Is The Customer Actually Always Right? 🛒🛍️

The Flex and Rooms Daily podcast brought to Bay.

How it is it's Flex and Rooms. You might know that.

I think four years ago now, maybe closer to five, I made a conversation card game because of how frustrated I was at the fact that people do not know how to talk to people five years ago. Hah, was that five years ago? Yeah, it's two thousand and eighteen. Fu out, Yes, that people do not know how to talk to people. Well, in a way that's enjoyable because I think for every person who's like, oh my god, I haven't had a great conversation, the other person's like

One of my favorite George Michael Song's funeral songs Outside how's it go, Let's go outside in the moonshine daar me too? The places that I like best. It's about having sex in a public toilet.

But it's a funeral song.

Yeah for me, And it starts off with sirens and helicopters. It's when George Michael got busted having sex in a public toilet.

All the power to him. Yeah, I'm into that.

Oh yeah.

So small talk is an art. It's a tango to dance.

It's delicate, it cannot really be explained, but it can be executed on perfectly, as seen by the greats.

Oprah and Gail Do they do not small talk?

And now for me, fremy picks right now, when we're working to do a bold eye, there's no time for this.

I did it pretty easily.

You did all right, hardy flex and frooms NETFLIXI you have inspired me to become somewhat of an amateur philosophist. That's so sexy philosophers. I like that philosopher. And I came up with this new idea. We're inching closer to the new year, twenty twenty three.

Can you believe it? That's crazy.

We're almost twenty five and I came up with this new theory, and.

It's to do with news resolutions.

Never in my life have I had a news resolution because I believe if you want to.

Do something, do it now.

Yeah, you're putting off the inevitable, which is you're going to try something, you're not going to stick to it because it's not in line with the values, and you can't be bothered so big. This is what I'm going to be doing before January. First, I'm going to sit down with a notepad and a pen, and I'm going to write down all the things that I achieved this year work, family, social life, hobbies, all the things that I did that are positive.

We're not going to be focusing on the negative at all. And then I'm going to look at the list and go, oh, why did I like that so much?

I liked because it aligned and their values. I liked because it was enjoyable. I liked it because it got me closer to my goals. And then take the big picture and then use that as a blueprint.

For what I'm going to do in the next year.

I like that, thoughts, I like that a lot.

My only concern is that I don't think I can recall all the things I did off the Domesy's how is that.

I barely remember last week.

See, that's why you got to go through your I cow go through the insta feed.

Yeah, that's right. Do you know what to your point?

I had a friend who was really good at documenting their life, and they would say at the start of every year they had a notes on their iPhone and every month or when something good happened, they would list it out. And so they would go back and do like a month to month review and say, oh, this is really cool, Like I did that cool thing at work, I went to that cool place and that was amazing.

It's so cute. That's awesome. I saw the other day.

There's something that you can do when you get old or like in your later years.

So thirty five twenty seven and.

You like something sends you an email each month and you write out, like something from your life.

Well what's that?

Yeah, I can't remember. I'll have to have a look at it. And then he puts your picture on the front so then people can like read your story. If you're a grandpa and you want to pass it on.

Oh what eah, you lost me. I don't know what I.

Thought grandma or an auntie or a daughter.

Yeah, I like that a lot. That's cute. Find that for us though, like time.

Capsule, flex and frooms.

I have a little bit of a ranch. It's not really a ranch. Just wanting to get off my chest. I spoke about it briefly when we discuss our time at the Arias, and there was like a two hour window where we had nothing to do, And by nothing I meant there was food to eat, drinks to drink, people to talk to, but in terms of responsibilities it was just mingling.

That was two hours. It was two hours.

I mean four to six is when it was open anyway, So three and I were both there, but obviously we were at our decimated areas doing whatever but I find being an extrat quite difficult sometimes because people assume that I want to talk to everyone.

I don't know.

That's why I want to be outgoing, Like I want to have really comfortable, excitable, memorable conversations. But I think people don't realize it takes two. It's a taino, it's a dance, and I can't do it if you don't do it right. So it probe me to think about the art of small talk because I used to be really anti small talk. I used to want to have a deep chat with everybody. Now I really don't care. I think I've figured that out. I don't actually care.

So where do you work? Right?

Oh, that's cool? And how many hours do you do? Oh amazing? And then who's your co worker? Oh that's not a conversation.

That's an attack. It's an interrogation, an oral attacks, an aural attack. So that's what it's not. Number two.

What small talk is not, what good small talk is not, is a series of back and forth ping pong compliments. It's so boring, it's so lame, and I think it comes to gress really disingenuous.

Oh and I love your avenue. I love your avenue. I love your shoes. No, I love your shoes.

Let's keep it pushing. Can we get something happening? If not, let's just onto the next, onto the next. What it's also not small talk or the art of beautiful small talk is not like in deferring you know more about someone to create the illusion of closeness.

