Frightfully Funny HR: Costume Fails, On-the-Clock Tattoos and a Hamster Surprise

Jamie Jackson(00:00)

So, while they were bored at work, she got a free tattoo. Her …

Gene Marks(00:06)

Wait, so they're at work, and one employee took a tattoo gun that they bought from Amazon and gave the other employee a tattoo?

Jamie Jackson(00:15)

Yes. Yes.

Gene Marks(00:17)

While they were both on shift at work?

Jamie Jackson(00:20)

Yeah. Uh, huh. Yeah.

Gene Marks(00:21)

Okay. How long does that take … doesn’t that take hours to get a tattoo?

Jamie Jackson(00:25)

It was not a huge tattoo, so it probably didn't take super long.

Announcer(00:30)

Welcome to Thrive, a Paychex business podcast. Your blueprint for navigating everything from people to policies to profits. And now, your host, Gene Marks.

Gene Marks(00:43)

Hey, everybody, it's Gene Marks, and welcome to another episode of the Paychex Thrive podcast. You know, Halloween is right around the corner, and we want to have a little bit of fun. So, we're going to put a little spooky spin on HR. We're joined today by Jamie Jackson. Jamie is an HR professional and creator of Humorous Resources, and she's here to share some real-life HR horror stories. You know, the kind of workplace situations that make you wonder, did that really happen? We'll unpack what went wrong, what employers can learn from it, and how to keep an HR nightmare from becoming your own. So, let's get into it. First of all, Jamie, thank you so much for joining. I'm really glad that you're here.

Jamie Jackson(01:21)

Of course. Thank you so much for having me.

Gene Marks(01:23)

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's going to be a great conversation. So, first, a little bit of background. You're an HR professional, and you're the creator of Humorous Resources. How do you make your money? Tell us what you do for a living.

Jamie Jackson(01:36)

Yeah. So, I actually, right now I'm doing HR consulting. That's actually how I make my real money.

Gene Marks(01:43)

Good. Not talking and sharing stupid stories with me?

Jamie Jackson(01:47)

No, no, unfortunately. But about six years ago, during the middle of the global pandemic in 2020, I was the HR director over four nonprofit clinics. I was a department of one, and I literally thought I was losing my mind because I was trying to keep up with everything. I wanted to keep my staff safe, but also all of our patients safe. And I didn't know what I was doing. I'd never lived through a global pandemic. So, it was just … starting Humorous Resources was kind of just a silly outlet for me, a way to laugh, because the days were so heavy.

Every day I would go in and sit with the medical director, and we would go over what the CDC had changed the night before because literally things were changing so fast. It was almost like we couldn't keep up. And I’m not even … I think it's different when you were literally on the front lines working in healthcare because it was so different the way you had to treat things. You know, you got to work remote; I was not working remote. So, Humorous Resources was just a funny outlet for me, and all the kind of crazy stuff that HR goes through that I don't think people even realize.

I think HR gets villainized a lot. And I think sometimes it’s … it’s, let's be honest, sometimes it's warranted. Not always, but sometimes it is warranted, okay? So, I just wanted to shine a different light. I created a meme page because I knew I couldn't show my face, and then it just kind of snowballed from there. I created another meme page about a year later called Millennial Misery because I'm a millennial, and nostalgia blew up. Then I created a parenting page, because I'm also a parent. And then, I mean, I just have a bunch of meme pages. And I was one-third of the HR Besties podcast, which we were the number one HR podcast. But yeah.

Gene Marks(03:54)

That's great. It's great stuff. And Humorous Resources, which I love and it’s HR. First of all, what's the URL for that site, just so we can share it? How do people see it?

Jamie Jackson(04:02)

Yeah, so it’s on all platforms, it's just @humorous_resources

Gene Marks(04:08)

Great. And you have a TikTok as well as Instagram, right?

Jamie Jackson(04:12)

Yep, that's all the socials.

