Bad Sleep, Getting Ghosted by Your Boss, and a Birthing Class Recap You Didn’t Know You Needed

Have you been to a birthing class recently? We're talking about something not a lot of people do. Sleep. I sure as hell don't. From Ross's crazy nightmares. To coming up with comebacks hours after the argument. We're talking about crying to your dog. running in heels, and we also give you some advice for when your manager is ghosting you. This episode covers a lot. Enjoy.

Welcome back to Remoted. What's fun about this is that we're actually both in San Francisco. And we spent an hour like, I need to save time. Like, I don't have time to get to the office and do the recording and do the setup. And then we actually spent an hour and a half setting up our microphones. Don't you worry, team. It still sucked our time. We is a generous term. I did. I forgot my Logitech camera. Your mic. My mic.

So I'm kind of DIYing it if I sound muffled, if it's picking up a lot of ambient sound. Apologies.

Yeah. Well, the good news is at least you're in your apartment this time and there's not a bunch of roommates running around, right? Right. And yeah, big announcement to the Motorheads. I moved in with my partner, Matt. I'm so excited. He's not home. He would have helped with the camera setup. It's been so fun. Living with a boy is such a new, fun, exciting thing that I've never done. That's not true. You lived in a house full of dudes.

In LA with me. An Airbnb for a month is so different than I actually can't escape this ever. And this is actually the rest of my life. That's true. That's true. What has been your least favorite part and your most surprising thing? The least favorite part is just.

one thing but it's already been fixed we were heading to Aspen for the weekend and we're like moving so there's a ton of boxes there's a ton of crap everywhere there was like food in the sink and we're late for our flight and we just left it I'm like, oh my god, so we have to come back to this hungover on Sunday? Like, I've never done that in my life. I leave my room so clean before trips. And I had to be like,

Just so you know, this is kind of my standard for when I leave the apartment. He's like, oh, awesome. For sure. Honest. For sure. He's amazing. We love an adaptable man. He's so malleable. He does a ton. Yeah, he's great. So next trip we will be cleaning up before. What's the most surprising?

most surprising is just like I am used to my routine and my like having my space and doing my like 50 step skincare routine and it's just it's not that we haven't like shared space for and we of course have been doing that and cohabitating for a really long time but it's like oh this is my house where i will now be like

doing this every single night yeah and not really having that that alone time or space but i love it i mean it's great it's so fun it's exciting we're decorating the whole place he's such a great partner in all of it. He's like, okay, let's make a list. What do we have to do? Let's go to the hardware store. He's just a good kid. He's just such a good guy. He's a good kid with a big heart. He really is. He really is.

And I'm a bad kid, so I needed that kind of good versus evil mentality. Yin and yang sort of situation. What was it like for you when you moved in with Becca 18 years ago? What was it like? I don't really remember anything drastically changing. I think she knew.

she has seen me live in squalor for years and i was gonna say it's probably more of an adjustment for her than you know you're like great it's kind of clean here she lived with my housemates for a month in LA in college in the shittiest house ever like they knocked it down after we moved out the rat infested the rat infested ants infested ants had the downstairs rats had

several other rooms downstairs but they would come upstairs i'd be like get get out of here i saw one poke its head under my door this is my room this is mine i'm like guys becca's here And I was sleeping on a crack mattress. You know, it was on the ground. This is a fun fact about me. And perhaps unsurprising, I bought a queen bed frame. but a full bed mattress.

So it just sinks down into the middle. I stuffed like the left hand third with newspaper and blankets and like other pillows. So you kind of like roll off the mattress into this soft sort of cushy little third in the corner. And I took the bed frame and flipped it upside down so the legs were pointed up and they were very sharp. And I cut myself so many times stumbling back into my room in college. You are so lucky that...

You were with Becca for so long and she put up with that. You're the actual guy that girls make joking videos about waking up in their frat or their dorm. that's true that guy that's like oh good morning that crazy night there's like a tray of lasagna in your bed No, I've grown up now. Now I also have a standard for cleanliness. And other than this particular office, which is full of props and cameras and lights and bullshit, the rest of the house, or rather apartment, is

I would say pretty clean. I'm going to tell a story about actually the most surprising thing that happened last night, but I blacked it out of my memory. Oh, God. Matt, five minutes before we're about to sit down at dinner, goes, can I have two friends over? Sam and Harrison are visiting. I'm like, oh my God, Sam and Harrison would love to see them. Come on over. Three beers later, they're like,

Let's get another case of beer. It's 930. I'm like, how about you guys go out to the bars and go hang out? I'm like tricking them. That could be fun. I'm like leaving a fruit loop trail to the front door. They're like, yeah, for sure. So they leave 9.30. I put on my silk bonnet. I'm in my PJs. I'm doing my full skincare routine. We'll have to get your nighttime routine, yeah. Yeah, well, that'll be a different episode.

