500 Straws for Christmas

Come on, let's be. Let's hear it. Whenever you put me on the spot, they like all leave my brain. Okay. The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue, the lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue, enunciate, articulate, exaggerate. You guys didn't see those dance moves, but they were happening. He is not recording. 100% recording. He baited you. What do you think was happening? I thought he wanted me to warm up. I did. Horrible. Welcome back to Tales from the Service Industry. Welcome back.

I'm your host. I'm Bill. I'm here tonight with Liz. She's joining us again. Hi, team. We have a new guest this evening. Her name is Veronica. We've got Miss B on the mic. Hey, everybody. So welcome back. So Veronica, typically when we have a new guest, we ask them to introduce themselves. Just a quick snippet of some of your experiences. Hi, everybody. I'm Bill. I'm here tonight with Liz. She's joining us again. Hi, team. We have a new guest this evening. Her name is Veronica.

We've got Miss B on the mic. So welcome back. So let's hear some of your experiences, if you would. Yeah. Veronica, young gal, you know, from the hood. Been in the service industry since the day I could work. Couple of big locations, 400 count employees, you know, and then luxury hotels. Working my ass off. Nice. So retail and hotels. Definitely. Excellent. Anything else? Actually, yes. Medical field. Dental. Oh. I just worked that one through and changed my mind. Fair enough. Why did you leave?

Life stress. Got it. You know, school, work or jobs. Oh. I'm not sure how to handle it. So actually, fun story. I wanted to be a vet when I was young. No way. Fun story. Went into the field. Oh. Fun story. Became allergic to animals. Stole. No way. Quick left turn there. That's funny. Just developed an allergy. No, apparently I had it, but. Wow. Mm-hmm. Kibes every night. Well, it probably took like an abundance of contact. It did. It did. But I saw some pretty cool stuff. Oh, wow.

C-sections on chocolate Labrador's. Oh, poor things. Daddy Guana's. Oh, poor things. That was pretty fun. But now luxury industry, you know, retail. Love it. It's interesting that you left like, oh, I was so stressed, like multiple jobs. So you go to hospitality. Exactly. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. You're so on board. We're all overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated.

Yeah. But I will say, I rather work myself to death than die of boredom any day. Oh, true. You're like that. Oh, I'm bored. I easily bore. Oh, my gosh. So we discussed earlier a little bit about this, and so I kind of wanted to ask you a question about it. You said that you've also worked in a coffee shop, right? I have. Oh. You were holding out on us with the food and beverage? You know, I'm a multitasker. She's done so many things. She's forgotten. What haven't I done? The circus? Oh my god.

So I've honestly been dying to know a little bit about that because I only briefly worked in a coffee shop, but not long enough for me to remember. So I wanted to know what is your least favorite drink to make? Oh, easy. If you order those damn frappuccinos, I'm coming for you. Takes the most amount of pieces. It takes, it's the noisiest thing to make. And it's the most disgusting drink to make too. Really? Sugar bomb. Disgusting how? Sugar bomb. Is it sugar?

Yeah. We put espresso in there, but you know you're not tasting that. Oh, no way. When I feel like there are a bunch of frappuccinos that don't have espresso in it, like what is the point? Vanilla bean? You are making me make this drink for you. It takes like five minutes to dirty all these dishes. Exactly. For what? A sugar bomb. A sugar bomb. So don't even dare. Okay. So what's your favorite thing to make? Americanos. Oh, okay. Just some hot water and some espresso. Okay. Black coffee.

Fancy black coffee. But that's also my preference. I was going to say, is it your favorite drink to consume? Most definitely. Maybe a little milk, maybe a little sugar-free vanilla, but nothing more. All right. Now I have another question. So again, I was very briefly in that industry and I got let go. So I was going to say, can you tell the story? I sucked though.

The one thing that they used to do at this coffee show was if someone was an absolute jerk when they were giving their order, they'd swap them for decaf. I already knew. I already knew. Not yet. I have to really hate your guts. How have you resisted? I really haven't. I just, I couldn't do that to people. Wow. I give it to you. Yeah. I would do it all the time. Oh, I would too. I want to do it now. Do you want me to go get you a coffee, sir? It sounds like you're having a bad day. Decaf.

Let me get you a little pick me up. Decaf. It's on me too. But I'm sure you see like all walks of life in a coffee shop being behind that counter. Do you see it all? Yeah. Young people, old people, mad people, crazy people, work people. I have it all. Oh yeah. A lot of professionals. Yeah, no, but staff. Yeah. Those are always usually your biggest pains. And I feel like I know the person by their beverage too. Oh. Yeah. I always think that, you know, where we work, it's not just the coffee shop.

So on top of that, those frappe people, certain department. Oh my gosh. You have to tell me. The dark people, a certain type of department. Those stupid caramel macchiatos, certain type of people. Okay, spill. Hoarders what? What can you tell about a person and their drink? So even when I started there, I would probably say I was a sweeter drink, maybe some caramel, maybe some chai. They just got bolder and bolder, less sugar, less everything.

But when I started to get to know everyone else there, my staff, mostly dark drinks because they like the quality. They like to taste all the coffee, the actual coffee. When it comes to certain departments and they also approach us, they get like, oh, I'll take the food and I'll take the pastry and I'll take the sugary drink. I'm like, calm down. What does that say about them? I don't know.

I always feel like it tells me, like even when I interview people, I always ask, so what's your favorite drink? I take away something out of it. Wow. Yeah. If you say frappuccino, decline. I've never had one though. Are they like not good workers or like? No, I think it's more of the personality. Oh. Yeah. Certain departments. Which one? You have to spill. Fill the tea, girl. So in the front desk, let's put front desk. I knew it. I wanted a touch of that one. Mostly Americanos.

Mostly black coffee. I mean, you guys need it. Yeah, that's true. Anyone up there will definitely need all that energy, you know, just straight to the gut, you know. They're not going to like keep a smile on their face all day. They need that caffeine rush. Yeah. They don't need a crash from the sugar. No. Nothing. Who orders the frappuccinos? Housekeeping. I was going to say, I could have guessed that for sure. Those caramel macchiatos. It's so funny because we're not that big brand.

Those cults of drinks, but we always say, oh, like the mermaid. Yeah. So what you mean is you're not one of those big brand coffee shops. You're not that mermaid. No, not the mermaid. Definitely not. Oh, I just got that. We're way better than that. Wow. I understood like what we were talking about, but the mermaid like- She's like lost with the mermaid. Went right over. Yeah, definitely. Any whoosie. Oh, Liz. She's new. Okay. What is someone ordering a tea? What do you think about them?

A hot tea or a iced tea? That's a good question. What about iced tea? Non-coffee drinkers. Okay. They just need caffeine. Okay. So you make it in the morning, pour it over ice. Just sitting there, pour it over ice. Easy money. Easy, easy. And I don't understand. My brother, not a coffee drinker. Never understand. Don't get it. Hot chocolate. See, that's me on my iced tea. So I was like, what does that say about me? But it's caffeine. It is. Yeah. It's okay. That's me too. I can't drink coffee.

Same. That's strange. No, I need my fix every morning. I'm sorry. It tastes like dirt, so I hate it. Actually, I just got into this conversation today at a business lunch. I went off property for a little networking lunch and coffee was brought up. One manager was like, does anyone want coffee? At the very end of lunch. And of course all of us were like, no, no, no, we're okay. And we got to talking somehow and I was like, oh yeah, I'm a coffee fiend.

And he was like, well, that's why I asked if anyone wanted coffee because I wanted one. A fix. It was a fix. Oh, well, if you want a coffee, like I'll have a coffee. We didn't end up, but it got on the conversation of coffee and energy drinks and tea. And it was really interesting to like see it was more of like a wellness and fitness industry lunch. And it was interesting to see like these fitness professionals still fiend over coffee. Well, it's also calorie counts. There's none.

If you drink it black. We got to talking like in the milligrams of caffeine that we were intaking each day. And some of us were like in the 600, 700s. Oh my God. Which is like two cups of coffee. And I mentioned like, yeah, I like it a little afternoon pick me up. Maybe not energy drink, but something. Let me ask you, are you a night coffee drinker? I definitely can. Whoa. Same. If it's warm, if I'm like cozy in bed and a warm beverage. Agree. And you'll sleep. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Oh my gosh.

If I have a chocolate bar after like four o'clock, I don't sleep. But I also heard someone told me you probably have ADD. ADHD. ADHD. ADHD. My husband can have. Bullshit. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not going to sleep. I am. My husband can like drink pounds of coffee and go straight to sleep. Yeah. It doesn't really affect me. Sugar or caffeine before bed. Same. Need it or don't need it? Often need it. But like Liz was saying, I can usually drink it at night and go to sleep.

Wow. Okay. Next question I have. I have them locked and loaded. I'm excited about this. Do you remember your most annoying order? Other than the frappuccino. Yeah. Like just a ridiculous order that if someone ordered it, you want to punch them in the face. I didn't want to punch him, but I was stunned. Okay. This tall man. It was a man. Was he tall, dark and handsome? I was just thinking that. I was heading there. I was heading there. Okay. I was hoping. He didn't know what he wanted.

