S2: #13- 5 Lessons I Learned in 2021 and "AITA" (Work Edition)

Happy New Year! Here's to 2022! The first podcast of the New Year!

Bridgette shared 5 Lessons from 2021 and read an "AITA" story from Reddit. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi everyone, it's Bridget and welcome back to the Employee Lounge Podcast. Hi everyone, happy new year, happy 2022. How's everyone doing? Welcome back to the Employee Lounge Podcast. If you are not familiar with this podcast, again, my name is Bridget and welcome. Thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. So, how is your new year's treating you? How is everything going? Uh for me, it just seems the same. It just seems the same. Um, what can I say? It just does, it feels the same. And you know, hopefully there will be some big changes soon, but right now it's the same. But you know what? That's okay. I know 2022 just started, so I'm not gonna kick myself or get sad or depressed about anything because a new year is still upon us, we still got some more months to go, so it'll it'll be fine. It will be fine. Um, I do hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and uh surviving the best way you know how, okay. So shout out to y'all and happy 2022. Also, another shout out goes to one of my best friends, her name is Janelle, and she told me to uh wear brighter colors, so I was like, okay, I will. So this is for Janelle. Thank you for your suggestion. I am now wearing a very light blue shirt. So thank you. And if you have any suggestions, you can also comment below and let me know. Um, yeah, you could give me some porners, some suggestions, and we can have a fun podcast. Um, and also please follow me on YouTube so you could see this bright light shirt, and um also follow me on Instagram um and TikTok and Twitter. I will leave everything in the description below, and also um so you could figure that out and follow me. Yeah, so how is everyone doing? Like I keep saying, um, you know, I really hope the best for everyone. It's a new year, it's a brand new new year, and it's 2022. Um, you know, everyone is starting off the new year with like goals and uh resolutions and vision boards. But for me, I'm going to start this new year a little different. You're probably like, what? Yeah, no resolutions, no vision boards, none of that. I'm gonna start this new year with lessons that I've learned from 2021. That's right. I am going to start this new year with lessons that I learned from 2021, and I'm gonna give you five. Five lessons because I need to bring these lessons into 2022. I really do. I think we all need to learn from lessons, they help us to become better, and they help us to um achieve more and not make the same mistakes again. So I'm gonna share my lessons with you, and I hope you have your very own lessons that you can share them with me so we could have this whole um lessons conversations because I love to learn from lessons, um, and I and I like to see if I can take that with me and adjust it to my own life. So I hope my lessons will help you, and if you have any lessons, I hope they will help me. Okay, so my first lesson that I've learned from 2021 is to be my biggest supporter and my biggest cheerleader. And you're probably wondering like, why are you saying that you should be your biggest supporter, cheerleader every day? And you're right, you really should. You have to be, but I really learned this lesson from 2021. When I started my podcast in 2020, I was still working, and I really didn't uh have a YouTube channel then, and I was just taking it day by day, and it really wasn't like a big thing, but then I took it seriously in 2021 when I stopped working, and now I'm like putting so much energy into my channel again and into my podcast, and you know, really starting this whole thing, and uh now I realize the importance of being my biggest supporter and my biggest cheerleader because a lot of people are just not going to be an of your content or a fan of what you're doing, or or just follow you. They're not gonna do that, and and that's okay, that is a-okay, because everyone is entitled to do what they want to do, and if they don't, you know, rock with your content, then you can't really blame them. So that's where that lesson came into about because I was like, okay, I just have to be my biggest cheerleader, my biggest supporter. And sadly, this can go with your family, this could go can go with your friends, it could go with your inner circle. Uh, and they're not gonna like your content or be fans of it, um, or just want to follow you or wanna be there for you, you know, and it's not a bad thing. We we can't be mad at that because you know, everyone has different tastes, everyone has different things they want to see online, and it may not be your content. And I used to be a little upset because I was like, wow, even my my inner circle used to do that, but then I'm like, I can't, I can't, you can't be upset for other people and what they like or don't like, you just can't. You