Gene Marks(04:14)

Yeah, that's great. I've been meaning to, and I will start following you, I promise you. I'm always looking for fun stuff to laugh at. And you're absolutely right about HR people sometimes bearing the brunt. Sometimes it's deserved, sometimes not. But yes, you've got to find what's funny in the job. So, let's talk about this. We've got Halloween coming up, okay? And you've shared in advance a few funny stories in advance that would be good to talk about. One, the first one has to do with people dressing up as The Price Is Right. Tell us that little story. Go ahead.

Jamie Jackson(04:47)

So, actually, at the same place I worked during the global pandemic, Halloween was a huge deal. Like, I'm talking about … it was a big deal. It was such a big deal that the community always would look to our social media pages to see what we dressed up as. Like, that's how big of a deal it was. So, each department was in charge of being a theme, and it didn't have to fit an overall theme. It was all different. So, this particular year, one of the departments decided to dress up as The Price Is Right. And it was great. I mean, they had Bob Barker, they had The Price Is Right girls, they even had the people at the podiums, and they even had the numbers down. I mean, the numbers, I'm telling you. The 100, the 101, you know, the sneaky one, the $1.

But then, then I saw it. I'm doing my loop around the building to see all of them, and then I see her: Miss 420. And so I'm sure she thought in her head that I, the HR director, might not know what 420 is. But, you know, I am a Millennial. I've seen a couple of movies.

Gene Marks(06:03)

I think we need to tell our audience that 420 is, let's just say, cannabis related. How is that? Is that fair?

Jamie Jackson(06:12)

Correct. It is. It is cannabis related.

Gene Marks(06:14)

Which is legal in some states and not legal in others.

Jamie Jackson(06:18)

I am in Tennessee, so it was not legal in Tennessee. And so, I was like, okay, I get it. She's trying to be a little cheeky, and it's cute. However, we work in a healthcare clinic, we're in a not-legal state, and you cannot be high while you're like … on patients, you know what I mean? You could lose your license. So, this, unfortunately, is not funny in this particular instance. So …

Gene Marks(06:47)

But when you say she dressed as 420, how exactly was …?

Jamie Jackson(06:51)

She was the podium, and she had the numbers. So, there were three people dressed as the podiums with the numbers. There was 100, 101, and then she was just randomly 420.

Gene Marks(07:02)

420. Okay.

Jamie Jackson(07:03)

And so that's when I was like, unfortunately, honey, I get what you're going for, but I think we're going to need to swap some numbers. So, 420 …

Gene Marks(07:18)

Something less offensive, like 666.

Jamie Jackson(07:23)

So, 420 quickly became 240. Because, unfortunately, like I said, we're in a non-legal state [for marijuana]. Social media would see these photos, and we were a nonprofit healthcare center, and, yeah ...

Gene Marks(07:42)

So, the lesson learned from that, I guess, is if you're an employee, try to have a little bit of common sense.

Janie Jackson(07:50)

Exactly.

Gene Marks(07:51)

Of course, that's asking a lot from a lot of people, because that's a broad definition, right?

Jamie Jackson(07:56)

Exactly, and here's my thing. I don’t … I truly do not care what you do outside of work. However, please, for the love of everything holy, do not, do not bring that into work. And do not have a weed flower on your shirt. Let's be smart about it because it's not even HR getting you in trouble. Unfortunately, in this aspect, we were projecting these photos out to social media because the community loved to see our costumes so much.

Gene Marks(08:27)

And all you need is one person getting offended by it.

Jamie Jackson(08:30)

Exactly. Exactly.

Gene Marks(08:31)

So, that's the lesson for employees. And then obviously for people on the HR side, you'd like to trust your employees, but sometimes you can't trust their judgment. So, you really have to check before anything goes public, right?

Jamie Jackson(08:45)

100%. And we had already put out a blanket statement that costumes: Still needs to be within dress code, still needs, you know … I get it. I get it. Some people like to push the envelope a little bit, and she did. But we just swapped some numbers and got it taken care of.

Gene Marks(09:06)

Next story is when you were working at a California company, although you were remote, doing this from Tennessee, and your son had gotten a blow-up T-Rex costume. A dinosaur costume?

