Virtual Reality Fail
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Hello, welcome to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. I am your host, S. Jan Arden. I'm here with Caitlin Green, Sarah Burke, there in Toronto. I'm in Calgary. I'm looking out my windows at a winter wonderland. It snowed all night and apparently it snowed in Vancouver and the entire city is upside down because nobody has winter tires. They've never heard of an all-season radial.

and all hell is broken loose. And I just love to see it. I don't know. I just live for this stuff. Vancouver is a beautiful city, but one millimeter of snow sends everything to chaos. Schools are shut down.

It's like a state of emergency. I don't know if it's a state of emergency. But anyway, comments. It feels like it from the rest of Canada where we're like, what? Why is this the case? I mean, here in Ontario, we're equipped for snow. It takes a lot to get a snow day going here. And so when you see the light dusting that happens in parts of Canada that shuts everything down, it's like, and you must think of that times a million, Jan, because you're in a real deep freeze.

Yeah, we were minus 40. It was minus 12 when I got up this morning. So I went out and fed the birds and didn't actually start going, I need to get into the house. Really freaky. I have like a swim spa that I don't use a lot during the winter, especially when it's that cold. But there's obviously steam because you leave it on so that the water doesn't freeze like a giant ice cube.

But the steam, it was so cold at like minus 37 that the little steam coming out the side was about 16 inches high. I was looking out at it going, what is stuck on there? And it was just the steam that just incrementally froze. That happened with the river in Chicago. So the river itself was so much warmer than the air in Chicago that if you look down, it looked like the river was a hot tub. It was crazy. Yeah.

Yeah, just steaming away. It's been so cold. Toronto's been really cold, really dry, like RIP to my cuticles and the inside of my nose. And as you can hear, I'm a bit sick. I lost my voice. This is the funny thing. Whenever I get sick, I lose my voice, which of all things to have happen as a side effect of getting sick for me is just hilariously awkward because it's what I do for a living.

And I'm getting sick all the time because I live with a petri dish. Yeah. You live with a child named Will. I live with an adorable little germ bank. And so Toronto. A chubby wubba. He's so chubby. Chub-a-dub. You can't help but use a different voice when you're talking about. No, you can't. Hello. Hello, Will. Hello, chub-a-dub. I have a voice that's just like that. And I use it for one of his animals. It's a bear with his name on it. So it says Will. So I've named the bear Wilbur, like Wilbear. Okay.

And I do a Wilbur voice to him. And it's basically that voice, Jan. And he... I love it. It's so... It could be a comic character. Oh, my God. It's so funny. I love that we have the same one. You can hear bad news in that voice. Well, today, there is a lot of wars going on in the world. And it's really, really bad. And they're shooting... Have either of you done voice acting for a character like that?

I've done a little bit of voice acting. I was a robot last year. You were? I voiced a robot on a CBC show. Oh, please forgive me. I can't remember what the name of it was. Jan Bot? No, but it was really fun and very nice people to work with. But anyway, yeah, snow in Vancouver. My friend Leah lives out there and she's just like, I'm not leaving the house today. She did show me outside and there's like four inches of snow. So,

When you're dealing with people that really don't have an infrastructure to move the snow around. But what I said to her was, okay, this is about the 10th year in a row it has happened. So now this is not an anomaly. No. This is an everyday. It's going to start. The world is changing. Okay. You guys are now going to have like a winter.

So, you know, get on it. Yeah, those Vancouverites, they're built for sea kayaking. And, you know, that's about it. Woods walks and yeah. Nashville. Are they having a lot of snow as well? All the Canadian musicians that are down in Nashville are like, well, I didn't think I would bring my winter boots with me for a reason. But here we are. Well, I mean, when I was when I was in a relationship with someone living in Nashville, I remember quite a bit of

snow happening you know really I mean I was down there off and on for 10 years like a lot I practically like lived half the time in Nashville and there was snow but it did people were just skidding if it was like an eight degree incline people were just skidding and then you'd have like a 40 car pile up and people just not understanding it's like oh god this is hard to watch and

Anyway, yeah. So be careful out there. Hello to all our Vancouver listeners. Maybe you're just feeling sorry for yourself and under six blankets and looking out and getting emergency water and stacking beans up in your pantry, you know, thinking that it's the end of days. But meanwhile, in Buffalo, meanwhile, in Buffalo, did you guys see the footage from these Bills fans? Yes. It's insane. Oh,

