Episode 18
Surviving 9/11, Princess Diana’s Motorcade, Haunted Bristol Pub
Surviving 9/11, Princess Diana’s Motorcade, Haunted Bristol Pub
What happens when an ordinary commute puts a man across the street from the World Trade Center on September 11, a lunch break takes an unexpected turn into Princess Diana’s motorcade, and the visitors in an old Bristol pub refuse to leave after closing time?
On Episode 18 of I Used To Work There, Kelly Kennedy brings you seven true workplace stories featuring a disastrous first-day lunch, an accidental royal encounter, outrageous workplace rules, a pay raise with a catch, unexplained visitors and two deeply personal accounts of survival.
We start on the Day Shift and get progressively darker as the episode unfolds. Every story you hear happened to someone just like you. Stay until the end for Marty’s firsthand account of September 11, the night he spent helping first responders, and the consequences that surfaced fourteen years later.
Day Shift opens with Katelyn, calling from Meridian, Idaho. Lunch with her new coworkers should be a chance to settle in and make a good impression. Then she eats something she probably should have left on her plate. What follows is a desperate attempt to keep her composure while her first day gets increasingly uncomfortable.
Karin takes us to England, where a routine lunch break becomes an encounter with Princess Diana. With her music playing and her sunglasses on, she drives into a situation she has completely misread. The police are waving, the road is unusually clear, and she is about to discover why.
Our next caller is staying anonymous, and her workplace has taken monitoring employees to another level. Even a trip to the bathroom means clocking out. It is a short story about a rule that says a great deal about the people running the company.
Then Palmer, calling from Denver, Colorado, shares what happened when a promised raise appeared to double his pay. The excitement does not last. A payroll mistake becomes his problem, and his boss’s solution is to have him work without pay until the money is recovered. What started as a reason to celebrate becomes a workplace lesson he will never forget.
Before we begin our Night Shift stories, Chris Yeung from Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels, the organization behind Edmonton’s Best Hotels, joins Kelly to announce the winner of our Employee of the Month Night Shift Story Competition and its $1,000 USD cash prize.
Karin returns to open the Night Shift with a very different story from Bristol. Living above an old pub means getting used to the sounds of the building, but some of these sounds are harder to explain. A quiet evening watching The Fog is interrupted by something at the door. Then there are footsteps, a familiar voice coming from the wrong place, and other encounters that suggest the pub’s occupants are not all paying customers.
Alan Newey, calling from Melbourne, Australia, kissed his wife Cathy goodbye and headed to work expecting an ordinary day. Five minutes into his shift, a conveyor accident tore off his arm. Alan shares the immediate aftermath, the long fight to return to work and the life he and Cathy rebuilt together. With candid humour and painful honesty, he also speaks about losing Cathy and why helping other workers get home safely matters so much to him.
Finally, Marty, calling from New Jersey, takes us back to September 11, 2001. He was driving to work across the street from the World Trade Center when an ordinary morning became something he could barely comprehend. He witnessed the second plane hit, sheltered as the towers fell and stayed through the night helping exhausted first responders.
Getting home was only part of his story.
Fourteen years later, severe back pain led to a cancer diagnosis that his doctors attributed to his exposure on September 11. Marty shares the treatment that followed, his remission and the support he now offers others facing cancer. His conversation with Kelly closes the episode with a personal exchange about illness, family and being there for someone who needs help.
Episode Chapters
00:00:00 Cold Open
00:00:53 Welcome to the Day Shift
00:02:01 Katelyn: First-Day Lunch Disaster
00:07:11 Karin: Princess Diana’s Motorcade
00:12:32 Anonymous: Clock Out for Bathroom Breaks
00:15:54 Palmer: The Raise That Backfired
00:19:41 Entering the Night Shift
00:20:32 Chris Yeung: Night Shift Competition Winner
00:26:52 Karin: Haunted Bristol Pub
00:32:48 Alan Newey: Five Minutes into His Shift
00:45:29 Marty: Surviving 9/11
01:11:42 Clocking Out
Featured Storytellers
Alan Newey | Workplace Safety Speaker
Alan shares his experience of a life-changing workplace accident to help organizations understand the human consequences of workplace injuries. His presentations explore safety culture, recovery and the lasting impact on workers and their families.
Learn more about Alan’s work, watch his showreel or enquire about booking him for your team.
Explore Alan Newey’s speaker profile and booking information.
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Listen Next
Hear our competition winner’s extraordinary story in Episode 14: Held Hostage for 31 Months, Revenge on a Magician, Haunted Hospital.
Or discover Trapped in a Car Vending Machine, Haunted Hotel, Runaway CEO.
Have a Story? You Can Submit It Two Ways.
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Employee of the Month Night Shift Story Competition Winner
Congratulations to Peter Moore, winner of our $1,000 USD Night Shift Story Competition, presented by Edmonton’s Best Hotels.
Peter’s six-week IT assignment in Iraq became 31 months in captivity. His account of being taken from his workplace at gunpoint, surviving years of uncertainty and remembering the men who did not make it home was featured in Episode 14.
Thank you to Peter for trusting us with his story, to everyone who submitted and recorded a story for the competition, and to Chris and the team at Edmonton’s Best Hotels for listening and selecting our winner.
Peter welcomes questions about his story. Connect with Peter Moore on X.
Night Shift Story Competition Sponsor
The Employee of the Month Night Shift Story Competition was proudly presented by Edmonton’s Best Hotels.
Their support helped us celebrate the people behind these stories and award our winning storyteller $1,000 USD.
In this episode, Chris also shares a look at Edmonton’s winter experiences and reasons to plan a visit to Alberta’s capital.
Discover things to do, explore hotel offers and book your stay through Edmonton’s Best Hotels.
Support Foxx’s Fight
If you have been looking for a way to support Foxx, Shelby, Kelly and their family, sharing their GoFundMe is a meaningful way to help. Every share helps their story reach someone new and means more than words can express.
Support Foxx’s Fight and share their story.
Title Sponsor
I Used To Work There is proudly brought to you by Atlas Elite Lifts.
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Whether you are restoring classics, wrenching on weekend projects, or running a professional service facility, Atlas Elite Lifts has a lift built for the job.
Their continued support helps us keep the stories flowing and gives people a place to share the moments they will never forget.
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Transcript
There's a woman running at me screaming, terrorist attack.
Speaker A:Terrorist attack.
Speaker A:And again, I couldn't comprehend what was really going on.
Speaker A:And I heard a loud noise that again, I will never forget.
Speaker A:And I looked up and I saw the second plane hit the tower from a block away.
Speaker B:Welcome back to I used to work there.
Speaker B:I'm your host, Kelly Kennedy.
Speaker B:Whether you're new here or have been with us from the very beginning, thank you.
Speaker B:This is your show, your stories.
Speaker B:If something happened to you at work, we want to hear it.
Speaker B:Send it to hrusedtoworkthere.com to be featured on a future episode.
Speaker B:Today, Seven True Workplace Stories on the day shift.
Speaker B:A lunch break crosses paths with none other than Princess Diana and a pay raise that completely backfires.
Speaker B:Then we head into the night shift for a haunted pub and a life changing workplace accident.
Speaker B:And stick with us all the way to the end for a firsthand account of September 11th and the consequences that surfaced 14 years later.
Speaker B:Grab your punch cards, people.
Speaker B:It's time to clock in for the day shift.
Speaker B:Our first caller today is Caitlin calling from Meridian, Idaho.
Speaker B:A first day lunch with her new coworkers got a little too hot to handle.
Speaker B:Caitlin, welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker C:Thanks for having me, Kelly.
Speaker C:So I was 22.
Speaker C:It was my first day at a new job, and I want to make a good impression.
Speaker C:So things were going really well, and my team decided to go out for lunch.
Speaker C:And it was my boss and my coworkers and the head of the department, we can call her Beth.
Speaker C:So we all went out to an Asian restaurant and I ordered some orange chicken because I wasn't super familiar with Asian food, but I thought orange chicken safe.
Speaker C:I, you know, I have Panda express and stuff, so,.
Speaker B:Yeah, safe bet.
Speaker C:But it was, yeah, it was a fancy restaurant.
Speaker C:It's very nice, and the food was delicious.
Speaker C:To start, it was, I have to preface this saying that I'm very sensitive to spice.
Speaker B:Yeah,.
Speaker C:Very sensitive.
