May 7, 2024 • 37 mins
Saddle up to the bar and lend an ear, because my co-conspirator Blake and I are about to shake up a cocktail of high-flying tales from our days slinging drinks at the airport bar. It's not all pouring pints and mixing margaritas; we've seen our share of intrigue, like the time Heidi left us a $100 tip on a $19 tab, along with a surprise that had us checking for cameras. Then there's the saga of the near-miss with an irate customer that steered one of us into the airport bartending scene—talk about a layover to remember.
Ever wonder if celebrities like Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash are as down-to-earth in person as they seem on TV? Well, pull up a chair as we recount the night they graced our bar, offering us a glimpse into their lives beyond the court. Our guest bartenders spill the beans on what it's like to nurture fleeting friendships, play the 'name game' with travelers, and make a mark in the ever-changing tapestry of airport life—all while juggling shakers and garnishes.
As we raise our glasses to the memories of our time behind the bar, we don't shy away from the monumental shifts we've witnessed, like the sobering impact of 9/11 on our industry. Yet it's not all somber reflection; there's the time we got an invite from a group of Spearmint Rhino entertainers that took us on an unexpected detour. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff into a world where the stories are as diverse as our drinks menu, and the laughter is as free-flowing as the top-shelf whiskey. Cheers to the adventures of 'Tales from an Airport Bar'—we guarantee you won't be left with an empty glass.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the first episode of Tales from an Airport
Bar.
We're going to give you aninside look from a bartender's
perspective, a little behind thescenes, all the craziness and
things that you wouldn'tnormally know about and or have
(00:27):
ever even seen go on in anairport.
I'm Chris and this is myco-host.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Balake aka Blake.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
AKA Blake, and we're going to start by giving you a
couple of stories of things thathave happened recently.
I'm going to start off with soright before I'd say Christmas,
just a couple months ago.
We work in an airport bar big,open concept.
It's in one of the majorairports here in the United
States.
Blake and I are both bartenders, so we will be having guests on
(01:33):
soon enough.
We know so many bartendersthroughout the years that we've
been bartending, so we will havedifferent bartenders on each
week giving you theirperspective and stories of
things that they witnessed inthe airport.
So, with that being said so,here recently, right before
(01:54):
Christmas, me and another buddyof mine are bartending one
evening.
We're not going to give you realdates and times, but it was
honestly all these stories thatwe're going to tell you are true
.
So lady comes in and we have abig u-shaped bar about 20, 22
(02:21):
seats or so and lady comes inand she's a little red face and
okay, something's going on withthis lady.
And she walks in and she goeshey, can I get a Coors Light
(02:43):
shot of fireball real quick?
I'm like I look at the lady andshe just kind of winks at me
and I'm like you know what?
No problem, I got you.
Yeah, and turn around to mybuddy and you know we have a.
We don't want to over serveanybody or serve anybody.
That's messed up, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's also coincides with the state we live in, laws
and but also it's not a weirdorder because everyone's in a
hurry at the airport.
Sometimes they just have fiveminutes beer and a shot, so you
know, happens every day so, butshe was a little red faced.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I was like man.
She's a little red-faced.
I was like man, she's a littlefucked up.
But I go over to my other buddythat's bartending with me and
I'm like man.
This lady just ordered a quickshot of beer.
She's a little fucked up, but Ithink I'm going to go ahead and
serve her and get her on herway.
And he goes.
You know, you're within yourlimits.
(03:41):
He's like serve her and get herout of here.
I was like all right, cool,within your limits.
He's like get server, get herout of here.
Okay, cool.
And so you know you always wantto check with the other
bartender, make sureeverything's kosher.
But so, yeah, I get her a CoorsLight and a fireball and she,
she.
(04:01):
I gave her the Coors Lightfirst and then I go for the
fireball.
She's hitting on the CoorsLight.
I give her the fireball, shehits the fireball, takes a big
swig of the Coors Light and youknow I had already given her her
check.
She signs the check, leaves andyou know we've got, you know,
(04:22):
20.
Some odd people set up the barthis evening and she, she
proceeds on a $19 and I think itwas like 58 cents tab.
She proceeds to leave us $100tip.
God bless us bingo dollar tip.
(04:56):
God bless us.
Bingo.
And so we'll say Susie, sittingat the 10th, 11th seat at the
bar, proceeds to say hey, thatlady and I get everybody's name
at the bar, so I remember thelady's name.
I always remember this lady'sname and I get everybody's name
at the bar, so I remember thelady's name.
I always remember this lady'sname and I will call her out.
Her name's Heidi.
I'll remember that for the restof my life.
But we'll say Susie and C11.
(05:18):
I don't remember her name, butshe goes.
Hey, that lady droppedsomething over here and I said,
oh yeah, oh yeah, her name wasHeidi.
I was like, hey, heidi, andshe's, you know long gone, she
got yeah and she's like, no, no,you don't want to track this
(05:40):
lady down, you just want to comepick this up.
I said, well, what, susie?
Once you pick it up and hand itto me, she's like, because I
told you to, she's like I don'twork here.
She's like you need to comepick this up and handle this.
I was like, excuse me, she goes, just come around from behind
the bar and pick this up, saidokay, susie, okay I'm, and I'm
(06:05):
busy, I'm slammed.
I run around behind the bar.
I go over where the lady wasstanding in front of my computer
on the other side and sureenough, susie's pointing to a
big old bag of cocaine Holy shit, at least an eight ball and
sure enough, I pick it up, stuffit in my pocket, walk back to
(06:29):
the kitchen, because you knowthere's cameras everywhere, all
over the place, not only itbeing an airport bar, an airport
, but you know, just being in abar, you're on federal property.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There's plenty of cameras.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
You can't go anywhere .
You can barely go to thebathroom without them seeing you
, and so I go and I proceed tothrow it away in the kitchen.
So, yeah that's one of therecent things.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You got some other craziness.
So how long, how long have youworked at the airport?
Let's, let's kind of paint apicture for everybody, kind of.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I have been there since August 29th and the only
reason I remember that it's theday after my dad's birthday of
2001,.
Right before September 11th.
So what is that?
That's like 13, 14 days, almosttwo weeks.
I worked at the airport andthen September 11th hit.
(07:37):
Craziness, everything changed.
I'm a young man at this point.
Everything changed.
I'm a young man at this point.
I'm all of like 24.
Yeah, I had just turned 24,just got married and I was
(08:00):
expecting my first child.
September 11th hits.
He's born in October, a few,about five weeks, six weeks
later, not even, yeah, aboutfive, six weeks.
So changed my life forever.
I managed airport bars and havemet everyone under the sun as
(08:20):
far as celebrities go.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Who's the coolest celebrity you've met?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Coolest celebrity I ever met was Charles Barkley.
