Cafe Grit

In S1E12 I talk about the difficulty of dealing with noise in the workplace, whether at home or in the office. I lament about my neighbors' continual yardwork and read some of your comments about dealing with noise and other violations of the social contract at work. 

S1E11 is all about getting in trouble at work when you don't think you should have gotten in trouble. We are NOT talking about felonies, here, but rather, when you try to do the right thing or speak up and you get your hand slapped. Beth talks about a time when she got in trouble for mocking up her team into cartoon people to boost their morale, and then we hear a few stories from the Café Grit social media tribe. Have you ever gotten in trouble at work? This might be the episode for you!

We're going light and fun this episode. Have you ever had intestinal distress from drinking cheap office coffee? What is the coffee like at your workplace? Cheap and nasty or does your company go all out? We'll talk about experiences with the cheap stuff and ponder why so many corporations cheap out.

S1E09 explores the problem of processes that seem to hinder rather than help. Why does everything seem to be so complicated? Why can't we just have a checklist? Beth Anne tells the story of a process nightmare at one of her previous jobs and reads some listener comments about their own.

In S1E08 The Telecommute Dispute we talk about working from home during The Covid and will the misconceptions that persisted before the pandemic creep back? Did we learn anything when masses of people successfully, effectively, productively moved to a home office? We also hear some of your examples for stupidest reasons why working from home was denied. There are a lot of dumb managers out there. 

In S1E07 we talk about how trying to do too much - even if it's work you love - can cause a lot of stress. We think we can do it all, but everyone has a limit. When we start experiencing extreme stress symptoms, that's when it's time to pull back. If you have ever experienced stress from working too hard or too long, then this is the episode for you.

In S1E06 we read some of your comments on the first few episodes. Then we introduce an exciting new bonus feature: F U ASSHAT! Sometimes you need an anonymous FU thrown out by a middle-aged podcaster who calls out corporate BS. We have two this episode and it does feel good.

In this episode we talk about self-absorbed dicks with big fat egos and how they need to constantly tell their coworkers how great they are. We go over a real-life example and talk about some of the things the ego-blessed folk of the working world do and say that reveals their true lack of confidence and power.

There is an itch that affects a lot of people in the corporate world. It starts around 40, give or take. They start feeling like there needs to be something more. Their quest for fulfillment and job satisfaction becomes overwhelming and they feel that the need a change...any change. Some may take on a new role in the same company. Others quit and go to work for other companies. And some go into business for themselves. In this episode we explore some of the symptoms of the 40-year itch and some of the possible reasons why so many people become dissatisfied in their 40s and early 50s.

In E1S03 The Hiring Process - Why Does It Suck? we continue the story of Ruby Scooby and take a deeper dive into some aspects of the job application and interview process. Some of the cow pies we will be exploring are why it takes so long; multiple interviews, cliché interview questions; and ghosting (after a successful interview process you never hear from the company again one way or the other).