Tales From An Airport Bar
Tales From An Airport Bar
Ep 5: No Way Jose
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Ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes at an airport bar? Meet Jose, our seasoned bartender with over 12 years of experience, as he takes us on a rollercoaster ride of outrageous stories and unforgettable moments. From the jaw-dropping incident of a couple caught in the act at the bar to the shifts in passenger behavior pre- and post-COVID, Jose's tales are as entertaining as they are enlightening. Hear firsthand how he manages the early partiers and the already tipsy travelers with his unique blend of humor and skill.
Buckle up for some star-studded anecdotes as Jose regales us with his celebrity encounters. Ever spotted Bill Russell at your local watering hole or had a chat with Pauly Shore over a drink? Jose has, and he shares these delightful experiences, including the time Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top slipped by unnoticed. The laughs continue with stories of playful banter, like giving a patron named Sean a hard time for daring to order water. These moments not only offer a glimpse into the life of an airport bartender but also highlight the camaraderie and witty repartee that define the job.
To top it all off, Jose opens up about the dynamic and unpredictable nature of his work environment. From handling eccentric regulars like Cliff to navigating the cultural nuances of a diverse clientele, every shift is an adventure. Learn how the bar staff collaborates to create a welcoming atmosphere, ensuring every passenger's experience is a bit brighter despite the chaos. Whether it's dealing with unexpected gifts or subtly encouraging drink sales, this episode captures the essence of airport bartending like never before.
Airport Bar Tales-Conversation With Bartender
Speaker 1Hey, welcome back guys. Episode 5, tales from an Airport Bar. We've got our third guest on. Welcome Jose to the show, jose thanks for coming in.
Speaker 2What's up, fellas, how we doing it's been a minute. Yeah, it's been a minute. It's been a minute.
Speaker 1Jose is going to divulge some of his stories from his time out at the airport. Let's start with how long have you been out at the airport, Jose?
Speaker 2Oh man, I've been at the airport now over 12 years, Okay yeah, so I've been there a minute, seen a little bit of stuff.
Speaker 1Yeah, a few things. All right, let's start with what's the craziest thing you've ever seen.
Speaker 2What's the craziest? You want me to top five? You want me to Because there's just so many. Sure, break them down.
Speaker 1Let's go.
Speaker 2One of the craziest things that happened that I just to this day. I am just so baffled by you can't make this stuff up no, I'm over at Rodeo Bar.
Speaker 2Ryan is working the bar, yeah, going over there doing inventory, doing something right there. And then Ryan turns around and looks over and he goes what are y'all doing? You know, and Ryan, you know, if you need Ryan, good guy, a little flamboyant, you know, he's just, you know, does his deal. What are you guys doing? And I look at him and he looks at him. He goes was that moaning I hear? And the lady looks up. She got, you know, she moves over. She was on the guy's lap and there was a couple that was sitting on the corner where everybody comes to pay and they were literally having sex right on the corner of the bar.
Speaker 2Ryan goes oh my gosh, guys, there's a family bathroom right there and I'm sitting there and I'm like I was, oh my gosh, guys, there's a family bathroom right there. And I'm sitting there and I'm like oh. And the lady goes we just hadn't seen ourselves in so long, we just couldn't wait. I'm like, oh Lord. So they end up paying and bouncing, but that is probably the craziest thing that I have been part of at the bar.
Speaker 3I think I saw them. I was at the main bar that night. I saw them sprinting up the escalator and police chasing them. And then Ryan came over and he was like I had some people having sex earlier, Did you see them? They ran out of here quick. I was like, oh, that's the two people that the police were chasing up the escalator.
Speaker 2I was like, oh okay. I was like, oh my goodness, it was crazy. It couldn't happen to a more crazy person than Brian, because Brian, he would take it to that next level. Like, oh my God, he would make sure everybody would know that it was happening.
Speaker 3Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2You wouldn't believe what happened to him. So that's probably the craziest thing.
Speaker 3Alright.
Speaker 2That was pre-COVID, after COVID, during COVID.
Speaker 3It was a different world, a different world.
Speaker 2A different world.
Speaker 1Yes, it was. You know, blake, and I have talked about this on the podcast before. I think everybody is. You know, Blake, and I have talked about this on the podcast before. I think everybody is starting the party early before they get to the airport.
Speaker 3I'm not sure they're ever stopping the party.