Oh, give me an example.

For example, Let's pretend we you and I for me, are talking to someone who's a friend of a friend. Oh my god, yeah, you guys must love doing this, because I know someone so loves doing that. Oh my goodness. Yeah, oh crops, you guys must be quirky girls. What you must have gone here right you? And it's like it's like leading questions. You're not asking me anything. It's just a series of rhetorical inferred statements so much Oh you must do this, Oh it must be this, Oh you

I will tell yo.

It's gonna take us a second, because I think with most art forms it's really hard to explain them, you know, like what is art right? People go to museums all day and they're like, Oh, I could pink that, I can draw that. It's like, you know, art insights are feeling it, insights in emotion.

Who knows?

And I think it's gonna be really difficult if we create really strange at categories for what to do and what not to do. But I can definitely say that in all good conversations, you're chasing a feeling, yeah, or a series of feelings of being heard, understood, seen, acknowledged, excited, excited, interested, respected, And I think that a lot of us, when we get to the conversations, we go into this weird autopilot mode. That might be why you can't remember names, because you're

I am the conversation.

I called Richard.

I called Christian Richard the arias almost on broadcasts, how terrible. So yeah, anyway, for those who don't know, Christian's Richardson Wilkins, Yeah not Wilkinson.

I didn't you did, but you did.

So there's also that this idea.

I think that we get into these conversations, they become autopilot. We're doing the social norms thing ticking off, like make sure you ask them and make sure you make them feel really comfortable and lah lah.

La la, how are you classic?

How are you classic? And I think that the artist's small talk is about quality over quantity. So I used to get into this habit of wanting to do like the full flex performance with everyone I ever interacted.

With, the big.

Sleigh slay.

And I think it's necessary when you're first meeting people and then I pick favorites and then I'm like, no, there are some people I like more than other people. And I don't think everyone should get the same experience. Actually, I think they should be hierarchies I really do.

You really like? And that's what I reckon. I saw you go to his book launch.

How do we get here?

I'm just thinking about people on the preperer of our media careers.

Well, not even that.

I'm talking like I could create a hierarchy immediately based on a vibe. If I go to a random group of five people and we all have a chit chat, I've created a hierarchy. Oh yeah, there's naturally someone who I want to talk to or whatever. And I think the common throat between the people like talking to are the people who are not concerned with me liking them.

The ones where you're like, oh, hold on, you should be.

Able to tease your friend, but like make it, don't make it safe for.

Me to do that terrifies me. Someone did that to me a couple months ago, and it just turned ugly.

It rocks you because you're like, what what did I do?

Now?

I feel like I'm being made by association.

Exactly realistically, I think the best thing we can do is create a formula for yourself. The more Free and I get near it, the more we're observing. Some things are rubbing us the wrong way. Some things are rubbing us in the exact right way, in the way that's tingling with freshness. All I'll say is everybody has a role, whether or not you think it you do, and conversation in particular requires two parties to pull through it together. If you can't relate to being in the a bad conversation,

You scary as demons.

This is flex and frooms through me is.

A self described Karen.

Now, I do want to get this out of the way because people assume that because Frumi refers to herself as a Karen, that I must have given her that title.

Correct.

No, I just roast her. Okay, I just pulled her up a few times. But I would never call her a Karen unless she had not said it first, unless you not claimed it right. I was thinking about the phrase the customer is always right, because I feel as though every time I'm scrolling on my little social media's I see a retail horror story, which I love to see.

It's a bit of fun.

Are you on small business memes?

That's what a small business means?

But it's just fun and funny because I think that most people are not working in the retail industry, which means there's you're never at a loss for right. But I came across this rant somebody was making where they said they'd worked in customer service for years and they hate the phrase the customer is always right because it's actually incorrect, and that it's half of the full phrase that's been shortened. Why who knows, because big big retail wants to get you to think that you have the power.

If you like it, I love it right.

And so I think that's what I really struggled with with working in retail is that the higher up, I got to I see as the manager, I just can't lie. I don't like the stakes aren't high enough for me. When we had KPIs to hear, and the regional manager would be like on our next being like, you know, make sure you stand at the change, or make sure you are firm. Then make sure you counteract any of their complaints with confidence. I'd be like, but I agree,

You know.

She'd be like, no, you have to let them know that everything is fine. So full quote the customs always right in matters of taste, do not let anybody tell you that the things you like are not good. So, for example, if you're in a restaurant and you like your rice aldente, so you should have it.

I think that's a little hard, so you should have it.

If you prefer a little salad to that coriander a little burrito, you should have it that way. It's in matters of taste. If, however, it's meant to be that way, I can understand why they wouldn't change it for you. But there you go, always learning something on flex and firms. I'm helping you do life better for you. Philanthropy one one.

Now I really feel like a Barada sandwich.

I never had to write a sandwich.

Oka Stratchio tella. Yeah, yum, hot, so good.