So he's just kind of, oh, there's nothing I hate more than that lingering gust. Right? Yeah. Just get it together. Just get it together. You step up to the line, know your order, order. Yeah. Oh, I think I want this. Uh, closing out. Oh, can I add this? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I want a chocolate, large hot chocolate. And one shot of espresso. A mocha. I was going to say. Wait. Okay. 10 Splendas. Already in hot chocolate. Ew. Okay. Yes. It's not sweet enough. 10. Some whip. Oh my gosh.

And a little chocolate drizzle. More chocolate. Yeah. Diabetes in a cup. Yeah. I can't even take a lick of that Splenda. That's weird. Yeah. So he wanted a mocha extra sweet with whipped cream. Yeah. And one more pump of chocolate. Came four days in a row too. With the same order. Same order. He's like, make it like he did last time. Weird. I just got chills. Okay. That, that is one thing that probably would keep me up at night. That's a lot of sugar. Maybe he needs it though. I don't know.

Maybe. It wasn't coffee. It was just sugar. One shot of espresso. Like, what is that doing for you? Flavor. I don't know. Yeah. I don't think that's that much caffeine. No, it's not. Sorry. No kind of switching gears. Yeah. What place or industry have you worked at that you had like the craziest stuff happen? Definitely the Redbox warehouse. Oh. Yeah. Oh, where you buy things in bulk? Definitely. Okay. There's nothing better than people watching in any situation.

At this warehouse, you'd see the most unique things people wise. I mean, the funniest thing I've ever seen was we were hosting an event to gather up more members and there's lines, it's busy, it's a weekend and there's a man with a kid on his shoulders. Nothing out of the ordinary. We do have these popped up tents that we have. Guy walks straight through it. No. Doesn't remember that his kid's on top of him. Oh, smacks the kid on the tent. Does the kid fall?

The kid goes back to back with the dad. Doesn't even notice. He didn't notice his kid fell down? No, he was still strapped. The legs are still over him. The kid just... So his knees are just like on his shoulders. No, he just laid back. Oh, wow. See it all. Oh my God. You see it all. That's crazy. And he just kept going? Oh yeah. Yeah. The kid just like screaming like, hey. The kid kind of just took it like a man. Wow. Oh my God. You can sit there. Even outside in the parking, 20 minutes.

Did you ever see fights? Oh, all the time. Oh, like over merchandise, like coming out? No, just over stupid stuff. Oh my God. Like what? What did you fight about? The line, us taking too long, the line. You know how busy it is. There's no extra discounts. There's no specialty. There's no extra. I don't know why people always expect anything. Did people ever fight over a complimentary food given out? No, but there was psychos who would bring plastic bags.

And just like shove it in their plastic bags for later? Yeah. Stock up for lunch. Seriously? Oh yeah. Like, you know, we would close up and we would put away the shoes and everything. And you know, you're boxing up the shoes, they're fixing everything and old shoes. Old shoes just traded back in? Yeah. Just walked out with the new ones? Worst part is it's the same shoe, just used. Nice. So they replaced the same brand. Oh my God. Because that's where they shop. Frequent shoppers, yeah. Oh yeah.

Older women change right there in front of everybody. Clothes? In the clothing section. Oh. So it's not put it on over clothing, but like drop trowel kind of? Yeah. I mean, she might've been wearing a skirt or whatnot, but it's not a changing room. Yeah. You literally can return anything. So just take it home. Take it home. Try it on. I've had people who I've seen put a bag of chips, eat a few, didn't want them. And then we force them to pay for it.

And then he just goes and returns it right there. And then, oh my God. Like doesn't even leave the store. I've had in the section that I worked in, in that department, people would return no product for money. What? And then they'd be like, Hey, I didn't like this on my receipt. Yeah. Did you bring it with you? I didn't bring it. I just didn't like it. Yeah. I threw it away. You're kidding. Here's your money back. Seriously? Yeah. Oh, it's that easy. Even without product?

Yeah. Wow. Satisfaction guaranteed, I guess. That's horrible. I'm sorry, but if you do that, you're going to hell. Anyone who's listening and does that, you're going to hell. You should. Oh my God. And my first, first job ever retail in this, the rule was you couldn't do anything about it. So I would just, um, in the shop that I worked at, big blue bags that they would have for you to shop in, people would grab those bags, sweep tables, walk right out.

Wow. And you just couldn't do anything about it. No, I see men stuffing their pants with baby clothes. They look like penguins, penguins with baby clothes, baby clothes. We actually recently had a guest, Allie, who said the same thing about the women's garment business. And she would see people doing that and they weren't allowed to do anything about it. Yeah. And think about this way, it's, it's company, so not your money. So it's not worth your life or whatever the situation may be.

Just let them have it. They're losing. You're not losing. That's still horrible. Yeah. Oh, what? With companies saying as an employee, you're not supposed to stop it. It's because of liability. Well, it's for your safety. Yeah. I mean, Veronica's right. It's not your money. You don't care. No. But to me, the boy scout kicks in and if somebody's going to try and steal from me, I'm going to whoop their ass. Yeah. At least call him out. Well, it's violation too. You feel like violated.

I would feel. Yeah. Like, I want to kick your... Hey, you get that stuff out of your pants. Well, the rule was, hey, I saw that you grabbed some stuff. Would you like a fitting room to set you up? You know, just call them out on it. Would you like to put it in a basket instead of your pants? Not blame. Not blame. So... Very true. No, I went, when I worked at different hotels, we would have like a market and stuff and we would keep an eye on like the camera or there's like a mirror or something.

I would call people out all the time and I got a kick out of it for taking stuff. Oh, and sometimes I would know that... You get a feeling, right? Oh yeah. Your spidey senses tingling. They're going to try to walk out with it. Yeah. And they start walking and be like, oh, Ms. Jones, did you want me to charge that bag of Doritos to your room? Oh, yeah. I forgot I had it with me. Well, best theft story. We had a lot of guests. One guest in particular comes in, it was me and another gal.

We're super busy. And then at one point we had a rack on the outside and it had a single jacket and it's gone. The hanger's still there. And I go, oh my gosh, to my employee, you sold it. Sold what? The jacket. Like trying to give them an accolade, like pat on the back. Good job. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's like, no, I didn't. I was like, are you sure? The jacket's gone. Yeah. And then go in and then I'm like, oh wait, that's... Did you sell that? Nope. Did you sell that?

No. I sold like three items maybe. I finally get to look it up and everything and I'm standing right by the door and there she goes. She's wearing the jacket. Who? The girl. The associate? No, the thief. Oh. Dun, dun, dun. Yeah. So this girl takes the jacket. She walks in front of me. What did you do? Called security right away. But I'm sorry, she's got nerve. Let me just take this from a rack outside and wear it. What? Go to the restroom? Like down on the corridor?

Oh. Yeah. But she just puts it on and just decides to walk back past the store that she just stole from? Wait, so what happened? I'm sorry. So we call security up and say, hey, I'm like, there's a girl. She has it. I know it's her. It was 343 exactly. You can look at the camera so you could trace her back. She's right there. Oh my gosh. Set my report and everything. I'm like, you got to find her. A couple of days go by and take a loss. It's a little jacket.

Okay. Not a cheap jacket either, but you know. And then I'm actually at an appointment with a rep and she has some clothes and we're doing our thing. And one of my girls is there. This girl walks in. What's in her hand? The jacket. The jacket. No way. Yeah. Walks in and I'm like, stand by guard. Like everyone freaks. Yeah. I'm like, just hold on. Let me see what she's going to say. She's going to try to return it. That's what I thought. Oh no. And she comes in. She's not alone.

She's with somebody else. She goes, hi. I was here at an event over the weekend. I'm like, yes, I know. She puts it on the counter. She's like, my friend said she bought this. I just, I was really drunk and I'm not sure. And I said, oh my gosh, it's so funny. This jacket went missing. And she's like, oh my gosh, well, I just want to leave it here. Like this and that. And I was like, mm hmm. You know, I'm explaining everything now to her. She leaves and whatnot.

And I'm like, okay, well, don't worry. If not, we would have found you. I was like, oh my gosh, I shouldn't have held my tongue on that one, but I just had to. Whoa. But I'm sorry. You can't put like, can you put that jacket back in rotation to sell it or do you just like damage it out? No, it was, it was just worn once. The tag was still on it. She literally, I mean, I sold it still. It was fine. Way to go. Get that money. So late for the day, go to security, drop off the keys.

I'm like, oh my gosh, guess what? And I was like, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, you know what? She came back. No, we found her. I was like, you did. They called her? Yes. So whoever had picked her up, they looked their license plate and they found her. They called her. You bring it back or we'll go to you. That's amazing. That's awesome. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah. There's another one too. Same kind of story. Same except this older woman, three items, all cashmere of course.

So the total was up to like in the nine hundreds maybe just for three. Holy moly. Yeah. Easy, easy there. I wrote her. Yeah. I reported it and I said, Hey, like she was here. They couldn't find her. They were like following her in the cameras. And then I was like, well, is there any way, did she buy something like somewhere else? Like a drink or they traced the credit card. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They found the husband. They called. Could you imagine getting that call? Hey sir.

