Hop on in for an array of tales from toxic bosses and workplace drama to a real life murder scandal. Buckle up!
Hit us up on Instagram and give our hotline a call at 864-982-5029. Happy listening! And remember to leave us a rating and review.
We mentioned The Nested Fig App in this episode. You can Tap Here to get our app and join our live sales on Sundays and Thursdays at 8pm est. Use Code Fig10 for 10% Off.
Follow Steven on Instagram at @Keepinupwithsteven and follow Wesley on Instagram at @Farmshenanigans. Shop our online store at TheNestedFig.Com Use Coupon Code Fig10 for 10% Off Your Purchase. Find The Nested Fig on Instagram at @TheNestedFig
Hop on in for an array of tales from toxic bosses and workplace drama to a real life murder scandal. Buckle up!
Hit us up on Instagram and give our hotline a call at 864-982-5029. Happy listening! And remember to leave us a rating and review.
We mentioned The Nested Fig App in this episode. You can Tap Here to get our app and join our live sales on Sundays and Thursdays at 8pm est. Use Code Fig10 for 10% Off.
Follow Steven on Instagram at @Keepinupwithsteven and follow Wesley on Instagram at @Farmshenanigans. Shop our online store at TheNestedFig.Com Use Coupon Code Fig10 for 10% Off Your Purchase. Find The Nested Fig on Instagram at @TheNestedFig
Come on get in.
Speaker 2:I am rolling in hot, let's go. Yes, slide on in. It's time for another episode of who's driving and we're back for another episode. What are we talking about this week?
Speaker 1:Hello honey.
Speaker 2:Let's just go Okay, but I do have something right off the bat. What? Because we literally have no idea what we're talking about. We're just having another moment. We've been in the car. Yeah, and this is what I love.
Speaker 1:This is what our road trips are exactly like.
Speaker 2:Y'all gosh for hours and hours, yeah we need to go on a road trip. Put, hook the microphones up. I wonder if it would pick up the car noise.
Speaker 1:Well, I've suggested.
Speaker 2:There's nothing like just record us yeah.
Speaker 1:There's nothing like that.
Speaker 2:Or that could be a video one too. Yeah, that could be a video. Okay, anyway, I we, you know we're not actually in the car, but we're in my office and I look down and you have socks on. You don't have your shoes on. Mm-hmm but you have socks on mm-hmm and I have never seen what I'm looking at as far as socks, they're just regular socks, they're athletic socks, but they have a right and a left. It has a R and a L.
Speaker 1:These are my favorite. I like the ones with the right and left.
Speaker 2:I thought all socks were made the same like well, I don't, I don't know what makes them?
Speaker 1:I don't know. Have you ever?
Speaker 2:heard? Have you ever heard, of socks having a right?
Speaker 1:a lot of athletic socks have right and left. I guess they're made a little bit. Guess I'm not made bougie enough. No, they're not. They're not expensive, they're Nike.
Speaker 2:You know I would never okay. First of all, we would never match them up, right and left. I would have two rights to left, you know, and I would never pay attention enough to get the right on the right. You know, you know.
Speaker 1:I wash all of our laundry Mm-hmm and Dylan folds it and puts it away. That's our little thing. I, we do that, I don't know why. Well, I hate folding laundry. And yeah, we, when I think we were in no, we were at market, mm-hmm, and I carry the pack, these socks, mm-hmm, and I, we have multiple, I have multiple pair right. And I called him and I was like you gave me to left. That's funny. He's like what are you talking about us? You gave me two left feet. I.
Speaker 2:Just never seen that, until I look down and I was like I've never laughed right and a left sock. But okay, I'm down, I would just, I would never match them. I would always have two lefts and two right, and then, when I did have a left and a right, the right would be on the left foot and the left would be Something know about yourself.
Speaker 1:It's treat. The crazy thing is there's something about the socks. I don't know, I haven't inspected them, but there's something about them, because I've never put the wrong one on the wrong foot.
Speaker 2:There's something about feel weird if you yeah it's like a shoe.
Speaker 1:So, something's made a little different on there. I don't know, what well, that's good. But you know it's probably just something so they can sell them. Mm-hmm, I have another little riddle for you. Oh my gosh, you're killing me with these, but I like them, they're good.
Speaker 2:Okay, so it's similar to the last one, so I hope you don't get it. So you got to be quick, don't stop and think. Okay, spell top three times.
Speaker 1:T O, p, t, o, p T O P.
Speaker 2:Say top three times top, top, top now spell top twice.
Speaker 1:T, o, p, t O P.
Speaker 2:Say top three times top, top, top. What do you do at a green light? You stop, you go at a green light.
Speaker 1:That's. I wasn't thinking green light when you said that I had stop sign in my right in my. That's what it tricks your brain.
Speaker 2:I got you two in a row. Look at me go.
Speaker 1:You're, yeah, you're getting better with them. Oh, my goodness that the trick out of it is.
Speaker 2:You have to do it really fast yeah if you don't do it fast, your brain can process. Yeah, you do have to do it really quickly. It is for sure. So I was speaking of Conversations in the car. I was driving by myself, you know, no music on no music on sociopath.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you with my thoughts you know I had a thought the other day that I thought we should discuss.
Speaker 2:What kind of Bosses do you think? Our employees, uss? You know, I'm saying like I was like okay, first of all, I have had some bosses. Mmm, I have some boss stories. Oh, I have a good, horrible boss. I have a really good boss story. We'll talk about that in a minute, just popped in my head. But I was like, you know, most people don't? You feel like most people don't like their bosses, cuz you know, cuz they're a have authority, and you're like oh bitch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know yeah do you think our people see us?
Speaker 1:I know Mm-hmm, and you know, I think they see us that way. My McDonald's employees hated me, I. They didn't hate me, they respected me.
Speaker 2:I will like our employees, respect.
