Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: "Poor shamed" Community Goods college students, job loss storytime chaos + Patagonia vs. Pattie Gonia

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: "Poor shamed" Community Goods college students, job loss storytime chaos + Patagonia vs. Pattie Gonia · Mini Scroll

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  Coming up today on Mini Scroll, the college students who were
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  poor shamed for driving a Honda in LA.
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  A viral story, time gone wrong and Patagonia versus Patagonia.
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  Hi, everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
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  daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
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  from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host Lauren Meisner, the founder of the Australian
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  Youth Digital Media media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  Sorry that there was no episode on Tuesday.
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  I only said this at the very end.
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  So I feel like some people maybe didn't hear because maybe you
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  don't stay till the very, very end.
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  But I was quite sick over the weekend and I knew I had a huge
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  day on Tuesday. So I was like, OK, I have to do
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  a monster episode Monday and then if I need to take the day
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  off Tuesday from Mini, then I will do that.
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  And that is what I did. But I am back and I'm feeling
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  much better. So let's just get into it.
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  All right, the first story that I have for you guys today, a
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  college student named Johns is speaking out after he was quote,
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  UN quote, poor shamed for pulling up to Community Goods in
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  a Honda. This is crazy.
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  OK, so Johns and his friend went to get a matcha at Community
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  Goods after class. Community Goods, if you don't
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  know, is a cafe that is so popular in LA, it consistently
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  has lines down the block. There's been news articles
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  written about how popular this cafe is, and I guess it's well
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  known for its matcha. I suppose it's also well known
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  for attracting like a bougie clientele because earlier this
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  week a video started gaining some traction of Johns and his
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  friend filmed by someone on the street.
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  Another instance of filming random people in public.
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  We need to stop that. OK, pulling up to community
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  goods with the caption. Is that a Honda at community
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  Goods? Someone didn't get the memo.
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  This video started picking up some traction.
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  So John's made a video explaining that that was him and
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  his friend in the car. And then from that video, this
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  went proper viral. My friend and I were publicly
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  shamed for being poor at community goods.
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  This is the video A creator posted on TikTok.
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  My friend drives us in her Honda Accord and parks in front of the
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  community goods store. We get our matcha and then we
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  just go on about our day. The next morning after I wake up
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  I am scrolling on TikTok and I see that video.
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  I send it to my friend and I'm like isn't this your car?
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  It was in fact her car, the one we got out of 5 minutes before
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  that Lady started recording that video and the videos captioned.
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  Someone didn't get the memo because most cars that park
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  there are like luxury cars. Sorry, we're just college
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  students who paid tuition and we have not had the opportunity of
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  better economic mobility in comparison to the rest of LA.
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  We just wanted to get a fun drink after class.
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  Like who knew a girl with a Honda couldn't drink a matcha
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  latte? OK so everyone is so supportive
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  of him obviously. Like this is such an insanely
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  classist video, even if it was posted as a joke.
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  So after John's posted this video, the creator actually sent
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  him Adm. This is what it reads.
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  I just saw your video. OK, this was not the intent of
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  my post, the opposite actually. Anyway, this was supposed to be
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  a joke. Sorry if I've offended you, that
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  was absolutely not what this was about.
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  Oh that's a really good apology. Sorry if I offended you.
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  OK then she privated her account, changed her username
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  and her profile picture. Now on this video where John's
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  shared. So he made this update video.
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  After the original video, he made an update video sharing the
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  DM. So on this update video, the
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  creator left a comment, I think with her new username.
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  So it reads my post was about community goods at the PDC
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  location, which is known for having very expensive cars
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  parked outside. The video was originally posted
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  during Coachella when the typical crowd at that particular
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  location was not there, so there were more regular cars parked
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  outside than usual. The post was meant as a niche
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  joke about the specific location and the contrast with what is
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  usually there, Definitely not as a comment on someone's income or
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  about Honda specifically. That was never the point of the
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  post. I understand that if someone is
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  not familiar with the seen there, it could have easily been
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  interpreted completely different and I'm sorry for the way it
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  landed. I don't believe in shaming
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  people for how much money they have.
