Episode 9
Trapped in a Car Vending Machine, Haunted Hotel, Runaway CEO
What happens when a car vending machine turns into a nightmare, a haunted hotel has guests convinced they're not alone, and a startup CEO vanishes overnight leaving employees to deal with the fallout? On Episode 9 of I Used To Work There, we've packed together one of our wildest lineups yet. From fast food pranks that unexpectedly change a life to one of the strangest things an employee has ever taken after being fired, mistaken identities, ghosts, helicopters, near disasters, and one unforgettable workplace mystery, these are the real stories people still can't believe happened at work.
Every story you hear on I Used To Work There comes from real people and real workplaces because the truth is almost always stranger than fiction. Whether you've had a terrible boss, an unbelievable customer, a paranormal experience, or a day at work you'll never forget, this show is built around stories just like yours. If you're enjoying the show, please follow us on your favorite podcast app and leave us a 5 star rating, especially on Apple Podcasts.
🎙️ Have a story? You can submit it two ways.
Pull out your phone, open the Voice Memos app, tell us what happened, and email your recording to HR@IUsedToWorkThere.com.
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Both voice memo submissions and interview submissions are eligible. All stories with a signed guest release submitted before July 31st will be entered into our Employee of the Month story competition for a chance to win $500 USD and be featured on a future episode.
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Transcript
I walk into the office.
Speaker A:I go to turn on the lights.
Speaker A:The lights don't turn on.
Speaker A:I look around me.
Speaker A:No one's in the office, trying to turn on the computers, trying to do all these things.
Speaker A:Nothing's working.
Speaker A:I'm looking around in the building.
Speaker A:Everyone else seems to be fine, just not our unit.
Speaker A:And I'm like, okay.
Speaker A:And then all of a sudden, my phone just starts blowing up.
Speaker A:Like, text message, text message, email, email, phone call, phone call, phone call.
Speaker A:I'm like, what is going on?
Speaker A:I answer the phone, I go, hello, this is Abigail.
Speaker A:And they go, you see you next Tuesday.
Speaker A:Where the is my money?
Speaker B:Welcome back to I Used to Work There.
Speaker B:My name is Kelly Kennedy, and before we get started, I wanted to give a very warm welcome to the more than 1,000 new Apple podcast followers who have joined us since our last episode.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for being here and welcome to the show.
Speaker B:I Used to Work There is built around real workplace stories from real people.
Speaker B:The funny ones, the unbelievable ones, the awkward ones, and the creepy ones.
Speaker B:The stories you still tell your friends years later because they sound way too crazy to be true.
Speaker B:This show is about you, your workplaces, your coworkers, your customers, your bosses, and the moments that have stayed with you long after the shift ended.
Speaker B:On today's show, a fast food manager makes a decision that nobody saw coming.
Speaker B:A fired employee walks away with one of the strangest things we have ever heard.
Speaker B:Two co workers get mistaken for each other so many times that they decide it's time to fight back.
Speaker B:A haunted hotel with a ghost named Emily.
Speaker B:A worker trapped inside a car vending machine.
Speaker B:A a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon that nearly ends in disaster.
Speaker B:And a startup CEO who disappears and leaves chaos in their wake.
Speaker B:We have an incredible episode for you today.
Speaker B:Let's kick it off with the day shift.
Speaker B:For our first story of the day.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome Stephen from Edmonton back to the show.
Speaker B:You may remember Stephen from the Kids with Guns episode.
Speaker B:Stephen is back to tell us about some shenanigans he got up to in one of his very first jobs that should have left him fired, but ended up going a very different way.
Speaker B:Stephen, welcome back to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker C:Thanks, Kelly.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's always nice to connect and be back.
Speaker C:Uh, so I was.
Speaker C:I was 14 working at dairy Queen.
Speaker C:It was my first job.
Speaker C:And I'm sure you can all think back to, you know, your first job and how much you got paid.
Speaker C:And I remember I got paid $4 hour, right solid solid pain.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Anyway, working there with.
Speaker C:With my best friend.
Speaker C:And often we'd share shifts and we'd get to hang out and work together, and it was great.
Speaker C:One of the days, it was a summer day and neither of us felt like working.
Speaker C:We were both supposed to be on.
Speaker C:We're hanging out, having Slurpees, playing basketball, doing our thing, and I just wasn't feeling it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I'm like, that's it.
Speaker C:I'm calling in sick.
Speaker B:So get.
Speaker C:Get home, pick up the phone, call in sick.
Speaker C:Like, hey, manager, just not feeling well.
Speaker C:Fake cough.
Speaker C:You know, he's.
Speaker C:He's buying into it.
Speaker C:And just as I'm about to let go, I'm like, hey, just one second.
Speaker C:I want to pass the phone to my buddy.
Speaker C:And so I passed the phone to my friend and he's like, hey, manager, I'm sick too.
Speaker C:I can't come in.
Speaker C:And so, like, we thought nothing of it.
Speaker C:We're punk kids.
Speaker C:Not.
Speaker C:Not harmless or anything, but, like, that's it, we're done.
Speaker C:And we enjoyed the rest of the day.
Speaker C:Thought nothing of it.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:And guaranteed he did.
Speaker B:Oh, of course.
Speaker C:And so the next day, he calls us both into his office.
Speaker C:We weren't even supposed to be working.
Speaker C:He calls us both into his office.
Speaker C:We're like, ah, crap, we're getting fired.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:For sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So we both go in and meet each other there.
Speaker C:We're kind of laughing about what's happening.
Speaker C:We're punk kids.
Speaker C:And he says, guys, listen.
Speaker C:And we're like, here it is, here it's coming.
Speaker C:Easy.
Speaker C:We're done.
Speaker C:He's like, I just want to thank you for being such great staff for my team.
Speaker C:I really appreciate everything you're doing.
Speaker C:You guys have been great for us.
Speaker C:And I want to thank you by taking you with my family on an adventure today.
Speaker C:Would that be okay with you?
Speaker C:And we're both looking at each other like, this isn't what we were expecting.
Speaker C:Like, is he taking us out behind the woodshed by the farm?
Speaker C:Is this the end for us?
Speaker C:You know?
Speaker C:And so we're like, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah.
Speaker C:And we were thinking, like, he's toying with us and he's still going to fire us.
Speaker C:The whole day we were thinking, what's going on?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Anyway, he took us to the West Edmonton mall water park with his family, treated us for the whole day, and we had the time of our lives.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker C:He gave us dinner while we were there, you know, did the slides, did the whole thing, Had a great day.
Speaker C:And by the end.
Speaker C:He's like, guys, thanks.
Speaker C:I really appreciate you.
Speaker C:As he dropped us off, well, we were both dumbfounded.
Speaker C:Had no idea what we were gonna do.
Speaker C:And to me, that is like, think about the leader in that guy.
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker C:He had every right to tear a strip off us.
Speaker C:He had every right to fire us, you know, all of those things.
Speaker C:And instead he chose kindness and he chose to lean into us.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker C:And so when you're talking about employee of the month stuff, I stayed there for three years after that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:And I became one of his supervisors.
Speaker C:I became one of his most trusted staff.
Speaker C:I got employee of the month four times in the next year as a result of that and continued to actually work with him.
Speaker C:He supports Make a Wish foundation and does some really good volunteer work.
Speaker C:And I actually volunteered with him to help raise money for that too, because I was all in.
Speaker C:I was like, if this is what this guy is all about, then I'm all in.
Speaker C:So I went from this like, punk 14 year old kid to fully dedicated to his organization and continue to work with him because he chose a different way of leading.
Speaker C:I thought, like, that was incredible.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That is incredible.
Speaker B:I'll be honest, I did not see the story going that way.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Yeah, I know.
Speaker C:Like, you know, two punk kids thinking we're just having a great time and we still were right.
Speaker C:Like, that's the end of the day.
Speaker C:But the reality is he was really, truly, like one of the best leaders and yeah.
Speaker C:Pulled the best out of me in that too.
Speaker B:That's amazing, dude.
Speaker B:So I have the exact opposite story.
Speaker B:You know, the one where you call in sick to work and you show up and you do get fired.
Speaker B:That happened.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:That is exactly where I thought this was going.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, that's too easy, right?
Speaker B:Thank you, Steven, for another incredible story.
Speaker C:Love it, Kelly, thanks.
Speaker C:You're doing a great job.
Speaker B:Every once in a while you get a story and you think it's going to go one way and it goes a completely different direction.
Speaker B:That was one of those stories.
Speaker B:Our next story takes us to a hospital in Texas where a new employee doesn't quite make the cut.
Speaker B:But what happens next leaves you scratching your head.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome Flavia to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker E:Hello, my name is Flavia and I'm a registered nurse in the state of Texas.
Speaker E:This story takes place approximately seven years or so ago and it is when I used to work at a local hospital.
Speaker E:We had a small surgical department in this hospital.
Speaker E:Typically, if you work for a smaller hospital, it's not very common to hire newer grads or very inexperienced nurses.
Speaker E:So at that time, we were looking to grow our team by one or nurse and someone had been hired.
Speaker E:So management shared the person's resume with the staff and everything on paper looked amazing.
Speaker E:It looked like this woman had a great career, good experience, she was coming in from a larger hospital.
