Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous. I'm Dax Shepard and I'm joined by Monica Padman. Hi! Today is Crazy Public Transit Story. And let me just glance about these. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, subways are hot spots.
They sure are. There's a lot that goes down on those public transports. Yeah. Yeah, I'll tell you it made me want to use more public transportation. I can see that. Yeah. You got to get on the bus. I'm missing out on a lot of stories. One was like, okay, I'll just, yeah, forget it. One was. Wild, right? I almost made you throw up. Oh, God. Oh, God. Yeah, there's a pretty, there's a hard to listen to one in here. Don't listen. Don't listen. All right. Bye. Bye.
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mcmillan's online community is open 24 7 it's a free safe space to connect with people who get what it's like to have cancer you can browse groups ask questions to an expert Share your experience or just see what others have to say. On the online community, no question is too big, too small, or too personal. Their members have all been there too. Plus, it's completely anonymous. Search Macmillan Online Community today. Hi! What fake name do you want? I'm gonna go by Jess.
On behalf of my coworker, who's also a huge armchair fan, I told her I would use her name as my fake name. Okay, great. Aw, shout out Jess. Where are you? I'm currently in Baltimore, Maryland. sitting in the lactation room of my office it has a little fridge in here a microwave
and a couch. Netflix? They ought to put Netflix in there. They do want you to bring your laptop in and probably continue working, but I guess you could probably sneak in a little bit of watching time. No one's going to enter the lactation room, that's for sure. That's a safe place. When I worked at the front desk at SoulCycle sometimes there was an afternoon shift.
and there were breaks between the classes, and sometimes I would watch TV on the computer. Oh, yeah, that's fine. Is it fine? Yeah, that's natural, right, Jess? I've never admitted that. People watch TV at work, I think. I'm not going to rat out anybody I work with. Okay, so you have a public transit story. Yeah, so it actually takes place in Madrid. Oh, great. This was when I was...
16 years old. I was a junior in high school. It was around 2015. One of the things that my high school offered was a trip to the respective country in which you've been learning the language of. So they had Italy, France.
and Spain offered to the students that were taking those languages. For me, I had been taking Spanish since kindergarten. At the time, I was really sharp with it I wish I still was but that was an awesome opportunity and I was really lucky because it was an extra cost and my parents
offered to pay to let me go. On the trip, it was 40 Spanish students and then there was three chaperones. So there was two Spanish teachers that tagged along and then one PE teacher from one of the schools in the district. Who got a free trip to Spain. Yeah, I guess. I think you'll learn later why.
he was important for the story i was 16 i didn't really have any spending money of my own and my parents had paid for me to go on the trip so additionally they gave me some spending money my mom set me up with my first ever debit card she put like 150 us dollars on that and then my mom also got out 150 euro cash for me but one of the things my mom really emphasized was that there's a lot of pickpockets in europe
just be careful be aware of your surroundings make sure you keep your money like in your front pocket somewhere close to your body And I was like, yeah, yeah, whatever. You don't know what you're talking about, mom. We got to Madrid. And then the first day we spent exploring the city center. They took us to the shopping district. We kind of all... ran wild, you know, with my 350 total US dollars for a week long trip. That first day, I bought a wallet from one of those Spanish leather shops.
I thought I was really fancy. So I had immediately taken my money and my debit card out of my old wallet and put it in the new wallet. I stuck my new wallet in my bag and... The bag I was carrying around was a bucket bag. It's very open. Yeah. It's not secure. The one I had was a tie closure, so it was like half open, half closed.
So really just going against my parents' advice. You threw that advice right out the window as soon as you got to Madrid. Like, what's the gapiest bag I can carry? Well, for fashion. I wanted to be a little stylish on this trip. Some additional context, I wasn't really the most popular kid in high school. Obviously, I had friends, but for some reason, when we got to this trip, the group of students kind of split up into two. It was like...
All the upper echelon popular kids in one group and then the rest of us. in the bottom half the ground lanes yeah so you can imagine which half I fell into but I still had friends there but essentially like half of the kids on the trip just didn't talk to us The entire time. Oh boy.
