Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and add free right now.Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry 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.This is Crazy Hotel Stories.
Boy, oh boy, did we get a fucking doozy by a proprietor of a motel, or not a motel, a hotel.
But sometimes motel shit goes down at hotels.Just because you're in a hotel and you can't park your car in front of the door doesn't mean some motel shit's not gonna go down.
And we hear all about it.
There's one line that really got you.
Yeah, there's some word choice that I applaud.Yeah.Please enjoy Crazy Hotel Stories.
Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge?Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?
Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with.Listen to The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
♪ Hard times come and go ♪ ♪ Good times take them slow ♪
Crazy hotels.Ooh, these should be good.A lot of stuff happens at hotels.
Oh my god, too much stuff.
Also because hotels run the gambit so much.It could be a Motel 6.
Colonial Motor Inn.Four CZs.They film porno sometimes in hotel rooms. There's murders.My grandma found so many dead bodies.
People go to motels that kill themselves.Do you know that?
Because they don't want to leave a mess in their own house.
So interesting what happens psychologically.
Let's picture my little grandma finding dead bodies all the time. Hello, can you hear us?Yeah, can you hear me?Oh, beautifully.Is this Mike?It is.Wonderful.Where are you, Mike?I'm in Covington, Georgia.
Just right around the corner from my family.
Oh, yeah.Another Georgia boy.
Covington, that was the name of my favorite underpants, my boxer shorts I wore forever.I wonder if they were manufactured there.Is there any underwear manufacturing happening in Covington?
Not that I know of.Okay.We've got General Mills.We make cereal here.Yeah.Oh, the Battle Creek of the South?Yeah.
It's also, fun fact, the last name of the professor I was in love with.Yes, it was.So it means a lot to me, Covington.
Okay, so Mike, you have a crazy hotel story?
Yeah, it's pretty crazy.So, we like to go to concerts, me and my wife.We went to Macon, which is about an hour from here.We decided to get a hotel room, that way we didn't have to drive home after the show.
And actually, my sister-in-law, she wanted to get the points, so she booked the hotel for us, under her name. So we stayed with the show, had a good night.
We actually asked for a late checkout because we had a wedding to go to the next day and it was in the opposite direction from our house.So we didn't want to drive back home and drive all the way to the wedding.
So we stayed, my wife was getting ready about 12 o'clock and I don't know about Kristen, but when you're getting ready, I'm basically watching TV, walking around. Yeah, myself occupied.
I go into the bathroom to talk to my wife while she's taking a shower and behind the toilet, there's a picture and it's crooked.So all I did went and put a finger on one side, barely touched it.
And the picture came down hard and it cut the water supply line going into the toilet.
So I'm like, oh shit.And my wife was like, what did you do?I said, I just straightened the picture, but water was coming in.It was like our extinguisher.It wasn't like trickle of water.I'm like, what do I do?She goes, I don't know.Call the desk.
All right.So I called the desk and lady answers.She goes, well, just turn it off.And I was like, I can't turn it off.Yes, sir.Just turn the knob.I'm like, you don't understand.I can't just turn it up.She's like, okay, well, we'll send somebody up.
Well, can I ask really quick?Why couldn't you turn the knob?Was there not a knob, a shutoff knob?
There was, but where it fell, it was like a PVC pipe coming in.It cut the PVC pipe.
Before their turn off knob.Yeah.But they didn't understand.They thought I was just an idiot.
So water's just coming out like a fire extinguisher.My wife had to jump out of the shower real quick, put clothes on while she's still wet because there's a maintenance man coming up.We get all our stuff, put it onto the bed.
We're sitting on the bed because there's water going into the room.The maintenance man comes in and he looks over and he goes, why didn't you just turn it off?I'm like, I've told y'all I can't turn it off.And he leans down to turn it off.
He goes, Oh, you can't turn it off.I was like, no. He's like, I know what to do.So he calls the manager.Now given it took about 10 minutes to get up there.So this water's going nonstop.So now he's on the phone trying to get the manager up there.
Mike, are you on the first or second floor?I think we were on the third.Oh Jesus.Multiple floors are in danger now.Yeah.
He's on the phone and he's walking back and forth past our room and he's glaring at us the whole time.And I'm like, all I did was straighten the picture.My wife is like, they're going to make us pay for this.And I'm like, I hope not.
So then the manager finally comes up probably about 15, 20 minutes later.And she's like, well, we got to turn off the water to the building.The maintenance man goes, I don't know how to do that.He goes, do you?
She was like, no, I guess we're going to have to call somebody.So that's another 20, 30 minutes of water just constantly running.
And they were like, this floor is being flooded.He goes, yeah, I noticed there was water coming through the door.I just put a towel down.And they were like, do you want us to relocate you?He goes, I got to leave here in just a minute anyway.
I'll be good.He wasn't panicked about it.Me and my wife are freaking out because we're like, they're going to charge us for this.And this is going to cost a lot of money to fix. Thank God it was under my sister-in-law's name.
And they asked, they said, do you want to relocate?And I'm like, well, you're shutting off the water, right?And they're like, yeah, well, we still got to get ready.So we abandoned the wedding.We went back home and we're just like, you know what?
Let's get out of here.They don't have our name.They can't charge us.So we left, never heard anything back about it.
My sister-in-law never heard anything back about it, but that was the time we flooded an entire floor of a hotel room just by fixing a picture.
