of my running playlist ended and I still had like two and a half kilometers to go. So I kind of had to like fidget and then I was felt down on myself. It was very slow for me and I'm not a fast runner altogether. But it was nice because

there it gives you the distance every kilometer. And so it's like, it's as opposed to the US where it's like an update a mile. So you don't have to wait as long to get a sign. So I do appreciate that from, from the difference with the metric system. Yeah. But anyway, that was, you know, no, no speed, no speeding. So, but it's also like the safest one of the safest stuff. I think it's always like been ranked the safest for women, female travelers and it's, you know, top five safest countries in the world. And it shows. I mean, everyone was just delightful. I feel like now I've gone back and forth with what you've been talking about whether this

would be fun for a best season treat or not. I've honestly gone back and forth. Yay. Then windy doors. No. Rim on the volcano. No. Safe for women, yay. I know, exactly. So I think I'm back in the yay. Jamie, what do you think? Yeah, yay. Definitely yay. Okay. And you know what's crazy?

Like a third of the tourists are Americans. So you see a lot of Americans there, but you can't tell. And then I overheard a lot of Americans just talk about, or random travelers. I mean, I don't know if they're American or not, I just assumed. But they stop over there. That's the most northern capital in the world, Reykjavik, and they'll just stop over there on their way to or from Europe. Right? Because that's like the layover spot or whatever. They'll do that and then go to the Blue Lagoon for a night or two all crazy. Like go to a spa or something like that or see something. And then just, so they break up their trip by doing this

extended layover. No cars, shots. There you go. So it's like the Atlanta. So like if you're flying Delta, you're used to Atlanta. So you can come to Atlanta and you could go and do a layover at like... It's exactly the same as Atlanta. Yeah. Okay.

Our beautiful... It's exactly the same. Go see the Chattahoochee, the beautiful bodies of water, all the things. Or you can go to Reykjavik. Okay. All right. I like that. But just FYI, and that's going to be cheaper for Americans.

You know what I mean? Because people are like, why would people do that? And I'm like, here's why they would do that. Because I can get a flight there for making it up a thousand bucks and then take the European flight, like book a European airline from there and only spend like a hundred bucks to go to Rome from there as opposed to 2,000 from here to go to Rome. You know? Very, very cool.

Okay. Well, I know what I'm doing. So they're kind of breaking. I know. Now, did you see Bjork? Did you go to the grocery store and see Bjork? I did not. I did not see Bjork, but I did keep an eye out for, I saw swans though. So I saw like the dress she wore as a real animal.

There you go. Yeah, I saw swans. I saw swans. Checked off your bingo card. Yeah. Which now I get why she wore the swan dress, because that's like a bird there. That's like their pigeon. Right? It makes sense.

They're there. They're all over. Isn't that wild? I guess I vaguely wondered that for 30 years. Okay. Across your mind, why a swan? You know what I mean? Oh, swan, interesting. But now we know. Now we know, man. You know, look at this. I went

and I learned some shit. I was proud of myself. Trivia. Well, it's trivia at this as we record the happy hour. So now, oh my God, it's Iceland trivia. So now Lee is here. Oh my God, I'll do it. Now we just need to think of a good team name. And there we are. We're off to the races. Uh, HR besties. Oh, I know, right? Yeah, that's... Yeah, that'll work. I know. Oh, yeah.

Everyone will boo when we went boo. The worst, of course. Icy besties? I don't know. Not HR besties. I know, right? Like going cognito. Hiding in plain sight.

Here we are. Exactly. At Dynamic Funds, we believe that investment is the key to success. hiding in plain sight. Invest with advice. Visit dynamic.ca slash advice to learn more. So now I'm just in recovery. I hear that. Until the next trip. You know how it is. For sure. When's your next trip? Like next week? Geez. I was going to say next week, right?

Yeah. Next week I'm in Vegas. Right. And then the next week we're in Vegas. And then next week you're in Vegas again with us. Yeah. So that'll be good. September's Vegas. Right. And then the next week you're in Vegas. And then next week you're in Vegas again with us. Yeah. So that'll be good. September's busy. Yes.

