The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 1857 - Customer Service Is So Bad That I'm Siding With A Spoiled Celebrity

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00:00:30.000 We now have a release date. Our latest special and our most important one yet will be available at 1 p.m. Eastern on the dot, free to everybody on YouTube. It's called The Real History of Communism, The Russian Revolution.

00:00:40.600 Now, we don't release all these documentaries free on YouTube, but with the elections coming up and the rise of communism in the United States, I want to make this one widely available as soon as possible.

00:00:49.240 We expose how communism can take hold quickly, even without broad popular support. 0.63

00:00:54.280 We uncover the mistakes the Russians made, which we can learn from, to prevent a similar catastrophe from unfolding here. 0.51

00:01:01.880 And again, it's out on YouTube on this channel at 1 p.m. Eastern for everyone, even if you don't have a Daily Wire subscription. 0.75

00:01:07.240 So make sure that you're there and ready to watch.

00:01:09.800 In the meantime, all these years later, you have to give some credit to a very different show that used to air on Fox called American Idol.

00:01:17.800 It was, I think actually it still airs or maybe it airs somewhere else.

00:01:20.660 It doesn't matter.

00:01:21.240 It was billed as a talent show that would produce a pop star everybody would be talking about for decades.

00:01:25.940 And, you know, a program that would create the next Elvis with a legion of fans who obsess over the stars every move.

00:01:32.440 And while the show never produced any talent on par with Elvis or really very few even on par with like the typical Elvis impersonator you'd find on the side of the road in Vegas,

00:01:40.940 it did manage to create Kelly Clarkson in a brief moment before the monoculture died.

00:01:45.800 something like 20 million people tuned in to watch Clarkson win the title of American Idol 0.95

00:01:51.180 in September of 2002. Something that will never happen again, you know, for a show like that

00:01:55.680 these days. And despite the fact that she always seemed, you know, sort of like an AI generated

00:02:00.640 musician from an age before AI with song lyrics that are cliches, like what doesn't kill you

00:02:07.420 makes you stronger. Kelly Clarkson has somehow endured, you know, probably in part because she

00:02:11.940 is actually a talented singer, which is a rarity in pop music these days. So she still has a large

00:02:17.140 dedicated fan base, maybe not as large as it used to be, but still large in the year 2026,

00:02:22.940 kind of following based on a shared monoculture event that is very difficult, if not impossible,

00:02:28.360 to replicate today, now that everybody has their own personalized algorithm. In fact, Clarkson's

00:02:33.860 influence is apparently so significant that she could command the attention of the entire world

00:02:37.540 with a very run-of-the-mill social media post 0.96

00:02:41.040 about a bad customer service experience

00:02:42.900 she recently adored.

00:02:44.740 And here's what she wrote on Saturday, quote,

00:02:47.560 just drove all the way to Brooklyn

00:02:48.740 to check out this store I thought looked really rad

00:02:51.000 and had a few things in mind to buy.

00:02:52.620 It literally was looked at as if I couldn't afford it

00:02:54.700 and was told he could find something comparable for me. 1.00

00:02:57.800 Wow, dude, you're an idiot and just lost a huge sale, 1.00

00:03:00.360 but y'all should go check out Art of Play in Brooklyn 1.00

00:03:02.920 if you enjoy being treated like Julia Roberts' character

00:03:05.320 in Pretty Woman.

00:03:06.920 For sure, check it out. Thumbs down emoji.

00:03:10.760 Now, when I saw this post along with 6 billion other people,

00:03:14.820 my first reaction was like, obviously, I don't care.

00:03:17.620 But then my second reaction, if I have to care, which I don't,

00:03:20.080 is that I'm on Kelly Clarkson's side.

00:03:21.920 And that's not because I care about Kelly Clarkson or know anything about her

00:03:25.340 or know anything about this incident or care about the incident.

00:03:29.380 It's simply because customer service is truly abysmal everywhere now.

00:03:35.080 Just rock bottom.

00:03:36.660 And therefore, I'm at a point now, I automatically am on the side of anyone complaining about customer service.

00:03:42.840 If you're saying you had a terrible customer service experience, I believe you and I'm with you.

00:03:47.320 Right? Believe women. That's what I say, at least when it comes to customer service. 1.00

00:03:51.120 And I choose to believe that, you know, in truth, the reason this post resonated with so many people has nothing to do with Clarkson or her music,

00:03:58.800 but because pretty much everyone else has come to the same realization.

00:04:02.200 Everyone knows this. It is rock bottom. Whether you're at the airport, ordering food, dealing with health insurance, whatever it is, the experience is noticeably worse than it has ever been before.

00:04:16.940 And certainly worse than it was in the pre-COVID era.

00:04:20.720 So when Kelly Clarkson had a meltdown over this bougie toy store in Brooklyn, many of us are predisposed to agree with her.

00:04:28.800 Not that we actually care about this particular incident, but it's a symptom of a larger problem.

00:04:33.800 It's not because she's a celebrity, but because she's a customer. 0.92

00:04:36.800 And we know that customers are generally treated like garbage everywhere. 0.99

00:04:41.940 I mean everywhere, in almost every store or restaurant in America.

00:04:47.040 And it's only getting worse.

00:04:49.480 And it didn't used to be this way, at least not this bad.

00:04:53.840 Now, the collapse of customer service in this country should be studied.