Speaker 1Well, that could be, but, man, I tell you, people get one drink at them at the bar and here we go yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2It's crazy. I mean, one of the craziest things that happened is I'm sitting it was me and Stephanie. We were working one night at Cantina and this lady walks up and I'm pretty good, because when we first opened up Cantina, we would get people fucked up. When we first opened up Canteen Night, we would get people fucked up. Finally, dfw Police comes over and they tell us hey, you guys got to stop or we're going to take your liquor license away. Remember the earlier days? We were just so busy we didn't have time to babysit people. You couldn't, you were just too busy. The problem is it wasn't that they were getting so drunk, it's just that you don't know what they take. They drunk is just that you don't know what they take. They're about to get on their flight, they cash out, they pop a volume. You don't know they popped a volume. Flight's delayed. Next thing you know they're like. I'm like, I don't remember.
Speaker 3Can I get another one? They?
Speaker 2only had two drinks. They're like, oh my gosh, this lady walks up, she's sitting there, she comes up and she ordered the Tito's soda splash of cream and I go okay. So my next question normally always single or double.
Speaker 1That's what I always ask after my next question.
Speaker 2But I couldn't tell. So I just ordered a single. And she started talking to the guy that was at the bar right there and I could just hear her slurring her words. So she was pre-gaming it somewhere else. So she ordered another one. And you know, bartenders, we work for tips, right? That's just the bottom line. You know, I don't care what you look like, what you smell like, what you do. If you leave me the green, we good. You don't leave me the green, we ain't. You know, I'm like, you know, the only thing I care about is that green, that cheddar, that's all.
Speaker 1I want, so you don't want to be my friend.
Speaker 2You don't want to be my free friend, you ugly, I make you look pretty, I make you feel pretty. You know what I'm saying, Because that's it is man.
Speaker 1You don't want to be my therapist.
Speaker 2So therapy, leave a bigger tip. That's all I ask.
Speaker 3Therapists make more now.
Speaker 1I'll give you the best advice.
Speaker 2I can Trust me. I've been through a lot. I get some pretty damn good advice.
Speaker 1Best advice I can give you Don't take my advice.
Speaker 2So the lady's on the edge, and so she orders another drink.
Speaker 3And she looks like the walking dead at this point, yeah, and so I'm like, yeah, pretty much, pretty much, and I go.
Speaker 2I think you've had enough. So I gave her her check, pays me with a $100 bill, leaves and doesn't tip me. So you know, we bartenders, we know that the karma guys, you know, will take care of them down the road. So I go. Karma will take care of her, so I don't worry about it.
Speaker 1It goes around comes around yeah.
Speaker 3And someone else will come in and tip you right after Exactly.
Speaker 2Exactly so. The guy left me a bigger tip because he noticed I didn't tip, so I don't worry about it, but karma is a real thing. The thing that I don't get is when they're going to Vegas and they're going to go gamble and then you're not going to tip your bartender. Oh yeah, you're going to leave your shirt pretty much open, but at the end of the day she leaves. Two hours later Stephanie goes, jose look, dfw police in handcuffs is taking her out and walking her away.
Speaker 1They're waiting her right in front of the restaurant.
Speaker 2You're like it was a dollar right in the car. I don't want Carmen to be that bad, you know what I'm saying Maybe it had built up to that point where you're like it was horrible. I decided to be like okay was horrible. So I decided to be like okay, it is what it is Two days later.
Speaker 1No, it's what the bartender made it yeah.
Speaker 2Two days later I get a text from Steph. The text has a link and she goes Jose, check this out. I opened up the text, dallas Business Journal. I scroll down this lady's mugshot is right there and you're like, oh, what had happened was? She continued pre-gaming, got on the flight, asked the flight attendant for a drink and the flight attendant said I think you've had enough already and said no. Proceeded to get angry, stood up, slapped the flight attendant and went up and started knocking on the door to the cockpit, telling, trying to get the pilots to get out, and say I want some more. Tell them to serve me a drink.
Speaker 2So on the deal, there was a recording of the guy of the police, when they turned the plane around, de-planned the plane, someone recorded it and it's. You see the deal the cops go. I didn't do nothing. That's what she said, and so after that point that's when I saw her walking out I'm like some people you just don't know what's going on out there.
Speaker 3You're like ma'am, I was trying to stop you from getting to this point. That's why I cut you off. I wasn't doing it to try to be a dick. You just clearly didn't need more.
Speaker 2If I ain't doing it to try to be a dick, you just clearly didn't need more. If I ain't cutting you off, I'm pretty good. I'm not going to cut you off just to cut you off.
