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March 6, 2026 13 mins

An 18-year-old clocked into Burger King on his graduation night—not because he had to, but because his teammates needed him to. In this Shop Talk, we unpack how his quiet dedication sparked a viral ripple of generosity and what it can teach all of us about pride, purpose, and work. 

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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Everybody's bell Courney Welcome back to Shop Talking ninety ninety four.
When an eighteen year old can teach us about pride,
purpose and work.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Does it dawn on you.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
That when I ring that bell and we're talking into
this big microphone, that this is kind of like a
nineteen fifties radio show where.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
They do that before you start topic way, they do
all the noises, I Sudy.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Actually I'm thinking of you can't What was the Robin
Williams movie Vietnam? Good Morning Vietnam.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
I don't think I've seen it? What Tarly, I should though.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
You are the biggest loser. Have you never seen Good
Morning Vietnam? I know I'm a big loser, all right,
you really honestly?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
That is on? All right? You assigned me stuff to
do all the time. I'm giving you a sounds.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Debatable whether you do it, But go watch Good Morning
via Is it?

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Is it a comedy given Robin Williams is.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
It or is it serious? Well, it's a serious subject
matter of the Vietnam War, but it is absolutely hilarious.
But the reason I want you to watch it is
because he's a DJ and he's the guy that challenges
the norms of the late sixties DJs who used to
do the bells and the walking and all that. And
he just blew it up. And he plays an a

(01:20):
guy named Adrian Cronauer. I think is the person's the
subject that he plays, and that's the guy that led
to the modern day DJ.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh. Interesting it it actually is interesting. It's all about
stuff that you're into.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
So have you seen Glorious Bastards. Yes, that sounds like
the equivalent.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Of Good Morning Vietnam. Makes it Glorious Bastards.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
It's really Yeah, we're gonna okay, go watch, go, just
bleep it. Everybody will know what it is. Yeah, but
you need to watch. I cannot believe you never seen
that movie. You will love it. Just please go watch
it all free time.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
I got it. When you're not doing anything else.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Okay, do we even throw to the ad break yet?
I don't think we have?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Right?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah? Yeah, we're back, Oh we are. Yeah, that's right,
we're back. We just came off an AD break. You
need some sleep?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah all right?

Speaker 4 (02:17):
All right, So when an eighteen year old insert ad
break here?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
All right?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
God, what an eighteen year old can teach us about bride,
purpose and work. It's from a Facebook page named professor Calcu.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
I have no idea how to say that.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Well, it's from a Facebook page named Professor c A. L.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
C u E calqu.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
On the evening of May twenty first, twenty twenty five,
Mchael Baker graduated from Mill Creek High School in Hoshton, Georgia.
He walked across the stage, received his diploma and wore
metals around his neck, honoring his achievements in marching band
and track and field. His classmates had voted him most
selflessed person. That night he would prove exactly why. After

(03:21):
the ceremony, McAll and his parents stopped by the Burger
King in Dakula, Georgia. Not Dracula, but Dacula, Georgia, where
he had been working since February to save money for
his future. He was not scheduled for a shift. He
just wanted to say hello to his coworkers and show
office cap and gown. But when he walked in, the
restaurant was slammed. Only three employees were on the floor,

(03:43):
struggling to keep up with a rush of late night orders.
Food was backing up, the line was growing. His teammates
were overwhelmed. Michel didn't even think about it. He just
clocked in, still wearing his graduation medals. He pulled on
a pair of plastic gloves and started filling orders onion rings,
drive through whatever needed doing. He was smiling the entire time,

(04:04):
not because of his glamorous work, but because he was
proud of himself and happy to help. At the same moment,
Maria Mendoza was sitting in the drive through lane. She
had just come from the same graduation ceremony. Her daughter,
Daisy Chavez, was a member of the same class of
over seven hundred students. Mendoza did not know Michael, but

(04:26):
when she looked through the window and saw a young
man in graduation mantals working the counter while his classmates
were while celebrating, something stopped her. She pulled out her
phone and quality recorded a twenty second video she posted
on TikTok with a simple caption, TikTok do your thing.
Within days, the video had been viewed over three million times.

(04:48):
The comments poured in from strangers across the country. People
called Michael inspiring. They said his future is bright. They
asked the same question over and over, how can we
help this young man does had an answer, She loungched
a GoFundMe page titled from Burger King to College Stream.
When she returned to the restaurant a few days later

(05:09):
to tell Mikale about it, the fund had already raised
six thousand dollars. When Mendoza told Mikale and his mother
both were overcome with emotion. His mother, wearing a Proud
Mom shirt, could barely hold back tears. And the days
that followed, the donations did not slow down. They accelerated.
Thousands of people, most of them complete strangers, gave what

(05:30):
they could. Five dollars here, twenty dollars there, one hundred
dollars gifts with notes that read your work ethic and
grind is contagious. We are rooting for you, one donor,
a first generation college graduate from Fresno, wrote McHale, We're
investing in your future. By early June, the GoFundMe had
crossed two hundred thousand dollars. Then Burger King stepped in.

