Speaker 1: The Flex and Rooms Daily podcast.
Speaker 2: We're back Flex and Rooms Podcast edition. It's just as
Speaker 2: good as the radio version, but not live.
Speaker 1: I think people want to go and listen to it live.
Speaker 3: Huh.
Speaker 1: I think people want to go and listen to our
Speaker 1: shown lives.
Speaker 2: Like a second, make assumptions or assumptions.
Speaker 4: All right, let's get to it. Flex Andros Flexa.
Speaker 1: We are both Internet girlies, were constantly online. I quite
Speaker 1: like it, Like I don't really have a negative experience online.
Speaker 4: No, I like it.
Speaker 2: I think that my perception of it changes based on
Speaker 2: who's observing my experience online. So when people thought influencers
Speaker 2: were lame, I was like, is this lame? Then they
Speaker 2: started making money. Now everyone wants to be like, oh
Speaker 2: my god.
Speaker 4: It's say greatly, you doing so inspiring? Is a big shift.
Speaker 3: It's a big shift.
Speaker 1: I don't know when you're an influencer and I knew
Speaker 1: and I didn't know you. I didn't think you were
Speaker 1: a cringe ebba thank you, but I did think of
Speaker 1: it was an influencer. But the new breed of influencer,
Speaker 1: which is actually quite appropriate for what I'm about to
Speaker 1: tell you, which is, oh, a new era in Internet
Speaker 1: that we have aged out of and apparently we are
Speaker 1: part of a thing called millennial pause.
Speaker 4: Let me play for you TBD.
Speaker 3: When you say we identifies gen Z.
Speaker 4: I'm more gend than you. I'm a year younger than you,
Speaker 4: So okay.
Speaker 5: Please sure many of us have seen videos like this
Speaker 5: and this on our for you.
Speaker 1: Pages and just to explain this and this, uh piece
Speaker 1: to cameras, so people talking to the camera, even.
Speaker 2: Saying piece to camera, are you eighty five? Just say
Speaker 2: recording with the phone and selfie my piece to camera?
Speaker 2: See gen Z boomer?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll take boomer. This is a crush generational radio show.
Speaker 5: It's called are you sure You're not guilty of the
Speaker 5: millennial pause?
Speaker 3: And the millennial pause.
Speaker 5: Is a phrase that was coined by a creator named
Speaker 5: Lisa and is that split second between when a millennial
Speaker 5: hits record and when they start talking because they're checking
Speaker 5: to make sure that their camera actually is recording. I
Speaker 5: thought this was a super funny observation and also part
Speaker 5: of a larger trend that I've been seeing, which is
Speaker 5: basically that millennials are aging.
Speaker 3: Out of the Internet.
Speaker 5: I don't mean we can't use it anymore, that we
Speaker 5: don't belong here but that the Internet that we built
Speaker 5: and used for the past fifteen years is not the
Speaker 5: Internet that we are on anymore. But millennials are still
Speaker 5: using a lot of the hallmarks and behavior and ticks
Speaker 5: from that old Internet. Michael is one of the creators
Speaker 5: who makes those millennial parity videos, and he explained it
Speaker 5: to me like this, The way the quintessential millennial behaves
Speaker 5: online is basically a bunch of silly little nuances strung
Speaker 5: together to create a personality that is very giddy and
Speaker 5: excitable about the normal or mundane zooming in on our faces,
Speaker 5: talking in a BuzzFeed accent, using Internet speak in real
Speaker 5: life where it's like doggo or I did a thing.
Speaker 5: Those are all millennial Internet issms, and if you use them,
Speaker 5: you've just immediately added yourself as a millennial longline.
Speaker 2: We'll leave it there, And you sure thought it's FLEXI
Speaker 2: I do recognize that. I thought it was a content
Speaker 2: creator versus a non content creative thing, because I feel
Speaker 2: as though when you do this regularly enough, you develop
Speaker 2: a sense of confidence and easy Like I've pressed it.
Speaker 2: It's on all you're smart enough to edit out that
Speaker 2: really awkward gap when.