So we're trying to get ahold of your wife because she stole $900 for the cashmere. Yeah. That's so embarrassing. Well, and I said, well, it's a loss. Like what do I do? It's stolen property. Like security guy at the time. I'll get it back. Oh my gosh. So he brought it back. She had already shipped it to somebody. What? And another state. Of course. We got it back completely used, but he got it back. Oh my gosh. I think I was happy. I was so happy. She shipped it to someone.

Well, she stole it for a gift. The worst part, she had to ask for it back. And so whoever was already had worn it. You could smell it all over. Yeah. But you imagine, Hey Miss B, remember that gift I gave you? Yeah. I need it back because I stole it. And they're threatening to press charges if I don't get it back. That is amazing that you guys go after them and get them. I don't know. I think if I was that woman, I would have just asked you, could I just pay for it? Yeah. Yeah. Right?

Yeah. Versus the humiliation of shipping it back. I wonder what, honestly, what do you think the conversation was like between the husband and the wife? Divorce. That's what I was thinking. Like girl, or maybe he already knows she's a klepto. You know, he already knows. That reminds me of another really good one. I could go on and on. I'm so excited. The youngest thief I know. Little girl comes in, maybe like no more than 14. That's all I could give her. From that 13 age. Not that cute anymore.

Well, she comes in, she's like, Oh, she's killing it. She's like, Oh my gosh, it's my mom's birthday. It's coming up. And I just really want to get her something. My dad gave me his credit card. Oh, you know, in this area, we believe anything. Yeah. In regards to any of that stuff, we're helping her out. She buys a couple hundred dollars of stuff, you know, we wrap it. Her mom's size. Well, it wasn't like she just got stuff for herself. She got stuff for other people.

Okay. So she's getting stuff. She's picking stuff out. This is tops, this, that, a couple items. Next day, man comes in. Hi, welcome. How are you? What can we do for you? He's like, this is very embarrassing. But my daughter has an issue. She just has no control. She steals from us. This card that she had, I'm assuming we had in a safe. He's like, I hate to ask. Can I return the stuff? I was like, as long as you have the product. Couldn't find everything. Yeah. Poor guy.

So he's like, it's been an ongoing issue for a long time. Wait, so was that his daughter? His daughter. Oh. The daughter stole the credit card out of a safe and went on a shopping spree. Oh. Yeah. Oh. But it's not the first time she's done it. At your store? No, no, no. In general. He just tried to give us like a runaround, I think. But I was like, that's so sad. I was like, just wait till she's a little older. So he wasn't able to get all the stuff to return?

Couldn't find some of the jewelry or like a top or something. I do need the product obviously and we'll gladly return it, but no product, no money. That's crazy. Yeah. It's insane. Yeah. A 14 year old to like find their way into a safe. No, well. Find their way to the store. This is in the hotel. Ah. Yeah. So she was there. Yeah. Oh, came down from a hotel room with a safe. Yeah, that makes sense. But the fact that they have to lock up their wallets and- From your own kid. Yeah. That's horrible.

Yeah. That's really terrible. Is that your favorite stealing story? It was my saddest one, I think. Okay, that's fair. My favorite one is when they get caught. Yes. Yes. And when you track down the criminals. That's just amazing by the way. We prevailed. Oh, that's awesome. Karma served. Karma's a B. What is the most common complaint you get? You know, I'm going to give you this. I don't. You don't get complaints? You know, I really pride on that.

Wow. Yeah. If I'm going to say it's a stupid, stupid one. Okay. I'm going to ask my next question, like, what's a ridiculous complaint you've gotten? Paper straws. But it's not ridiculous. No, that's not ridiculous. No. I'm sorry, that's justified. I have a woman every day. Why do you have these? I'm like, we already went through this two days ago, and the third day before that, and the fourth day before that, and the fifth day before that.

Every single time she says it, I'm like, I already know. She's like, don't they have other ones? I'm like, I know, I know. But they're probably the pre-wrapped, more environmentally friendly. Yeah. And you know, in certain states. That you put into a plastic cup. Yeah, that's true. Then why can't you have this tiny straw? For the sea turtles. Yeah, because a plastic cup has never gotten stuck up a sea turtle's nose. It could get stuck in like a dolphin's mouth and choke. I want my straw.

Bring your own. Yeah, there are. I don't really have a problem with the plastic straw issue. I have a problem with the paper straw issue. I don't like them. Yes. Nobody does. Nobody does. So why don't they just redesign the lids to all be drink through? You know, I hate that. I was going to just say, is it the lipstick? It's a sippy cup thing. Yeah, it's a sippy cup thing. Really? I just like the sippy cup thing. I'd much rather do the sippy cup than the paper straws.

See, but McDonald's doesn't have paper straws. I know. I would. Well, put a sip through lid on that. I'll drink through that too. See, the mermaid coffee retailer, they do those special lids and I honestly like them, but I don't wear like lipstick and stuff. So I don't mind it. Here's my thing. If it's a hot drink, do not care. Give me the sippy cup all day, every day. If it's ice. What's the difference? The ice is like on my teeth, like as I'm drinking it. I like the straw.

You drink with your teeth? I don't know. No, it's your lips. I drink most of my liquids except for like alcohol with a straw. If I'm home, any amount of liquid, like I have a straw. You're kidding. You drink straws at home. Yeah. Is that weird? No, it's not weird, but this is going to be Liz's last appearance on the service industry. Guys, it's been great. This is my farewell episode. Thank you so much. We've reached our crossroads. Nice to know you never hear from me again.

She left because of the straw. Is that weird? I feel like that's weird. No, I think that's common because if you look on social media, they make these cool beverages and they have glass straws. They have, wait, what kind of straws do you have? Plastic. I'm really not going to be invited back. Metal. Don't tell me you're metal. No, no. They're from the drive-thrus. No, they're plastic. You've got the disposable bendy straws. The stretchy ones that bend over. The little accordion ones.

I might get them from a big store with big blue plastic bags. Oh my God. Now they sold straws. Like 500 for 99 cents. That's a great deal. You're kidding. Wow. Yeah. Are they pre-wrapped? No. Then that would have been the freaky part. Okay. It's always been like my stocking stuff or like from my mother, like the most random crop and straws. I know what I'm giving you for Christmas. Nothing says love at Christmas like your mom giving you a box of plastic straws.

Oh my God. I'm going to give a shout out to my mother. That's safe. I'm going to give her this. She will listen to this. Oh my God, mom. And she will confirm it. That's hilarious. Thanks, mom. Some people get socks and candy. Others get straws. It's a useful thing that I go through. By yourself? Yeah. You go through 500 straws a year? Yeah. That's less than two a day. So you drink all your drinks of straws at home. I'm sorry. I think that's weird. Okay. Liz. Liz is killing the title.

I think she is going to stay in. I'm really never coming back. This is personally responsible. If we're keeping this topic in, I have thought about going to glass straws, but I'm so afraid that I'm going to drop it and break it. Good metal ones. Yeah. I don't like the metal on my teeth either. They have gummy ends. The gummy ends? Okay. Mom. Christmas. Add that to my Christmas list, please. Oh my God. That's so funny. Okay. That was a quick tangent. Paper straws are a big complaint.

I would agree. Yeah. Okay. I think our environment, getting back to that topic, it's really good. I've had dumb stuff, people requesting dumb returns, typical stuff, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing weird. We're happy-go-lucky. No, it's a luxury. It really is. Wow. Do people return things that they don't buy at your establishment? No. I mean, if you're a good shopper, I'll kind of give you a little leeway, but if it's something dumb, I won't. I've had some odd requests.

Like if you're a consistent customer. Yeah. I'll bend the rules a little bit. You shop more than you return. Oh, for sure. My really, really, really good shoppers that I really love buys things. If it doesn't work out, I'll just give it to another friend. Just like that. Oh. Easy. What's your biggest pet peeve in the retail sector? I don't know. Like some annoying tendencies of a shopper. So if they unfold clothes, that doesn't bother me. No. Gives my girls more to do. Keep them busy.

So it might annoy them. Maybe. I don't think it shouldn't annoy you. I do hate rude people. When you're trying to make me look dumb or stuff, when you talk down to me, any of that stuff. That shouldn't, in any kind of industry, any kind of world, any... Don't be little, any bit, you're not better than me. Fair enough. Do you have any good stories that have to deal with the vendors that you work with? The people that you buy products from? Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. That's another world.

That is... I have stories for those too. They're selling. They get commissions, of course. My biggest thing when I look into any vendor is our relationship. Are we going to work together? Are we going to be good? Are you going to help me out? Am I going to help you out? Am I going to buy from you? Because at the end of the day, they're working for you. Yes. You don't work for them. Yeah. You don't do them a favor by putting their product in your store. It's all a filter through.

If you have to do them favors first, this is not going to work out. If they're just kind of, they're hard too. I can be hardcore too. Can we book an appointment? I'm like, no. Can we book an appointment to, let's say, Miss B? Oh, yeah, of course. Come on. I'll give you the light of day, even then. If it's so hard to work with you, I dread working with you, I hate giving you the time of day. I'm already busy enough as it is. Oh, I have a good one. Oh, do tell. Do tell. Recently.