Speaker 1We're pretty lenient, you're going to be a little crazy. At that point I'd like to think I use fair judgment with everyone. You're being cool and you weigh 350 pounds. I might let you have a fifth beer. Yeah, you know. Yeah, especially if you're drinking the short ones, you know whatever. But you know, if you weigh 100 pounds and you're knocking back shots of tequila, I'm going to cut. You're only going to get about three, maybe four, maybe four the legal limit's four, and I don't even know if I want to go there.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, you got to use your judgment on that Especially. You know when you're going on a plane, you're in a tin can in the air. You know you got to be super careful because you don't want somebody to do like that lady when she was like that's a real alien, that's how I'm applied. She was all freaking out. I don't know if you guys saw that video, what's that? Yeah, there was a lady that freaked out.
Speaker 1You didn't see that.
Speaker 2Yeah, you didn't see that one. I missed that.
Speaker 1Elaborate, it's not real.
Speaker 2It's not real. That is not. I did radio for years. I was a paranormal person. I believe in aliens, I believe in that whole men in black thing. They are among us. So I don't think she's crazy from that regard. I don't even think she was drunk, to be honest with you. But at the end of the day, you don't want people in that type of a situation Panic To panic like that. So it's crazy. Yeah, look it up alien on a plane or whatever it is.
Speaker 3Okay.
Speaker 2It was a pretty big deal.
Speaker 3It's a Delta flight right and she was like a big head of a PR firm too, and had to come back pale-tucked and do a video to be like.
Speaker 2I promise I'm not a psychopath, I'm not crazy. But you do a video to be like. I promise I'm not a psychopath, but you know, yeah, it was a pretty big deal. I believe in aliens, you know. That's a whole different podcast.
Speaker 3But they're flying the plane, so we're good.
Speaker 2True, true, true.
Speaker 3They know this guy.
Speaker 1Hey, best pilots on our planet. Oh my god. Wow, how did we get here? I told you, so talk to me real quick. I don't want to jump off of your. We'll come back to your top five list, but real quick. What celebrities have you met or interacted with, good and or bad?
Speaker 2oh, man, celebrities. The one that was bad was, you know, and not to say that I didn't interact with him, but he was in the restaurant and the girls just went crazy. Was that Charlie? Yeah, charlie, I remember that the girls just went crazy. Was that Charlie Hunters? Yeah, charlie, I remember that the girls just went crazy.
Speaker 1Yeah, I remember hearing about this.
Speaker 2The girls went crazy. You know, I like the guy. What was it? King Arthur, whatever.
Speaker 3That, and then he was in that biker show Sons of Honor, yeah.
Celebrity Encounters and Bartender Banter
Speaker 2Sons of Honor. Good looking cat, but the girls are like girls like guys in leather jackets on motorcycles. They're all freaking out Pretty much, and so that was my. That was probably the one that you're like all right, I lost productivity for about 10, 15 minutes. You know I got to see Bill Russell. Bill Russell was really cool. I saw Pauly Shore comes through all the time.
Speaker 1I've met Pauly Shore myself.
Speaker 2You know he goes. What was it the weasel thing? Yes, you know, it's a good guy, sinbad Sinbad.
Speaker 3My all-time favorite.
Speaker 1I met Sinbad when I was a kid at the Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City. This is probably 88, 89, when he was on top of the world, anyways.
Speaker 2I love Sinbad Clean comedy, you know what I'm saying. I do love.
Speaker 3Sinbad, but still recognizes one of the greats with that, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2So that's hard to do in this world that everybody wants to hear you. See, I even asked him to just say it. But at the end of the day it was shortly after because he was sick and he'd come out and he'd do Sinbad. When I saw him on what was that movie with him? The guy that.
Speaker 3Houseguest is my favorite movie of all time.
Speaker 2Love Houseguest, one of my favorite movies of all time, and when you see him there and you saw him there he was just so frail and you know you're like it's like the life was almost zapped out of him?
Speaker 3Yeah, I think he had a stroke, I believe, and something else. Now he's in a wheelchair and stuff.
Speaker 2It's tough. He's one of the greats, though To me one of the greats he was cool to see I'm older, so the older ones when I used to watch, like the new one, the Charlie Hunnam. Now I know him because I saw the thing earlier but I didn't know who he was Everybody else too. I'm not a celebrity and and I just leave them, let them do their thing.
Speaker 3Well, you can read the vibes too. It's like if they just they've been bothered all day and they just want to draw back, I'll let them.
Speaker 2So cool man, I'm not gonna be one to harass you craziest story is one time, um, I was, I was sitting at the bar and I'm working and I'm, you know, I'm just doing my thing and guy walks up what is selling them long, and that's his beard down like here. Remember, my beard used to be down pretty low too, but his beard was longer than mine and I go. So I go in and I'm talking to him and I go. I don't get it very often, but I got beard envy. Good job, man, good job. So I'm sitting there and he goes. Hey, you know, we get their names, we find out who they are. His name was Billy and I go Billy, you know the selling down bull, very quiet. And so I go all right man.
