HR BESTIES - "Sorry I can't share that, I have an NDA"
Episode Date: February 21, 2024Today’s agenda: International handwashing Cringe corporate speak: Drink the Kool-aid. Hot topic: NDAs and Nondisclosures What is an NDA? Non-compete vs non-disclosure vs non-solicitation.... Where you will see a non-compete. Stop getting your advice on TikTok!!! Is it enforceable? Questions/Comments 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
So I think one of the funniest things that happens when you are a part of a global team
are all of those things you learn about other cultures and the assumptions that you make
that you realize were total bullshit, right? Like you realize you were
totally wrong. You know what I mean? Like really do all Belgians love waffles? I mean, you know,
things like that. Is that all they eat? You know what I mean? But it's things like that, right?
Oh, there's just all French fries in France. Right? Oui, oui, like that, right? Oh, gosh.
Well, one of the funniest stories was a coworker of mine who made an assumption about Americans, right? And so they were telling me about how they went
to a business dinner, real fancy business dinner, and large team there, and the executive,
like the head guy, who is American, came into the dinner and
he's the highest of the hierarchy there, right? And he sits down with a very international team,
people from everywhere, right? And this person in particular from Europe. And so he sits down and grabs a glass of water from the table,
puts it under the table, and starts washing his hands at a professional business meal.
Air quotes on washing, because there was no soap, okay? It was just like, it was a bird,
he was bird bathing. Whore bathing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Under a business meal table.
And so what's funny, though, is that this person was sharing that story with me kind of like, so that's what you all do, right?
This is a thing.
It's a cultural tradition.
A norm.
It's a cultural norm in America that we don't use soap and we just bathe under a professional business dinner table.
We just bird bath it up.
You know what I mean?
And so just the thought of that, like everybody watching this at the table and him doing that, doing that bird bath there with this mixed crowd.
And they all walked away. Probably like, Americans wash
their hands like this.
Well, but then
you think of the really nice restaurants where they
bring you the warm towels
to wipe up. So then I'm like, my head
goes there and I'm like, okay, well I can
there's similarities there.
No, he was like pouring the water out on the floor.
Well, that's what I was saying. Where did the water go?
Did he leave the glass?
I would have obviously kicked the glass over on accident and it would have shattered.
And then it would have been like a bloodbath because there would have been blood on the floor for my habits.
But like, you just leave it down there.
And then what do you ask the waitstaff?
Like, oh, I need another glass.
Or you sip, God forbid, sip from it.
Yes.
Don't sip from your neighbor's glass.
You never know what they've been touching.
Especially not this guy.
He's dipping his fingers in it under the table.
Those habits.
Like, it's this strange.
Weird, man.
Like, I remember seeing, like,
C-level leaders that would, like,
walk into, like, a work bathroom
with, like, a book.
And you'd be like,
oh, like, it's just some of those,
I do think, habits that, like,
sometimes those, the top leaders have
that, again, because no one else is going to talk about it.
Well, to them, not to them.
Exactly.
Not to them at least.
But maybe best to be cognizant, right?
Like with your global team, like think about like that just makes me laugh thinking about their takeaway that Americans birdbathed under, you know, the table.
It is a good like it is like with global teams and you have to be sensitive to those things, but I do think it's a good thing to say, like, what are things that
people think about you or your, your culture that you, that you'd like to correct? And again,
you have to be super, like have a lot of trust and have some guardrails to not have some offensive,
it could be a defensive stare, but some of this stuff, or what are things you think people should
know about your culture or some of the, the holidays, times off, things like that, like
getting global awareness with a global team can be helpful because especially those people,
if you're an American company, those people that are global, sometimes the further you
are from headquarters, you can feel really far away.
And you probably want to be far away if someone's washing their hands at the table.
Exactly.
Exactly.
But I love doing that.