And then I get tucked in bed, and at 1.45 a.m. on a Tuesday, I'm woken up to wrestling. They're doing a fight night in our living room. And we have the sweetest neighbors below us who have already texted us like, hey, can you carpet the place? It's been a little... I go out. I'm panicking. I'm whisper screaming. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They have no sense of time or place. They think they're Mike Tyson and Jake Paul in the fight. I mean, they don't even know I'm there. They're throwing haymakers. They're throwing pillows. It's so reckless. I'm like, oh my god. I finally get them to stop. I go... is your uber here when are you guys leaving they go oh we're just gonna crash on the couch no no no no no call an uber now and leave Wow. So that was fun. So how was waking up this morning from Matt?

Matt had a great wake up. He is so happy. He's spry. He's chipper. Okay. Okay. So that was my night. What are we talking about this episode? We're mixing it up a little bit. So first of all, welcome motorheads. Welcome to all of you back to Remoted. I don't know if we mentioned that at all. Hi, it's good to see you all.

We're doing some new segments today, and we're talking about... I don't know if this will be relatable to anybody because I don't know if people do this or not, but we're talking about sleep. Do you guys do that? Do you guys sleep? If you do sleep, let us know in the comments. If you don't sleep, let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear about the way you live your life not sleeping. Ross does not sleep or has chosen a life that lacks sleep.

I have chosen a life that lacks sleep, but now I haven't. And I'm just, I'll admit, I'm going through some horrifying dreams right now. I had the most, and it's 100% due to the anxiety of a child coming into this world soon. I had the most horrifying dream last night. This is a dream where I was talking to Becca and I see half of our child hanging out of her. And I'm like, no. Becca. You're giving birth right now. She's like, no, I'm not.

like i'm not like beck he's halfway he's halfway out she's like walking and this like child is upside down just like hanging out of a dress and i'm like no i'm like what and then he no he hits the ground He's bored. She's like, oh my god. I'm like, Becca, what the fuck? And I wake up. And I wake up. Okay, that's some serious nightmare fuel. And I think that's on the heels of your birthing class that you did. Can we talk about that briefly?

Because I couldn't reach you for three hours. So first of all, Becca told me this birthing class was two hours. And we get in there. It's 5.30. And she's like, the lady, she's like, welcome, everybody. So this goes from 5.30 to 9. And I'm just... look it back out. We sit at the front, right? It ends up going to like 825, right? And so...

It's every detail. It's every gory detail. They showed us a picture of a placenta, and I was just eating pizza. You know, it looked like... a horrifying organ because that's what it was um all i wanted to do was make jokes because there was you know they handed out these these photos they're like here's a baby coming out and i want to be like are you selling frames

for this because I would love to just have something like this for the office. I can't imagine you in a birthing class. Like, just take something seriously for once in your goddamn life. They were, like, handed on this poker for, like, making your water break, like inducing your water breaking and Becca handed it to me and I just opened my mouth and go, ah. You can poke to break the water? You can. No, no, they have like a thing. There's like a tool. It literally is a stick.

it's a stick and they're like she was just like she was like you know tactile sort of learn about stuff here let me hand you the posters let me hand you some of the tools that we use So Rebecca hands it to me, and I just open my mouth and go, ah, and I did get several laughs. I did get several laughs from that one. Yeah, I mean, you're the talk of the tongue. I was feeling funny for about 30 minutes, and then I was feeling angry.

because it was so nitty gritty it was just too much it was too much do you want to know that or you're just like shock the hell out of me once we get into the room kind of i'm like look I suppose. It's designed to reduce anxiety. Didn't work for me. Still had a nightmare. They're like, here's all the options. Here's all the choices. And I'm like, well, we're going to do that live. Like if that happens.