Jamie Jackson(09:20)

Sí.

Gene Marks(09:20)

What happened there?

Jamie Jackson(09:21)

This is one of my favorite stories.

Gene Marks(09:24)

So, how old is your son?

Jamie Jackson(09:25)

Well, now he's nine. When this happened, he was … I believe he was five. The costumes had come the day before, and he had already played with it the whole night, but I, you know …

Gene Marks(09:39)

The costume you had paid for, right?

Jamie Jackson(09:41)

So, of course I had a company all-hands. And this being a California company, he's already off the bus by the time I'm doing my company all-hands. For me, it's like 5:00, but they're two hours behind. So, I'm very into my slides. I'm remote, so I don't even see people's faces because all I see is my slides. I'm doing my slides, doing my little presentation, and I can hear the chat going off, and I'm thinking, I am killing this presentation, ok. I knew it! I know my stuff! People love me. And then I hear this swish, swish, swish, swish in the background, and that's when I see him out of my peripheral vision. I see a tiny T-Rex dancing behind me. He had some how …

Gene Marks(10:36)

The whole time. He had been dancing the whole time.

Jamie Jackson(10:38)

He had literally somehow wiggled into my office, because I do keep my office door closed, specifically when I'm on calls. He had wiggled into my office and decided to put on his T-Rex costume. But everyone loved it. Even later in the call, he had put my dinosaur costume on because we were going to match that year. And I had to get back on camera, and he was riding the dinosaur in the later one. But I'm telling you, to this day, I still get texts around this time of year, like, remember when Johnny put on that T-Rex costume and was parading around in the back?

Gene Marks(11:19)

Is there a recording of that call?

Jamie Jackson(11:21)

That's so funny that you said that. So, actually, my boss and I were hoping there was, but since it was proprietary information, we didn’t … we never recorded those calls. Oh, we tried so hard to get that recording.

Gene Marks(11:35)

So, you know what that reminds me of? Do you remember, it was during the pandemic as well, there was a guy in England and he was on a news show, and remember his kid came in in the middle of his interview, and he's turning around trying to push the kid out? Our personal experience: Our producer, Laura, has a dog, and sometimes when I'm on a phone call with her and I literally hear the dog snoring in the background.

Jamie Jackson(12:04)

Oh my gosh. Same. My French bulldog. First of all, I have four dogs. Don't even get me started; I just keep adopting. But my French bulldog, who we also adopted, snores so loudly, and he farts very loudly. I cannot have him in this room when I'm on calls because I will be embarrassed if he farts and people think it's me. And I don't want to have to say, I swear it's not me, it's my dog. But he farts like a human.

Gene Marks(12:35)

That is fair. That is fair. So, the HR lesson from this: lock your door, right?

Jamie Jackson(12:40)

Yeah, apparently. But I will say this one actually was hilarious. No harm, no foul.

Gene Marks(12:47)

No. And you know what? People love that stuff. It's funny. On Zoom calls for work or whatever, I oftentimes ask, what's that on the wall behind you, like a photo or something. I don't know, having a little kid in a T-Rex costume monkeying around behind you, it's just ...

Jamie Jackson(13:05)

I love it. I feel like you get to know your employees better. It's almost like a small peek into their home life, if it's a child or an animal. So, I kind of love that little look into remote life.

Gene Marks(13:23)

All right, next story. So, we've had a very funny story of somebody inappropriately dressing up for Halloween as The Price Is Right. We won't go into any more detail on that right now. Your son dancing around in a T-Rex costume behind you while you're trying to have a professional call. Here's another HR horror story. It has to do with tattoos. What was that story?

Jamie Jackson(13:47)

Yes. This one's funny because this one is actually is so typical. One day, the HR inbox gets a message of a photo of a person in our uniform, and she has a freshly done tattoo. It's red and everything, and she's like, “Just got this done.” And the person sending this is another co-worker, and basically they're saying, hey, this person was at work when this happened. And so, maybe ...