I love asking, especially the Brits about their tea and the French about their wines. And I just do that anytime I'm on the travel or I have a global colleague to Ashley's recommendation. I'll move all the topics aside. I'll just hijack the meeting. But one of my friends was coming from Australia, was going to a work conference, a global work conference in the U.S. at Niagara Falls.
And she came back and, you know, she's like, we went to a diner.
She's like, I got some pancakes.
Like, you go to Australia, you get a pancake.
It's like a pancake.
Like, it's a singular portion.
I mean, or close to it.
She's like, God bless, there were 10 things stacked.
I could have eaten.
I could have eaten all day.
The portion sizes, you don't realize it, I think, until you do have some of these things
abroad.
Or conversely, the people come and you realize, like, the shift in perspective and you're
like, well, no wonder I love stretch pants.
Exactly.
That's always the number one is the portion sizes.
It is.
It really is.
You know, I went to Niagara Falls and I thought it was small.
That was my key. That's what she said. That's what she said.
Oh, gosh. Well, to that point, time to kick off this meeting. Thanks for joining us for a little bit of water cooler talk there.
All right, well, let me run through the agenda for today's meeting. Thank you,
everyone, for joining us for this staff. We are going to kick it off with some cringe corporate speak, and Jamie is going to dive into that one for us today. And then we're going to shift over
to our hot topic of the day, which is all about NDAs,
right? Those are very popular on the interwebs right now. People think and they understand them
and the whatnot, but we have a subject matter expert here with us and Ashley. So we're going
to have a little NDA discussion. And then of course, as always, we're going to transition
into some questions and comments before we have that hard stop because we have much better things
to do than meet all day, right? I doubt. Not really.
I know. That is true. Not really.
All right. This is my favorite meeting of the week.
That is true. That is true. That is true. All right. So cringe corporate speak, Jamie.
Yeah. So we have drink the Kool-Aid today. And first of all, the origin behind it is pretty
messed up. But before I go into that, I want to admit that I've actually used this in front of a
large group where I don't quite remember what the reason was for the meeting, but we were
in a large grand ballroom, once again, hospitality, and the general manager asked a question.
No one wanted to stand up.
And of course, me being literally not having an embarrassing bone in my body, I decided
to take the mic and stand up and respond to her question.
And part of that was basically like, I drank the Kool-Aid.
But now reading the origins of it, oh man, I'm cringing so hard.
That's okay.
That was a really long time ago.
But the origins of it actually have to do
with the cult, the people's temple movement, the 900 members that drank Kool-Aid and died.
Well, it wasn't Kool-Aid that we're drinking.
It was laced.
It was laced.
It was laced Kool-Aid.
I don't want a lawsuit here. I don't want a lawsuit.
But you know what? Actually, interestingly, I did face it. I was like, wait, wait, wait.
It was lace.
It was like cyanide or something.
Exactly.
It was lace with cyanide.
But you know what?
Interestingly, it wasn't actually Kool-Aid as the brand.
It was Flavor-Aid.
But everyone calls it Kool-Aid.
So I'm sure the Kool-Aid man's probably not happy with that false association.
Because I was in Ghana.
Guyana, I think.
Oh.
Jonestown, Guyana.
Jonestown Massacre, yeah.
Yeah, so I will never.
Well, except probably in this meeting.
But use it in a full sentence.
So what are people, and what would you say differently?
Well, so how I used it in that meeting was talking about how basically I'm fully invested in the company and I quote unquote drank the Kool-Aid.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm going to die for y'all.
But you could have said fully, I'm fully invested.
Oh, yeah.
I could have.
And I should have.
That's why it's very cringy now to look back and be like, I can't believe I fucking said that.
I wonder if there's anyone from that grand ballroom attendance that's listening to the podcast.
I was like, I have a few friends that I still talk to that were in there.
I think that one's really common. I mean, I've always heard that one.
But the origin story, I had no idea. But a lot of the corporate speak comes from really dark places.
Yeah.
It just does, right?
We have learned.
Yeah, we have since learned.
Over the course of the last few episodes.
Like, how jacked up are we, you know?
