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Racism. Sexism. Sizeism. Hitler memes?!? This week, Hoja, Kiki, and Mohanad break down the reasons why some of our favorite brands need to apologize to us alongside SuChin Pak, journalist and co-host of the podcast Add to Cart. They also get into SuChin’s month of no shopping, the second coming of MTV Cribs, and what’s really inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s home spa. Plus, Hoja demands an apology from her hair, Kiki says sorry to all Target employees, and Mohanad gives his review of the Euphoria finale on this week’s Sorry Not Sorry.

Please note, I’m Sorry contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners.

Follow SuChin Pak on Instagram and Twitter @suchinpak. Listen to her podcast Add to Cart here: http://lemonadamedia.com/show/addtocart/. And follow Add to Cart on Instagram @addtocartpod.

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Do you have someone you need to apologize to? Does someone owe you an apology? We want to hear about it! Send us an email at imsorry@lemonadamedia.com or DM us on Instagram @imsorry_podcast.

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For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com.

Transcript

Kiki Monique  00:08

I’m Kiki Monique. And this is I’M SORRY, your favorite podcast about apologies. And this week, I think I can officially stop saying that I just moved to LA from New York and I can finally feel comfortable saying, I live in LA.

Hoja Lopez 

Wow. What a transition.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah, this is Mohanad Elshieky and honestly, this week, I don’t know what to say. Just getting is the queen. Where is she? Is she alive? Or is she dead? We will never know. By the time this episode comes out, that can change. So don’t hold it against me.

Hoja Lopez 

You’re basically our personal countdown.

Mohanad Elshieky 

You know, like how people don’t have like a countdown clock for like Christmas. I have it for the queen.

Hoja Lopez 

That’s exactly it. And my name is Hoja Lopez. And this week, I was extremely confused about a book I was reading, thinking that it was a book about lesbianism when in fact, it was not. And about maybe 25% of the way in, I was like, this is about straight people. And I put it down, because I don’t have the time and the energy anymore. Somebody misguided me about this book. And I thought it was gonna be gay. And it was a straight book. And so I don’t know, I only have a certain amount of hours in the day. So if it’s not gay, I’m done.

Mohanad Elshieky 

I want to ask you what the book is. It would be so funny if your answer was like, it’s war and peace.

Hoja Lopez 

Yeah. The Bible. Oh, it was the Bible. They’re like, this is so homosexual. And I was like, I don’t see it. I don’t feel it. I don’t see it. I’m putting it down. The investment is too much. This week, we are so excited to have SuChin Pak she is a journalist, a former MTV correspondent and also the co-host of another Lemonada Media podcast Add to Cart. And so I am so excited to have her on today we are going to get into it. We’re going to talk about brands that need to apologize. We talk about MTV cribs; we talk about all sorts of fun things about bad brands. Welcome, SuChin, we are so excited to have you. SuChin is coming to us from another Lemonada podcast called Add to Cart, which I love. And I love your guests. And I am also obsessed with products, probably because of you know, wanting to be happy in finding things and finding things in the exterior to be happy with and having it come from the warmth inside.

SuChin Pak  02:50

Yeah, but it could also come from the depths of cold inside as well. You know what I mean? Like all the holes can be filled by purchasing things. And in that moment, there is nirvana. And I promise you that.

Kiki Monique 

Can I be just fan girl for like one moment?

SuChin Pak 

Take three moments.

Kiki Monique 

No, because like, you are like, my Barbara Walters. Like I feel like if my mom was here. Because like, I mean, I don’t know why they won’t bring back MTV daily news. But that was my news. Like, solely, like, I got all my news from MTV Daily News. And maybe that’s why I am the way I am.

SuChin Pak 

It is, I wanted to talk to you about that today. No, it’s scary. It’s true. It’s flattering, but it’s also scary. Yeah. I mean, that’s how we all got our news was from MTV. And now kids are like, what’s MTV?

Kiki Monique 

Well, you’re back on MTV, because like they did bring back cribs. So you’re narrating that again? Yeah. So dope because like, that is like the best show now I’m assuming you don’t get to actually go through the actual houses, you get to see them and narrate them through.

SuChin Pak  04:07

I never got to see the houses the first time around, So, no, we’re not invited on those shoots. But yeah, like, there’s the reboot of cribs and there’s more coming. I hear I’m the last slot they filled, you know, they mean like, everything is done in there like, right, we should get someone to voice this and so, but I think that there’s a few more seasons, I think that the reboot did really well. You know, it’s this time of wanting comfort foods and comfort music and comfort media. So I think that there’s a nostalgic quality to looking into a famous rappers fridge that brings a little you know, a little solace, you know, to the heart, you know?

