Bruce Anthony: [00:00:00] We're talking time. Poverty and real poverty. We gonna get into it? Let's get it.

Welcome to Unsolicited Perspectives 🎙️🔥

Bruce Anthony: Welcome. First of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I'm your host, Bruce Anthony. Here to lead the conversation in important events and topics that are shaping today's society.

Join the conversation to follow us wherever you get your audio podcast. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for our video podcast, YouTube exclusive content and our YouTube membership rate review. Like, comment, share, share with your friends, share with your family. Hell even share with your enemies. On today's episode,

Sibling Happy Hour: Sips, Laughs & Sibling Shenanigans 🍹😂

Bruce Anthony: it's the sibling happy hour.

I'm here with my sis Jay Andrea. We're gonna be dilly dding a little bit. Then we're gonna be talking about time poverty, and then we're gonna be talking about being in poverty and trying to throw a party. But that's enough of the intro. Let's get to the [00:01:00] show.

Bruce Anthony: What up sis?

Jay Aundrea: What up brother?

Bruce Anthony: I can't call it, I can't call it that rain in the background is deep in Georgia. Georgia.

Jay Aundrea: I wanna go outside.

Bruce Anthony: Nah, it's, it's me right now. I'm singing Can I, can you stand the rain? 'cause I can't stand it right now

Jay Aundrea: Okay. Yeah, I,

Bruce Anthony: I'm gonna have to clean that up in audio. Yeah. Okay. Hey, something interesting happened,

Jay Aundrea: What's up?

Bruce Anthony: that, brought a slight. Joy to my heart.

Jay Aundrea: Okay.

Bruce Anthony: Now, we haven't talked about on the, on, on our show, but I talked about on my show that Turning point in USA, that organization that Charlie Kirk started was going to do their own Super Bowl halftime show 'cause they were all been outta shape.

All white America has been outta shape. Not all white America, a lot of white America's been outta shape. The bad Bunny's gonna be [00:02:00] pouring at the Super Bowl. So they said they're gonna do their own All America Super Bowl. They don't have any ax lined up yet. They tried to hint that Neil Young was gonna be out there and Neil Young has made an anti-Trump song.

Turning Point’s Halftime Headache: No Stars, Just Silence 🎤😬

Bruce Anthony: So I don't really know how that's gonna work out.

Jay Aundrea: know why they thought that.

Bruce Anthony: So it is gonna be interesting that I don't know,

Jay Aundrea: They can't get Kid Rock won't do it.

Bruce Anthony: kid Rock is not a big enough act to bring in. They need

Jay Aundrea: They're not gonna find, they're not gonna find a big act. They're just not gonna find, they haven't been able to do that in the last 10 years. They're not going to, it's gonna be

Bruce Anthony: who is they, who

Jay Aundrea: Trump, Trumpers, na, Maga, any of those people.

Bruce Anthony: Well, I mean, that could get Laura Trump, I guess. Laura Trump be singing.

Jay Aundrea: okay. It's gonna be c, DE, fless, everything.

Bruce Anthony: Yeah. Yeah. So, I

Jay Aundrea: Who did they think they were gonna get?

Bruce Anthony: I don't know. And to [00:03:00] try and do it counter program the bad bunny. I, I, I just

Jay Aundrea: Everybody's gonna be watching Bad Bunny. Even the people who are gonna be hate watching it, I guess. I bet they still gonna be watching it.

Bruce Anthony: over whoever they got for Turning Point. I mean, maybe they, wait a minute, they, I guess they could get Carrie Underwood. I guess she's somebody who would. Drive sales. That's who they had singing at the inauguration, didn't they? Carrie Underwood. Didn't she win American Idol or something like that? She's ama she's a major like country singer.

Jay Aundrea: Oh, I've never heard of her in my entire life.

Bruce Anthony: You have, you have heard of Carrie

Jay Aundrea: Name one song.

Bruce Anthony: I didn't say that. I knew the songs. I know her. Okay. I don't know. Not Na one of her songs, but there's a lot of artists out there that I don't, I don't know their songs. And then you go down that catalog and be like, I didn't know that was them.

Jay Aundrea: yeah, I don't, I don't know. I've never heard of this person.

Bruce Anthony: Pat Benatar got more than two songs, but if It Ain't, love is a Battlefield. [00:04:00] And actually I don't know the other song,

Jay Aundrea: Yeah, that's

Bruce Anthony: but Pat, but no, she got some hits though. She got

Jay Aundrea: Yeah. All right.

Bruce Anthony: Tears for Fears, got mad hits, mad hits.

Jay Aundrea: All right. They can find somebody. It is not gonna be anybody good.

Bruce Anthony: Oh, the people I just labeled Pat Bennet Guitar and Tears Fierce ain't gonna be performing at Turning Point B. Besides, they don't want them, I'm just talking about in general, talking about people that do songs. He'd be like, oh, I didn't know that was them, that they did that.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah. You know who is a main with hauling OI always be like, I don't know who Halling Os is. And then I hear the songs and I'm like, I know exactly who Halling OS is.

yeah.

Bruce Anthony: Yes, Well, you know why? 'cause we was watching MTV, but we weren't watching MTV when MTV first came out. So there's a lot of musical acts from the eighties that we are going to know their music. But if they were standing right [00:05:00] in front of us, we wouldn't know who the hell they were.

Jay Aundrea: I will pass you right on BiPAP. Benetta. I'm so sorry.

Bruce Anthony: My, a friend of mine is part of a fraternity, and one of the fraternity members is married to. Laura Winslow from family Matters.

Jay Aundrea: Okay.

Bruce Anthony: So they got to meet Laura Winslow from Family Matters. And I was like, like, did you bother her? He's like, no, it's not. The first time I met her. I didn't bother her. I, I said, you better than me.

'cause I would've been asking 1,000,001 questions. I'd have been like, yo. So first of all, when Stefan Rkl came on the scene, how did you really feel? How did you feel when Steve

Jay Aundrea: why I hope you don't meet no celebrities because.