There's only really two vendors if I say that I've had the hardest time with. One of them is clothing, but he is pushy. He's showing me the line and I kind of already have my way. I don't got time. Let's do this in 30 minutes. It can last up to three hours. It really can. So you tend to walk into a meeting already knowing like, okay, this is what I want. Well, yes, what I need. I even tell the girls if they're going to wear double teaming this, hey, Liz, this is the budget.

I can only buy X amount of pants. No shirts. Then and this is when we're getting it shipped. Like we don't we don't need it. Yeah. Yeah. We need it for months. Yeah, you got to lay it out. You got to lay it out right now. I'm buying for spring. Spring is closed. We're already bought out for that. Wow. We're showing stuff and this guy pushes. Oh, you want to see this? You want to see this? I'm like, okay, I like this, but maybe he's like, okay, let me put in the front.

No, no, no, I don't want it. I just want to see it. He's like, oh, but you should try a few pieces. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I just want to look at it. Like stop. Like out of pure curiosity, not to place an order. He's just pushy. So when people do that, immediately shut down and then don't want whatever they're trying to sell me. Because he's not looking out for me either. He just wants to sell, you know, and that's that doesn't sit right with me.

He's not looking for your best interest at that point. He's like, I got to get my quota up. I got my numbers in. He's serving his own agenda. Yeah. And now I'm going to overbuy and it's going to affect me, you know, and he doesn't even help with returns. Like there's certain things you could do. It's a struggle. He's like, just try four of them. If you don't like a return, I'm like, no, I know this trick. Psycho.

I don't know if I have like ever mentioned this on the podcast before, but I worked in a golf shop for a few years and I helped with the buying and the merchandising a tad. When I first met you, I got a hint of that. She's used her words and I'm like, whoa, this is buying vocabulary. Oh yeah. Because my golf pro at the time would bring me into those buying meetings with golf apparel brands, not a lot of ladies stuff, a lot of men's stuff. He was like, well, their wives are going to be buying it.

Like you need to be in the meetings and figure out what the wives are going to buy their husbands. You got to make sure the boys look good because I'm not going to know. Oh my gosh. Sexist. It's how we sold a lot of product. Yeah. He's kind of right. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit. But what I would do is if I'm going to be bringing in all of these orders, like what can you do for me? Like how much of what are you going to send me for free?

Yeah. I've got to outfit my shop guys in your product. It's true. How much are you going to send me? Some of the vendors that I work with the best will send me gifts, fireballs. Fireball? Yeah. I get the 12 packs of fireball every time. No way. From one specific. She's like one time that I mentioned fireball. That's just her obsession over getting me that stuff. Do you know what's so funny?

Vendors that know how to create a good relationship are so important because my favorite vendor, I still remember this, was at the property we worked at. He came in to sell his particular brand of water and he would chat me up. He was so sweet and somehow we got to talk about things we like. He would bring me my favorite bar of chocolate every time he came in and they'd be like, oh, blood bless here to see you. And I'd run out and I'd be all excited. He knew.

He's like, oh, she'll be excited because I bring her chocolate. But that's small detail. That's all it is. And he remembered. And guess what? I bought his water. Is this something he could have gotten at the gas station around the corner? I am an expensive chocolate girl. So it was a pricier brand. It's like six bucks a bar that you cannot just buy at the gas station. So he was going to the grocery store for you. Even then, I don't even think they sell those at the grocery store. Oh my gosh.

Now I want to know. Yeah. Okay. But I do want to preface. I didn't make these vendors send me stuff for free hassling them. No. But you can work out a deal once you build a relationship. Oh yeah. They can hook it up. They can. Or even a discount. Yeah. And they did. That's the one thing I miss in working in a golf shop is in those buying meetings, they were so fun. If you enjoyed the vendor, if you had a good relationship with the rep and they gave you stuff. Yeah. Oh my God. I love it. So wait.

So this particular vendor, did he shut them down? Oh yeah. It was so funny because she was showing me belts at one point and these belts are not my clients either. So I was telling them, no, no, no. I don't want to see this. He's like, you could at least look at them and then say no. I was like, well, I guess you're right. I didn't have to be that rude. Yeah. Ouch. I was like, okay, that one bit me. But I already knew though, I wasn't going to buy any belts. Why flash them? Why waste my time?

Why waste my time? Yeah. 15 minutes. That was more what I was taking than... Well, because he was being pushy and aggressive. So you had to be aggressive. That's how he is. I get it. Yeah. But I mean, every single time I tell a vendor, I was like, there's no hard feelings. I don't like something. You probably get criticized all the time. You don't make the clothes. You can't take it personal. You can be passionate about the product. That helps too. Yeah, of course. Well, you have to like it too.

Right. If you don't like it, then it's going to be a hard sell. For sure. But... See, the golf industry is a little different because it was a private club. So if someone wanted a belt, I'd straight up pull out the catalog. Here you go. Take a look. You're going to pay for shipping. Special orders. Yeah. If you're a member, you wouldn't care. Oh, shoes. We have special order shoes almost every single day. Yeah. That's crazy. Golf bags, embroidered. Expensive. Yeah. You name it.

But that's because they thought it was like unique to them, which it is. Oh, that's how I would sell it, girl. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah. So was that your worst vendor you've had to deal with? No. The other one was recent. Ooh, do tell. Big soda brand. I think I know where this is going. Oh yeah. Well, they were trying to do this whole thing and there's nothing worse than just showing up and not having an appointment. Oh my God. That drives me nuts. Yeah. I hate that. Yeah. We're all nuts.

What, you just think I'm available? Not doing anything? Yeah. Because then even if I'm not busy, I will say I'm in a meeting. Make an appointment. Well, yeah. The people that I get it, they're there to do a job. They need to sell product, but it annoys me. Oh, I'm just here if you're available. Oh, well, here's my card. Okay, well, you're in my face. I'm never going to use it. Send me an email. Make an appointment. So this soda brand, back to that. We had discussed things.

I said, I'm not getting anything. I already have my feng shui for what my guests like, what they don't like, healthy stuff, Forbes. That's huge. You have to have certain things and not have certain things. So I shut them down and they're like, we have this meeting in October and can you help us out? This and that. And I was like, well, what do you need? He's like, well, I would like to get most of our brand in there. And I'm like, most of the brand that I have are not.

And I said, I already ordered stuff. I already have a lot of stuff. I'm not going to help you at this time. He's like, oh, okay. I was like, let's better plan for the next one you have. They're coming back. Right. And I can work with you. I don't mind working with you, but you got to help me out. Advanced notice. Yeah, definitely. Anything. We got to set things up. You can't just out of the blue. Show up and take away my product. Mm hmm. Anything.

Well, and you have to make sure like you have accounts with these brands. Well, it's a whole setup. You already know that. Yeah. Yeah. Like, have you ever worked with my property before? Like, there's a lot of work to do. Well, before it's on the shelf. I've been there. Years. Yeah. And never once have I ever, ever met these people. All of a sudden. Slime balls. Yeah. And then the day before the meeting, I'm in my office. Oh, my closet. You know my closet. He comes in.

My girls, my staff, everybody is sick of them. They've been there every day for the past two weeks. Just bugging and bugging. Hey, Veronica, do you have a minute? And he's like, do you mind if we go next door? I'm like, okay, but we have 30 seconds. Like I'm so busy. I have all this stuff going on. I have an event happening soon and this and that. He's like, is there any way we can switch out the product right now? What? He's like, it's not going to cost you anything.

Not going to cost you anything. I'm like, that's not the point. I already have so much back stock. Like I said, I just received the order. I had already told you know how many times. I kept telling everyone this guy was willing to lick my toe, I think. Oh, probably. If I said lick my toe, he would have done it. Wow. That's how bad it was. I mean, free product. Well, but that's besides the point. I don't need it. For sure. I'm like, what can I do? What can I give him? I'm like nothing.

And I was like, it's done. Like I told you not this one. Next one. Promise. He's like, but my CEO, this, this and that. And I was like, not my fault. You didn't plan ahead. Did you say that? No, I thought it. I only thought it. I wish. But it's right. It's not your fault. It's his fault. So I budged. No way. You gave him? Is that why I saw that one thing? There's all that weird stuff. I'm not going to lie though. The one on the far right, a particular kind of bubbly soda is my favorite.

It's my personal favorite though too. It is really the best one. But because you're being a jerk, you're like, no. I just saw a random stand. Oh yeah. It's ugly. And I was like, wait, what is this? Well, he's like, you know, it's a big thing. What does he call it? What's the term he uses? Like cold water. Like no, not flat. Room temp. Room temp. Okay. No, it's weird that it's room temp. Well that's what he's saying. There was a word that he used. I forgot. Like that's in to have room temp water.

Yeah. Just to use like people like it like that. I'm like, well that makes sense to my cart. I need a cold. Yeah. Well technically if you're working out, you're supposed to drink room temp water, not cold water or you cramp up. Well cold water, your stomach has to warm it up to digest it. So it burns calories. Oh. Yeah. So if you drink ice cold water, like your stomach just naturally has to burn calories for you to actually digest it. Well it takes longer to quench your thirst too.

