Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Armchair Anonymous: Crazy Gym
Episode Date: January 5, 2024Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a crazy gym story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
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Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous.
I'm Dan Rutherford and I'm joined by the Minister of Waterfalls.
Sorry, y'all.
It's been a long day and we've reached that slap-happy point.
We have.
We have.
We just finished recording some Armchair Anonymous.
We did.
But these that you're about to listen to are really fun.
They're really fun.
There's one in here that Monica really lost her shit on,
which was so fun.
You could not.
Because the visual. The visual. Yeah, yeah not because the visual yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it's
so good it's so good uh this is of course crazy gym stories and by god some crazy shit goes down
at gyms and you're about to hear it also happy new year yes happy new year to you that's the
reason we did this sort of because it's often people's resolution to go to the gym.
Yes.
If you go to a public gym, you're very mad right now.
Yes.
Yeah.
Also, AA meetings suck this time of year.
Oh, dude.
It's standing room only.
It's a bunch of people that are only going to do it for three days.
Oh, I wish they would do it for longer.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah.
And of course, everyone's welcome and come try it.
But it is interesting
when you have like
a home group
or a group of people
and then all of a sudden
there's like 35 people
that are gonna give a shot
it's an interesting dynamic
I hope you're listening
to this right now
at the gym
oh my god
that is a story
we gotta do a
crazy AA stories
prompt
cause fuck
I've got like five of them
shit goes down
at AA meetings
also let's do
crazy stories that happen while you're listening to Armchair Anonymous about the prompt.
It happens to you while the prompt is while you're listening.
Yeah, we'll keep our eyes peeled for the one submission for that.
Yeah, there's going to be so many.
All right, please enjoy Crazy Jim Stories. gym stories.
Hello.
Hi.
How are you?
Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me on. I'm so excited.
We like your blanket tent. Yes. Oh, thank you. It's a shared closet with my husband. We have three kids and they love their blankets. So it was an easy choice to decorate in here.
What percentage of the closet is yours and which percentage is your husband's?
Oh, it's about 50-50. Oh. He's a stellar dresser and he loves his outfits and his hats. And
so he takes up as much as he can and then the rest of it's mine. Is he a Beckham style? Yeah.
What's his style? Oh, I would say kind of mountain man. Oh. Hippie mountain man. Hippie mountain man
with some hats. Yeah. Hippie mountain man hats. What kind of hat would that be? Like a floppy
leather hat? Oh, I bet like Jed wears.
Sure.
I can see that.
Not a cowboy hat, but like more round.
Kind of a little flatter on top.
And just to remind you, this is Crazy Hat Stories episode.
We've switched the topic.
Okay.
You have a crazy gym story.
I do.
So we are going all the way back to 2005.
Oh, wonderful.
I am 23 years old, and I'm in the process of moving to New York City to pursue life as a visual artist.
At the end of college, I'd started getting into weightlifting and was really excited about that.
So I didn't want to have a lapse in my gym membership.
So as I'm in the process of moving, I was researching gyms that
would be close to where I was going to be working at the time. So I found a gym about two blocks or
so from where I'm working. So location is really great. The type of gym that it is, is kind of one
of those globo gyms, like bright colors, big energy, lots of music and noise, big windows.
It's all about the kind of the scene there. What state are you moving from to New York?
I was in Minnesota.
Oh, okay.
So this is a pretty big difference.
Yeah, it is.
So I'm on the phone with membership and there was two things that this membership guy kept
harping on.
One of which was, oh, you got to go here.
It's Matt Damon's gym.
Now, this is not what my story is about, unfortunately, but that was one of the selling points. Like, oh, people love it here because Matt Damon's gym. Now, this is not what my story is about, unfortunately,
but that was one of the selling points.
Like, oh, people love it here because Matt Damon goes here.
I would work out so much.
Yeah, you'd be in incredible shape.
I would.
I only saw him one time.
Oh, it wasn't even a lie.
No bait and switch.
Wow.
The other piece of information that was important to share
was that they were open
24 hours. This was a 24 hour gym. I'm going to have different schedules depending on when I'm
working. So perfect. So fast forward, this is my second weekend in New York and I have a Sunday
shift at my job. I'm working retail at an art supply store a couple blocks away. I get out of
work. I go up to the gym. It's around 630. I decide, you know, I'm going to get a couple blocks away. I get out of work. I go up to the gym. It's around 630. I decide,
you know, I'm going to get a couple hours of a workout in and I'm just going to stay a little
longer to just have like a pamper myself kind of shower, you know, blow dry because my shared
living experience at the time in Brooklyn, the bathroom was kind of yako and I didn't want to
spend too much time in there then. So I took my time, did my hair.
I was running a blow dryer in a bathroom that was fully tiled.
So it's actually very loud in this bathroom.
And the bathrooms were in the basement.
It's about 9.15.
I gather my stuff.
I'm starting to walk up the stairs.
And I notice that it's pretty quiet. The gym music has stopped playing.
I'm not hearing people on the machines. I'm not hearing people talking or milling around.
And it's also pretty dark. Oh, God. My initial thought was like, oh, my gosh, did the power go
out? Oh, sure. Yeah. But no, because I was just running a hairdryer in the basement. So I thought, well, maybe they're closing for some reason.
So I will walk towards the exit.
Now, when I get to the exit, I quickly realized that they are, in fact, closed.
And I have been locked inside.
Oh, my goodness.
This is like an 80s fun movie.
But you want to be in a more fun place like a Target.
So initially I thought, you know, it's not the worst place to be locked inside.
They have healthy snacks.
They have a comfy couch.
They have a shower and a bathroom.
You know, I'm not in the worst case scenario, but I really don't want to be here all night.
Yeah.
What are my choices?
So what I was looking at out the front door was a grate that has been fully pulled down and locked.
You're in prison now.
Yeah.
I thought, you know, okay, there's probably emergency exits.
Let's go check out where those are.
I walk around.
I find one in the basement.
And it has all these warnings.
Like, if you open this door, the alarm's going to go off.
And I did not know what kind of emergency response that would incite. Do I wait around for them to
arrive until I tell them that it was me that was locked in there? Am I going to somehow get in
trouble for being the person that like set off this alarm? I'm 23. So I'm green in this department.