Bruce Anthony: No, I've met celebrities before and it depends on the celebrity. I've met movie stars and I've been like, I don't really care.

NBA players, I've been like, nah, I don't really care. But [00:06:00] certain people, that's part of like a nostalgic nature to me. I'm gonna pester the hell out of 'em if I met Brett, the hitman heart. I got a million. And one questions to ask Brett, the Hitman heart.

Jay Aundrea: Okay.

Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. I had, I had 1,000,001 questions for Prince, you know,

Bruce Anthony: but that's Prince, though. That's understandable. I'm talking about, you know, those CDE less celebrities that just have a special like tug on your heart. Like Jordan from the Bernie Mac show. I'd be pesting him with so many questions.

Jay Aundrea: yeah.

Bruce Anthony: Like, how are you so funny as a kid?

Jay Aundrea: That, that kid was funny.

Bruce Anthony: Yes.

Jay Aundrea: That kid was funny. He was a great foil for Bernie.

Bruce Anthony: Fantastic. No, so I

Jay Aundrea: Casting.

Bruce Anthony: yeah, but you know, I mean, sometimes you watch something that's nostalgic and you're just like, Hey, I got a bunch of questions to ask you about the film. Punky [00:07:00] Brewster is another one. She, I, I was talking about it the other day. Punky Brewster and Rudy were my first two crushes.

Jay Aundrea: Okay.

Bruce Anthony: Rudy from the Cosby Show. So the both of them, if I met them in person, I got 1,000,001 questions. And I'm also going to tell them how many times I made out to a stuffed animal that I pretended was them.

Jay Aundrea: Don't give people that information.

Bruce Anthony: Nah, I'm just gonna go ahead and be mad creepy with it. That's who I am. I'm creepy. Might as well give the raw, real and honest.

Jay Aundrea: don't give people don't, don't give them that information. You going to be hit with a restraining order. That's the next

step.

Bruce Anthony: I, I didn't say I was doing it now. This was 40 years ago. I was a kid. You can't hold it against me as a kid.

Jay Aundrea: I can and I

will

Bruce Anthony: No, they, might think that was endearing. No.

Jay Aundrea: now, [00:08:00] now

Hurricane Melissa Hits Jamaica: A Call for Relief 🌀🙏💔

Bruce Anthony: Speaking of rain, we gotta, we gotta send out thoughts and prayers to Jamaica. Because Hurricane Melissa is coming. I, I did see that it was downgraded. It was normally a cat five, but it's downgraded to a cat too. But that don't mean that there's not gonna be some major suffering once that hurricane hits that island.

Jay Aundrea: So be sure to I don't have any right in front of me. I'm so sorry, but be sure to go ahead. Cursory Google Search will let you know where you can donate for relief efforts. I believe it's already left Jamaica, headed towards Cuba. So. Yeah, there are lots of ways in which you can help, so please do so if you can.

Trump Admin Cuts SNAP Benefits: 42 Million at Risk 😤🍽️💸

Bruce Anthony: You right, it did already leave Jamaica and is about to hit Cuba. You you right on that one that I, yep. You right. Also, ladies and gentlemen, as long as this [00:09:00] government shutdown is happening, we are under the first administration. That no matter what shutdown has ever occurred, no other administration has ever stopped SNAP from happening.

Jay Aundrea: Hmm.

Bruce Anthony: No other president has ever done it.

This trifling asshole has decided to do that. People are getting ready to be hit. This episode will release Friday Halloween this year. Halloween was on the weekend. Me and GTA boys are trick or treating on Saturday. They're not putting out them SNAP benefits and most people, I've been seeing certain senators coming out saying, you know, you got these young men on snap.

They able bodied, they need to get out the work. No, that's not how that works. Most of the time you're in a state where it is very difficult to get these benefits. They don't just hand them out like free candy.

Jay Aundrea: They really don't. They really, really don't. And it is [00:10:00] SNAP stands for a supplemental nutrition assistance program. It is a supplement. Most of the people on SNAP are working, but they can't afford to feed themselves and their families, so they need supplemental benefits. 42 million people are gonna be rely on SNAP and are going to be impacted when the money runs out November 1st. And

Bruce Anthony: Well, the money isn't running out 'cause they have enough money in reserves to still issue snap. The administration is just gonna stop.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah, so this is, I, I, this is NPR. So it the Trump administration has warned that the debit, like EBT cards will not be refilled and that the program will run out of money on November 1st. So that's what the Trump administration is saying, that the program is gonna run out of money. Whether or not that's true.

Bruce Anthony: [00:11:00] You can't ever, you can't, you can't ever trust. I got into, somebody pulled me into a debate the other day and I was just like, they asked me questions. They kept peppering me with questions and I was like, this is a disingenuous conversation. I know it is. I know it is. But they knew the pressure. They kept pressing the button until I unleashed,

and they were just like, I don't like, like, what was the other choice, Kamala?

And I was like, yeah, if you wanna base it on integrity, we were, like, I said, do you think Donald Trump has more integrity than Kamala Harris? He does what he says he's gonna do. God forbid that he, he does what he says he's gonna do. That doesn't help anybody else but himself lying in his pockets. And then when I said line the pockets, they kind of shrugged.

And I was like, oh, okay.

Jay Aundrea: You know what an assassin does, what they say they're gonna do,

Bruce Anthony: Okay.

Jay Aundrea: That's the, the, because him, oh, he has integrity because he does what he says he is gonna [00:12:00] do. But what he does is harmful, is

Bruce Anthony: Okay.

Jay Aundrea: is malicious

Bruce Anthony: Yeah, I was wondering, you had to bring that one around 'cause you

just, you

Jay Aundrea: it's like what you mean? Because it took me a second because I was like, what you mean he has integrity? Because he said he does what he says he is gonna do

not when what he is doing is harming 42 million people. A majority of the recipients. Of Snap are seniors and families with kids and people with disabilities.

