Episode Transcript.
Don Mock 0:20
Alright episode 91. We’re back Rob.
Rob Broadfoot 0:21
91. Class of 91′.
Don Mock 0:24
Class of 91. You are not the class of 91, are you?
Rob Broadfoot 0:27
I was the class of 92 from our school.
Don Mock 0:30
Alright, I was class of 93. So speaking of though, it’s our kids first day back in school As of recording this, which is totally insane.
Rob Broadfoot 0:40
First day, what grade your kids are in, tell the people.
Don Mock 0:43
So the two that are still living with me at home because I got one in college.
Rob Broadfoot 0:48
Because you kicked one out.
Don Mock 0:49
Yep. It’s like you can’t live here anymore, you’re out. Bam, you’re 18 man, you’re on your own, see you later. We are rocking Middle School. So we have the first day of sixth grade. We have left the loving embrace of elementary school. And we were thrown into the harsh cold reality of Middle School, which is tough for everybody. So you don’t have that one loving teacher anymore. Hugs. Now you got eight days B days. Seven different teachers. bells are ringing. you’re hustling from one room to another. Right?
Rob Broadfoot 1:18
It’s looking like the real world.
Don Mock 1:19
Yeah. So first day of sixth grade and first day of eight grade. So we’re at the bottom of middle school and we are at the top of middle school.
Rob Broadfoot 1:26
Yeah. Bookending the middle school.
Don Mock 1:27
Yeah, and then it’ll be another few years before they’re both in high school together. Yeah. So how about you? You’ve got some first days back
Rob Broadfoot 1:37
We do. We’ve got two freshmen. Low on the totem pole in high school And then we’ve got one who is in eighth grade, so top of the middle school, and then we have one who’s going off to college.
Don Mock 1:54
Yeah, that’s exciting.
Rob Broadfoot 1:56
Yeah, super exciting. So we’ll see. We’ll see how that you know, I told the incoming freshmen I said, Hey, you know, you guys are gonna be low on the old totem pole. Welcome to the school of hard knocks, kids get ready. And Ian just looked at me and goes, I got this, which was great.
Don Mock 2:14
I love the bravado.
Rob Broadfoot 2:15
I think some of them were a little bit nervous about What where do I go and What do I do, but they weren’t showing it on their hardened exteriors.
Don Mock 2:21
Yeah, well we had the celebration of learning.
Rob Broadfoot 2:24
I celebrate learning every single day
Don Mock 2:26
I know. We only do it for one hour at a time once a year. Were we go walk the mean streets of Sutton and figure out were our classrooms are and advisement and homeroom and all that good stuff, you know, so, so yeah, so I mean, hey, man, kids are going back. I think it’s too early. I don’t I feel like we should be going back in Labor Day. I feel like summer it’s still hot and 10,000 degrees outside as we mentioned in our last episode, like I think kids should still be at the pool and love summer and then go back in Labor Day but it’s not up to me.
Rob Broadfoot 2:57
Yeah, we’ve been saying it for years and years and years. But we’ve moved to this schedule of now every six weeks we have a break. I mean, it’s like you got Fall Break. Winter Break. You got Christmas, of course and Thanksgiving, then you got you know, spring break. Which is a total bummer for working parents.
Don Mock 3:18
It’s annoying.
Rob Broadfoot 3:19
It’s super annoying, because all of a sudden, it’s like you can’t just take a week off in the middle, anyway, I agree with you. I think summer is too short these days.
Don Mock 3:28
Yeah my kids would agree. So well speaking of first day, do you have any first day any man, I’m springing this on you, but any initial first day memories of school at any point and your like any anxiety or triumphs or celebrations or failures or anything any first day sort of things pop up in your mind?
Rob Broadfoot 3:46
I’m trying to think? I don’t know that I have any first day specifics.
Don Mock 3:54
I remember. I mean, just anecdotes. I remember like, first day for middle school for us. South West was seventh and eighth grade only. So six was still part of elementary school. Right. And I remember seventh grade first day, and this is old school. Like you did pictures on the first day.
Rob Broadfoot 4:10
Oh, really? We didn’t do that.
Don Mock 4:11
Yeah, we did pictures on the first day. So man, if you missed the first day, you’re not in the yearbook, you know, six months later, whatever. So I remember it was like, Oh, I’m riding my bike to JLS and I it’s gonna screw up my hair. Man. I’ve got my hair all gelled, you know What I mean? Like, like, I had to do picture day and I have to ride my bike like I remember that being like a source of not anxiety, but like, oh, man, you know?