I don't know what's going on. So I go back upstairs and I'm like looking at business cards,
see if I can find somebody's cell phone number.
Again, this is 2005. So it's still kind of that landline era. And a lot of the business cards for trainers and managers still have the number for the gym, the physical location on there. So of
course, like I can't post to Twitter or Instagram to say, Hey, I'm stuck in the gym. How do I get
out? So I call 911. Uh-huh. Yes. Smart.
That's what you like.
I love that.
Y'all just bounced out that emergency door.
No.
I flip open my Nokia cell phone and I get the 911 on there. So I talked to the dispatcher.
She was really nice. I said, you know what? I'm not injured. I just happened to get locked
inside this gym. And can you send somebody over to troubleshoot how to get out of here?
Because I don't want to push that alarmed door open if I don't have to. So she's like, yeah, no problem.
We'll send somebody over. So it's maybe 30, 40 minutes. Kind of feels like a long time, but also,
you know, I start calling my friends like, hey, I'm stuck in this gym. This is so wild.
Now the gym is on Lafayette. So it's this very busy road. It's 10 something at night at this
point. And there's people walking by. I mean, it's an active area. So the police pull up with
the lights on, they get out of the car, they walk over to the door and they are just laughing.
What have we encountered here? And I'm of course laughing and also so embarrassed. At this gym,
they had a vestibule. So you have your door from the street into a small
room. And then there's a secondary door that goes into the main facility. So in order to talk to the
police, I have to come into that vestibule area. And without thinking, I get in there and the
second door locks behind me. So now I'm really stuck in this box. So now I'm in this glass box,
there's pedestrians going by. NYPD, they're so nice. They said, okay, well, we have the ability to cut the bolt on this lock and we can get you out. And I'm thinking it's like one of those big
bolt cutters, like a big scissors almost. They're just going to clip it. We're going to be out of
here. And it wasn't, it was a circular saw. He has this mask.
So he pulls the mask down and it takes a little while for him to get through the boat. People
stopping, people whispering like, what's going on? And you have nowhere to hide. You're just in a
glass box. You blew out your hair. So you look kind of good. You got a pump. I have a fresh
hairdo. I'm feeling great except for being trapped. So they get the bolt off.
They lift the grate.
I'm free.
They put a cute little pink lock back on.
And they left a note for the people at the gym that said something like,
if you want to get back in the gym, you need to come to whatever precinct number.
You left somebody in here last night.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, yeah, you tell them.
That's so funny.
I mean, I guess they had to have a lot of safety precautions if Matt Damon goes there.
Yeah, obviously.
Security's got to be heightened.
Yeah.
So that's also where I was so confused about, you know, this guy on the phone told me it's a 24-hour gym.
So if for whatever reason they're closing, wouldn't there be somebody walking around to do checks?
Well, so it's not like you were taking a nap in a locker.
You were running a hairdryer. Yeah, it was very obvious that there was still a person
down there. You got to hand it to him for clearing out so quickly. You would think it would take at
least an hour to get the personnel out of there and everything. That was also very mysterious
because I came upstairs just a few minutes after closing and everybody was gone. They're in a mad
dash to get to the bar. So I'm thinking, OK, I'm going to come back the next day while this is fresh.
And I'm going to stand my ground and say how worried I was.
And I went up to one of the managers and I said, hey, I'm the girl that got locked in here last night.
We need to have a talk about this.
Like, what's going on?
You guys are supposed to be open 24 hours.
And he says, well, we are open 24 hours, except for Sundays.
We close at 9 o'clock.
Oh, on Sundays.
So his whole position was, it was listed there.
Sorry, this happened.
It still doesn't answer for why they didn't see you.
Well, he said, well, what do you want out of this?
Oh, so New York.
I know.
And I was like, well, maybe you can prorate my week of membership.
You know, just something to say you're sorry.
And I did bring up like a safety issue of I could have had a medical incident.
Exactly.
I passed out in the shower.
What's your protocol to make sure that people are okay and out of your building?
And he said, well, I'm really sorry this happened.
You know, I can't give you any money off your membership, but I can offer you a smoothie.
And so he kind of does this weird, like puts his arm around my shoulder and kind of corrals me over to the smoothie area to present
me with a smoothie coupon for my troubles. It was really kind of gross.
Oh my God. Yeah.
We're 15 years after the fact. How old do you think that manager was, if we're being generous?
Probably early thirties.
Oh, okay. Because, you know, know sometimes these places they're run by 21
year olds too they don't give a fuck about anything yeah i worked at soul cycle yeah you
were running the joint and i was the key holder so i was that person what would you have done if
someone got locked in soul cycle you've been like wait did you get out okay i would have been like
why didn't you notice this is on you? I would have gaslit them.
Right, right.
I'm just kidding.
I was such a good employee.
I would never have left someone in there.
Did you do a sweep of the place whenever you closed?
You had to.
You had to.
It was protocol.
Yeah.
Okay.
Oh, my God.
Well, these people aren't SoulCycle material, apparently.
Exactly.
They would have never cut it there.
So, Amy, how long did you stay at that gym?
I would say I stayed probably another couple weeks because the fallout of this was every
time I'd come in, it seemed that the word had gotten around that it was me that got
locked in because the staff, you know, people would be like, oh, kind of whispering to themselves
off in the corner, like, oh, that's hard.
Just thought it's time to go somewhere else.
Yeah.
I wonder if the story made its way to Matt Damon.
Like when he worked out and his trainer was probably like, oh, my God, something really funny happened.
Yeah, probably.
Maybe he knows.
Yeah.
I doubt he had a trainer, though.
Yeah.
He seems like me.
Like he's more self-motivated.
Next time we have him on, I'm going to ask him.
If he remembers this, Jim.
This is a little bit of ageism the other way you never hear about, which is like young people are easily dismissed.
If you were a 41-year-old woman and you came never hear about, which is like young people are easily dismissed.
If you were a 41-year-old woman and you came to the desk and talked to that person.
Like me now.
Yeah.
In fact, you should try to get yourself locked in there again and then repeat this all.
Yeah, because they would have thought you would sue, but you definitely wouldn't sue as like a 20-something. No, you're too hungover and busy chasing boys and stuff.
Couldn't do it in your hair.