If anything like this happens, you're going to tell us this again. I don't need to hear it all now because honestly, I'm not going to remember. You're taking notes. Right. Not a single note. Right. I mean, it's funny. You're looking at all the guys in there who are just like looking at each other like this. This sucks. Like, this sucks. I'm not gonna lie to you, this sucks.

And then all the ladies are all taking notes. Stop it. It's so classic. It's so classic. It's so classic. It's obviously I care. Obviously I want this to go great. Obviously I'm nervous.

But all I could do in that moment was just think about bits and things. I was like, let me take this slide for a second here. You know what? I do take, I have a note here. Dude in birthing class. Can you eat the placenta? POV. I honestly was, thinking about writing and doing a bit but i was like i can't come out on instagram doing a bit about being in birthing class it's too much for the people

It is too much. Yeah. I mean, why not try it, right? I don't know. Keep experimenting. I don't want to live again. So this episode, thank you for the birthing story. Thank you for...

listening to my story about the fight night let's let's get into it this episode we're getting a little experimental we have a new segment called this guy's about to be a father which i think we should just get into right on the heels of the birthing class we probably should where our producer has linked to what appear to be videos. Instagram links of sorts. And I'm thinking that they might be...

Maybe correlated to Ross's early days. So I'm just going to watch this. Yeah. And we will react. We'll be back in a second. Video one. Here we go. I don't know how to say this, but there's some bugs having sex in the parking lot. Yeah. Now I'm thinking that these are videos of me, aren't they? Okay. That video first of all has 86 likes. That's like the third video I ever did.

This is 2013. This is Vine. This is back on Vine. That's a Vine video I put on Instagram, I think, in 2015 or something. So the video, if the audio listeners heard, but it's... Guys, these bugs are having sex in the parking lot. And then he shows two bugs attached. Butt to butt. Butt to butt. So... You know, Roz's humor has evolved in some ways, but it also hasn't in other... Do you ever feel like

I feel like it's less stressful, honestly, as a man. But are you ever like, God, I got to comb through some of my stuff before my son can see all this? Yeah, I've thought about it. I just didn't think anyone would go back that far. If Talon can find it, Little Fishy can. Little Fishy can find it. I think I may have to go scrub some stuff. Or... Fishy's not getting a phone until he's 16.

Yeah, Fishy's going to be like super unsocial and have no friends. Fishy can't see what daddy's on. But then Fishy's friends are going to show Fishy and he's going to be odd fish out of the pond. He's going to come home and ask me what porn is. I'm already ready for that. Next video in the segment, this guy's about to be a father. Let's watch. This is on my way to work. What I do this weekend, standard, got swole, went to the marina, blacked out, crushed, obviously.

Okay. This was posted. Ross. I know, look. I just did the math 507 weeks ago. This was posted nine and a half years ago. What did I do this weekend? Blacked out. Went to the marina. Crash. Got school. Crash. Some things literally never change. You are, if I knew you, if we were the same age, I would hate you. You would hate me, yeah. You would scare me so much.

Yeah. But that was more of that. That was like when I really leaned into corporate bro, like as the douche, you know? Exactly. And I would feel as though you would break my heart. Yeah. Oh, I, I. yeah i wasn't good i wasn't the good version of myself in those videos and i'm sorry everybody's having to see those i wish you were wearing your gooder sunglasses because these it's hard for me that was in me and my honda civic on my way to work at oracle Jesus Christ. That's what that was.

nine and a half years ago if i was your manager i'd be like what is happening okay actually technically that video was filmed 12 that video was filmed in 2013 it just went on it's on instagram in 2015 when they actually got video so yeah um i was different so thank you for that talon i am gonna be a wonderful father i personally love the segment this guy's about to be a father and it might have to change to this guy is a father keep unearthing those videos thank you talon we appreciate you

We got another segment. This is called Which Host Wrote This? And I'm going to read it. Just in case it was me, because I want to read it potentially in my voice or not. We'll see. Hi, guys. I'm a freshman at Notre Dame hoping to study English and journalism. I'm from Menlo Park, California, and my top three miscellaneous favorite things are without a doubt Nutella-filled crepes, J.Crew, and the entirety of the Wicked soundtrack.

Oh, and if The Bachelorette aired every night, I would cut out a nightly hour and a half to watch it easily. Go Irish.