Because like Liz was saying, it has to warm up before it can be absorbed. So you're drinking a bunch of water, but it's not quenching your thirst because it's got a process it has to do. That's just, yeah. Ambient is the word he said. Ambient water. I still like water cold. Yeah, me too. Yeah, it just tastes better. Yeah. Or like just cooled down cold. In the fridge. In the fridge is perfectly fine. Yeah. And I told him, we already have this big brand of water.

We have like a million cases of it. We have refill stations in the hotel. Like I don't need more water. Well, so I mean, point is I ended up budging and he brought all this product, like knowing that I was going to budget no matter what, he was going to have me get it. Because in the end I had found out he brought palettes of product. Palettes. Are you stuck with it? I'm stuck with a lot of it, which I'm going to just sell through.

I mean, like he said, it was free and I'm just going to push through it, but it's just, it messed up my rotation, you know, like my buying and all this stuff. The brands and the product are all mixed. It just didn't lay out. I told him, okay, bring it in. You're setting it up. You're breaking it down. I'm not touching anything. My staff is not touching anything. You're stocking it in the back. Well, and you've never really worked retail.

So you have to set up the buttons and the point of sale for all of this. Oh, yes. Yeah. I didn't even think of that. You have to set up the items, put in the price and like make sure, make sure it's on the right, like point of sale page in the right section. Tell my staff about it. Retrain them on it. You know, there's new buttons, there's product there. Like it's a, it's a pain. Yeah. It's a pain. And like she said, God forbid if the vendor wasn't set up.

Yeah. But I would have never allowed that. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And I had heard it wasn't just me. So other departments had to try and put the product as well. Are you trying to get the product in other departments? Well, cause the product was going to the wrong locations. He wanted the rooms to switch out our regular water to their water. It was, oh, you. Oh, I know. Well. Oh my gosh. Did you end up switching them? We started to. And didn't. And we were told like, you know what?

No, don't worry about it. No. It was a whole thing. And what was it planned? No, they went and put in a fridge in the gym. Oh yeah. Their own fridge with their own brand on the counter. All their own. No, no, no. Big fridge. Oh, he said it was a little one. No big fridge. And it looked like the oddest, most misplaced thing. They didn't tell you. No, no. So no one knew where this giant fridge came from with waters. So all of our like normal guests are going and getting it.

And all the front desk is like, where did this come from? Who's allowed to get the water? Santa Claus. It was the weirdest thing ever. The most disorganized cluster F. Yeah. What did you do to the vendor? Well, they're probably coming back for another meeting. They have another meeting. Yeah. And it's longer. We're really excited about it. And they, the sales girl. The gall of like bringing in your own fridge for that. Well, and just sticking it in the fitness center. Well, you want to hear?

They did plan for some portions of this. They had to ask for all of this product from the company somehow. They knew that. They planned on there. They just didn't clue the hotel in. My thought is that they messed up in planning and they were just doing everything desperate, which is how it felt. Desperate mode. I'm pretty sure that was it. Yeah. Not planned, not prepared, not anything. And begging everyone at the very end.

And then I had talked to the sales team and I said, Hey, like what is happening? Like, why didn't you guys like, no, like, no, we didn't know. And then he's like, we had ran into each other. So we discussed the whole thing and I was like, you know, my team is fed up with them. I'm fed up with them. This and that. Yeah. And they're still coming back. I just don't even want to do anything for them. They wanted us to change a carpet color probably too. Yeah. Would you have if you'd licked your toe?

Oh, it'd have to take more licking. She's honest about it. So then we discussed it and she's like, so the fridge and I was like, oh yeah. He had mentioned it to me, but he had just mentioned it, but I was not going to help him with anything after that. They were setting it up in there. That fridge. So there's no room. The sales girl goes, are you going to pick it up? He's like, Oh, I thought you guys were going to store it for us. Oh my God. And she's like, no, you're picking it up today.

Oh, she's like, and who even approved this? He said Veronica. He said you did. Once. The Cajon. Once I said that and she's like, good thing I had talked to you right before that. Okay. I have another question. Sorry. I'm just firing them because I have so many questions burning in my mind. What was the most ridiculous return you got at your big box retailer? Easy. There's two. Any kind of food that wasn't there. You know, like, Oh, the chicken was bad. So where's the chicken?

Oh, you wanted me to bring it back. You wanted me to bring back a rotten chicken. Yeah, that. And then maybe, Oh, this woman, never forget her. She wanted me to return these old dish towels. I mean, I, like I said, I know when I know my stores, I know everything, top to bottom, left to right. And then she was returning these old, old dish towels, no tags, no anything. We can search all of the history. I can see everything. Yeah. All your secrets are there. Yeah. Not even a dish towel in sight.

And she is like, are you incompetent? Like you don't know what you're doing. Blah, blah, blah. What? Yeah. She was annoying. And please don't tell me you gave her money. I didn't. The manager, I'm like, well, how would you like me to return this? And for how much? Because there's no price. There's no item number. There's nothing.

So that was probably, so there was no skew, no skew, no number, no history, no, not even like, you know what, if they're forced me to do, I'm going to just put on this one. None of that. Just a random item in the entire store. They probably had to put an open item kind of in a sense and give her like a certain amount back. That's so dumb. How many skews would you say they had at any given time? Oh, well, she's been a member for years.

Kind of can narrow it down because it's like, oh, you can look at the history. Like, yeah, so you could look at the department, narrow it down and like, this is obviously going to be in, you know, is it a sundry item? Is it candy? Is it electronics? You know, and I'm only like in a house. Like household. Yeah. Yeah. Not there. It's not like the one that Karen has. Oh, yes. Is there a limit? If they see something excessive or crazy, corporate will jump in and pay like, don't do that.

But if they're taking abuse of it, there's notes in there and there, but it's up to management. Okay, because that makes sense. But I was returning an item at another big box store. Oh yeah. You know, where a dog might be a mascot and I was returning an item and I did not have a receipt because it was a gift, but it's all the tags on it and everything that store only carries that brand. So you can't buy it anywhere else.

So it's for sure from that store and I just needed a bigger size, but I did never see and they let me return it for store credit. But they said, I think it was five. You're only allowed to return five times in a year if you don't have a receipt. And they gave me a specific number. I was like, uh, okay, you can look me up. This is my first. It was like, I'm going to go get the same item and literally I was like, my daughter grew a size up. So I just needed the size up. Oh man.

I don't even think that matters. Like I've had management check the history and like, it's fine. Like they look at the history. But I mean like with that thing about getting a different size, to me, that's not a return. That's an exchange. So yes. But is it counted as a return? It's still returning the product. So let's pretend you walk into the store right now and you buy say a jacket and it's a large. You buy it, you purchase it just that day.

Once you exit those stores, they pretty much say, Hey, like, Hey, I literally changed my mind, can I exchange it? Like, no, it has to be returned. Rebuy. There's no exchange. Hey, I just want to search it out. It could be the most minor thing. Hey, it's missing a piece. Can I just bring the whole thing? Exchange? No return and buy because of, I think the audits, there's something called audit. We have to close it, you know, tag it.

And then they audit it to our, um, for an RA gets so that store can get credit back too. So it kind of makes sense. It sounds dumb. But then I do think it depends on who you get. If they're nice, if they're not nice, are they going to let you do it? Your customer service. Yeah. There was times when, you know, like even like a flight attendant, like if you're kind of hurt, maybe she'll do it. Yeah. You know, it's the same thing. I recently was in a big box store.

I was returning something, but I was just returning. Like I was already there. I was going to do my shopping and the woman in front of me was trying to do just a straight exchange. Everything pretty legit and the writing on the wall said returns and exchanges. And so she went up, she was like, Hey, I just need to exchange this. And I, and I do think she had a customer service rep that was maybe not in their best mood that day. And they're like, Oh, we don't do exchanges.

And she was like, okay, well I have this one. I want to give this back to you. And I have this new one that I would like to take. Can I just do an exchange? And they give, they gave her the regular moral, like we do not do exchanges, ma'am. We can do this return. You're going to have to go to the register and buy your product. They were like refusing to ring her up. Yeah. Which is you totally can. You totally can.

And she was like, well, look, like I'm just trying to exchange it says returns and exchanges. It says it on the wall. And the employee working goes, they're updating the sign. We don't do exchanges. Well, where I worked at, there is no positive purchases, only negative, but there is a supervisor register where they can do all of that stuff. So it's as easy as me just being like, you know what? You're right. Let me return this for you. I'm going to put it on a gift card for you.

And then I'm going to take you over to this other register and you're just going to purchase it right there. Which is why I think they just got someone in this shower mood. Cause I've gone to that store a bunch and like usually I'll pick out the wrong size or something, but everything has the tags. I literally go and I get the thing that I want and I show them a receipt, do, do, do. They return it, put it on a gift card, bring me up. See?

