April 9, 2025 • 12 mins
"There's good and bad to being a really nice guy, I guess. The good outweighs the bad, but sometimes when you're nice to everybody, some people can take advantage of it."
Notable Moments
00:43 Unexpected Acts of Hospitality
03:37 The Unexpected Realities of Being a Park Ranger
07:11 Transition from Agency to Company
12:03 Escape Room Adventure Highlights
Connect with Teddy Cheek
TeddyCheek.com - teddycheek.com
Teddy on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/teddycheek
The Escape Game - theescapegame.com/
Connect with Jody
About Jody - https://jodymaberry.com/about-jody-maberry/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sugarjmaberry
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodymaberry/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sugarjmaberry/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jodymaberry
Teddy Cheek, a marketing wizard from The Escape Game, is back to turn the tables and ask me three questions. The things he asked really got me thinking on some of the unexpected aspects of my life and career.
Read the blog for more on the questions that highlight how moments of unexpected hospitality, the realities of being a park ranger, and the impacts of kindness have had on my life.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to the Jody Mayberry Show. Last episode,
our guest was Teddy Cheek. He does marketing
at the escape game. I say that because he's not big on title.
So I purposely did that to make Teddy smile. Well, what we do when we
have a guest on this show, they come back for a second episode to
ask me three questions. Those are three questions that are not
(00:26):
encouraged by me, not prompted by me, not planted by me.
It's whatever Teddy wants to ask. So welcome back to the Jody
Mayberry Show, Teddy. Hey, Jody. I've got some questions.
Alright. Are you ready? Let's do it. We'll see. We'll see if I'm
ready. Alright. Question one. Jody, I would say you're a
connoisseur of hospitality. In the last, let's say,
(00:48):
three months, where have you received the best,
most unexpected, most unreasonable hospitality?
Oh my goodness. I like that one. And I'm saying
that, one, because I do like that question, and two, to give my
brain time to catch up with an answer.
So I I'm gonna give two that
(01:11):
maybe is cheating because they're in the same category. But my
daughter is a senior in high school, and she
did two campus visits recently. George Fox University
in Oregon, Washington State University, which hopefully by the
name, you know is in Washington State. Well, they
did wonderful. The hospitality in that it
(01:34):
was different at each place, but so neat to see how they handled
it. George Fox University, because it's a smaller
school, it was so personalized and
so detailed. I thought, wow. That is really good
that a university can do that. And they really made my daughter feel special.
So that's one piece of hospitality that I was impressed
(01:56):
with. The second, Washington State University as a
whole, the way that it was organized and
orchestrated that you can have that many
students and their parents visiting, trying to make a decision,
is this the school for us? And the
way that the timing it was done when you had to
(02:19):
and it is a massive campus. If you count students and
faculty, there are more people on the campus of
Washington State University, which isn't even the biggest in Washington,
but there are more people on campus than live in my entire county
because I live in a small place. But you would have
to cross campus from one place to the other. And the
(02:42):
way that it was orchestrated, the way that it was timed, just
it was a highlight to me how organization
is often overlooked as a piece of hospitality.
Absolutely. Yes. So George Fox hospitality
based on people interaction, and that's what we often think
(03:02):
of in hospitality, and they excelled at that. But Washington
state, the organization of their event in
itself was a shining piece of hospitality.
I love it. That's a good point. Like, your your website for your company
is a great opportunity for hospitality and that it is
simple and easy to use and clear. So, yeah, that's a great
(03:25):
example. Okay. Number two. Okay. Question number two. What
is something that would surprise me about
being a park ranger? You've been a park ranger. Like, what's something I would never
guess about that job? The one thing that you would never now
let me say being a park ranger is as awesome
as you think it will be. Unless you don't like the outdoors, then it's as
(03:47):
bad as you think it would be. It is a great job.
What you don't know about being a park ranger is
and I say this with love because I love park rangers. I love
parks. But it is a giant bureaucracy
and all the things you would think
are tied with a bureaucracy, you have to deal with that as a park
(04:09):
ranger. It's not hugging trees and petting rabbits all the
time. You have to do a lot. And I was a law enforcement ranger.
So Did you did you get to pet a rabbit out there? They're pretty fast.
No. I I did not pet a rabbit. Like, there's no way. Yeah.
