Tales From An Airport Bar
Tales From An Airport Bar
Ep 15: Johnny Be Goode Part I
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Meet John: 24 Years of Airport Stories
Speaker 1Hey guys , welcome back . Episode 15 , tales from an Airport Bar . As usual , it's Chris , and I am with my esteemed co-host , your boy Blake . We're back , baby , yes , sir , and we have an excellent , excellent guest for you this week . Been anticipating him since we started this show . Number one storyteller , great friend commandant , welcome to the show , john . Thank you so much for coming on today .
Speaker 2Awesome . Thanks , man . This is freaking . I'm really excited what you guys got going on . When you told me about this back in the summertime . I was like hopped up about I mean seriously hopped up about really getting onto this and I was like want to do it and it's taken forever Freaking our schedules busy shit , jesus Lord .
Speaker 1But yeah , big time but yeah , super pumped .
Speaker 2I hopefully this , I want to see this thing go far for you guys because I'm super proud of both you guys . Just met Blake over . Yeah , cheers Got some Johnny Walker Blue going , Uh-oh .
Speaker 1Feel free to pour yourselves a drink . Yeah , so it's just a podcast about the bar .
Speaker 2Known Chris , for Get your drinks ready . Shit , 24 years man , oh wow . I'll get into that in A little bit more detail here .
Speaker 1Well , this is coming up the end of the summer . Yeah , 24 years .
Speaker 2Yeah , 24 years , oh , and I got a good story .
Speaker 1I bet you got a couple , but so , john , talk to me how , what year did you start At the ?
Speaker 2airport . Okay , so let's start there . I'm very long-winded . I want to make this episode about five hours long . Just joking , I love it .
Speaker 2I love it so actually . So I never considered this my very first date of when I started . I usually my very first date is , and I'm big on dates , but May 28th 98 is when I say my first day I really started . But when I really started , but when I really started , because it's only for a glimpse I actually . So I was working , I had a job and I took off like summer 97 . I saved up some money . I was having fun , I was 23 years old I was just like you know , just having a good time .
Speaker 1Swinging dick .
Speaker 2Well , I actually had a girlfriend at the time , my ex-girlfriend . I didn't go to school , I just worked my ass off , saved up some money . I had a good job , I had going on , but I left it in good terms and I sort of was wanting to move up there . It had nothing to do with airports a whole different kind of you know but I used up a lot of my money , a little bit more . Yeah , good background Used up my money a little bit more than I wanted to during that summer and I was like , hey , I need a little side job . I did not want to and I never really thought about waiting . People get it , waiting bartending , whatever , dude .
Speaker 2I found this back when Freaking found an ad in the paper Four-star telegram . I was just looking . It said Chili's 2 , terminal C . You know freaking . You know you want to be part of the opening team . You know start a new . You know they already had Chili's B , which I didn't know Chili's 2 , b Terminal . Actually , back then it was called 2W . Remember you go to 6W , youw , training at host and all that . So yeah , that was back when it was letter terminals and all that and whatever , or no , it was like number terminals . I think they call it like 2W . You know freaking , you know 2B yeah , so this is why , and they started changing it pretty much .
Speaker 2I guess 98 , 99 . I'm not sure on that day for sure , but so for sure I ended up found an ad in the paper . It said hey , come join our team . Blah , blah , blah . I was like , no , what ? All this stuff ? Be part of a great team , this have fun , all this stuff . We didn't know anything about what kind of money you made out there . I didn't know . I knew nobody . Everybody that's come on after me , because I've got a lot of people on . You're like , you know , for some of you . I was like , hey , why not do this guy , this guy , I mean even back , even the late 90s , you got to get out here . This is freaking good money . I didn't know anything about that . So I got on , did the training . Oh , it said at the bottom , it said call , ask for Frank Howell . I was like , who's this guy ? Yeah , I'm like , oh shit , yeah . So I ended up , uh , yeah , dude , with Frank , a very odd guy , whatever you know .
Speaker 2but he was just you know . I mean now you know he's a mastermind for , for a millionaire , whatever .
Speaker 2uh did the training , as there are two weeks working . I was making some really good money , it was cool . So , as they're almost about four weeks , and I ended up leaving , leaving because my old job said , hey , we had this other position , it wasn't . You know , I did a lot of manual labor . Hey , we're going to , you know , self-service this and you can open up and do other things so sort of left them high and dry , but I still left them . I was like , hey , man , I got able to sort of had a shift . I was like , hey , man , I can't work . Also , I got this fucking horrible haircut . Also , I got this fucking horrible haircut and they fucked my hair .
Speaker 1I was like I'm not going to go wait tables on this shit , so it made it . Yeah , I was just like this person .
Speaker 2Sam's fucking , I don't know . Sam Summers fantastic Sam . Yeah , I don't know , she probably don't remember it . She fucked my hair up but whatever . So I was like whatever dude jack my hair up . I was like dude , yeah , I can't come in , but I did have a new opening at the Southern .
Speaker 1So I went and did that .
Speaker 2I was there all through 97 , 98 . Things didn't work out and I said fuck this , I was like checking out other things . I was like you know what , I'm going to go back to the airport . I was like I sort him . I said , hey , I'm sorry , I got this . And the main guy I was talking to , somebody named Mike , and he was just like hey , man , I understand he was cool . So I don't know how they wrote me down or wrote me off or whatever , but I was like man . Another thing is I never had experience , and so myself I told Frank in that interview he's like so , man , what about yourself ?
Speaker 2Yeah , I was like no dude . I was like I'll freaking , I won't you know . I was like I won't let you down . Well , I was just like I'll get back to that in a minute . So .
Speaker 1I said I won't let you down Whatever Go into .
Speaker 2I called Terminal B Cause I was like dude , I ain't going to go to C , I didn't know whatB and I call and say hey , you guys hiring blah , blah , blah , blah .
Speaker 2And they were just like , because I knew nobody really over there . I didn't , you know , I had some people but I didn't hang out that whole short time at C , I didn't hang out with anybody , I didn't really know anybody . So go over to B , get hired ,
Starting at Chili's: The Airport Journey Begins
Speaker 2they have me in . They're like hey , blah , blah , blah . I was like , hey , I worked over here with a girl , Sandra , that was a manager of a C . I talked to her on the phone . She's like .
Speaker 2John , I remember you . No , yeah . Yeah , she's like dude , we need some people , go ahead and call on in . I was like , cool , yeah , so come in , I go in . It's May 20th . She's like well , hey , we already , you don't need no badge , you just walk in the damn airport and go in May 28th . I mean , it's so crazy . It's sort of May 28th of what year 98 . May 28th 1998 . So I'm walking in there and the first thing on the freaking TV I walk into and this I'm a SNL guy , phil Hartman just got him and his wife , she killed him Double suicide , whatever . I walk in and I see that I'm like dude . She's like are you okay ? I was like Phil Hartman . She's like okay . She's like blah , blah , blah . This is B , it's a little bit different than C . She's like okay .
Speaker 2Moving right along . We're not worried about this . We're walking in the back , the way this kitchen is . So you walk back here and you go , and then here .
Speaker 1This is one thing you've got to say .
Speaker 2Corner , you're going to get bitch slashed .
Speaker 1Have you ever done this ?
Speaker 2You're walking at your house , you're going around the corner , or I'm going to the bathroom in the terminal and some guy getting on my butt and he's like what Is this guy yelling at me ? Corner is just in your blood . It's muscle memory , I'll do it at the mall or something .
Speaker 1Sometimes Do it in my damn sleep Kitchen out Behind behind .
Speaker 2Full hand , full out . So we're going around there and I was just like , okay , and do more , turn the corner to go in the back . She's like okay , so this is the kitchen , blah , blah , it's good , it was right here . Well , I hear this dude just in singing . I was like what's this guy ? And he's going you're the best around , I'm just never going to get you down , just fucking singing . And she's like Colin , calm down . She's like hey guys , this is John . I was like this fucking karate kid . He's like what's up , bro , fucking chest bumps me .