So explain to me how doing what you're saying you're gonna do in that instance means he has integrity. Please, y'all, please, please.

When Integrity Means Harm: The Trump Debate 🎭⚖️🔥

Bruce Anthony: Yeah. Well, you know, there's just, I'm realizing now that people that were reasonable have now jumped on that train and they're gone. Like, they're like the idea that you can reason with, with people [00:13:00] no, you can't reason with everybody. There might be some people that come back only when it starts to affect them.

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: They'll be like, Hey, wait a minute. But these people that most of these policies that they're not gonna affect, they're older, they don't care about abortion, they don't care about healthcare. They don't even really care about social security 'cause they know they going to definitely get social security before they pass, right?

Like all these, all these issues don't really affect them. They jumped on this Trump train and they're not getting off and they're justifying their actions by just saying, Hey, I did it. Somebody legitimately said to me, my dad raised us four people household on his salary. I said, in the sixties, 1960s, we are 60 years away from the sixties.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah. And, like [00:14:00] salaries have not risen, commiserate with inflation. So how long has the minimum wage been the current minimum wage? So, so please, like, that's just, it, it's like, it's like the boomers who are against, you know student loan debt relief. Right. Well, I paid my, my college tuition it was $500.

Bruce Anthony: Where was he going to community college?

Jay Aundrea: I mean, you know, like I worked at McDonald's and paid my tuition. Yeah. Do you know how much school costs now?

Bruce Anthony: Yeah. I, I just feel like that you can't reach these people, so I just, I just stopped trying and I, and I've blatantly gotten to the, I've blatantly gotten to the point and I know I need to really stop doing this 'cause I might get shot one day.

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: I just look at people all the time. And I don't just solely give 'em the look [00:15:00] of that's dumb face.

Like I just don't give them a, what you just said that was dumb face. I literally will say to 'em, well, that's dumb.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: Or, or I'll insult them even more by saying, come on, you're smarter than that.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah,

Bruce Anthony: They get mad. I don't really give a damn. Maybe they'll start thinking, but anyway, yeah, I need to stop telling people that they're stupid. I mean, it, it is a, a flaw mom. But the good thing about all of this is that I finally have started going through the comments,

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm. '

Bruce Anthony: cause I stopped for a while, started going through the comments on the YouTube page. I checked the other day.

It was like 14, 1500 comments had to go through. That weren't filtered. That were not filtered. So that means there were more that are filtered, that is probably derogatory or whatever like that. And most of the time people are like, Hey look, I'm learning from the podcast. Really appreciate your perspective.[00:16:00]

So it's people out there that's like, alright. Cool. We learning something. And so I learned recently that cool, they learning for those people that don't wanna learn to hell with 'em.

Learning to Let Go: You Can't Save Everyone 🧠💬✨

Jay Aundrea: yeah. I, yeah, I'm not gonna waste the energy and the time. Trying to convince people that vulnerable communities, their lives matter. That food is a right, that shelter is a right. That quality education and healthcare, these things are rights. These are not 42 million people. And I, I, I wanna say, so in the fiscal year 2023, children under five [00:17:00] made up 11% of SNAP benefits children. Five to 17 made up 27.7%. So about 39% in 2023 of SNAP benefits were children under the age of 17. So you're, you're like literally taking the food out of the mouths of children. And I can't reason with someone who is in support of a policy like that or is in support of actions like that, I, you can't reason with someone because they do not see those lives as valuable. So I can't, I'm not going to. I'm

Bruce Anthony: Yeah,

Jay Aundrea: give you a Gen Z stare and keep it pushing.

Bruce Anthony: that Gen C there, I, I tell people nowadays when, and they're trying to [00:18:00] engage me in debate, I immediately say, oh, you're not, you're not coming from a place of trying to seriously debate.

So nevermind.

Jay Aundrea: genuine.

Bruce Anthony: And I also say, look, we can debate about policy,

right? Like, we could debate about what's the better economic policy?

Is it trickle down economics? Is it lowering taxes for the middle class? Okay? Like there are valid arguments that we could go back and forth and debate that

Jay Aundrea: Yes.

Bruce Anthony: when we talk about feeding housing, caring for the needy or the people that are in

need, and I'm for it and you're against it. This isn't a difference of opinions.

This is a difference of morality

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: and that I'm not gonna debate you on.

Jay Aundrea: No, I can't debate you on the value of human life. I [00:19:00] can't debate you on, on, on human decency like you're, you're right. This is a morality issue. It's not a political one. There are children, folks with disabilities, elderly folks in this country who rely on these benefits. There are families who rely on these benefits.

There are students who rely on these benefits to eat because they don't make enough. Or they're in a situation where they can't earn enough to feed themselves and we live in one of the richest countries. If not, I don't, I think we're the richest country. I don't know. In the world

Bruce Anthony: Yeah.

Jay Aundrea: we have the funds to, don't tell me we don't have the money.

When [00:20:00] y'all just sunk all that money into ice.

Bruce Anthony: Mm.

Jay Aundrea: Don't, don't tell me we don't have the money for this. Don't tell me the states don't have the money. Some states don't. Now I'm, that's true. 'cause there's some states that are pretty poor. I'm not gonna lie about that. But don't tell me that we don't have the money to make sure that it, that at least vulnerable people can eat.

What? What are we even talking about here? No, I'm not gonna debate you on that because you're not even coming from a humane place. And, and just as like, I won't debate a cat, I'm not gonna bait someone who has lost their humanity.

I talk to human beings.

Bruce Anthony: And that's the truth. Ruth,

[00:21:00]

Bruce Anthony: jay, you brought up something a few months back

and what you were talking about was, I kept explaining to you that I've been staying up late at night just to play video games and just to have me time. And you said, yeah, you described it as, what was that again?

Jay Aundrea: Revenge, procrastination, bedtime, something like that.