Speaker 1:They respected me and they knew that I worked very hard. But in a restaurant, you know it's a different atmosphere, right, and you have to hold the line.
Speaker 2:You know, especially in McDonald's and things have to run smoothly.
Speaker 1:They have to run smoothly and they knew when they saw a BMW you pull in that parking lot and they knew.
Speaker 2:They knew my car like they are probably like our dogs that know the sound. Uh-huh when it hits the driveway a half mile down there.
Speaker 1:It was always so funny when they saw me they would, because my thing was windows had to be clean. Yeah, when dirty windows, dirty restaurant. Mm-hmm and they would grab. They immediately Grad window cleaner and sent people to just start wipe it because I could not see a fingerprint.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, you know, especially those oily hand prints on the door look like a dog licks them.
Speaker 1:So I mean, I know I drove them insane in so many ways, but they did like me and respect me, but I think I I annoyed them. Yeah, I imagine that. No but, the funny thing is is when I sold the restaurants Mm-hmm, that's when they realized, holy cow, he wasn't as bad as we thought. Mm-hmm. And then, because now I'll go into one of my old restaurants and every now and then there's like a manager that knew and they were like Mr Steve, are you buying the restaurants back? I'm like, but good try, yeah.
Speaker 2:but yeah, I think our employees Because we have a lot of employees across three businesses the warehouse home store.
Speaker 1:I think they.
Speaker 2:I think they like us for the most part, I think they probably think we're a little detached from the business.
Speaker 3:From their perspective, oh, from their all fair and we're not detached at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we know what's going on and I and I watch cameras all the time.
Speaker 2:That's the only you know.
Speaker 1:They listen, so don't tell them too many, that's true, but I know Everything and I tell Wesley everything there's to know. But I was trained that way in McDonald's. Yeah had to watch cameras. Um, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think I mean do you think they're like, here comes those assholes.
Speaker 1:No, I think they enjoy it. Well, I know.
Speaker 2:We have good.
Speaker 1:I know they enjoy when I work there because I do, I am, I do bring, I know I bring energy.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh, you bring energy, all right.
Speaker 1:It's a if everything's good, it's very positive energy, right?
Speaker 2:Well, that's how we work and we talked about that Across all the businesses, we hire people and put them in place and we literally want them to do their job.
Speaker 2:We don't micromanage and we don't micromanit, like we say this is your job and we expect it to get done, and it usually does so. But that's why I was like because, okay, here's my thing I have. I'm very patient and I hold my cool very well until I go and there's like a problem and then I'm not as nice, like I feel like I'm not, I'm not mean but I Other day like, okay, the other day.
Speaker 2:For a good example is I went to the garden store and it to me I had not been there. This was this is a while back. Yeah, we had been through Christmas and I had been gone to Florida. Mm-hmm, and we had not been there for even that a couple weeks because we've gone to market mm-hmm and I went back and I didn't feel like it was up to par mm-hmm, like it felt Empty and it felt what was there was wasn't arranged.
Speaker 1:It just didn't have the feeling that I expect and I knew, you called me and I had not been there Either right, because we were in New Orleans and we have.
Speaker 2:I will say, we have great, great employees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have an amazing manager there.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so normally it is always up to par, like I've never had that problem, but it caught me so off guard. I feel like I was a little. Was I too bitchy? I don't know. We should think of you were too bitchy.
Speaker 1:You were too bitchy. That's why I said I'll handle this, yeah, and here's here's part of the reason I feel like in that example. Yeah, I feel like part of the. We were part of the problem with that because we were gone for literally a month and and we did not get filler. I'd have spring gear, filler, green, or items sent over as I feel like we should have and I do.
Speaker 2:Okay, I do understand that perspective as well. But my whole issue was like I would have Understand if I had walked in and it felt empty but well put together, because the garden store always to me after right after Christmas, the holiday, because it's been so packed Always feels a little more empty. But in the past it's also felt very clean and put together and I felt like what threw me off and really made me bitchy Was I felt like not only was it a little empty, which could be our problem from not stalking it, so I take responsibility in that but the stuff that was there was not Displaced, felt dirty, it felt it felt like we had just finished our after Christmas sale. But it was a rematch. So, yeah, after Christmas, where the store's been, you know, just ran.
Speaker 1:But here's the great ever been cleaned up. But here's the great thing, yeah, and and then another thing that I have ownership in, because this was me, mm-hmm. I always look at a situation and say how have I impacted it? Right. I feel like we didn't get spring taken over, you know, right after Christmas. And so.
Speaker 1:I felt a little part in that and then I also had turned into a little dictator with Hours and control and payroll in January, which we have to in January and February, right same in McDonald's, same in every business. Yeah, jay, might, yeah, I had you know and I I had restricted that a lot. Okay, and I see that and you don't okay. So I had a little ownership in that. Okay, but the great thing is.
Speaker 2:But I still don't understand, while we're talking about it, business things we can talk about. Yes, you all, you did restrict hey roll, because that's a normal thing. So I don't I don't know exactly, because I've handed that off to you with the scheduling and that sort of thing, but also our sales are less in January, mm-hmm. So it should be proportionate, I know.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:It wasn't like.
Speaker 1:But our manager our manager had made sure that other people got ours instead of giving herself hours, which is the right thing to do. And then, when I talked to her about it because she's amazing she immediately was like I agree.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they fixed it within like a day and it was like one day. Oh my gosh it looks so much better. I went in there the other day.
Speaker 1:Looks amazing that store I mean, but with the employees we have in that store. Yeah, out of the three leg legged stool, that we have that was a thing in McDonald's three-legged stool. Out of our on our Three-legged stool, that's the leg that I have to worry the least about. Okay, out of the three out of the three places. Yes, that Store, yeah they run on there.
