Return to Office (Hallmark Channel - 2025)

[00:00:01] Hi, I'm Bran. I love Hallmark. I love you, weary movies. I'm Brian. I like Hallmark. Love you, weary movies. I'm Dan and I despise Hallmark. Love you, weary movies. And this is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast. Deck The Hallmark. It's this podcast. And friends host this podcast. We hope you like this jolly podcast. Brian, would you say you're more a merger or more acquisition? Ooh, that's a tough one. More acquisition.

[00:00:37] I think so. You were more of a trust or merger? Oh, man. Can I just say this? A lot of people say that we take a little while, we ramp up too hard. The ramp's a little bit too long. I think we shut that down pretty quick today. I didn't even notice this. It's a very festive, love you, weary. Yeah, man. Really festive. Well, I think what people need to know and a reminder, a reminder that love is a

[00:01:09] love is what you make of it. And we make it green. Love is what you make of it. We make it green. We make it green. Make it green. Guys, we might be moving soon. You don't want to- Put a sheet on that door. Put a sheet. We are not moving that soon. We might be. You know, who can say? We are definitely not moving within the next 30 days. We might move soon. Hi. Hi. I asked for suggestions for how to decorate the office- And I said, don't worry about it. In January. And I was told not to worry about changing the set because we were maybe moving- That was in January though.

[00:01:36] So long ago. Man. So long ago. I'm not doing it. You guys can definitely-

[00:01:39] I'm calling a shot back in January. Well, things look different in January in my defense. That's true. Not any different than they look right now. They did. No. We went under contract with this house in January and knew late March with the others. The other one, weren't we still? No, that was December. Well, I think she asked in December. No, she did. No, she did not. She asked under- Check the minutes. I checked the minutes. I think what's important to remember is a lot of people out there say we take too long. The ramp up's too long. Love is what you make it. We already forgot about the ramp up. People are saying the ramp up's too long.

[00:02:10] No ramp up. That's all I'm saying. Yeah. I think love- Love is what you make of it. And that's what I've always said. So- Take that. I've always said that. I've always said that. Hey, guys. Welcome to another episode. If I asked 12-year-old Brandon Gray, if I was like, hey, do you believe this statement? Love is what you make it. What would 12-year-old Brandon Gray have said? I mean, yeah, probably. I'd probably- You want to know a YouTube video about it. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Cool. I'd probably make a song about it. Yeah. I'd probably make a song about it. For sure.

[00:02:39] Love is what you make of it. Love is what you make of it. Love is what you make of it. Love is what you make of it. That's pretty good. It's great, dude. Oh, love is what you make- So something like that. You have a page today. Yeah, that's probably what- That's probably- Wow. All right. That's good. Really excited to dive into today's movie. It's Return to Office. Sure is. Fun like- Return to Office. Return to Office.

[00:03:10] Return to Office. Only two days a week. We're going hybrid, B. So something like that. Totally that, yeah. Yeah. It's going to be really good. You guys just want to dive into it? I guess. No ramp up here. No ramp up here. The ramp is going on. The people are saying the ramp's too long. We did the set deck. We got a one-star review recently. Guys, go leave us a five-star review. Really? We got a one-star review because they didn't- Didn't like the Bob Buck interview. Whoa. I'm giving them a one-star. I never read one-star reviews because you don't want to start a half-star review. That's brutal.

[00:03:41] I have it. But also, I'm going to read this review- Please. To show you that- Listen, almost all criticism of this show is valid. Is valid. Yeah. Not like in the Bob Buck interview. It's a them. Isn't it a joke? It's just a joke? Mom, dad? Wow. The interview, this was from, I can't see their whole name, it's the Popcorn Something. Uh-oh. And the title is Robert Buckley Interview. Oh, no. And this reviewer says, what was that? So awkward. Buckley was uncomfortable. He may have gotten

[00:04:11] the bit from your perspective as you proclaimed at the end, but he didn't like it. Your interviews used to be spot on, but this was a swing and miss. Did Bob Buck write this? I think it's this of Bob Buck. You're not comedians. The bits are not funny. I listened to him on the Drama Queens podcast, and he never sounds like he did on your interview. So many other Hallmark podcasts available that don't treat guests like this. Finally, someone said it. I gotta be honest. You said it, Brandon.

[00:04:40] And almost every criticism of this show is a fair criticism of the show. Almost every one. That might be the first one I've heard that isn't a fair one. First one ever. Like, I don't want to throw any other podcasts under the bus. Bob Buck told us it was his favorite one. And he said he normally doesn't like the other ones. So, like, you may have- Yeah, take that, Drama Queens. You may have misread that. Bob Buck did that as a courtesy. Well, he was on one tree. I know he was. He probably actually really enjoyed that one.

