Korean Skincare, Smoothie Makers and Bad Gifts

0:15Romesh Ranganathan:Hello motherfuckers, it's time for the Wolf and Out email special. This is where we just go through emails. If you want to send an email in wolfowlpod at gmail.com. We'd love a voice note, wouldn't we? Yeah, we love the voice. We love the picture. Also, we need some more reads for this podcast. So we're going to have to start with, like, pretend. I'm going to pretend read. What do you mean? This email special is sponsored by Dove. We're not getting any money for that. Yeah, no, but then Dove will hear it and potentially. Well, Dove will hear it and go, should we pay them for an advert they've given us for free?

0:48No, but other people will go, oh, fuck it. Yeah, Dove advert. Okay. Yeah.

0:51Romesh Ranganathan:Well, okay, actually give a good advert then. What does Dove do? Is it for you? Soap. Soap, okay. Ha! This episode is sponsored by Dove Soap. The best soap on the market. Keeps you clean, ready, and, ooh, smelling nice. Dove. That's D-O-V-E. Dove. Why did you smell your hand like that? I don't know. That's because then you get the full, you get the inside of your hand. Do you? The smell can't go anywhere. What does your hand smell like now? The soap from your bathroom. I love soap, by the way. And Dove is my special friend. Yeah, soap's good. What do you use in the shower? Dove, obviously, because of soap.

1:32Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, but imagine that we're taking a pause from the sponsorship. I vary it up for what's on sale in boots. But are you soap or shower gel? Oh, shower gel. I would never use soap. Why? I think it's barbaric and insane to use soap. What do you mean barbaric? Because I just think, I don't know, I just find it just slipping all over the place, sort of slip at you and you've got to pick it up off the floor. it's just I find soaps are so dated I know it's like trying to look noble with walking with a cane I don't think that's what soap is I don't think that works it is it just feels yeah you've got to get a soap dish somewhere to put it yeah I mean that's true and it gets a bit funky but I like soap do you like soap yeah I don't use it very often that's one of the last things I'd say about you I sort of alternate yeah I mean yeah you're that sort of guy I guess yeah sometimes I'm a show you like to keep people guessing yeah Lisa's like fucking hell this is why I love you yeah you're the gift that keeps on giving so you're using soap today obviously i never feel clean enough with soap wait yeah of course you do you'd lather up a treat mate no i don't know i like shower gel what's the mint shower gel that you get yeah mint no no no but there's a brand yeah i know it makes you feel like it makes you tingly yeah i love that original source original source there you go john by the way little no in fact john is uh a shower gel nerd he loves Different shower gels.

2:50He sometimes on his day off just goes through boots and sniffing different ones.

2:55Romesh Ranganathan:He came in the other day. He's talked 10 minutes non-stop about matey bubbles.

3:03We talked about last week about tattoos. John has got original sauce tattooed across his back. That's his stamp. Okay, shall we do an email? Do you want to read or shall I? I think you go.

3:14Romesh Ranganathan:Dear Wolf and Anne, I'd like this to be kept anonymous if possible. By way of background, I'm a 29-year-old living and working in London. I'm not married and have no kids. I've been working in finance for nearly six years since leaving university. And since the day I started, I've always known deep down this is not the life for me. Every time I came close to living, I'd say to myself, just a few more months of saving or just wait for the bonus and then I'll do it. Obviously never do. Part of the issue is that I'm not completely miserable. I work with nice people and I get some nice experiences out of it, but I do not feel fulfilled by my work.

3:41Romesh Ranganathan:Another problem is that after six years, I'm lucky enough to be financially comfortable and I feel a bit trapped by that. because I'm terrified that if I gave up the opportunity that I have, then I will regret it in 10 years' time when I might have a wife and kids. If I'm honest, I would love to do something that involved more than just sitting behind a desk and allowed for more creativity. I love comedy and podcasts. When I was younger, I always thought about working in podcasts or radio production but never saw a route in. I was jockeying into a more traditional career by my family and schooling system without even realising it.

4:07Romesh Ranganathan:I'm amazed that John's allowed this to slip through, bearing in mind that he could lose a job here. Apologies for the life story, but in short, given you both had career changes and work in the fields, I'm interested. in i would love to hear your take on my situation and what steps you think i should take in order to feel more fulfilled yours truly the confused corporate drone well tom well firstly i would say you're probably i don't know i'm being i'd say by the sounds of things financially you're more financially comfortable certainly than i was when i got into this industry i didn't you know i had no savings i didn't and i think i imagine you would be the same no savings yeah so um First, I think my big point would be, I think there's not really a reason you can't be.