I knew that was coming.
I was managing an Irish pub inthe airport at the time and it
was a morning shift and I'mwalking through People are
eating their breakfast.
It's a big, open-concept,beautiful shift.
And I'm walking through peopleare eating their breakfast.
(08:50):
It's big, open concept,beautiful.
And sure enough, I'm walking bya table and I'm like, hey,
how's your breakfast?
You know, and the guy goes, sitdown, young man, and sure
enough it's Charles Barkley andI sit down with him and talk to
him for like a good 20-25minutes.
And one of the most amazing,most charismatic people you will
(09:15):
ever meet in your life.
And when he, let me tell you,when he tells you to sit down,
you sit down and you listen towhat he has to say.
And you know, no, he, he wasawesome, nicest guy ever met.
You know, you do meet quite afew nice ones and he, annually,
you mean of you get to meet andwait on a lot of people that
(09:38):
just want to keep a low profile.
You know, yes, two of thecoolest people I ever met in the
airport and they were on theirway to this was back in my early
days.
I want to say this is probablyabout 2002, 2003.
I'm sure we can.
We can go back and look it uplater.
(10:00):
But I remember dirt Mowinskiand Steve Nash rolled into the
bar and I was managing at thetime.
I was a bartending, but Iwalked up to them and I was a
young kid I was maybe 25, 26,whatever and I said hey guys,
(10:22):
I'll buy you a round of beers ifyou wouldn't mind signing some
autographs for me.
They said, yeah, sure, Iremember they were drinking Sam
Adams.
They were stoned to the bone.
They had these Jordan dump hatson.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
They were just trying to keep a low profile.
They're just super huge.
You can't keep a low profile.
They're just super huge.
You can't keep a low profile.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah it's when you're seven feet tall.
Good luck he's like 6263 littleon TV on the court compared to
no, he's huge big dude andthough they are not in an
incognito bus autograph on alittle bar slip for me to the
(11:09):
nicest guys I ever ever met.
Yes, those two athletes thatseem to be some of the nicest
people you know.
You parted with me, I thinkthat day Bob Stoops was it.
I wasn't there that time, but Isaw.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I've seen him walking through the terminal before One
of my idols, bob Stoops was in.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Like I said, we have 22, 23 seats at the bar normally
and we go around, Blake and Iboth, and we play the name game
and we know every singleperson's name set in the bar,
which catches everyone off guardevery time.
And elaborate, blake, what didthe name get you?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Well, first of all, you know we take everybody's
name when they come to the bar,which throws people off.
They look at you like you'recrazy.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You know, you take their order.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You get them their beer or their cocktail or put it
in their food or whatever, andthen you go up to them and then
at the end you just say, hey, myname's blake, what's your name?
And they and most of the timethey just either start ordering
something at like out of likejerk react like they because
they're just not used to it.
So you ask their name and it'sweird and it throws them off,
but anyway, so we do that witheverybody.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I'd like to also say that's kind of part of our for
lack of a better term southernhospitality.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yes, we're just all friends.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
That's it, you know it's a bar.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes, we're hanging out.
Yes, and, like you say, whenthey give you a last name,
you're like hey, it's not adoctor's office man, what's your
?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
name.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Or you like to be called by it.
It's a bar, it's fun.
You know Chris likes to go downthe line, put on a little show
for everybody, especially, youknow, if it's slow.
But even if it's busy, it'seven better.
But you know he'll go down theline.
You know, jim.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Jan Pam Tommy.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Michael, yeah, whoever, and he'll go through
all 22.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And Michael, yeah, whoever it'll go through all 22.
And then you know, I always sayyou know- you know, blake says
it's slow in here.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
We need to get our sales up today.
Why don't we take some shotstogether?
Everybody starts clapping.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
They always, clap, they always go, chris, let me
buy you a drink.
Man, let me buy you one.
I will say this for the recordI don't drink.
I will smoke you under thetable.
It's like a skinny cook whoshouldn't trust a bartender that
doesn't drink.
But I've never had anycomplaints.
(13:36):
I've got some great Googlereviews.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yes, and most importantly, we've made a lot of
friends and they come back andsee us.
It's super weird you wouldn'tthink at the airport that you
have regulars, but like even theairport that you have regulars,
but like even the first yearthat that I started there.
So I've been bartending for forlike eight, nine years
altogether.
Uh, and I started at theairport.
(14:01):
I quit my corporate job slash,I stopped working until they
fired me and then I stayed homefor like a month, a little break
, and, um, I was watching a lotof Bar Rescue, which I don't
know if you guys have seen itbefore.
It's a terrible scripted showbut it's.
It's fucking awesome.
It's got this guy, john Tapper,who who's just plays this hard
(14:23):
ass.
he just goes in to these barsacross America they're like
struggling and he goes in and he, he sends like a chef yes, it
seems like a chef and abartender in and they go
undercover and order everythingand then he goes in and cause
the the manager's alwayshammered, or?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
whatever.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And I can't manage the bar.
And then he just goes in thereand just starts screaming at him
.
And what?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
are you doing?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And, anyways, he trains them up and he does.
Yeah, it's, it's hilarious buthe it's so scripted in faith.
But what's really cool is atthe end they redo the bars yeah,
like he designs them, andthey're so fucking cool and
that's really the only part thatI watch, but you end up
enjoying all the other bullshitbut I was watching a lot of that
and I was like man, bartendinglooks fun.
And then I was like you know, Iget on, indeed, or Google or
(15:13):
whatever, and just Google likehey, bartending jobs.
And I thought you had to go tolike bartending school or
something.
I was like how could I everlearn this?
Which luckily I didn't do that,but I'm yeah so stupid.
But I ended up.
Luckily I ended up.
You know I'm good at interviews.
I guess I ended up talking myway into this bartending job
with no experience whatsoever.
(15:36):
They liked me and uh, you know.
Here we are nine years laterdoing it, but um, I'll, uh, I'll
elaborate on that.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So, uh, you know a little more of my background.
I, uh I started back there in2001 and uh, so for the well, up
until I worked for this, I Ibartended, I got, I worked at a?
Uh shenanigans and that's whereI learned to bartend when I was
(16:11):
a kid.
I was actually bartending.
I started bartending when I was20.
And then I got I cut this dudeoff one night and a regular at
this place.
I worked at Streetside.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Which is almost never fun to cut somebody off.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, no, it's too well.
No, not even cut them off.
It's 2 o'clock in the morning.
I have to pull their beerBecause we're running out of
time.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
It's the law.
What are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It's the law where we live.
You've got to pull the beer atthe table at 2 am closing time.
That's it and that's it.
Assuming your bar is still openat that time, and so I went to
pull his beer.
