Episode 7
Chained Inside a Porta Potty, Haunted Church, Trapped in Belarus
What do a construction worker chained inside a porta potty, a photographer who accidentally destroyed a $90,000 movie prop, a haunted church, and a Canadian trapped in Belarus have in common? They're all part of another unforgettable shift on I Used To Work There. In this episode, you'll hear eight incredible stories from real people who lived them, including a habanero pepper disaster that went horribly wrong, a government-funded porn inspection job, a gas station customer nobody could forget, a Blockbuster theft unlike anything you've ever heard, and a business trip that turned into a three-week international survival mission.
Before we get started, I also want to say thank you. The support for this show has been absolutely unbelievable. In just a few short months, we've grown into a Quill Award-winning podcast, welcomed thousands of new listeners, and built an incredible community of storytellers from around the world. It's been a wild ride so far, and we're not even at Episode 10 yet.
I Used To Work There is a listener-driven show built entirely around the stories you never forget. If you're enjoying the podcast, please hit Follow on Apple Podcasts and leave a review telling us what you love most about the show. Your support helps more people discover these incredible stories. And if you've got a work story you'll never forget, we'd love to hear it. Send your story to HR@iusedtoworkthere.com for a chance to be featured on a future episode.
We'll see you next shift.
🚗 Title Sponsor
I Used To Work There is proudly brought to you by Atlas Elite Lifts.
Building car lifts so cool they would make Batman jealous, Atlas Elite Lifts delivers premium automotive lifting solutions for home garages, professional shops, and serious automotive enthusiasts across North America.
Whether you're restoring classics, wrenching on weekend projects, or running a professional service facility, Atlas Elite Lifts has a lift built for the job.
Learn more at www.atlaselitelifts.com.
Transcript
And his end words were to me, I don't care what you do, but figure it out or learn to speak Russian.
Speaker B:Welcome back to I Used to work there.
Speaker B:I'm Kelly Kennedy, and before we get started, I just wanted to say thank you.
Speaker B: st two weeks alone, more than: Speaker B:If you're one of our new listeners, welcome.
Speaker B:I. I'm so happy you're here.
Speaker B:This is a listener driven show.
Speaker B:Every story you hear comes directly from someone who lived it and decided it was finally time to tell their story.
Speaker B:Today you'll hear about a man trapped inside a porta potty and lifted into the air by a crane, a photographer who accidentally destroyed a $90,000 movie prop, a haunted church, and a Canadian sent to Belarus and told to either close the deal or learn to speak Russian.
Speaker B:If this is your kind of show, hit follow on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker B:And if you've been enjoying the stories, we'd love it if you'd leave us a review and tell us what you love most about the show.
Speaker B:Your reviews help more people discover.
Speaker B:I used to work there and help us continue to build this incredible community.
Speaker B:Now let's kick off the day shift with our very first story.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome back to the show my brother dj, who has another incredible story from his time when he worked in abatement and on many construction sites.
Speaker B:Dj, this one blew my mind.
Speaker B:I didn't know it.
Speaker B:I'd never heard it before.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker C:Actually, downtown Vancouver, cleaning out the old Woodwards building.
Speaker C:And so there was a lot of.
Speaker C:A lot of moving parts going on, so I had to bring all kinds of equipment down there in a five ton.
Speaker C:Well, this one day I go down there, I make the boys unload the trailer because I'm not doing it.
Speaker C:And so I go to use the porta potty and I can't figure out what the hell's all this noise going on because I'm in a construction zone.
Speaker C:But why does this sound so loud?
Speaker C:Yeah, turns out they're wrapping the damn thing in a chain while I'm in there.
Speaker C:They get the crane to grab the top and they lifted me in the air and I'm freaking and screaming and booting.
Speaker C:The last thing I want to do is shake this thing and get covered in crap, right?
Speaker A:But I was so freaking mad.
Speaker B:This is gonna be swinging.
Speaker B:It's gotta be swing down.
Speaker C:It was.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:It was insane.
Speaker A:Like, it's.
Speaker C:It's not exactly a.
Speaker C:Not windy city.
Speaker C:We're on the coast, right?
Speaker C:So, I mean, here I am in this crapper up in the air.
Speaker C:Look.
Speaker C:But I'm glad there was a chain on it, because if I'd have booted that door and fallen 20ft, I'd have been hooped, right?
Speaker C:I was.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:I was so pissed off.
Speaker C:And the.
Speaker C:The crane operator got canned over it.
Speaker C:It was funny because in those days, you didn't even have to have training of any kind to be a crane operator.
Speaker C:You just found out how to run the controls.
Speaker C:And po.
Speaker C:You were the guy, right?
Speaker A:There was no course.
Speaker A:There was no course of all.
Speaker C:So this guy got canned.
Speaker C:A couple of the boys on the site got canned.
Speaker C:The safety guy was madder than hell.
Speaker C:Not nearly as angry as me.
Speaker C:But it was funny because the three owners of our company going, you're not going to sue us, are you?
Speaker A:Are you?
Speaker A:Are you?
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker B:So it can't be fast to hook up a porta potty.
Speaker B:Walk me through this.
Speaker B:How in the world were they able to hook up to this thing, get it in the air with you in it, without it being blatantly obvious what was happening?
Speaker C:No, I think it was set up from the beginning.
Speaker C:They knew I was coming, right?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:And the porta potties for those construction companies have a definite hook setting in the top, so you can lift them and put them on top of the building.
Speaker E:Right.
Speaker C:So it was ready to roll.
Speaker C:All they had to do was chain me up and get me out of there, and that's what they did.
Speaker B:So they knew you were in it.
Speaker B:They were just being.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, they were gonna.
Speaker C:With Kennedy because he's always yelling at them in the warehouse.
Speaker C:So they thought, yeah, we'll just get you with them.
Speaker A:We'll chain them up.
Speaker C:Yeah, that didn't work out so well in there.
Speaker C:In the long run, it didn't work out.
Speaker B:No, man.
Speaker B:I can't even imagine that happening today.
Speaker C:I. I was so mad, I didn't have time to get scared.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker A:No kidding.
Speaker B:That is a great story, dj.
Speaker B:And honestly, construction workers out there, if you have something like this, call in and tell us.
Speaker B:HR@ I used to work there.
Speaker B:Dot com.
Speaker B:DJ.
Speaker B:Thank you for another ridiculous and unbelievable story.
Speaker E:You got it, brother.
Speaker C:Have a great day.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:What an absolutely incredible story.
Speaker B:Funny thing is, you can know a brother your entire life, and believe it or not, that was his very first time telling me about that.
Speaker B:So that was a good one, dj.
Speaker B:Thanks again.