Kiki Monique 

I mean, Redman’s House, will be forever like it will live rent free In my head forever if there was one house like if anybody’s house you could pick in the world whose house would you want to stroll through?

SuChin Pak

I mean, you know, Mariah Carey put it on the map. You know, they did it and then I feel like they did like a whole spin off on just her again. For some reason I’m remembering another entire show just on her after the short thing, so something like that. I don’t know. I mean, any house like who isn’t on these stupid Is it just me that’s on YouTube on these Architectural Digest?

Hoja Lopez 

Oh my God. It’s not just you. Like have I been thinking about Kim Kardashian sync for five years. We’re the one that has the weird little divot with the slot and the water goes down.

SuChin Pak 

Yeah, and her walking glass fridge.

Hoja Lopez 

I cannot her

SuChin Pak 

What about just recently you guys, have you seen Gwyneth Paltrow’s home on [..]? It’s insane. Wait till you get to her spa. It’s like a Hamam in a French Royal Hotel. It’s bizarre. It’s magnificent. And it’s truly chilling to the bone. You know what I mean?

Hoja Lopez  06:14

And one person can have something like this.

Kiki Monique 

And I can all I can think about is like her steaming her vagina and their vagina candles everywhere. But that’s just my, what I would envision in there.

SuChin Pak 

I feel like her vagina candles smelled good.

Hoja Lopez 

That was so funny. And you know, when I see stuff like that, I’m constantly like, I’m both horrified and profoundly jealous, but also holding it back. You know, like, would never, like, Oh, I just want a small bungalow. And, you know, like, I don’t mean, but swear you give me money and I would, I would fucking have that bathroom in a frickin second. But right now, I have to moderate my dreams and my desires and liberality. But I know that you just ended a month of no shopping at all, which is the opposite. Exactly. I think […] bathroom. So how did you do it? How’s it going? Are you weeping a little bit?

SuChin Pak 

I’m weeping and weeping because you guys for those of you who are listening and not watching because that’s what we do. I have a handkerchief organic because I have sunblock running down my eyelids I already put on my face. So there we go. That’s part of it. But yeah, you know, November and December were dark. I had to get through the holidays. We had to get through another year of this. And I did a lot of that the shopping online. My problem is I don’t buy anything. You see, Kulap, my co-host, she buys everything what happens to me is the opposite is that I will research something for months for weeks. Trying to find the perfect, trying to find the deal trying to find the whatever and so but never clicking because it’ll you know what I mean? There’s always that one that one moment where I think I’m like, oh, I could have bought this instead or I could have used this coupon and so I have open carts all across the internet’s from here to Dubai to you know Shanghai and beyond. And so it just clutters my mind I and it was I realized that yes, I was buying things but it was just the act of how much time I was wasting looking for the perfect thing and the perfect deal Yeah, that I was like I can’t I can’t do this like I it was like just eating too much junk food and watching seasons of you know the Kardashians again so I decided on January I would have a no by January and February you know I really did think that about third week of January so that I’m changed you know, that that feeling.

Hoja Lopez

What sort of things were you not allowed to buy it was it just like clothes and furniture?

SuChin Pak  09:15

Only essentials with this. These are the rules I made up, I said only essentials and unless it was something I couldn’t get in a store like off of the computer like that was like a big thing I needed to be off my phone and my computer because I was spending so much time going down these rabbit holes. So you know I made it almost, I almost made it two days shy of February and then it’s just been like a cavernous hole of like shit ever since and I’m just scrambling, free falling to the bottom of an endless pit. So that’s kind of where I am, pretty good.

Hoja Lopez 

That sounds so sweet and light and fluffy.

SuChin Pak  10:02

Magnificent and chilling.

Hoja Lopez 

What was tempting you the most when you were like throughout the month? Like, is there something where you were like, damn, I really would have gotten this?

SuChin Pak 

Yeah, okay, well, I really missed all of the end of year beginning of the year sales and talking about and one of the first things that because I didn’t have a strategy going in and I realized quickly Kulap was like, if you do not have some strategies going in, you’re going to fail. And I knew immediately the number one strategy was all of the newsletters that I have signed up for. And every day, I open my inbox and I’m like, oh, look at this, this store is having a 70% off. So oh, you know, my favorite furniture store is having a clearance and so then I’ll just be like, well, I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna peek. And you know, more than likely, I’ve got carts already open on these sites. So you know, just seeing if some of the stuff I have in my cart for the past 18 months has been on sale. So that kind of stuff. And I mean, it’s anything it’s all the home stuff, the clothing, I’m wearing my look, what, where are we going? What am I wearing, slingback heels to where? Where am I slinging back to?

