So I know we just recently were in the season of Halloween, but do you remember as kids you
remember that one time in the church where you're like if you go into the bathroom and
you lock the door and turn the lights off and you say Bloody Mary three times you'll
see Bloody Mary in the mirror.
Do you remember that?
Yeah, yeah, that always like freaked me out.
I remember like doing that at home and at church like with friends like what was the first time
you remember like doing that?
I remember it was pretty early on for me.
I only ever did it for that one time and it was with you because you were like let's do
it and I like by like the second time I was like oh I was shot out of there you were like
but you have to lock the door that's the thing because if you don't lock the door then you're
not going to see nothing and I was just like wow dude that's wild.
Yeah I don't try to remember it was I think it was like some kid that I knew in Germany
we were at their house and I think it was their sister that was like yeah we're going
to do Bloody Mary and it's like if you say it three times like they're going to and you
have to it's always like in the mirror you have to be like looking in the mirror that's
what they're going to come at you.
Yeah it was pretty crazy.
I remember when you were a kid you'd be thinking all that stuff is real you think all that's
going to actually happen for sure.
I was going to ask you did you quote unquote see anything in the mirror or no.
No I never did but like I remember getting to three and I don't know any sort of noise
any sort of whatever would like make you real scared I don't know I never ever saw it.
That's what gets me about these ghost hunter shows it's like oh that just and it's like
all it could be is just the lights turned off and somebody moving stuff out of the shot
or somebody whispering or whatever it is it's like how can you really believe that that's.
Yeah I think a lot of that stuff is staged like I think there are supernatural things
but I don't think that they are as prominent as they show in like TV shows and stuff like
that and I don't think they're like little sensors that are like oh the air got colder
so that's you know what I mean I think that all is just crazy.
Yeah you can make all that stuff up.
I'm Chris and I'm like and this is the Donut Box podcast.
Well buddy we are officially in November can you believe that dude we only have after this
episode two more episodes until we're entering into season four.
That's crazy it's crazy that we're almost to three years straight of recording and having
you know three years straight of doing it week after week that's pretty pretty wild but
here we are and we're on to another free flow episode which I always love these man and
I don't know man I'm a little excited about today because there's plenty to talk about
but we're going to talk about toxic work environments and listing out what would you say our I would
like to call it at least on my in the Mount Rushmore's of toxic work environments at least
in my oh yeah for sure some of them I can't say but I think.
I think we both are going to agree together collectively that.
Boogra is on there and we'll talk about that in a little bit but I'll let you get started
with what you want to introduce Chris I'll say this he hasn't had as many jobs as me
there was a period of time where I kind of bounced around from some jobs and kind of
floated around I would say probably one of the so I've seen all sorts of different kinds
of brands of toxicity I guess if you will in the fact of like you know there you've
been in an environment with a bunch of old heads who are like you know what here's what
it means to work here's what it means to do these things and if you don't live up to the
standard like for instance it's like oh yeah you got to be here 30 minutes early and we
sit here and we drink coffee and then we go out there and work 12 hours sometimes 16 hours
and it's like and that's that's what it is and you don't call out sick and it's like
a whole thing and it's like attendance is very key and you even pick up shifts and stuff
like that all the way to the other front of you know it's like I've even been into the
job fronts where it's like a man you're going to mess up what we have so don't do what you're
supposed to do so that you don't mess up what what's going to be happening our chill lifestyle
is that what you're saying like it's so chill we don't do anything around here don't work
too hard or you're going to mess it up for the rest of us pretty much like don't screw
don't screw things up because it's like we're we're trying to maintain our chill habitation
here and it's like so I've seen all fronts of the spectrum but starting at the beginning
of the spectrum I think probably one of the most toxic jobs besides boot crowd for myself
was I worked for a company called ASIG and like ASIG and it was as a refueler at the
Austin airport and that company has gone through I think like nine or ten like rebrands or
whatever by this point but anyways so it was so coming from Lubbock Texas because that's
where I initially was coming from and coming down there it was actually paying kind of
good it was paying twelve dollars an hour and for Lubbock Texas that was pretty good
wage I would say would you say like twelve dollars starting out's pretty good yes back
like twelve to thirteen years ago that was really good and they were like really confused
because they were like are you sure like that's a really low number for here and stuff like
that and I was just like nah but I didn't realize for Austin area that was a little bit of a
low number but I live kind of outside of the area so I thought no problem and not to mention
they were like we need somebody on like the really early morning shift and so I was like
okay yeah I'll get on the other morning shift and I'll never forget my boss's name his last
name was Sweatman like legit is last name of Sweatman and he like literally he pushed
everything through he wanted to make sure like oh yeah I got out there as quickly as possible
because they were really short staffed and they were like pretty much what's gonna have
happened is we're going to assign overtime whenever we you know whenever we need to so
basically you like come in a day and be like yep you're working sixteen hours their standard
shift was twelve it's like but if they needed you to work more than it would be sixteen
hours and so which what bothered me about this was if you were on the they didn't really
require this out of the late shift like the two p.m. shift the people that came in on at
two p.m. because my our shift would start at like three in the morning right and we would
go until two or three in the afternoon and then you know our replacements would come
on but the people that came in on two in the afternoon or three in the afternoon say they
worked like a sixteen hour shift or like they would basically for them that would require
them to come early well the next day they would get to sleep in or whatever right and
not have to get up and you know they would go in at two in the afternoon when I would
have to turn around and get back up and think about if you got to be there three in the
morning you got to be leaving your house like two so it was really it was already rough
schedule wise because if you've ever had a job like that you have to go to bed at like
five six in the afternoon it's kind of weird like everybody's having dinner like having
a good time you're having to go to bed already and so anyways the job wise what made it so
toxic was they were really cheap first of all and it was the summertime and they wouldn't
provide us water like on their own which I'm pretty sure is illegal I'm sure like I'm
pretty sure that's illegal do you have if you're working out in the heat or working
outside like I for extended periods of time I think they have to provide water for you
did they make and I guarantee they didn't make sure you took your regulated breaks break
what was that like pretty much what how the it was a sweatshop kind of work environment
that's what made it part so bad so like I kid you not the process to get trained and
everything and to get your licenses and stuff like that from the airport and get your background
check and all that stuff was two weeks and so in those two weeks they just pack all this
training but by the time the two weeks are over with like you're in a field truck on
your own driving in between plane wings like feeling planes like that that's how quick
the the turnaround is always one of the number one signs of a toxic workplace is if they have
a quick training or if they're like hey we'll hire you on the spot that's always kind of
a red flag but continue and I mean after me that's what they were did a lot too is they
did a lot of like hiring events where it was just like I don't really care can you get
here kind of thing and can you train like that's really the only requirements it's like can
you do basic math and can you train and can you pass a drug test it's like that's pretty