Speaker 2:So then we go to the home store. We can go to store by store. No, I was really just talking about how people view, because I feel like here's going back to how people view us. I feel like we leave them alone and I definitely will leave them alone and I'll go by. And you know, because we've grown over the years, we, we and like I am not in the store every day, work Mm-hmm, because we've had, we have great people in place and that sort of thing. So sometimes it might be two weeks before I go by the store. Now I go to the warehouse every day because I am filming and you know there's more moving carts there. I'm the same. I got a person.
Speaker 1:I'm the salesperson for our warehouse leg, whereas the home store and garden store we have people basically, and I'm in the stores and I take my there's my weeks when I am in the home store a lot, and then there's weeks where I'm in the garden store more.
Speaker 2:You know, it just depends, but I'm in those stores more right, and so I guess what I was wondering is then so I'll leave people alone. We, we all, have the expectation they're gonna do their job. It's very simple. There should be no drama. You were hired for a job, do it and do it great and then everything's hope.
Speaker 2:I said it, Mm-hmm but then what I wonder is I just pop out of nowhere occasionally and I condo, because it takes me a lot to like get very frustrated or you're good, but I feel like you're good about letting me handle, yeah, because they see me more than they see you there, and I feel like it's fine. Yeah, cuz usually what I'll do is I'll call Steven and I'll be like girl. I'm up in this now I'll say I'm up in this store and it looks like shit and what is going on?
Speaker 1:I don't know what is going on, I'll say you will die.
Speaker 2:I don't know what is going on in here, but you better get this fix before I lose it. And that's how it normally goes in the night and Steven calls and gets it Taking care of, but sometimes it sends me over the edge and I just send everyone a blanket text message Like what the hell is going on here?
Speaker 1:But again, again, again. We have such an amazing team there, a great manager and just fantastic employees that had been around a long time and if that had been, if those were not good employees and a great manager, that could have been turned into some Drama. But because we have smart, mature, great people, it wasn't wasn't a big deal, it was corrected in a day and we were happy and Moved along our way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it made me think about Bosses mm-hmm cuz I always try to be. I've had several bosses in my life and I've always tried not to be the boss that I didn't like, the bosses that I didn't like. Do you know what I'm saying? Like I was always like I don't want to be this boss, but you do have to be firm and you are the leader. So have you had any made me think?
Speaker 1:yeah, I've got a good one ball.
Speaker 2:Well, I've had some bad ones because you were at McDonald's all time for years, but you've worked under people, many directly with many people. Did you have any like really bad one?
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I had more bad than good, right, but I you know not to toot my own horn, but at a young age I was smart enough to realize I need to learn from everybody, Mm-hmm, and I honestly learned more from the really bad ones than I learned from the really good ones, because the really bad ones taught me what not to do, right. You know, I had those bosses that screwed every employee.
Speaker 1:I was like yeah, this probably isn't a good thing to do, right? You know, this probably is not the way to go. Mm-hmm, and you know, just moody bosses, the bosses that don't speak to everybody, right, come in. Right? That's a pet peeve of mine. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:That's why when I go in I kind of like hey. Yeah cuz I hate that. Yeah, I hate it when I'm distracted or in a situation where I can't speak, because, you know, sometimes you walk in the store and you're immediately hit with a customer. You help somebody and and and I. So I've kind of looked at situations like that, but I haven't had any. The worst thing was Sleeping with everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah and then you know, and then I worked for drug addicts that you know, traded, sold chicken to McNuggets for drugs. You know everything, everything you can possibly imagine. Yeah, I saw, but that was also the reason I was smart enough to go hellfire. I am smarter and better than all these people. Yeah, it's easy to rise to the top.
Speaker 2:So my last boss that I had here in Greenville the one thing that this person would do I never guess if you're gonna go, but they had a Meeting every morning. We had to get there so many minutes before you know we opened, or whatever. It was a retail garden center or whatever and I was the manager. There was an owner and there would be a meeting every morning and all it was was what you did wrong. It was a bitch fest. What you did wrong, how hard, horrible things were from the day before, what you screwed up, that sort of thing in a very mean way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean very yeah it was a very Very so I was always like, do you realize? I mean, I couldn't say this or whatever, but you are deflating all of your employees Before they start in the work day, like that was the worst thing. Well, first of all I dreaded, you know, going there cuz I'm like, oh, it really was a slap in your face.
Speaker 2:What are we gonna get bitch set today? And it was, it was not some, sometimes it wasn't any anything major, but that was the routine was to find what was wrong and talk about it.
Speaker 1:Before this wasn't watered properly. I mean, I can only imagine it was just everything.
Speaker 2:So that's always one thing I'm like if I want to really bitch about something or whatever, I try to do it at the end of the day, and I would have rather had that meeting at the end of the day Versus first thing in the morning, because then you left there Deflated in like not really wanting to and in a meeting it can't be all negative Right, because it's not all negative right.
Speaker 1:I mean we have less than 10% of our business is negative Right. The rest we have great people. We have people that care, that do their jobs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but in anything, it's gonna get off the track sometimes. But that's what I'm saying. Things need to be, it shouldn't be 90%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you're is 90% good, your meeting shouldn't be 90% bad right, exactly, but my manager before, not my manager before that I have a good story time.
Speaker 2:Speaking of bosses. So before I moved to Greenville, so it's not a fair, you had no.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was another one.
Speaker 2:This one gets even better. This is this is criminal. No, so before I moved to Greenville, south Carolina, I worked in Atlanta. I lived in Atlanta and I you, work for a big garden center. Yeah, so I worked for a big garden center in Atlanta and I started there. I don't know exactly how old I was. I was right out of college. I'd gone to college, probably 22 or 20, probably like 23. I had gone to college.