Hoja Lopez 

I totally get that the pandemic was hard for me in terms of like, I know that I don’t have to shop. So the excuse of shopping is gone. But the underlying problem of loving to shop is absolutely there. And I worked for an E commerce company for a while and specifically we worked for kind of like front end websites, and the amount of study, the amount of clicks that they’re looking at the details with which they are looking at what you’re doing on a day-to-day basis would confound you and would scare you. I mean, when I tell you like that they have the stigma I’m sure you have you guys ever heard of like a conversion rate? So it’s that exact moment when you decide oh, I’m gonna buy this. And that exact moment. Oh my god. You know, and Amazon of course is the sort of like the beacon of all, they’re all talking about it like, yeah, Lord and Jesus Almighty. But they really have got us they have these people know us.

Kiki Monique  12:29

Now, I heard on TikTok and I mean, I you say because you were you put things in your cart and leave them like I heard on TikTok. That’s like the worst thing you could do for a retailer. And I only heard that. Because during the Trump era, I was told to keep going to a store and putting a bunch of shirts in there and not buying them in.

SuChin Pak 

Because you putting their merchandise on hold, don’t feel bad about it. One second. It will be on hold until I am damn ready to never buy it.

Kiki Monique 

I’m like if that’s the worst thing that happens to a retailer. I don’t know. I figured Hoja since you were e commerce, she might know the worst thing to do to retailers.

Hoja Lopez 

No, keeping things, it’s not it’s not really that big of a deal. I mean, you’re just eating up your cookies, you’re doing it to yourself. You’re showing up to the same website three months later, and the same thing is still in your cart. Like that’s, you know, they’ve got those things, you know, done what really is I think the painful thing for them is they look at numbers. Yes, they’re looking at you individually. But the truth is, they’ve got so many variables on just a single item. They’re looking at how the item is selling in your town. How it’s selling everywhere else, is their warehousing system, promoting things that are in your area that are easier and cheaper to ship to you. Like it’s like, genuine. Even

SuChin Pak 

You’re not even thinking.

Kiki Monique 

I don’t even want to know what my profile looks like. They’re just like crazy cat lady who drinks a lot and watches way too much TV, I don’t know.

Hoja Lopez 

Today we’re going to be talking about brands that need to apologize because it’s a crossover episode. So it was like this perfect things to talk about. Yeah. So I mean, who wants to go first, SuChin, do you want to start off with yours first? I’d love to hear it.

SuChin Pak 

Sure. I mean, I had a little bit of trouble trying to think of a brand. This is I think a brand and I don’t know if I cheated a little, but during the pandemic, we have become card game fanatics in this family. I have two kids that are ages 7 and 9. And I live with my husband and the four of us have been holed up in here. And, you know, after letting them watch, you know, seven weeks of TV and video games and YouTube, I was like, let’s try parenting. Okay, let’s get on this parenting thing. I feel like this isn’t working for me. So we started to really get into it. We’ve done everything. We’ve gone through the puzzles. We’ve gone through the search and finds, you know, I don’t know if you guys know, remember that, the highlight? That was like a really big thing for a while. And then the board games, but the card games have always been a consistent thing. And my kids favorite card game is Old Maid. Okay. Do you remember this game?

Kiki Monique  15:58

Yeah, I don’t really remember how to play. But I remember I did play it.

SuChin Pak 

Well, let me remind you, Kiki because this is very, very, very important to the conversation. So I hadn’t remembered how to play this game, either, you know, and we got the deck, you know, just the most common deck on Amazon get it delivered. And the point of the game is you have to match all the pairs. And the person left with the Old Maid card is the loser. And the Old Maid the picture is what you think of it as an older lady. She’s in a high collared dress and a rocking chair with a cat in her lap. She looks sad. You know, she might be an Old Maid. And when you get that card, you’re like, ah, get rid of this card. It’s like it’s a burning nuclear, you know, time bomb on your hands. And you’re like, how do I get rid of this card? And that’s the game. Isn’t that fun, guys? And isn’t that a lesson you want to teach your kids? Like, that’s how you lose the game. You lose the game with Old Maid. What? Why are we playing this game?

Kiki Monique 

So many things are adding up now.

SuChin Pak 

Kiki, she’s is in the matrix. You guys. She took the red pill.

Kiki Monique 

I was reading some like article today. I think like Adam Carolla made some statement about like, you know, AOC and saying how if she was 60s and fat, nobody would listen to her. And it’s like, wait, what? He must have played a lot of Old Maid, like in his head, go throw it away. But once it’s 60s, and fat, you don’t need it anymore, right? I mean, you’re right. Oh, my God, we need to revamp Old Maid maybe not call it Old Maid. Yeah.