00:04:57.020 And in a moment, we'll, and we've talked about it before, but we'll take a close look at what's

00:05:01.720 happening at a systemic level to make customer service so utterly terrible. And that does matter

00:05:06.300 because it's quality of life. It affects your experience on a day-to-day basis. And if it's

00:05:12.320 miserable, that matters. Now, the Kelly Clarkson Bird story admittedly deserves some further

00:05:18.380 scrutiny, mainly because the owner of this bougie toy store simply cannot help himself. 0.73

00:05:22.300 If you had to design an avatar to represent the quintessential smug, condescending, insufferable, millennial small business owner, you wouldn't come up with anything better than this guy.

00:05:35.780 At first, though, the store's response to Clarkson Post seemed reasonable enough to a lot of people.

00:05:41.120 Here's what they posted on Instagram as they were getting flooded with negative comments and bad reviews by Clarkson's fans.

00:05:47.160 quote yesterday kelly clarkson visited us in brooklyn and inquired about buying molly a one

00:05:52.820 of a kind singing and dancing bird automaton who plays an important role in the magic shows we host

00:05:57.580 here molly is permanently attached to the wall and isn't for sale however the negative experience

00:06:00.920 kelly described on twitter would resonate with anyone who's ever felt judged in a shop at art

00:06:04.900 of play whether someone comes in to make a purchase or simply look around for a while

00:06:09.120 they're equally welcome imagine our surprise when our small business small local business

00:06:13.280 was suddenly attacked by 8 million people who've never visited our store.

00:06:16.980 It's been a surreal experience to be the focus of such widespread outrage

00:06:20.100 after just one mention by a celebrity.

00:06:22.180 We're going to keep our heads down, and hopefully we can clear things up with Kelly someday.

00:06:25.340 As a talented, popular singer once said,

00:06:27.580 what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

00:06:30.300 Now, if you're trying to demonstrate that you're not a passive-aggressive, condescending establishment,

00:06:34.380 it's not the kind of reply you want to post. 1.00

00:06:36.320 They strongly imply that Clarkson is a complete idiot who wanted to buy a robot bird 1.00

00:06:39.860 that was attached to the wall, and she didn't understand 1.00

00:06:41.760 when the employees told her that she couldn't do it.

00:06:44.540 They don't offer any specifics on this point

00:06:46.180 one way or another.

00:06:47.000 And then the next breath,

00:06:47.780 they go on to praise Clarkson as talented

00:06:50.040 and express a desire to patch things up.

00:06:52.940 Now, for the record,

00:06:53.640 this here is footage of Molly,

00:06:55.680 the robot bird in question.

00:06:57.920 Apparently, it's very popular with bird watchers

00:06:59.960 because the robot bird does a good job 1.00

00:07:01.740 mimicking the kind of tiny spastic movements

00:07:04.200 that birds do

00:07:04.920 when they're sitting on power lines or whatever.

00:07:07.180 So here's the bird that Kelly Clarkson

00:07:09.560 apparently wanted to buy a watch. 0.99

00:07:11.760 One more time. Bring it on home, Molly. 1.00

00:07:36.960 If you're trying to furnish like a torture chamber for your worst enemy and you have an

00:07:40.840 unlimited amount of money lying around. It's a very reasonable price. It's a great way to

00:07:46.120 replicate the feeling of having a bird that somehow gets into your house and flies around

00:07:49.940 the ceiling and annoys everyone by chirping constantly until it finally decides to fly

00:07:54.680 into a glass window and die. So assuming she's trying to inflict an extreme amount of pain on 0.54

00:07:59.260 someone, I completely understand why Kelly Clarkson would have expressed interest in this bird.

00:08:04.140 It kind of reminds me of like a toy, aside from the price tag, it reminds me of a toy that some

00:08:08.680 terrorist family member would give one of my kids for Christmas. We all have to listen to the noise

00:08:14.280 incessantly for two and a half days before the toy ends up suffering a terrible and unexplained

00:08:18.700 accident. Or someone, completely by mistake, throws it in the trash can outside. That tends

00:08:24.900 to happen after Christmas sometimes with annoying toys. I don't know how it happens. It's the worst

00:08:28.440 thing. Anyway, in her next post replying to the passive-aggressive bougie toy store, as we continue

00:08:35.580 to follow this saga for some reason. Clarkson explained that the bird actually had a price tag

00:08:39.500 in the store, contrary to what the store is now claiming. Here's what she wrote.

00:08:44.940 Quote, cool, cool, sure, it wasn't for sale. That's the narrative Art of Play is going to go with. 0.86

00:08:49.920 So the whole conversation we had when I asked you if it was for sale whilst pointing to the price

00:08:56.220 tag whilst who uses whilst you're a an american anyway like what are you gonna spell color with

00:09:07.960 a u next uh to the price tag hanging on the wall with the title singing bird didn't happen as you

00:09:14.340 elevator eyed me saying in a condescending tone yes it's for sale but it costs fifteen thousand

00:09:19.280 dollars so if you'd like me to find something comparable for you i can but i'll never happen

00:09:23.800 and now it's not for sale.

00:09:24.880 Okay, cool.

00:09:25.500 So you're not only rude, 1.00

00:09:26.280 you're also a liar. 1.00

00:09:27.160 Got it. 0.97

00:09:27.540 Your store is really cool.

00:09:28.980 Unfortunately, you aren't.

00:09:32.000 Okay, so all these people

00:09:32.760 are annoying

00:09:33.440 and extremely annoying.

00:09:35.720 We can establish that 1.00

00:09:36.720 to include Kelly Clarkson.