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  That was never my intention. I don't think anybody was
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  confused as to why this was posted.
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  I think it was very clear that it was posted because typically
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  the clientele is quite bougie like.
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  I think that was made quite clear.
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  People just didn't think that the video was very nice.
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  They thought it was very inappropriate and rude and they
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  were mad about it. So John says he doesn't know how
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  to feel about all of this, but he ended with a very sweet
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  message. If there's one thing that I hope
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  she takes away from this situation, it's that intent does
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  not erase implication. When we constantly frame
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  everyday things as less than, especially things that are tied
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  to money and status, it quietly normalizes classism.
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  And honestly, the fact that people here regular car and
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  instinctively think worse says a lot about how deeply status
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  culture has shaped our perception of value.
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  I don't know, it just seems like she's sorry because she got
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  caught, but what do you guys think?
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  OK, the next steps, something that we need to see, community
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  goods collab with Johns and his friend or Honda collab with
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  Johns and his friend or Honda and community goods together
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  collab with Johns and his friend.
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  We need some brand to jump on this.
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  His videos have all been made in the past couple of days, so it's
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  still very fresh and I'm really hoping we see something come
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  from this. All right, the next story that I
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  have for you guys today is a creator is going viral for a
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  series talking about how her colleague was about to lose her
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  job. So over the past 24 hours, a
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  creator named Tiffany has gone viral for sharing a story time
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  about how she warned A colleague she was about to get let go from
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  their company. The catch is that this allegedly
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  was all happening in real time. So Tiffany's first video was
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  posted yesterday and apparently that was the day that the firing
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  was going to take place. So Tiffany has made four videos
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  about the situation in the past 24 hours, and she has racked up
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  a total of 4.2 million views so far.
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  Tiffany works in IT at this company, so she says she gets
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  insight into like who's joining and who's leaving the company as
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  she is obviously required to set up their tech or disconnect
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  their tech. So she found out that this one
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  girl, that her company was being let go and that shocked her
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  because apparently this girl is just such a delight.
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  She's like a good person and she had just gotten a pay raise.
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  So Tiffany thought that was weird.
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  The other weird thing that she said about this situation was
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  that her manager, who by the way, Tiffany called a bitch in
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  this TikTok, OK, she said that her manager is a bitch.
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  So she says her manager and the HR manager kept telling Tiffany
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  this is like an ultra confidential situation.
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  So basically, Tiffany decided to tell this girl that she was
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  about to get fired on Tuesday because she thought the
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  situation was really confusing. And she kept on asking me like,
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  do you know why they're firing me?
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  Why are they firing me? Why, why, why?
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  And I'm like, I don't know. I don't get any of that
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  information. They just tell me what to do
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  with the assets. That's it.
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  Do you know this girl? Proceeds to tell me how the HR
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  lady who keeps on telling me confidential off board,
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  Confidential off board. Her and the HR girl were
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  actually friends before she started working at the company.
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  They go out to lunch sometimes, they chat, they text, they call,
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  they hang out outside of work. The girl was about to get fired.
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  She was chatting with her friend that works in HR and she was
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  telling her that she was so excited she just got a raise.
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  They were celebrating, you know, it was like a happy moment.
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  Somehow, someway, the HR girl goes back to my boss and tells
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  my boss about the conversation that oh, she was discussing her
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  pay and one thing led to another and the boss calls the girl
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  who's about to get fired into her office.
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  So my boss is telling her, why were you discussing that You got
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  a pay raise, you shouldn't be doing that.
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  And she really ripped into her. And the girl was like, oh, I
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  apologize. I didn't realize that I wasn't
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  able to discuss needing a pay raise.