Speaker 2:I moved to Atlanta for a job with the landscape company Absolutely hated. It only worked there three months because I had to be there at like 5 30 in the morning, so that was never gonna work out. So I Lasted three months and then got a job at a garden center as, like, I was kind of like an assistant manager type person when I started out and I quickly became the manager of the retail side. There was manager outside retail side and then there were like assistant managers. Because it was a large place, it was Hastings if you're from Atlanta, it was on Peach Street because I guess this is no secret what you're telling us, no?
Speaker 2:Yeah, these are facts. Yeah, we can pull up the Well, and Hastings isn't in business anymore, so okay, it doesn't matter, and I don't even know if the owners still alive or not. The, maybe, who?
Speaker 1:knows their last names Hastings, no so it was.
Speaker 2:No, it was a one time it was the garden center had been in business. I think it started as a seed company and it was like over a hundred years old. Oh, so the owner of the business he had I kind of have to tell some backstories to get to the park. He was someone from my understanding that went in and would help businesses that were in trouble or like failing or whatever. He would like, coach them and turn them around and, you know, get help, get them back on track. Well, somehow he did that and then he ended up buying the garden center business. He was helping them and it may have even been kind of underhanded, I don't know.
Speaker 2:He may have seen it could have been it could have been like they couldn't pay and then he took the business, but I don't know that part. That's allegedly, but I feel like there was something shady around it. But he first of all had no idea about a garden center or plants. He didn't even know what, like a pansy, was a pansy versus a petunia. But he was a business person.
Speaker 2:So you know, he may he worked through it, he managed it, he managed it and he had employees. Well, he was, by by my definition, a quack, you know, just like just a nut, yeah out there and so he Didn't, really he didn't work in the business.
Speaker 2:He would call from his house and he had a manager that over, or a CEO, I guess, that managed the whole company, mm-hmm. Then I was directly under him for the retail side, someone was directly under him for the outdoor nursery and then we had assistant managers, then it went down the cashiers and all that anyway. So he would just call in like he was the puppet master and like it was a game. This is this is how he would do it. And so I started there. Like I said, I think I started in like March and I was like 23, fresh out of college, but I had my own retail store. You know that whole back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you had already been in business looking back, I was a hell of a good catch and I was probably like right out of school and he probably paid me less. Then he did. Well, he would do things like there had been managers that were there, like assistant managers that have been there like Long time, like, and he would just call me up and say you got to go fire or so and so today for like no reason, and he would just like shift and you know like it was.
Speaker 1:Just it was weird but let me say, let me say this yeah, different positions I had been in, like when somebody, when I was trying to develop a person right, I use that as a test.
Speaker 2:It is a good test. Can they fire them? Can they make? This happen this was his Constant toy, think he would do yeah, constantly or whatever, and then he would also like Send people in like I have a new manager starting for, just random. He kind of not really make up a position Kind of, but it would be for people that he had met, like this one lady started oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I feel so. I Can't remember her name, but she was a old, he was older, and she was an older lady like not too old to work or anything.
Speaker 2:But oh, I was 23, she was probably in her 60s or that and she showed up and she became our Tag person, like her job was just to enter the inventory into the POS system and print the tags. Well, she didn't know what flowers were either, so she would just do it right off of that like there was no problem solving Abilities, because she didn't know what anything, anything was. She's just reading off of the invoice that came in and putting it in Is data and whatever. So things would be screwed up all the time, but that's a whole different thing. Well, this lady I'm really getting off on the tracks here. She decided to get a facelift, but she didn't tell anybody that she did, but she needed some time off or whatever. Well, she came in and I don't know what it was with the face, but she started wearing wigs with her new facelift, like maybe covering scars probably covering scars or whatever.
Speaker 2:Well, she would forget. She would forget to pull out the pins or the clips that kept her wig like Straight I don't know if it kept it straight or the way she styled it with like curls and stuff, so like on each side there would be Like Bobby pins and just different clips down there, and she would come in in the morning and I would be like, hey, so and so I can't even remember her name and I'd be like you left your clips in and she would always be like oh, my god, thank you for telling me. She was very kind of like out there too, or whatever she like. Oh, thank you for telling me, cuz I'm like I can't let her. You know, her hair was still like pinned down.
Speaker 2:I feel like she probably did it to hold it in place in the shape until she probably was gonna pull up in the parking lot. Let me pull my clips out and go in and start the day, but she would always have her clips in. Oh my gosh, the times and the stories that we had there. Well, one day I had been working there for a few months. Well, first of all, let me go back to how controlling the owner was.
Speaker 2:So he got where I guess I was like his pet, he liked me, he knew you were smart he knew I was smart, whatever, but he would like call at work and have like literally three or four hour Conference calls about nothing about what he wanted me to do, and I'm sitting there thinking, well, I could, I could be doing this, but now we've spent over half of my work day Just talking about what we could do and he would want this report and that report. That didn't really make a hill of Mean yeah to anything.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. So that's he was very controlled. Well then he would call like, hey. He would call and hey, I saw in the paper that a competitor has these plants on sale. I need you to go over there and check them out and tell me, you know, is it the same size? How many do they have? What is it look like? Like all the like Okay. And so I'd be like, okay, while we're not there an hour, go cross town, do this. Then he would start.
Speaker 2:He would call myself at at home I come my days off and be like, hey, paper came out today and Pikes has this on sale. I need you to go over there and do. Well, one weekend I was like you're not. He would call me like all the time after our Maybe had a crazy day no, I don't know days, I, he was just very controlling and wanted to talk about the business. So one time this is where it all kind of started going downhill, wasn't that long after this was I probably work there couple months is like an assistant and then I got promoted to you know the main person, and then it was probably a month or two after that. I was like I'm going somewhere this weekend or whatever, and so I didn't answer my phone all week.
Speaker 2:I was off and I didn't answer my phone all weekend long. My cell phone, and, oh my gosh, it was so mad.