00:09:39.180 And to support her argument,

00:09:40.360 Clarkson posted an image

00:09:41.400 of a $15,000 price tag

00:09:43.100 next to the bird.

00:09:44.100 And now knowing

00:09:45.200 that this thing costs $15,000,

00:09:47.700 I will also,

00:09:48.980 I kind of have to go back

00:09:49.640 to my joke

00:09:50.500 and stipulate that

00:09:51.240 it's not something

00:09:52.060 that anyone,

00:09:52.680 including myself,

00:09:53.800 would ever buy my kids for Christmas,

00:09:55.860 but it is still annoying.

00:09:58.260 Apparently what happened is that the $15,000 price tag

00:10:00.440 didn't apply to this particular bird

00:10:01.960 that was bolted to the wall.

00:10:03.080 Instead, it was giving customers the option

00:10:04.920 to buy an identical bird from the guy who created the bird,

00:10:08.560 whose name is Bliss Kolb.

00:10:10.740 And then you could have it shipped to your house

00:10:12.780 or whatever you want.

00:10:14.440 The store claims that they explained all this to Clarkson.

00:10:16.480 They also say that they offered her a $2,000 mechanical bird

00:10:19.620 by a German clockmaking shop as an alternative

00:10:22.760 but that she, quote, didn't stick around long enough to see it.

00:10:27.940 Now, before we look at the surveillance footage from the store,

00:10:30.520 because this is basically the Kennedy assassination all over again

00:10:33.760 in terms of its significance historically to our republic,

00:10:38.800 I do have to acknowledge that at this point, reasonable people, you know,

00:10:43.100 could side with the store or with Kelly Clarkson.

00:10:45.440 There's room for debate after seeing these social media posts. 0.84

00:10:49.660 Clarkson was kind of dressed like a hobo, as you can see there.

00:10:52.900 So it's understandable the store didn't think she had $15,000 lying around.

00:10:57.300 But, you know, she's being kind of typecast, profiled as someone who doesn't have $15,000.

00:11:03.720 But any debate should have come to an end the moment the owner of this toy store opened his mouth and started doing interviews.

00:11:10.000 So this store owner, whose name is Adam Rubin, talked to about 50 different media outlets over the past 24 hours.

00:11:16.140 And in every single one of them, he demonstrated that Clarkson was right and he's completely insufferable.

00:11:22.020 I've never been in this guy's store, obviously. It's not really my type of place.

00:11:25.860 And by that, I mean, I'd rather have acid thrown in my face than go into a place like that.

00:11:30.700 In fact, if I did go into a place like that, they probably would throw acid in my face. So

00:11:34.780 you're kind of the worst of all worlds, really. But in any case, having no experience with this

00:11:39.520 store or any of the people involved and not wanting to ever have any experience with any

00:11:43.920 of these people, it's still clear who the problem is. So here's one of his appearances

00:11:47.880 where he uses the same talking points from the other 50 interviews he did.

00:11:53.000 Starts off by saying that he had some kind of cancer removed from his face,

00:11:56.500 even though that's not really relevant to anything.

00:11:58.960 Then he says that Clarkson has put his staff in danger.

00:12:01.820 So watch this.

00:12:03.540 And also, as you do, pay attention to the way that he's holding his mug.

00:12:06.880 Watch.

00:12:07.980 I'm not even supposed to be here today.

00:12:10.000 I got a cancer removed from my face last week.

00:12:12.140 I'm getting the stitches out tonight,

00:12:13.420 but we are afraid for the safety of our shopkeepers.

00:12:16.940 Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger.

00:12:18.980 Not just are people showing up in person,

00:12:21.400 but our neighbors are getting doxxed and review-bound.

00:12:25.980 People are getting threatened on the street.

00:12:29.200 And the worst part is,

00:12:31.700 we didn't know this was going to happen,

00:12:33.960 but Kelly Clarkson did.

00:12:35.500 So I don't want to focus on an irrelevant detail,

00:12:38.220 but then again, this whole story is an irrelevant detail.

00:12:41.720 So I might as well mention that I have never in my life

00:12:44.360 seen a grown man hold a coffee mug like that. Like he's cradling it in his hand. It's like one

00:12:51.120 of my boys picks up a toad in the garden and brings it into the house. But you know, this is

00:12:57.380 only a sociopath holds a coffee mug like that. Even absent any other details, I would already

00:13:03.500 be against him just based on the coffee mug alone. If I were serving on a jury and he was on trial

00:13:09.940 for murder and I saw him hold his coffee mug like that, I would convict him. Send him to the electric

00:13:16.380 chair on that basis alone. And it would be justice. I'll tell you that right now. He's also doing the 0.99

00:13:22.220 old speeches violence routine that we're all very familiar with at this point. Kelly Clarkson has

00:13:27.140 put us in danger, he says. And with that, he has managed to string together a completely unique

00:13:33.920 sentence, I'm sure. I feel fairly certain that until that moment, nobody on the planet,

00:13:41.320 either now or in the past, has ever said the words, Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger.

00:13:48.040 So we're breaking new ground now, forging an entirely new path into an unknown wilderness.

