Are You Cutting Your Own Throat?

Welcome to the Causey Consulting Podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com. And now, here’s your host, Sara Causey.

Hello, Hello, and thanks for tuning in. In today’s episode, I want to pose the question, are you cutting your own throat? Are you pee peeing on your own parade? I think as we go farther into whatever this is, what whatever kind of economic downturn that we’re in, but is being papered over by the mainstream media? I feel like that’s an important question. And I think it’s one that you will have to be relentless about asking yourself, Am I poisoning the well for myself? Am I doing things that are causing me to not have success in life. And it’s sad, because as I’ve said before, I feel like we live in an age where everybody is just supposed to get a sympathy factor for everything, no matter how nonsensical and idiotic their decisions may be, they’re just supposed to get a pass card for it. There’s not supposed to be personal accountability, personal responsibility, Caveat emptor. And yet, living in a predatory system, which I believe we do, it’s never been more important to have good common sense, good critical thinking and Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. Do your research, decide for yourself, look into a purchase. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then talk to an accountant, a financial planner, an attorney, et cetera, get with a professional who can help you. But I have to say I’m just I’m frustrated with people who peepee on their own parade, and then they want to bail out or they want everybody else to feel sorry for them. Like they possess no forethought whatsoever. I find that frustrating. And yes, believe me, the irony is not lost on me. You know how much I talk about corporate America and Wall Street and the fat cats and the cronies, they get bailed out? You and I do not we don’t get a Get Out of Jail Free card the way that the cronies and the politicians do know, we’re expected to live out the consequences of our actions. So again, I’m going to say to you that just upped the ante even more, because we’re not going to get a Wall Street bailout, because we’re not going to get a Get Out of Jail Free card, if we royally screw up our lives. That puts the onus on us even more, to make sure that we’re not making idiotic, weirdo decisions. In some respects, this is a bit of an addendum to an episode I released last summer was August of last year, I had bonus episode, people who are not going to make it. I stand by that because yeah, in my opinion, there’s some people they’re just not going to make it. In the episode I talk about right fighters, people that want to turn everything into a Lincoln Douglas debate, people that get into FOMO and Yolo. They just either can’t or won’t think about any long term consequences of their actions. They listen to whatever’s being parroted in the media. They trust whatever some realtor who’s trying to sell them a house who has a vested interest in parting them from their money, they listen to whatever that person says, Oh, this is a great time to be in the market. Never better housing prices are only going to go up why we would just never have another 2008 That will never happen again. And they listen to some mortgage broker who same thing. Second verse, same as the first they’ll listen to some mortgage broker that also has a vested interest and parting them from their money. And they’ll say things like the loans now are so much more solid. We learned a lot from what happened in oh eight and oh nine. The rules and regulations are different. We are not underwriting unscrupulous loans. But then when you look at reality, there are plenty of people with highly sauce debt to income ratios that are getting approved for these doodoo poop overpriced houses at insane no rates. And you’re sitting back looking at the dumpster fire like there is no possible way that this is going to end well. At least not one that I can see. And having lived through this movie before. I pretty much think I know how it ends and none of the possibilities there seem good to me. I hope I’m wrong. Maybe there will be some miraculous Hail Mary pass that saves the day. But see, I think that also goes back to the lack of personal responsibility and accountability that some people have. They really want to believe the state will save me corporate America will saves me, the politicians will come up with some plan, they’ll work together with Wall Street, they’ll fire up the printing press, the Fed will come in and they’ll know what to do and we’ll all be saved. Maybe it looks cataclysmic now, but it’ll all be okay in the end. And I’m just like, Well, okay, if you say so, you go right ahead. And you believe that if you choose to. This also applies in your job search. Because regardless of what you’re still hearing from the hot air and hopium crowd, I personally do not believe that we have an unemployment rate under 4%. I do not think that the labor market is still robust and resilient, and churning and burning. There are all of these open jobs for everyone unemployed person, if you get laid off from big tech, and you were making 200k, well, you should just go be a burrito maker for 17 bucks an hour. And somehow that’s going to be enough. I don’t believe any of that. So as you’re going out into the job market, how are you presenting yourself? What is your personal brand? How do you want other people to view you when they get on the phone with you when they’re when they’re trying to consider you for a potential job opening? Because, as you know, I’m a contrarian. And I’m also very blunt, I will get on the air and I will tell you things that other people will not. Yes, we had a great resignation. And in so many ways that was fan flipping tastic did it permanently shift the balance of power away from corporate America and Wall Street and the cronies and into the hands of individual workers? No, it did not. If you thought that at the time, if you believe that it was going to last forever. If you listen to Hadera and hopium types that told you and pumped you up and said it was going to last forever and that this was a permanent change. I’m sorry. In that situation, in my opinion, you believed a lie. And I’m sorry for you if you did. However, my sympathy is not going to do a damn bit of good for you, it’s time for you to to pull your head out of your backside and get real. If you are ghosting if you’re acting like a fool acting like a clown, you’re being rude. You’re cutting your own throat. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that interviewing is a bed of roses, that’s sending out resumes and filling out applications is the most fun task in the world. Clearly it’s not. Do you want a job? That’s one of the things that you have to ask yourself, Am I motivated to find a job? Or if you’re gainfully employed? What’s your raison d’etre? I mean, what why are you thinking about making a change? Do you have a compelling reason? Or are you just out playing games and goofing around and just want to see what’s out there just kicking the tires? What what is the real motivation? Is it worth it to you to attend interviews? Is it worth it to you to polish up your resume and have everything looking good? Because there’s competition out there. People might have gotten away with ghosting, we showing up late with acting the fool during the Great resignation when employers actually were fairly desperate. That shit is no, no, it’s not happening. Now. Again, I will say if somebody is telling you that you can act like a clown at job interviews and be rude and hateful, and it’s not going to matter. Wow. Who are you listening to? And why? Are you just that desperate to hear what you want to hear what?

