How did we end up here?

In the very first episode of The Blue Collar Breakdown, Aundre and James introduce themselves and explain how two blue-collar guys with backgrounds in the military, law enforcement, crane service, and HVAC somehow ended up behind microphones.

From insane service calls and sketchy situations to hilarious work stories, dad life chaos, and the realities of working with your hands, this episode sets the tone for what the podcast is all about — real conversations, real laughs, and zero filters.

If you’ve ever worked long hours, dealt with crazy customers, lived off gas station food and caffeine, or just enjoy honest conversations with hardworking people, you’re in the right place.

Clock out, crack a laugh, and welcome to The Blue Collar Breakdown.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Welcome. Welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Andre Scott. James, co-host. Introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Hey, this is James Lee. Co-host. Or the host, depending on which episode you listen to.

SPEAKER_04 1:00

Yeah. So who we are, you know, I'm Andre. My background stems from started off in the Marine Corps. I was uh 1341, heavy equipment mechanic. Uh attached with Marshock Third Marines. Um after the Marine Corps, I got out, moved to moved to this state.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Well, well, you know what, Andrew, let's let's go back a little bit further. Tell tell the tell the audience where you're originally from, how you got into the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Start from there.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

So from Utah, good old Batab Utes. Um was playing rugby and football. Thought it was well, uh that's what I thought my calling was, actually. It was so uh ended up waiting around for scholarships and whatnot, and uh waited and waited, and I graduated high school a little early, so I was like, well, it's either two options. I can either go to the Marine Corps or I can go play college football. And time came and passed, ended up going to the Marine Corps when I was 17, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Well, yeah, I thought I thought people from Utah had like ten wives and ten girlfriends, man. I not you had all that.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

I was an exception. I was the only colored brother in there, you know what I mean? I think out of a class of like a hundred and something, I was it was me and this uh how do you put it? Second to last? Yeah. Me and this other kid. He was kind of the the special needs department, and we were the only black kids in the school. So you have like the big black guy, football player, and then you had some not so athletic.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Wait, was that Lovenz?

SPEAKER_04 2:55

Yeah it was was indeed Lavenz, but I forgot about old boy, old mancy boy.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Alright, so so so uh af after high school you joined the Marines and then and then what happened?

SPEAKER_04 3:10

Uh so I go to boot camp and then uh actually my Marine Week, I received a letter from Texas Tech saying, hey, we want you to come play for us. Ooh, okay. But uh already signed the good old papers with Uncle Sam and Too late to back out, huh? Oh yeah, the instructor said, Hey, congratulations, but you're a piece of shit now. I was like, hell yeah, dude. Fuck yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Um So what happens if you decide at the last minute be like, yeah, this isn't for me. You can't. You can't?

SPEAKER_04 3:41

You signed an obligation for five for four years.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Oh shoot. So you you can't go A-WOL, huh?

SPEAKER_04 3:46

That that's exactly what it's called. AWOL.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Absent without leave. And then you what is it like? Is it jail time? Like, yeah, it's it's it's like marine prison?

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Yeah, you go right to the brig and you serve out the rest of your contract. And it's it's almost equivalent to having like a felony on your record. Oh, damn, okay. So it's pretty much it's pretty much a done deal once you sign those papers and head to boot camp.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

So only if you waited a couple of months before you signed up, you could have went to Texas Tech, huh? Texas Tech.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Oh damn, that's old T. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

So after that, you know, I did my time. Um I was married. First time married, and then I had a beautiful girl named Leah. And then we got out, she was a Marine as well. We got out, moved to Illinois.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

What brought you to Illinois from from California?

SPEAKER_04 4:45

Uh the ex-wife did.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Oh, because her family was out here, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:49

Yeah, she's from Old Elgin area.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Old Elgin.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

And I had no idea Illinois was even part of the States, to be honest with you. I'd never been, never done nothing. And sure enough, I came over here and after the trials and tribulations, ended up getting a divorce, and and then uh moved into good old Elburn. Yeah, moved to Elburn, then we got divorced shortly after that. We split very amicably though. Like, you know the story, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

But the audience don't know the story.

SPEAKER_04 5:22

Yeah, well our divorce ended up taking like what 30 minutes via Skype with the judge. And yeah, dude, I was a a solo, solo dolo dude.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

And then um, you know, continued going through the woes of life and uh being a single father and taking care of my daughter, and then um that's when I that's when I dove, I started using the 9-11 bill and progressing my my career, my career goals. I went to Universal Technical Institute in California for welding and process, welding and uh processes, whatever. And then um when we became out here, um I started I had a few welding jobs here and there, and then became certified, a certified welder, and then um pole vaulted through other jobs. It was kind of like it was hard for me to hold down a job for a while, just because like so much was going on, and I just my head wasn't in it, and then ended up they're like, hey, you still have time left on your 9-11. So I went back to UTI and and it was in like Lyle or whatever, I think it was, yeah, Lyle, and then pursued automotive, diesel, but I already had all that stuff for my background in the military, and um fast forward, um started working for like Rush, um Rush truck centers, and then um other semi-truck gigs, and uh worked for my my good buddy Nas, you know Nas. He's an Albanian dude. Uh I'll give him a little shout out. A little Truck Brothers.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Albanian dudes, man, they make good uh what did they make? The gummy gummy worms. Albanians make good gummy worms, man.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

Hey, gummy worms.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Yeah. You never tried Albanian gummies? They're famous for them Albanian gummies. I mean, they come in these like these white package. Dude, uh Jewel Lasco, Walmart, they all sell them. That sounds sketchy as hell. Hey man.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

It's like the 847 the bottom of the bag.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Hey, some of some of these Albanians may be the best carn artist, but they make the best gummy beds, man. I'll tell you that.

SPEAKER_04 7:39

Yeah, they're always looking for a deal. They always looking for a damn deal. But yeah, fast forward. Um went through the whole semi-truck stuff, uh, got certified ASC certified uh ASC certifications and um, you know, progressed that way and got a good op good opportunity through Nas and Eugene and them. And then um fast forward to where I'm at now as a Powell finger technician, I'm a crane mechanic. Um I'm a mobile mechanic, went through all the training and hoopla, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

How how'd you get into it? How how do you go from welding to diesel mechanic to what you're doing now? Does it all kind of tie in together?

SPEAKER_04 8:28

I would say it's almost the same field, but the opportunities just kept presenting themselves to like progress better and into better jobs, because there was only like one or two times where I actually took a pay cut. Every other time was a pay increase, pay increase, and that's what really drove my drive to keep pursuing it.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Cause because it's uh you you go from engine mechanic, like diesel mechanic to hydraulics as like two different fields.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

Yeah, and now as you bring that up, that they are married at where I work now, so like obviously being a crane mechanic, it it's all the cranes are hydraulically, they're all hydraulics, and but obviously they're right off of a PTO, which is engine driven, transmission driven, whatever you wanna, whoever you're asking really, but it's transmission-driven PTOs. But you can't have one without the other, you know. You gotta have something to move a pump, you gotta have something to move hydraulic fluid, so on and so forth. Right. And so now pal finger technician, pretty happy where I'm at, you know. Um you know, I'm married again with uh with a new son. Year, about a year, he's almost a year in July.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

This is why I know God has humor. Yeah, this is what I know because when I see your life right now, that's like God God's comedy started from heaven, man. No, that's the truth. From where you see me before from how we started, yeah. How you got here? Just like God's got humor, man. He's got he's comical, bro.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

Shit, yeah, he is. He's you know what I'm saying? He's cooking my head. But yeah, now uh that's me in a nutshell. You know, we'll probably get more into you know our backs first more, but well, let's go with you, man. What tell me tell me the the journey of old Jimmy Lee, James Lee.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Well, mine goes back way, way, way back. But um started out of high school, you know, I always always wanted to It's a funny thing, is like I always wanted to go into the armed forces. You know, the whole like special forces, you know, Delta Force and all that. I grew up watching Rambo and Commando, and that's what I wanted to do. The secrets bro shit. Yeah, man, like Navy SEAL. I thought that was like badass. That was my passion. But then, you know, coming from uh like a I guess you would say 1.5 or first generation immigrant from Asia, you know, them Asian Asian parents, man, especially my mom, rest her soul. She she pretty much threatened me. She says, if you become government property, I'm gonna disown you as a son. So I'm like, shit. Alright, well, I guess going to the Marines ain't ain't part of my option. Cause I hey no cab. I went I did the whole junior R O T C and everything. Right. In high school. I was like, because I that's what I was prepared for, you know? Yeah. I hate studying. I was I was the outlier, man. We you know, Asians are supposed to be smart and like good at math. I shit, horrible. I sucked at every one of them. I hate studying, I hate math. But you're Asian though, like that's that's exactly that's in your blood. It is, but it was forced upon, you know.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

So I'm like, man, I'm I'm one of those guys that needs to be free and you know, give me a gun and say, go in there and take care of the enemies. Yeah, take care of some enemies, man. I'll be like, yes, sir, you know?