Speaker 2Big girly dude Guy named Colin Arnold . Fucking dude , I'm sorry . Airport legend Rest in peace brother . I mean the dude passed away about two years ago . Awesome guy , anybody that's listening . If you know this guy , holy shit . I don't even have to say anything and you know , not even to make it less dude . Fucking Brent Archibald . I met those two guys right at the same time and that sort of I mean dude . These guys go on . I mean they were part of our group .
Speaker 2I mean and so met those guys there at Chili's . So Chili's was great , Great times , and just it all went .
Speaker 1you know all the time You're young . You're in your 20s .
Speaker 2Yeah , so that's just a little start there . I'll go back to that , go into maybe some other stories . But so I went to Chili's . I ended up sort of in 2000 . So that's there about two years .
Speaker 1They left Another guy named Thomas left . They all went to Vintage Texas . They're like bro , you got to go to this place and I was like man , okay , whatever , different company .
Speaker 2Yeah yeah , different company . So I ended up finally doing both jobs . I was just like Frank Howe Back then . He would pull you out . He'd cop to you outside 45 minutes .
Speaker 1I was like Jesus , john , I don't mean to interrupt you but for our listeners' sake , Kevin talks about Frank busting his ass for closing the restaurant early and then going through the Red Book . He was coming through security . That's on . I think like episode five or six called .
Speaker 2The Little Red Legend with Kevin .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's .
Speaker 2Frank Howe . So Frank Howe , he was sort of I don't know GM partner .
Speaker 1Well , he was an owner slash proprietor slash GM yeah . He had his hands in everything from . Starbucks to what Hudson News . He owned 10 different news .
Speaker 2So this guy would be in my shit all the time like dude , this nitpicking , and I was like dude , get off my ass . He wouldn't be mean , he would just be man , john , you need to do this and that . Come on , let's go out and turn the world upside down .
Speaker 1So basically that company . He was the GM of that company , but he was also part owner , which is this huge conglomerate company now Back then he was actually opening every morning too . But that company . That particular company owned the Chili's yes , and you decided to go to work for this other company called Anton Air . Foods Anton Air Foods yes , which owned the vintage Texas concepts that you worked at ?
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1Okay , so the Chili's was in what terminal ?
Speaker 2There's Chili's in C , but I was working at the Chili's in B .
Speaker 1Okay , and then you were working at the Vintage Texas . In what terminal ?
Speaker 2Vintage Texas was E31 . Okay , so there was one E31 . And E12 .
Speaker 1E12 and E31 .
Speaker 2So there was one E31 , E12 , and E16 . Where I started E12 .
Speaker 1In the art bar and then I went back to it , that came on afterwards I was hired to go to the art bar , started at E12 , went to the art bar , back to E12 . Yeah , E16 .
Speaker 2Yeah , I know it's like , did the jump jump this ? This ? Yeah , so , yeah , yeah , so , so , yeah . So I was working both . I ended up getting a job there , finally left . I'll never forget leaving . I think it's like march of 01 I started . I started vintage texas e31 , november of 2000 . So I was working both jobs , finally left march of 01 . I remember walking out of 6w or whatever you call it , the , the office and I was like I'll never be at this place again . Shit Three more times on that motherfucker . I didn't have anything against Frank . I'll come back to Frank .
Speaker 1That was a hard company to work for , very micromanaged . Very micromanaged .
Speaker 2He was nitpicked Everything .
Speaker 1We're just selling burgers and beers and chilies , Give me a break .
Speaker 2He talked to mepicked everything . We're just selling burgers and beers at Chili's , Give me a break . But he would talk to me about 45 minutes and I was like that person's taking my tables now , what the hell ? So ended up going over to Vintage . So Vintage got a lot of shit on you know . Talk about that . Great , that was my best job and I've met some of the best people that I'm still friends with , close friends with . They're like family and pretty much met .
Speaker 1I know one of those guys yeah .
Speaker 2Chris is right here and then actually also met a great girl . I work with Victoria . She's one of my best friends .
Speaker 1Oh , not to mention , you know , a great girl named Christy .
Speaker 2Through her I met Christy , which just happens to be my wife now Going on 23 years . So , yeah , I mean my family started all through the airport , A lot of great friends and all that which still today and we've got more . I can talk on that . So I was there , Then ended up going over with Varsity , so that shut in 03 . I'm still going to jump back on that .
Speaker 1What shut in 03 ?
Speaker 2Vintage Texas E31 closed in 2003 . July , by the way .
Speaker 1And then it reconcepted into Varsity .
Speaker 2But that didn't open back up until January of 04 .
Speaker 1Yes , which I ended up going to and being the unit manager of that one .
Speaker 2So yeah , for a while we jumped over A16 , the other vintage Texas . Then I ended up . When Varsity opened I went over to E12 . We'll get into some good stories there .
Speaker 1When we say E12 , A16 , these are the flight gates going out of the DFW terminals .
Speaker 2I was there for a while . Host came back into our lives . Frank Howe host there . They bought all of those concepts from the Antons , all the vintage Texas's . You got away from them and then they bought it .
Speaker 1They bought out the company we worked for .
Speaker 2I know you and Kevin talked about where they were like hey , since we were bartender managers and it was great .
Speaker 1Yeah , we were bartending , getting paid tips and then we were managing getting paid a salary .
Speaker 2It was badass . It's cool , great , freaking great .
Speaker 1Yeah , when I was 23 and I just had a new baby , it sounded like a great gig and I was there for two weeks until September 11th .
Speaker 2Yes , but no , so I'll just jump in . So I was there when hosts came in . I ended up already had a plan , so we had to become a bartender .
Speaker 1Yeah , you had to go one way or the other . You had to be a bartender .
Speaker 2They took over in December of 05 . I ended up . My wife was pregnant with my boy and he was due in June of 06 .
Speaker 1Oh , it sounds like I'm going to put on a shirt and tie .
Speaker 2So , yeah . So thank you , host . Thank you , frank . They did pay for the whole pregnancy . I didn't get it , but I had a plan . I ended up getting back out of the airport . I got out of the airport for a little bit , went to a place called Air Chef over at Love Field it's outside . It was a catering for private jets .
Speaker 1What year did you go do the private catering for jets ?
Speaker 2So that I left . I started in March of 06 . So you were at the vintage texas concepts . Then it got bought out by hms and I stayed with hms till june of oh six . But I was already working airship so I already had a plan . I was like I ain't gonna be doing this shit forever . Remember dennis was on .
Speaker 1He said I can't take this stuff with you know dennis was our gm at vintage texas , who had to switch over to hms host too , who left right after yeah .
Speaker 2He was like oh , you're doing this shit .
Moving Through Airport Concepts
Speaker 2Sorry for all this names around , you know , yeah so , but yeah , so did that . Then came back to tagines , which is , under different companies , an irish pub in the new , in the new international .
Speaker 1Yeah , that was new .
Speaker 2At the time , eternal d uh was there with you . We ended up .
Speaker 1Well , yeah , dennis ended up cherry picking us and bringing us over there . Dennis was over there .
Speaker 2We worked there , we managed Wait what this is like ? Oh , so I started managing August 08 . And we got you on about two , three months after , yeah , and we were both there . We both left in 2013 . So I jumped over back to tequila . I was backtracking the tequila Ria , which used to be at the E12 . And this was a host area HMS host .
Speaker 1They reconcepted it into the tequila , went back to bartending .
Speaker 2That was great . That shut down .
Speaker 1It's always something there's a shutdown , it's always fucking nothing that ever lasts forever or the lights move or something , and then crazy thing is I know this is on probably , or they build a new terminal .
Speaker 2The listeners are probably like what is it ? But it ended up . I went back to Terminal B because people got shoved back around and I was already like man . I'm 41 years old and I'm like I got to do something . I was doing eBay .
Speaker 2I always had a side job , something going on , and so it was cool going back there because there's a lot of new people . But some of the old school people , that people that were in their 40s when I was there back in the late 90s , were still there about to retire and they knew that Terminal B was going to be closing as well . And so , remember , because that closed and I'll get to some of the other detailed stories with that but I ended up leaving , not wanting to leave yet I sort of had a plan , but I had some personal stuff happen and so I pretty much I say May 28th and 98th and my last day was June 20th 2015 . So , and I remember the day , it's cause they're sort of detailed , crazy .