much all that it took and so you know I was going through a lot of this stuff and I was
like I I remember there was a few quite a few days that I was quite dehydrated because I
mean this is summertime in Texas this was August and not having water like I brought
my own water but like a lot of times it wasn't wasn't enough like I remember there was one
time like I even had to I was out there on the tarmac and how you fuel is there's these
big like I'm sure you've seen on TV shows and stuff they're these big nozzles pretty
much and they have two handles on them and a giant hose that goes down to the to the
truck and most of the time you where the fuel is is underneath the wing and so you have
to set up a ladder most of the time and you have to climb up this ladder and I mean don't
get me wrong this thing is 4050 pounds which most of the time is not a big deal you just
hoist that thing up there you lift it up there and whatnot but when you've been doing this
all day and this is your 20th plane or whatever and you know it's really really hot whatnot
and your dehydrated is all get out like I remember there was one time like my muscles
just weren't having it like I was trying to lift it up there and like I could not get
the nozzle to the to the point I had to call somebody to come over there and help me lift
it up there because like my muscles were just give out like I mean it was just it was just
bad and so I remember having a lot of that I remember even coming home like a few times
like getting like sick because of the heat and like trying to it was one of those things
like I try to call out the next day of like hey man I got too high yesterday and like
I'm really just messed up and they're just like no no no we need you we need you we need
you we need you and it's just like it's like you don't want to quit on your team do you
you know and it was stuff like that it was like you don't want to which is sign number
two anytime they say oh they make you feel bad or they're like oh well you're quitting
on your team or you're quitting on your family whenever they use the word family that's how
you know it's toxic continue and not just that but they would like use names they'd be like
they'd be like they're like oh yeah well so and so is going to have to cover all of your
stuff if you don't come in and that means he's going to have to work a 16 hour day and bro
I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff if it means other people got to work well that means I'm
going to suck it up and I'm going to get in there and work my share and so I end up still
going and so anyways I keep working bro and so we get through the first we get to the
first week they paid monthly so like they paid monthly which also sucks that's horrible
yeah that really sucked and so but the first month's check came in and granted you also
have to think so I just moved I get this job I've been working about three weeks at this
point so it's not quite a month's paycheck but I need to pay my rent for my first month
and the check bounces like the check bounces like straight away and so I was like what the
heck bro so I went through this whole thing finally they got me a check that cleared but
at this point like I was late and so I had this whole battle with my apartment complex
to like take out the fees and the fines because it really wasn't my fault like it was more
the job's fault and it was it was just like a really bad situation and not just that but
again once they finally got me in a truck and everything they put me on the Southwest
Airlines route at Austin which is one of the busiest out there and so it's really basically
what it so part of the problem too was Austin was built like the Austin airport was built
in an old Air Force base most modern airports have little ports in the ground with like
a little cart that basically you know you can feel from the little port in the ground
and they have big fuel systems and stuff like that the big modern airports and then even
you know some of the smaller airports that have like fuel trucks it's not as far of a
drive but Austin basically it had only one place where you could go get all the fuel
for your fuel trucks and it was like three quarters of a mile away and so you'd have
to go three quarters of a mile away and come back and so basically how it worked was it
was kind of on you in your truck of okay you have to you know kind of say okay here's how
much fuel I have left I need to go while I have a lull between this flight and this
flight to go refuel or whatever and I mean there's been times where it's like man I'm
really hoofing it because you you know you're like man my trucks tapped out the next flight
literally pulling into the gate right now but I got to go back I got to go drive all
the way over here and you know fill the truck back up like it was it was pretty stressful
especially because I think I was 20 at the time and driving a 10,000 gallon truck like
that was I don't know it's pretty pretty crazy and so it was it just got to be too much to
where it was like man the heat I'm not getting water like I'm working my tail off and like
and so it gets to be around that second month time frame of like because I remember that
second paycheck was coming up because I really really needed that second paycheck of course
what you get paid monthly you're like really looking for that check once once it's coming
and so I remember that check was supposed to come in and again the check bounce because
like I got like the physical paper check and again the check bounce and I remember being
like man I this ain't worth it like I'm literally killing myself like I'm working 16 hour days
three days a week like it's super hot out here like I'm not getting any water like I
feel like I'm dying almost sometimes like I remember my my wife who was my girlfriend
at the time she called me a Holocaust victim at one point because she said I look so bad
that was going on is just like alright and so I remember the day I decided okay I'm
going to quit it was because I was like I came into work and looked at the schedule
and it was like okay it's just a regular 12 hour day so I worked a 12 hour day and somebody
called in over the radio like right at the end of my shift and was just like yeah I'm
gonna need you to stay like 16 hours and like like you're the rest the overtime shift and
like I did not have it in me dude and I was just like yeah I'm not gonna do that so I
did not say anything back to him and I drove my truck back and everything and I was just
like yeah I'm gonna leave and pretend like I didn't hear that like I'm literally just
gonna pretend I didn't hear that because they did have coverage it was just one of those
things of like no we need you to stay and do this I was like yeah I don't think so and
so I end up leaving and they tried calling me and they didn't get me so you know who they
tried calling they tried to call in my emergency contacts like so they called they called my
wife who's you know my girlfriend at the time she was at class at in the university at the
time and she had to like step out like take the call they're like where's he got he was
supposed to work his flight over time shift and all this other stuff and it's just like
bro why are you calling his emergency contact like it was wild dude it was crazy like they
were really really desperate over a shift and so I at that point I was just like nah
bro like y'all are crazy I can't be dealing with all this stuff and it's like and I'm
the checks are bouncing because like at this point I was still in dispute with them trying
to get a correct check so it's like why am I working 16 hours for you to I'm like that
was not so here's the whole thing and so when I decided to quit I went into Mr. Sweatman's
office and I told him I said hey like this is not working for me the second check bounced
like I'm really tired of fighting with this whole payroll deal I don't know what's going
on and he's like well you do what you signed up for you knew what you signed up for with
the overtime and the 16 hour shifts and things like I asked you if you wanted to work overtime
and I said yeah I said I'd be willing to work a little bit of overtime but at the same time
it's I'm not willing to work and not know about it it's like I got plans I got other
things going on especially when you're talking about 12 hour shifts and to this point I've
already like I think I'd work like three or four 16 hour days in a row to that point and
I'm like I don't have it in me like I really I don't have I didn't have it in me it's just
like you didn't tell me until the very end at all so it's just like I was out it's just
not going to work and so I told him like yeah I'm out and I'm done and like basically he
was just like thanks a lot thanks a lot because this really puts me in a bind this really
puts me in a bind and it really costs us a lot to put you through training and everything
and just like really put it on me and I was just like yeah well sorry about that.