So the glass cut right through the PVC or maybe the impact just broke it?
I think the impact broke it because glass didn't break.Thank God.That would have been even worse.You know, the picture was so heavy, it just broke that PVC pipe right in half.I don't know why they have PVC pipe coming in from the toilet.
Also, what a curious place to hang a very heavy picture.
That's dangerous in general.It could fall on someone's head.Yeah.They're making a duty.
Needless to say, I'm not allowed to straighten pictures anymore.
Just leave them as is.I have a dumb question, but was the wedding in Lake Lanier, where you supposed to go a little further North?
I would have to ask my wife.It was my wife's friend.It was on the other side of Griffin.I know that I was just going where she wanted me to go.
Oh, well, Mike, I'm glad no one saw a bill for that.Of course they should just report that to their insurance.That shouldn't be anyone's issue.
Right.And we weren't sure, but we just wanted to make sure that we didn't have to pay it because I'm sure it was several thousand dollars of damage.
My brother did the same thing in England two months ago.I got him a room at a nice hotel in London and he started texting me, panicked.He had left the tub running.
Yeah.And he flooded the hotel room.It was a super expensive place.
He panicked that we're going to get a bill for this whole thing.
Well, and that does sound like his own negligence.
Well, I, yeah, there's supposed to be an overflow, even if it's plugged, but I don't know.Something happened.
I'll get a divorce if I don't let my wife come in.
Of course.Send her in.What's her name?
It's a pleasure to meet you both.
Oh, you too.What's the deepest the water got?Was it ankle deep?
And where was the wedding supposed to be that you were going to attend?
I honestly don't remember.It was such a crazy day.It means a lot to Dax to figure this out.No, it was outside of Griffin.Yeah.
I don't know why it's important to me.I'm just trying to think of what was on the other side of Macon from Covington.
He really likes to have the lay of the land.
I feel a lot safer if I know the geography of all this.
Well, I apologize.This was probably six years ago, so I was just so glad we didn't have to pay for it.Oh, yeah.
And when you guys pulled out of the parking lot, you must have felt like people that just set a building on fire, like, go, go, go, go.
We didn't look at anybody as we walked out the building.
You know what you could have done is if they tried to get you to pay, you could have sued them and said that you don't know how to swim and that you almost drowned.
Oh, OK.Yeah, I could have, yeah.
That's a great idea.We actually did end up going swimming that day.
That's what we did.We came home and went swimming.
And then the lawyers would have had footage of them swimming and said, this claim is bullshit.Well, it's lovely meeting both of you.Nice to meet y'all.Thank y'all so much.We like our Georgians.
Yeah, we sure do.Neighbors.Oh, we love y'all.
Bye.I always have a fantasy that one of my friend's parents is going to call.I want them to do that.
I don't have that fantasy.I wonder why you don't have any friends, parents. My mom has a lot of friends.
I don't have that fantasy either.Okay, I just wanted, because this happened before we were recording, I wanted to tell a hotel story of my own.I have so many because we lived in hotels from 14 to 28, Erin and I, doing car shows.
We have a lot of bad hotel stories.We have flooded a room or two.We've had some mix-ups.
But what I wanted to tell people is that my sweet grandma, Grandma Midge, my grandparents owned a little roadside motel called the Colonial Motor Inn in Sturgis, Michigan. And it was off of a turnpike.
So you get a lot of truckers and whatnot coming through.But my grandmother on numerous occasions found corpses.She'd get a call from the house cleaning staff.It happened again, Midge.And Midge would get in the case.My grandpa didn't handle it.
For some reason, that didn't scare away.
And as it was later- Do you think she ever was involved in any of the murders?
Nope, none of them were murders.They're all victims of suicide.And then it was explained to me by my grandmother, people go to motels because they don't want to ruin their own house.
It's really, really sad.But my poor little grandma, she was like five foot one Belgium, tough as nails.
She's not poor because she's 5'1".She's feisty because she's 5'1".Oh my god, maybe that's why you like young... young.Grandma.
Because of my grandma, I like young women.
Yeah.No, you like small women.
Well, my grandma, my mom, my mom's a mini.
My mom's like five, three, five, four.
And then Kristen.Yeah.You've been vocal about liking that.Now.I think it's all about your grandma.
Anyways, I just thought that was interesting.
I think it's, I mean, it's, it's macabre.Yeah.
It's pretty morbid, but it's interesting.I wouldn't have thought about that. if I didn't have a family member who found corpses in their motel.
Sure.I spent a lot of time in hotels in high school.
No, because we would go there to drink.
Oh, sure.I did a good deal of that, too.
And we would just tell our parents.It was because we wanted to hang out, but we didn't want to, like, keep our parents up.
They would allow you guys to go to a hotel?
Yeah, they didn't think we were drinking.Well, I don't know what they were just turning a blind eye to and what they knew and didn't know.
Were you allowed to spend the night there?
Yeah, we spent the night there.
You guys will go to a hotel for the night.This was generally kept as a secret in my town.People always lied.I'm at Jennifer's house.
I know that's doing irresponsible things quite responsibly.It's like they do know where we are.
God, that's a good question.I don't know.I have to ask.
Cheapest possible, I'd imagine, right?
Cheapest possible, but not, we still had some standards, but it was like 10 of us in one room, all drinking and everyone was throwing, not me, people would throw up in the tub.
Would the manager come to tell you to keep it down?