They say it's good to be busy though. Yeah. Some people say that. I can think of the list of people that say that. I also like to not be busy at times, but here we are. Exactly. So transitioning back. So any current events?

I think we've had a number of people reach out on a few things. Yeah, yeah. So we had quite a few besties wanted us to talk about the Wells Fargo employee that terrible, terrible, but she passed away in her cube and she wasn't found for four days. And so, you know, last week, because Lee was in Iceland, we had prerecorded, so we didn't get to talk about it. So we wanted to kind of share our thoughts. And you know, I covered it on TikTok and just, ugh, so gross, so disappointing.

The fact that people smelled a foul odor, like other employees, and no one bothered to investigate, they just assumed it was the sewer. Like, ugh, I just, and also, like, me knowing that I've done payroll before me, if I would have seen someone being clocked in that long, like it would have sent a flag. Was she an hourly employee? Well, it doesn't really say. It just says that from her badge at least, that she badged in at seven.

So I don't know if she was hourly or not. But like there's just so many questions that go through my head. And it was basically, it happened on a Friday and she wasn't found till that following Tuesday. And you know, I get that there's a weekend in there. However, they have security at this Wells Fargo. Like it's not an actual bank. It's like an office, a headquarters, 24 seven. So there should have been, you know what I mean? If it just, it's just so disappointing

and well, well, I say her, so her name is Denise Prudhomme, Prudhomme. And I, the awful thing is, you know, in a lot of places she'll be known as this horrible thing that happened. And so questions are when something horrible happens and I, you know her and her life situation, but what a absolutely just horrible. But I think one thing to really think about and I think for organizations in an HR is to think, okay, this happened, is it that unusual that this can happen? And a lot of time you hear things about the loneliness at work and people working and you don't have opportunities for connection. And so I think a lot of times at a very base level is this question, and not phrased in the way of like, if this were to happen, would people know, but how many of us show up and

we go to our desk, we do things and you don't really interact with people. And what does that mean for people's lives and otherwise? And I actually think this could happen in far more workplaces than people would think, because you go and you have your path and things. And to your point, Jamie, it's like, again, like, and we've been in those situations at work, we're like, what's that smell? Like, I don't know. And people often don't want to go and investigate because they're like, okay, anytime you show initiative at work, it's like things are put on you. And so, people are like, I assume this is it. Someone's gotta be taking care of this.

But I think one real action item coming off the end of this is an HR and whether this is what you talk to your leadership about. Cause they, the aspect of loneliness at work, a lot of CEOs and other leaders are gonna be like, I don't give a shit about that, candidly. I need people to get their things done, but to talk about like, this is the worst case scenario. But the reality for so many other people that will come and go

at the end of the day is what does that feel like to come and not have human interaction? And what can we do to just encourage actual human connection at work and feeling like people care about you and you have people that are going to be alongside you? Yeah. You took the words out of my mouth when you said, you know, this probably isn't so unusual. And it's not, I mean, I've had this in my career over a weekend, heart attack, right? And what shocks me about the Wells Fargo

is that it wasn't till Tuesday. It should have been Monday morning, my opinion. You know what I mean? Like I get, you know, the way our buildings are set up and security and different businesses, you know, where that could potentially happen. What saddens me really about this case is knowing that no one, most likely, no one was calling to look for her. Because that's what happens is that you have loved ones at home that are calling up and saying hey Where is so-and-so? I mean he hasn't come home or she hasn't come, you know And then that's when it's like, okay security does a sweep we go back we look whatever

Because death, you know as tragic as it is. Happy Friday, you know, it's it's it's common right? It's part of life And so those things are absolutely happening. But actually, you make a brilliant point about looking out for each other and caring for one another and being there for one another, checking on one another, right? Because even if that's not maybe the general, the main culture you have at your organization or company, that could be your team culture, that could be your cubby line culture, right? I mean, culture, it's just a collection of accepted behaviors within a group and that group can be however large or big or whatever. So you can care for the people right next to you and kind of do those check-ins. And just,

you know, a hello goes a long way, right? Because boy, loneliness, that's the saddest thing. But it does happen. I saw that headline and I was like, man, I've been there. And it is scary and it's sad. And a lot of times, as an employee, if you're not in HR or leadership, you're not hearing about these things. I can think of a handful of scenarios similar to this. And it didn't make the headlines.

