Latest / The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois / Walmart Stories Are Delicious w/ Houston Pierce
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, John Francois from the Delicious Culture
- 0:01podcast. So I am a one man operation. I host
- 0:06this beautiful, deliciously conversational podcast
- 0:09for you. And I also produce it. on my own. I
- 0:13record, I edit, I promote it out there on social
- 0:16media. It takes a lot of work and it's not free.
- 0:20I mean, honestly, the computer, the mic, the
- 0:25editing software that I use, all of it is money
- 0:28coming out of my own pockets. And if you enjoy
- 0:31this podcast and what it has brought to you in
- 0:34terms of entertaining food, pop culture, lifestyle
- 0:37conversation, donate anything of your choosing.
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- 1:00Culture on PayPal and Venmo. Thanks and much
- 1:03appreciated. Hello, delishies. Grab a plate and
- 1:28feast on the delicious culture. I'm your host,
- 1:30John Francois. We are feasting on food, pop culture,
- 1:33and lifestyle with movie reviewer, DJ, host of
- 1:36the 1000 Crazy Questions podcast, Houston Pierce.
- 1:40Houston, how you doing, man? I'm doing good.
- 1:41Thanks for asking. Thanks for having me on. Yeah.
- 1:44And thanks for having me on your podcast not
- 1:46too long ago. I had the great pleasure of being
- 1:48on 1000 crazy questions. And what I love is that
- 1:52it's a series of fun would you rather questions.
- 1:56I'll make something up. This is not a question
- 1:57that you actually asked me on the podcast, but
- 1:59you know, questions like would you want $50 a
- 2:04week? being punched in the stomach once a day
- 2:07or $500 a week being kicked in the balls once
- 2:10a day, like stuff like that. But you know what,
- 2:12you can legitimately answer that question if
- 2:14you want. Punched in the stomach versus kicked
- 2:19at the balls, were those the options? Okay, but
- 2:23the same amount of money? No, $50 a week being
- 2:26punched in the stomach once a day or $500 a week
- 2:29being kicked in the balls once a day. I'll take
- 2:34the stomach. Yeah. Yeah. Cause we probably have
- 2:38both experienced that feeling of being kicked
- 2:40in the balls. And it's not worth it. It's not
- 2:43worth it. Also, if it's more sustainable, I feel
- 2:46like I couldn't live like the way I'm going to
- 2:50get kicked in the balls every day. I just, I
- 2:51couldn't punch in something that's bad enough,
- 2:54but that's just, it's too much. Yeah. Yeah. I
- 2:57mean, both, both are excruciating pains. I can
- 3:00definitely remember being young school aged,
- 3:05I know that being kicked in the balls. The last
- 3:07time I remember that happening was at the end
- 3:11of middle school. Like it was like middle school
- 3:14graduation and then we all like hung out in the
- 3:16cafeteria for something. And these two girls
- 3:21thought it would be fun to play some sing songy
- 3:24game, like, and then like punch me in the balls
- 3:28with both their fists. So it was not really kicking
- 3:31with their feet, but kicking with their fists.
- 3:36And they did it with a bunch of other guys as
- 3:37well. It wasn't just me. Um, so that was painful.
- 3:42I hated that. And then, um, maybe like when I
- 3:45was puncturing the stomach, like I was, it was
- 3:48an accident, but like, it's not that far off
- 3:50from the feeling of being kicked in the balls,
- 3:52which is just like this sort of like, you know
- 3:54how, uh, that, that sort of whack -a -mole game
- 3:57that you have at the amusement park, but except
- 4:00it's not like the mini whack -a -mole that's
- 4:02like a table game. It's you, you, you, you whack
- 4:05it and then the thing goes up and it lights up.
- 4:08You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, like the
- 4:11strength test, like test your strength thing
- 4:12and it goes up and goes ring, ring, ring, ring,
- 4:14ring. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. How
- 4:19about you? What was the last time you were punched
- 4:21in the stomach or kicked in the balls? You said,
- 4:23let's share that story. Oh yeah, of course. Yeah,
- 4:26the last time I think I was kicked in the balls
- 4:29was I was hit or punched, whatever. It was high
- 4:33school and I was in football for freshman year.
- 4:38And it was something called, it wasn't really
- 4:40kick or even a punch really, but it was called,
- 4:42did you ever, did you get nut checked? Like they
- 4:45call it nut check or cup check. That's what it
- 4:47was, cup check to see if you're like wearing
- 4:49your cup and they would knock on your, you know,
- 4:51your nuts and then like see like, you wearing
- 4:54your cup, you know, and they'd run up and smack
- 4:56you right there. And I got got once, right? Like
- 5:01it was like maybe first week or so and I was
- 5:03like, oh, you know, I was like, went to my knees.
- 5:06I never again, I always wore my cup. They always
- 5:11kept doing it. And I always wore my cup from
- 5:14then on. No, everyone else would forget it or
- 5:18something. No. And then also, it came up the
- 5:20last time I was punched in the stomach. But I
- 5:22remember the last time I was punched in the face.
- 5:24And it was maybe the first time I had been squarely
- 5:27punched in my face. And I was in the store. I
- 5:31was in... Walmart, I hate Walmart, but I was
- 5:33in Walmart with my sister and I was telling her
- 5:36something. I was like, you need to do this, and
- 5:37you need to do this. And I was telling her off
- 5:39because she was doing something, right? And like,
- 5:42I stand by what I said. I was like, I was righteously
- 5:45telling her what she needed to do about a situation.
- 5:47And she got angry at me and punched me squarely
- 5:50in my face, like just in Walmart. And I'm just
- 5:53like, I was like taken back. This is my older
- 5:56sister, by the way, about a year. But she punched
- 5:58me in my face. I was so angry. but I can't do
- 6:02anything because I'm in public. Growing up, I
- 6:06don't know if you have siblings, but I've fought
- 6:08my sister a lot, but this is the first time as
- 6:10an adult, I was like, you just, I was like, you
- 6:13punched me. in the nose, like she just, yeah.
- 6:16I felt like such a stooge, but I was so angry.
- 6:19What can I do? You know, get punched in your
- 6:21face. Well, if your sister has the balls, ha
- 6:23ha, no pun intended, to punch you in the face
- 6:26publicly at Walmart, I think it's fair to punch
- 6:28her publicly back in the face. I couldn't. I
- 6:32just, I couldn't. She was, uh... I don't know
- 6:34if she was pregnant at the time, but she was
- 6:38a woman, she's my sister, and I think she was
- 6:40pregnant at the time. I didn't want that look
- 6:43on me. You can't hit a woman, rules, yes, I understand
- 6:47what you're talking about. Growing up, she wasn't
- 6:48a woman, she was my sister, but the older we
- 6:51got, the more it was like, I can't fight you
- 6:55the way we used to fight. Yeah. It was unfair.
- 6:58Maybe the internet connection lag is what got
- 7:03me lost on the answer to the question here, but
- 7:05did you say why your sister punched you publicly
- 7:09and what was the reason? Argument. Argument.
- 7:13She was quiet and I was telling her some stuff
- 7:16like how you need to do this and this and this
- 7:18and she got angry. She just punched me in the
- 7:20face. It was the argument. Simple. Plain and
- 7:22simple. She got angry. What was the argument
- 7:25about? Well, it's kind of hard to explain without
- 7:29getting into too much of her personal business,
- 7:32but when she was pregnant, she was kind of just
- 7:35making some really dumb moves in life with stuff.
- 7:40And this was years in the past, by the way, but
- 7:43she was doing some things with talking to this
- 7:47guy and not taking care of some responsibilities.
- 7:50And I was pretty much reading her, like I was
- 7:52telling her off on some things that she needed
- 7:54to do. And not that I'm the authority in her
- 7:57life like that, but I'm her brother. I care about
- 7:59her. I'm trying to tell her something. She wasn't
- 8:01having it, and she punched me in the face. Yeah,
- 8:04that's it. Yeah. And I stand by what I said.
- 8:08I'm like, the only reason I couldn't, because
- 8:10we're in public and I couldn't, I was so angry.
- 8:14It's like, I don't know. It's like. someone doing
- 8:16something and you can't fight back. I mean, I
- 8:18guess I could have, but it was like, yeah, maddening.
- 8:22Yep. Someone being punctured in the face in public
- 8:24seems a very fitting thing to happen at Walmart,
- 8:26which brings me to my next question. Probably
- 8:28is too obvious, but why do you not like Walmart?
- 8:32No, how much time do I'm kidding? I Think it
- 8:40depends on where you go. Well, okay. Here's here's
- 8:43what I will say Whether it's where I'm from in
- 8:47Connecticut where it's a lot more diverse. It's
- 8:49black Hispanics whether it's Uh, white ass Iowa
- 8:53where I lived in for a time, white ass Vermont,
- 8:55which is where I am currently. What I love about
- 8:58Walmart is that, uh, no matter where in the country,
- 9:01it's always going to be sketchy characters. The
- 9:05people that you probably wouldn't run and run
- 9:07into in real life, the people that would dress
- 9:09up in their pajamas. Um, steal an air conditioner
- 9:13and think that they can get away with it. Like,
- 9:16it's just those kind of people. But go ahead,
- 9:19why don't you like Walmart? Yeah. I mean, outside
- 9:23of the reasons you just listed, Walmart is a
- 9:28symbol of oppression to me from my childhood.
- 9:31I have a mom, I have a black mom who likes to
- 9:38shop. Not that she's a shopaholic. But she's
- 9:41one of the people, her eyes are bigger than her
- 9:45wallet. And she's one of those people who will
- 9:49just like get something. If she's like, I need
- 9:51to get this now. Like if there's a sale, she's
- 9:53like, I have to grab that. And that's just, that's
- 9:57just the way she is. And growing up as a kid
- 10:02with no power to leave, no car to go anywhere
- 10:05without any say. Otherwise, you know, you're
- 10:08getting in trouble. Like, I can't, I dare not
- 10:11say, let's hurry up, let's go, I'm hungry, all
- 10:14that other crap. They're like, can I have this?
- 10:16There was none of that, you know, I got flipped
- 10:18as a kid. So there's none of that. There was
- 10:21none of that, you know, it's just. If you're
- 10:24going too far, you're going to hold the cart.
- 10:26And if you act up, you're going to get spanking
- 10:28back there. So in Walmart, man, Walmart, it's
- 10:32so much time, so many hours spent in that God
- 10:35forsaken store. It's a childhood scar. And even
- 10:40now, as an adult too, I still don't care for
- 10:43it because of all the other current reasons.
- 10:47I think I heard like other food products aren't
- 10:50the best. Someone said they cause cancer. I don't
- 10:52know how true that is, but. Cancer? Someone said
- 10:55that, I don't know. That's a headline for this
- 10:56podcast, Walmart items cause cancer. I heard
- 11:00it somewhere, but it sounds real. The people
- 11:05of Walmart are kind of just, and the whole store,
- 11:09spending hours in stores as a kid just really
- 11:12turned you off from shopping as an adult. And
- 11:14that's mainly what happened with Walmart. Yeah,
- 11:17I just don't care for it. I just, I just, ugh,
- 11:19Walmart. I think that, um, the advertisements
- 11:22that they may still have around the store where
- 11:24it's like, oh my God, you can save now save bet.
- 11:26You know, the advertisements with that yellow
- 11:27smiley face, like save money, blah, blah, blah,
- 11:30blah. Like that's always been etched in my brain
- 11:32so much where if I think cheap, easy shopping.
- 11:37Walmart is going to come to mind. So even if
- 11:40I see a sketchy character, again, someone in
- 11:44pajamas who's ready for a fight or who smells
- 11:47like onions. I am going to always think of Walmart
- 11:52when I want, I don't know, an affordable thing
- 11:55of hand sanitizer or lubricant or whatever. Like
- 12:00just produce that may or may not be quality.