Please. It scares me that this is out somewhere on the internet. I need Talon to tell me where he found this, and I'm really so scared. I'm actually most interested in how you now... think about j crew well i worked at j crew so it was like my job i worked when i was in high school and i would go and like stock the floors all high school so like i got a discount and i was probably like oh well i love j crew because i get 40 off right right

Would you say your next line is going to be a partnership with J.Crew? And if J.Crew, if you're listening, I've been a fan for so long. She's not opposed to working something out. It's so funny because you read this of me and it's like, wow, she was so pure. She didn't know what the world was. Go Irish, so innocent. You see those videos of Ross, you're like, This is a mother effing heartbreaker. This is a horrible person.

This is the worst version of the marina for me. So the difference is shocking, but Talon, thank you for those segments. which host wrote this. That one was a toss-up. I was, until the bitter end, I still didn't know. Yeah, I know. I was like, freshman in Notre Dame could be either of us. English journalism could be either of us. Thank you, Talon. I don't know, where did he find this?

I guess we'll have to... We'll have to ask him, but it scares me. Okay, let's talk sleep. Let's talk sleep. Yes. Something everybody's done. It took us a while to get here. I think it's been 15 minutes. We still haven't started talking about sleep yet. You're an early worm as... Talon would say. Han said, Natalie, talk about life as an early worm. As an early worm, which... Okay. Well, I am a little worm. Early bird gets the worm or you are an early worm. Yeah.

I have recently so I always used to sleep in and like I would wait for my alarm to go off and then immediately jump on my first call I had no time for myself in the morning I was like Because I valued sleep more than anything else. And now I value working out, having a little time in the morning with my coffee. You enjoy being in your little nook. But I need to start my day earlier because I do feel like there's so much to do in the day.

I'll never be able to make up for the amount of time we spend setting up these cameras. Right. That's true. You'll never get that time back. Do you think...

I'll speak for myself. I now wake up before my alarm every day and I have to think part of it's anxiety. Just like anxiety of like needing to get a bunch of shit done. Just like work to do. Yeah. And I've found myself talk about poor sleep hygiene i would be working till the second my eyes closed and then wake up and work for an hour and a half in bed while matt like was asleep yeah and i think

I've tried since moving into this apartment, charging my phone in the office, which is like all the way down the hall. Wow. And that's been great. So then I use my hatch alarm and I wake up and I'm not woken up by this cloud of anxiety. I'm also trying to reframe my life to be like,

It's not that serious. Right, right. It's not that deep. I've been so successful in my career that it's okay to... chill and like take a day to move in and take a day to do admin it's like yeah i never allowed myself that time it's as if i'm the early and career person on my computer making sure my slack is active it's like wait I don't have to do that like I can trust others to do this I can take a Wednesday off for no reason and I'm actually allowed to do that now at this point in my career.

and having that forgiveness and that grace has been a journey but yeah yes my usual sleep schedule i'll always wake up like before eight weekends weekdays weekdays usually like before 6 30. when do you go to bed Like when you think you're asleep. Like when you get into bed and when you sleep. Probably 10.30 is like the average. Yeah. What about you? I'm in bed around midnight and my alarm if I get there is at 7.

I need more sleep. I know I do. My whoop tells me I need more sleep. I'm tired during the day. Yes.

But I don't know. Do you have any tips for better sleep or feeling better during the day? I'll start with one. Yeah, please. I've been getting NAD shots. Oh, you're liking those. You're going back because I thought the first one, your heart was racing like a motherfucker. It was. Your heart races... It's really scary. You have like a full anxiety attack. They're like, just sit down for a second. And then you feel great. And then you feel freaking awesome.

My panic attacks, my heart will race so much. I'm like, I just worked out. That's good. I'll also do anything if anyone's like, oh, a B12 vitamin. you know, will give you energy. I'm like, oh my God, amazing. Like I started taking B12. I got my blood work back. The doctor's like, holy shit. Why are you taking so much B12? Yeah, chill on the B12. Oh, sorry.

I didn't realize. Was your doctor like, yeah, this is bad, you shouldn't do this much? I just started creatine. I'm blowing up like a balloon for no reason. Why are you doing creatine? No idea. That's just like basically sustained water weight. I know. There's some skinny hot girls who are like kind of on it. Squaring by the creatine. God, you're like me in 2012 now. That guy you saw in the car was a creatine guy. Okay, yeah. I'm going to blow up like a balloon. Sorry. Stay tuned. Stay tuned.