4:51In the situation you're in, you're working, you've got a good job, which seems like you're blessed at the moment in a current economic situation to be financially comfortable, which is a great thing. So that's something not to be sniffed at. And also you're in a situation where you've not settled down, you've not got a wife or long-term relationship, you've not got kids. So I think actually what I would suggest is looking at something where you go and as a hobby or as a side hustle or something you're just going to do just for enjoyment is going to do whether it's stand-up or whether it's you start, you know, helping out podcasts that you're producing.

5:27Romesh Ranganathan:Don't encourage them to get into stand-up. Yeah, but... There's enough stand-ups. Yeah, but I think the difference is, right, I think, I don't know how you... When I first got into stand-up, I never saw it as, oh, this is going to be the thing that... No. ...is going to be my career. No, me neither. I looked at it as being like, I literally have done... When I first watched you, I thought this isn't something. I know that every day I turn up at the studio, you go, I can't believe this guy's still going. No, but I never saw it as, oh, this is going to be the thing. I just saw it as like, this will be a break from doing the thing that I've been doing for so many years and actually just saw it as a bit of a laugh and something just fun just to let out a creative side.

6:05I didn't, it wasn't a bit, I never businessed a plan or I'm five, six years, I'm going to do this. It's all been a lot of luck. but I think that I think and I think that's a part of it I think a lot what I notice is a lot more people certainly generationally after us were starting to get into it going oh no this is a career this is something I could actually be that could you know I could earn money for whatever and I actually think sometimes just going into something like stand-up or something creative and just getting that release out of it and going I actually I just enjoy doing it for this reason I just enjoy it because you know I do this job I'm good at the job I do I work with nice people which should never ever be something you, that's a great thing.

6:44I think so many people on a lot of emails we get in are people who work in toxic environments or people they don't get on with. So I think you've got that to look and go, right, actually this is, and add to your life and make your life more fulfilled, more rounded by going, but then I'm going to do this thing. I'm going to do this thing for myself. That's just my little thing. I'm going to go and do something creative. I'm going to paint or I'm going to do, I think as best you can and it's tough to find the time, but I think doing great anything creative for yourself whether it's writing painting stand up whatever you do always feels that actually it's cathartic and actually it gives you a little bit sense of self I think it's something that can actually mental health wise it can be a release a little bit like working out or running or whatever so I just think getting something like that in your life and see just see where it goes don't put too much pressure on yourself just I think take your time enjoy it find a style or find something that just works for you and do that thing I certainly wouldn't be going give up your job and go for it because I think that would just be insane advice I think going count your blessings great job good life and then add that to your arsenal

7:50Romesh Ranganathan:really really great advice and thank you for saying the word arsenal I feel like it's such a hard word to say for you at the moment don't do this no no no because I don't know I don't want to get into it yeah this is not a football podcast Which we should do one. We should do one. But we're not going to. No, no. We've barely got the time to make the commitments of this one. Yeah. Let's not start talking about another one. Look, I think you spend so much of your life working. Yeah. That it's really important that you enjoy that job and you feel fulfilled by it, I think. And that could be anything.

8:28Romesh Ranganathan:But the one hesitation I've got about what you said is that they've not actually tried what they've done yet, what they want to do yet. So you've got no idea actually if you're going to like it. So I think Tom's advice is good of like giving a go at a few things as a side hustle. Because I think for me, like Tom, I started doing stand-up as a hobby and then I fell in love with it. And so I was like, I'd love to do this for a job. But I wasn't going into it thinking I'm going to leave teaching and I'm going to make this my thing. So I think you need to have a go at these things. I think financial security is such a poisonous fucking thing, in my opinion.

9:01Romesh Ranganathan:because the truth is beyond a certain point you can be financially comfortable at so many different levels you've just got to think about what you want your level of comfort to be because I'll be honest I don't want this to happen but I would do this same job for a lot less money than I'm doing it for now I would say that weirdly my point at the top of this I certainly didn't when I started this and have never ever felt, coming from the background of where I think both of us come from, in the lifestyle that we both come from, from the world that we come from, I've never felt financially comfortable until, you know, even now I panic all the time.

