The JTrain Podcast – "Amex Offers, Distracted Walkers, And Jealous Moms – TICKED OFF TUESDAY"

Host: Jared Freid
Date: November 4, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Ticked Off Tuesday with Jared Freid sticks to the show’s signature format: comedic complaints and listener gripes, dissected with empathy and humor. Jared switches up the flow by alternating between listener emails and his personal rants, covering topics such as over-involved moms, tipping technology, baffling bacon packaging, distracted walkers, and the frustrating mess of Amex offers—each getting the full “complaint duet” treatment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dealing with Jealous Moms After Surgery (Listener Complaint)

• Story Summary:

  • Listener’s boyfriend had foot surgery.
  • Thoughtful client brought dinner, which made the boyfriend’s mom jealous.
  • Mom responded by delivering leftovers (reheated fish) and later dropped off just a giant container of meat sauce (sans pasta).
  • Frustration: it disrupted carefully planned weekly meals and pushed unwanted food onto the couple.

• Notable Quotes:

  • “If you write reheated fish one more time, I am gonna go crazy.” – Jared (25:55)
  • “Don’t put your reheated fish insecurities on us and this couple. We are trying to make it.” – Jared (27:32)

• Insight:

  • Jared breaks down how acts stemming from insecurity can intrude on relationship routines. He empathizes with the challenge of addressing well-meaning but disruptive family involvement:
    “What are you gonna say to the mom? ... You can’t sit her down and go, you’re a good mom. You don’t need to do this. We’re gonna be okay. The kids are all right.” (30:30)

2. Tipping Technology is Backwards (Jared’s Complaint)

• Main Points:
  • Rapid development of payment tech (think iPad tip screens for coffee) vs. the lack of convenient tipping options in places you need them (valet, golf caddy, bag handlers).
  • Frustrations with cash-only situations and lack of splitting options.
  • Wonders why we don’t have QR codes or tap-to-tip systems for real-world service staff.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “Why aren’t people in jobs that I want to tip... wearing a QR code? Why isn’t there a tap situation?” (44:30)
  • “At the barista, I don’t think the iPad was, like, needed. It’s fine… We were tipping or not.” (41:10)
• Memorable Moment:
  • Jared jokes about wanting to “King Solomon” a $10 bill to give two $5 tips and admits worries about how the tips are actually split.

Timestamps:

• Listener Mom Complaint: [08:50 – 33:00]
• Tipping Tech Rant: [33:01 – 46:00]

3. The Great Turkey Bacon Thinness Scandal (Listener Complaint)

• Email Summary:

  • Listener in Hawaii annoyed by ultra-thin, tissue-like turkey bacon.
  • Family-size package just meant more thin slices.
  • Complaints about lack of standards for bacon thickness.

• Jared’s Take:

  • Laments the lack of resealable packaging and sneaky branding that says “30% less fat” when it’s really “30% less bacon.”
  • Calls for “national standards when it comes to the thickness of a bacon cut.” (52:50)

• Quote:

  • "It is actually what they should be doing, a thinner cut. And I don’t like when they give you a thinner cut and they go, oh, it’s 30% less fat. No, it’s 30% less bacon.” (53:15)

4. Airbnb Light Switch Hell & The Stress of Buying a Home (Jared’s Complaint)

• Story:
  • Jared’s struggles with nonsensical light switch placements in his Airbnb.
  • Connects frustration to the panic and confusion of buying a new home.
  • Describes how everyone in the home-buying process makes you feel dumb and unprepared.
• Insight:
  • Offers reassurance to listeners embarking on homeownership:
    “If and when you buy a home, you will feel stupid, you will be made to feel stupid. Made to feel that you aren’t caring enough, that you haven’t been thoughtful enough. But I’m telling you right now, you’re fine.” (58:08)
• Memorable Moment:
  • Wishes there was an “all on, all off” light switch for every home—a stand-in for life’s simple solutions.
• Timestamps:
  • Airbnb/Home-Buying Segment: [55:00 – 01:02:00]