SuChin Pak  18:01

Well, you know, my husband, we’re not going to get into my husband because it’s not about him. It’s about my time to shine. But my husband, he has a whole business about, you know, funny things. Let’s just say my husband is a purveyor of humor. And we did go down the route. We actually started the Kickstarter video. We were all my daughter, actually, so she’s seven now, she’s probably you know, six was like, but why is the Old Maid bad? Like she was the one I was like, so you’re right. The Old Maid isn’t. But she, you know, she didn’t understand sort of, like, obviously, the social context of it, but she couldn’t understand, like, why they had picked this person as the villain. She seemed like a very nice lady. Like, why is this person the worst thing to get in this card game? And so we had thought, Oh, why don’t we do a card game called Old Fart where the you know what I mean? It’s the old guy that’s just farting away in the corner. You know? And that would be a twist on it. But whatever the twist is, you know, it just can’t be the Old Maid anymore in 2022 I think the Old Maid, by the way is probably living her best life. You know, with money saved. Online shopping, you know, what I mean?

Hoja Lopez

Currently starring on and just like that. And they don’t look the same. They’re different now.

Kiki Monique 

We love a golden girl. Like, we love the Golden Girls, you know? And like, can I give it to the Old Maid? I want to be a golden girl.

Hoja Lopez 

Yes. Hopefully she’s living out on a commune. You know, like with five of her best gals in a communal pool. And they all just like hang out day. Honestly. Old Maid is maybe my fantasy. Is that what we’ve arrived to?

Kiki Monique 

It’s my future and I’m looking forward to it.

SuChin Pak 

I think it’s a new generation. I think the old maid is the fantasy.

Hoja Lopez 

Yeah. totally agreed. I think maybe we should start an email blitz to Old Maid. Who’s it made by? Do we know? I wonder if it’s like a major company?

SuChin Pak 

II don’t know even know. Let’s see who owns Old Maid card. Okay. Of course it was invented by a man in 1930s.

Hoja Lopez 

They famously like to do stuff like that. Yeah. But what happened with the Kickstarter?

SuChin Pak 

Oh, well oh, this is the good part is that we started to go down the road but on Kickstarter there is another there’s a young person who started another version of old made that obviously is not old made I forget what it was It wasn’t humerus it was something else I think that they were more tackling the other thing with old maid is that like, let me go step back. So I think old maid is like a game, but I think a lot of companies do their version of old maid. So the version of Old Maid right now that’s very popular is their jobs. So it’ll be like a pair of firemen, a pair of policemen, you know, and the jobs are very gender. You know, very gender specific, you know what I mean, it’s like, the teachers are the women and the firemen are the men and so I think that they had come up with a game where the rules had been reversed, or there were so but anyway, there’s another Old Maid version on Kickstarter by this wonderful family. And we just thought, okay, great. That’s seems like that is going to be covered.

Hoja Lopez 

They’re already doing the hard work.

SuChin Pak 

They’re already doing it. They’re doing the hard work. So we should be pushing that card game on Kickstarter.

Hoja Lopez

I love it. Love that. What about you Mo? What’s your brand that needs to apologize and why?

Mohanad Elshieky

Well, I have multiple but I go with one personal, I don’t think it’s a known brand. But so this weekend, I got an email and the email that the subject line was, was Mohanad Elshieky, which is, you know, my name, and they wrote it correctly. So like, this is something serious. And then x, and then it said, lasso. And I was like, obviously, you know, my delusional mind. I mean, you’re just like, does that have to deal with the show Ted Lasso? I have my prayers been finally answered. It was just like, multiple people from the show follow me, including the, you know, Coach Beard, and I fucking just love soccer. Like I tweet about the show all the time. Finally it’s happening. Do they want me to be able to show Am I gonna write for this? What’s happening here? And then it turns out, it’s a company that makes socks called Lasso. And they were offering me $150 in socks to make a TikTok. And, you know, I have always wondered what my breaking point was gonna be. And it was that email. I was just like; this is my joker moment. I am. I’m gonna go out in New York City, and I’m really gonna start like, I don’t know, just punching people around. I am going to lose it. I’m gonna find the stairs. Then. I’m just gonna run across the stairs and just yell or something. Like, why would you do that to me, like the emotional journey that they’ve taken on. Also, like, I don’t need $150 in socks. Maybe I do have a lot of socks. Why are you making me buy from your brand? Maybe I just want $150 Also, what’s the TIC tock video that I have never posted on TikTok. So they were like, this guy is gonna start his TikTok career by posting about socks.

SuChin Pak

I think you missed a career opportunity.

Hoja Lopez  24:00

You could have become socks guy.

Kiki Monique 

And I want to know what $150 in socks looks like, because I know what like $100 in Target socks looks like that’s a lot of socks. But what if it was just like only four pairs of socks?