- 12:04Like Walmart is gonna be there if I want a decent
- 12:06price on something. And now it's interesting
- 12:10because it went from being this thing that I
- 12:14sort of took for granted, like always being five
- 12:16minutes away from where I lived, you know, when
- 12:18I used to live in Connecticut, Iowa, upstate
- 12:20New York, and now it's more of a luxury experience
- 12:23because here in Vermont, where things are more
- 12:25spread out, I think our nearest Walmart is God,
- 12:31I mean, I think the two options are either about
- 12:3535, 40 minutes away in a town called Newport
- 12:40here in Vermont, or about an hour and some change
- 12:46away in the greater Burlington area of Vermont,
- 12:49which is like the biggest area of the state,
- 12:50the most populated area and a town called Williston.
- 12:55It's interesting now, like you'll still get that
- 12:58same sketchiness of Walmart, but now it's just
- 13:02more rarefied. It's now like, it's taken on the
- 13:06equivalent of, um, Oh God, what's something,
- 13:09what's something rare that people do? Like you
- 13:11say, if you were going to like some upscale restaurant,
- 13:14you want to take your, your, your partner out
- 13:16for like a nice romantic Valentine's day dinner.
- 13:18It costs like $300. And you know that this is
- 13:22something that you're not going to do on a regular
- 13:23basis, but you'll do like once a year on Valentine's
- 13:25Day. That's kind of like what Walmart has taken
- 13:27on right now. It's like, oh, if I have to get
- 13:29something as simple as lens wipes, all right,
- 13:32honey, my wife, Tony, like, let's make that trip
- 13:34to Walmart and then not go again for another
- 13:37month. Whoa. That's that kind of thing. Yeah.
- 13:43Yeah. It's interesting. It's, it's not the greatest
- 13:46store to shop in, but every now and then if you
- 13:48need something quick and easy and fairly cheap,
- 13:52knowing that the quality is going to be eh, and
- 13:54knowing that you might get looks from some kind
- 13:56of racist stranger. Eh, okay. I'll go there and
- 14:00I'll leave. And hey, maybe I'll run into a bunch
- 14:02of litter in the parking lot. I don't know about
- 14:06your Walmart. Where are you based, by the way?
- 14:07Because you're on a mountain time. Where are
- 14:09you? Yeah, I'm currently in Parker, which is
- 14:13not too far from, it's like maybe 30 minutes
- 14:16from Denver, 25 minutes, whatever. It's not too
- 14:18far. Denver is more simplistic. You could just
- 14:21say Denver or Aurora. Aurora is even closer.
- 14:24Gotcha. Gotcha. And I think I told you that my
- 14:26wife and I, we went to Colorado a couple years
- 14:29ago for my friend's wedding. I was a groomsman
- 14:32at my friend's wedding when he lived in Colorado
- 14:34at the time. And the wedding itself was in Golden,
- 14:37but we toured around Denver. So it's a really
- 14:39nice area. When I lived in Connecticut in the
- 14:45Hartford area, there is much talk about how you
- 14:48want to stay away from the Flatbush Avenue Walmart
- 14:51in Hartford. Because, wow, if you want to imagine
- 14:57the worst Walmart in the world in terms of cleanliness,
- 15:00have a Walmart next to like a Popeyes. You know,
- 15:03have a Walmart next to any fast food restaurant
- 15:05because guaranteed you'll see all the litter.
- 15:08from people who think it's a great idea to just
- 15:10eat their Popeyes, eat their Denny's, and then
- 15:12just throw the trash right there in the parking
- 15:15lot as if that's where trash belongs. So that's,
- 15:17that's another memory I have is not only is there
- 15:20drama inside the Walmart, but there's also drama
- 15:22outside in the dirty parking lot. Wow. I love
- 15:30doing my podcasts, but one of the hardest things
- 15:33is finding guests. Every single week that I put
- 15:37out my podcast, I have this nightmare. Oh no,
- 15:40am I going to run out? Cause let's be honest,
- 15:43you're starting a podcast and you may think,
- 15:45Oh, I'm going to invite my uncle Louie. I'm going
- 15:47to invite my best friend, Shae Shae. And then
- 15:50before you know it, it's your third weekend and
- 15:52you are running out of guest ideas. How about
- 15:54you sign up with a service like pod match where
- 15:57not only do they have a wide database of guests
- 16:01for you to choose from. You get paid to release
- 16:05interviews with said guests. Yeah. Pod match
- 16:08is just that awesome. They give you a commission
- 16:10for going into your three matches of the day.
- 16:15Yep. I said that every single day. They give
- 16:19you three matches to choose from, and they will
- 16:22get into your relevant interests. You set up
- 16:24your profile, you say what kind of podcast you
- 16:27do, you say what kind of topics you're interested
- 16:28in, and just like a dating matchmaking service,
- 16:31they will match you up as best as possible with
- 16:34the most relevant guests for your podcast. You
- 16:36show them proof that you did the interview and
- 16:40boom, before you know it, you see that money
- 16:42in your pocket. Sign up with PodMatch to both
- 16:45Make your guest search easier, and also, well,
- 16:49you got some bills to pay. You can sign up with
- 16:51PodMatch using the link in my show notes. Walmart,
- 16:57man. Yeah, no, I know what you're talking about.
- 16:59We have one of those Walmarts too. There's a
- 17:01ton of them. It's not, it doesn't take a lot
- 17:04for me to imagine it, is what I'm saying. There's,
- 17:08I can't think of the area. I can see it in my
- 17:11mind, but I'm trying, I don't know the name of
- 17:12the area, but it's in Denver. And Walmart we
- 17:15used to go to mainly when I was a kid. And there's
- 17:18a big homeless population right over there. There's
- 17:21like a bunch of eerie spots across the street.
- 17:26And it's just, you know, the people of Walmart
- 17:29go in like, you know, pajamas, the really, like,
- 17:34there's no other way to put it. People who don't
- 17:35have a lot of money, the poor people go and shop
- 17:38Walmart. And it's the cleanliness is down because
- 17:42the area is down. And there's food, food like
- 17:45a small food courts inside the Walmart. So, you
- 17:48know, you get you eat in the Walmart and you
- 17:49take your trash around. You see someone try to
- 17:52run out with a speaker or whatever. You know,
- 17:55no one even tries to really catch them. And it's
- 17:58just. It's just, I remember one time, this is
- 18:03barely a story. Get yourself some cheap ass sneakers
- 18:04and then go to the subway. Does your Walmart
- 18:06have a subway right inside it? Yeah, subway.
- 18:09I remember one time, this is a new story, but
- 18:11one time I was in Walmart. I think I was like,
- 18:15I don't know how old I was, but I was trying
- 18:16to find my mom. She was somewhere and I was in
- 18:20the subway with my little brother. I was like,
- 18:22I'm gonna... I'm going to go get my mom. She's
- 18:25somewhere over there, the clothes aisle, whatever.
- 18:26So I walk across the way. Don't see her. Ask
- 18:29this random person, this woman, hi, excuse me.
- 18:32I'm about to ask her. She's like, I'm about to
- 18:34screw my mom. She goes, no, no, thank you. Picks
- 18:37up her purse, turns away, and I'm like, ugh,
- 18:39you know. That really, ugh, that ugh is still
- 18:45in my mind of that. I was going to ask you where
- 18:47my mom was. So I'm like, I'm a. I was like a
- 18:51young teenager or something like that. I was
- 18:53even like, whatever. Anyway, founder, not even
- 18:56a story, but that encapsulates my experience
- 18:59of Walmart of pure annoyance. Technically, by
- 19:06the way, I'm not so anti -crazy about like, it's
- 19:09not good for anything. Yeah, it's good for cheap,
- 19:11fast things. It has its use, obviously. You could
- 19:14save money, whatever. It does have a use, but
- 19:17personally? I'd rather be pretty much anywhere
- 19:19else. Understandable. If you wanted to torture
- 19:22me, you'd lock me into Walmart. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- 19:27I probably have been to Walmart, God knows, many
- 19:29times with a child. As a child, God knows how
- 19:32many times I probably have been in Walmart with
- 19:34my mom when I was too young to go out anywhere
- 19:36on my own. But my mom... I know that she has
- 19:42a certain standard and even she, like, she would
- 19:44probably think of Walmart as a last resort. Like
- 19:46if she absolutely had to go there to get something
- 19:48that wasn't available anywhere else, then, you
- 19:51know, she'll, she'll probably do that. But I
- 19:52think she's kind of in similar line with you
- 19:54where it's just like, God, no Walmart, ew, disgusting
- 19:58trash. And I would, I would find that the employees.
- 20:04And God bless them. I know that they're not getting
- 20:06paid much. I know they're probably being overworked,
- 20:09but I have never found a Walmart employee that
- 20:12could actually help me. Like I asked them something
- 20:15as simple as, Hey, where is the aisle where the
- 20:18socks are? And they are either difficult to talk
- 20:22to because they don't speak English. That's not
- 20:25their fault. That's fine. But especially when
- 20:29they don't know where to point me toward they're
- 20:33just kind of like confused when I ask them a
- 20:35question that is part of their job or they just
- 20:39like make a guess or maybe they get distracted
- 20:41by something it's just like Yeah. And it's funny
- 20:44because there was a point in time where I tried
- 20:46to work there. Like, you know how it is when
- 20:48you're younger and you are desperate to get some
- 20:50money in your pocket. Like, you're a teenager,
- 20:52you're applying everywhere. And Walmart, I applied
- 20:56and applied and would never get considered. And
- 20:59I wonder if I was overqualified or maybe I wasn't
- 21:02qualified enough. Like, I don't know, but...
- 21:06I think it's so many people just apply, by the
- 21:08way. I would... That's all right to hop in there.
- 21:11I think it's everyone... because it's so many
- 21:14people. That's my guess. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 21:18That could be it. That could be it. It is one
- 21:20of those big retailers where, you know, if you
- 21:22want to, if you're young and you have no respect
- 21:25for yourself, then I guess, sure, why not? Go
- 21:29apply and see what happens. But no, I kid, I
- 21:31kid. No, I get you. By the way, and I have to
- 21:33stay on Walmart too, but I just, as you're talking
- 21:36about jobs, I can't help but think like the Walmart
- 21:38greeters. I don't know what that is. Like, I
- 21:40don't know. Who started that job? Why does it
- 21:43exist? It's always like some retired old person
- 21:46who either could be the most kindest person in
- 21:49the world or they just do not give a shit. And
- 21:51the people who don't give a shit, I understand
- 21:53because why are you here? It's unnecessary. Like
- 21:56do you go into any other store and go, I wasn't
- 21:59greeted today. Were you walking to Home Depot
- 22:01or National Grocers or Interstore here? It doesn't
- 22:05matter what store it is. When you're not greeted,
- 22:08are you? Do you feel angry about not being said
- 22:12hello to? It doesn't matter. I'm gonna go in
- 22:16here to get a stick and come, I'm gonna leave.
- 22:17I don't need a hello. And also, in checking off
- 22:20the receipts, you're not reading this whole receipt.
- 22:23You're not reading this tiny print. You're not
- 22:26even, ah, that pisses me off. I feel like I'm
- 22:29getting drunk. Costco pisses me off with it,
- 22:32but Walmart followed suit and was like, we're
- 22:34gonna also do this annoying thing. Yeah, you'll
- 22:39get some greeters that actually give a crap and
- 22:41check your receipt on the way out. And then you'll
- 22:44have those that don't, that just kind of stand
- 22:47awkwardly and don't really say anything as you
- 22:49walk out. So I always find that interesting.
- 22:53I am guilty of shoplifting. I don't know if you've
- 22:55ever done that, but sometimes, you know, in my
- 22:59younger days, in my younger not -so -wonderful
- 23:01days, when I wanted to save a buck and I was
- 23:04living by myself for the first time in Iowa,
- 23:06I would shoplift a few things. I don't know if
- 23:08you're guilty of that or if you're Mr. Goody
- 23:10Two Shoes. And that's okay. That's okay. Is this
- 23:13a question of my own trial? I mean, you shouldn't
- 23:18be, because if I'm admitting it, then you should
- 23:19be fine. I mean, the statute of limitations has
- 23:25been, like, way past if it's, like, something
- 23:27that happened when you were a kid. I'm kidding.