We were done shopping for the day and the teachers wanted us to head back to the hotel. So a big part of our Spanish education is we learn a lot about the metro and the different types of modes of transportation, native Spanish people. take for their commute day to day and they were like oh why don't we go use the metro to get back to our hotel so we all head down to the tunnel we loaded onto the train and it was pretty packed
It was Spanish locals, and then my entire high school class, I was there. Looking so obviously like tourists. screaming tourists. There's a bunch of kids not knowing where they're going. They were standing room only. All of a sudden, I just feel something's off. I slowly just slide my hand down into my bag to see. My wallet's there and my bag is empty. I turned to my friend next to me and I whispered, I'm like, think somebody just pickpocket at me and so we turn around and there's this
suspicious looking guy behind me looking up and then looking back down. And I think he realizes that we're on to him. So he turned back around and then all of a sudden my wallet just kind of like appears on the ground. Oh, that's good. Remorse.
snatch it back up i open my wallet and the money is gone my debit card's still there but the cash is completely gone i was like this is the only money i have i need to get it back and i know this guy just took it i turn to my spanish teacher who's sitting on one of the chairs and i say hey I think this guy just pickpocketed me. Is he making his way out of the train car or he's still in there? We're still en route. And you can't go into another...
train car. Could you walk in between them like on a subway? No, it's really crowded so you would have to very obviously push through. Okay, okay, okay. I tell my Spanish teacher and almost immediately she just snaps into action. And she's yelling at him in Spanish. She's saying something like, it's a young girl. We're on vacation. Please give her back her money. And he's responding to her in a language that I don't recognize.
i later found out that he's speaking in portuguese which i guess it's very common for portuguese people to come into the tourist centers of spain and rob people so she's yelling at him it's causing a scene and then all of a sudden the train comes to a stop And then the doors come open and he immediately tries. And then the PE teacher runs out after him, pins him up against the platform wall. Oh, yay gym teacher. We all pile off the train very quickly and all of a sudden everybody starts.
to gather around and I guess as the guy was leaving the train, he had handed off the money to his accomplice. Which was a woman. She got dragged off the train too. And then all of a sudden you just hear the Spanish police running down the platform. Oh, they were on it. There's like a sea of people, but it's split down the middle. The guy is pinned up against the wall by the PE teacher. I'm standing there with my Spanish teacher. the Spanish police.
and the woman who has my money. The Spanish police are yelling at her, I guess telling her to give it back. And then all of a sudden you just see her take her hand. And shove it down her pants. Oh! Down the front. She felt frisky? No, I think she's trying to hide the money in her vagina. Uh-oh, really? Yeah. She put it up her vagina? Well, she just thought, okay, I'm gonna put it here. No one's gonna search me here. I doubt it made it into her vagina. That would take a minute. Sorry, Jess.
So we're all watching this. The police. me and all of the students and she is groaning and making weird noises while doing it too so maybe it is a kink I told you there's a lot on the plate of the teacher They got a bunch of teenagers. I know. This woman's manhandling her vagina with a fistful of stolen money. What a thing to explain. And as we now know, teachers are just humans, too. Yeah, they were probably 28. Mind you, this is day one of... Seven day trip. Eventually.
Everybody's watching in awe. Yeah. kind of like coming from the audience as she's trying to i guess store this money for later And then eventually the Spanish police, they get her in handcuffs and then they get the guy in handcuffs.
and they kind of roll them away. I'm standing there, and then all my friends rush up to me. They're like, oh my god, are you okay? That was crazy. Also, some of them just laughing because of the ridiculous story. All of a sudden, one of the... girls from that upper group I was talking about runs over to me and she like
Link's arms is fine. She's like, oh my god, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. Oh, she wanted to be a part of it. She did not leave my side for the rest of the night. And later that night... I pegged my Spanish teacher, so I was like, please don't make me call my mom because this is just going to prove her right. Yeah.
And they're like, no, you have to. They make me come to their hotel room at night. They give me their cell phone. Mind you, that girl is still with me. And then she's calling her friends from the hotel room. oh my god i can't believe this happened to us oh my god my mom was like i'm not sending you any more money you should have listened to me which
I should have. Did they ever retrieve the money from her vagina and return it to you? They did not. And I don't think I wanted it at that point either. That's the problem. She knew that when she stuck it up there. That money still spends. I would want it back. Wow, so that was it. And then normally if you were home, you'd probably have to go into court and testify against them, but you're leaving the country. So you never heard anything about it again? No, they dragged them away and...
we didn't hear about it again. Was your PE teacher feeling wonderful after that? I guess. It makes sense why they would tack him on as one of the chaperones the trip just in case an altercation like this one down yeah safety man he earned his keep he earned that free trip shout out wow Well I'm sad you didn't get your money back but that is a good story. That's worth $150. Before we wrap up I just want to say thank you for doing your podcast. I've been a listener since.
this podcast started. So this is such a cool opportunity. And when you guys started the armchair anonymous series, I was like, damn it nothing interesting happens to me i'm never going to be able to submit to this and then i heard the first travel or vacation story prompt that you guys did and somebody had a similar situation where they got robbed and i was like i have a story And ever since then, I've been waiting for a prompt. You manifested it. Yeah, I did.