I was like, okay, big balls.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I sure don't.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
So I get the manager.
He's like, let him finish hisbeer or let him finish his.
I remember it was a vodka.
That's what Monty did.
This gentleman drank.
This was 20-some odd years ago.
His name was Monty.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
RIP Monty some years ago.
His name was Monk anyway, soI'm working there.
The shenanigans will say I hopethere's no copyright
infringement from the movie whatwas any of you guys say
shenanigans again.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, I was that super troopers well, that was
super troopers.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
oh, was it office, space Office, space Office Space
is where they used to doshenanigans Anyway.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
If you don't have on 80 pieces of flair, you're fired
.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Exactly that's where I work, anyways, that's where I
learned the bar tip, anyways.
So this guy, monty, that I cutoff and he starts almost getting
in a fist fight with me.
The manager steps in.
Oh oh, you don't know, he letsthe manager, ends up letting him
finish his drink.
It just totally goes againsteverything, but whatever.
(17:59):
So it was actually cocktailingthat evening, is what it was,
and so I was recently a newbartender because I had moved
back from where I lived and Iworked with this company for
years and moved back and forthfrom these two different cities
anyways, two different statesanyways.
So he comes back a couple weekslater.
(18:24):
He knows that the he's aregular, come to find out and he
knows that the regulars are allassholes to me, treat me like
garbage and maybe run around andI don't have very good shifts
because I'm the new bartender.
So that comes back in one day,super, apologizes to me, leaves
me this huge tip and tells me hewants to give me, if I will
(18:47):
call him in a couple days, thathe will have me come to an
interview at the airport to bean airport bartender slash
manager.
You know I was recently marriedand had a baby on the way and
he knew it was good money andthey needed somebody because
they recently lost somebody andyou'd be motivated.
(19:07):
So I go out there and Iinterview Greg.
The dude I interview with isfrom the same place, I am, and
so everything's awesome.
I start working out there.
Here's an interpore bar story.
This is before September 11th,right?
So I start working there andI've only been there a week,
(19:34):
week and a half Back then,before they remodeled and
reconstructed a lot of theseterminals, you got to remember.
We're in one of the largest.
We are in the largest airportin the United States, soon to be
the largest airport in theworld.
They are starting constructionon a new terminal, if I'm not
mistaken.
Uh, it's a huge airport.
(19:55):
Uh, it's a huge.
We live in the largestmetroplex in the united states.
Um, if I'm not mistaken on thateither, we'll go back and do it
I think you're probably right.
Uh, well, uh, in the, yeah it,metroplex, the metropolitan area
, yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Which is a big area here.
Yeah, and it encompasses a lotNot the airport either.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
It's another little stepbrother airport, true?
So, anyways, I just startedworking at the airport and I'm a
manager manager, but you'realso a bartender.
It's these little smallrestaurants, probably seats,
probably seats a good 30, 30people, and they're out there.
(20:41):
Weird, they're little L shapedbars and they've got a cashier
stand in the front.
They've got a little kitchen.
We serve burgers and wraps andfries and stuff, just bar food
to go with a couple drinks andbe quick yeah, quesadillas,
whatnot.
Anywho, this is back in the dayand they had this authentic
(21:02):
flair to the location we're in.
Anywho, it's a slow day, Idon't know.
Like I said, this is a couple.
You know, I only worked twoweeks prior to September 11th.
So this was prior to September11th.
Yeah, before that it was out ofmy mind, and my buddy's
(21:29):
birthday that I worked with wasSeptember 11th and he was there
that day.
So there's another bar.
I know exactly what gate I wasat.
I was at gate 12 and they werein this particular terminal at
(21:50):
the time.
There was another bar at gate31, in the same exact terminal,
owned by the same company, andthen in another terminal there
was there was another one ofthese bars.
It was owned by a littlemom-and-pop company.
Yeah, so at the time, which Iended up, the end of getting
(22:14):
bought out by a conglomerateconcessions company that runs to
this day, runs a ton of yesmost airports you go to, there's
three companies that own everyfirst like three years I'm
getting to go to all theseschools.
They're flying me everywhere,management training, they're
putting me through management101, because I'm a manager and a
(22:36):
bartender.
I didn't drink and they'realways trying to.
Mom and pop are always tryingto buy me drinks and all these
different little things, andthey would fly us everywhere.
It was awesome anyway, but soI'm there for like a week, week
and a half, uh, anyways.
And uh, the other bar it'ssuper slow day and um, I don't
(23:02):
know if I'm getting off shift orwhat's going on, but instead
they asked me to bring somethingdown to the other, the other
restaurant, and some walkingdown there.
Yeah, go in there.
And you know, the first thingis the cashier.
(23:26):
So there's nobody in the cashierstand, which that's not okay
you can see down to the barthrough the bar and in you know
so there's no cashier and I kindof there is a little just weird
, but walking the bar, so I kindof walk around it could be
grabbing to go food or whatevernothing that weird.
(23:47):
So and there's a little, looklike I said, said it's L-shaped
so you can walk back.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Is there anybody at the bar or in the restaurant, or
is that all empty too?
There's no guests.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Nothing Like I said.
It was dead at the time of theday.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Just tumbleweed.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Whatever that particular day, I don't know
what was going on.
It was dead that day.
And anyways, which is, or inbetween flights, whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Comes and goes.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
And you know, in that particular terminal at the time
, it was a little smallerRegional no, not necessarily
regional, some of them were, butit wasn't, your say, american
Airlines.
Yeah, and this was, you knowGod, 20, almost 23 years ago.
(24:32):
So, anywho, these are smallerairlines, like your Sun Country
and your Spirits and blah, blah,blah, and that terminal is
still like that today.
Anywho, if I recall correctly,we actually had Delta at my gate
, but at the other end it wassome straggler airlines, yeah,
(24:55):
anyways.
So I walked down to this otherbar, brittany's sleeve of to-go
cups, whatever, and whatever itwas, and no bartender, no
cashier.
So I walk back in the kitchen.
There's no cook, or, excuse me.
(25:15):
I walk back behind the littlelook to make sure there's no
server, because sometimes theservers and the managers would
all be back there playing pokerand which was or playing poker
with the guests.
Even better, even better butwe'll have a guest on that,
(25:36):
elaborate on some of thosestories, my buddy, john, anyways
.
So I walk, I walk back and Iwas like, okay, so I don't see
any cooks in the kitchen either.
And I walk back open themanager office door there's no
manager.
I was like where the hell?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
is there.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
They're like what the fuck is going on, I'm walking
around and I walk around in theair to the restaurant.
One more time, there's nobodyin there.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Like are they just fucking with me?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I open the walk-in cooler and there's about five
people I work with in theirsmoking weed out of an app.
