The LNBE Podcast
Mike Rispoli presents: The LNBE Podcast. "LNBE" stands for "Literally Nothing, But Everything" and the goal is to touch on what his thoughts and opinions are…just like every other podcast...
The LNBE Podcast
Episode 31 - Nothing but Sick Calls and Sports Drama
Ever felt the strange relief of calling out sick and truly disconnecting from work? Join me, Mike Rispoli, as I share a personal update on my cousin's recent overdose—a heart-wrenching incident stemming from an accidental reaction between seizure medication and alcohol. We dive into calling out sick from work when you’re feeling under the weather, and the popular days people tend to call out, from Super Bowl Monday to Halloween.
In this episode, we explore the cultural phenomenon of "unhappy leave," a mental health initiative by a Chinese supermarket chain that’s making waves. Plus, we contemplate the potential impacts of a proposed six-day work week in Greece. On the sports front, I'll break down the importance of a solid offensive line in football, using Joe Burrow's injuries as a cautionary tale, and celebrate Aaron Judge’s smashing success with over 50 home runs. We'll also take a nostalgic trip down memory lane to college days filled with overindulgence and lessons learned. Whether you’re a sports fan, someone needing a laugh, or interested in mental health innovations, this episode’s got something for you.
If you would like to share your opinion, send an email to lnbemedia@gmail.com
what is up people. Welcome back to the lmbe podcast, where lmbe stands for literally nothing but everything. I'm mike rispoli, and if you want to check me out on my socials, feel free to do so. You can find me at the lmbe pod on tiktok and instagram, and I've also got all the uploaded recordings of this on youtube. So if you just type in the LMBE podcast on YouTube, it should pop up, and if you guys want to write in, you can also feel free to do so. You can reach me at lmbemedia at gmailcom. And with that I'd like to also send a huge thank you to everybody who continues to like, share and subscribe to this podcast. It really does mean a lot to me and the more that you guys do to help me kind of grow this, the better off it'll be. Again, I'm still kind of looking for those write-ins, so if you guys want to tell me more about what you guys like, what you don't like, things that you guys want me to talk about anything, just feel free to go ahead and email me. I really do appreciate the support and, speaking of support, thank you to everybody who wrote in to me about my cousin last week.
Speaker 1:I actually do have a follow-up about what happened. Apparently, I suffered from some premature etoculation just considering the fact that I mentioned something and I didn't fully have the facts out. But given the time that I heard it, I was like you know what? I'm just going to talk about this. But I do have an update, and I mean it was the definition of an accident. Now I don't know if many people are going into an OD and it's not an accident. I mean, I don't know. Maybe some people actually do go into using some sort of a drug and they're just like you know which might have been the cause as to, maybe why he started getting involved with that stuff, but due to the accident, he started getting seizures. So he had to start taking seizure medication and I guess, on top of taking the medication, he also ended up having maybe a drink or two, maybe a couple drinks. I don't know how much he had to drink, but I do know that alcohol was involved. The cocktail that he ingested didn't necessarily sit well and that's ultimately what happened. But you know, even with all that like, even after knowing what happened, it still doesn't negate the fact of what I talked about last week.
Speaker 1:Just be careful, guys, be safe. And again, just to reiterate the wise words of my father just don't put yourself in a bad situation, like if you know you're going to be doing something that could potentially have adverse effects later on in your life. Just don't do it to begin with. Maybe that's something that you don't need to experience All these people out here, especially all these like social media influencers or whatever. You don't have to experience everything in life to know what every drug feels like. Like guys, you know what you like and what you don't like. And if you know deep down in your gut that you're not really going to be sitting well with something, then just don't even bother. Like, listen to your gut. Even when you're taking the SAT, it's a one out of four shot. You don't know the answer. Listen to your gut. It's always C or is it B? I don't fucking know.
Speaker 1:I didn't do well on my SATs. Also, did it necessarily affect the outcome of my life? Not necessarily, so I don't give a fuck. I'm sorry, guys. I've been fighting something all week. I have no idea what the problem is, but I'm gonna just sit here and tell you I'm so glad that I'm just not feeling the same way that I did on tuesday.