- 23:29I have to give you grief over it. No, yeah, no,
- 23:33I've done it, yeah. And I barely feel bad about
- 23:36it. I mean, I do, but I don't. I do because of
- 23:40my convictions, but I don't because, you know,
- 23:42the store can take it. The store... I feel bad
- 23:45that I stole... I don't feel bad for the store
- 23:49or the people, because I know no one was hurt,
- 23:51because it's a big corporation. I feel bad for
- 23:54that. I feel bad for this, not that, if that
- 23:56makes sense. And it was because of this that
- 23:59I even did it in the first place. And I would
- 24:01do it a good amount of times. I think I stopped.
- 24:04And by stopped, I mean like, just because it's
- 24:06just, because of the moral of I shouldn't, it's
- 24:09like. or five -ish something, years ago, because
- 24:13it's, if you need, like, it was always small
- 24:16things. I feel bad admitting this, but it's like,
- 24:18you know, oh, gum here, or, oh, a toy from my
- 24:23niece, or I don't know, I need this and I can't
- 24:26really afford this right now, it's one item.
- 24:27Like, you pay for things as you get the thing
- 24:29that you don't want to get. And they, you know,
- 24:33they look at your receipt, they're not gonna
- 24:34read the tiny stick. Every single thing, yeah.
- 24:36Yeah, that's why I find it, It's not necessarily
- 24:42unnecessary, but it's not going to work because
- 24:45there's no way you can read all that in that
- 24:47amount of time. It's just not feasible. So yeah,
- 24:50that's why I find it unnecessary. You should
- 24:52check, I guess, whatever, but that person is
- 24:56not going to read all those little items in that
- 24:57split second. They're just not. Yeah, two things
- 25:00that I think led to my ending of shoplifting.
- 25:03One, of course, there's going to be one instance
- 25:05where that self -checkout representative that's
- 25:08standing right by there's... what you're about
- 25:10to go on the way out. And then they're like,
- 25:12oh, wait, excuse me, I think you like missed
- 25:14scanning something. So I had one of those instances.
- 25:17But I think more importantly, when I made a friend
- 25:19in Iowa that actually worked at Walmart, he was
- 25:22like a managerial person. And I remember hanging
- 25:25out with him at a bar. And I was joking with
- 25:27him, half jokingly, because it was also real,
- 25:29that I shoplifted every now and then. And he
- 25:32looked at me like I was the Antichrist. Like
- 25:34I was this person that was literally taking money
- 25:36out of his paycheck. Because I think in some
- 25:38way he'd did say that, like, you know, every
- 25:41time people shoplift, it is kind of taking money
- 25:43out of employees' pockets. Now, yes, to your
- 25:48point about big corporation, I don't know if
- 25:50that's quite 100 % accurate. But, yeah, I mean,
- 25:55you know, it's not a good thing to do. And I'm
- 26:00here to say publicly, no shoplifting. No matter
- 26:03how much you hate the store, shoplifting, bad.
- 26:06It's bad. Yo, don't do it. It's bad. Even if
- 26:09it's a banana or a piece of gum, it's still money
- 26:13that you're taking out of people's pockets. Shoplifting's
- 26:15bad. It's bad. It's bad. I think that guy, Pacific
- 26:20management, I can see getting squeezed over that.
- 26:23Because there was someone who, how do I hear
- 26:26about this? Okay, so my brother who was working
- 26:29in law enforcement, someone came to the police
- 26:31station, they were saying, oh, we caught someone
- 26:33for shoplifting and it wasn't in the act. It
- 26:35was more so afterwards. They had a big rap sheet
- 26:38on this woman who'd been shoplifting for years.
- 26:40And the total amount of stuff she'd shoplifted
- 26:42was like something like over... something like
- 26:45$5 ,000 or something, 500, sorry, 500. $500 worth
- 26:48of items, shoplifting? Like $500 worth of items,
- 26:50shoplifting. What? But it's accumulated over
- 26:53years. I don't know, it was like - Oh yeah, yeah,
- 26:55yeah, okay. Yeah, and then they just now came
- 26:58to the police with, hey, we have all these receipts
- 27:00of her shoplifting over the years and like, here's
- 27:03all these things. And so they were keeping tabs
- 27:05on her this whole time, knowing she was like
- 27:07a serial shoplifter and to where her bill was
- 27:10500 or a thousand, I don't remember the number,
- 27:13but it was a point - where they said, okay, now
- 27:15we're gonna pull the trigger on this. Now we're
- 27:16gonna get her. And so I think management can
- 27:20get like, you know, it's your store. If too much
- 27:23stuff goes missing, you're held accountable.
- 27:25I do get that. But I don't know. I don't know
- 27:29the ins and outs of Walmart, but I would say
- 27:30if anyone would get in trouble, I guess it'd
- 27:32be the local managers. That makes sense why you'd
- 27:35be heard about that. But I don't know. It's conjecture.
- 27:39Have you ever had the awkwardness of knowing
- 27:41somebody who, like, I don't know if you've ever
- 27:44heard the concept of return fraud, when somebody
- 27:47claims to have bought something and then they
- 27:50drop it off to the return desk to get their money
- 27:53back, but they didn't actually buy it. They're
- 27:55just essentially just getting money for something
- 27:57that they didn't buy in the first place. I think
- 27:59that's how return fraud works. And I knew somebody
- 28:03here in Vermont that did that. with like a giant
- 28:06air conditioning unit and the awkwardness of
- 28:09like the security camera footage of them being
- 28:13shown on a police department's Facebook page.
- 28:16Like, Hey, we're looking for this person. It's
- 28:19like, Oh my God. Now, first of all, this person
- 28:22that I know is the sketchy character that fits
- 28:24the Walmart customer clientele. But I don't know
- 28:28if you've ever had anything like that where the
- 28:30police were looking for somebody who shoplifted
- 28:33something of that degree and you're just looking
- 28:36on Facebook like, oh, that's Tricia from my high
- 28:41school. I can honestly say I haven't had that
- 28:45in a situation where someone's popped up who
- 28:47I've known in that type of situation. I've been
- 28:51in some near situations where I say near because
- 28:55it hasn't happened. Yeah, but like but no I've
- 28:59been yeah III you see this dumb face Yeah, do
- 29:06you know this guy yeah, yeah So back in 2011,
- 29:12when I first discovered podcasts, I was like,
- 29:14oh my God, a radio show that you could release
- 29:17globally on the internet. It probably takes like
- 29:1915 ,000 things of bandwidth, all these wires
- 29:22and blah, blah, blah. And that may have been
- 29:25the case back then, but now with how advanced
- 29:28podcast hosting services have been with a service
- 29:30like RSS, your new podcaster, you think it's
- 29:33overwhelming? No, get your podcast hosted with
- 29:36RSS. It takes less than five minutes. Less than
- 29:41five minutes and you could be off to a career
- 29:44of a lifetime. Why not check out the link in
- 29:46my show notes to sign up with RSS today. We had
- 29:54a great rambling on Walmart. I enjoyed that,
- 29:57but I think what I wanted to ask originally was
- 30:00the 1000 crazy questions concept, this whole
- 30:05would you rather do this or that concept? How
- 30:07did it come about? Yeah. So. The story, where
- 30:13do I start? I guess I've always been asking would
- 30:17you rather questions. That's always been a thing
- 30:20that I've been doing since I don't know when.
- 30:23Bugged my friends about it, bugged my family
- 30:25with it. It's the thing I do to pass the time.
- 30:29I was working at my college and I was at the
- 30:34front desk, greeting people as a tour guide at
- 30:37my university. And one of my fellow tour guides
- 30:40and friends was like, I was at, I was bugging
- 30:43with Wichita Brothers, right? And he said, why
- 30:44don't you do something with these instead of
- 30:46bugging me with them? Why don't you write them
- 30:47down or something? Put it to use, please. Yeah,
- 30:50do something. And I was like, I will, you know,
- 30:52like, like a challenge. Yeah. He said, he said,
- 30:55you know, get rid of me, whatever it was. I,
- 30:58you know what, I will, you know, jerk, whatever.
- 31:01I went to the back. and I started writing them,
- 31:04not writing them, I put them in an Excel sheet
- 31:06and started kind of writing them down. And as
- 31:10I, within an hour, I'd written about 100. Wow.
- 31:15And I said, oh, I said, oh crap, I have a knack
- 31:21for this. Like I have some type of thing for
- 31:23this, this is easy. And like, you know, weird.
- 31:27Like this isn't useful anyway, but I can do this.
- 31:32And I kept adding to the list on my free time.
- 31:36And then this was 2019 when I was doing this
- 31:39and then 2020 hit. And then I was a friend of
- 31:44mine who is now a big YouTuber. Like he's a big
- 31:47YouTube star. Shout out to Drew. Who's this friend?
- 31:52This friend, he's Drew Joyner, look him up on
- 31:55YouTube, anyone who knows him. He's really into
- 31:57fashion, big guy. Yeah, very nice guy, social
- 32:02media influencer, whatever. He was on my show
- 32:05a couple times, great guy. But he was telling
- 32:08me about a podcast he was listening to. And I
- 32:13barely heard a podcast and I was like, yeah,
- 32:15podcast, it's interesting. Podcast? Podcast.
- 32:19Oh, and this is 2020. I had the time and I had
- 32:23the means and I made it. Yeah, and I made it.
- 32:25And everyone else made theirs and their mom made
- 32:26theirs in 2020, but that's why I started it.
- 32:30Hey, calm me in. I got into podcasting during
- 32:31the pandemic. Exactly. Yeah, it got everyone.
- 32:34So I started it. I had to put it on ice once
- 32:38I went back to like physical school, but I had
- 32:40a pretty good start. and then I eventually joined
- 32:43the radio station at University's radio station.
- 32:46I started it back up again, had some really good
- 32:49episodes, had put it on ice because I graduated
- 32:51and I had senior classes busy. I get into my
- 32:55real life. my big boy job or whatever, but I'm
- 32:59there for a year. I was like, okay, I can make
- 33:00this again. I'm comfortable in my position. Make
- 33:02a good amount of them and then leave that position.
- 33:05Things don't work out. Okay, put this back. But
- 33:08I kept taking it in and out and in and out because
- 33:11of life situations and I got seasons because
- 33:14of it. But it's been going well. Every time it
- 33:18starts up, it's like the momentum swings and
- 33:20then something in life has kind of made it slow
- 33:23down. But I've never lost the... passion to keep
- 33:26asking people these questions. And it's been
- 33:28fun. Yeah, it is fun. I love that. And I feel
- 33:32like I want to, you know, bouncing off of like,
- 33:35you know, all of the identities that you've.
- 33:38taken on, tour guide, radio personality and such.
- 33:41Maybe this is my version of your 1000 crazy questions
- 33:45because I was blown away. I'm looking at your
- 33:47pod match profile and you worked as a tour guide,
- 33:51an Uber driver, Amazon driver. I'm an Uber and
- 33:54Lyft driver right now. So we can talk a lot about
- 33:56that. Amazon driver, restaurant server, couch
- 33:59delivery man. You were a software testing engineer
- 34:02and janitor. So which one of these would you
- 34:06happily return to? and which one of these would
- 34:09you like to erase from your life? And tell me
- 34:11why for each. Okay. See, now you know how I feel
- 34:15when I answer your questions on your podcast.
- 34:17Well, if that's a compliment, then... It's a
- 34:21compliment. Okay, thanks. No, no, because you
- 34:25do ask really good thought -provoking questions.