What's wild to me is that people don't realize like actually the less you work your people
the longer they'll stay and the more productivity you'll get out of them but yeah I've seen
all these memes where it's like you're in a job interview and they're like they're like
are you an all-star because I only have all-stars on my team they make it like it's like this
is the biggest thing in the world it's like if you don't you don't got what it takes it's
like dude I'm working at Walmart like come on like they take their jobs really really
seriously and then whenever you quit on them then of course they throw like a hissy fit
and I'm like that's bad management and bad leadership and so anytime you're overworking
your people yes there are going to be seasons where you have to overwork a little bit but
when you're honestly overworking your people you're not going to get any productivity out
of them think about it like when your engine's running hot in the car like it's not going
to go as fast as if it just chills like you chill cool it down like give some time to rest
and it'll work faster and better for you yeah it was and a lot of it was mismanagement because
it was um what it was was he knew that he was like you know what if I get less people
and I work them more time then that means that I can have less of a you know I could
take more of the budget and do whatever with it right and so really and truly what it came
down to was they could have had more people they didn't have to run the people that they
had so hard but the kind of sad part about that job was a lot of the people who worked
there um it was kind of like you had people like myself who came and went pretty fast
and then you had the other people who had been there for 20 30 years who had seen it
change hands like 40 times and like they were literally you would sit down with them and
they'd be like yep I remember back when it was this company and it was just like oh
you were there back then it's like oh yeah and like it's like changed 40 times you know
and they just they've just been there the entire time they were even there when the airport
was at its old location you know kind of crap and it's just kind of weird because there's
both ends of the spectrum um about that and I don't know just kind of kind of interesting
how that goes but yeah I would say I would probably say that was number two in toxicity
like the coworkers that I had weren't bad it was more the management the management was
just really they were slave drivers for sure very interesting so mine would probably be
it's not it doesn't even make my Mount Rushmore but when I worked for Charles entertainment
cheese the only thing that was toxic about it was they did overwork me and I was 16 years
old so they would basically put me in the game room all by myself and then on the weekends
they would only have two closing game room attendance and it was a big place and so for
them to do all that like I wouldn't get out until like super late on the week nights like
there were times where I wouldn't get out till like one or two in the morning like on a Friday
night or a Saturday night and I again I don't know why my parents allowed me to keep working
that job but I was raised to you know don't be a quitter and so then I knew that my junior
year was coming up and so I was like oh man everyone's telling me junior year's gonna
be hard there's no way I can keep my grades up and work at the same time and so because
my grades they didn't slip terribly but I do know they were slipping a little bit yeah
yeah it went from all A's to A's and B's whatever I wasn't trying as hard as what I'm saying
but I would say and this will probably take up a good one but probably the most toxic
place I've worked for is Boot Corral for sure.
Boot Corral is probably the most toxic place I've ever worked for it only because we've
talked about it several times but we talked about how the manager was just a straight
up narcissist with play favorites and again it was one of those like oh well you're not
selling good enough like there's a problem with you and so we talked a little bit about
that but Michael do you want to kind of go a little bit deeper into why that place was
so toxic?
Yeah yeah so of course a lot of things go from the top down right and so you definitely
have this happen from the top down and you had the main leader there what did we call
him before?
I don't even remember.
We'll call him Jim.
Jim?
Yeah okay and then you had his little second hand right hand mate old Scott is what we'll
call him and tall stream being a philip.
And you know at first I remember so I guess we can kind of take it back at least for me
when I first got the job so when I first got the job everything seemed okay.
It seemed like okay everybody seems alright but then again I was just kind of playing
football and then after practice or whatever then I would come by and I would tag all
the tags that had already been printed out and put them in merchandise and then put the
merchandise out.
So you know you're seeing some of it you're not seeing a lot of it.
The only thing that I saw was like okay there might be something with one of the female
assistants and the main guy there old Jim.
That was the only thing that was like okay maybe that's going on but it really wasn't
until so Chris gets the job there and we were working with somebody else and I think where
it started becoming really toxic was so we had that first receiver that was there old
mudflip and she I don't know man it was like there was I just remember at that point there
was a lot of work with not a lot of with not a lot of freedoms there where she would kind
of hang out and that's where I kind of started seeing it where it was like it was more okay
for certain people to hang out and have a good time versus you know us who were labeled
the workhorses and you know now I don't know did you kind of feel that way at least because
it was one of those type deals and that was one of his saying one of the type deals was
one of those type deals where it was like if you don't get your work done because we
worked Monday through Friday and it was usually nine to four nine to five and it was like if
you don't get all your work done during the week you're gonna have to come in on Saturdays
well I didn't know until I started learning how to receive the freight and stuff and how
to print the tags I didn't know that this particular boss was dragging the workout on purpose so
that they could ride the clock and so I just thought oh man every day is gonna be like
this because when I first started I was working 12 hour days I was working from 9 a.m. to 9
p.m. dude like it was it was nuts and so it wasn't until I started learning how to do that
that I was like oh this is dragged out and so the some are the expectation we thought
was if you if you don't finish your work you have you literally have to come in on a Saturday
and finish it and I was like oh okay so I remember me and Micah showed up and we missed
a Texas Tech game to come in and work and I remember that that boss mudflap didn't come
in because of some family whatever and she didn't get in trouble like some family party
or barbecue or something yeah she didn't get in trouble and I was like why is this person
not getting in trouble and she would always go and walk and talk with all the other people
we were made to just do all do all the work and I was just like what the heck why is this
person not getting in trouble but then if someone else would go and talk and hang out
with people they would get in trouble so it was always about like favorites it just all
dependent on who Jim's favorite was so kind of kind of started seeing that there and then
so some time progressed and so I end up getting promoted and go out onto the sales floor and
that's where I really started seeing a lot of the toxic behavior coming out so I think
really a lot of sales environments I see why they have commission based sales environments
like Carla dealerships like these places I see why they have them but at the same time
it does breed a lot of room for being toxic and so of course this manager Jim he was very
much it was about the bottom line is about profits just like anything else but it was
about who was the number one salesman who was getting the best sales it was constantly
I mean I remember there being so many times as it being in sales it was not just like
number one all time for that pay period or whatever it was like number one daily like
it was a big thing of you got at a boys the next day because typically unless it was the
holiday season old Jim's not staying past five six o'clock like he's he's on he's out
but it's like the next day if you come in and you were the number one salesman the day
before I typically got out of boys and stuff like that and so of course that's always where
you want to be right with your boss you want to be in good standing with your boss but it
was one of those things it was quite finicky and when you're always chasing that feeling
it's always you know it's really really hard not just that but sometimes being number one
is not even good enough that's not you know that's not good enough it's like there would
be sometimes where there would be things called the house numbers which we've talked about
this in the past before but that's basically all these sales that are happening that no
salesman's name is attached to so they're not getting the commission for it so it's
all going to house with no commission and that's a friend upon thing because technically
in their minds they're thinking no salesman has talked to them or helped them so they're
not getting the best customer service experience blah blah blah and so you know if those