No. Well, see, I said it's not all petting rabbits. And and in
the beginning say it's never petting rabbits, which is the more accurate
(04:32):
statement. But both statements are true. It's just one is a little
more accurate. That's fair. Yeah. I like that. It just depends on
your approach. So I was a law enforcement park
ranger, which added even more layers of paperwork and all
of that. So I would love to tell you park ranger is nothing
more than being outside with park visitors, but it's
(04:55):
not always true. There's a lot of paperwork. There's a lot of red tape,
especially as you move up and you start to supervise. So I fully
endorse being a park ranger. If that was your your dream, go do
it. I fulfill the boyhood dream by doing it. And
funny enough, the most park ranger y
positions are the ones you first get. The entry level,
(05:17):
that's when you're out with people the the most. As you move up, you do
less of what brought you into it. Mhmm. Well, I was
considering becoming a park ranger, but there's just not enough rabbit petting for
me. You know? There's there's no good. Just do that. I
do have a lot of interesting animal stories, and I was thinking of them
through my head after the rabbit came up, and not a single
(05:39):
story involves a rabbit.
Dang. I have squirrels and moose and bald eagles and all sorts of
things, but never a rabbit. It is awesome. Yeah. That's
so cool. Okay. Question three. Jody,
I'm not just saying this. You're one of the, maybe, the nicest, like, just
genuinely nice people I've ever met. What's the story behind that? Why?
(06:02):
What's the I I don't know. A good granny? Good
parents? I don't know. I'm I'm just from the from
I'm just a Midwestern middle child. You know, you you
figure out how to get by and get along, and and I just I like
you, Teddy. I'm rude to everybody else. I just like you.
No. It's I appreciate that. I guess there's there's good and
(06:24):
bad to being a really nice guy, I guess. The good outweighs the
bad, but sometimes when you're nice to everybody,
some people can take advantage of it or then you wonder why someone was rude
to you, but it's alright. I would rather have a a
good day most days than a bad day most days.
Absolutely. Yeah. I love that. That's good. Well, thank
(06:46):
you. Those are my questions. Alright. Well, Teddy, since We're cool. We have a
little bit of time, I wanna highlight you again because the work Teddy
does at the escape game is wonderful. If you missed last episode, go back and
listen to that to hear what Teddy does. And I thought of a
couple of things that I didn't ask that. Now I
want to ask you Yeah. I mean What brought you to the
(07:09):
escape game all those years ago? It's a good question. I
was before the escape game at a digital marketing
agency. We worked mainly with artists and entertainers, and it
was awesome. I got to work with some musicians. I I really
liked. I worked on some album releases that I thought were really cool and had
to got to have a lot of really unique experiences. But after doing that for
(07:29):
a number of years, you know, I thought, hey, it'd be
interesting to work with one company rather than a bunch of them at an
agency. Like, really feel a part of a team and
married to the company's success. Because as an agency, it's awesome because you get
variety. But at the same time, you don't feel like you're
in the actual like, if something goes well, you're not fully part of
(07:52):
the celebration. It's not your thing. And so I was looking
at companies, and the escape game had opened in
Nashville in an explosion, like, instant success. And I just
thought it was interesting what they were doing. And I'd heard great things, and they
had great reviews. And I played and thought it was awesome
and so clever and, heard they were starting to
(08:14):
grow nationally. I thought, that's interesting. I wonder if they've
considered, like, building a team. And so the timing was great. They were
actually kind of putting together the beginnings of a corporate team. And
so I reached out about marketing, and one of the co founders took
some time to get some some hot cocoa with me. I'd say coffee, but he's
a hot cocoa drinker. And so we both had hot cocoa that day. And,
(08:35):
yeah, we hit it off. Well, I don't know him, but I like him already
being a hot cocoa drinker. You would. You would like him. Yeah. Good. That's
usually my choice because I'm not a coffee drinker either. Okay.
Now as a family man, do you spend
any time in parks? Any time in parks? Yeah. Like, do you go to
national parks, state parks? You have a great state park system in Tennessee.
(08:58):
Yeah. I love being outside and hiking, and Sam's getting
the age where he can he can keep up a bit more. And so, I
want to plan a trip, maybe even as soon as this year to get out
to our family get out to Sedona. I love the Red Rocks.
It's just amazing. But he's done some hiking with me
in Hawaii. At first, the first trip, he was on our back. He was too
(09:19):
small. And so we did, like, Diamond Head with him on our back and everything
else. So, but, yeah, Tennessee has some really pretty spots too. So,
yeah, we we enjoy the parks. I didn't know if you meant, like, theme parks.