- 34:26I highly recommend people to check out his 1000
- 34:29Preachy Questions podcast. Thank you. Yeah, that's
- 34:32tough. Oh, man. Well, you're going to answer
- 34:35it, goddammit, because if not, then you're going
- 34:37to be burned to death. I have to answer it. I
- 34:41have to answer it. I'm no stranger. I can take
- 34:45what I dish out. I cannot be there asking people
- 34:49my godforsaken questions, and I haven't thrown
- 34:52back at me. So I deserve it. I'll answer this.
- 34:58My favorite job I've had so far in my life was
- 35:01the software. That you would happily return to.
- 35:03Happily returned to, kind of, because it doesn't
- 35:07exist anymore. I just couldn't go back to it.
- 35:10It was the software testing engineer one. That
- 35:12sounds boring, but initially I was brought on
- 35:15right after high school. I had just graduated
- 35:18and it was at my best friend's dad's. job. Essentially,
- 35:23we started off like mailroom type of employees
- 35:26and then moved downstairs to be software testing
- 35:28engineers, which really meant we were watching
- 35:31TV and reporting bugs that we saw. We were trying
- 35:34to break the TV system, like we only had a code.
- 35:37a little bit of Linux, like we had a barely program
- 35:41and we just had to watch the TV, go through guide
- 35:44and select a movie, run it to 20 minutes, turn
- 35:46it off, put on Netflix, turn Netflix back off,
- 35:48stuff like that to break the TV system and then
- 35:51report the bugs we saw. So it was watching TV.
- 35:54We had like 10 monitors in front of us. These
- 35:56sports was down there, weather's down there,
- 35:58and telenovela was over here. We'd make jokes,
- 36:01tell would you rathers, laugh. It was just me
- 36:03and my best friend just hanging out, drinking
- 36:05coffee and eating donuts. Straight up, it was
- 36:07the most fun job I've ever had in my life. And
- 36:10then we did play basketball outside, like the
- 36:13recreational basketball that they had outside.
- 36:17I had that job for two years and a summer. And
- 36:21by the end of it, we were doing We have more
- 36:24responsibilities. We're doing more stuff. Everyone
- 36:27knew us. We're the two black kids running around,
- 36:30you know, much as the sad engineers at their
- 36:32job. There's some illegal people there, but yeah.
- 36:35What leads to someone saying, oh, we need to...
- 36:42have these bugs detected in this TV screen or
- 36:46in this Netflix show or whatever? Was there already
- 36:49some study or some record out there of people
- 36:52noticing bugs in their content that they're watching?
- 36:56How does that come about where you have a job
- 36:58for it? Kind of. Do you know Dish by the network
- 37:02company? Oh God, Dish Network Cable? Yes, this
- 37:05is Dish. Bringing me back to my childhood, Jesus
- 37:07Christ. This was a sister company of Dish, right?
- 37:12And so they typically worked with set -top boxes.
- 37:15And so they would break sometimes. I don't know
- 37:19how often they would, but apparently enough to
- 37:21warrant us having jobs. But you would find bugs
- 37:25and they had different set -top boxes that wouldn't
- 37:28talk to one another with the new system. So I
- 37:31had to learn system engineering in that job.
- 37:34And this was all great for my resume. This was
- 37:35right out of high school. And we were getting
- 37:38paid good money for this too. And initially we
- 37:41didn't start off with software testing. We started
- 37:43off with drones for like a drone project. Dish
- 37:46was gonna start drones. Dish was gonna start
- 37:48up a drone project that went around your house
- 37:50and like secured the perimeter and fed you a
- 37:52TV feed of your property to your TV. Like Dish
- 37:55was ambitious. That didn't go through by the
- 37:58way, but we were brought on initially for that.
- 38:00And when it didn't get green, I think the company
- 38:03that went with them went under or something like
- 38:06that, so it didn't go through. Long story short,
- 38:09our boss specifically liked me and my friend.
- 38:11And so he's like, hey, everyone else just graduated.
- 38:14You guys are going to university not too far
- 38:16from here. Do you want to stay? And me and my
- 38:18friend looked at each other like. Yeah, we want
- 38:20to stay. And she made the most evil laugh when
- 38:23we said we want to stay. Like she was like, oh,
- 38:26that's great. And did like a cackle. And we were
- 38:31like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
- 38:35ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
- 38:36ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
- 38:38ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
- 38:38ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
- 38:42ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
- 38:42ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
- 38:44ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, office interns for
- 38:50a second for like some months just because she
- 38:52didn't have too much work for us. And then she
- 38:54sent us downstairs to where we eventually got
- 38:56that software testing engineering stuff. And
- 38:59there it is. And that was the first job I had
- 39:02and the best job I'll probably ever have. Probably.
- 39:05Maybe. And the job that you would like to erase
- 39:07from your life forever and why. Yeah. That's
- 39:12tough because - Are you enjoying all these jobs
- 39:15that I mentioned? Oh, no. Oh, God, no. Okay,
- 39:18then this shouldn't be too hard. There has to
- 39:20be one of these jobs that was a nightmare. No,
- 39:24it's hard because the nightmare job, I have to
- 39:27keep it. It formed a lot of my person. It did
- 39:32a lot for me personally, right? The worst show
- 39:35I ever had was that - janitorial type job where
- 39:38I was like one of 12 janitors. I was in, I was
- 39:41a pretty much, yeah, a janitor, but for a big
- 39:44bakery. And then people say, you say bakery,
- 39:46people go, oh, bread, oh, nice. No, it wasn't
- 39:49like that. There were no elves. There was no
- 39:51bread needing. There was none of that crap. This
- 39:53was industrial. Now machines make the bread.
- 39:56And it was, I pretty much got a job. I just needed
- 39:58something. This was shortly after the software
- 40:00testing job. And, My sister's boyfriend at the
- 40:04time, who was sucked, he recommended this place
- 40:07to do these people jobs who were coming out of
- 40:09prison or from different countries or stuff like
- 40:12that. It just gets you a job. I didn't know that
- 40:15this is the type of organization that it was.
- 40:16I just needed a job. I go in, I show up for the
- 40:19first day wearing a nice shirt and jeans thinking
- 40:21like, okay, this was the job the place recommended.
- 40:24I'm going to come in here and apply. It doesn't
- 40:26look like it's that nice, but it'll see if I
- 40:28get it even. And then it's me and three other
- 40:30people. They say, okay, put on these smocks,
- 40:33put on these hair nets, put on these goggles,
- 40:35put on these earplugs, put on these beard nets
- 40:36and get in there. And then we all, we went in
- 40:39like, okay. I was like, where am I going to meet
- 40:41the boss? And whatever, like, when do we get
- 40:42to interview? And they said, okay, let's just
- 40:44start working. Thanks. And they just went straight
- 40:46to work. And I was like, what? And I was pretty
- 40:49much a big old kitchen sink. It was cold. You
- 40:54couldn't listen to music because you had to wear
- 40:56earplugs. Everyone had to be aware of the surroundings.
- 40:59You can get soap, like some industrial soap in
- 41:01your eye and go blind. Everyone I went with that
- 41:03first day quit and I was the only one to stay
- 41:07there. Now, obviously, this was a place in my
- 41:10life where I needed money. I would not have stayed,
- 41:13not have stayed as long as I did. I think it
- 41:15was maybe three months or four months. I don't
- 41:18know. It felt like eternity. I wouldn't recommend
- 41:22anyone work there. That's a job for robots. But
- 41:26the only people who work there are immigrants
- 41:28or people coming out of prison, stuff like that.
- 41:31So I really learned though from that job. The
- 41:34reason I can't erase this one is because I learned
- 41:37how hard I could work. But that defeats the purpose
- 41:40of the question. I'll answer it. I'm just saying
- 41:43I can't pick the worst job. It informed me is
- 41:45what I'm saying. I couldn't listen to anything
- 41:49but like... gospel music, like I couldn't, I
- 41:52lost a ton of weight. My life, man, it's really,
- 41:56my soul, I felt like getting sucked out of me.
- 41:58But as soon as they soul sucking jobs, I have
- 42:01that story. I had a soul sucking job. Oh. So
- 42:06if it sounds like a nightmare, what did you learn
- 42:07from it? I learned that I can get through anything.
- 42:12Okay, I guess. And I had a spiritual experience
- 42:16at that job, because I wanted to leave. I wanted
- 42:19to leave, right? Tell me if this is getting too
- 42:23far away from your question, by the way. I wanted
- 42:27to leave and I did leave until I prayed about
- 42:33it, right? I got an okay from God to go. I wanted
- 42:37to leave since day one, but what I heard it was
- 42:39okay to go is when I left. I know that sounds
- 42:42kind of crazy to people, especially if you don't
- 42:43believe in God and everything. I respect what
- 42:46people do and don't believe. However, I'm just
- 42:48telling my My experience. And I left when he
- 42:51said I could leave. And it worked out. Like I
- 42:57didn't have any backup jobs. I had no other money
- 43:00coming from nowhere else. And I had already waited
- 43:02a good three to four months at a job I absolutely
- 43:05hated until I got a confirmation to go. And when
- 43:08I left is when I got a different job at the tour
- 43:10guiding place in my university. And things really
- 43:13changed. Jeez, man, it just seems like yesterday,
- 43:19it was 2005, I was in middle school, high school.
- 43:22I discovered this website called YouTube, the
- 43:25tagline, broadcast yourself. And I'm like, oh,
- 43:28wow, here are all these like scrappy, gritty
- 43:31home videos that we used to all do on our video
- 43:34cameras. But now we're just releasing them on
- 43:36the internet. And to see YouTube go from that
- 43:38to this behemoth where... Uh, you know, the top
- 43:42TV shows and movies are putting their stuff on.
- 43:44You can watch live sports and now it's like the
- 43:48largest consumption platform for podcasters like
- 43:50myself. So I say that to say that YouTube is
- 43:54very important for us and we hope you subscribe
- 43:56to our delicious culture with John Francois YouTube
- 43:59channel, because I'd like to think that Sure,
- 44:02it's one thing to get us on all the listening
- 44:04platforms like your Apple and your Spotify, but
- 44:07there is something a lot more valuable to having
- 44:12the option to see me do a podcast for you as
- 44:17well as hear me because then you get the indication
- 44:20that I'm a real human being that wants to have
- 44:22a connection with you. And I'm not just a unimportant
- 44:27small indie podcaster who doesn't give a crap.
- 44:30No, I'm not an AI bot. I'm an actual person that
- 44:33wants to have a connection with you, with my
- 44:36guests, and I hope you will consider that as
- 44:38you subscribe to the Delicious Culture with Jon
- 44:40Francois YouTube channel. What is the tag or
- 44:43what is the handle? It's basically what I just
- 44:46said. The Delicious Culture, Jon Francois. The
- 44:50Delicious Culture, J -O -N -F -R -A -N -C -O
- 44:53-I -S. Subscribe today. Much appreciated. When
- 44:59I think back to the worst times of my life, that's
- 45:01a shiny bad moment. I'll probably get rid of
- 45:04Uber Eats. That was a waste of time. As someone
- 45:10who has done it, I do not blame you. I do Uber
- 45:13and Lyft rides because like, yeah, it is a grind.
- 45:17the monotonous of picking up and dropping off
- 45:19and staying in a physically fixed and uncomfortable
- 45:22position in your car for 10 to 13 hours a day.
- 45:24I wouldn't recommend it to anybody if you don't
- 45:26have to do it. But because I like talking to
- 45:29people, because I get paid a lot more than I
- 45:32got paid doing radio, I do it. I've been doing
- 45:36it for a couple years. The deliveries, I stopped
- 45:39doing a while ago. I stopped doing like Doordash
- 45:41and Uber Eats just because Uh, it is very time
- 45:45consuming between, um, you know, getting to the
- 45:49restaurant and then you gotta wait like five
- 45:51to 20 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes for the order
- 45:54to be ready. Uh, and then you may be dealing
- 45:56with traffic on the way to the customer's place.