The thing for me is I just get my best work done in darkness at night. So, you know, in this very room, that's why I got these neon lights in here. I turn off all the lights I get for the neon and I just vibe out to some Hans Zimmer and I just do a bunch of writing. God, you're also such a true creative. Like, I've never sat down to write, ever, or read. Well, writing is usually, it's a generous term for what comes out on the paper. It's usually trash, but that's what I like.

It feels... Some people love to wake up early and feel like they're getting ahead of things. I feel like I'm getting ahead of things by doing it at night. I don't know. I'm not as functional in the morning.

I'm just not. I mean, you're dead asleep right now. I'm dead asleep right now. I'm so tired. I'm on this cold brew right now. That makes sense. Heart's racing, but eyes are tired. I mean, I know all the things that you got to do to have a good sleep schedule, right? It's like, A, have a schedule. You know, a lot of people say go to bed at the same time and wake up when your body wakes you up.

Is that right? I've heard the opposite. Yeah, I've heard wake up every day at the same time, like the hatch alarm sets it so that. you wake up every morning of your weekday routine is what they call it. I think if you can control either side or both sides in a perfect world, you know, your body gets used to it. I think I've also found that the more I get on a schedule, if I have breaks or I have an off day with that schedule, I'm in such worse shape.

Yeah. You know, I get away from it. Self-punishment. You're like, God, I'm useless. I'm worthless. And I do feel like our schedules are very inconsistent. It's like travel, the time zones. Yeah. The more I try to control, I can't control anything. I've just had to surrender to my life, my schedule, my... bad habits like i just i won't change the phone thing also when matt's not here when he's at

Stanford, I'm like, okay, I do need my phone by my bedside table. What if someone breaks in? I need to be able to call 911. Right. An attacker. You always got to be thinking about the attackers. I'm always thinking about attackers. And I recently realized I'm too old to be kidnapped. Right. Kind of no one wants me anymore. I'm adult-napped. Yeah, I mean, you could be ransomed.

You could still be ransomed. I could still be ransomed. I do think there's probably a market out there for you, if it makes you feel any better. Oh, good. Thank you. That will help me sleep at night. One way to... lose sleep is to tell you that there's probably a market out there for you to be taken. I got the ring camera outside. I got a golf club by the door. I got a baseball bat by my bed. Two things I just enjoy, but also serve as defense, just in case. I have no defense.

but i'm so the person i'm the protector in hawaii in our hotel room we We stayed for, we were actually in an apartment and we would always hear noises on the lanai, the patio outside. All my friends, Katrina, Caitlin, they're sprinting into the back bathroom, running out so afraid. Me grabs the knife. I'm ready to attack. It's White Lotus all over again. I'll get you. I am so ready.

Yeah. Anyway, that's one way to have good sleep hygiene is just tuck a knife under your pillow. Yeah, because they have weapons nearby that you can use to defend yourself. Obviously, I do know that the screen time thing is real. I watch like I watch. this show usually before bed. And I have this genre of, it's a cartoon. It's called invincible. It is, it's animated, I guess I should say. And it's like, um,

It's weirdly nostalgic for me to watch, so it feels like I get some peace from it and I can turn my mind off. If I just sit there in bed, my mind races. I will watch this show and as soon as I feel tired, like I'm going to fall asleep, I just... turn it off really quickly and throw it to the side and fall asleep you do it on your phone i do on my phone okay yeah that probably is like

unadvisable to be watching on a tiny screen. Yeah. I just wanted to be loud for Becca, you know? Yeah, that's smart. Becca's probably used to your odd animated antics. She sleeps. when she falls asleep in two seconds and she stays in the exact same position the entire night and then just wakes up so refreshed like absolute rock She's like, I'm going to bed goodnight. I'm not restless. Gone. Dead. Dead. Completely dead. Okay, it was so easy for you. Where'd you go? Okay.

Yeah. She's gone into the 10th dimension. No, I'm this. I'm on my side, curled up like a little snug as a bug in a rug, and I don't move the entire night. No. Me, I'm sleeping like a starfish face up, face down. Yeah. Rolling over. Flipping over, jumping, doing flips. Getting one leg under the covers, one leg out. I'm hot and cold. You know?