Speaker 1:How many times did he call you?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know like a stalker would like All weekend and you just were like I know that side of you.
Speaker 1:You were like I'm not answering it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like I'm not answering. That I'm not answering is not paying me. Yeah, I was off. I was like on a trip or something. I'm like there is nothing that important whatever. When I got back to work on Monday, there was a cell phone on my desk from him, and so then he called me and was like when that phone rings, I expect you to answer, no matter when it is. And I was like, oh my god, he's a crazy. Yeah, he is crazy. And he wanted to know, like why didn't you answer? Well, what were you doing, like all of this stuff?
Speaker 1:and I was like my gosh, so red flag number how did you take that really?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just like, okay, whatever. You know I was young too and I was like, whatever you cook. Yeah, I was like whatever. I was young and, you know, wanted to impress. I was like, okay, it's fine, whatever.
Speaker 2:So where really got weird. You know, I was new to town. I had moved to Atlanta for this job, so I didn't know. You know, maybe you should Google where you're going to work for, or your boss or whatever, before starting a job.
Speaker 2:So one day I get to work and the main guy, the CEO guy, is there, which he was there, but he had kind of, you know, in the pawn of things, the garden center also had a landscaping division that worked out of from there, and so he was more, at this point, focused on there had been some changes in the landscaping department too, so he was kind of more their boss, even though he was over the whole company. He was focused on being their boss and I was focused on more of the retail and the nursery kind of boss. But officially he was the main guy. So he pulls me aside and he's like okay, I need to tell you that tomorrow when you get here, if you get any calls from the media, you're not to answer any questions and everything is to be directed through me. I'm like what? What is going on? So it turns out that my the owner of the company?
Speaker 2:had been in jail for allegedly killing his wife and he had, yeah, scandal right. And so he had gotten out on a technicality and it was going to. It was going to be determined if he could go back to trial again, if they were going to start the trial, they were going to Try him again. So, yeah, show up to go back to no, he didn't end up going back to trial okay well, I don't.
Speaker 1:I think that was the final time it is so he got away with it. Yeah, so he got away with, but what happened when you got to?
Speaker 2:work. Oh, there was news people there wanting interviews, people were calling. It was all in the paper.
Speaker 1:That's like that always stresses me out. Yeah, that's the one thing I did not like in McDonald's. So if you're a McDonald's owner, you have a a special number for a media. You've got a media hotline yeah. So anything the day or the night, any situation, before you make a statement, you call that. You are well, they strongly encourage you to call that, just so that they can prep you on a statement. Mm, hmm, that would be. That was always the worst, like when the situation would happen, yeah, and you're like, you know, because it's McDonald's and you don't know how crazy is going to be. Mm, hmm, and that would always wreck my nerves, like when the monopoly scandal happened, and it happened in Fair Play, south Carolina, just 30 minutes up the road right, and so they're wanting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean, and you just don't know when the media is going to roll up, I mean that's a nightmare, absolutely. And then to be put on the spot, yeah, I don't, I do not like it. And that see, some owners really wanted to take charge of that and they, I don't know, they wanted to. Yeah, but they're set, they, they wanted to write their own. And then I'm like you just tell me what I should say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I will say the wrong thing Mm hmm, like mm hmm, I do not want to be the person that brings down a multi-billion dollar company, right? No, no, no no.
Speaker 2:So this boss, this owner, he had, and you can Google it. Um, he had, and I'm everything. I don't remember the exact facts and I don't have the article in front of me, but the gist of it was he had taken a lot of things out of the house, he had checked on some insurance and that sort of thing, and then the house caught on fire. Mm, hmm and he was able to get out of it, but his wife was not Mm.
Speaker 2:hmm and he was a big guy, like strong, big man, muscular guy, but said he couldn't. She just went crazy and he couldn't get her out of the house. But, then there was some blunt force trauma to the head Mm, hmm. Well, then they tried to say something like the firefighters hit her head, trying to get her out like something out of the fire. I don't know, it was very whatever.
Speaker 1:I watch those shows that didn't happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the funny thing is, the technicality was small world.
Speaker 2:This was back in the day when Nancy Grace was in Atlanta, as that you know she started in Atlanta she was a DA, right as the DA, and she let people go into the crime scene to film, I guess, something you know. She was probably trying to get her show or so I don't know the connection there. But she did something wrong and they got to say the crime scene was contaminated. Well, he was in jail, he was charged in jail, and so then it started going through all these processes and then, like the original arson person died or something. There were like all, there were these few little things, and then, like another witness died just randomly.
Speaker 3:Yes, I don't think there was any, but just coincidentally yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, so what he ended up getting out on was the right to a fair and speedy trial, because he had been waiting for in jail or in prison or whatever for it to be, probably for years.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I don't know how long he spent in there. And then that was free clock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so then he got out on it. Did you ever? Ask him like did you kill your wife?
Speaker 2:No. Like when he would have like it was never. He never mentioned it directly like it would always be, it would always be through, like when the media was going to come. Obviously like, but he never see when he never called and said hey, I know this sounds suspicious, but I didn't do it, or you know, or any. There was no discussion.
Speaker 1:How do you know what that means? He didn't. I mean, if you're not going to address it, like if that happened to us, we would talk to our employees and go OK, you know, I didn't do this and this is a whole damn mess, but but just so you know, right, you're hearing it for me, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, oh gosh, that was when I, if I were when.
Speaker 1:I quit. I would have been like please don't kill me too.
Speaker 2:My God, I'll have to tell you how I quit.
Speaker 1:I think I remember that yeah. But it's probably better.
Speaker 2:So mad sometimes OK, like one time he had one of his and I was. Sometimes I can be a little bit of a smart ass, no.
Speaker 1:But back then you were much nicer yeah.