This really hit home to me last week, because I spoke to somebody who was just incredibly rude, and combative. And for No, no good reason. I don’t know if she was just having a bad day. And she wanted to take it out on me. Or if she’s having a bad life, and she is a pill and just wants to make everybody around her miserable, I don’t know. And it really who cares? For the for the point of this podcast, I got on the phone with her. And she came to me, I want to be very clear in saying that I did not headhunt her I did not solicit her. She came to me of her own volition. I posted a job that I was working on for a client. And in the job description. It very clearly said the size of the company and the industry that they’re in as well as their physical location. I don’t believe there’s any benefit and trying to obfuscate all of that this is not 1994 and trying to do all of the cloak and dagger with old school recruiting is just a waste of time and people are not going to respond to it. So I put important pertinent details in the job description. I get on the phone with this lady, and we barely get through the initial Hi, how are you? I’m fine. I’m also good. That’s great. Do you still have a few minutes to chat with me today? We get barely past that and she immediately hits me with Are you a recruiter? I’m just gonna be straight up with you. I hate that to me. It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. Because whenever somebody asks you that they’re asking you that as a pejorative, they’re trying to insult you. So essentially, like when you get on the phone with somebody and you’re like, is this a telemarketing call? Is this a sales? Call it what is it? What is it? You’re asking me? This is the same thing. You’re you’re trying to belittle someone for their profession. And I don’t like that, because I don’t deserve that. And I think it’s really particularly galling when that person has sought me out. It’s like, Well, why would you seek me out to be rude to me, that doesn’t even make any sense. So I explained her the situation, I’m fractional for this company, I’m helping them. But this role does not go through me, it’s not a temp position, I’m not a staffing agency, you’re not going to be payroll through me. After we have this interaction. If you’re a good fit for the job, you and I will not talk again, you’ll be directly in with the company and you will go through their hiring funnel. It just wasn’t good enough for her she could not get this idea out of her head staffing agency, and she gave me a speech about how all recruiters are terrible. She had had so many bad experiences with them. She didn’t trust any of them. And I’m saying they’re like, why then why are we even doing this? Like, this is such such a weird waste of time. She also said that there was a very particular industry that she wanted to stay in. So she asked me some questions about the position. But it was all stuff that was posted very clearly in the description. Like, well, if you wanted to stay in this very specific niche industry, and you could read plainly in the job description I posted for the public that this was not that why why are you here? You just mass applying and you’re not even reading the job descriptions? Or are you trying to get on the phone and be a jerk Wah to people? I didn’t get it. I really didn’t. So that was a brief phone call. It was highly unpleasant. And I just did not like anything about her approach whatsoever. But it was a brief phone call. And I thought that’s the kind of person who cuts their own throat. They get on the phone, they act like a rude ass. And then they can’t figure out why they can’t get hired anywhere. Because I promise you when she goes home at night, her family that’s the narrative No, every all recruiters are bad. Everybody’s against me. The world owes me something I can’t find another job. Why? And it’s like, well, have you ever thought that maybe your approach of being a stone cold biatch to people on the phone is rather off putting, if you ever looked in the mirror and thought that it might be you. People don’t want to do that anymore. They want to blame everything and everyone else for their problems. There was an article on Medium that Rocco pistola wrote called they traded $1,800 rent for a $4,150 mortgage. Now they’re having panic attacks.

And I just thought, oh my god. Why? Why? Why?