[00:05:09] I don't think he was talking about that one in particular. I don't think he really liked it. Yeah, I think he loved his time on one. Yeah. That was a wild- But Bob, you don't have to make a username. Like, if you- Yeah, the popcorn? Come on, man. You could let us know, Bob. We're right here. No harm, no foul over here. Yeah. Let's return to our- Return to our face! Return to our face! We're taking Fridays off! And this is a fun thing.

[00:05:37] Coming two days a week. Let's do this. Are you ready? Return to our two days a week. Two days a week. Two days a week. Two days a week. Everybody's home on Fridays. Working hard. That ramp is- I can guarantee it. The ramp is long. It's a long ramp. Yeah. I was trying to- I did my S. Return to office February 15th, 2025 on the Hallmark Channel. Went a little something like this. Liv is thriving working from home.

[00:06:06] She just wakes up, makes her matcha, does her yoga, eats her oatmeal, throws on a top for a video call, and keeps the pajama pants on. That's the way that she rolls. It works for her. It's the good life. Tom, on the other hand, he works for the same company, Artist Access, and he's thriving just a smidge less. He's showing up for video calls late because he's just- He can do whatever he wants. He's at home. It's hard to keep track of time.

[00:06:34] Lucky for him, he's going to continue being head designer. They just went through a little bit of a merger acquisition situation. New CEO, Walter. He's coming on board. He says, you know what? Tommy Boy, you can continue to be head designer. The CEO, Walter. He has big dreams, including a return to- Return to office. A return to office plan. Two days a week. It's a hybrid schedule. That's exactly right. Some are going to be in the office Monday, Wednesday. Others on Tuesday, Thursday. They don't have a desk. Everybody work- Yeah, that's exactly right.

[00:07:03] Everybody work at home on Friday. Do your best work. She is immediately off to a rock. You start with this whole coming into the office thing. She's late due to traffic and gets to a desk and there's barely any left. No desk by the window. So she's stuck with a desk by the food station. You know? It's tough. A.K.A. Kitchen. Kitchen, if you will. I call it food station. That's what I call it. They call it food station. I call it a food station. It's a long ramp up.

[00:07:33] She's supposed to put all of her belongings away at the end of the day, so not to get in the way of the Tuesday, Thursday folks. But she leaves a note and signs it Miss Monday asking if she could leave her succulent for life. I'm sorry, Miss Monday. Okay. He sees this as an opportunity to leave some of his things on the desk, such as rubber ducky and fun art, which she does not love.

[00:07:59] At first, she's not happy about this, but then they start sending back and forth some flirty notes and he sends a pastry. And once you send pastry, all bets are off. All bets are off. They get real flirty real fast. They end up meeting in person at a work event, but they don't realize that they are each other's pen pal, if you will. They compete together in a work team building event. Dan was jealous the whole time. Yeah, he does. And they win.

[00:08:28] They win some sort of romantic prize package and they confirm to each other that they are talking to somebody else. You know, they're already both kind of talking to somebody. Obviously, they're thinking of each other without knowing that the each other that they're thinking of is right there. You know what I mean? Did that make sense? After weeks and weeks of talking anonymously, they agree to meet, but she finds out who he

[00:08:55] is beforehand while she's at a retirement community that she volunteers at, that Tom's grandma is also at. And she talks about how her grandson is head over heels for someone that he calls Miss Monday. And it all clicks in for her. So she goes to talk to him before they go to make a pitch to Walter. And he's just gushing about someone named Miss Monday. Miss Monday's the best, blah, blah, blah.

[00:09:25] She tries to get him to see that she's Miss Monday. He doesn't see it. He's clueless. He doesn't figure it out. The pitch does not go well, which bums him out. But at least he's meeting Miss Monday tonight. What could go wrong? She shows up for the date, but decides not to immediately tell him that she's Miss Monday. She goes to the bathroom and messages him that she's not going to make it. Miss Monday's not coming. Miss Monday's taking a Sunday. I don't know. Good one. I don't know.

[00:09:55] You'll get there. When she... Two days a week. That's exactly right. When she comes out, he's like, well, my date bailed. Do you want to sit with me for a little bit while you wait on your date? They talk. And he ends up saying that he felt like she didn't have his back in the presentation. They kind of argue a little bit. He ends up leaving. She's now sad. But they end up having part two of their date work prize thing, which is like a cooking. You cook.