Speaker 2Billy, another one. He said two and he left. And the guy that was sitting on the corner over here, he goes. You have no clue who that was, do you? And I go? No, and he goes, that was Billy. That was Billy. It was Billy from ZZ Time. He used to come in all the time.
Speaker 3He used to always get Tito's Bloody.
Speaker 2Berries with me. I remember that.
Speaker 3But I didn't know either, because it would always be a guess this is what I was talking about with Dashlet Like sometimes you don't know or other people don't know, but then there starts to be this murmur and there's like people like Googling, they're like hey, is this him?
Speaker 1And then you find out, and then people come up to him and kind of talk to him.
Speaker 3I'm like I Look, you don't know who you're just talking to.
Speaker 2No. So, billy Gibbons, if you're out there and you hear this Applebee's D of W, I got Simon Young Blanc there. Okay, d-11, d-11, that's where we're at. But no, he was a good guy. He was a good guy and what this guy was working one day he's in the well, blake is. Yeah, he's working the well. It was a Saturday or a Friday, I don't remember what it was. I'm sitting there and this guy comes up and he sits down. I'm an asshole. I'm an asshole.
Speaker 1It takes one to know one Jose.
Speaker 2If you're sitting in a bar and you don't order alcohol, I'm going to give you shit. That's what I do. If you don't want to be giving shit, don't sit at a bar.
Speaker 1One water at the bar, please yes.
Speaker 2Exactly, you know, and that goes back to when I started with Fridays. I had my bar manager at the time, Nick. He tells me he goes. It should piss you off if somebody sits at your bar and doesn't order alcohol. You're a bartender, that's your job, and he would force us to be arrested.
Speaker 1I got hired to sell alcohol.
Speaker 3yes, it's called bartender, exactly.
Speaker 2So when I give shit, I get a little shit back every once in a while, but most people around that person that I'm giving shit to are laughing, having a good time. I ain't worried about this person because they're probably going to stiff me. I'm okay If they're not drinking.
Speaker 3They're not going to be there that long anyway, exactly so.
Speaker 2This guy, blake, over here, is in the well and he's making drinks and this guy sits down and he orders the fajitas and orders water. And I go vodka, tequila, whiskey you know my spiel, trying to do your job. He goes no, I'm good, I go, you're just going to order water in my bar. I go. That's kind of disappointing. And so I ask him his name. His name was Sean, and so when Sean, I'm talking to Sean, I go. So every time when they don't drink, I particularly you ready for that real drink, man, you ready for that real drink? You ready to go from water? Because I look at my shift as a game. You know my goal is to pitch a perfect game. So a perfect game was everybody that sits with me drinks alcohol. That's a perfect game. So if I have somebody order water, then that's a hit in my perfect game. So it rules my perfect game. So you know it's just kind of fun, there goes your no-hitter.
Speaker 2Yeah, there goes the no-hitter perfect game all at once you know if we got a couple and one person orders a drink and then the other one. Okay, I still have a no-h bar. So at the end of the day we're sitting there and I'm getting them just laying it on thick. And then Blake finally comes up to me. He goes Jose. I go yeah, what's up, blake? He goes leave Sean Lee alone. He's probably going to training camp.
Speaker 3I'm like man. He's on his way to training camp. Let the man live.
Speaker 2And I go. That's Sean Lee, I go. He's a lot smaller than I thought I go. And Blake, I love you, but I'm a Giants fan. So you ready for the tequila for dessert? Sean? Yeah, so that was from Celebrity.
Speaker 3I'm just now remembering this, as you say, it.
Speaker 2I was like who is Sean.
Speaker 3I'm trying to remember it was fucking John Lee sitting there Starting to look like a cowboy Trying to drink some water. You know, nice clean cut, I would never get a drink of that. Oh really, he's never drank. I don't know If I would have known that he seems like that guy yeah, he does, he almost seems Mormon. I don't think he is, but he just seems like that clean cut all-American.
Speaker 2He does. Got that. Look, where do you go to school at?
Speaker 3Penn State yeah linebacker.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm just saying, I forgot.
Speaker 3Yeah, I'm just saying I forgot Jose. Leave Sean Lee alone. He needs to make 100 tackles this year. Leave him alone. Tequila.
Speaker 1Sean.
Speaker 3Tequila, oh my.
Speaker 1God, that's amazing. I know you've met more star athletes, more celebrities. Who was the coolest celebrity, or the one that you were most excited about Maybe starstruck a little bit.
Speaker 2Celebrities don't starstruck me, athletes don't starstruck me, but there was one.