Mohanad Elshieky

Yeah. So I looked it up on the website and the cheapest pair is $35.

Kiki Monique 

So what is this for?

SuChin Pak 

back off of the opportunity. That’s just plain offensive. Four pairs of socks. They want you to start your TikTok career. Wow. Wow. I hope you don’t take that personally.

Mohanad Elshieky 

No, I did not reply. I just posted about it like, you know, on social media like people do and it was just like this is if you’re reading this please. You truly just ruin my whole weekend.

Kiki Monique 

Well, as someone who loves TikTok, let me tell you what the TikTok I would have made you do if I had. I would have made you get the socks. I would have made you go to bodegas and purchase things with those socks and tried to explain to them. This is a $35 pair of socks. I need the bacon egg and cheese.

Hoja Lopez 

No, you don’t understand. This is the Rolex of socks. I’m trying to exchange this for your Bodega sandwich.

Mohanad Elshieky 

A video of me just wearing the socks walking around. You see like I’m walking in these socks which are very comfortable. By the way.

Hoja Lopez 

Gwyneth would have gotten them. Gwyneth would have gotten those socks. Like, I’ll pay you $100 for those socks.

Kiki Monique 

Some people white there, you know, but with $100 bills when they’re rich. You walk around in Brooklyn apartment with $35 socks, just socks, straight on the floor.

Mohanad Elshieky 

The Richest Man in Brooklyn. Yeah, that’s me.

Kiki Monique 

Well, they definitely owe you an apology 100% Lasso, if you’re looking for somebody […]

SuChin Pak  26:02

And she’s got a great TikTok idea. So I think a match, you guys.

Hoja Lopez 

What about you Kiki, what’s your brand? I’m so curious.

Kiki Monique 

So I was trying to decide between two but I felt like I had to go with Torrid.

Hoja Lopez 

That’s one mine too. Or at least one of mine.

Kiki Monique 

Okay. Because Okay, first, let me just start with Torrid is a plus size brand. And it was, you know, growing up, like really, there were no plus size brands. And like Lambright came around and they were just it was not I don’t even know if you call it business casual. It is not. It’s for old maids. It’s for old. No, but it was just like not cool clothes. And there was a moment where they had like, seven jeans come in which at the time, seven jeans were like the biggest jeans and like, they started like, Oh, they’re finally changing. That didn’t last long. So I felt like Torrid was like the first brand. That was like plus size. And they were really trying to design cool shit for big girls. And I was like, excited about it. So like, every year, my family you know, normally frozen like a gift card for like Torrid, Fisher, they did the same. So this was like, just from a personal beef. Like I was trying to use the gift card online. It wasn’t accepting. And I was like trying to call customer service and like nobody who would help me. I was literally like, DMing them on Instagram. Nobody would respond to me. And like literally, I was just like, I just want some fucking leggings. Can I just like, and I don’t want to go to a store because I also refuse to go to it. I want to shop online. And this is the whole point. And it was like just really like the worst customer service experience. And I had already started feeling kind of some like a type of way like I felt like their customer service had gone down. And like their clothing had also just like, I remember like I got a pair of shoes one time and I opened the box it smelled like gasoline and I was like..

SuChin Pak  28:28

Is this LuLaRoe, I’ve seen this documentary and it doesn’t go well. It does not go well.

Kiki Monique

It was starting to feel like we were at for a time I felt like anytime I’d wear something from Torrid people would compliment me on it and I still have pieces that I you know can wear and they have lasted but it started turning really quickly into fast fashion which so many plus size, they really just do a lot of fast fashion which is why I like ELOQUII because it feels like they do more pieces that you know feel like they last longer. Anyways, so that was like my personal beef well then, you know, there is a tick tock or goes by the name The Other Hannah. And she would do these holes from plus sized places. And she would really like get on toward a lot because their brand like the quality of their clothes were just like going down and just like their designs. It just wasn’t flattering. It was like look like we want to wear stuff that our skinny friends are wearing that is just as cute. Can you please just design like, if it takes more fabric, fine, I will pay, like just give me what I want. I just want it to be cute. So she would you know, do these TikTok’s about them. And I guess at some point TikTok was just like not really liking it cuz they started turning off comments and all of these things and then can’t be confirmed but suddenly someone like called Hannah’s or wrote to Hannah’s job and was trying to get her fired from her actual job. Now, we don’t know who did this. And we can never confirm this.