[00:10:23] You get to learn from Lee himself from When Calls the Heart. He comes in on train and teaches you how to cook. So let's out. And the sparks are flying. Dummy Tom is like, man, you have so many similarities to Miss Monday. I could just kiss you right now. And they kind of get close to kissing, but they're interrupted. The next day, Walter shows a logo that he had AI make. And he wants to go with it. Tom sees this and immediately quits.

[00:10:48] After hearing that Walter wants to get rid of all of the designers in favor of AI, Liv quits too. Via sticky notes. She finally decides to come clean and asks him to meet up again as Miss Monday. He walks in and is surprised that it is her, but he is glad that it is her. They end up kissing and they decide that they're going to go into business together. Yay for them. And that, my friends, was Return to Office.

[00:11:17] Two days a week. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll break this episode down. Movie. Here on... Take the Hallmark. There's too many shows. Too many shows. Two days a week. Welcome back, everybody. I'm having fun today. We're talking Return to Office. The latest Love You, Weary flick. Day after Valentine's Day. Everybody went out and they had their nice little Valentine's dinner.

[00:11:47] They came back ready for a Valentine's movie. That's right. Return to Office. Let's break it down. They could have watched An Unexpected Valentine's. Could have. Previous week. We would promote that, but I don't want to upset Bob. No, we don't want to upset Bob. Don't bring him into it. No, no, no, no. Don't bring him into it. He was so ready to be done with that movie. Hated it. So awkward. Full hour. Let's get to... Let's get to it. Let's share our hot takes on this movie. We're going to share our thoughts on it, how we felt about it. We're not going to hold back. I would implore you. Not to hold back.

[00:12:15] Now, you're somebody who has worked at home for a long time. Yeah, quite a while. You don't want any part of returning two days a week. So this is kind of a nightmare for you. Yeah. Putting those feelings maybe aside if you can, what are your thoughts on this movie? Yeah. Overall, this was pretty good for me, actually. I was impressed by the tech usage. Like, they did the production quality on using tech and showing tech. I thought they put a lot of thought and effort into it, and it worked. I thought that was pretty good. The problem with this one is...

[00:12:45] It's pretty massive. This is a conversation I want to hear. A convo between a boss who's a big picture narcissist and a very creative, individualistic person who's like, stay out of my way. And then a super organized, bring everybody together person. These are like three really unique perspectives. And I want that argument.

[00:13:12] The argument they had where he quit, where it wasn't even an argument. It was, I disagree. I'm quitting. I wanted all that the whole time. Like, I wanted... Would have been a better movie. I think so. Like, an argument the whole time. Yes. I wanted multiple arguments the entire movie, and I wanted them constantly to be ending up in the HR office, having a disagreement, and having Chad mediate and be funny Chad, which he was. Chad was a really funny character in this movie, the HR guy.

[00:13:39] You don't get to see him on Wind Calls the Heart, unfortunately for you. Oh, I don't. Chad's in Wind Calls the Heart? Chad and Lee. Oh, he is? Yeah. Oh, good for him. So that was something I'm like, oh man, that's like an itch that I wanted to scratch a little bit. It would have felt real nice. You know what I'm saying? You'd have to talk to HR about that. Yeah, you can't say that out loud. Good one. Chad, come on in here. So I really like the concept. I like the archetypes. We just didn't get everything in that world that I wanted.

[00:14:06] It was too much like high level, let's just write notes and good use of tech, but just like, I don't know. I wanted that deep conversation, unfortunately for me. So. Yeah. So I agree with you in so much as I like all of the characters in this movie and the general story of the movie I thought was really fun. Obviously it had been done before in rom-coms, but a fun little variation of it, a return to office.

[00:14:35] I could see this happening in real life and it's nice. Um, my, my problem with the movie came with how early she found out that he was Mr. Tuesday and then just like, didn't, it's like, it was so important to her for him to just come to the realization that she was Miss Tuesday. And that like frustrated me like her showing up and going to the bathroom and texting and being like, I can't make it.

[00:15:03] Like I didn't like it and I didn't feel like they did. Uh, I think maybe if they had an extra five to 10 minutes to like give some sort of backstory for her feeling like I just want this guy to, to, to like me, not the person that like that could have helped and give some sort of, uh, uh, understanding for the viewer at home to be like, why is she acting like this? She likes this guy.

[00:15:31] She's Miss, uh, when you find out just you, you have the date on the schedule. You, you, you walked in, he saw you and it was such a perfect opportunity for him, for her to just be like, it's me. And then, and then they can kind of, I would have almost liked the last 20 minutes of this movie to be them actually knowing. And then that thing happens with the AI. Too much sense, Brie. And I think that that could have caused like some interesting, now that I understand you,

[00:15:59] not just as Mr. Tuesday, but also as this guy that I've been having a little bit of work friction with, I think that that could have made some really good, uh, drama at, in the last 20 minutes of this movie. And instead they did this to me, weird thing with her finding out as early as she did and then just keeping it a secret. So, um, aside from that, I really enjoyed this movie and I thought that the two leads had great chemistry, really liked them together. And, uh, yeah, I, I really enjoyed myself, Dan. Yeah.