This is flex and frooms on a few weeks ago.

You would have seen this news because we were talking about it in the DMS. Friendly Jordie's a YouTube commentator, political correspondent in his own right. He is an independent publisher. His house was firebombed in an arson attack. What does that involve? A firebomb? I don't know how to make it. I'm probably not going to tell you on air, but it's essentially when you create something that you can then throw, it's like a grenade.

It's like a flammable thing that you throw in I mean, no, I was gonna say, here are my guesses, but let's maybe not incite more violence. You can imagine it's something you throw that causes a huge fire, very flammable, very dangerous, very lethal.

Yes, so the news was involved Jordan doing a yet Friendly Jordie's name is Jordan doing a piece to camera when you know Channel Sandel chum of mine was there in.

Him and it was interesting. I could hear, like.

Some some of the journalists kind of scoffing in the back.

Scoffing, giggling. It was a very dystopian odd situation. Yeah, to your point.

So imagine, let's paint a picture the day after Jordan's house gets firebombed. There's a bunch of media there, obviously trying to document the situation, and he's naturally there, so they get a few interviews with him. Now, whenever a media correspondent interviews a victim of any kind of crime, generally the tone is quite sympathetic or at worst neutral. What happened, When did it happen? How do you feel? What do you want to say to the person who

Like, what is going on?

And he's like visibly shaken.

He's still he's not missing a single word because it seemed to be his skill. Good to see it working in action, because I think it's really easy to edit yourself on YouTube. But he really did not hit every single shot that he took. And I'm looking at a headline from the ABC here police investigating suspicious blaze at Bondo, home of comedian Friendly Jody's. They're saying suspicious blaze and not attack.

Yeah, verbiage language is funny because I feel like you can maybe say that in general conversation, people aren't very specific with their words. They might use ambiguous language maybe infer what they mean. But when you're writing, you know, on behalf of a whole national news publication, the words you pick mean something. So to not call it an arson attack, to not say that he was attacked or his home was attacked, but a suspicious blaze, what is that? What is a suspicious place?

What is that? Inferring? I don't know.

I don't know how I feel about it. Friendly Geordie's is a very interesting character. He has drawn a lot of support from the likes of Kevin Rudd. He's kind of like a julianassange I believe he supports him. I think Rudd supports Juliana sange Ll say is he doesn't mince words. Everyone is a target and therefore I think he's opened his self up to attacks, which doesn't seem very fair or says hope you're okay, Friendly Jeordie's. I have friends that live in the area.

They also flee doctor.

Yeah, that's another thing that got me, Like, I just I don't know whose duty of care it is when it comes to documenting where people live and they're things like that. But I would assume that if someone's house has got hit with an arson attack, you wouldn't do wide pans of their street with the street name and identifiable characteristics and features.

What is going on?

I thought it was crazy the first shot, huge wide of exactly where he lives.

People are sick and loose units the blaze. You know this wasn't underreported. I've got a friend who lives a few doors down and they're like the smoke was everywhere. It's a serious, serious fire. So yeah, praying no one deserves to be attacked or to be involved in a suspicious crime.

You're listening to Flex and Frooms on Kita.

Always coming to you with the hot gossip. I'd say I'm probably manning the ship in terms of hot gossip for the past few weeks.

Yeah.

I was out with some friends the other day and I was speaking to my friend's boyfriend to drop the names absolutely King, No, no, need to know.

I feel like you might have met them before. Have you met my friend? No, don't know.

So it was firstal was friends and now it's just a single.

Friend friend and her boyfriend. And he was telling me about a thing called the white lighter theory. Have you heard about it?

I haven't.

So I was telling him my age, which is twenty four. But then I said, you know, in a few years, I'm going to be twenty seven. Naturally about that experience, and we were talking about the twenty seven club. If you don't know what the twenty seven club is, it's essentially when like famous people passed away when they're twenty seven. There's been quite a few notable people who that's happned to like Amy one House, Jimmy Hendrix, Jimmy Hendrix, Kirk Cobain, definitely,

The white lighter.

It's called the white lighter myth or the white lighter Curse. It's an urban legend based on the Twenty seven Club, in which it's claimed several musicians and art died while in possession of a white lighter, leading white lighters to become associated with bad fortune. The myth is primarily based on the deaths of Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison,

That's what my friend was suggesting.

I've gonehead to Google it and I really think it's quite a compelling theory. However, you will find that it is incorrect, okay, because they because Bick did not begin producing white disposable lighters until several years after the deaths of the members of the twenty seven country between.

Twenty seven country through me.

What do you think?

Ah?

I do like a bit of a conspiracy theory old wives tale every now and then, but I would hate to cock it and how.

People speculate it is a bit sad, isn't You can't come back with a writer reply.

Yeah, you've been listening to the Flex and Rooms Daily podcast. For more, tune in Decater on DAB or stream it on iHeartRadio.