Right.
Like, it is kind of, yeah, it is kind of twisted because you're like, how does this end?
Yeah, like, how do we insert it in our daily corporate lives?
Like, how is...
Dark phrases for dark places.
Let's joke about 900 people drinking laced Kool-Aid. Like how was... Dark phrases for dark places. Let's joke about 900 people
drinking laced Kool-Aid.
Like what?
Yeah.
Isn't that weird?
We've got a lot of those though, culturally.
You know what I mean?
Like we would have to get into it.
But like there is a lot.
Yeah, like even like the middle finger
or like waving or a high five.
Okay, well, we didn't get into gestures, okay?
Like you took that a different place.
I don't know the origin of those.
Yeah, we'll have to.
This is for a future meeting.
And Jamie, you have a hard stop.
So let's keep rolling.
So moving on to the hot topic on that death note there.
Legal stuff.
Piping hot.
Piping hot topic.
Piping hot topic.
Everything NDAs. Now, if you have been on the interwebs, if you are on the TikTok or on the
Instagram, you have seen all of those reels and videos about, you know, especially the interview
ones. I think I did one too, where people are like, I can't answer that question. I signed an
NDA, right? I mean, there's so many different versions of that, right? And it is funny, it is cheeky and whatnot. So NDAs themselves have become such a hot topic this year, you know,
or within the last rolling 12, you know, I just keep seeing things about NDAs. I'd never heard
of them before, like in the social space, of course at work, right? So NDAs, what the hell
are they, Ashley? Well, let me ask you this, because I always like
to know where people's knowledge is. So Jamie, I'm going to ask you, what would you say is the
difference between an NDA, a non-compete, and a non-solicit? Okay, so God, I hope I don't sound
like a fucking idiot. Non-disclosure agreement is
what an NDA stands for.
So a lot of times celebrities use them
because they don't want to even know
that you
possibly had sex with them.
Okay.
I'm thinking of like Justin Bieber.
Like that one time that girl came out and said,
I signed a NDA when I had a
one-night stand with Justin Bieber.
At what point in the night?
You just, yeah.
After, of course, when they're leaving.
Or maybe you start the night.
I would start the night.
Yeah, well, you would.
Yeah, I would think.
I would.
You're going out with me.
Docu-sign how I am.
Yeah, just sign a docu-sign.
Was it Drake that like takes phones up?
I'm sorry, Drake.
But I think like some of these like take phones up and stuff.
So that's a good, but that's a good.
You don't want to forget now. So non-solicitation is not soliciting like other employers and yeah,
and whatnot. And then what was the other one? Non-compete. Non-compete would be like working
for a direct competitor. And so I like to, I like to like, you know, literally just ask,
because I think it's important for people to understand also like what they're signing.
Because I've seen in, in my career, especially as a lawyer, Ash,
some of these documents and the title of the document does not mesh with the contents of
the document. Really? Oh, totally. Like the title will be like confidentiality agreement. Like we
want to keep it confidential. And then you read in paragraph like 13H is like, you also, yeah,
will not work for a competitor for X period of
time. And I'm like, that's a different document. Right. Because like, you know, everybody doesn't
read their documents or doesn't understand it. And so it's absolutely really important. And so
those things, and especially globally, you know, different things. In the U.S., it's gotten more
attention because in the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission, which is a federal agency, had
proposed a rule to basically ban non-competes
across the U.S. Nothing has happened with it. April of this year is the first something might
happen with it. It'll get litigated. My personal non-advice opinion is I don't think that will
happen, but different states have done those things, and that's more for non-competes.
And so all of this, the NBA, the non-compete, non-solicitation, is all about protecting an organization's interests or a celebrity's interests and to keep things under wraps.
place dynamics, people's ability to earn a living, is these organizations are saying,
well, we're investing in our employees all this information, and so they can't go out and share it with somebody else.
And from the non-compete, why that's been under attack is because really a lot of these
organizations we've talked about, the problem is they're not actually investing in employees.