Wow.That's so fun.So you probably have a really good memory of these affordable hotels.Would there ever be a pool?
I'm sure at one point there was probably a pool.
But you don't remember everyone hopping in.
I don't remember us, we were drunk.
Yeah, okay, blacked out.All right, let's talk to Bailey in Birmingham, Alabama.
No, I just made up their location because her name or his name was Bailey.
Hi.Hello.How are you guys?
I'm learning how to use a Mac computer for the first time.Oh, my God.That's a huge deal.Thank you.PC girly.
You sound phenomenal.So it's working brilliantly.
You look familiar, Bailey.Do I?You do.
Probably.Where are you, Bailey?I am in Minnesota.Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
And you have a crazy hotel story?I do.I'll first tell you a story about my submission.Okay, great.So I submitted and then I was having intrusive thoughts that I spelled my email wrong.My brain kept telling me, Bailey, you spelled your name wrong.
You spelled your name wrong.You forgot to do at gmail.com.And so I resubmitted and I said, I am so sorry.I'm submitting twice, but I was having intrusive thoughts and I just needed to submit again and make sure I spelled my email correctly.
Yeah.And did Emma say you got it right the first time or thank God you corrected this?
Nobody said so.Maybe the intrusive thoughts were correct.She got her email right both times.
Oh, Rob just looked it up.He did the research and you got it right both times.
Hey, the intrusive thoughts didn't win.
That's good.We don't like it when they win.It's like when you have to go check your stove or something.
And if it's ever actually on, that'll fuel you for another 10 years.You guys get it.Even when it's not on, it doesn't help.You don't even take on that info.Like, you know what?It's never on.You don't do that.That's the nature of it.
I kind of do.I'm like, that was so silly, but I still keep checking.That's right.
My point.Yeah.Okay.So hit us with your hotel story.
I will take you guys back to 2012.I was 21 or so and naturally was going to a family wedding and I'm a cheap college kid at the time.So I'm not going to spend that $62 on a hotel by myself.
And mom and dad aren't going to spring for it or they will if you sleep in their room?
If I sleep in the room with them, they're going to pay for it.So my sister and I decide, Hey, let's stay with mom and dad.Two queen beds.This will be perfect.So we get to the wedding.Mom and dad have two DDs for the night.
That's you and your sister?
Well, you're 21.You're not going to drink at this wedding?
How old was your sister?Younger or older?
She would have been 19.She honestly probably was drinking.I was probably the designated drinker.
Interesting.This is the Minnesota way.
Mom and dad, they let loose.Why not?
We go to the wedding.All is fine.Went back to the hotel that night.Go to bed.We're a farm family, so we all knew we were going to have to wake up probably like 6 a.m.to head home.We had an hour and a half drive back home to get chores done.
Hold on a second.That's farm life.No matter what, if there was a wedding, we don't ever get to sleep in.
No, cattle still have to be fed.Got to feed America.Yes, you do.
That's really true.We thank you for your service.
So the morning came and it was 6 a.m.bright and early.And I think my parents were probably milking a hangover a little bit.So they wake up a little disoriented, kind of like, hey, girls, can you guys go get us some coffee?
We're like, yeah, we'll go get you guys some coffee. Let me set the scene a little bit about where our room is.So our hotel room is on the first floor.
I wish I was in the room with you guys because I would physically walk how far the coffee machine was from our room.Just imagine about 12 feet.So the Continental Breakfast has the nice little spouts.I don't know, I'm not a coffee drinker.
But we each grab two cups because they are dying of thirst. As we walk out, I flip that latch that keeps the hotel door open.So I didn't let the hotel door lock, and I didn't bring a key.We are holding the cups of coffee.My sister's behind me.
I walk in first.As we walk in, we see my mother bent over the bed with her pajama shorts down around her ankles, and my dad just Doing it from behind.
Just plowing her from behind.
Yeah, they're like ornery and hungover and grumpy and horny.I know that feeling pretty well.
In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother.But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker.Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her.
And she wasn't the only target.Because buried in the depths of the internet is the kill list.A cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders.
This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those whose lives were in danger.And it turns out, convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy.
Follow Kill List on the Wandery app or wherever you get your podcasts.You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and at free right now by joining Wandery+.
Check out Exhibit C in the Wandery app for all your true crime listening.
Hey, Armcherries, quick question for you.Have you ever stopped to wonder who came up with that bottle of sriracha sitting in your fridge?Or why almost every house in America has a game of Monopoly stashed away somewhere?Well, this is Nick.
And this is Jack.And we just launched a brand new podcast called The Best Idea Yet.It's all about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the people who brought them to life.
Like Super Mario, the best-selling video game character ever.He's only a thing because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye.Or Jack had that McDonald's Happy Meal.Believe it or not, the Happy Meal was dreamed up by a mom in Guatemala.
Every week on The Best Idea Yet, you'll discover the surprising stories behind the most viral products of all time, while picking up real business insights along the way.
We guarantee you'll be that person at your next dinner party dropping knowledge bombs at the table.Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to the best idea yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.
What's up, guys?It's your girl, Keke, and my podcast is back with a new season.And let me tell you, it's too good.And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest, OK?
Every episode, I bring on a friend and have a real conversation.And I don't mean just friends.I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox.The list goes on.And now I have my own YouTube channel.
So follow, watch, and listen to Baby This Is Keke Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch full episodes on YouTube, and you can listen to Baby, This is Geeky Palmer early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery.