OMG, that was something else. It is my favorite thing. Bills Mafia have become my favorite fan base because they're obviously on a massive win streak. They've never won a Super Bowl. I don't think they've made it to the playoffs in 17 years. And so as a result, no, truly, rain,

sleet or snow, they are going to be in the seats at this game. And it's an outdoor arena. And Buffalo gets whacked with snow. Like they're under feet of snow. And the memes going around of people who are sitting truly up to their waist in snow on top of snow. The seats are not even visible. It's like the little top of them are just peeking out. The rest of it's snow covered. And you have these, you know, sometimes inebriated snowmen

fans. Sometimes? Sometimes? Lots of the time. With no shirts on, with no shirts on. And someone took a photo of three guys and they're having their beers and they're laying on top of the snow covered chairs. And it says just guys being dudes. And then someone compared them to the seafood at the seafood counter. That's what it looked like. These three football fans look like

fish sitting on top of ice at the seafood counter. I love it and I love those fans. They slid their bums down the stairs to get out. Yeah. And they said if you have seats in this section just sit wherever. We can't enforce that. We don't know where the numbers are. It's just all a huge giant snow bank. So plop yourself down wherever you want and let's watch some football. They might want to

cover the stadium at some point because it seems to that's also an issue. Listen, this is not an anomaly. They're building a new one and it's also going to be an outdoor stadium. So they do not care. They are built different in Buffalo. Everyone's just wants to have Taylor Swift come through their town. So they're knowing we all know we got to build it big enough for Taylor Swift. She'll be there on Sunday. She'll be there on Sunday to watch Travis Kelsey play with the Chiefs.

So will the Chiefs have a chance to beat them? Yes, they will. But will they? What will they? Well, I was watching Marilyn Dennis's beloved Pittsburgh Steelers the other day and I did cry a tear because they lost to the, I want to say Patriots? I have no idea.

Who are they playing? Okay, well, listen, if you're just starting to listen, we are not a sports show. Like I'm just throwing, I'm throwing shit out there. Like I know what I'm talking about. Spoiler alert. No, I don't know anything about this sport. But Marilyn Dennis is so ingrained in Pittsburgh Steeler. Like she has made sure that Canada knows that that's her team. And she's been on the field during like rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals.

practices. Listen, I'm in the music business. I'm in the music business. She's been out there with the rehearsals. But anyway, Onward and Upward, there's lots of snowy fun going on in the world that is very enjoyable to watch. It's just so enjoyable. And I kind of have vengeance in my heart and na-na-na-na-na kind of going on in my head. So anyway,

Um, I cracked my head open this week. Yes, we need to hear about this. Tell this story. And then I have a connection to it that we will get into after. Okay. So Nigel and Charlie and his mom and sister have been had been visiting with me for like three and a half weeks. So we thought we'd have a little get together on Thursday. Everyone was going home, had a great visit, had a few friends over that have known the guys for years as well.

The four-year-old grandson of my friend Teresa got a virtual reality goggle headset for Christmas. One of Oprah's favorite things, and she can kiss my arse. We talked about this on the show. So it's about 700 and change, 700 or 800 bucks, right? So-

Put the thing on and was, you know, suddenly like immersed in this fantastical world. I mean, it is unbelievable. The visuals, the sharpness, the crispness, it's more real than reality because you're just, you're dumbfounded by your brain is like, what is happening? So my, my,

virgin entry into the world of virtual reality was on a 45-story building. And Leo said, go walk the plank. Just walk out there. And you got your handles. And for some reason, I had a fire extinguisher in my hand. And I'm thinking, where am I going to be putting up fires? And they're laughing because they can see what I'm doing on the phone. Well, I walk out on this plank and I fall off. Like I just...

I fall off. So in, in real life, I fell over. This was after 60 seconds of wearing this thing. I slammed my back of my head on my marble counter on the corner. So imagine worst case scenario. So I didn't know what had happened. I still have the mask on and I grabbed the back of my head and I just felt a hole in my head. So it's about two inches long, two inches long to the skull.

So it ripped the skin away from the actual bone. And we called an ambulance, obviously. I was mortified because I was worried about the kids. And all Leo said was, I know Jan Jan is hurt. Does that mean we don't get dessert? So I really wasn't too concerned about him.

He was not traumatized. He was looking at me like, she'll be okay. This shit happens. So the fireman came because he was on call very close and he got the call. So he just came and he was there before the ambulance was. And they were so fast. They were like lightning fast. I'm out in the sticks here.

And he's just like, oh, people always, I know who you are. Hey, I'm Neil or whatever his name was. And people always think that you live in the house that I live next to on the highway. I said, I know exactly which one you're talking about. I'm holding, I'm still on the floor holding like a cloth to my head. There's blood everywhere. Can we move this along? Yeah. You're like Neil. Yeah. So, but he was very nice and we were talking about that. And then the ambulance shows up.

And I'm still on the floor because the guys wouldn't let me get up. They're like, you're not getting up. The lady on the phone for emergency said, you got to stay down here. And I'm like, oh my God, poor pop. He's going bonkers. He doesn't know what's happening.

So yeah, I just, I got up and the ambulance came and the girl looked 19, the paramedic. And she was super nice and helpful and, you know, doing blood pressure. They got me up on a chair and they're just like, they're on the radio trying to figure out where to take me, where there's less wait time. I ended up going to a hospital in Calgary, but I ended up going in there, sitting in this little room. And they said, this is going to be your best bet. It might be a couple of hours, which it was, it was about three hours all in.

And then they moved us after an hour of sitting there. The bleeding had subsided at this point. And we went into a little room where I was assuming, okay, someone's now going to come and assess what's happened to me. And I felt fine. I wasn't dizzy. I was breathing fine. None of that. I didn't have a concussion. But a guy came in with four kind of beach towels, giant towels, a cardboard

you know, disposable basin of warm water. And he said to Nigel, do you mind cleaning this out? Can you clean this out for the doctor? Nigel's like, you want me to do it? He says, yeah, there's different size rubber gloves on the wall there.

