Remembering Woke HR Training with Matt Walsh
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
196.61092
Summary
As we are reflecting on the past year, and I think about what this past year was all about, and it really was about suffering, that s what every day of life is about. Life is suffering. And one thing that I suffered through this past decade was HR training videos that basically my producer forced me to watch. Because again, the sadistic people in the audience, and even the Sweet Baby Gang, like to watch me suffer. So we re going back and, and now we re all going to suffer through it one more time. We re going to go back and review some of these HR videos and see if there s anything we missed in them the first time around.
Transcript
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As we are reflecting on this past year, and I think about what this past year was all about,
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and it really, it was all about suffering. And that's what every year is. That's what every day
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of life is suffering. Life is suffering. And one thing that I suffered through this past year was
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HR training videos that basically my producer forced me to watch. Because again, the sadistic
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people in the audience, and even the Sweet Baby Gang, like to watch me suffer. So we're going to
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go back and, and now we're all going to suffer through it one more time. We're going to go back
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and review some of these HR videos and see if there's anything we missed in them the first time
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around. Let's watch. You know, one of the great things about working in conservative media is that
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I don't have to take any insufferable, horrible diversity and inclusion, HR, you know, training
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courses at work that a lot of people have to be subjected to. I've never been subjected to that
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from our HR department. But many of you have had to endure it. So I thought that today,
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maybe as an act of solidarity, because I'm such a generous person, I would endure some of this
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training to see what it's like, just to see how the other half lives and perhaps to offer my own,
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my own review of it, I guess, shall we say. So this is from a company called mTrain, which according
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to the website, venturebeat.com is, quote, a startup providing online education and guidance on human
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resources and compliance topics. Among their clients are Dolby, Live Nation, Netflix, Yelp,
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BuzzFeed, and the New York Times. Maybe at your own job, you've had to sit through videos like
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this. Maybe if you work at one of those, if you work at one of those places, you're probably not
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watching my videos. But either way, if you have had to watch these, you have my condolences. Now,
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mTrain has all their videos proudly displayed on their YouTube channel where they generously allow
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you to watch it for free. So you don't even have to work at one of these places to do it. So in your
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free time, if you're wondering, you know, what you can do to be more diverse and inclusive in your
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personal life, you can always go to this channel, check out their offerings. They've got videos on,
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what do they got, workplace harassment. They've got videos. Those are probably good. They've got
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stuff on sexism in the workplace. They've got some HIPAA compliance videos. We might skip those. I
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don't know. Today, we're going to skim through their managing unconscious bias playlist, how to manage
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your unconscious bias. Because you can't get rid of your unconscious bias. You just got to learn to
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live with it and manage it, right? So they've got many offerings in this genre. We'll watch maybe
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a few of them today. And we'll start with this. This is a video called Examples of Unconscious Bias
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Pattern Matching. So the idea here is a little confusing at first, but they show us a scenario
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and then you jump to the wrong conclusion about that scenario based on stereotypes because you're
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a worthless bigot. And then we find out what was really happening. Okay. So that's basically how
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It's the dry cleaners down on Mission. Two blocks up. You know, you know, you know. I need the red shirt and I'll see you later.
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All right. Okay. We'll just stop there for a second because what the hell kind of dry cleaning
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transaction is that? That's what I want to know. So I'm supposed to feel bad because I saw the two
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guys whispering in a corner and exchanging wads of cash on a street corner. And I didn't immediately
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assume it was a dry cleaning thing. You're going to blame me for that. That's my fault. No, I'm not
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unconsciously biased for not taking the dry cleaning possibility into consideration initially. That
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doesn't make me biased. I'm just a sane, rational person. And I have lived in the world. And I know
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that usually when two guys are on a street corner whispering and exchanging money, it's not because
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one of them wants their shirt ironed. But very often, sane rationality is confused with bias these
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days. And the thing is, it's also, it's also, this is one of my problems with it. It's dangerous
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to tell people not to make common sense assumptions in the world. We do have to make
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assumptions about people. And they're not always going to be flattering assumptions.
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Like if you're heading into a part of town where you're going for a jog or something and you end
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up at a part of town where you see a lot of guys on street corners taking wads of cash from random
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people and then handing them unknown objects, which they discreetly tuck away in their pocket,
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it's probably safe as to turn around and head in the other direction rather than assuming that this
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is just a part of town where everybody really likes to have their pants properly pressed.
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So, um, this has gotten off to a stupid, stupid start already. As stupid as expected, I guess.
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Let's try a new video. This one is called, um, this is called Examples of Microaggressions in the
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Workplace. All right. So the famous microaggressions, we've all heard about them. Now we get to see an
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I don't believe it. Your hair always looks awesome.
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I mean, how do you do it? Do you twist it? Do you do it yourself?
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Oh, I mean, do you mind? Oh, yeah, actually I, I do mind.
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But I mean, if you're really curious about it, there are like tons of YouTube videos out now about
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Okay. So that, that's a microaggression. I still don't know what a microaggression is. I just watched
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an example of it. I'm not even sure who committed the microaggression. There was a microaggression
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floating around there somewhere. I'm not sure who it's emanating from. Um, now I agree that it's weird
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for someone to want to touch your hair. You know, I, I wouldn't want someone touching. I don't want
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someone touching any part of me, uh, in the workplace. And so, but, but haven't you just made
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it a hell of a lot more awkward by turning it into a big deal and then telling them to consult
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YouTube. So you're the one who's made this awkward. It was already a little bit awkward.