Speaker B:And from hanging around at work in unpleasant ways to a very unpleasant experience, showing off with habanero peppers.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome Chris from Calgary to the show.
Speaker B:Chris, tell us what happened.
Speaker F:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker F:So I was working in this.
Speaker F:In a program for people and which.
Speaker F:Most programs are for people.
Speaker F:And so we had to do this one part of training with cbd.
Speaker F:Cbt, I should say not.
Speaker F:Cbd.
Speaker A:Cbt.
Speaker F:Cognitive behavioral therapy.
Speaker F:Yes.
Speaker F:Where you're teaching people how to interrupt impulsive thoughts.
Speaker F:Right.
Speaker F:And so we get there this morning and we're sitting, you know, in our groups and the teacher says, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna walk through some things, interrupt thoughts.
Speaker F:One is, you can have a cold shower.
Speaker F:So I got a bowl full of ice, full of ice with some water in it.
Speaker F:Another one is to.
Speaker F:Is with your taste.
Speaker F:So I have some lemons over here as well.
Speaker F:And then I also have some habanero peppers as well.
Speaker F:And so I want you to.
Speaker F:You're gonna try each one of all three free, just so you experience it so you know what you're talking about.
Speaker F:Well, in this group, back in the day, I was a bit of a know it all.
Speaker F:So I, you know, had to share with everyone that I was a one quarter Mexican.
Speaker F:And so, so my ego got the best of me and I go, okay, I'll do the habanero right away, right?
Speaker F:So I grabbed the habanero and I cut it open and, well, I'm smart, I know how to do this.
Speaker F:You just make sure you don't eat any of the seeds.
Speaker F:So I'm using my fingers, I'm taking all the seeds out, so there's no seeds in there.
Speaker F:And I go ahead and I eat the habanero.
Speaker F:I can handle it.
Speaker F:It's warm, really warm.
Speaker F:And.
Speaker F:And then my buddy Ryan beside me, he's, you know, he's eating a lemon and, and, and as he's eating the lemon, oh, I need to washroom.
Speaker F:So I go to the washroom and as I go to the washroom and then I come back and I sit down beside him and all of a sudden I look at him and I go, it was urinal.
Speaker F:I hadn't washed my hands from the habanero peppers.
Speaker A:Oh, my God,.
Speaker F:My crotch is on fire.
Speaker F:And I run from the room and.
Speaker E:He's feeling himself laughing.
Speaker F:He tells the whole class when I come back in, hey, it's hot crotch freezing.
Speaker F:He's back.
Speaker F:Your ego will always get the best you at work.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:I bet you never did that again.
Speaker F:No, never.
Speaker A:Nope, never again.
Speaker F:I am never touching a pepper with My fingers again.
Speaker B:Yeah, we have PTSD for peppers now.
Speaker F:Oh, totally.
Speaker F:Totally.
Speaker F:Actually.
Speaker F:Absolutely right.
Speaker B:Thank you, Chris, for another incredible story.
Speaker F:Well, thanks for having me on.
Speaker F:I love, I love Sharon.
Speaker F:Glad other people can laugh with us.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Well, a little bit at your expense, but still.
Speaker B:Well, hey, at least you can laugh about it.
Speaker F:Well, I'm happy to say that I still have three kids.
Speaker E:Not all was lost.
Speaker B:Not always lost.
Speaker B:Awesome, Chris.
Speaker B:We'll see you on the next one.
Speaker F:Thanks.
Speaker B:Well, I'm happy that that at least somewhat worked out for Chris.
Speaker B:What a horrible day in class.
Speaker B:From there, we're going all the way back to the 90s to a summer job that will absolutely blow your mind.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome Stacy from Alberta, Canada to the show.
Speaker B:Stacy, you had probably one of the most interesting summer jobs I've ever heard of.
Speaker B:Tell us all about it.
Speaker G:I was in college and looking for a summer job and applied for a position with the government of Alberta and was working in community development and working on some marketing for them.
Speaker G:And all of a sudden they got instruction that there were some complaints.
Speaker G:I don't even know where it came from.
Speaker H:I was 19 years old, but they.
Speaker G:Asked me to travel around Alberta and go into the adult video stores.
Speaker E:And.
Speaker G:Try to rent videos.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker G:Because what they were finding was they, they were not IDing people and minors were being able to rent porn, basically.
Speaker G:And so this government initiative got launched to go figure out what the policies were.
Speaker G:And so my boyfriend at the time and I were paid to travel around Alberta and go into adult stores and try to rent porn and see what they did.
Speaker B:Well, what happened?
Speaker G:Well, what happened was we did just that.
Speaker G:And you know, I always looked younger than I was.
Speaker G:I was of age, but sometimes got id, sometimes didn't.
Speaker G:And when we were at.
Speaker G:When they were asked about their policy, of course they had what they were meant to say.
Speaker G:So I don't think it was a really great use of, of taxpayers dollars, but it was a fun.
Speaker G:It was a fun little road trip.
Speaker B:That is absolutely hilarious.
Speaker B:And I just think it's funny that that's what the government spends our money on.
Speaker G:Yeah, this was in the 90s for a little bit of context, but yeah, those stores I don't think even exist anymore today.
Speaker B:No, no, I think the days of the video store are long behind us.
Speaker B:But no, that's hilarious.
Speaker B:Stacey, thanks for sharing that.
Speaker G:Good times.
Speaker G:Thanks, Kelly.
Speaker B:Well, from a college porn inspector to the bright lights of Hollywood and the amazing movies they create, it is my pleasure to welcome John from Southern California to the show.
Speaker B:And, boy, does he have a story for you.
Speaker B:John, welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker E:Well, first, Kelly, it's a pleasure to be on with you today.
Speaker E:And I'll give you a little backstory of some of the adventures I've had over 40.
Speaker E:It's actually longer than 40 years, so let's stick to 40 years.
Speaker B:Fair enough.
Speaker E:I started in the movie industry as a teenager.
Speaker E:So basically, you know, in my background as a filmmaker, I started as a cameraman and visual effects, doing visual effects for movies.
Speaker E:And now I'm a producer.
Speaker E:But in the early days, I was very, very fortunate to work on major films as a cameraman.
Speaker E: s a movie sequel to the movie: Speaker E:Long time ago.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker E:But it's a very classic film and we were nominated for Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, which is a team I was on.
Speaker E:So very proud of that movie.
Speaker E:So this particular film I was assigned the task of photographing, which was very complex back then.
Speaker E:The miniature spaceships, miniature terrains and interior shots of spaceships.
Speaker E:And then the astronaut in their spacesuits in space doing their spacewalking.