Then my foot's out, it gets cold, and I don't want someone to grab it in the middle of the night, so I put it back inside because I'm scared. What if someone grabs your foot? What if someone grabs your foot and it's a real possibility? Right, right. In this economy, you just don't know. you just don't know motorheads basically what we're saying is comment below any tips tricks on sleeping because we sure as shit don't have any not heavy alcohol before bed

Caffeine is certainly a bad choice. Exercising is helpful. Managing stress is something I don't know how to do very well. I could imagine if I had less stress, I would sleep better. I could imagine that. Sunlight exposure during the day helps regulate your circadian rhythm like okay What if I just take vitamin D pills? Which I do because I don't go outside. What if I can't go outside? It scares me too much. Right. Someone will grab your foot outside. The sun.

Right. Someone will grab my foot. We are in kind of a different area of San Francisco with this new apartment that's like a little more urban. How do you say urban? It's a bit more urban. And I walked out and this man was like... i'm gonna kill you i'm like oh my god holy okay me and my like hot girl leggings with my coffee ready to just tackle the day

I was like, okay, well, maybe he will grab my foot. He might grab your foot. Maybe that is a real possibility. But after a couple weeks, you're like, yeah, morning, John. Totally. John, you're not going to kill me. Come on. I'm poking his tummy. Yeah. All right, John, I'll see you later. John. Okay. That was our discussion on sleep.

A lot of birthing class kind of woven in there. Yeah, we're going through it right now, fam. This is why we're remoted. We're going through it, but we're still here for it. Here's what happens when you've completely lost control of your remote team. Jennifer, why are you facing away from the camera right now? Despite me saying we're a family, the client doesn't need to see your lower back tat. Hi Kyle, yeah.

We can see you doing the air punches and karate chops at the camera. So if you could just not do that. That'd be awesome. Is that vodka you're you're pouring into your coffee okay samantha i'm gonna pretend that's a probiotic i can't do this anymore

Speaking of low-hanging fruit, Brian, could you please put your pants on? Okay, Shannon is mouth-kissing her dog again. Great. I can't do this anymore. I'm not a dog-kissing-in-the-mouth thing, but every now and then I'm letting Dex kiss my face, and I'm like... and i say something and he catches inside i'm just like yeah the tongue the tongue's caught on your like upper tooth Esteban, I have to ask, is that a gimp suit behind you?

Yeah, I think it was the zipper mask that gave it away. If you want to go camera off, that might be advisable. It's actually better. We would like you to turn your camera off. I'm fascinated by the zipper mask, though. Hey, John, why are all those people behind you panting and sweating? Do you really take your sales calls like that? Your roommate is literally ripping the bong in the background. Oh, sorry, bro. Are you in a call? Yeah, my bad. Clears the rest.

Why is there a Six Flags Great America sign behind you? Oh, it's a virtual background? Okay, the Mario on a log ride. Mario on a log ride. Sounds a lot like a roller coaster. I hear kids screaming. Are you at a Benihana's right now? Because I'm pretty sure a shrimp tail just hit the camera. Wait, that's definitely an onion tower, right? Onion volcano? Okay. Is that an onion volcano? You keep the camera on. Okay, alright. Show us a little more of that.

No, Katie, you cannot take the call from your facial. How many times do I have to tell you this? Cade, the vape tricks are cool. Don't get me wrong, but maybe not with clients on the call. The cloud and the camera, Cade, we've said this time and time again. Okay? Classic Cade.

It's always Cade. It's such a Cade move. The Caden's, the Jaden's, the Braden's. Can we get into a little Dear Demoted? I kind of want to read this one. Yes, you may read this one. Dear Demoted, SOS, my managers are ghosting me. New Motorhead here with a dilemma. Also just have to say, I love the pod and I've already learned so much from y'all.

You're not going to learn anything here. Here's the dilemma. I'm about two years into my career and I've been with my current company since Feb 2024. I work for a tech company where I went through their three-month sales development program and then transitioned to my full-time team and role. Since the transition I feel like I've had little to no managerial support or guidance. My hiring manager is a director and has a fairly busy schedule. So we meet for a check-in once a quarter.

Wow, that's nothing. That's nothing. I would love to have at least a monthly cadence going with him. Literally every time I schedule with him, he either moves the meeting last minute, cancels, or just doesn't show up or respond to me or any of my messages at all. It's especially frustrating because the lower-level manager he passed me off to also goes, cancels, or reschedules every meeting with me. That's tough. That's tough. That's tough, actually. That's tough, actually. I...