- 45:59Maybe the customer wants you to go up like 10
- 46:00flights of steps to deliver their food. Or, you
- 46:03know, if you're grocery shopping, then there's
- 46:04a time -consumingness of the grocery shopping
- 46:06with the traffic and going up 10 flights to the
- 46:09customer's place. You know, especially if you
- 46:10have like a 24 pack of water that you have to
- 46:12deliver up. 10 flights to a customer's apartment,
- 46:15like, um, and all for maybe like a $5 tip. And
- 46:20for a lot of these orders, it's like a $2 base
- 46:23pay. So it's really tip dependent. And if you
- 46:25really don't get a good tip for the kind of work
- 46:27that you're doing on these orders, it could really
- 46:29sour your mood. And my mood was soured a lot.
- 46:31And with Uber and Lyft rides, the apps, they
- 46:35take care a lot. of the, for a lot of the costs,
- 46:39like they, they, they give you a pretty decent
- 46:41amount without the tip. So when you get a tip
- 46:44from the customer, it's just an added bonus.
- 46:47So for my mental health, um, Uber Eats, DoorDash,
- 46:51Instacart, all that delivery shit I left. Um,
- 46:55tell me your nightmare stories. No, I mean, also
- 46:58I was going to say though, like, uh, before the
- 47:00nightmare stories you with the benefit the whole
- 47:03uber live stuff is like you get to talk to people
- 47:05too i'm like yeah you didn't get to do that you
- 47:07get to bring back stories and experiences when
- 47:09you do uber and lit yeah so yeah uh i think uber
- 47:12eats it's so much easier to hate people like
- 47:15when you don't talk to them you know what i mean
- 47:17like when you talk to like even if people like
- 47:20i give rides to uh are cheap in terms of a tip
- 47:25If they're nice enough and pleasant enough to
- 47:27talk to, I'm more likely to be like, all right,
- 47:29whatever. It's part of the job. But if you have
- 47:32to do a lot for delivery and someone doesn't
- 47:35tip what they should and you never interact with
- 47:38that person, like that person could just be the
- 47:40antichrist to you. Like you could just want to
- 47:42like kill them, smother them, throw their Burger
- 47:45King through their window. Like you want to do
- 47:47all kinds of heinous things. I'm just talking
- 47:49about me. I don't know about you, but go ahead.
- 47:53Tell me why Uber Eats is a nightmare. Uber Eats
- 47:56is, it just sucks. I can't, I'm keeping the nightmare
- 48:01because the nightmare helps my, you know, informs
- 48:04my life. I'm taking this, the suckiness. I'm
- 48:06taking Uber Eats just sucks. It didn't, it wasn't
- 48:08like, you know, it wasn't the, it just sucks.
- 48:10You know, like you don't get paid enough. It's
- 48:12everything you said. Yeah. It's not even, it's
- 48:15not, it's funny when it's like, it's not even
- 48:17memorable enough. It's not even like the worst.
- 48:19It's just like, oh, that's just crap. You know,
- 48:21you want to keep your best, I think keeping your
- 48:22worst in anything, by the way. I'm talking about
- 48:24anything here. You remember the best movie you
- 48:26ever saw, remember the worst movie you ever saw,
- 48:28and get rid of the meh movie, you know? Like,
- 48:31the movies that kind of just suck, and they're
- 48:33not even memorable. Like, it's not like the worst,
- 48:35it's just like, forgettable garbage. That's what
- 48:38Uber Eats is to me. Like, it's just, yeah, it's
- 48:41not, yeah. It's not even the worst. It's just
- 48:44forgettable. Did they do this silly thing in
- 48:45Colorado? Cause this was like a specifically
- 48:47Uber Eats thing. I'll give DoorDash credit. A
- 48:49lot of the time DoorDash will give you a decent
- 48:51dollar amount for whatever mileage you have to
- 48:53drive. But Uber Eats, I was getting some like
- 48:56$3 orders and the order, the customer was like
- 49:0145 miles away from where I was. It was like some
- 49:04crazy fucking bullshit where I just, the dollar
- 49:07amount and the mileage just did not match up.
- 49:10And I think, still like the customer is allowed
- 49:15to edit a tip like up to an hour after the delivery.
- 49:19So they could tip bait you. They could be like,
- 49:22Oh, hey, you know, here's a $20 tip that I'm
- 49:25offering right now. And then they, you deliver
- 49:28the item. And then even if the item was delivered
- 49:31successfully, they could just decide, Oh, I don't
- 49:33want to spend 20 extra dollars. I'll just take,
- 49:35take that tip back in the hour that it takes
- 49:38for the customer to be allowed to edit the tip.
- 49:40I don't know if you've ever had that, but like,
- 49:42I think that still can happen with breeds. I
- 49:46don't think it did, because I don't remember
- 49:48that happening when I was doing Uber Eats, but
- 49:50it was such a long time ago, thank God, that
- 49:53I don't get to remember it. I remember, though,
- 49:56yeah, I remember them being super far away with,
- 49:58hey, do you want $10 to go, yeah, 40 miles? Like,
- 50:02what is this? I'm not gonna, yeah, and it was
- 50:04always... always, always, always, like the majority
- 50:08of Uber Eats trips I got was, I'm sure we can
- 50:11say at the same time, because I think you know,
- 50:13I think you had the same experience if you've
- 50:14done it too. Like it was always one restaurant
- 50:16that got used the most for Uber Eats. And I'm
- 50:19assuming it's the same for everyone. If we say
- 50:20it, one count of three, because I'm pretty confident.
- 50:23I'm pretty confident you can relate to this.
- 50:26I don't know if it's the most used, but I can
- 50:28tell you a most used restaurant. One comes to
- 50:30mind. So let's do it. Yeah, on the count of one.
- 50:33One, two, three. McDonald's. Are you serious?
- 50:40It's McDonald's for you too? McDonald's. It's
- 50:41McDonald's. It's always McDonald's. It's three
- 50:43o 'clock in the morning. I'm doing Uber Eats.
- 50:46Yeah, it's McDonald's. It's 12 o 'clock in the
- 50:47afternoon. It's McDonald's. You name it, time
- 50:51of the day, it's always McDonald's, and there's
- 50:53always McDonald's two seconds away from where
- 50:55they live. They really couldn't pick up. They're
- 50:58a walkable distance from McDonald's, and I'm
- 51:01Ubering eating to them. I live 10 minutes away
- 51:03from McDonald's that you're next to, and I'm
- 51:05gonna drive over 10 minutes to give you your
- 51:06two minute drive? That pissed me off. The order
- 51:11costs $5. Why? Yeah. Well, I mean look if you're
- 51:17gonna offer me like a really if I'm getting like
- 51:19ten bucks to deliver McDonald's like two minutes
- 51:22away from the McDonald's then fine I mean my
- 51:24thing is is that okay? You're stupid for paying
- 51:26all this money when you could just walk to the
- 51:28restaurant. That's fine money in my pocket The
- 51:31same people that go to Walmart are exactly the
- 51:33same kind of people that order from McDonald's
- 51:35it's like that specific kind of like dirty smelling
- 51:39pajama wearing like oh, I don't want to leave
- 51:42my house except maybe to get You know condoms
- 51:46and beer and and a rotten banana at Walmart at
- 51:49three in the morning But like if I have the option
- 51:52to have McDonald's delivered to me, even though
- 51:53I live two minutes from the McDonald's like yeah
- 51:56and deliver it up to my 15th floor apartment
- 51:58because the apps tell me I could do that, right?
- 52:01Like, you know, yeah, a specific kind of character.
- 52:04But yeah, no, when I first started on doing like
- 52:06Uber Eats and DoorDash, God, I would both dread
- 52:10and look forward to McDonald's orders from college
- 52:14students since Burlington, Vermont, where I work.
- 52:16That's a college town. And usually that would
- 52:18happen like after like nine or 10 at night. After
- 52:21nine or 10 at night, it was just busy with a
- 52:23lot of McDonald's orders. At some point it started
- 52:25died down. And I don't know what it was. Maybe
- 52:27like they just realized that, oh, why are we
- 52:30paying this much for what's going to be cold,
- 52:34crappy non -food delivered to us? Because that's
- 52:36what it is. I mean, I remember a DoorDash order
- 52:40that the customer no longer wanted, and I got
- 52:42to keep it, and I ate it, and it was just all,
- 52:45it was almost like eating frozen food. It was
- 52:46just disgusting. Yeah, McDonald's. Yeah, I know
- 52:52what you mean. McDonald's, those are one of the
- 52:54places that people order often because it's fairly
- 52:57affordable -ish and it comes fairly fast depending
- 53:01on if it's busy or not. I mean, I don't know
- 53:03if you've ever showed up at the McDonald's as
- 53:05an Uber Eats or DoorDash driver and you have
- 53:08like 10, 15 other drivers waiting for an order.
- 53:11And your order could be ready in five minutes.
- 53:13It could be ready in 45 minutes. It's 12 midnight.
- 53:16It's one in the morning. You're grumpy. You want
- 53:18to go home. Like I've had those nights and I
- 53:20don't miss them at all. I'm getting, I'm getting
- 53:22triggered, man. We got stuff to talk about this
- 53:24stuff like this. You're bringing back some bad
- 53:27memories, man. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That McDonald's
- 53:33line. Yeah. No, I've had a lot of jobs, man.
- 53:35And I would, that's the one I'm scrubbing. That's
- 53:38the one I'm getting rid of. So Uber Eats. John
- 53:43Francois with the delicious culture podcasts
- 53:46celebrating the praises of pod match. Now, not
- 53:50only can you get paid to release interviews as
- 53:53a podcast host when you have an account through
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- 54:01to as many people is guesting on other people's
- 54:04podcasts. So the great thing about pod match
- 54:06is that you can set up both a host and guest
- 54:09profile. You can toggle back and forth like,
- 54:11okay, I want to host this person and that person
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- 54:22they get paid. So it's like just this back and
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- 55:00Houston, what is a delicious meal that you've
- 55:02had lately? Should've thought about these before
- 55:04I came on here. That's okay. Delicious meal,
- 55:07dang it. Any recent delicious meal that comes
- 55:10to mind, doesn't have to be a fancy thing. It
- 55:11could be anything. Does that have to be a meal
- 55:13or can it be a snack? It could be a snack, sure.
- 55:18Let's break the system. Okay, yeah, I'm sorry.
- 55:22I'm sorry, man. Yeah, it's a snack. Recently,
- 55:26so... My mom, she went to the movies together
- 55:31weeks ago and she wanted some popcorn. She wanted
- 55:35the caramel corn stuff. It was really salty and
- 55:37gross. The caramel corn was salty and gross that
- 55:40they were serving. She's like, I need to pick
- 55:43my own popcorn. I need to get my own caramel
- 55:45corn. I'm like, yeah, you can do it, I guess.
- 55:47I don't know how that would work. She wouldn't
- 55:49leave it alone. I see her one day. some weeks
- 55:53afterwards and she's making it. She looked it
- 55:56up online, looked up the recipe and learned how
- 55:58to make caramel corn like the kind you would
- 56:01buy at a theater via online and made it. She
- 56:04got the pot, got the brown sugar and the corn
- 56:07syrup and the vanilla and the baking soda, whatever
- 56:09else you needed, figured it out, made it. I helped
- 56:12her out too. Like when she made the base stuff,
- 56:15I made some like radio popcorn, helped her turn
- 56:17it and it came out really good. And she's been
- 56:20making it a lot. She's making like giant batches
- 56:22of it. And so it's been a really good snack.
- 56:26And so like that's, and it's caramel corn. Yeah,
- 56:30I really love popcorn a lot. I'm since the big
- 56:32movie guy. But, and this stuff, I don't know,
- 56:36it just scratches that sweet itch. And because
- 56:39she's made a lot the other day, like literally,
- 56:41it's on my mind freshly, because she made some
- 56:43literally like yesterday and she made like a
- 56:45ton of it. So ever since she's learned how to
- 56:48do it, it's been a thing. Yeah. I love that.
- 56:52I have to get out of my head that popcorn like...