Speaker 1:Oh bro, I woke up on tuesday it felt like I got hit by a truck. I was like there's no way in hellsville I'm making it in today. So I just pulled up my big boy sweats and I called out of work. But like, is it me or is like calling out of work? It's almost like you shouldn't do it, at least. Like for me it feels that way and I know everybody's just like no, if you are sick, take a day off. But like, am I the only one where I feel like it's almost taboo if you take a day like I understand that's what the days are for and I'm definitely not going to be the one to tell you to not take all your pto days. But for some reason, to calling out sick is more of a bitch move than taking PTO, because then it's always the question of just like well, do they really think I'm sick? I mean, I know this is probably why you never take a sick day on a Monday or a Friday, because it's like oh, are you really sick? You just hung over.
Speaker 1:Like the Super Bowl Monday, I think, is probably the most called out of work day. I Super Bowl Monday, I think, is probably the most called out of work day. I think it's. I would put probably Super Bowl Monday. I would probably put that in my top five. Like, what's your top five call out of work days? And the day after New Year's does not make my list, because everybody goes out New Year's Eve. Like how many people are actually calling out of work January 2nd, unless it was part of a pre-planned vacay? None but alright, so let's go All right. Your birthday Got to assume a lot of astrology fans are part of Swifties and there's a bunch of those, so that's a big one.
Speaker 1:St Paddy's Day I remember going up on a Tuesday because of St Patrick's Day, and let me tell you that following Wednesday was a quiet-ass day. Oh, but since Halloween is like right around the corner we all know how much bitches love spooky season, I bet you Tiffany gets a little too drunk at the pumpkin patch and has to call out the next day, so I'll give you guys Halloween. I already mentioned the Super Bowl, so then, all right. So now I think we're out of love with the two big ones, and I'm thinking strategically only in the sense that, like, not everybody gets these days off and that would be either or the day after christmas or the day after thanksgiving. So maybe one is an honorable mention in the sixth spot.
Speaker 1:But now I'll go day after thanksgiving, because everybody celebrates fucking thanksgiving in america. I mean, would it be insensitive to say that even non-americans the day? I mean it's a fucking free day just to gorge yourself with food. Who in their right mind is going to say no to that Dude? I would love to hear the conversation of somebody living in America from a third world country on the phone, talking to their relatives from whichever country they reside in and just being like yeah, I don't know, we're all just taking a day off to eat. They say it's about giving thanks. But if it was about giving thanks, why did I have to make all this fucking food? People should be bringing me food to give me thanks. Fuck that. And the other person on the phone is just like you guys have that much food for a day of eating. Yeah, oh, must be nice.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I got the day after Thanksgiving on that fifth slot. So, all right, hang on. What do we got as our five call out of work days? We got the day after your birthday, the day after St Patrick's Day, the day after Halloween, the day after the Super Bowl and the day after Thanksgiving. So if you guys have other ideas, if you guys have another order, write in, let me know.
Speaker 1:But yeah, dude, I don't know ideas. If you guys have another order, write in. Let me know. But yeah, dude, I don't know. There's just something about it with me. We're calling out of work. It just seems like I shouldn't be doing it and I don't know why. But when I'm calling out on PTO, I'm like yo bye bitches, like I don't want to hear from you guys, like I'm not even bringing my phone. I'm not bringing my time. I am now on my time.
Speaker 1:But also with that, I ended up not working the bar over the weekend because I've been sick. I called out Friday night. I think that was the last night that I was going to be doing the door, because I think every college kid is back now. I think the only school around here that starts after Labor Day is URI, which is kind of dumb. I feel like all schools should just start after labor day, because what you're going on like a wednesday, like moving days, like a wednesday or tuesday or some shit, and then you start your classes like thursday, friday, so just syllabus week and then, like, you start your normal class schedule starting Tuesday. So you go to school for two days and then you have a three day weekend. And that three day weekends when all the freshmen end up all going to the hospital, oh my God, I remember, no matter what the year was, that was the one weekend that was truly just a three day fucking bender dude. The one weekend that was truly just a three-day fucking bender dude. That first weekend was the most amount of puking I'd see consistently every year. Now my sister and I ended up going to the same school and my freshman year.