Speaker 3: You're like, oh, I'm checking.
Speaker 4: I'm checking it exists.
Speaker 2: I've seen it, maybe myself, maybe in others, but yeah,
Speaker 2: it definitely exists. To call it a millennial pause, I think,
Speaker 2: you know, it's referring to a very specific type of
Speaker 2: millennial who publishes on the internet, who is like on
Speaker 2: the younger end of the spectrum. I don't think it's
Speaker 2: like a generational thing. I also think it can become
Speaker 2: a really slippery slope to like pathologize every single human
Speaker 2: thing to do. Everybody checks before they record a video.
Speaker 2: Unless you're doing an Instagram story or a Snapchat, we've
Speaker 2: already held the button, and holding the button indicates it's recording.
Speaker 2: I'm a different platform, different vibe.
Speaker 1: See, I totally disagree. I feel like it's the older
Speaker 1: millennials that do it. It's like when a yoga teach
Speaker 1: comes on to explain their class or whatever, and they
Speaker 1: like it's a specific thing that they do with their
Speaker 1: eyes as well. Obviously they're looking, but it's also like
Speaker 1: looking at the cameras on looking at themselves out Whereas
Speaker 1: when you're doing a piece of camera, I think you
Speaker 1: often need to make sure you're not looking at yourself
Speaker 1: because it becomes really obvious, but also looking straight down
Speaker 1: the barrel of the camera is also scary.
Speaker 2: The youngest millennials at the moment would be twenty six
Speaker 2: and the oldest would be forty.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's forty year olds that do it more
Speaker 1: than twenty six year olds. Yeah. Well, I also like
Speaker 1: pathologizing things because it's about time that millennials started getting
Speaker 1: some boomer treatment. And I was also thinking, like gen Z,
Speaker 1: sure gen zs that we aren't part of because again
Speaker 1: I consider us CUSP and more gen Z adjacent. There's
Speaker 1: going to be things that they do that are then
Speaker 1: going to become embarrassing. Let me name a few minions
Speaker 1: minion obsessions doing this yew like, how would you describe
Speaker 1: that when you put your two point things together?
Speaker 4: I do puppy dog guys.
Speaker 3: I hate that.
Speaker 4: Hey really I love it.
Speaker 1: And I will say I have been guilty of doing
Speaker 1: the millennial pause, but it's only when I started going
Speaker 1: on TikTok and making tiktoks. Because if you record on Instagram,
Speaker 1: like I, press the button straight away, it captures pretty
Speaker 1: much everything that you've said. But sometimes if you press
Speaker 1: it too quickly and start talking, it.
Speaker 2: Misses the first like vowel Yeah, I agree, But on
Speaker 2: TikTok you have the millennial breath. Though, when you start
Speaker 2: a sentence you go it's do I absolutely?
Speaker 4: What's the opposite?
Speaker 2: You're like, this is this is an example? I'll be like, hey, sweetie,
Speaker 2: is flexing rooms? You'll be like, hey, everyone, is.
Speaker 4: That a bad thing? Brooke, I'm talking about producer. Leave
Speaker 4: Brook out of it.
Speaker 1: I like it because it's kind of like HARKing back,
Speaker 1: harkening back to, you know, the oldie world of broadcasting.
Speaker 1: I'm just living my dream. And if everyone else doesn't
Speaker 1: like it, you know, you know what you've done. Just then,
Speaker 1: now everyone listening to this is gonna wait for.
Speaker 4: Flex and frooms right now.
Speaker 3: Now we have a bit of a moral dilemma. Listen
Speaker 3: to this.
Speaker 2: Do I tell my coworker that she's going to be
Speaker 2: laid off soon?
Speaker 4: Do you see?
Speaker 2: Basically what's happened is that within the last year they've
Speaker 2: had this sweet and hard working employee on their team. However,
Speaker 2: despite working hard and putting in an extra effort, she's
Speaker 2: not able to meet the standards or catch up to
Speaker 2: the standards of the other coworkers. This person says, believe me,
Speaker 2: when they say they've had they've had to put more
Speaker 2: than triple the amount of work that others do just
Speaker 2: to get to not even the same point. They're incredibly respectful, helpful, generous, hardworking,
Speaker 2: and considerate, and they're also quite older with this single
Speaker 2: income as their sole livelihood.