Speaker E:A lot of shots.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker E:And back then, we use special, still today, special robotic cameras.
Speaker E:These incredibly complex, beautiful machines, 60 foot long tracks with these crane arms holding the camera that move around.
Speaker E:That are all computer controlled.
Speaker E:You input them by hand.
Speaker E:You control the movement.
Speaker E:Hands and tilts and move, zooms and all that.
Speaker E:And it actually replicates the camera not moving, but the objects moving.
Speaker E:Yeah, because as we move by them in front of a blue screen, you're not seeing.
Speaker E:What you're really seeing is a spaceship, a guy in a spacesuit moving by you.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker E:So that was what we used to do.
Speaker E:Well, one of the shots that was assigned was in a key theme.
Speaker E: In the original: Speaker E:And so Stanley Kubrick had created this embryonic baby shot.
Speaker E:And we wanted to end the movie with the same shot.
Speaker E:So in this case, it was a little bit different design.
Speaker E:So what we did, and this was again, all state of the art in this day.
Speaker E:We had a special sculptor, model, maker, very famous artist sculpt up a double real size baby torso.
Speaker E:Now, back then, we were very photographic centric people.
Speaker E:This was shot on film, 65 millimeter no matter.
Speaker E:Very large format.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker E:And so they chose a chemical process using gelatin because when the light hits the gel, it's pretty much the same gelatin pectin you the jello is made out of, but 10 times thicker.
Speaker E:And they put all these dyes in it to make it look like real human flesh color and real looking eyeballs and stuff.
Speaker E:And anyhow, they build this.
Speaker E:They basically sculpted this beautiful baby torso.
Speaker E:Because the shots just from the stomach up.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker E:And my, my assignment was basically to photograph it.
Speaker E:Kind of like flying in space.
Speaker E:It's kind of a slow pan around it and getting a little bit closer.
Speaker E:Very simple, but straight ahead move.
Speaker E:But in the process, it had this particular sculpting made out of gelatin.
Speaker E:The light would go in and kind of glow from the inside out, like real skin does.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker E:As opposed to a flat model, rubber model, you know, rubber creature.
Speaker E:And very, very, very, very delicate sculpting.
Speaker E:Or in this case, a mold.
Speaker E:So I had it set up on the stage.
Speaker E:And back then with the camera systems, we had to use huge lights.
Speaker E:And for those who understand wattage, two 10,000 watt lights.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker E:Your normal house light, 60 watts.
Speaker E:Well, in order, it has to do with getting the right aperture exposure, the time exposures, because these motion control robotic cameras were moved very slowly, not at normal frame rates.
Speaker E:So basically we had to have fans.
Speaker E:We couldn't put the fan on because it would vibrate.
Speaker E:They had to do.
Speaker E:We had to do multiple.
Speaker E:There's a bunch of technical reasons.
Speaker E:Bottom line is we were only.
Speaker E:We can only film it for about four minutes at a time.
Speaker E:Almost five is the limit.
Speaker E:We have a big timer go off.
Speaker F:We have.
Speaker E:The shot would happen.
Speaker E:And the only shot would only last, really.
Speaker E:It was lasting about, oh, less than 45 seconds long in the movie.
Speaker E:And then turn off all the lights, turn the fans on, walk away for about 15, 20 minutes and do it again.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker E:And so I've been doing this shot.
Speaker E:We did the test shots.
Speaker E:We were perfectionists back then.
Speaker E:The director was a perfectionist.
Speaker E:I spent three days on this shot.
Speaker E:One shot.
Speaker E:Testing and exposure, all the stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker E:We finally get it perfectly right.
Speaker E:The second I get a call from the director saying time magazine wants to come in and wants to do a photograph of the star, baby.
Speaker E:And I go, oh, okay, that's cool.
Speaker E:You know, this is a fellow photographer, Time magazine.
Speaker E:That's really cool.
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker E:And so I say, okay, well, when is he coming in?
Speaker E:When he comes in tomorrow.
Speaker E:Hey, we've scheduled him to come in at Your lunchtime.
Speaker E:I says, well, you know, can I help?
Speaker E:This is.
Speaker E:No, you really can't.
Speaker E:You can show them what to do.
Speaker E:Back then, camera.
Speaker E:I was at union and won't get into the details, but with the union working lunch, I'd be making triple time.
Speaker F:Okay.
Speaker E:Three hours for one hour's work.
Speaker E:In any case, the boss says, that's not gonna happen, John.
Speaker E:That's all right.
Speaker E:Come on.
Speaker E:Come on.
Speaker F:No, it's not gonna happen.
Speaker E:And so I.
Speaker E:Basically, the young guy comes in.
Speaker E:He's got a 4x5 camera, and I guess a pretty famous photographer they assigned to the job flew in from New York.
Speaker E:And here we're in Los Angeles in a studio.
Speaker E:And he comes in.
Speaker E:I greet him, he sets up his camera.
Speaker E:I said, here's where you need to position the camera.
Speaker E:I move my camera out of the way.
Speaker E:It's not a big robot tracks.
Speaker E:Put your camera here.
Speaker E:You can move it around a little bit.
Speaker E:But these are the sweet spots for the lighting.
Speaker E:And so he set it up and I showed him.
Speaker E:Here's the panel.
Speaker E:When you.
Speaker E:You've got four minutes to photograph 4x5 still.
Speaker E:And they do time.
Speaker E:He was doing time exposures, long exposures, too.
Speaker E:So what you do here, this switch turns the lights off.
Speaker E:This switch turns the fans on and off.
Speaker E:And I got them both set on.
Speaker E:And there's a master switch.
Speaker E:So.
Speaker E:And I've got them in reverse.
Speaker E:So when you turn the lights off, the fan goes on.
Speaker E:And so you got two ways to double check.
Speaker E:So every time you're done shooting.
Speaker E:Four minutes max.
Speaker E:Four minutes maximum.
Speaker E:And I have a clock timer right there.
Speaker E:Turn off the switch.
Speaker E:And I.
Speaker E:And so basically, you know, my buddies, my camera assistant and a bunch of guys would get.
Speaker E:You know, we said, we're gonna go to lunch.
Speaker E:So, you know, we're.
Speaker E:We're in this big shooting stage.
Speaker E:So we go to the trailer where they have all the food and the catering truck down the ways quite a ways.
Speaker E:And I'm kind of nervous.
Speaker E:I go, I don't know, man, this.
Speaker E:I wish I could just be there.
Speaker E:You're not allowed on the stage during lunch.
Speaker E:You know, can't even have lunch.
Speaker E:What kind of lunch?
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker E:Nope.
Speaker E:And so, you know, I decided it's 45 minutes in a lunch, an hour lunch.