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  So apparently Tiffany's manager was like really angry that this
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  girl had shared stuff about her pay with the HR manager, who's
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  her friend. And ever since then, she treated
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  her really differently. So she's like, I think that must
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  be why. So Tiffany post this first story
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  time yesterday, the day that this girl was meant to be fired.
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  Keep in mind Tiffany is still employed at this company
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  allegedly. OK so this is not like a
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  backdated story time. I mean as far as we know this
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  didn't happen years ago. Like this is happening in the
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  moment. So already everybody in the
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  comments is like girl, is your job safe with you posting this?
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  Like telling the Internet that you meddled with confidential
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  employee matters, called your boss a bitch and blasted all of
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  this on Tiktok. And that original video where
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  she says all this has 3.3 million views on its own.
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  So when I saw this video, I was thinking all those same things.
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  And I thought there's no way that this is real.
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  But I mean so far it seems like it is.
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  So she posts an update after the firing has been done.
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  A few hours later, telling Tiktok that this girl told
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  Tiffany she recorded the meeting where she was let go because
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  obviously she knew she was about to get let go and that she would
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  be taking legal action against the company.
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  So Tiffany's, like, so excited. She's like, Oh my God, I'm so
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  happy she's going to stand up for herself.
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  And like my warning to her gave her the ability to like be
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  protected against this and put these plans in place.
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  So I get here right at 9:00 and as I'm getting out of my car I'm
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  walking through the parking lot and I see my boss has already
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  walked her to the car with her belongings like she's out of
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  there. 9:00 on the dot she's removed like the conversation
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  has already happened. So I got to call my girl and see
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  what's up. So I call her and I'm like, what
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  happened? And she's like, well, my manager
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  pulled me into her office as soon as I got here this morning
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  and was like, you're being let go.
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  She said when she called her into the office, she hit the
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  record button 'cause she knew what time it was.
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  Ask her manager, why am I being let go?
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  And at that point the manager says my boss is gonna explain
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  further. So my boss enters the
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  conversation and she just proceeds to say it's not been a
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  good fit. So sometimes after she leaves
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  the building, she gets the e-mail that has the PDF with the
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  severance letter, basically that you are terminated.
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  And so she screenshots me the e-mail that she constructed in
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  response to my boss sending her the severance letter.
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  And it was something to the effect of thank you for sending
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  me the severance letter. I will have to have my attorney
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  review it since I'm not well versed in this.
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  Long story short, my girl is about to sue.
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  Again, Tiffany, why are you telling the Internet this if
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  it's true and it's all happening in real time?
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  Like this is not the right move. This is putting that girl at
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  risk. If the company sees Tiffany's
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  videos and then they know that she's thinking about taking
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  legal action against them and that she had recorded their
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  conversation, like that's putting that girl at risk too.
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  And don't get me wrong, Tiffany seems like a really genuine
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  person and like a ride or die kind of friend.
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  Like watching these videos, I genuinely believe her and I
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  genuinely like her, but taking all of this to the Internet was
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  obviously not a good decision, not just for the girl who was
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  fired, but also for her own job sake.
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  OK so in this update video she also addresses concerns about
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  her own job, saying that she is a contract employee and was
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  already aware that they weren't renewing her contract.
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  But again, don't you need references?
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  Like, you can probably never use this company now for references
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  And also putting company information out there, like
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  confidential information and talking about all of this,
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  putting that out there on TikTok.
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  Like if a future employer sees this, that's really going to
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  impact if they want to hire you or not.
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  Anyways, So then today she returned with a video sobbing,
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  saying that she has put her job at risk and for what?
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  Because she has since found out that this girl is not actually
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  going to take any legal action. And when Tiffany texted her to
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  say, like Tik Tok's rallying behind you, girl, we got your
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  back. Apparently she goes to Tiffany.
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  I always put myself out there. I always put myself on a limb.
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  I really jeopardized my job, you know, because I saw somebody who
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  was being wrongly terminated and, umm, I decided to step in
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  and do something about it. The update is that the the girl
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  that I did all that for, she doesn't actually want to pursue
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  a lawsuit and at. 1st I guess that didn't really.