How can you ghost your teammate? What is this poor person doing? Maybe they're doing the job well. Let's hope. Here's an idea. Is it remote or not? And the reason I ask is if it's not remote, show up. Show up to their desk and be like, hey, do you have time right now? Can we chat? Or even better, schedule a lunch talk.

like try to go to lunch and then people like it's when it feels like a meeting that they're more likely to turn down like i don't need this but like lunch at least is under the guise of food and who doesn't like food it's great advice you know it's true but it's harder if it's remote it's really hard check in on your performance like have a real moment with yourself of like am i

leaning towards maybe getting fired like are they trying to off-board me or am I just doing well and they're just giving me this freedom and I should take that while I have it right I think that's an interesting point like when if and when you're able to lock down a time i think you might want to drill into that hey look i'm Don't feel like I'm getting a lot of guidance here, a lot of focus.

You know, do you feel like I'm doing the things I need to do? If not, I'd love to address them. But again, I think the issue here is just getting on somebody's calendar. You could always do like a 4 p.m. on a Friday and be like HR plus your name plus their name.

And then be like, I was kidding. You know? And kind of trick them. Bait and switch, if you will. I love a little trick. Yeah. Ross has all the tricks up his sleeve. Please help. Please help. All exclamations. Like 20 of them. And then just. Throw some on their calendar. I would have just a little talk with them if you can get a word in.

Just be like, just checking in. Keep setting calendar invites. I mean, just be persistent here. Eventually, you will have this meeting. I'm sure it feels like it's constant. And once you're there, come strapped. Be ready. Yeah. Have a plan going into that meeting of what you want to get out of. Yeah.

Exactly. So I think it's just be persistent. Force your way. It will happen. But I do like trying the lunch strategy. We are now entering the recline of civilization. Are you talking about rejecting hustle culture and that whole 24-7 grind set? All this talk about sleep, it's like, Where can I find a sactional couch that includes a reclining seat for me to do just that on? It's funny you mention that because this next segment is sponsored by Love Sack to encourage more reclining this year.

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aspiration with hashtag recline from the grind all right let's go now to promoted demoted do we like it do we not our favorite segment and we will start with saying Quote, we really needed this when it rains. God, we needed this. We did it so badly. I mean, California, you know? always a drought. It has been so dry here. We needed this. Tahoe needed it. Farmers needed it. Not great for us here, but you know.

We needed this. We needed this. I'm going to promote it. I'm going to go ahead and promote it because that is a great move. Rain is good. Promoted or demoted crying in front of your dog? I'm going to promote it. See, it's kind of like when I pretend to be dead next to Dex, and I'm like, is he going to save me?

Like, is he going to do something? Like, what does he do? How often do you pretend to be dead in front of your dog? Once a week or so. Yep. Once a week or so. I'll, like, have a fake fall and I'll go down and I'll see what he does. Becca, put the ketchup out. Usually, he runs and picks up a toy. Okay. He's down to play. He's down to play. And then he just kind of stands there and looks at me and doesn't even try to revive me. Yeah, that's tough.

So I kind of feel like crying's in a similar vein. Like, does he know I'm sad? Does he know I'm a sad boy? I think dogs know when you're sad. I mean, look at Dex. Look at that horse just walking in the background. He's been there the whole time? He has. Oh. Well, he was upset with what I just said and just laughed. He's like, you never cry in front of me. You never show me that vulnerable side.

That's fair. I did not know he was there. I will promote crying. My dog always knows when I'm crying and she'll come up and put her head on my lap. What's wrong? Talk to me. I'll never say anything back. But you always know the right thing to do. This is a great list of promoter demoted. Yeah. Promoter demoted coming up with the best comeback hours later. Oh my God.

I've done that so many times. I'm promoting it. I'm in the shower after something happened or a big conversation happened. I'm in the shower like... God you sh- you should have fricking said that. That would have been so good. I'm like writhing in pain that I didn't say the thing. Same. And I'm, and I like, In examples, I just got some feedback on one of my sales kickoff presentations. I got a 9.5 out of 10 from like a 400 person thing.

But there were a couple comments in there where it was like, one of them was like, really entertaining, you know, not necessarily groundbreaking information. I'm sitting there in the shower. It's like, not groundbreaking, man. I'm going to break your ground, bro. God, I'm going to break your ground so hard. You want some groundbreaking information? I want some groundbreaking information.