Speaker E:So we weren't anticipating any issues as far as work performance or lack of knowledge on what type of surgical services we were offering.
Speaker E:Typically, for someone with experience, we're looking at an orientation period of a few weeks.
Speaker E:It could go up to three months, depending on how little experience the person has.
Speaker E:But again, you know, smaller hospitals typically don't hire newer grads unless the hospital is offering that type of program.
Speaker E:So we're hoping that this person is going to have a short orientation due to the extensive experience that was presented to us in her resume.
Speaker E:So she starts, she has a preceptor.
Speaker E:The preceptor has some concerns from the get go as far as some questions that were being asked.
Speaker E:And as staff that had the chance to be in some procedures and in services with this nurse, there were some concerning things that other people were noticing.
Speaker E:And also surgeons and other peers had already made comments to the staff about some of the things that they were noticing as well.
Speaker E:So with that being said and all these concerns, she had an extended orientation.
Speaker E:So it was beyond three months.
Speaker E:And then at that point, it was decided that due to some performance issues and the concerns that the staff and surgeons had raised, management and HR had agreed that the best course of action will be to put this person in a performance improvement plan.
Speaker E:So that meant that there was going to be a timeline and a very strict checklist of things that needed to happen.
Speaker E:And at the end of that performance improvement program, they would assess whether or not she could continue on.
Speaker E:That performance improvement program did not work out.
Speaker E:And it was shared with some of the staff that that person was going to have to be let go.
Speaker E:We just didn't have a day or time or anything like that.
Speaker E:But we all knew that an indicator of the time, the time coming, would be security coming up to the unit and asking to escort this person.
Speaker E:And they would escort them to the locker room to get their belongings and then to their car.
Speaker E:Well, that day actually came and some of the staff got wind of that being that day.
Speaker E:So we were all kind of just waiting on security to come by and that time actually came.
Speaker E:So when security was on site, some people decided let's go to this big window that we have in our apartment that faces the parking lot.
Speaker E:Well, in the meantime, when she was gathering her belongings from the locker room, somebody witnessed her picking up this shoe rack that she had purchased and dumping all of the shoes on the ground in the middle of the locker room and then just walking away with a shoe rack.
Speaker E:But I do want to explain to you that the shoe rack was about 5ft tall and it was one of those very cheap plastic PVC looking shoe racks.
Speaker E:And it was probably less than 20 bucks and you could have bought it at a Walmart or the Dollar store.
Speaker E:And the shoes that we stored on the shoe rack were shoes that we were wearing in our or in surgery.
Speaker E:And so, you know, it was kind of gross to take that home, but, you know, to each their own.
Speaker E:So anyway, she decided to take that home with her.
Speaker E:So she walks out of the department holding that shoe rack and her belongings, and security is escorting her.
Speaker E:So more people decided to come gather at the window because why would someone be taking a show rack with them when they got fired?
Speaker E:Nobody knew.
Speaker E:And it was just a very funny situation.
Speaker E:So anyway, here we are, we're watching all of this unfold, and she proceeds to open her trunk.
Speaker E:We all see this woman shoving that shoe rack in the trunk and trying and trying so hard to do it.
Speaker E:And it obviously didn't fit because it was too tall.
Speaker E:And so at this grade, there's a lot of us at the window just laughing so hard, watching this poor woman try to fit something that wouldn't fit in that compartment.
Speaker E:And the poor security guard is just standing there witnessing all of this and trying to keep his, Himself, himself together.
Speaker E:I can only imagine what's going through his mind.
Speaker E:So she finally figures out that that thing isn't going to fit in the trunk, but she is determined to take that thing home with her.
Speaker E:So the next thing we know, she opens one of the back passenger doors and shoves that shoe rack with blunt force into the back of the car, drives away.
Speaker E:And we are losing it upstairs, watching all this unfold through the window, thinking it's the funniest thing ever.
Speaker E:I mean, the whole situation was bizarre.
Speaker E:But having her take that shoe rack with her was the cherry on top.
Speaker E:It was just really funny.
Speaker E:And I feel so sorry for this woman, for the whole situation.
Speaker E:It was very unfortunate that she couldn't keep her job because of her performance.
Speaker E:And you know, there were so many witnesses looking at her departure.
Speaker E:But it was one of the funniest things I've been part of in that department.
Speaker B:This story is a perfect example of what happens when we are frustrated and upset and are just not thinking clearly.
Speaker B:I can just see somebody trying to shove a large shoe rack into their car, getting pissed off, and just being done with it.
Speaker B:Thank you so much, Flavia, for the story.
Speaker B:Our next story takes us to a workplace.
Speaker B:Well, you know what?
Speaker B:I'm just going to let Abby explain what happens.
Speaker B:Abby, welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker A:So this is another not for profit I worked for.
Speaker A:And it was really funny because when I joined the team, they were, like, massively expanding, trying to go across Canada.
Speaker A:And we had a team that was, like, pretty diverse, and it was.
Speaker A:But I would say, like, a majority of the folks were still white folks.
Speaker A:And when I joined the team, I was the second Asian to join the team, and we were both female.
Speaker A:And, I mean, in my opinion, we don't look anything alike.
Speaker A:But what we started noticing happening was that the team kept calling us the wrong name.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:And then genuinely having the complete wrong conversations with us.
Speaker C:Oh, never.
Speaker A:Like, I remember the first time it happened, they were, like, saying someone else's name, and then they were like, so then you'll do this, this, this, and this.
Speaker A:And I had to be like, I'm so sorry.
Speaker A:Do you actually think that I'm this person?
Speaker A:Or did you just mistake our names?
Speaker A:And then they were like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe.
Speaker A:I'm so sorry.
Speaker A:Like, how are you?
Speaker A:How's your day?
Speaker A:And it was just like.
Speaker A:So it became this thing that I was like, there's no way.
Speaker A:And then all of a sudden, I was like, okay, over the last month, this has happened with four different team members at least five times.
Speaker A:So, wow, this is not a great track record.
Speaker A:So then I message my counterpart, and I go, hey, have you been getting this at all?
Speaker A:And she goes, oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:I thought I was alone, and I didn't want to say anything about it, but, like, is our team racist?
Speaker A:And I just burst out laughing.
Speaker A:I was like, I don't think it's intentional, but it's definitely kind of sad.
Speaker A:Like, this is crazy.
Speaker A:And so I was like, well, what do we do with this?
Speaker A:Like, there's.
Speaker A:We're not for profit.
Speaker A:HR is not really a thing.
Speaker A:And, like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And at that point, really, I was kind of pseudo hr because people would come to me with their issues, and I would try to support it.
Speaker A:And, like, my role was much more operational.
Speaker A:And this other person Was very, like, event focused.
Speaker A:So, like, really, our portfolios were completely different.
Speaker A:And so I was like, there's nothing beyond.
Speaker A:Sure, we're two Asian women.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:And our names aren't even similar sounding.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Like, there's.
Speaker B:There's no reason this should be being mixed up.
Speaker A:And so I acknowledge that this was very unhinged behavior.
Speaker A:But because this had now gone on at this point now it's been happening for two months.
Speaker A:And I was like, no one's calling it out.
Speaker A:No one said anything except ourselves, which is a little bit annoying.
Speaker A:So we decided to make a custom backup crowd where we cut out our faces.
Speaker A:And I had a picture of my face on one corner and their face on the other corner.
Speaker A:And the top said, which Asian am I?
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker C:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:The next first team meeting that we had because we had flaked this with our bosses, and they were just like, oh, like, it's not a big deal.
Speaker A:Like, you guys just know how to deal with it.
Speaker A:It's fine.
Speaker A:Like, it's happened enough now.
Speaker A:It's normal.
Speaker A:And I was like, but that's the thing.
Speaker F:This should not be.
Speaker B:That's the problem here.
Speaker A:This is what I'm trying to communicate to you.
Speaker A:So then we join our team weekly call.
Speaker A:And both of us have this background on.
Speaker A:And you just.
Speaker A:And I've just, like, try to keep a straight face as is she.
Speaker A:And we're like, we'll just see how long it takes them to notice.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And like, for the first 10 minutes, you just slowly start seeing each team member slowly clock that.
Speaker A:Like, what is that background?
Speaker A:And, like, you know, some of our co workers knew this was happening and did feel bad.
Speaker A:And so they were the ones that were like, I can't believe you guys.
Speaker A:Like, they're messing us being like, I can't believe you guys have done this.
Speaker A:This is unhinged behavior.
Speaker A:And the last one to notice was our boss.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:Who goes, wait a second.
Speaker A:When did we get new team backgrounds?
Speaker A:Like, Abby, let me zoom into your screen.
Speaker A:And then he goes, oh, my God.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, Abigail, come on.
Speaker A:It's not that.
Speaker A:Like, come on.
Speaker A:And I just burst out laughing.
Speaker A:And I was like, well, let's see.
Speaker A:Is anyone, you know, willing to raise their hand and admit that they're one of the many who have confused us?
Speaker A:And of course, dead silence.
Speaker A:And I was like, I would like it to be known that almost 50% of our working team has done this.
Speaker A:And I was like, this is our Public announcement that we would really love for you to take a moment and really decide if you've noticed who you're talking to and if you're properly calling their name.
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker A:Some of my other coworkers are laughing, and they're, like, clapping, and I was like, I am just making this.