Wow that's how I get introduced.
Although that's how I getintroduced, although I didn't
(26:24):
even know all of them, andthey're like we we know you
smoke weed bro.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Well, okay, no problem, Just in the terminal in
the terminal in the fuckingcooler, just ripping a fucking
apple.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You know, at that time, prior to September 11th,
you would have like bombs thatwould go through the metal
detector to sleep in the airport.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, you know what did security look like at that
point.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Oh, it was just Compared to now.
It was a company calledProspect, which is the same
people that do the wheelchairsand at the time appeared locally
, and so what it was is it wasjust a little security guard,
like what I kind of go through,except for the biometric hands
(27:14):
game.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Just like going to a Mavs game or something, or like
an NBA game or something.
Yeah, exactly Like, yeah,you're going, yeah, so you step
through a little deal and you'relike, okay, cool.
All right this wasn't seriousat all.
Yeah, and those probably aren'tgoing through a machine to see
what's in your stuff.
(27:34):
It's literally probably justyou walking through a metal
detector.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
No, there was no x-ray.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Okay, I was curious.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, it was ridiculous, and your loved ones
could come into the restaurantfor those two weeks, yeah.
And then everything changed thedynamic, the money changed, all
in the matter of two weeks,yeah, right.
And then you know, everythingchanged dynamic, but the money
changed and all in the matter oftwo weeks.
But I stuck it out and itworked out what was travel like
after.
That was it weird for a whileoh yeah, you know, I guess this
(28:06):
viewer you were young guys likeI think I was in sixth grade
that day.
I remember they turned on the tv.
I was asleep uh in my uhex-parents-in-law's bed and I
was married at the time.
They were out of town.
I don't know if I was sleepingin their bed, but my ex-wife uh
(28:29):
shrugs me on the shoulder tryingto wake me up and she's like,
hey, the plane hit a building.
I was like, oh okay, it happens, you know, planes crash.
And then she goes yeah, ithappened in New York.
And I was like, oh okay, yeah,wow, they got a lot of tall
(28:50):
buildings in New York City, newYork City.
She said, yeah, go back tosleep.
I was out of it.
Yeah, you know, we partied backthen I was young, anyways and
she didn't she was pregnant atthe time, anywho, weekly and no,
(29:13):
but no, she wakes me up like 20minutes later, freaking the
fuck out.
She's like no, another point inthe building next to it, and I
was like wait what?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
half asleep trying to process that she's got it on
the news.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
You see the towers on fire.
Yeah, no, if you were, ifyou're of age at that time, that
was pretty atrocious thing toeven just witness on the news.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yes, I didn't understand what the hell we're
playing wall ball before schoolin sixth grade and they're like
someone something at the Ididn't know the World.
Trade Center what I was likeyou want to talk about airport
story.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
that, yeah, that that changed the airline industry
and you know what I do and theperspective from what I did and
so right after that well, youknow, I I worked for this
mom-and-pop mom-and-pop companybartending slash manikin, and it
was great times.
It was some of the best timesof my life, made great money and
(30:19):
was getting paid a salary andgetting to travel around and
open new airport bars for themand restaurants.
It was great, it was awesome.
Even a couple of times I wentto Tulsa, of all places, and
helped them decommission theirrestaurants and basically move
(30:42):
out and get them ready to beremodeled.
All right, okay, new concepts.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Wait for John.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Taffer to come in.
Yeah, all these airports getremodeled.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
So, no, I spent a lot of time in Tulsa.
Unfortunately, Boise, they'veflown me everywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Good old Boise, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
It's an interesting story Boise, idaho, but I hope
my ex-wife never knows it.
So we're out in Boise, idaho,and we're getting ready to do
this gala to open up, butthey're closing the.
And I believe this is is about,if I'm not mistaken, gosh, this
(31:25):
was probably no, it might havebeen even earlier than that, but
anywho, I went out to Boise,idaho and me and my buddy Jesus
(31:49):
he as the kitchen manager, me asthe bar manager we all trained
and opened this new restaurant,a concept that was just locally
branded, like airports did, yeah, yeah, it was just generic and
it had a generically local or,you know, for whatever reason.
(32:11):
That airport was in like, Idon't know.
It was like, you know, thegreat outdoors cafe yeah, right
whatever whatever.
And so we go up there and wethey roommate, all these we had
(32:33):
like queen beds, and well, wealso had some houses, all that
houses and stuff we did anywayswe get a car, whatever room.
Yeah, we were partying man withthese dudes from Cleveland.
(32:57):
What?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
up.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Does it do in Cleveland anyways, and so I
think they were the servertrainers actually, and it was
great and, if I'm not mistaken,yeah, and so the first night
they take us out to the stripclub.
And you know, I'm young, Idon't care for strip clubs, not
(33:21):
my cup of tea.
I don't drink and I'm not a bigdrinker.
I have had drinks here andthere and I have a drink on
occasion, a nice whiskey orsomething.
Once in a blue moon.
I couldn't even tell you.
The last time I had a drinkit's been at least a year, well
over a year.
I don't drink anything.
(33:42):
So we go out and have a coupledrinks and you know, we're at
the strip club and they'rebuying us lap dances, private
dances and all this and I'mreally mad.
I'm just like not into this.
It's a cool experience.
Whatever, you know I'm young.
Yeah, I think everybody's gotone of those stories.
(34:04):
Anywho, party balls we got tobe up early next day.
They get up at the airport.
Airport always operates earlywhen I tell you early, but you
know this is pre-opening, we'regoing to go in and train people.
So I think it was around 10 am.
It was no big deal yeah, and uh,so I'm hungover, I don't drink,
(34:24):
I'm just sick as a dog soundslike.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
What the is this?
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I've got shades on and uh, you know the whole time
and we're um, we're in indoorsand they're doing all this
construction They've been doingon construction.
It's dusty and you know.
So, all these people coming fortraining, and it's all these
(34:53):
very young, hot females aboutthe same age as me I'm talking
just stupid smoke shows andabout five of them.
And sure enough, I'm like youknow what guys?
I don't normally drink, as yourbar is your new bar attorney
(35:19):
manager, I don't normally drink.
You may go out to this clublast night called the Spearmint.
Rhino and have a couple drinks.
So can we please just go out tothe side of the terminal and do
some tables?
Let's have some fresh air andyou're training out there today
(35:39):
they're like oh my god, we allwork at Experiment Rhino.
Blah, blah, blah.
I'm a experiment rhino, sureenough, I train all these girls
and the last night we're in townthey invite us out to
Experiment Rhino andeverything's free.
(36:00):
All the girls are all over usand I won't mention if they did
or did not come back to thehotel room with some of the
other guys they definitely did,definitely and again I was
married.