Speaker 1:I wasn't going to be an idiot because what I ended up doing I was not a big partier in high school and now all of a sudden I'm in college and I have the freedom to go and do whatever I want, because I mean, I don't know if your parents are like mine, but any sort of underage drinking was kind of like a no go and I was like way more afraid of my parents than I was of any cop that I was going to have to deal with about this. So, again, just trying to be smart, not put myself into a bad situation. I wasn't going to just go out and drink and just go ham with it, not knowing what my limitations were, and that's what a lot of it ended up being right. It was a bunch of kids who didn't know how much they could handle, and then they all just ended up doing way too much, way too early on. So I remember I actually went to go hang out in my sister's dorm for a little bit, because we both ended up going to the same school, so we're kind of hanging out. And then, once I leave, right when I get outside her dorm, there was a trash can, maybe like 15 feet away from the front entrance. So now I'm outside and I just see this like group of three kids just huddled around this trash can and they were treating it like a merry-go-round, like one kid would puke, just end up going right back to the end of the line, the second kid would puke. I'm like, oh my god. Now I'm not saying that I wasn't one of these kids. Also, trust me, I definitely had my fun, hence why I don't do it anymore. Sorry, there you go. I didn't end up working the bar, but you still got some bar, like stories that make up for it. Oh, but I was talking about work stuff before and I totally forgot to mention this.
Speaker 1:I see that there's a I don't know if it's a japanese company or if it's a chinese company, but they're giving unhappy leave. How fucking cool is that. Can you imagine just the grown adult tantrums. I fucking hate it here just walking out, oh, oh, my God, could you use it like at? Will you ever just have one of those meetings where, like 10 minutes in, you know it could have just been an email, and then they keep your ass there for an hour? So you're like, hey, I'm feeling pretty unhappy right now. I'm putting in four hours of unhappy leave. Actually, you know what? Let me look it up real quick so I actually know what I'm talking about here. Sorry, go ahead and talk amongst yourselves while I look this up.
Speaker 1:Unhappy leave company. All right, let's see what pops up here. Oh, company offers 10 days of unhappy leave New York Post. I don't care if you guys think it's legitimate or not, it's just one of the top that came up. The top that came up, all right. Um, in addition to paid time off, some companies offer their employees mental health days. But one supermarket chain in china called pang don lie if I butchered that, I'm sorry recently announced that they took this a step further by offering their workers 10 days of unhappy leave. This cannot be denied by management. Denial is a violation that's freaking sick. Do you know how much I think we would abuse that? I think my first 10 unhappy days leave probably take place within like the first month.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you guys. I know that Greece was, because their economy is just such in the shitter. I saw that Greece was going to start implementing the six day work day rule, which is insane because it's like guys, I don't even want to be here for five days, you expect me to work an additional sixth. Now I don't know if I'm assuming that they would have to get paid for that additional day. I don't know if that would go more into their salary. That's something that would have to get worked out. My employer is telling, telling me that I'm going to have to come in for an extra day and my pay is just going to get recalculated based on that, because everybody has an hourly pay. Whether your salary or not, everybody has an hourly pay. So would they just take that math of what my hourly pay is and then just redistribute that for a six-day work week. Fuck that.
Speaker 1:I went into work knowing that I was going to be working five days a week for x amount of dollars. I want that fucking pay increase if I'm working that extra day. I don't know if overtime accounts, but whatever happened to that british company that was trying to deal with that four day work week, now that that I can get involved in, what does it matter if I have to work an extra couple hours during the day? If it means I get an extra full day off, I'll take a three-day weekend. That seems more fair. Having a three-day weekend going into a four-day work week, that ratio seems to add up a little bit more.
Speaker 1:But all right, let's go ahead and look this up. Four-day workers may be around the corner for a third of america's companies. Oh, all right, cnn, let's see what you have to say. Okay, so I guess they did their own study and according to this this is a full 77 percent of us workers said a four-day, 40-hour work week would have a positive impact on their well-being, according to a gallup poll released in november and this article was written april 12th, 2024, so a few months ago. He goes on to say that the good news for workers is that some studies of the four-day work weeks in the united states and europe have found positive results for well-being and productivity amongst workers.