numbers were high man would that be used against you like a ton it would be I was going to
say let me give you an example of how he would try to do this so say example if you sold
twenty thousand dollars worth of merchandise in a day which that's a lot that's kind of
unheard of right if you sold twenty thousand dollars worth worth of merchandise in a day
and then for example the house sold I don't know ten thousand right like it not even beat
you he would come up to you the next day and be like well I guess you don't want to be
a salesman anymore like what are you talking about it's like why why hired salesman like
I want winners I want sales people I guess you don't know how to be a salesman I guess
I got to teach you how to be a salesman it's like what are you talking about it's like
you only sold twenty thousand dollars yesterday it's like wow that's really good it's like
no that's not good the house sold ten you should have sold thirty and it's like dang
like it was constant like putting you down to make you feel bad and it was constant like
okay you know you need to be you need to be working harder you need to be working harder
and that sort of thing and what was also hard about that was there were there were also rules
right and it was interesting because it was like the rules were followed but they were
also broken all the time but we had rules between other salesmen basically whatever
a customer would walk in the door you know it was kind of a we called it the up list
like literally who's next up on the list kind of deal and you keep track amongst yourselves
unless you were a jerk and there were those people out there that just took people who
you know they didn't care but most of the time people followed the flow in the order
and so the hard part is you know things happen to where you're helping people you're helping
two three people say it's busy and stuff like that and somebody is like okay like people
don't know you're working on commission like people don't know like oh yeah the salesman
needs to walk up there with me with the stuff in order for them to get credit for it and
sometimes like the hard part too as a salesman was in order to get credit for it we had these
little cards and they had little barcodes on them and whatnot and so typically you go okay
you're gonna take this stuff well let me take it to the front for you so you take it to
the front you put your little card on there and boom that's how you get your credit but
sometimes how it would work one you'd have people be like no no no that's okay like I'll
carry it or I'm still deciding on what I'm what I'm looking for that sort of thing and
say they decide while you're waiting on you know working with somebody else they could
just book it right up to the front and pay and that's what's going to house right yeah
you help them the entire time and I remember there was like a whole debacle at one point
because sometimes if you see that sort of thing happen if you know the cashier you can
like flag them down and say like yeah that's me and yet like they'll punch in your numbered
like it's a whole thing but I remember that being a whole thing um but you know it wasn't
like it was this easy thing and it wasn't like there was a lot of times where we're just like
letting people go because we're being lazy a lot of times these house numbers was because
we're running between a lot of different people um either that or what would really aggravate
me too I don't know if this ever happened to you and one of the biggest reasons I didn't
become a manager and not like I still didn't have to do it but I was always made to put
out like sales promotions like these sales promotions like okay we're having a Labor
Day sale or we're having whatever so we need to change the prices on all these things all
the tags on all these things uh find these different styles on the racks and change the
tags on them or put like sales stickers on there and you have to do this while you're
selling like you have to do this while you're selling like you don't get to just like okay
I get to do this little side task and whatever like you're not making any money doing this
side task so you're having to sell and do that and so you're having to not only balance
all these things but you have this boss who's telling you like hey you're not doing good
enough because house because the numbers are so high and things like that and you should
be selling more and he was the one that would make you do the side task exactly you'd be
making you do the side task either that or like um I mean there'd be some sporadic random
times too like it really and truly what it would be would be power trips but there'd
be some some sporadic times like some of the things one of the sections that I had for
a while was boots like men's boots and what he would do is he would go yeah I bet your
section isn't good like that you always didn't want to catch have him catch you standing
still like that was the thing too like it didn't matter if the store was so slow and
like everything is fine you know and you're like I'm not making any money why should I
be doing anything no you always want to be moving or screwing around or like trying to
make it look like you're doing something because if he walks up to you and it would always
pain me when like these rookies would be standing around like new salesmen they'd be standing
around and this guy Jim would come over there be like I bet your section isn't done and he'd
be like oh yeah it is and he's like oh yeah well let's go find out and it's like oh great
and because it's not just going to be his it's going to be everybody else's too and
basically what he would do is he would dump boots into the floor that weren't in the right
place and make you clean them up and so it's like if your section wasn't good too like
you're about to get it and then all of a sudden it's like well you're more veteran than this
you should be showing these guys as an example of how to do things and like all this other
stuff like man it was one of those things of like you didn't want to be caught slipping
either like you you don't want to be caught slipping even on some dumb stuff it was also
kind of going back to the airport job that Michael was talking about like Christmas and
Thanksgiving you could just forget about it because you couldn't take any time off and
so there would be a lot of college kids who'd be like oh yeah I'm gonna go home for Thanksgiving
or Christmas and like I I got sucked into it because I was like oh yeah no you're not
I haven't gone home and and this amount of time to go see my mom or my dad for Thanksgiving
or Christmas and it was like oh yeah like if you're if you're really here and you want
it you're gonna be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas because those are the prime opportunities
to make money but like I don't know I mean I guess I understood why the stockers had
to be back there to help like put product out and help like re-tag stuff but at the same
time I remember like Black Friday was a huge huge thing of course as it is for any retail
thing but it was like yeah you don't take this time off and we really don't care about
your family I remember taking time off for anything like you better not even ask it was
it was not fun at all I remember we would get Thanksgiving day off but Black Friday we
would not and then Christmas we were open pretty much every day besides Christmas day and it
was it was pretty it was pretty bad and I don't know man it was I mean you're right it was
one of those things it's like if you want to take off you you're not dedicated you must
not want to make money like you must not want to you must not want to to move up in this
company and you know Chris and I we've talked about this on the side before but I think
where a lot of us got sucked into was this manager Jim and here's another bit of toxicity
as well is the promises to move up and then kind of dangling carrots in front of people's
face because like he did that to both of us and I know he's done that to a few other people
that I know of as well to where it's like you know I remember him telling us like you
could be the youngest manager in boot corral history like you could be the youngest manager
like they're talking about giving you their own store and I was and I mean you believe
them because it's like yeah I went to I went to these boot camps and like met the family
and like you know was was in with them and stuff like that so there's a likelihood oh
man you know I could be the youngest manager of a store and you know even though you have
hopes and dreams you're sitting here like why didn't expect something like this to come
this fast and you know managers not knowing any better right at 1920 years old you're
like managers are doing pretty good for themselves they're able to provide for their family and
you know stuff like that I can see myself in that position especially being the youngest
one ever like yeah absolutely yeah it was always one of those things were like wherever
I went I always somehow just got put in manager roles and so I did take the assistant manager
job and I remember like I had that I didn't have that job for long maybe it was like three
weeks before I was like yeah like I gotta get out of here because there was stuff going
on my personal life that was like yeah like this is just a bad environment for me if I
really want to do the right thing and I really want to be on the good path and so I remember
like my first mistake was telling deputy porkers and then of course deputy porkers told everybody
that I was gonna quit so then I remember going into the office and being like okay like
I'm gonna tell him that I'm quitting it's like I'll put my two weeks in and I remember