And, uh, where are my headphones?Because, uh, it's time to get into it.Holler at your girl!
So I'm telling myself that they were definitely still drunk.So I'm holding the cups of coffee.
Hold on.There's a lot here because, you know, you guys left and your dad's like, Oh, I got to get in there.Right.Or something.Or mom was like, Oh, you got to get it in there.One of them was like, you got to get in there.
But both of them were so optimistic of how quick.Yeah.That they were going to be able to get this done with and be back in bed, acting asleep within a minute or two.Okay.
Now, mind you, this could have all been prevented if I would have just let that hotel door lock.But here we are.I yell, what the fuck? I'm just thankful I did not drop the cups of coffee.I set them on the table.
And at that point, my mom rips her pajama shorts up and she says, Bradley, I knew we wouldn't have enough time.
Oh, I knew it.I knew it.Yeah.We tried to be fair, but we were also being unrealistic. I knew we didn't have time, and I told you so immediately.
Now, hold on a second.We gotta drill a little deeper again right here, which is, if I'm in that situation and my children walk in, I don't want Mom to separate and pull her dungarees up.
It's probably best for everyone if we just freeze and everyone gets out of the room, because if Mom disengages, now Dad's erections on the scene.
Right?Much better off keeping it, okay, this is coming.
Yeah, so at that point, my mom yells, Bradley, we did not have enough time for that.At that same point, my dad grabs the sheet off of the bed, and he does like this, whips to the other side of the bed.
And my dad's a short, stocky, dad bod guy, has this now toga sheet wrapped around him, looks like a little Greek god of some sort. As he stands up and I'm like, what is happening here?So I go sit on that corner of the bed.
Oh God, you know, not their bed.Right.But you did decide to stay.
Sounds like Susan.Were you a little shell shocked?Maybe.
I was shell shocked.Exactly.
I bet the thought crosses your mind like, oh, are we going to act like no one saw this?So I got to play my part.
Except she already said what the fuck.And then there was already that we didn't have time.
Mom already let the cat out of the bag, but I do understand that impulse to just act like everything's normal.In which case I would stay in the room and sit on the bed.Do you think that maybe is what happened?I don't know.
I honestly don't.I remember it was six 15 and I have a pink flip phone at the time.And I'm like, I'm going to T nine word anybody I can right now to tell them what happened. I'm starting to send out the mass texts.
You guys aren't going to believe how my morning is.This just happened.This is bizarre.I remember sitting there.It was probably only a few minutes as they're getting dressed at this point.
I got to ask a very uncomfortable question, but I think people will be mad if I don't. Dad, he's in a very thin sheet.Do we notice that he popped a tent or whatever they say?Pop, pop, what is it?
No, that's a tent, right?
What do you call that, Rob?Pop a tent.Pitch a tent?Pitch a tent.Can we see that dad has an erection that's poking out?
Oh, so you're not looking. Well, you just, you see, you're actively trying to not see stuff at that point.
I think the visual of just the bending over action.Plenty.Yeah.That was enough.
Okay.Really quick.I'm going to let you move on, but there's so many choices that were made.I need to do this really quick.Okay.He was too hopeful and optimistic.
They probably thought the door was locked or closed.That would be my guess.
But also best case scenario, stay under the sheets, climb on top of mom, poke, poke, poke.Clearly to the point where it's worth the risk, because if you just got on top of her and kept the sheets on, we're fine almost.
But no, he's standing and she's bent over like a sawhorse.
This is what happened in his head.He's probably like, okay, yeah, probably we'll take a little longer than the coffee, but maybe next year, like 20 seconds and that's fine.
We'll just open the door and mom will say, dad had to take a dump.
Okay.We're back.We're back.
Which is a life lesson for really anybody is just let that door lock.Yeah. So I was T9 wording all of my besties.I remember turning to my sister who has not said a word yet.
And I turned to her and I'm like, let's go to the truck now and listen to my iPod.Mind you, we have an hour and a half drive still with them.
God, and you're farmers.Like, I feel like some family of artists could have handled this a little better.
My sister has been quiet the entire time and we get to the truck and we're like, okay, we're just going to listen to the iPod for the next hour and a half, no words whatsoever.And of course we don't have AirPods or anything back in the day.
So we've got the one strand between us, one ear, one ear, just jam into the iPod the whole way home.We get home and we're carrying buckets of feed to the cattle.
And my sister says, Bailey, I just don't know how they thought they were going to have enough time. I said, they didn't.
Yeah, that's the big question that remains.They didn't apologize or anything?
Just pretend it didn't happen.You guys don't skewer them, get Christmas 10 years later.You guys don't make jokes.
It's time for it to resurface.11 years.
Statue of limitations is up.Yes.I got to applaud their youthfulness though.
There's something life affirming.
Yes, I was going to add that I'm very thankful that they love each other.I mean, that's a relationship that everyone strives for.Let's get a quickie before the girls come back.
Yeah, that is nice.How old were they at the time, do you think?
Yeah, you were 21.Early 50s. God, your dad's a workhorse.What a stud.That is almost... I know, but you gotta understand, men didn't get erections in the 80s once they hit 50.I think impotency was real standard for anyone post-50.I think so.
Well, we'll get some data on this, Bailey.And report back.Yeah, you'll hear about it on a future fact check, I bet.
Well, thanks for sharing that horrible story that was amazing.