Speaker 1So you worked at the airport , a total of 17 , 17 years a little , not a year in between .
Speaker 2Wait a second . Wait a second . Wait a second .
Speaker 1So you worked at DFW for 17 years . What about , so , after you left in you ? So after you left in , you said May 28th of what year ? June ?
Speaker 220th 2015 . Yeah , when I left there . That's the last day . I've never been back . I've never worked in a restaurant , bar , anything . I've been on my own working .
Speaker 1Oh , okay .
Speaker 2So you did not go back to SkyJet , that was cutting time . Yeah , okay , cool . When I left that day I did not know that was going to happen . There was some crazy turn of events , a lot of things that happened , but yeah , so that's my whole . Sorry took a freaking hour on that .
Speaker 2That's my fault so yeah , that's what happens we have a long history and you know a lot of these jobs . I didn't want to leave the first Chili's I did . I'm going to go back to my friends or vintage Texas school . I was like , oh , this is family , and it was and it still is . And that's the thing , man . It was like a big camaraderie and brotherhood . Yeah , exactly , you know of people that you work with .
Speaker 1Well , for I mean , you know , you still don't you commission the fantasy football league .
Speaker 2So all these people that keep coming on our podcast . So vintage on our podcast or in in vintage Texas . Um . So we were all talking there's . You know , back in 2002 we were talking .
Speaker 1You know , I've been doing that's where I started , at the airport myself .
Speaker 2So I've been doing fantasy football fucking back from 94 paper leagues , you know .
Speaker 1I still got to leave with some guys we've been going .
Speaker 2We're going on 32nd year . So back then you did it on paper and finally eventually got it on Yahoo . Jesus Lord . It was like I got to get on a computer and do this . Fuck yeah , you can sit there with your newspaper and take points . People are like , oh , this score's not the right thing . Well then , you got to remember who's been picked .
Speaker 2Oh he got picked in 2002 , started the 2002 season . We sat there and it was , we were all talking and we were just like hey , let's do a fantasy league . And this is at Vintage Texas E31 . And it was me , davey , jason , joe , joe , a guy named Billy and Brent , and so there's just six of us . We did our own little league . It's just that we were all in just that restaurant .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2So we did our draft at . You know how . Both of the restaurants it wraps around . We had a table that wrapped around .
Speaker 1So they were L-shaped and you would walk in and you would turn the corner to the left and go to the back and like nobody could see you back there .
Speaker 2No , but if you're sitting in the back you could see all the tarmac you could see the air .
Speaker 1Yeah , you could look out and see the air .
Speaker 2The purview and all that .
Speaker 1It was really cool .
Speaker 2Okay , let me switch it on .
Speaker 1Scotch , scotch , scotch .
Speaker 2It tastes so good when it hits my lips the scotch is going down good , so yeah . So we ended up . We had a draft we did it on . It's called Table 40 . I remember Table 40 .
Speaker 1We did a lot of stuff on Table 40 .
Speaker 2Put it's going down . We played cards , we played two-card . Gut , we freaking . That was after hours .
Speaker 1Just freaking lost a lot of money . We would walk in and you guys would be back there gambling with people flying out . You guys would be back there taking everybody's money . We would play bar .
Speaker 2We would lose a lot of money . We got customers involved A lot of times . We'd shut the gate . We're done , sit there , we'd play cards . There'd be customers inside with the gate . So we did our draft on table 40 . Reason I'm bringing that up when I talked to you yesterday , when I was talking to you , I still got table 40 in my garage . Oh wow , you have the actual table . When that place closed , I said I'm taking table 40 .
Speaker 1There's cocaine .
Speaker 2On the god damn table . There's a lot of shit , a lot of smoke , a lot of stuff . A lot of stuff happened on that table . I didn't have sex , but other people did .
Speaker 1Oh , so I was going to ask any babies can see Any babies can see . So table 40 , that all went down at Vintage Texas at gate . Okay , so the terminal was E at gate 31 . Is that right , john ? Yes , yes , okay .
Speaker 2So yeah , so that's a league that started and that's something that has gone on , and actually we're going on to freaking year 24 , and it's called the Vintage Texas E31 Fantasy Football League , year 24 and it's called the vintage texas e31 fantasy football league and , uh , you know we've had so that those six were the original ogs and sadly there's three of us . You know , a couple of them moved on , one , you know , just sort of got out of it . Uh , actually , brent , if you want to call his a franchise , you know , james brown , your brother has carried on that so he , he didn't really come on till two years later , but and we , jumped up , kevin and I actually played that league .
Speaker 2Y'all played it one time . Uh , johnny Barback , there's a lot of people , yeah . So , um , now it's not everybody that's been at their port , but people . You know everybody it's friends of friends and you know that we've all . You know everybody it's friends of friends and you know that we've all you know have have the league now but , yeah , it's , it's been going strong since then and you know it's just a cool thing . So , and another thing , there's like Chuck Joe , brother Joe , we know a lot of Joe's , you know , and they they worked at the other concepts but they've been part of the league for now . They're going on like 22 years , but yeah , so , something that has come from the , you know , from the airport , you know , and we have a , you know , it's like a fraternity , like you know a brotherhood .
Speaker 1Well , that , and you know you've been through yes , it's like I think Justin and Spencer , on a couple of our episodes , mentioned it's like , well , okay , so I've moved on to a different concept . And you walk in on the first day and you're like oh shit , I know you , I know you .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah so , but but one thing I mean , I mean yeah , no , go right .
Speaker 2So you know I got a lot of crazy things that's happened . A lot of different people I've met , cool encounters , crazy sports stories , uh , personal stories I mean , um , but some of that sort of set the tone , go into everything . I know y'all probably experienced something like that , everybody sort of has . And this is sort of the whole vibe at the airport . And one of the crazy things about being out there is , like you know , and I've heard y'all talk about you never know what's going to happen . It's a new day . I mean , it ain't the same old . It's never a new moment . So something crazy , something new . And you know my first place . So at Terminal B waiting tables , chili's . At Chili's Terminal B back in 98 .
Speaker 2So that summer I remember we were busy and there , see , and here's another thing you only had like six tables . You got the bar area . You'd have multiple . It got a little crazy over there , and I'm not saying bartending , there was like a cocktail area . So you had that area bartending the bartenders , and then you had four different sections . Each section had like five , six tables . But dude , I mean you were turning those quick .
Speaker 1You were busy .
Speaker 2You're . When you're busy , you're close to the kitchen . Yes , sometimes quicker is insane . One thing I'll never forget there's one table Thursday . Thursday is crazy . Friday is crazy . All day is crazy . I'd run around , head cut off , sweating , hot summer day . By the way , I had AC in my car that year . It was really bad . I'm sitting there . I had these light green chili shirts . I had AC in my car that year . It was really bad . I'm sitting there and I had these sort of light green chili shirts . I had to keep my arms sweating through my arms . It was a hot summer . I had this table . It was table four . It was a man and his wife and two kids , teenagers .
Speaker 2I'm like , hey guys , they're just like sitting there like sort of dead to the world and I was just like , oh jeez , I'm busy , you know busy , you know , sometimes people don't really communicate well . And I was like hey , and the lady's like I think we need a couple , and I was like , hey , no problem , no problem , I'll come back . I was like whatever , well , I just did the first . I just brought some water balls to the wall .
Speaker 1Busy in those restaurants .
Speaker 2And you got it and you know , when I was younger and I was 23 and I'm just like I didn't care . Here's the thing . I got really quick . Therefore , and I never this is one thing . It bugged me and I know everybody about it . I never really bitched about tips because the news is going to fucking make the money .
Speaker 1That's all I quit . I was like dude .
Speaker 2I'm making money , I'm happy .
Speaker 1You got to take the good with the bad .
Speaker 2Hey , this person didn't . I don't get mad about it , it stiffed me , someone else will sit down and tip .
Speaker 1You Never really got stiff .