I was like, we also love those. He's definitely been to Disney,
Universal, Cedar Point. So, I like theme parks and national
parks. I I saw the look on Teddy's face when I said
(09:40):
park. I could see he was thinking themed parks. That's why I
had to correct it really quick. And you can tell right
away when you ask a person that vague question, do you enjoy
parks? You can tell right away what type of person they
are. Are they a theme park person or a natural park person?
Yes. Yeah. I like a trip boat. That would be perfect.
(10:03):
You know? Yeah. Well, Teddy, speaking of national parks
or natural parks, we perhaps need to get to work on
a escape room that involves a park ranger. I've not
seen one of those yet. I haven't seen that either yet. I wonder if
that exists. That would be fun, though. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I I have
noticed on TV shows, I not that I've seen that many, but
(10:25):
when a park ranger is used in a storyline,
it's quite often, like, he he did something not good.
I don't know. Turn we gotta flip the script
on that. That's right. We need some good park rangers. The
only really park rangers that have had the
spotlight in any TV show is Yogi Bear. Do you
(10:47):
know I'm gonna ask you a random trivia question now. Do you know the
park ranger's name in Yogi Bear?
Bill. Oh, that is such a good guess. It is ranger John
Smith. Really? Is it? There has
been one president who was a park ranger.
Who was that president? K. Okay.
(11:09):
Man, I don't know. Herbert Hoover.
Not Herbert Hoover. But interesting enough, Herbert Hoover grew
up on the campus of George Fox University, which we've we've talked
about a couple of times. There you go. That's why I said that. Yeah.
It was Gerald Ford. He was a park ranger at
Yellowstone National Park. Nice. Love it. Now we've
(11:32):
just gotten into Jody asked Teddy random trivia questions,
which could be its own podcast, but we don't need to do it anymore
here. Teddy, it's so good to have you back. And last
episode, you encourage people to find you online,
whether LinkedIn or your website. What is your website again?
Yeah. Sure. Teddycheek.com. So teddy, like the bear, and
(11:54):
cheek, c h e e k, like your face.
Teddycheek.com or, yeah, LinkedIn. You know, check out our company,
theescapegame.com as well. Yeah. That's right. And we
I mentioned last episode that a group of us did an
escape room in Orlando, and it it was a a blast.
We got Lee Cockrell to go through, and he did a a wonderful
(12:16):
job supervising us. So I would say if you
have never done an escape room, the escape game does fabulous
jobs. They're all over the country, going to be in Seattle soon,
which I'm I'm excited about. So definitely check those out, and thanks for
coming back, Teddy. Yeah. Thanks a lot. That was awesome. It's so fun.
Thank you for listening to the Jody Mayberry Show.
(12:44):
Look. I know he comes from the back of Burke, but you should probably take
a captain's cook anyway. It's Sugar Jay.
Welcome to the Jody Mayberry Show. Last episode,
our guest was Teddy Cheek. He does marketing
at the escape game. I say that because he's not big on title.
So I purposely did that to make Teddy smile. Well, what we do when we
have a guest on this show, they come back for a second episode to
ask me three questions. Those are three questions that are not
(00:26):
encouraged by me, not prompted by me, not planted by me.
It's whatever Teddy wants to ask. So welcome back to the Jody
Mayberry Show, Teddy. Hey, Jody. I've got some questions.
Alright. Are you ready? Let's do it. We'll see. We'll see if I'm
ready. Alright. Question one. Jody, I would say you're a
connoisseur of hospitality. In the last, let's say,
(00:48):
three months, where have you received the best,
most unexpected, most unreasonable hospitality?
Oh my goodness. I like that one. And I'm saying
that, one, because I do like that question, and two, to give my
brain time to catch up with an answer.
So I I'm gonna give two that
(01:11):
maybe is cheating because they're in the same category. But my
daughter is a senior in high school, and she
did two campus visits recently. George Fox University
in Oregon, Washington State University, which hopefully by the
name, you know is in Washington State. Well, they
did wonderful. The hospitality in that it
(01:34):
was different at each place, but so neat to see how they handled
it. George Fox University, because it's a smaller
school, it was so personalized and
so detailed. I thought, wow. That is really good
that a university can do that. And they really made my daughter feel special.