Speaker 1:Wait, hang hang on. Why was my company not aware of this study? Going on here, like did you guys ask everybody? All right, they're also saying it's way too early to declare the four-day work week part of the future. It's still in the experimentation page.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, because companies want to see if they're actually going to be profitable or not. We just want to make sure that if we go from a five-day work week to a four-day work week, that we're still going to produce the same amount of profit that we did. I mean, that's really the only reason they're calling it a study. It's really not even a study in the sense of like hey, will our workers be happy? No, it's all about the productivity of the company. Let's be real here, and that's part of the reason why I think, once COVID became no longer a thing, why all these companies forced us to come back into work, because they didn't feel like we were quote unquote as productive as we would have been in the office. But COVID data shows that we were actually more productive. So I don't know, is it because companies just want to have a stranglehold on us again, or is it just because we all want to go back to pre-covid normalcy? I don't know, call it what you will, but one thing is for sure is the sense of normalcy where the patriots are winning is just not going to happen for the next like 10 years.
Speaker 1:I've actually still been watching some preseason and I got to say I still am happy with some of the results that Drake May has been showing us. I mean, kind of deep on their own side of the field, I mean I think they were on like the two or three yard line and Drake was able to scramble like 13 yards to get a first down. I was not unhappy with that. And then he threw. He had some nice touch on the ball. He threw a decent pass to Harris who ended up getting a touchdown out of it. But it's funny because like everybody's getting their arms up just to see like the Patriots starters beat out the second string and third stringers for the commanders in last week's game and it's like, okay, so our best is able to put up a 10-point differential up against a freaking bunch of scrubs. That's what we're all rooting for. A-plus here, guys. I mean, yeah, while Drake May actually does look like he could actually play a game in this freaking league, the Pats are still dealing with the receivers. That just cannot get any sort of space. I don't even know who the receivers are on the pads. I think they're the lowest graded wide receiver group in the league and it's like this is the team that we're getting excited about. I will say I think it's going to be leaps and bounds better than what it was last year. But for all you crazy pads fans like I swear to God, pads fans now are going to be what Cowboys fans are.
Speaker 1:We had so many years of great success. What you don't realize is, for however many years of success an organization has, they have double the amount of downtime. I mean, let's look at the Broncos. They went back to back in the 90s and then it wasn't until 2015 where they had their first Super Bowl appearance. And then think about the 49ers. The 49ers won four back in the 90s. They've been the three Super Bowl appearances since. They've lost all three. And then the team that everybody likes to compare is the Cowboys. The Cowboys won three back in the 90s. They've barely hit the fucking playoffs in the past 15 years, if it wasn't for Brady having a shit game or a shit season last year. They don't even make it out of the wild card last year.
Speaker 1:Honestly, why is it that Cowboys fans are just so adamant that, like we them boys no, you're fucking not like. I hate to break it to you has Dak even made it like past a wild card, even made it like past a wild card game? Like, I know he's won a wild card game, but has he ever won a game past that? I don't think so. But like Niners fans aren't delusional, broncos fans aren't delusional. Why are Cowboys fans delusional? And Pats fans, as I am also a Pats fan, so I can say this we do not want to be the next cowboys fans like enjoy the misery.
Speaker 1:You're telling me that, honestly, all of my life I have been a pats fan, ever since I've been watching football, since I was like maybe seven years old. So for the past 21 years of my life I have been a patriots fan and I finally get to watch the playoffs in fucking peace. Oh my God, we get so invested in our sports teams. It's unbelievable. I mean, I know Trevor Noah has a joke about it Like pretty much every foreign comedian I know has a joke about how invested Americans are in their sports teams. But like you don't understand when the Patriots lose on a Sunday, I'm going into the rest of my week like, well, this is going to be great, like it really sets the mood for my weeks. So what I've kind of done is I've learned how to kind of ride out the misery and now I'm actually like, okay, this team is good. I can actually kind of root for them, because it was hard to root for other AFC teams as a Pats fan, because I knew I was like either we're gonna make it in the playoffs and we're gonna beat them, or we're gonna make it to the playoffs and they're gonna beat us, and either way I'm gonna have to root against this team at some point. So why even bother rooting for them now after my rider died? But now I actually get to have a little side piece action here. So I'm a big fan of the Bengals If Joe Burrow can just fucking stay healthy, if they could just fix that old line.