9:45I, you know, not to get too into depth about it, but it's something that I constantly, it's my biggest worry all the time because coming from that, so to be in a situation where you are financially comfortable, I don't think there's, I don't think that should be the thing that propels you.

10:00Romesh Ranganathan:No, no, because I think, like you know i think what you've got to think about is what are the what are the pros and cons about following each path and and i think like if you are not fulfilled by your job i think what you know a lot of the time when you're thinking about things like this because i think people have inertia and they get stuck in the thing they're doing whether that be a relationship or work or whatever and they go this is what i'm in now it's not going particularly badly so i'm just going to stay in this but one of the useful things to think about is and i think i've talked about this before is if you had a button and you press that and you're doing something different would you push that button you know you there'd be no issues you wouldn't have to quit you'd just be not doing that job would you do it and if that's if you would do it then you need to leave you know i i do think we should be thinking about getting the most out of our lives because and i'm not talking about money wise i'm talking about enjoyment and fulfillment and you know i think you know people talk about goals i think one of the best goals you can set yourself is how do i guarantee that most days i have a good day right how do i how do i get as close as possible to securing having a good day every day of work or at home or whatever what have i got to do to make that happen and that doesn't i'm not talking about money i'm talking about going into like for example we're coming in to do this podcast i was fucking buzzing to come when I do this today, right?

11:23Romesh Ranganathan:So today's a great day for me, right? And that's because this is what I've chosen to do for a job. So it's that thing of like, and I'm not thinking about the money of it, although we are well remunerated for this. Yeah. I mean, definitely more money than we should be getting from what we're delivering. Yeah. It's a piece of shit. Anyway, the point is, I was buzzing about today. And then, so I think it's like, if you're not enjoying your days, for the most part, everybody has shit days. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? then something needs to change and so i think for you uh corporate drone the problem you've got is you don't you haven't actually found the other thing that you might want to rather do so i think i would treat the next few months as like you playing around and seeing if there's something else that you prefer and if you do find something that you really find exciting go for it the one thing i would say is you do have to take into account the newness factor of anything you do and and so when you're doing something that isn't your job you're excited by it because it isn't your job but i'd say like we were excited by comedy and then when you when you start making your job you do run the risk of ruining it for yourself right because it becomes a grind or whatever yeah and you have to be careful of that but look i i am of the opinion that we should be we should be looking to make our lives as enjoyable as possible but you have to that has to be a considered decision don't just go fuck you to your boss leave and then start trying to get into pocket i would make that a safer decision as possible by looking at these things and seeing if you can get into it for adults with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms every choice matters trimphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start trimphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks.

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13:57Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College Deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. Dear Wolf and Owl, this is the Cantagoras Crow of Kobena. Wow. I'm glad you got this one. Thank you.

14:36Romesh Ranganathan:I think it might be pronounced Kobena. Okay, I mean, I'm quite proud that I got through Cantagoras. Well, you didn't actually, it's Cantagoras. Okay, well, there we go. With the slightly ruffled feathers, writhing in with a tale of gift-giving. It's gone slightly array. I'm fucking honest. In the run-up to Christmas, my wife had mentioned wanting an essential oil vaporizer, so I thoughtfully purchased one for her. All seemed well until a week later, I received a notification from Amazon informing me that she'd ordered one too. Naturally, this raised an eyebrow. Mildly irritated and thoroughly confused, I revealed that I had already brought her one.

15:12Her response? The one she ordered was actually my Christmas present. Now I can say with complete confidence that I had never expressed any desire for such an item, which only did deepen the mystery. So my question to you both is, have you ever or received a true boomerang present? And if so, how did it play out?