Thank you.And I just want to do a quick shout out to my friend, Paula, who's been a listener of yours since the beginning.And she's been listening for a prompt to submit this story.And she's actually here.
Oh, great.Let's say hi to Paula.
Do you care if she jumps on the mic?
Let's say hi to Paula. Could be, is she in Minnesota?
Oh my God, the attic.I love it.
Nice to meet you, too.I just have to say, Dax, you're my Matt Damon.
We have been waiting for this prompt forever, and I'm so glad Bailey got to tell it.It's so hilarious.And I wish she could have told it in person, because she does actions, and it's just so funny.But poor Bailey.
In all seriousness, this podcast has done so much for me, and you guys are the reason I'm in therapy.So props to you guys, and you're helping so many people.
Thank you, Paula.We appreciate that.Well, it's nice meeting both of you.Please tell Bailey We love that story us too.
So thank you so much.Good to meet you guys.
All right, take care guys That got crazy she was like Bailey was suspended in air Trying to get the focus on Paula it almost wonder if they orchestrated that whole thing Oh
Man, she's got a perfect person to have seen that can't believe he was on his feet pounding Having anal sex.Well, Jesus Bob.
Let's don't talk about Bailey's mom Also when you touched this I thought what if it crashed and in broke a pipe yeah, that would be fitting You can't have morning anal sex
No, because you got a dump in the morning.
Maybe they had already pooped.Hi there.
Hi.Sorry.We were saying naughty stuff right as you signed on.
Makes me happy.I love it.
Are you in a bunk bed with a sheet?
I am in a blanket for a bunk bed.Absolutely.It's my best option.
This is good.This sounds great.
A lot of ingenuity happening.What do you do for a living?
So I own a beach resort on the Jersey Shore with my family.
Oh, wow.Have you ever seen like this situation in the gang?
No, we're not that type of Jersey Shore.We're like the quaint, family friendly, low-key Jersey Shore.
Were you ever curious when they were shooting that show to wander up there and see if you could see them?I was obsessed with them.
Not really our vibe.You know, we like to stay a couple islands down.But they're fun to watch, I guess.
That's fair.Am I right to think that the season is coming to an end?Is it a good time for you or a sad time?
No, it's great.Couple more weeks to go and then we're done.Oh, I have a feeling this story is about their own.Your own.
Oh, that would be a first.A proprietor.
It is.It's about our hotel and as low key as it normally is, we see our fair share of crazy stuff.So I've got a doozy for you guys today.
How many rooms are there?I want to get like kind of an idea of what we're looking at.
So we're pretty tiny.We're like a restaurant, nightclub, wedding venue.
Very nice.Really quickly.My grandparents owned a motel and I was just telling Monica that my grandma many times found dead bodies.Does that happen to you?
No dead bodies for us, knock on wood.Okay, great.
Great, great, great.Oh, sorry.Knock, knock, knock.There we go.Okay.
All right, well, I'm just going to dive on into it.So it's a Friday morning.I'm coming into work.And we work some late night hours, usually.So sometimes in the morning, I come in around checkout time for the hotel.I walk in.
I open the front door right to our lobby.And normally, it would be a pretty low-key scene.It would be a couple people checking out, people gathering their stuff, getting ready to go.And immediately, I can tell that is not the case for this morning.
It is a zoo in the lobby.There is pretty much the entire hotel's worth of people standing around our tiny little lobby.
And they are losing their minds.
I can immediately sense the tension in the room and I'm overhearing people going like, what did you lose?I lost my beach towels, they were Pottery Barn, they're monogrammed, we lost all our life jackets.So I am on high alert.
I lock eyes with our front desk receptionist and she just gives me that nod, like go to the office, I'm gonna meet you in there.She presents me with a full yellow legal pad of missing items from hotel rooms.
Side note, we are that idyllic little town where people leave all their stuff outside of the room at night.You leave your car doors unlocked.Everybody puts their beach towels, their beach gear outside of their room.Never been an issue.
Apparently today was not that day because almost every single hotel room had come down and reported something from outside of their room missing. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so I am in semi-panic mode.
You know, we want to keep our guests happy and don't know what to do, so I'm reeling, trying to think, what's our next step here?
And in walks two of our managers, and I have a manager, Heather, who does our front desk, and a manager, Tina, who does our housekeeping.And they come in, and they were in earlier than me, and we've got a story for you.
One of our housekeepers had walked by one of the other rooms and noticed, as she looked through an open door, a boatload of beach stuff, like mountains of beach gear in a certain hotel room.So she's like, all right, we've got an issue.
So it was like 10.45 when I got in there.Checkout's 11.So I'm like, all right, let's go upstairs.I gather my girls.We head up the stairs.Some of our rooms are oceanfront, and they've got private balconies.
So we go to the one next to this room, who's already been checked out of. And I walk out on the balcony and I'm peeking over to the next room and I'm trying to figure out, oh my God, is this it?And I just see mountains of things.
All the beach towels stacked up, puddle jumpers, beach gear, I mean, everything.So it's now 1101 and this is no longer this lady's room.So I'm like, all right, let's go.So I leave my girls down the hallway.I go up, I knock on the door.
Little side note about this lady, she's already been an issue in the hotel. You know, we've got bars, we've got a nightclub.We've had a lot of complaints about her so far already.
Ranging from just she's nosy or she's aggressive, loud.