Speaker 3: Do that makes sense? I don't know. Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2: My work environment, however, can be toxic. With our manager
Speaker 2: practically announcing it to the team that this employee's ours
Speaker 2: will be cut and eventually terminated. Do I let my
Speaker 2: coworker know of their eventual fate so they can prepare,
Speaker 2: or do I continue to say nothing and wait in
Speaker 2: fear of repercussions. Additionally, I haven't been working for long.
Speaker 2: Is this naive to consider? Yet hate it? It's a
Speaker 2: shame because there just the way that work environments are
Speaker 2: set up. Even if you are all friendly and chill
Speaker 2: and comfortable, it does feel a bit like a dog
Speaker 2: eat dog world, like you're all there for a joint reason.
Speaker 2: But the stakes are high for different people. So it's
Speaker 2: a shame that someone you like a lot it's just
Speaker 2: not meeting standards.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1: Do you be the one to break the bad news.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: See, part of what I'm learning as I get older
Speaker 2: is that there is a virtue in minding your own
Speaker 2: business and not like letting your ego decide that you
Speaker 2: deserve to be the center of someone else's narrative just
Speaker 2: because you feel bad or feel good or whatever. But
Speaker 2: then on the other end of the spectrum, I really
Speaker 2: like considering that we're all responsible for each other. And
Speaker 2: so if I know this information, why wouldn't I tell her? Like,
Speaker 2: why wouldn't I share it with her? Why would I
Speaker 2: keep her at a loop? It's her business? Why do
Speaker 2: I know so?
Speaker 1: FLEXI This poor woman, let's call her Sandra. Sandra has
Speaker 1: been working at a new company for quite a while.
Speaker 1: I think she's a new employee. She's busting her bussy
Speaker 1: to be a good employee, to try and get work done.
Speaker 1: But it's taking her three times as long to do
Speaker 1: a job that is quite easy, and we are trying
Speaker 1: to decide if it's worth Another employee who is a
Speaker 1: protagonist in this question, should she let Sandra know that
Speaker 1: she's about to get cut?
Speaker 2: What do you reckon? Like, let's take it out of
Speaker 2: the context of Sandra and whoever is her name? Sandra?
Speaker 1: Yeah, call her hen Creative Liberty.
Speaker 2: Let's just imagine we're in a similar scenario. Imagine some
Speaker 2: of the old work environments you've been in where you
Speaker 2: can imagine this is happening to someone.
Speaker 3: What would you do? I feel like I have seen
Speaker 3: this happen before, have you sure? In some ways? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think so.
Speaker 1: You know, when someone's not pulling their weight and everyone
Speaker 1: knows it but them either they're quite a shy person
Speaker 1: or they're quite sweet, or I don't know the status quo,
Speaker 1: they're not gelling in terms of like social interactions in
Speaker 1: the office. If I was put in this situation, I
Speaker 1: would make hints to Sandra, but I wouldn't tell her outright.
Speaker 3: Just an example for example, I'd.
Speaker 1: Be like, Oh, how did you feel about like that interaction?
Speaker 1: Like I might see someone in the office kind of
Speaker 1: like blowing them off or them like not really getting
Speaker 1: the work, Like, oh, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, damn, I've been in that position before,
Speaker 1: Like do you think it's just not really like? Do
Speaker 1: you like working here? Kind of put it back on them?
Speaker 4: So do you even like this.
Speaker 3: A self reflection? Yeah, And like do you want to quit?
Speaker 4: Put the seed of doubt in their heads.
Speaker 1: So they're questioning because whether or not they know it,
Speaker 1: you know when things aren't working, like you know, when
Speaker 1: you're not one hundred percent jelling. I think for the
Speaker 1: for the most part, you might know it's as dire
Speaker 1: as you're going about to get fired. Usually have some
Speaker 1: sort of idea, so I'd warm them up to it.