Kiki Monique 

But it felt very, like interesting and coincidental that this was happening at the same time, it was like, Did toward just Doc’s a TikToker her because they didn’t like, you know what she was saying online, you know, and so they didn’t ever admit to that, and  never confirmed. But they did come out with like, you know, sort of an apology letter at some point, just saying, you know, social media is a space where all voices can be heard as a brand, that champions community, we’ve always believed there’s chance to learn and grow. They did this whole letter from the CEO, Liz Munoz, which, you know, Hannah has pointed out like Liz is sort of like the person responsible for where the brand has gone, it’s really changed. And so I just I take issue, because I remember one of my ranting emails that I wrote to them that they still never replied to was like, look like, there are very few choices for me out there. And it really hurts for me to have to let one go. Because that’s like, letting go like 25%-30% of my wardrobe to say, I’m not going to buy from you. And I’m trying to, I want you to succeed, because another point Hannah was making was, I want torrid to succeed, because they ended up on the stock market, they went public, and like them succeeding, if they don’t succeed, other plus size brands might also just end up failing, which is just fail, you know, like, we won’t have clothes, right? Like people are like, oh, not a good investment there, which is not the reality. So I just want toured to turn it around, because I do want them to see it. I want the clothes to go back to like what I remember. And I don’t know how you feel, Hoja.

Hoja Lopez

God, I mean, as the coolest fat person walking into a suburban mall to go to Torrid, like it was painful. It was like, I was so happy and like, overcome with the joy and excitement of like, seeing that stupid, little flaming heart logo. Because it was like, oh my god, this is a space where I’m going to find things that fit me and, and as somebody who has, profoundly loves fashion is obsessed with, you know, fashion shows with specific designers and I don’t really care about the label, it’s like the art of fashion is something that I like, genuinely love and think about, it’s really hard when you don’t find options that you can, that you can express yourself with. You know, there is a lot of TikTok’s right there. It’s like fat girls were like, you’re basically dressed as like young, mid-level professionals all throughout middle school, because it was like, dress barn. So like blazers, and like, you know, like high waisted, thick denim. And like button ups, you’re literally like, that’s what they have to offer so Torrid, I don’t love it anymore, because it’s very sort of like taught topic II and there’s like some kind of like emo punk elements that maybe are not necessarily in my roster anymore. But that feeling of finally finding like a little corner in a mall that you fit in, was beautiful. And so I do have a soft spot for Torried in my heart. And, you know, the dressing room isn’t this dreaded adventure that you usually go into. But, you know, for me that switch into really low-quality clothing that was very expensive, and I’m telling you a dress that Torrid will run you on a regular day $50 to $70.

Kiki Monique 

That’s like kind of good day, I feel like that, like 95 is like the starting point.

Hoja Lopez 

So that’s kind of we’re talking about this is an expensive line. And when I tell you that the shoes fall apart, I mean, I said I will never ever purchase a shoe from this place before and I’m a size 12 foot so again, before this like onslaught of online shopping, and when that became so accessible, you have to go in person, there was really no place for me to go. And so another thing is they have these you said a lot of it as the quality has gone down the prices have gone up but they have these really insane kind of like predatory lending credit cards. Well, they market them kind of like a college credit card in some ways. So there’s this piece of it where I think it’s called Comenity Bank but I mean, I remember I got a credit card with torrid and then spent maybe two years trying to pay off $600 When I was 26 or something like that, because no matter how much I put in the interest would accrue so insanely high. And it wasn’t until I became like an adult with a real job that I was like let me go ahead and just pay this entire fucking credit card off. But yeah, I’m so glad that there’s more options and that I truly in the past like two to three years feel like your girl can go buy a cool plaid floor like jacket, you know, like the first time in my life which I’m wearing right now. This is my favorite jacket. And I definitely feel more seen and so now I can truly tell toward to just go ahead and go fuck their self, because before that, I was like, Oh God, I got an interview in two hours and there’s no place and my stockings are torn, I have to go to Torrid there’s no other option for me.

Kiki Monique 

It’s still like the most accessible because there’s so many options and that’s why it’s like I still want them to succeed for like the high schoolers out there, you know, the seventh graders out there who would like they go to the mall, and that’s the only store that’s going to have plus size. So it’s like, just come on, we don’t need any more, you know, weird spaghetti strap off the shoulder tops that have a lot of bottoms.

Hoja Lopez 

Paisley kaftans that and just below the ankle, like literally. I feel like going to toward being like I am sexually viable. I am sexually viable. And I promise you..

Kiki Monique 

People will do still want to sleep with me amazing. And believe it or not? Yes.

Hoja Lopez 

Yeah, it’s truly the market for plus size clothing out there is.

SuChin Pak  36:04

I mean, I think that another email with the subject line I am sexually viable, has to come out because I feel like that is you can’t turn that down. You go to LinkedIn, you go to the marketing, CMO and the subject line is, I am sexually viable.