Speaker E:I.
Speaker E:Okay, I'm gonna come back early.
Speaker E:I'm just gonna peek in the stage door and see what's happening.
Speaker E:Well, as I'm coming in, I'm with my camera assistant and a bunch of other guys on the crew.
Speaker E:We're kind of walking early because we have to take a.
Speaker E:One of those golf carts to get back.
Speaker E:So we all come together and as we're walking up to the stage, I peek in and I see.
Speaker E:I can't see anything.
Speaker E:I can't even see the guy because I can see off to the corner where it's set up.
Speaker E:Is it.
Speaker E:Where is he?
Speaker E:And any case, I hear a scream and a yell.
Speaker E:And I realize literally I'll have to back up before I got to the door, heard a scream and a yell.
Speaker E:And then I.
Speaker E:That's when I looked in and I said, what's that?
Speaker E:And I couldn't see him.
Speaker E:All of a sudden I see a silhouette of a guy running as fast as he can through the stage, 4 by 5 camera on a strap over his shoulder.
Speaker E:His tripod is flailing, and he's just running as fast as he can.
Speaker E:Trips on the track, camera, track.
Speaker E:Oh, does almost a cartwheel with all this equipment on him.
Speaker E:Gets up, runs and runs right past us, literally screaming into his car.
Speaker E:Screeches off and disappears.
Speaker E:And I go, what?
Speaker E:So we, you know.
Speaker E:You know, my anxiety was kind of.
Speaker E:I have a little bit of foretelling anxiety.
Speaker E:It's what happens in the movie business.
Speaker E:I got.
Speaker E:Something's going on here.
Speaker E:Yeah, we go in there, actually run in, and we go in there.
Speaker E:It's pitch black.
Speaker E:I mean, I can see in the dark by now, turn on the lights.
Speaker E:No Starbucks.
Speaker E:And I go, it is a jello slime, baby.
Speaker B:Somebody forgot to turn off the lights.
Speaker E:He must.
Speaker E:He went off to this day.
Speaker E:And literally, what ends up happening, it was literally a pool of gel with two eyeballs staring up at you.
Speaker E:And.
Speaker E:And I'm thinking to myself, oh, this is bad.
Speaker E:This is really bad.
Speaker E:And what I didn't mention earlier on in the story, the first thing I told them is this model cost about $90,000, which is like $300,000 in today's model.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker E:$90,000 To build in three months to perfect.
Speaker E:Please don't hurt it.
Speaker E:I had to emphasize that I'm not one to tell everybody how much everything costs.
Speaker E:But this case, I said, better let them know.
Speaker E:So what ends up happening is the head model maker who actually built this model comes flying in because the word's out now.
Speaker E:He comes flying in, and after a whole series of cursing, superlatives, stomping, and is really pissed off all of a sudden, goes from kind of purple, calms down, looks at me and goes, okay, John, I guess I'll bring the spare out and so, and I, I, I knew there was multiple versions because I think we went through six versions before the director approved the one we used.
Speaker E:But I didn't realize he actually had a duplicate.
Speaker E:And so we were good to go.
Speaker E:But at the end of the day, this time, photographer must have got a shot because it is in the magazine and he never.
Speaker E:No one called back.
Speaker E:No one called from Time saying we're sorry, anything.
Speaker E:Never heard back from him.
Speaker E:I didn't get his card anyway, so I didn't know.
Speaker E:But the end of the day, we just kept making the movie.
Speaker E:And to this day, this guy probably thinks he ruined the only model of that baby that exists.
Speaker B:Well, if he's still around and he happens to listen to the show, he'll know there wasn't there.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker E:He's probably still around.
Speaker E:Unless he'd fallen off a cliff photographing something else.
Speaker E:He was a bit clumsy.
Speaker E:You know,.
Speaker B:I just love the fact that ran out screaming and then tore off in his.
Speaker E:It was classic.
Speaker E:It was classic.
Speaker E:He literally.
Speaker E:It was like one of those Laurel and Hardy movies.
Speaker E:Everything going every which way.
Speaker E:And, you know, it was, it was, it, it was really.
Speaker E:When things happen that quick, it was, it was humorous in a weird way.
Speaker B:Well, that's awesome.
Speaker B:And yeah, thank you so much for the insight and the incredible story.
Speaker B:And my gosh.
Speaker B: o once upon a time ran out of: Speaker F:Here you go.
Speaker B:That's what happened.
Speaker B:John, that's incredible.
Speaker E:You know, all respect, buddy.
Speaker E:You know, I know you screwed up, but, you know, hey, life goes on.
Speaker B:Life goes on.
Speaker B:And the movie turned out well.
Speaker B:Anyway, did great.
Speaker E:And we got our.
Speaker E:We got a nominated Academy Award and unfortunately we got Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom one.
Speaker E:But whatever, that's the way it goes.
Speaker B:You win some and you lose some, John.
Speaker B:But that story was absolutely incredible.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Speaker B:To my fellow Hollywood friends, if you happen to be listening to the show, and I know we have so many of you from California and you have wild stories like this, I would love to hear them.
Speaker B:Send your stories to HR.
Speaker B:Used to work there.com and we will work to get you on a future episode.
Speaker B:From a space baby odyssey to a smell and a customer you will never forget, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome Lauren from Michigan to the show.
Speaker B:Lauren, you have a story for us.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker G:Hello.
Speaker H:Thank you guys for having me.
Speaker H:So excited to be here.
Speaker H:I wanted to tell a story about when I Worked in a gas station in another small town in the Upper Peninsula.
Speaker H:And we had this regular.
Speaker H:And how it happened was it was my first week working at this new job, and I'm in the cooler, restocking the cooler, and I walk out.
Speaker H:I don't see anyone in the store, but I am hit with the smell.
Speaker H:And I'm looking around, wondering, is it the can bag?
Speaker H:Is there something that needs to go?
Speaker H:I'm not sure.
Speaker H:So I go behind the counter.
Speaker H:I see people filling up gas, so I know someone's going to be coming in soon.
Speaker H:And right when I get around the corner, I hear the shuffling of these feet.
Speaker H:And I still don't see anyone at the time.
Speaker H:Out from one of the aisles pops this little old lady.
Speaker H:And she looked as cute as could be.
Speaker H:She had a scarf tied around her head and she's carrying two bottles of wine, the muscle milk and chocolate bars.
Speaker H:She gets to the counter and I quickly realized that that smell was actually her.
Speaker H:And I proceeded to discreetly puke in my mouth.
Speaker H:And I didn't let her know at all.
Speaker H:And I'm scanning and I'm scanning and I find out after this that this woman also doesn't talk.
Speaker H:So when I.