Speaker 1: My issue with telling them is that things change. They
Speaker 1: could have a blow up, and you know, they might
Speaker 1: get parleyed into a different role in the business and
Speaker 1: be fantastic at it.
Speaker 4: And then what do you look like?
Speaker 1: You look like A you were trying to sabotage them,
Speaker 1: or B you were getting in the way of someone
Speaker 1: else's business. It's like when you have an issue with
Speaker 1: a friend of yours and you tell another friend venting,
Speaker 1: and then they go and tell the friend, not giving
Speaker 1: you the not giving you the chance to tell your
Speaker 1: own story and give the reasons why. So let's say
Speaker 1: this woman is hearing the chatter about Sander and needing
Speaker 1: to yeat off. She might not be hearing the whole story,
Speaker 1: and she probably isn't equipped to tell her that news.
Speaker 1: She could probably be doing more harm because, believe it
Speaker 1: or not, I haven't had very good experiences with HR.
Speaker 2: But HR is there for a reason. I have never
Speaker 2: had a proper HR before.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's pretty regular given you work in media.
Speaker 2: But even yeah, I think it's a media thing. The
Speaker 2: point you made before, this idea that things change. What
Speaker 2: the information was when you heard it might not be
Speaker 2: the outcome of what's gonna happen, and so you intercepting
Speaker 2: at this very point could be the thing that derails
Speaker 2: what's happening. But I also feel like this issue with
Speaker 2: Sandra may she restu.
Speaker 1: Viasuring Sandra Bullet in that movie where she's like on
Speaker 1: a lake.
Speaker 2: It reminds me of this myth of meritocracy, this idea
Speaker 2: if you work really hard, you'll be rewarded fairly and
Speaker 2: compensated for your efforts, and that your efforts should mean
Speaker 2: that you're doing well, that you're improving. And it must
Speaker 2: be a weird thing for Sandra to eventually hear that
Speaker 2: even though you're working really hard, you're putting in three
Speaker 2: times the work you're really you know, lovely and charismatic
Speaker 2: people like you, You're gonna get fined. It's just not good enough.
Speaker 2: What kind of messaging is that? I also find that
Speaker 2: wouldn't this be the kind of employee to invest your
Speaker 2: time and energy into, because very rarely do you find
Speaker 2: people who are pleasant to be around and willing to
Speaker 2: work to do the job with a little bit of direction,
Speaker 2: could they not turn out to be someone who is
Speaker 2: amazing for the team? And this emphasis that this poster
Speaker 2: made on you know Sandra's a bit older, It's like, okay,
Speaker 2: so you've set her up Like I've known a bunch
Speaker 2: of incompetent young people who were just allowed to stay
Speaker 2: because the value of their presence was assumed to be
Speaker 2: higher because they're young, and like, you know, young people
Speaker 2: know how to do stuff, and you know that person's old,
Speaker 2: they can't learn blah lah lah. Still, in this instance,
Speaker 2: I say, it's a dog eat dog world. You know,
Speaker 2: our situations are never equally yoked. It's unfortunate. But mind
Speaker 2: your business. Unless you really feel like you're gonna ride
Speaker 2: for Sandra the full way through, don't do this saviorism thing.
Speaker 2: We're gonna jump in like I really really bad and
Speaker 2: I really want to help Sandro. What are you gonna be?
Speaker 2: What you what are you willing to do Like you're
Speaker 2: you gonna talk to your higher ups for her. You
Speaker 2: know you're gonna step in when times get You're going
Speaker 2: to vouch for her personally. If you're not really going
Speaker 2: to do what it takes a shop for her in
Speaker 2: a way that's going to be conducive to the outcome
Speaker 2: of her keeping her job.
Speaker 3: Stay out of it, babe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want her to walk away and think, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but the memories I made I will cherish to ever
Speaker 1: with these colleagues. Yeah, and make him just blame whoever's
Speaker 1: higher up than you exactly. That's the goal. Yes, remain innocent.