Speaker 2:But when you push my button, so he one day he called in, so once a week a randomly we would get on these, like once a week we would have. He would come into the store and there was like a board room and we would have in person meetings. Well, this week he had spent like all that morning, like the meeting was probably at four or something. He had spent all that morning from the time I got there till like two or three with me on the phone. Tell me what we're going to talk about, wanting these reports, wanting this report one, all this random stuff. Then be like, ok, I got to go, I got to get ready, I'll see you in an hour.
Speaker 2:Well, he came in and I forgot he wanted some report. I think it was about Christmas trees and how many we sold and like an extensive report. And I didn't have it because I had literally just hung up the phone with him like less than an hour before and I'm like so, man, he was slamming his fist on the table, like we talked about, and I was like I don't even really talk about it for four damn hours, I know.
Speaker 2:And I was like I don't know I got, I just wonder it didn't get fired, because I was like what the hell did you want me to do? We just talked about it. Like you said, for this time I've only had an hour and you want this report that's going to take me two hours at minimum to get to get done. Oh my gosh. So anyway, that was my boss. That that was just typical. So the way I ended that one is because he was a little crazy.
Speaker 2:He was crazy. So when I quit there which is not the right thing to do, but I did tell a couple of my assistant managers because I didn't want them to, because they were going to have to pick up the slot but I just left my company's cell phone that had been so lovingly given to me and my keys on the desk at one night and left and never went back and I was moving. I was moving to South Carolina. Like the next day Did he call your cell phone? Oh yeah, he called. He called, he's like he was, we can talk through this, we can work this out, you can come back. He called for like days. Then I got a letter like you can be prosecuted for like breach of trust or some shit like that. I was like I'm out of the state, I go. I moved on like what are you going to do? I didn't do anything wrong.
Speaker 2:I was like kiss my hand. Yeah, I already had a new job and was out of state. I never, so that's how I quit.
Speaker 1:I've never left.
Speaker 2:Well, first of all Well, you never left a job, really.
Speaker 1:I've never left a job.
Speaker 2:You started at McDonald until you sold them.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I mean, I guess if Cobalt Banker fires my ass that'd be my first time, or if I quit, but I'm going to make it dramatic.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Because I've never had a, I've never gotten fired. You want me to fire you? I've never. Well, I mean, that's not the same. You really can't fire me. That's true. I mean what you going to do. I mean fire, say you're fired. Oh yeah. Okay, Well, I'll go on vacation. I'll see you when I get back. Yeah, I mean yeah, but no, I mean I think that would be fun. See, I would have left a note and said please don't kill me. I did Later, killer.
Speaker 2:I did type out a whole note of like things or whatever and like how ridiculous, yeah, and left it with my phone and keys, but like only like it was a large company, but like only like two people knew and I told them like a day before but that right there, because I work for people not that bad, but that were like that.
Speaker 1:That is why I do not micromanage our employees.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you're inhibiting them from doing like so much of their job.
Speaker 1:I feel like, truly, that's why we have such great employees do like across all online at the warehouse, both retail stores. I feel like we have the best employees that you can get in Greenville.
Speaker 2:I mean we've had a few that weren't We've had.
Speaker 1:Let's not give them all credit. No, I'm just talking, not gonna name any names, but we had some that worked the best in Greenville. No, but everybody has that. But I'm saying right now, right now, today, whatever time it is, we have especially our lead people, our store managers. We have great people. We do, we do.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that was a tumultuous we're trying to say big words Tumultuous. Why do you do that?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know, I'm not the right one. You get a big word. I'll get messages about that. I loved it when Wesley tried to say this word or that word.
Speaker 2:Did they message you that yes?
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm like y'all, I mean he's, I mean he's really. He's dyslexic. I mean, give him a break, give me a break.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's funny. Now keep messaging. That's good engagement. It is good engagement.
Speaker 1:But the sad truth is it's not staged y'all. This is what I live with on a daily basis.
Speaker 2:On a daily basis.
Speaker 1:My favorite is how do you?
Speaker 2:spell dining. I can still not spell dining. How Dining Is it?
Speaker 1:one in or two in. I was like, well, if it's one, if it's two in, it's dining, so one in would be dining, so let's go with that.
Speaker 2:I still cannot. I have a mental block and can not spell dining. I still ask you that Years, I mean years. How many times a week do I spell dining?
Speaker 1:A lot, because of the home store dining. If he's riding dining table, I mean tomorrow I'll get a message. You know how do I spell dining Chairs, I'm not exaggerating.
Speaker 2:It's just, he is not exaggerating. No that's the word. That is the word. But see, now only do that if we're in person, because now you can voice to text. So if you ever get weird text messages, always pull you up, because I know if I accidentally send it you won't think of anything. So I'll pull your name up and then I'll do. I'll say dining table and it will type it out for you.
Speaker 1:I know you so well. Though here's the crazy thing I know you so well, I don't even question things Like last night. I called you after we worked last night and I needed to do some scheduling and I could not remember the password. But you had it and then it wasn't saved on my computer at home. So I'm like shit. So I called you, you sent me the voicemail. I'm like okay, he is talking to somebody or doing something, so he knows what I need this. And then you screenshotted it in a few minutes and sent it to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had just walked in and I was talking to Daniel, and then you called.
Speaker 1:Cause I really didn't want to talk to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I knew. And then Daniel was telling me a story and I was like, well, I was trying to be engaged with him and didn't want to like, hold on with your story. Let me answer Stephen.
Speaker 1:So I, yeah, I've gotten that with Dylan, that I'm not Engaged list, that I stay on my phone when he's telling a story. I promise you I'm listening. Yeah. But I try to be engaged in Instagram these days because I need to be. And so I have been an active listener for the past several days, and it annoys Dylan because I go uh-huh, yes, okay, oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You're engaged in the Active listening Mm-hmm. Oh yes, really, if you'll be an active listener.