SPEAKER_04 11:58

Top them up, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Top them up. I you know, it's a funny story. Uh back in Vietnam War, the um they call it the rock, the the Korean army, the public army, right? Um some of the stories you see you hear is that these guys would go into into the woods at nighttime, like with just like a knife and an underwear.

unknown 12:18

Right?

SPEAKER_02 12:18

And they'll just shit themselves. They'll come back out after a couple hours later during daylight with like a ring of ears. Like they would they would kill them with knives and cut their ears off and then take them back as trophies. Yeah, that's what freaking needs to do.

SPEAKER_05 12:35

Shit.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

That's what they would do. So I guess I guess one of my, you know, my past life, I guess that gene is still in me, and that's this one I wanted to pursue. But but uh long story, long story short, that that never happened, right? So I went to college, which is I personally think college is a big waste of time, bro. It it's a huge scam. Uh you go in there to to earn a degree about something, but then you take all these bullshit courses, that has nothing to do with like who the fuck cares about theater? Yeah. Like, that's one of my lectures I had to take. Theater. I failed it so many times because that shit class only starts at 7.30 in the morning. Theater. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

You failed in the city. I feel I failed theater three times, man. I don't fucking you just gotta show up. It's like PE. Yo, it's it started as the only class.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

It started at 7.30. And I'm like, what the fuck? So I failed it the first time, then I withd I I was f on the verge of failing the second time, so I had to withdraw. Oh geez. Then I took it the third time, and I was just like, fuck it. I I couldn't, I failed it. Theater. I was like, but anyways, I think college is a big scam for me. I mean, that's just my thought. Uh I tell it to my kids. I said, dude, if you're gonna go to college to be uh liberal arts major or business major, I was like, don't go. Yes. I was like, it's the the only reason you should go to college is if you're gonna be like an engineer, like you know, you're gonna build bridges that I'm gonna be driving on, yeah, go to college. Yeah, you can't post that you're gonna be worth anything, go to college. Right. If you're gonna open up my heart and and fix my heart, go to college. Yeah, it's a college. Right. And not no night college, right? Right? But other than that, like, oh, I'm gonna be uh, you know, a computer science, you know, learn cultural. I was like, bro, there's AI who does that. Oh, yeah. Get a certificate.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

You know they you know they have YouTube courses now?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

That's crazy, man.

SPEAKER_04 14:31

How do you learn how to become like a YouTuber?

SPEAKER_02 14:33

That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, look at it now, man. Like, with all this AI stuff going on right now, like anything that we need that could be learned in school, could be done in minutes. Yeah. Could that like website developer? Who needs website developer? You put you tell Chat GPT, hey, build me a website for this, and then it tells you the whole code. You copy it, you paste it to a host, you know, website host, and then it builds it for you. Yeah. Like this is nuts. But yeah, man, that's what I wanted to do. Uh, but that's not that's not what happened. I wasted four years. Actually, I went to college for seven years. Did you know that? God damn. Seven years, bro. I went to college three years, failed all three years.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

You just give it you just giving money away.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

You got a scholarship really? Yeah, well, it's called uh it's called Grant. It's called the Grant plus loan, student loan. Uh huh. So I was up in uh Buffalo at the time, Buffalo, New York. Then my ass moved out to Georgia.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

From north from north to south.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

I went to Georgia, then I couldn't get into any colleges. I had to start from community school, community college, right? Did the whole two-year route, start from scratch, then went into another four-year university. So I'm like, I was to seven years of my life in college just to end up with a degree with risk management. What the fuck is risk management, bro? I manage risk. Yeah, it's called stay off the fucking danger, man. Like, don't do stupid shit. That's your risk.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

You're making those work workplace videos. What is it?

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Shaking hands with danger. Yeah. Exactly. Don't stick a fork in the outlet.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Oh no. Like, oh, hey, when you open all the cabinet doors, your cabinet's going to fall forward. Yeah. Bolted to the wall. Like that shit. Like, come on.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

You're you're following the people that are policies.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

So that's what happened. And then I get into a field that has nothing to do with risk management, which is banking. Right?

SPEAKER_04 16:43

Oh Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

So I get into banking as a credit analyst. I thought I was a shit, man, making 32,000 a year. I'm the shit, man. I had my own business card that says James Lee, credit analyst, you know, for so and so bank, right? I'm like, I'm the shit. I was like giving out, hey, here's my business card. Hey, hey, hey, man, here's my business card. And people are looking at me like, what a fucking tool. What the fuck? Fucking tool. Credit analyst. Like, I think about it now. I'm like, gosh, what an idiot, man. How stupid could I look giving out business cards just to random people?

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Like, hey, hey Shahadi taking this. Are you some credit, girl? I'll look at it for you.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

But yeah, man, life life's been life's been interesting for me, man. Uh, the reason why I also say God's comical because uh through all that interweaving of life, you know, God takes me to the left, to the right, up and down, here and there, end up meeting you, right? That's true, the best part of your life. The funniest part of my life because here's the thing you were going through the same shit that I was going through.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, we literally crossed it like some fucking like literally the fucking portions of our life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Literally. And and the way we met was you had this the most obnoxious Mr. Bishi, what is it? Um Lance Revolution. Yeah, and I said, Oh my gosh. That time I was a cop, I was a deputy sheriff, and I had night shift on my was 6 p.m. to six a.m. Okay? And so the time that you were leaving to go to your UTI. Yeah, metal school, yeah. And you would you you would just rev your freaking your your race car. Your modified race pipe. That thing would just the the the what is it, your tailpipe would just reverate or reverb through the walls of my house. That was a tome exhaust, that was. And I could feel my pillow vibrate, and it will wake me up every morning, like when you're during your like deep REM sleep, like eight o'clock.

SPEAKER_04 19:03

Yeah, because you were at the bottom of the hill, so like I'm in first gear, and it's I'm like, Yeah, so it's like trying to slow me down. Uh huh. Cause I was like, it's still cold too, so a cold start literally would shake my glass in my house.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

I was like, this motherfucker, who is this guy? I'm gonna catch him one day. And then I waited on the day I waited for this fucking guy, right? And I f and I s and I heard, I follow that that sound all the way to your house. So I had two choices. I said, one, I'm gonna fucking knock on this door and be a you know dickhead cop and just be like, you need to fucking do something about your shit because it's waking the shit out of me every time I sleep. Or I wanna try the nice guy route. Hey, what kind of car is that? You know, like some bullshit stuff.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

Yeah, that's how you that's how you popped up.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

But that's what I did. I said, you know what, let me try the nice guy route and see how that works. I'm glad I did.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Yeah, because I'm gonna spit in your mouth.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

I'm glad I did. I'm glad I went out, I went out to the the nice guy route because um I was expecting like a dickhead to come out.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

And just give me attitude, like, who the fuck are you?