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  Bother me because I realized that not everybody has the same
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  energy I have, right? But I guess what really bothers
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  me is that I reached out to the person and I told her how
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  everybody on TikTok is rallying for her.
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  And, you know, I, I reached out to her and she just completely
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  like blew me off. And there's been so many times
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  where I've been in this exact same position where it feels
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  like I am being the purest form of myself.
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  I see people that are in need and I help them and then at the
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  end of the day I'm exposed or or I am worse off in some way.
• 14:29
  I do think, I don't know why, I just like, love Tiffany.
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  I hope it doesn't come out that she's like some scammer or
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  something. I don't think she is like, I do
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  think that Tiffany's heart is in the right place, but like, I
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  don't know what it is about her. When I watch her videos, I
• 14:44
  believe her. I believe that this is from like
• 14:47
  the kindness of her heart and that she was really trying to do
• 14:50
  the right thing. But of course, this girl is
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  going to be freaked out. Finding out that Tiffany is
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  going viral, talking about her job loss.
• 14:57
  That is something that is so personal, it's so upsetting.
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  And for something that just happened, like literally
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  happened apparently yesterday for somebody that you're working
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  with to make content about that, like your job loss.
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  Like, it's not even you making content about your own job loss
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  like somebody else is making content about your job loss.
• 15:13
  Like this just happened. So this comment on TikTok, I
• 15:17
  think sums up how I feel about this.
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  It's from a user named Cara. And she wrote, I think the
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  problem is that you've centered yourself in someone else's
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  story. Give her space to deal with
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  losing her job and maybe take a break from TikTok.
• 15:28
  Now the final update in all of this is Tiffany has addressed
• 15:31
  her crying video saying that she has these big emotions and
• 15:34
  that's just part of who she is. OK.
• 15:36
  So I feel like y'all gotta y'all gotta chill in the comments.
• 15:41
  So you mean to tell me that you never had like a really bad day
• 15:47
  and the culmination of the day's events kind of get to you, And
• 15:52
  then it's just like the straw that breaks the camel's back?
• 15:57
  I would describe my final update as far as my plot twist series,
• 16:04
  as that moment where, yeah, it really is not that deep,
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  honestly. And one thing that you got to
• 16:14
  know about me is I can be very dramatic.
• 16:18
  Like that's why that's. What y'all?
• 16:21
  Signed up for, you know that, right?
• 16:24
  Like that was the whole thing. Like that's a big part of my
• 16:27
  personality is I can be very over the top and dramatic and
• 16:34
  I'm the main character in my story.
• 16:36
  So I sometimes forget that other people.
• 16:40
  Are. Going through their own thing
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  and they're processing things in their own way and their reaction
• 16:46
  is not necessarily the way that I would would react.
• 16:49
  But that doesn't mean that my reality is any less my reality.
• 16:54
  When you're someone like me who has big emotions all the time,
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  it comes in waves. Sometimes I'm able to let those
• 17:03
  emotions right out, other times they overpower me.
• 17:06
  And then you get a video like the one that you just saw of me
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  crying my eyes out because old girl didn't text me back.
• 17:16
  So watch the space, let's see if when I come back tomorrow for a
• 17:19
  Friday mini, if maybe Tiffany has made another video being
• 17:22
  like Psych, this was all a lie or this was all a troll or
• 17:25
  whatever. I don't know.
• 17:26
  I guess we'll see. I don't think it is.
• 17:29
  I mean, to me, it seems real. It seems genuine.
• 17:31
  Regardless, people are taking it as genuine and it is going off
• 17:35
  right now. All right.
• 17:36
  And the last story that I have for you guys today is climate
• 17:38
  activist and drag queen Patagonia is being sued by
• 17:42
  Patagonia. So outdoor apparel brand
• 17:45
  Patagonia is facing backlash after suing drag queen Patagonia
• 17:48
  over alleged trademark infringement.