[00:16:28] This is the, the worst execution of a movie that I've seen on Hallmark all year. It is everything brand said is correct. It is really hard to mess up a shop around the corner plot. Like you've got mail delivered by Christmas message in a bottle. I can't think of a Hallmark shop around the corner ripoff that has gone awry. Even when Hallmark does it, it works.

[00:16:56] That's how foolproof this premises is two people that don't know their messaging each other and falling in love and happen to be kind of rivals or not on the same level. When they do talk to each other, find out that it's actually the person they've been talking to and they love. That is a, a foolproof rom-com. I don't, I would, I'm sure there are people who've seen all these Hallmark movies that can tell me times when it didn't work in my memory.

[00:17:24] I don't remember a standout bad one of these until now. This is, you have these two people who are sharing a desk because there's not enough room and they're writing post-it notes and it's adorable. If the company's 10,000 people works like a champ, we got issues with that. She finds out really early in this movie. And then instead of telling him, she just spends the next 40 minutes doing what I can only describe as concocting a web of lies.

[00:17:52] She, she just spends her time setting the deck and lying to this guy because she's nervous about it. It's not good. It's really poorly executed. And I hate that because I like most everyone acting in this movie, but we don't get the thing Brian wanted. Everything brand said is correct. And so because of that, the execution is so terrible of this movie. And I can't imagine, I don't even know where it fell apart. I don't know where it fell apart.

[00:18:21] I don't know if the script was just like, this place is 10,000 people. We're just going to see 12 of them all the time. And like the fact that they like, I have to come to the conclusion. If you, if you make me buy everything else in this movie that our leading man, I don't remember his name. I don't remember the character. Tom is the dumbest human being alive. Yeah. That is the best I can come up with. If you want to tell me the rest of this movie works, then Tom is not bright at all.

[00:18:50] Like just not with it. And so that really took me out of it. And I love the like message in a bottle and delivered by Christmas, two of the better Hallmark movies ever made. So like they, this is a premise. I think I cream this movie, maybe, maybe I cream this movie. Maybe I didn't in the, in the preview. I just felt like this was a no brainer. I felt like if there was one that was going to work, it was going to be this one. And the execution was terrible. Just real bad. I, yeah, I still really enjoyed the movie.

[00:19:19] It just, it could have been one of my favorites in quite some time. Yes. And I just found myself being frustrated. Like even like when, when, uh, she brought him the pastries and he still didn't like put it together. I was like, gosh, man. There's so many hints. So many. I recently tried these and they changed my life. Oh, that's freaking crazy. That's so cool. You're going to believe this. I said so. I said so to Miss Bondi. It's unbelievable. You would love her. You'd love her. You guys get along.

[00:19:48] You should come in. You guys would really like her. Can you try to figure out how she is? I did in fact cream this movie and I will say, I mean, it's probably not, no, it's not better than Unexpected Valentine. This is not even the best movie of February. It's a poorly executed movie. I think with a couple of tweaks there with the, when, once she kind of finally realized it, it would have been my favorite. I think that we're, we think it is though. Like they spend the first 10 minutes writing post-inotes back together. And then I feel like 15 or 20 minutes later, she figures it out.

[00:20:17] Like I, I don't know. I felt like it was last 20 minutes. I feel like all the pacing and timing of this movie is bad. Like it's, it's unfortunate. Uh, let's get to all the feels. Yeah. We were talking about what this movie gave us feels, right? So when the boss uses AI to come up with the logo and it's, you know, obviously really it looks like macaroni and it's really bad. It reminded me of, uh, one of my favorite early on, uh, TikTok follows was this girl. She was a graphic designer.

[00:20:46] She went to school for graphic design and she redesigns company logos on TikTok, but she does like a really horrendous job and they're horrible and they're so bad. Emily. Emily. Emily Zuge is a guy. She is a ride. And she's got this deadpan presentation about it, or she just talks in this very monotone voice. Like it's hilarious. She's so fun. And so it made me go watch some of those because those are hilarious. Uh, I mean, I love the fact that we got a real villain. That's fine.