00:13:53.960 There's no telling what'll happen next. This guy did a bunch of other interviews,

00:13:58.400 which we won't play for you because frankly, we've already spent enough time on this, but

00:14:02.920 there is a larger point that we'll get to, I promise. Before we do, though, I should mention

00:14:07.960 that this guy is doing interviews in every available medium. He's even talking to print

00:14:12.900 publications where at least we don't have to see him hold his coffee mug, but we still are subjected

00:14:17.960 to his words. And those interviews aren't going well either. So this is an interview he did with

00:14:23.500 Curbed, whatever that is. And as you can see, they tried on three separate occasions to get

00:14:29.940 a clear answer from this guy as to, uh, whether or not the robot bird was for sale. Uh, they asked

00:14:36.620 directly, was it for sale or not? Was the robot bird for sale or not? And, uh, this is what he

00:14:44.520 said, quote, we are a non-traditional shop. We work directly with artisans. This guy is an artisan

00:14:50.480 who does not make many things like this. I think that's where the misunderstanding might have come

00:14:55.080 in, might have come in. Blitzkolb, the designer of the robot bird, lives in the woods in a house

00:15:00.060 that he made with his own hands. He's not on social media. He doesn't have a warehouse. It

00:15:05.580 takes him years to make these machines. There are two in existence. This is one. If someone showed

00:15:11.260 serious interest, we would reach out to him about getting them an automaton. This is not something

00:15:16.480 that's sitting in a warehouse. It's like a piece of sculpture. It's a piece of fine art.

00:15:20.680 it was a very straightforward question about 150 words given the whole backstory of mr kolb

00:15:28.440 in response to a very straightforward question

00:15:30.700 right was it first you know it's it's the who ordered the code red moment um it's who

00:15:38.500 was it for sale or not can't answer um but the saga gets even more bizarre when you

00:15:45.660 look into this guy who makes this robot bird, Bliss Kolb, who supposedly lives in the woods.

00:15:51.360 Emily Gould in New York Magazine just spoke with Adrienne Quinlan, a reporter who's apparently

00:15:58.000 spent some time at the shop, and here's what she found. Quote, I looked up property records for

00:16:03.400 Bliss Kolb for some reason. I don't think you can call an aluminum-clad home in the suburbs a home

00:16:10.120 in the middle of the woods. Maybe he has an out-of-town workshop, but he's not even listed

00:16:14.320 as owning a vacation home in public records.

00:16:16.880 I love his work, but he's not like

00:16:18.260 living in the middle of nowhere right now.

00:16:20.460 And I do think that Kelly Clarkson

00:16:21.980 could just buy one from him,

00:16:24.320 though it looks like everything on his site is sold out.

00:16:28.080 So the plot thickens.

00:16:29.820 Is it possible the bougie toy store is lying

00:16:32.300 about the architect of this robot bird?

00:16:36.440 Is he doing the Henry David Thoreau thing

00:16:38.780 where he pretends to live out in the woods

00:16:40.400 while he really spends all his time

00:16:42.180 in a nice house with a laundry machine?

00:16:44.320 that wouldn't be too surprising if it's true. If your robot bird is designed by a hermit living 0.63

00:16:49.240 in the woods, that sounds a lot more exotic than a robot bird that's made by a dude with an Etsy

00:16:53.340 account who's living in a four-bedroom house in the suburbs with a picket fence somewhere outside

00:16:58.580 Seattle. Scam as old as time. I've noticed that there seems to be a universal law governing when

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00:17:16.600 day of the year. And whatever piece of equipment your business absolutely depends on will inevitably

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00:18:18.800 and if the DSA Democrats win, they'll push a radical socialist agenda and drown President

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00:18:31.520 undo everything our movement has fought for. I need you to vote early. You can bank your vote

00:18:37.000 and fight back against the left's turnout machine. Go to GOPVotes.org right now.

00:18:41.440 Find out when you can vote. If you live in the critical Senate battleground states of Maine,

00:18:45.840 Ohio, or Iowa, early voting is already underway this week. Making your voice heard is easier

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00:18:55.720 early. Go to gopvotes.org today, paid for by SLF PAC, not authorized by any candidate or

00:19:01.560 candidate's committee. It's also worth mentioning that, as you just heard, the media is, they're

00:19:07.480 doing a lot of legwork on this story. Every publication in the country has a reporter now

00:19:13.020 on the Kelly Clarkson robot bird beat, tracking down every lead, following the footprints wherever

00:19:20.100 they go, asking the tough questions. If we had a news media even half as interested in world events

00:19:27.320 that actually matter, we'd be in a much better spot as a country. But they save all their resources

00:19:33.000 for stories like this, apparently. In fact, not to get sidetracked again, this week, the two issues

00:19:39.200 that seem to have gotten by far the most coverage are, you know, Kelly Clarkson and the robot bird. 0.99

00:19:45.080 And also, you know, that the fact that the comedian Shane Gillis said on SNL that women dress like whores in the gym, which of course they do. 0.76

00:19:55.300 But as we head into a critical election, you know, these are the news events attracting the most attention, which is, I guess, not surprising. 0.97

00:20:02.640 It's also no surprise that somebody went out and obtained the surveillance footage from the incident.

00:20:07.440 And we'll put that up on the screen.

00:20:09.540 and because there's no audio it's hard to come to any definitive conclusions but in general it

00:20:15.380 seems to support clarkson's version of events clarkson is wearing yellow with a backpack it

00:20:20.560 looks like clarkson is talking to an employee who has a drink in his hands who seems mildly

00:20:25.680 interested in uh in talking to her but then he goes and deals with a couple of other customers

00:20:30.680 apparently to make a sale she's left by herself for a little while so she walks around the store

00:20:35.780 seems to put several items, which she wanted to purchase back on the shelves because no one's

00:20:40.620 there to check her out. And then eventually she has some words for the shopkeeper, probably to

00:20:45.000 say something like, you know, don't advertise things for sale if you can't buy them. A few

00:20:49.260 other customers look uncomfortable, and then the footage ends. So that summarizes that.