Speaker 2But even I didn't give that girl a tip . Sometimes the conversation means more than anything , or sometimes people just not be an asshole . I've had people be told assholes give me the biggest ditch . Well , you know ?
Speaker 1yeah , exactly so you never know , and sometimes people just don't want you to talk to them at all and just leave them alone .
Speaker 2And then they'll be like thanks for yeah , yeah , and we talk about that you have to be able to read the room people don't give you anything , but I'm like you know what , whatever , whatever . So these people , they're just like and dude , seriously , you know , it's one of those . It felt like it was an hour . I was just like . It's literally probably about 20 minutes , which is a long time .
Speaker 2Most people are gone at that point , yeah , so I brought them waters and I was like , hey guys , they're just like I don't . I was like , okay , and I was trying to be calm with them . I really don't feel I showed any kind of you know , like I was getting impatient , but I was just sitting there and other people like you know , when you're going , you're going , you're going quick , Because there's eight other guys .
Speaker 2Jesus Lord , I'm just sitting there and I say hey guys but I'm inside going Jesus Lord , can you just tell me what you want ? But I've dropped them some waters , they're just still sitting there . They had straws and they're just sitting there , like you know , just drooping . And I was like , so I come back . And I didn't want to . And then I thought , you know , when you go and ask the table , I was like I don't want to ask anymore , I'll wait until they .
Speaker 2So , I go back and it's been a good 15 minutes . I was like , oh man . And I was like , hey guys . And I was like , man , something's up here . I was like , hey guys , the lady sort of grabs my arm . I'm like I'll touch you with it , blake , I just met you . I was like , yeah , oh dude , this is one of these things that just I'm going nuts . You know me , I got ADD . I'm freaking da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da , Certainly waiting tables . This is one of those moments . Stop you in your damn tracks . And she's like . She's like , hey , we're , I'm sorry , we're . I was like , oh , it's okay . And she's sort of grabbed my arm like this . She's like we're actually flying to go pick up her son's body . He just passed away at college . And I'm just like , and they were just like , had tears and they're like , yeah , they lost their older brother . And I was like , I'm just just like my legs are taken out of me .
Speaker 2I was just like I'm so sorry .
Speaker 1I was like oh , my God , I was like hey guys , okay , I'm so sorry .
Speaker 2They're like we're sorry . I was like hey , you know , let me bring some chips . I was like , what did I do ? I was like totally just stopped me in my tracks and so I've had that .
Speaker 1I had that happen a couple weeks back , man , this lady well , you ask somebody where they're going , you're like hey , you're going somewhere fun . They're like oh , I'm going to this funeral to bury the and you're saying , yeah , bury your son , you know bury your kid .
Speaker 2You don't , you know , you don't want , you don't want to have no .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's almost the worst .
Speaker 2I I mean it's inevitable . Both of my parents have passed . I mean it sucks .
Speaker 1but yeah , but you're not supposed to go before .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know , and I was like God man , I was like whoa , and so pretty much just sort of set the tone .
Speaker 2So one thing that happened , so we had a very spiritual lady named Wanda , her host , and she caught wind of it . She prayed with everybody . So Sondra , the lady I talked about , my manager , she ended up and I told her and she even asked she's like hey , why don't we have any food ? You know ? Like why are these people ? What's going on here ? Yeah , so we ended up taking care of the whole meal and they were super nice . I don't even remember what they left me . I don't even remember what they left me , I don't even care . But Wanda came over there and I'm going to tie this in . It's weird because it's sort of the start of set the tone of you never know what everybody's going through , you never know what anybody's going through .
Speaker 2A lot of times I haven't been cool with everybody . I mean I've got into it people . I've never had a brisket sandwich thrown on me .
Speaker 1At least it was good brisket .
Speaker 2Or if you had a bottle of liquor thrown at you or you mixed water , like me . That happened to me . Yeah , I love that story , chris .
Speaker 1Well , didn't she throw the pepper at you . She came back Watch it down with this shit . She came back just to deliberately make sure .
Speaker 2Yeah , jesus , so yeah . So Wanda came over . We were like sitting there , me and my manager , and I was like wait what ? I held hands , we freaking prayed God dang freaking busy shitting the weeds on a Thursday night and it was weird . She was like I need to pray for him . It was really sweet and all that Got something sort of the full circle I'll talk about later . All right , real weird thing that happened . That's later in my career , at the very end , actually the last day , which is crazy on that June 20th , I told about real weird but crazy things I have in the airport and I don't want to get into all the sad stuff , but what did you want me to talk about , chris ?
Speaker 2Well okay , talking about not knowing what people are going through , we lived .
Speaker 1I mean , excuse me , we worked in the International Terminal Terminal , yeah , and we worked in this Irish pub concept and then , above it was a concept that was closed down and our company took it over , uh , along with the Irish pub , and they opened up , uh , a pizza and wine bar . Yeah , we , we had to walk upstairs to get to it like three flights of stairs .
Speaker 2And our office was upstairs right next to it .
Speaker 1Yeah and uh , when we managed the Irish pub together . Yeah , our man , our manager office , was always up there next to this closed down restaurant . Yeah , then eventually they turned it into the pizza and wine bar . Yes , well , I had left work one day and I had been gone for maybe about 10 , 15 minutes tops .
Speaker 2I think you were off that day . It was me and Taryn . Remember , Taryn ? For some reason I remember calling you that night about this story .
Speaker 1Oh , I thought I had . No , I had worked that morning , okay .
Speaker 2And I had just left when this went down .
Speaker 1So yeah , I remember leaving . You did call me later that evening I was like this happened right after I left , actually , so I'm leaving for the day . You're coming in for work and you're upstairs at the pizza well , I'd work there .
Speaker 2I think we all worked there together all day . You left early , I was there , because I was there all day that day . It was a long day , okay , so me , and there's other manager , taryn , that was there as well I forget because we remember we had three managers . I ended up working all together . Um so , taryn , cool , cool girl that worked there . Um so , uh , it was towards the end of the day . We usually close both concepts around nine ish , you know but that was pretty yeah .
Speaker 2Close around nine and this was upstairs . Uh so throw the date out . There it was . I remember very clearly it's December 1st 2011 . And the Pizzavino was only open probably about four or five months , I think , and so we had that . I was taken .
Speaker 2Taryn was inside checking everything . I was getting paperwork ready . It was sort of slow . It was already slowing down for Thursday you shouldn't be all crazy and sometimes you can stay open to 10 on Thursday night . Thursday nights are very busy at the airport and this was leading up to Christmas time , so you know .
Speaker 2So we ended up there was a table over , sort of by my office you know those tables and so I couldn't even even in my privy I get sort of behind the entrance . So I was eating . I was like freaking eating
Table 40: The Legacy of Vintage Texas
Speaker 2, I was freaking hungry , I was doing paperwork , getting ready to wrap up the night , getting everything you know , starting to get some people leaving early , doing checkouts and sort of my I don't want to say peripatetic , just sort of a little . Behind me was the entrance and all I hear . All of a sudden , taryn starts running out with it looked like a herd of just all these people started leaving yelling . She's like John , john run , and I'm just like what the ? She's like run , run , he's got a bomb . And I'm like what the ?
Speaker 2So I get up and I start like running . I'm like I don't know what the fuck's going on . I don't see anybody , what is happening . So I take off , I stop right at the office . She's like no , dude , all these people running by me , like all these customers and they were actually , it was actually pretty full for Pizzavino , so and I'm just sitting there , she's like John , they got a bomb , go , go . So we're running , run down and go down the escalator . So I call 911 . You know our concept . Hey , this is manager pizza . You know , I don't even know what's going on , but someone saying there's a bomb , all these people running out , so we all run down and get on the escalator . I'm like I don't know what happened . And , dude , everybody said Patrick was in there . Uh , tanya , uh , that girl , becca , um , the cooks people and they just feel like a ghost and I was like what's going on ?
Speaker 2they're just like . And then there was some other customer guy coming down the escalator , started yelling well , there's still people down there getting on flights . And I'm like , hey , don't make this whole airport freak out . I was like , so tears , like dude . There's a guy . He said he has a bomb . He's in his hand .