Speaker A:Like, we've told many of you many times.
Speaker A:I know that this is probably not the best way to do this, but I'm done with this as a problem.
Speaker A:Two weeks after this happens, we're hosting an event out in community, and what does my coworker do?
Speaker A:Introduces me as the wrong name.
Speaker B:No way.
Speaker A:To a funder.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:And then the funder does know me and goes, I'm sorry, I thought your name was Abby.
Speaker A:And I was like, it is.
Speaker G:It is.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker D:How.
Speaker B:How is this even possible, Abby?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:And so, like, the people who know about this story and know who the other person is, like, they just eat this up every time.
Speaker A:And they're like, it's so crazy.
Speaker A:And there's actually.
Speaker A:And the fun, like, funny, not funny part is, like, that day where I kept getting introduced as the wrong person, A lot of people still call me the wrong name now to today because that's how they were introduced to me.
Speaker A:And I'm like, I can't even.
Speaker A:It's not your mistake.
Speaker A:How are we in this situation?
Speaker B:I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker B:I think I'm actually most upset with your organization for simply just doing nothing.
Speaker A:Well, and.
Speaker A:And I was going to say, this is where I do own.
Speaker A:Like, that was pretty terrible behavior on my end, and we should not have dealt with it that way.
Speaker A:And, like, there's a lot of other things that led to that just being, like, the straw that broke this camel's back.
Speaker A:And I was like, we're going to be passive aggressive about this thing.
Speaker F:That doesn't have to be that big of a deal.
Speaker A:But that was exactly.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:Like, the organization just was not taking any of those kind of concerns for face value.
Speaker A:And, like, that's why I almost became this, like, pseudo hr.
Speaker A:And, like, honestly, that mistake was, like, the lowest of the totem pole of how they were treating folks in our team.
Speaker A:And so it was my way of being like, hey, I'm actually tired of trying to pretend like these things don't happen.
Speaker A:If no one's gonna deal or talk about it, then let's just make it awkward for everybody, because you're just only making certain people of color or certain people who hold certain jobs, feel uncomfortable when, like, it doesn't have to be that deep.
Speaker A:And it's also not that hard to have a little empathy or a little kindness or, like, to have this conversation.
Speaker A:And the fact that I have to do it in this way.
Speaker A:And, you know, afterwards, a couple of them, you know, then it became the show of me trying to, like, remember to give empathy back to those people who are now coming back being like, I'm so sorry.
Speaker A:I didn't realize that constantly calling you the wrong name was offensive.
Speaker A:And I was like, that's an interesting statement that you just said.
Speaker A:I would like you to think about that.
Speaker A:How would you, like, if from now on I just called you dick?
Speaker B:You know, you should just be like, fine, I guess if we're just making up people's names here.
Speaker A:And so it was just.
Speaker A:And so it was just.
Speaker A:It became this comedy of errors.
Speaker A:And, like, all of a sudden, I was having to, like, counsel these, like, like, straight white men who were uncomfortable with the fact they couldn't apologize for making the mistake.
Speaker A:They would just move through it, did it multiple times.
Speaker A:And now I've done it in public.
Speaker A:They don't announce that it was them, but now they need me to say, like, one of them came up to me every day for a week being like, but, you know I'm not a racist, right?
Speaker A:Like, it was just a mistake.
Speaker A:And I know I made it a couple times, but it's just a mistake.
Speaker A:Or one of them.
Speaker A:My favorite is he came up to me and he was like, well, like, you know, I'm white, but, like, I look like I'm Asian.
Speaker A:And so people always mistake me for Asian.
Speaker A:And so, like, I don't know what the big deal is.
Speaker A:Like, it just happens.
Speaker A:I just was like.
Speaker B:And you're like, it's my name.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:I was like, there are so many questions I have for you, and the main one is, are you for real right now?
Speaker A:And he just was like.
Speaker A:And I don't think he knew, like, that's how I was going to respond.
Speaker A:And I was like, honestly, you're the worst offender.
Speaker A:And, like, out of anyone.
Speaker A:I'm tired of pretending that, like, this isn't a big deal.
Speaker A:It's annoying.
Speaker A:And it'd be.
Speaker A:It'd be less bad if I had a name you can't pronounce.
Speaker A:Or, you know, maybe I'd have more empathy in those ways, even though that's still not a fucking excuse.
Speaker A:But, like, my name is four letters long, and it's Abby.
Speaker A:It's so Fucking easy, my guy.
Speaker A:Like, I don't know how to make it any easier for you.
Speaker B:Well, as somebody, Abby, who has spent an entire lifetime, it feels like at this point in the business development realm, you know, from the great words of Dale Carnegie.
Speaker A:Carnegie.
Speaker B:The sweetest sound to any person is their name.
Speaker B:Get it right.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:I'm just asking for my name.
Speaker A:You know, I feel like it asks for the bare minimum.
Speaker B:Oh, goodness.
Speaker B:What a wild story, Abby.
Speaker B:Well, I hope, I hope that people are no longer confusing you for other people.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, so far, so good.
Speaker B:So far, so good.
Speaker B:All right, Abby.
Speaker B:Well, thank you so much for another great story and looking forward to the next one.
Speaker A:I can't wait.
Speaker B:And that takes us to the end of our day shift stories.
Speaker B:It is time to enter the night shift after a very quick sponsor break.
Speaker B:Welcome back to the show.
Speaker B:It is time to get a little bit darker.
Speaker B:We are entering the night shift with a ghost story.
Speaker B:Our next story takes us to New Jersey.
Speaker B:It is my pleasure to welcome the Brittany to the show.
Speaker B:Britney, you worked at a haunted hotel.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker G:I did.
Speaker G:So I worked at a hotel that is on the east coast of New Jersey on the beach.
Speaker G:It's pretty known and pretty famous for being haunted, which I grew up right outside of this Ocean city town.
Speaker G:So I heard all the stories growing up.
Speaker G:I actually went to prom at this hotel and heard the stories as well.
Speaker G:And then a few years, really, like, maybe like a year after I graduated high school, I got a job there.
Speaker G:So I worked there for about five years.
Speaker G:And I always believed in the paranormal, always believed in ghosts and hauntings.
Speaker G:But then I got to witness a lot of it myself, and it took that to a new level, a totally new level.
Speaker G:So the biggest story that was kind of passed around when I was growing up was that there was this young woman named Emily who was either getting married at the hotel or she was staying at the hotel.
Speaker G: hotel itself was built in the: Speaker G:So there's some twists in the stories as they go throughout the years.
Speaker G:There's a couple different versions and some different legends.
Speaker G:So they don't know if he just came home and didn't show up and go back to her, her or if he had actually passed away.
Speaker G:Okay, so legend, two legends have it.
Speaker G:One being that she either threw herself off of the balcony of the hotel and now haunts the hotel, waiting for him to return.
Speaker G:That one has a little bit.
Speaker G: hotel weren't built until the: Speaker G:So that one definitely got turned with the times.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker G:So the more realistic version of the story is that she had walked out into the ocean and she drowned herself, waiting for him to come home, and that she still haunts the halls, waiting for him and searching for him.
Speaker G:There are some other twists on the story, saying that she did lose her wedding ring at one point.
Speaker G:So she is looking for her wedding ring down the halls.
Speaker G:She is a very friendly ghost.
Speaker G:Her name is Emily.
Speaker G:And it is repeatedly said that children at the hotel are constantly, you know, talking about the friendly ghost.
Speaker G:The woman with the long red hair that went down the hallway.
Speaker G:She's actually so famous there.
Speaker G:They actually have two murals painted of her at the hotel.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker G:And kids recognize her in the murals when they walk by it.
Speaker G:And we've had them point out, like, oh, that's the woman I was talking to.
Speaker G:Who's this really nice, friendly, friendly woman who is the ghost of Emily.
Speaker G:So she is who I was familiar with at the hotel.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker G:And then I started to work there, and there was always jokes like, emily likes to play with the lights, or Emily likes to move things around on you.
Speaker G:And I used to work the shift that was four to midnight, sometimes go into, like, two, three in the morning.
Speaker G:And we joked around that her play time was about 10pm because that's when stuff would definitely start to happen in the hotel again.
Speaker G:The lights going on and off.
Speaker G:I had pens fly across the desk when nobody else was around.
Speaker G:That was the first one that really kind of threw me off the edge.
Speaker G:I, like, called my boyfriend.
Speaker G:I'm like, can you come sit in the lobby until my shift's over?
Speaker G:Never really had this close of an interaction with her before.
Speaker G: ow, again, it's an old hotel,: Speaker G:So their lobby was set up to entertain.
Speaker G:So they have some old chess.
Speaker G:Like, big, heavy chess tables there.
Speaker G:And she used to move chess tables and chess pieces.
Speaker G:And you'd hear the chairs slide out, and you'd kind of peek over the front desk.
Speaker G:And nobody's in the lobby, but you're like, okay, Emily's moving some pieces around.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker G:So that's.
Speaker G:That's kind of the first story that I have to share with you.
Speaker G:She is the nice, friendly ghost of the hotel.
Speaker G:But I have some.
Speaker G:But I have some other stories as well that go along with that too.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:You know, since it is an active mural on the wall, you can tell us what hotel it is.
Speaker B:What is the hotel, Brittany?