They're just trying to prevent you from working elsewhere.
They get harder for you to leave.
And so you have places like California
where non-competes have been banned for years
and non-solicits.
And there's two types of non-competes.
Actually, it's important for people to know
what these things mean.
What the difference is.
So there's like non-solicit can mean like customers.
Like I can't, like I might be able to work
for a sales organization
if I don't have a non-compete
or my non-competes expired,
but I can't go and like call on those customers.
Or I can't tell Jamie,
hey, here's all the information. You go call on it and we'll split the commission. Like you
generally can't do that. And that's a non-solicitation of customers or a non-solicitation
of employees. You can't bring people. And it's kind of a sliding scale. And I won't get into
that here. But like California has basically had it where all they've had for employers is
non-disclosure agreements for years.
There's not a non-compete. There's really not non-solicits generally. And what that means is
that employers, you have to actually, you have to compete to make sure that you're providing
that work environment that's compensating people, providing them that opportunity.
And I think in a fairness workplace, especially in the U.S., where there's not guarantees of severance generally with minimal exceptions, like to have that, it creates more of
an even playing field. And so we'll talk more about the confidentiality stuff, but from that
non-compete, non-solicit aspect, you know, companies will say we have to have this. But a lot of these
companies that are super competitive haven't had these type of things.
But right now, that's been a very hot topic because of the impacts on people's work.
They're like, okay, are you going to drink this Kool-Aid and sign this?
Right or not.
Either with us or against us here.
Now, do you see that non-solicits and non-competes are prevalent?
Because I don't really see that.
Even supporting C-suite
and whatnot. I mean, it's something maybe for like engineering or it's something for
sales or BD or business development. You know what I mean? It seems like more niche. That's
how I see it. But I don't know if it just depends on your organization or does it depend on your
industry or... I'd say, I think it depends on, I think it depends on organization.
I do think from roles,
like sales roles tend to have it more.
And it's in that non-solicitation in particular.
And some of that is like, okay, fair enough.
Because at least you can have more of that conversation
of like, if you have a sales employee
and you've actually done all of this training
and these things,
then can they leave and tomorrow go for a competitor?
You can have the conversation about like, what's fair and what's not. And I, you know, I can see a little bit more both sides of
that. So sales, you do see it, engineering, to your point, research and development. But what
you will see sometimes is organizations that have them for a ton of people. And you will see,
so a non-compete in the U.S. generally, I mean, it's really state by state where they're allowed,
is you have to be reasonable with that. It can be like from a time, geography, and role. And so,
like, I can't say, like, you can go and work for a direct competitor generally. Like, if you were
a salesperson, a company shouldn't stop you from going and becoming a janitor, like, and going and
being part of that janitorial staff. Like, there's no colorable argument, unless you want to, like,
have, you know, information that you pass on, but then that's covered by colorable argument, unless you want to have information that you pass
on, but then that's covered by an NDA. But you tend to see it sometimes for organizations that
will just require it as a matter of course. And in that circumstance, candidly, it tends to be a red
flag for me because those organizations that provide them blindly also seemingly aren't the
ones that are providing that tailored experience for the employees
and making it. But you see so much misinformation on these things on social media. And like,
you know, people will come and ask me for individual advice. And like the last thing
anybody should be doing is going to someone on TikTok to ask for their advice.
Please stop doing that.
I get it a lot.
You can and we get it a lot.
I get it a lot too and I run fucking meme pages
y'all
and I get it and again meet people where they are
I get it people want help
and they see you as someone
and they're not realizing how many messages you're getting
and I can't you know pages of
you know this what would you do next
well I'm not you know I
can't do that for a variety of reasons
well it's helpful I can say like my bar license prohibits me from doing that I can't do that for a variety of reasons. Well, it's helpful. I can say, like, my bar license prohibits me from doing that.
I'm like, that's so right.
I can't say to blame.
It's always helpful.
My life's pocketbook prohibits me.