Speaker 2I was like so this all happened within a matter of something , I mean a of minutes . We're downstairs . Well , I'm like , well , nothing's gone off . I mean it's stupid . So I run back up there Cause I was like , well , why did I ? Sort of stupid . I was like , and she's like John don't . And I was like , and I was like , I don't know , this is yeah , okay , so there's a side entrance , but where these people came out , we're out of the front entrance and it's sort of on the opposite side of the side entrance . Yeah , so I go and I sort of look back that way and then I run it back to the front . Well , all of our people , scott , scott , who worked downstairs at Tegin , uh , freaking . Um . Dion , who who was his ? He was a cook . No , yeah , he was a cook at Tagine and that was our place downstairs from Pizzavino . All the people ran up like what the hell is going on . We heard them yelling . They came up to it instead of going away .
Speaker 1Yeah , so they ran out .
Speaker 2So I run behind them . When I run behind them , there's this dude sitting there . He's sitting there with a phone and this guy is looking off into the , looking off into the . He's going bomb , bomb and freaking uh , who's dion's god ? Dang it . The other cook it was his , like his son-in-law , but they were . Yeah , I can't . Oh gosh , I feel horrible . Younger guy yeah , so he . He was just like man we're gonna kick your ass and the guys like and dion .
Speaker 2He's like from jamaica . He's like , hey , man , dude , just be cool . And this guy's like , and you saw from that side door cops like drop it . And he sort of drop it and dude , this guy's like you see , like I saw his eyes and they went and tackled him and , freaking , handcuffed him . So I was like holy shit , it's a fucking bomb threat . I was like holy shit , it's a fucking bomb threat . I was like this guy's going away . He's goddamn fucking in the airport .
Speaker 1So that's when you called me , no , no , but then you called me again later , that's just the first story .
Speaker 2Yeah , so go on . Oh , it's airport officials , all these people , because it's a bomb threat . So , dude , you got all these people , the cops , all these people they're questioners and all this stuff questioning everybody . So obviously we shut down .
Speaker 1Place is shut Pay your check and get out . Maybe not , we don't know where you are .
Speaker 2Some people are really nice and like , hey , here's my debt . Hey , we're so sorry , I just started giving . I just closed every fucking check and the guy being there , I think I told Tanner , tanner , just avoid every check , don't worry about it . Yeah , keep the cash . There were a lot of customers that came back up . We're so sorry , can we pay ?
Speaker 1Yeah , what about my pizza ?
Speaker 2Yeah , Is that extra well-done pepper ? Yeah , it's still in the oven . So this guy , they have him handcuffed . Life flight's boring , well . So we're sort of standing in that he's lucky he got handcuffed . Oh , dude , he is . So there's cops up there so they're questioning , talking to everybody . You know , shut the place down for the night . I went ahead and told everybody hey , y'all , shut down your body . It sounds like 9 o'clock . Everybody's coming up for monsters , y'all . Okay , what the hell is going on ? As I was talking about , bring back that little side door , we're standing sort of in the entrance . There's cops , there's some airport officials , people are questioning us , taking notes . Hey , what happened ?
Speaker 2Investigators from the airport are already like .
Speaker 1They're on you know it's a federal airport , so yeah , I'm sure Most of the time these people don't have anything to do , oh shit , and they're like huge , huge .
Speaker 2So that side entrance is goes out and you can overlook one of the main like yeah , there's like a guardrail and you can look down to other concepts and down to the second floor . Yes , so they put this guy in handcuffs , set him in a chair .
Speaker 1Next to that back entrance .
Speaker 2Yes , there's a cop I forget his name , it was an older cop , he was about to retire , cop standing . He was just like on guard there and we could see him like we were . I forget his name , it was an older cop , he was about to retire , caught standing . He was just like on guard there and we could see him like we were looking around the corner . They're asking , they're asking everybody what they saw and I said , hey , I'm the one . I call 911 . I show other people I didn't see anything in here , pretty much what the guy did . He was wandering around . I did see that guy earlier wandering around , earlier one in a round sort of loss . He said people do that and we pay attention . You're sort of like , okay , observe what's this guy doing . But there's a lot of people . When people get in the airport they're in a whole different world . Sometimes their brain just turns on .
Speaker 1Yeah , and when they start drinking ?
Speaker 2any extra , whatever they want to take , because they're freaking out Xanax or whatever .
Speaker 1People just go on a whole different they're on a different planet once they come inside so this guy and he seemed a little like sort of lost .
Speaker 2I remember him walking over to the bathroom . I remember seeing him earlier and Taryn brought it up , said , hey , you remember that guy earlier and you know man , I was like , yeah , this is around 6 o'clock and she was like , yeah , well , I saw him sort of walk around but didn't think anything of it , but he didn't go in there . Well , he went in there . There was a girl named tanya first day she started . She was over towards that side entrance . He grabbed her , yeah , and she was trying to shake him off . Or patrick ran over and he just yelled bomb . I got a bomb and patrick didn't see it . He freaked out . He's like god damn . So he started running . She shook him off and ran and that's when he started . I guess he was yelling bomb . Taryn was in there . She started running out , everybody started running out .
Speaker 1I didn't know what the hell .
Speaker 2Yeah , I ran , I didn't know .
Speaker 2I'm like I didn't really think of it , I was just like but I ran back up there and I was just like dude , what the hell . So I saw that I was crazy seeing get taken down and so we're in there questioning , we're talking to , you know , these officials and I was over by . So you know I'm in the front entrance , I know the viewers can't see me , but I'm trying to show that it's a big open conch sections over here and so you can see through the kitchen , the kitchen ovens , but then over sort of behind , I could see over the corner where I was at , I was talking and you could see that guy sitting over there just outside that side entrance . Yeah , by that railing , by the railing upstairs , and dude , I'm talking to this lady and I just see out of my peripheral . I was like I just see out of my peripheral . I was like what ? And I see these legs fly over this dude in his handcuffs . That cop just had his back to me for a split second . That dude , freaking , jumps and puts his waist on that side railing , flips over my dumb ass , just runs over there and everybody's like , and I run over there and it was not a pretty sight .
Speaker 2Thank God no one was under there because it was not a pretty sight . Yeah , thank god no one was under there because that was the entrance to like there's a little food court underneath that . Yeah , yeah , I know , so , okay , so I don't even know what was there . So I run over there and I see that and it I'm not trying to it was . It was looked like a pumpkin , yeah , busted on the ground now his head it was . There was blood everywhere it was . It was horrible because I saw people over there freaking out and you know the cops . So this changed the whole thing . It was sort of like they taped off everything like a crime scene and sad dude , this was sad , this is scary .
Speaker 2So when I saw that and I ran over there , I was like one of the first ones over there . I was like the cop was like god damn . I ran over there , I was like one of the first ones over there and I was like , and the cop was like God damn , I saw that bathroom by Brookstone . Dion walked out and just froze and he thought
The Humanity Behind Each Traveler
Speaker 2it was someone . He thought it was one of us . Yeah , he's like . He was like oh my God , he thought he was one of his people and I was just like that . Fucked him up it Everybody . You know some of the cooks were gone . I was just sitting there . I was like what the ? And it just sort of goes back to Well you're still in shock already from before .
Speaker 2Yeah , like bomb threat . And this guy , you know , commit suicide right in front of our eyes . He ended up . I found out he lived . He was like a vegetable . Sadly , he lived like another month . I found out he passed away .
Speaker 1But it just sort of goes to you never know .
Speaker 2Like a part of me was like man , this dude , what was this guy going through to do this ? What was going on ? It just really threw me off , threw us all off . They had PQ . We had the next day , like I called Jeff and I called you , told you know , I told you I think the story was 10 times longer because Chris was like what , what the fuck ? I had to tell Jeff they had all these people come in . Do y'all need to talk ? It was very traumatic for a lot of people . I've seen a lot of effed up shit that was pretty effed up . That's up there .
Speaker 1Yeah , man , that was a crazy story that is probably the craziest thing , one of the craziest things that I saw happen .
Speaker 2And again dude I mean yeah , Did he totally harm anybody ? No , what he did , yeah , One right , what do you ? I felt bad , like mental health . Like what the hell ?