him like being like well he's like are you gonna quit on me tonight or what and I remember
like I had an hour long conversation and he did a lot of that thing of well you're just
you know throwing your life away you could have be the young you could be the youngest
manager and book around history and like you know there's all these things that you could
do and you're just throwing that away and I don't understand why you're doing this like
this isn't the right thing to do and I remember telling him like hey like in order for me to
really follow my faith and like to be on the good path like I gotta leave this place like
I have to like it's just not good for me to be around this type of environment I remember
him saying like he was like Jesus we're here he'd smack you upside the head and telling
you that you'd make that you're making a mistake and he also used the thing of like well I
guess I'm gonna have to stay and not be with my family tonight to help cover your shift
because I was supposed to be the closing manager and that's where I felt really really bad
kind of like Michael was saying and so I remember just sitting there thinking about it like oh
maybe I shouldn't quit and I remember like thinking like oh I feel so bad like and I
just told him I was like I'll work my two weeks like I'll do all that he was like no he's
like he's like we're gonna quit just quit now here's the papers he always threatened with
termination papers always that was a big thing and I remember like heavily considering staying
and then I remember he was like I'm gonna go to the bathroom and he was like he was
like when I come back you're gonna decide whether or not you're gonna sign this paper
or not and I remember as soon as he went to the bathroom like they're not that many times
that I've heard the Lord clearly speak like almost audibly but and I know this sounds
weird but I heard the Lord say like what are you doing still sitting here like it's time
for you to go like you need to get up and go and like I was like oh yeah I've already
stayed here way too long I remember just like signing the paper and I remember when he came
back he was like so what's it gonna be and I was like I was like sorry I gotta leave
and dude this is when I was working at the overnight job too like after cuz I had to
go to my shift at the overnight job actually no I was actually off that night and so I
remember like once I signed the paper I went home and I slept so good like I slept I woke
up and it was like the best sleep that I had had in a long time like it was I don't know
what it was but being out of that environment was like liberating and like I felt free I
I don't know if you felt that way whenever you walked out the door the second time but
yeah for sure and I mean one other part and I'll tell how I left too cuz of course it's
a big part of it but I think a big big thing to at least for me he would always like relate
you to other people how do I put that so like there was a dude who was like his number one
salesman for a little bit like end up dating this girl that was there and like all this
other stuff and basically he would he would be like yeah that was my fallen star kind
of thing and he would like relate me to him all the time he'd be like he'd be like yep
that's that's just how you're becoming and like cuz like the dude had like got strung
out on drugs and like all this other stuff and I remember him being like yep that's
how you're becoming just like that guy and it's just like in that kind of stuff like
he knew what he was doing cuz it would make you mad to the point where you'd be like no
I'm not and it would like make you I guess more or less fall in line with what he wants
you to do but it was one of those things to where the lifestyle that he wanted you to
live was like there's no way because it was too contradictory like it contradicted itself
of what he wanted you to my question is sorry I don't mean to my question is do you think
and I felt this way but I think maybe you felt you probably felt more this way but he was
almost kind of like or tried to be like a father figure you know kind of like hey I'm
guiding you and like hey like you know you're gonna be like my prodigy like he would build
you up like that and you're gonna be like he tried to give you fatherly wisdom and you're
like man like it was almost like you're trying to chase the approval of your dad and you're
like man like I want to do what this guy tells me to do cuz like I look up to him in some
weird way yeah there was that and like even his his like storyline like the story that
he had like he had a dream at one point of like doing something else but like it ended
up falling out for him because he had like a medical problem and it was like okay so
I went and he was like scrubbing toilets for you know boot corral and like worked his way
for like scrubbing toilets all the way up to like having this you know me and I don't
know for a 19 20 year old you're like there's got to be some merit to that right especially
because in the environment that we grew up in tell me if I'm our own Chris but like hard
work and dedication and working your way to the top that was kind of the it doesn't really
matter what you did or like what level it was it could be you know Papa John's doing
pizza like if you worked your way from being scrubbing the toilet to work your way like
that meant something and that means you're doing something right and so I don't know
for me it was like okay this guy's obviously doing something right and again he'd like
when when I just met him he was like building a house on the edge of town right like a big
nice new house on the edge of town like he had two kids like a wife everything seemed
pretty cool and I don't know it I don't know it just it nothing nothing ever seems crazy
nothing ever seems bad about it at the moment right nothing ever seems like okay this person's
going to be really controlling and it it doesn't ever seem that way but it ended up being that
way I don't know it that whole thing is just kind of a crazy experience because it's those
people are that's what makes them so devious and what makes them so hard is because it's
they they make everything seem so innocent right I mean there were so many times kind
of like Chris was saying too there's been so many times in conversations that I had with
this guy to where you do believe that it's you right it could be the most outlandish
things that he's saying to you of like oh yeah well you're not doing right because of
this this this and you do believe that it's you because you're sitting here going well
that's true my sales would be better if I wasn't out here going on dates with so and so and
so and so and then you're sitting here going like wait why is this guy all up in my love
life like what does that matter about things you know what I mean like or you know it was
always just stuff like that and you think that okay he's out for my best interest because
okay he doesn't want me to fall into certain mistakes and wants me to be he wants me to
be you know the youngest manager or whatever but like the the end of the day I remember
the biggest thing that he would hold over or lease over my head was just like yeah if
it came down to it if they asked me today I don't know if I could give that recommendation
for you to be manager like I don't know if I could do that because the just the way that
you act and like some of the things that you do and like after a while it was just like
you know bro I don't think you were ever going to give me the the recommendation to begin
with if you know what I mean like if you ever were then again knowing who he is he probably
would just because it's like if if it actually if he could have the youngest manager come
under from under his store like he would definitely do that no matter who it is and what it is
but at the same time I don't know it's just a lot of the promises were just not true at
all and a lot of it was just it was a lot of what we got it was weird because it paralleled
a lot of what we got in church some somewhat too and what I got at home as well there was
a lot of there was a lot of those tendencies that came out and I think that's why it was
so easy to get sucked into it because that's all you know like when you when you don't
know any better like you just don't you don't think oh like I should do better you think
that's normal you think everyone is out for your best interests and you are like oh yeah
he's obviously trying to help guide me like what he's good like he's doing this out of
the goodness of his heart but you don't know what that right he doesn't have to help you
don't know at that age that like oh yeah not everybody has your best intentions at heart
like he's just trying to manipulate you to do what he wants you to do and then like you
said to your point if I do succeed then he wants to take the credit for that and so you
just it's it's hard but I think that's some of the qualities that you recognize in toxic
environments and workplace environments is number one they expect you to make all of your
life about the workplace when it's like yes you should care about what you do but like
you need to have work life balance number two when they say oh yeah well works your family
anytime they say we're a family here that means that they want you to sacrifice your
family for something and there are workplaces where people do genuinely are a family and
they do get along but it's not like oh yeah well you're letting your brother down you're
letting you should be spending time here instead of with your actual family like and then you
know also playing favorites beating like using mind games to try to get you to make yourself
feel bad or to trap you into staying or make you think that there's nothing else better