Speaker 1:Dude, dude, an old line will make or break a quarterback or a running back If you're going to invest in anything in your offense, if you've already got weapons, get a fucking old line. Look at how many times Burrow's been injured in the past what, how many? I had a fucking O-line. Look at how many times Burrow's been injured in the past what? How many years has he been in the league Four? He's been injured at least three. I remember his first season he tore his ACL or some shit Like fixture O-line. The one season that he was fully healthy he got you to a Super Bowl. You don't want that again. Fixture, fucking O-line guys. You know what? I can say the same thing about the patriots. The patriots, besides their wide receiver room, which is a mess, their old line needs some serious fucking work. Now I'm really glad that they went out and they got a quarterback.
Speaker 1:I was low-key, actually hoping that they wouldn't and maybe they would actually sign a guy like cousins, somebody who could actually work with receivers. No, instead they go and draft some rookie and then they're automatically gonna like play him. Nobody ever follows what the Packers does, which is they sit their fucking rookie quarterbacks, learn, let them develop and then they get into a game. But no, nobody ever wants to take that route. Everybody's just like go for it. If you can hack it, you're in, if you can't, we'll find somebody else like. It really amazes me that nobody follows that methodology. But I was kind of hoping that the patriots would take more of like a veteran qb to then utilize the draft to pick up the broken pieces of the offensive line that they just desperately need. Dude, there's only one guy that's actually of value on our offensive line right now and arguably you could say that that's ultimately what tanked Jones' career as a Pat.
Speaker 1:Now, look, I'm not saying I was a Jones fan. I think when he was under pressure the kid looked shell-shocked every single time. But I will say, if he had at least somewhat of a decent line, maybe if somebody had given him a little chance I mean, his best weapon on those Pats teams was Stevenson, for God's sakes. Like he had no shot. As much as I don't like him, I also got to say like the Pats didn't really give him a fair shot. Do I think he's NFL caliber level? No, I see the way that he makes throws, but I am watching him on the Jags and with a better situation he could have been decent. Shanahan would have loved him. All right. Anyways, pats fans, you're going to be fine if they don't have a winning season every season. The world still goes on and I know, I know I'm also saying this as a Yankee fan, so it's like, oh well, what do you know about losing? We go through droughts. Look at the Yankees right now. They're in a massive drought. Actually, if it wasn't for Aaron Judge, I don't think the team would be anywhere.
Speaker 1:I saw that he just hit his 50th home run. That's exciting. I really do wonder if he's on pace to hit 62 again. That would be crazy. When did he hit it the first time? When did he hit 63? Was that last year? Was that two years ago? I actually want to say that was two years ago. I think I actually just saw something where he's like the fifth player in MLB history to have 50 or more home runs in three or more seasons. And it's crazy because if you look at the people on this list, all right, so I just looked it up and it says, according to MLBcom judges, the fifth player in MLB history with three plus seasons of 50 or more home runs Okay, of 50 or more home runs, okay, but along with Babe Ruth, who did it four times, mark McGuire who did it four times, sammy Sosa who did it four times, and A-Rod who did it three times. So out of that list only one guy was natty and that was Babe Ruth. Everybody else was on the juice. So Judge has officially accomplished some Ruth-level shit, and that guy did it probably the last time he did it was in the 30s. So I don't know, guys, if you're not watching Aaron Judge, you're really not watching.
Speaker 1:Like history and that's the beautiful thing about sports is how much like historical significance is a part of sports. And I wonder if that's actually what kind of drives the rivalries between cities. I mean, you could say it's about food, you could say it's about the governance style, you could say it's about the cleanliness. But let's be real here. I feel like the whole NYC-Boston battles of which city was better really did not occur if it wasn't really for baseball. Because I don't think If Babe Ruth doesn't get traded to the Yankees and the Yankees go on that friggin tear Of all those World Series wins, I don't know if Boston really cares as much If the Yankees don't win. I don't know if that Boston New York rivalry Is really as significant as it is. But I could also just be blowing smoke up your asses Just because I'm sick, but I don't know something to kind of think about. But all right, guys, I think that kind of does it for me.
Speaker 1:Thank you again to everybody who reached out about my cousin. I really do appreciate that and if you guys could be so kind still continue to follow, like and subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, write up a comment, give me that five-star review. If you platform you're listening to this on, write up a comment, give me that five star review. If you guys want to write in, you can do so. You can reach me at lmbemedia at gmailcom. And also, don't forget, all of the audio versions of this are also uploaded on youtube. You guys can also check me out on my socials if you guys care that much. All right, guys, thank you for listening. I hope you have a great week and I will catch up with you next Tuesday.