Gene Marks(14:27)

She got the tattoo at work while on the job?

Jamie Jackson(14:30)

So, I'm like, what is this all about? Me, being the HR professional, I have to go into detective mode. Okay, I know this employee ...

Gene Marks(14:39)

Before we even get any further, so I'm assuming this is a younger worker, probably, right?

Jamie Jackson(14:45)

Um, maybe-ish. So, then I have to go into detective mode, right? Like, okay, I know this employee is so-and-so. So, I go and look, and sure enough, she was on shift. Okay. Yes, it does look like, and I mostly work in healthcare, she's possibly in a center, in her scrubs, okay. All right. Fine. Moving on. Let me talk to her. So sure enough, come to find out, they there were two employees who worked late nights, and the other employee had recently purchased, via Amazon, and I didn't even know you could buy a tattoo gun off Amazon ...

Gene Marks(15:27)

I didn’t know either. I guess you can buy anything on Amazon.

Jamie Jackson(15:30)

A tattoo gun. And, so, while they were bored at work, she got a free tattoo.

Gene Marks(15:41)

Wait, so they're at work, and one employee took a tattoo gun that they bought from Amazon and gave the other employee a tattoo?

Jamie Jackson(15:49)

Yes. Yes.

Gene Marks(15:50)

While they were both on shift at work?

Jamie Jackson(15:56)

Yeah. Uh, huh. Very …

Gene Marks(15:57)

Okay. How long does that take? Doesn’t that take hours?

Jamie Jackson(16:00)

It was not a huge tattoo, so it probably didn't take super long. But ...

Gene Marks(16:06)

Geez.

Jamie Jackson(16:07)

You know, first of all, let me just say first of all: HR is not checking your social media. We don't have time for that. Even if you're not on private, and I always say keep yourself on private anyway. But it's usually someone else at work, a co-worker you thought you were friends with, who screenshots it, sends it to HR, and gets you in trouble. So, let me just say that. Let me preface, but come to find out, this male co-worker who had bought the tattoo gun had brought it in, and he had given her a tattoo while they were both on the clock.

And unfortunately, she didn't have the forethought, and she posted evidence that she was on the clock at work getting a free tattoo while being paid to get said free tattoo.

Gene Marks(17:03)

Not to mention, there are safety issues, as well.

Jamie Jackson(17:06)

Exactly. So many. Totally.

Gene Marks(17:08)

If she'd gotten hurt by him, God forbid ... and then she’s on the job.

Jamie Jackson(17:12)

I mean, it's a liability.

Gene Marks(17:14)

There’s workers’ comp and ...

Jamie Jackson(17:15)

It’s a huge liability. So obviously, they were both let go in this particular instance, just because these are very, huge, it's gross misconduct. I mean, it’s kind of like don't bring your tattoo gun to work. I shouldn't even have to write that in a handbook, do you know what I mean? That should be common sense. But also, don't get a tattoo at work.

Gene Marks(17:45)

Do you remember what the tattoo was?

Jamie Jackson(17:48)

Yeah, it was a small script. I don't remember what it said, but it was a small script. It wasn't like anything; it probably meant something to her. And look ...

Gene Marks(17:58)

Because that would have been another thing, if it had been something profane or offensive, just to add to the list.

Jamie Jackson(18:05)

And I am fully tatted up, so I fully support tattoos, and I love tattoos. But I go to the tattoo parlorwhen I'm not at work.

Gene Marks(18:21)

Yes. Okay. So, the lesson to be learned, again, for employees: don't get a tattoo while you're at work. Focus on your job, right?

Jamie Jackson(18:30)

Also, maybe don't post it on social media. Like, literally. And I know you're going to say I'm crazy, but all of that could have happened, and we would have never known about it if she hadn't posted it on social media.

Gene Marks(18:46)

That's another good point. It's not just getting a tattoo, it's anything that you do. You have to be careful what you post on social media.

Jamie Jackson(18:52)

Exactly. She incriminated herself. Like, she incriminated herself in that.