Kiki Monique 

Good idea. Yeah, I’m like stop sending it to the info. Let’s go to the LinkedIn. Yeah, find the CMO. Much better idea. Well, do we have any honorable mentions other brands? SuChin, do you have any other brands you just want to mention it should apologize. Yeah.

SuChin Pak 

I mean, this one, I think is an obvious one. It wasn’t an obvious one to me though. Brandy Melville. Speaking of fashion brands. Are you familiar with Brandy Melville? I am? No, no, no. And neither. Neither was I. I only became aware of them because I have teenage nieces that always want gift cards at this. Yeah. D Melville and I hadn’t been in one. And one year, I saw I finally went into one. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is what they were, you know, kind of it’s like a 90s grunge throwback, you know, they’ll have like overalls and sweatshirts, you know, that have like, college names on them. I don’t know, you know, that kind of thing. And I was looking at the sizes. And you guys, they only have one size. Some of them literally say one size. And if they do have a size, it will never be bigger than a medium. And I just thought that was such an odd thing. And I thought, is it because I’m at the grove in LA like this is I’m like, or maybe they’ve sold out of the larger sizes? You know, and the smalls and the mediums are not even big, you know, like maybe they their version of a medium is, you know, a GAP’s version of an extra-large. So as I was thinking about this show, I was like I don’t know blah, blah blah and I thought I was like oh yeah, Brandy Melville that was a really weird experience. And of course, I Googled it, and I had no idea. Let me give you one headline from the many headlines this one’s from Daily Mail, skinny and white are fired. Fashion firm Brandy Melville is rife with racism, sexism and sizeism as it’s claimed, CEO shared Hitler memes and would get rid of Black or overweight staff. Not only is their sizeism, okay, we have sexism. We have racism. And then we’ve got Hitler memes. It was just, you know, I thought I was going in pretty standard apology. You know, like, we’re talking like, hey, let’s put more sizes and every fashion brand should be apologizing. You know, anyone? That’s a pretty standard. But the Hitler memes really took a left turn.

SuChin Pak 

I had not heard about the Hitler memes. How is this brand still thriving?

SuChin Pak

Because I just admittedly, I just bought them a gift card this past Christmas. Not you know, just did my annual go ahead and Brandy Melville it. And then this all came up. And I mean, there’s just so much proof these folks. There’s surveillance, you know, it looks like camera shots. There’s social media sharings and all of this talking about this strange fascination that the owner and senior staff at Brandy Melville have with Hitler. There’s just no waiting around, I’m like, with, but like, specifically Hitler, and it is terrifying. And employees have been complaining for years that you know if you’re overweight or not, and you know of the weight that the store is or if you’re not blonde, even like even brunette white girls are having trouble getting to the front. And so I just think it’s unusual that, this isn’t more common. And number two, that my nieces who are very, you know what I mean, very woke, you know, like, they march and they’re still wearing this because I just don’t think you know, obviously, they know. So they will be getting a very, very, you know, kind but firm email from Auntie Su, just letting them know that Brandy Melville is now off of our list.

Hoja Lopez 

Well, thank you so much SuChin and this is so much fun. We’ll have to do another round of this someday and talked more about products that we hate and love, because this was a blast. But thank you so much for being on. And I can’t wait to keep listening to add to cart.

SuChin Pak

Thank you. Thank you, I really I feel supported here in both my shopping and my no shopping. And now I have a few more places to add to my list of what I will be buying from in February. So the services is greatly appreciated.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Okay, and now we go to my favorite segment of every week, sorry, not sorry, where we either demand that apology from someone or we apologize. So I’m gonna start with Hoja, what’s been happening this week?

Hoja Lopez 

Well, just to keep it on a roll, I would like to demand an apology again, this week, I’m feeling really sort of like invigorated and entitled, let’s call it that. And I would like to ask for an apology, which, let’s say it’s myself, really, but from my hair, I’ve been having a perpetual bad hair week. And as a person who’s extremely accustomed to it being pretty amazing all the time. The cold has caused my hair to dry so much that I have what I’m just calling kind of like a unit dread at the bottom back of my head. And I’ve been having to put it in braids, and do all sorts of like crazy things to just like, keep it from breaking off. And this is the first time that’s ever happened to me. And I just demand an apology from the cold and for my own hair, not for really what they’re doing. But for changing the plan on me. If you have an idea of how things are going for a very long period of time, and then all of a sudden, like the dynamic changes on you. I wasn’t prepared for this.

Kiki Monique 

But you’ve been in Chicago a while right? Like, did you change something up with your hair products?

Hoja Lopez 

No, everything is the same. It just is. I don’t know what’s going on. But I will, I’ll go on a pursuit and figure it out. Because this is not right. And I imagined this is kind of what aging feels like too, which is like all of a sudden your body is sort of like double crossing you and doing strange things to you. And I think this may just be one of those things where it’s like, here you go.