So Nigel was like, so are you all right, Jen? You all right with me cleaning out your head? Like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I said, oh, Jesus Christ, just get the blood off my hair for starters. And this is where the news picked it up. Well, of course, I'm making jokes saying this is the worst Tinder date I've ever been on. Nigel's behind me with these giant beach towels, you know, soaking up the blood, which did feel good, like the warm towel. But this is a giant two-inch gash to my skull.

I don't mean to laugh, but this is ridiculous. Like it's objectively insane. Yeah. So he's, Nigel's cleaning it. We were just like, is this, are we really supposed to be doing this? Like there was no, it was just a towel and water. There was no antiseptic, anything. So he did that. He dumped the water in the sink. People looked at us like, what do you want me to do about it? So he dumped the bloody water in the sink and then put the cardboard thing in the garbage and

kind of piled the towels, the bloody towels in the corner of this room. Then we sat there for like another hour or so and a doctor finally came in and kind of did the light test. I forget what his name was. Everyone was amazing, but they were just so a skeleton crew. So no staff.

And overworked, overwhelmed. This is what the Alberta government has done to the province. And they're thinking about stripping it back even more and figuring out a new system. They're getting rid of, you know, Alberta health care, the AH, you know, whatever, AHC and revamping it. Because the format is break it and then you have an excuse to privatize, right?

She's... That's the format. They're doing it in Ontario. Your experience might as well have been the last few times I've gone to a hospital, whether myself or with family members. Yeah. So anyway, he came in and he just said, you don't have a concussion.

uh, do you want a tetanus shot? He goes, oh, you probably don't need a tetanus shot. Cause it wasn't, you didn't really, you didn't hit any metal. Did you? And I said, no, I think it was just a marble kitchen counter. Oh, you'll be okay. And he says, you know what? I'm not going to, we're not even going to do any like painkiller stuff. It's a pain in the ass and it'll just, it's worse than the actual thing. So I'm just going to staple you. And then it was just like, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click. And it was done. And I'm like, wow. He goes, I bet you that last one kind of stung. And I'm like, yeah. Okay.

And I said, oh, so what do I do? Do I come back or do like, well, 12 days I'm going to here. So Nigel was filming this. He gave us a tutorial of these clamper things. And he said, I'll just show you how to do it. Just get a friend to do it. Oh my gosh. I was like, what? I love you, but I would faint. I would faint. I'm not getting a friend to do it. So I filmed, he filmed

this clamp going into this cheesecloth thing of these staples that he went into this cloth. And then he showed us how to do it. And then he said, well, you're on your way. I'm like, bye. Bye, everybody. Bye. And it's not, I don't need to be treated with kid gloves. I'm a tough person. I'm an Albertan. You know, I'm not like, I don't need anyone fawning over me. I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

And the staples, he says staples are way quicker than stitches. And it's the lesser of two evils. Okay, fine. I'm good. I'm cool with that. For that part of your body. But I mean, somebody can take them out for me. So I actually, my friend Nadine, her niece is a nurse. And so she's going to take them out for me on the 22nd. In the calendar. So I'm not going, I'm not going to go back into a hospital and stuff, but I literally, but cleaning out a wound is another thing altogether. I think.

That was a little weird and possibly could be quite dangerous. You know, if a person, you know, what if they stapled me shut and there was a piece of towel on

or a little piece of fuzz like in the cut line or I don't know. When you're dealing with your skull, I don't want an infection in my head. I was just going to say it's an open wound. And so it's obviously, you know, the cleanliness of it all is the thing that you're wondering about because your own cleanliness protocol as a regular citizen might understandably be very different from somebody who works in the healthcare industry themselves. But they're so overworked and they have so many urgent things to sort through that these people

poor people working in hospitals right now. I just, I cannot believe the circumstances that they find themselves in. And God forbid you wind up in urgent care in Canada right now. It is a disaster. The last few times I've gone for myself, for family members, oh my gosh. And I've left and felt emotional leaving because I thought to myself, I get to leave.

Like I get to leave and I'm walking by people who are incapacitated, elderly, people who are not in their right state of mind. And I'm walking past them experiencing hallway health care and they're by themselves and they don't have someone to advocate for them. And I see how overworked the staff are. And I've had immediate family members going in for serious urgent care stuff in the last year. And I have had to myself. So I don't.

Yeah, I don't take it lightly, especially think of it in the context of do you think you're going to get better care or lower taxes by privatizing anything? You're not. You're still going to be paying an inordinate amount in taxes annually and you're not going to get any better care from this. It's just going to be better care for the rich and crap for everyone else. That's how this typically goes. Systemically, that's how this works.

Well, I'm glad that I posted it on social media. It was definitely tongue in cheek. And I was definitely not complaining about the fantastic people from the paramedics that were funny and caring and looked after me and got me there. They were very quick.