At the time I actually behavedmyself, but I had quite an
entertaining time.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
If nothing else, the people watching is incredible.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
There's an airport bar story for you.
Yeah, was to wrap up our first.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
You know our pilot episode, our feeler episode,
just in the dark, feeling it out, guys.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
I hope that you enjoyed what little tidbit we've
given you.
In the future we will haveguests on that will have their
own stories and we willcollaborate those stories with
them.
But for now that's what you getand I hope you come back and
(37:11):
enjoy a cocktail and listen tosome more stories you ain't got
to get on, yeah you ain't got togo home but oh, you don't gotta
get on a plane you just gottaget the hell out of here.
Welcome to the first episode of Tales from an Airport
Bar.
We're going to give you aninside look from a bartender's
perspective, a little behind thescenes, all the craziness and
things that you wouldn'tnormally know about and or have
(00:27):
ever even seen go on in anairport.
I'm Chris and this is myco-host.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Balake aka Blake.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
AKA Blake, and we're going to start by giving you a
couple of stories of things thathave happened recently.
I'm going to start off with soright before I'd say Christmas,
just a couple months ago.
We work in an airport bar big,open concept.
It's in one of the majorairports here in the United
States.
Blake and I are both bartenders, so we will be having guests on
(01:33):
soon enough.
We know so many bartendersthroughout the years that we've
been bartending, so we will havedifferent bartenders on each
week giving you theirperspective and stories of
things that they witnessed inthe airport.
So, with that being said so,here recently, right before
(01:54):
Christmas, me and another buddyof mine are bartending one
evening.
We're not going to give you realdates and times, but it was
honestly all these stories thatwe're going to tell you are true
.
So lady comes in and we have abig u-shaped bar about 20, 22
(02:21):
seats or so and lady comes inand she's a little red face and
okay, something's going on withthis lady.
And she walks in and she goeshey, can I get a Coors Light
(02:43):
shot of fireball real quick?
I'm like I look at the lady andshe just kind of winks at me
and I'm like you know what?
No problem, I got you.
Yeah, and turn around to mybuddy and you know we have a.
We don't want to over serveanybody or serve anybody.
That's messed up, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's also coincides with the state we live in, laws
and but also it's not a weirdorder because everyone's in a
hurry at the airport.
Sometimes they just have fiveminutes beer and a shot, so you
know, happens every day so, butshe was a little red faced.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I was like man.
She's a little red-faced.
I was like man, she's a littlefucked up.
But I go over to my other buddythat's bartending with me and
I'm like man.
This lady just ordered a quickshot of beer.
She's a little fucked up, but Ithink I'm going to go ahead and
serve her and get her on herway.
And he goes.
You know, you're within yourlimits.
(03:41):
He's like serve her and get herout of here.
I was like all right, cool,within your limits.
He's like get server, get herout of here.
Okay, cool.
And so you know you always wantto check with the other
bartender, make sureeverything's kosher.
But so, yeah, I get her a CoorsLight and a fireball and she,
she.
(04:01):
I gave her the Coors Lightfirst and then I go for the
fireball.
She's hitting on the CoorsLight.
I give her the fireball, shehits the fireball, takes a big
swig of the Coors Light and youknow I had already given her her
check.
She signs the check, leaves andyou know we've got, you know,
(04:22):
20.
Some odd people set up the barthis evening and she, she
proceeds on a $19 and I think itwas like 58 cents tab.
She proceeds to leave us $100tip.
God bless us bingo dollar tip.
(04:56):
God bless us.
Bingo.
And so we'll say Susie, sittingat the 10th, 11th seat at the
bar, proceeds to say hey, thatlady and I get everybody's name
at the bar, so I remember thelady's name.
I always remember this lady'sname and I get everybody's name
at the bar, so I remember thelady's name.
I always remember this lady'sname and I will call her out.
Her name's Heidi.
I'll remember that for the restof my life.
But we'll say Susie and C11.
(05:18):
I don't remember her name, butshe goes.
Hey, that lady droppedsomething over here and I said,
oh yeah, oh yeah, her name wasHeidi.
I was like, hey, heidi, andshe's, you know long gone, she
got yeah and she's like, no, no,you don't want to track this
(05:40):
lady down, you just want to comepick this up.
I said, well, what, susie?
Once you pick it up and hand itto me, she's like, because I
told you to, she's like I don'twork here.
She's like you need to comepick this up and handle this.
I was like, excuse me, she goes, just come around from behind
the bar and pick this up, saidokay, susie, okay I'm, and I'm
(06:05):
busy, I'm slammed.
I run around behind the bar.
I go over where the lady wasstanding in front of my computer
on the other side and sureenough, susie's pointing to a
big old bag of cocaine Holy shit, at least an eight ball and
sure enough, I pick it up, stuffit in my pocket, walk back to
(06:29):
the kitchen, because you knowthere's cameras everywhere, all
over the place, not only itbeing an airport bar, an airport
, but you know, just being in abar, you're on federal property.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There's plenty of cameras.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
You can't go anywhere .
You can barely go to thebathroom without them seeing you
, and so I go and I proceed tothrow it away in the kitchen.
So, yeah that's one of therecent things.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You got some other craziness.
So how long, how long have youworked at the airport?
Let's, let's kind of paint apicture for everybody, kind of.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I have been there since August 29th and the only
reason I remember that it's theday after my dad's birthday of
2001,.
Right before September 11th.
So what is that?
That's like 13, 14 days, almosttwo weeks.
I worked at the airport andthen September 11th hit.
(07:37):
Craziness, everything changed.
I'm a young man at this point.
Everything changed.
I'm a young man at this point.
I'm all of like 24.
Yeah, I had just turned 24,just got married and I was
(08:00):
expecting my first child.
September 11th hits.
He's born in October, a few,about five weeks, six weeks
later, not even, yeah, aboutfive, six weeks.
So changed my life forever.
I managed airport bars and havemet everyone under the sun as
(08:20):
far as celebrities go.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Who's the coolest celebrity you've met?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Coolest celebrity I ever met was Charles Barkley.
I knew that was coming.
I was managing an Irish pub inthe airport at the time and it
was a morning shift and I'mwalking through People are
eating their breakfast.
It's a big, open-concept,beautiful shift.
And I'm walking through peopleare eating their breakfast.
(08:50):
It's big, open concept,beautiful.
And sure enough, I'm walking bya table and I'm like, hey,
how's your breakfast?
You know, and the guy goes, sitdown, young man, and sure
enough it's Charles Barkley andI sit down with him and talk to
him for like a good 20-25minutes.
And one of the most amazing,most charismatic people you will
(09:15):
ever meet in your life.