Yeah, couldn't do it in your blowouts.
Well, Amy, thank you for telling us that story.
We're glad you made it alive.
And yeah, I just would have absolutely kicked that door open because it's on them.
I guess that's true.
It's like they put you in this position.
I don't give a fuck if your alarm goes off.
And if the cops come, I go, yeah, they locked me in.
I would have been scared too.
I don't know why.
Yeah, those alarms are deterrents.
Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, thank you, Amy.
Thanks so much for having me, guys.
Okay, take care.
Bye.
Bye.
I think all these are meet-cutes now.
I thought like the police officer or the manager at the gym.
It would be great.
Maybe the guy wanted it to be a meet-cute because he put that note.
He used a pink lock.
Yeah, he was flirting.
That was a very flirty thing to do.
Hello.
Hi, how are you?
Is this Nick?
This is, yes.
I love that we're in your bedroom or a guest bedroom.
I like that we're in a bedroom.
We're rarely in a bedroom with anyone.
It's funny.
About five minutes ago, I was in my daughter's bedroom, which is a little smaller and probably better for the sound.
And our neighbor across the street is doing a construction project and just whipped up their dry drywall mixer. Do you live across the street from me? In the last five minutes, I've been
frantic. Oh no. I brought blankets in and comfy pillows. No, you're in an ideal room already.
There's a lot of soft fabrics around you. You don't want to be close to walls. Shocking. That's
the echo chamber. So you're golden. You're wearing a soft sweatshirt, a hoodie. That's going to help.
You have a little bit of stubble. That's going to break up the sound waves. Right. Where are you at, Nick? Sonoma County, California. Oh, okay. Are you in any
tangential way associated with the wine industry? I have been. I was working in the wine industry
for almost 20 years. Oh, look at that. Were you you, a sales rep? Were you a vintner?
What were you?
I worked in marketing, social media.
And are you ever over at Sonoma Raceway?
I'm not.
I had a feeling you'd ask me about that.
That's the site of my huge crash
that caused all the surgeries.
So what are you doing now?
So now I work at our regional food bank
called the Redwood Empire Food Bank.
And I do grant writing and corporate partnerships.
Busy time of year?
Yeah,
we do half of our fundraising between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Wow. Well, thanks for taking the time to tell us your crazy gym story. I'm sure you're busy. Yeah, we're excited. Hit us. Where
does this take place? Are we in Sonoma? Does Sonoma have gyms? We do. This takes place in a
little town called Windsor, just north of Santa Rosa. That's the home of Charles Schultz. That's
right. Yeah. Charles Schultz Museum, home of Peanuts.
And they had a nice pageant for a while, but that's been gotten rid of.
You're so...
Sorry, Nick.
I just want to hear it.
I know, but I want to get a rhythm going, Nick.
I know.
This is foreplay.
I want to join sexual energies.
You lost foreplay so much. Okay. Whatever. Do they do foreplay. I want to join sexual energies.
Okay.
Whatever.
Do they do ice skating there anymore or no?
They do.
They have an ice skating rink.
Okay.
Charlie Brown, important person. I do.
Vince Giraldi.
The holidays.
Tis the season.
Tis the season.
Okay.
Sorry.
It's January 2000.
I'm 18 years old.
In between my semesters of my freshman year of college, I was going to the junior college here in town.
Most of my friends had already left to go back to their schools.
Some post-holiday blues, post-Y2K excitement.
Oh, yeah.
New Year's resolution?
What was that?
New Year's resolution.
Oh, was going to the gym?
This is relevant to the gym.
I'm just laughing.
I hate Monica.
Do you need a co-host?
Do you need a new co-host, Nick?
I'm a veil. Okay, go on. So I was just kind of moping around the house and my sister lived at
home. She was a little bit older than me and she loved going to the gym. So she dragged me to the
gym one day, put on, you know, new pair of warmup pants that I had, a big hooded sweatshirt,
exactly what I thought someone who would go to the gym would wear, you know, but not at all.
It's not a very big gym. It was the first time I'd ever been to a public gym. They kind of had
the check area and the machines kind of in the front and then tucked in the back were a few
treadmills and all the free weights. So we went and hopped up on a couple of the treadmills to do
a little warmup. We were jogging for a few minutes and my sister, she hopped off and went to go do her routine, whatever she was going to do. And I
decided to stay on the treadmill. I did a little running in high school. So I started building my
confidence a little bit, putting up the speed, trying to get familiar with being on a treadmill.
Probably five minutes go by and I'm going pretty fast and feeling good. Of course, I've got lined
sweatpants on and a big hooded sweatshirt. So I'm getting hot. I'm way pretty fast and feeling good. Of course, I've got lined sweatpants on and a big
hooded sweatshirt, so I'm getting hot. I'm way overdressed. I decide I need to take my sweatshirt
off. The thought does not even cross my mind to stop the treadmill, take my sweatshirt off,
and start up again. I'm going to just go ahead and try and take my sweatshirt off while I'm on the
trip. Absolutely. I can see myself making the same call. Well, yeah, you can't stop. Yeah,
you know that move in the car where you're driving and you take a sweatshirt off or something and you can kind of do it real quick.
Well, can I tell you, Nick, the first thing I thought of when you painted this picture was how many times I've taken a hoodie off in the car and then miscalculated and realized, like, I don't have either arm now.
And I'm driving with my knee.
And that's exactly what happened here.
I got one arm out.
Hold on, Nick.
And sorry, Monica.
Are there any girls around?
Had you locked eyes with anyone and had anything in your mind going like, oh, I see you and you see me?
No.
If anything, I wanted to be anonymous.
I was a pretty shy kid.
Luckily, it wasn't very busy.
I was kind of off on my own.
You know, got one arm out of the sweatshirt, pulled the sweatshirt over my head.
And that was when I lost sight for the first time.
Oh! And immediately
stopped feet. I fly
off the back of the truck. Oh, no.
And I wish it would have ended there.
And that would have been fine. I probably would have been okay.
But the way this gym was set up
was that, you know, it was 2000.
It was pre-flatscreen TVs.
So the TVs were hanging on the ceiling
and they were the big tube TVs and they were down the middle of screen TVs. So the TVs were hanging on the ceiling and they were the big tube TVs
and they were down the middle of the gym.