Speaker 2:I am an active listener. I was saying, if you will do it.
Speaker 1:you will not get complaints about being on your phone, oh wow.
Speaker 2:Well see, daniel does this thing and I love Daniel and he's so good in so many things.
Speaker 1:Sweetest person ever. Mostly no, 90. 90% of the time.
Speaker 2:But he does. He gets irritated if he thinks I'm not listening, which you can be, and it's not always. It depends on Like sometimes he's telling a story, kind of like what you're saying, and he wants a reaction, like he wants that uh-huh, oh, yes, reaction. And if I look down and this is what he can do if I look down at my phone while I have been talking to him directly and he's telling me it may be the important part of the story, and I look down at the phone and he feels like I'm ignoring him for even like two seconds, he'll stop the story. He'll be like never mind.
Speaker 2:That's what Dylan does and I'm like no, I'm listening. He's like no, never mind. And then that you know, I'm like Daniel, tell me the story. I was listening and then the last night, when you called, something had happened, like I think I had just looked at my phone and then you called and I looked up and I could tell he is about on the verge of being like never mind, even though it was a split second, like it was like two seconds of that.
Speaker 1:Well, you do that to me too, but I just keep talking.
Speaker 2:I know, but I hear you See, we're alike in that kind of thing. We just talk to each other.
Speaker 1:So I just or.
Speaker 2:I'll stop and say you're not listening to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Last night Dylan was telling me a story. I went mm-hmm and he was like yes, oh, I mean whatever I had a response for. Oh, ah, mm-hmm, but I can see you doing it like that sarcastically? He couldn't keep a straight face and he was like why are you? I said I'm being an active listener, I'm actively listening. You think I haven't had my communication classes because I have Mm-hmm. Yes, I'm going to do that to Daniel. Yes, it's so fun.
Speaker 2:They're like yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, you have to get. Ah, really, oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Really, oh wow. So I started. We're going to listen to this. I started. I signed up for Masterclass because I wanted to listen to Martha Stewart. We'll say that for a different episode, because it was really good.
Speaker 1:She's one of my favorite people that I would love to meet, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, there's another one on there that you need to listen to what is? It. I feel like you and I together could get it down, point. But it's on negotiating and kind of manipulating to get what you want out of it.
Speaker 1:That would help. That would help us in everything and in real estate too.
Speaker 2:Yes, but it's One of the things that I found really cool is it's called mirroring and they tell you how to put together all of these little techniques and it's from a hostage negotiator, like manipulating the conversation and negotiating to get what you want, but how you can apply it to everyday life. And mirroring is like if someone's talking to you, then you respond with the last few words, like the last three words of what they said, and that's all you say, like you'd have to say something, I could do it to you in a second.
Speaker 2:I want you to run by my house Run by your house and you just stop and then that person immediately feels like the need to continue on, Like if you say I need you to run by my house.
Speaker 1:Run by my house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I need you to go by and get this. I need you to go by and get my bag from under my bed Under your bed, yeah, it's under my bed you know what I mean. It keeps them going but then you can manipulate, you can put other things together. It's very fascinating, so I want to re-listen to it, because I listened to it on the way to Florida but Daniel was into something else, so we both had on our AirPods.
Speaker 1:I want to listen to that.
Speaker 2:Yes, there are some good techniques.
Speaker 1:One thing you know there's managing people is all psychology.
Speaker 2:Yes, hold on. And going back to it, they were talking. They put it into useful things, but, like, use it at a party mirroring, like when you don't know people, they'll walk away, thinking you're no-transcript so they're controlling the conversation. Okay, I'm going to try that today. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to a client's house when I'm done here and it's somebody I can toy with. Yeah. And I'm going to, because all my listen, most of my clients end up being great friends because that's the way I roll Exactly, and so I'm going to try this, yeah. I'm going to. I'm going to test it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so and just and get them going.
Speaker 1:And just get them going yeah.
Speaker 2:All you have to do is yeah, see you just respond. Naturally. Then there's some other ones you can put with it. We're going to listen, maybe when we go to the Atlanta market on the road, or something.
Speaker 1:There's so many psychologies, like in McDonald's. I feel like I learned so to you know, because you're dealing with people on so many different levels, from from, you know, a crew person to the CEO, right, of the company that you're literally in contact with, and that was really good for me. But then when I, when I sold, retired from McDonald's and sold and got out and got into real estate, that's a whole different body of psychology there, right. So I felt like I've had to relearn, like some I've never really did. I mean, my negotiations had been buying homes, selling homes, buying restaurants, selling restaurants, right, but that was at a different level.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but when you're the middleman, basically working with clients, you have the psychology of both sides, because both sides want to feel like they're getting, they're winning, they're winning, and then you got those. And then how do you?
Speaker 1:you've got those agents and y'all. I'm not that person. I don't think I'm the greatest person that's ever walked in that I know at all, but it's comical to me. You've got those agents out there that think they know it. Yeah, I'm the best, yeah. I'm the best and and. But I know, I know who they are and I know I, just I know who they are.
Speaker 2:And I know what they need. You know how to stroke their ego.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's what I do, yeah, like I had one that I mean, and I'm not saying anything bad about anybody, I'm just saying it. That's what they need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what they need to.
Speaker 1:So I just used. I needed that person to think they were in control Winning. Winning. And then I just let them yeah To they, they, I let them think that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I, I know I'm in the driver's seat, I can't describe it, but I mean, you know, it's just the way you communicate, and then we end up getting along very well because they're getting their needs met. Right, thank you so much. You're the best, and a lot of times I'm very sincere when I say that Right, it's not every person, but then I know that person that needs to be right Feeds off of that and feeds, feeds off that. And then we.
Speaker 2:Because then they're doing what you want, like when you're feeding them, then they're.