Rob Broadfoot 4:36
Thankfully, I’ve got my can of mousse in my backpack so I can make my hair strong.
Don Mock 4:42
Yeah, yeah, I look actually pretty good in my seventh grade picture. I’m not gonna lie. I look pretty handsome in that one. I had a nice killer wave up front.
Rob Broadfoot 4:51
Oh It was all about the bangs.
Don Mock 4:52
Yeah, it was all about the front. You know kinda wavy hair right? So remember that. I also remember that’s when our little bike group expanded, it was like, yeah, the gang that was going to ride to school. There were people that were come because hey, the elementary schools all feed into the middle school, right? And it was oh, there are other people that other people know that are all going to meet. We’re all going to meet up and it was like I don’t know What these people are like, this is kind of weird, you know What I mean? But ended up being great friends with a majority of them, and I ended up meeting one of my good pals Emilio he was friends with Lou Kenny. And I still see and talk to Emilio to this day. So it was great.
Rob Broadfoot 5:27
The neighborhood that we lived in, very much a walking neighborhood. And so same thing I mean, this morning Ian, I dropped him off up at the corner. So he can meet, we call them the homies so he can meet up with the homies and it’s like a group of like 15 Dudes all just walking to high school. There’s you know, there’s safety in numbers.
Don Mock 5:49
Are we one shoulder backpack or we put our backpack on both?
Rob Broadfoot 5:54
Both.
Don Mock 5:55
The double up?
Rob Broadfoot 5:56
I think some do one. But mostly, mostly they double up. And the funniest thing is that Ian who’s 14, 15 in December, Ian hasn’t hit that big growth spurt yet. So he’s probably I’m guessing but I think he’s probably 5’3.
Don Mock 6:14
I don’t know.
Rob Broadfoot 6:18
And his best friend Brody is 6’2.
Don Mock 6:23
Oh my lord.
Rob Broadfoot 6:24
Yeah, the kid is 14 years old.
Don Mock 6:26
6’2? What are they feeding that kid?
Rob Broadfoot 6:29
His Dad is ginormous, Chris is a big guy. But yeah, so the two of them watching those two guys walk down the street.
Don Mock 6:36
Yeah, like twins.
Rob Broadfoot 6:37
Oh it’s great. Yeah, exactly. DeVito and Schwarzenegger.
Don Mock 6:41
That’s so funny. Well, I mentioned Emilio, which I wasn’t even thinking about and I’ve got another funny anecdote because you had mentioned they’re freshmen they are coming out. I remember our first day of senior when we were seniors in high school. You know? I don’t know What we were just sitting there doing nothing. And this pack of freshmen were walking by and I do remember Emilio yelling out. Hey, you’re gonna give me one of those chips? Because somebody had like a bag of Doritos. And the kid was so freaked out. He just handed Emilio his entire bag and then I remember kind of feeling
Rob Broadfoot 7:15
Did he take it?
Don Mock 7:15
Yeah we ate it and there was a little bit of like, a little bit of guilt. But it was a little bit like eh you’re freshman who cares? And we were full blown like heavy metal Holocaust like long hair. You know, flannel, grunge. The whole deal
Rob Broadfoot 7:16
Satan’s army, wasn’t that the name of your crew?
Don Mock 7:23
Yeah wearing all black. Satan’s army. Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 7:35
Well we were tougher people back then. You could handle getting a bag of chips taken away from you.
Don Mock 7:42
Yeah but I mean, I don’t you know, first day of school. It’s, you know, it’s a little bit of excitement of I get to see people I haven’t seen you know What I mean?
Rob Broadfoot 7:49
Like, summer’s over you get to see everybody.
Don Mock 7:52
Yeah, but for us, we weren’t as interconnected. It was like, Alright, see you next year. And it was like poof, Oh, you went to Grandma’s or you did this. And it was like no one’s calling each other or emailing each other or texting. Or hey, you want to jump on PlayStation? None of that stuff.
Rob Broadfoot 8:06
Well that’s the point, we didn’t have the technology. We didn’t have any phone.
Yeah, you literally vanished And then it’d be like, Oh, no Rob doesn’t go to this school anymore. Like his parents moved to Pennsylvania. Yeah, I mean, I was like I might as well just die. You know, I mean, there’s like, you’ll never get in touch with those people ever again. That type of thing. Right? It’s kind of funny. Anyway, weird first day of school. I know we talked about first jobs and other places or whatever. But any weird stories about, you know, first jobs or first day on a new job?