It didn't make the news. I mean, things just happen. And we show up at 3 a.m. and handle something and then we send something out. Hopefully some companies don't to say tragically something happened, you may have heard. We kind of do things like that to dispel rumor mill and be communicative. But yeah, bless her heart, you know, being there for so long. But it also tells me they probably have a sewer issue in that building, you know what I mean? Like they have probably issues with that building if people are like,

oh, it's just the toilets are clogged again or whatever. Oh my God, like which is just... Yeah, right, the facilities. And when you're having people come to locations and things like that. And one thing I'd say is, if you're in HR, I mean, a lot of times these things happen and you send out the notice of, you know, there's resources available, there's counseling, but it's incredibly important for HR to know that those resources are there for you. And you are often taking these things on for those of us that have been in the situation

where you've had the call from family or in it or you've said this person didn't show up and had someone check on them and they there have been tragic things that happen and often HR is the first line where it learns about things and you're trying and then you're trying to have to make the decisions I did see an article that said they notified her family and then notified employees and you're trying to do things and it's very hard because a lot of times that people know because they want to care, but knowing for HR, it's incredibly important to get that support for yourself because you're likely taking on a lot of that and taking

on so much that it can go over the top. And so don't just be the mouthpiece for those. Know that you, whether you feel like you need it or you feel like, oh, I can take this on, you can't and everybody can't forever. And so those are there for you as well. Yeah. I think that's one thing I've never done was any support for me because you're so focused on supporting everybody else. But to your point, Ashley, we're the ones calling the hospital. We're the ones sometimes going with an employee to the hospital. We're on the floor with somebody. I've attended funerals for employees.

We take on so much of that grief and pain. But isn't that funny how I'm reflecting. I can't think of any HR people that I've ever shared. Oh, I actually use the counseling service. No, we just arrange it. Yeah, same. I have. I did for my team and I wasn't in HR, I was in legal and I, but I talked about it. I did employment law and I was personally just going through a lot of stress. It was a lot of transitions. We'd moved, moved geographically and it was

just a very different work culture, positive in some ways, but I was really struggling and I talked and I thought to myself, I talk about this. It was, it was actually during open enrollment and talk and I said, I'm going to make appointments. And I thought to myself, I talk about this. It was actually during open enrollment. And I said, I'm going to make appointments. And I talked to my team about my experience about using it and what that was like and what I was eligible for. Because as much as you read these things, I wasn't 100% positive. And so I say a lot in what I do is,

nobody should feel compelled. You don't have to share that. But to the extent you feel comfortable doing it, it doesn't show that you're weak, it can show that you're very strong, and it can be the message that other people need, even just hearing like other people have reached out. And so I talked about that with my team and I gave feedback even of course to our like, to our team about some things that I may have done differently and what that's like. And so I do think even if you just want

to try it out and do a session, just to go through that for yourself, if you're in HR, if you're in benefits, if you're in benefits, and you've never gone through that, and you might find it very, very helpful. Even to your point, just to try it and experience it so you can firsthand share, you know what I mean? Yeah. With employees that are struggling

with the decision to do that. But I just laugh, like being in HR, I think one time it probably took me all fucking day to be able to get a counselor in for something, you know, like there's always red tape and all this and you know, you're trying to coordinate and schedule whatever and then man, I needed that counselor just after that experience of trying to get that counselor in, you know, let alone, you know, the terrible, you know, thing that had occurred. But yeah, it's wild how we don't take advantage. Sometimes we

don't look at the benefits like they're for us and that we need them because we're so busy giving, giving, giving, you know, to the workforce and arranging all those things. I guarantee Jamie, open enrollment, you probably have, you do a lot of the giving and not as much of the accepting or taking. Of course not. Of course not. I know.

And EAPs are such great resources for employees, and I think a lot of times employees forget until it is an incident like this. And that's why we, HR professionals, should be promoting it constantly because it's typically a free resource. You know, some places you can get three to five counseling sessions. It can be so powerful and so helpful. That's a big one because the utilization rates of EAPs are... Yeah. 4%, I think it's like...