SPEAKER_04 20:18

I'd be able to gaslit you a little bit. I'd be like, oh, it's not me. Brother, it it might be just you. I don't have a Prius.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

No, because I remember you leave your your garage door open all the time, and I was gonna shove stuff in your exhaust when you weren't looking, you know what I mean? Yeah, but nah, I chose the nice guy route. But I'm glad I did because um and this is this is why it's so important not to judge a book by its cover. Because from that one interaction, um, I I think we became pretty close. I mean, we we've had some gaps you know over the years.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Yeah, we're kinda like we kind of fell out of touch with each other.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

You did your own thing, I had my own thing, but then we we kind of reconnected and and came back and you just kind of picked up where we left off.

SPEAKER_04 21:02

Yeah, yeah, like it was literally the same day.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

You know what I mean? So so that's how we met, and then um there were times, like I said, there were times where we were going through the same, you know, crossroads in life, and I ended up living with you. Yeah, right? I came in, I said, Yo, man, I need a place to stay. Yeah, it's just I just got kicked out of my house. Yeah, literally, like we're we were like four houses apart or five houses apart, right?

SPEAKER_04 21:26

It was almost the same time that um that you my daughter's possible, yeah. Cause uh I had that big huge house just myself. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

And no Vance wasn't there yet. Vance wasn't there yet, right? That's right, you were there by yourself. Um and you had two dogs. I remember Romeo and uh Triton. Romeo and Trit. And yeah, man, you were going through some heavy shit mentally. Yeah. You're going to some heavy shit mentally, and I was going through some heavy shit too, and we kind of leaned on each other. Yeah. You know? Um and then we came through, man. We came out.

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Out. But um, yeah, that's how we met. And just for just for the viewers, hey, we never we never fucked. Nope. We never fucked. No, no, no. He tried to touch me a few times.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

No, no, no hole to no no hole to pole. Yeah. Alright, none of that pole to no no pole to pole or hole to hole. None of that. We had our own rooms. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Yeah, because there that house had what? Five rooms? Yeah, it had four bedrooms. Four bedrooms, yeah. Right? Yeah. And she was it was a big fucking house.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

It was a big house, man. Full basement. It had uh it had two like dining areas.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

Two large dining areas, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

And then the massive kitchen. Yeah, kitchen was pretty big, the backyard was open.

SPEAKER_04 22:40

I mean I was living like fucking uh a rapper in the suburbs. You were? You were like rapper of the birds.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

But yeah, now then um then yeah, and then we kind of went on our way and then we reconnected and decided, you know, the best way to do is to uh come together and let's uh tell the story, man.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Yeah, yeah, now uh you wanna touch on some of your like because you you touched on being a a cop, the fuzz, and then we haven't gotten any of your HVAC or anything.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Oh yeah, so funny story, uh I mean I'm just gonna get real and raw. So after being a cop, the only reason I I would have stayed in the field. I mean, here's the here's the backstory. I I would have stayed in the field if I thought that it was um what I thought it would be of being a cop. You know, I I thought it was a lot of camaraderie, I thought there's a lot of brotherly, you know.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

Yeah, it's like the off-rand military. Right. Yeah, like you know your frosted flakes, which is like the Marine Corkers are the best, and then you have like the police department, which is like Flakes of Frost or whatever the they call them, the little generic General Mills brand.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Yeah, yeah, right? But it's not. It's not being a cop is is very lonely because on the outside you have this whole facade of brotherly love and you know brotherhood, you know, one unit, but it's not. Everybody likes to throw everybody under the bus is because the it it's the way the the the police force is designed, you know? Because command staff, and here's the thing it all has to do with who's getting sued, right? Right, yeah, Popo always getting sued. So who's getting sued? And that drives fear into the command staff, and the command staff always gotta find an escape goat, who to blame, right? Not all, but most, right? So, because of that, the cops are under a lot of pressure saying they don't want to be the one, they don't want to be the escapegoat. Right. So if they have a chance to flip that and and point at somebody else who can take the fall, they'll do that. Right? So so you're you're always looking over your back, not from not only from you know the public that wants to kill you while you're on the you know, you know, you're on the force, but also from your own whatever, your own uh comrades, right? Yeah, your own brothers. Your own brothers that wants to throw you under the bus. Yep. But like, oh yeah, Lee did this or Lee did that. Like I just I just went and backed him up. Like I didn't know what was going on, you know? Like if there's a public complaint or something saying, like, oh, you know, this officer inappropriately touched me, blah blah blah, right? Rather than saying, no, that's a lie, it's like I I don't know. I wasn't there. It's like motherfucker, you were there next to me on the call, bitch.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

You mean it was right there, motherfucker? The fuck? Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Like, do you leave that out in the report? Right. Like, oh, at 0600 hours when I upon arrival, you know, Officer Lee was uh handcuffing this woman on the ground, and like, no, motherfucker, like you helped me handcuff this woman. Like, you had your knee on a goddamn net. Yeah, but you know what I'm saying, like like it's it's I mean, I'm just using that as an uh as a as an example, but yeah, man, so it wasn't it wasn't what I thought it was. So, but anyways, I got fired, bro. I got I got fired from my job. Basically, they asked me to leave, or you're gonna get fired because I don't know. I thought I violated office of safety, but they probably had another slew of bullshit stuff.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

There's always something something in the background. But after that, I was just like, man, that fuck with this cop's bullshit. It ain't for me, man. So then I went to um I I tried the corporate route a little bit for a few years.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

That's why you did the insurance stuff.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Yeah, I did insurance stuff. I worked for another company. I can't say the name because you know it might come back and bite my ass for you know defamation, so I'm not gonna name names. Yeah, but I tried it and I was like, you know what? This working for somebody, you know, being told what to do, went to sleep, went to shit, went to work, went to eat, and I'm like, fuck this shit. This ain't for me. That's the that's the Marine Corps in a nutshell. Oh that's shit. They hold your ass cheeks apart and say, alright, bullish motherfucker. Yeah, but then they give you an exit out to go kill some shit.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Oh, yeah, yeah. Then you get to take all that built-up frustration.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah, frustrations, then you you you make some shit happen. Yep. But in the corporate world, you don't. You know, you you're kind of like you're a slave, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:24

It's a modern day slavery. The ladder game. What does it call it? The ladder to success or some bullshit where you get the corporate ladder.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Corporate, yeah. Don't get me wrong, you know. Some people that's they they love that stuff. Right? Yeah, it fits them. Yeah, they thrive in that environment, right?

SPEAKER_05 27:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

For for me, it it doesn't work. And and here's why, because I think there's a for me, I think there's a lot of inefficiencies when I see corporate structure. There's like that upper management, middle management, assistant middle management, then you got your supervisors, then you got your teammates. I'm like, the fuck you need all that shit. Yep. Right? Exactly. So that gets frustrating because like then if you talk to somebody like oh, you skipped the chain of command, and you then I'm like, fuck, it's like just like the military. Maybe that's why you know God says, you know, military isn't for you, right? Maybe God spoke to my mom saying no, because I can't take that shit. But anyways, um, I tried that and I was like, you know, I need I need something that I can own uh while my body is still capable. I mean, if I was a cripple, I couldn't do it. So I went to trade school, man. Yeah, put myself to a trade school, um, found a good good um, I guess you would say a state funded program where it paid for my trade school. Uh went in and learned HVAC, and then now that's what I'm doing, you know? Yeah. Learning and learning the trade, and I haven't done it for a long time, but I'm still in it, learning it. I love it. Pay shit, hours along, rough on my body, but guess what, man? Keeps me in shape. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

Yeah, that's the truth. That's the truth. Now, we came together, you know, James, you and me, we, you know, I kind of I kind of threw the idea of like, hey man, well, a while ago, actually, because I started a podcast, you know, there's like some true crime bullshit.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Hey, I liked it. I think you should have kept going. I liked it.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

