Are You Toxic or Just Mildly Insufferable? Two Podcast Hosts Have Thoughts

In 2025, everyone and their therapist is tossing around “toxic” like confetti at a Bachelorette party. But That’s the Point podcast hosts Kristin Johns and Jon Volk, like any pair of best friends, are here to separate the truly problematic from the tolerable but still eye-roll-worthy behavior.

Johns, for example, is the first to admit her own toxic situationship with Spirit Airlines: “How am I gonna say no to a $100 versus a $500 ticket? I’m not. I am an affordable woman, but it’s like the toxic ex-boyfriend you keep going back to,”Johns laughs. Spirit Airlines, the dating red flag of transportation!

In the latest That’s the Point episode, the besties also recap their previous weeks and deliver everything from flight mishaps when traveling with small kids, a recent (and a very much expected) Spirit Airlines travel debacle, and a showdown with a “toxic” mom at the playground. 

Toxic Behavior on the Playground 

Johns broke down the wild playground debacle that left her shook. If there was a headline for it, it might read: “Kristin’s Fists Are Bleeding Because She Got Into a Fist Fight.” 

Although she did not “throw hands,” Volk says it would have been pretty iconic for the podcast. “This is the craziest interaction with another human being that I’ve ever had,” Johns says. 

On their recent vacation in Florida, Johns and her son, James, decide to spend the day at the train museum. While enjoying the museum’s outside playground, James is climbing on the ropes in the playground area. Suddenly Johns hears another kid pushing and screaming at her son: “You’re a baby! You’re a baby! Get off.” 

Johns runs over to James who is now crying, and she looks around for another mom. When she does not find one, she speaks to the other kid and gently says, “My son can play on this too. He is actually not a baby. He’s pretty much the same age.” 

Out of nowhere, a mom runs up and screams in her face, “Get out of my son’s face right now! If you have a problem with my son, talk to me. I was in the parking lot for two minutes, and I see you over here screaming in my son’s face.”

Johns attempts to explain the situation, but the mom did not care: “I was like, ‘Ma’am, I was not yelling at your son.’” Meanwhile, the rest of the moms are staring at Johns. 

Johns says she was so shocked that she could not defend herself. “She is screaming in my face. She was acting as though I was trying to abduct her child. You cannot communicate with someone at the moment. I was shook to my core and flabbergasted.” 

Toxic behavior is often learned. Johns says the kid’s behavior all adds up now: “I remember thinking, ‘Your child is acting this way because you’re absolutely psychotic. The math is mathing.’” 

Toxic vs. Tolerable Behaviors

The wild playground story inspired Volk and Johns’ debate on toxic versus tolerable, where they vote on what behaviors are acceptable or not. 

1. Reprimanding someone else’s kid
   Verdict: toxic. “The only caveat is depending on the time and place. If you are watching someone’s kids and they are doing something wrong, that might be okay. But the word ‘reprimanding’ seems like an intense word. I would say ‘correcting in love.’ Reprimanding another person’s kids is only tolerable if you have been given permission to,” Volk says.
2. Asking someone how much they spent on something
   Verdict: tolerable. It depends on what it is and the level of friendship. Asking about their salary? Tacky. Volk explains, “How much you make is a private thing, and you should be the only one to share it,” Volk explains.
3. Joining a Zoom meeting with no camera
   Verdict: you know what, hell yeah. “It is absolutely tolerable. It makes me so happy when everyone on the Zoom call does not have their camera on.” Volk says the only caveat is if the Zoom call is one-on-one. “If it is one-on-one and you do not have your camera on, it’s toxic. You could have just called me.”
4. Saying “really” when someone compliments you to get more compliments
   Verdict: Annoying but we all do it. Johns is guilty as charged. Volk exposes her: “It’s toxic, but it’s funny. If I compliment you, you 100 percent will fish for another one. You want to know why it’s good. It’s not toxic really, but I like to say that because it’s you.”
5. Putting leftovers in the fridge to eat for later but knowing you won’t
   Verdict: It’s complicated. Volk and Johns were split on this one. Johns says it’s toxic: “I know so many people who do this. They put their salad in a tupperware for tomorrow. But they know they are not going to eat it. That is going to be the soggiest, most disgusting thing. Volk says it’s tolerable: “I can hope that I will eat something, and then, when I do, I feel great. I want to not be wasteful.”
6. Telling someone you are down for anything when you actually want something specific
   Verdict: toxic but relatable. Johns laughs because she does this: “That is so me.” Volk agrees, “I always have to double check with you. Every time I get an immediate response from you, I know that it is probably not true.”