Kiki Monique 

Definitely aging could be one, you’re gonna have to probably treat it like the way like an elimination diet when someone is allergic to something. But you’re gonna have to start with maybe like your pillows, and like what you’re washing your pillows in. And it could be so many things.

Hoja Lopez 

It could be too many things. And also remind you I know that I’m saying this in the middle of like, a war in the most horrific circumstances human beings have ever seen just across the world and the world is falling apart. But this is just the last drop, this is it.

Mohanad Elshieky  44:08

Wow. I mean hey, I can’t relate because I’m very young. One day I’ll understand I’m sure. Kiki, what’s happening with you this week?

Kiki Monique 

Um, you know, this week I actually want to apologize on behalf of someone you know, I since the pandemic started, I have not been inside a Target once, because they started curbside pickup and they’ve made it very easy for you to go on the app and pick the things you need drive up to a parking space and someone will bring it out well I was reading an article this week that they are going because you know now Target you know they partnered with Starbucks sometime back so they usually have Starbucks inside of Target so they want to offer now starting in select locations, your curbside pickup, you can now add Starbucks drinks, to your pickup. And I just want to apologize to all of the Target workers because let me tell you, first of all, I know most of them are short staffed, you know, like, I still use the app. And I don’t mind waiting a little extra because the people that are behind the counter are still the ones that they’re having run out to, you know, put your stuff in your trunk. And now they basically have become like, involuntary bar runners, baristas on top of it. I just I feel so bad for them. I mean, they’re going to have this piping hot coffee with all sorts I mean, not that they have to put the order in but they’re going to have these like crazy combinations. I can imagine people complaining like I didn’t get my half cafe mocha, to this person who’s like putting, you know, toilet paper in their trunk. Oh, I just, I don’t know, they’re doing a test run. I just feel so bad for them. And I’m gonna try my best not to use the option if it comes in.

Mohanad Elshieky  46:13

The Starbucks and the Target next to me is has been just not working for so long. I was like, I didn’t know that Starbucks can be broken. But it is broken.

Kiki Monique 

You Starbucks is basically the McDonald’s ice cream machine.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Exactly. They’re like, hey, you can go behind the counter and make your own coffee if you want to. Truly no one gives a fuck. Just go. Well, this week, I do demand an apology from the people behind the show Euphoria. Okay, I’m sorry, what the fuck is this? What’s happening? You made me watch 10 weeks of this. And then this is the finale. Also, spoiler alert. We’re gonna talk about a bit about the finale. So if you haven’t watched it yet, you know, just listen, I guess. And you don’t need to watch it. Like, I don’t even understand like how the script came together, like I feel like literally someone just spilled like a liquid on like a keyboard. And it just, that’s what came up and they were like, okay, we’ll do that.

Kiki Monique 

Well, there’s so many unanswered questions. Like, I mean, the most impactful episode, I thought this season was Ruo when she was completely like, […] for drugs, like running around the whole episode. And we know that this suitcase that she was supposed to be selling the drugs, and she instead did the mall. She now owes all this money to this huge drug dealer. And like, what’s the answer? Like, is the drug dealer gonna come after her?

Mohanad Elshieky

They just did not answer any of these questions. And also Rue is just like, yeah, I gave up drugs and now pine, apparently it’s so easy to just stop doing drugs. According to Euphoria, they’re just like, yeah, you just like you’re addicted? And then you’re like, you know what, I’m gonna stop and then you feel fine. So hey, you live and you learn. Anyway, it’s bad.

Kiki Monique  48:18

The funniest part I will say about this episode too, is I can completely forgotten about vape girl was part of the friend circle until she showed up when Cassie was getting the beat down by Maddie. And I was like, where have you been this whole time?

Mohanad Elshieky 

They had enough budget for her. So they were like, We’re gonna give you one more scene but in between, you’re just gonna be vaping somewhere. Sorry about that.

Kiki Monique 

I hope stage manager Bobby though is like a regular because she was amazing.

Mohanad Elshieky 

I agree. Yeah. Anyway, if you’re listening, please. I don’t know what’s the next step here. I just hated it.

CREDITS

I’M SORRY is a Lemonada Media Original. The show is produced by Alex McOwen, supervising producer is Kryssy Pease. Our executive producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer. Our mix is by Kat Yore and theme music was composed by Xander Singh. If you like this show, please rate and review. And please don’t cancel us. You can find out more about our show at @LemonadaMedia on all social platforms, or follow us on Instagram at @imsorry_podcast. We’ll be back next week and until then be nice, play fair and always say I’m sorry. Thanks for listening!