- 56:56caramel flavored popcorn and maple flavored popcorn,
- 57:00which of course is a big thing in Vermont this
- 57:02time of year. I mean, Vermont, obviously maple
- 57:04syrup, all things maple, that's heavily associated
- 57:07with Vermont. But right now we're in fair season
- 57:09where there's a bunch of counties, state fairs
- 57:12all across the state. And you'll get your maple
- 57:15creamies, which I don't know if you know what
- 57:17they are, but it's basically a fancy soft served
- 57:21maple flavored ice cream. cone that, uh, is very
- 57:27popular in Vermont. Like you come, you come here
- 57:29during the summer, you get yourself a maple creamy
- 57:31and you feel like you've lived, but maple flavored
- 57:34popcorn, you could, you could belong that into
- 57:36the category. Um, any, any popcorn that's not
- 57:40the simple salt and butter flavored, I always
- 57:42consider it as like carnival popcorn, like popcorn
- 57:45that I would go to a state fair or a carnival
- 57:48and eat. So I would love to. have an experience
- 57:51where I try your mom's homemade caramel popcorn
- 57:55at home and not feel like I should go to a carnival.
- 57:59Does that make sense? You know, it makes sense,
- 58:03yeah, you associated with the place. Yeah, and
- 58:05this popcorn, to her credit, I will say she nailed
- 58:08it. It doesn't taste like homemade. It tastes
- 58:13like the stuff. It tastes like what you would
- 58:15buy. Like, this is freaking great, you know,
- 58:18so. That's fantastic. Yeah. Speaking of popcorn,
- 58:21I mean, if you want a late night snack idea,
- 58:24I've been lately into a big bag of Orville Redenbacher's
- 58:30popcorn. I know it's not homemade. I know it's,
- 58:32you know, that pre -made, you know, crap, but
- 58:34whatever. I don't care. Orville Redenbacher's
- 58:37buttery popcorn. with a nice big cup of vanilla
- 58:41ice cream, just like that salty and sweet mixture.
- 58:44That's my vibe. You look at me as if you're judging
- 58:48me, Houston, that's fine, but I dig that. I'm
- 58:54not judging you. It's very good. It tastes great.
- 58:58I know that tastes good. I know it does, because
- 59:02it's popcorn and ice cream. My mind just went
- 59:04to how I had to stop eating. Not had to. I can't
- 59:08eat microwave popcorn anymore. I'm too scared.
- 59:12I saw this one YouTube video about the whole
- 59:14microplastic situation that everyone is known
- 59:18about for some years now. Like how much is in
- 59:20your food and everything. And I was like, oh
- 59:23man, popcorn, like microwave popcorn specifically
- 59:26is like one of the biggest offenders of that.
- 59:29Like you get so much in that popcorn that I can't,
- 59:33I was too convicted. Like I can't eat it without
- 59:35thinking about it. So are you saying that I'm
- 59:36eating plastic every time I eat microwave popcorn?
- 59:38Well, whatever YouTube video I saw is telling
- 59:40you that. I'm pretty sure, was it Vsauce or was
- 59:43it something? It wasn't Vsauce, sorry. It was
- 59:46some other reputable channel. Was it Veritasium?
- 59:49That's what it was. It was very tastier. Like
- 59:51it was a 40 something a minute informational
- 59:54YouTube video as I like science videos. And it
- 59:57was talking about microplastics, how to start
- 59:59it, where they are, how you get them, blah, blah,
- 1:00:01blah, blah, blah, health factors, health, whatever.
- 1:00:03And popcorn was like on the list. And I was like,
- 1:00:05dang it. Cause as a kid, I used to love popcorn,
- 1:00:08micro popcorn specifically so much. I used to
- 1:00:10open up the thing when it was done and lick like
- 1:00:13the wrapper. That's how much I know. When I say
- 1:00:17I feel you on the popcorn ice cream thing, I
- 1:00:19get it. I know that's good. I just can't, I just,
- 1:00:24I'm not that guy anymore. You've been told that
- 1:00:26there's poison in microwave popcorn and now you
- 1:00:28can't eat it anymore. I can't look at it the
- 1:00:30same. Even if someone told me there's not, I'd
- 1:00:32be like, are you sure? That's understandable.
- 1:00:34I've got to look at that YouTube video and see
- 1:00:36what you're talking about. And maybe that'll
- 1:00:37change my mind as well. Don't, don't, don't,
- 1:00:39don't, don't, don't, don't. Ignorance is bliss.
- 1:00:41Stay where you're at. So you're basically inviting
- 1:00:43me to eat plastic and poison and die. I'm not,
- 1:00:46I'm not inviting you. I'm saying just don't come
- 1:00:49to my side. Once you know you'll be poisoned
- 1:00:52like me and you may have like, oh no, I didn't
- 1:00:55know it was that bad. That much is it. If I could
- 1:00:59go back in time to where I didn't know. Yeah,
- 1:01:03it would be a sweet time. Sweet time. Yeah. What's
- 1:01:07your delicious pop culture obsession that you've
- 1:01:09had lately? This could be easy for you to answer
- 1:01:12since you claim to be a big movie guy. Oh, claim.
- 1:01:15Pulling my card, huh? Anything you're watching
- 1:01:18or listening to. It doesn't have to be a movie.
- 1:01:20It could be a TV show, podcast, music, anything.
- 1:01:22Anything in the culture. Yeah, this question's
- 1:01:24a little too easy. There's too much crap to choose
- 1:01:26from. I think most recently, I think right now,
- 1:01:30to date this episode, Lanterns is on. So I'm
- 1:01:33watching Lanterns. I missed the last episode,
- 1:01:37which is episode two. I just saw the pilots.
- 1:01:38I have to see Lanterns probably tonight, probably
- 1:01:40after this. Um, and then, then I'll be caught
- 1:01:44up. But I like, I like so far, so good. It's
- 1:01:47only one episode, but I like the dramatic take
- 1:01:48they've taken. Um, I had to finish King of the
- 1:01:51Hill the last season, the latest season. I love
- 1:01:53King of the Hill. It's like one of my favorite
- 1:01:55shows. And this rebirth, reboot thing they got
- 1:01:58going on actually keeps the spirit of the original
- 1:02:01very well. So I love King of the Hill. The best
- 1:02:05movie I've seen out of the three big ones that
- 1:02:07are out right now with Spider -Man and The Odyssey.
- 1:02:12And I think those were the big ones right now.
- 1:02:15Spider -Man and The Odyssey came out not too
- 1:02:17long ago. I like The Odyssey better. I do love
- 1:02:19Brand New Day, but I like The Odyssey better.
- 1:02:23Yeah, something's coming out pretty soon. Not
- 1:02:25Doomsday, but yeah, I think the big movies are
- 1:02:28all done until Doomsday. I think that was the
- 1:02:31last big... Is that the latest Avengers movie
- 1:02:34that you're talking about? Doomsday, Avengers?
- 1:02:36Yeah, that's coming out in December and I already
- 1:02:38have my ticket bought. I'm already, not because
- 1:02:41I'm so excited to see what Marvel's gonna do,
- 1:02:44but because I have to. It's kind of like my job.
- 1:02:49And also I do care. even if it were bad, I'd
- 1:02:53still feel like I'm too invested, you know? The
- 1:02:56sunk cost fallacy or something. Like I have too
- 1:02:59much invested in this. I think the last big Avengers
- 1:03:01movie was Endgame back in like 2019. I remember
- 1:03:04going to the movie theater in Connecticut when
- 1:03:07I was visiting home, you know. And this was like
- 1:03:11only my second year here in Vermont. I saw a
- 1:03:14movie with my brother and cousin. And I know
- 1:03:17the big thing, the big press around Avengers
- 1:03:19Endgame was how long it was. I think it was like
- 1:03:21somewhere between three and four hours. But nonetheless,
- 1:03:24it was a good movie. You know, great action.
- 1:03:27And I believe, spoiler alert, I think Iron Man
- 1:03:29dies in that movie. And maybe he comes back to
- 1:03:32life. That did you not see endgame or you? Say
- 1:03:38I was like you being a big Marvel fan you haven't
- 1:03:40seen endgame yet So I'm curious to see what they
- 1:03:43do with doomsday. I have not seen spider -man
- 1:03:45yet I know I could have sworn that you and I
- 1:03:47talked about spider -man and the Odyssey either
- 1:03:50on your podcast or via like online chat But spider
- 1:03:54-man I've heard good things about the Odyssey.
- 1:03:56I mean, I don't know. I'm kind of like mixed
- 1:03:58on that because it was I vaguely remember going
- 1:04:03over that in high school and like an English
- 1:04:06class or whatever, but I just am not interested
- 1:04:09enough to like really want to see the movie.
- 1:04:11I've heard good things about it. So Christopher
- 1:04:12Dolan, obviously a great director, you know,
- 1:04:15Dark Knight and so on and so forth. He has a
- 1:04:18great track record. So I will consider seeing
- 1:04:21The Odyssey based on the fact that... It's him
- 1:04:24and he is known to direct great movies. And then
- 1:04:29you had mentioned Lanterns. I was looking up
- 1:04:30Lanterns right now. Yeah, I've been hearing about
- 1:04:33that. Kyle Chandler, who I love so much from
- 1:04:36Friday Night Lights. And there was a show on
- 1:04:39Netflix that he did that was Fantastic Bloodline.
- 1:04:41So glad to see him. Aaron Pierre playing Jon
- 1:04:45Stewart. I saw him, this is weird. I don't know
- 1:04:48if you've ever seen the show, The Morning Show
- 1:04:50on Apple TV Plus with like Jennifer Aniston and
- 1:04:53Reese Witherspoon. I don't have Apple TV. So
- 1:04:55I know what you're talking about. I haven't seen
- 1:04:57it because of that fact. I believe he plays the
- 1:04:59love interests of Greta Lee's character in The
- 1:05:02Morning Show. So when I saw the trailer for Lantern
- 1:05:04some time ago, it was like, oh yeah, there's
- 1:05:06that guy from The Morning Show. Yeah. But this
- 1:05:09is like a modern sort of dramatic retelling of
- 1:05:12Jon Stewart, The Green Lantern, correct? Yeah.
- 1:05:15Yeah, I mean, it's wrapped up into the modern
- 1:05:17day DCU. So that's going to be the Lancer we're
- 1:05:20going to have now moving forward in this whole
- 1:05:23James Gunn era of DC. Yeah, I can't wait to see
- 1:05:27it. This could be, I mean, I'm sure my brother
- 1:05:31CJ, who's I think still into the superhero stuff,
- 1:05:34he might like it. So I will get into that when
- 1:05:38I have a chance, which might be never. But I'm
- 1:05:41glad you reminded me, because maybe I will get
- 1:05:43into it. Hey, yeah, maybe, yeah. Hopefully it's
- 1:05:46good, by the way. Like, if the whole thing comes
- 1:05:48out, and this episode comes out, and I say lanterns,
- 1:05:51and everyone's like, oh, that was terrible. Then
- 1:05:52I'm like, I'm going to feel... I feel responsible
- 1:05:55for messing up people's day, I don't know. So
- 1:05:57I hope it's good. I hope it ends well, yeah.
- 1:06:00So you've seen how many episodes so far? One.
- 1:06:05Oh yeah, yeah, because HBO Max, they do it like,
- 1:06:07they release it weekly. They don't release it
- 1:06:09all at once. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I can't actually
- 1:06:12tell you if it's good or not in totality. Well,
- 1:06:16time will tell, time will tell. Okay, all right.
- 1:06:18But by the way, I don't know how much time there
- 1:06:20is, but can I ask you a question? Sure, go. Do
- 1:06:24you, what's your, maybe this is unfair, what's
- 1:06:26your favorite, what's your best movie and what's
- 1:06:28your worst least favorite movie? Oh my God, that's
- 1:06:31a hard one. Cause I've watched God knows how
- 1:06:32many movies in my almost 35 years of living.