have to just be your own supporter, be your own cheerleader, and keep it moving and keep it pushing. You just have to, and that's what I'm gonna do. I I can't really be sad or be upset about what other people are doing. I have to do what I need to do, which is keep creating content, believing in my content, keep creating, and hopefully one day they'll be on board. But if not, you know, there's the stop. There's the the stop. You can get off, it's fine. Um, I'm not gonna, you know, stop talking to you or stop chilling with you if you don't like my content. Um I'm gonna keep walking with you, but I was just hoping you would be a fan. But you know what? It's okay. It is okay. So if you don't have that type of support, listen, it's it's going to happen. It is, it's going to happen. And listen, this can apply to work. Okay, you're not gonna have your support from your your boss, management, co-workers, uh, employees. You're not gonna have support. You're not, you're they're gonna probably give you a hard time. 99.9, they probably will give you a hard time. But listen, be your biggest supporter, be your biggest cheerleader. You got this, don't worry about other people. Do what you need to do to make it. So that was my biggest lesson. That was my number one lesson. Um, my second, my number two, um, is to be patient with myself, to be more patient with myself. Let me tell y'all, when I was editing my last video, it was a it was a struggle bus. It was a struggle bus. Everything was going wrong. Everything. I didn't even want to put off that video, and I really didn't. I gave up on myself a long time ago. I was like, no, I'm not, but then I finally got over that little slump and decided, okay, I'm just going to put the video out. And I did, and I was super proud of it. I I really did enjoy it. And uh, but it was it was a lot, it was a lot, people. Let me tell you, it was a lot. I was not expecting, I was not expecting that. Um, but that's what I have to do. I have to be patient with myself. Things are not gonna be perfect all the time, things are going to um mess up, and you just have to correct them. And uh, that's what I have to do. I just have to correct them and and move on. So, yeah, I'm I'm gonna be more patient with myself.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Number three. Number three, enjoy the journey.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Enjoy the journey of this whole thing. Like, let me tell you, I never thought I would even think about a YouTube channel or a podcast. I was like, no, I'm not, no, it's not in my cards, it's it's not in my my goals, but here we are, and there it is, and the Employee Lounge podcast was created. So I have to enjoy every little bit of this because who knows how long I'm gonna keep this up, but I have to slow down, I have to just really take this all in. And yes, I want to make you know, all get all the followers and and get all the views and all that stuff. I mean, who doesn't? You know, you're you're creating content, so you expect to uh you expect more. Uh, but also I have to just take it day by day and just realize this is it's not a race, this is a journey, and I just need to embrace it more and learn more and just get better, and just get better. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get better, I'm gonna still create, and I'm gonna have fun in the process, and that's what I need to to learn is to just enjoy the journey, every little bit of it. The fourth one is to to be comfortable, to get out of my comfort zone. It's it's alright to get out of my comfort zone, and and I didn't realize how much it was okay to to get out of my comfort zone until I started um posting videos. And it's okay. Like before I was like so scared and like, oh my god, what do people think of me and stuff like that? But it's okay, it's okay, you know. Um I like the community I have on Instagram, a really good community. Uh, and I will grow my other communities on TikTok and YouTube and Twitter. Um, but it's okay to try new things, it's okay to get out of your comfort zone. It's not the end of the world. That's how I was making it. Okay, like I was thinking, like, okay, getting out of my comfort zone is definitely like, oh, like I like my routine, but it's okay to just live. If that makes sense. It's okay to just live a little more without the restraints. I mean, not to go overboard, but still just live a little. So I'm really glad that I pushed myself to just get out of my comfort zone. So I'm very proud. And I hope you do too. It's it's very refreshing, it's very uh liberating.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