You had to set up time for coaching.
But the thing that people have to be, like, be careful.
Like, I see it all the time is people will say, I'm being asked to sign this NDA or this non-company, this NDA.
Well, just sign it.
It's not enforceable.
Well, just sign it. It's not enforceable. Well, the hard thing that's important for employees,
employers to know is whether it's enforceable or not is decided often by a judge or arbitrator,
and it costs a shitload of money to get there. And so what you don't want to do is not understand something that you're signing or something you're not, and your family's not personally comfortable
with and want to bet at all that it's not going to be enforceable when they come after you,
because a lot of companies are pretty aggressive about trying to enforce their non-competes. And it's a very unpleasant experience. And it's one of the very
few areas that litigation happens really quickly. You're in front of a judge. If you watch a legal
show on TV, they're like, oh my God, this lawsuit was filed and we have a trial tomorrow. And like,
well, that doesn't happen. You file a lawsuit and you're in trial like two decades from now.
But in a non-compete, it's actually different.
And often you can like get in front of it.
Like that's, I've been part of this and you're in front of a judge and there's testimony
and there's emails are coming in and everything.
But it's just important because there's a lot of misinformation.
And so to find those resources, and I get it, it can be expensive to hire a lawyer and
you may have to pay an hourly fee, but it's an area to make sure, you know, but for us, for companies to like,
think about the fairness. But I think the NDA, like more common, I think is the NDA,
that confidentiality agreement. Do you all tend to see those like across organizations?
Yeah. That's like the main one. Yeah. NDAs. And then like conflict of interest.
Yeah.
At least I've found it more in the healthcare industry.
Many of these are nurses or are doctors or are pharmacists.
They usually have more than one job.
And it might be PRN, which is per diem.
So they're picking up one shift or something a weekend at a hospital or another facility. But a lot of the times it's not a non-competes because that's a needed profession,
right? We're going to let you go work at the hospital down the street for once or twice a
month. But it's just being aware of that and having that conflict of interest and you stating,
I work at X hospital, PRN or what have you.
So that's what I see a lot.
I think the burning question here that everyone wants to know is, per all of those TikToks and Instagram reels, if someone is in an interview and they are being asked a question by the company, hey, tell me about your last job.
Can they say, oh, sorry,
I can't talk about it. I signed an NDA. I mean, you're going to have lawyer hat,
Ashley, that says, yes, that's exactly what they should say. But don't.
But the funny thing is, if you read these, and again, go and look at your confidentiality
agreements if you need a good night's sleep or whatnot. But if you read them, a lot of times
these agreements will say things like there'll be a line that says you are not to discuss the existence of this agreement.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, kind of like Dave Ramsey has?
Well, you're the subject matter expert on that.
I am.
But if I'm interviewing, if I'm interviewing, or you're interviewing me, and you say,
and I can't talk about it, and I can't tell you. Like, I want to go back to like,
I'm not junior associate, Ashley,
because I couldn't pipe up for anything.
You just have to kind of fall in line.
But you talk about some of this language
and that like, you know, a lot of employment lawyers
you take for granted or HR or anybody,
but you read it and you're like,
well, how the fuck does that play out?
Like, you're asking me something
I'm not supposed to talk about.
I mean, it's fun.
When you think about people's resumes,
the vast majority of information on someone's resume,
well, not made vast majority, but a lot is like covered by confidentiality, but also,
but the flip side to that is when you're interviewing candidates, you want to know quantifiably the data and people often want to hire from competitors because you want that skill
set. And so it's like, you know, do as I say, not as I do.
And so there has to be like, I do think like, you know, there's trade secret laws that can
already protect those depending on where you are. But a confidentiality agreement, in my opinion,
generally covers most of what an organization or workplace is really interested in keeping,
of not saying like, okay, I can go to a competitor and this and like, you know,
completely destroy something that a lot of people's livelihoods have gone towards buildings. Like I can, I can
understand that, but I understand that a lot more than non-compete or non-solicit, but like Lee,
okay. How do you, how would you answer that? So then you would have to say, oh, I can't answer
that, but I can't tell you why I can't answer that. And then that's weird, right? If you're
the interviewer, are you like...