I've learned so much from the guests that you've brought on, the amount of books that I've read as a result of all the experts that you've brought on. I'm an engineer, so my job is very technical. So whenever I listen to... your guys's podcast it's a good kind of brain break to explore more gray area stuff Oh, thank you. We're so delighted you're a part of it all. Thank you guys so much. Have a great day. Watch some Netflix in there.
Take a break. Yeah, I'm going to wait about 30 minutes before I get back out there. Okay. All right. Great meeting you. Take care. Bye. It's been 80 years since World War 2 came to an end in Europe. The Wondry is marking the anniversary with three brand new seasons of British Scandal, The Spy Who and Legacy. In our podcast, British Scandal, we uncover the bizarre tale of William Joyce, dubbed Lord Hoar Hoar, the plummy-voiced traitor who became Hitler's favourite broadcaster.
His radio catchphrase, Germany Calling, reached millions of British listeners. But behind the mic, Joyce's loyalties were anything but British. In the latest season of The Spy Who, we open the file on Hardy Amy's... The spy who dressed the queen. Fashion designer Hardy Amies lives in two worlds, one of elegance where he dresses Hollywood icons and royalty. and another in The Shadows, where he orchestrates assassinations in Nazi-occupied Belgium. And in our podcast, Legacy, we're talking about
Joseph Stalin, a murderous dictator who saved the world from another murderous dictator. The man who defeated Hitler, but also the man who oversaw the deaths of millions of his own people. How did he get away with it? And why is he so popular in Russia? So, whether it's a double agent, a dictator, or a disgraced broadcaster, get stuck into Wondery's VE Day specials from British Scandal, The Spy Who, and Legacy. Find them wherever you listen to podcasts or binge the full seasons early and at
I'm John Robbins, and joining me on How Do You Coke this week is the journalist, author, and my fellow Five Live broadcaster, Nagamanchetti. I've never worn white trousers at work. Not because I don't want to get them dirty, because I used to be so scared. of bleeding through but can you imagine having to take a spare pair of pants to work and you know a spare pair of trousers all the time
just in case something happens. You'd think there's something wrong. So that's How Do You Cope, with me, John Robbins. Find us wherever you get your podcasts. I'm John Robbins, and joining me on How Do You Cope this week is the journalist, political strategist, author and broadcaster, Alistair Campbell. After I left Downing Street... I had a massive depression, one of the worst I've ever had. And it was probably actually literally a decompression. And so the depression followed.
And I started to sort of physically beat myself up. So that's How Do You Cope, with me, John Robbins. Find us wherever you get your podcasts. Test, test. We hear you, but we can't see you. Hold tight. Here we go. Oh, here we go. Oh, look at this broom. Got a drum kit behind us. What do we got? little man cave yeah it's the drum studio stick monkey studio down here in the basement what kind of kid are you playing tama oh nice i'm gonna say that your short is of a vw thing
That is correct. Are you so impressed, Monica? Do you know what a thing is? No. Okay, show her the whole shirt now. but i got that from the windshield so the story about this thing is a year ago i was at a classic car show there was a charity raffle i bought a 20 raffle ticket And I won. A 1973 VW shank. No way! Was it in gorgeous condition?
No, there's a reason why people donate cars to charity. For the last eight months, I've been restoring it. First was mechanical safety because it ran, but it didn't stop. And then there was an enormous amount of rust that had just invaded the whole car. So I just finished that restoration. So we've been enjoying that over the last two weeks. And then I kind of have a bigger plan. Can I guess what the plan is?
Go ahead. WRX motor. Nope. I'm going to try to pull a Downey Jr. I'm going to drop the engine and pull the gas tank and convert it to an EV. Okay, another great option. Yeah, that's a cool option. Okay, so you have a public transit story. She knows once we get on cars, we could never come back. I'm into that, but we're here for the show. So let's get the public transit story. So I live in Boston. Boston has a subway system, which is actually the oldest.
subway system in the nation. Part of that system is kind of like a trolley. more than a subway. So when you go down, there's no lowered ground. You literally enter at ground level. In 1992, I had just graduated from Northeastern University. I was valet parking cars because I didn't have a job yet.
from my major that's a job i always wanted and never had did you love it it's a lot of fun being a car enthusiast you got to drive a lot of people's really expensive whips without owning them and then tip It was a good gig. I got off of a really long shift. I lived in an area of Boston called Alston, which is, you know, maybe five miles up the road. You would typically take the T, the subway, home after the end of the shift.