Speaker C:So it started out really well, but I noticed it was a little bit spicier than the orange chicken.
Speaker C:I was expecting a little bit of burning going on, but I was like, okay, this is like maybe the height of my tolerance, but I'm doing fine.
Speaker C:Enjoying conversation.
Speaker C:We were all, it was about 10 of us at a long table, and so it was going great.
Speaker C:Um, and I noticed these little, little red peppers in the dish.
Speaker C:And I was like, oh, it must be for, like, extra flavor.
Speaker C:Maybe there's some mild type of, you know, pepper.
Speaker C:And I just, I thought, well, they wouldn't Be in here if you were not supposed to eat them.
Speaker C:So I put one on a spoon, took a big spoonful, and I instantly noticed that I had made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Speaker C:It was like someone had lit a match inside of my mouth.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker C:And I. I was like, no, how am I going to handle this?
Speaker C:Okay?
Speaker C:I'm not going to spit it out.
Speaker C:That would be the worst of the worst.
Speaker C:So I swallow it all as quickly as I can.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:But of course, then the heat goes down my throat, and it just continues filling up my mouth.
Speaker C:And so I'm sitting here, starting to sweat.
Speaker C:I start to feel my heart pounding.
Speaker C:I start to shake, and I'm like, this is really bad.
Speaker C:Like, this is going to be really bad.
Speaker C:And I.
Speaker C:My eyes get really big, and my co worker, who's sitting across from me, she looks at me.
Speaker C:She's like, are you okay?
Speaker C:And I try to get out.
Speaker C:Like, I. I just ate something spicy, but I'm kind of gasping, and, like, my.
Speaker C:My breath is just, like, not doing what it should be doing.
Speaker C:And so she's.
Speaker C:All of a sudden, everyone else on the table stops and turns to look at me, and I start crying.
Speaker C:Oh,.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker C:Tears coming down my face, my nose running.
Speaker C:And they're like, she ate something spicy.
Speaker C:So Beth calls the waiter over, and he slowly saunters over.
Speaker C:He's like, how is everything?
Speaker C:And she's like, she ate something spicy.
Speaker C:And she did the classic meme, she needs some milk to, like, get her some milk.
Speaker C:So he's like, okay, I'll ask if we have any.
Speaker C:And so he casually walks away.
Speaker C:And I'm just.
Speaker C:I just keep telling myself, keep breathing, keep breathing.
Speaker C:Don't, you know, care what.
Speaker C:What's going on?
Speaker C:Just keep breathing.
Speaker C:Because it's just fire in my mouth, my searing pain.
Speaker C:I'm trying to drink water.
Speaker C:That's not helping.
Speaker C:I tried drinking.
Speaker C:I mean, eating some rice, that doesn't help.
Speaker C:It's just.
Speaker C:I'm just sitting here.
Speaker C:And a few minutes later, he comes back and he goes, so we don't have any milk?
Speaker C:And she was like, well, do you have ice cream?
Speaker C:And he's like, oh, yes, we have a very nice green tea ice cream.
Speaker C:Like, does not even understand what's going on.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So she's like, okay, she'll have that.
Speaker C:And so he just casually walks away again.
Speaker C:And it was probably only three or four minutes, but it felt like one of the longest three minutes of my life just sitting there.
Speaker C:And everyone's kind of, like, awkwardly trying to keep Eating, little conversation, going at the other end of the table.
Speaker C:But everyone knows that I'm just suffering.
Speaker B:Right now and.
Speaker C:You can't do anything about it.
Speaker C:Just.
Speaker B:Don't look.
Speaker B:Just don't look.
Speaker B:It's not happening.
Speaker C:I just like, what do we do?
Speaker C:And then finally he brings over the green tea ice cream.
Speaker C:And I'm not a fan of green tea, but I dove into that thing headfirst.
Speaker C:Instant relief.
Speaker C:I ate the whole thing and then I was able to wipe my face and just kind of get some words out and say, I'm so sorry, thank you so much.
Speaker C:And she was like, oh, don't worry about it, you know, it happened.
Speaker C:They were just really great about it.
Speaker C:But that is not the first impression that I had wanted to make.
Speaker B:So my question is, how did the job work out?
Speaker C:It worked out great.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, I really enjoyed the job and working with the team.
Speaker C:I work with him about a little over a year before I became pregnant and moved out of state, but I really enjoyed that job.
Speaker B:Amazing, amazing.
Speaker B:Well, I've been there.
Speaker B:I have absolutely done that.
Speaker B:Not on the same level, but like, not at a new workplace, but I've definitely eaten something way too spicy and like wanted to cry.
Speaker B:So I know exactly where you're coming from.
Speaker B:Thank you for an incredible story.
Speaker B:Caitlin,.
Speaker C:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker B:From a lunch that was a little too hot to handle to an encounter with Princess Diana that never should have happened, it is my pleasure to welcome Karine calling from Bristol, England.
Speaker B:Karine, tell us what happened.
Speaker D: o take you back to Roundabout: Speaker D:So I'm 61, so the younger generation wouldn't remember, but you know, people of my age would.
Speaker D:I worked for an optician in the shopping centre and being a young fashion conscious girl with my friend, we all had the spiral perms, the Wayfarer sunglasses, and I had such a crapped out old banger of a car, as we say in Bristol.
Speaker D:And I lived about 10 minutes away and I said to my friend, let's go to my house for lunch.
Speaker D:So as we came out of the shopping centre, you take a left turn and you go up to a main, what we call traffic light section and it's the main Wales road from Bristol going out to the suburbs.
Speaker D:What I didn't know was that the Princess of Wales, the former Lady Di, was making a visit and the police had shut the road off.
Speaker D:So I saw that I couldn't go straight ahead, so I thought, I'll go left onto the main road.
Speaker D:Typical woman driver of the early years.
Speaker D:Didn't see barriers with people stood there waving flags.
Speaker D:I don't know how I got onto the road.
Speaker D:It's a beautiful summer's day.
Speaker D:We have the windows down, I have my cassette playing it full blast, some disco music.
Speaker D:And as I came onto the main road, I realized there was no other traffic.
Speaker D:So I thought, well, I'll turn a first right and I can join onto my road to get to my house.
Speaker D:But everything then went in slow motion because looking ahead over the breast of the hill, as it came up, came a motor, I think what you call it, sort of like the big limousine, the police on their motorbikes, etc.
Speaker D:And one policeman was very irritated.
Speaker D:He kept waving at me to pull over.
Speaker D:So I was indicating, right.
Speaker D:I had frozen.
Speaker D:This policeman is literally losing his mind, waving at me because I'm on the white line.
Speaker D:You had crowds of people waving, Union Japs calling out, lady Di.
Speaker D:And then suddenly this big limousine went past, very slow, only about 20 miles an hour.
Speaker D:And literally she was about a foot away from me.
Speaker D:Me and my friends look, right, we see her, because it was the days where she was quite shy.
Speaker D:So she's looking down, but she's looking up at me.
Speaker D:She must have thought, I say, what's going on?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:As it went past, you say, then the most idiotic response, I looked at my friend and I said, is that the Princess of Wales?
Speaker D:She said, yeah.
Speaker D:And then we said a naughty word and then I turned right and then I started shaking because I expected the SAS to come shooting down off helicopters going, how did you get onto this road?
Speaker D:We shut it.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:And I've never lived it down.
Speaker D:But it was also the people waving.
Speaker D:There were loads on both sides behind barriers.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So they weren't waving for us and I don't think they appreciated the loud music, but we loved it.
Speaker B:That's incredible.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:So did anything come of it?
Speaker D:No, nothing.
Speaker D:I mean, nowadays you would have had snipers and God knows what.
Speaker D:But I think because it was so innocent and we looked like two Barbie dolls with our hair out wide and our Ray Ban Wayfarers, you know, like, to the music.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:And, you know, my father was a military policeman and also he taught me to drive.
Speaker D:And when I told him the story, he just looked at me and went, you idiot.
Speaker B:Oh, goodness.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That is an absolutely incredible story.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:So cool.
Speaker D:I don't know how I got onto a blocked off road.
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker B:That takes true talent.
Speaker D:Exactly.
Speaker D:The German in me, you see, Just, phew.
Speaker D:Nothing's stopping me.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:Well, incredible.
Speaker B:Congratulations on not getting arrested, because I feel like that's exactly what would happen today.
Speaker B:And looking forward to the next story.