I'm like, they aren't telling you like every step of every, every step of the transaction. They're just doing what you want, how they know how to do it. And some people are incompetent too. So I came up after, I was like, Hey, I just want to return this. And they were like, you're not exchanging. Oh my God. See it was them. It was them. It wasn't the guest. It wasn't my God. I was like, yeah, maybe alone. Here's all of my information.

Like, let me ask when you guys go to a restaurant and you know, the person's not in the mood or you can already tell, like, Oh, I'm so nice all the time. I know. But do you just let it slide? Yeah, you do. I don't. What do you do? Do you confront them a little bit to spice it up? You know, you know, you're serving me and I'm like, they're like, Oh, like, what can I get for you? Or like, they're just not there. And I'm like, are you upset? It checks them. Oh, really? Oh, no, no. Oh, why?

Why would you think that? Oh, no, it checks them. They just have like a... But it's not like you're confronting them. It's just kind of like, are you having a bad day? They'll get out of that state of mind. I'm like, you know, you're right. Like, I don't want to get complained on or anything like that. Yes, I try to be careful when it's restaurants though. Well, and I've never done that. It's just slightly, just slightly. It's not, I don't want to get into an argument.

I don't want them to mess with my food. You know, my dad taught me that one. I just did it once and I was like, take it. Yeah. No, no. They let them abuse me and then I give them a tip. Well, it does affect that they know that, but still, like, I don't want that service throughout my whole seating. I don't. I get it. You got balls. I know. I like it. It doesn't take very much though. It doesn't, it's not very balls. Oh no, it's one sentence. Yeah. It sounds easy. You don't know? Yeah. Try it.

I normally just try and kill them with kindness. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm there to enjoy and you're ruining my dinner. Yeah. I, you know, I'm paying good money for this dinner. Could come with good service. And I'm going to give you... As promised. Yeah. Or not. At least fake it, you know? Yeah. Fake it till you make it. Well, in any kind of industry, you know, where you're facing customer, you guys know where you're getting stuff into. You know, just fake it. Put a face up. That's...

You would think. Oh yeah. I literally have an associate, I cannot tell you how many times I've had to coach them to smile. And I'm like... In hospitality? Yeah. And at the front desk of a hotel. And they're like, well, I'm just not happy. And I'm like, it doesn't matter. This is the job you signed up for. You smile. You ask how their day is and you give amazing service. Yeah. I don't care if Kat just got ran over. You're here. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah. Sorry, I'm a jerk.

But literally, like, I don't know how to walk someone through why they have to smile. Well, and I think we've also touched on the podcast before. You can't teach or coach having a good personality. Okay. Like, there's just a spark that like has to be there or it's not. Sometimes they can fake it and then they're hired and they don't smile. Yeah. Well, look at me. I don't smile, but I think didn't I got a job. It's acting though. You have to know how to do it.

And associates will ask, well, like, how do you do that? Because I'll be grumbling about, I don't want to talk to this person. And they go, hi, how are you doing? Oh my God, you guys came back. It's so great to have you. And they're like, how did you do that? That's when you look them in the eye and say, that's why I do what I do and you don't. It's true. Yeah. And you tell them to take notes. Yes. If you want to be successful, you have to learn the art of faking it and really well.

So they can't tell. And I've always learned in someone I was Tommy act the position you want to be, not the position you are. Yeah. Dress the part. Yeah. And I couldn't take that advice any better. Oh, no way. So if you show up in pajamas, you're asking that you want to be home in your pajamas. Oh, for sure. Oh, your employee from that one episode. Those are shorts. Oh, girl. Yes, she did. She was dressing for the part she wants to be unemployed. But look at it. It's true. It's true.

Is she there? That was rough. I'm sorry. Well, even easy. I mean, easy topic. We could jump into interviews. Oh, I love this one. I love this one. One of my favorite things. What? To discuss. Oh, yeah. Best and worst interviews. What? Like holding interviews, I thought was your favorite thing. I was like, oh my God. In all the years I've experienced this year, the worst. Absolutely agree. I called at one point. I didn't feel like I was getting enough support from another department. So I did.

What does that feel like? I did everything. I called, honestly, 40 people on my... Just even because I actually had applications. You're applying because you want the job, right? Yeah. Well, that's... You would think you spend the time to fill out the application. Exactly. So I called everyone. I'm like, hey, if they replied, even if sent an email, if they had an email, like this is the location, this is what you want to do. And I'm just going to do this big bang. Three people showed up.

Out of 40. Three. I'd say nowadays, maybe, maybe one in four of people who schedule interviews actually show up. Scheduled to. Yeah. We talk. We set up a time based on your availability. One out of four show up. Oh, man. And they don't say like, oh, I'm not going to be able to make it. Oh, I got another job. It just goes. You know, if I was so desperate, I would schedule, come in or like, when can I schedule you? When can I have you in? Not worth it. After that, I was like, forget that.

They're working around my schedule. Oh, can you call me next week? Not calling you back. Good for you. Yeah. Put your foot down. Okay. What's the worst thing you've seen in an interview? Ooh. The outfits these days, people don't dress up. No. They're not coming professional. I remember always like some kind of nice shoe, dress pants, blouse. At least wear a collared shirt. Yeah. At least. If you're a male. You don't need to wear a blazer, but like. If it's certain departments, I would agree.

I do think that there's certain jobs that you really don't have to, but. So you know my trick for interviewing. What's a normal amount of time for you to do an interview? Well, for me personally, I want an average 30 minutes. If they're good. Of connection. Yeah. Okay. So that's your target goal. If you're looking for that right person, you know, you want to budget 30 minutes. What I usually do is I will tell people I have X times available. I can have you in at one, one 30 to two 30.

Okay. So let's say you go back to that example of having 40 people. I would schedule three people for each interview time slot. So six an hour. If you don't show up, then I'm really not out anything. If you do show up, then you're going to wait. But more importantly, everybody that shows up is going to sit there looking at each other going, Oh, you're here for this job too. That's smart.

So then when they sit down for the interview, they've already decided either they're going to bring their a game and get this job or they're going to be done in 10 minutes or they're going to be done because they know the competition is too steep. I like that. Well, they judge, they judge everyone. Like of course on personal appearance, what do they look like? What are they wearing? Like what did I decide to wear? Do they have a resume with them? Oh, they're probably, their minds are going.

People are nervous. They should be going. Yeah. So when they're sitting there and they look down at their ripped shirt and dirty jeans and there's a guy or woman sitting across from a full suit with their resume in their lap, they're going to feel the heat. I like that. Let me ask favorite interview question. I'll tell you mine. I like to say instead of, you know, saying what's your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. I think that's lame.

I asked them, what do you believe to be, you know, your greatest strength? What are you going to bring to the workplace? And also what is your greatest area of opportunity that if hired, maybe I could help you with? Oh, I like that word. So that way, and they are actually usually honest and they say, you know, sometimes I have some issues with time management, but I really want to work on it. Don't say weakness because then they're going to give you some B-S answer about, oh, I work too hard.

No, what's your greatest area of opportunity that maybe I could help you with if you got hired? Do you have one? My favorite is a weird one. I like to ask the question about, you know, so you're applying for a position at XYZ Hotel or with XYZ Company. Argument's sake today is the 18th. So let's say they applied on, you know, the 10th. We scheduled an interview on the 12th. Here it is the 18th. They've had almost a week. It's a long time.

So between the time that you applied and the time now that we're sitting down to have your interview, what can you tell me about the hotel? What can you tell me about the company? And I loved the look on people's faces when they go completely blank. Like, wait, I had homework? So that question actually took me out of the running of a few interviews ago.

Yeah. Wow. So I had a phone interview, went great, loved it, loved me, whatever, brought me in for an in-person interview and one of the areas of responsibility I didn't have any experience with. But they brought me in. So the GM asked me like, okay, you don't have area managing this part of the department. What have you learned? What have you researched since we last talked about this area? And I wasn't on my feet about it. I wasn't. So I was honest. And I said, you know what? Nothing.

Straight up. I was because it could, it could work out if the rest works. I couldn't lie on the spot. I'm just think of BS. I really couldn't. So I left me like, Oh, well, that was fun. Yeah. But you learned something. I definitely learned something. That's a good question, though. I'm gonna throw that one into my rotation. Yeah. No, seriously. I like that. But I think my jobs are too cash for my kids. Yeah. You know? Okay. Yeah. I could not imagine asking that question.

Mine is similar to Miss B. Even now with this current stuff, I have opportunity to opportunity. I don't like to use negative words. They roll their eyes at me all the time for that. Yeah. I don't know what the next step does. Because they mess up and I'm like, No, no, no. They're like, Oh, I messed up. I'm like, No, no, no. It's just an opportunity. Learning opportunity. Yeah. It is. It really is. Learning opportunity. It's true, though.

My next favorite question, because I feel like that one everyone knows to study for it. And I'm like, it's a BS when they respond to it. I'm like, Oh, you know, I work too hard. I'm like, Yeah, do not tell me that. So that's why I'm a perfectionist. Yeah. Oh my God. I'm sure you are. Do you know what question I used to ask? I stopped asking it. I used to ask people, what was your what's your favorite book? And you know, when raids people don't read anymore. I know that's why I stopped asking it.