And when he, let me tell you,when he tells you to sit down,
you sit down and you listen towhat he has to say.
And you know, no, he, he wasawesome, nicest guy ever met.
You know, you do meet quite afew nice ones and he, annually,
you mean of you get to meet andwait on a lot of people that
(09:38):
just want to keep a low profile.
You know, yes, two of thecoolest people I ever met in the
airport and they were on theirway to this was back in my early
days.
I want to say this is probablyabout 2002, 2003.
I'm sure we can.
We can go back and look it uplater.
(10:00):
But I remember dirt Mowinskiand Steve Nash rolled into the
bar and I was managing at thetime.
I was a bartending, but Iwalked up to them and I was a
young kid I was maybe 25, 26,whatever and I said hey guys,
(10:22):
I'll buy you a round of beers ifyou wouldn't mind signing some
autographs for me.
They said, yeah, sure, Iremember they were drinking Sam
Adams.
They were stoned to the bone.
They had these Jordan dump hatson.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
They were just trying to keep a low profile.
They're just super huge.
You can't keep a low profile.
They're just super huge.
You can't keep a low profile.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah it's when you're seven feet tall.
Good luck he's like 6263 littleon TV on the court compared to
no, he's huge big dude andthough they are not in an
incognito bus autograph on alittle bar slip for me to the
(11:09):
nicest guys I ever ever met.
Yes, those two athletes thatseem to be some of the nicest
people you know.
You parted with me, I thinkthat day Bob Stoops was it.
I wasn't there that time, but Isaw.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I've seen him walking through the terminal before One
of my idols, bob Stoops was in.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Like I said, we have 22, 23 seats at the bar normally
and we go around, Blake and Iboth, and we play the name game
and we know every singleperson's name set in the bar,
which catches everyone off guardevery time.
And elaborate, blake, what didthe name get you?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Well, first of all, you know we take everybody's
name when they come to the bar,which throws people off.
They look at you like you'recrazy.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You know, you take their order.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You get them their beer or their cocktail or put it
in their food or whatever, andthen you go up to them and then
at the end you just say, hey, myname's blake, what's your name?
And they and most of the timethey just either start ordering
something at like out of likejerk react like they because
they're just not used to it.
So you ask their name and it'sweird and it throws them off,
but anyway, so we do that witheverybody.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I'd like to also say that's kind of part of our for
lack of a better term southernhospitality.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yes, we're just all friends.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
That's it, you know it's a bar.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes, we're hanging out.
Yes, and, like you say, whenthey give you a last name,
you're like hey, it's not adoctor's office man, what's your
?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
name.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Or you like to be called by it.
It's a bar, it's fun.
You know Chris likes to go downthe line, put on a little show
for everybody, especially, youknow, if it's slow.
But even if it's busy, it'seven better.
But you know he'll go down theline.
You know, jim.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Jan Pam Tommy.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Michael, yeah, whoever, and he'll go through
all 22.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And Michael, yeah, whoever it'll go through all 22.
And then you know, I always sayyou know- you know, blake says
it's slow in here.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
We need to get our sales up today.
Why don't we take some shotstogether?
Everybody starts clapping.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
They always, clap, they always go, chris, let me
buy you a drink.
Man, let me buy you one.
I will say this for the recordI don't drink.
I will smoke you under thetable.
It's like a skinny cook whoshouldn't trust a bartender that
doesn't drink.
But I've never had anycomplaints.
(13:36):
I've got some great Googlereviews.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yes, and most importantly, we've made a lot of
friends and they come back andsee us.
It's super weird you wouldn'tthink at the airport that you
have regulars, but like even theairport that you have regulars,
but like even the first yearthat that I started there.
So I've been bartending for forlike eight, nine years
altogether.
Uh, and I started at theairport.
(14:01):
I quit my corporate job slash,I stopped working until they
fired me and then I stayed homefor like a month, a little break
, and, um, I was watching a lotof Bar Rescue, which I don't
know if you guys have seen itbefore.
It's a terrible scripted showbut it's.
It's fucking awesome.
It's got this guy, john Tapper,who who's just plays this hard
(14:23):
ass.
he just goes in to these barsacross America they're like
struggling and he goes in and he, he sends like a chef yes, it
seems like a chef and abartender in and they go
undercover and order everythingand then he goes in and cause
the the manager's alwayshammered, or?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
whatever.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And I can't manage the bar.
And then he just goes in thereand just starts screaming at him
.
And what?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
are you doing?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And, anyways, he trains them up and he does.
Yeah, it's, it's hilarious buthe it's so scripted in faith.
But what's really cool is atthe end they redo the bars yeah,
like he designs them, andthey're so fucking cool and
that's really the only part thatI watch, but you end up
enjoying all the other bullshitbut I was watching a lot of that
and I was like man, bartendinglooks fun.
And then I was like you know, Iget on, indeed, or Google or
(15:13):
whatever, and just Google likehey, bartending jobs.
And I thought you had to go tolike bartending school or
something.
I was like how could I everlearn this?
Which luckily I didn't do that,but I'm yeah so stupid.
But I ended up.
Luckily I ended up.
You know I'm good at interviews.
I guess I ended up talking myway into this bartending job
with no experience whatsoever.
(15:36):
They liked me and uh, you know.
Here we are nine years laterdoing it, but um, I'll, uh, I'll
elaborate on that.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So, uh, you know a little more of my background.
I, uh I started back there in2001 and uh, so for the well, up
until I worked for this, I Ibartended, I got, I worked at a?
Uh shenanigans and that's whereI learned to bartend when I was
(16:11):
a kid.
I was actually bartending.
I started bartending when I was20.
And then I got I cut this dudeoff one night and a regular at
this place.
I worked at Streetside.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Which is almost never fun to cut somebody off.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, no, it's too well.
No, not even cut them off.
It's 2 o'clock in the morning.
I have to pull their beerBecause we're running out of
time.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
It's the law.
What are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It's the law where we live.
You've got to pull the beer atthe table at 2 am closing time.
That's it and that's it.
Assuming your bar is still openat that time, and so I went to
pull his beer.
I was like, okay, big balls.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I sure don't.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
So I get the manager.
He's like, let him finish hisbeer or let him finish his.
I remember it was a vodka.
That's what Monty did.
This gentleman drank.
This was 20-some odd years ago.
His name was Monty.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
RIP Monty some years ago.
His name was Monk anyway, soI'm working there.
The shenanigans will say I hopethere's no copyright
infringement from the movie whatwas any of you guys say
shenanigans again.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, I was that super troopers well, that was
super troopers.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
oh, was it office, space Office, space Office Space
is where they used to doshenanigans Anyway.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
If you don't have on 80 pieces of flair, you're fired
.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Exactly that's where I work, anyways, that's where I
learned the bar tip, anyways.