Speaker B:Karine,.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker B:From an unexpected encounter with a princess to a boss who apparently thought they were royalty, our next caller is staying anonymous.
Speaker B:And at her workplace, even a bathroom break came off the clock.
Speaker B:Welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker E:Um, well, I had started with a company who was, like, just ridiculous with their micromanagement.
Speaker E:Um, you know, I mean, it was so, so tight that you actually had to stop your timer just to go to the washroom.
Speaker E:Like, they did not want people using the washroom on company time.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker E:It was crazy.
Speaker E:I mean, there was just.
Speaker E:There was all kinds of.
Speaker E:Of micromanagement that happened there.
Speaker E:I mean, within my first.
Speaker E:I want to say within my first two months of working at that company, there was like, 50 people that went through the door on turnover.
Speaker B:Holy cow.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker E:Just.
Speaker E:Just a lot of ego from the owners and just like, just terrible, Terrible standing.
Speaker E:You couldn't even talk in the hallways.
Speaker E:You had to, like, close your door in your office.
Speaker E:And it was.
Speaker E:It felt.
Speaker E:It was quieter than, like, you could hear a pin drop in that building.
Speaker E:And it was just so.
Speaker E:Just so awful.
Speaker E:I mean, the CEO would walk around staring at his phone, and nobody knew why until we realized that he was actually looking at what you were timing to and whether you were at your desk or not.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, like, extreme paranoia almost.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker E:It was.
Speaker E:It was quite uncomfortable to work there.
Speaker E:Lots.
Speaker E:Lots of stressed out people walking around, for sure.
Speaker E:You know?
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker E:Like,.
Speaker B:If you don't want to run a business, don't start one.
Speaker E:Right, Right.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So, like, how does this place even.
Speaker B:Does it still exist?
Speaker B:How does this even work?
Speaker E:They do still exist.
Speaker E:And, you know, there's.
Speaker E:They treat some people better than others, of course.
Speaker E:Obviously.
Speaker E:Like, there was a strict, you know, when we came back after Covid to the office, everybody was expected to be in the office, or so we thought.
Speaker E:There were certain people that were still allowed to work from home, but they were cherry picked and there was no explanation given as to why.
Speaker E:Like, it was just one of those places that make you shake your head and go, wow, you really.
Speaker E:You really don't appreciate your employees or respect them at all.
Speaker E:Certain ones, they do.
Speaker E:But they definitely had a favorite list.
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Well, you're lucky you got out.
Speaker E:Absolutely.
Speaker E:Absolutely.
Speaker E:Family called that my liberation day.
Speaker E:When I left that company, actually.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:Well, thank you so much for the story, and I sure hope you don't work there.
Speaker B:From a company watching every minute of your pay to a boss promising you more of it.
Speaker B:Sounds like an improvement, right?
Speaker B:Our next caller is Palmer calling from Denver, Colorado.
Speaker B:And when his boss told him he was getting a raise, he thought things were looking up.
Speaker B:Palmer, tell us what happened.
Speaker F:I was working at this bagel shop, and then I got an offer to work for a different brick and mortar for just a little bit more per hour.
Speaker F:Took that opportunity.
Speaker F:It was cool to.
Speaker F:To work for a new business.
Speaker F:And I had no sales experience previously, really, but I ended up really liking it.
Speaker F:It was a lot of fun.
Speaker F:We're helping this new business get started, and it starts to take off pretty well.
Speaker F:So eventually, my boss, who I was good friends with, he says, you know, we're doing so well and really appreciate you guys.
Speaker F:You should see a pay increase on the next paycheck.
Speaker F:And we were all like, sweet.
Speaker F:That makes total sense.
Speaker F:Because we are, you know, it's going.
Speaker F:It's going pretty good.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Only.
Speaker F:Makes.
Speaker B:Sense.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:We keep doing our thing.
Speaker F:And then I remember staying up late when the next paycheck would hit, and I saw it.
Speaker F:I refreshed my bank to see if I was seeing things or if that was really that.
Speaker F:But my pay doubled for the week.
Speaker F:Doubled.
Speaker F:And I.
Speaker B:Was.
Speaker F:Like, I thought we were doing good.
Speaker F:I didn't think we were doing great,.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker F:Double.
Speaker F:I'm like, oh, wow.
Speaker F:Okay.
Speaker F:Like, we used to think about getting tacos for lunch, but now this is like a whole new world.
Speaker F:Next day at work, I'm like, who wants what?
Speaker F:We're not doing fast food today.
Speaker F:Let's get restaurant burgers.
Speaker F:Let's get beers after.
Speaker F:I'm at work.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And not the boss who told us that, but my manager asked me in the back, like, hey, you noticed a pancreas on this pass?
Speaker F:Paycheck, right?
Speaker F:And I was like, yeah.
Speaker F:We didn't talk numbers or anything.
Speaker F:I was just like, what a world, man.
Speaker F:So I get to do as many expensive Ubers and train rides to go to comedy at night.
Speaker F:I don't have to penny pinch when we're just balling, right?
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:I mean, I'm just balling.
Speaker F:I'm assuming everyone else is in the same boat.
Speaker F:And then a couple weeks of this.
Speaker F:This new lifestyle goes on, and my boss is like, palmer, did you notice the payroll error?
Speaker F:And I was like, no, I only noticed the raise that you talked about.
Speaker F:And he's like, no, your pay doubled.
Speaker F:Did you think that that was intentional?
Speaker F:Like, why would that be something that we earnestly intentionally decided?
Speaker F:And I was like, we're doing a good job.
Speaker F:I thought, yeah.
Speaker F:And he's like, no, no, that was.
Speaker F:That was a complete fluke.
Speaker F:You're supposed to get like a 25, 50 cent pay increase, not double.
Speaker F:So for the next month you'll have to be working for free to pay it off.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:Oh, gosh.
Speaker B:Yeah, that.
Speaker B:That part makes me a little sick.
Speaker F:That part you deserve to be a little sick about.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's wrong.
Speaker B:You know what?
Speaker B:The way that I see it, that was a big screw up on their part.
Speaker B:They should have ate it or at least on some level didn't make you pay the whole thing back.
Speaker B:It feels inhuman to do that to somebody.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:There's something about saying you are going to work for free that just doesn't sit well with me.
Speaker F:I agree with you.
Speaker F:I. I learned something, though.
Speaker F:I like working for money more than I like working for free.
Speaker B:Palmer, this is an incredible story.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for coming on and sharing it with us.
Speaker F:Hey, Kelly, thank you so much for having me and for everything that you're doing.
Speaker B:And with that, the day shift comes to a close and things are about to get a lot darker.
Speaker B:Turn down the lights, grab your flashlight and settle in.
Speaker B:It's time to clock in for the night shift after a quick sponsor break.
Speaker B:Welcome to the night shift.
Speaker B:Before we get into tonight's stories, we have a winner to announce.
Speaker B:Edmonton's best hotels put up a thousand US Dollars for our night shift story competition and their team has been listening to your submissions.
Speaker B:Joining me is Chris young from edmonton destination marketing hotels, the organization behind edmonton's best hotels.
Speaker B:Chris, thank you for making this competition possible.
Speaker B:Who did your team choose?
Speaker G:Thanks, Kelly.
Speaker G:Thanks for giving us the opportunity to be part of this.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker G:So just to give.
Speaker G:Provide a little bit of context before we announce the winner, edmontonbesthotels.com is powered by edmonton destination marketing hotels and we're the hotel association here in edmonton.
Speaker G:Collectively, we have about 49 hotels in our membership and we look for these opportunities that bring profile and to edmonton and also drive heads and beds for our members.
Speaker G:So a show like this, looking at your analytics and your reach, it's definitely places where we want to welcome more visitors to Edmonton.
Speaker G:So thank you for having us on the show and happy to support our team.
Speaker G:Took a little bit of time.
Speaker G:There was quite a Few good episodes that we were able to listen to the Night Shift and man, like Kelly, I, you must have had a blast interviewing these individuals.
Speaker B:Every single day.
Speaker B:I feel like my jaw just hits the floor.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker G:Yep.
Speaker G:I, I, same thing.
Speaker G:Jaw on the floor.
Speaker G:As we were listening to these stories, but the one that really stood out and I guess.
Speaker G:Drum will roll, please.
Speaker G:The winner that was chosen by the team@edmontonsbesthotels.com was the Peter Moore story.