[00:21:16] Okay. Well, yeah. One shout out Peter Gallagher. Yeah. Peter Gallagher over there. But when, when he, he doesn't learn a lesson. No. Not at all. And he is like, I felt like they were kind of like, it was a, a, a, a Hallmark version of an Elon Musk who comes into this thing and it's like, I'm going to acquire this company and I don't really care about the company.

[00:21:43] I just want like the code and I'm just going to throw AI at everything. And it felt like very much like Hallmark's version of being like, is, uh, uh, not, not the best, not the best take, uh, your AI takes are not the best take. And so I appreciate that. Uh, in this movie, I just wrote down evil. Peter Gallagher is fantastic. When he goes full, like when she, when he quits and you think he's going to realize something's happening and then he looks at her and he's like, Hey, where are you going?

[00:22:12] Unless you want to pack your stuff up too. I was like, I couldn't believe that. I couldn't believe that the movie didn't give us some sort of closure. If he actually did do the, uh, the comparison brought in the, the team, the focus group to look at both logos, realize that his logo sucked and was like, huh, maybe we do need artists. He never learns that lesson. He never do that. And so, uh, they, they went for it there. So shout out. Um, let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to the way. What the, what the Hallmark here on.

[00:22:50] Hi, welcome back everybody. We're talking about return. Um, the latest days a week. That's right. Latest Hallmark. Love you. We're a movie. Let's get to the way. What is where we're talking about? What in this movie? Just go with what I'll start with you, Brian. Yeah, I wrote, uh, so I wrote, so both twins work there. Eh? And then my next line is, wow, they are twins. Weird. Right? Like I thought they were doing a bit where they're like, oh, this guy's there. They don't have a big cast. So they're going to use this one person and say he's a twin.

[00:23:19] And so every day one of the twins is there. Yeah. But later you find out they're actually twins. They're actually our twins. I couldn't believe it. Like what? That is the weirdest thing. Like that is the fact that twins work in the same place. The fact that twin actors. And then they couldn't get the same day. That you don't want to work the same day as your twin brother. So confusing for everybody. Yeah. That's wild. You know, we know which one. That's tough for everybody. They can't get the same day. They don't get to know anybody at the other one. Yeah.

[00:23:48] So, so we're only one of them is going in. That's tricky. Oh man. That's a good one. So that was just so weird to me that the whole twin aspect, like why did they, why did they do that? It was cool though. I was glad. I was surprised. The lead designer doesn't get a specialized workspace. Like the lead designer gets an office with giant screens and a pad that he can draw on. Okay. Like, yes, that's how that works. If you try to make sense of this company or this office space, you're going to be in

[00:24:17] big trouble. That should have been his first clue that this guy wants about. That's right. Yeah. Like he's going to come in. He's going to act like he cares about the designers, but he's going to do little things over time. That's right. You feel like you're not going to put me at a desk where I can't even put my laptop down. Interesting. That's interesting. Oh, I don't even have a place where I can draw like, yeah, no inspiration. Yeah. So that's just, that was ridiculous. And, um, what a fun team building said no employees in the survey that was sent out about it. Wow. What?

[00:24:45] I was, I was mad watching it because it was so dumb. And then after when I realized how much time it took, I'm like, we could have done an HR meeting. We could have done anything else during this time. The most Brian thing ever is wanting more HR meetings. That guy was really funny. He was funny. Their, their chemistry, all the three of them together, I thought was really great. So that was a big bummer that we wasted time with that. When they say reported to HR or whatever, he pops up and he's like, what are you going to say? You guys say HR? Yeah. That was great. It's very funny. Great. So yeah, that's all for me.

[00:25:16] Um, you know, we've, I've gotten, I guess, used to at this point, the, uh, I'm texting, but I'm reading what I'm texting out loud. Um, and a lot of times that's like, okay, you're in your own house. You can read out loud if you want to. Both of these people while writing their notes in the office are reading out loud, which would bother me. Yeah. If you're just like, thanks for that croissant. I'd be like, what are you pipe down? So I was trying to work.

[00:25:45] Um, but they are meant for each other cause both of them are, uh, type, the type of people who in an office setting will read what they, whatever they are writing out loud, uh, for the sake of us at home, but, uh, still for them in the office, I feel bad about it. Um, you mentioned the competition, uh, the team building thing. I want to give a shout out to whoever in this office rigged this, the, the quiz competition stage.

[00:26:11] Cause they have these, you know, podiums and they, each podium has a light strip on it and all of the light strips are the same color until you buzz in. And then the light strip of the podium that dinged in first lights up green. The others don't. The others don't. They, I don't know how much time did that take? They, they were like, we gotta, we gotta figure out a way to really make this pop. What if we rig a whole light show together to make it really great?