00:20:55.120 Now, whatever you make of this episode, which is ridiculous for about 10 different reasons, 1.00

00:21:00.880 it seems pretty obvious that Kelly Clarkson is winning this PR battle because pretty much

00:21:05.260 everyone has had a similar unpleasant experience dealing with a salesman or a customer support

00:21:12.040 employee. Not just one experience like this, but constantly. Basically, you're a customer and you

00:21:19.880 go to a place or you call a place and they hate you. They have no interest in helping you. They

00:21:26.760 don't even want to pretend to be nice. They're not going to be friendly. They're not going to

00:21:30.680 try to make you feel welcomed in the establishment. You're walking in there to spend your money

00:21:36.420 and they despise you. Just utter contempt. Very common experience and becoming more common. This

00:21:45.060 is from a Gallup survey in 2024. Quote, 49% of Americans say customer service has gotten worse

00:21:52.160 in the last year. Only 6% say it's improved. As you can see, this finding holds up across

00:21:58.120 every single age range, whether you're 18 or 65 or anything in between, your impression of

00:22:03.420 customer service is that it's getting worse. And meanwhile, according to Forrester, 25% of the

00:22:07.660 brands that they tracked in 2024 and 2025 had statistically significant losses in customer

00:22:12.920 satisfaction, while only 7% improved. This is not simply an American phenomenon either. For the

00:22:18.780 most part, we could certainly blame AI chatbots and our offshoring. That's a big part of this

00:22:25.080 problem, which is why your customer service representative is either a robot or can't speak

00:22:30.440 English. But the problem here is not simply that customer service is getting worse. The bigger

00:22:34.780 issue is that if companies are cutting corners when it comes to customer service, then it stands

00:22:39.980 to reason they're doing the same elsewhere. The safety of every airplane is dependent on

00:22:45.180 maintenance crews. The same is true for roller coasters at amusement parks. As we just saw at

00:22:50.880 Six Flags over Georgia, these amusement parks may not be especially safe anymore. Watch.

00:22:58.160 The amusement park operator Six Flags says it is temporarily closing nine of its roller coasters

00:23:04.020 at half a dozen parks across the U.S. This follows the death of a person who fell from a coaster

00:23:10.240 yesterday at Six Flags over Georgia. That's near Atlanta. From member station WABE, Melissa Fato

00:23:16.920 has more. Footage from multiple local media outlets shows park staff evacuating riders from

00:23:22.540 the lift hill of Goliath. The 200-foot hyper coaster opened in 2006. Cobb County police

00:23:29.380 confirmed several others are injured and the department is investigating the incident.

00:23:33.900 The Six Flags chain has seen financial challenges and leadership changes since it merged with its

00:23:39.060 once competitor Cedar Fair in 2024. This incident comes on the heels of Six Flags Magic Mountain

00:23:44.860 in Southern California announcing it's retiring its famous fourth-dimension coaster, X2.

00:23:50.660 Amid allegations, it has caused several riders serious brain injuries.

00:23:55.220 Obviously, the guy who flew out of the roller coaster is the headline.

00:23:58.060 There are some particularly horrifying pictures of the incident that we're not going to show.

00:24:02.020 But the line about brain injuries at another amusement park also caught my attention.

00:24:07.080 If you look it up, there are allegations that hundreds of people could have been injured by this ride.

00:24:12.320 This is from CNN.

00:24:13.160 And, quote, in the span of less than a week this July, surgeons at a Southern California hospital raced to save the lives of two women suffering from alarmingly similar brain hemorrhages.

00:24:24.160 The severe injuries were the kind doctors encounter in patients after high-speed collisions or other violent accidents that caused the brain to twist and slam inside one's skull.

00:24:33.880 Neither woman, however, had been involved in a crash, a fall, or such incident.

00:24:37.400 instead they had ridden an extreme roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain known as X2, which

00:24:42.700 draws thrill seekers from around the world with its rotating seats near vertical drops and

00:24:47.240 unpredictable movements. Among the casualties are riders who suffered life-altering disabilities,

00:24:52.540 fell into comas, and two who died of their injuries. Park officials, meanwhile, have long

00:24:57.600 fielded scores of complaints about other head and neck injuries sustained after riding the attraction.

00:25:02.740 now none of this has been proven in court but it stands to reason that these extreme roller coasters

00:25:09.060 in general can cause brain injuries anytime your skull is slowing down and accelerating

00:25:14.920 really abruptly there's a risk and it appears that no one at these amusement parks has considered

00:25:21.060 these risks or is you know taking them into account as much as they should and that shouldn't

00:25:25.500 surprise us at a fundamental level amusement parks are kind of weird because we're entrusting our

00:25:31.240 lives to the safety and maintenance standards of random low-paid park employees and contractors

00:25:38.320 who are overseen by executives who are desperate to increase their sales. That's all they care

00:25:44.020 about. Carnivals are even worse in that regard, maybe less with the executives and more with just

00:25:50.000 the random low-paid people who you're just entrusting your life with them. The risk-reward

00:25:58.020 calculation, I think, doesn't really work out in your favor as a writer. And as low-wage employees

00:26:05.220 become more and more disillusioned, it stands to reason that the risk is only going to become even

00:26:09.880 greater. You're going to see more and more accidents. Now, that's not to say Six Flags was

00:26:14.600 responsible for this particular guy's death. We don't know at this point. But it stands to reason

00:26:20.420 that these kinds of incidents are only going to become more common. I have some really incredible

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00:26:29.720 ministry of pre-born, there have also been more than 5,100 commitments to Christ. Just think about

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00:26:40.600 pre-born's president, Dan Steiner, wanted to share this message with you. It says, because of you,

00:26:45.700 we can invite mothers considering abortion into a pre-born network clinic to meet their baby.

