CW: Brief discussion of sexual harassment of support staff, and of discriminatory layoffs.

Ash's previous boss, Morgan Reed, wrote in with a question, and we did what we always do, which is answer MAAAAAYBE half of it and then wander off somewhere else entirely.

The topic was difficult customers and difficult bosses. Sarah has fired exactly two B2B customers and explains the only argument that has ever worked, which involves a spreadsheet and basically not a single mention of anyone's suffering. We get into grey rocking, the point where customers stop getting second chances, and that stomach-churning, horrifying moment when you go digging and discover that the customer really was right the whole time (we really are the baddies)

Then bosses . . . How working with them involves figuring out what keeps them up at night, which report they open first, and what metrics prick their ears up. Sarah explained the gorilla experiment, and Ash admitted that he has some trust issues, even with good bosses following far too many experiences with REALLY bad ones.

We also got into why you should never be the only person at your company who knows you exist or what you do, and what really happens to people who burn the place down on the way out. Nobody warns you about the private Slack groups that exist across industries, but they're terrifying.

Feels Herders is Ash Rhodes and Sarah Betts talking about support, leadership, and feelings. Tangents are the brand. The ENTIRE brand.

CW: From approximately minutes 36 to 40, we talk about spotting potential predators in the workplace (and elsewhere), including a reference to assault.

It only took about 90 seconds or so for Betts to completely lose track of the topic on this one, so you just know it's going to be a wild ride. Especially since it was her turn to be "in charge" (as much as either of us ever is).

I'm not gonna lie to you, we went all over the place . . . personally, I'm blaming Sarah. We talked about Ash's "man page" for dating (which is less dirty than you probably think), Sarah's "user guide" for work (which is not dirty at all), weirdly, Ash's grandpa (no, really), the Scotty Principle, being a Lighthouse, treating your reps like frightened animals (in a good way), and all sorts of other things that I would probably remember better if I wasn't also still drunk.

Sidenote: Did you know that artificial grape flavour is delicious? Because it IS.

So anyway. Point is that you should really listen. It's good. I mean . . . probably. Listen and then report back and let me know, OK? OK.

Following a Terrifying! and Harrowing!! trip to the City of Lights, Ash drags Betts kicking and screaming back into the proverbial recording booth to get another episode of Feels Herders going.

This time, the two riff off of Bett's recent post featuring one of Ash's favourite pieces of art: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" (which, in researching this post, Ash discovered to his dismay that he has been calling it the wrong thing this whole time, and that the ACTUAL title is "La Trahison des Images" or "The Treason of Images") and discussed how we do not have metrics as our customers and the conundrum that is "industry standard" KPIs.

Plus, for your listening pleasure: compounding pharmacies, Ash's blood feud with DirecTV, and a public service reminder that if you're not cringing at your past self, you're not growing.

All of that and more on this episode of Feels Herders!

In our second episode, we steer right into the curve and talk openly about Sarah's burnout.

How she recognized that she was experiencing it, how she's been dealing with it, and what she would like everyone to really know about it. Not for her, but for themselves.

Also, everyone is drunk or stoned. As one does.

Welcome to the Feels Herders podcast!

This is a special first episode because it is almost certainly the only one that will be edited and will DEFINITELY be the only one where both Betts and Ash will be sober.

Tune in and listen to these two old friends (who have never actually met IRL) talk about the reality of working and leading in the Customer-facing industry while also speaking candidly about their own lives and worlds.

Because pretending like our lives can actually be separated from the work we do is... definitely not a thing!