Speaker 1:They're getting their needs met Right. And then you end up like, at the end of the deal that you thought was going to be a very stressful deal and maybe a difficult situation, you actually walk away and you're being friends because you made sure that person got what they needed. Yeah, and if it, you know, but most of the time you don't have a backstory of people to know how to give them their needs.
Speaker 1:Right, that's true, and if you know what their needs are and you know what they feed from, you can give that to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got to listen to this masterclass. I'll have to listen to that.
Speaker 1:See, I just think that's all so interesting. But you know we all communicate that way If I give you what you need, you're going to walk away happy and I'm going to walk away happy, right, and, and you know me, I'm OCD, I can drive you crazy Sometimes. You know what I need, right, exactly. And sometimes it's just easier even though you're giving me just what I need, right, so I shut up.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, it's so true, it's it. I mean it was very interesting and the whole class, this whole class masterclass, was very interesting because he also gives back, like you're saying, the the why behind it and then how to use it and they even play. He even played out some of the like he was on like negotiations with hostage for like bank robbery and stuff and like gave how it worked out and all of the psychology behind it.
Speaker 1:It's really really cool. We need to listen to this.
Speaker 2:We need to listen to this dropping, yeah, but it's long. I think I'll listen to it. I don't know and I'm not even done. I'll listen to it, like the whole way to Florida at least, probably four hours or more. It's a long one. That's good though, but it's good, so we'll have to listen to it.
Speaker 1:So interesting, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:I mean yeah.
Speaker 1:It's very interesting, so it doesn't work on me. I'm like, I'm done, I'm not repeating it 18 times. Okay, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness. Well, I'm ready to pull this baby over. I'm glad I don't have to deal with bosses anymore, though.
Speaker 1:I know, well, we just had that conversation. That I yeah.
Speaker 2:Literally last night we said we're unemployable, unemployable. We don't think we could work for anyone anymore. Now we've talked about even this. We want to work. I want to go get a side hustle just to but that's just for the fun of it. That's just a psychology experiment, right? But literally we're like you know, if all of this blew up and went under, we couldn't work for anybody else. I don't know what we would do Sell apples?
Speaker 1:I don't know what we would do I would be selling some, pushing my wares, peddling my wares somewhere? No, I'm not. I mean, I would be like what. I could work for someone like me that let me do my job and did not micromanage me.
Speaker 2:No, you would have to be part owner. You couldn't work for someone. That's probably true. I'd say you're an idiot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I'll do it. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2:We're not doing that. You're not doing that. That's what you would tell them. That's a really bad idea. Yeah, no, that doesn't work out. Yeah. I don't know what I would do, hopefully, at this point.
Speaker 1:You know, I always say because you know I've had several friends now, my assistant's husband, other friends that have sold their companies and then they stayed on as a-. Oh hell no, as a consultant, a contract consultant, that never worked.
Speaker 2:Okay, If we ever sell our company.
Speaker 1:well, you can stay on as a consultant, I think I could give on 90 days.
Speaker 2:I was going to say three to six months Max.
Speaker 1:Hops Six is pushing it yeah max. First of all, if I'm selling the company, that I'm done absolutely done, d-o-n-e done I'm not going to stay around for you I might give them like 90 days and then, if one other market fail, beyond that one market or something To help them out. Yeah, yeah. And it really depends on the money. Yeah, because if I'm not getting what I want, you ain't getting-. Yeah, but you know, I just think it's hard, like when it's been yours?
Speaker 2:Could you imagine 90 days working for someone and then wanting to change things up and do it their way, which is go for it? You bought it, but I want to be done, I want to be. Here's the keys, here's this.
Speaker 1:When I sold my I think 30 days transition. When I sold my restaurants, the new owners asked me if I would like to stay on. It's some kind of in some position. I was like no, no.
Speaker 2:The position I'm going to be in is in my bag.
Speaker 1:No, they asked me when we made the deal Because they traveled to Europe every month. Yeah, they did a European trip every month for like 10 days, every year for 10 days.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, Every month, every month. They did a European trip Every month for 10 days, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:When you own 14 McDonald's, you can do that. And so they had theirs planned out. Like five months, yeah. And so they asked me if they signed the deal, mm-hmm. But they said can we close in Five months, yeah, in like July 1st. And I was like okay, yeah, I was like so you just want me to run the business like normal and I was making a lot of money. So I was like I'll run it for a year if you, as long as you're buying it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I'm not working Because you are still getting all that money. I was getting all that money.
Speaker 1:We already had our price set in stone. I wasn't working for anybody, it was a signed off, done deal, yeah. So I was like I'll stay here. If you want me to make $100,000 a month, I'll sit here for six, eight, nine, 12 months. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:But it's your-.
Speaker 1:But not working. Yeah, mm-mm, because immediately, like you know, because there's questions and stuff that days and weeks after, yeah, and even like with the McDonald's transition, they can't-. I let them come in like five days before and start transitioning and I was like, oh my God, I got to get out of here, I got to get out of here. Yeah, like, because it you are in my-. Territory.
Speaker 2:Sandbox yeah. You are in my sandbox, and you're an only child too. Yeah, and you are not doing it.
Speaker 1:You know, and they were great. They were great owners. There was nothing wrong, but it was. You're in my sandbox. Yeah, don't call me with your problems. Yeah, that's true. It's your monkey, not my-. Your monkey now.
Speaker 2:Your circus, your monkey, yeah, yep. All right, I am ready to get out of here. I need to snack. I do too.
Speaker 1:Pull this baby over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what are we snacking on?
Speaker 1:Let's get out? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Remember to lead us a review wherever you're listening to your podcast, and we'll be back next week. Yeah, I mean hopefully. Hopefully nothing's to do with this, I hope so.
Speaker 1:Well, what a crazy thing to say we will be back next week. See you next week. Okay, bye guys, bye.