Speaker 2: Yes, give platitudes, vibe out platitudes, cliches. The best thing
Speaker 2: you can do for Sandra is make the last couple
Speaker 2: months she has at work the most enjoyable.
Speaker 1: Mmm.
Speaker 2: Free coffees, yes, yes, laugh a little bit more, tell stories,
Speaker 2: enjoy you know. See if you know, you know any
Speaker 2: friends in the Grapevine who can hire her like that
Speaker 2: would be amazing.
Speaker 3: As for this job in Sandra, Mmmm, it's a shame.
Speaker 4: This is flex and frooms.
Speaker 2: I want to tell you a bit of a fact
Speaker 2: I read on the internet that I'm very surprised by
Speaker 2: it did come from a verifiable, reputable sauce world atlist
Speaker 2: dot com. The logos are glow, so it looks legit
Speaker 2: to me. They have this tear list of the animals
Speaker 2: that kill the most people. What do you think is
Speaker 2: number one?
Speaker 4: Bees?
Speaker 3: Number two?
Speaker 4: Dogs, number three bullants?
Speaker 2: Wrong?
Speaker 4: Wrong, and wrong.
Speaker 2: I'm going to read from the most to the least kills.
Speaker 2: Number one mosquitos. I didn't know mosquitoes were animals. There
Speaker 2: were bugs, but beggars. The choosing a serious Yeah, I
Speaker 2: thought mosquitoes are bugs. Bugs are animals. I don't think
Speaker 2: so that's a whole other thing. Two humans, humans skill
Speaker 2: humans are true. Well, then I didn't think we were animals, right,
Speaker 2: that's what I'm saying, followed by snake, dog, setsy fly,
Speaker 2: assassin bug, freshwater snail, ascaris, roundworm, tapeworm, and crocodile. Is
Speaker 2: that completely nonsense. I'm not sure where are these stats
Speaker 2: coming from. Don't ask, but I'm happy to go with it.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised by the crocodile because one thousand people a year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a thousand people are eaten by crocodiles a year. I think,
Speaker 1: so that's wild. That's my biggest fear no way. Seriously,
Speaker 1: I have dreams about a crocodile.
Speaker 4: A crocodile. Sorry, got something on my brain today. I
Speaker 4: always have dreams.
Speaker 1: About crocodiles grabbing me and spinning me around on the
Speaker 1: bottom of.
Speaker 4: The floor, like the floor of the ocean. Yeah, the river.
Speaker 4: They're not ocean. Okay, sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: But actually they could be. So don't take my word.
Speaker 4: This is flex and Frooms.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a full show full of advice
Speaker 2: because the people need answers and life is really difficult
Speaker 2: to do alone.
Speaker 3: So why not lean on two girls.
Speaker 1: From Australia who have no psychology degrees? And I guess
Speaker 1: some life experience says more limited than other.
Speaker 4: Perhaps I'll let you decide.
Speaker 2: This person says, am I the asshole for telling my
Speaker 2: coworker I will cover up my shoulders when he starts
Speaker 2: wearing shoes off the bat. I'm very confused, but let's
Speaker 2: just see what where this takes us. So this person says,
Speaker 2: my workplace doesn't have a dress code, so everyone dresses
Speaker 2: very casually. Today I was wearing a top with thin
Speaker 2: straps with long pants, and my shoulders were showing. Sounds
Speaker 2: chill to me, but I also wear my whole mid
Speaker 2: drift out at all times. One of the coworkers, Brian,
Speaker 2: was giving me angry looks all day, and when I
Speaker 2: finally asked him what's wrong, he told me that he
Speaker 2: thought better of me than to dress in barely any
Speaker 2: clothes to work at that.
Speaker 4: Moment, giving Virgin no offense.
Speaker 2: At that moment, Brian was wearing pretty short shorts and
Speaker 2: was barefoot. He dressed like this the whole summer. The
Speaker 2: office is carpeted. He only puts on his slippers if
Speaker 2: he's going to the bathroom or the kitchen.
Speaker 4: Yuck, tinier.