But I I kind of I haven't really, you know, lanced that one completely off. I'm still, you know, I I love, you know, I love true crime and doing my my book stuff and whatever, but um, but I was like, you know what, James, fuck. I want to have a lighthearted podcast where we could come together, shoot the shit, and then, you know, you had your ideas about the podcast, and like we kind of just merged our ideas and married them together, and we finally pulled the trigger and came together. And now we're here in my fucking marine room and fucking finally doing this, we've been waiting for it. And but now we we're starting to line things up, we're coming together, getting this podcast together, and you know, I think if we stay consistent with it, it will you know, we'll have we'll have a good time, you know. And um and yeah, so I feel like that's what we're we're here to do. Get some content for it, and uh, you know, build a podcast, build a little something that people can come together, relate to, and just feel like, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

So now that now that the audience has a uh a brief version of, you know, how how we met, a little bit about us, you know, what we do and stuff. Um let's let's start talking about some of the the crazy stories, because I know I got a lot being a cop, but not a lot, but a few that I can share. Right. Um, I'm sure you got one in your marine days and your you know in your tech days, so so is you know, so do I. So let's let's give them like um some some content as to you know what the hell we do in our jobs, what we fight, uh face, right? And I'm sure a lot of them can relate as well. So I'll give you an example. Okay. So what I'll give you a cop story, a real quick cop story, and this is true story. All my stories are true, a little exaggerated, right? Yeah, that's the best way to get them out. But but it but true. So um normally I would you know have a 12-hour shift at 6 p.m. to six a.m. But on this particular day, uh I took uh another shift on my day off, which is a day shift, so I can make some overtime, you know? Right. And it was during it was 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. So it was about 2 o'clock, I would say, when school was coming out. I was at a beat uh in my beat, and it was about school was coming out, and I was just um you know, parked next to a stop sign, so you know, make sure police presence near school likes, they like that stuff, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. People people feel safer, they don't, you know, people don't drive fast and stuff like that, right? So, you know, I parked police presence, right? I wasn't hiding, nothing. Yeah. Just whatever, doing my thing, and all of a sudden this uh black uh Jeep Grand Cherokee with uh temp tags, uh-huh. Blew a stop sign, just went free right in front of me, right? In the intersection, right in front of me. And I didn't want to pull him over, I was just gonna let him go. Right? Because it was it wasn't he wasn't going fast, it was just like kind of rolling stop. Right, right. But then all the parents were like, I can see that they were looking at me, right?

SPEAKER_03 32:26

They're like, what are you gonna do about it, huh?

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Right with my tag fade and yeah. I was like, oh shit, okay. So I follow him and I, you know, pull him over. I was gonna give him a warning and let him go, you know? Right. Again, he was like, it was a rolling stop, right? It wasn't like he wasn't driving like 50 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

You got those carrions right there, like, hey, you better go fuck it.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

Shoot him, he's right, he might be blind, he shoot his ass.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

So I I pull him over, but then man, as soon as I get out of my car, he had his all his windows. That was a nice day, right? Nice summer day. I can smell that weed, that marijuana from where I am. That one's gotta be at least like 20 feet away. Ganja man. I smell that thing strong, and I was just like, and right now they don't do it anymore. You can't, you know, pull them over because you smell weed because everything's legal, right? Right, yeah. Right? You can still you can still have consumables, right? You can consume a certain amount. So you can't just like that's not enough probable cause to search and seize the car and stuff like that. So that's what I've heard now. But when I was a cop back then, you can right just from the smell, you can pull people over, you can search the car and shit like that, right? But I smell it, that thing was strong. So I go up to him and I, you know, it was a young guy, right? Young young guy. Black dude? Yeah, black dude. I was a little bit of black neighborhoods. Usual, usual suspect. Young, young, young black guy, right? I go, hey man. I said, I I and I cordial, I said, hey, this is I said, this is Deputy James, this Deputy Lee from So and So County. Uh the reason I pulled you over is because you ran a stop sign. You didn't completely stop. And normally, I'm not really a stickler for it, but you did it right in front of me when everybody was when kids were out of school, right? So just out of public safety, I wanted to pull you over and make sure that you're okay, right? Maybe there's a medical emergency. So, with that being said, I was like, hey, can I see your driver license and insurance, right? So he gives me his driver license and insurance. Oh shit, right? I run him clean record, not a single speedy ticket. No zero, it's zero wrap sheet, right? No criminal records, nothing. Okay? Clean record. And the and the insurance was current, and he just bought the car, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:43

So there's a legit, too legit, he's too legit, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Okay. So then I look, I peek in the back seat, and there's a a brown bag, okay? Yeah, and a backpack, right? Yeah. So um, you know, I run him, right? And I said, hey, I say, hey, if everything checks out, I don't know, you know, I'm gonna let you go with the warning, okay? Everything checks out. So, you know, put his mind at ease, right? Right. So this is how this is how some fucking kids are so stupid, okay? I I walk up to him, okay? I don't I I have his uh license in my hand and stuff. I walk up and say, hey, hey, hey, you you checked out, you're pretty good, you man. Hey, you got a clean record. You know, I don't want to ruin it. I'm gonna give you, you know, I'm gonna let you go with the warning, but say, hey, hey, quick question. That's just I say, quick question. Yo, whatever you got in the backseat, man, that smells good. That's some good shit, man. That smells good. Like, that is that is some high quality stuff, bro. I mean, you know, like marijuana's legal in the state of Illinois, right?

SPEAKER_03 35:43

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Right? So I was like, where'd you get that, man? Because I and he's like, oh, oh, and he he started puffing his chest. He goes, Oh, oh, I got a supplier in Colorado that gives me this stuff. And I said, Yeah, like how much you got in there, man? He's like, Oh, I just I just I got I don't know, a little over maybe 600 grams. I'm like, God, 600 grams of weed is a lot, bro. That's the whole Ziploc bag and a half, man. Shoot his ass. So I go, what do you what do you have so much? He's like, oh, I just I just give it out to people. Oh not only he got over the legal limit, now he's he's he incriminated incriminated himself for distribution. Okay. I was like, nah, man, you might have to take a look. He's like, yeah, he reaches back he reaches back, takes out his he picks up his backpack, right? Yeah, he opens it. Not there's a scale in there.

SPEAKER_04 36:44

And a scale. He because he doesn't want to overgive, because he gives it on for free, was what it's sounding like. Wait, wait.

SPEAKER_03 36:49

There's a scale, there's baggies.

SPEAKER_04 36:51

He's a weed santer.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Yeah. So I go, damn, bro. I was like, oh yeah, that's right, I forgot it. Let me get you a license. So I go back, I call for backup. Okay? Yeah. Because he don't suspect it. I call for backup, and then backup comes along. And I was like, I gotta get this guy out of the car, right? Yeah. Because it I you know, so I was like, hey, hey, is that your temp tag in the back? And he goes, Yeah, yeah. Like, hey, hey, come on for a second. Hey, show me, show me this. I think I think something's wrong with this tag number. I was like, You sure where'd you get this? He goes, I just got it like two weeks ago at a dealership. I was like, ah, dude, you gotta show me this. So he gets out of the car, right? Again, I gotta lower the the risk factor, right? Yeah. So he gets out of the car. I I go say, hey, shut your car off. You know, I don't want fumes and stuff, you know, environmental. Yeah, I'll do it. Yeah, gotcha. Just shut it off. And then, hey, show me the show me this. I'm gonna tell I'm gonna show you something. So he comes back out, walks me to the back of the car, and then I tell him, I go, hey, listen, man. I said, you're under arrest. You go to jail, bitch. I said, I said, you're under arrest. I say for for for what, you know, I I told him told him the crime. You're gonna fucking retard. Right. And then because my backup came and say you're under arrest for that. So turn around, put your hands behind your back, and I'm gonna explain to you how the process works, okay? Alright? And it's and it's uh win-win situations for everybody. Do you understand? And he goes, Okay. So I cough him, I check his pockets, dude had a lot of cash in his in his jacket. So he's like, Oh, that's my rent money. I'm gonna give it to my mom. I'm like, yeah, okay, whatever. From the green man. So I take pictures of everything, and then I take them. I call our NARC department. Okay. N shall narcs? No, no, no. We have a separate NARC department. Oh, the NOD. With the undercover. There's a Narc department. Yeah. The Narcs have a NARC department. Yeah, so we have an undercover NARC department. So I call up one of the guys and I say, hey, listen, um, there's a guy here. Atina. Come. I said, there's a guy here that I just I just arrested, right? 18-year-old, clean record, nothing. He's got no criminal record, okay? He's just been he's just been um arrested for having, you know, I told him, copious amount of marijuana. I gotta add that to my fucking repertoire. And and and distribution, right? So that's a felony, bro. It's like a class Yeah, it's a class three felony, I think. I believe. Correct? I'm sure our viewers can correct me. Uh, but it's a felony, and I was like, do you want to use him as your, you know, as your informant? Because he's got a supplier here that supplies him, right? Bro, you probably could have got a haul from him.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