00:26:50.160 And when she has that close encounter of the best kind in her womb, she is 80% more likely to choose life.

00:26:56.240 80% more likely is an immense difference.

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00:27:27.520 Our fantasy commish says for him, it's all about the friendships.

00:27:32.020 Cute, Kevin, but I disagree.

00:27:35.140 Like with bet 365, I get paid.

00:27:37.260 The second my team goes up big with early payout and can cash out at any time

00:27:41.240 before the game ends. No hard feelings, Kevin,

00:27:43.960 just faster payouts from bet 365, the home of winning early.

00:27:47.920 Must be 19 and older. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

00:27:50.660 If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit ConnexOntario.ca or call 1-866-531-2600.

00:27:56.200 Terms and conditions apply.

00:27:57.640 And that said, when I made this point on X, someone replied to me with this post,

00:28:01.220 which raises another important consideration everyone is overlooking.

00:28:05.620 So I'm going to read part of that post now.

00:28:08.240 Quote,

00:28:08.860 What mainstream coverage doesn't want to get into about the Six Flags death is that both recent high-profile cases

00:28:14.920 of a rider being insufficiently restrained and ejected from a vehicle involved riders who were

00:28:20.040 morbidly obese and black. It will likely come out that the rider, the ride was mechanically sound, 0.98

00:28:25.260 but the restraints were not secured or could not, could not in their position contain a heavy,

00:28:30.620 flexible body when subjected to ride forces. I could find no cases in the past 15 years or so

00:28:36.540 of a mechanical failure being the cause of a rider being thrown from a vehicle. For a low-wage

00:28:41.520 parked employee having to scrutinize a fat guest's restraints or confront a guest to throw them off

00:28:47.020 the ride can be highly embarrassing or risk a confrontation. Workers have to weigh every

00:28:51.860 confrontation with the possibility of becoming the subject of a viral video and fired for

00:28:56.480 insensitivity. I looked this up and indeed there haven't been many cases of riders getting ejected

00:29:02.380 due to an equipment malfunction in the U.S. in the past several years. In fact, I couldn't find a

00:29:08.240 single one. And instead, the most recent ejection I could find involved an obese 14-year-old child,

00:29:14.420 you might remember, who fell to his death at an amusement park ride in Orlando back in 2022.

00:29:20.360 Watch. Fox 35 investigates some new cell phone video that shows the moments before

00:29:25.420 a 14-year-old died after falling from a ride at Icon Park. All right, so take a look here behind

00:29:31.060 me. This side angle shows Tyrese Sampson in his seat on the free fall drop tower. You can see in

00:29:37.140 these videos, how much higher Samson's harnesses compared to the other riders. The state's

00:29:42.920 accident report says the ride was coming down the tower and when the magnets engaged, Samson

00:29:48.220 fell out of his seat, but the harness was still in a down and locked position when that ride

00:29:52.760 stopped. Fox 35 showed the videos to two different experts and their opinions were similar.

00:29:59.040 I see a patron in an amusement ride and that over the shoulder restraint system is not properly

00:30:05.820 affixed. It should have been a closed circuit, if you will, so we're coming all the way down

00:30:10.420 over the shoulders, containing the person and or resting in their lap at the seat pan.

00:30:18.180 Well, Fox 35 went through the operator's manual as well and find out how the harnesses are checked.

00:30:23.960 Workers pull up the screen and the green means the seat is locked and good to go.

00:30:28.580 The attendants at the ride that night say they did check Samson's seat and say it was locked.

00:30:34.260 Now, one of the comments on that video reads, quote,

00:30:36.880 As a former ride operator, it's very clear whether or not someone is safely secure in the ride.

00:30:41.860 It's never fun telling someone they're too big to ride, but it has to be done.

00:30:46.680 Upon further investigation in this case, it appears that the ride operator made some adjustment to the seat so that fat people could get on the ride.

00:30:55.040 This is from ABC, quote,

00:30:56.580 The 14-year-old was seated in one of two seats on the Orlando free-fall ride, where the harness proximity sensor was manually repositioned to allow for a larger restraint than the ride's other seats.

00:31:09.960 The ride's attendants were instructed to seat larger guests in those seats.

00:31:14.820 So they allegedly relaxed the rules for fat people, presumably to avoid complaints and lawsuits, and now a kid is dead as a result.

00:31:24.140 If that's what happened at Six Flags in Georgia, and again, we don't know, then it's obviously not really a customer service or maintenance problem in the traditional sense.

00:31:33.980 But either way, it's still related to the broader problem, which is that low-wage, frontline employees are finding new reasons to stop caring about their jobs.

00:31:44.200 Maybe they're worried about getting canceled.

00:31:46.480 Maybe they're disillusioned by the high cost of living.

00:31:50.600 They find it impossible to be motivated at work

00:31:53.700 since they know they're never going to be able to afford a home.

00:31:59.200 Maybe they're very aware of the fact that if they get into a confrontation with a customer,

00:32:09.360 then they could end up on video.

00:32:11.060 Whatever the case, the end result for the consumer is a much worse experience

00:32:15.100 and one that can actually be dangerous everywhere people go.