So and the last lesson, number five. To keep learning new things, keep learning new things.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Uh let me tell you, uh, editing was a whole new world for me. Camera, all this stuff, whole new world for me. So to keep learning new things, who knows where it will take you. Honestly, I don't know where this will take me, hopefully far, but I really like the whole editing process. Um, I like the whole uh recording. Um, YouTube University has been the best, the best thing ever. So uh recommend, you know, wish I could get a degree out of it, but it doesn't seem like it. But YouTube university has been the best uh ever, the best professor. But listen, learn new things, whatever it is, whatever you want, learn new things because you never know where it will take you. Okay, so those are my five lessons from 2021 that I'm gonna bring into 2022, and hopefully I will learn to uh to keep practicing these lessons because it is important, um, especially the be patient with myself one because you know you always want to just learn things quickly and get things quickly, but it's not going to happen in a perfect world, it would, but not this world. But, anyways, um, yeah. So, what are your life lessons that you've learned from 2021 or that you're learning now? Why not? We all have lessons, and uh we all can uh use those lessons in everyday life. So let me know, comment below. So also, also, what I want to do is have a little fun. We're gonna have fun this uh podcast because I I need to to loosen this up. So we're gonna have fun. So I thought, why not um do the the Reddit thread that everyone is doing? I don't know if you're aware of Am I the A-Hole. Yes, I'm not gonna say the real world, real word. Um yes, it's a thread called Am I the A-Hole? And if you're not familiar with it, I'm gonna explain it. So this thread is people asking strangers if they're the a-hole for their certain life situations, so they're asking people their opinions on what happened to them, and they're asking if they are the a-hole in this position, in this current uh situation, and I love it because everyone is saying uh yeah or no, or um what? So I thought I would do um an a little segment, am I the a-hole work edition? Like, why not, right? Because I feel like a lot of people in the workplace don't really want to admit if they're the a-hole or not. But I commend these people on these thread on this thread that are asking the question because people in corporate would be like, oh yeah, I did it. And like they would not shed a tear. So for these people to be anonymous and ask, it makes me feel so happy because there's some humanity in the world. You know, there's still hope. There's still hope. So uh yeah, I figured I would read one of the stories anonymously, of course. Um no names, and um, we can both figure out together if they're the a-hole or not, right? Right, so let's do it. Okay, so I am gonna bring up a story, and I'm gonna read it to you, and you're gonna we're gonna figure this out, right? We're gonna see if this person is the a-hole, okay. So the title is Am I the A-Hole for teasing a co-worker too much before the co-worker quit? That's a big one, right? Ugh. Uh, okay, so it says I was a review manager uh for a recent graduate who started working at our firm. Our industry is very fast-paced with busy seasons and off seasons. We are expected to work 70 plus hours per week during a three-month period, including Saturdays. Well, when the graduate started, the graduate was amazing. The graduate always asked insightful questions and worked past 70 hours a week. Wow. Sometimes even coming in on Sundays. Oh. The graduate with was the best entry-level worker, and I could even see the graduate easily becoming partner at the firm at the firm. Wow. We talked every day about work and personal life since I would stop by uh the desk, their desk, every morning when the graduate arrived at work, and then eat every evening before I left the office in case the graduate had any questions or just wanted to chat. Oh, that was nice. When busy season ended, I noticed that the graduate's productivity had dropped. Our work policy is 40 hours during the off season, but the graduate was only working 35 hours, and most of the time was spent on their phone. So I mentioned this during our review meeting. Almost immediately after the graduate sent a note to HR asking to change review managers. Ooh, and the graduate even gave a list of BS examples, like when the graduate said their kitten and their cat weren't getting along. I said that we should bet which one killed the other, or whenever the department went to lunch together, I'd make a point to get everyone to use a plastic straw since the graduate is such a huge climate change believer. Just dumb things where I'll admit I wasn't professional about, but they were just running jokes between us. Okay. Well, HR told her no and suggested that I meet with the graduate to try to smooth things over. Oh. So I suggested to the graduate that we meet twice a week, nothing formal, just grab a casual lunch for a or a walk around the park near our office. I don't know about the walk, but okay. The graduate refused and then directly asked our boss if the graduate could change review managers. And the boss said yes. The next busy season. Asked questions to the other managers, and whenever I came