Speaker G:It is the Flanders Hotel in Ocean City.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Well, heck, if.
Speaker B:If you guys love a good spooky experience, go check out the Flanders Hotel.
Speaker B:That sounds pretty cool.
Speaker G:Really.
Speaker G:If you want to stay, the second floor or the fifth floor are definitely the most haunted, so.
Speaker B:Well, you know, I'm a sucker for a good ghost story, so thank you so much, Brittany, for.
Speaker B:For coming on and sharing your experience.
Speaker B:And I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of them as well.
Speaker G:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker B:If you have a great haunted or unexplained workplace story I used to work there is absolutely the show to come and tell it on.
Speaker B:Send me an email.
Speaker B:HR used to work there dot com.
Speaker B:And we will get you on a future episode.
Speaker B:For our next story, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome Brigada calling from Austin, Texas.
Speaker B:And she used to work at a car dealership that was quite unique.
Speaker B:Brigada, you had a wild day at work.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker F:I sure did.
Speaker F:So, first of all, if at any point there's something I'm explaining and you don't understand it, please let me know.
Speaker F:It's kind of hard to explain to somebody who hasn't, like, been up close with this machinery, I guess.
Speaker F:So, essentially, when somebody orders a car from this company, you can either have the car delivered or you can pick it up at the car vending machine.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker F:People get really hyped for the car vending machine.
Speaker F:So from the customer perspective, you show up.
Speaker F:We would give you, like, a little metal.
Speaker F:It's a fake metal coin, and you put.
Speaker F:You drop the coin in this little coin drop, and some magic happens, and this thing dispenses your car, essentially.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker F:So it's really cool when everything goes.
Speaker F:We do.
Speaker F:We did have, you know, cars occasionally get stuck, like snacks in the vending machine.
Speaker F:And that's a whole thing.
Speaker F:We have call a team out and fix it.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:So what.
Speaker F:What happened?
Speaker F:So the way it works is each car, like, I think ours held like, 15 or 16 cars, and there are a couple different.
Speaker F:Like there are four cars per story or layer or whatever you want to call it.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker F:So each car is on a pallet, and the way you get the cars in there is you drive a car, you bring a pallet down, drive the car onto the pallet, enter the stock number, and the car goes back up.
Speaker F:So there's this thing called the robo, which is like the big platform that goes up and gets the Pallets out, brings them back down.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker F:So there was one day I had.
Speaker F:I was doing an intake on a car to, like, make sure everything looked good for the customer who was, you know, gonna show up in a couple hours.
Speaker F:And it was a.
Speaker F:Next to new Tesla.
Speaker F:It's really nice.
Speaker F:So it was on the very bottom story layer of the vending machine.
Speaker F:So instead of telling the robot to get the pallet and bring it to me, I just walked across the robo and went straight onto the pallet with the car.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker F:So I thought that was fine.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And I'm doing the intake, and at some point, like, I have.
Speaker F:I'm in the driver's side, I have the door open, and then I hear, like, the vending machine has back doors, which is like how we drive the cars in.
Speaker F:I heard the doors shut, and then, like, the robots start going up, and I'm like, literally right there.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker F:So it catches the car door and starts to drag the car up.
Speaker F:And I'm like, I hopped out of the car as soon as I realized, oh, wow.
Speaker F:But it dragged it up.
Speaker F:And I was like, holy.
Speaker F:I scream.
Speaker F:And then I kind of ran off into.
Speaker F:There's a big corridor area where the car goes from the robo to, like, essentially a giant Roomba.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker F:And the Roomba brings the car out into a bay.
Speaker F:Then the bay door's open.
Speaker F:And that's when you get your car.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:So I ran into the corridor area and out through, like, a back door.
Speaker F:So the robot drags the car up, flips it on its side.
Speaker F:I think, like, I don't think the door came off, but, you know, pretty crushed.
Speaker F:And then the whole thing stops.
Speaker F:There's like a, you know, the error messages going off and whatever.
Speaker F:And the lot attendant, who.
Speaker F:She just didn't see me in there, and I was not following protocol.
Speaker F:So this really kind of is my fault.
Speaker F:I just looked at her, and she looked at me, and she was just like.
Speaker F:I was like, girl, I'm fine.
Speaker F:Like, it's all good.
Speaker F:Like, I hurt.
Speaker F:So I walk out through the back door.
Speaker F:And of course, at this point, the vending machine is not functional.
Speaker F:Nobody is going to be able to get their cars out that day.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And you have to walk back into the office and be like, guys, I did something bad.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker F:So I.
Speaker F:Everybody was, like, remarkably cool about it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker F:The manager was just kind of like, okay, well, we're gonna deal with this.
Speaker F:And then everybody else that was working today just started calling their customers, like, hey, we're sorry you can't get your car today.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And then I had to call my lady, who was actually very nice, and we obviously just canceled the purchase, so she.
Speaker F:She wasn't out any money.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:So, yeah, if you.
Speaker F:If you had driven by our location that day, you would have seen, like, a.
Speaker F:A Tesla smashed up against the glass.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker F:And I think what they wound up doing was, like, getting black, like, trash bags, like those huge industrial trash bags, and, like, putting them on the glass so nobody could see it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And I think I had to go to, like, a.
Speaker F:A freight store to get some, like, pulleys, because you're gonna have to call on this, like, extraction team, basically to pull out a car.
Speaker F:But, yeah, that's how I almost got crushed in a vending machine.
Speaker B:You could have been killed.
Speaker F:I probably severely injured.
Speaker B:My gosh.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:So are these vending machines still kind of all over the place, then?
Speaker G:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker F:As far as I know, I'm the only one that has happened to.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And I'm pretty sure there was, like, you know, an incident form that had to get filled out, and I'm pretty sure there were some new safety policies implemented, because they really do.
Speaker F:Those machines do have a lot of sensors, and they really are.
Speaker F:They're not going to do anything they're not supposed to be doing unless you're telling the machine explicitly what you want it to do.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker F:It just didn't occur to me that I should have pulled the palette out because that way everybody would have seen me in there looking at the car.
Speaker B:Sure, sure.
Speaker B:But on the other hand, people make mistakes, and I feel like kind of regardless of all the policies and procedures you have in place, somebody might always still press the button.
Speaker G:Right.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:Things.
Speaker F:Things do happen.
Speaker F:It's a lot of moving parts, though.
Speaker F:Inevitably, at some point, some part would break and we would just have to kind of take it offline for a couple days.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Well, I'm happy that you got through this, Brigada.
Speaker B:I'm happy that you're still with us and you live to tell the tale.
Speaker F:I will say, like, that day, a lot of irrational anxiety was born, I bet, because it was such a.
Speaker F:A freak, random thing.
Speaker F:And I was like, oh, well, what other freak, random things could possibly happen to me?
Speaker B:Well, it sounds like rational anxiety to me.
Speaker F:This happened about five years ago.
Speaker F:We've been working through that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker F:And it was right before.
Speaker F:Luckily.
Speaker F:Luckily it was the day before I went on a vacation, so I didn't have to go to work the next day.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you got to just like reset, which honestly probably was good for everyone.
Speaker F:I got to escape.
Speaker F:Yes.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That is an absolutely incredible story, Brigada.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for coming on and sharing it with me.
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker B:All right, we'll hopefully have you back for another one at some point.
Speaker F:I will.
Speaker F:I will be thinking of other.
Speaker F:Other things I can share.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:We'll see you soon.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:Machines are absolutely dangerous.
Speaker B:And if you've ever had anything like this happen to you at work or you witnessed it happen to somebody, shoot us an email hrused to work there.com and we will get you to come and tell your story.
Speaker B:From Austin, Texas, to the bright lights of Hollywood, it is my pleasure to welcome back repeat caller to the John.
Speaker B:And John has had some absolutely incredible stories for us over the past few episodes and he was not done yet.
Speaker B:John, welcome back to the show.
Speaker B:This is one of the craziest stories I think I have ever heard.
Speaker B:Tell us what happened.
Speaker D:Well, Kelly, this one's.
Speaker D:This one's a quite an interesting one.
Speaker D:As I'd mentioned before, I.
Speaker D:In my filmmaking career, I do a lot.
Speaker D:Do a lot of aerial cinematography, shooting out of helicopters and planes and such.
Speaker D:And this particular film was a science fiction film.
Speaker D:Pretty interesting, fun movie.
Speaker D:And it's about.
Speaker D:Basically, it's about aliens who come to Earth 2,000 years ago and they've been laying dormant in the bottom of the Colorado river, actually in what's Lake Havasu now.
Speaker D:And the timing, the stars, everything's right and everything comes back.
Speaker D:They all start coming back.
Speaker D:And any case, my.
Speaker D: Colorado river, keeping this: Speaker D:And so basically, it's a wild ride while you're skimming along the surface of the it through the Grand Canyon, right through the most wonderful part of grand canyon.
Speaker D:Just literally 6 to 10ft above the water, up high, up low, all these different beautiful shots.
Speaker D:And the helicopter represents the alien spaceship.
Speaker D:So sometimes it's the point of view, your point of view, the health, that alien pilot's point of view.
Speaker D:And then other times we use pretty much the same shot, but we put a composite the spaceship in the shot.
Speaker D:And so when it pans, we pan and we kind of match it all.