[00:26:38] And then if they get it wrong, it all turns red. So I don't really well done. And it's the most work that anybody has ever put into a, uh, a team building competition. So shout out. Um, but also really weird that the team building prize is a really romantic package. Very romantic. You get to go to a romantic dinner. You're going to do a romantic chef thing lesson. Really weird thing for HR to push.

[00:27:08] Really weird thing for AR to be like this. We did it guys. We got, uh, we got the package for everybody. You guys are going to love it. Um, also it just made me laugh that when she goes to the bathroom to type that she's not going to, uh, be able to make it to the dinner. And then she says, thanks for understanding. And then puts the prayer hands. That was so funny. Thanks for understanding. You ever bailed on somebody or bailed on a date and been like, thanks for understanding

[00:27:38] prayer hands? Prayer hands. Yeah. Start. Uh, Aaron's saying no go. Aaron's saying no go. You have no prayer hands to be like, I'm out. Air hands. Um, a great, a great emoji. Uh, great use of that emoji. Uh, Dano. Uh, yeah. The team building activity is my, my nightmare. It's hell for all the reasons that Brian mentioned, but also I want to be very clear. This is a two question quiz show.

[00:28:07] They don't do to imagine there's more. We don't see. They don't do a montage. Cut a little bit. They don't do a montage of people buzzing and missing. There's no scoreboard. There's nothing to clue you in that time has elapsed with most game shows. Both. With most game shows, you see as if somebody answers two in a row, you pretty much got a good idea. Well, what we know. You know what? That's good enough. Back to the X, the bad, back to the bad execution premise. Every other movie either does a little 10 second montage or has a scoreboard up there

[00:28:37] that changes. This is, they asked Janelle a question. She gets it right. They asked the other team that's close. They get it wrong. And then she answers it right. And then they're like, you guys win. You did it. What you don't know is first to two got a win by two. First to two got a win by two. Loser walks. But also they rigged that whole system up for two questions. For a two question quiz. I think they bought it one time. Bad. They just pull it out every chance they get. We spent 30K on this thing.

[00:29:05] I know it's a two question quiz, but can we get the system out? Get the system out. There lights up. The first game is one partner's blindfolded. The other one's describing what they're supposed to do. And he gets to a hula hoop. It's not. It is a hula hoop. And he has to hula hoop for five seconds. All she has to say is, okay, right below your feet. Is a hula hoop. You got a hula hoop for five seconds. She says, there's an object on the ground. You need to pick it up.

[00:29:35] And then he picks it up and she goes, all right, now you're going to have to, well, put it on. And then he tries to hula hoop and it drops. She goes, no, you're going to have to try again. How did you guys win? How did you win anything? There's a hula hoop on the ground. That's all you got to say. Hula hoop. You got a hula hoop for five seconds. There's an object on the ground. Is she not allowed to give away what it is he's picking up? That was crazy. You got to go on AR if you say that. When I think of Italian chef, I think of Kevin Smith.

[00:30:05] I think we all do. Yeah, absolutely. We all think of Kevin in his thick Canadian accent talking about the greatness. You mean Kevin Parmesané Smith? Parmesané Smith, as we call him. Old Kevin Parm Smith. I got to be honest. It was always great to see Kevin. We love Kevin. It was a private Italian chef tutorial. That was the whole bit of this is you get to go to an Italian chef and learn how to cook.

[00:30:34] And Kevin Smith is reporting live from a hockey match in Vancouver. I don't even know. He couldn't be more Canadian in the scene. He's not doing an accent. He's just Kevin. He's just Kevin there as the Italian whatever. Also, we're supposed to believe this company is like the size of Google. That's what we're supposed to believe. If you want me to believe that, you got to show me more than 30 people.

[00:31:03] The max we see is 30 people. That is at the team building. We hear they don't have enough desks for everybody. But yet, we never see more than typically 15 or 20 people. Do you think for a second they wouldn't know who their desk partner was? Like everyone in this movie, week one would be like, Hey, I'm your desk partner. Just so you know, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Or somebody's being like, Oh, this guy sits here. Like I saw, you know, somebody around the office would say it. But for instance, the reason that's important is, you know,

[00:31:32] message in a bottle is a crazy premise for a movie. Andrew Walker writes it or one of them, Joy Lenz, one of them writes a note and puts it in a bottle in the water and someone receives it. That's insane. But we buy the fact that they don't know that it's each other writing because how could they? It was a message in a freaking bottle. We've aired on the other side of the spectrum here with, so you're coming in Monday, Wednesday, you're coming in Tuesday, Thursday. You'll never know who you're sharing your desk with. Yes, you will. Like you 100% will.