So the place I was valeting was right across from the Boston Common. So I went to the Arlington T-Stop. I go down the stairs. And I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I'm waiting. And I realized that I probably missed the last tee of the night. Right. Bummer. Now I got to blow part of the tips that I just made on getting a cab home. So I go to walk up. stairs and the staff has locked the place up
Oh, my God. You're in jail now. They didn't check? I am locked in the subway station under the city. Remember, I said it was 1992. We didn't have cell phones. Right. Poor flashlight. in your pocket. And I'm a 22-year-old guy, so I'm still not really fully formed. I'm not even thinking to look for an emergency phone or even a pay phone. I just think to myself, well, I've been riding the T for five years. I know where I am. And if I look up.
the subway tracks. Three blocks up is Copley Square. I could probably walk up the subway tracks and get to the next Okay, so I'm co-signing on this plan, but are you not thinking... surface from that station and the gates will also be locked there again reiterating that i'm 22 and you know the stations themselves are illuminated but the space between the stations are really not that well lit but i start on my way and i am Immediately welcomed by the city's rat.
There's just a lot of those guys just hopping all over the place. For some reason, I got the Chris Reeves Superman movie from the 80s in my head where the guy is hiding in the hidey hole. Lex Luthor pushes the button and it pushes him out so he gets killed by the train. Yeah. And so I'm like, okay, are they moving trains maybe after hours? Am I going to make this? Fortunately, I make it to Copley Square without dying or getting eaten by a rat. And to your point earlier though, Dag,
Of course it's locked. It's after hours. The whole place is locked. Yeah, the whole subway system. Now, I've got a real dilemma because now I know where I am and there's not a point that it... surfaces as the trolley on the street. for half a mile, mile, maybe. One way to the left is known as the E-Line, which is where I had gone to school at Northeastern. I know that way, but that's not where I live now. That's the wrong way.
And then straight ahead would be through the Heinz Convention Center to Kenmore Square. And then the trolleys surface up there. I'm like, that's where I live. that's where i want to go i'm gonna hoof it yeah yeah what other choice do you have you're not gonna sleep on the ground i think that is what you do most people i think probably would have slept
I start up the next leg, and this leg would be much longer, and there's still plenty of rats to keep me company. And about maybe three, four blocks up, I miraculously come upon an emergency exit. Oh, it's a door. I open the door and there's kind of a stairwell that looks like it's going to nothing. So I start to climb the stairwell and as I near the top, I see a little bit of light and it turns out that I am walking up a staircase to a street grate.
In the sidewalk. There's an emergency handle there. I pop the handle. I flip this grate up. And as I'm emerging, now it's like, you know, 1.15 in the morning, all the bars are letting out. It's summertime. Everyone's having the time of their life. And they're looking at me like,
What in the world? There's a subterranean Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle coming up. But fortunately, I'm out and I'm free. And you're lucky no one fell in. I don't even remember if I closed it. Who knows? I was just so happy to be out of that situation. I look at my watch.
And it's 1.20. Last call's at 1.30. Right across the street is a place called the Cactus Club, referencing a lot of stuff from Boston. Over in Harvard Square, there used to be a place called Hong Kong, and they would do this thing called a Scorpion Bowl. which is basically a mixing bowl of rum. Cactus Club had its equivalent of that. They had the Cactus Bowl.
And this is for like three to five people, right? You normally have that with your friends. I walked in, I ordered one of those, and I sucked the whole thing down. That's gonna help. Well, it's gonna take the edge off, right? This is one of the most Boston stories ever told. Boston's got a lot of referencing points, you know? You gotta know where you are.
So now totally inebriated, but at least a lot less stressed. I walk out. I grab that cab. Yeah, because now you don't give a fuck about spending money. Not at all. Yeah. I'm alive. I'm drunk. I get home. My now wife, then girlfriend, obviously sound asleep. I'm like, hey.
wait till you hear their story wow that's great oh my god i would have been having those same superman flashbacks i can see it very well and anytime i think of being in a subway tunnel i think of lex luther monica do those ring a bell did you ever see those ones the early superman no i didn't gene hackman was lex luther and he had this incredible lair under the city
It was gorgeous. He had like a supervillain cave attached to the subways. There's one footnote to the story. Years later, I'm in sales now. I'm now working for this company and I have an opportunity to sell the service. to the MBTA, the T. I get a meeting at their headquarters. I'm in the big conference room with all the maps and the guys come in and I'm like, listen, Before we talk about what we're here to talk about, I got to tell you guys.
a story yeah right and so i tell this tale i can't tell if they were totally aghast or they were like ah that's par for the course but needless to say i got some good cred going into the meeting We didn't have closing the deal, but it doesn't really matter. It was the point of telling the story. Well, you're so honest because you could have easily said you closed the deal. He just demonstrates some integrity. I love that. Yeah. Well, Matthew, this has been a damn joy.