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You've just ramped the awkward up to level 10. Now before it was like a three or four. Now it's a 10
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because of you. Someone says, Hey, can I touch your hair? Uh, no, but there are YouTube videos for
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hair touching freaks like yourself. I want to check some of those out. See, it seems like the
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response is even weirder than the initial request. And at any rate, how does that count as a
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microaggression? The white lady was trying to pay the black lady a compliment about her hair,
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maybe awkwardly, but you know, not every awkward human interaction or clumsy comment or, or even
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impolite action is a microaggression. Sometimes it's just someone being awkward or impolite. It happens.
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It happens in the world. In fact, nothing that happens ever is a microaggression because that's
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a made up category and it doesn't mean anything. Uh, there are more examples with this video. So
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let's, let's keep going. How do people at work sit through this and just keep their mouth shut?
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I wouldn't be able to do it. I couldn't physically do it. If you feel like you're not getting the
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respect you deserve in life, um, well, that might be because you don't have a title in front of your
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name that, uh, causes people, forces people to respect you. And here's, here's something that
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you could get. You could get established titles, uh, your very own proclamation like I have
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declaring that you are a Lord or lady and you have this and you will gain the respect you deserve.
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I guarantee you all you need is as one square foot plot of land in Scotland and, um, established
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titles as a project based on a historic Scottish custom where landowners are referred to as layers
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or Lords and ladies in English in your title pack, which, uh, I hold my hand here. You'll
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receive at least one square foot of dedicated land on a private estate and an official certificate
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with a crest. Your certificate will include a unique plot number with which you can see
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the exact location of your land. With this certificate, you can officially change your name to Lord
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or lady and you can get it on your credit card. You're playing tickets. So this is like
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a legal name change. I am legally officially Lord Matt Walsh, Lord bestselling children's
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code Matt Walsh or just click the link below that's establishedtitles.com slash Matt Walsh
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or just click the link below. So this has been, uh, this has been really fun. Not really fun.
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Actually, it's been something, uh, it's been something at least I'll say that, uh, that much.
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At least I decided that because, because many of you work at places with HR departments that
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make you sit through sensitivity training videos. I should both as a form of, um, as an act of
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solidarity, but also as a form of sort of anthropological research, I decided I should
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subject myself to the same. I found these videos on the YouTube channel of a company called
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M train, which provides sensitivity training material to a lot of big companies like Buzzfeed
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and live nation. And I think New York times, which accompanies, they use this company to
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give them their sensitivity training material. So last time we watched, uh, their videos on
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microaggressions in the workplace. And those were great today. We're going to take some time to watch
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some of their teaching, uh, videos on the important issue of workplace harassment. This is an issue
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that's very important to me. Um, I am often harassed here at my job. For example, the other
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day I wanted to go brew some coffee and, uh, and I went to the cabinet where the coffee filters are
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supposed to be. And there was no coffee filters. I actually had to walk to a different cabinet to
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get them. So I considered that to be in a way, a form of harassment, maybe even a microaggression.
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I don't know. Uh, I'm not sure if M train would consider that harassment or not, but we'll find
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out. So let's start here. Here's a video. This one is on inappropriate touching. Sounds pretty frisky.
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We'll, uh, we'll take a look and see what we find out. Okay, great. So pull the numbers from last
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year and plug them into the report and then distribute it before we meet with Christine tomorrow.
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Okay, absolutely. I can do that. Oh, last late night. Just in time. I need to get back to the gym.
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Me too. My back is killing me. It's like there's a knife between my shoulders.
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That doesn't do any good. There's really only one thing.
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Okay. I can, this is already heading bad places, but I see where this is, this is setting up.
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And, uh, I, I, I feel like I know where this is going.
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You know, I hate to ask, but would you, would you walk on my back?
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Walk on your back? I mean, no, I, I mean, I'd hurt you.
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My daughter does it all the time. Really, it's the only thing that helps. I'd really appreciate it.
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No, come on. It'll take two minutes. It'll really help me out.
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Okay. I have to tell you, I, I didn't, I thought I knew where it was going.
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So that was a, there was a twist ending at the end there.
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Number one, is this really a common problem in the American office environment?
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I admit I haven't worked in, you know, I was, I was working from home for years.
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I haven't worked in an office environment that much.
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I haven't seen anybody walking on anybody's back here.
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I can report, is this a common thing that comes up a lot?
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Do women often get approached by men at work, asking them to walk on their backs?
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Like, hey, listen, hate to ask, would you mind hitting me in the shins with a crowbar?
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This, this seems like kind of a niche grievance.
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I just imagine the brainstorming session at M train when they were deciding on their next
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Let's do one where someone wants a lady to walk on their back.
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The second point, though, is why did she do it?
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Even some of the, the me too stories that you hear about.
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This is a me, this, this woman, this is a me too right now.
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You could tell she was, she was very uncomfortable and she's looking traumatized as she's walking
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If you're going to walk, just keep, keep walking out of the room, walk over his back out of
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the room and then go tell someone and say, hey, this freak in there is laying on the
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You know, I, I kind of feel like if you're a woman in the workplace, someone asks you
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to do that and you actually do it, then you're just as much to blame as he is.
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If I'm the boss, I'd fire you both for being a bunch of weirdos.
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If I walk into the room and see that you're both gone.
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I don't care that the woman has a troubled expression.
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I'm glad that we could experience that again one more time as the year comes to a close.
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Really, really special moment that we were able to share together.