Speaker 1was this dude . This guy needs help .
Speaker 2And I found out that he was Filipino and I found out that his family like disowned him and he was at the airport that morning in the American Airlines terminal and other terminals trying to get a flight and people were like he got kicked off of the flight . He was roaming in the airport all day long and they just let him stay there .
Speaker 2Yes , and then he went to different terminals and ended up at our freaking concept . But yeah , sadly , I mean I feel bad . I mean part of me was like man , what a piece of shit . But at the other side I'm like dude , what did this guy ?
Speaker 1What was going on to make this happen ? Why did ?
Speaker 2he have to go to that . What was he going through ? Yeah , so I don't want to do all the sad stories .
Speaker 1Well , no , I'm glad you put that out there for our listeners . Man , it's just like we always talk about . You never know what people are going through and man , everything goes down inside the airport . Nothing's off limits . No , definitely , john . Let's move into something else A little bit more positive . You met any cool celebrities or anything ?
Speaker 2Yeah so . I'm sure , okay , you've been out there a long time . You've been out there 24 years . That's okay for me to say You've been out there five , ten years . Dude , we've met a lot of celebrities .
Speaker 2I mean , there's people I forget who I met- yeah , exactly , and I say You've met so many and I say met , just maybe you waited on them or they came in the store or you saw them because they were there while you were working at a table , whatever . So I can't even . I usually remember , like my daughter was talking about some oh , chris talked the other day and I was like holy shit , I waited on him at Chili's . Totally forgot about that , you know , totally forgot about that , you know so . But the ones I want to bring up , the people that I actually had a conversation with or interacted , interacted with for a long time and it was like real people and that was one thing I've never . Now , back in the day , today , you take a picture back in the day , we have camera phones , we have phones .
Speaker 2I didn't know , kia , okay yeah , I mean there's times I didn't have a phone in the late 90s , so you know , luckily one time I had a disposable camera . I was going to say you got to have the Polaroid or something . Tony Dorsett came into Chili's . I was like man , I'm going to picture Tony Dorsett , one of my favorite running backs . Cool thing is I've had an interaction with Tony Dorsett Now that was just talking with him . He took a picture . That was it , me . And another guy that worked at Chili's , herschel Walker , was a regular . Oh , he's getting hot dog with Kraut . Come in big smile . Another you know cowboy running back .
Speaker 1I met Herschel , super nice guy .
Speaker 2Super nice guy . A lot of people have had interaction with him . One of the best running backs I ever saw in Emmet Bojack's was the best few running backs that I saw in college football Now I was little .
Speaker 1It was Whoa , whoa , whoa .
Speaker 2What about Adrian Peterson ? I liked him better in college , but that was more of an imprint on me when , adrian Peterson , I was in like my 20s .
Speaker 1Okay , yeah , you're right , hey , reggie Bush though , was pretty freaking badass , badass . No doubt .
Speaker 2Adrian Peterson was an amazing college , but you know , barry Sanders was a pretty badass college , but you know . Now we're talking sports . I can't help it . I always get into sports .
Speaker 1Talking about those .
Speaker 2Dallas Cowboy running backs . Yeah , Emmitt has been up there a lot .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Luckily I have a good one with Emmitt . He came into Tequene , talked to everybody , cool , you know whatever .
Speaker 1The Irish pub yeah .
Speaker 2So back in . So this was 2002 .
Speaker 1Oh , wow . I could look it down so at this point you're at the vintage Texas concept .
Speaker 2It was late January 2002 . It was right before he was actually heading to the Super Bowl . It was Super Bowl , gosh , hang on , I should know this . It was the 9-11 year , so it was the Super Bowl . It was actually on . I think it was February 3rd . It was my best friend's birthday , 2002 . It was the Rams against highly freaking big . You know Rams had a 14-point you know favorite over freaking the New England Patriots . Yes , with no name , tom Brady , we didn't know anything about . Yet I was like if there was a bracket dude , I would always look at who's in the playoffs every year , and if there was one year that year I was like that motherfucking thing . I went to the Super Bowl . Tom who's ? This guy Didn't know anything about the guy .
Speaker 1It's just a great . Nobody did he played at Michigan .
Speaker 2That's all we know . Bill Belichick great defense of mine . He was with the Giants way back in the day you know , freaking . Bill Parcells , you know great defense , you know all this stuff .
Speaker 1That's all I really knew about them .
Speaker 2Everybody got hurt . They're not going to win it .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2So funny thing is . So we're sitting there , you know , and this is leading up , I think it was like that Monday before the Super Bowl . Well , I was in the front section . My good friend Jason , he was in the back section . We were slow . We were slow in this towards the end .
Speaker 1Shout out Jason McGee . Yes .
Speaker 2And David Gwynn . He was bartending manager , so we're about to close the place now . Well , I said , and Jason said , hey , if you want to jet . Earlier I was like yeah , sure , he's . Like I'll just cover the front , which is really about a 30 minute difference , cause we were about shut anyway . He's like , hey , just clean all that . It's like cool , cause I was trying to get I forget what I had going on . So I was about to get Jason comes around that backside by table 40 .
Speaker 1We were talking about that area .
Speaker 2Back in the corner , dude , guess who the fuck is that ? I forget the table , table one , I don't know it's a table , it's just a little two-top table .
Speaker 1Jason's all geeking out , yeah .
Speaker 2Right in the front he's like dude , guess what ? Jason's a big Chiefs fan . He's always been he just one of those I had friends I grew up with . They hated the Cowboys so they took someone else . They're like all right , what's else regionally ? Yeah , so he was just a Chiefs fan .
Speaker 1He's always been a Chiefs fan way before they were decent .
Speaker 2Now he's happy , sort of Well , fuck , he's happy , who cares about this last one ? Jason's like dude . I was like what the fuck ? I just gave up my section for this shit . I was like holy shit , we walked by , I didn't want to bug him . Davey , great date . Davey's like we're closing the game . Davey's like we're closing this game . There's somebody trying to walk in . He's like we're closed . Emmett's like we're closing this gate . There's somebody trying to walk in . He's like we're closed . And Emmett's like hey , man , is it ? He's like no , no , we got you . So Davey gave him a triple crown yeah , triple crown on the rocks , and he had a hot dog .
Speaker 1No , you're locked in now .
Speaker 2We shut the gate . We're keeping the peasants away .
Speaker 1So no one's coming in there .
Speaker 2There's a couple people walking by because he was up front but the gate shut down . Yeah , a couple people are like we're closed . So , dude , we all come up front , sort of sweeping this . We just start bullshitting , talking old school Cowboys football , talking about the night . I was like well man , I was like dude . One of my all-time favorite moments was freaking winning the Super Bowl . That one , that was awesome . Super Bowl 27 against the Bills , what ? 52-17 . I mean , my favorite was the freaking going into San Francisco beating , fucking the 49ers NFC Championship , you know , to get to the Super Bowl , that was the biggest one . Because I was a little shit . I remember the fucking catch with my dad . My dad did not let me go to school . The next day I was crying my eyes out , fucking Dwight Clark catches that , oh macular reception .
Speaker 2Yeah , so it's not 81 , 82 season . We had a second grade or something . Yeah , I remember that shit . I was like let's go get children .
Speaker 1Just like the kids that I can give them .
Speaker 2Still , that was burning my brain too .
Speaker 1It's still too soon to talk about I'm sorry , we'll always be too soon . It's bullshit .
Speaker 2We could have gone on to Seattle , maybe , I don't know Whatever , but so yeah . So , dude , we sit with Emmett . He has three triple crown on the rocks . He was buzzed . He was talking about man . That night that we beat San Francisco , we had all that shit y'all had behind your bar , dude , we were lighting it up . So we just talked football , talked live . I said to you , like hey , where are you heading to ? You're still with the Cowboys , because later that year I think it was fall of 2002 .
Speaker 1When you went to Arizona .
Speaker 2You know , I think it was this last year with us where he got to beat Peyton's rushing title yeah , yeah here . I think it was against the Seahawks or something . And then I think the next year he did go to Arizona . I think I'd have to look that up , but that was his last year he was still with us .