Speaker H:She just hands me $100 bill and I cash it and she gives me $1, goes, and then shuffles out.
Speaker H:I was able to do this whole transaction without telling her how much her cost was, anything.
Speaker H:And then I politely puked in the trash can next to me, but I was so confused.
Speaker H:And a regular came in and goes, well, yes, this woman does have this issue.
Speaker H:And actually we are the only gas station in this town that lets her still shop in the store.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker H:And it proceeded for five years.
Speaker H:Five years.
Speaker H:She would come in same order every time.
Speaker H:Bottles of wine, muscle milk, chocolate bars, and occasionally some paper towels.
Speaker H:But I found out she lived by herself.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:And she was not taking care of herself.
Speaker H:And we were the.
Speaker H:I was basically the only one that was still kind of taking care of her.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:So then after about a week, she didn't come in for any of her regulars.
Speaker H:I thought that was suspicious.
Speaker H:I kind of figured out what her name was from some of the other people in the.
Speaker H:In this town.
Speaker H:So I called the police and I said, hey, I just want to do this.
Speaker H:This welfare check.
Speaker H:There's this woman who.
Speaker H:I think her name is this.
Speaker H:She hasn't been in.
Speaker H:And they instantly knew who she was.
Speaker H:And they said, you are the only person who has called about this woman and that she had some relatives actually come up, take her down state to put her in a facility to take care of her because obviously she needed it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker H:And I still consider her one of my favorites.
Speaker H:Even though she was the smelliest.
Speaker H:She, she had this thing about her and I loved her.
Speaker B:That's such an incredible story.
Speaker B:I know like I said before when you sent this in, I, I immediately had a laugh and had to show my wife.
Speaker B:It was, it was a really funny story.
Speaker B:And it was kind of a happy sweet ending too.
Speaker B:You don't always get this.
Speaker G:It was.
Speaker H:And I got used to the smell.
Speaker H:I got used to her.
Speaker H:I, I always.
Speaker H:And again, if I never saw her, I could smell her so I knew she was there.
Speaker H:And then she just juckle out and the whole not speaking.
Speaker H:And we went five years, no words and it was just the, just.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That is an absolutely incredible story.
Speaker B:Lauren, thank you so much for coming on and telling it.
Speaker H:Thank you, Kelly.
Speaker B:And if you have a story about smelly lovable people, call in and tell it.
Speaker B:And that takes us to the end of our day shift stories.
Speaker B:It is time to enter the night shift after a quick sponsor break.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for listening to a word from our sponsors.
Speaker B:Things are about to get a little darker around here.
Speaker B:We are entering the night shift.
Speaker B:For our first night shift story of the evening.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome Chris from Calgary back to the show.
Speaker B:And he had a night shift at a church that shook him to the core.
Speaker B:Chris, tell us what happened.
Speaker F:I get shivers up my neck even just as I think about this right now.
Speaker F:This is back when I first started working.
Speaker F:I was working as a janitor in a church.
Speaker F: s, it held: Speaker F:Okay.
Speaker F:And I'm so I'm cleaning and vacuuming and of course church is always that, right?
Speaker F:That eerie kind of feeling.
Speaker B:Yeah, of course.
Speaker B:Especially a big building, empty, right?
Speaker F:Totally.
Speaker F:And so I'm in, I'm in my 20s and I'm cleaning the main sanctuary between services on Sunday.
Speaker F:And as I'm cleaning I'm picking up bulletins as I always do and has them picking up the bulletins.
Speaker F:And then I go to start vacuuming as I'm vacuuming in the service and then you're always wondering like, am I alone?
Speaker F:Are there people here?
Speaker E:Can I lock all the doors?
Speaker F:Am I okay?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:2500 People is a big building.
Speaker F:It is two floors basement, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker F:I actually had gone downstairs in the basement, no lights on to get some janitorial supplies and came upstairs.
Speaker F:And as I walked into the sanctuary area, the doors were closed.
Speaker F:All of a sudden, I hear this.
Speaker F:And I'm just like, what's going on?
Speaker F:And so my heart starts racing, the hair starts raising on my neck, and I started walking forward a little bit.
Speaker F:And as I'm doing that, and I'm like, okay.
Speaker F:I'm like, I'm.
Speaker F:It's not funny, right?
Speaker F:So I walk to the front area where the pulpit is, and I look up front, up top, because the sound boost, like, way up at the top.
Speaker F:I'm like, okay, guys, it's not funny.
Speaker F:Stop that.
Speaker F:Get out of there.
Speaker F:I'm the man.
Speaker F:I just told him what to do.
Speaker F:I'm waiting.
Speaker F:No one.
Speaker F:No one comes out.
Speaker F:Okay.
Speaker F:So I discard.
Speaker F:Stokes hurt cleaning and picking things up again.
Speaker F:Oh, I'm wiping down benches and stuff.
Speaker F:And I get about five rows in.
Speaker F:All of a sudden, you're.
Speaker F:I'm like.
Speaker F:I freeze.
Speaker F:Like, totally freeze.
Speaker F:And I had just, like, done one semester in Bible college.
Speaker F:I'm like, demonic warfare.
Speaker F:There's demons in here.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And.
Speaker F:And as I freeze, it just starts going off like trees,.
Speaker A:And I am gone.
Speaker F:I actually, when I ran, I ran upstairs to the sound room, and I remember going up the stairs to the sound, going, okay, it's.
Speaker F:Guys, there's no one here.
Speaker F:Pardon me.
Speaker F:There's people here.
Speaker F:They're screwing around.
Speaker F:I'm gonna go bust them out.
Speaker F:And I get up to the sound booth on the very top floor, floor.
Speaker F:And that's when I put my hand on the door.
Speaker F:Click, click, click, click.
Speaker F:It's locked.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:Okay.
Speaker F:They're just fooling around.
Speaker F:Get all my keys, open the door, swing it open.
Speaker F:Like, gonna confront them.
Speaker F:So I'm angry.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And scared crapless.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:Open the door and just.
Speaker F:I open the door, nobody's in the room.
Speaker F:That's when I ran to the janitor.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That would be enough.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker F:Pastor Jim, it's totally demons.
Speaker F:It's not good.
Speaker F:It's like, we need to do a.
Speaker F:We need to do an exorcism or something.
Speaker F:Like, church wide, right?
Speaker F:He's like, oh.
Speaker F:Oh, you mean, like, was it, like, really loud?
Speaker F:I'm like, yeah, like, really, like, came over the PA system.
Speaker F:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker F:Every once in a while, what happens is the.
Speaker F:The radio frequencies interfere, and if we leave, someone leaves a sound system on between services.