So that's one piece of hospitality that I was impressed
(01:56):
with. The second, Washington State University as a
whole, the way that it was organized and
orchestrated that you can have that many
students and their parents visiting, trying to make a decision,
is this the school for us? And the
way that the timing it was done when you had to
(02:19):
and it is a massive campus. If you count students and
faculty, there are more people on the campus of
Washington State University, which isn't even the biggest in Washington,
but there are more people on campus than live in my entire county
because I live in a small place. But you would have
to cross campus from one place to the other. And the
(02:42):
way that it was orchestrated, the way that it was timed, just
it was a highlight to me how organization
is often overlooked as a piece of hospitality.
Absolutely. Yes. So George Fox hospitality
based on people interaction, and that's what we often think
(03:02):
of in hospitality, and they excelled at that. But Washington
state, the organization of their event in
itself was a shining piece of hospitality.
I love it. That's a good point. Like, your your website for your company
is a great opportunity for hospitality and that it is
simple and easy to use and clear. So, yeah, that's a great
(03:25):
example. Okay. Number two. Okay. Question number two. What
is something that would surprise me about
being a park ranger? You've been a park ranger. Like, what's something I would never
guess about that job? The one thing that you would never now
let me say being a park ranger is as awesome
as you think it will be. Unless you don't like the outdoors, then it's as
(03:47):
bad as you think it would be. It is a great job.
What you don't know about being a park ranger is
and I say this with love because I love park rangers. I love
parks. But it is a giant bureaucracy
and all the things you would think
are tied with a bureaucracy, you have to deal with that as a park
(04:09):
ranger. It's not hugging trees and petting rabbits all the
time. You have to do a lot. And I was a law enforcement ranger.
So Did you did you get to pet a rabbit out there? They're pretty fast.
No. I I did not pet a rabbit. Like, there's no way. Yeah.
No. Well, see, I said it's not all petting rabbits. And and in
the beginning say it's never petting rabbits, which is the more accurate
(04:32):
statement. But both statements are true. It's just one is a little
more accurate. That's fair. Yeah. I like that. It just depends on
your approach. So I was a law enforcement park
ranger, which added even more layers of paperwork and all
of that. So I would love to tell you park ranger is nothing
more than being outside with park visitors, but it's
(04:55):
not always true. There's a lot of paperwork. There's a lot of red tape,
especially as you move up and you start to supervise. So I fully
endorse being a park ranger. If that was your your dream, go do
it. I fulfill the boyhood dream by doing it. And
funny enough, the most park ranger y
positions are the ones you first get. The entry level,
(05:17):
that's when you're out with people the the most. As you move up, you do
less of what brought you into it. Mhmm. Well, I was
considering becoming a park ranger, but there's just not enough rabbit petting for
me. You know? There's there's no good. Just do that. I
do have a lot of interesting animal stories, and I was thinking of them
through my head after the rabbit came up, and not a single
(05:39):
story involves a rabbit.
Dang. I have squirrels and moose and bald eagles and all sorts of
things, but never a rabbit. It is awesome. Yeah. That's
so cool. Okay. Question three. Jody,
I'm not just saying this. You're one of the, maybe, the nicest, like, just
genuinely nice people I've ever met. What's the story behind that? Why?
(06:02):
What's the I I don't know. A good granny? Good
parents? I don't know. I'm I'm just from the from
I'm just a Midwestern middle child. You know, you you
figure out how to get by and get along, and and I just I like
you, Teddy. I'm rude to everybody else. I just like you.
No. It's I appreciate that. I guess there's there's good and
(06:24):
bad to being a really nice guy, I guess. The good outweighs the
bad, but sometimes when you're nice to everybody,
some people can take advantage of it or then you wonder why someone was rude
to you, but it's alright. I would rather have a a
good day most days than a bad day most days.
Absolutely. Yeah. I love that. That's good. Well, thank
(06:46):
you. Those are my questions. Alright. Well, Teddy, since We're cool. We have a
little bit of time, I wanna highlight you again because the work Teddy
does at the escape game is wonderful. If you missed last episode, go back and
listen to that to hear what Teddy does. And I thought of a
couple of things that I didn't ask that. Now I
want to ask you Yeah. I mean What brought you to the
(07:09):
escape game all those years ago? It's a good question. I
was before the escape game at a digital marketing
agency. We worked mainly with artists and entertainers, and it
was awesome. I got to work with some musicians. I I really
liked. I worked on some album releases that I thought were really cool and had
to got to have a lot of really unique experiences. But after doing that for
(07:29):
a number of years, you know, I thought, hey, it'd be
interesting to work with one company rather than a bunch of them at an
agency. Like, really feel a part of a team and
married to the company's success. Because as an agency, it's awesome because you get
variety. But at the same time, you don't feel like you're
in the actual like, if something goes well, you're not fully part of
(07:52):
the celebration. It's not your thing. And so I was looking
at companies, and the escape game had opened in
Nashville in an explosion, like, instant success. And I just
thought it was interesting what they were doing. And I'd heard great things, and they
had great reviews. And I played and thought it was awesome
and so clever and, heard they were starting to
(08:14):
grow nationally. I thought, that's interesting. I wonder if they've
considered, like, building a team. And so the timing was great. They were
actually kind of putting together the beginnings of a corporate team. And
so I reached out about marketing, and one of the co founders took
some time to get some some hot cocoa with me. I'd say coffee, but he's
a hot cocoa drinker. And so we both had hot cocoa that day. And,
(08:35):
yeah, we hit it off. Well, I don't know him, but I like him already
being a hot cocoa drinker. You would. You would like him. Yeah. Good. That's
usually my choice because I'm not a coffee drinker either. Okay.