Speaker 1I have a nice airport story about Emmitt's rushing title We'll get there , okay .
Speaker 2So he was on his way to the Super Bowl it was in New Orleans that year and I remember we said I was like dude , what I remember . We said I was like dude , what I was like dude , this is going to be a blowout . We were just like , yeah , he's like , what chances . And I'll never forget , he's like man . He was like , hey , bill Belichick's a great defense of mine , if he can stop that greatest show on turf of freaking the Rams , you know , kurt Warner , freaking Marshall Flaught , isaac Bruce , Torrey Holt a good defense , great cut Dick Vermeule , you know , they had a great team and you know , and he was just like , he's like I'll never forget , he put his hands out . He's like man . They got to start praying . He was pretty buzzed . He's like they got to start praying . And I'll never forget that .
Speaker 2Next Monday , back after the Super Bowl , freaking Jason's like I guess it was Motherfucker praying . I guess they listened to Emmett . Emmett gave them a job . But that was a cool story , just having that good intimate , you know intimate with Emmett talking with him . It was just sort of . You know , we didn't have stupid crazy fanboys , bullshit , we just talked to him for real .
Speaker 2Just talked to him like a bird , yeah , so that was a cool one . It was cool , like it's like dude a , he's a Texas legend . He's a cowboy , you know , so that was really cool . He's an NFL legend yeah , oh hell . Yeah , he's a football legend , so yeah , anyway , and of course it's here in his hometown . You know , well , it's not his hometown , I know it's from Pensacola , but you know he's , you know , oh yeah , homeboy Dallas , you know , and Davey and those guys I'm still great friends with to this day . I mean , we go on vacations , we do holidays together . We just went to Breckenridge , all three of our families , we all go out together and we always still talk about remember that time we shut the gate with them . So it's cool , you know , to get to talk about shit like that . Well , I mean , regular people don't get to have those moments .
Speaker 1You don't have the chances at a regular . Yeah , people will hop in , but , dude , if the airport is always open , the opportunity is just insane . At least celebrities are just my first year . I probably met 50 celebrities .
Speaker 2I was like what the fuck . And you couldn't name them all right now , until if I said Joe Schmoe , You're like ? Oh yeah , I did wait on that guy . Well , it was like whenever we had Jose on .
Speaker 1he was like you remember when , with Sean Lee and trying to make him drink , I was like God damn it .
Speaker 2I forgot about that Cause he was just sitting at the well and Jose does like Chris , where people order a water . He's always like water at the bar and I'm like dude , it's Sean .
Speaker 1And then he just kept harassing him and harassing Be like , come on , you want to drink it ? Dude , sean Lee's going . Oh shit , I didn't know that he was a giant . Yeah , yeah , yeah , I was like oh .
Speaker 2That's a giant man . But yeah man , so him if you want to get into boy bands .
Speaker 1Adventist Texas freaking .
Speaker 2Jordan , nott and New Kids on the Block . They were sort of like this is 2005 . He sits at the bar bar and I'm like that's the goddamn new kids on the block guys . What the fuck he says hey man , can I get a Heineken ?
Speaker 1He sat down .
Speaker 2He had his sister and his nephews , his family . They sat out at the table . He sat there , dude . He sat there and we bullshitted . For about three hours he was on a layout , it for about three hours . He was on a layover . We had a big Boston flight and so he was in and out . But one of the coolest things that happened to me freaking , god dang freaking . Oh my gosh , what's her name ? My brain's farting right now .
Speaker 1Um , ah , jesus , give me , give me some . Uh , one of her waitresses ended up .
Speaker 2He was like hey man , you got a lighter and you know she's like now , she's like early 40s . She was just like dude oh , I posted that guy , that's a little good and she was just like um Kim Tran .
Speaker 1Ah yeah , jesus' wife . No , no , no , that's Nancy . Nancy , excuse me .
Speaker 2I think Nancy and Kim are cousins , cousins , thank you Forget it . It's been a long time . So , kim , he's like hey , you go outside , you have a lighter . She's like I just went and fucking smoked outside with Jordan fucking Knight . She was like but it was Jordan fucking Knight , it was just cool . I was like dude . She was like oh my God , it was crazy . He came in . It was sort of lightly bullshit . He was just sort of dozing off at the bar . I was like I'm not fucking with you .
Speaker 2He was fucking like the Beatles . Back in the day that was when I was in high school I was like , yeah , whatever , I was in rock and roll .
Speaker 2I got into the grunge . I was in rock and roll . I got into the grunge . I wanted it , but it was cool having that . But cool thing I remember sitting and talking you know we're sort of BS in sports , talking about the Red Sox , you know baseball , this and then I said , hey , man , I got to ask you , you know , and I felt like you know , y'all just went nuts and just became celebrities overnight . And he said it's cool , it was like a junior reaction . He was just like man , it was crazy . He said it was , it was , it was , it was a curse and a blessing at the same time . He said , yeah , dude , I mean , he's like you know , these guys , we weren't like I'm put together . We were all from the same school . We grew up together . These , these boys , those guys , all from the same school . We grew up together . These boys , those guys , all those guys in that band , they grew up .
Speaker 1They didn't take us one by one yeah yeah , yeah , he was like .
Speaker 2We grew up together and so we were childhood , you know , and he's like you know we were popular around , we got popular around , you know . He's like dude , it was overnight , but we couldn't walk out of our damn house . We had to get bodyguards and he said it was cool . He's like yeah , dude , chicks , I was like man , like whoever , but he said , dude , we had to deal with that for five years . He's like driving crazy .
Speaker 2He's like living normally , he's like there's , you had 24 hours security . He said he just he didn't have a life . And I was like at the times I got into ma I had an agent at one time I was like I don't want to . That's why I ended up getting out of the job . I don't want , I don't even get on facebook . I want people to know what the fuck I'm doing . So you know it was crazy . So I'm getting that . You know , hearing that part of you know it's a lot . Certainly they were fucking crazy .
Speaker 2Nuts , yeah , popular at one time . I mean so , and I was just like , oh , that's cool , sort of talking , you know , sort of picking the brain of someone that got that popular . So I thought that was pretty cool . Um , the only other , brooke Burke . Ah , yes , brooke Burke . And I didn't know who she was when I was talking to her because she just started Wild On . Remember Wild On , oh geez . So at Chili's , my mom knows a hot chick's in my table . I don't know , I'm trying to make it so this chick , two girls are sitting there . You know , very nice tan complexion . They look like they just came from the beach . This was at Chili's . At Chili's Beach , it's like 2000 . And I was waiting . You know , waiting on them and everything .
Speaker 1I've heard this story , Blake , but go on . Go on John .
Speaker 2So these girls very good look . And they looked like they were very tired and you know , and they were having no makeup
A Terrifying Bomb Threat Incident
Speaker 2on , but just pure beauty . Anyway , they didn't need makeup , they were just wearing John . Were they beautiful ? Oh , they were beautiful , but so I'm just sitting there talking to them , whatever . And they were very good , they were nice . And then Brooke was talking . She's like yeah , we , uh , we back from like Brazil and we were . And I was like , oh , okay , cool , I didn't have no clue , you know . She's like yeah , I know we're actually gonna be to take a little break . Uh , she's like I'm heading back home . I forget , I don't know Florida , I don't even know . She's like we're gonna be heading over to .
Speaker 1Europe and I was like wow , I was like man , that's freaking cool .
Speaker 2I was like this girl can't ? She's only a couple years older than me and I was just like she . She can't be too much . I was like , what the hell does she do ? I didn't really ask . She was just like yeah , we work at this company , tour around , visit beaches and all this stuff she's paying out . It was just normal talk , didn't know anything about it . I was like man , that's freaking cool .
Speaker 1When you talk to people , I'm like what am I doing here ?
Speaker 2I need to do something else instead of freaking bartending . Wait , you know I'm always . You know it makes you goddamn damn , I need to get out of this , here I'm just not as hot as these chicks .