Bruce Anthony: Okay, so I do that consistently, but I didn't realize that the reason why I'm doing this is because I have time poverty.

Jay Aundrea: Hmm.

Bruce Anthony: And some people listen to this and be like, what the hell is time poverty? Y'all was talking about regular poverty where we, you know, you know you need snap to supplement your food, but what is time poverty? So time poverty is, [00:22:00] is defined as a chronic imbalance between the amount of time individuals need for personal wellbeing, rest and life outside of work and the actual time they have available, particularly due to demands of jobs and workplace culture. It highlights that a growing number of American workers face this issue often skipping or not fully using their vacation time because of internal pressures or fear of negative consequences. And this is coming from a Newsweek article called Time Poverty American Are Suffering From Time Poverty by Hugh, Cameron.

And I just thought there was interesting because we often talk about in the show how remote work really for the majority of people out there improved the quality of life. For a lot of people because they weren't traveling back and forth to work. They're not spending as much money to get lunch and do this thing and that thing.

So they were saving more money. They [00:23:00] had more time for themselves. People were getting into shape.

People were buying exercise bikes. What, what was the, what is it? What's that bike? That everybody was Pelletized. Everybody was Peloton. Everybody had the Peloton. Peloton blew up during the pandemic. People was getting in shape.

You was doing one of two things. Either you was drinking in time or getting in shape, or you started out drinking all the time and decided, oh, I need to get in shape. But you was doing something to improve the quality of your life and people out here or or being forced back into the office and out here suffering again, DC has been shut down, but that ain't stopped traffic from being crazy, which means that the government might be shut down, but people are still working.

They asses

off.

Jay Aundrea: I mean, they gotta make some money.

Bruce Anthony: Got you.

Got you.

Jay Aundrea: somehow. Yeah.

Time Poverty: When Work Steals Your Life ⏰😰💼

Bruce Anthony: But time poverty affects people by harming their mental health, their productivity, and even their physical health. It contributes to burnout, increased stress and emotional fatigue, ultimately reducing employees engagement and [00:24:00] satisfaction. So the AR article also notes studies linking time poverty with worse wellbeing outcomes than unemployment.

So people on unemployment, people who are unemployed, who are, are still mentally better than people who suffer from time poverty at work. So this is showing how serious of an impact it is on individuals. You've worked in the corporate industry. I know I have. I don't ever take vacations. I had actually have not had a real vacation, a real vacation in nine years.

Jay Aundrea: Wow.

Bruce Anthony: And even when I was on that vacation and I was seven years, seven hours behind.

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: I was still working and I don't think I have work fatigue and things of that nature. I'd s mostly enjoy what I do, but I wish I did have more time just for me.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah. [00:25:00] It is a culture or a societal issue. Because too often in American corporate culture, there is this overwhelming sense of guilt for taking what is your benefit, which is, is which is your paid leave. There was actually an academic article written by Davidson and Blackburn in 2023. It was called The Case for Offering Paid Leave Benefits to the Employer, employee, and Society.

And so basically what it says is it's, it's basically an argument for why employers should be offering paid leave. Not only like, not only offering it, but making it a part of. The culture of that workplace for people to take that leave, [00:26:00] right? Because not only is it critical for employee wellbeing and equity, but it's also cost effective and a, a strategic HR practice, right?

Because if you take your time, if you take that paid, leave the sick, leave the family leave, if you get those benefits and you actually utilize those benefits, you are less one, you're, you're less likely to leave that company, right? You're less likely to experience things like burnout and have to take some extended leave because of your mental health or wellbeing.

It affects your physical health, your mental health, psychological health. It affects your spiritual health. Okay. And the US really has a problem with offering paid [00:27:00] vacation, sick leave, parental leave, things like that. We currently have no federally mandated paid vacation, sick leave, or parental leave as oppo like in contrast, like European countries guarantee 20 to 30 plus vacation days and extended parental leave for both mothers and fathers.

Bruce Anthony: Yeah. So

Jay Aundrea: not doing it.

Bruce Anthony: yeah. So based along what you were saying, time poverty among workers can mean lower productivity.

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: Higher rates of absenteeism or presenteeism,

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: that employees being at work but not fully functional and increased employee turnover as well. 'cause people just get burned out.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: I'll tell you a story.

I know somebody who is a, manager, not a manager. They're a partner in a, in a firm. Okay? They're a partner in a firm. And I remember [00:28:00] I was talking to 'em and they were getting fed up because they were dealing with this project and people were on vacation and it was a person, I don't think they, they were either younger millennial or Gen Z.

And the, my, the person that was a partner was like, they need to be answering their emails. I was like, well, where they're on vacation? Why would they answer their emails? I did. And that's the reason why I'm a partner. Well, maybe they don't wanna make partner. Maybe they, maybe their job isn't their life.

Well, they should need to be on call. I was like, no.

They're on vacation. Your responsibility, because you know when they're about to go on vacation to make sure as a manager, alright, we gotta pick up the slack here because they're gonna be going on vacation. So when they come back, not only 'cause this is time poverty, this is one of the reasons, this is one of the problems with some of the things that you were saying is that even if there was mandatory vacation time, people are still coming back to [00:29:00] boxes and boxes, inboxes of emails and work to do.

So a lot of times the reason why I don't stop working and I don't sit still because I have only a one day a week where I, I've designated I'm not gonna do any work. Right. And I still end up doing a little work, but it's for the podcast. So I don't really consider that work work, but there's a reason why I designate one day because I know for my health benefits, I don't need to work on that day.

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: The problem is I can't designate any other day because if I'm just sitting around, I'm like, there's some work I could be doing right now.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: And so people would do that on vacation. So it's about a culture change completely for whatever company that you're working for. And people, not everybody is meant to be a manager.

I think you can learn how to be a good manager, but I don't know if you can learn how to be a good leader. [00:30:00] know if you can.