Yeah, and it's like, well, if I do answer it, are you going to go back to my previous employer and be like, so-and-so, they told me about what they did for work.
And then they have your resume.
And then, of course, there's so much on your resume already to your point.
Then they're going to reach out to your prior job and be like, tell me.
Well, yeah, which is another question.
You're going to reach out to your prior job and be like, tell me.
Well, yeah, which is another question. But it's how you talk about these expectations, obligations you put on your employees and think about how you would address those for candidates that are coming into your organization.
And now what you're seeing is a lot of organizations will have an NDA at the start of employment or when you get a promotion, you might have a non-compete, you know, there's all of those things.
But also with like a separation agreement, and what organizations will say is if we're separating,
you know, we're buying your, you know, we're buying either certainty of not having a litigation,
or sometimes, you know, buying silence more in that celebrity realm of like,
I'm paying you in exchange for silence. That's how I see it used.
But the laws, the laws are, you're really seeing these change and these carve outs.
And so employment lawyers really have a, you know, a cottage industry in this because you'll see like, oh, in California, you have to include this language that, you know, carves out these types of claims.
And so in a number of states, more progressive like like California, New York, and the U.S.
And I actually don't know how this is globally,
so I'd be curious.
But you can't have, at times,
a confidentiality agreement for certain claims,
like sexual harassment, following Me Too.
You know, this silver lining to a gray cloud
of some of the shit that happens
is there's legislation about it.
And so some of this now,
you can't keep quiet on some
of these claims. And organizations are like, well, I'm going to pay money if this person can speak
fully about it. Well, prevent it from happening in the first place or address it if in the God
forbid, you know, something happens terribly at work. And so you're seeing a lot of this,
that the sole purpose that a lot of organizations use them for, that they can't anymore. But people
often aren't aware of their rights. Isn't that the classic tale? All right. So I think that that's all we have
from a hot topic perspective. Again, I realize we have a hard stop. Everyone's got places to be and
things to do. So let's move into some questions and comments. Any questions or comments?
comments any questions or comments oh just to kind of go about the nda or or the non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement sign the fucking thing that is all what do you mean are you
are you seeing people are you going against my thing to read what people understand are you
seeing people not please read it please read it She doesn't read job descriptions, but she signs any legal documents.
That's a fact.
No, no.
Please read it.
Obviously.
Don't be a dumbass.
But read it.
But sign it.
Like, don't be a hard ass.
Like, I cannot tell you at my last job, we sent NDAs to candidates after they got through to the like the final interview.
And how many people wanted to,
oh, we would like to adjust this.
And I want to, my lawyer looked at this.
I'm like, it is the most basic NDA you could possibly,
this is just for your freaking interview.
Sign it or no.
Wait, hold on.
I'm going to, I'm going to have my comment.
That's, why would you send a candidate an NDA about an interview?
Like to tell them, because this is one of my things I don't care for.
I've gotten NDAs for interviews.
Which I do, and I know those exist, and I've had the request put on me to do this.
But the reason I know organizations twofold.
One is sometimes organizations will say, well, we're going to talk about confidential information in that interview, and we want to protect it.
Okay, I can get that.
The flip side is we don't want people to know that this position is open because there's somebody in
role and they're going to get fired once you get hired. I don't like that. Is that why?
No. So to not give too much information away.
Okay.
Because she signed an NDA.
I signed an NDA. You're not supposed to say that. Essentially, our business model was unlike anything else.
And so, because it was a startup, we protected it because it was a different way. And I'm not
even going to say it's in healthcare, but I'm not even going to say what the sector of healthcare
was because it was also specialized. So when people got to that level and they really got
to understand more about what we do, who we are, who we're taking care of, that is why.