00:32:20.820 Even the amusement park, they're noticing a decline in quality.

00:32:24.500 The sentiment is now so pervasive that a random guy complaining about Chipotle in his kitchen

00:32:29.860 has racked up nearly 8 million views this week.

00:32:33.740 Watch.

00:32:34.600 And I'm telling you right now, there's something going on at Chipotle.

00:32:39.040 Still putting out a pretty good product.

00:32:41.020 I'm not going to lie.

00:32:41.720 I like the quesadilla.

00:32:43.860 They got a locker room issue.

00:32:46.380 These Chipotle employees are not happy, and I don't know what it is.

00:32:51.200 They got no soul.

00:32:53.060 I mean, you used to walk in there.

00:32:55.320 There was life in the place.

00:32:57.420 I mean, a little bit of like a Chick-fil-A vibe.

00:32:59.580 Each station you went to, you got a new person, a different experience when you got the veggies.

00:33:05.740 There was something there, and it's just not there anymore.

00:33:09.940 What it is, couldn't tell you.

00:33:11.640 What I can tell you is it starts up top.

00:33:13.400 There's got to be some CEO or something over there

00:33:16.460 That's got to take a real good look in the mirror

00:33:18.380 And I think we all kind of look the other way

00:33:20.920 Because we agree the quesadilla is good

00:33:22.640 So we let it go

00:33:25.640 But I'm concerned 0.99

00:33:27.040 It used to feel like a fucking Chuck E. Cheese in there 0.99

00:33:30.460 You walked in there, the place was fucking rocking 0.98

00:33:32.600 Now, I like what the quesadilla 0.97

00:33:35.700 They give you three different slots

00:33:38.020 You choose your options

00:33:39.080 And that's always a tough decision for me

00:33:41.920 guy missed the tomato salsa and i think he knew that i knew that he missed it and i also think 0.83

00:33:48.480 he knew i wasn't going to say a damn thing because this guy was gigantic and he looked like he would

00:33:53.500 have smacked me in the mouth if i let him know that he missed the tomato sauce there's a real 0.72

00:33:59.680 issue going on at chipotle now i appreciate the point this guy's making and and i agree with it

00:34:05.500 although i don't really understand why he needs to be shirtless in a bathrobe

00:34:09.480 this is another epidemic that we'll have to talk about some other time

00:34:13.600 you shouldn't be making videos in pajamas or a bathrobe or in any other state of undress

00:34:20.560 or lying in bed as people often do you should be presentable when you're in public and when

00:34:26.560 you're making a video that counts as being in public imagine if i walked into my studio and

00:34:30.580 did my show in a bathrobe and slippers actually don't imagine that it'll be uncomfortable for both

00:34:35.520 of us. But putting the attire aside for a moment, you know, the reason so many people were

00:34:40.000 captivated by this guy is that everyone knows he's telling the truth. It is exactly like that

00:34:45.880 in Chipotle. Chipotle is one of the worst offenders. They, and the food is still pretty

00:34:51.000 good, in my opinion, still one of the better like fast food options that you can go with.

00:34:57.560 But the employees just hate you. And now in my case, you might say, well, they might actually

00:35:03.820 just hate you personally. And that's true. I mean, that's a wrinkle that I have to deal with 0.98

00:35:08.180 sometimes. But this is a universal experience. It's not just me. And we could insert any number

00:35:14.400 of other fast food chains from Subway to McDonald's to Jimmy John's, and people would

00:35:20.000 have the same complaints. The workers don't seem to care anymore. Many of them are foreigners who

00:35:24.460 can't speak English. A lot of them are high. So instead of young people who are working their 1.00

00:35:29.180 first job, you get, you know, sometimes adults who have given up on life. And if they've given

00:35:34.220 up on life, then they're not going to put any effort into your burrito bowl. Um, and they're

00:35:40.340 also not really, there's no incentive for them, especially if they work for these big, you know,

00:35:44.440 chains, there's really no incentive for them to treat the customer well, because their pay is

00:35:50.380 probably going to be the same regardless. Now I'm not an advocate for using any kind of government

00:35:55.380 policy to address this problem other than mass deportations and severe punishments for businesses 1.00

00:36:00.100 that employ illegals. And to their credit, while they're not punishing businesses, this administration 0.60

00:36:04.740 has taken meaningful steps to increase deportations and secure the border. They don't get much credit

00:36:10.620 for it, even on the right, but it's true. At the same time, it's worth pointing out that over the

00:36:15.320 past two years, they have also given up on some regulations that, at least on paper, would make

00:36:22.240 things a little easier for Americans who have to deal with some day-to-day annoyances,

00:36:26.640 especially when it comes to air travels. This is from the New York Times, quote,

00:36:30.120 in June, the Transportation Department abandoned a Biden-era rule

00:36:33.580 on hidden fees that would have forced airlines to show charges for extras like check bags and

00:36:39.940 ticket changes alongside the full fare during the booking process. A month later, the department

00:36:44.760 moved to undo a 15-year-old requirement that airlines display a ticket's final price more

00:36:49.660 prominently and in a larger font size than other components of the price, such as taxes and fees.