Jay Aundrea: There are strategies and skills, soft skills that you can gain, through

The Vacation Email Trap: Why We Can't Unplug 📧🏖️😩

Jay Aundrea: experience. But I think when your premise of what a manager or a leader is, is wrong from the beginning, you're not gonna be good. If you think that what a manager is, or what a, a leader is, is someone who tells people what to do, then you're already, you're, you are already not set up to be good at that.

So, like a, a, a manager or a leader is a guide.

Bruce Anthony: Mm-hmm.

Jay Aundrea: a resource. They're there to make sure that you have everything you need to do your job effectively and to develop you in the, in the ways that, you know, align with whatever your career path is. So it's not do this, do that, do this. And I take the credit.

If you're already thinking that that's [00:31:00] what a leader is and you're, it doesn't matter what soft skills you learn, you're never gonna be good at the job.

Bruce Anthony: I just think that this country, because we are so invested on capitalism and capitalism says. Yo. We need businesses to run, and we need people to work in those businesses, and we need those businesses to grow. Now, if you have good business owners who are like, look, we're gonna grow the business. I'm gonna try to employ as many people as possible.

I'm not gonna hoard all the profits as I grow. I'm gonna hire more. Pay them, right, and develop a culture where people want to come into work. Great. But overall, in this country, that isn't the case. They just, there was just an article the other day. Major companies just laid off a rack of people. Amazon was one of 'em.

Google. All these people, like tens of thousands of people were laid [00:32:00] off. And it's just like what happens? Well, AI is going to help replace some of that, some of that workload, but then there's gonna be responsibilities heaped on other people. Anytime you lay people off, it's not like the boss comes down and says, alright, let me get my hands dirty, roll up my sleeves and get down here and work with you.

No, those responsibility is get passed on to somebody else who already has a crazy workload and when they take a break. All that workload does is pile up so you can't even relax on your vacation. Another thing that that gets talked about in this article is time poverty. When people do take their time off, typically it's used for childcare.

Childcare Over Self-Care: Parents Never Rest 👶😓💔

Bruce Anthony: So we were raised where our parents got vacation and our parents took us to vacation. That was kid stuff where they didn't get a chance to relax. That was Kings Dominions and water parks. And they, they would get a chance to ride in the Lazy River for a little bit of time, and that's where they got peace and [00:33:00] tranquility for that seven day vacation for about an hour.

And they had to turn around and go right back to work. And so people are just getting burnt the hell out and then they're leaving. They're like, look, y'all don't want to gimme a remote job or even a hybrid job. I'm gonna rock with you for enough time for me to find a new job that will, and then I'm out because I could take a pay decrease if I'm not commuting to work.

'cause it might all even out in the end. And even if it doesn't even out, my peace of mind is better off in this situation than dealing with you.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

And, and it, it is funny. It got me thinking, what you were saying earlier about the corporate, the corporate culture, and it got me thinking that a lot of [00:34:00] our modern industrial kind of management is directly influenced by enslavement. So if you are used to not paying your workers, and suddenly the system changes, and now you have to treat them like with e like equitable treatment, right?

And fair treatment. When the history of business practices in this country is, and the, and the financial power of this comp country, I say company 'cause America is a business or like the, the modern ideas of capitalism are rooted in the history of enslavement, then you're already starting from a foundation that's not gonna be equitable [00:35:00] to the worker.

Bruce Anthony: Yes.

Walmart's Trap: Employees on SNAP Spend at Walmart 🛒💰😡

Bruce Anthony: You know who the largest employer for the southern states is outside of government, Walmart. Do you know the majority, a large scale of their employers are on Snap

Jay Aundrea: their employees.

Bruce Anthony: Employees? Yeah. Of their employees are on snap. Did you know that one of every $4 from SNAP benefits are paid to a Walmart People shop with SNAP benefits at Walmart. So one of every $4 that is spent using SNAP is being spent at Walmart. So what is this all telling you? It's telling you Walmart one doesn't pay, doesn't try to make you a full-time employee 'cause they don't wanna pay [00:36:00] benefits. Walmart makes sure that you poor so you gotta sign up for Snap.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: Walmart also makes sure they gonna get a little bit of ass snap money.

Jay Aundrea: You know what it reminds me of, it reminds me of sharecropping when you were paid in some made up money that the plantation that only works at their stores, so you're just giving them their, their money right back. It reminds me of the same thing.

Bruce Anthony: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And, and so America, wake up, wake up. We are killing ourselves and, and I have to listen to myself as well. This anxiety that comes over me when I'm sitting and relaxing is okay. Like I can sit and relax, like I don't need to do something all the time.

Like the greatest thing that we did for this [00:37:00] podcast is reduce the number of content.

Individual content that we put on YouTube. We were putting out two pieces of content every day. So 14 pieces of content every week. And now we are putting out, I think it's nine, that workload, that reduction, because ladies and gentlemen, don't get me wrong. Look, I love doing this podcast. I love it. But I am an ambitious person and I don't, I don't, I don't walk.

I run like my mom tells a story that I was scooting for a long time. Scooting, scooting, scooting, hadn't walked, and I stood up. And ran. I never walked. I stood up and ran. That's who I am as a person. So I took on a little bit more than I could chew in the beginning, but scaling and back has been a huge weight off of my shoulders. And I have more time to just sit around and play video games. Now, I ain't bought the new versions of the video games. 'cause you know why I didn't really get to play the old versions so I could save a little bit of [00:38:00] money, not get to do versions by playing the old versions. But most importantly, there has to be a mentality reset for everybody in this country that's a older millennial, gen X and above.

'cause Gen Zs, they don't have this issue, right? They, they don't, they not gonna suffer from time poverty. They gonna go ahead and get themselves a new job. They got the right idea. And you know what the problem is? Everybody from our generation up is trying to say that they're lazy, know they're smarter because

Jay Aundrea: No,

Bruce Anthony: that they don't wanna work themselves to death.