Speaker 1There was one.
Airport Bar Regulars and Celebrity Encounters
Speaker 2He's probably not a big known person but to me as a kid I grew up in New York so I was a big Big East Syracuse fan. Yeah, and Billy Owens was my favorite player. Growing up as a kid I had his. You know, the first jersey I ever bought was a Billy Owens Syracuse jersey and that's going to stick with you. Yeah, absolutely. So one day I look up and I go they were doing that three-on-three basketball or something like that yeah, the big three or whatever the big three or whatever.
Speaker 2So he was going back home, I guess, to wherever he lives, and he pops in and I go, that's Billy Owens. I'm like, oh my gosh. So I walk up to him and I talk to him. I go. You used to be my favorite player growing up as a kid. He goes really, nicest guy, he goes. Yeah, blah, blah, he goes. Yeah, I grew up at Syracuse with my team. You know it was you and Derek Coleman and Avery Johnson and Ronnie Cycling. I'm just, you know, rattling off the team that he was playing. Oh, yeah, blah, blah, he goes. Hey, I just saw DC at the three and three thing that I'm coming back from. Really, how is he doing Blah, blah. We're just sitting there talking just like regular people. You were old friends that we just kind of just had met and haven't seen each other in a while. We're sitting there talking. He is the only person in the 12 years and I've seen a lot of celebrities, I've seen good, bad ugly. Who was that little Andy Dick guy?
Speaker 3Yeah, he lives up to his last name. Yeah, he was rude man.
Speaker 2He comes in and you know, and I'm like I met Kathy Griffin. I'm like you know she was all right. I've met a bunch of athletes I've met. Ethan Hawke went through, let's see who else and that was right after he had won, did he go for an Oscar or something like that? Did that be, or something like that?
Speaker 3I think he did that one about the sun, where they filmed it over like 25 years or whatever.
Speaker 2I know we won that one yeah, yeah, so that I think he was going flying somewhere to do like a premiere of that movie or something like that. He swung by. Um, you guys remember karen?
Speaker 2she helped them who didn't know who he was, I'm like yeah, okay you know, but Karen, you know, but yeah, so I've seen a ton of people Only one that I've ever gone up to and said hey, I gotta ask you for a picture. I don't do this, but I gotta have a picture and he always cool with it. So we took a picture. So I still have a picture to this very day. It's badass, yeah.
Speaker 3Only one that I've ever asked for a picture with. I don't think I've ever asked for a picture. I'm trying to think. I'm the same way where I'm like I don't know, I don't want to just harass you guys. The ones that I have wanted to. There's been 1,800 others. I go up and I'm like I don't want to be that guy.
Speaker 2Some of them are cool, some of them aren't. You can always tell. Some of them. They'll be talking, and they're talking about this person. They talk about it. Then the other ones, you know, like the guy from Entourage yeah, that's what I'm telling you.
Speaker 3That was the one that I fanboyed.
Speaker 2What was his name?
Speaker 3In the show. His name's Vince, I think his name's Adrian. I can't remember his last name Grenier, yeah, grenier. Or something like that yeah.
Speaker 2He was sitting. You know now that I didn't meet him personally, but you know I think I was. You told me you could tell he didn't want to be bothered because he has a hoodie on and his headphones on. You, just, you know, just, I'm not gonna bother those people. You just gotta do down and do you, do you, do you, and when you had um click yes, you know yeah and then he's just like oh yeah, and he's telling you know, I'm a drummer, you know he's just the drummer from white snake?
Speaker 1yeah, he's just a salesman, just like us.
Speaker 2Yeah absolutely, he's a people guy yeah, so it just depends on who you're, who you deal with.
Speaker 1Oh, yeah, you know. I think that alludes back to what bartenders are probably the best at reading body language.
Speaker 3I will say my favorite Cliff story. You might have even been there that night, but you know Cliff would always come in hand you a hundred dollar bill and say let's party.
Speaker 1So wait, wait, wait, come on, let's paint a little bit bigger picture for our audience.
Speaker 3So I don't know that we can even paint a picture of Cliff. He's just so. I don't know that we can even paint a picture of Cliff.
Speaker 1He's just so, I don't know. Older silverhead guy Looks super young though.
Speaker 3Wearing three-piece suits To the T Pocket squares.
Speaker 1These very exotic three-piece suits.
Speaker 3Doesn't look like a drummer from the 80s yeah.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 3But he's doing some sort of real estate thing now, flying across the country.
Speaker 1Well, he was also doing marijuana gross.
Speaker 3Well, probably that too. Yeah, you know that could be part of it and he was going to.