So the treadmills were turned
to face the middle of the gym,
backed against a wall.
Oh.
Oh no.
Okay, okay, okay.
Bounced off the wall,
landed back in the treadmill.
Oh.
Back on the wall.
Wait, what?
No, no, no, no, no.
So I'm basically like in a dryer in a tumble cycle is kind of what it felt like.
Are you still blinded by the sweatshirt?
Completely blinded.
Sweatshirt completely halfway over my head.
Can't see anything.
I'm just kind of bouncing back and forth between the treadmill and the wall over and over again.
This is like an America's Funniest Home Video.
Yeah, yeah.
Or even a Simpsons cartoon, like Homer Simpson on a treadmill.
Yes.
So, you know, eventually I hear my sister screaming, not really helping,
but she's screaming from the other side of the room, you know,
somebody help.
All this is happening so fast, too.
It's probably only 30 seconds, but it feels like 10 minutes
that I'm just bouncing back and forth between the treadmill and forth between treadmill eventually somebody came and stopped the treadmill i took inventory outside of my torn warm-up pants
oh no this is your warm-up pants tore oh yeah total rug burn oh oh my god you're lucky they
stayed on you could have been in your skivvies.
I imagine also people helping pull the hoodie off of you.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel fortunate that it wasn't too busy.
There wasn't that many people there.
I pretty much left immediately after that.
I was like, I'll wait in the car while you finish your workout.
I'm not hanging out anymore.
I'm done with the workout.
I'm never ever going to exercise again.
I have a feeling that people who work there probably had that on security footage and
probably got a real charge over it.
Oh, they probably watched that over and over and over again.
It was shown to many, many people.
Did they have at that time on the treadmills, the pull?
You know, now they have that pull.
But you couldn't see.
But no one ever hooks themselves.
Oh, because yeah, you're supposed to wear it.
But nobody does.
No one's ever going to wear that thing.
And this is why you're supposed to wear it. But nobody does. No one's ever going to wear that thing. And this is why you're supposed to wear it.
What was the extent of the injuries?
When you got in the car and the adrenaline subsided, did you start feeling like, oh, I got my ass kicked by that thing?
I was pretty sore the next day.
Burnt up knees a little bit, but more bruised ego than anything.
Oh, man.
Oh, my God.
It's like falling onto a belt sander.
If I was your sister, I'd come across the room like this.
Help!
Call 911!
I called her last night to kind of corroborate the story.
And she was like, what I remember is I was working out.
And all of a sudden, I hear this big thud.
And then I turn around.
I see her arms flailing around on the treadmill.
Oh, my gosh.
I really want to see. Yeah, me too.
He's like ping pong person.
Yes.
I wonder if maybe it was rolling, too.
There could have been some.
Right.
Oh, yeah.
Wow.
Oh, Nick, I'm glad you survived that.
Luckily, nobody got too hurt.
Well, that was fun.
What a great story.
I'm sorry that happened to you.
You really went through the spin cycle, as you said.
I really did.
Did you revisit exercise?
I have.
Stayed outside for my running for a while.
Did not jump on a treadmill for many years.
Yeah, at least when you fall down there, you stay put.
Exactly.
Unless there's an earthquake.
Yeah, or you fall in a ravine.
I wouldn't say I'm the most graceful person either.
So I've been known to trip just on the sidewalk.
You're terribly cute, though. I think it works on the sidewalk you're terribly cute though i think
it works perfectly with what you're presenting thank you yeah you have kind of a steve carell
he's got a sweetness yeah and a steve carell a steve carellness yeah who do people tell you
you look like munchie cheese you ever heard of those guys munchie cheese munchie cheese they're
so soft and cuddly you know we used to call delta munchy cheese. They're so soft and cuddly. You know, we used to call Delta
a munchy cheese. Yeah, we did.
I think she had a munchy cheese. She did. She had a little
one. Yeah. I don't get a lot of prompts
to celebrities that I can think of.
Tell people Steve Carell.
You just start telling people, you know who I look
like.
I do need to give a
quick shout out to my daughter, Grace,
and my son, Sam.
I let them listen to a very choice few of these.
Did they like the story of the man decomposing at brunch in Canada?
We haven't heard that one yet.
Oh, God.
I'll wait until they're a little older for that one.
You should use that as punishment.
If one of them fucks up, you're like, you get in that room and you listen to that nine minutes.
And you listen to it over and over again.
That's the most rough one. I'll bookmark that one for later.
Okay.
Well, give our love to your babies.
Yes.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, guys.
Take care.
That one got you.
I loved seeing how much that got you.
You were really giggling.
Did you have any pee in your pants?
No, it's dry.
It's dry.
Oh, that's fun.
What if I got self-conscious that I wasn't laughing as hard, so then I decided I'll pee my pants a little bit.
Oh, God.
Because then I can say, like, oh, I was laughing so hard I peed my pants.
That is something you would do.
Is it?
Yeah, I think.
Do you just have an excuse to pee my pants?
Hello.
Hello.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
You look so much.
What are you going to say?
Well, you were going to say Mary Steenburgen.
Nope. Close. Maryenburgen. Nope.
Close.
Mary Lou Henner.
Oh.
With the super memory.
I've gotten that one other time in my life.
You have?
At an airport.
I'm not going to tell you where because then it'll give away where I am.
Okay.
Your location because you want to remain.
Well, what's crazy is the name also that you gave us, your code name, your pseudonym, your nom de pleur is-
Mary. Mary. That's so simp. I think you're more Mary than you know you're more Mary. name also that you gave us your code name your pseudonym your nom de pleur is mary mary that's
so sim i think you're more mary than you know you're more mary wow and then you had a mary
too mary steam virgin yeah also very mary steam virgin do you get that no i'll take it this is
so sim because we put out a quilt episode today of flightless bird and you have a quilt hanging up
oh boy i was trying to make
it insulated in here. I'm actually in my closet, which is at the start of the scene of the crime
of my story here. Oh really? Really bringing me back to seven years ago. Okay. Okay. So 2016.
Yes. Cold morning. I know you don't want to tell us where you're at specifically,
but I do need a region of the country. Middle of the country.
So all the seasons, it happened to be winter.
And I was on the phone with a friend, pretty distracted.