Jay Aundrea: yeah, no. They have the right, they have the right idea. And it is to demand your benefit. This is part, your paid leave is part of your benefits package. So just like you are owed your paycheck, you are owed your paid leave and no, they cannot force you to work during your leave. It's actually [00:39:00] illegal.

Bruce Anthony: I don't even like this thing where you gotta request leave. Look,

Jay Aundrea: Right?

Bruce Anthony: I told you I'm not gonna be here.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah. I'm letting you know, this wasn't me asking because I'm an adult and I can go and do what I want, and also I have this benefit

Bruce Anthony: Mm-hmm.

Jay Aundrea: that is owed to me in exchange for my labor.

Bruce Anthony: But they show companies, show hell will tell you that you gotta use it or lose it.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah,

yeah.

Bruce Anthony: They will. They'd be like, Hey, you gotta use this for you. Lose it. They will,

Jay Aundrea: Right.

Bruce Anthony: hell, will do some stuff like that.

Jay Aundrea: And now we we're not even talk, we're talking about people who have access to paid leave. We're not even talking about the fact that paid leave fuels inequality. Right? Because low wage and part-time workers are the least likely to have access. Only 6% of the bottom 10% wage earners have paid family leave.

Right? And that this, that, [00:40:00] disproportionately impacts who, well, obviously low income folks, right? Women and people of color.

Bruce Anthony: man, look, life really sucks. If you poor in

Gen Z Gets It: Work Isn't Life 🙌💼🚫

Bruce Anthony: this country. They don't give you no way. They don't give you no way out. You'd be like, what about snap? Look, lemme tell you something. That ain't a way out. That's just a way to survive. Those are two different things. Being able to survive and then being able to survive and find your way out.

Two totally different things. This country doesn't allow you too much opportunity to get yourself outta poverty.

Jay Aundrea: It really doesn't, it, it, it, it's really set up to keep you in poverty. I mean, it's, I, I, I can't help but continue to go back to the, the, this idea of sharecropping, right? Like the whole point of it was that you never earn your way out.

Bruce Anthony: Mm-hmm.[00:41:00]

Jay Aundrea: You never escape poverty because in order for the top 1% to stay at the top, the majority of us have to stay in poverty.

That's how it works. That's capitalism.

Bruce Anthony: There you go. Right there. But speaking of capitalism, what would you do if you was broke and people invited themselves over for a party at your place? You had to pay for it. We gonna get into that next.

Reddit Drama: The $23 Watch Party Invoice Scandal 🧾😤🍕

Bruce Anthony: Okay, Jay, look, ladies and gentlemen, we have been doing a lot of red posts. My sister is very busy. Okay? And I'm very busy. Yeah, besides, we get a lot of feedback that y'all enjoy us commenting on these Reddit posts, and I think [00:42:00] it's a good way to end the show because my sister typically goes off on a rant.

That's kind of funny, and I think this story will be no different than the previous ones of my sister going off on a rant and being funny.

Jay Aundrea: Why do you always pick ones that rile me up?

Bruce Anthony: Well, Jay, I always pick topics that will r you up because that's good for the show.

Jay Aundrea: I didn't know this was a strategic choice

Bruce Anthony: I'm producing you right?

Jay Aundrea: it.

Bruce Anthony: at the heart of me. I'm not a host, I'm a producer. I might be a decent interviewer. But at the heart of me, I'm a producer. Okay. That's, that's what I am, I'm good at a, at eliciting some type of emotion out of people and directing them and pointing them in the right. That's, that's who I am as a person.

So that's the reason why a lot of times I get gold and people comment and they say, your sister was so hilarious when she said [00:43:00] that. And I'm like, I know. I pointed her in a direction. 'cause I knew where she was gonna go. I knew she was gonna lose her temper and this story should be no different. So it's an am I the Jerk?

That's the title of the, that's the subreddit. And it is, am I a jerk for invoicing? My friend group, $23 each after they pushed me to host a playoff watch party. Now I just gave you the title. Jay,

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: what do you think before I read the, before I read the post, what do you think? Just off the title, I

Jay Aundrea: No, I don't think you're a jerk for that. If

Bruce Anthony: send an invoice.

Jay Aundrea: y'all, y'all, I'll miss some money. Do they owe him somebody that that's, I have to, I have to hear the story.

Bruce Anthony: Okay, so here's the story. Here's what he wrote. I'm a 31 male, have a tiny apartment, but I have the biggest TV in our group and a decent club couch a week before the game. The group chat basically votes that the party is at my place [00:44:00] because quote unquote, your sound is crazy good. I say, cool, but I can't afford to feed nine people solo right now.

I suggest a potluck, or we split basics. Two people say they're bringing wings and brownies. One says he'll do chips, but day of only chips show up. I end up buying three pizzas of veggie, a veggie tray ice, two 12 packs and seltzers because I panic that it'll be weird with nothing. The receipt total was 2 0 7 41, and my place got wrecked.

Nothing broken. Just sticky glasses and salsa in the rug. Everyone left fast because it was a Monday. Next morning, the same chat is sharing memes about the game and saying, Hey, and I say, Hey, can we split the cost? It's $23 each. I'll send a breakdown. Immediately. I got, dude, it is tacky to charge for hospitality, and you offered to host.

I didn't offer, they picked me and I said, [00:45:00] split or potluck like three times. One guy venmos me, the rest start moving goalposts that they barely drank, that they brought vibes that they could deduct pizza because I had two slices too. I say it's okay not to pay. I just won't host next time because I'm not a bank now I'm petty and keeping score.

I do like having people over, but I also like rent paid on time. Am I the jerk for sending the invoice and saying, no more hosting if we don't split?

These Aren't Your Friends: The Brutal Truth 👥💔🚩

Jay Aundrea: No, and you don't have friends.

I know you, I know you say this is the group chat and this is your friend group and all there, you don't have friends. The one person who Venmo you is your friend. But I'm gonna tell you, when, when I host things, one, people bring the things they say they're gonna bring, [00:46:00] that's number one.