Speaker 2You know he'd go to different places to get a look for talent. So you know he had a bunch of different. He was handing out a lot of different deals.
Speaker 1I remember the night he came in and handed me a $100 bill I just made my first million off my marijuana grow-ups.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, More $100 bills.
Speaker 2Show me the other free samples. Yeah, show me the other free samples.
Speaker 3No, give me free samples of the other stuff you know Well, we did talk about that last episode of guys that literally handed us weed across the bar.
Speaker 1Oh, yeah, edibles, all the time. What are you?
Speaker 2doing yeah, I, oh, yeah, edibles, all the time. What are you doing? I'm a pro in Arkansas, oh, colorado, okay, where are my gummies? The next thing, you know, you walk back and you got a cookie or you got a what's it called. The best part is you pop it on the way home. And then, when you pop it on the way home, you're like sometimes it's okay and then sometimes you're like, oh my God, it's a crap shoot. Sometimes you don't I call it gummy roulette, it's all good, you never know.
Speaker 3You never know what you're going to get until you eat it. Yeah, you're like that was crazy, my favorite Cliff story. So he walks in. We have been hanging out with Cliff for years at this point as a regular Twice a week probably at least and he comes in, he goes up to JoJo and he goes JoJo. What city am I in?
Speaker 1And she goes, this girl we used to bartend with.
Speaker 3You're in the only city you ever see me Dallas. He goes oh shit, I'm supposed to be in Ohio or something. He's like all right, you better pour me a double. I didn Better pour me a double. He didn't know which way was up. I remember I was there with you guys.
Speaker 1I was the well that night. Where am I? He didn't have a clue what airport he was in.
Speaker 3It was awesome, all right, well, give me a double then. If that's the case, can?
Speaker 1I get a 16-ounce glass of Kettle One. No ice, yeah.
Speaker 3One of a kind.
Speaker 2One of a kind.
Speaker 3One of a kind.
Speaker 2Such a great guy.
Speaker 3You could be having the worst day and Cliff walks in and your whole mood is going to change.
Speaker 2He's just one of those guys that just steps in, and it's a part of it. All His energy is great, it's.
Speaker 3Vibes Today's going to be alright. Today's going to be alright. You, today's going to be all right.
Airport Bar Conflict and Arm Twisting
Speaker 2You know what? Can I be honest with you? Most of the people that fly through, a lot of them. They're usually good, but then there are those people that you wish you never seen again Absolutely. Please don't come back. You're like please don't come back, Just because you can tell by their energy.
Speaker 3Their energy is not good. I don't want, yeah, when they drain from your tank of energy, that's when you're like okay.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly, you know. Don't come in and piss on my parade. You know you're delayed, not me. I'm trying to make it better for you. Yeah, it's the only reason I have a freaking job.
Speaker 3Yep, we tell them the bar, we're not dressing up.
Speaker 1I do not work for the airline operator Right.
Speaker 3And it doesn't help us People are like oh, you're making money, we're delayed.
Speaker 2No, we're not and it's raining. Don't talk to me. Talk to the guy upstairs. He's the one that makes it.
Speaker 1I did do a rain dance on my way to work today.
Speaker 3We're the first line of defense, so take it out on somebody absolutely absolutely I like to think most of the time we win them over. By the end of it they figure out that we're their friend exactly and, but there's some you just can't win, and you know, it just is what it looks all right, you sometimes win and sometimes you lose.
Speaker 2Sometimes you know it's for me, it's the non-drinkers that they don't like me, but 95% of them are you know. They laugh and they chuckle and they just you know it's not that serious, but there are some people in the world that are just too damn serious.
Speaker 3Well, people act like it's so absurd that you offer them a drink at the bar.
Speaker 2You offer me alcohol at the bar. Oh, my goodness, that's my job description. You know I'm a holy roller. I go to church.
Speaker 1It does say grill and bar right here on my shirt.
Speaker 2Yeah, absolutely, and I'm not trying to be blasphemous or anything, but you know, just because you go to church. Point taken, I had this Muslim guy come in once. Didn't Jesus drink wine? He turned water to wine. He drank wine yeah, absolutely. He turned water to wine. He drank wine yeah, absolutely. That's why I can get after that dude, because he does what I did.
Speaker 2But, yeah, but at the end of the day it was. A Muslim guy comes up and I'm offering you know, hey, you know, start you over with a beer, wine, cocktail, you know that stuff. I look at them as dollar signs. I don't care about your religion, I don't care what you are. All I care about is putting your tab up so I can make more money. What's this? And he looks up at me and goes, oh no, I don't want to go to hell. And I'm like, okay, so I come back and get him his little diet drink or soda or whatever he got. You know he wants a cheeseburger. You know he goes. I go, well, I'm an upseller, so I go. You want to add bacon to that cheeseburger? Oh, you want to add bacon to that cheeseburger?