(05:56):
On June third, staff from the Burger King Foundation surprise
Kel at work with a ten thousand dollars scholarship, and
in a move that showed the company understood exactly what
he had made this moment special. They also awarded a
ten thousand dollars scholarship to Daisy Shaveez, Maria Mendoza's daughter,
in recognition of her mother's kindness. The ripple had traveled

(06:19):
from one young one young man's quiet decision, to a
stranger's instinct to accord it, to an act of generosity
that circled right back around to the person who started
it all. Here's the part of the story that mattered most.
The kel Baker was not planning to go to college.
He'd be considering a gap year because he simply couldn't

(06:40):
afford tuition. He was going to work, save it he
could and try again later. When he learned what had
happened the video of the donations the scholarship, he said,
through tears, I never thought this would happen to me.
I'm very thankful. He has now applied to study automotive
technology at a technical college's fall. He wants to become
a mechanic, and until class to start, he plans to

(07:02):
keep working at Burger King, not because he has to,
but because he loves it. I just love working at
told a reporter. The people I work around, make the
job fun. That is the young man the Internet found
on Wednesday night in May. Not someone performing for the camera,
not someone chasing a viral moment, just an eighteen year

(07:22):
old who saw his teammates struggling and could not bring
himself to walk away. The world noticed, and for once,
the world did something about it. Michael Baker did not
ask for any of this. He did not know he
was being filmed. He did not know means and people
would seem. Stuffing onion rings into a box while wearing
his graduation medals. He was just doing what fell right,

(07:45):
and that is exactly why it mattered, because in a
world that often rewards noise, Michael Baker reminded everyone what
a quiet dedication looks like. Not a speech, not a post,
just a young man and a paper hat, set of
metals showing up when nobody asked them to. This is
the kind of person the world roots for, and this

(08:07):
time the world made trade do it. Hashtag m y
k a l E b a k e R hashtag
mckel Baker, hashtag burger King grad all from Professor calq
or cal q c A l c u E. What
a cool story that is awesome. What'd you find that?

Speaker 4 (08:30):
I remember Jenny Manguno.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Jeff Horse, Jenny Magnuno sent us another one. So I
think it's a heartwarming, awesome story. But it is what
an eighteen year old can teach us about pride, purpose
and work.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
And the point is.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Just like driving over the viaduct and hoping somebody would
do something about that. Instead, this eighteen year old kid
saw a need and filled it. He saw it needed
a burger king, saw his teammates struggling, and on his
graduation night that was supposed to be special for him,
he decided to go to work and he put himself

(09:11):
aside to help those that he saw and need in
a job. But that translates to what an army, in
normal folks is supposed to be doing, which is recognizing
need and not waiting for someone else to do something
about that, fill in the gap, and in doing so,

(09:31):
you inspire others to do the same. And I think
that's the moral to this whole story.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
One thing that you're good about sighting, Bill is you know,
in his case, his story got told. In your case,
your story got told. Yeah, most people's stories will never
get told, and that should not discourage you from still
acting the same way just because it doesn't go viral
on TikTok.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah. I mean, the truth is.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
There's a thousand people that are willing to jump in
that don't go viral and going to two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars scholarship. But Michale didn't do it for that.
It just happened. There's lots of people engaging with kids
all over this country who don't get a movie made
about them. I don't know why the Lord decided my
story is going to get told, but the only difference
in me and hundreds of thousands of other people is

(10:18):
that my story did get told. The question is, then,
what do you do with that notoriety and an army
normal folks? Is part of the answer to that for
me and for Michale, part of the answer that is
he's going to keep working with his friends at Burger
King and he's going to become mechanic and build his life.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
And good for him. Great story.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
One of the I think you kind of talk about too,
like with the inner City, is being uncommon, being one
of these people who show up consistently and not once,
And I thought about that related to this too. It's
uncommon for an employee off the clock to come help.
I'm sure you felt this too, Like I get frustrated.
Like if you're somewhere like the post office and there's
a line of this happens at Oxford. There's like a

(11:03):
line of thirty people and there's one person up there. Yeah,
and then the supervisor comes by. It doesn't help.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
The supervisor rolls by, looks around and they leaves, Like,
do you see all these people stay alone?

Speaker 2 (11:14):
What are you doing here?

Speaker 4 (11:15):
They're all on their lunch break.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
I'm like, I don't care if you're on their lunch break.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
You got to go serve people.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
That's it to be a part of the army and
normal folks. When you see need, fill it. And it
doesn't matter if you're on the clock or not on
the clock. It's just the right thing to do.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
A lot of adults can learn it from this eighteen
year old.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
Well and this eighteen year old kid named Michael who
works by a counter burger king that most would cruise
by when getting their sandwich and not even notice. It's
an inspirational example of how we need to be caring
ourselves and how we need to fill needs. I love it, Jenny,
as always, thank you for the story. Everybody that is

(11:51):
shop Talk number ninety four. This eighteen year old can
teach us a lot about pride, purpose and work and
filling needs. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate it
and review it, subscribe to the podcast Join the Army
at normal Folks dot us.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Actually, if you're listening to this when the episode comes out,
the launch kickoff events or a service club Atlanta and
Ozaki will still be happening that Sunday a NF Atlanta
dot org and ANF Ozaki dot org.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
No, it's not too late to join the other service
clubs either.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
No, you can join them anytime.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, so even if you can't.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Go to the kickoff meeting, that's pretty fun.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
And give some money because one of these clubs is
going to get a quin deep out thousand dollars grant
from stand together to kick off their their giving circles
and yeah, and to candidly help kick off the efforts
that they're going to have to make some difference in

(12:47):
their community.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Twenty five thousand dollars for row money.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
One of the point I like making is like you're
a ten dollars a month. A gift to the Giving
Circle can help unlock a twenty five thousand dollars.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
Gift for your community.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Leverage.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, so come on, get off your bets and get
with it. That's it.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Shop Talk number ninety four is closing, and until next time,
do what you can and eat a opper. Yeah, eat
an opper by in an autumn account.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
We'll see you next week.
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Host

Bill Courtney

Bill Courtney

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