5. Distracted Walkers & The Plea for Sidewalk Reform (Listener Complaint)

• Issue:
  • Frustration with slow, oblivious, phone-absorbed pedestrians blocking sidewalks.
• Jared’s Perspective:
  • Acknowledges the universal annoyance—but stresses the need for practical, not moralistic, solutions.
  • Proposes every sidewalk have a dividing line: one side for walkers, one for phone users—a “cell phone lane” and “walking lane.”
• Notable Quotes:
  • “You sound like an elitist, which you’re not looking to do because there’s no solve to that issue. You don’t have a solution. I do. I do have a solution.” (01:04:14)
  • “Phone distracted lane, walking lane. Every sidewalk, Every sidewalk in the country.” (01:06:50)

6. The Amex Offers Rant (Jared’s Complaint)

• Complaint:
  • Amex offers are unnecessarily complicated: buried in emails, requiring opt-in, and hard to track.
  • Connection to similar “treasure hunt” tactics by Delta and other brands.
• Jared’s Solution:
  • “I should get a menu. Here’s what you have every month. One card, one laminated menu. Here’s your stuff this month.” (01:11:38)
• Quote:
  • “I think it’s a lot of offers that equal no offers. It’s the biggest grift in the world. It bothers me to death.” (01:12:10)
• Timestamps:
  • Amex Offers Complaint: [01:10:30 – 01:15:00]

7. Social Media Support vs. Friendship (Listener Complaint)

• Issue:
  • Listener feels pressured to visibly support “very online” friends’ businesses by liking, watching, and commenting on all social posts—while receiving none of that interest for their own non-social-media job.
• Jared’s Take:
  • Analyzes the social anxiety and self-doubt bred by platform algorithms.
  • Relates to the complaint; discusses how “ghosts” of imagined obligations haunt us, and how the pressure to “support” can become mutual annoyance (including post-muting and “didn’t you see my post?” situations).
  • Affirms listeners:
    “You’re doing great. ... These are straw men... They make you feel like there’s a ghost that’s not there. They make you feel like there’s evil people and people talking about you and it’s not really that.” (01:19:33)
• Timestamps:
  • Social Media Friendship Complaint: [01:15:10 – end]

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

“If you write reheated fish one more time, I am gonna go crazy.”

— Jared, [25:55] (Jealous Mom Complaint)

“Why aren’t people in jobs that I want to tip... wearing a QR code? Why isn’t there a tap situation?”

— Jared, [44:30] (Tipping Tech)

“Don’t put your reheated fish insecurities on us and this couple. We are trying to make it.”

— Jared, [27:32]

“National standards when it comes to the thickness of a bacon cut.”

— Jared, [52:50]

“Phone distracted lane, walking lane. Every sidewalk, Every sidewalk in the country.”

— Jared, [01:06:50]

“I think it’s a lot of offers that equal no offers. It’s the biggest grift in the world. It bothers me to death.”

— Jared, [01:12:10]

Episode Structure & Flow

• Opening: Jared explains the Ticked Off Tuesday format, promising solidarity with all complaints.
• Listener Complaint/Personal Rant Alternation: Each segment starts with a listener’s email, followed by Jared's related personal complaint, moving quickly but thoroughly between topics.
• Tone: Unapologetically honest, self-deprecating, irreverent, with moments of genuine reassurance and community.
• End: Ticked Off Tuesday is reaffirmed as a space to vent, relate, and laugh—equal parts therapy and standup.

Conclusion

Whether you’re frustrated by reheated fish, confused by tipping etiquette, lost in a bacon aisle, or simply feeling unseen on social media, Jared manages to both validate the annoyance and find laughter and insight within it. The show remains an inviting “duet of complaints”—reminding listeners they’re not alone in the daily grind of life’s petty injustices.