[00:32:02] Yeah, that's all I got. Well, especially he has just designs. Yeah. Yeah. So you married that right there. Might be head designer. I mean, they do a Zoom at the beginning where there's maybe 12 people on this Zoom and all of them get a chance to talk. They've met. She knows who this is. Like, it might be head designer. Could be. Could be. Could be head designer. Could be head designer gets a desk two days a week. Let's get to the what the hallmarks. Two days a week. We wonder what could have been. Maybe give us a clarity question that we still have.

[00:32:32] Brian? Yeah, I don't usually want a flash forward. But in this case. For when they go back five days. No, no. I mean, like a year later. One year later. Yeah. In their relationship. But I wanted to see their, hopefully they end up staying together and plan a nice wedding. You did staying together in quotes. Why? I was going to do fingers crossed, but I just gave up on it. Staying together. This is staying together. Wink, wink. This was too hard. Yeah. That's a lot of work getting those crossing those fingers. Not a cross. I can't really do it. Just for the record, I hope they make it. Sure. I hope they make it. Wink, wink.

[00:33:03] But just know that any time Brian does quotes, he means fingers crossed. And you need to know that for the future. I'd map. Just map those. Yes. You guys got it. But I kind of want to see how their wedding is planned out. Him being super creative and her being really detail oriented and organized. I feel like they'd have a really nice wedding. And I kind of want to see what it would look like. Maybe that's just me. Yeah. I just want... I'm actually very invested in the arc of evil Peter Gallagher. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:33] And, you know, his... Unfortunately, his business is probably going to thrive. It's probably going to be just fine. Yeah. It's probably going to be great. And he's going to cut costs. He's going to be great. Yeah. At some point in his heart of hearts, he's going to know what he did. I don't know. I just... I want to know how it turns out for him. Because clearly he has a plan to get rid of all the designers. And, you know, she leaves a sticky note behind. And if I'm him, I'm like, what the frick was this? It doesn't make any sense.

[00:34:01] He doesn't know their past with sticky notes. But he gets a sticky note that says, I quit. And he just kind of makes his face like, huh. What happened? Like, how did it go? Did he end up going through with it? All that stuff. I'm very invested in that character. Dan? Yeah, this movie's very current. I think a lot of people are living out. Not the dumb, I'm sharing a desk. I don't know who it is part of this. But the... I am. Trace, you are sharing a desk with someone at your new job? Yes. What's the job?

[00:34:30] Janie and Jancerson Co.? Janie and Jancerson's Co.? Janie and Jancerson Co. Janie and Jancerson Co. Co. Company. What do they do over there? They do like little art crafts. Wow. Sometimes they go to moons. Sometimes they go to moons. They explore some different things. Okay. All right. And you share a desk at Janie and Jancerson Co.? Yeah, we're hybrid. You're hybrid. I go one day a week tops. One day a week. Okay. Who do you share a desk with? I don't know.

[00:35:00] That's what I'm saying. It's very similar. Have you tried to reach out to them? I have. They never respond. They never respond. No, and I think they're pretty hard to get. Like, hey, I like your smell. When I come in, you smell good? That's probably why they're not responding. I wouldn't respond to that. Probably. You think that's weird? It's pretty weird, yeah. Well, what's her that say? I'll write down whatever you say. Hey, who shares my desk with me? Hi. Who shares my desk with me? I like your smell. No, not the end of that. Just the first part. We don't do the last part. Hi, I like your smell.

[00:35:30] No. No, no, no. Just the first part. Not the end. Oh, hi. That's a good start. It's a good start. It's better. Okay, okay. We're getting somewhere. Then I'll talk to you about smells. Yeah. What's your favorite smell? Can I write that? No. Yeah. Oh. No, Bri. I think we should start small. I'll keep you all posted. Okay, thank you. Jamie Janssen Co. You keep it posted, even? I don't get it. The way that everyone is kind of in this process of like,

[00:35:57] Bri guy at COVID, you stopped going into the office and now you just don't like, you know, you don't go in anymore. Yeah, you don't do that. A Sunday a month. An occasional. We're going one day a month. But I, so I'm fascinated. This seems like a place where they're going to end up going back all five days. That's what it seems like to me. This guy seems like he's pushing in that direction. Why else would you want them in? Because his whole thing is, is we want to all be one building. Well, they're not. They're never all in one building. They're there. They're there.

[00:36:26] Some half are there Monday, Wednesday, half are there Tuesday, Thursday. So I want to flash forward, not for the relationship of it, but for the, how is our, like what happened when he went? Like, I want to know the ramifications for going back. Yeah, if his plan is for all of design to be gone, then maybe they have enough desks. Maybe. You know? I don't know how many people are in design. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, AI. There you go. AI solves it. We did it, everybody. Congratulations. That's time for the Double Decker of the Week is where we dive deep into the life of a Double Decker who has signed up for Rainbow Jam.