Um, the girl even brought me a glass of water. She goes, you can have a glass of water now because they won't let you drink anything in case they think you have a concussion. You know, they don't want you throwing that up. And they were fantastic. And the doctor that stapled my head was quick. He was efficient. He knew what he was doing. He didn't mince words. He wasn't like precious with me. He knew I was okay.

You know, he absolutely checked me for a concussion. They didn't send me through. He did a light thing. He had me hold my hands up in front of me with my eyes closed, you know, touching nose. He goes, you do not have a concussion. You have none of the signs. He said, you're good to go. And he said, it's just the way you hit. It just split the skin in a certain way. It was just like that perfect, you know, physics, the way your skin hit. It just split in a straight line. It looked like someone took a razor blade and just went, whoosh.

It was as straight as can be. Seriously. And honestly, it didn't, the banging my head hurt and it was shocking. Yeah. I had no headache. This doesn't really even hurt when I touch. Listen, I think it's the thickest part of your skull and I'm probably just an idiot. So note to self before we go to the next section, because here we are 20 minutes into our podcast. Sit down. If someone puts goggles on you, the virtual reality is,

If you have any kind of like balance issues, like it's very, very real depending on what you choose to do.

with these goggles. There's some great stuff. There's hundreds of different programs you can do. And I think they are really a cool thing. For me at 61, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And I just tipped over. My balance was skewed. Sit down. Sit down. Put them on. Do something like kayaking in the Northwest Territories. There's lots of options for you to sit down

but be in a place where if you fall, you're not going to hit anything. So just be mindful and be with somebody. Don't be alone. I think had I tried that and been alone in my house, I really would have been frightened, very frightened, you know, just the, the blood alone and stuff like that. So just, and I mean that, I mean that earnestly watch your kids. If you've just bought this as a gift for somebody, sit them down first and get acclimated to this thing. And

And just don't do Richie's plank challenge. Cause I've played that exact one that you've done. And it's, it's, it's like, it is designed to obviously make you feel like you're falling or you're going to fall. Um, so like you said, clear, clear some space. Don't do it in a crowded living room. And, uh, yeah, they can be really fun. I've done that exact one, but I did it in the middle of my, uh, brother-in-law's golf simulator. Yeah. Wherever you can do it, but just have lots of free space to do it. And you, you may very well fall. Cause I've seen a lot of people fall.

Maybe it's a case for VR porn. Oh, Lord. Just sit in one spot and enjoy yourself. Listen, the doctor said that they're doing dozens of these every week. Dozens. Oh, God. Of virtual goggle. Yep. Virtual reality goggle injuries. Just falling, falling, falling. And if you want to be so bold as to go on to TikTok and put hashtag virtual reality fail, I laughed so hard.

Of people injuring themselves, like not grievously, but so many men went through televisions. Like they had the goggles on, but they were in their smaller living rooms and they were punching somebody and ruining walls and pictures and lamps and everything.

you know, kicking their children that were in close proximity and doing some kind of karate thing, you know, sending their children flying virtual reality fail. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast and show. I'm here with Caitlin Green, Sarah Burke. We've got lots to talk about today. Tipping in particular, how we tip, why we tip, who we should be tipping. We may have talked about this before, but don't go away. We'll be right back. We're going to help you navigate the tipping world. Don't go away.

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Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. Caitlin Green, Sarah Burke. Tipping, as promised. You know, I think a lot of us are kind of in a quandary as to who we're supposed to be tipping now. Super sick of it. Well, I know people are really struggling, certainly in the service industry, you know, hotels or all that kind of stuff. But it is getting out of hand. Like Caitlin brought the story in. And when I read the first little headline, I was like, what?

So would you tip or leave a tip when buying a wedding dress? What is that? It's obscene. It is obscene. I cannot believe the amount of requests I receive in day-to-day interactions for tips.

And it's crazy because I'll tell you, I'm not making any more money and it's a lot more expensive to live. So where do you think this money is coming from? Expand on that. Who's prompting you for tipping or who's making you feel like you need to leave them a fiver or a toonie or something? So, okay. The one that was really for me, the King Daddy topper of all. And I actually wound up giving an interview with like CTV News about this. And this is when I was off on mat leave. Okay. So I was like just an, I was just an irritated person on mat leave.

But I ordered formula for my son online. Okay. At the end of my online order, the company prompted me to leave a tip on my online order saying, pass along your appreciation for our team. The appreciation is my order. The appreciation is my business. It's a money grab. It's all... Let me tell you, like everything in life, this is a cash grab.

And they have sold us all on this notion of it being our moral good to tip people more money. Because guess who doesn't then have to do it? Employers and businesses. This is their responsibility. Pay your employees a living wage so that I cannot have to deal with the awkward exchange of glances when someone flips an iPad around to me and says, Oh, do you want to tip starting at 20% for this cookie I just handed you? No, I do not.

And the cost of a cookie in Toronto is all of a sudden $15. So absolutely not. Like, absolutely not. What kind of cookies are you buying, Caitlin? Craig's Cookies. They better be infused. That's all I'm saying. You buying a happy cookie? I have a problem with Craig's Cookies. It's Craig's Cookies. It's not just one. It's...