So we talked about first jobs before when we were younger, and working at restaurants and establishments and printing companies. But I remember my first job in this business, an agency job. I was coming out of Georgia. And, actually, I guess, technically was my second job. But it was it was going to work for a larger agency. And I had actually had an internship at BBDO. South here. It was in the media department. Working on the Housing and Urban Development Account in media. Very sexy, very glamorous.
Don Mock 9:15
Well, God, What would the media be like back then?
Rob Broadfoot 9:19
Well, let’s just say there were like 17 pieces of paper for every single insertion order. Because it’s government, so you got the pink copy the yellow copy, the white copy. More filing cabinets than you’d ever see.
Don Mock 9:33
Well, in case you get audited. Right?
Rob Broadfoot 9:35
Right, it’s Government you have to; So I remember showing up to work. And it was like, you know, I had gone through the interview process and whatever else and here was day one, and it was day one and I came in in a suit, wearing my suit, it was like, too big for me, it didn’t fit me, whatever.
Don Mock 9:51
What color was it?
Rob Broadfoot 9:53
I’m sure it was navy blue. I think, I’m guessing.
Don Mock 9:56
Did you wear a tie?
Rob Broadfoot 9:57
Oh, yeah, And I was like, Oh,
Don Mock 10:02
Who the hell is this guy?
Rob Broadfoot 10:03
I’m the only guy in a suit. I didn’t get the memo. And I just remember, it’s all those weird things that happen on your first day. Like you kind of sit down and you’re like, Okay, I’m here.
Don Mock 10:15
What do I do now?
Rob Broadfoot 10:16
Yeah. How do I work the phone? Yeah, you know, like, What?
Don Mock 10:20
Yeah, that’s a good point.
I need a pencil.
Yeah that’s a good point, 90’s phones were complicated. It wasn’t like you just tap a button. And you got there were like six buttons and transferring calls and all that stuff. Like it was a nightmare.
Rob Broadfoot 10:30
And it’s not like you could it’s not like you could at the time, turn on your computer and like, jump on the internet for a little bit. Yeah. Pretend like you were actually doing something or check email. Or, or anything I’m dating. I’m dating myself. I just remember. It’s that awkward. Weird. Like, I shouldn’t have worn a suit. Yeah, I look like an idiot. Well, anyone want to go to lunch? We were right across from, I do remember I don’t know if first day. But certainly first week, we were right across from Linux square in one of those buildings. And so lunch happens. Yeah, you know,
Don Mock 11:07
where do I go now?
Rob Broadfoot 11:09
Everybody seems to be going over to Linux. Oh, oh, they go to the food court. Okay. I guess I’m going to the food court.
Don Mock 11:15
Panda Express. Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 11:16
So I mean, I remember like literally sitting there and I’m eating Yeah, Panda Express or whatever it was at the time. And I just remember a group of folks walking by that were like in the department. Yeah. You know, because relatively large department. Yeah. And I just remember I’m sitting there by myself. Yeah. And they’re like, Oh, hey, they introduced. I just remember feeling so dumb.
Don Mock 11:38
Well, funny. Funny side note, which I know that you know, but I’m looking at two people here in the office that both showed up. In a suit, remember that, for their first. I don’t think either one of them wore a suit on their first day. But when we interviewed both of them. They were both wearing suits. So I mean, that trends continues.
Rob Broadfoot 11:59
Yeah, that to me is the like, I’m taking this seriously.
Don Mock 12:03
Yeah. Well, we’ve been scarred I guess, you know, yeah, I do remember graduating college and then having to get like, not having lots of money and having to go get like, Oh, I have to go into like an office I need like, non sneakers.
Rob Broadfoot 12:15
Like dress shoes.
Don Mock 12:18
Yeah, I remember going like, my buddy Ben and I we went shopping at like the outlet, whatever. Because, you know, it was like, Hey, we don’t have any money yet. Like, yeah, but we need to look presentable in the office, which was kind of funny. So. And I do remember, I don’t think it was my first day on the office. But like, you know, working at Turner was one of my first jobs out of college. And I remember accidentally, I was doing newspaper ads, like newspaper, channel strip ads. When, again, I guess we still kind of had the internet, right.
Rob Broadfoot 12:47
Newspapers were these things that they used to, for those who don’t know, used to bring them to your house every week. And that was how you got your news.
Don Mock 12:54
But also people would use them actually as not only for news, but as like reference material like, oh, What What are the movie times or what movies are out. So I’m working at a television provider, obviously a turner network, right? And it was like, Oh, I would do all of the ads for Life. And everything was on the 05 and it was 705 on TBS.