Speaker D:So this particular day Beautiful day.
Speaker D:We were our base camps in Las Vegas, which is very close by air to the Grand Canyon.
Speaker D:And the pilot, again, this is my favorite pilot.
Speaker D:Wonderful guy.
Speaker D:And we're getting all ready for the day.
Speaker D:He not only is a pilot, but he's also.
Speaker D:I will mention, he was the vice president of one of the largest casinos in Las Vegas.
Speaker D:And just happens to have pet rams that he feeds on the top of the mountains.
Speaker D:And he's a character.
Speaker D:I mean, here's a guy, he's a vice president, one of the largest casinos.
Speaker D:And this helicopter stunt.
Speaker D:Helicopter camera work he does for fun.
Speaker D:Even though he gets paid big money for it.
Speaker D:That's his art.
Speaker D:Sure.
Speaker D:And so that morning, we have our assignment.
Speaker D:We map it all out.
Speaker D:Cameras are all ready to go, all set up.
Speaker D:In this case, I was using a remote control camera.
Speaker D:Because the nature of the shots mounted at the front of the camera helicopter, just below this, the front.
Speaker D:Got my video monitors and all my.
Speaker D:My little wheels to remote control.
Speaker D:It sitting in the passenger seat of the helicopter.
Speaker D:We're all bolted in.
Speaker D:Wonderful day.
Speaker D:It's really like a sightseeing day to a certain degree, of course.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So we start.
Speaker D:The whole idea is we go.
Speaker D:Let's call upstream.
Speaker D:So we shot.
Speaker D:Start.
Speaker D:Start shooting from the southern end of the Grand Canyon, an area which is about 20 miles.
Speaker D:We move pretty fast in these helicopters, actually, maybe farther.
Speaker D:And then we end up.
Speaker D:Which is now, if we do a transition.
Speaker D:Because realistically, Lake Havasu was not there.
Speaker D:It was not there, but we kind of fake it.
Speaker D:Like there was some kind of lake there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Back then.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And we just go upstream because we have to end up there.
Speaker D:And again, add to the sun angle, time of day we're shooting.
Speaker D:So we started our shot all excited, getting going.
Speaker D:And we get in there in a position.
Speaker D:And it's not too.
Speaker D:The weather is great and not too windy.
Speaker D:And we start off high and we start slowly making our way.
Speaker D:Cameras rolling down till we're about 6ft off the water.
Speaker D:With the lens we're using, it looks like we're literally on the water.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:And we're just moving along.
Speaker D:We're going about kilometers, about 140, 50 kilometers, maybe 180 kilometers an hour along the water.
Speaker D:And we're kind of maneuvering just to make it fun for the audience, doing some maneuvers.
Speaker D:Then we go up high, we go up low.
Speaker D:And because we're going upstream, the water's flowing towards us, which makes it look like we're going about 500 miles an hour.
Speaker D:Yeah, it could be the ripples.
Speaker D:It's a weird otter effect, but it really quite amazing.
Speaker D:So as we're flying along, we can see and this is real early in the morning because again, you get permits for everything you're taught.
Speaker D:Get permit from the state, permit from the city, permit national parks and this.
Speaker D:And everybody, everybody's in on it.
Speaker D:Federal administ adh.
Speaker D:We're all in on what's.
Speaker D:What we're doing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And so in theory, we can't control who's on the way water.
Speaker D:But sure, they're kind of told that there's an area of filling going on.
Speaker D:And so we're moving along pretty good clip.
Speaker D:And in the distance we can see three kayakers coming at us.
Speaker D:Those long fiberglass kayakers.
Speaker D:Well, you know, we have a lot of shots.
Speaker D:And again, I.
Speaker D:We're filming way more than we need, so it's like, well, we have to stop, you know, whatever.
Speaker D:We'll just work around these guys.
Speaker D:So we're flying low and pilots being a little bit fun.
Speaker D:So we're about, I don't know, a couple hundred feet away from them, about six feet in the air.
Speaker D:And these guys are panicking because we can see him.
Speaker D:See, you know, I mean, we got.
Speaker D:We're waving at him and they can see us.
Speaker D:And then so the pilot goes up.
Speaker D:I mean, we're far enough, but we're not trying to scare them, but, you know, you know, so we kind of get up to about 50, 60, 50ft about.
Speaker D:And as we go over, the second kayaker, obviously belonging to the Darwin Club, decides to throw his.
Speaker D:His paddle, his oar in the air at us.
Speaker D:Now, keep in mind, there's no way he could have.
Speaker D:The oar could have hit us.
Speaker D:But he was maliciously throwing it up at the air.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker D:What ends up happening is the ore gets caught in the downwash of the rotor.
Speaker D:And I'm looking, I'm watching this because I'm.
Speaker D:I'm hanging out the side just watching this because I wanted to make sure that the OR didn't hit us or.
Speaker D:Sure, of course, stuck in something.
Speaker D:And next thing we're done.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And I see the ore literally go into whirl spin, caught this wind in a spin and shoot down and bang.
Speaker D:Right on the head of the.
Speaker D:Not on.
Speaker D:The guy was shot down at probably at 60, 80 miles an hour onto his kayak.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker D:Broke.
Speaker D:And so.
Speaker D:Well, that's not good.
Speaker D:So we kept on going.
Speaker D:We're moving.
Speaker D:We're.
Speaker D:We're booking My.
Speaker D:This is all split second.
Speaker D:I go, whoa, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:That happened right here.
Speaker D:We're still just moving along.
Speaker D:So that was the first sign.
Speaker D:Like, oh, this day is not gonna be as normal as we thought.
Speaker D:Okay, yeah, now I can.
Speaker D:This is.
Speaker D:We know what's we're gonna hear when we get back to base station.
Speaker D:Some serious complaints, I'm sure.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So any case, we're flying along.
Speaker D:We kind of get over it.
Speaker D:Really.
Speaker D:It happened so fast.
Speaker D:It didn't hit our nerves or anything.
Speaker D:Sure.
Speaker D:And it's okay.
Speaker D:Now our second assignment.
Speaker D:We've got our low shots.
Speaker D:The hell, you know, the spaceship flying shots and all that.
Speaker D:Now we need a shot where the hell.
Speaker D:Where the spaceship is going towards a cliff.
Speaker D:And it has to go up over a cliff.
Speaker D:This Cliff is about 800ft high.
Speaker D:It's if you know the Grand Canyon, it zigzags and goes left and right.
Speaker D:So it's not just one long corridor.
Speaker D:And so the whole idea is we go up over this.
Speaker D:Straight up and over a cliff.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:And at the end of the cliff is where we reveal the lake where it crashes.
Speaker D:So the pilot, he's been doing this his whole life.
Speaker D:He knows what he's doing.
Speaker D:But.
Speaker D:So we set it up and go.
Speaker D:Here's.
Speaker D:This is where we're gonna go.
Speaker D:This is the line we're gonna take.
Speaker D:We slow down, we hover.
Speaker D:This is the line.
Speaker D:And keep on.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:I won't say it's vertical.
Speaker D:I'd say, I don't know, 20°.
Speaker D:Well, it's an 80°, almost 90°, but 80.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:And it's this jagged rocks all the way up to the top.
Speaker D:And then, yeah, it's almost 800ft up to the ridge.
Speaker D:And it's very much a ledge bridge.
Speaker D:And so the whole idea of the helicopter is we get back quite a distance, get up to speed, and a certain distance, the camera kind of fakes the perspective.
Speaker D:We start rotoring vertically as we get up to.
Speaker D:Because helicopters are not like airplanes.
Speaker D:You don't just tilt up and fly.
Speaker D:You have to bring back the collector on the rotor, and it just starts to rise with the forward momentum.
Speaker D:You got to use geometry, because as you start to rise, the helicopter basically has no control of its forward momentum.
Speaker D:So you have to say the vertical momentum will have to take over the straight on momentum.
Speaker D:And you go up and over that particular morning.
Speaker D:And what had happened is the air above the canyon was so cold and there was so much wind gust came down.
Speaker D:And so the wind pressure and Cold air was just pouring over.
Speaker D:The top of the ridge was so powerful, it was overpowering the vertical thrust of the helicopter.
Speaker B:Oh, no.
Speaker D:So here we are, full thrust, Full rotor thrust, going up.
Speaker D:Cold air is pushing down on the helicopter, putting us into a state, a stall position stuck right in the middle, halfway up the cliff in a position about 20, 30ft away from the rocks.
Speaker D:Literally.
Speaker D:We can't go up, we can't go down because we're on full rotor.
Speaker D:And if you had.
Speaker D:When you start, you pull off the power on a helicopter, you don't just lower power and go back down.
Speaker D:Ease doesn't work that way.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:You have to change the angle on the rotors and everything changed.
Speaker D:And you have to turn out.
Speaker D:You don't just drop down lightly.
Speaker D:You have to set it all up.
Speaker D:So we're stuck.
Speaker D:We're literally like.
Speaker D:We're.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:We could be like this position for a long time, but we can't turn out now and then.
Speaker D:We're never intending to turn out 20ft away from a jagged rock.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker D:Our whole idea is just to go straight over the top and off.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So while this is happening, the pilot, calm as can be, this is a pilot who's been flying with bullets in the military, in the Vietnam War and all that.
Speaker D:So he.