Speaker G:The IT worker.
Speaker G:He was on a six week assignment to Iraq and he was held at gunpoint and kidnapped for I believe it was almost three years, two years and seven months.
Speaker G:And why we chose that was all of us basically were in fully engaged throughout the episode.
Speaker G:And the way that Peter explained it for me personally, I, I try to put my, myself in his shoes and I just think I've been a year and a half as executive director at Edmonton's Best Hotels and it seems like a long time.
Speaker G:He was there close to three years and, and to not know what was gonna happen next and just the way he, he told about his story, I just couldn't help but I could feel the fear.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker G:And I put myself in that situation and, and that's why the story stood out a lot.
Speaker G:And, and I think, yeah.
Speaker G:So, so great job on interviewing and, you know, congratulations to Peter on just the prize.
Speaker G:But like, man, something that I don't know if I would have been able to stay alive honestly for three years.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, you've been a podcaster for a while yourself, Chris.
Speaker B:You know that some interviews are harder than others.
Speaker B:And I remember many moments sitting through that interview with Peter and just feeling completely overwhelmed, not even necessarily knowing what to say or what to ask because some stories are just so incredibly intense that all you can do is sit and listen.
Speaker B:Congratulations, Peter.
Speaker B:You absolutely deserve to win this.
Speaker B:Thank you so much, Chris, for all your work at Edmonton, destination marketing, hotels, and obviously for getting behind this competition.
Speaker B:And a massive, massive thank you to all the storytellers who not just contributed to this competition, but who continue to submit week over week, month over month, and eventually year over year.
Speaker B:I appreciate each and every one of you and look forward to doing another competition soon.
Speaker B:Chris, what is the going on in Edmonton this winter?
Speaker G:There's a lot.
Speaker G:There's, there's a lot happening.
Speaker G:But especially for your listenership in the U.S. there's been some new announced direct flights into Edmonton.
Speaker G:So if you've never heard of Edmonton before, you had never been to Edmonton before.
Speaker G:We are considered the city that's the gateway to the north.
Speaker G:We're the most northern major metropolitan city in north America.
Speaker G:We have just over our.
Speaker G:We're closing in on 1.5 million people in greater Edmonton right now.
Speaker G: announced starting in June of: Speaker G:But seasonally and some throughout the year, we have direct flights from Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix.
Speaker G:So.
Speaker G:So for all your US listeners, if you've never been to Edmonton before, 100% invite you up.
Speaker G:We have so many things happen.
Speaker G:I have a quick list here.
Speaker G:Kelly.
Speaker G:Yeah, I'm just going to rattle this off, but we've got like something called winteruption.
Speaker G:It's back again this year.
Speaker G:It's like an underground type of music, comedians, artists and they take over a few blocks in downtown edmonton.
Speaker G:And so it's just a great, unique experience that happens in January.
Speaker G:We've got the edmonton Christmas market that's takes over Fort Edmonton park and it's just like three.
Speaker G: but also experience a vintage: Speaker G:We have the glow festivals.
Speaker G:We have zuminescence at the valley zoo.
Speaker G:So if you like the zoo and you want to see some really cool light displays, there's some things to attend at the valley zoo.
Speaker G:Edmonton Oilers.
Speaker G:If you haven't caught a hockey game before, the oilers is one of the loud, loudest stadiums in the league by far.
Speaker G:You might not be a fan, but you'll be a fan of the energy.
Speaker G: We've got the: Speaker G:So again, for those hockey fans, it's being hosted in red deer and the finals are going to be in Edmonton.
Speaker G:So that's a huge event with junior hockey players from all over the world coming into Edmonton during the tail end of December and into January flying canoe festival which takes over mill creek park park.
Speaker G:So again, if you've never been to an outdoor unique indigenous led festival, the flying canoe is an amazing festival.
Speaker G:So needless to say, if you're going to spend like a week in Edmonton, there is no shortage of events that you can attend and experience the city.
Speaker G:Yes, it's a winter city, but it's a super fun winter city.
Speaker B:I agree wholeheartedly with Chris.
Speaker B:Edmonton is an absolutely beautiful city and if you have a chance to come and visit us this winter, please do.
Speaker B:Thanks again, Chris, for hosting an incredible competition.
Speaker B:Congratulations once again to Peter Moore, our winner and very much looking forward to hosting another competition with edmonton's best hotels in the near future.
Speaker G:Absolutely.
Speaker G:Thanks Kelly,.
Speaker B:Thank you again to Chris and Edmonton's best hotels for supporting our storytellers.
Speaker B:Now we're heading back to Bristol, England.
Speaker B:Earlier, Karine told us about an unexpected encounter with royalty.
Speaker B:This time, the unexpected visitors were inside her pub.
Speaker B:And closing time didn't seem to mean that much to them.
Speaker B:Karine, welcome back to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker D:Oh, my God.
Speaker D:Yes, I was lucky to be a tenant.
Speaker D:So it was a case of you put a large sum of money down and this was your puppy.
Speaker D:And it was over 300 years old.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:The cellar was medieval.
Speaker D:It was one of the original medieval streets of Bristol and it was one of those.
Speaker D:It had four stories, so it's very narrow, but it went back a long way.
Speaker D:One night I'd locked up.
Speaker D:It's half past 12 at night.
Speaker D:And there was a film in the 80s called the Fog where the ghosts would come and knock on the door.
Speaker D:And I'm in my bedroom, my bedroom door shut, My old dog's on the bed.
Speaker D:I'm chilling first of all.
Speaker D:Then my dressing gown.
Speaker D:First thing, my dressing gown fell off the hook.
Speaker D:And when you're in the dark watching a film, you.
Speaker D:You take notes.
Speaker D:And I thought, okay.
Speaker D:And then you'd had the knock on the door on film.
Speaker D:A minute later, something kicked my bedroom door.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker D:Oh, my.
Speaker A:Gosh.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker D:Now I'm alone.
Speaker D:I'm three floors up in this pub in the center of Bristol.
Speaker D:There's no one about.
Speaker D:I look at the door and I remember a very important rule in the film.
Speaker D:Never answer the door.
Speaker D:So I didn't.
Speaker D:I put the quilt over my head and I stayed there till morning.
Speaker D:Then I opened the door.
Speaker D:But I realized one important thing.
Speaker D:If I left that door open, nothing kicked it.
Speaker D:But that was just the start of it.
Speaker D:My husband, who I'm married to now, I met him and I was downstairs working one day on evening and he was in the bath.
Speaker D:And we had a barmaid living on the top floor.
Speaker B:Yeah,.
Speaker D:It was very sort of laid back.
Speaker D:And he swears that he heard the flat door open.
Speaker D:He said, I was talking to you and you were replying.
Speaker D:And then the barmaid came down from the top floor, said, who you talking to?
Speaker D:He said, cow.
Speaker D:She said, there's no one here.
Speaker D:I was downstairs the whole time.
Speaker B:Oh, creepy.
Speaker D:To this day, we don't know if it was like a duper ganger or he didn't imagine it.
Speaker D:But there were so many things that went on that I did get used to it.
Speaker D:But the funny thing was, there was a chap who worked for the Inland Revenue, like your tax people.
Speaker D:And if I asked him to look after the pub, it would torment him.
Speaker D:It would open inner doors, it would throw the money out the till.
Speaker D:So he would run outside and wait for his taxi to go home.
Speaker B:Oh, goodness.
Speaker B:Nobody likes the tax man.
Speaker B:Not even 10 people.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That's an incredible story.
Speaker B:My gosh, I'm not sure I would have stayed there.
Speaker B:Something kicked my door and I'm asleep.
Speaker B:Trying to sleep.
Speaker B:Or watch a scary movie.
Speaker B:No, thank you.
Speaker D:It would be things like the kitchen was way back, and as you went up, there was like three flights, four flights of stairs.
Speaker D:There was a long Georgian window, and you would see the kitchen light come back on, but you knew you were the only one in the building.
Speaker B:Oh, boy.
Speaker D:And one time, my late father, we all went, a coachload of us, all these tax inspectors went to Amsterdam.
Speaker D:We came back late, so a few of them decided to sleep in the bar, including my father.
Speaker D:And they heard footsteps running up and down the function room.
Speaker D:Well, I was the floor above.
Speaker D:And my dad said, never again.
Speaker D:He never stayed there.
Speaker B:Oh, goodness.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:It's so cool.