out there because you're like if I do leave like what else is out there like I spent this
time being here and what's gonna happen if I leave and I'm scared of the unknown and
thinking about it but I like dude this is just a local boot store in Lubbock Texas but
it made it like it was like your world and it made it like it was everything like it
was so important I don't know why like I cared about all of those things in that in that world
like it was like me and make or break and I don't know why well and it's like and it
was its own little world too it was we we knew and it's kind of like this now but it's
like we knew all the managers from all the different locations and it's like oh yeah
you remember this guy from over there and then I remember this guy like for there for
a while I could talk to people like that like it was its own little world of like oh yeah
so and so was over at here and then I heard that so and so got fired over here because
that it's like oh yeah that was guy was an idiot over there and it's like you knew where
all the managers were and that's literally why they would call it being a lifer is because
a lot of these guys had been there for such a long time and had been managers there for
such a long time and it really is like getting stuck in a rut and just staying there and
I think there's for a little bit there is something kind of lucrative about it because
I think where it gets you or at least where it got me was as a salesman you make such
good money for what you're doing like for my age I was making really good money right
like I was making really good money and you're thinking oh man slinging boots that's not that
big of a deal and then you look at what the assistant managers are doing and you go oh
man I'm pretty much helping them out with everything and they're selling so they're
pretty much doing the same thing that I'm doing and then you look at what the general
managers doing you're like oh man that's not that hard I could do that stuff corporates
doing the ordering we're not even having to order the stuff for the store right it's like
so it's like I could do that too and so you get to the point where you're like oh man
I could see a clear path up and I think a lot especially in this day and age and especially
I mean it was a little less than that day and age but how many clear paths to quote
unquote success were there too that you saw because like that was a pretty quick way up
isn't it if you think about it it's like thinking about it too when you're all like oh yeah
I'm going to college it's like yeah I can still go to college but I also have it's a
guaranteed also path as well because with other places you're like I'm not sure how
do I move up and I think kind of to your point like you see these managers and like from
your perspective you're like oh yeah they've made it and they're doing great they're making
all this money they get to be around Western where and they get to party they get to have
fun still like it's just one big party but really from the outside looking in it's a
it's like a dead end career like I hate to say that like no shame to people that are
in that if you love it that's great but like a lot of those people in there like they just
were like well this is all there's going to be for me in life so right there's no other
there's no other place up from there like there's no other place like really the only
better meant you can get the only thing that's better is you can get a better store like
you know it's like okay the brand new store that's getting opened up in the prime location
like you have the chance of moving up to there if you want to like that that's kind of the
next move if there's anything but I guess at age 19 you're like oh man like there's
no quick success but man this is just a few years and you can be the manager store but
in reality that's the way that it made it seem but it's really not because I've spoke
to some folks and you know I hear about some things from from boot corral and things and
a lot of the people who or assistant managers who I thought for sure would have had a store
by now are still sitting in that same assistant manager spot you know what I mean and it's
like to this day like they're still there sitting in the system manager spot still having the
same stuff still don't have a store and it's just like man that's a long time to be sitting
and waiting to not have a store well you have to think too like there there's only so many
stores and like if you if they are lifers like the managers aren't going to move around
that much there's not going to be that much movement so whenever there is a brand new
store and they're not building as many stores now as they used to like you're kind of stuck
here in that spot like kind of the same thing was happening when I worked for the grocery
store like back when I first started it was that way a lot of people were locked at the
stores because like there wasn't a lot of movement then on the flip side of that they
started building all these stores and now everyone is getting moved around and like all the managers
are really you it was really quick to get promoted up well I say that but like it was
really hard for me just because I didn't play golf with the right people but like there was
a lot of movement and a lot of shuffling around so a manager would probably be at a store
for maybe six months like it wasn't that unknown like hey you're now the store managers they
stayed for a lot longer but like if you're trying to get up to that store manager level
like you can move up pretty quick. Absolutely and I think you're probably right and it's
probably because they haven't been building nearly as many storms as they or stores as
they've had in the past and so it's probably what it is and I think a lot of it it goes
back to what you were talking about too of it's that mind's eye of I'm sure a lot of
these people again no shade to these people because it's hard but you know if a lot of
these guys have been doing this since they were 18 19 years old right and they they come
fresh out of high school they were going to school you know some of them even dropped
out of school with the hopes of like okay I'm going to make bootcrow what I'm going to
do you know and then what do you do 10 years later still don't have a store but Western
where's all I know and it's definitely in this day and age I would say in the areas
that I'm talking about there are only a few major brands that's it like there are only
a few major brands and so this major brand that they're working for it's like you don't
also have too many places to go Western where wise if you did want to leave that environment
so it's I don't know it's it's definitely difficult and I'm glad that I'm out of that
and I think the final bit to this and I guess we can move on is it was it was very because
the top was so petty and so BS the rest was like high school man the rest of my our coworkers
it was like gossip city I mean it was really it was really really crazy and like people
are sleeping around with each other and like it was I don't know it's kind of the Wild West
but it sounded like high school I mean in environments like that man like you're like
people are bored and that's what they do like when you're bored you're going to gossip
about people you're going to you know sleep around like that's what it is that that's
also kind of a different it's just a different mindset versus like hey like this is my career
path I'm moving forward like yeah you see some of that in the workplace but like at
the retail and like fast food level like it's like well like this is just a job so I'm just
here so while I'm here I might as well make it interesting and it's probably a lot of
mindsets for people for sure yeah for sure but just to recap the way that I left was
I worked there twice and the second time that I worked there I was about sick and tired of
it we were about to go through another holiday season and so I remember we had always had
a meeting it was an infamous meeting every year was the Black Friday meeting and it was
always after work and so it would be nine o'clock they would shut the doors and count
the cash and then we would have this meeting and I remember every year we would tell everybody
like don't ask Jim any questions like shut up like everybody shut up you don't have any
questions for the love of God if you want to ask questions ask me afterwards because
I've been through a few of them like ask other people but don't ask him questions because
literally we're all trying to go home you know and so I had some ongoing issues I had
actually bought my wife now who is my girlfriend I brought I bought her a promise ring and I
had never bought anybody a promise ring and this guy had basically told me while you she's
cheating on you and you should know that and like when in this whole speech about that
whole thing which I thought was BS and I was pretty upset about that naturally and so he
had said something about like oh yeah well if you're questioning about coming back you
might as well just like not come to work tomorrow so I didn't go to work that day and I thought
to myself well great that means I don't have to go to this stupid meeting too and you know
I figured in that environment because of a lot of the way that he talked about things
if you don't show up I figured I was fired right because he's he would say things like
well if you're gonna do that you might as well not show up tomorrow aka like you're fired
right so if I didn't show up I thought I was fired so he gives me a call like that evening
it was like hey so you didn't show up for your shift today and I was like nope I didn't
and he was like well why don't you come to the meeting tonight and we'll talk about it