Yeah, how fun. My wife is a huge armchair. I guess this was a prompt a number of years ago, and she knew the story and she missed it. And so when the prompt came up again, she's like we gotta get you in this time she wrote it she didn't really write it all that well i had to obviously rewrite it all that color but she would love to say hi yeah please get her in here jen here we go
and if you want to do a drum solo i'm also up for watching that hi there jen nice to meet you nice to meet you both i have to say you're the soundtrack of my life Oh, God. So nice. That's flattering. I used to always cut out articles in, like, the Times or the Globe that would pertain to, like, a friend or family member. And now I just... send a friend episodes to people oh i love that send away yeah it's like a multi-level marketing system yeah we need you
Well, it's delightful to meet you guys. You're so fun, both of you. Thank you so much. We really appreciate what you guys do and we love it. Okay, thank you, brother. Take care. Bye. Hello. Hello. We both have the robot on. Oh my god. I didn't get the memo! Monica, you're in your closet. Yes, you sound great. I'm trying to make some conclusions based on your wardrobe. I do think you live somewhere that's cold. Yes.
I'm in Chicago. Oh, yeah. Can we presume this story is about the L? Yes. Oh, good job, Monica. Thank you. I know about the L because Matt Damon goes on it in Ocean's Eleven. And you know why it's called the L? because matt damon goes on it yeah that's right and his name starts with an l it stands for elevated train right yeah You're not impressed. I'm looking right at your face. Oh, you weren't even listening. You already bailed out. I was thinking about Matt Dan.
You know, once I say his name, I do have a minute or two. You go through like his greatest hits in your head. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's your number one celebrity crush? I don't get as obsessive about the crushes. I get obsessive about fans. I'm a big Taylor Swift fan. So I feel like I get more into that. But I am watching The Pit. And Dr. Robbie is big crush right now. He's doing it for you. He's just the hottest. Oh my god. As hot as a gas.
Okay, let's get to your elevator train story that Monica was not impressed with. Oh, I'm impressed. This takes place two summers ago. It's Lollapalooza weekend. Do you guys know what Lollapalooza is? Yes. Big music festival. I know the original one, Julia. Oh, really? Yeah, back in the 90s. I've never gone to Lollapalooza. It overwhelms me. It's very crowded, but normally I would not take. the Owl home at night. I tend to transit their Uber home to be safe.
But I feel like most of the fear around being on transit at night is when it's an empty train car. And since it was Lala weekend, all the trains are packed. super late. We went to an after show and it was like one in the morning and there was still a ton of people. So my girlfriends and I were like, this is fine. We don't have to ride that far. There's a ton of people. Nothing will happen.
So my girlfriends have to get off two stops before me. I'm the last one to get off. Probably like the stop right before they have to get off this man board. And he is holding like a cup of brown liquor. He's got the glassy eyes. He immediately grabs this open bag of... flaming hot Doritos that's on the L and just starts like shoving it into his face. He's got the red all over his mouth. And then he locks in on us. Wait, when you say us, how many? It's me and three other girlfriends.
but they're all getting off at the next stop. Oh my god. Everyone's a little like, uh-oh, do we want to leave Julia alone? We don't really want to. So we're all texting each other, and I was like, I have two more stops to go. It'll be fine. We went to the concert with another friend. He's sober at home downtown. He doesn't live north like us. So I was like, I will call Sam. And he has his wits about him. And if something happens, he'll be aware of it.
I'm Mike Bubbins. I'm Ellis James. And I'm Steph Guerrero. And we're convinced that our podcast, The Socially Distant Sports Bar, is going to be your new favourite comedy podcast with just a little bit of sport thrown in. you don't have to love sport like sport or even know anything about sport to listen because nobody has conversations which stay on topic and it's the same on our podcast
We might start off talking about ice hockey, but end up discussing, I don't know, 1980s Britishic on a lower low instead. I didn't use the word nuance in your pit. for a lower life. He's not cheating on his wife, he's French. It's a different culture. If you like Mian Mammoth, or you like Alice in Fantasy Football League, then you'll love our party.
Follow the Socially Distant Sports Bar wherever you get your podcasts. The Socially Distant Sports Bar, it's not about asymmetrical overloads. James, podcasting from his study, and you have to say that's magnificent. And in the latest season of The Spy... we open the file on Hardy Amies, the spy who dressed the queen. Fashion designer Hardy Amies is a star of Savile Row, dressing Hollywood actors, sports heroes, and royalty.