Like, uh, hey man, I'm trying to get me some give me his give me bro's number and I'll cut you in a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

So no, so I said, I said, listen, I said we were right at the jail, right? About to pull in and do the whole booking process. And this is what I told him. I said, listen. You can work with our NARC department, and this is the contact info, right? Yeah. He confirmed that once you reach out to him and you work with him, that this never happened. We're gonna confiscate all your weed, you know, all your marijuana and your cash and everything. Right? But you can get in your car and go home.

SPEAKER_04 40:16

Get the fuck out of here.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

I said this will all disappear. No felonies, no jail time, no prison, nothing. You you got a clean record. But you just need to promise that you're gonna be working, you're gonna be an informant for our dark NARC department, right? Mm-hmm. You know what you said? What? I ain't a snitch, bro. Oh, fuck, man. I'm like, are you serious? I ain't no snitch. I said, are you serious? Like you're 18. You got a whole life in front of you. You have zero criminal records. You don't even have a speeding ticket. But you about to enter the baby. I said, you about to about to ruin your life because of this, and it's not just uh a slapping, it's not a misdemeanor, bro. It's gonna be a felony. Yeah, you're getting fucking cooked, boy. Yeah, you're gonna spend time in prison. Yeah. Minimum two years, maybe a year, maybe three, who knows? That's up to the judge, it's up to you know the prosecutor. But we're going to charge you for a felony. Multiple felonies. Okay? Yeah. Because not only were you caught with all this, you're caught near a school.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

Oh that them damn schools, they fucking it's well just an amplifier, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Yeah, it amplifies it, right? Now you're you're you're you're caught to distribute in a school in a in a public school setting. Like within like, I think it's like 500 yards or whatever, something like that, right? So I'm just like, damn, bro. And I was like, you sure you wanna, you know, go this route? Just work with them. He's like, nah, I ain't a snitch. I wouldn't go to prison. I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_04 41:48

Prison? Big dog, you're gonna get that ass ringed out, wallard.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

18-year-old bro. I swear to god, man. This is why. This is why kids are fucking dumb.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Oh yeah. Beyond, beyond fucking stupid. I mean, man, so like, even though he I know it's like a big controversy thing, right? The whole Miranda bullshit, right?

SPEAKER_05 42:12

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

But like, at what point would you would you have to have like Mirandized him to be able to like look at shit? Or was he just if they I didn't Mirandize him because of that.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

I wanted to talk to our NARC department first. Oh, because none of that can be used, right? Exactly. Ah, okay, okay. So when they say yes, I'll work with him, then I can give him that option, and then I can let it's a cat go. Like get on, yeah. I would have dropped drive, dropped him off at the car where where we left, and then he could have just went and left. That's it. And my report would have been like a traffic stop.

SPEAKER_04 42:50

He sounds like a like a Reggie.

SPEAKER_02 42:52

Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, for me, if I was that kid, I'd be like, yes, I'll work with you, let me go. I would have called my supplier and be like, listen, this is what the cops offered me. Work with me. Okay? Yeah. Like, either throw me a red herring, right? Yeah. And put me on a wild goose chase, and then I'll be like, I don't know where he went, right? You're right. Like give him something, right? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

Or But he's too fucking stupid.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

Fucking or or or give me your rival dealer that I can snitch and get him arrested.

SPEAKER_04 43:29

Yeah, but somebody had somebody either has to get fucked or get somebody somebody's getting fucked.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

Right. Right? But let's work with me, right? Mm-hmm. But no. So his demands just fucking his his frontal cortex was never developed, you know, it gets fully developed at age twenty five.

SPEAKER_04 43:44

Motherfucking couldn't think. Think motherfucking crack baby right there.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Motherfucking couldn't think. He pulled he pulled a vents, bro.

SPEAKER_04 43:49

He pulled a vents? Oh shit. I would be concerned, but Vance doesn't know how to operate a fucking computer, so he barely knows how to operate a phone. But he's a good guy, you know. He kinda Anyways. Um That's fucking wild. I can't believe he didn't he wouldn't do nothing. Nothing. Just He traded stupidity over stupidity. Man. Speaking about stupidity, right? So I have I got a little story for you. Right? So I'm I'm in there I I went through Marine Corps boot camp, whatever. Um went through the whole, you know, being a Marine. So like the way it's broken down, right? So to be a Marine, you have to graduate boot camp. That's when you become a Marine. That's where you're taught basic rifle skills, what it means to be a Marine, and then that's basically it's kind of like a schoolhouse with like recess that you get fucked up and bullied legally. Okay. Then you go to what's called your MOS school. So you learn how to be a Marine. No, no, I'm sorry. You learn how to become a Marine, then you learn how to fight and kill, and then you go to your MOS school. And then once you complete those three phases of training, then you go to what's called the operational fleet or the Marine Corps fleet. That's when you go to your quote unquote nine to five SAS mechanics. So um I went with um I ended up hitting the fleet, doing all that shit, right? And um we get this new guy, right? So I'm the new guy, and this is probably the after maybe like a year or so on post, this new guy comes in, and this motherfucker, man. We're uh we're working on some uh on a heavy equipment, um, an articulating machine that we call it a tram, tire rubber articulating machine, whatever you want to call it, John Deere, backloader or uh bucket loader, and it pivots in the it pivots in the center. Okay. So um we told the dude because it was it had a hydraulic leak on it, right? We were like, hey, hey Private, go out there, check out this unit, it has a hydraulic leak. Let us know what you find and come back. This dude, this imbecile, comes back. He's like holding his hand, bro, he's holding his his right hand at the wrist. Uh-huh. And he's like, Lance corporal, Lance Corporal. And that's how you can tell how new a marina's is like privates and Lance Corpus never refer to each other as a private or a Lance Corporal. Uh-huh. It's hey Scott. Uh-huh. Whatever. But like, if you're new, you're gonna be like, Lance Corporal, Lance Corporal, whatever, whatever. So he is holding his hand, and he's freaking out, and like he's screaming, he's like, he's like, Lance corporal, my hand, my hand, and we're looking at it, and this dude, it literally looked like somebody put a baseball under his skin. Uh-huh. And I'm like, dude, like, what what the actual fuck happened? Mm-hmm. And you can and out the the base of his middle finger knuckle, where like a callus would be, it was leaking, hydraulic fluid. I'm like, what the fuck, dude? We're like, we told you go find a hydraulic leak. Uh-huh. He's like, he's like, I was rubbing my hands on the lines trying to touch for wetness. And we're like, brother, that shit comes out at like 5600 psi. 5600 psi, that's a bullet, bro. And it takes 12 psi to pierce the human skin. So it he got hydraulic injected into his fucking hand and held it there enough for maybe a cup of fucking hydraulic oil. And I'm looking to I look him dead in his eyes, bro. I'm like, you're gonna fucking hate life here in like three minutes. He's like, ah, it hurts, it hurts. I'm like, alright, big dog, hold on, hold on, chief. Uh-huh. Keep a hold of that. I call Corman. Hey, Corman. He comes over and inspects his hand. I'm like, hey, that's hydraulic fluid. So hey, we we pin his ass down, right? Uh-huh. We're fucking we got knees on his wrist, and like knees on his wrist, and we had like one guy each limb. Alright. And the Coleman's like trying to give him a morphine, but he's like, I don't want it. He's like, okay. So he fucking, so with his hands splayed out on the concrete, keep in mind, this is the we're about to see some surgery in the fucking parking lot by a 19-year-old doctor, a Navy Corman, and we're just like, this shit's about to be sick. And we're all pumped up. But he's laid out, hand open, the Corman takes a scalpel, runs it from the tip of his middle finger, down his wrist by his like by the by the end it end it line. You know what I mean? By the endit line? And then more Corman end up arriving, but they ended up splaying his hand. And we call we call it like degloving because you're taking the whole skin of the hand apart. And then this this fucking private is like losing his fucking mind. Because obviously his hand's open. Uh-huh. And they start like spraying it out with saline, and then the corner reaches into his fucking cargo pocket of all places to keep a medical instrument. Reaches in, it's not wrapped up or nothing. It's just a plastic brush. And I'm like, I'm like, hey doc, what the fuck is that? He's like, we gotta scrub it. He's like, and then the the the private's in and out of consciousness. Brother's like, uh, uh wake up, scream, and then go loose. He's like, ah, like a zombie, dude. So the Corman, like, one Corman has like these little metal things that look like they open vaginas, but it's his hand, and then they're spraying it with um saline, and he just starts going to town. Not like he's like handling like precious ligaments, he's scrubbing like he's fucking tucking. Paint off a fucking 80 Chevy, like shining his boots up. Just ripping, and we're like, oh shit, blood's flying everywhere. We're like, what the actual fuck? And then like they end up stabilizing him, whatever. Dude ended up getting de-gloved, like they ended up taking the whole skin off his head, because the hydraulic oil, once it gets into the pores of your hand, like on the underside, they have to de-glove you. Uh-huh. And like, then they give you like fake skin. I we heard that it was from his ass. But they done they done hit his ass with the damn peeler and covered his hand. Dude. And we're like, what the actual fuck, dude? Like, and the dude had like the craziest looking hand, no fingerprints. We're like, dude, you could go kill like so many people in the room. And then like ass prank. Yeah, but he the thing is he's from Arkansas, so he had some stupid ass accent. And yeah, we were like fucking with him the whole time. He ended up getting um He went AWOL. He went AWOL and went like went to Mexico and shit. So like, and then went on like this crazy like bender. Uh-huh. And it was like doing like crazy drugs. So like that's one route for the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_04 51:42

