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Need Not Apply

Need Not Apply

By: Gina and Gary Cavallo
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 Need Not Apply is a podcast where we read your real life work stories and react with levity and advice from our personal experience in the work world. Submit your stories to Neednotapplypod@gmail.comGina and Gary Cavallo
Episodes
  • Episode 59 - Ego Is Expensive

    Episode 59 - Ego Is Expensive
    Feb 11 2026
    It’s Super Bowl Sunday… and you’d never know it in this house. 😅This week, Gina and Gary are back with a juicy Malicious Compliance episode full of ego trips, workplace power plays, and the kind of consequences that hit like a perfectly timed mic drop. Plus, we take a quick detour into the modern betting rabbit hole, and Gina shares a truly annoying “why did I even come here” police station moment.🎧 This week’s stories (Malicious Compliance)“You want to talk to my manager?” An IT field service engineer replaces a store server… and a manager decides her lunch break is more important than the entire POS system being down. (Spoiler: it costs her more than her appetite.)“Worked Christmas or I’m fired.” A drilling rig supervisor cancels everyone’s approved time off because he can’t get coverage… so OP works the day, then quits with zero hesitation. Enjoy your short-staffed holiday season. 🎄“Cut my salary in half, kiss your business goodbye.” A startup CTO with big ego energy tries to slash pay while the team is already working brutal hours… and everything spirals into a spectacular slow-motion collapse.🗞️ N-N-N-N-NEWS break!Bonobos can pretend play 🫖🍇A bonobo named Kanzi stages an imaginary tea party with invisible juice and grapes, showing apes can juggle real and pretend scenarios without confusion.A “lost” egg-laying mammal reappears after 62 years 🥚🌿Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna is rediscovered in Indonesia via camera traps, proving some species aren’t extinct… they’re just incredibly good at hiding.Sony patents AI “podcasts” hosted by video game characters 🎮🤖Imagine a character from a game you’ve played narrating personalized updates using your player data. Cool? Creepy? Both?Possible illegal bio lab found in a Las Vegas home 🧪😳A code violation call escalates fast when authorities find lab equipment and over 1,000 samples. The FBI steps in, and everyone collectively says “WHAT.”A site that lets AI “rent humans” for tasks 🧍‍♀️🤖💸Reportedly, AI agents can assign real people jobs (even weird ones) using crypto payouts. It’s gig work… turned inside out.Anthropic insiders worry they’ve crossed a line 📉🧠As AI tools move into legal, marketing, finance, and customer service, even the people building them are feeling the “uh oh” moment about job displacement.Sleep deprivation triggers a strange brain cleanup 💤🧼New research suggests your brain may start its “cleaning cycle” while you’re awake if you’re sleep-deprived… right when you need to focus the most. (Borrow sleep now, pay interest later.)😈 Also in this episodeGina and Gary talk viral clip traction and the chaos of trying to grow content while working full-timeA quick rant on how betting has gotten absurdly specific (yes, even “what will someone say this week?”)Gary’s streaming updates 🎥 and Gina’s “I cannot believe I waited for this” police station storyA little life update, a little retail trauma, and yes… Gina has to pee by the end 🚽✨ Follow us for clips + updates:📸 Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod📺 YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast📩 Submit your stories: neednotapplypod@gmail.com (DMs welcome too!)New episodes every Wednesday 🗓️☕See you at the water cooler. 😉
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Episode 58 - The Other Side of the Register

    Episode 58 - The Other Side of the Register
    Feb 4 2026

    This week on Need Not Apply, we flip the script.
    We’re usually telling these stories from behind the counter... but this time, we’re stepping into our other role: the customers. Same chaos, same entitlement… just viewed from the opposite side of the register.

    We kick things off with Groundhog Day logic, global listeners (shoutout Japan 🇯🇵), dash cam supremacy after Gina’s car takes a direct hit from flying ice, and a brief campaign to abolish Mondays entirely. From there, we wade straight into customer-land where logic goes to die.