Speaker F:Then as the cab drivers drive by, their radio takes over the speakers in the church.
Speaker E:Oh, my word.
Speaker B:That is hilarious.
Speaker F:I'm killing myself.
Speaker E:Laughing.
Speaker F:But I'm like.
Speaker F:Like, I was.
Speaker F:I was crapping my pants.
Speaker B:Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker B:I would be, too, man.
Speaker B:Like gigantic empty building noises coming from somewhere.
Speaker B:Nobody there.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker F:So needless to say, I will never be a janitor church again.
Speaker B:You got to watch out for those rogue truck drivers.
Speaker F:Totally.
Speaker F:Exactly.
Speaker B:Chris, that is an absolutely incredible story.
Speaker B:If you have a story like this, we would love to hear it.
Speaker B:Send it over hr@I used to work there dot com.
Speaker B:Chris, what an incredible story.
Speaker B:Thanks for coming on.
Speaker F:My pleasure.
Speaker F:Thanks a lot, Kelly.
Speaker B:Yeah, watch for those truck driver demons, people.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:Turn off your speakers.
Speaker B:Well, from a haunted church to a store many of us will absolutely never forget, it is my pleasure to welcome Ajax to the show.
Speaker B:And Ajax is calling us all the way from the border of Indiana and Ohio.
Speaker B:Ajax, welcome to the show and tell us what happened.
Speaker D: e manager at Blockbuster from: Speaker D:I had nine different stores over the course of that time.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D: But there was one store in: Speaker D:You know, we had a lot of theft at Blockbuster.
Speaker D:You know, it's a desirable product.
Speaker D:Movies, games, you know, so we had a lot of shoplifters come in slicing open movies and taking them and concealing them in many different fashions.
Speaker D:This one took the cake, though.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So basically, I was all by myself one day, and then I had another co worker come in about three hours after I opened the store.
Speaker D:So it was in the afternoon, early afternoon.
Speaker D:I had one other employee there, and they were behind the counter, and it was pretty slow.
Speaker D:I mean, we had a couple different couples come in.
Speaker D:So there was a few people in the store, and then I see this other couple come in, and right away, kind of red flags.
Speaker D:I mean, they were just kind of checking me out more than they were looking around in the store as they went in.
Speaker D:You know, I. I immediately flagged that the one guy was probably a lookout and the lady was probably going to do some stealing.
Speaker D:And it's only because I had experience in this.
Speaker B:You've seen this before.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:It's very common.
Speaker D:I mean, like earlier that week, I think I remembered something happening, too.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:But, yeah, I. I watched them and they were watching me, and I was watching them and they were watching me.
Speaker D:And then the guy.
Speaker D:So it was a guy and a girl guy came up to me and basically was trying to distract me, which is very common.
Speaker D:And as he was asking a question, like, before I could even get a word out.
Speaker D:I hear the popping, slicing noises.
Speaker D:I'm like, okay, this is going down.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker D:So immediately I'm like, all right, I'm trying.
Speaker D:I'm trying to, you know, give him some really good customer service.
Speaker D:Tom, about all our great sales we have going on with our PRP, our previously rented product, you might recall there were four for 20 or five for 20 or three for 20, depending on.
Speaker B:I do recall.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So, you know, obviously, he wasn't going to buy any.
Speaker D:I knew he wasn't, but I was taking them over to tables.
Speaker D:Meanwhile, I said, I got to run back here and get something.
Speaker D:That something was the phone.
Speaker D:We had a little cordless phone.
Speaker D:And I just did a little 911 action in the back pocket.
Speaker D:And when he wasn't looking, you know, pretended to like, oh, I have a phone in my hand.
Speaker D:And I started picking up, like, I'm going to call somebody.
Speaker D:I already had them on the line.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I'm immediately telling them what's going down.
Speaker D:And the response time's actually pretty good.
Speaker D:They were still in the store, which is great.
Speaker D:So as I'm walking the store, they're still in the store.
Speaker D:They're still looking at me.
Speaker D:They were very greedy that day, and that played to my advantage, their disadvantage.
Speaker D:So it was their fault.
Speaker D:I started picking up DVDs and finding where they sliced them open, and I was like, okay, all right.
Speaker D:Where is she hiding these?
Speaker D:And so then the police came in, and then I told them, hey, this is the couple.
Speaker D:This is the lookout.
Speaker D:That guy's involved.
Speaker D:Because he started pretending like he wasn't involved.
Speaker D:She started walking toward the back of the store.
Speaker D:I'm like, this is a perfect situation.
Speaker D:But I'm like, hey, that guy, you need to get him.
Speaker D:He's the lookout.
Speaker D:He started heading out the door.
Speaker D:So the other officer followed him.
Speaker D:And then I was in the store with the other.
Speaker D:Off the one officer and the lady.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So we go back and confront the lady.
Speaker D:And I look down, and I see two pairs of what I lovingly refer to as nipple spindles.
Speaker D:You might recall, like, way back when, when we had recorded, like, DVDs and CDs their CDRs, DVDRs.
Speaker D:They came on these spindles, and, you know, they were on this giant spindle, and all, like, all the CDs and DVDs kind of fit on there.
Speaker D:So she didn't have those, but she did have something else, like gazongas.
Speaker D:They were pretty large in size.
Speaker D:And so I'm looking down and I'm seeing these discs, these shiny objects kind of like protruding from her shirt.
Speaker D:And the officer's like, where are they?
Speaker D:And I'm like, it's like a little slow on the uptake.
Speaker D:I'm like, they're.
Speaker D:If you look down, you can see them because she's standing right there.
Speaker D:She's, like, not even trying to get away because she's caught, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:But she also, at the same time, I guess, thought that nothing's going to happen because they can't, you know.
Speaker D:This is a male officer.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So finally, he takes out his nightstick.
Speaker D:This is the thing that I remember, like, forever.
Speaker D:It's forever ingrained in my mind.
Speaker D:He taps one of the CDs on top of the breast, and I'm just.
Speaker D:The sound of that hard tapping.
Speaker D:And so he's like, this isn't real.
Speaker D:And I'm like, no, it's real.
Speaker D:We're having that conversation without having that conversation.
Speaker D:And then some.
Speaker D:So he immediately radios for a female officer.
Speaker D:They both get arrested outside of the store.
Speaker D:And then, you know, I need to know, for my management purposes, what's going to happen to the product.
Speaker D:Ended up being like, 12 DVDs.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:In two months, I was able to claim them back and we could put them back into inventory.
Speaker D:And I just.
Speaker D:From that moment on, I always wondered how many times they were rented.
Speaker D:And I did thoroughly clean them and sanitize them, but I just wondered how many times they were rented and somebody had that coating of boob sweat on that dvd.