I know. That's the average. I was going to say 3% to 5%. Yeah, it's 4%. Right in the middle. And people don't realize, and you often don't have to be enrolled in the benefits, and it can be for you and your dependents, and in places that don't have them as well. Again, the cost tends to be borne by the employer. Often it's, it is, while it's not literally pennies, it relatively is pennies compared to the other cost and things like that. Mm. Yeah. Bless her. Oh, gosh.

Jamie, thank you for bringing that up. And Jamie's posts on it were spot on. Yeah, it messed me up that day when I read that really. Because you kind of think back of the 21 years as an HR professional and kind of all the... All the things. Yeah, all the things, all the death that has occurred, sadly. And yeah. What's the feeling of fall?

It's wearing a jacket you'll be taking off. Because fall doesn't want you feeling cold all the time. No, sometimes it wants you feeling way too hot. Oh, and that jacket you wore? Now it's draped on your elbow, overheating your arm. While you cool off with your Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew and the rich Parmesan Monterey and Cheddar of the new 3 Cheese and Egg Sandwich. That's the feeling of fall. And it's only at Starbucks.

On that note, Jamie, lift us up. Well, I have like a reoccurring dream that I've been having and I haven't told you all ladies because she thought it was odd. It's not as juicy as yours, Lee, unfortunately. I don't think anyone's dreams are quite as juicy. It's actually very G rated now that I think about it. But what made me laugh is I was like, I've had this dream now seven or eight times. I was like, what is the meeting?

So I, of course, Googled the meaning behind it. And so basically the dream is always different, but I always am walking somewhere, like out of a restaurant, out of school, out of work, out of somewhere. And I hear a cat's meow and I find a kitten. The kitten has been all different colors. There's been an orange kitten, a black and white kitten, an all black kitten, an all white kitten,

but it's always an itty bitty kitty and I'm always finding it in grass. Yeah, random, right? But after the eighth time of having this dream, I told my husband after the fifth or sixth time, I'm like, what the heck? He was like, well, you're going to find a cat. I'm like, no, what the hell? So this is what I told my husband after like the fifth or sixth time, like, what the heck? He was like, well, you're going to find a cat. I'm like, no, like what the hell? So this is, this is what I found interesting. Dreaming about kittens can represent innocence and your desire to reconnect with your inner child. Isn't that interesting?

I thought that part was interesting. I'm like, I feel like I do every day with millennial misery, to be honest. Like some of the stuff I post, I'm like, oh my god, memes. But I just thought that was very interesting. Wow. And maybe the cat distribution system will bless me with a kitten. You of all people need... Like I need another animal.

You'll get blessed with like six kittens. All eight are going to show up at your door in all the different colors. And you'll just be, oh, OK, bring them on in. Maybe that's a good thing that we're going to Vegas, which is like a... I can't find a kitten in Vegas, though. Because I can't let them go sneak it on the plane home. Well, you're inner child. We can go to Circus Circus. And you can... Does Circus Circus still exist?

I feel like maybe it doesn't. I don't even know what Circus Circus is. Oh, no, this is so sad. It didn't get blown up. I thought so. I just Googled... what circus circus is. Oh no, this is so sad. No, it didn't get blown up. I don't know. I thought so. I just Googled, I just Googled. It's about to be blown up in October.

Circus Circus to see if it still exists. In the top video that popped up is, this is why people hate on the Circus Circus Hotel. Well, I will say I have a slight dislike of the Circus Circus Hotel from back in 2005 because my husband got overcharged on something and it was like ridiculous, this fee. And it was still talking about it.

I was like a first year law student and he's like, get legal on them. And I'm like, well, I'm not going to do that. But I do remember that still that like credit card dispute where and it was it cost $38 to say it Circus Circus. That's another article. Okay. Well, if we need hotel rooms, I don't maybe it's not being this I swear I thought it was being destroyed as well Lee right? It might be I don't know. I don't think it is

I think it's like um, I think it's like the Mandela effect, you know Shazam all those things I swear I would have bet a decent I would bet $38 the night's day that it was gonna get Yeah, huh? I don't know. They're blowing up all sorts of shit, but maybe that is a sign like you're ready for Vegas. The Tropicana. Oh, there you go. Yes. The Tropicana.