over to their desk to talk, the graduate responses to me were short. So I tried to shrug it off, but after a few months after the end of busy season, the graduate quit abruptly. Ooh. Before the graduate left, the graduate went around talking to people, thanking them for the experience, etc. When the graduate came to me, the graduate said, sorry for acting so distant and told me why they changed review managers. Was because I teased them so much. The graduate even said that I was creepy. I was shocked. I have a family at home, and the graduate was recently engaged. I was trying my best to be friendly and helpful as their mentor. Anyway, this had happened a while ago, but it still bothers me so much since I considered the graduate a good friend of mine. I thought that I had done something horrible to the graduate, but it was all because I teased the graduate too much. However, my family said that I could have acted more professional. So am I the a-hole. Um what do you think? Is that person the a-hole? Well, the person really didn't act professionally at all. Like at all. You gotta act professional. I'm sorry. You can't be talking about other things. I don't know what that cat story was about. I don't know what was going on there, but yeah, if it's not about work, no. Uh no. And yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. Because you you can't, you don't know how people are, and you just can't be so comfortable. And you're in a management position, you're the review manager. You there is some type of professional higher standard that the company is going to uh expect from you as the review manager. So yeah, I'm sorry, but yeah, that was an a-hole move. Sorry. Mm-hmm. What do you guys think? Were was that person the a-hole because of that? I I think so. I think so. But also, you don't know who you're reviewing, you know, you don't know who's gonna be your your worker, your uh your employee, and um, you know, yeah, the employee could be like, yeah, you know, trying to be nice, but deep down that employee could have been like, oh no, no, no, this is not the person for me. And if you can't feel that situation out, how are you going to be a manager going forward? I don't you gotta understand, like, some people are not for the whole like chummy chummy, let's be best friends. And to assume that this employee, this employee was going to be your your a friend of yours, come on. The employee tried to get a new review manager, and you expected this employee to be a friend. Absolutely not. Absolutely. No, yeah, I'm sorry. Managers, we you know, they ex we expect managers to act a certain way, every company does. I expect a manager to act a certain way, and let me tell you, this has happened to me. So I understand what that employee was going through because I did have a previous manager that was really trying, and when I say really trying to be chummy chummy, but I I was not reciprocating. No, I'm not gonna be your best friend in and in the um company, and I thought you would understand that. Like, this is a professional situation. I am taking this professionally. I mean, also, I just started the job, so I don't understand what you expect. Like, we were gonna be close. No, I'm not gonna invite you over to dinner, I'm not gonna invite you over to lunch, I'm not. So, yeah, I totally understand what this employee was going through. And yeah, I'm sorry, but that was an a-hole move. Sorry. What do you guys think? What do you all think? Comment below um if this person was the a-hole because yeah, I'm sorry, but I think it was not appropriate. And I think the employee did the right thing. If you're in a situation where you do not feel comfortable, then it's okay to get out of that situation and ask for a different manager. And yeah, I don't care what situation it is, you gotta feel comfortable walking into your office doors. Sorry, you just do. Also, if I said graduate a lot, I didn't want to like say the if it was a man or a female, I just um I didn't want to do that, so yeah. So that was the segment for our am I the a whole work edition. Comment below if you liked it. I will do another one. But yeah. Oof, that was a big one. That was a big one. But like I said, guys, thank you for still tuning in. Thank you for everything. Thank you for watching the videos. Thank you for listening to the audio. Remember, the Employee Lounge Podcast is available on all streaming platforms. Yeah, if you don't want to listen or watch YouTube, you go on the audio, and always listen to the audio version as well. I'm also on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, the big threes. So please follow me. We have fun. Well, I hope to have fun, but yeah, please follow me. I really do appreciate it. Again, I hope you're doing well. I hope everything is going well for you. Remember, 2022 is your year. Take it seriously. It is your time to shine. Thank you for listening. I really do appreciate it. Always tune back in and watch on YouTube. Thank you for listening. Bye, coworkers.