I was thinking I was late to my yoga class and I was rushing to get ready.
I was in my closet and I quickly put on my long jacket, put on my pants, talking to my friend, rushing out the door to catch this
yoga class. And I had been going to yoga on and off for 12 years. I was at the studio for a little
over a year at this point. And I would always go to the morning class. Well, I got to ask Monica
protocol right now. What? Okay. I feel like I know what happens, but I know you don't want me to
guess, but can I whisper it to you? okay oh okay he guessed something but yeah i don't
like but he doesn't like when i guess so but i but he has to this is like the best i can do control
wise yeah i get into the yoga class it's a hot yoga class and i'm in the locker room i'm still
rushing to get ready talking to my friend on the phone. And I quickly hang up with her, take off my jacket, grab my yoga mat, head into the studio. I find the studio's empty. And
I'm like, well, I'm not late. So let me just roll out my mat here. Relax, get ready for the class.
And this particular room is set up where it's just like a long rectangle and there's a door
in the back and it's kind of off to the far right. And it opens up and there's a door in the back and it's kind of off to the far right and it opens up and
there's a mirror in front of you. And so I put my mat down pretty much like right in front of the
door. I always just get into child's pose for the beginning of class. Like I don't want to see
anyone. I don't want to talk to anyone. I'm just in my child's pose. So that's what I do.
Really quick remind us is that you're on your knees and you're leaned forward with your palms
on the ground? Exactly.
And I'm facing towards the mirror and my back is towards the door.
People are filing in.
Maybe it's five minutes.
But now the room's full of about probably 30 people.
I mean, this particular class, everyone's like lined up right next to each other.
It's filled.
And as I'm still in child's pose, just kind of getting ready for the instructor to give us the next direction here, I get this tap on my shoulder and I look back and there's this woman, beautiful gray
hair, kind eyes. And she just looks at me and she says, ma'am, I think you have a hole in your pants. Oh!
Sasha hated sand, the way it stuck to things for weeks.
So when Maddie shared a surf trip on Expedia Trip Planner, he hesitated.
Then he added a hotel with a cliffside pool to the plan.
And they both spent the week in the water.
You were made to follow your whims.
We were made to help find a place on the beach with a pool and a waterfall and a soaking tub and, of course, a great shower.
Expedia. Made to travel. I knew immediately what happened because I had just gotten a puppy and my puppy dog,
I don't know why they do this, but they eat the crotches out of your pants.
Well, because there's pheromones in there.
Sick.
So I knew immediately what happened and I knew immediately I wasn't wearing underwear.
Oh, baby.
Oh, my God.
So I quickly got my yoga mat, wrapped it up, threw on my jacket, headed out the door.
My drive home was like five minutes.
I'm crying because it was just mortifying.
I get home.
And I'm thinking it's a certain size of hole because I've seen her do this before yeah
in your mind give us a yeah what'd you think dollar bill a quarter I knew it was gonna be
bad like I was thinking like a tennis ball a tennis ball you can see a lot what I wasn't
envisioning was assless chaps the whole back the whole wait a wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
This is so perfect because you are by the door.
So every single person who entered looked down and saw.
Like I'm talking my entire, entire middle of my pants.
You couldn't have splayed yourself more.
No.
Wow.
Wow.
I guess, yeah, you wouldn't have felt it.
I feel like I would have.
That's the thing.
I've never done this in my life.
And the first time I did this, I put my jacket, I had a long puffer jacket on,
and then I put my pants on and I was distracted on the phone.
Multitasking.
I was multitasking and rushing.
And then I get to a hot, sweaty room taking off my jacket.
I still didn't feel like a breeze of air.
It was like the perfect scenario leading up to this.
Wow. And then child's pose. Oh, that's nice lady. I'm so glad she said like,
you could have gone through the whole class. Well, I think I would have seen it at some point,
but I'm mortified because A, I feel like people recognize me at the class. And then the other
thing was I immediately went to, I'm sure they were wondering what
person in their right mind would not know they had that big of a hole in their pants.
So therefore, did they think that I was like trying to get my rocks off?
Yeah, an exhibitionist.
I would have thought that.
Sorry.
Yes, I too.
And you know when it would have occurred to you is when you got on your butt for something.
You would have felt the rubber
you'd be like ow you'd have been why is my i thought about that i just went right into child
pose i know wow i love i mean i hate this for you but i'm so happy for everyone else was the front
covered think about child's pose it's all vagina and no she said assless chaps right it was all of
it oh vagina was showing yes yes and more importantly anus let's be honest worse for me
would be vagina than anus yeah see i'm the opposite same same mary kids so vagina okay
but not in a yoga studio you didn't have kids that I know of.
Yeah, I haven't been to yoga since.
I used to go all the time.
You really haven't been since?
I just have no desire.
Oh, it killed your spirit.
Yeah, it really did.
That answers several of my follow-up questions all at once,
which is when you returned,
did you notice people were more interested in chatting you up,
like needing to get more info.
I will never know.
You'll never know.
Oh, Mary, I don't like this.
I feel like you got to get back on that horse.
No, I think you made the right decision.
Because it was an omen.
It was like an omen and a prophecy.
No, she loved child's pose.
Do you do yoga at home?
I do.
Okay.
You don't even need your outfit for in home
do whatever you were married at the time yes only a few people know this story my husband knows and
i called him in the car crying he thought i like got in a car wreck and killed someone
it was just so mortifying and i've had a lot of embarrassing moments but this one was just that's
really specific yeah i mean it's so you just can't get more exposed than child's
pose and it was for a long period of time oh you had lost yourself in the pose thank god you didn't
like oh my god if i had said that you'd be so mad at me but i'm so glad you said it
thank you for saying it i guess it's more of a thank you okay wait i have another question
of course this is oh no
were there men in the class yes oh it was probably half oh what if like okay what if you notice all
the men that were in front started to move their mats to behind you i mean i would have walked in
i saw it and be like huh i don't like it up here this and i would have done a whole
like pantomime mean that it was something was uncomfortable up here oh it's drafty up here oh
it's much more and i'd be vocalizing oh much warmer in back i live for the heat i just bolted
i did not even look around you covered it with your yoga mat yeah smart yeah i made a like a
burrito now there's one other thought i might have, and this is not positive. Okay.