Rob Broadfoot 13:18
That was a Turner thing. Why did they do that? Was that a marketing thing?
Don Mock 13:20
It was a marketing thing. And it was a hey, people would flip around during commercials and if you weren’t doing your commercials, when everybody else was doing the commercials, they were more likely to stop and keep watching What you were doing right?. Now What killed it? Okay, and What literally killed it overnight was TiVo. Because What happened was, is TiVo wasn’t set, when you bought the third party, you’d miss the first part, or even worse, you missed the ending. And it was driving people absolutely mad. Right. So they so they had to adopt, but I was doing like the USA Today ads and all these newspaper ads of like, you know, oh, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is on, you know, like, like, whatever the movies were, whatever the things were, you know, and it was, you know, designing all these ads. I remember, first week on and, you know, I mean, you’re you’re sitting at a computer doing like heavy design work all day. It’s, it’s like it’s a cultural shift and a brain shift, you know, and I remember and you know, how to use your programs, but you’re not like a power user yet. Right? I mean, like, you’re still kind of out of school, right? And kind of sort of know what’s happening. And I remember I locked everything down. Like, I accidentally locked the graphics in the thing, right? And I was, I couldn’t figure out I was like, oh, like something bad has happened. So like, I got it stuck. I didn’t know What was going on. And also, like, do I ask or does that make me sound like an idiot? Or like, nobody’s around here yet? Or, you know, like, it was kind of one of those weird like, I don’t know where the lines are yet. You know, that type of thing. Right? So I remember having a little bit of panic on like, I locked all my graphics down in Illustrator. What do I do and then finally, like, you know, 40 minutes Later
Rob Broadfoot 15:00
You figured it out.
Don Mock 15:01
No, I went and asked because there was no like Reddit, there was no like, Oh, let me jump on YouTube. I mean, YouTube didn’t exist
Rob Broadfoot 15:07
I just figured you sat there and just figured out.
Don Mock 15:10
Oh, I sat there. I sat there and tried to figure it out. And then I think I was like, I’m just going to rebuild this. I’m just going to redo it because I’ve clearly screwed something up. But then I ended up asking this one guy who was super cool about it, he was like, Command Shift, 2 like, that type of thing. Right? So, but that anxiety of like, You’re the new person I remember that being kinda funny.
Rob Broadfoot 15:30
It’s just like school it. You know, you have a day or two of that, high anxiety. high stress. What room am I going? where’s my classroom. you know, all of those things. Oh, I did get stuck in an elevator. No, it wasn’t that I got stuck in an elevator. I did the internship there and then I ended up taking a job elsewhere, it was one of my first days there, and I rolled in and we were up on it was upon the seventh or eighth floor. And I went out. I went out the wrong door. Okay. And all of a sudden it was oh, I went out the fire escape. So
Don Mock 16:12
The fire escape door. Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 16:13
And I can’t open it back up. So I had to go down the eight flights of stairs. And then at the bottom. I couldn’t get the door open. Yeah. So I was, you know, banging on the door. And finally, like the, you know, the office building security came over. And I was like, I’m new here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But anyway, so you know, everybody has those one or two uncomfortable days and then you settle in?
Don Mock 16:43
Yeah, I do remember drinking. Way too much coffee. That was the other thing. It was like, oh, there’s a there’s like there’s free coffee everywhere you know what I mean, it was like, Okay, well, hey, you’re like everybody’s drinking coffee in the morning. You’re like, Man, I love coffee. Coffee is delicious. Right? And then you’re like, that’s 10 o’clock. I’ll have another cup of coffee. And then it’s, you know, it’s lunchtime. I’ll have another cup of you know, because you just go over and it’s a social thing. Yeah. Right. I mean, you go over everybody’s there. You know What I mean? Or just ah, yeah, meeting people. I mean, because you’re working with hundreds of people around you, you know, hams in the break room. Yeah, exactly. And then I was like, Man, I can’t sleep at night anymore. It’s like, I’m drinking way too much. You know, and then it was like, then I got myself a smaller cup. So I would drink a smaller mug. So I would drink less because then I was like, oh, it’s gonna be a pain in the ass if I have to get up, actually it was a Curious George mug that had a little banana ceramic banana in the bottom. So when you drank all the way down, it was like a little banana down at the bottom. super weird. And the handle was I don’t know why. I don’t know how I ended up with that.
Rob Broadfoot 17:45
I don’t know how you remember that?