Speaker 3Oh no, oh no, I don't want to go to hell and I'm like, okay, all right.
Speaker 2So let me get this no alcohol, no bacon, no alcohol. If I drink alcohol and eat bacon, I'm going to hell. He goes, yes, I know. Well, your hell is my heaven brother. And his eyes get all big. Can't believe that.
Speaker 2I'm like all right, give it to me, I'll take it. I'll take all your bacon, all your alcohol, exactly, and so and you know. But but it's fun because you know he looks at me and after that he was fine. But, um, but then I had another guy that said no, I'm muslim, I don't drink. He's on the phone, he comes back and he comes to the bar and he orders a beer and I thought you were my somebody to get a drink. He goes, I'm over here, I'm okay and I'm like okay, and I don't care. I gave him the drink, that's what he wanted. But people reserve the right to change their mind and the goal is I influence them to change their mind and drink alcohol.
Speaker 2And I will stop you before you get too bad. So when you get on your flight, you're not belligerent, or what's it called.
Speaker 3I can only tell you one yeah, we are professional arm twisters.
Speaker 1That happened Sunday night. Yes, yes.
Speaker 3Sammy was taken. Sammy, sweet kid we work with, he's younger, he's still new to it. He's not as good at pushing the alcohol if someone doesn't want it, like we kind of know how to. Anyways, this guy had gotten water and he's getting just some beef tacos or something. I'm like hey, man, you didn't need a drink. He's like well, I had plenty of bourbon on the plane I was like I got Basil Hayden right here with your name on it. He goes oh shit, you have Basil Hayden. Okay, then boom.
Speaker 2All right, here you go, here you go. All it is is you're saying the right thing, you just need a little arm twist, just a little bit.
Speaker 3I like how you said it.
Speaker 2Absolutely.
Speaker 1A little twist. It's not a kick down a flight of stairs, it's just a little push oh man.
Speaker 2But it's a good time, man. It's fun. It's crazy. You get to meet a lot of people at the airport. You just see different types of personalities, different behaviors. It's just a fun, fun, fun nature of most people.
Speaker 1And it's never the same, never the same, if you like, people watching set in an airport terminal. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2Yes, you know what I like. I don't get those entitled regulars that they got out in the real world that they expect you to bend over run back and forth to the kitchen and get them 57 sides of ranch.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3And maybe a quarter on all their bloodlines to judge. Thank you for the short name Because you don't tip.
Speaker 2I'm hoping you get the picture and don't come back. That might be more attention. Oh wait, did I say that out loud? That's my inside voice. My inside voice sometimes comes out, you know.
Speaker 3Well, didn't Justin used to chase people in the bathroom?
Speaker 1that wouldn't tip Like he'd chase them out of the restaurant and stuff if they wouldn't tip or didn't leave the percentage that he wanted. We'll have this young man on at some point, a good friend of mine. Um, I'll call him billy. He goes by another name, but I'll call him billy anyways. I remember what I was working at the irish pub, somebody, an international terminal man. People don't know better, seriously, they don't know better in their countries. You don't tip the waiter waitress, they don't know you know. That's why the gratuity is on the check anyways. This table paid with cash. They had a bunch of coins or something I'm talking, you know, at least 20 pieces of coin, change coins on left on the table. What does Billy do? He scrapes it up, follows them down the terminal and throws it at the window sitting next to them and change just goes flying everywhere.
Speaker 1Needless to say, billy got fired that day.
Speaker 3I would expect that, but I would assume he knew that when he did that and he might have not got a badge again. That could almost be a soul found federal property real talk statute of limitations on Billy.
Speaker 2hopefully is gone, oh man, so that's crazy. That's crazy, that's crazy. But yeah, you just see that sometimes you know if you're going to have anything go down. Most people are good people, you know you don't have to worry about much at the airport when some people get angry. Yes, I was at work the other day and some dude bowed up to one of the servers because he mumbled something to the server and the server comes up and goes. I'm sorry, what did you say? Because he didn't literally hear.
Speaker 2You can't hear it's loud in the airport and the guy bows up to me and goes you got a problem. Blah, blah, blah. He had one drink with me. Granted, it was an IPA, and he hounded it. He wasn't going to come back, I wasn't going to give him another one, but he tried to fight him. He was trying to fight this person. Some people just can't handle their alcohol.
Speaker 3What's really going on at home? Are you okay?