Loud, aggressive, too drunk, causing scenes, chirping up people at the bar, being rude to the security guards, like you name it, she was doing it.She's been a handful.Okay.
So I knock on the door, tell her who I am, kind of give her the old, Hey, had a couple of complaints about some hotel rooms.Are you missing anything? She's like, oh, no, what are you talking about?
And as she steps sort of to the side, I look over her shoulder, and I'm like, how many towels did you bring with you on this vacation?At this point, I'm like, I'm coming in the room.So I sort of just walk past her.
And our rooms have a little bit of an entry hallway, and then they open up into the larger space.So I'm coming in, and I'm clocking all the stuff.
I'm seeing the towel with Olivia's name on it, the huddle jumper with the mermaids on it that's been reported missing.I have the list with me, and I'm like, this is it.We've got a kleptomaniac on her hand.As I walk through the threshold to the room,
I look to my right and I catch eyes with somebody I know in her bed. So we have a lot of different bands that play at our resort, and some play weekly.
And I look over, and one of the trombone players from a band who plays at the resort a lot is tucked up to his chin in her bed.
And just surrounded with merch.
Endless gear.I mean, a hotel's full.You could have a whole camp with the amount of gear for children that is in this room.So I look at him, and we're just eyes on each other.We know each other, and he's a deer in headlights.
So I look over at her, and I'm like, hey, do you guys have any kids registered with your reservation? because I know it's just her in this room.And she goes, oh, he has kids.
So she's thinking on her feet.
She's moving quick.She's trying.But I know this guy and he does not have children of this age.And I've never seen him with any family of anybody at the resort.So I look right at her and I go, that's not true.Come on.And he is still just stone cold.
So I'm like, listen, guys, I'm under the assumption that you've stolen all this stuff from all of our hotel guests.I go, I'm going to take it back.I go out to the hallway.
I hooty hoot my staff and I asked them to come down and they bring a whole crew of housekeepers.I mean, this is five, six ladies, arms full of stuff, just taking it all out.
At this moment in your mind, have you tried to figure out?Cause I'm immediately thinking this is the act of a super hammered person that didn't really know what they were doing. Not so much that they actually are a thief that wants this stuff.
My guess right now is she woke up and was just as surprised as you are that all that stuff was in her room.
She was absolutely drinking the night before, but the reason that's not the case is because everything was nicely folded.She had mounds of towels rolled up perfectly and was loading them into her suitcase.
How's she getting this out of here without people noticing?
Also, what the hell are you going to do with all this stuff?It's not like it's highly resellable.
I don't think it's about that.It's just about the stealing.
Also, she is so far on left field.I've just accused her of robbing the entire hotel.She could care less.She's smiling.She's joking with me.She is not defensive at all.I'm just like, okay.
So we get all this stuff out of the room and I look at the guy and I go, listen, I'm going to step out of the hallway.I'm going to give you two minutes to get decent.And after that, I'm coming in.You guys are getting out of the room.I walk out.
I'm not out there 30 seconds.He comes barreling out the door, down the hallway, won't even look at me.He's gone. So I'm like, all right, I'll deal with this guy another day.I know who this guy is.
So I go back in and I'm trying to just get the ball rolling for this lady.I'm like, you got to go.
We're not going to call the cops.You're like, I'm not interested in that.
I'm not even there.I'm just like, you got to get out of this place.We have reclaimed everything.We're not going to make a big deal out of this, but you got to get out of here.So I'm grabbing her stuff for her.
I'm literally, she brought a Keurig machine.I'm holding a Keurig that she stole from the last hotel. Probably.She's joking with me about the weather.She's saying how much she loves our resort.And I'm just like, we got to go, lady.
I get her down the hallway, out to her car.As we're walking, she's detailing her plans to go to the next hotel down the street and check in.And I'm like, oh, God.So I get her in her car.
I'm immediately calling the other hotel owner because, you know, we're a small town and being like, hey, this is coming your way.Absolutely do not let this lady check in.Before I can even get off the phone,
I'm beeping through with another call from our housekeeping manager and she's like, you need to get back up here right away.
I'm like, did this lady sneak back in the other side?Like, what am I getting back into?So I hustle back up there and I get in there and there's a team of housekeepers in there.They'd come in.It's already past checkout.
They're trying to get in there and clean the room.We've got a full hotel to flip over and they are just shocked.I'm like, what's going on?They pull back the sheets and poop stains all over the sheets.
The same bed Mr. Trombone Player was just laying in.We don't have cameras in the room so we'll never know what really happened.
So he was covered in the poop when he was in the sheets?There was just poop stains like poop juice all over the sheets.
Oh, baby.And I don't know if I was so freaked out by the situation of the theft originally that I didn't smell it, didn't notice it, like the balcony door was open.
But I looked down and there's one of the little maps we give out of our island that gives like tourist spots and restaurant recommendations.Somebody moves that with a gloved hand, pile of poop juice.Oh, my God.You look in the bathroom.
Poop, washcloths, everything.Wait, what?
But we deducted that they must have gotten absolutely hammered the night before, gone on a drunken rage of ransacking the hotel, and then probably celebrated with a big round of butt sex right before they left.
Who else lays in those sheets?I mean, you're not gonna lay in poop sheets if you're not a part of it.
By the way, when we got on with you and we said we were just talking about naughty stuff, it was anal.
It was that.It was someone walked in on their dad pounding mom bent over the bed.It was like 6.15 in the morning.And I said, well, no one have anal sex in the morning.But now we're hearing this story.Yeah.