So this guy, monty, that I cutoff and he starts almost getting
in a fist fight with me.
The manager steps in.
Oh oh, you don't know, he letsthe manager, ends up letting him
finish his drink.
It just totally goes againsteverything, but whatever.
(17:59):
So it was actually cocktailingthat evening, is what it was,
and so I was recently a newbartender because I had moved
back from where I lived and Iworked with this company for
years and moved back and forthfrom these two different cities
anyways, two different statesanyways.
So he comes back a couple weekslater.
(18:24):
He knows that the he's aregular, come to find out and he
knows that the regulars are allassholes to me, treat me like
garbage and maybe run around andI don't have very good shifts
because I'm the new bartender.
So that comes back in one day,super, apologizes to me, leaves
me this huge tip and tells me hewants to give me, if I will
(18:47):
call him in a couple days, thathe will have me come to an
interview at the airport to bean airport bartender slash
manager.
You know I was recently marriedand had a baby on the way and
he knew it was good money andthey needed somebody because
they recently lost somebody andyou'd be motivated.
(19:07):
So I go out there and Iinterview Greg.
The dude I interview with isfrom the same place, I am, and
so everything's awesome.
I start working out there.
Here's an interpore bar story.
This is before September 11th,right?
So I start working there andI've only been there a week,
(19:34):
week and a half Back then,before they remodeled and
reconstructed a lot of theseterminals, you got to remember.
We're in one of the largest.
We are in the largest airportin the United States, soon to be
the largest airport in theworld.
They are starting constructionon a new terminal, if I'm not
mistaken.
Uh, it's a huge airport.
(19:55):
Uh, it's a huge.
We live in the largestmetroplex in the united states.
Um, if I'm not mistaken on thateither, we'll go back and do it
I think you're probably right.
Uh, well, uh, in the, yeah it,metroplex, the metropolitan area
, yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Which is a big area here.
Yeah, and it encompasses a lotNot the airport either.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
It's another little stepbrother airport, true?
So, anyways, I just startedworking at the airport and I'm a
manager manager, but you'realso a bartender.
It's these little smallrestaurants, probably seats,
probably seats a good 30, 30people, and they're out there.
(20:41):
Weird, they're little L shapedbars and they've got a cashier
stand in the front.
They've got a little kitchen.
We serve burgers and wraps andfries and stuff, just bar food
to go with a couple drinks andbe quick yeah, quesadillas,
whatnot.
Anywho, this is back in the dayand they had this authentic
(21:02):
flair to the location we're in.
Anywho, it's a slow day, Idon't know.
Like I said, this is a couple.
You know, I only worked twoweeks prior to September 11th.
So this was prior to September11th.
Yeah, before that it was out ofmy mind, and my buddy's
(21:29):
birthday that I worked with wasSeptember 11th and he was there
that day.
So there's another bar.
I know exactly what gate I wasat.
I was at gate 12 and they werein this particular terminal at
(21:50):
the time.
There was another bar at gate31, in the same exact terminal,
owned by the same company, andthen in another terminal there
was there was another one ofthese bars.
It was owned by a littlemom-and-pop company.
Yeah, so at the time, which Iended up, the end of getting
(22:14):
bought out by a conglomerateconcessions company that runs to
this day, runs a ton of yesmost airports you go to, there's
three companies that own everyfirst like three years I'm
getting to go to all theseschools.
They're flying me everywhere,management training, they're
putting me through management101, because I'm a manager and a
(22:36):
bartender.
I didn't drink and they'realways trying to.
Mom and pop are always tryingto buy me drinks and all these
different little things, andthey would fly us everywhere.
It was awesome anyway, but soI'm there for like a week, week
and a half, uh, anyways.
And uh, the other bar it'ssuper slow day and um, I don't
(23:02):
know if I'm getting off shift orwhat's going on, but instead
they asked me to bring somethingdown to the other, the other
restaurant, and some walkingdown there.
Yeah, go in there.
And you know, the first thingis the cashier.
(23:26):
So there's nobody in the cashierstand, which that's not okay
you can see down to the barthrough the bar and in you know
so there's no cashier and I kindof there is a little just weird
, but walking the bar, so I kindof walk around it could be
grabbing to go food or whatevernothing that weird.
(23:47):
So and there's a little, looklike I said, said it's L-shaped
so you can walk back.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Is there anybody at the bar or in the restaurant, or
is that all empty too?
There's no guests.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Nothing Like I said.
It was dead at the time of theday.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Just tumbleweed.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Whatever that particular day, I don't know
what was going on.
It was dead that day.
And anyways, which is, or inbetween flights, whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Comes and goes.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
And you know, in that particular terminal at the time
, it was a little smallerRegional no, not necessarily
regional, some of them were, butit wasn't, your say, american
Airlines.
Yeah, and this was, you knowGod, 20, almost 23 years ago.
(24:32):
So, anywho, these are smallerairlines, like your Sun Country
and your Spirits and blah, blah,blah, and that terminal is
still like that today.
Anywho, if I recall correctly,we actually had Delta at my gate
, but at the other end it wassome straggler airlines, yeah,
(24:55):
anyways.
So I walked down to this otherbar, brittany's sleeve of to-go
cups, whatever, and whatever itwas, and no bartender, no
cashier.
So I walk back in the kitchen.
There's no cook, or, excuse me.
(25:15):
I walk back behind the littlelook to make sure there's no
server, because sometimes theservers and the managers would
all be back there playing pokerand which was or playing poker
with the guests.
Even better, even better butwe'll have a guest on that,
(25:36):
elaborate on some of thosestories, my buddy, john, anyways
.
So I walk, I walk back and Iwas like, okay, so I don't see
any cooks in the kitchen either.
And I walk back open themanager office door there's no
manager.
I was like where the hell?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
is there.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
They're like what the fuck is going on, I'm walking
around and I walk around in theair to the restaurant.
One more time, there's nobodyin there.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Like are they just fucking with me?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I open the walk-in cooler and there's about five
people I work with in theirsmoking weed out of an app.
Wow that's how I get introduced.
Although that's how I getintroduced, although I didn't
(26:24):
even know all of them, andthey're like we we know you
smoke weed bro.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Well, okay, no problem, Just in the terminal in
the terminal in the fuckingcooler, just ripping a fucking
apple.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You know, at that time, prior to September 11th,
you would have like bombs thatwould go through the metal
detector to sleep in the airport.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, you know what did security look like at that
point.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Oh, it was just Compared to now.
It was a company calledProspect, which is the same
people that do the wheelchairsand at the time appeared locally
, and so what it was is it wasjust a little security guard,
like what I kind of go through,except for the biometric hands
(27:14):
game.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Just like going to a Mavs game or something, or like
an NBA game or something.