I might have thought like she's in threadbare clothes and maybe she's living on the street.
Oh, unhoused.
Yeah.
With my Lululemon yoga mat.
Yeah.
Well, I don't know a lot about the yoga mats, but if I just saw like some very frayed and torn.
But it's just like everything looks good except that one area.
That's true. Yeah, if only I had
a tattered shirt. Yeah, if only.
I'm just, that would be the other option I would go
to. It's like, oh, this person's a little out of their mind
and they're... Or like, yeah, a drug addict.
Who loves yoga, yeah.
Which there does seem to be some overlap there.
Yeah, I'm sure. Oh, wow.
That was fun. Thanks, Mary. I love that.
Thank you, guys. This was fun. I'm glad to
get it out there anonymously.
I think I'm ready to get off.
Well, thank you so much for sharing.
Yes, thank you.
Okay, you guys take care.
Happy holidays.
You too.
Bye-bye.
Oh, no.
That unraveled.
Yeah.
Things are unraveling.
I need to buy my sweatshirt.
I can't believe more people didn't tell her.
If that room filled up.
Well, Rob, would you ever have told her?
Yeah, I would have.
You would have?
I would have let them know, yeah.
Wouldn't you think it was, I would think it's intentional.
Right.
30 people though.
Like if a guy opens up his raincoat in the park and he's bare naked, do you think you need to tell him, hey, you're naked?
You go like, this is his kink.
If it's a hole in the pants.
It sounds like it was the entire, was all open yeah yeah i just feel like i know you and that you would want to say something but you wouldn't and i think that's what most
people in the room probably felt like like should i if i knew it was an accident but how would you
know she's a stranger a hole in the pants at a yoga place that probably cost a decent amount to be.
It just sounds like it didn't look like a hole.
It looked on purpose, like crotchless pants.
I guess if it looked on purpose, I would not have said something.
By the way, I think we already have run this experiment.
Because are you the type of person to tell someone they have a booger in their nose?
Exactly.
I bet you don't.
No, because I would feel embarrassed for them if I told them.
Well, that's the same scenario. This is worse this is that this is like i gotta tell someone
that i just most embarrassing thing ever i saw their anus yeah but if like you were about to
go on stage at a live show and you had a booger i would tell you in that case sure well that's
our shared livelihood is on the line yeah you better tell me yeah photo shoot for this show and
i've got a huge booger hanging out.
Well, I know it because, okay, one time we had someone on.
Uh-oh.
And Rob gets everyone the cream tops.
Oh, yes, yes.
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
Cream tops, you can't get those for people anymore.
Because if they have facial hair.
It's like eating a powdered white donut.
It gets stuck all in people's facial hair.
And we took a picture with somebody who had it in their facial hair.
And in my head, I was like, if Rob doesn't fucking tell him.
He's in a photo.
I can tell you, though, my thought process was, I can Photoshop that out.
This is not a big deal to do.
You'll realize it later.
I knew I wasn't going to, but I've already declared myself as someone who never will say anything.
Right.
And then I didn't know what was happening with you.
But I was missing it.
Right.
Because I knew you would say.
And I'm so all over that kind of thing normally.
Right.
And then I knew Rob noticed it.
Had it just been me and him, I wouldn't have told him in front of you guys.
Cause I would have embarrassed him more.
And I knew I could Photoshop it out.
But then when he got in the car and looked in the mirror and he wiped it, he wiped it
at some point, but then he known, Oh, it's like, Oh, I hated it.
Do you think if you were with somebody, it was just two people and then it smelled like
you would act like it was a courtesy.
Like, Oh, I think he might've farted no what are you talking about because we're saying like we're pointing out when things
are embarrassing and we need to tell the person you're like oh my gosh i think you might have
farted just so you know i think you may have farted there has to be a reason to tell yeah
because you're trying to prevent more embarrassment yes exactly so if the person didn't know but that's you're like, oh, you need to be a little more mindful because I think you farted.
That's only embarrassing for you.
The cream on the mustache is bad for him walking through the rest of the world and the picture.
And I did think that too.
I was like, I guess he'll just have to Photoshop that out.
It happens occasionally and people usually are pretty quick to get it.
We cannot keep buying those for people.
They are a hazard.
Josh, it says Madeline.
It's probably his wife's account.
I'll just make sure my crotch is covered.
Hi, Josh.
Hello.
I am so Mac not smart.
So I'm using one of my employees' MacBooks. So that's why it says her name instead of mine. Madeline. You're a am so Mac not smart. So I'm using one of my employees MacBooks. So that's why it
says your name instead of mine. Madeline. You're a PC like the commercial. I am. Yeah. Recording.
There we go. Nice to meet you both. Nice to meet you. I see stained glass out the window in the
corner. Yes. Do you live directly next to a church? It might have been at one point. I work at a
university. I think it's part of our law school actually. Monica just got horny. I really did. I want to teleport there right now.
I love college. It's beautiful. So you have a crazy gym story. I do. This took place back in
2011. I was living in Toledo, Ohio at the time, which was my hometown. Wait, you're from Toledo?
I'm from Toledo, yeah.
Well, you know US 23 runs through there, right? Sure does. So I lived like four miles off of US 23, about 50 miles north of you. I was right at the line. So I was like two miles south of
Lambertville. Oh yeah. And I even had a girlfriend down there in Toledo, Jenny Lesnowitz. Met her in
Cancun on spring break and I went down to visit her a few times. Was she at the gym? I wish it was her. That would have been a much better story.
I was working at a gym there in Toledo all through high school. I'd gotten hired, I think,
like my sophomore year. It was a good high school job. Started off as a lifeguard, became a swim
instructor there. And then my senior year of high school, they promoted me to do the front desk,
membership sales, things like that. So it paid a little bit better. It was a fun time. We always had regulars that you would see
by that many years, you knew who came in at what times, how long they would be there for,
and what their kind of preferred workout was. And we had this one elderly gentleman for the story,
I'll name him Rupert. Oh, good choice. Not the friendliest fellow. He would come in right before closing
and he would stay forever. And so you knew if you were closing the building that day,
you're like, shoot, I'm just not going to get out of here until 40, 50 minutes past closing
because Rupert's in here. But really quick, what a bizarre policy. It's like a restaurant. If you
arrive before the door closes, I feel like everyone should be out by the closing time.