- 1:06:35Yeah, yeah. One of your favorites, one of the
- 1:06:37worst. I mean, look, I would say a favorite movie
- 1:06:41that always comes to mind is Remember the Titans.
- 1:06:44Speaking of Payden Penetriere, who recently passed
- 1:06:47away. She was a child actor. She was the daughter
- 1:06:50of like the white football coach in that movie.
- 1:06:52Oh, what? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was
- 1:06:56kind of bizarre because my wife and I, we saw,
- 1:06:59well, she slept through some of it. I saw mostly
- 1:07:02the first episode of that show, Nashville, that
- 1:07:05Hayden was in. And she had a little bit of a
- 1:07:10sexy thing going on with a character who, the
- 1:07:15actor, he happened to be one of the football
- 1:07:18players from Remember the Titans. And the weirdness
- 1:07:21of seeing Hayden and this actor make out in the
- 1:07:26closet when rewind back to 2000, Hayden was like
- 1:07:3010 years old and this football player was supposed
- 1:07:33to play like a high school age guy. And I mean,
- 1:07:36nothing creepy was happening. And remember the
- 1:07:37Titans went between them, but like to go from
- 1:07:40that to like, oh yeah, Hayden and this actor
- 1:07:43are both adults and they could still do that.
- 1:07:44It was just kind of weird. But anyway, so remember
- 1:07:47the Titans because it's Denzel because there's
- 1:07:49a there's just a classic inspirational sports
- 1:07:54drama feel. I will always go to that as a favorite
- 1:07:57movie of mine. Like I could still watch that
- 1:07:5926 years later and just be very moved and just
- 1:08:03and love it to pieces. My least favorite movie?
- 1:08:08God, wow. A movie that I really just did not
- 1:08:12care for. Probably that movie with Pedro Pascal
- 1:08:16and... Krogu? No, it was Pedro Pascal, and Dakota
- 1:08:23Johnson, and I think Chris Pine. Oh, wait, wait,
- 1:08:26wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on,
- 1:08:27it's, hold on, don't say it, hold on, don't say
- 1:08:30the name of the movie, oh God, hold on, don't
- 1:08:32say the name. You want me to give you a hint?
- 1:08:35Superficial, no, it's like superficial, but it's
- 1:08:36not, it's another word for superficial, it's
- 1:08:38like. Materialist. Dang it, yes, I was trying
- 1:08:41to think of, yeah, yeah, the materialist. You
- 1:08:44don't like the materialist? Okay, all right.
- 1:08:46Yeah, and it's sad because the director of that
- 1:08:48movie directed one of the greatest romance dramas
- 1:08:50ever, Past Lives, a movie starring Greta Lee,
- 1:08:54who was in The Morning Show, and... Yeah, so
- 1:08:58Dakota, she was like playing this ambitious New
- 1:09:00York City matchmaker who finds herself caught
- 1:09:01in a love triangle between a wealthy financier
- 1:09:04and her imperfect ex. So the financier was played
- 1:09:07by Pedro and the imperfect ex was played by Chris
- 1:09:10Evans. I'm sorry, I got my Chris's mixed. But
- 1:09:12you saw the movie. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot
- 1:09:14of Chris's and yeah, I saw the movie, yeah. Yeah,
- 1:09:16I just, I didn't like it. Dakota Johnson's acting
- 1:09:22is crap. I'm never into whatever vibe she gives
- 1:09:27off on screen. And I don't like love triangles.
- 1:09:30I think they're just absolutely annoying. I just
- 1:09:32feel like if you have to fight over someone,
- 1:09:36no, leave, leave that situation. It's more work
- 1:09:41than it's worth. And yeah, in Dakota Johnson's
- 1:09:44character, she just came off as this like very...
- 1:09:49Materialistic. Yeah, but she also had this, like,
- 1:09:52victimhood mentality thing about her, where,
- 1:09:55like, any time, like, she was challenged in a
- 1:09:59way by either boyfriend, it was just like, oh,
- 1:10:03God, like, instead of, like, taking accountability,
- 1:10:06she just had this air of, oh, God, like, I don't
- 1:10:09deserve anything. This always happens to me.
- 1:10:11Like, ugh, like, that kind of thing. That's what
- 1:10:16those are some of the things that I remember
- 1:10:17from that movie. Um, yeah, me and my wife watched
- 1:10:20it and we weren't like particularly crazy about
- 1:10:22it. It was very weird. The sexual assault part
- 1:10:25of it was weird. It was just, it just seemed
- 1:10:29to awkwardly misplaced. It was like, Oh, we're
- 1:10:31doing a love triangle, but we're also doing a
- 1:10:33sexual assault angle with some other character
- 1:10:37in the movie. It was not the experience that
- 1:10:41I thought it would be, but it sounds like you
- 1:10:43liked it better than I did. Yeah, no, I liked
- 1:10:45it better than you did. But I mean, I see all
- 1:10:47the fuzz you're talking about. Well, tell me
- 1:10:50why you liked it. Well, first, I want to acknowledge,
- 1:10:53like, yeah, Dakota Johnson, she's not that great
- 1:10:54of an actress. The love triangle thing doesn't
- 1:10:57bother me that much, but I get why it would bother
- 1:11:01you. You know, like, I get why it bothers someone.
- 1:11:06The victim put stuff, I guess I didn't see too
- 1:11:09much of that. I guess I saw her character as
- 1:11:11you're supposed to not like her. Because like,
- 1:11:14you know, it's called the materialist and I,
- 1:11:16yeah, it applies to her or can apply to the three
- 1:11:19of them. Materialist, I think it's like is a
- 1:11:22singular slash pluralish. You can use it to describe
- 1:11:25one or multiple things, I think. But so I kind
- 1:11:28of saw her from the from a go with someone unlikeable.
- 1:11:31So I was kind of just. in it for the story of
- 1:11:35it all. But I know how the movie, like the movie
- 1:11:37made it set out to be at the end, like when she
- 1:11:39ends up going back to her ex. I know the movie
- 1:11:43made it out to be like, oh my God, we're rooting
- 1:11:45for them. This is supposed to be a happy ending.
- 1:11:48But like I wasn't, like I was like, I still don't
- 1:11:51really vibe with your character, Dakota. You
- 1:11:54know what I think I liked it a little bit more
- 1:11:56than, outside of us being different people, different
- 1:11:58tastes, but you know what I think I liked it
- 1:11:59more than you did is because... My viewpoint
- 1:12:02of seeing her as the natural sort of, not villain,
- 1:12:05but the natural, unlikable person, didn't make
- 1:12:09me look at the end with like, oh, she got what
- 1:12:11she deserved, happy ending for her. I saw it
- 1:12:14more as, so this is love. Like the two, what
- 1:12:17he had, Chris Pine, or Evans, sorry, Evans, Captain
- 1:12:20America, whatever, liked her a lot, that like
- 1:12:25love won out. I saw it as like a love story,
- 1:12:27where the focus isn't necessarily about the characters,
- 1:12:29it's more about, the love story, the situation.
- 1:12:33Like he loved her despite her materialism. And
- 1:12:36then she even says it out loud, I'm too materialistic.
- 1:12:40Like literally that's a line in the movie where
- 1:12:42she says like the name of the movie is like,
- 1:12:45I'm too materialistic. It's like, and Chris Evans
- 1:12:48is broke. He's poor in the movie. He's like,
- 1:12:50I can't afford the nice things. I think he says
- 1:12:53that at one point too, just saying, I can't afford
- 1:12:55it. I want diamonds. And like, but they still
- 1:12:58love each other. And even though these people
- 1:13:01probably shouldn't be together, they have true,
- 1:13:04true, I have to use quotations here, but true
- 1:13:07love in that they're still attached, attracted
- 1:13:10to each other in that honest, beyond materialism
- 1:13:13way. She's such a terrible person, but love is
- 1:13:17bigger than her in that she's still attracted
- 1:13:18to Chris Evans. That's what I thought was the
- 1:13:21takeaway. And I was able to go, huh. Interesting
- 1:13:23and didn't move on, but it kind of was just.
- 1:13:27So it didn't bother me, but it didn't impress
- 1:13:29me either. It was kind of just like, that's an
- 1:13:32interesting take on love in this. unlikable person.
- 1:13:36Love is better. Like, she can't escape love's
- 1:13:39grasp. Love even captures this unlikable person.
- 1:13:42And this nice guy who Captain America Chris Evans
- 1:13:45was and tracked him together. And Pedro Pascal
- 1:13:48was the third guy on the top who was, like, was
- 1:13:51really great, but she just didn't love. And her
- 1:13:53materialism couldn't even make her love him.
- 1:13:56And he did like her. So... I thought the message
- 1:13:59was more interesting than the character of Dakota
- 1:14:03Johnson was playing in general, because she was
- 1:14:05already unlikable to me. Sorry, I thought that
- 1:14:07was a long -winded explanation. No, no, no. I
- 1:14:09think that's a very interesting take on it, and
- 1:14:11I totally get what you're saying. I don't know,
- 1:14:14maybe I'll give it another watch and see if I
- 1:14:17come out with another opinion. I don't think
- 1:14:20it's worth it, man. I was just sharing something.
- 1:14:23You don't have to take my... No, no, no, no,
- 1:14:26no, no. I like your perspective. Going back to
- 1:14:31Kodak Johnson's terrible acting, I think that
- 1:14:33toward the end of the movie, when she was having
- 1:14:36a park bench moment, it dawned on me and I said
- 1:14:39this to my wife who was sitting next to me watching
- 1:14:41the movie, like... she would, she's perfect as
- 1:14:43like a narrator, like an audio book narrator.
- 1:14:45Like she has that kind of read, you know what
- 1:14:47I mean? Like she has that very monotone, soothing,
- 1:14:50calming voice that works good as an audio book
- 1:14:53narrator, but as an actress where you would want
- 1:14:55more layers. more of a variety and vocal tone
- 1:14:59and emotional tone. She just doesn't work for
- 1:15:01me. But the reaction you just gave indicated
- 1:15:04to me that she wouldn't work for you as an audiobook
- 1:15:06narrator. I'm sorry. That was a natural reaction,
- 1:15:09truly. I wasn't trying to help react. No, it's
- 1:15:11OK. No, I couldn't. No, I couldn't. I don't think
- 1:15:14her voice is that great for that, honestly, either.
- 1:15:17I'd much rather like a Scarlett Johansson or
- 1:15:19something like that. Or even what's her name
- 1:15:23from Devil Wears Prada? Anne Hathaway? No, sorry,
- 1:15:26her boss. I can't, oh God. Emily Blunt? No, her
- 1:15:30boss, the devil. What's her name? The devil?
- 1:15:33Oh, Meryl Streep. Thank you, Meryl Streep, Meryl
- 1:15:35Streep. I think they have a better voice. Meryl
- 1:15:39Streep's voice is great. Mary Popp and Julie
- 1:15:41Andrews, she has a great voice. I think they
- 1:15:43have a great, you have some personality. Tilda
- 1:15:45Johnson, the flatness? No, like it's flat, but
- 1:15:49it also has that kind of, this kind of a bit.
- 1:15:53of that sound, like the nasal in it too. I can't,
- 1:16:00I'm not a fan of the nasal sound and I couldn't,
- 1:16:04even though my voice has a bit of nasal in it
- 1:16:06though. I don't know, but whatever, agree to
- 1:16:09disagree. That's just an opinion thing. No, no,
- 1:16:10no, no, no, no, no. I totally get what you mean.