and I was like wait like I'm not fired and he's like no no no like it's fine like I obviously
we have like this is the other part too he would kind of play nice for a little bit and
he'd be like all you know obviously we're having problems and I just want to get some
things straightened out because you know it's gonna be a busy holiday season I just want
to get some things straightened out and you know it would always give you this like false
sense of okay maybe he's gonna play ball like maybe he's gonna play ball like maybe everything's
gonna be cool right and so I remember going up there and he always had this like infamous
thing where he'd be like he would call employees to his back office and so he'd be like Chris
to the back or bike up to the back and so the moment I walked in there bro like his office
had these little blinds and I remember watching him like look through those little blinds when
I walked through the doors of that place and he like called me to the back and everybody
like looked at me like oh shoot it's it's about to happen I was like yep and so I went back
there and man I got reamed but not showing up and how I didn't care about this place
and you know all the typical stuff we've been talking about this entire time just raving
me and you know did the whole thing about like you know what if you want to sign paperwork
like we could do that right now and all this other stuff and I was kind of like Chris I
was kind of in and out of it like man because you're looking at the holiday season going
man I'm about to give up on a lot of money because that's what it is like the holidays
where you make all your money so it's like man do I really want to give up on all this
money or and not because basically the whole thing he was trying to tell me at the time
was like if I don't have a number one salesman and you like you might as well quit because
like that's the whole reason I hired you for that's what you should be doing this holiday
season it's like if you're not in it with the heart of being a number one salesman like
and at the time I was pretty burnt out to the point where I was like you know number
one salesman or not I really don't care I'm just gonna sell what I'm gonna sell and he's
like if you don't have the heart of being a number one salesman like you should get
out whatnot and so like I was honest with him was like man I don't know if I got all
that in me and everything and he's like well it's either you it's like you commit through
the new year or you sign paperwork and all this other stuff and and like he got into
it what really got me is when he got into it about me and my girlfriend which is now
my wife and I remember calling my buddy who used to work there good ol Adrian was like
hey man like this what's going on was like I don't know if I should walk out right now
and he was just like dude you don't owe them nothing like walk out of that place and so
I remember walking back in there and was like all right I'm gonna sign paperwork and I'm
gonna leave and he was like oh yeah you gotta do that come with me and like he takes me
in front of everybody that was sitting there for that little black Friday meeting and he
announced in front of everybody he was like Mike had decided he wants to sign paperwork
and be a quitter and quit on all of us and quit on the whole team and go so I brought
a whole stack of paperwork if anybody else wants to follow him you're more than welcome
to and I signed the paperwork in front of everybody and I looked at him and I stuck my hand out
and said you know thank you for all the opportunities you've ever given me and everything like that
he said take a couple steps back I took a couple steps back and he shut the door of
my face and locked it didn't even shook my hand and I left and I just remember everybody
in the crowd looking shocked of like oh man he's actually quitting it's like yep I'm
actually quitting and but no I do understand what you mean about having a great night's
sleep and bro my parental units were so mad that I quit that job like I think between
the toxic boss and them oh my gosh they were so mad I quit that job like I couldn't I I
literally got a job the next day like I put up my resume the next day and got a call back
the next day got an interview the next day and they're like yeah we want you to start
like full on got a job that quickly and they were still upset they're like can't believe
you left that job yeah well they had some other issues that they need to work out for
sure so quick rabbit hole why why specifically were they upset that you just quit quit the
job was it the fact that you just quit or was it that they have a reason so they were mad
that I just quit and they were mad because the amount of money that I was making they
were like oh you were making such good money why did you why did you quit and do that and
I think part of the reason they were mad is because I was paying for my own college like
I was paying for South Plains because of going there and so I think that was part of the reason
they were mad but they were mad because they were like you had such good status like you
knew the owner's family like and because they were all they I don't know if I ever told
you this but they didn't really believe that I knew the owner's family and like worked with
them until you know the whole owner's family is from the same area that that like my grandfather
was right and so like one of the family members knew the family and like ran my name across
him was like oh yeah we know him good kid all this other stuff until like the whole family
was like oh yeah you all know him like he knows the owner's family you know how prideful
they could be like oh yeah he knows the owner's family and all this other stuff yeah they were
like oh well well we raised such a great son and they again they were without getting into
detail they were just like old Jim where it was like oh yeah you're successful we're going
pretty much when yeah that's a whole another rabbit hole I won't get into it I'll keep my
mouth shut no I know it's hard not to get into but pretty much yeah that's what it was
that's what it was it was just like man he knew why would you why would you leave you
knew the family like you were in with them good like you could have moved forward with
them and it's just like bro I've got I've got dreams and aspirations that are bigger than
all that you know what I mean like it's just like I wasn't the end all be all for me for
sure and they did not like that at all did not like that at all anyways man so we can
move off of that one if you want I've got another toxic work environment we can talk
about if you want yeah sure yeah we'll do one last one and then we'll wrap it up I didn't
realize that we we could do multiple free flows about toxic work environments but here
we are man I think I've told you about this before but good old Papa John's pizza bro
was that place toxic oh my gosh have you ever worked for a pizza place or anything like
that besides Charles entertainment cheese no no I never made the pizza nothing that
I've only ever worked for Charles entertainment cheese the only mouse I'll ever work for man
I'm telling you hey you might not have worked for you might have only worked for one mouse
but you've worked for a few rats hey anyways yeah no all I'm saying is man so number one
this is a sign of real being toxic Papa John himself is not a very good person what's his
name old John whatever he's Snyder or whatever he is not a good person like the first sign
of you know it's gonna be toxic is the videos they show you with training it's like all
about his story like over and over and over again I remember they gave us a quiz of like
you have to answer at least 80% about his story and about how it started in like his
I don't know his dad's whatever his little pizzeria and he sold his car and re-bought
his car and all this other crap so I my thing is they like praise this guy and I understand
like it's named after him but it's like geez and so it was constantly about him right
and to I'm glad that they went scientific with it but really why did the delivery drivers
need to know about the scientific bits about the crust they're like they're like that you
would have to know and have to answer questions about what kind of yeast and what kind of
molecular compound is in their dough in order to make it rise and all this other crap and
I'm just like bro I'm gonna be a delivery driver you think I care about what's gonna
be in the crust but you had to like answer all these questions the other part that made
it really toxic was the manager who worked there first of all never trust a dude who's
allergic to his job like this dude was legitimately allergic to his job when he was making the
pizza he would break out in hives because you know that powder when they're like tossing
the pizza dough and stuff that he was allergic to that so literally he would break out in
the hives and but the other thing was what's in common with all these managers was bro he
was like I don't know I guess you know how they say drinking the Kool-Aid this dude was
drinking the pizza sauce like this dude was straight up like Papa John's he loved it he's
just like you know what if you work hard enough you can work your way up to being a manager
just like me and he they even had like displayed this whole thing it was in the shape of a
ladder and it was just like the ladder to success and it's just like you could be the
delivery driver to the whatever and this dude he had worked because it was in a college town
this guy had worked through his college and just decided he got his degree like he full
on has his degree but he just decided now I'm just gonna keep on working at Papa John's