Speaker D:Maybe when they were playing the dvd, it was like Shrek or something.
Speaker D:And like, a little bubble glitch came up, and I'm like, oh, I know what that was.
Speaker A:Tell them.
Speaker D:But, yeah, that's my nipple spindle story.
Speaker D:So, yeah, I. I've always had that in my back pocket.
Speaker D:For anybody who asked me, hey, you worked at Blockbuster.
Speaker D:Do you have any stories?
Speaker D:And I'm like, yeah, I got one.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh, man, I hope we get so many more.
Speaker B:So if you're hearing this and you worked at Blockbuster and you have a fun Blockbuster story or a video store story in general, we'd love to hear it.
Speaker B:Ajax, this is amazing.
Speaker B:Thank you so much.
Speaker B:I laughed so hard when I saw the submission.
Speaker B:I've been looking forward to it.
Speaker B:I appreciate it, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
Speaker D:Absolutely.
Speaker D:Can't wait.
Speaker D:Thanks so much.
Speaker B:Now, that's a story that you will absolutely never forget.
Speaker B:From some petty theft at Blockbuster to One of the wildest, craziest stories that has ever been told on I used to work there Also takes place in the 90s, not so unlike Russian train ride.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome fellow Canadian Colin to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I was called into the CEO's office and I. I'm young at the time and I'm thinking, oh crap, this is it.
Speaker A:They finally got on.
Speaker A:And so I got, I walked in, the CEOs there and the CFO and they stopped talking as soon as I walk in.
Speaker A:Which of course gives me that sinking feeling like, oh crap, here it comes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they asked me if I had any trips planned over the next few days and I said no.
Speaker A:At the time I ran a sales division.
Speaker A:We were just going to head into the third quarter and I had already hit my number.
Speaker A:So as an organization, I was great.
Speaker A:I was figuring, well, maybe they just want more.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker A:Instead they, hey, hey, we need you to go to Belarus.
Speaker A:And I'm like, why am I going to Belarus?
Speaker A:And they said, well, there's a software deal, it's big and we need somebody to go out and negotiate it.
Speaker A:And seeing your group seems to be running great, why don't you go?
Speaker A:So I'm like, okay, now I know nothing about Belarus.
Speaker A:We do have a programmer at the time in the company who had sort of defected from the old Soviet Union.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And he gave me some tips before I left.
Speaker A:One of the things he told me was they're probably going to try and get you drunk and then negotiate the contract.
Speaker A:So off I fly, I get into to Minsk and I get picked up at the airport by a rather unsmiling man who, to be honest, scared the crap out of me.
Speaker B:Fair enough.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And anyways, he just told me he was going to be my escort and he would go everywhere with me right from the point he would pick me up at the hotel, he would take me to the factory, and then it would take me back to the hotel.
Speaker A:And if I wanted to go out at night, I had to let him know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So we had some ideas of what it might be.
Speaker A:But anyway.
Speaker A:So anyways, when I, when I get there, it's a ball bearing factory.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Didn't.
Speaker A:I guess I never thought.
Speaker A:Thought about ball bearings.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But we get there and they do a tour of the facility and they take me around very big facility.
Speaker A:Now at this point, this is after the Soviet Union has broken up.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker E:And.
Speaker A:And it's basically the wild West.
Speaker A:These, A lot of these were government agencies or or companies that now have been taken over by oligarchs or other people.
Speaker A:They've taken them over.
Speaker A:Some of them very well, some of them not so well.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:But it's a bit of a crap show.
Speaker A:They've got hyperinflation going on.
Speaker A:It's a bit of a big mess.
Speaker A:And they send me.
Speaker B:Because you were young enough to go.
Speaker A:This day, I still wonder if there was five or six more people who went, no, I don't think I'm going.
Speaker A:So off I went.
Speaker A:And so after the tour, they sit us down in a boardroom, and at each spot in the boardroom is a bottle of vodka.
Speaker A:Don't want to get straight to business.
Speaker A:Want to drink the vodka.
Speaker A:And there was also a water collection class.
Speaker A:I quickly drank down as much as the water as I could because, to be honest, the vodka tasted like it was brewed in somebody's bathtub.
Speaker E:It probably was.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it was strong.
Speaker A:Like, you know, if it didn't open your eyes, it would blow the ears off your head.
Speaker A:And so what I'm doing is I'm taking sips of the vodka and then spitting it into the water glass.
Speaker A:And the water glass was opaque, so it's sort of refilling up.
Speaker A:But they're so busy laughing and I think pretty much talking crap about me.
Speaker A:And so this goes on for a while, and I think they figure out I'm probably.
Speaker A:They've probably done enough.
Speaker A:And so we start negotiating this contract.
Speaker A:We negotiate the contract.
Speaker A:It takes us probably about three or four hours to finally negotiate the contract, get a good deal, and so they're going to sign everything the next morning.
Speaker A:So my unsmiling escort takes me home, and they're back to the hotel.
Speaker A:And there I stay.
Speaker A:I get.
Speaker A:Go back the next morning, and all of a sudden it comes out that they don't have hard currency now they want to trade.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so we got hyperinflation.
Speaker A:Things are going through the roof, and now they want to trade.
Speaker A:So now I'm like, what am I going to do with a million dollars worth of ball bearings?
Speaker A:So I had a previous phone call with my cfo.
Speaker A:He asked me how things were going.
Speaker A:So we got the deal done.
Speaker A:This is what it looks like.
Speaker A:He says, sounds perfect.
Speaker A:Now I have to make the telephone call again.
Speaker A:Yeah, that, hey, they have no money.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker A:Does not go well for me.
Speaker A:I've never heard of somebody using the F bomb more creatively.
Speaker A:He used it as a verb, an adjective, a noun, and some things I'm not sure were physically possible and just, like, yelling nonstop.
Speaker A:And I have to remember I've got this phone from.
Speaker A:Gotta be from, you know, the 70s in the Soviet Union.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And he's yelling at me.
Speaker A:And his n words were to me, I don't care what you do, but figure it out or learn to speak Russian.
Speaker A:And then he slammed the phone down.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker A:So I'm still stupid enough, Kelly, to think, oh, maybe I can salvage this.
Speaker A:And so I go back to them.
Speaker A:First thing I asked them was, does anybody buy ever in this amount of volume?
Speaker A:Like, if I've got a million dollars worth of ball bearings, who buys a million dollars worth of ball bearings?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so, yeah, it happens.
Speaker A:And they sort of give me the parameters.
Speaker A:And so what I realized is I can't ask them for customers that would pay them hard currency.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:They won't give me that.