Don Mock 17:47
Well it left an impression on me because I used to fill it up with a lot of coffee. I guess. You know, I don’t know where that mug ever went to it probably just broke and whatnot. But But I remember that was kind of a funny weird like, man. I’m drinking a lot of coffee suddenly, you know, like, like full culture shift. Yeah, that type of thing. Yeah. Yeah, those first day jitters anxiety. Yeah, it’s kind of fun to think about, you know,
Rob Broadfoot 18:06
and then it’s also that you kind of have that realization like, I’m a grown up.
Don Mock 18:11
I have like a real job now. Yeah, I’m like I’m a grown up.
Rob Broadfoot 18:14
Yeah, like I get like a paycheck. Yeah, like this is awesome. Yeah.
Don Mock 18:17
Oh, yeah. I remember the like, What do grown ups do after work. Like you go out for drinks with your other grown up friends.
Rob Broadfoot 18:26
Happy Hour.
Don Mock 18:26
Yeah, I was like, huh, this is pretty badass. Then you’re like, Oh, shit. I need to get up tomorrow morning. Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 18:35
It’s Monday at 11:45pm
Don Mock 18:38
Yeah. Oh, yeah, that’s rough. That’s right. Yeah. Oh, God,
Rob Broadfoot 18:41
I need to go home.
Don Mock 18:43
That’s some stories for another podcast but there are definitely some fun rough mornings I guess if that makes any sense. So yeah, I don’t know. You know, I still get a little bit of the not nervous jitters but the excitement of the first day like meeting new people, you know What I mean? Like, oh, new new clients are coming in or you know, I still love that sort of, it’s not anxiety but like little jolt to the system, which I think is fun. But like that’s about it in regards of like the new day jitters for us. I mean, we’ve done this for so long, that kind of stuff doesn’t really, we don’t have that anymore, you know, but I still do get the excitement and enjoyment of the first project.
Rob Broadfoot 19:20
Or a new hire when a new employee comes in that’s always exciting too.
Don Mock 19:22
That is super fun.
Rob Broadfoot 19:23
Because you can sort of read the nervousness.
Don Mock 19:25
Yeah. Well, and it’s an it’s a new it’s a new dimension to the vibe. Yeah, that’s a good point, too. You know, taking them out for lunch and oh, What do I say? I’m out to lunch with my boss, that’s kind of fun to think about.
Rob Broadfoot 19:40
I like to think we’re pretty easy.
Don Mock 19:42
We are pretty easy pretty laid back.
Rob Broadfoot 19:43
Who knows, who knows.
Don Mock 19:45
Alright. Well, maybe that’ll wrap it up.
Rob Broadfoot 19:46
Yeah, well, we gotta get out of here and get home and see how first day of school went for everybody. Hopefully there’s no tears.
Don Mock 19:54
What’s your educated guess?
Rob Broadfoot 19:58
I think mine all rocked it. They were all feeling pretty confident. I can’t imagine something went so off the rails that turned them around.
That’s good. That’s good to hear. I predict I’m gonna get a lot of one word answers. Fine.
Okay, we’ll get that too. We’ll get that from Ian.
Don Mock 20:14
Like tell me more, how was everything? Fine.
Rob Broadfoot 20:19
Well, did you find all your classes, Okay? Yeah. What about lunch? Did you eat all your lunch? Yeah.
Don Mock 20:27
Hey man, everything’s cyclical. I’m pretty sure I was like that. Well, you know, there’s a certain amount of like, I don’t want to relive the whole day and tell you every single thing.
Rob Broadfoot 20:35
I just told you it was fine.
Don Mock 20:36
Yeah, everything’s fine. Like moving on. You know, I need to decompress that type of thing. So yeah. Alright. Well, drop us a note. Drop us a line. Let us know your first day anxieties or horror stories or fun facts. You know, that’d be fun. Yeah, got a series going on that
Rob Broadfoot 20:49
and do go look for us people on the interwebs. Where do you say? I say www.mocktheagency.com.
Don Mock 20:57
It’s a good starting point.
Rob Broadfoot 20:58
Or If I happen to be perusing the socials, I might drop on by @mocktheagency.
Don Mock 21:04
Yes, on Instagram potentially, on the book of faces. Yeah, we’re all over the place.
Rob Broadfoot 21:11
On X. Ex twitter.
Don Mock 21:15
I already forgot the name , what was it.
Rob Broadfoot 21:17
Twix. You can just call it twix.
Don Mock 21:19
That was already taken. It’s a strong X tho. I like that one.
Rob Broadfoot 21:23
Alright everybody. We’ll talk to you next time.
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