Speaker D:This is nothing to him.
Speaker D:He's going, oh, this is.
Speaker D:But he did say, we're in a little situation, John,.
Speaker B:In their calm, collected voice.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:He goes, shut the camera off.
Speaker D:We don't need.
Speaker D:We don't want the insurance company to see this one.
Speaker D:Man goes, here's.
Speaker D:Here's where we're at, John.
Speaker D:I'm stuck here.
Speaker D:I can't move.
Speaker D:And my collector, I.
Speaker D:We have to.
Speaker D:I can only be in this position.
Speaker D:And if.
Speaker D:And it looks like the cold air, it's not.
Speaker D:It wasn't like a gust.
Speaker D:It was literally cold air was just pouring off consistently.
Speaker D:Down.
Speaker D:Yeah, down the clip edge.
Speaker D:And you see that in fog, sometimes that drops.
Speaker D:And so he goes, john, I really get ready to jump.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker D:What do you mean jump?
Speaker D:He goes.
Speaker D:And he's taking off his seat belt, his buckled up belt.
Speaker D:He goes, here's the situation.
Speaker D:If I. I can't turn out, the best I can do is slowly back up.
Speaker D:But I can't back up on this downwash because it calls the helicopter to tip backwards.
Speaker D:And we just drop.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:And it says, here's the deal.
Speaker D:You have.
Speaker D:If you jump, if I say called jump, you have a chance.
Speaker D:If you stay in the helicopter and we crash we're going to burn to death.
Speaker D:And that's horrible.
Speaker D:He says, here's the thing.
Speaker D:If you jump, chances are you might break a few bones and if you're lucky you'll land in the water and you maybe survive.
Speaker D:And I go, I don't like either.
Speaker D:No.
Speaker D:And so basically it's okay, well just be ready.
Speaker D:It says, if all of a sudden we start going back and you start seeing us falling backwards and you realize it when it would fall backwards, the helicopter will like slip over and the cartwheels.
Speaker D:He said, he says that's when you just gotta jump because you want.
Speaker D:If you hit the hit will probably survive and just burn it down to a helicopter.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:I said, okay, okay.
Speaker D:So we're all ready.
Speaker D:And I said, okay, this is it.
Speaker D:Well, this is okay, today's day.
Speaker D:Whatever.
Speaker D:We'll see what happens.
Speaker D:It was pretty tough.
Speaker D:Was having all this is happening split second, split second.
Speaker D:And so finally he starts messing.
Speaker D:He's constantly working the controls very calm, doing things.
Speaker D:And what he slowly does, he starts just doing this weird thing where he just starts bouncing the helicopter and he's using his body to bounce it too.
Speaker D:And it's like these Bell jet ranges are pretty light in reality.
Speaker D:And he gets it bouncing and the bouncing slowly pushes it back far.
Speaker D:And he's doing things with the collector which was the makes the rotor blade angles change.
Speaker D:And we slowly get back far enough, the thing kind of slowly bounces and shunts back to about 60, 80ft away from the cliff where you can finally turn the helicopter so the, the tail.
Speaker D:The helicopter doesn't hit the wall.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:And fly away.
Speaker D:And it goes.
Speaker D:And so he goes that.
Speaker D:And then puts the belt back on one hand and says, okay, that's good, we're good to go.
Speaker D:And I go, oh, man, that was tough.
Speaker D:He goes, ah, I've been there before.
Speaker D:That wasn't too bad.
Speaker D:And then so as we're going, I'm.
Speaker D:No one's shaking.
Speaker D:It's happening so quickly.
Speaker D:He goes, okay, well, let's.
Speaker D:I have another.
Speaker D:We're going to do.
Speaker D:We want to do it again.
Speaker D:Let's do it again.
Speaker D:And it says, no, not again.
Speaker D:No, any.
Speaker D:He goes, well, let's.
Speaker D:I've got a better approach to it.
Speaker D:I know what to do this time.
Speaker D:And so I go, what are you going to do?
Speaker D:It says, well, first of all, I'm going to do another cliff, other area of a cliff.
Speaker D:So what he ends up doing is very clever.
Speaker D:He basically, we get go back down and we're hovering I mean, he.
Speaker D:You know, some people go to the parking lot, smoke a cigarette.
Speaker D:No, he just hovers.
Speaker D:And we just sit there over the water.
Speaker D:And he has his foot on the pedals and he's kind of working charts out, figures out where we're going to do it.
Speaker D:And then he goes, okay, we're going to go do it over here.
Speaker D:Down about another couple miles down.
Speaker D:And then from there we go there.
Speaker D:Then we basically fly up wide up and over a cliff very safely.
Speaker D:And then he pulls out a flare.
Speaker D:These are safety flares, you know.
Speaker D:You know, emergency flares.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:And he basically drops the flare about 20ft behind the ridge of the cliff.
Speaker D:Very smoky thing.
Speaker D:The whole idea is tons of smoke.
Speaker D:It's like, here we are.
Speaker D:We're lost.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:And he drops the flare.
Speaker D:And the whole idea is, if there's a downwash, he'll see it.
Speaker D:The smoke will be pouring over the edge.
Speaker D:We don't do the shot.
Speaker D:So we basically go back to position and go back a lot farther, this time a lot faster.
Speaker D:And it looks just as cool.
Speaker D:We couldn't.
Speaker D:The audience would never know because they never saw any.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker D:Any case we.
Speaker D:We sitting there, we see the smoke is definitely not.
Speaker D:We're going to see a little bit in the wisps.
Speaker D:And it's mostly the smokes.
Speaker D:The smoke's going in the direction we want it to.
Speaker D:And we pulled.
Speaker D:And so we actually do the shot.
Speaker D:We got the camera going.
Speaker D:This time I shot a little bit slower motion because I figured this one I wanted to be smooth because I was bouncy last time.
Speaker D:And we.
Speaker D:We got the shot perfectly.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:We got the shop.
Speaker D:It was great.
Speaker D:And he goes, okay.
Speaker D:And then we had about another 10 shots to do that day.
Speaker D:And so it was another one of those experiences where literally, you know, we almost got taken out by a bunch of kayakers with oars throwing oars at us in a helicopter and then almost crashing and burning the side of a cliff in the Grand Canyon.
Speaker D:And at the end of the day, we got our shots, came back to base camp, which is the little.
Speaker D:The end of the airport.
Speaker D:McCracken Airport in Las Vegas.
Speaker D:All the crews there.
Speaker D:And, you know, we're all.
Speaker D:You know, when you're filming that all day long, you're kind of.
Speaker D:You're dry and chapped and kind of vibrating.
Speaker D:Bouncy.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Rubbery because of the helicopter for so long.
Speaker D:And we get out kind of bowlegged like, hey, we're here.
Speaker D:And he goes, how was your day?
Speaker D:That was great.
Speaker D:And How'd it go?
Speaker D:Oh, and the pilot says, oh, just another day.
Speaker D:But we got the shots and we looked at each other and said, don't tell him anything.
Speaker D:Don't.
Speaker B:Just another day in the movie industry, John.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So in the shot, and we ended up using all.
Speaker D:All the footage came out beautifully.
Speaker D:And no complaints from the national park, from the kayakers that, you know, that they thought we were going to try to do, you know, run over in a helicopter, but it was fun.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:The helicopters are tricky.
Speaker D:I. I don't.
Speaker D:I still get in them, but I'm not going to be doing hell now with drones.
Speaker D:Things are.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:My gosh, man.
Speaker B:That's insane.
Speaker B:Like, I can't even believe that that all happened in one day.
Speaker D:I think it was literally.
Speaker D:And there was a bunch of little things in between there, too.
Speaker D:A lot of strange stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker D:I mean, there's so many stories like that.
Speaker D:I have other helicopter stories, too, but those two are the dangerous ones.
Speaker B:Thank you for another incredible story, John.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wild.
Speaker B:Wild.
Speaker B:If you have a story like this, if you're hearing this right now, you spend some time in the movie industry, you've been in helicopters, airplanes.
Speaker B:Something crazy happened at work.
Speaker B:We'd love to hear it.
Speaker B:John.
Speaker B:It was a pleasure to have you on.
Speaker D:Thank you very much, Kelly.
Speaker D:And I'm looking forward to maybe sharing some more in the future.
Speaker D:And I'll get some of my friends to chip in with some stories, too.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:You're welcome back anytime, John.
Speaker B:This was incredible.
Speaker B:I love this story because John set out to shoot an action movie and turned out to be the action movie instead.
Speaker B:For our final Night Shift story of the evening, it is my pleasure to welcome back to the show Abby.
Speaker B:Now, that last story, it's going to be tough to beat, but honestly, this next story is going to leave your jaw on the floor.
Speaker B:Abby, tell us what happened.
Speaker A:I am 25.
Speaker A:I walk into my company, and I'm feeling like I own the world.
Speaker A:I just did, like, the first boss bitch move of my life.
Speaker A:I walk into the office.
Speaker A:I go to turn on the lights.
Speaker A:The lights don't turn on.
Speaker B:Oh, no.
Speaker A:Look around me.
Speaker A:No one's in the office.
Speaker A:And I'm like, what is going on?
Speaker A:And then I'm, like, trying to turn on the computers, trying to do all these things.
Speaker A:Nothing's working.