Now as a family man, do you spend
any time in parks? Any time in parks? Yeah. Like, do you go to
national parks, state parks? You have a great state park system in Tennessee.
(08:58):
Yeah. I love being outside and hiking, and Sam's getting
the age where he can he can keep up a bit more. And so, I
want to plan a trip, maybe even as soon as this year to get out
to our family get out to Sedona. I love the Red Rocks.
It's just amazing. But he's done some hiking with me
in Hawaii. At first, the first trip, he was on our back. He was too
(09:19):
small. And so we did, like, Diamond Head with him on our back and everything
else. So, but, yeah, Tennessee has some really pretty spots too. So,
yeah, we we enjoy the parks. I didn't know if you meant, like, theme parks.
I was like, we also love those. He's definitely been to Disney,
Universal, Cedar Point. So, I like theme parks and national
parks. I I saw the look on Teddy's face when I said
(09:40):
park. I could see he was thinking themed parks. That's why I
had to correct it really quick. And you can tell right
away when you ask a person that vague question, do you enjoy
parks? You can tell right away what type of person they
are. Are they a theme park person or a natural park person?
Yes. Yeah. I like a trip boat. That would be perfect.
(10:03):
You know? Yeah. Well, Teddy, speaking of national parks
or natural parks, we perhaps need to get to work on
a escape room that involves a park ranger. I've not
seen one of those yet. I haven't seen that either yet. I wonder if
that exists. That would be fun, though. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I I have
noticed on TV shows, I not that I've seen that many, but
(10:25):
when a park ranger is used in a storyline,
it's quite often, like, he he did something not good.
I don't know. Turn we gotta flip the script
on that. That's right. We need some good park rangers. The
only really park rangers that have had the
spotlight in any TV show is Yogi Bear. Do you
(10:47):
know I'm gonna ask you a random trivia question now. Do you know the
park ranger's name in Yogi Bear?
Bill. Oh, that is such a good guess. It is ranger John
Smith. Really? Is it? There has
been one president who was a park ranger.
Who was that president? K. Okay.
(11:09):
Man, I don't know. Herbert Hoover.
Not Herbert Hoover. But interesting enough, Herbert Hoover grew
up on the campus of George Fox University, which we've we've talked
about a couple of times. There you go. That's why I said that. Yeah.
It was Gerald Ford. He was a park ranger at
Yellowstone National Park. Nice. Love it. Now we've
(11:32):
just gotten into Jody asked Teddy random trivia questions,
which could be its own podcast, but we don't need to do it anymore
here. Teddy, it's so good to have you back. And last
episode, you encourage people to find you online,
whether LinkedIn or your website. What is your website again?
Yeah. Sure. Teddycheek.com. So teddy, like the bear, and
(11:54):
cheek, c h e e k, like your face.
Teddycheek.com or, yeah, LinkedIn. You know, check out our company,
theescapegame.com as well. Yeah. That's right. And we
I mentioned last episode that a group of us did an
escape room in Orlando, and it it was a a blast.
We got Lee Cockrell to go through, and he did a a wonderful
(12:16):
job supervising us. So I would say if you
have never done an escape room, the escape game does fabulous
jobs. They're all over the country, going to be in Seattle soon,
which I'm I'm excited about. So definitely check those out, and thanks for
coming back, Teddy. Yeah. Thanks a lot. That was awesome. It's so fun.
Thank you for listening to the Jody Mayberry Show.
(12:44):
Look. I know he comes from the back of Burke, but you should probably take
a captain's cook anyway. It's Sugar Jay.
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