Speaker B:You know, I think I mentioned before, you're one of our very first callers calling from England, but, you know, I'm in Canada and a lot of our listeners are in the US and, like, you know, I mean, you say, like, 300 years is actually not even that old for England.
Speaker B:It's like, as old as our countries out here.
Speaker D:It is.
Speaker D: I think the building was: Speaker B:Yeah,.
Speaker D:You know, about as old as your country.
Speaker D: ,: Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:But, yeah, it's.
Speaker D:It was a weird place, but once you got used to it, the weird thing was it left me alone.
Speaker D:It.
Speaker D:I think it was a woman, because people would see a woman in black.
Speaker D:But it didn't like men at all.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it definitely didn't like tax men.
Speaker D:Definitely didn't like tax men.
Speaker B:Karine, thank you for another incredible story.
Speaker B:I'm very much looking forward to more.
Speaker D:Take care.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker B:From a haunted pub in England to a morning at work in Australia that changed everything, Our next caller is Alan Newey calling from Melbourne, Australia.
Speaker B:He kissed his wife goodbye and headed to work, expecting to be home that afternoon.
Speaker B:Just five minutes into his shift, his life changed forever.
Speaker B:Alan, tell us what happened.
Speaker H:Yeah, look, Kelly.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker H:One morning I got up.
Speaker H:Just normal.
Speaker H:Every day, you know, I've kissed the wife goodbye and I said, I'll be back home.
Speaker H:In the afternoon and I roll up to work at 7:30 in the morning.
Speaker H:Little workmate tapped me on the shoulder and assaulted me like normal.
Speaker H:And I'd do the same thing to him because we've been mates for 15 years.
Speaker H:We got up to a plant, it was an agriculture plant and we'd load probably 100 trucks a day between us.
Speaker H:34 Ton to a truck, 8 minutes to a load.
Speaker H:It was a very fast operating system.
Speaker H:No guards on the belts or anything that was supposed to be there but weren't.
Speaker H:And we got up to this belt one day and my little mate goes, oh, I'm not feeling well.
Speaker H:So we actually swapped roles.
Speaker H:I went and did his job this day and it was 7:35 in the morning and I'm adjusting, putting some dust on a conveyor and I heard a bang like a firecracker go off and I thought nothing of it and I could hear a knocking noise, machine going and I looked around and my arm was gone.
Speaker B:Oh my gosh.
Speaker H:And I'd actually torn a chest on the inside.
Speaker H:It was pointed at right angles so it wasn't my best morning.
Speaker H:You could say.
Speaker B:What was the bang?
Speaker B:What was the bang?
Speaker H:The bang was my arm snapping off.
Speaker B:Holy cow.
Speaker H:And the noise was the arm going around the mincer, the machine.
Speaker H:So you could say I actually ran past an open staircase and I climbed down a 40 foot ladder with the one arm and went out and got help.
Speaker H:My little workmate run over, jumped on me.
Speaker H:He tried to stop the police bleeding with.
Speaker H:He didn't know the damage I'd done and the shock in his eyes was everything.
Speaker B:Yeah,.
Speaker H:He actually passed out but he was still hanging on to me if you can picture this.
Speaker H:And I've picked him up with my good arm and I've carried them the first day.
Speaker H:So, you know.
Speaker H:So it wasn't the best morning.
Speaker H:The police officer who showed up that day on site was a guy.
Speaker H:I'd been in a tennis tournament three days earlier.
Speaker B:It was a.
Speaker H:Friend of mine who showed up.
Speaker H:So he had it bad as well.
Speaker H:Phone call goes out to Kathy, my better and they told her there was.
Speaker H:I'd been in an incident but there was nothing to worry about.
Speaker B:Oh my gosh.
Speaker H:The first people to actually talk to Kathy was a member of the press, believe it or not.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker H:Out in front of the building.
Speaker H:They got her in, they explained what's going on.
Speaker H:They got me to the hospital in Melbourne and I don't know where they got all the thing from.
Speaker H:Apparently I went through more blood than what the body holds, and they kept pumping all this stuff into me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:And the doctors come over, and if anybody can remember Cramer from Seinfeld, that's spitting image in my.
Speaker B:Surgeon.
Speaker H:You're looking up and you see this guy and you're panicking, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:Kathy's come over and she said, we'll get through this together.
Speaker H:And the look in her eyes was.
Speaker H:I think she'd been told something different.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:Because I found out down the track that she'd been told I only had about two and a half hours to live.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker H:Roughly.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:And, yeah, I spent nearly 40 hours in surgery over five days.
Speaker H:So it wasn't.
Speaker H:As I said, it's what my family went through more than what I actually went through.
Speaker H:My incident was 1.2 seconds, but theirs is lifetime.
Speaker H:So.
Speaker H:Yeah, it wasn't the.
Speaker H:The best morning.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:I can't even imagine, like, what.
Speaker B:Obviously, it happened so fast.
Speaker B:Did you just go instantly into shock?
Speaker H:I don't know what it was, but the doctors told me the body actually shuts down the pain sceptres.
Speaker H:So you feel no pain?
Speaker H:Because I felt no pain at all.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:With the.
Speaker H:Insurance, it was the nurses in rehab later that inflicted more pain on me than anything, but they enjoyed their job too much.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I've heard a couple storytellers now say that, you know, I didn't feel a thing.
Speaker B:I didn't feel a thing through something absolutely horrific.
Speaker H:The doctor says if you feel it, you won't make it.
Speaker H:Whoa.
Speaker H:You won't make it.
Speaker H:Your body actually shuts down and actually goes slow.
Speaker H:It goes into.
Speaker H:They call it the survival mode.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:So.
Speaker H:And there was all that that went on, and it was about six weeks in hospital, and I was able to go home, actually, because I survived the, you know, obviously, the incident.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:And the thing about that was, it was what was to come afterwards, because I didn't want to go through the door at the hospital, because on the inside of the hospital, I'm safe.
Speaker H:On the outside of the hospital, I see danger.
Speaker H:That's in the mental picture.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:So it took me a week to go through that door to get home.
Speaker H:And then that's where Kathy comes into it a lot more because she's got to look after you.
Speaker H:And that's the part I hate the most, because I hate being looked after.
Speaker H:But I like looking after.
Speaker B:People,.
Speaker H:If you know what I mean.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:So that was inspirational.
Speaker H:And to give you a good idea about Kathy, Greek, Mediterranean temper, instant wig.
Speaker H:Gives you a smack across the Head.
Speaker H:You know, when you.
Speaker H:Tells you all that type of thing.
Speaker H:She even made a dishwashing system where I could do that with.
Speaker H:Still with one arm.
Speaker H:I wasn't able to get out of it.
Speaker H:You weren't getting out of it?
Speaker H:No.
Speaker B:My gosh.
Speaker B:My gosh.
Speaker B:So what.
Speaker B:What happened after.
Speaker H:After that, the.
Speaker H:I went through eight years of fighting the Australian government worksafe in my state to go back to work because they said, you've lost your licenses now for all the machinery and all that you've built up over years.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:You're an injured disabled worker.
Speaker H:We recommend that you sit down in the corner and get disability pension.
Speaker H:That was it.
Speaker B:That was.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker H:I fought then for.
Speaker H:Yeah, I fought seven years to go back to school and I went back to school and got diplomas and all that in ohs and, you know, Occupational Health and Safety.
Speaker H:Good way to go.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:From advice from Kathy.
Speaker H:She has to use this to advantage.
Speaker H:And it was just like.
Speaker H:That was two.
Speaker H:And I got a diploma inside 12 months instead of two years because I was focused.
Speaker H:I wanted to do it.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker H:And I wanted to prove everybody and her doubt is wrong.
Speaker H:If I was to ask you through this process, what would be the craziest question I would get asked?
Speaker H:What do you think it would be?
Speaker B:I don't even know.
Speaker B:I can't even think of one right now.
Speaker H:What was the likelihood for my condition to improve and the prognosis towards my arm growing back?
Speaker H:And I'm not joking.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:Somebody actually asked you that?
Speaker H:Yes.
Speaker H:Yes.
Speaker B:He said, well, you know, they've been working on it on Spider Man.
Speaker H:I've seen, you know, stem cells and all this stuff.
Speaker H:I even said we went down to the local nursery, they call it Bunnings here.
