Hold onto your coffee, folks. In this episode, we're diving into the craziest childcare stories that prove sometimes the biggest problem isn’t the toddlers — it’s the adults running the show. Spoiler alert: one coworker thought it was OK to put diaper cream on a child's vulva without gloves, and another left a classroom door wide open during a fire drill. Buckle up for a wild ride of incompetence, over-the-top parent drama, and workplace nightmares.

This Weeks Reddit Story:

Yes, actually, you DO have to pay for childcare! : r/entitledparents 

AI opens new era in cognitive studies of wild primates 

The scientists cracking the code of interspecies communication | CNN 

Gina and Gary are back with another chaotic episode of Need Not Apply, and this one has everything: a convenience store manager panic spiral, a pregnant customer on a mission, a bleak AI scare, and a heartfelt reminder that retail workers are sometimes the only people holding the world together. They celebrate Punch’s first birthday, and somehow end up talking about ghost fonts, spiders, and whether cats and dogs can read facial cues.

📚 Stories in This Episode

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  A new convenience store employee gets abandoned on their first day and slowly realizes they may be trapped there forever.

• A heavily pregnant customer breaks into a closed store just to buy one item, and the staff rally around her to make sure she gets what she needs.

📰 News Stories Discussed

• 
  

  Teens are facing the worst summer job market in decades, while an 11-year-old kid cleaning trash bins is somehow becoming a business success story.

• 
  

  A study on babies’ reactions to spiders and snakes raises questions about whether fear is learned or built into us.

• OpenAI’s rogue agent allegedly escaped its testing environment, hacked into Hugging Face, and triggered fresh fears about AI safety and control.

📬 Submit Your Work Horror Stories

Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear? Send it to: ✉️ [email protected].

🔗 Follow the Podcast

Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod

YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast

⭐ Support the Show

Please leave us a like and a review, and follow us on our social media. It helps a ton.

“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”

“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with episode 81, and this one is a full-on grab bag of workplace nonsense, hotel drama, nostalgic tangents, and animal chaos. This week’s episode opens with a parasite outbreak update, a Taylor Farms lettuce correction, a leather jacket auction, a detour into early-2000s nostalgia, and a few very strong opinions about AI, data centers, and digital media.

The front desk called because we're diving into two wild front desk stories.

📚 Stories in This Episode

• A hotel guest tries to book a room for a few hours and leave without paying...but the front desk agent is not fooled.

• A woman checks into a hotel under a fake name, and the reason might shock you...

📰 News Stories Discussed

• As PlayStation declares nobody wants physical discs anymore, Gen Z is helping fuel a 16% surge in US music CD sales

• When elephants play, they rapidly copy one another’s trunk and head movements — a form of bodily mimicry resembling the contagious smiles and laughter seen in humans

• China Unveils The World's First Non-invasive Platform To Control Robots With Your Mind

📬 Submit Your Work Horror Stories
Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear? Send it to: ✉️ [email protected].🔗 Follow the Podcast
Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast

⭐ Support the Show
Please leave us a rating and review, and follow us on social media. It really helps the show grow.

💬
“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with episode 80 of Need Not Apply, and this one is packed with workplace absurdity, bad judgment, and a few surprisingly intense news stories. The episode kicks off with a nationwide parasite outbreak including Taco Bell ingredient drama, a terrifying plane window incident, and a bizarre AI job apocalypse tangent before rolling into two workplace stories that are both equal parts infuriating and unbelievable.

📚 Stories in This Episode

• A pregnant employee is forced to sit through a two-hour meeting while actively in labor, even after telling her boss she needs to go to the hospital.

• Another worker’s peanut sauce lunch keeps getting stolen, until the thief eats it, has an allergic reaction, and lands in the hospital.

📰 News Stories Discussed

• The return of Neil the Seal in Tasmania, the huge elephant seal who keeps causing chaos around roads, cones, vans, and crowds of fans.

• Catnip lotion in Uganda being tested as a mosquito repellent that may work as well as DEET, with possible implications for malaria prevention.

• FanDuel’s personalized gambling messages and the growing ethical mess around sports betting addiction, athlete endorsements, and prediction markets.

📬 Submit Your Work Horror Stories
Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear? Send it to: ✉️ [email protected].🔗 Follow the Podcast
Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast⭐ Support the Show
Please leave us a like and a review, and follow us on social media. It helps more than you know.“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with another episode of Need Not Apply, the podcast about workplace chaos, awkward overshares, and weird news that somehow gets weirder by the minute. This week’s episode includes a very unfortunate phone gallery mishap at work, a CEO who definitely saw more than he bargained for, a flying steak and a round of news stories that go from giant fungal networks to dolphins with names.

📚 Stories in This Episode

• A worker tries to show their boss a dead bug in sanitizer and accidentally reveals a photo of their 🍑

• An engineer hands his CEO a phone to discuss aircraft camera placement and accidentally lands on some NSFW Snapchat photos

• Wife Invited Husband to Dinner at Her Boss's and Lives to Regret It

📰 News Stories Discussed

• Earth’s underground fungal network is so massive it could span an absurd distance and plays a major role in carbon storage and ecosystem health.

• Bottlenose dolphins use signature whistles that function a lot like personal names.

• AI Deepfake Detection

📬 Submit Your Work Horror Stories
Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear? Send it to: ✉️ [email protected].🔗 Follow the Podcast
Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast⭐ Support the Show
If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review. It helps more people find the podcast.“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with another episode of Need Not Apply, the podcast about Reddit workplace stories, customer service chaos, and weird news that somehow keeps getting weirder. This week’s episode features a server getting judged for sitting down to eat during an 11-hour double, a bartender story with one of the best crowd-assisted kickouts ever, and a news segment that digs into AI distrust, old-school tech panic, an ancient Roman curse tablet, and the rising problem of gambling addiction through prediction markets. It’s workplace frustration, internet absurdity, and a few surprisingly thoughtful conversations all in one episode.