Gene Marks(18:57)

Yeah. People see it, and it winds up coming around to have repercussions for you sometime in the future. All right, Jamie, these are great. Final story. This has to do with what you call the white elephant gift at Christmas parties.

Jamie Jackson(19:12)

Oh my gosh.

Gene Marks(19:13)

First of all, you know, and maybe this is me being out of touch, but what is a white elephant gift?

Jamie Jackson(19:20)

So, white elephant is like Dirty Santa or Secret Santa. But, with Secret Santa, you're sometimes picking a name out of like a bowl, so you're like, okay, I have Bob in Accounting. White elephant, or Dirty Santa, is where everyone buys a $25 gift and puts it in the center, okay. So, that's what this was. Everyone bought a particular gift up to $25, and they just put it in the center. Then you draw numbers and then whatever number you are … and I think you can steal a gift two to three times. Sometimes it changes depending on who plays what, but …

Gene Marks(20:02)

Okay. So, give us the context. This is another company you worked for?

Jamie Jackson(20:06)

Yes, this is a different company I was working for. I think I was pretty young at this particular one, and I was in shock.

Gene Marks(20:16)

First of all, let me just preface this but if I'm working at a company and we have a white elephant Christmas gift exchange with a $25 limit, I'm buying a gift certificate, you know what I mean? Maybe a T-shirt or, you know. Something that's nice and appropriate. Nothing gender-specific.

Jamie Jackson(20:38)

Yeah. I will say there were a lot of Starbucks gift cards.

Gene Marks(20:41)

Starbucks gift cards.

Jamie Jackson(20:42)

Yeah, there were a lot of bottles of wine. I actually remember, particularly, I'm a huge Titans fan. I will wear my brown paper bag of shame right now because we're really not doing well, but there was a really cool Titans beanie I picked up this particular time. I digress. However, a candle, body lotion. Like, come on. All right.

This particular person goes and picks up a gift, and it was loosely wrapped. I can't really describe it. Like, it had a bottom, but the bottom wasn't wrapped; only the top was wrapped. So, all you had to do was take the top off. And there was a live hamster inside.

Gene Marks(21:25)

There was a live hamster? This was the gift? Wait, what was it wrapped up in? Was it at least in a ...

Jamie Jackson(21:31)

It was a box, so it could breathe. It was in like, almost like a clear box, like you see in the pet store, but it had a false top so it could still breathe.

Gene Marks(21:47)

Yes. Wow. That is absolutely crazy. So, bringing a live animal into work for an exchange sounds like a bad idea. How did that go over? I mean, were people upset?

Jamie Jackson(22:04)

Well, everyone was like, oh, this is a funny joke. Like, we thought it was a joke. We're like, oh, he brought in his child's hamster as a prank. But come to find out, no. He had gone the night before and purchased said hamster to bring because he really thought it would be the ultimate white elephant gift. And this person who received, or accidentally grabbed, I should say … accidentally grabbed the ticking time bomb that was the hamster, was like, what am I supposed to do with this? I don’t. I can't. And he really, truly wanted the shock and awe of having the best white elephant gift. And so, you know, there was a hamster.

Gene Marks(22:54)

I mean, he wasn't really violating any HR policies, right? I mean, you don't have it in your handbook that employees are not allowed to exchange hamsters.

Jamie Jackson(23:05)

No, but we did have to add in the next years “no live animals.” I'm not kidding. I am not kidding. We did have to add that because this person couldn't take an animal. Matter of fact, they traveled a lot for the company, so they were literally like, I can't take a hamster. Luckily, there was a gentleman who was like, I'll take it for my daughter. So, he ended up taking the hamster, and it worked out.

And I talked through it with the other employee, and they were like, hey, like I talked through it with him and he was like, “Maybe it wasn't the best decision.” And they got it. Like I said, it was more of a shock-and-awe thing. They didn't realize it would be something they'd get in trouble for, and they didn't get in trouble. It was more like a … even a betta fish probably wouldn't have been the best idea. I would have taken the fish, but even so, not the best idea.