Because it was a brand new business model and a completely new way of not only taking care of patients, but also billing, which is a key part of why we had candidates sign NDAs.
I can hear you're passionate about this billing, which is great.
Well, because it has to do with CMS.
I know.
It sounds like someone who's been drinking the Kool-Aid.
Fuck.
But I think, because my other counterpoint, I often tell with organizations, they'll say, we need an ironclad NDA.
Well, the laws being what they are, do the best.
I hate the word ironclad.
But I say that also, an Nnda it's not it's not a
magic piece of paper if you want to enforce it you may have to go to court and who are you going
to be taking to go to court are you going to have a candidate that interviews or an employee and go
to court that doesn't tend to happen and so it's more of the psychological like i would rather
sign something that just says please love ce. And kind of shushies.
Shushies.
Shushies.
XOXO.
Yeah.
You know, honestly.
And so that's how we say to people.
Like, you know, we're going to fucking sue somebody.
Like, okay.
Shushies.
I'll go back to being a lawyer if that's what we're doing.
Actually, I won't.
I would do that.
Oh, my gosh.
Okay, so Ashley.
Well, that's it.
I'll take that as my comment.
I won't.
I've said enough. I've said enough today. You Ashley. Well, that's it. I'll take that as my comment. I won't. I've said enough.
I've said enough today.
You are the expert, ma'am.
So for the organizations that you do not have NDAs at, I guess that's how you would say that.
What is the weirdest gift that you've ever received from a coworker?
A bit of a curveball there.
Have you ever received just something really weird or out of left field from a coworker? A bit of a curveball there. Have you ever received just
something really weird or out of left field from a coworker? I have actually. Have you?
It was when I worked in hospitality. It was a frilly pink apron. They handmade it.
That's so nice. That is nice.
It actually really, when I learned out, first of all, it was just on my desk. It wasn't wrapped.
I had no idea who gave it to me.
One of the sweet housekeeping ladies, she was thanking me for helping her with her paycheck.
And she made me, it was literally, it's like a cute little, like, it was only this big.
You thought it was a sex thing.
Well, yeah.
Absolutely.
I walked in my office and it was like a frilly pink lace apron.
I was like, ooh.
But she made it and it
honestly, it made me cry when she
came and told me. That's so kind.
But walking in on
that, being like, who the fuck is this?
The apron, the lacy apron. I was like, I'm
a char. This is not okay.
Investigation time.
Yeah, but no, it wasn't.
I gave a gift once when it was Boss's Day, which is a fucked up holiday.
Yeah.
Sorry.
And I didn't know about this.
And our office manager, I was general counsel and head of HR, our office manager, blah, blah, blah, Boss's Day.
This is what I gave to our CEO.
Well, fuck, I didn't know we were doing this.
Okay, well, then I'm like, what can I buy online?
And so I bought a, and then I didn't know we were doing this. Okay, well, then I'm like, what can I buy online? And so I bought a,
and then I was stressed about the amount.
I can buy them like a $25, maybe $50, probably $50,
Starbucks card, gift card,
and, you know, thanks boss, whatever, card,
and gave it.
And then a few weeks later, I was like,
oh, I never heard about that.
And then I said something to the office manager.
I was like, you know, again, like, it's so weird.
I'm like, I don't even know if I've used it.
And she's like, oh, he probably didn't even use it.
He doesn't like Starbucks.
He drinks Dunkin'.
And I was like, well, fuck that.
So I figured out how I could send it back to myself.
And so now, this was probably years ago, I have on my phone my Starbucks self-card says, thanks, boss.
And it is for myself.
I took it
back and so
what if he re-gifted it?
well then they'd be disappointed
and they'd be like shit on it
maybe to the chairman
so did you re
and do a dunk in that or no?
no
see me I would be like well here's your
dunk in card I heard you didn't like Starbucks.
No, I just took it back myself.
Oh, my gosh.
That was a weird gift I received from myself.
That's a good one.
Okay.
Oh, my God.