It's a bunch. But anyways, just things are more expensive. Things are oftentimes worse. And then they're like, and you better tip me because I have been put... I'm a frontline worker. Well, no, enough. This is not a frontline worker. It's a warehouse. It's a warehouse in Germany. Yeah. Online tipping is a bit much. Online tipping is crazy. And it's for retail. I'm about to get asked to tip...

the sales associates at clothing stores. I can feel it coming. I'm going to get asked to tip flight attendants on planes. They're going to hand around a hat and ask me to tip the pilot next. It's done. Tipping culture is out of hand. I'm going back to tipping for good service. Everyone else is getting a reasonable percentage. If you are in the category that makes

an unhealthy, way too low wage hourly, and you have service as part of your job, I'm going to still always tip you. You deserve it. You should earn it. You should earn a healthy amount. The going rate should not be 20 to 25%. What are we talking about? Like, it's just, it's too much. Clearly, I'm very worked up over it, but I'm very annoyed by all of it.

I went to the Fairmont Hotel in Banff, the Banff Fairmont, lovely hotel. So gorgeous. Very gorgeous. It was a treat. My friend was treating me to high tea, which was, you know, very expensive, but I'd never done it before in my life. We're in there. Well, I parked the car, valet. And I just thought, I'll just treat us because what could it be? I was expecting 25 bucks.

I thought, and I said to the guy, how long are you going to be? And I said, two hours. And my friend that was with me said, oh my God, if that, like, we'll be out of there. We're not going to eat, you know, tea for two hours. And I'm like, well, I don't want to rush through it anyway. So he goes, you can pay for the valet in at the concierge desk. So I go in there, 50 bucks. It was $50.

And I really was, don't be an idiot, Jan. Just, oh, it's nice to see you at the hotel. So they knew who I was. And I'm like, no, we're going for high tea. Oh, you're going to love it. It's so great. And I happened to have like a $50 bill in my purse that had been in there for probably a year because I've never really had anywhere to use it because everyone's tapping. So my quandary was when I come out to get my car, which they had parked

10 feet down from the valet thing. There's room up here today. Like, I'll just leave you right here. My quandary was now what do I do? We come back literally 90 minutes later, I'd paid $50 to the hotel, but I knew that 50 bucks isn't going to this guy. This is going to the hotel. He's not getting anything. So I pulled out another 10. Well, it wasn't mine actually. I think it was Leah had the $10. I said, does anyone have any cash?

And they're like, oh, you just paid 50 bucks. I said, I know, but he doesn't get it. He doesn't get the 50 bucks. She said, your car's right there. So Leah's like, can we just have the keys? We're just going to like, can we just walk to our car? That's it right there. It's literally like you could touch the bumper. You're going to just reverse it or drive it in one circle. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. We just drove it out, but we did give him $10. So I think that was the right thing to do. And it's not his fault that the hotel charges 50 bucks, but who charges $50 a day for parking? Many places in Toronto.

But I was shocked. I must not get out very much because I was totally shocked. No, it's astounding what things cost now. Like it is, I truly, it is shocking what people will charge for things. It used to be like we joke about like housing, ha ha ha. But now it's like everything. For New Year's, I think I was telling you guys that I was staying at the Shangri-La with my best friend. Yeah, that's nice. The parking was the same amount of money valet or not valet.

So in that situation, you're like, oh, well, for the same amount. Yeah, here's my keys. Right? Yeah, yeah, I would definitely do that. But I mean, restaurants are it's okay, right? Well, what else happened to the Shangri-La? The story continues, right? Well, I was actually going to bring up just like something I'm noticing about customer service right now. So it's not necessarily about tipping. Oh, what would that be? That it's shit?

So I needed a couple like new outfits for teaching because like you can't wear a band tee every week. So I was out at the mall last week, which I hate. I hate going to the mall. I had to like give myself a pep talk before I even go to the mall. And

First, I was in H&M and there's an upstairs and a downstairs. Yes, I know it well. I peer through the downstairs and I ask an associate, what's upstairs? Like which sections? And she goes, the stairs are right there. You're like, if my question was where the stairs were, that would be a legitimate answer. But since it wasn't, and I was like...

Okay. Wow. She doesn't want to be there. Yeah, they hate their lives. So moments later, I'm in Aritzia, night and day. Oh yeah, Aritzia nails it. Had this woman outfitting me. I'm not really good at fashion. She's taking me to like, oh, this will look good with this. Like she spent an hour and a half with me. And by the time I was leaving the store, I wanted her number so we could have coffee. Two totally different experiences. So I just wanted to say that like,

If I could have tipped that girl at Aritzia, I feel like I would have. She's also on commission. Yeah. So in a way you are tipping her. So anytime you have someone coming up to you in a store in retail, there is a commission involved. H&M and Zara, like mostly they really want people to be shopping online. That's why they make it so easy. And they use their stores almost like a pickup and return point or like a chance to like try things on in store. But like they're sort of, I mean, they have self-checkouts now at Uniqlo. The Uniqlo self-checkouts are incredible, by the way. They're so cool.