We called him one-headed bandit. Because he was out there fucking fucking doing crack and meth and shit with one one fucking skinned hand, like some Texas chain asset and shit. Yeah, so like that was just that was just out of pocket, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

And like how we doing on time?

SPEAKER_04 52:03

Um We're doing pretty good, actually. We're um where are we at? So far, we're about 50 minutes in. That could be 52. Um what what would you say are like like you you touched on a little bit about being a cop, you know, and like how you kind of transition to seeing like behind the door in the curtain of like because when I see a cop, you know, I see like, alright, fuck that guy, because like he makes me pay money that well I'm just trying to have a good time. But then like, but in a way, they you do see cops that are kind of like they're banded together, and you you see the the movies or the TV shows about cops and how they're like unified or whatnot, but like what other things would you would you say like people don't really understand about about that trade or like other things about like HVAC that that don't really come to the surface until you see them when you're actually in the field.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

So same thing with trade schools, man. I mean, you know, coming out of UTI. Every time I say UTI, it's like urinary truck infection. That's what I think of.

SPEAKER_04 53:19

We call it we call it the stinkpah. The stinkpla, yeah. The stink fur.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

Oh man. But you know, you you you were in the trade schools too. Right. You usually don't learn anything in the schools. Absolutely not. Like you get most of like I personally think uh 90, I would say 90% of what you actually learn how to do is in the field.

SPEAKER_04 53:42

Right. I I would say like um it's trade schools should be geared then advertised more for like people who have never popped the hood of a car or opened or hooked up a fucking lollipop gauge set to anything, and like it gives you a good foundation.

SPEAKER_02 54:02

It does. Absolutely. I agree with that. Um people have never even touched the tool, exactly. Those that's what trade school should be for. Yeah, like like what's a Phillips head, what's a what's a you know, flathead screwdriver, right? What's a drill, you know? Um, and then it kind of transition to you know what's what's uh NC non-contact voltage testers or multimeters, right? Right. Um it's for those, but I think you can kind of skip trade school and I mean YouTube pretty much teaches you everything, you know. Absolutely. Like I've I've learned half my stuff completely trash my car, trying to fix shit, you know, learn from YouTube, and then I end up with yeah, and then I I know that you end up coming and and cleaning up my mess. Yeah, yeah, those long days. Yeah, but I broke broke the bolt off the uh engine cover. I'm like, fuck. Andre! Yeah, exactly. But uh, but so I personally think um if you really want to learn the trade is to go on like a ride-along. Right? Go on a ride-along, see if that trade is for you, right? Um, but the boring trades are the one that makes the most money, right? Like plumbing. Anytime you involve human shit. Fuck that. Fuck that.

SPEAKER_04 55:28

Anytime you involve humanity. If the salary was 2.1 trillion a year, fuck no.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Anytime you involve human shit, that's money. And piss. Yeah, right? Yeah, that's money. Anyone who wants to cook a human, electricians, right? Oh yeah, I was about to say, oh, Jeffrey. No, like anything, anything that can cook a human, that's money. Oh yeah. Right? Electricians. Yeah. That's money. Uh so linesmen, you know, journeyman that ain't electricians. So if you join um like an apprentice program um in a in a union or even do an apprentice program that are not union, you know, plumbing and electricians, though AI can't replace that. Ain't no robots gonna go in there and unclog a toilet, okay? Right. Well, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

Maybe soon. Maybe soon. But they ain't gonna they ain't gonna pull a sump pump. Exactly.

unknown 56:19

Right?

SPEAKER_04 56:19

I had to hire a old boy for that just the other day. See? Because I sump pump went down. Even though it's my own shit, I ain't touching it. Yeah, but the sump pump don't have shit. That's the thing I'm telling you about. I don't believe it. Because the w the water was dark. It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 56:30

It was darker than me. The water anyways, right? Sump pump don't uh doesn't harbor shit because it it's the water that drains from the outside that goes in. It's the drainage. But anyways, right, for that. So so for me, what they don't know is that you can learn your skills just by knowing what trade you want to go into, right? And then learning from the job.

SPEAKER_04 56:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 56:55

Right? But here's the other the flip side to that is not a lot of um companies that that run these trades, they're not managed very professionally. Absolutely not. You know, they're they're they're managed by dudes who've been in the field for, you know, 10, 15, 20 years, but they have zero professionalism. They don't know how to run a company, they don't know how to run a you know, an operation, right? So that's why they get bought out by private equity firms or other other corporations that know how to take that trade and make it into a business and scale it.

SPEAKER_04 57:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

You know? So I think that's what it is, man. I think a lot of the times, you know, kid not kids, well, they're kids to us, but you know, people who are trying to get into the trades is that they think like, oh, you gotta go to trade schools, like, no, man.

SPEAKER_04 57:51

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 57:51

Pick a trade that you like, that you're you know, that you're geared towards that you don't mind doing, right? But if it's a if if that trade becomes a chore to you, like if you dread waking up every morning and be like, oh fuck, I gotta go to work, then that's not that's not a trade for you. Right. You're not gonna last long. You're not gonna last long. Not gonna last long at all. Right. If it's something like, ooh, what can I learn from this trade today, right? What what other you know scenarios that I haven't thought of been exposed to that's gonna make me better at this trade? Right, because then you spurn yourself out super fast. Right. So the the more you do, the the faster you learn, the more you're in it, the bigger you grow, and that's when the money comes in.