Well, we don't know if it was morning or night or yeah.
That's the whole story.I mean, it ended in a good note.We have a great team, they clean the room, we have professional carpet cleaner machines, like, we took care of it.
All the guests were happy just to get their stuff back, so it was a happy ending.
Oh my god, I wonder if there was any poop on any of the stuff.
It was nuts.It's been six, seven years since the story, and we still call the trombone guy Roto-Rooter.
So he stayed under your employee.Did you guys ever have any followup conversation about that whole sitch?
He left the band for a few years and then he's been back recently.I don't give him shit.I just kind of give him a little side eye when I see him.Like I know he has the audacity to show his face again.
Well, I would say to him, listen, Carl, I'm going to let you work here, but you shouldn't have sex with the guests that's off the table.But if it does happen, be mildly respectful.
We had to throw away all the sheets, all the towels, you know, everything.I mean, the room got stripped down to bare bones and started over, but it was nasty.
Oh, talk about insult to injury.
Also, the juice description is really something.
This might not shock you, but in my 20 plus years in AA, this is the kind of story I hear.You know, this is generally someone's bottom.Yeah.Pun intended.
I just want to thank you guys for this.This was so much fun.I'm obsessed with your podcast.I listen every week, all the shows.
Thank you.That was incredible.What a morning you had.
I love that.Great start to my weekend.
And all the guests, they were delighted when they got their stuff back.Everything was fine.
Everybody was happy.Nobody caused a ruckus or anything.They were just happy to get their stuff and go to the beach that day.
Oh God, that poor woman.She's really hanging on by a thread.
Let's hope she turned it around.Yeah, hopefully she's doing better things with her life these days.
Well, Brittany, thank you.That was a blast.
Before I leave, my friend Heather, who was a part of the story, who turned me on to your podcast, is here.Do you care if she says hi real quick?Of course.
She's our front desk manager.She was one of the ones that was a part of the beginning.Hi.
Oh my God, this is so exciting.
Now, did you also go take a look at the wreckage in the bed, or did you take everyone's word for it?
You got eyes on that.I got eyes on all of it.
And would you also describe it as juice?Yeah, I would say juice and then some.Okay, sure.
Well, so nice meeting both of you.This was incredible.
Take care, ladies.I kind of want to go stay there now.
It sounds really nice.I don't want to stay in that room.
Yeah, I'll ask them what room that was in.I can't believe she said celebrate it with a round of butt sex.What a way to phrase that.A round.
Sounds like it might have been multiple rounds based on the amount of juice.Of sewage that was.Fucking guy was laying in it.Why was he laying in it?
He didn't know what to do.
Do you think the percentage of anal is higher at a hotel than it is in your home?
People don't want to desecrate their home with the butt, but they're fine with it.
Well, look at my only story of pooping a bed was at a hotel.
You've pooped a bed before in your house.
No, Aaron's kind of known for that.My only pooting in bed was that experience.
Hi.Is this Matt?Hey, Dex.Hey, Monica.How are you guys?Great.
Good.Where are you calling us from?
I'm calling from New York, Manhattan.
Oh, the big city.We love it there.
If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, Monica.
Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?
Lots of practice is the answer.
I'm glad there was a joke there.I really didn't understand.
Adam Kirsch told me that joke.I love it.How do you get to Carnegie Hall?Lots of practice.Okay.Hit us with your hotel story.
Yeah.So this starts in the height of COVID going into 2021.So the end of 2020, my friend Slater and I are located in New York city.It's freezing cold.All the bars are closed.So there's not much for us to do.
And with winter coming, being in a two by four apartment didn't really sound exciting.Especially if your name is Slater.
Slater's meant to be out on the town.
Yeah, Slater needs some action.
Exactly.He actually has really good dance moves, so that's a good story.
Our friend, Nick, who is located down in Florida, was FaceTiming us every other day, trying to get us to come down and say, it's bright and shiny down here, it's warm, it's beautiful.So Slater and I decided, let's do it.
So once New Year's happened, we took a train down to Orlando, Florida. That's kind of where we bounced around during COVID from Orlando to Miami and then ultimately Sarasota for about six to seven months.
Really quick, I'm just learning you can take a train from Manhattan to Orlando?
You have to go to Virginia and then they have the Amtrak auto and you load your car up and then you take a train down to Orlando.Oh, you put your car on the train.It's super cool.Oh, wow.The tickets weren't that bad.
We needed a car down in there, so we decided to do that.We ended up starting in Orlando.We were renting Airbnbs month to month, and then ultimately we wanted to go to Sarasota.
So our Airbnb finished, and then the start of the new one, we had a week gap.We decided to go to Miami.We were supposed to stay with one of my friends.
She happened to get COVID, so we decided to last minute book a hotel in an area of Miami I had been around constantly pre-COVID.As we were kind of getting to the hotel, we realized that it's spring break in Miami.
So all the cooped up COVID people were letting loose.That's when you were seeing on the news about the whole curfew issue and mayhem going on in Miami.
I do remember that, yeah.
We pulled up, the receptionist at the hotel looked at us and they see us in polos and khaki shorts and nice shoes while everyone else is kind of in their swimsuit, drinking in the lobby.Music's blasting and we had our golf bags, our
work stuff, and we're ready to work in this hotel.So when we get to our room, you have the TV and the bureau, and then the hotel gives you a desk on the right side.Slater happened to set up his desk on the right, so we're about four feet apart.