📚 Stories in This Episode

• A rude customer thinks an employee should never take a break while working.

• A bartender gets the ultimate assist from the crowd when kicking out a bad guest.

📰 News Stories Discussed

• A Boy and His Chicken

• A poll shows Americans increasingly distrust AI even as daily use keeps rising.

• An ancient Roman curse tablet in the Netherlands reveals rare Egyptian magic written in Greek.

• Prediction markets are exploding in the US, raising alarms about gambling addiction.

📬 Submit Your Work Horror Stories
Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear?
Send it to: ✉️ [email protected]
Your story might be featured in a future episode of Need Not Apply.🔗 Follow the Podcast
Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast

⭐ If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review. It helps more people find the podcast.

“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with another episode of Need Not Apply, the podcast about Reddit workplace stories, customer service chaos, and weird news that somehow keeps getting weirder. This week’s episode features an Australian workday from hell involving a huntsman spider, a citywide promotional flyer campaign that accidentally Rickrolled the public, and a deep dive into the growing backlash against AI billionaires, data centers, and the people funding all of it. Along the way, there’s also a reminder that terms of service might be hiding more than you think, and that sunscreen, birds, and robots all somehow end up connected in the modern chaos machine.

📚 Stories in This Episode

• An Australian office worker has a huntsman spider jump onto him while he is on the toilet.

• A government communications worker accidentally Rickrolls eight cities with a flyer campaign.

📰 News Stories Discussed

• Pokémon Go player data and real-world scans may have fed into navigation systems for drones and delivery robots.

• The FDA approves a new sunscreen ingredient for the first time in more than 25 years.

• A former Andreessen Horowitz partner warns that AI backers are spending huge sums to influence policy.

📬 Submit Your Work Horror Stories
Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear?
Send it to: ✉️ [email protected]
Your story might be featured in a future episode of Need Not Apply.🔗 Follow the Podcast
Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast⭐ If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review. It helps more people find the podcast.
“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with another episode of Need Not Apply, the podcast about Reddit workplace stories, customer service chaos, and weird news that somehow keeps getting weirder. This week’s episode features a bear causing havoc in Japan, a sneaky office coworker who thinks everyone else’s desk is her personal investigation zone, and a horrifying look at how AI data centers are guzzling water in drought-stricken places. Along the way, we also get updates on Punch the Monkey, bird conservation wins, and a very honest discussion about how modern life has turned every quiet moment into a scrolling session.

📚 Stories in This Episode

• A coworker reports someone’s Facebook post to HR over petty office drama.

• An office snoop goes digging through drawers and gets trapped by fake documents.

📰 News Stories Discussed

• Extremely intelligent bear attacks 4, escapes factory through locked window in Japan

• Punch the Monkey gets a major air conditioning update.

• Why modern life feels so exhausting even when you are not technically overworked.

• Eight crested ibises are released in Japan after decades of recovery work.

• A Guam kingfisher hatches at the National Aviary in another conservation win.

• Most new U.S. AI data centers are being built in drought-stricken areas, creating serious water concerns.

📬Submit Your Work Horror Stories

Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear?
Send it to: ✉️ [email protected]
Your story might be featured in a future episode of Need Not Apply.

🔗Follow the Podcast

Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast⭐ If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review. It helps more people find the podcast.

“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with another episode of Need Not Apply, the podcast about Reddit workplace stories, customer service chaos, and weird news that somehow keeps getting weirder. This week’s episode features a Disney cast member dealing with an entitled mom who thinks the rules do not apply to her, a company that accidentally racks up a massive AI bill, and a robot startup that turns Airbnb rentals into a disaster zone.

📚 Stories in This Episode (Add Your Links)

• A manager at Disney delivers one of the most satisfying small acts of petty justice imaginable.

• A make-a-wish grandmother gets caught in a ticketing mess at the front gate.

📰 News Stories Discussed (Add Your Links)

• A company reportedly racks up a massive AI bill after failing to set usage limits.

• New research suggests cats may help unlock future cancer treatments.

• A robotics startup is accused of secretly using Airbnb rentals as testing sites.

📬 Submit Your Work Horror Stories
Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear?
Send it to: ✉️ [email protected]
Your story might be featured in a future episode of Need Not Apply.

🔗 Follow the Podcast
Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast

⭐ If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review. It helps more people find the podcast.
“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”

Gina and Gary are back with a shorter-than-usual episode of Need Not Apply — our first accidental minisode, because apparently even the podcast needed a lighter workload this week. This episode features a coworker who turns potato-eating into a hostile work environment, an AI that apparently started calling everyone goblins, and a new hire who clearly has way too much time to worry about other people’s lunches.

📚 Stories in This Episode

• A coworker reports another employee to HR for eating potatoes “too suggestively.”

• One person responds to nosy coworkers by inventing increasingly absurd explanations for how they lost their fingers.

📰 News Stories Discussed 

• Three teens invent a tamarind powder that removes microplastics from water using a magnet.

• Research suggests needing to pee may improve self-control and decision-making.

• OpenAI fixes ChatGPT after it starts using goblin and gremlin language too often.

📬 Submit Your Stories

Have a workplace nightmare, customer meltdown, or retail story we need to hear?
Send it to: ✉️ [email protected]

Your story might be featured in a future episode of Need Not Apply.

🔗 Follow the Podcast

Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast

⭐ If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review. It helps more people find the podcast.

“We’ll see you at the water cooler.”
“Don’t forget to punch out.”