SPEAKER_04 58:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:33

Because you can now branch off either making your own business, yeah, or you can ask for more for another company to just be like, yo, yeah, I think my ceilings limit is reached with you guys, it's time to jump ship. Yeah. And then that's where you then you become the mentor, you become the the trainer, you become partner, whatever. I mean, what about you, man? What about you know the in the field that you're in?

SPEAKER_04 58:54

So um, just touching on that, like, you you see these like people, they I believe that like kids, obviously they take uh they get impressed by their dads, moms, whatever, what have you, but like they're they're role models, right? They see them, you know, yeah, they might either be in a union, right? A metal working unit or union or like plumbers union. And they but they see like they see that significant role model as like they see him that old man, oh shit, like he's really good at his trade, but he fucking hates his life. And they they believe that like that's how it's gonna be. And that's where like I'm able to differ differential, oh I'm not gonna say that word, goddamn, like be able to step back and be like, that's why I've had multiple jobs. It's not because like like oh like I can't hack it or like I just get unhappy fast with a with a career, is because I kind of take him for like test drives, you know. I'm very well at selling myself in a way. Yeah, you see my wife undershoulder, you know what I mean. But um here at that this job, I see myself lasting a while and being happy because in a way I am my own boss and I make my own schedule. I go and service my customers that are loyal to me, and um, but there's no there's no old man in the back of the shop that doesn't talk to nobody and he's just fucking wasting away at like 65 because like um I've seen that in metal shops, I've seen that in everywhere I've gone, I've I you always see that super experienced guy that doesn't want to teach the next generation because you know he's a he's a mechanic or he's a welder and that's not in his job description to pass the knowledge on, and I feel like um your uh your knowledge should not be hoarded. Agreed a thousand percent. Yeah, if you can find yourself a good mentor that is excited about training you and not feeling it as a burden, you'll gain more. And if you find yourself loving your environment and looking forward to the hardships and the troubles from the from the job, then you're in the right spot. But if you go to work and you're like, man, if you're watching the clock or you're fucking taking off to take shits every fucking 20 minutes for 30 minutes, then maybe don't wait, don't waste your time because you're not getting younger, your knees aren't getting fucking better, they're gonna decline. Find a trade that fits you, stick with that trade, and but don't stick with a trade if it's fucking dead end. That's like the biggest thing. Cause you grab, be selfish with your knowledge, like go and try and find as much knowledge as you possibly can while you're still able to learn and while companies are still willing to take risks on you. That's like that's a that's a huge that's my only piece of advice to the younger generation of tradesmen is like go out there, be selfish, be hungry, eat the knowledge, and then when it's your time, fucking regurgitate the knowledge. Fucking take everything and find your way on a better way to do it. Yep. That way the knowledge is passed on, but with better proficiency. And you you make sh companies reward that.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:45

And I think the other other aspect is um I hear this a lot, and I and I disagree. I think Gary V said it said it best, and I think um Alex Hermozzi says it best too. Big influencers on social media, they say do things not with the pursuit of making money, but do things genuinely to help, even if it's free. Yeah, right? So just so so for me, right? My trade is HVAC, right? I still have a lot to learn about HVAC, okay? I don't know everything, I I may know maybe 20% with all this different type of equipment and standards and things of that nature and troubleshooting and things of that. But what what I enjoy about my trade is Um I'll even do it for free. Like, I'll go to a job. If a job is like an hour job, I'll I'll bill for an hour or two hours, but then I'll stay for four or five trying to learn from that job. But I won't I won't build them or charge them nothing. I'll I'll I'll even come back. Right? Even if the if the issue has been fixed, I'll even come back. I'm like, okay, what made this issue happen in the first place? Okay, what caused it? And I was like, there's no greater greater classroom than the troubleshooting that you have in front of you. Right. You know? You have a problem right here, unseen or unknown. Right, and but then I'll I'll dig deeper into a rabbit hole and be like, okay, so what causes? What can possibly happen if if something caused this, then this, what can lead other problems with this? Right. Right? And it's not like I have a textbook, right? Right, right. I'll I'll utilize technology, I'll utilize it like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, you know? Yep. Um, Gemini. Right. I'll I'll uh I'll throw the ideas out there and then they'll troubleshoot it, and I'm like, huh, you think that's what it is, right? Right. I'll even subscribe to to some of these AIs just to like get a better idea. Knowledge pool. Yeah, man, and and I think um I think that's what people need to do. Some people, some techs may disagree, they'd be like, nah man, my my hours or my time is too valuable. And I was like, okay. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:12

You know? And sometimes not to be lying, sometimes I'm like that. Because I I love being with my family, and but I don't um it's hard to balance it. I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm that's something I'm still trying to fix, is like my work life balance. Like I love my job and I love being out there with those machines, but obviously it's time away from my wife and away from my son. And it's like a tightrope act, but at the end of the at the end of the the day, I'm improving myself to be a better person. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:50

And you know, yeah, there's a give and takes. I I and I I think also it's time management. I mean, we all have the same time, twenty four hours every day, right? And it resets every day. So what we do with that time, we you work eight hours, maybe ten hours, maybe twelve, okay? Yeah. But then you've got the other 16 hours or or less, depending on how much hours you sleep in and work. You have those time that you can possess, you know, like not or divest or invest into your family. Yeah. But I think a lot of us we tend to waste a lot of those times. Yeah, we do. We do. We're not we're not intentional with our time. Right. And then it's just yeah. People do doom scrolling. Yeah. That's big. That's big for this general. Doom scrolling, two, three hours, right? Where you could have been spending that time with your family. Yep. Right? Uh sleeping. Or we watch movies, Netflix, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, think about it, man. If you if you eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and let's say an hour and a half tops. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, 30 minutes, right? Okay. Out of 16 hours, you sleep eight hours. You work eight hours. So what do you do with the other eight hours? We don't know. Right? Because it's so sporadic.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:16

That's true. Do you know what I mean? I beat off a little bit, but like I don't know where that one is. I mean that maybe I work sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:23

I don't know. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:24

I mean, like, I think if we utilize that eight hours into something more um productive, right? Right. Like, say you spend four four hours spending time with your family is I think it's plenty of enough. Yeah, yeah, because that's when you start like after four hours, you're like, you're annoying the shit out of me. Like, you need to step back. Right. You know what I mean? So the other four hours you can like invest in yourself. Like learn, study, get another degree, get another certificate, whatever it is. And I think uh a lot of the trademark or women or people in the trade skills, they don't do that. Right. Right? You know what? You go to the gym, right? People don't go to the gym. I don't, I don't. I haven't gone to the gym in two years. Ever since I got my shingles, which is fucking retarded. On your on your roof? No, ever. Shit, man. I walked into that one. No, but um, yeah, man. I think I think when we're in tension with our time, it it makes it better. And I think we need to do that more. But we we're we're so caught up in this technology that we're always chasing. Yeah, there's always a chase. Not enough time, so we're always chasing for that time, right? Like we don't get it's not like we get a full hour. Like, I don't when was the last time did you get a good eight hour, nine hour sleep? I haven't. Yeah, I'm still waiting. I'm still waiting.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:54

I mean, I'll be I'll be lucky if I get good five to six hours.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:58

Shit, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:59

You know what I mean? Yeah. Five, six hours, I'll be like, damn, I wish I could. But then you wake up and you want to sleep more, it's just like it doesn't it doesn't happen. Right. Because you feel shittier.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:08