I've never heard it. I like that store. Yeah, I love Uniqlo. I'm wearing one of their waffles right now. I mean, Aritzia is a massive brand now, but they really do nail their customer service. They approach you. They don't want you walking around the store sweating in a winter coat carrying a bunch of stuff. They make suggestions for you. They try to make the change room experience nice. The only thing they were famous for, and they still do this in some stores, is they don't include mirrors in the change rooms because they're trying to force you to go out and interact with the salesperson.

And I don't like that because I'm just like not into that. I want to try on my stuff in my own change room. If I want to come out and interact, then I will. Why would I want to see a mirror? There should be no mirrors anywhere. I'm just kidding. I don't even want to know how I look in this. But yeah, they've really figured that piece of it out. But it's a different price point for sure. Like the clothing is a very different price point. But then you get into the even higher price point than Aritzia and it's

you go to stores like, say, Holt Renfrew or whatever, you can have an abhorrent sales experience there. And you can have a tiny sweaty change room where no one comes and checks on you and you walk around the whole store carrying everything. But if they smell money, when I shop, I look like this. I've usually got a ball cap. I don't, I'm very unassuming. I'm probably carrying a plastic bag with my wallet in it. Like, it's just not a great look. And nobody helps me do anything. But I'm always surprised that if I go in looking like me, I'm like,

then it's a completely different story. And I have all the help in the world. And, you know, can I get you another size? And so it's a very different experience depending on who you get. It's a judgmental experience inherently. I do feel shopping is. It's tough, but I really believe in tipping people in a restaurant. I think people work their asses off and they're getting, you know, minimum wage. And a lot of times those tips are split with kitchen staff, you know, the staff that you don't necessarily see.

So please don't be in a restaurant and tip 10%. I don't like that. I think, you know, 15 minimally. 15 is now kind of like if you're not having the best time and then 20% is like mid standard. So a lot of people, like my dad would be like, I didn't get my coffee. He wouldn't leave anything. I was always like shoving a $10 bill under a saucer. But I have never not tipped anyone in my life. And somebody might be having a bad day, whatever. I feel very fortunate in my life.

And I always try and leave a really nice tip. And I want people to think that of me. Yeah, you're stuck with it, though, because then it becomes this whole celebrity moment, too, where people keep track of if celebrities tip well or don't. Do they? Oh, yeah. And they try to share it on social media. It's this whole clout thing. Yeah.

And people will lie. People will lie about celebrities and say they came in and didn't tip well and they post just a whatever receipt that anyone could have been responsible for. And they do it to try to malign a celebrity they don't like or just to go viral. And it's a weird thing that happens on a lot of these gossip sites where it's like Taylor Swift seen out for dinner with Blake Lively and her girl group at Via Corota in New York. And the first thing anyone wants to know is like, what did they all order? Who paid? And then how did they tip?

And so people's reputations as famous people for how they tip is this whole part of their lure. I'm not like, I'm going to leave 70% on my $40. No, no, I'm like 1820 ish person. Yeah, you're not performative, but you're not cheap. No, but I God now, thanks for giving me something else to worry about. I'm just telling you, they are watching. Well, thank God I'm not famous. Thank God I am not a famous person. No, seriously. I'm

rarely someone will come up to me, especially when you do have the ball cap on your plastic bag. I think people notice you. I do think some people notice you. It depends on where you are, but like for sure. I notice me. I notice. And that's what counts. You and Marilyn, because I've been out for like lunches and stuff with both of you.

And I notice people and I'll notice them trying to eavesdrop too. Cause I become hypersensitive to it. Like I feel like I become like a bit protective. Do I need to worry about that? Marilyn and I were waiting in line for a sandwich recently. And we were, a woman was visibly eavesdropping like on what we were talking about. And I like looked at her and looked at her and the same thing with Meredith, Meredith Shaw. I'm like eyeballing around. Cause like if we start talking about something, I can tell them like, Oh, they notice who this is. They're trying to listen.

Well, just a heads up, if you're eavesdropping on me, I'm going to be talking about hormone replacement therapy. That's pretty much all I talk about these days. I want to talk about things that we do, little tiny things.

that make you happy. So a Reddit post asked its readers, what's something, something small you started doing that makes you drastically happier? And I'm just going to read you some of the responses before I ask you for yours. Realizing the difference between when I screwed up and when someone is taking their frustrations out on me. That's a good one. Giving myself the grace I give others was like a two-ton boulder off my back.

everything's not my fault. And if it is, it's not the end of the world.