But in the shadows, Amies plays a central role in Operation Rat Week, a campaign of assassination in Nazi-occupied Belgium during World War II, his instincts extending far beyond the cut of a soup. As the Allies prepare to invade Belgium, one man, Prosper Desita, the man with the missing finger, slips through their grasp and aids German intelligence in hunting down British agents.
The question is, can Amy's tail sharp enough to find Follow the Spy Who on the Wondery app or wherever you listen to podcasts. you can binge the full season of The Spy Who Dressed the Queen early and add for I'm F.Y. Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankapan. And in our podcast, Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history. This season, we're talking about...
Joseph Stalin, a murderous dictator who saved the world from another murderous dictator. The man who defeated Hitler, but also the man who oversaw the deaths of millions of his own people. How did he get away with it? And why is he so popular in Russia today? He is such a singular character for the scale of his brutality, for the psychopathic desire for power. What do you think, Peter? I'm not completely convinced.
about the glories of the socialist revolution. But we're going to take Stalin from the streets of Ghori in Georgia right the way through to the center of power as Russia transforms into the Soviet Union and then to a global superpower to see how Stalin did it, how he got away with it, and what his legacies look like today. Follow Legacy now, wherever you get your podcasts. Or binge entire seasons early and ad-free on Wondery Plus.
So, I give him a call, they get off, and now the guy moves to sit directly across from me. No. How old is this guy? I would say maybe late 30s. Hard to tell, probably. Okay, late 30s. All right, so not like a 60-year-old. I call Sam, my friend who's at home, and I'm like, hey. He's feeding me like, I don't know if you see like those TikToks, people on social media, what to say if you're in an Uber and you think you're being kidnapped. And it's like, yes, I'll meet you at the stop.
Trying to like make it sound like somebody's gonna be there when I get off. He's like, it's probably fine. I doubt anything will happen. You only have two stops. And we get to my stop, the Belmont stop. And I get up and he gets up with me. And so I'm saying to Sam, he's getting off with me. And he was like, don't panic. It could just be his stop. Just try to get out of there as fast as you can.
So I like fly down those steps to that train station, turn the corner, just power walking down the street. And for a second, I think he's not with me. And so I was like, okay, I think it's fine. And then I look over my shoulder and he rounds the bend and is just staring at me still. And he's picked up his pace. No. Oh my God, you're being chased now. Yes.
I'm so glad I was on the phone with Sam because I don't know if my brain would have done the smart thing in that situation. I live four blocks from the train station. So my gut was like, can I just outrace him home? But Sam was like, Cheezies is right there. It's like a late night, drunk food, curled cheese place. And he's like, they have a bouncer. Go in there and ask them for help. Yeah, good job. So I duck into Cheezies.
And the bouncer is like this big guy. And I'm like, don't let that man in behind me. He's following me from the train. And so he stops the guy and the guy's like arguing with him. And then eventually the guy starts walking away. So the bouncer comes in and he's like. Are you good? You can sit here as long as you need. Is someone going to come pick you up? I was like, I live three blocks from Cheesy's. It's fine. I'm still on the phone with Sam. I will wait 20 minutes.
I'm sure it'll all pass. Did you have a grilled cheese while you ate it? No, but I've had many grilled cheeses since. I'm sitting there talking to Sam and I look up. And Cheezys has a glass huge window storefront, and the man did not in fact leave.
He walked to the end of the front window and has plastered his face and hands against the glass and is still staring at me. I'm sitting at like a table right by the door. So I tap the bouncer and I'm like, hey, he's still there. So he goes back out there. chases him away again. I reset my 20 minute clock. I'm like, it's still fine. I'm not going to get picked up.
Sam lives like a 20-minute drive from me. I'm like, you do not need to come all the way up here to give me a ride home. Talking to the bouncers, just hanging out.
five minutes maybe go by and this man's coming back he's running down the block and he's yelling and pounding his fists on the door bouncer grabs another bouncer they both go out they've got like their batons out this time and they're like hey get away from here get away from here pushing him off down the block so now i'm pretty shaken up
But I'm still like, okay, there's no way he's coming back after he's been chased away with these batons. And Julia, I don't want to victim shame here, but no one's thinking to call the police at this point. Like, why don't we get the police involved?
pure panic mode poor sam probably was so confused about what was going on because he's just getting me being like oh my god oh my god oh my god and the bouncers kept being like don't worry we've got it it's also very chicago yeah these things happen it feels like a lot And that's a really crazy part of town. Yeah, people are doing things. I'm starting to warm up the idea of getting a ride home, but...