Yeah, exactly Like, yeah,you're going, yeah, so you step
through a little deal and you'relike, okay, cool.
All right this wasn't seriousat all.
Yeah, and those probably aren'tgoing through a machine to see
what's in your stuff.
(27:34):
It's literally probably justyou walking through a metal
detector.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
No, there was no x-ray.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Okay, I was curious.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, it was ridiculous, and your loved ones
could come into the restaurantfor those two weeks, yeah.
And then everything changed thedynamic, the money changed, all
in the matter of two weeks,yeah, right.
And then you know, everythingchanged dynamic, but the money
changed and all in the matter oftwo weeks.
But I stuck it out and itworked out what was travel like
after.
That was it weird for a whileoh yeah, you know, I guess this
(28:06):
viewer you were young guys likeI think I was in sixth grade
that day.
I remember they turned on the tv.
I was asleep uh in my uhex-parents-in-law's bed and I
was married at the time.
They were out of town.
I don't know if I was sleepingin their bed, but my ex-wife uh
(28:29):
shrugs me on the shoulder tryingto wake me up and she's like,
hey, the plane hit a building.
I was like, oh okay, it happens, you know, planes crash.
And then she goes yeah, ithappened in New York.
And I was like, oh okay, yeah,wow, they got a lot of tall
(28:50):
buildings in New York City, newYork City.
She said, yeah, go back tosleep.
I was out of it.
Yeah, you know, we partied backthen I was young, anyways and
she didn't she was pregnant atthe time, anywho, weekly and no,
(29:13):
but no, she wakes me up like 20minutes later, freaking the
fuck out.
She's like no, another point inthe building next to it, and I
was like wait what?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
half asleep trying to process that she's got it on
the news.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
You see the towers on fire.
Yeah, no, if you were, ifyou're of age at that time, that
was pretty atrocious thing toeven just witness on the news.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yes, I didn't understand what the hell we're
playing wall ball before schoolin sixth grade and they're like
someone something at the Ididn't know the World.
Trade Center what I was likeyou want to talk about airport
story.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
that, yeah, that that changed the airline industry
and you know what I do and theperspective from what I did and
so right after that well, youknow, I I worked for this
mom-and-pop mom-and-pop companybartending slash manikin, and it
was great times.
It was some of the best timesof my life, made great money and
(30:19):
was getting paid a salary andgetting to travel around and
open new airport bars for themand restaurants.
It was great, it was awesome.
Even a couple of times I wentto Tulsa, of all places, and
helped them decommission theirrestaurants and basically move
(30:42):
out and get them ready to beremodeled.
All right, okay, new concepts.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Wait for John.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Taffer to come in.
Yeah, all these airports getremodeled.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
So, no, I spent a lot of time in Tulsa.
Unfortunately, Boise, they'veflown me everywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Good old Boise, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
It's an interesting story Boise, idaho, but I hope
my ex-wife never knows it.
So we're out in Boise, idaho,and we're getting ready to do
this gala to open up, butthey're closing the.
And I believe this is is about,if I'm not mistaken, gosh, this
(31:25):
was probably no, it might havebeen even earlier than that, but
anywho, I went out to Boise,idaho and me and my buddy Jesus
(31:49):
he as the kitchen manager, me asthe bar manager we all trained
and opened this new restaurant,a concept that was just locally
branded, like airports did, yeah, yeah, it was just generic and
it had a generically local or,you know, for whatever reason.
(32:11):
That airport was in like, Idon't know.
It was like, you know, thegreat outdoors cafe yeah, right
whatever whatever.
And so we go up there and wethey roommate, all these we had
(32:33):
like queen beds, and well, wealso had some houses, all that
houses and stuff we did anywayswe get a car, whatever room.
Yeah, we were partying man withthese dudes from Cleveland.
(32:57):
What?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
up.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Does it do in Cleveland anyways, and so I
think they were the servertrainers actually, and it was
great and, if I'm not mistaken,yeah, and so the first night
they take us out to the stripclub.
And you know, I'm young, Idon't care for strip clubs, not
(33:21):
my cup of tea.
I don't drink and I'm not a bigdrinker.
I have had drinks here andthere and I have a drink on
occasion, a nice whiskey orsomething.
Once in a blue moon.
I couldn't even tell you.
The last time I had a drinkit's been at least a year, well
over a year.
I don't drink anything.
(33:42):
So we go out and have a coupledrinks and you know, we're at
the strip club and they'rebuying us lap dances, private
dances and all this and I'mreally mad.
I'm just like not into this.
It's a cool experience.
Whatever, you know I'm young.
Yeah, I think everybody's gotone of those stories.
(34:04):
Anywho, party balls we got tobe up early next day.
They get up at the airport.
Airport always operates earlywhen I tell you early, but you
know this is pre-opening, we'regoing to go in and train people.
So I think it was around 10 am.
It was no big deal yeah, and uh,so I'm hungover, I don't drink,
(34:24):
I'm just sick as a dog soundslike.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
What the is this?
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I've got shades on and uh, you know the whole time
and we're um, we're in indoorsand they're doing all this
construction They've been doingon construction.
It's dusty and you know.
So, all these people coming fortraining, and it's all these
(34:53):
very young, hot females aboutthe same age as me I'm talking
just stupid smoke shows andabout five of them.
And sure enough, I'm like youknow what guys?
I don't normally drink, as yourbar is your new bar attorney
(35:19):
manager, I don't normally drink.
You may go out to this clublast night called the Spearmint.
Rhino and have a couple drinks.
So can we please just go out tothe side of the terminal and do
some tables?
Let's have some fresh air andyou're training out there today
(35:39):
they're like oh my god, we allwork at Experiment Rhino.
Blah, blah, blah.
I'm a experiment rhino, sureenough, I train all these girls
and the last night we're in townthey invite us out to
Experiment Rhino andeverything's free.
(36:00):
All the girls are all over usand I won't mention if they did
or did not come back to thehotel room with some of the
other guys they definitely did,definitely and again I was
married.
At the time I actually behavedmyself, but I had quite an
entertaining time.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
If nothing else, the people watching is incredible.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
There's an airport bar story for you.
Yeah, was to wrap up our first.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
You know our pilot episode, our feeler episode,
just in the dark, feeling it out, guys.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
I hope that you enjoyed what little tidbit we've
given you.
In the future we will haveguests on that will have their
own stories and we willcollaborate those stories with
them.
But for now that's what you getand I hope you come back and
(37:11):
enjoy a cocktail and listen tosome more stories you ain't got
to get on, yeah you ain't got togo home but oh, you don't gotta
get on a plane you just gottaget the hell out of here.
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