But people used to be as answers. But then I got this one guy, I think he was a Blank Robelman position. He told me see spot run. What? That's a kid's book. Yeah, I know. And I was like, OK, that was honest. It was very nice book. No, I don't think so. I think it was a cartoon. So I stopped asking that question. Yeah. Try the Disney movie one or the kids movie growing up. Well now I ask harder questions. No. OK, guys, what is your biggest red flag in an interview?

Well, I feel like the first one off the bat is their appearance. Like did they show care how they groomed themselves, what they chose to wear punctuality? Oh, that. Yeah, that's probably one of my top ones, too. I'll even I'll even give you five minutes to I won't give you to find your way around like now you should have planned. This is an interview. You know what? You're you know, balls in your court right there. I'm too lenient. Oh, no. We've already talked about my leniency.

See, but this is episode. I think there's some departments that time matters. Yeah. You know, I mean, yeah, for me, I'm willing to sit there for an extra five minutes if you're going to kill the interview. And it's all about getting along and meshing with not only myself, but my employees. Because they're the most important. You got to get along with each other. Yeah. You got to work well together. That's why the teamwork question is huge for me. Oh, same. All right, Bill, biggest red flag.

So I agree with you on punctuality. Yeah, I give people leeway on appearance, though, especially with specific types of jobs. Yes. You know, it's like, look, if I'm hiring a room attendant, I want somebody that cares about their personal appearance, but I'm not going to judge them on the brand of the jeans they're wearing, the type of shirt they have, or if it's last season style or none of that. Because people's economics, they're all different.

What I look for, though, are discrepancies in what they're telling me versus what's on their resume. Everybody will fudge. I mean, that's just a given. Everybody will embellish a little bit. But if you can't tell me about your position in a way that I feel comfortable that you know your job, we're going to have challenges. That's a really good one. You know, like one of the things that I love to ask people and you'll understand this, but you know, explain to me the difference of ADR and Revpar.

And most of the time, anybody that's involved with front desk should know the difference between ADR and Revpar. Yeah, I've got no idea. Me too. And I'm on, I was like, what's that? And I watch people glaze over. So you worked as a supervisor for three years at these other hotels. You don't know what your ADR was? You're applying. Yeah, you're applying for a position here with me. And you can't tell me the difference between average daily rate and revenue per available room.

Oh, I was like, oh, no, I know. Like I know those terms. Yeah. Well, and I've heard them too, but sometimes I'm like, yeah, so that's that is what I look for on resumes is how much embellishment does somebody have on that piece of paper versus what they really did. Because what you can also do, you know how on their resume, what he's saying, it says all the things they did at that specific job. Pick one. Ask about it.

Oh, I see here at the, you know, blah, blah, blah hotel, you help manage their inventory system and created a, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. Can you share more about that? Yeah. How did you do that? Yeah, cause I'll take credit for other stuff. Yeah. They'll just name all these things they did, but they can't tell me how they did that. I like doing that one. See, I'm more interviewing. Like this is a kid's first job.

So I'm trying, I'm trying to figure out like, what are your extra curriculars? Like, do you get good grades? Like, do you play sports? These are good questions for when you're hiring your managers and your leaders. Yeah, for sure. Entry level. You're just trying to figure it out. Supervisor. Yeah. How's your attendance? Yeah. You know, worst interview I ever had was, this is years ago for a houseman job. Guy was over an hour late. He still showed up. He still showed up. Oh, wow.

But here's the thing that was great though, is that I had gotten a call from HR saying that this kid was running late for his interview. That he had, yeah, he had hit traffic. He was running a few minutes late. Now I don't remember what time of day it was, but let's just say it was 11 a.m. Where there's like little to no traffic. Yeah. It was not like a commuter time of day issue. So I said, okay, great. How long is, you know, how far behind is he? 15, 20 minutes? They said, yeah.

I'm like, okay, great, whatever. So I'm thinking he'll be there at 1130. 1130 comes and goes, he doesn't show up. Noon comes and goes, he doesn't show up. It's like 1215. What the heck? Oh my. Kid shows up. So at this point, I'm not going to hire him because he's well over an hour late and he's well over 40 minutes late from the time he revised it and said, I'll be there just a little bit late. And you don't want to waste your time like talking to him for 20 minutes out of your day. No. Right.

So scheduled too. And I do remember I was on lunch at that point, but of course you make him wait, make him wait. Well, no, I wasn't going to, I wasn't going to be a jerk, but HR called me and told me that he had showed up. And so I'm telling him, well, I'm on lunch so he can wait a few minutes so I can get from the cafeteria to the HR office. Yeah. It's not that far, but it's, it would take me five minutes.

And they're like, well, you know, he's an hour and 15 or an hour, 20 minutes late, whatever it is. Do you want me to just tell them that he's not going to get the job? Yes. Well, so normally I would have said yes, but at this point I was going to prove a point. So I said, no, no, I'll come over. I'll be there. So I walk in and I don't want to say we were desperate for people, but we were definitely in need of people. So I wanted to flesh out everybody I could.

I walk in and the kid's sitting there in shorts and a t-shirt, like he just came from the beach. I was just going to ask, was he frazzled? He probably did. I think he did. And when I asked him about what happened that held you up, he goes, oh, well, you know, I hit some traffic, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay, well, you know, that would explain the 15 to 20 minutes that you might have been late that you shared with the HR folks, but you're like an hour and 20 minutes late.

And then he tried to say, oh, well, I got lost. The resort was big. I'm not going to lie. I'm like 18 acres or something like that. So I said, well, how did you get lost? You know, didn't you stop at the front desk or whatever? And he just kind of started to BS. And then I'm really sitting there looking at him going, you're in a t-shirt and shorts. You're not even wearing socks with your shoes. You're just kind of like, you're not, you're not putting forward what you need to be putting forward.

And the guy looks at me and he said, you know, well, when, when does the position start? And I said, well, I want to stop you right there. I said, for you. Well, no, I said, well, I said, I want to stop you right there. I said, because this interview is not an interview for a job at this hotel. This interview is an interview to prepare you for your next job because you've shown up an hour and 20 minutes late. You've come in wearing a t-shirt and shorts. You're in sneakers with no socks.

You're not prepared for an interview, you know, and I don't believe that you were lost walking around the hotel for the last hour. So I will not be giving you a job, but I'm here to give you advice on how to better prepare for your next interview. Wow. What'd he say? He just kind of sat there and was like, so, so I'm not going to get the job. I think I was pretty clear up to this point on that. That's a solid no. We haven't even talked about the job. So no, sir, you're not.

Yeah. Well, I hope that kid remembers you. I feel like he definitely would. You know what? And took something from it. I don't care if he remembers me. I hope he just took the incident to heart. Yeah. To get a different job. Everyone deserves to be able to work, but you need to care about it. No, the incident probably doesn't have like your face and name to it, but hopefully he remembers the conversation.

But I mean, conversely, I've hired people that have performed incredibly well, but did not interview in traditionally the best of ways. I had again, houseman at that time. I had this guy that he worked two full time jobs, one part time job. How? Exactly. How is the question? When did he sleep? He barely slept. No days off. He would, yeah, he would work full time overnight at one hotel, come to us three days a week morning shifts.

So he would work an eight hour shift graveyard, 11 to seven, come to our hotel, seven 30 to four. At that time he would go home and sleep and then just repeat. That's so sad. And then to your point on days off, he would, he would work for us for like as his full time job and a part time job, the other shift. Yeah. You got to do what you got to do. Anyone who has two jobs, it's a lot. I remember it when I was, it's not for the weak hearted.

I can't remember if I was a junior or a senior in college, but I had stopped playing college sports and I picked up coaching for my high school because they were like, Hey, we're in need of a JV coach. Do you want to do it? I was like, sure, like extra money coaching is born. I'm passionate about, but I also had a serving job and going to school as like an upperclassman in college.

So I would wake up for morning practice morning practice, like six to eight, go to my serving job during the day, go to afternoon practice and go to school. I still don't know how I did it. School's like a job too. I know it was. And my professors at the time like were really understanding that I was like, Hey, uh, I don't play sports anymore, but I coach. So like, could I skip class on Friday? Like I have a tournament to go to and they would let me like make it up. That's great.

No, yeah, it was wild, but those again, because they prefer a hustler to help out someone who's doing something. Then someone who's like, Oh, I forgot. When I was, I was communicating, I wasn't just skipping class. I was like, Hey, I have this like other job. Like here's the roster here. Here's a team photo for you. Like you can come and watch games like, but yeah, that was a wild time. Just straight hustling seven days a week. Yeah. Okay guys, my biggest pet peeve. Oh my gosh. And an interview.

I'm so sorry. Good. I'm just excited to share mine. Okay. You were waiting for it. I was like, okay, I'm ready. That's why I asked. I have several. Okay. Miss B what is your biggest pet peeve when an interviewee walks in the door? You're not sure about if you want the job or not in your direction. If you seem kind of like, I don't know. Like any kind of doubt. I like somebody that's sure of themselves, that's sure of what they want. Sure of where they're going.