I’m tempted to say who does that? But the reality is a lot of people in America have done that. All that FOMO the Yolo the let’s do it and the artificially manipulated markets and the realtors and the mortgage brokers acting like this is it. This is the last chance Express. If you want to be a homeowner, you either get on this ship now or we’re sailing and you are missing out permanently. Some people bought into that. And then whenever they find out that they got a lemon house, or they can’t really afford it, or they got an arm and they’re going to get bent over and screwed royally royally by the increase in interest rates, then they want everybody to feel sorry for them. And I’m at the end of my rope with this mentality of everybody’s a victim all the time. feel sorry for me. Why don’t you exercise some personal accountability. In this article we read. This type of reality makes me angry and a little sad. However, it also helps pave light at the end of the tunnel. Today we sum up the anger, sadness and refreshingly subsequent light longish story short from article I saw the other day, and then healing links to an article that you can find on Yahoo Finance. And he’s quoting from that article now. Jonathan and shalom in Seattle just swapped their $1,800 a month rent for a $4,150 mortgage payment. As a result, Jonathan says he started having nearly 90 panic attacks, and the couple is fighting over whether to buy furniture they bought based on real estate marketing and not what they can afford. And then Rocco’s comment thereafter is you can’t make this shit up. But you can predict it. Yeah, you can predict it. What Why, why would you? Sorry, I can’t I mean, I can’t get there. I can’t understand why you would take on that kind of an increase in your monthly obligations. I mean, maybe if you won one of those blank insane Powerball lotteries, you know, and you got with a financial planner and the planner said yes, you can afford this now it’s well within your budget and you’re not going to get in any trouble. But for an average working person, what Rocko then mentions another article he wrote on medium titled, The horrible advice realtors and mortgage lenders are giving desperate homebuyers. And then he quotes from this article, Mary, the house date the rate sounds cute, but it’s outrageously irresponsible. Apparently realtors and mortgage lenders across the country are using this line on prospective homebuyers freaked out by the record high cost to carry a mortgage amid still outrageously high housing prices. This idea of marrying the house date, the rate basically means get the house now because I’m like you love it and get rid of the high rate later when you refinance your mortgage at a lower interest rate. It’s not too difficult to imagine the scenario. prospective homebuyers. We’re not sure that’s a high payment realtor it is. But if you can manage it for a couple of years, housing prices will start going up again and rates will come down. You can refinance. Oh, okay. Make sense. We can stretch for a couple of years. As long as we pay less after that done. You’ve pushed somebody with home ownership and the American dream on the brain into making an incredibly risky and potentially life changing financial decision. So easy to do. Because we’re conditioned to believe that buying a home is always the prudent money move. It takes very little convincing, even when we’re in doubt, to support something we not only have always believed and come to take for granted, but desperately want to believe in quote. Yes. And I really think that last line sums it up, desperately want to believe. Are you fooling yourself? Are you cutting your own throat? Are you like the rude lady that I encountered and you and beginner that then goes home and says Well, nobody, nobody wants to hire me? All recruiters are the devil won’t law. I mean, are you listening to realtors or mortgage brokers telling you Mary the house date the rate, it’s all going to be okay, just go ahead and buy that house now. sign on the dotted line and make sure that we get our commissions and then we’re going to leave. We’re not going to be held responsible. If down the road you get foreclosed on, we’re just going to say like, well, you should have exercised better judgment. If you weren’t capable of doing this, then you shouldn’t have done it. Such as the world in which we live. And I think in terms of people who are probably not going to make it if you allow yourself in my opinion. So that’s all this is is just my opinion, I could be wrong. If you allow yourself to get into that victim mentality. If you think everyone in life is always going to play fair with you, if you think that somebody with a vested interest in parting you from your money is looking out for you. What are you thinking, whether they’re trying to convince you to buy a stock, they’re trying to convince you to buy a house, whatever, a car, whatever. If they have a vested interest in taking your money from you, you have to consider that as part of their motivation.

Point blank.

If you are allowing yourself to get into that victim mentality, or a right fighter mentality, I’m right. Everybody else is wrong. All other recruiters are the devil. It’s not my fault I interview in a very pristine and perfect way even though I’m incredibly disrespectful. It’s everybody else’s fault. My resume looks like garbage, and it’s not getting any leads. That must be everybody else’s fault. I bought this house and I got FOMO and Yolo. And now we can’t afford it. That must be everybody else’s fault. You have to wake up from that. Just like I would say you have to detox from bullshit nonsense on social media and in mainstream media. If that’s all you’re consuming all the time. I just I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine how far behind the eight ball you would be and what kind of like scrambled egg position your brain would be in. In response to Rocco’s article I wrote the comment we live in a predatory system. At the same time, there needs to be an uptick in Caveat emptor and personal responsibility. Get out of the FOMO and the Yolo. And think about the long term consequences of a terrible financial decision. I stand by that. I would say that’s not just about finances though. We live in a predatory system. We live in a system that is decidedly rigged against the middle class, the working class and the working poor. These politicians and their fat cat cronies and the Wall Street bankers and the central bankers, they don’t give a shit about you and me. The onus is on us. So whether you are thinking about a real estate decision You’re thinking about getting into the stock market, you’re trying to look for a new job. I don’t give you advice and I don’t tell you what to do. If it were me, I would just say if I’m not, if I’m not getting what I want, if I’m having more hits than if I’m having more misses than hits, I feel like things are not going my way The interviews are not resulting in job offers or the resume is not resulting in interviews. If I have suspicion about what this financial guy’s trying to get me to do, or what this realtor is trying to talk me into, Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. Use some good common sense and some good critical thinking. But please, getting into this FOMO and YOLO and marry the house date the rate. If you do that, in my opinion, you were doing it at your own peril. Stay safe, stay sane, and I will see you in the next episode.

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