Yeah, and then you that's the thing, I always feel like I always feel like I'm late for something. Or like if I'm laying there, I get antsy, and then I'm like, I'm like, shit. Cause I'm I I suck with dates. Dates, time and then timelines. Like, I believe the missus got mad at me because I forgot about her friends coming over. Today? Yeah. And she she tells me all week, all week, hey, my my friends are coming over, my co te my uh co-teacher's coming over. I'm like, okay, okay, okay. I remember you telling me. And then like yesterday, she was like, I was like, hey, what are we doing for tomorrow? And she's like, Are you are you fucking retarded? I was like, what? I was like, we don't have anything planned for today. And she's like, yeah, tomorrow, the shit that I told you was happening next on Saturday a month ago, it's still happening on Saturday. And I was like, oh, okay, gotcha, gotcha, chief. But I think it's just because I'm like, you know, I'm all over the place. There's a lot going into like work, but then, you know, it's not an excuse. You know, I have like you said before, there's time, and I think I don't compartmentalize good enough if it's not an immediate thing, kind of deal. But but what what would you say like are like some things that keep you like grounded and fucking from eating like eating a gun?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:42

Um man, that's you you going to some uh heavy topic over here, bro. I thought you were gonna supposed to keep it light.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:48

Yeah, I mean, that's what the fucking prompt says, alright? So not about eating a gun or anything, but like misinterpreted that. You don't you don't gotta read everything word for word from the prompt, man? No, no, no, the the fucking talking points are but it it's it's a good point though.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:09

Like what what keeps you grounded and what No, but uh real talk, I think, I believe, um, there are many times, I mean, even being a cop and getting off, going through a divorce and all that stuff. Uh there was a season where man, I thought about eating a gun every day. Every day, man. I tasted that gun metal with that tanginess with you know in your mouth when you put but um what kept me going, um, and this may sound cliche, were my kids. Yeah, of course. You know, um at one point I I felt like you know, my kids are better off without me. I felt like a failure. I wasn't making any money. Uh at least they had life insurance. Right. Right? After I died, they couldn't have my life insurance, and maybe that would give them a little peace. But that's what the enemy wants, man. Right? That's what that's what the devil wants, is they want to kill, they want to, you know, kill, destroy, divide, right? Yeah, so what kept me grounded were the thought that once I once I revealed the enemy's scheme, you know, that that's their main concern is to manipulate your mind to make you think that you're better off. The world is a better place without you. Right. Once you once you expose the lie, then you realize no, the world is better placed with you in it. Right? My kids' lives are better with me in it. Unless, unless I'm like a total douchebag or that I'm like, you know, a pedophile and molesting them and shit like that, then yeah, you're better off.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:49

Yeah, yeah. Maybe maybe you should take one of them pills.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:52

Yeah, right, right. Yeah. If you're one of those people, then yeah, maybe God has a different plan for you at an earlier life, you know? But anyways, um, but that man, just the thought that, you know, having just a thought from a like a third person view, looking down at my kids, growing up without a dad. Yeah. It's like, shit, man, what if, you know, what ifs, all that what ifs comes along, you know, like what if they're in danger? What if they get bullied? What if somebody's attacking them? What if somebody's chasing them, you know?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:24

Like, who's gonna be there? Who's who are they gonna hide behind? Who are they who's gonna protect them, you know? Like a bear is chasing them, like who's gonna put your kids, who's gonna hide behind you, you know? Like let the bear attack you, and you f you know, fight like hell, fucking trying to protect your kids, you know what I'm saying? So when I when I start seeing the the world in those eyes, from that from the eyes of of the Almighty, and saying, Man, these are my children, I need to protect them, then things kind of became purposeful. Right. Right? I found a purpose. And the purpose isn't to be a millionaire or to be famous or to make a lot of money. The purpose was to be present in my kids' life. Yeah. And and that that purpose drove everything else. It it drove how I worked, where I worked, what what are my priorities, you know? Yeah. So what about you?

SPEAKER_04 1:14:25

You know, um, I would definitely say, you know, my kids as well, my wife. And it's I don't know how to put it, but it's kind of like a selfish reason. It's like it's the memories of and the perspective that like if I if I'm not the grounded individual in my family, then then you know, you like the electricity, it needs it needs a ground. It needs so I think of myself as like that conductor to I must ground like myself and be the man that that I want to be, right? So everybody can try and be like, oh, like I want to be this guy, this guy, this guy. I just want to be old plain Dre. I want to be I wanna be the man that like when my son grows up and my daughter grows up, they're like, when my daughter grows up, she's she's getting close, she's about to turn eleven, but I want to I want her to be like my dad treated me this way, and that's what that's I want to be what she looks for in a man. If I'm if I'm abusive, if I'm a drinker, right, right, if I'm consumed with work, if I'm if I'm just like a piece of shit, then what is she gonna look for? Because that's all she knows. And my son, like he I want him to to view me in a positive light, in a positive manner, be like, yeah, my dad was fucking crazy, but like like he I know he loved me unconditionally, but if if I if I wasn't here, then the only thing that could guide him would be either an outside source or just his imagination, you know, and it can go it can go any a thousand different directions, but the only concrete thing I know is that me being here and setting the example for the man that I want him to be is what keeps me grounded and keeps me pushing. And and you know, like back when we first met and everything we were going through the shit, like it was close, it was a close one. Um I felt like a failure as a man, and uh but I you know we we had our long you remember our six hour talks in the garage at like 5 a.m. and you gave me some good words of words of uh wisdom and you know and I pass your wisdom on to like people in need as well, so but but that's just how I view my purpose here, you know, like I don't have like some big meaning or whatever about life, it's just you know I want to be the change that I that I want to see in the world because who's the people getting it after I'm gone? And that's gonna be my my offspring and you know their offspring and so on and so forth. So I'm trying not to fuck up this world too much. But like, you know, it is what it is at this point, but you know, you gotta move on.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:40

I think you fucked it up too fucked it up enough, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:42

Oh yeah, maybe, dude. It was uh I got some big both. Yeah. So um, you know, we're we're we're running over on time a little bit. You know, we're at an hour and fifteen minutes so far.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:56

That's good. Well, let's wrap it up, man. Yeah. Because we gotta get some, you know, save some for the next time, you know? Yeah, most definitely. Let's have some stories coming up more. Um, but hey man, great talk for the first episode. Yeah. Uh I I hope that it resonated with at least one of you, right? One of one of the uh one of the audiences, right? Yeah, if not, fuck you. Um but it's alright. But it's our own platform, it's our own uh channel where we could dump ideas and then eventually we'll have it more streamlined, more organized.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:28

And yeah, we'll probably you know, we'll come together, try and put put up like a YouTube, we'll make like a little YouTube burner for like episodes that we can't reach other people or whatever, because you know how people are with their goddamn platform. Yeah. And so we just want to thank you guys again for uh tuning in with us and checking us out, giving us a listen. Um you know, next time we'll try and we'll talk about some crazy people we've uh we've dealt with because I know James definitely has some crazy folks. He's he's had a hookup. You know, I've had some some customers that uh aren't the the kindest. And then obviously, I guess I don't know if you'd would you call them customers, the people that uh I served uh in the military, if that's what you want to call them. Whatever. But uh yeah, um James, where can they follow you at? What are some of your uh social media?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:27

Uh they can follow me at Trade James Freedom. Uh they'll also check out my other YouTube, which um I I post instructional videos for what I do in the commercial kitchen ice machines, and that's at ChillBlaze Pros. That's common spelling, chillblaze pros. That's our YouTube channel. Um that's it, Instagram, same thing. But thank you guys for uh giving us a chance and listening in, tuning in until next time.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:01

Alright, y'all. Um, this will be it for me as well. You guys can follow me on Facebook, uh, you can follow me on Instagram, I'm gunslinger54. And um uh if you get a chance, uh you can check out my book. I'm on Amazon. Um Dead Grid Camp Willow. First book. I'll still work on the second one, but uh it's some good, it's some good post-apocalyptic shit, so uh give that a read. Give it a like, whatever you want. Um, and then when we do come out with the YouTube, you know, follow that, even if you don't watch or whatever, just follow it, like it, love it. You know, subscribe. Subscribe like a motherfucker to it. But uh that's it for us. And uh just remember to work hard and laugh harder, and uh, we'll catch you guys in the next one. All right,