00:36:55.880 Each year from 2002 to 2025, the Transportation Department assessed at least half a million

00:37:00.180 dollars in fines against airlines. The two years since Sean Duffy took over, the department has

00:37:04.580 not issued any against them. I'm willing to concede that these little regulations probably

00:37:09.960 don't matter all that much, but we're still moving in the wrong direction. Air travel is already one

00:37:16.980 of the most regulated industries in the entire country. Every passenger has to surrender their

00:37:21.040 right to privacy just to get inside the building. So with that in mind, if we're already giving up

00:37:27.140 all this privacy in the airport, why not enforce some basic other rules? Why not enforce some kind

00:37:33.600 of dress code while we're at it? Why not find any airline $10 million if they let a passenger on 0.94

00:37:39.260 board who smells like weed? You know, why not take some step to make air travel more desirable 0.89

00:37:45.480 instead of yet another symbol of our decline.

00:37:49.420 The fact that these customer service nightmare stories

00:37:51.820 always resonate and go viral

00:37:53.400 is a pretty clear signal that Americans are tired

00:37:56.640 of being treated like criminals and hobos

00:37:58.340 in their own country, 0.95

00:37:59.460 especially since most of them can remember

00:38:02.820 how different things were just a few years ago.

00:38:06.020 A political party that wants to hold on to power

00:38:09.360 would make some effort at least

00:38:11.240 to acknowledge this very widespread concern,

00:38:14.760 maybe even try to do something about it?

00:38:17.200 As we talk about in the Real History documentary on the Russian Revolution, 0.85

00:38:20.540 the single fastest way to ensure that the Bolsheviks seize power 0.73

00:38:23.780 is to demoralize and humiliate the population 0.87

00:38:26.860 so they're too disinterested and disorganized to unify

00:38:30.460 against the communist revolutionaries.

00:38:34.080 Bolsheviks don't seize power by convincing everyone

00:38:36.620 that communism is a good idea or a sustainable ideology. 1.00

00:38:39.940 They take power by default

00:38:41.420 because everybody else looks at the status quo and decides it's not worth fighting for. 0.85

00:38:46.300 We have to confront that perception or the Bolsheviks will do exactly what they did at 0.64

00:38:51.560 the beginning of the 20th century. They don't need to actually win any nationwide election

00:38:56.400 to ensure that we never have elections ever again. They just need people to be frustrated

00:39:01.900 and bored and disillusioned. And with Kelly Clarkson somehow dominating the national

00:39:06.780 conversation more than 20 years after American Idol was relevant, it's safe to say that millions

00:39:12.380 of people are indeed frustrated and bored and disillusioned. And we need to change that.

00:39:18.480 This is the attitude we need to adopt. This is from James Tallarico, a town hall in Texas last

00:39:24.060 night. Watch this. And so I can respect anyone like you who is consistently pro-life. And I

00:39:31.080 actually think there's common ground we can find here. We may come to different moral and ethical

00:39:36.460 conclusions when it comes to the question of should abortion be legal or not? It sounds like

00:39:41.440 you and I do come to a different conclusion. That's okay. We're both Christians and the Bible

00:39:47.460 is silent on the issue of abortion. It means you and I both have to look at different scriptures

00:39:52.260 to try to come to a conclusion. And I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion.

00:39:57.720 There is the Ten Commandments, that shall not kill. And as Catholics, we take great

00:40:01.840 insults, I guess, sometimes when it's spouted that way. 0.98

00:40:06.460 So when the communists lie to your face with their little self-satisfied grin, come right back and tell them they're liars. 0.97

00:40:13.380 This creepy heretic wants to lie about your faith, and he's making the assumption that you're going to sit there and take it. 0.95

00:40:19.100 Don't let them. Don't give them anything, even if it might be convenient in whatever social situation you might be in. 0.81

00:40:28.800 This is the attitude that prevents the spread of the most deranged and destructive ideology known to man,

00:40:33.460 the ideology that the Democrat Party has adopted wholesale.

00:40:38.000 And as a bonus, it's the attitude that leads to fewer national conversations about Kelly Clarkson. 0.90

00:40:44.400 If we're complacent like the Russians in the early 20th century, we will lose. 0.94

00:40:48.180 But if we're willing to fight for our principles, 0.97

00:40:50.400 and it really doesn't take much, as this woman demonstrated last night,

00:40:54.640 then these people will have no idea what hit them. 0.92

00:40:59.040 That'll do it for the show today.

00:40:59.760 Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening.

00:41:00.660 talk to you on Monday. Have a great weekend. Godspeed.

00:41:30.660 Professor.

00:41:44.500 Let me out!

00:41:52.620 You will remember your duty.

00:41:54.700 This isn't heroism! 1.00

00:41:56.660 You useless sot. 1.00

00:41:57.880 You sit there and shake because you're dependent on a drink. 1.00

00:42:00.520 You're sick as all over you.

00:42:03.760 Have you ever seen a child starve to death, Professor? 1.00

00:42:08.840 No.

00:42:09.920 I have.

00:42:19.660 My teammate says he plays pickup basketball, quote, for the cardio.

00:42:24.440 Well, there's more to it than that, Sean.

00:42:27.880 Like with Bet365, I get paid the second my team goes up big with early payout

00:42:31.960 and can cash out at any time before the game ends.

00:42:34.800 Sean's getting his steps, but I'm getting paid.

00:42:38.280 Bet365, the home of winning early.

00:42:40.700 Must be 19 and older, Ontario only.

00:42:42.380 Please play responsibly.

00:42:43.280 If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling,

00:42:45.020 visit ConnexOntario.ca or call 1-866-531-2600.

00:42:48.840 Terms and conditions apply.

The Matt Walsh Show - October 15, 2026

Ep. 1857 - Customer Service Is So Bad That I'm Siding With A Spoiled Celebrity

Episode Stats

Transcript