Speaker H:And we got the seeds and the watering cans and tried to regrow it, but it just wouldn't take.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker H:Yeah, that was.
Speaker H:That was part of it.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker H:And that's.
Speaker H:And that's the stress side I see on my wife, because she wanted to go down to that building where they'd ask that question and she wanted to throw them all off the top of it.
Speaker H:American term going postal.
Speaker H:That would have been, you know,.
Speaker B:My gosh.
Speaker H:And you can't prove this.
Speaker H:It comes back through third parties.
Speaker H:But I actually did this to get compensation.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:Actually.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker H:As you would.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Insurance companies.
Speaker H:Well, I had.
Speaker H:I had him on that because I got hurt in September of 99.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:And there was no law covering workers from November 97 to.
Speaker H:And to and it got reinstated.
Speaker B:In.
Speaker H:October of 99.
Speaker H:I'm in the wrong month by one day.
Speaker H:So where people think, oh, you got to pay out.
Speaker H:You must be sitting back, like, not what payout.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:And so obviously you've went on to have an incredibly successful career.
Speaker B:You know, you've been doing occupational health and safety and then obviously public speaking since that time.
Speaker H:Yes, that speaking came up around by accident.
Speaker H: Around: Speaker H:I was finishing off a diploma in OHS.
Speaker H:One of the people there was a lecturer, universities, and he asked me to come to his work, actual work site and do a presentation.
Speaker H:And I just argued with him for six months saying, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker H:He goes, if you don't do it, I'll fail you.
Speaker H:He's some of a bit.
Speaker H:I hope he was joking.
Speaker H:So.
Speaker H:But I went to his workplace and I did the presentation for about 15, 20 minutes and I felt like a relief of my shoulders.
Speaker H:It was probably the best thing he ever got me to do.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker H:And it's.
Speaker H:And the business started from that.
Speaker H:It snowballed from that.
Speaker H:But where do you reckon he took me through my very first presentation?
Speaker B:Oh, my.
Speaker B:Year old.
Speaker B:Your old employer?
Speaker H:No, no, that comes up.
Speaker H:But maximum security prison.
Speaker B:Oh, really?
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker H:We're the worst of the worst one.
Speaker H:Here I am giving them.
Speaker H:Oh and s. Legends.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker H:Got the best safe cracker in Australia doing a boilermaking apprenticeship.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:You're doing his skills.
Speaker B:You still got to do it safely.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker H:If you go down the track.
Speaker H:It's taken me to a lot of places.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:And there's a thing in Melbourne called the Westgate Tunnel project when everybody's complaining because it's billions of dollars over budget, that type of thing.
Speaker H:And, you know, and I.
Speaker H:They took me for a tour of that place and I stopped them and I took them for a tour of this place and they said, how do you know all these things have these places?
Speaker H:And I go, where we are standing right now, did you find anything?
Speaker H:And they looked at me and go, are you crazy?
Speaker H:What are you talking about?
Speaker H:Here I go.
Speaker H:X marks the spot.
Speaker H:This is the very spot I lost my arm.
Speaker H:So when you were digging, I was still looking for it.
Speaker H:Did you find anything?
Speaker B:You.
Speaker H:Should have seen their faces.
Speaker B:So before we wrap this up, Alan, I have to ask, did anything happen to your employer?
Speaker H:They were fined $90,000.
Speaker H:That was it.
Speaker H:That was.
Speaker H:And we actually had four major accidents inside 18 months.
Speaker H:I was number four.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker H:The judge did say if one of the directors would go to Jail if they ended up back in there.
Speaker H:My wife got sent a letter during this process, and this is the part really hurts the most because she got this letter 10 years after my accident, offering her counseling.
Speaker H:She could have got a day one, but that.
Speaker B:Was only two.
Speaker H:Or ten years after the accident.
Speaker B:Ten years.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker H:And this.
Speaker H:The stress she went through with the accident this Christmas will be five years without it.
Speaker H:She.
Speaker H:They said for me not to stress because it could bring out other ailments and other problems.
Speaker H:You're lying there with one arm mind, and all these people tell you not to stress and you.
Speaker H:But then when she got sick after I got better, they said it had nothing to do with it.
Speaker H:See, I don't believe that.
Speaker H:I believe my arm going in that machine has caused that snowball effect.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker H:And at the end, that she's been at the end of it, and I'll never get her back.
Speaker H:And I kick myself every morning.
Speaker H:I wake up every morning.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:Well, I'm terribly sorry that that happened to you, Alan, and I really appreciate you coming on and sharing this story with us.
Speaker B:And, you know, congratulations on all of your success and frankly, your incredible attitude, because I think that's probably the thing that's gotten you the furthest in life.
Speaker H:If people don't believe how much fun I have with this when I have the accident presentations and that type of thing, and I go, look, you can go two ways.
Speaker H:Be a miserable bastard, and nobody will be wanting to be around you or be positive and try and do the best you can.
Speaker H:And that was Kathy.
Speaker H:She was helping me build all this.
Speaker H:And she.
Speaker H:Even before she passed away, she still gave me one more slap in the head and said, you keep doing this for me because, you know, I'll be watching.
Speaker B:Up there.
Speaker H:And us being us together, you know, the way we always were.
Speaker H:I said, how do you know you're going up there?
Speaker H:And she gave me another hit.
Speaker B:Oh, goodness.
Speaker H:She passed away in my arms.
Speaker H:You.
Speaker B:Know, it.
Speaker H:Was, you know, but.
Speaker B:I'm sorry,.
Speaker H:But every day she goes, you get up, you do something positive for other people to get them back home, and you move on and just keep thinking of me.
Speaker B:Well, let me just say you are absolutely an inspiration, Alan, and you are making an impact.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker H:No, thank you, Kelly.
Speaker H:I appreciate it.
Speaker B:Alan, you've been through an enormous amount.
Speaker B:The accident, the years fighting to get back to work, and then losing Kathy.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for being open with us about all of it.
Speaker B:Our final caller Today is Marty calling from New Jersey.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:He stayed through the night helping first responders, but the consequences of that day would follow him for years.
Speaker B:Marty, thank you for being here.
Speaker B:Please tell us what happened.
Speaker A:Thank you, Kelly, for having me.
Speaker A:So that day is forever etched in my mind.
Speaker A:And I had worked across the street from the World Trade Centers, and I was on my way into work during that time period, I worked.
Speaker A:Actually, I lived in Brooklyn, so I was driving to work.
Speaker A:For those who are not familiar with New York and the downtown area, when you come off the Brooklyn Bridge at that point, you make a.
Speaker A:What's called a jug handle turn, like a U turn, and you'll come out right in front of City Hall.
Speaker A:And as I made that turn, the first plane exploded in the building right in front of me.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:And it was a surreal moment because I couldn't comprehend what was going on.
Speaker A:There were thousands of people in the street, so I couldn't go any further to park my car in the garage.
Speaker A:So having worked in the downtown area for 20 plus years, at that time, I knew how to navigate the streets to get my car into the garage.
Speaker A:And that was my only concern, was to get to work.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And as I'm navigating the streets and I'm coming down Fulton street, there's a woman running at me screaming, terrorist attack.
Speaker A:Terrorist attack.
Speaker A:And again, I couldn't comprehend what was really going on.
Speaker A:And I heard a loud noise that, again, I will never forget.
Speaker A:And I looked up and I saw the second plane hit the tower from a block away.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:I was like, what did I just see?
Speaker A:Was that real?
Speaker A:And again, my only concern was to get.
Speaker A:Get to work.
Speaker A:Again, not knowing what was going on, not understanding the magnitude of the event.
Speaker A:So I made a turn on one of the local streets, and I went up the wrong way to get my car into the garage because, again, I just had to get to work.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I ran up the block, and as I'm running up the block, I could see this again.
Speaker A:Thousands of people, you know, in the streets.
Speaker A:Everybody was looking up.
Speaker A:And I stood, you know, on the street, literally one block away.
Speaker A:And for those of you who know that area, there's a church called St. Paul's Church, which was right across the street.
Speaker A:I was standing across the street from St. Paul's Church, which is where the company I worked for was based.
Speaker A:And we.
Speaker A:We just stood there in awe.
Speaker A:And I saw people jumping out of the building.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:And I was just, you know, it was just so disturbing to me that what would cause somebody to jump out of the building?
Speaker A:And one in particular, one event really stands out even to this day.