Speaker 2: I told Brian that I will start covering up my
Speaker 2: shoulders when he starts wearing shoes to the office. If
Speaker 2: I have to watch his hairy toes at work, he
Speaker 2: can deal with the sight of my shoulders.
Speaker 4: That, of course didn't help.
Speaker 2: He put on his headphones and didn't even look in
Speaker 2: my direction the rest of the workday.
Speaker 4: Now I'm wondering if.
Speaker 2: I was wrong to say that he's a coworker and
Speaker 2: I should thrive for good work relationships. But I felt insulted,
Speaker 2: so I kicked back at him. Am I the asshole?
Speaker 2: Before you share?
Speaker 4: Your thoughts.
Speaker 2: I encourage us both just sit into our brains for
Speaker 2: a second. Think about how we would feel at Cado
Speaker 2: if somebody said to us verbatim that they thought better
Speaker 2: of us than to dress in barely any clothes.
Speaker 3: Did she take it too far? What do you think?
Speaker 4: No, not at all.
Speaker 1: I love that she has a little thing to get
Speaker 1: him on, which is him not wearing shoes. It's the
Speaker 1: perfect like throw back in the face. Yes, it reminds
Speaker 1: me in year nine, my friend Rachel, We're at school
Speaker 1: and we were wearing I think it was like pe
Speaker 1: so you could see her brass traps under her little top.
Speaker 1: And this teacher fully was like, you can't show your
Speaker 1: brass traps to school, And no other teacher did it.
Speaker 4: He was a bit odd. Oh yeah, there we go,
Speaker 4: and he said too much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was giving, like it was a It was
Speaker 1: very odd. I remember even thinking it was odd back then. Personally,
Speaker 1: I am seeing things as you're telling me this story.
Speaker 1: The guy is giving and no offense to anyone who
Speaker 1: fits into these stereotypes.
Speaker 4: The guy is no offense. That's my new thing.
Speaker 1: He is giving Kumbaya ishka energy incense Byron Bay ten
Speaker 1: years ago, so true Byron Bay, like true neutral Byron Bay.
Speaker 1: She is giving city girl. She's a city girl, could
Speaker 1: have been from Bartowance to pray no longer.
Speaker 4: Exists, but she per exists, doesn't. Yeah, oh, pardon me,
Speaker 4: so pray.
Speaker 1: Let's say cotton on little Sydney Sweeney Cross race back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1: I mean this is easy. Clearly he's got to stick
Speaker 1: up his boomba.
Speaker 2: This feels like one of those instances. If you're noticing it,
Speaker 2: it's because you're looking. You should pay attention.
Speaker 4: Look at your screen, look at your phone, look at
Speaker 4: the bathroom, look at the kitchen.
Speaker 2: If you're looking at her shoulders so much that they're offending,
Speaker 2: you stop looking at her. That's all I want to say,
Speaker 2: because in this instance, I feel like, sure, I think
Speaker 2: that he should be allowed to go barefoot in this
Speaker 2: casual office. If that's the vibe they're curating, it seems
Speaker 2: like it's appropriate. Goes both ways. If I don't like feet,
Speaker 2: I'm not going to look at his feet. He brought
Speaker 2: up the shoulders, she brought up the feet. She's not
Speaker 2: the asshole, And I think that she needs to stand
Speaker 2: her ground on this one because she goes back to
Speaker 2: him and starts apologizing for what isn't an issue. It'll
Speaker 2: create this weird dynamic where she has to be apologetic
Speaker 2: about showing up to work comfortably to do her job.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it all just sounds like it's a hot climate.
Speaker 1: And I mean, what would you prefer her very long
Speaker 1: sleeve top? Maybe she doesn't wear deodorant like maybe that.
Speaker 1: If it doesn't work out well, I suggest her where
Speaker 1: a full strength wooly jumper. Yep, don't wear deodorant, don't shower,
Speaker 1: and then we'll see.
Speaker 4: If he prefers her shoulders. Make them suffer easy.
Speaker 1: As you've been listening to the Flex and Frooms Daily
Speaker 1: podcast for more. She needs a That on DAB or
Speaker 1: stream it on iHeartRadio.