Speaker A:I'm looking around in the building.
Speaker A:Everyone else seems to be fine, just not our unit.
Speaker A:And I'm like, okay.
Speaker A:And then all of a sudden, my phone just starts blowing up.
Speaker A:Like, text Message, Text message, Email.
Speaker F:Email.
Speaker A:Phone call, phone call, phone call.
Speaker A:I'm like, what is going on?
Speaker A:I. I answer the phone, I go, hello, this is Abigail.
Speaker A:And they go, you fucking.
Speaker A:See you next Tuesday.
Speaker A:Where the fuck is my money?
Speaker A:And I go, I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong phone number.
Speaker A:And he goes, no, I'm calling for said construction company.
Speaker A:Where's my fucking money?
Speaker A:And I went, oh, okay.
Speaker A:That is us.
Speaker A:I'm not actually sure how you got my private cell phone number, but I'm gonna have to look into this and call you you back.
Speaker A:And he's like, no, you're gonna never talk to me again.
Speaker A:I know how you work.
Speaker A:And he screams my boss's name.
Speaker A:And I go, oh, this is not her.
Speaker A:This is Abigail.
Speaker A:As I said when I answered the phone.
Speaker A:Yeah, can you just give me a moment?
Speaker A:And so I, you know, end up having to hang up on this guy.
Speaker A:And I'm just sitting in this room, and I'm like, oh, no.
Speaker A:And so now I'm trying to, like, process what the.
Speaker A:Has just happened and how have we gotten here?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So now I will give you the backstory is I had joined this startup company that was building Net zero homes from recycled shipping containers.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And it was all the new fad.
Speaker A:It was super exciting.
Speaker A:And as part of this group that had this crazy, like, IP on how they built the house to basically make it actually withstand plus and minus 30.
Speaker A:And so it was, like, innovative to the extreme.
Speaker A:We're building smart homes.
Speaker A:And when I joined the team, I had joined as an ops coordinator.
Speaker A:So I was just there to, like, look for efficiencies, deal with our contractors, do light bookkeeping because I have a business degree, but, like.
Speaker A:And so I'm like, you know, feeling pretty good.
Speaker A:The company's starting to do well.
Speaker A:We're closing projects, we're building these homes.
Speaker A:And as some construction folks will know, like, it's a lot of, like, hurry, hurry, hurry, wait.
Speaker A:And then, like, try to get money in.
Speaker A:Build, build, build.
Speaker A:Then, like, prove that you've done it so you can get your next money.
Speaker A:And so it's like this hard cash flow game, and I'm this, like, this is my, like, maybe second real job.
Speaker A:And I'm, like, trying to learn how to, you know, deal with these folks who don't want to work with someone who looks or acts like me.
Speaker A:Because I'm this young girl in a construction industry and walking around in high heels and learning that I need to go buy boots and that this is a whole Nother world that I was not prepared for.
Speaker A:And so I joined this company and it was this couple, and they were the CEO and the coo, and then they were together doing the duties of cfo.
Speaker A:And I never thought to question that, which now I'm like, that was such a big red flag.
Speaker A:And so I started working for these guys.
Speaker A:Everything was going well.
Speaker A:And as I started doing more bookkeeping and getting into more contracts and stuff, I was like, oh, sometimes the numbers, like, don't quite add up, but maybe that's like the magic of construction and how money works.
Speaker A:And I'm not, you know, a CFO, so I don't question these things.
Speaker B:And at 25, you're just trying to get by.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker A:And I'm just trying to, like, you know, and I end up being more client facing and helping, like, close people.
Speaker A:And they come.
Speaker A:And I was running the home office, so people would come in and I'd have to be able to show them designs and talk about the process.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so I was like, feeling like I had killed it.
Speaker A:And so we had just closed this big client, which was someone that I had like, kind of championed through all the way.
Speaker A:And so we were at the lawyer's office, like, signing all the paperwork.
Speaker A:And while we were there, I told we he was asking about company structure and plans and all this stuff.
Speaker A:And I decided, I'm going to be that person.
Speaker A:And I, like, like, raised my hand, which, like, so awkward in a lawyer's office.
Speaker A:And I was like, can I ask a question?
Speaker A:And he was like, sure, whatever.
Speaker A:And I was like, as you guys are drying up, like, ownership of all this stuff, like, I would just like to raise that.
Speaker A:I've been here for a while.
Speaker A:I feel like I've done some big things and we're talking now about ownership.
Speaker A:Like, is there any chance that I could have some ownership in this company?
Speaker A:I feel like I've put a lot of sweat equity in, in a lot of time, a lot of energy and like, you know, we're not getting paid a lot right now, but that's how startups is.
Speaker A:Like, is there.
Speaker A:You know, could I be considered for that?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I'm like, shaking on the inside now, right?
Speaker A:I'm like, holy.
Speaker A:Did I just say that out loud in front of two bosses and a lawyer?
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:And to my surprise, the CEO, she goes, oh, yeah, that's a great idea, Abby.
Speaker E:Why don't.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:Why don't.
Speaker A:Let's get the lawyer to start drawing up that you could have up to 30% of the company in equity and maybe we'll start you off at 10, but if you, like work towards it, you could earn up to that much percentage.
Speaker A:And I was like, okay, that sounds great.
Speaker B:Like, yeah.
Speaker A:In my mind I was like, maybe a percent.
Speaker A:Like there was no way I was gonna get dirty again.
Speaker A:Another red flag.
Speaker A:But I was there being like, boss ass girl, you got this company.
Speaker A:And so, you know, they're starting to leave and the lawyer comes and he sits next to me and he goes, hey, Abby, like, amazing on you.
Speaker A:Ask for what you want.
Speaker A:So I'm gonna drop these contracts, but you, you should just sit with this like you, I. I can't say anything, but you should maybe think about this before you sign it.
Speaker A:And I went, okay.
Speaker A:So the next day I get an email and it's the contract and I'm reading it over with this whole plan, and I'm like, this looks so cool.
Speaker A:And then I just couldn't get his advice out of my head of being like, why would I not sign this?
Speaker A:Like, what is hidden?
Speaker A:That's not making sense.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then I was like, I mean, something does feel off, but I don't know what's off.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:So I decided.
Speaker A:I was like, in all my wisdom, I'm going to give it 24 hours and the universe will let me know whether I should or shouldn't sign it.
Speaker A:Okay, fast forward 24 hours, that's me walking into the office and the lights aren't turning on and the phone calls are ringing and I'm like, what the fuck is happening?
Speaker A:So then I start digging around, I start calling my co workers and I find out that the CEO of the company has been basically running a Ponzi scheme through this company has been stealing money and to date, if I'm correct, still owes a million dollars in Edmonton.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:From all these contractors, clients, all this stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it had finally caught up to her.
Speaker A:And that day she took a flight somewhere to the States and just fucked off.
Speaker A:Like, she had three kids at home, just left, no sign of her.
Speaker A:And the coo, apparently the night before had proposed to her and she said yes, took the ring, and then flew the fuck away.
Speaker B:Oh my gosh.
Speaker A:So the CEO, like four hours later walks into the dark office with me sitting there being like, what the fuck is happening?
Speaker A:Like, genuinely, what is.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Why is this happening?
Speaker A:How did this happen?
Speaker A:And why am I being phone called?
Speaker A:And then he just starts breaking down, he's crying and he's like, I proposed to her last night.
Speaker A:She Said yes, but now she's not answering.
Speaker A:She's not here.
Speaker A:I see on my credit card, she bought a phone flight to the States.
Speaker A:And I was like, what is happening?
Speaker A:Like, what do you mean she went to the States?
Speaker A:What do you mean?
Speaker A:You proposed?
Speaker D:What do you mean?
Speaker A:Just getting of this mean my guy.
Speaker A:And I'm just like, I'm.
Speaker A:And I'm trying to, like, stay cool, but I'm clearly not.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then I get a phone call, and then another coworker calls me, and she's like, hey, have you checked your credit card bill?
Speaker A:And I was like, what?
Speaker A:Why would I check my credit card bill?
Speaker A:And she's like, well, X person somehow got my personal credit card and maxed it out for $20,000.
Speaker A:And I went, I'm sorry, what the do you mean?
Speaker A:So then I open my phone up, I'm like, getting logged on to my bank, and I look and she's maxed out my card for my full 7,000 that I had available.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:And we're just like.
Speaker A:And then I look at the other person, and I'm like, what is going on?
Speaker A:Like, this is insane.
Speaker A:And, yeah, she just.
Speaker A:Honestly, she just got panicked.
Speaker A:She didn't know what to do.
Speaker A:So she.
Speaker A:I guess one day must have gone and, like, when we were at lunch or whatever, went into our wallets, stole all of our credit card numbers, was using them to buy, like, different gift cards or spending it on stuff.
Speaker A:And then in a way where none of us could actually prove what we were doing.
Speaker A:And then, like, the following week, I got a notice that she had not been paying cra.
Speaker A:So none of our returns to the government had been paid.
Speaker A:And then we were liable for that.
Speaker A:And so I'm sitting there just being like, oh, my God, I've just absolutely tanked my entire fucking life here.
Speaker A:And I'm trying to figure out what to do, and I end up calling that lawyer.
Speaker A:And I call him, and I'm like, holy.
Speaker A:I didn't sign the papers.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:Also, what is happening?