Speaker 2But you know , I don't know if people want to look at me . So she gives me her card and she and her , her , and I forget , man , dude , 25 years ago she was like hey , you know ? Hey , what's your name , john ? And I was like yeah , she shook my hand . She's really nice , just generally nice . I was like hey , you know . She's like hey , thanks for chatting with this , you know , hey , you know good luck with everything I said .
Speaker 2Oh , thanks . And she's like , hey , well , we need to head out . So it just said Brooke Burke E Entertainment . I was like , oh , I was like , oh , you work for E .
Speaker 2And she's like , well , hey , uh , my show comes on every like I don't know , tuesday night . Um , it's called wild on . And it's like , oh , I was like okay , I was like cool . She's like , yeah , check it out , it's on the e-channel , blah , blah , blah . I was like , okay , cool . So I'm with my ex-girlfriend and actually at this time joe wilson was living with my ex-girlfriend . They lived together , they were all friends way before yeah , so we all tell met her .
Speaker 1Yeah , well , sort of .
Speaker 2Actually , I met her and then I met Joe Wilson . Joe Wilson and I went to the same high school . He was four years younger than me but , joe , I got him into the airport . He did all this stuff . We're in there , me and Joe would have pizza night . We'd watch Friends , friends do this . Me and Joe were hanging out in one of the you know , and so we're sitting there hanging out my ex-girlfriend , we're all sitting there and , dude , I was like yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1Check . This thing called Wild On . We got to turn this off and Joe's like .
Speaker 2I think I know this show and I was like , yeah , this girl , I guess she's like the host , I don't know . She says she's going to be on it .
Speaker 2This chick comes out with a two piece freaking at a beach just talking about going out having fun , and and Mike's girlfriend was just looking at me and me and Joe were just Joe's , like dude , you waited on her . I was like holy shit , she's . So that was pretty cool , didn ? So that was pretty cool . Didn't know who she was at the first , but I know who she is now . She just told me she's been to a lot of beaches . I don't know .
Speaker 1That's like I think it was like the first , like probably the first week I was there . The Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Team oh , you did .
Speaker 2I dropped everything .
Speaker 1I dropped everything and called my ex-wife and I'm like you won't believe who's in here and she's like who I was like , uh , the wide traffic bikini team .
Speaker 2She's like click and then that's when Chris , you know , got a divorce .
Speaker 1I wasn't told a decade later .
Speaker 2Don't get mad at me , sorry Anybody that affected me , but yeah , so , dude , a lot of things you know . Sports , love sports , crazy sports moments . Yeah , a lot of crazy . I would say crazy . I don't know biggest sports moments I ever encountered at the airport . Yeah , so , first off , I was just talking about games , anything that was on .
Speaker 2One thing that was huge . I have never worked a Super Bowl because that's my national holiday . Over Christmas I always watched it with my dad . That was our thing . Ever since , I've seen every Super Bowl in my whole life I don't remember until maybe the late 70s Davey Glynn and I would work the Super . Bowl . Everybody knew Everybody that knew that worked would be like hey , yeah , dylan doesn't fucking work Super Bowls .
Speaker 1Someone's like no , he's working Super Bowls .
Speaker 2I'm like , oh , I'm fucking quitting
Unforgettable Sports Moments in Terminal E
Speaker 2. Okay , cool , I got my job back , Go ahead . I've never seen any Super Bowls at the airport . Three crazy , three crazy moments . I always love talking about telling people . One . So at Tagine 2010 . The World Cup .
Speaker 1So in US when it landed Donovan everybody was into that , holy shit we still got remember we had the Tagine shirts , was that ? The boo-boo zellas and all that ?
Speaker 2I think I can't I forget where it was at .
Speaker 1I don't know , that was the one that everybody was in on .
Speaker 2Oh they .
Speaker 2Irish Pub printed out all these cool . We had all our shirts , usa Seagame shirts and , you know , usa Blue , and then we had a 10 for me in 2010 , but that was Landon Don , I think . So , dude we're . I think the games were over in England or we were playing England , I cannot remember , but you know they were offset . You know , when they're somewhere else , I've never heard a freaking terminal , a roar , and you scored a goal against England . I think we tied the game up and you I was sitting . You know how to the inside , you walk out and there's tables , and then you're on the outside and you see everything .
Speaker 1It's a big open concert and you heard ?
Speaker 2I saw that score and everybody's like ah , and I've never heard a roar in a whole terminal . You heard a roar , it was just a vibration . I was like that's a big terminal , that's very wide open .
Speaker 1So I closed in , like some of the whole terminals .
Speaker 2Each of those terminals are a mile long . Oh yes , and that was insane . I was like , oh my , you could hear . It's like it traveled . I mean , everybody was watching , insane . Um , in my other two moments were at e12 . All with these were within a year of each other E-12 Terminal E at Vintage , texas , yeah , managing bartending , and we had a Boston flight . So this is 2004 World Series . Well , not the World Series yet . That whole freaking Boston coming back down three , yeah , so we had the game on it . One of those games went freaking , one in the morning , we didn't stay that late . But One of those games went freak , one in the morning , we didn't stay that late . But Big Poppy , that's pretty much what put him in the game , freaking , all the things Made a name for it .
Speaker 2He's already sort of a big name , but he came to Boston . I think it was in Minnesota . He came to Boston and freaking that World Series just put him on the map . And I remember there was a Boston flight . We had that game on Joe .
Speaker 2I was working with Joe freaking all the time over there and , holy shit , big Pop and freaking Jax at home were in that fucking place , napkins flowing , just fucking beers getting spit on , and that was a crazy world series because it's one of those where the only people going for the Yankees you could get a map of the fucking god damn whole world and the only people the people right there in New York , everybody was pulling for Boston . It was . It was fucking a great time , dude , and that was . I don't know if y'all seen the documentary of Boston Red Sox . It's just fucking awesome . But them coming back on the Yankees , that was the World Series itself . Of course they went on , played St Louis Cardinals , wiped them out and that the Yankees with the whole curse of the Bambino and all that shit . That was really cool . Now , that was over a couple of days , but that whole being in there at that time , well , just the energy of it .
Speaker 1Oh no , you're right , dude , you just feel it , yeah .
Speaker 2Definitely man . No , you're right , dude , the energy that's the right word for that , because the energy in there was insane , Probably the craziest . I don't know if it was the craziest moment , but it was just one instant . I'm not the biggest golf guy , but the Masters in 2005 . Everybody tunes into the Masters .
Speaker 1They turn into nothing else there's nothing else going on that day .
Speaker 2I don't work Sundays , but I work that Sunday . I do , I work that Sunday .
Speaker 1Really yes .
Speaker 2I won't work , but it's not football season . Whatever , I worked it so I was managing bartending . You know , sitting there , the place is packed and dude , you know when Tiger's coming down the stretch and he's in the run , when he's got that Sunday red on the whole terminal stops , damn right Especially at his peak . Oh yeah , and that was right there at his peak . So you know you have people . He's one of those people who are coming off the plane going what's going on ?
Speaker 1What's Tiger doing ?
Speaker 2What hole is he on ? So that place is packed but you couldn't watch it on the plane .
Speaker 1There's no .
Speaker 2Wi-Fi to watch it or anything . God dang , it was hole 16 . The famous fucking chip in yeah , fucking , he chips that thing in that ball , rolls down the Nike symbols right there , slowly rolls in that ball dropped . It was a commercial and yeah , it wasn't a roar of a crowd like a whole terminal , but God damn , I've never felt the vibration . That place fucking erupted Fucking people are slapping my hand hard . I was like fuck that hurt and the dude over there .
Speaker 2I fucking dug the hole . I think Joe was working . He was just like what the fuck ? It's Tiger Woods dude . That was a cool moment to be part of that . See that , I did see his comeback . He did in 19 when he won the match . I was at home fucking sitting there trying not to cry . That was emotional because like same spot he hugs his son or he hugs his dad when he first you know .
Speaker 1So you know I always like that was cool at the airport being part of that , the vibe , like you said yeah like the energy , the you know , and having all these people don't even know everybody's everybody hugging each other yeah , it's like yeah , you know people can from all walks of life can come together over you know special sports moments and things like that moments in history and yeah it's amazing .