Well, I've received a few different things, some not all appropriate.
And I've had a lot of employees receive inappropriate gifts from folks.
Oh, yeah.
Of course, I've had, you know, the intern receive the sex toy dildo from the manager and things like that.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
But I think one of the weirdest things that I've received, it's just the one that just came top of mind, was a whip can.
Huh?
Like a can of Whip-Ass?
No.
What?
Not a Whip-Ass can. Not a Whip-Ass. Whip-Ass? No, not a Whip-Ass can.
Whip-It?
Whip-It?
Whip-It.
So the one with the CO2
or whatever,
the nitro chargers
or whatever the...
I think people suck
puff on those, right?
Yeah, to get high.
Oh, is that what I was
supposed to do with them?
What did you do?
Did you clean your
whip cream, right?
No, so like
literally the industrial,
like the shits at Starbucks.
The shits from Starbucks.
God, I'm so street.
But yeah, the whip can, whipped cream cans.
Yeah, okay.
I had somebody, I guess I won't name their title, but you know, a person in the organization
buy me a whip can and with the cartridges and whatnot.
And because they said I, they noticed that I liked whipped cream.
And then I connected the dots
because I was kind of in a Frappuccino phase.
And I would just go to Starbucks
and just get no shit.
This is kind of gross, I guess,
now that I think about this.
But I would just get a venti whip
and I would just eat.
Like a, that's a,
they call that a puppuccino
because that's what you can get for your dog.
But a puppuccino is just the little cup, a mini cup.
You have to request a tall.
You got the great day in a chino.
I get the horse side, the industrial size.
The horse puppuccino.
That kind of sounds good.
I'm not going to judge.
No, it's fucking delicious.
My God.
But like, you know.
Have you tried Cardi B's new like her vodka whipped cream?
No, but I've had
vodka whipped cream
whipped cream flavored vodka
I've done all the vodkas
well she has
Cardi B
I love vodka
you're welcome to
promote me vodka company
can you please put out
another album
fuck
anyway
she has
an actual whipped cream
that is vodka infused
I believe it's vodka
yeah
that sounds kind of
can we go out
and get that
please
get some of that.
Haram.
Later.
Body shots.
I'm going to get a Liachino.
That's what I'm going to call it at Starbucks.
A Liachino.
Oh, yeah.
I do need my own drink, don't I?
My God.
Well, basically, it's just a thing of whips.
I give him kudos, though, for noticing something.
No, do not give.
Don't give that creeper kudos because what I realized was I was sucking the fuck out
of that straw in the office.
And he was noticing it.
And he was noticing it. He was noticing it.
Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
I'm just in my 20s, cute as hell.
Okay, let's be honest.
I noticed you like whipped cream.
Yeah, I noticed you like whipped cream.
So shake it and whip this, basically.
You know what I mean?
And so, but I love that.
I still have it because I love whipped cream.
I was going to say, do you make it?
And I still do.
No, it's been a while
because I ran out of cartridges I was supposed to say, do you make it? And I still do. No, it's been a while because I ran out of cartridges
I was supposed to huff.
I didn't realize that.
But I've just been moving with it
for 12 years or whatever, you know.
She like genuinely made whipped cream.
Yeah, but I did.
I used to like literally make
like genuine restaurant like whip.
I thought that was so cool, you know.
So once I got over that
and stopped that habit in the office,
I was like doing it in my car, like eating my whipped cream in the car.
And there he is. There he is.
Like all quick with the... Because apparently I was really going at it on that straw. I mean,
TMI, I didn't mean to go there, but something was happening. But I was just lost in the whipped
cream because boy, do I love whipped cream.
I just do, you know, and I don't use it like that, like y'all are thinking.
I just like to eat it.
I just love heavy whipping cream.
It's so good.
You know, I put that in my coffee.
Anyway.
All right.
Well, that is all that we have today.
That is quite a full staff meeting there.
We got a lot accomplished, I feel like.
But whip it, whip it good.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining us.