[00:36:54] Plus, at the Double Decker tier or higher, you get so much fun stuff. So come on and join us. It's going to be a lot of fun. I really think you're going to like it. Good. I really think you are. I love that. Dan, who do we have today? We have Cynthia Hopgood. Woo! Cynthia Hopgood. That's the Hopgood. Shout out. Cynthia out there doing some good, I would say. Cynthia has a... What I found about Cynthia is she's got a surefire... Is that the phrase? Surefire is the phrase, yes.

[00:37:23] A conflict resolution method. Ooh. It will not fail. This is going to help a lot of people, it feels like. That's what it feels like. Yeah. It's on the up and up here. So it involves... You bring... So if you have a conflict with somebody that needs to be resolved, you bring it to this place. Right now, brick and mortar. So that's pretty cool for her. Or you get it resolved, and you walk up the door, you have an answer. Wow. It's simple and effective, and it just involves... So you bring your conflict to it, and they figure it out. Yeah. They resolve it. Yeah.

[00:37:52] It's called coin flicked. Coin flicked. It solves your conflict with a coin flip. That's absolutely right. Okay. And it's called coin flicked. Now, can I ask you this? Why is she needed? Because in theory, if I am okay with a coin flip solving my conflicts, then I would just do it myself. Love. Yeah. You don't... You can't trust sometimes the other... It could be a double-sided. Most coins are, but this one's same double, same sided. So both parties, if Dan and I are in conflict, and he's like, I don't trust your coin, I'm

[00:38:22] like, I definitely don't trust your coin. Right. You bring in coin flicked. We bring in coin flicked, and they... They take it from there. Take the coin... You flip the coin. Who's paying for coin flicked? Which side? The loser pays, obviously. Wow! The loser has to pay. And you can't... It's final. Like, there is no... Is it two out of three, or is it just one up? One flip. Well, you could... I guess you... I don't know. Bonus package. Maybe you could. Maybe Synth would allow that. Yeah. A two out of three best loser walks. Probably cost more. Yeah. Of course it does. You're paying per flip there, obviously. You're paying per flip.

[00:38:51] And the coin is the... So, you know, it's a valuable coin. Valuable coin. You don't... Really? You can't just walk in with your own coin. What makes it valuable? Oh, the... It's the weight. The integrity of it. Yeah. The weight. Oh, it's not like a rare coin. No, no. It's actually a pretty cheap coin. You're not bringing out like a... Pretty cheap coin. Is it a penny? No, no. 1842 nickel. You need something that's going to be around for a while. Yeah. Getting rid of those, Brian. Don't be ridiculous. Come on, man. Any day. So, this sounds actually a pretty good idea. How much does it cost? And how much is the loser going to pay? Well, that's...

[00:39:20] Right now, it's just a flat fee. Just $79.99 plus tax. Obviously, a decision... And what's stopping... And now, bro, I don't want to poke any holes in this because coin flick sounds like a great idea. But what's stopping like... Like, for instance, if Brian and I were having an argument, what's stopping us from you getting a coin? Well, I'm not certified. Or... Oh, it's like... It's kind of like a... When you go in and you get it... What is it called? Stamp of approval. Yeah, absolutely. A notary? Notary. Yes. Another equally dumb idea. Don't want to bring a notary into it. So, it's like a notary.

[00:39:49] He couldn't even think of the notion. That's how little I think about it. So, when... He forgot. He forgot the name of a notary. Out of sight, out of mind. That's exactly right. So, you're saying it's like that. You have to go and get approved. You have to be like a certified flickter. Yeah. Flickter. Flickter? That's what they would be. Yeah. And that's a big part of the business, too, is getting certified. Does the flickter give any sage advice on their way out? Or is it just... No, they don't give a flick. They just flicked. Okay. Very nice. Well done. We did it, everybody. Congratulations to us. Come on back next time. I think we're going to do this again.

[00:40:19] Maybe tomorrow. I love it. We're going to do it tomorrow. Come on back. Until then, maybe the first to wish you a... Merry Christmas! Deck the Hallmark's A Brave Will Jam podcast is produced by Aaron Shea. What? For more information on Deck the Hallmark, you can go to deckthehallmark.com. For more information on the Deck the Hallmark family, you can go to bramblejamplus.com. Deck the Hallmark is presented by Philo TV. For a free trial of Philo, go to philo.tv slash dth.

[00:40:49] You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day.