and and be the manager and so that's what he ended up doing but he was like literally
allergic to the darn thing so he was like broken out in hives and swollen up all the
time and I remember so he the biggest part that was crazy about him was he would pick
every single day who would do what jobs right and I remember like he would pick me to do
like restocking the sodas but he knew that I also was like good at doing dishes like
the dude he would always choose to do the dishes would always make us stay late because
when we would close we would close at 12 a.m. and this dude would always take so long because
you know we'd have we'd be mopped we'd have everything stocked up this dude would have
all the dishes pile up and he would wait to the end of the night but this manager would
always put him on there and so like I kept begging this dude I was like please just put
me on dishes like if we're gonna close can you put me on dishes because like as they
come out and as they're dirty like I'll wash them as it goes because he was also the kind
of guy that would sit there and just like listen to his headphones the entire night
and then let the work pile up and then we're the ones having to suffer for it and so I
end up doing it one night get it all done and everything and everybody's like wow we're
actually leaving on time and everything like that did he ever pick me do dishes ever again
nah dude he sure didn't he picked this other guy and I just it was like stuff like that
and so like I confronted him one time and was just like bro like why can't we you know
if other people are more efficient at certain things why why shouldn't we why shouldn't
we do that he's like I'm the manager first of all so I make the rules and he's like
in two he needs to learn how to be better at doing the dishes that's why I keep giving
him the opportunity to do that it's like yeah but you're not telling him hey you're being
a problem and you need to do all the dishes first and foremost because like this manager
would go home before the end of the night so he's not over there standing yelling at
him and saying hey you need to get all this stuff done and need to like work as you go
and so like he's not the one dealing with it and bro I remember after that he got like
really mad he's like I'm tired of everybody questioning my authority and like he got like
super mad it's just like dude it's just because we can outline the jobs a little better we
can do all this other stuff really better but on top of all of that man there was a hurricane
coming and you know we live about three miles inland from the coast which you know by the
time things get to us it's tropical storms stuff like that and so Hurricane Harvey was
coming and this town was right on the river and so we were like this guy was like yeah
we're not going to close like we're not going to close and I remember all of us in the shop
were like dude we're right next to the river like it's going to flood out like you probably
need to close he's like no no we're not going to close so the sheriff of the town comes by
and says hey we're urging everybody in this area to close because it looks like it's going
to be a lot of water and it's going to flood and everything so we need you to we're going
to need your clothes and he's like no we're not going to close but we're going to put
up sandbags and so I remember we were out there and he had the delivery drivers in the
back alley there was like gravel back there which by the way doesn't work very good for
sandbags but he was like having us pull like fill the two liter plastic bags with gravel
from the back alley and stacking it around the doors like that would have done anything
and and so it was like that happened the day before the storm and so end up what happened
the storm hits and it starts raining and everything and I'm looking at reports online and things
like that and there's some streets that are flooded and things like that and I'm in a
very low car so I called in I told him I was like listen I'm not coming in especially
it's supposed to keep raining if you remember Hurricane Harvey it rained for three days
like it rained for a few days and so I told him like the first day I was like listen I'm
not coming in it's supposed to rain a few more days and he's like no like yeah it's
a little flooded but it's not that big of a deal like I expect you to come in I'm just
like no I'm calling in he's like okay so the second day comes in like it's even more flooded
like it's even more flooded everything standing and everything so I called him and he's like
listen I got people out there running in it right now like there's no excuse like you
either come in or I'm taking your name off the schedule and I was like well you can take
my name off the schedule and that's all left that job man but they were they were really
tough dude like I even remember I only try to take off one day off from them and that
was to move I had to move from one place to the other and they denied it and it was I
remember asking them three weeks in advance was like a can I take this day off and they
were like nope they didn't even look they're like nope they're like it's football season
you need to be prepared it's like we have too many people that are gonna need pizza
that day yeah it sounds like the sounds like the guy was not a good leader and did not
listen to other people that's a simple fact that the sheriff told him to close the doors
and he was like now we're gonna stay open and it's like man like that's that that is the
sign of a good leader if you are able to listen to other people even your own team who say
hey like Johnny over there is way better at this maybe he should be on you know prep
or whatever and being like you know what you're right like and not having a big enough ego
to where you're like no I'm gonna decide it and then you're making the decision just to
throw your weight around that's not a good leader like a good leader is collaborative
and listens to his team and so yeah that's what makes a good leader and man definitely
toxic workplaces are for real and sometimes you sometimes everyone has hard things at
at their job and at their places and so you got to determine like is this place toxic
for me because what may be toxic for you isn't toxic for someone else someone else can maybe
drive in it and so you got to ask yourself like if this is causing me to physically
emotionally or mentally like take a toll on me and it's not good for any of those then
you need to assess like hey maybe I should find something else or take a break or whatever
that is and so I think that's kind of the I don't know would you agree or is that you
know as we're wrapping up is that the advice that you would give yeah no absolutely it's
a lot like man it's weird because toxic workplaces are a lot like relationships there's a lot
of times where you have a lot of work put into it and so you think to yourself okay maybe
I should write it out and whatnot but it's like if you're not happy you're not happy
and you know there's so many people I've never really heard people who have left and went
to another job especially like boot crowd being a an example I know a lot of people
who are on the other side of boot crowd that we work together really cool people but now
they're doing other things and they sit there and they think oh my god I'm so happy that
I left right I'm so happy that I'm I'm not there anymore and again we've talked about
other people there are other people that are still there right that have been there all
this time and I'm not saying that they're not happy people but you never know they might
be so much happier you know what I mean I know a lot of other people it a lot of times
is just taking the jump there's a lot of times is just taking the jump so yep and so we're
not telling you to quit your job to borrow definitely think about it process if you feel
like you need to take that step make a plan make a plan that's the biggest thing the only
time I ever jumped with my job was boot corral doing that but again it was you know that
wasn't a career thing and that wasn't something that was just like oh man I don't know what
I'm gonna do with my finances right so it's like you always want to think about that sort
of thing but if you're unhappy yeah definitely take a look and try to see what opportunities
are out there for sure so we've had a great episode talking about toxic workplaces I'm
sure maybe we can do another episode here in the future but we're so glad that you guys
joined us for the ride follow us on the trash can network the aviator society if you love
planes all the good stuff anything else you got to add to that that's pretty much it man
I mean it's all it's all fun stuff you like planes and all that good jazz we got daily
flight racks going on too so if you ever like to track planes I always like to put some on
there that are like 12 hours plus so it's always cool seeing that I don't know it's always
interesting being at work or doing whatever and being like oh man this thing just took
off and now it's halfway across the world it's pretty interesting so but that's that's
all I got man well you know what's not toxic the starship and the starship is here and
this has been the donut box podcast
it's too good to be true standing here besides you won't so much to give you the love in
the heart that I'm feeling for you.
Let them see we're crazy.
I don't care about that.
Put your hands in my hand baby.
Don't ever look back.
about that.
Put your hands in my hand, baby.
Don't ever look back.
Let the world around us just fall apart.
Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart.
And we can build a street together.
Standing strong forever.
Nothing's gonna...