Speaker A:I saw three people holding hands that they went out probably above the 80th floor.
Speaker A:And the only thing that I could think of was that they probably had fire at their back because the buildings, both buildings are now fully immersed in flames and there's papers flying in the air.
Speaker A:And I just didn't know what.
Speaker A:What I was going to do, how I was going to get home.
Speaker A:And right in front of me, I saw the second tower start to fall.
Speaker A:When that happened, I ran into one of the buildings for the company I worked for, and it was based on Park Row.
Speaker A:And there was a black cloud that went up the street and it was like midnight outside.
Speaker A:And that was all the dust and all the debris coming in.
Speaker A:And I went behind a desk and we had T shirts.
Speaker A:It was a retail company and we had their promotional T shirts.
Speaker A:And I just took a T shirt and I ripped it into pieces to try and cover.
Speaker A:Cover my.
Speaker A:My face, my nose, my mouth.
Speaker A:But even though I did it and I tied it on like a bandana, it didn't do much help for me.
Speaker A:And after things, you know, subsided a bit outside the clouded path, I went outside and it was.
Speaker A:Obviously, I'd only heard about it because I don't know anybody who's ever experienced.
Speaker A:It was like nuclear rain.
Speaker A:There was just particles that were just like floating in the air again.
Speaker A:Papers that were floating in the air.
Speaker A:And I saw a woman who had her hair.
Speaker A:She was.
Speaker A:The hair was cut in layers and there was so much dust on her hair, it looked like her head was like a pyramid from the dust.
Speaker A:There was inches of dust on her head.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:And at that point I was thinking about, okay, how am I going to get home?
Speaker A:Because the power had been knocked out downtown.
Speaker A:My car was in a garage and I just.
Speaker A:I couldn't get to it.
Speaker A:And I'm standing outside one of our buildings and I'm talking with somebody.
Speaker A:And just as we're talking, we heard a noise and we looked up and we saw the North Tower collapse and ran into the building and huddled in the corner.
Speaker A:There were about 15 of us, and you could feel the ground shake.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:When that building came down.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then at, you know, obviously I lost track of time, but eventually went back outside and now was considering.
Speaker A:Okay, it was about a 14 mile walk to get home.
Speaker A:All the trains had stopped.
Speaker A:It started to shut down Manhattan.
Speaker A:And as I'm walking down the block, one of the other managers for the company said, come with me, who's also a senior manager.
Speaker A:And we went to our.
Speaker A:There was a store that we had.
Speaker A:It was a computer store, and the fire department had just put a sledgehammer to the front door and was now using a diamond sword to cut the gate open.
Speaker A:And obviously we weren't going to stop them.
Speaker A:We asked what was going on.
Speaker A:They said we were opening up all the stores and all the buildings to use them as triage centers to treat injured people.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker A:And okay, they did it.
Speaker A:And this other gentleman and myself, we went inside the store, which had been obviously closed at the time, and we stayed there because there was, you know, tens of millions of dollars in merchandise inside the store.
Speaker A:And during that time period, again, losing track of time, wasn't really sure.
Speaker A:We could see there was a hospital around the corner.
Speaker A:And we saw nurses and doctors who were running, carrying IV bags, carrying gauze pads, you know, whatever emergency equipment they could physically carry in their hands.
Speaker A:And they were running towards the towers.
Speaker A:And I guess it was probably about an hour later we saw them come back and they were still holding things, and their white lab coats were still white.
Speaker A:And, you know, we realized at that point, you know, either you made it or you didn't.
Speaker A:Not many people were injured or very few people maybe from falling debris or things that were floating in the air.
Speaker A:And we stayed inside the building.
Speaker A:And again, all the dust was coming from the outside.
Speaker A:A lieutenant from the fire department came into the store and told us that the building up the block from us, which was on VZ street, was 7 World Trade center, which housed the Office of Emergency Management.
Speaker A:He told us there was 5,000 gallons of fuel in the basement.
Speaker A:The building was on fire and in danger of collapsing and that we might want to consider evacuating because they didn't know what was going to happen, if the fuel was going to come down the block.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we decided not to.
Speaker A:And both of us looked up the block and saw the building collapse from a block away.
Speaker A:And then another rush of people came into the building, and thankfully the fuel did not come in.
Speaker A:And the other gentleman who I was with, he said, I'm leaving.
Speaker A:I'm gonna go home.
Speaker A:And he walked up uptown, which is where he lived.
Speaker A:And I said, I. I'm gonna stay.
Speaker A:And I ended up staying through the night.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:And what I saw was absolutely amazing.
Speaker A:I saw military vehicles coming down Broadway Emergency vehicles, bulldozers, front end loaders, all types of emergency vehicles.
Speaker A:There were.
Speaker A:There was a gentleman, he was from, actually from Maryland who had driven up during the day to help out.
Speaker A:He was an EMS technician.
Speaker A:And unfortunately there was really nothing for him to do.
Speaker A:And from my vantage point, I could actually see the fires burning at the World Trade center, you know, and.
Speaker B:Yeah,.
Speaker A:First responders were coming in because it was kind of a spit.
Speaker A:It was a refuge for me outside because even though we still had.
Speaker A:There was a tremendous amount of dust, you weren't exposed to the outdoor outdoors and the army had dropped off K rations.
Speaker A:And what these were, they were, it was actually macaroni and cheese.
Speaker A:And what you would do is that you would open, rip open the COVID put it on the bottom.
Speaker A:It created a chemical reaction that heated up the food.
Speaker A:And I was spoon feeding first responders who were sitting on the floor.
Speaker A:They had just come from ground zero.
Speaker A:And the ashen look on their face, the gray and just the.
Speaker A:I mean, it was definitely some form of shock.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because they were there and you could see they were coming in right up the block.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I was spoon feeding them macaroni and cheese through the night.
Speaker A:It was just unbelievable what, what I was seeing.
Speaker A:And again, still hard to process because the magnitude of what had happened in front of my eyes was just hard to.
Speaker A:It was so hard to believe.
Speaker A:And again, I had at that point had not seen a tv, a radio.
Speaker A:There was only some emergency lights in the building which were triggered once the electricity went out.
Speaker A:So I was just, just covered.
Speaker A:I was wearing that day a black suit which turned to white from all the dust.
Speaker A:I was totally covered.
Speaker A:And, you know, as the night went on, I now had been up for over, over 24 hours.
Speaker A:And one moment that sticks out happened as night turned to day.
Speaker A:Now, the Trade Centers had been up for about 40 years and I had been working in the downtown area at that time, like I said, over 20 years.
Speaker A:So there were certain areas now when the sun came up that had been exposed to sunlight for the first time in 25 years.
Speaker A:And there were now shadows in areas that I had never seen before.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it was just, it was just an amazing sight just to see that.
Speaker A:And there was also something that really, it was quite amazing to me.
Speaker A:There was a street sweeper that was actually starting to sweep the street to try and remove some of the dust, when in reality they were causing more of a problem because it was just so much dust.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:That it was just stirring it up and it didn't really do anything.
Speaker A:So now, now it's daylight and I'm there and there's still some people inside the building.
Speaker A:I'd gone through the night and what I saw, you know, I did see people getting arrested for looting.
Speaker A:And that was just a sad sight to see that people resorted to doing that after what had happened.
Speaker A:But I did see that emergency people came in to the building.
Speaker A:And, you know, we're looking around and I was just there and just trying to figure out what.
Speaker A:What my next step was going to be.
Speaker A:And I guess later in the morning, early afternoon, I'm still there.
Speaker A:And the director of operations for the company somehow made it in.
Speaker A:He was able to convince the police department that he was an executive.
Speaker A:And he couldn't believe that he saw me there.
Speaker A:He had no idea what he would find.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so he found me and he gave me a big hug and, you know, he couldn't.
Speaker A:Just couldn't believe it.
Speaker A:And he was able to navigate through the buildings and got a piece of plywood and some chain and we chained up the doors so that, you know, temporarily.
Speaker A:And what happened is that there was one other building on the block and the owner of the building came in to see what his building looked like.
Speaker A:And he happened to live in Brooklyn.
Speaker A:And he actually drove me home.
Speaker A:I got home 4 o' clock in the afternoon on Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker A:And the first thing I did was I took off my clothes and I threw them away and I ended up taking four showers.
Speaker A:I took a shower, I dried off, I went back in.
Speaker A:I did that four times.