What seals the deal to get a ride home is that he comes back another time and he has a crowbar and he was trying to smash the front window of Jay-Z. Fucking God, he's deranged. He was determined. I don't know where he found that. It's like 2 a.m. Now the whole restaurant's like, what's going on? Everyone's seeing it at the window. It's packed because it's Lollapalooza weekend. So the bouncers are like...
get in the back and so i'm in the back hiding because we're like maybe if i'm out of sight i'm behind the bread and the back stock figwell and the other guy go out there the bouncers i don't even see what they do but they come back afterwards and they're like Okay, how are you doing? I'm so scared. I was like my friend is on his way He's coming to get me and they were like
We're so sorry this happened. I was just thanking them profusely and he's like, my name's Big Will. If you could write us a five-star review on Google and mention our names. I was like, absolutely, I'll do it right now. And so I wrote this review, like the cheesies bouncers saved my life.
told the whole thing but now I live so close to Cheezys and my friends and I was like telling everyone about this story when it happened I couldn't stop saying the Cheezys bouncer saved my life and it's become our spot we go every time we go out and big wills friends with us we follow each other on instagram he always gives me a big hug he's in the doorway when i'm walking to and from on belmont he'll be like waving or like be safe tonight i sent
in a picture. I think Rob should have it with Big Will and Rolando. We're buddies now. They got us these V.I. Cheese wristbands. V.I. Cheese! Oh, fun! Oh, yeah. I think it's 10% off and it's like our favorite place.
they're both mean muggin that was new year's eve oh you're happy as fuck and they're mean muggin sweeties so this is kind of a meet cute as well i was about to say that yeah it's kind of a double whammy yeah like tell us about an unlikely friendship that's emerged yeah oh that's a good prompt rob write that down rob was that a wrap on the l for you are you like yeah i'm not doing that i still take it but just not late at night
I tend to see, honestly, the craziest people at like 9.30 in the morning if I go into the office after rush hour. Purple line has a lot going on at those times. No kidding. Oh, wow. Fuck, maybe I want to start riding that owl. Thanks for sharing. Thank you for that story. It's delightful to meet you. Thank you guys. I'm so excited.
i need to shout out my cousins the lackeys and my friend ian they're my other arm cherry people i get to talk to they're the first people i told when i got selected lackeys and ian yeah this is great all right well lovely meeting you thank you guys so much great to meet you bye That's your nightmare, that story. Yeah. The Chicago Owl was crazy. I used to take it.
school every morning was something new it's a blessing that detroit doesn't have mass transit they have this thing called the people mover but no one would ever ride it it goes like three blocks oh Is that a bulldog on your sweatshirt? I wore this just for you, Monica. I'm probably going to have... I heat stroke. I'm in Arizona and I'm wearing this. Look at you. That's a great.
sweatshirt. Did you go to UGA? I didn't. I went to the University of Tampa first and my girl Kristen found this for me at a thrift store back in like 2003. It's a great sweatshirt. I bet you could make a thousand dollars right now. I bet you would pay nearly anything for that sweatshirt. You could probably name your price right now.
well i can send it to you no i refuse to take that's a cool sweatshirt though i would want it too thanks arizona would have been a top guest for me given the blanket behind you it's got very arizona vibe I'm in a very warm wool fort right now. Are you from Arizona? No, I'm actually from Missouri. Went to Florida and then transferred to U of A. I'm near Sedona now. We had one of our...
Favorite trips there. Okay, so you have a public transit story. I can't imagine which state it took place in, given those options. Took place in Tucson. We joke and say it's a sunny place for shady people. So it took place in 2006. I was going to the U of A, and I just moved to my first off-campus housing, some student apartments, and they were a ways away.
so I was going to have to commute every day. I had a car, but I apparently decided to be frugal all of a sudden, and I found out how much the parking pass was. Compared to my old school in Florida, I was just like, this is absurd. I refuse to give that much money. to park miles away from where my class is going to be anyway. So I decided I'm going to take the city bus. I'm not above that. It'll be a very humble experience. Yeah, boot it.
Yeah, it'd be very environmentally friendly, less car on the road. Yeah. So overall, I actually really enjoyed it. It was really quiet in the mornings, and I could study and do things last minute. One very balmy monsoon afternoon, I was taking the bus back from campus and I was like the last stop. It was like 110 degrees.
Probably like 115 at the bus stops. Super humid all of a sudden. So everything's super hot and sticky. I often saw interesting characters. We had lots of regulars on my route. One of my regular guys, we'll call him Pete. He hopped on and he's an older guy and he looks like He's not able to let his 80s California boardwalk days go. He's very sun-weathered, really orange-brown skin. Looks like you could drag him down the street. He'd be totally fine. He had really long legs.
yellowy white blonde hair and it was balding on top but long enough he'd pull it in like a messy ponytail in the back.