I agree. What an insane policy. What have you had a two hour workout? It was not the policy,
but I think when you're 70 plus, you just don't care. And so like, I would come over the loudspeaker
and be like, hello guests, we're closing in 20 minutes. Please wrap up your workouts.
He would wait until like the five minute warning. And then that's when he would go to the shower.
Okay. It was like a 20 minute shower. And then he would be like, how long can I walk around the
locker room naked? And he'd come in to kind of like close down the locker room and he was toweling
off i hate him monica there's a lot of that there's always guys posted up endlessly drying
themselves especially that decade it's just like as much as he could expose himself it felt like
it was the summer after i graduated high school so it was my last shift like mid-august i was
moving away to college the very next day i was clocking out for the last time and so most of
the guests were coming in to say goodbye to me some brought me some cards because i'd been there
for a while and he comes in we closed at 5 p.m on that saturday and he comes in at like 3 30 or so
and i'm like shoot rupert's here there's no way I'm getting out of here at 5 o'clock
30 minutes goes by and then a lady runs
up to the front desk where I was working
she was like somebody collapsed
back in the aerobic studio
somebody's on the ground
I think they need medical attention
to me and my boss she was in the office at the time
we ran back there and I knew I was like
it has to be Rupert
faking a stroke, but somehow also
tolling himself off. We'll get there. And so we run back there and of course it's Rupert. Somehow
he got to kind of the door of the aerobic studio. So he's like halfway out the door on the ground
with his head just kind of in the hallway there. There's a lot of people around and he's fully
awake. He's coherent. He's able to talk,
but he can't move his arms or legs. So I think it might've been some stroke. I never got the
medical update of what actually happened. We call 911. So the paramedics are on their way
and we want to get him out of that hallway because there's dozens of guests working out.
And so there was a large broom closet to the side of that hallway, linoleum floor. So me and my boss kind of drag him essentially into the closet to just kind of get him out of the way.
It sounds like Weekend at Bernie's now.
You're just putting the corpse in a closet.
It felt like that.
So we're kind of in there like everything's going to be okay.
Paramedics are on their way.
Do you need anything?
He's doing okay.
And then he looks up at us, me and my boss.
And my boss is probably a 50-year-old woman at the time.
I'm 18. And he goes, I need to use the us, me and my boss. And my boss is probably a 50-year-old woman at the time. I'm 18.
And he goes, I need to use the bathroom.
Oh, my God.
Oh, I love this twist.
She is very prim and proper.
And she kind of like has this Clutch or Pearls moment.
And I remember she said, she goes, I'm out of here.
And she turns around like on a dime and walks out the hallway.
I don't know if she was hoping that the paramedics would come and she was going to go look for them.
She ditched me.
Oh, my God.
She made the right move.
No.
Yes.
He's 18.
He's a boy.
This is some guy shit.
That's not a good manager.
I hate her too.
Okay.
I think, is that because Josh looks a little bit like Matt Damon?
Yeah, I'm protecting him.
Yeah.
I can tell.
She just made my day. She leaves, she scrams,
and there's no bathroom. It's a broom closet. Did he specify whether it was one or two?
No. Okay. Just, I need to use the bathroom. Correct. The paramedics are on their way. I
kind of re-edited that. And I remember vividly, I can hear his voice still. He goes,
son, I know you're not a nurse, but you're
going to need to act like one. Oh my God. Oh my God. One of the first like full dialogue sentences
we've actually had with each other over the three years that I worked there. And so I'm still not
thinking through this all the way of what's actually going to happen. He's on his back
laying there on the ground. And so I was like i was like well i'm gonna have to undress this
guy and many times that i've told this story to friends of mine they would be like oh i would
have just left like there's no way i would have helped him i would have run out and i was kind
of like i don't know i think if you were there in the moment i'm not shocked you didn't desert
the guy because i wouldn't have done that but getting his pants off we're getting closer to
what there's no toilet in there like there's no
reason to get these pants off if there's nothing for him to pee or shit in so better off that he
just pee and shit in his clothes really i would just be like how is him being nude now gonna help
anything yeah i think i would have said i'll be here but legally i'm not allowed to touch you
touch your penis i should have said that i don't know if that's true or not.
I don't either, but that's what you say.
I'm young.
Probably wasn't thinking clearly and was panicking a little bit.
And so he's elderly and also he's small.
Like he's quite thin.
He was wearing sweatpants.
And so I kind of pull his sweatpants down to his ankle.
Oh my God.
And he has old man tighty whiteys on.
So then those, I like slipped down to his knees. And so at this
point I'm looking, do we have like a drain in the floor? And I think to your earlier question,
Dax, I'm just assuming that it's number one, like there's not an option for number two.
So if I can help this man not pee himself, then we're okay. There's no drain on the floor. There's
no urinal or toilet or anything. And so I'm looking around and on the sink, there's a stack of Dixie cups. Okay. I grabbed the cups. And at this point, I'm like,
here you go. Do with these as you will. But then he says he needs help because he still can't move
his arms. From the time that he went into paralysis in the doorway to this closet, how much time has passed, do you think?
Maximum 10 minutes.
Okay, great. That's my hunch.
So bullshit you've got to pee this
fucking bad, because if you had to pee
that bad right now, you would have had to
pee 10 minutes ago when you were heading into the gym.
You should have been walking to the toilet. This is
insane that within these 10 minutes,
he has this irresistible desire
to pee. Well well if your body's
like shutting down okay it's glass half full i've thought of that so many times i think either this
man was at his lowest point physically or he successfully pulled off the pervious role play
of all time yes a kink and he waited till my last day i have no idea no oh my god okay okay so
anyways you've got the Dixie Cups.
You put the Dixie Cups down.
Yeah, I give it to him.
At this point, I was 18.
I had never taken anybody's pants off before in my life.
It was not supposed to be a 70-year-old man for the first time.
That was happening.
But I just kind of left the Cups.
He's like, I need help.
I can't do this.
I don't remember exactly what he said,
but it was indicated that the Cups
were not going to do him any good by themselves.