Speaker A:And then I now had cell service and my mailbox was overloaded.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker A:And there were people crying.
Speaker A:My mother was crying, my brother was crying, my sister was crying.
Speaker A:They knew where I worked and they couldn't reach me.
Speaker A:They didn't even know.
Speaker A:So I started to return calls and I just let people know, I'm okay, I'm home, I'll have to call you back.
Speaker A:And I just went through.
Speaker A:There was, As I recall, 31 messages.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:On the phone from friends, from family, because they knew where I worked and they couldn't reach me.
Speaker A:And everybody thought the worst.
Speaker A:And I would just want to let them know I was okay.
Speaker A:And then I turned on the TV for the first time.
Speaker A:And this is now, you know, could be about 5 o' clock on Wednesday afternoon, the day after this had happened.
Speaker A:And I saw what would happen, what happened, and, you know, being an eyewitness to it and being part of it, I was just, I.
Speaker A:It was just amazing.
Speaker A:Amazing.
Speaker A:To me, the company reopened six weeks later when they were allowed to buy by the city and by the federal government and enough cleaning had gone on, and you could still smell the burning metal.
Speaker A:It's a smell that I will never forget.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because that was a fire that burned for three months.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:We had an.
Speaker A:We had industrial air purifiers in.
Speaker A:In the office, but you could still smell it.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:I later read that they had put a probe down and down at.
Speaker A:At the bottom that it.
Speaker A:The temperature was over 2, 000 degrees.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:So the steel was like, was melting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And, you know, there's, you know, a lot of pictures of the frame, part of the frame of the building that was still standing, which I could see the church across the street became a gathering place.
Speaker A:And people from all over the world, and especially, you know, first responders, you know, were putting up their badges and signed and there was.
Speaker A:There were signs, you know, like people missing.
Speaker A:Have you found.
Speaker A:If you find this person, please call this number.
Speaker A:And, you know, unfortunately, these are people who had perished, you know, in, in the building.
Speaker A:And it was just.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It went on for.
Speaker A:For months and months and months.
Speaker A:And the company reopened six weeks later.
Speaker A:People started coming back downtown, but a lot of the offices couldn't reopen the buildings where damages were damaged, and so they moved to satellite locations.
Speaker A:So there was very little street traffic and people was just still in a form of shock as to what happened because we were, you know, right there and you could see it.
Speaker A:I mean, you could see what was going on.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:It wasn't.
Speaker A:It was the recovery of.
Speaker A:Not, you know, recovery and also the removal of debris and the, the trucks and the cranes that were coming in to set up.
Speaker A:You know, it was again, a sight that I will never forget.
Speaker A:Eleven years ago, I developed a severe pain in my back.
Speaker A:And it was so severe that I had to go to the hospital.
Speaker A:And when I went to the hospital, they did a scan and they sent me home and told me to come back with my wife.
Speaker A:And I knew this couldn't be good news.
Speaker A:And then they explained to me what happened is that my.
Speaker A:My spine was cracked.
Speaker A:I had multiple myeloma lesions on my spine, and I had spinal compression.
Speaker A:And I would say about a week after this, I became.
Speaker A:After I found out, I became paralyzed.
Speaker A:Well, I couldn't walk.
Speaker A:And they discovered that I developed a cancer called multiple myeloma, which is a blood cancer which had cracked my spine.
Speaker A:And that it's one of the 69 cancers related to 9, 11.
Speaker A:So they immediately attributed my illness to my exposure on 9 11.
Speaker A:And this took 14 years later to manifest inside my system.
Speaker A:And I won't go into, you know, too many details, but I ended up spending seven months over a two year period in the hospital.
Speaker A:I went through two bone marrow transplants and it's now 10 years later.
Speaker A:Next month will be 11 years since I was diagnosed and I am in remission.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:Congratulations.
Speaker A:And as a matter of fact, this afternoon I have an appointment with my oncologist as I go every four months to get checked out because they monitor me very, very, very closely.
Speaker A:So in the event that it does come back, they can treat it.
Speaker A:And you know, I've been, I've been through a lot, you know, over, over the past 25 years.
Speaker A:The company I'd worked for, I worked for them for 38 years.
Speaker A:And the year before I got sick, they had closed and I had lost my job.
Speaker A:And then I got sick and I couldn't work for, for a number of years.
Speaker A:And now, you know, I do have some residual effects from all the treatments that I went through, but I am fairly, you know, okay.
Speaker A:As okay as I can be.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker A:And some of the things that I do is I, you know, I continue to, to work, not I can't work on a full time basis.
Speaker A:I just physically can't do that anymore.
Speaker A:But, you know, I do work and I do volunteer.
Speaker A:I volunteer for three cancer organization.
Speaker A:I try and help people who are going through the illness that I went through and all the treatments that I went through and just giving back and helping others.
Speaker A:Because there were four doctors who said I shouldn't be here talking to you right now.
Speaker H:Wow.
Speaker A:And so, you know, there was a purpose, there was a reason, and it's one of the most heartwarming things that I can do now is to help others, is to help somebody in need, is to reach out to people.
Speaker A:You know, if you're suffering, you know, there is help and I can offer something that, you know, most people can't.
Speaker A:I have been through it.
Speaker A:I have been through the treatments they're going through.
Speaker A:And I'm working with several people right now who are experiencing their illness for other reason, but they are going through a similar process that I went through.
Speaker A:So, you know, it's.
Speaker A:I feel it's a responsibility of mine is, is to do that, is to share, is to let people know, you know, as long as you're here, there is hope, you know, you can survive a devastating illness.
Speaker A:And it is so, it is so rewarding, you know, when there was one situation, and I won't go into it too deeply, but I worked with somebody who told me I saved his life.
Speaker A:Now, I'm not a doctor.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm not a surgeon.
Speaker A:The way that I saved his life is that I was there to give him hope.
Speaker A:I was there to prolong.
Speaker A:He had a very rare mutation of it, and unfortunately, he didn't survive.
Speaker A:But we worked together for two years, and I was able to answer questions.
Speaker A:I was able to, you know, refer him to different funds that were available to help him, you know, and help his family.
Speaker A:And to this day, you know, I still speak to his family the same.
Speaker A:Will never forget what I did.
Speaker A:And for me, it was just being there for somebody else, which is what I do.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:Well, let me just first off, acknowledge how incredible that is.
Speaker B:I, unfortunately, have found myself way too close to cancer.
Speaker B:Just this summer, my.
Speaker B:My son was diagnosed actually, at 11 months.
Speaker A:Old.
Speaker B:So we've been going through treatment myself now for four months.
Speaker B:We take my son weekly.
Speaker B:We just entered kind of the next phase of chemo.
Speaker B:He just had surgery.
Speaker B:It was successful.
Speaker A:That's excellent.
Speaker B:So, unfortunately, I'm closer to this and understand what you're saying more than I wish I was.
Speaker B:But I sure appreciate people like you.
Speaker B:Let me put that out there.
Speaker A:And I'm here to help and support you in going through it because, you know, while doctors can treat the physical aspect, there's a tremendous emotional aspect and psychological aspect to it.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And, you know, it's something for anybody who's listening, who's going through it, is not to ignore it.
Speaker A:And, you know, if the medication that's prescribed is not to look at it as a stigma in any way, shape, or form, because, you know, we're here for.
Speaker A:We're here for a purpose and to help one another and to give back.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And there is always hope.
Speaker B:You have to always keep the hope.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Marty, this has been incredible.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
Speaker B:And I just wish you the absolute best of luck in everything that comes next for you.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker B:And with that, another episode of I Used to Work There comes to a close.
Speaker B:Marty, thank you for sharing your story and for the support you continue to give others facing cancer.
Speaker B:To everyone who shared a piece of their life with us today, thank you.
Speaker B:And to everybody listening, thank you for giving these stories your time.
Speaker B:Remember, this show is about you.
Speaker B:If you have a workplace story that you'd like to share, send it to H R Used to work there dot com.
Speaker B:And if someone comes to mind while you're listening, send them our way.
Speaker B:A big thank you to atlas elite auto lifts, our title sponsor and edmonton's best hotels for helping make this show possible.
Speaker B:Congratulations again to peter moore, our night shift story competition winner.
Speaker B:And if you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with a friend and leave us a rating or review.
Speaker B:It helps someone new find this show.
Speaker B:Until next time, I'm Kelly Kennedy and we'll see you on the next shift sa.