And he was a cool guy. I didn't usually make a seat, but I guess this one afternoon he decided it was... a good day to camper himself so i'm sitting in the back so i can pretty much see everything that's going on and he sits down towards the front of the bus and you know there's a big old city bus so the windows don't open they have the ac unit kind of towards the front in this one but they don't work spitting water and it's just kind of recirculating half-assed cool air.
so he sits down across from the ac unit starts taking off his socks and shoes and i'm like Okay. You know, it's hot out. Maybe his shoes are rubbing. And then I see him. He reaches into his bag and then he pulls out what looks like a small cheese grater. He starts sawing away at his heel. Oh, God. On a fucking butt. Every time we would turn a corner, you could see the sun rays shining down perfect lines through his...
Wafting cloud. Yeah, the heal particles that are entering the atmosphere. Dead skin cells everywhere. It's a pretty big cloud, too. First of all, I instantly covered my face. I don't want to embarrass the guy. Like, maybe he... doesn't have a home or it has a home he can do this maybe this is his time i cover my mouth and i'm taking like the tiniest little sip of air possible
So I just pictured them going in the mouth, and I was, ah! It's like 115 degrees, and everyone's sweaty. And it's summer, so everyone's wearing tank tops and shorts, and all I could think about was just his dead foot skin. just sticking to everyone around us. Yeah. There's a torture chamber. Thankfully, no one made a scene, but I'd say we were all wearing a little bit of Pete's Petty that day. I debated hopping off the bus as soon as possible, but...
super hot and in my luck I wouldn't find anyone in. I'd have to like stand on the road and 120 degrees in pavement calling someone to come pick me up. It wasn't reasonable. So I stayed on for the duration. Did he do both heels or just one was bothering him? Oh no, he did bow. He had to get the full... Spa treatment. Yeah, he was selling away. I feel like nowadays people would probably say something, so I guess I'm grateful that.
People were very polite. I'm trying to think what I would do. Okay, hey bud, could you cheese grate your feet outside of the bus? I think maybe I'd have to ask. If I saw it in the air like that, that would freak me the fuck out. Yeah, when things get atomized. Ugh. People do that shit on airplanes. that's what's incredible i follow an account on instagram i wish i could remember the name of it but it's like passenger shaming or something like that
And it's people cutting their fucking toenails on a fly. That's where I thought it was going. This is worse. Yeah, this is much worse than toenails. We should add that to our thing. Grated skin. Grated skin. Grated skin. Chunk of skin. Yeah. I'd rather eat grated. I want to get on with a battery-powered Dremel and just start grinding my toenail. I have to... Grind all the time because it does. There's powder. Disgusting. I did end up buying a pass after all. Well, you get what you pay for.
Well, Katie, thank you. I'm sorry you were subjected to that. I hope it's all for you now. Thanks for sharing that and really great sweatshirt. Just want to reiterate that. Thank you. So I did wildland firefighting for like 10 years. and I quit
to have my babies. I'm at home now. I have a two and a half year old and a six month old. Oh my God. I haven't slept all week. You guys have really helped me get through some hard moments of running with him in the stroller and the isolation has been hard for me. so you guys are awesome oh thank you and can i say happy birthday to my husband it's today oh my gosh happy birthday what's his name phil i just booted him out the kids like you have to go now
Happy birthday. Get the fuck out of here. Pretty much. Happy birthday to him and thanks to Christy, my sister-in-law, for hooking me up. She told me about your podcast and then my brother for being my tech. support my brother bob he helped me out today calming me down a little bit it all worked out yeah thanks for chatting yeah thanks katie great meeting you have a good day yeah you too
What a cute sweatshirt. That's going to haunt you, isn't it? That's all you're thinking about. I want it. I can't have it. It's okay. And your life will continue. This is Buddhism. You didn't even know about it in an hour. Speaking of. You know, the arm cherry from last week's episode. or a couple weeks ago also a sweater japanese sweater that i really wanted i did get the website there's no way i can have it price wise no you just can't really order it you gotta be there yeah
So now this is going to be a very expensive sweatshirt because you're going to have to go to goddamn Tokyo to get this thing. We've got some Tokyo listeners. I'm sure that'll go for you. I don't want to put out any arm cherries, but I guess if... in Japan. We should ask Eric retroactively. Do I know someone that's there right now? Everyone's there. I think the exchange rate is beneficial currently. Well, I've had some wild public transit.
I had the guy ask if he could smoke and then he smoked crack. And then the guy that wanted to fight me when I rode my bike and brought it back and get action packed down there. All right. Love you. Love you. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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