And two, my friends offer a what you need, friend, what you need me to bring? Do you need me to contribute anything? Because that's what friends do. 'cause they realize I'm opening up my home to a bunch of folks for something that probably don't even have nothing to do with me. Right? But, but my home is, is centrally located and it really is set up for entertaining. So

Bruce Anthony: is definitely set up for

Jay Aundrea: I, yeah. So I don't mind hosting things. But I never have to say, Hey, you know, I ain't got it like that. So can y'all help out? It's always offered.

Bruce Anthony: Mm-hmm.

Jay Aundrea: It's always offered because they realize that just op, the act of opening your home up is a lot in and of itself, and you foot the bill to feed nine people and they trying to act and they trying to nickel and dime you over [00:47:00] $23.

Bruce Anthony: $23,

Jay Aundrea: Not only do you not have friends, you know, some broke people

Bruce Anthony: right?

Jay Aundrea: because bro, it is $23. I didn't ask you for $2,300, you for two zero and you know, black, the black cutoff is.

Bruce Anthony: it's two three. Two three. You said two zero.

Jay Aundrea: Well, because we round black folk, we round, I was just about to say, the black cutoff is $40, so it don't even approach the black cutoff for stuff being expensive, which is $40.

It's $23

Bruce Anthony: right. 23.

Jay Aundrea: a y'all nickel and down. Well, I only had, well you had pizza too, so Yeah, I paid $207 so I paid for my slices.

Bruce Anthony: And on top of that, he's not saying, well, no, I, I'm not paying for anything. He's [00:48:00] saying between all of us, it is $23 a piece. So I don't even know what they were talking about. We gotta deduct two slices of pizza. What is he paying $23? And he don't get to enjoying anything.

Jay Aundrea: Right. You're, yeah. Nah,

Bruce Anthony: so when you said that he didn't have friends initially, I was just like, well, this is a guy thing.

Guys typically aren't real, courteous and, what's the word I'm looking for? Not kind of like

Jay Aundrea: Consider it.

Bruce Anthony: consider it. There you

1. That guy, guy, friends just we're jerks to each other, right? Like we are just legitimately jerks to each other. But I don't have no guy friends like this

and the thing,

Jay Aundrea: not at the grown age of 31.

Bruce Anthony: right? And here's another thing.

When I was doing things at 31, having people over, people brought stuff I didn't even have to ask. They brought stuff, alright? And,

and

Jay Aundrea: up empty handed.

Bruce Anthony: never show up [00:49:00] empty handed. And another thing that pissed me off about this is that he said his house was wrecked afterwards. I recently went over a friend's house, they cooked dinner.

It was this big, it was this big dinner, right? And they were still cooking when I got there. And I was like, I'm gonna bring a dessert or something. No, no, no, no, no. Just bring yourself. Just bring yourself. And I was like, okay, cool. Everything was done, we're done eating. And I'm like, yo, there is mad dishes in the sink.

Let me like, let me wash some dishes. Something. No, don't worry about that. No, no. I'm not leaving here. Your house a mess. After you invited me over and you told me not to bring anything and I didn't, 'cause you insisted upon me not bringing anything, I'm going to help with these dishes. Okay,

Jay Aundrea: You, you know what's funny? Every time I have something at my house when it's wrapping up, you will look in my kitchen and it's people in there washing dishes and wiping the counters down, putting the food away, taking the garbage out. I don't [00:50:00] do any of that.

Bruce Anthony: what

Jay Aundrea: I don't do any of that.

Bruce Anthony: there was one birthday where you couldn't,

Jay Aundrea: Well, yes, yes.

Sometimes. Sometimes I can't. But

Bruce Anthony: you just woke up the next day and everything was

Jay Aundrea: everything was done and put away and I was just like, oh, cool. ' cause I don't remember anything that happened. But nah, you, you say, especially two people was like, oh, we'll bring wings and brownies and then you show up empty handed. The bare minimum is chips. The bare minimum is chips.

But you say you're gonna bring the wings and the brownies, you show up empty handed and then you don't even contribute to this man buying the pizza and the veggie tray and the ice and the two 12 packs and the seltzers and all of the things like knowing that you didn't bring the thing that you said you were going to bring, you should have handed him some cash as he was doing these things.

Like it, I. Oh, hell [00:51:00] no. Like, sir, listen, sir, lemme tell you something. It costs you $207 and 41 cents

Petty Revenge Mode: When Freeloaders Get Cut Off 😈✂️🔥

Jay Aundrea: to get a gang of people about your life.

Bruce Anthony: Well, no, no. Deduct $23. 'cause one person did pay

Jay Aundrea: and one person did pay.

Bruce Anthony: I, would, I would venture to believe it was also the person that brought the chips.

Jay Aundrea: probably.

Probably

Bruce Anthony: yeah, okay. No, you

Jay Aundrea: I bet you it

Bruce Anthony: stuff.

Jay Aundrea: I bet you

Bruce Anthony: I bet you it was the same person. Here's another thing, you know, I'm petty and I don't mind rubbing into my guy friend's faces.

Like y'all said y'all was gonna bring in something, bring stuff. Y'all didn't bring nothing. Okay, cool. I'd order food for myself.

Jay Aundrea: Yeah. Oh

Bruce Anthony: Food and drinks and everything. They'd be like, yo, you ain't get us nothing to eat. I just like y'all. Everybody's supposed to bring wings and stuff. Didn't nobody bring nothing.

Y'all wanted to invite yourself over to my crib. Y'all got Uber Eats,

Jay Aundrea: Yeah, [00:52:00] yeah.

Bruce Anthony: you something if you want to

eat.

Jay Aundrea: up there with six to 10 honey mustard wings and crinkle fries

Bruce Anthony: That honey mustard

Jay Aundrea: and a large drink. And watch that game in my home. And if you have a problem with it, you can get the hell out, like nah. And then you, and then you try to put it on me. It's tacky to charge for hospitality. This

was, this was a group idea.