Gene Marks(24:12)

That's a great story. That is a great story. Jamie, these are all great stories. You had given me these stories in advance, and I'm glad we went through them. Does anything else come to mind? I don't want to put you on the spot or anything like crazy …

Jamie Jackson(24:25)

Man, I mean, I have 23 years. 23 years. I have so many stories. Are you kidding me? One of my actual favorites is ...

Gene Marks(24:40)

Okay. Last one. Go ahead.

Jamie Jackson(24:41)

It was during open enrollment, and I was personally calling some people because they were about, they hadn't re-enrolled and they needed to re-enroll. We were switching to a brand-new health plan, and I needed them to re-enroll in coverage if they wanted it. So, I was calling one of our managers to let him know that he needed to re-enroll or he was going to lose coverage for his whole family. I called, and he picked up the phone, and he was whispering. And so then I start whispering. This was one of my early jobs. So, I'm like, “Hello?” And he was like, “Who is this?” I'm like, “Hey, this is Jamie. I'm in benefits, and I just want to let you know that ...” And he was like, “Okay. Hey, I'm in the deer blind. Can I call you back?”

Gene Marks(25:27)

He was in the what?

Jamie Jackson(25:29)

The deer blind. He was hunting. And so I was like, well, shoot, I'm never going to hear from this man again. Sure enough, maybe an hour goes by, and he calls me back. So, he calls me back and this time I'm able to actually talk to him in a normal voice. And I'm like, “Hey, sir, I just want to let you know that you're about to lose coverage as of X date. I'm just letting you know because of your family, blah, blah, blah. Let's get them re-enrolled.” So, I'm helping him get them re-enrolled over the phone.

Gene Marks(25:59)

And not to interrupt you, but if the guy's out hunting, you would think he would want to be on his health insurance, right?

Jamie Jackson(26:05)

Well, this was right out of college. I worked for Tractor Supply Company at the corporate headquarters, so I feel like this kind of makes sense. But anyway, he was one of our store managers at the time. Anyway, he calls me back, and I'm helping him literally walk through the choices and whatnot over the phone. And I said, “Oh, it's your wife's birthday today,” because, of course, I have all the birth dates in front of me. And he slams his hand on his desk and goes, “Oh, shoot. Now I've got to go to the Walmart.”

So, I always joke that on that day, not only did I save that man's marriage by making sure he got re-enrolled in coverage, but I also got his wife a birthday present. So …

Gene Marks(26:49)

Jamie, I've got to tell you something. If you hadn't reminded him of that, it would have been the ultimate Halloween horror story. Would you not agree?

Jamie Jackson(27:01)

Wooo!

Gene Marks(27:02)

And by the way, it's good advice for all of you in the HR world, as well. If you do have access to spouses' birthdays, you might want to set up a little weekly email just to remind your employees.

Jamie Jackson(27:11)

Oh, shoot. We should add that to the HRIS system, too.

Gene Marks(27:15)

And anniversaries. Jamie Jackson is an HR professional and the creator of Humorous Resources. You can find her on TikTok and Instagram at @humorous_resources. Right, Jamie? Am I getting that right? Fantastic. Really funny stories. I really appreciate all the time you've spent. We'll definitely have you back for some more HR tales in the future. So, thanks for joining us, Jamie, and Happy Halloween to you and everybody.

Jamie Jackson(27:42)

Happy Halloween. Thank you.

Gene Marks(27:44)

Do you have a topic or a guest that you would like to hear on Thrive? Please let us know. Visit payx.me/thrivetopics and send us your ideas or matters of interest. Also, if your business is looking to simplify your HR, payroll, benefits or insurance services, see how Paychex can help. Visit the resource hub at paychex.com/worx. That's W-O-R-X. Paychex can help manage those complexities while you focus on all the ways you want your business to thrive. I'm your host, Gene Marks, and thanks for joining us. Till next time, take care.

Announcer(28:20)

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