And I'm just playing that out in my head. I just can't, I can't let it go. This is yesterday. Who said we were going to give you groundbreaking information? Right. You're expecting groundbreaking information? From me? Look at us. I know. I know. If you're listening to this podcast, you're certainly not expecting that. And that's why we love you, motorheads. It'll be not groundbreaking information. 10 out of 10. Oh, hell no. Hell no. You did not.

So yeah, I've been racking my brain around that. Around how to break ground. How to break more ground next time. So I'm going to promote it. All right, promoted, demoted, running in heels. Can you do it? I don't know. Yeah, I can do it. I can barely run though. I'm quite like, I don't, I lack coordination. What's the highest heel you have? I kind of gave up on my high heels. On your tippies. There's Valentino heels that are like.

some people love that are about five and a half inches are those the spikes like straight up like straight up stiletto yeah that for me is a bit much i don't like being a monster right And the platform of like where your toe rests is this high. So then your toes here and then the heel is like even higher. Right. And then your feet are just killing you. My foot is completely bent. Yeah. You're like a ballerina tippy toe all day. Can you run?

So running heels, you're going to demote. Well, I just ran. I don't know how Talon knew this, but I just did a bit where I was running in the office and my heeled booties. Last time we recorded Demoted, and I'm like, was Talon there? Was he the fly on the wall? He's everywhere. He's everywhere. He's everywhere. He knows all. Yeah. Okay. I've never known it. I think it's kind of a sexy, fun thing to do.

Yeah, especially when one rolls over and you kind of roll your ankle, but not so bad that you're hurt. But luckily some hot guy across the street sees you and comes in, checks on you, makes sure you're all right. No, someone seeing you trip is the worst thing. to exist in the world like when you just have demoted like and it's not a full trip because a full trip is like holy oh my god is she actually okay it's the trip that's like

Oh God, I just lost my footing for a second and now I'm totally fine. Right. And I want to erase the last five seconds from history. Yep. Becca would laugh so hard at you. People tripping is her weird thing. She watches videos of people tripping and she laughs so hard at it. Tripping makes me sad. It's so embarrassing. It's unfortunate. I'd rather like burp in a silent theater, I think, than like to have a minor trip. Whoa! Whoa!

catching yourself i don't know oh i'm fine sorry wait i'm totally fine yeah i don't know let's read a review Yeah. Quick one. This is from seven days ago. On Spotify. Mace in your face.

Seven days ago, love the news. Congrats, Corpo. That's amazing. My husband and I work for busy corporate jobs and had our son a year ago. He's truly the best part of our day and it only gets better. We still have continued our social lives and see our friends multiple times per week. Your life isn't over, just better.

Okay, well, this is more advice than a review, but I appreciate it. You needed that. That's great. I did need that. Your life's going to get better with Will Fishy. I can't wait to meet him. Same. I already met him last night when he was hanging out, landing on the ground. Did he have a full head of hair? Yes. I'm picturing a full head of hair. I was born with a full head of hair, obviously. I think I had some. I'll post a baby photo here, but I've always had very curly hair. since my youth.

But enough about me as a baby. Let's get into shout outs. You hit the shout out. Shout out to Kevin for mastering the art of looking busy while listening to the pod on the job. Truly an inspiration to us all. He has a cochlear implant, which he can use Bluetooth to like their AirPods, but it's a hearing aid, proper James Bond stuff. From Jack Goff. Wow. Jack Goff. Nice. You got us there. Wow. Shout out to Kevin and his cochlear implant. Thank you for listening. Shout out to Jack Goff.

for submitting that um also that's fucking cool Maya. I don't have cochlear implants and my headphones always fall out when I'm running. I'm kind of jelly. So maybe you're saying you need a cochlear implant. Maybe a double. Double. Okay. Great. Double implant. Let's get it going. All right. Some CTAs, things we need from you guys. No, we don't need. We would love to have from you. Of course, send us your corporate confessions. Your dear demotants.

Shoutouts to the submission form on the website, which is demotedpodcast.com. Like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. Comment interesting posts on our LinkedIn. Curl up and sleep next to that subscribe button if you want to. Or stay up late writing with the like button. I don't care. Put a sleep mask over that like button. Take melatonin with that like button.

in case somebody attacks grabs your feet grab the foot of the like button and just jiggle that big toe and of course leave a review on apple podcast or spotify anywhere else you find podcasts and with that we'll see all of you next time on Demoted. Remoted. Demoted.