This was a group idea.

and it was your idea. And y'all voted that it would be at my place because the sound is crazy. Fine. That's great. But let me remind you that I said we're gonna split it or do a potluck like three times and y'all act like y'all didn't hear me, so okay. You don't wanna pay me. Fine.

I'll eat that. Shout out to the one person who did, don't ask me for nothing. And if you have a problem with it, now I'm petty [00:53:00] and I'm keeping score. Cool. Y'all can go ahead. The next thing you gonna see is Jonna has left the chat. That's the next thing you gonna see is that

Bruce Anthony: you know,

Jay Aundrea: the chat.

Bruce Anthony: I'm also petty enough to just be like, oh, okay, I'm gonna eat that. And then can't wait for somebody else to throw a party.

Jay Aundrea: wait.

Bruce Anthony: And then I'm gonna come in there with some muddy boots like Rick James from Delle

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: and put, put my boots all in. They, because not only they spill salsa in the rug, salsa in the rug,

Jay Aundrea: Like,

Bruce Anthony: nah, Uhuh.

You ain't going, you ain't gonna, I'm paying for everything and y'all gonna mess up my house and everybody going to jet. Ain't nobody gonna help me clean.

Jay Aundrea: Well,

Bruce Anthony: They wouldn't be allowed in my house no more.

Jay Aundrea: yeah. No, you absolutely are not crossing my threshold. You broke freeloaders like to hell with you? No, those are not your friends. Those are not your friends. And it just cost you $207 and 41 cents less. The [00:54:00] $23 the one person sent you. And they little bag of chips was pretty sure again, that it's the same person.

But

like, but I'm letting you know right now, you are not petty, you are not just keeping score. No. Y'all owe me this. This was, it wa I, I hosted it at my house, but this was a joint decision to have this, this watch party. Y'all not gonna play me like that. Keep on you gonna see Jonna has left the chat.

Bruce Anthony: and I'm gonna just say, these were baseball fans too, by the way. 'cause the only playoffs that's going on right now is baseball.

So these were baseball fans. So I'm

just gonna put that out there.

Jay Aundrea: broke

Bruce Anthony: $23. If you $31, you 30 years old, you in your late twenties, early thirties, and somebody is asking you to contribute $23, which if you go to a club or a

Jay Aundrea: Thank you.

Bruce Anthony: you got to pay $20 to get in

Jay Aundrea: You [00:55:00] had,

Bruce Anthony: give you free drinks.

Jay Aundrea: you had beer, pizza, some chips and salsa. There were salsas there. You watched it on my tv, you sat on my couch. You got salsa in my rug. And you can't gimme $23.

Bruce Anthony: $23. Mm-hmm.

Jay Aundrea: wrong. for that.

Bruce Anthony: You wrong for that.

Jay Aundrea: But that's not what happened here.

Nah, you just, you, you, you done. You done dodged a bullet. Find some friends. Find some actual friends because this is not what they are.

Bruce Anthony: Yeah. Yeah. At first I wasn't rolling with you when you first made that statement, but Yeah. You convinced

Jay Aundrea: Friends don't do this.

Bruce Anthony: MR $23 and chips, that's your

boy.

Jay Aundrea: that's, that's, that's your friend for

Bruce Anthony: Yes. Matter of fact, you, [00:56:00] you should just be at the next game. You should be like, Hey man, you, you wanna go to the bar? And you might even buy him around.

Just be like, Hey, thank you for just being cool about

Jay Aundrea: Yeah.

Bruce Anthony: you know, you showed me that you ain't like the rest of them.

Jay Aundrea: Where else can you pay $23 for? And you get pizza vegetables, beer, seltzer, and it only cost you 23 and you get to watch the game and some chips and salsa, and you get to watch the game. Where else can you do that for $23?

Bruce Anthony: Hmm. I'm not gonna say that you was a jerk. For doing this, I am gonna say you was the idiot for feeling like it was gonna be weird because nothing was there because they didn't bring what they said they was gonna bring.

No. What you should have done, right? What you should have done is ordered you some food, you ordered you some stuff and sat there and enjoyed the game and let them look hungry.

Jay Aundrea: Mm-hmm.

Bruce Anthony: DoorDash and Uber Eats is [00:57:00] just a button away on your cell phone.

Jay Aundrea: Yep. Yep.

Bruce Anthony: On that note, Jay, what do you wanna tell the people out here?

Choose Your Friends Wisely: Final Thoughts 🤝💭🎤

Jay Aundrea: Choose your friends wisely.

Bruce Anthony: Also, choose your alcohol wisely.

Jay Aundrea: That too.

Bruce Anthony: On that note, ladies and gentlemen, I wanna thank you for listening. I want to thank you for watching, until next time, as always, I'll holler.

Woo. That was a hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Now, before you go, don't forget to follow, subscribe, like, comment, and share our podcast. Wherever you're listening or watching it to it, pass it along to your friends. If you enjoy it, that means the people that you rock, we'll enjoy it also.

So share the wealth, share the knowledge, share the noise. For all those people that say, well, I don't have a YouTube. If you have a Gmail account, you have a YouTube. Subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can actually watch our video [00:58:00] podcast and YouTube exclusive content. But the real party is on our Patreon page after Hours Uncensored and talking straight ish after Hours.

Uncensored is another show with my sister, and once again, the key word there is uncensored. Those are exclusively on our Patreon page. Jump onto our website@unsolicitedperspective.com for all things us. That's where you can get all of our audio video, our blogs. And even buy our merch. And if you really feel generous and want to help us out, you can donate on our donations page.

Donations go strictly to improving our software and hardware so we can keep giving you guys good content that you can clearly listen to and that you can clearly see. So any donation would be appreciative. Most importantly, I wanna say thank you, thank you, thank you for listening and watching and supporting us, and I'll catch you next time.

Audi 5,000 Peace.