Life-changing for that reader. Slowing down at work. I don't need to respond to every single email right away or make sure everything is up to date constantly. Some things can just have to wait. Little things. Hustle culture makes people unwell. It truly does. It contributes to burnout. It contributes to unhappiness, high job turnover, people taking mental health breaks. It's just not good. You need to rest constantly.

in order to be creative. You need to rest in order to function. You know, you wouldn't expect a plant to turn out flowers to flower 24 seven. You wouldn't expect crops to constantly be growing everywhere. Like everything has a period of cycle of growth and then rest and then growth and then rest. And when we don't prioritize rest, you're,

therefore not prioritizing growth because the two things, one can't exist without the other. So what are some little things that you guys do that make a drastic difference in your life? I really co-assign what that person said about not taking work as seriously in terms of scheduling yourself to say, this is how much bandwidth I have for work. And I'm going to schedule that. So for me, it's like time scheduling. So I'm going to work for this

portion of the day and then I'm done. And I'm not going to let it eat into the portion of the day where I'm not working. I'm just going to leave it right there. And it tends to work for me. The other thing I started doing was really trying to pay close attention to how I feel when I'm in certain situations with certain people, when I'm in certain situations socially,

or at work or just, you know, activities. Do I really like doing this? Like, why am I doing this? Like, do I, do I actually like this time I'm spending working out in this way? Or would I rather be running? Do I really like yoga even? No, I prefer to sit on the treadmill, like just sort of paying more attention to how I'm feeling. Not doing things you don't want to do, not doing things, not spending your time, one minute of your time in an unhappy, unhappy,

unsatisfying situation. I think that's so important. Yes. We don't have to martyr ourselves. No, because it's like doing something that's very popular right now, but I don't like it and it's not helpful to me. So I'm not going to do it. Peer pressure. The peer pressure. And also this sounds terrible, but like spending time with people and working on relationships that perhaps you've outgrown, or maybe that have always been a little bit toxic.

You don't have to get rid of them in like this mean way and like write this person off, but just it's a slow phase out. Or maybe you're like, I'm only going to give this person this percentage of my time and energy because that's all I really have. And, you know, once you recognize that energy is a finite resource, you don't have endless amounts of it.

I just want to go where I feel good. Amen, sister. I want to go where people like get me and I get them and we're all appreciative of each other. And to be conscious of how you feel. Yeah. Sarah, any little things that you're doing? Yeah, like not giving someone my energy. That felt really good this week. Okay. That was very recent. This week.

It wasn't me, was it? No, no, no. Honestly, the little things like when I wake up, I have big windows where I'm sitting. See, the sun is coming through right now. And like just sun in the middle of a gloomy stretch in Toronto is enough to make me... It's like your light book. You have a real life-size light book. Yeah, it makes a world of difference. But also, you know, like dogs.

I love, love, love, love my parents' dog so much, Nellie, that like I just have been scheduling weekends around seeing Nellie. I love that. Aw. Yeah, because I actually grew up, I'm allergic to most animals. So I never was the kid that had like pets in the house other than like a goldfish and a bird. Rest in peace, Rusty. The goldfish, right? The goldfish. That was the bird, actually. Oh, shit. Yeah.

It's a much better name for a goldfish. Jan, you're right. I think I named the goldfish Sally. I can't really remember. Sally's cute. Anyway, but yeah, I never was close to animals growing up. And then like, I guess I've grown out of some of the allergies and I can be around some dogs now. Well, antihistamines, doesn't that help you? Can't you like take something and be around? I'll take a reactant. But there was a point where none of that stuff worked like with certain dogs. I'm actually going to be taking care of Erica M from Much Music. She has a cute little Cavapoo. I'm taking care of Snoop later this week. I'm so excited.

Don't you find that with dogs, I mean, both of you, and I feel this way around my friend's dogs and certainly around my son too, there's something about children and animals where they really keep you in the moment. Like you're very present in the moment. You're not pulled into worrying about the future or ruminating on the past. You're just there.

in that moment. And it's so rewarding to just like live that way. I really like it. You can't do it all the time. It's impossible to maintain, but that's how I feel with my son, just reading a book to him and, you know, sitting with him and feeding him little snacks. That's life. Those, those are real life things. So I love that the Reddit thread was,

It's the little things. Like what are the little things that you really take a moment to recognize the impact they have on your life? One of the comments from one of the readers I can totally relate to, and it was about a bedtime routine. And I very much have one. I live out here in the trees, which I love. I couldn't do it without my little dog. He's seven pounds, but it is the tipping point between me being able to maintain mental health and wellness and

and be social is that dog's presence. And that may seem like a really bizarre thing, but it's not a little thing to me. It's a huge thing. But my bedtime routine is, it's very set. You know, we start winding down like at 7.30. You know, I want to read for a while, but you know, you shut down the house. There's lights that get shut down. You know, you check how are the embers and the fire that I've had going for six hours. Teeth brushing, washing faces, putting on your creams, taking your nighttime vitamins.

But there's something in that routine that is a salve for my soul. And I maintain that when I'm on the road. It doesn't matter if I'm in Fiji or the UK or in Iceland. My bedroom routine is very set. And that is a little thing that's a huge part of what enables me to travel, to be social, to be creative. Mm-hmm.

Be mindful of that. What do you do before you go to bed? Because it's really important. And a shout out to my aura ring people, the aura company, O-U-R-A. It has changed the way I rest and it has changed the way I prepare myself to go to sleep. My ring, I'll get a, my app pops up for the aura and it just says, it's time to wind down. It's time to start preparing yourself and

There's so much science to it. I mean, I didn't mean to be talking about this, but it is another little thing that makes a massive,

massive difference in my life. Like in the three, four years I've been using it, I've never slept better. Yeah. Well, I was going to say, do you find that also too, it's like these things started as fitness devices, like the Oura Ring and then the Whoop Band, which we've discussed in previous episodes, but they really become popularized, I feel, because of their benefits to everyone's sleep. The sleep metrics are so valuable.