Speaker 2I mean I literally helped the guy out. I go look, bro, you're boarding right now and you're about a seven to eight minute walk to your gate. Here's the check. Let's go Get up. This is going to tip me, but I'm helping him out. But at the end of the day, you do right. You try to live a golden rule type of life Do unto others as you would have done unto you. I look at it this way. I try to treat people the way that I would want them to treat my daughter.
Speaker 2My daughters, just with respect and dignity, my daughter. They sit at a bar and they don't know how the bartender gives them a little shit. They know they're sitting at a bar.
Speaker 1My daughter works in a bar. So yeah, tip, everybody tip, my daughter Tip your waitress they're putting up with.
Speaker 2A lot of People are special, like COVID. If either of the people were special before COVID, after COVID, it's a whole new breed.
Speaker 3COVID is when I stopped asking people if they want doubles, yeah, I was like I'm just not going to do that anymore Because they started taking me up on it every time, yeah. And then they wanted 10 of them and I'm just like oh, no, no.
Speaker 2and then they wanted 10 of them and I'm just like, oh, covid was great, we were wide open here in Texas you could take your alcohol to go.
Speaker 1That was nice, you could take your alcohol to go.
Speaker 2People from Cali, crazy, michigan, new York. They were all coming here connecting here so they can go party in Mexico. You got to meet some really cool people that were you know, that were kind of like-minded because I wasn't a you know that guy. If you go, look back at all the complaints of me not wearing my mask bartender didn't wear his mask.
Speaker 3No, I didn't. That's like you're sitting at a bar, yeah you're sitting at a bar, drink some tequila.
Speaker 2That's what we do to kill it.
Speaker 1No, you know, the funny thing is is what I would tell everybody is like I said, we have 22, 23 seats around the bar. Everybody would sit down.
Speaker 3And we still had that many seats during.
Speaker 1COVID, you'd have the bar fill up and everybody would sit down and take their mask off, right, and people would sit down and leave their mask on, sitting next to 20 other people that had their mask off, and I'm like, and then they would take their mask down to eat and whatnot and I'm like you know that when you sit down, the COVID virus deactivates, yeah.
Speaker 3Isn't that the way?
Speaker 2that it works.
Speaker 1It's just crazy to me that these masks everybody thought the mask was going to take care of everything.
Speaker 2A lot of them didn't know when they would come to my bar. I'd be like just so you know, this is a no-mask bar, so if you're going to wear a mask, go sit at the tables. In this bar you don't wear a mask, because a lot of people would be like we can take our masks off and they would just take them off. And then it was just like there was a whole different type of you know. There were a couple of Karens, don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. It was like whoa. People were like this is Texas, we didn't do that here, that's what we were talking about Outside the airport.
Speaker 2Inside the airport, the only reason the airport had to do the mask was because it was federal. Anywhere else in Texas around the airport, nobody wore a mask. I'm sending pictures of my friends out at the bars, elbow to elbow, partying, dancing, blah, blah, blah blah, and in California and New York, and they're like you, suck man, because they're stuck in their houses. You know, maybe they can go outside and eat somewhere. You know, it was just a completely different world. But the one thing that I do miss, the one thing I do miss about COVID okay, is people actually wash their hands and as a germaphobe, it was nice to see people using proper hygiene, because that's all it really is.
Speaker 2To stop the spread of being sick is proper hygiene. Now you go to the bathroom and people are like you know. They come out of the toilet.
Speaker 3They come out of the stall and don't wash their hands and the next thing you know they're sitting at your bar and people are like you know.
Speaker 2They come out of the toilet, they come out of the stall, they don't wash their hands and the next thing you know they're sitting at your bar and I'm like you're nasty, and then they want to shake your hand when you introduce yourself.
Speaker 3You're like okay.
Speaker 2I'll be like fist bump, you know kind of a situation. You know, it's just that was you know.
Speaker 1Talk about integrity. Yeah, integrity, it's crazy. Well, hey guys, let's go ahead and wrap things up. Jose, thank you so much for coming on, and we would love to have you back again. I know you've got a lot more stories up your sleeve for us.
Speaker 2Absolutely. Let me know when guys I'm free Tuesdays in the morning. Every other Tuesdays, yeah, just let me know when guys I'm free.
Speaker 1Tuesdays in the morning. Every other Tuesdays, yeah.
Speaker 2Just let me know when y'all need a guest and I would be glad to fill in if I'm in town.
Speaker 1Perfect. Thank you, Jose.
Speaker 2So if you guys are flying through DFW Airport, come and see me at Applebee's DFW, you know, go say what's up you know, absolutely, absolutely up.
Speaker 1You know absolutely. Uh, thanks for tuning in guys. Um, that'll wrap it up all right, y'all peace.