Speaker A:Because you clearly know something that I don't know.
Speaker A:And can you tell me at all now that we're in this situation?
Speaker A:Because now I've been left with this lovelorn dude who can't think about any of the business because he's so heartbroken over this.
Speaker A:Like, what are.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What are we supposed to do?
Speaker A:And so then he fills in this picture that about three months before I joined the organization, this company was a partnership of three.
Speaker A:So there was a CEO, a cfo, And a coo.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And it was actually her and her husband, and her husband was the cfo, and then their mutual friend was the coo.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:She started cheating on her husband with the coo.
Speaker A:He found out, got the fuck out.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And since he's left, they've had no real financial oversight or understanding.
Speaker A:And so no one was keeping her in check.
Speaker A:And none of us knew that that was a reality of that because a lot of us had come on after said CFO had left the company.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker A:And so I was like, where.
Speaker A:Where does this leave us now?
Speaker A:Like, what do we do?
Speaker A:And so he goes, well, there's multiple lawsuits out.
Speaker A:There's multiple people going to be chasing her for money.
Speaker A:And I hate to say it, but, like, you're going to be near the bottom of the totem pole because, like, you don't have these big agreements signed and, like, you could try to do credit card fraud, but, like, the way she's done it, it's very hard to prove it.
Speaker A:And he was like, you could take.
Speaker A:You could put out a lawsuit on her, but you're gonna spend more money than what you are owed trying to chase this woman.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:And, yeah, so then I went back to the office.
Speaker A:I think I laid on the ground and I cried for about an hour and was like, all right, what do we do now?
Speaker A:And so the next day, I go back into this dark room and I'm like, trying to be like, okay, well, I guess we gotta sell shit.
Speaker A:Or like, what do we.
Speaker A:Like?
Speaker A:And still feeling like, what do we do to save this thing?
Speaker A:And honestly, to today, I still feel that could have been like a successful company had this not been the way that it was mismanaged.
Speaker G:And.
Speaker A:She.
Speaker A:So to really just highlight a capital fucking B on the bitch.
Speaker A:She changed all the websites, the phone numbers, and the contact information to say, if you are outstanding payment or looking to understand a payment plan from X, call this number.
Speaker A:And it was my personal fucking phone number.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:So for the next month, I.
Speaker A:Every phone call, every message was just some person unbelievably livid, having learned what's happened, that she's gone and being like, where the fuck is my money, bitch?
Speaker A:And like, all this stuff.
Speaker A:And I literally had to change my voicemail to like, hi, you've reached Abigail, who no longer works for said company.
Speaker A:And this company is in lawsuits.
Speaker A:I have no money for you, no information.
Speaker A:I apologize if I know you, I will maybe call you back, but no guarantees.
Speaker A:Please know that there's Nothing I can do.
Speaker A:And it was just like, it was unbelievable.
Speaker A:And so I'm like, trying to figure out what to do with my life.
Speaker A:And I eventually, you know, stumble through other.
Speaker A:I'd get myself like, I think I worked at Starbucks for a bit.
Speaker A:And I was just like, how do you.
Speaker A:How do you even.
Speaker A:I was like, how did I trust this person?
Speaker A:How did I get here?
Speaker A:Like, what is.
Speaker A:You know?
Speaker A:And then started digging into it more because what else do you do in the middle of a shitstorm, but just fucking dig in?
Speaker A:And so, yeah, she just fully left the country.
Speaker A:Left three children behind.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:And didn't tell anyone where she was going, what she was doing.
Speaker A:Then Covid hit, so she found herself a sugar daddy and got pregnant and he was taking care of her for a while and she was trying to recreate the business that we had built here in la.
Speaker A:And then they found all these lawsuits and didn't build any of it.
Speaker A:And then she stumbled through and people were still trying to chase her.
Speaker A:People were calling me all the time.
Speaker A:And, you know, once a year I probably get a phone call about her and I'm like, I don't know, like I've, you know, five years later, finally let it go, like, acknowledged.
Speaker B:Change your phone number.
Speaker A:Well, I should have.
Speaker A:Honestly, I should have.
Speaker A:But I was just.
Speaker A:It was, it was Kelly, like the craziest thing.
Speaker A:And so what's even crazier about this story now is I found out she moved back to town to Edmonton last year.
Speaker A:I don't know how I haven't run into her.
Speaker A:I don't know how I would react.
Speaker A:I would like to think that I could be level headed and maybe walk the other direction and not even run into that hornet's nest.
Speaker A:But yeah, that's like the crazy, like 25.
Speaker A:I then like had a full existential quarter life crisis of like, what the do you do now?
Speaker A:How is anyone going to want to hire me?
Speaker A:And I fled from that.
Speaker A:And that's honestly how I ran into nonprofit world.
Speaker A:Because I was like, people over here have to be nicer than the people that I've been working.
Speaker A:Turns out it isn't true.
Speaker A:But you know what?
Speaker A:I put a solid effort in.
Speaker B:Oh, goodness.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:So did you end up getting stuck with that $7,000 credit card bill?
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:So the $7,000 credit card bill, then a bunch of our actual salaries got.
Speaker A:What's the proper term, whatever the term is for.
Speaker A:The government came and took it back.
Speaker A:So then I lost two months of salary as well.
Speaker A:And I owed the CRA money, so in all, I was out just under 20 grand.
Speaker A:I think I was able to, like, do some finagling, get some support that I only then owed ten grand, but it was.
Speaker A:But, like, then I had to spend for an eternity, like, trying to pay off this debt that wasn't my debt to pay.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Well, from the bottom of my heart, I am terribly sorry that this happened to you, and thank you for sharing the story with me.
Speaker A:Yeah, of course.
Speaker A:Well, I think it's.
Speaker A:It's been one of those where I used to only share it in pockets because there's ongoing lawsuits.
Speaker A:She's back in town.
Speaker A:But then I got to this point where I was like, well, it's been quite a few years, and, you know, what's gonna happen anymore?
Speaker A:And honestly, like, come after me at this point.
Speaker A:I got nothing to give you anyway.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, and sometimes I just feel like the beautiful thing about this podcast is that people go through really shitty situations and you can't tell anyone, and then you feel this burden of guilt about people.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so for, like, so many years, I had to, like, very quietly be like, oh, don't work with these people, or, don't go over there, or.
Speaker A:There were so many companies that got into really bad spaces because we owed them so much money.
Speaker A:And it was just like, I. I really learned how to get.
Speaker A:I don't say thick skin, but, like, it did really teach me a lot about how to work with people and how to learn, like, real trust.
Speaker A:And I, you know, never would have wanted for that to happen in my life.
Speaker A:But I also, like, that was such a pivotal piece to, like, I think how I see the world now and how I operate and, like, both probably good and bad.
Speaker A:But I think that, like, it taught me a lesson of just because people see to be good, like, doesn't mean you should just trust them at face value.
Speaker A:And, like, how do you really dig in there?
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And, you know, I'm still hopeful that the people who need to get their money back and those things happen will.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:Or that karma comes around in the way that it needs to come.
Speaker B:Karma absolutely comes around,.
Speaker C:Car.
Speaker B:Karma will come around, Believe me.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:That's amazing, Abby.
Speaker B:And I'm sorry for what happened to you.
Speaker B:Although I would say silver lining.
Speaker B:Holy.
Speaker B:Did you dodge a bullet?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:So the running joke has been that I owe that lawyer, like, $300,000 worth of free work because, like, he saved me.
Speaker A:I would have been on the line at 25 for a million dollars.
Speaker A:And so I honestly don't know where they're at.
Speaker A:Like, so I see the lawyer all the time and actually hired it.
Speaker A:Like, I prefer to tell these people.
Speaker A:Like, trust me, he is a good one.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Wow, wow, wow.
Speaker B:Okay, well, if that's a Night Shift story, if I've ever heard one, thank you, Abby, for coming on and sharing that with us.
Speaker B:And I wish you the utmost of luck in all of your future endeavors.
Speaker A:Thanks.
Speaker B:And with that, the Night Shift is over.
Speaker B:And it brings us to the end of another wild episode of I Used to Work There.
Speaker B:A huge thank you to every storyteller who trusted us with their story today.
Speaker B:This show only works because real people are willing to share moments they still can't believe actually happened.
Speaker B:If you've enjoyed today's show, please follow.
Speaker B:I used to work there.
Speaker B:Wherever you're listening.
Speaker B:And if you're on Apple Podcasts, we'd be incredibly grateful for a five star rating and review.
Speaker B:It helps more people discover the show and keeps these stories flowing.
Speaker B:Shows like this grow through word of mouth, so if you know somebody who would enjoy today's episode, please text it their way.
Speaker B:You never know whose new favorite podcast it may become, and as always, if you have a workplace story that has stuck with you, we want to hear it.
Speaker B:Pull out your phone, open your voice recorder, tell us what happened, and email it to anyone.
Speaker B:Hroustoworkthere.com we'll follow it up with a quick guest story release.
Speaker B:And once that's complete, your story will be entered into our Employee of the Month story competition.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:And in early August, one storyteller will walk away with $500 USD and be crowned our Employee of the Month.
Speaker B:Until next time, you've been listening to I Used to Work There.
Speaker B:I'm Kelly Kennedy and we'll see you on the next shift.