Then next morning, we hit the gym, we come back, and we just start our workday.He's on client calls, I'm on client calls.
This is kind of where we developed this concept, which is called the midday shower, which is basically a way to essentially break up your workday into two halves.
Okay, this is proprietary.
Shower, go for a walk, basically get away from your laptop and when you come back you feel refreshed.Behind him was the bathroom wall so all you had to do was basically get up, turn and go around.
He turned the water on and then this is where I heard a muffled poof.
The best way I could describe this noise is the shower head fell off and hit the empty tub and that's kind of what it sounded to me.
I didn't know what was going on, so I looked left, and this is kind of where I saw debris in the air.I looked at his monitor.I saw the plastic was pointing out at him as he'd been sitting in the chair, and there was a hole through it.
I realized that a bullet went through it.I just jumped on the floor.Oh my goodness.Slater came out of the bathroom and he looked at me and he goes, what was that?And I said, bullet.
So he dropped to the floor and I crawled towards him and then we're sitting on the bathroom floor trying to figure out what just happened.We called 911.We said, Hey, we're in room XYZ at this location.Then we realized we have to call
the hotel downstairs.I don't know why I didn't really Google, try to call the front desk.Maybe it was going to 1-800.I can't really remember.
So this is where I crawled from the shower to the center of the room for the phone, called the hotel downstairs.I said, hey, there was a shot fired.And they were basically like, OK. Please be safe.And then we hung up.
Thankfully, there wasn't any further shooting, nothing.So we were all safe, thankfully.And I don't know what time from that period from when we made the calls to when they showed up.Might have been maybe around like a half an hour.
And then ultimately, we heard a knock on the door.Hey, it's the cops.We opened the door.He decided to escort us out safely to the elevator.And the individual next door to us comes out as if nothing happened and is just walking by us.
And the cop said, are you in this room?He said, yeah. So the cop started to interrogate him and Slater and I went down to the hotel lobby into the conference room with a cop and the manager of the hotel for about an hour or so.
Slater and I realized that we're in the middle of a work day.We asked the cop, can we go back upstairs?We don't want to say we're in Miami, where if you look out the window, there's partying and every kind of going crazy.Yeah, yeah.
So we realized basically what happened.The bullet hole was through the wall, through Slater's monitor.And had he been sitting there, it would have shot him right in the chest.
Oh my God.Thank God for your proprietary shower break.
Exactly.And then we realized since he wasn't sitting there, it went through the wall where the shower was located and it actually chipped the tile.
So had it been maybe even a stronger bullet and Slater was in the shower, it would have hit him in the backside too anyway.So we were really thankful.So then we get our work material, we head downstairs.
You guys are really good employees, I want to add.
No one's thinking about calling the boss and going like, hey, we almost got shot a second ago.We're going to have to call some of these clients back later.
We didn't want to do that.We didn't want to let them know that we were really milking out the remote work.So we kind of left it at that.
We're in the conference room downstairs in the hotel lobby and we asked the cop what happened to this guy where the shot came from.And the cop said that when he went into the room, the entire seat was cleaned up.
So the debris wasn't on the floor from his side. And the hole was almost as if it was plastered up, and the bureau for where the TV is, he just moved it over.So essentially, nothing on his side.
He had said, oh, it was a champagne bottle that exploded and went through the wall. The cop patiently said, well, if you look on this side of the hotel room, it's a completely different story.
So it was labeled as an accidental discharge because I guess the rules down in Florida are a little bit more liberal.So he essentially was free.No repercussions, nothing for him.
Oh my God.No problem discharging a firearm in your hotel room and almost killing your neighbor.Who was the dude?Was he a kid on spring break or was he another work remote adult?
No, he was definitely an adult, definitely older.How old?We were 24 at the time.So he, to me, looked around 29, maybe 31.Okay.He's not like my age.
He's not old time.Cause I was starting to think of some old timers.I mean, he's going to bring his gun in case he gets attacked and then he's moving his underpants and the guns in the drawer.But no, this is a 31 year old.
I mean, he must've been handling the gun.He was taking the gun, I guess, out of a suitcase and it just popped.
Jesus.Oh, Jesus Christ.What a fucking bozo.
Oh, wow, Matt.What a bizarre story.One of a kind.We didn't have any other hotel stories like this.
No, we did not.You literally dodged a bullet.
Nice.You rarely get to say that and it's literal.
Well, Matt, lovely meeting you.Thanks for telling us that story.Thank you so much, guys.Take care.
Oh, wow.That's scary.Where did you think that story was going?Because I, of course, thought there was going to be a spring breaker who did something wild, maybe crash into the room or something in the elevator.
I thought he fell in the shower.
Oh, cause he started talking about the shower.
Well, he heard a big noise and I thought it was, he fell and then he had to go in there in his naked body and he had to deal with the naked body.
That's fair.Did not see that one coming.
I wonder if they celebrated with a round of butt fucking.
Oh, wow.That was good.Hotels were good.
Yeah.Fun.I want to go to a hotel.
Okay.I'm going.Bye.Bye.Love you.
Do you wanna sing a tune or something?Or a theme song?Oh.Okay, great.
We don't have a theme song for this new show, so here I go, go, go.We're gonna ask some random questions, and with the help of our cherries, we'll get some suggestions on the fly, right?
Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.