Speaker A:So what I said was, do you have any companies that you've tried to sell to, haven't been able to sell to, but might could benefit from your ball bearings?
Speaker A:Like, give me all the losers you have.
Speaker B:That's ambitious.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I'll harvest all those terrible things.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I figured if these guys can sell a million dollar ball bearings, I can.
Speaker A:As I said, at this point, I can figure this out.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So they give me a list, which is great, but the problem is all the list is in the surrounding countries.
Speaker A:And I speak even badly English.
Speaker A:I'm not even sure what.
Speaker A:What I can do.
Speaker A:So I look at my escort and I said to him, I said, look, Makola, I need you to make phone calls for me.
Speaker A:I'll tell you what to say, and you just do it.
Speaker A:And he looks at me and goes, oh, no, no.
Speaker A:So I said, the problem is, is I'm stuck here until this is done.
Speaker A:And you're stuck with.
Speaker E:With me.
Speaker A:And you've got to spend all your time with me.
Speaker A:I'm thinking, you wanna.
Speaker A:I said, can you find me somebody who can do this?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it turns out he has a bit of a background in intelligence.
Speaker A:And he said, I might know some people who could translate.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I sit on my own version of the boiler room in a. M. In this Minsk hotel, and I get them to bring me.
Speaker A:We get these telephones in and they're making these calls.
Speaker A:Now, this isn't a little thing, because, to be honest, I mean, cell phones aren't.
Speaker A:Aren't something we have.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'm sure it looked like when you're a teenager and you would string the telephone cord.
Speaker A:I'm sure they're running wires from somewhere.
Speaker A:But they had these long phones and I had them.
Speaker A:And we're going through this list.
Speaker A:We're going through this list and I'm thinking this is not going well.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And every night I get a telephone call.
Speaker A:I'm every, I'm, I'm calling the CFO to let him know because he wants to know where we are.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now we're a publicly traded company.
Speaker A:We've got to make a number for the street because otherwise that, that's the hamster wheel we're on.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And, and he says, I've allocated this for the quarter.
Speaker A:Figure it out.
Speaker A:Now I know truly he is, he's, he's working on something at his end to try and cover that gap.
Speaker A:But he goes, I, we need this.
Speaker A:Yeah, make the number.
Speaker A:You just need to figure it out.
Speaker A:And then he used a whole bunch of F bombs just to let.
Speaker B:Just ask.
Speaker A:He had obviously taken all those leadership courses that told you you just beat the crap out of them until he spit.
Speaker B:Definitely heart centered leadership right there.
Speaker A:So we're going through this, we're making these telephone calls and all of a sudden we strike somebody who actually could use it.
Speaker A:A contract's fallen through.
Speaker A:It's in Kazakhstan and it's a mining company.
Speaker A:And so we have this conversation, we're talking about it.
Speaker A:I'm offering a discount on ball bearings because.
Speaker B:Well, it was not a lot of choices.
Speaker A:And we sort of get this conversation.
Speaker A:Accept it.
Speaker A:They don't have all cash, so they want to trade partly for cash mining equipment, which is basically a truck.
Speaker A:Now as a kid, I'm thinking ball bearings truck.
Speaker A:Well, the truck has got to be cooler.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's got to be easier to sell.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I played with Tonka trucks that this sounded like it, you know, when it.
Speaker A:And it's these huge things.
Speaker A:And so I'm sort of negotiating this deal but I'm still not there.
Speaker A:I've still got to move the truck now.
Speaker A:Now I've got to move a truck which is much cooler to move than.
Speaker A:And they're a little more helpful of saying here's some people, here's some people who, who might be able to help you out.
Speaker A:We're on day 13.
Speaker A:We finally get someone to move and take the truck and they have all cash.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so now I have to get it all strung together of everybody playing nicely in exchange their piece with wires and wow.
Speaker A:Dose of credit and lines of credit for this or that.
Speaker A:It was, I was there almost, almost three weeks.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:I was, I was preparing to learn Russian.
Speaker B:You were probably already learning it.
Speaker B:By the time three weeks was up,.
Speaker A:I could probably still make a cold call in Russian.
Speaker A:And at the end, I think we had four people making telephone calls for, you know, our sweatshop.
Speaker A:And the whole time I had to keep going back and renewing my visa and I would go back and the guy, like, I was on like a three day visa and I have to keep going back and getting it updated.
Speaker A:And by the end, the guy's just going like this, amping it, and he.
Speaker E:Off on my way.
Speaker B:Let's get this Canadian out of here.
Speaker B:What is he even doing?
Speaker A:I have no idea what this guy is doing.
Speaker A:I think he's running a sweatshot with a kgb.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:What an incredible story.
Speaker B:I can't imagine that much pressure as a young 20 year old.
Speaker A:You know, I really wonder if I was just too dumb to realize that there's no way this could be done.
Speaker A:I think if I had realized that there wasn't a chance this could be done.
Speaker A:But they told me people buy that many, so I'm like, yeah, okay,.
Speaker D:It could happen.
Speaker A:And at that point, you're so young in your career that it's a little like I already felt in over my head at this company.
Speaker A:I felt like today's the day they're gonna find out.
Speaker A:I just don't know what the hell I'm doing.
Speaker B:My gosh, like, you know, congratulations on putting together probably one of the hardest deals in history.
Speaker B:Somehow doing it at 20 in a language that you do not understand.
Speaker B:Were you promoted?
Speaker B:Because you damn well should have been.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:That company, it was growing fast.
Speaker A:And so I don't think I ever kept business cards for longer than, you know, nine months or something.
Speaker A:Never got through a box of business cards.
Speaker A:I got a new title and new responsibility.
Speaker A:So, I mean, it was fun for that, but it sort of.
Speaker A:A lot of times you sort of got thrown in and you just had to figure it out.
Speaker B:So many of us have been in situations where it is sink or swim.
Speaker B:Colin, such an incredible, incredible story.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for coming on and sharing that with us.
Speaker B:And that's gonna do it for another shift.
Speaker B:A huge thank you to everybody who shared their stories with us the Today and to all of you for spending part of your day with me.
Speaker B:If you've enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to hit follow on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.
Speaker B:And when you do, please tell us what you love most about the show.
Speaker B:Your support helps more people discover these stories and it helps us to continue to grow this community.
Speaker B:And remember, this is a listener driven show.
Speaker B:Every story you hear comes from someone who decided it was finally time to tell their story.
Speaker B:So if you've got a work story that you've never forgot, we'd love to hear it.
Speaker B:Shoot me an email hrused to work there.com and submit your story for a chance to be featured on a future episode.
Speaker B:It's time to clock out.
Speaker B:We'll see you on the next shift.
Speaker F:Sa.