And so I think at this point, I'm just a little like numb. I'm just now in this
tight enclosed space with this very naked old man. I get him on his side. So now he's kind of
laying on his side on the floor. Oh my God. Thinking that will kind of help him into the
cup a little bit better. Sure. And I realized I'm going to have to put him into the cup.
better sure and i realize i'm gonna have to put him into the cup no no he's old there's not a lot going on down there and so i kind of spread his thighs a little bit because it just sprinkles
essentially okay so i just kind of separate his thighs a little bit and i reach into the
mountain bush of gray pubic hair and pull out his very tiny penis and I kind of just hose it into the
Dixie cup as if I'm like pulling a bar tab this is so extreme so I'm holding him into the little
Dixie cup and he starts going so he slowly starts dribbling in there it's a small little Dixie cup
and so like instantly my head's like I'm gonna need to get another one and so I have the And so I have the cup stack there. So as soon as you get any close to the top,
I move it, grab the other one and dip it under. Like I'm literally just pouring shots
into these little Dixie cups. I think we fill up four of them maybe.
He did have to pee then, bad.
And it was as we were filling up the third or fourth Dixie cup of pee is when three firemen
opened the hallway door to the closet.
And so it's Rupert laying there, ass on the ground, and me holding his penis into these then
four Dixie cups of pee stacked up next to us. And they just walk in and I'm like holding him,
looking up at them. And I don't say a word. Yeah. You're molesting the patient at this point from their point of
view. Yeah. Although I'm somehow feeling as if I'm being molested. You, yes, you are violated.
You have trauma. Yeah, for real. Oh my God. So I just drop him. Like I don't post, I'm just,
they're firemen. They're allowed to put his pants back on. I've done enough. And I walk back up to the front office and our building supervisor and my boss were up there in our office and they were laughing.
They were like, what happened back there? I'm so sorry I abandoned you.
So I told them what happened. I don't think they believed it.
They just they thought it was the most comical thing that could have happened literally an hour before I clocked out for the last time.
What a send off. I moved away to college the next day and the whole office sent me like a
thank you card. Thanks for your years of service. And my boss finished at the bottom of the card
wrote, I miss your touch, dot, dot, dot, Rupert. Yeah, I did three very successful years there at
the gym. And then my last day was quite a little bit of a dud.
I got to say, out of all the stories we've heard, that's the craziest.
In our whole life?
On this show?
It's rough.
It's rough.
Yeah.
I mean, the notion that you're over there filling Dixie cups with a guy who's got immediate onset paralysis.
What a wild.
So we already know he's so entitled.
I do think he might not have made up the paralysis
but he definitely used it to his advantage it's all the timing of it like having to pee that bad
but having left the locker room not peeing is so weird i just don't know if you would know about
your body i mean if he was having like a partial stroke okay we don't know that's fair i mean he
was able to wait until his pants were at his ankles
and his penis was in my hand before he started going.
That is weird.
Maybe he just has phenomenal bladder control.
I don't know.
His whole body had shut down, but he was in perfect control of his Kegels.
Giving this story to friends, they were like, I just would have said no.
I don't know.
I mean, in the moment, are you okay just telling somebody no just
piss yourself i'm not gonna do anything funny enough we were just having a debate josh before
you got on about whether or not we would tell someone whose yoga pants were ripped so two of
us said no so absolutely not if you wouldn't tell someone their yoga pants you wouldn't pull someone's
pants down and no i will i again would say legally I can't.
Yeah.
But I'll put so much towels on your crotch.
So feel free to pee and the towels will absorb it.
Yeah.
Towels might have been a better option than Dixie cups, if I'm being honest.
You wouldn't have to touch anything.
I'm really grateful you did that, obviously, because what a story.
And I'm sure it's amused so many people.
It has. i was camping with
a group of friends last april and i told the story and one guy didn't believe me he was like no way
and so i told the actual name of the place and the member and they looked it up and he passed
away about two years ago and in his obituary it names one of his favorite activities was going to work out here daily at this gym.
That's kind of sweet.
There is an option that he's completely normal and had this situation and needed a hand and you really saved the day.
Well, sure.
Obviously, people are way more victimized in certain situations. But it was the only time in my life where I drove home that day from the gym.
And I was like, oh, I understand what it means that victims feel the shame it was the first time that clicked in my brain of like oh I
feel gross even though I didn't do anything right that's right because I mean in my opinion maybe
not for you but in my opinion it's because you betrayed yourself for me it's like I had some
spidey senses saying I shouldn't be here but that i just continued on because i was overwhelmed by the situation and then you're mad at yourself when
you leave not the fucking asshole who did everything the guilt goes right to you yep
at least positive it helps me relate i guess to that individual that might go through something
like that yeah that was a long time ago he lived a lot longer than if he was in his 70s he did
another 10 years so he survived
whatever that medical emergency was yeah i do want to say thank you for your emily recommendation i
was recently in brooklyn and it was so good oh even when we over hype it it still delivers because
by the way we too psych ourselves up before we go we're like we talk about it so much it's probably
not as good as we say and then every time we go go, we're like, nope, it's even better. I want it right now so
bad. The bartender was the one serving me. And I was like, I've heard this burger's great. You
know, I listened to Armchair Expert and she could not care less. What if the bartender was Rupert's
daughter? Oh, wow. And then you guys started dating and it was a meet cute oh we want all these
to be meet cute yeah we're hoping for meet cutes i feel like i've touched enough of that family
i'd argue opposite which is like you already dealt with the gnarly shit that's true you deserve a
reward that's true that's one way to look at it oh well josh this was a pleasure very nice meeting
you nice to meet you thank you both all right All right. Take care. Bye. Man.
Yikes.
Oh, my Lord.
Wow.
Wow.
That was great.
These were fun.
Yeah, that was very unexpected.
This was a big way to kick off 2024.
Yeah.
Even numbers.
It's perfect because everyone's in the gym.
I really hope you're listening to this in the gym.
I do too. And I hope you look over at the very moment someone has fallen on a treadmill and is spin cycling and you're hearing that same thing.
And then you will know definitively the sim is real.
Yes.
Let us know.
So report that.
Well, video it so we believe it.
Sure.
Yeah.
Okay.
Love you.
Love you.
Do you want to sing a tune or something?
We don't have 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, I rhyme dish.
On the fly, I rhyme dish.
Enjoy.