15:30Romesh Ranganathan:What does boomerang present mean? I'm guessing a present that sort of comes back, like that someone buys to get back for themselves. I think you're right yeah I think that's probably what it is have you ever given or received a boomerang present I have given I got a a cat you got an erotic dancer didn't you yeah I got a stripper to turn up a stripper called Mel who turned up at the house bless her she's a lovely woman it was quite a strange Christmas Eve with my parents and everyone there but and then didn't you for your anniversary you got a cameo video from Bonnie Blue no i got a certificate for being the 800th guy through the door no i i got katherine as a portable smoothie maker right and she actually ever said she wanted one no but i said that i kind of wanted one right and it i got it for one christmas and she was like this and her thing was her bone of contention was you're literally the hardest person to buy for and if you wanted a fucking portable smoothie maker which clearly you did because you bought one for yourself and dressed it up that you wanted i wanted it you should have just because she struggled to buy me a present right but then weirdly what happened in a lovely twist of fate is she then started using the port yeah oh that's so lovely so actually now that's quite annoying for you though yeah because now i need so if anyone does know what one of the things to get me is a portable smoothie maker yeah i'll be an op about it i mean we've yeah yeah i mean it's within your grasp to just buy one for yourself isn't it yeah but i don't know it's a sort of gift something nice about getting this again yeah I just bought one for myself actually yeah yeah yeah they're a great thing it's good yeah really yeah yeah do you wash it all the time no never washed it like your hair what kind of fucking question is that no they're a bit of a pain to wash it yeah they're annoying if you're out and about some people leave them in their bag and they sort of get dirty and stuff just saying that's the thing yeah I remember seeing someone's bag at the gym I saw a little snoop and um and I saw that it's dirty smelly old thing it looked like it was all dry and being cleaned.

17:32Romesh Ranganathan:I mean, that's the problem with like when you have those protein shake bottles. Yeah. And you leave them for, if you leave them for more than 45 seconds. Yeah. They just dry out. Yeah. Fucking shit. Yeah. But Mandrill doesn't actually. Mandrill keeps a nice smell. So if anyone's interested, this episode is sponsored by Mandrill Protein, uh, Creatine and Electrolytes. It's not. It's not. Mandrill. It's not. Mandrill.com. Mandrillprotein.com actually is the, the name of that. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's, It's going to be the first time that somebody does a read for a company they own, and then the company comes back and says, could you redo that, please?

18:07Romesh Ranganathan:Because you got the website wrong. You designed a website. Have you ever done that? Has that ever been a situation? No, I've never given a boomerang present, actually. Have you ever been given one? Lisa, by the way, I can imagine is a very culpable and sensual gift giver. Okay. What's clear from that is you don't know what culpable means. Culpable means to be blamed for. Really? Yeah, it's like somebody's culpable in a... Oh, okay. In that... Weirdly, you have used the word correctly about her. She's one of the most culpable. But she is a very good gift giver. But she says that I'm... The same thing that Kat says about you, that apparently I'm incredibly difficult to buy for.

18:47Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. And actually, it slightly ruins it because she starts to get quite frustrated. So Catherine gets very anxious about it. She's sort of like, I don't... You don't make it easy. I don't know what it is about us that makes us difficult to buy for, but apparently... I think it's men of a certain age. Do you think? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's like, yeah. Although now I start to lean into face creams and stuff like that. I bought a load of Korean face creams the other day. Korean? Korean skincare is apparently the bum. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. What sort of thing? I got myself a toner. Yeah. And I got myself a little hydration serum.

19:25Wow.

19:26Romesh Ranganathan:Can you notice any difference in my skin? Yeah, I can see it glistening now in the light. Is it anything for eye bags? I've got such bad eye bags. Yeah, they do stuff for eye bags. There's like a little, it's like a mini, you know, like a deodorant, like a roll-on. It's like a tiny one and you use it under your eyes. I need to get some of my eye bags. You don't have any eye bags right now. Yeah. You look beautiful. I put makeup on this morning. Did you? No, of course I didn't. I actually bought male makeup once. Yeah, I can imagine you did. But it's not for me. yeah yeah because I've been doing you've got really good skin though no but I've been doing TV and then they've been giving us makeup yeah and I thought maybe I should buy some of my own because because you know there is a comedian that we both know that all every day uses primer and stuff who?

20:11Romesh Ranganathan:I'm going to say his name we can bleep it out who? but he took me makeup shopping he was looking for like primer and who? foundation and stuff oh okay really? yeah wow yeah you went makeup shopping with him we went shopping and then he said we need to get some makeup make sure he put something over his lips where you bleep it out as well because you've got a very sort of efficient mouth when it comes to sort of lip reading okay you'd be terrible if the sort of people were at war

20:42Romesh Ranganathan:thank you so much for sending your emails in if you want to get in touch you can email wolfowlpod at gmail.com we'll see you next time thanks to Dove for being our official sponsor of this episode and mandrel protein like subscribe get involved thank you friends bye