If I ask you, why did you pick this hotel? Why did you pick this? Well, well, it's on my way home and you know, like it was a hotel with an open job opening. Yeah. I hate that. So the particular position, if I go, okay, why do you want to be, let's say a front desk agent? Why do you want to be a front desk agent here? Oh, well, I like people. I figured, and by the way, this is quote unquote, Oh, I thought I'd try it out. If you tell me you want to try it out. It's an experiment.

Yes. Immediately. What I think is you're going to do this for two weeks. You're going to hate it. And then you're just going to leave. I'm like, why would I spend my time training you, onboarding you, bring you on? You just be like, yeah, I tried it. Wait, I'm sorry. Try it out at like a luxury property. If you want to try it out, don't say that in any job interview, but if you're going to try it out, like read the room, like go to somewhere down the street. Don't come here.

I was just like, look, no, you can't just try it out here. Go try it out at a best Western and then come back. Well, I was going to say that, but I wasn't going to say that loud. I'm like, what? But okay. But then this is going to be kind of sad because you guys were talking about like a tire and stuff. This like really, for me, this was a red flag because of the type of resort I work at and the type of, you know, upscale we are and the expectations we have.

When you come into an interview, especially for a guest facing position, you better look the part. If not, I will not give you the time of the day. So I had someone coming in applying for a leadership position and they kind of looked the part. They was like, uh, slacks, blazer shirt. That's good. So I get closer and all of a sudden I noticed they're completely sparkling. It takes me off guard. Like I wasn't prepared for that. Like shimmer lotion kind of stuff. I'm talking their clothes.

Oh, their clothes. I was going to say. Like lots of rhinestones or something. No, like it looked like a regular suit. And then when they got into the light, they sparkled. I'm sorry. Are they from the movie Twilight? It's like why did they confuse me? Why did they think of that? They're a vampire. Yeah. And it caught me off guard. And I'm like, oh, whoa, you sparkle. And I said that. You said that out loud. I did. Yeah, I like to add a little bit glitter everywhere I go.

She was covered in glitter. So she just dusted like body glitter over her clothes. Maybe she just got off shift. I was just, I was thinking the same thing, but there was sparkles all over like a normal black suit, just sparkles. Oh my gosh. So you could see it on a black suit. Yes. I need to know how was the interview. I'm dead. It was, it was so hard to focus on anything else. And the fact she was fricking sparkling. I do. Well, you had glitter. I do think it's distracting.

Beaming light in your eyes. It's distracting, but I do think it could just be like, she's super bubbly. Like, you know, there's just like, but in a luxury setting. How do you tell a person, can you knock off the glitter? Yeah. Like, can you tone it down? So when I was telling- I think she would be offended. Oh yeah. I did not know what to make of it. So I continued the interview and asked the questions, but I was just kind of like stumped on that. Like who thought that would be appropriate?

Okay. Let me ask in a resume. What do you like to see and what don't you like to see? Don't, obviously short lengths of employment. And then all of them listed. A three page resume where you're giving me your three, four, six, eight month stints. I'm like, I read, no, this person cannot decide what they want to do. They can't decide where they want to be. No, immediate skip. I like some length, you know, at least a year and then only put your last like, you know, four or five, what's that?

Lifetime history. I want every job you've ever worked at, including your first job at a grocery store, you bag things. Like give me the relevant stuff and I don't want you to fabricate, but yeah, red flags is just not being at a job very long and then listing all that. Like it's cool. Just, do you skim them or do you read them detail per detail? So my first look is a skim. I see the general idea if I like it, if I like it, then I go deeper and then I look at the company.

Then I look at, you know, the, what they did. Like I do a deeper dive. So my first skim, I'm like, nope, you know, and then I'm like, okay, maybe. And then I look at their experience. I see if it's relevant to my department and then if it's not, nope. And then if it's like kind of relevant, I look into it a little bit more and then I do a deep dive and I look for you on social media. I used to have people who did that. I don't do that though.

I do because it honestly, if I can find your social media and it looks kind of similar, I make sure, you know, you're presenting a type of image that we would want because I have found some bad stuff before. Interesting. Yes. So have I from former employees and I'm like, Ooh girl, you had a life outside work, but then people can be work is work, life is life. No, I'm not saying like this one was bad.

That's the thing is like, if you go out and have fun with your friends and you have a picture with like a beer in your hand with that, that's, I'm totally not going to judge you. Oh yeah. Whatever. It's weird stuff. Like I had this guy who we didn't look at his social media before and he posted satanic evil stuff threatening people and we didn't find it until after he got let go. I'm like, guys, did you see this? I think I heard about that. At least he was let go. Yeah. For some crazy stuff.

But I'm like, so now I like just go check to make sure they're like normal. Yeah. Like, you know, have fun with your friends, but you know, you know, you get a vibe and you can tell what kind of people will post to. Yeah. I am naked public. Okay. Sorry. This is going into a deep dive of like how to build a resume. We're giving you the one on one's listening. Okay. So let me throw in my two cents on that and then we can move on.

But like for myself, I dislike resumes that they tell me the job description of the position. So if you're applying for front desk, don't tell me that you check people in and check people out. Like I can gather that. Yeah. Don't tell me that you were a cashier. Don't tell me that you assigned rooms. That's part of it. That's part of your job. Tell me things like, you know, oh, during my time there, we helped elevate our guest satisfaction scores from X-dax.

That's the kind of stuff that shows me that you're embracing the job and you can actually do the job. Yeah. Agreed. True. Yeah. Everything else that you're putting on the resume just says that you understand the job. You know, it's expected. The bare minimum. Yes. How do you feel about pictures on them? Oh, please don't. Yeah. I, you know, honestly, I prefer to go into a interview completely blind. I don't want any sort of bias. I don't want any sort of inkling. I want to go in cold.

So I don't, I don't want to know whether you are male or female. Yeah. I don't want to know if you're tall or short, black or white. I don't care. Leave your address out of it too. We don't need that. Yeah. That's weird. Now when people put a picture, I'm like, are you also applying for acting jobs? Why are you putting your headshot in there? I've gotten a few of those. Oh, there's a lot. I had a... It's a younger people too. Pageant queen. Okay. Sidebar, because this is funny.

I saw the resume and I was like, oof, I don't know. Presented very well, good resume, but I don't think she was a fit for my department. It's a lot of outdoors work. It's a lot of cleaning. It's exposed a lot of time, like in the sun and stuff. So I was like, well, hmm, this girl like probably has come to work with a full face of makeup. Like I don't think this will be a right fit, but I'll keep it in my back stack. Like if I'm, if I'm desperate, I'll call her in a week or two.

Like if I don't get any other good resumes, I ran into her parents on property and they seeked me out. A whole. Yes. They asked someone, Oh, can we find Liz? Like we have a question for her. This person have no idea who they're talking to. Like, yeah, she's over there. She's wearing that colored shirt. So they came up to me and we're like, hi, we're so and so. Our daughter, she applied for a job in your department and we just want to like put a good word in.

And like, we have a copy of her resume on my phone. If you want to look at it, look at these photos. Like she's absolutely beautiful. We love her so much. We are so proud of her. And I like, they're talking that fast and I can't get a word in. I'm just like, who the AG double hockey sticks are you and what are you doing talking to me? That's Looney Tunes. So we got to talking and I basically interview her parents in proxy of her. Oh my God. Did you interview her at all?

So I was like, all right, well, she's an only child. I get it. Very proud parents. I'd be more than a pride as her as the child. Yeah. Oh, for sure. But I'm an only child too. So I like kind of understood it. Like my parents wouldn't do that, but I could understand it. So I did invite her for an interview and I brought her and I asked her, I was like, so I don't know if you know this, but like I met your parents. Oh my God. What'd she say?

She was like, yeah, they told me like, can you just like forget anything they said or did? I don't think I would have shown up to that interview. I would have been mortified. So this was probably close to two months ago. She's loved her in an interview, brought her back for a second, ended up onboarding her. Really? And kid you not? She's a gold star. Wow. I have other parents. Go mom and dad. Okay. So that personality of being on stage, you're showing face every single time you're on a stage.

It's essentially like working in hospitality. Okay. She can show face, man. So I've had other food and beverage managers come up to me and be like, Hey, so and so she's a new, she's a new employee of yours. I think she's got a great personality. I want her. I overheard her talking to people in the resort and I said, she's got that sparkle. Okay. I'm sorry. I think that's super sweet.

If I had never run into them, I would have never given her the time of day because I thought she was a little beauty queen on a resume. I'm not going to lie though, if that had happened to me, I would have blacklisted that person, but hearing about it is super sweet. But Bill's right. You know, pictures on a resume. It affect, it would have affected her if the parents had not been there. I feel like we could keep talking. This is great. We could totally keep going, but part 17.

So I think we should cap it here. Actually. This is a good place. Absolutely fantastic. This has been fun. I love it. So thank you for everybody that's listening. We appreciate it. If you have questions, if you have stories, if you want to reach out to us, you can reach out to us via email at tails from the service industry at gmail.com. Send us your fun stories or your terrifying ones or your gross ones or all the above. All of it. All of it would be great.

So thank you for listening and we will see you guys again in two weeks. Bye. Bye.