We had one of my company retreats there, you know, where I constantly missed my flight back out. We've had such a good time. We had dinner at the top of the Tropicana. It was like a revolving restaurant and it was fun. So I'm sad that's going away. Well, you will not be, this is my promise to Dan, you will not miss your flight on the way home

because I have an early flight as well. You will drag me. Yes, I will. Yeah, he'll appreciate that. I appreciate that. I need both a podcast co-host, friend, and most importantly, guardian. It's not gonna be Lee. It's not Lee. Lee

would have connecting rooms and she would move on. She would be like, I'm not going to deal with this. You take your personal responsibility. Which is fair. Which is a fair comment to an adult. Oh, I'd knock. I'd make it. I mean, I'd want to split the Uber. That's a good point. That is a good point. Jamie would put me in the baby bjorn. Like it's like the hangover. Pop me up. We're going. I literally would. I literally would. I would like carry you over my shoulder. Yeah, we wouldn't be late, you know. That'll be fun though. So we have Vegas coming up

where Jamie can, you know, let her and her child release, go crazy, stay up late, you know, make bad decisions, eat and drink, whatever. Look at our, we'll put back on our stories, you know, unlike, unlike Sherm where we went and people are, can we find you like, I don't know, near this other random booth, we have two dedicated opportunities. We are speaking at HR tech and doing a live podcast recording, and we can get the free Expo Pass. We will put that in our stories so you can get there. And then also we'll be at the UKG booth and they will have some free HR Besties merch.

HR Besties slash UKG merch. All cool. Slash UKG co-branded. Co-branded collab. You can RSVP so we can, so, you know, it'll be like the Beatles. That'll be fun. I hope if you're going out there, let us know, right? We'll, we can put something in the stories. Yeah, we would love to meet y'all. Yes, it'd be so great. Yeah, I've, you know, somebody I know that I, another Ashley, I'll just put it that way,

who she works remotely, so we'd work together and she's, we've, I'll just put it that way, who she works remotely. So we'd work together and she's never met in person. She's coming. She's coming. So yeah, she's an HR besties listener. So tip of the hat, Ash, can't wait to see you. Yeah.

No, I've had a few handfuls of just in my DMs, people I do not know, but will know, say, hey, they're coming out, you know, so they're excited to see the session and whatnot. No feet pictures, no feet pictures, people going into Lee's DMs. You can't just because we're doing, it does not mean feet pictures. So when you were posing for pictures, cameras up, cameras up, because we've seen Lee's DMs. They're not right. Yeah, no, they're not. The majority, the majority are right. But yeah, if you do want feet pictures, that's extra. And my VIMO is at HR Manifesto.

Oh, gosh. Well, good times. It's almost time for Vegas. All right. Well, glad to have you back on this continent, Lee, and all together. We can't wait to unite very soon. Warm up Vegas for us next week, Lee. I know I will.

I'll, well, that sounds, I was about to say something that could be misconstrued. Taken out of the very accurate context in which it was said. Exactly, in which I meant it completely. Yeah, yeah. No, we'll warm up Vegas. I'll warm up Vegas for sure next week and then we'll release our inner children. Meow, meow, I should say. Meow, meow, meow.

I've really, I've been working on my bark. The growl, the growl from our Wednesday episode. Yep. Yeah, it's going to be a little deeper than that. Oh, the growl, the growl from our Wednesday episode. Yeah. Grrr. Grrr. Yep. Yeah, it's going to be a little deeper than that. We'll work on those in Vegas too.

Like the DMX Bart is perfect. He had perfected the Bart. Which you can do, Jamie. You got that. Yeah, you can do that. Well, God, on that note, everyone enjoy their weekends. We've got a hard stop. I have a hard stop. I have a hard stop.

Hard stop, hard stop. Oh my god, Jamie, can you please bring that out for a meeting at some point? Please, just, I have a hard stop. Bring out your red stop sign. Yes. Amazing. OK.

Yes, of course. It's cute. Love it.