Yeah. I don't think aura was ever a fitness ring. It wasn't? Yeah. Aura is kind of a sidebar to what they do. They're very much stress. They're very much your temperature. Does your temperature go up by two degrees at night? What's happening? Is your room too hot? Like, and it prompts you, it asks you all these questions. So I think sleep is the best thing you're ever going to do for yourself.

I think Caitlin is lining us up with a sleep expert sometime in the next month or so. We're going to have her on to talk about how important it is and people don't prioritize it. And I'm telling you, you should. The body that you're in, the little suit that you're wearing needs to really be looked after because you want to be an active 60 year old. There's nothing I can't do except for reality goggle things. Everything else I'm an expert in. I have an expert level. Sleep?

is at the absolute crux of all of that. And as a new mom, you would know how important that is. And Sarah, you're somebody that is got a million balls in the air too. Both you women are just, you're working, you've got priorities, sleep,

When I go to bed, like last night, I went to bed at 10. My sleep number wasn't great today because I was an hour over of where I should have been. Obviously, when I'm touring, my body adjusts to that. I'm sleeping in a little bit more, going to bed a little bit later. What time do you wake up at normally?

Yeah. Okay. So you're not really waking up that much later than I am because I wake up around 4.30. But I bet I'm getting a lot more sleep than you. Well, I go to sleep. I'm usually asleep by 9.30. You are later than me. No, I know it's funny, but when I go out and when I'm working...

that whole thing shifts and the little blue zone of my sleep shifts on my ring too. And it recognizes that. Like when I go to Europe, my aura ring is like, have we been drinking? Like what is going on? That's another thing. It's making people go sober because they notice how negatively alcohol impacts your sleep. Oh,

Oh, when it's telling you your resting heart rate was 70 at night, you're wearing everything out. My resting heart rate is between 42 and 46 consistently. Look at you, elite athlete, Jan. That's my resting heart rate. Okay, wait, now I'm curious though then, Sarah, when do you go to bed? I'm like a 1 a.m.er.

Like on average. You're young now, but you know what? That's going to prey on your mental wellness. It's going to be a factor in your memory as you go forward. I did that for a long time too. I mean, I was in bed for a decade, probably at three in the morning. However, if I'm waking up at 845 on those days, it's okay. There are days that it's not okay. They say it's still not the same. And I will be taking notes when we have the expert. Anything past midnight. Yeah. Yeah.

She's a great sleep expert. Her name's Alana McGinn. We're going to have her on. Alana McGinn, we're going to have her. Listen, we're out of time. We could go on and on about this. And I don't want to leave on a contentious note because I feel like I'm reprimanding you, Sarah. You're the only one with a social life. No, you guys have a social life. Hey. Listen, I went last night. You know what I did last night? Ask me what I did last night. Jan, what did you do last night? Hey, Jan, why did you go to bed at 10 o'clock last night? I went to my first book club. My friend Teresa, the book was The Biddlemoors. Ooh.

My mom is reading it right now. Oh, bless. Thank you. Anyways, I went to a book club with eight people I'd never met before, which is a really big thing for me to just meet new people. But we talked about the book and they asked me questions and yeah, yeah, yeah. I love this. And it was really fun. So...

Yeah, it really lifted me because on a social level, I know it's important for me to do stuff like that and to get out of this house. Like I'm excited today, I'm going for a blood test for my HRT. Treat yourself. Oh yeah, but it gets me out of the house. Yeah.

was donna in the book club no donna ronda was not in the book club this was a whole new group of people but donna has caught on to me smashing my head buddy don't wear those things that's what her comment was to me don't wear those things common sense above all else from donna she didn't want you to put mustard on it yeah i'll find out but we're gonna meet for like some deep fried pickles at the powder horn we're gonna meet this weekend and get have a little ketchup can you

take a photo or something with Donna Ronda having pickles with a powder horn? I want to go. Start the defer to Donna TikTok segment, but also we should play the little voicemail. Yes, we should play the little voice note that she left. Yeah, Jen, Donna here just checking in, hoping you're staying warm in this ugly cold weather. Anyway, nothing new. Hanging out with my best dog on the planet. Well,

next to yours well you know we just love our four-legged car children anyway so uh stay warm and uh apparently it's supposed to look a little better in a few days so here's hoping because i have a flat tire in my truck right now it's just cold air and okay i can't say this word aluminum i've never ever been able to say that correctly but anyway i got one flat tire and that is the

We go on home from the store when I'm about to get some groceries. So that's how it goes. Stay warm, bud. Bye. That was my pal Donna. Donna, I'll see you soon. We're going to go and have our lunch. Anyway, thank you always to our listeners for making us feel great. Hit that subscribe button. Give us a review. It's five stars, but you can give us eight. They're not going to care. We appreciate it. We appreciate it so much. You guys are why we do this. Anyway, look after yourselves. We'll see you next time. Toodaloo.

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