• 17:51
  The lawsuit claims that Patty's name and merchandise are too
• 17:54
  similar to Patagonia's branding and could confuse consumers.
• 17:58
  So for anyone who doesn't know what Patagonia is a drag queen
• 18:00
  and a climate activist. She's been using this name and
• 18:03
  engaging in this activism under this name since 2018.
• 18:06
  So today Patty posted this lengthy video addressing the
• 18:09
  situation and claims that this lawsuit betrays the brand's own
• 18:12
  values and is trying to silence her work.
• 18:15
  In this open statement, she asked Patagonia to drop the case
• 18:18
  and argued that the legal battle could financially devastate her
• 18:21
  small business and her activism efforts.
• 18:23
  Hi everyone, it's Patagonia. Today, I'm breaking my silence
• 18:27
  about the lawsuit that the multibillion dollar corporation
• 18:30
  Patagonia has filed against me, a drag queen and climate
• 18:34
  activist, for trademark infringement.
• 18:36
  Patagonia told the media. They're only suing me for a
• 18:38
  dollar. What they're actually trying to
• 18:40
  do is to take away my name permanently and threaten me with
• 18:44
  more than $1 million in legal fees.
• 18:47
  This is not a brand conflict. This is a corporation trying to
• 18:50
  erase an activist. And this is how corporations
• 18:53
  bully individuals who cannot match their resources.
• 18:57
  Because this would take away not only my activism in my career,
• 19:00
  but also the livelihoods of the team I employ.
• 19:04
  This is a betrayal of Patagonia SCORE mission.
• 19:07
  Because if they're in business to save the home planet, why are
• 19:10
  they suing a climate activist? In response to this, Patagonia
• 19:14
  says that they have spent years trying to reach a private
• 19:16
  agreement before they ended up taking legal action, and they
• 19:20
  insisted that the lawsuit is about protecting its
• 19:22
  intellectual property, not attacking LGBTQ plus advocacy or
• 19:26
  creative expression. In her statement, Patty pushed
• 19:29
  back on those claims, saying she has never used Patagonia's
• 19:31
  official logo or branding, and she accused the company of
• 19:34
  bullying an activist who shares many of its environmental goals.
• 19:38
  She also argued that the lawsuit, regardless of its
• 19:40
  intention, sends the wrong message during Pride Month and
• 19:43
  that it's interesting timing given the war on LGBTQIA rights
• 19:48
  and drag queen performers around the world at the moment.
• 19:50
  Even if this is how trademark law works and they have a valid
• 19:54
  case, the reality is that the court of public opinion is
• 19:59
  raking Patagonia over the cold for filing this lawsuit and if
• 20:03
  this continues to blow up, I think it could cause real PR
• 20:06
  damage long term for the brand. And another thing that people
• 20:10
  are saying is it is crazy that Patagonia is doing this
• 20:13
  considering a lot of drag Queens are kind of named.
• 20:17
  Like after brands or have like a play on words when it comes to
• 20:20
  their names and how it references pop culture and
• 20:22
  brands. And like Trixie, Mattel for
• 20:24
  example, like Mattel Barbie and Mattel has been over the years
• 20:29
  pretty supportive of Trixie. And I just think it is so short
• 20:34
  sighted of Patagonia to have filed this lawsuit at this
• 20:39
  current time if they have been fighting this for years.
• 20:41
  While you really picked the worst time in history to be
• 20:46
  filing this lawsuit, like could you have not just taken the L
• 20:50
  like I don't know, I, I just, I don't know.
• 20:53
  Anyways, guys, that's it for mini scroll today.
• 20:55
  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
• 20:57
  Please remember to rate review and subscribe.
• 20:59
  It helps us so much. It helps us grow.
• 21:01
  And I will talk to you guys tomorrow for a Friday mini
• 21:04
  scroll bye. Centennial World Podcast Network
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• 21:10
  Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this
• 21:13
  land, and pay our respects to elders both past and present.