    🧾 This Week’s Stories (Linked Below)

    🍧 A man confidently declares that “vegan means artificial” while interrogating a gelato employee who deserves a raise and a medal
    🍽️ A full-grown man throws a holiday tantrum after being asked to move tables — and somehow decides it’s discrimination
    🥪 A Walmart sandwich maker completely loses it, hands out BOGO subs like a man possessed, then corners Gina for her number while her boyfriend hides several aisles away
    🥐 A hotel clerk attempts to gaslight a couple out of a paid breakfast, turning $10 into a full-blown customer service endurance test


    And because that wasn’t enough, we break things up with some truly unhinged news:


    This week’s news & distractions include:

    🌍 The Wallace Line — the invisible boundary that keeps Asian and Australian wildlife mysteriously separated
    🧪 Romans using human feces as medicine (yes, really — and they added herbs to help with the smell)

    🎵 Neil Young pulling his music from Amazon and giving his entire catalog to Greenland for free☕ Vietnamese police seizing tons of fake coffee made from soybeans instead of actual coffee
    🕷️ Pelican spiders — ancient assassin spiders that hunt other spiders with horrifying patience | IG Reel
    🎮 Google’s new AI world generator that has game developers and investors quietly panicking

    As always, we spiral, we laugh, we question humanity, and we try to make sense of why being a customer somehow turns people feral.

    📩 Have a work story, customer horror, or public meltdown we need to hear?
    Send it to neednotapplypod@gmail.com

    📲 Follow us on Instagram & TikTok: @NeedNotApplyPod
    ▶️ YouTube: Need Not Apply Podcast


    Don’t forget to punch out — we’ll see you at the water cooler. 💧
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Episode 57 - That's Not My Name

    Episode 57 - That's Not My Name
    Jan 28 2026
    Clock in, grab your badge, and prepare to quietly judge strangers on the internet — because this week, we’re knee-deep in Am I the A$$hole workplace chaos. From petty boundary-setting that somehow turns into a full-blown reputation shift, to coworkers who simply refuse to learn someone’s name, to the moment you realize the person undermining your professional credibility isn’t even from your job — this episode is all about respect, power, and what happens when people keep testing limits. Gina and Gary unpack a lineup of stories where the phrase “I tried being polite” shows up right before things get extremely awkward, extremely petty, or extremely overdue.🧾 This Week’s Stories (Linked Below)AITA for ignoring a coworker who refused to use my actual name?Eight years at a company vs. one new hire who decides names are optional. OP sets a boundary, sticks to it, and discovers that consequences have a way of arriving… on a rainy night. 🏷️🌧️🔗 Link: [Story 1 – Ignoring coworker who won’t use my name]AITA for calling my hot-tempered coworker “emotional”?When HR won’t intervene and “that’s just how he is” becomes the default excuse, OP flips the script — and suddenly the office vocabulary shifts in a very specific direction. 🔥🧠🔗 Link: [Story 2 – Calling an angry coworker emotional]WIBTA if I started calling my white coworkers by random “white” names?One employee, one very easy name, and a year of “close enough.” OP considers matching energy to make a point — and sparks a conversation about microaggressions, memory, and who’s expected to be patient at work. 🪪📛🔗 Link: [Story 3 – Wrong names at work]AITA for walking out when my fiancé introduced me as a bookkeeper?This one isn’t about a coworker — it’s about someone who should’ve been in OP’s corner. Professional titles, public disrespect, and a moment that turns an engagement into a reality check. 🥂📊🔗 Link: [Story 4 – The bookkeeper fiancé]Halfway through, we clock out of Reddit and into the news — because the real world is also… kind of the a-hole sometimes.The Guardian: “High on … mustard? Cannabis industry teams up with chefs in push to stand out” 🔗 Link: [Article 1 – Cannabis culinary collaborations]SciTechDaily: “Goodbye, Cavities? This Natural Amino Acid Helps Teeth Fight Sugar” 🔗 Link: [Article 2 – Arginine & cavities]ScienceDaily: “Scientists sent viruses to space and they evolved in surprising ways” 🔗 Link: [Article 3 – Viruses evolved in space]AP News: “New homes needed for more than 450 pet rats found in NYC suburbs” 🔗 Link: [Article 4 – Pet rats rescue]Harvard Business Review: “When AI Amplifies the Biases of Its Users” 🔗 Link: [Article 5 – AI & user bias]AP News: “AI use at work has increased, Gallup poll finds” 🔗 Link: [Article 6 – AI use at work / Gallup]📩 Send us your work chaos (even a tiny one): NeedNotApplyPod@gmail.com📲 Follow: @neednotapplypod (IG + TikTok) | Need Not Apply Podcast (YouTube)🕔 New episodes every Wednesday at 5 AMSee you at the water cooler… and please, for the love of HR, use people’s actual names. 🧊👀
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    1 hr and 13 mins
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