- 1:16:12I mean, there's definitely more. I don't know,
- 1:16:16there's definitely more character, there's more
- 1:16:19color, there's more interesting things you could
- 1:16:21do with a Meryl Streep or Scarlett Johansson,
- 1:16:24you know, those type of people as an audiobook
- 1:16:26narrator than a Dakota Johnson. So I totally
- 1:16:29get what you mean by that. You're starting a
- 1:16:33podcast or maybe you're trying to move an existing
- 1:16:37podcast over to the perfect podcast hosting provider
- 1:16:39But there's only one caveat you're hoping that
- 1:16:43the podcast hosting provider distributes your
- 1:16:46wonderful work everywhere people get podcasts
- 1:16:49most specifically Apple Spotify YouTube because
- 1:16:51that's where everybody is getting their podcasts
- 1:16:53and Maybe there's a service called RSS that might
- 1:16:58perfectly fit that description. Did you know
- 1:17:01that RSS is one of the world's largest podcast
- 1:17:04hosting companies by total number of episodes
- 1:17:07published? I'll tell you how many episodes. It
- 1:17:10would take you 118 years to listen to all the
- 1:17:14episodes published through RSS. So why not try
- 1:17:17it out? Completely free. Sign up with the link
- 1:17:20in my show notes. What's the delicious thing
- 1:17:24that's happened in your life lately, Houston?
- 1:17:28I am on a bunch of different podcasts now. That
- 1:17:32sounds promotional. I swear it's not, but I've
- 1:17:35been a host for a minute now since 2020 and I
- 1:17:38am just now becoming a guest on stuff. It was
- 1:17:42funny how you found me on the thing, by the way.
- 1:17:44I had just made it, man. I had just made the
- 1:17:47guest profile and you said, hey, you were just
- 1:17:50on my show and you're like... Hey, here you are.
- 1:17:52And I told you back when we were recording, like,
- 1:17:54oh, yeah, sorry, I don't have a guest one at
- 1:17:56the moment. And then I made it my mind because
- 1:17:59I was thinking about it for a minute, made it
- 1:18:00my mind to create the guest profile on pod match.
- 1:18:03And there it is. And now I'm a guest on different
- 1:18:06things and I'm learning how it feels to be a
- 1:18:08guest. I've been on one or two things, by the
- 1:18:10way, for the record of my career of podcasting,
- 1:18:12but not this many. And it's it's fun and it's
- 1:18:17different. It's a different learning experience
- 1:18:19because I don't know about you, right? You've
- 1:18:24been on more, you've been guesting, I think,
- 1:18:26longer than I have, right? You have a guest profile.
- 1:18:28Yeah, you do. I haven't been guessing on as many
- 1:18:31podcasts as I should, but I've guessed it on
- 1:18:35a decent amount. Okay. Yeah, I'm guessing on
- 1:18:39more and more and... Some of them have been really
- 1:18:41good, but some of them, like a good amount of
- 1:18:44them have been very dry. Where I'll go on and
- 1:18:46it's like, what is your favorite thing here?
- 1:18:50Or like, you know, I get some AI generated type
- 1:18:52questions where I know, I know they just took
- 1:18:54the description of my show and said, give me
- 1:18:57some questions about the description of this
- 1:18:58show. And I've gotten the same things of like,
- 1:19:01ah, some of them are good. Some of them are just,
- 1:19:03I've gotten twice or two, three times and I'm
- 1:19:05annoyed by it. And I'm like, well, I'll just
- 1:19:07show up and. Put this out, I guess. Or they'll
- 1:19:12put this out, I guess. And that's been annoying.
- 1:19:15So that, I don't know if that's a delicious thing,
- 1:19:17but it is delicious and it's not. I'm getting
- 1:19:20myself out there in a way I haven't before. And
- 1:19:24including this podcast, for instance. But I was
- 1:19:27actually, I did episode with you, so I know who
- 1:19:29you are. This was a bit different. Actually,
- 1:19:31you look like, oh yeah. Yeah, I know, John. This
- 1:19:34is... This is this is fine. This is good. I actually
- 1:19:37look forward to this one, but some of them yeah
- 1:19:40Yeah, yeah So I totally get what you mean as
- 1:19:45for the learning experience that you can get
- 1:19:47from guessing on other people's podcasts I totally
- 1:19:49get that my learning experience is just Knowing
- 1:19:54how to sell myself as a podcaster like friends
- 1:19:59for instance when I guess it on somebody's podcast
- 1:20:02I It was either I or them that came up with the
- 1:20:06term universal connectors. The fact that I like
- 1:20:08to get to know people and find these universal
- 1:20:11connectors of food, pop culture, and lifestyle
- 1:20:14that kind of bonds us all as opposed to divides
- 1:20:17us. It can be repetitious promoting yourself
- 1:20:22with these especially with these dry podcasters
- 1:20:25that just give you the Straightforward sort of
- 1:20:28AI questions of hey, so tell me about right share
- 1:20:31driving. So tell me about acting So tell me about
- 1:20:34food pop culture and lifestyle like, you know,
- 1:20:37but it you know in a way it does allow me to
- 1:20:39just sort of polish how I sell myself on a podcast
- 1:20:44because You don't really know what your podcast
- 1:20:49is about until, like, you just say it out loud
- 1:20:52often enough. What it's about, like, it makes
- 1:20:55sense to you internally, like, the more you host
- 1:20:57and guest people on, but it does take, like,
- 1:21:01either saying it out loud to somebody at a bar,
- 1:21:03here's what my podcast is about, or talking at
- 1:21:06length about your podcast on someone else's podcast
- 1:21:08for you to really find out, okay. I think this
- 1:21:11is what this is about and let me find a way to
- 1:21:13like refine it, polish it, make it concise, make
- 1:21:16it make sense, make it very elevator pitchy where
- 1:21:20I can hook them on the first sentence. So that's
- 1:21:23the value that I've gotten from guessing on other
- 1:21:25people's podcasts. Now to the point of the dry
- 1:21:28podcasts, yeah, that's definitely something I've
- 1:21:31run into quite a bit and I've had to cancel a
- 1:21:34bunch of guest appearances because what I found
- 1:21:36with some of these guest appearances is that
- 1:21:39they seem to be this similar robotic foreign
- 1:21:44accented AI generated sounding hosts that has
- 1:21:51no personality whatsoever. One of them, we seem
- 1:21:58to get somewhere with them sounding somewhat
- 1:22:01like a human being, but it was only because I
- 1:22:03was like complimenting, but also underneath maybe
- 1:22:06like poking them on something that they tend
- 1:22:09to do with their guests every time their guests
- 1:22:12answer their questions. So, okay, let's do an
- 1:22:18example. I'll ask you a question. Actually, yeah,
- 1:22:22yeah, I'll ask you a question. Houston, what
- 1:22:24did you think of that envelope? Answer it however
- 1:22:26you'd like. I thought the envelope was a really
- 1:22:29good color. I like how it was yellow instead
- 1:22:31of white. It was a good envelope. Pause, pause.
- 1:22:36Thank you so much for that response. Every time
- 1:22:42the host followed up, it was, thank you so much
- 1:22:44for that response. I appreciate it. Is that how
- 1:22:48a human would normally talk? Thank you so much
- 1:22:50for that response. I haven't gotten that one
- 1:22:53yet. I haven't gotten that response guy yet.
- 1:22:55That sounds grating. Yeah. So I went from like,
- 1:23:00Oh, I'll guest on anybody else's podcast. And,
- 1:23:02you know, just so I can get the word out there
- 1:23:04to like actually starting to listen because pod
- 1:23:07match will give you the opportunity to like play
- 1:23:09some of these people's episodes and If right
- 1:23:12away from the jump I get somebody who's just
- 1:23:15very dry AI robotic sounding some kind of foreign
- 1:23:19accent Then I will not go for that and I will
- 1:23:26only leave space for the people that sound human,
- 1:23:30that sound engaging, that sound like I could
- 1:23:31have a good time with them. Yeah. Oh, real quick,
- 1:23:34sorry to jump in here too, but I've noticed if
- 1:23:37you go and look them up, and they started their
- 1:23:40podcast this year and they have 125, 100 and
- 1:23:44whatever plus episodes and they just started,
- 1:23:47I'm like, yeah, that's a red flag to me. And
- 1:23:50like, oh, we released four episodes today. I'm
- 1:23:53like, no. Yeah, like I just, like you're not,
- 1:23:57and like the episodes are like 15 minutes to
- 1:24:0030. It's like they're just, they're massive.
- 1:24:02guesting their mass releasing. It's like, oh,
- 1:24:05like, it's like, you know, this is almost entirely
- 1:24:09AI that I have. Oh, yeah. I'm not going to get
- 1:24:12down my, don't get me started on the whole AI
- 1:24:13thing. I'm not even going to go down that road
- 1:24:15with AI. Oh, no, no, no, no. And I know what
- 1:24:17you mean. And look, I am of the belief that AI
- 1:24:21can be used to help your content in a way that's
- 1:24:25not taking the humanity out of it. But yeah,
- 1:24:32when it basically just becomes the entire thing,
- 1:24:35like what I suspect these hosts are where you
- 1:24:38get the impression that, oh, there's just someone
- 1:24:41in a laboratory that's trying to make as much
- 1:24:43money as possible, as easily as possible through
- 1:24:45pod match. And they're just, like you said, that's
- 1:24:47a good term, mass guesting. It's like, oh, let
- 1:24:50me just like, you know, ask any guests to come
- 1:24:52on to talk about whatever the fuck they're talking
- 1:24:54about. and it could just be the most uninteresting,
- 1:24:57dry thing ever, but PodMax will pay me, and why
- 1:25:01not? And that's where it can become frustrating,
- 1:25:04when the art of podcasting is not being respected,
- 1:25:07where the human element of podcasting is not
- 1:25:08being respected, and now we're just trying to
- 1:25:11make money by any basic, common denominator means.
- 1:25:14So that's definitely frustrating, yeah. Yeah,
- 1:25:17yeah. Delicious. Delicious? No, I would say undelicious.
- 1:25:23What's the opposite of delicious? Vicious. I'm
- 1:25:28sorry. Uglylicious. I'm trying to figure out
- 1:25:32an opposite word for delicious, but whatever.
- 1:25:34Revolting, disgust. I've broken the rules again.
- 1:25:37My bad. No, no, you're good. There's no rules
- 1:25:39to be broken. This was a great conversation.
- 1:25:41The revolting, disgusting culture is going to
- 1:25:43be sort of my Bizarro podcast, whereas the delicious
- 1:25:48culture is my Superman. The disgusting, revolting
- 1:25:51culture will be my Bizarro. Hey, there you go.
- 1:25:54There you go. Houston, plug away. How can we
- 1:25:57find you? How can we find your podcast? How can
- 1:25:59we keep in touch with you or your social media?
- 1:26:01Go ahead. Cool. The shortcut to all of this is
- 1:26:04just Google. 1000 crazy questions and all my
- 1:26:07stuff will pop up wherever it should pop up I
- 1:26:10mean I of course I can plug one zero zero zero
- 1:26:14and like at the thousand crazy questions, you
- 1:26:16know at 1000 crazy questions on Instagram and
- 1:26:18the at Houston Pierce on tik -tok and at used
- 1:26:22in Houston Pierce on YouTube, but that's too
- 1:26:23much just look up 1000 crazy questions or Houston
- 1:26:28Pierce on Google and I'm sure all my stuff will
- 1:26:31pop up Houston Pierce is my movie review related
- 1:26:33stuff. It's mainly me talking about Things will
- 1:26:36be related. And A Thousand Crazy Questions is
- 1:26:38the name of the podcast. It's Apple Podcasts,
- 1:26:41Spotify, the rest, wherever you find your favorite
- 1:26:44podcasts. That's where it is. Season four coming
- 1:26:46out really soon, featuring one John Francois.
- 1:26:49So, if you like it. So, hey, he's in there. I
- 1:26:53forgot we're in the order. He is in the mix,
- 1:26:54but you'll know. And it's coming out really soon.
- 1:26:57I'm in the middle of recording and editing and
- 1:26:59I'm in editing record mode and it's gonna come
- 1:27:01out. I know a quick fire with a bunch of good
- 1:27:06shorts and all the other stuff once it's ready.
- 1:27:08So yeah. Awesome. I love that. All right. Until
- 1:27:11next time, everybody, let deliciousness ring.