The JTrain Podcast — Ticked Off Tuesday: Checking In and Checking Out of the Hotel, Plus More Complaints!

Host: Jared Freid
Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Episode Overview

This Ticked Off Tuesday episode of The JTrain Podcast is all about everyday annoyances, travel complaints, and listener gripes, delivered with host Jared Freid’s trademark humor and honesty. Jared starts off with his personal frustrations from recent travels in Vancouver and Seattle, particularly focusing on hotel check-in/check-out policies, the soullessness of corporate hospitality, and the lack of genuine customer service. The episode then shifts gears into listener-submitted complaints ranging from reserved parking spots to cologne etiquette and T-shirts with over-the-top messages.

1. Main Complaint: Hotels, Human Interaction, and Early Checkout

[01:08 – 29:50]

Frustrations with Hotel Chains

• Jared’s Hotel Preferences

  • Stays at "autograph collection" (Bonvoy) and Graduate Hotels (Seattle), favoring boutique-style but pragmatic about their corporate underpinnings.
  • "If you've been around the JCU, the J, the J Train Cinematic Universe, you know I'm an autograph collection guy. Those are boutique hotels. Boutique. I don't know if that's a word, but I love saying it." (03:30, Jared)

• Corporate Indifference

  • Hotels, like airlines, provide benefits only to the most loyal customers and have little investment in individual guest’s experiences.
  • "These are creatively barren corporate entities that don’t care about you. They care about a bottom line, and their business will get better if the bottom line suffers. Let's all stay real here." (05:17, Jared)

Front Desk: Where’s the Humanity?

• Seeking Advice for Airport Transfers

  • Tried to get real, contextual advice from both an Uber driver and front desk. While the Uber driver was considerate and helpful, the hotel staff defaulted to the standard "get there three hours early for international," showing no flexibility or care.
  • "The Uber driver asked questions, considered context, considered nuance...the Uber driver gave me more humanity than I ever got from the people at the front desk." (08:49, Jared)

• Early Checkout: The Karma Principle

  • Jared always checks out early, believing it helps the hotel and the next guest. Expresses frustration when hotels make this process transactional and impersonal.
  • "I am paying it forward so that one day it comes back to your dear old Uncle JTrain... I come downstairs, 5:30 in the morning...nobody there, a box that says key drop. Now, what are we doing here? I'm there to do you a favor." (13:50, Jared)

The $25 Early Check-In Fee: A Slap in the Face

• Disappointment at Graduate Seattle
  • Despite being a model guest and checking out early, Jared finds himself faced with an early check-in fee. It’s a system where the hotel profits from one customer checking out early but does nothing to reward that guest.
  • "Sam looks at me and says, 'So because you're checking in early, it's going to cost you $25.' This is a letdown." (18:30, Jared)

Call for Industry Change

• Suggests a system where early checkouts are incentivized: "If you're going to charge us an early check-in fee when we get there and you have a room ready, how about a little incentive to get people to check out? … Give you points you can use towards your next stay." (21:45, Jared)

2. Listener Complaints: A Parade of Gripes

A. Reserved Store Pickup Parking Spots

[34:17]

• Annoyance with Target and big-box stores reserving the front 20 parking spots for curbside pickup, even though usage is nowhere near that volume.
  • "Not only are they sad relic from COVID days...30 people an hour aren’t waiting for a store pickup from Walmart. Don’t need a special spot in front like they're presidents from a visiting nation." (34:30, Listener Email)
• Jared agrees these spots should be minimized or converted into quick-revolving drive-thru style pickups:
  • "Honestly, it should be a drive through. This shouldn't exist. We figured this out...that's what this is for. Put this in the corner, drive-through." (36:05, Jared)

B. The Cologne Crisis

[37:35]

• Listener complains about sister’s boyfriend’s overpowering cologne causing headaches.
• Jared’s advice: Approach the sister with sensitivity and humor, emphasizing that it’s not about personality but the intensity.
  • "You gotta ask her. I would start with a little talking...Hey, what's with the cologne? Does he wear a lot of cologne?" (38:25, Jared)
• Jared’s male insight: "Men only do things to fuck. I would say most male actions are done with the thought of making money or getting a woman to want to be into him to, to woo a woman like cologne." (40:56, Jared)

C. First Class Fiascos: A Listener’s Travel Day

[43:05]

• Listener shares ordeal: after splurging on first-class for a long, multi-leg return from a Mexican island, both seatmates were inconsiderate—one overly helpful and chatty, the other physically large and grumpy about having to get up when bathroom breaks were needed.
  • Jared focuses on the etiquette, not the personal circumstances:
    • "If you gotta go, you gotta go. That's part of the whole flight thing—to roll your eyes at someone...is really offensive." (47:00, Jared)

D. T-Shirt Messaging at the Gym

[50:30]

• Listener feels judged by a fellow gym goer’s shirt: "My one mission is to help sick kids with cancer."
  • Jared: "That's a lot. 8am you're looking at that shirt, you're like, man, I guess I'm not as big a hero as her...To wear the shirt after is a little like, 'Hey everybody, just in case you didn't know, I'm helping the sick kids. What are you doing today?'" (51:03, Jared)

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Boutique Hotels:
  "Take the word boutique. Say it right now. Say it. How good does that feel off your tongue? Boutique. Yeah, it’s a little boutique." (03:54, Jared)
• On Corporate Indifference:
  "These are creatively barren corporate entities that don't care about you." (05:17, Jared)
• On Human Service vs. Scripted Advice:
  "I’m not talking, I’m talking to AI at that point." (11:30, Jared)
• On Checking Out Early:
  "If you do not check out of your hotel, maybe you haven't thought of this. I'm not going to call you evil, but if you have thought about this, you are evil." (15:53, Jared)
• On Early Check-In Fees:
  "Sam looks at me and says, so because you're checking in early, it's going to cost you $25 to do the early check in. This is a letdown." (18:30, Jared)
• On Listener Complaints:
  "These are the safe space for all our complaints. You can't wear a Nike T-shirt, you gotta wear a shirt that lets everyone know...No, you're not. Not as good as me. I'm helping sick kids and I'm going to the gym at a fuck you. That's what it feels like." (52:30, Jared)

4. Key Episode Timestamps

• 00:00 – 01:08: Ticked Off Tuesday intro
• 01:08 – 29:50: Jared’s hotel/travel rant and solution pitch
• 34:17: Listener Complaint: Reserved pickup parking at stores
• 37:35: Listener Complaint: Overpowering cologne in the house
• 43:05: Listener Complaint: First class seatmates and etiquette
• 50:30: Listener Complaint: T-shirts with virtue-signaling messages
• 52:30: Jared’s summation and sign-off

5. Overall Tone & Takeaways

Jared’s candid, self-deprecating humor flavors every segment, inviting listeners to vent their pet peeves and laugh at the small indignities of modern life. His appeal for a more customer-centric, human approach from hotels is both funny and pointed, and the listener complaints veer from the practical to the absurd. The episode not only lets off communal steam but also reinforces the show’s commitment to providing a forum for all sorts of (mostly) lighthearted gripes.

For those who didn’t listen:
This episode is a relatable and comedic tour of modern annoyances—from hotels that act more like automatons than havens, to store parking policies and the hazards of cologne, all filtered through Jared’s inviting, witty perspective. If you, too, sometimes look at the world and just want to yell “Why is this so annoying?!”—this episode has your back.