Men At Work Podcast - Men At the Public Park

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

Kyle and Matt are at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia during the Friday lunch hour to talk to some people. We meet a guy who stocks shelves at Wal-Mart and paints in the park, a union electrician who tells stories about working labor in the 90s, picket lines, and a bully nicknamed the Gorilla, a wealth management advisor from Brooklyn in town for the Knicks playoffs, a re-insurer and teacher from Wyoming, a tour guide at a famous Italian bakery, a restoration contractor that has had four different careers all over the country, and a Bio-Tech entrepreneur and his Venture Capitalist friend from London. Follow Us: The Pod: https://www.tiktok.com/@menatpodcast https://www.instagram.com/menatpod/ Follow Matt: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattpeoplescomedy https://www.instagram.com/mattpeoplescomedy/ Follow Kyle: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylepagancb/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kylepagancb Follow Vito: https://www.instagram.com/vito_visuals/?hl=en

So then afterwards, I had to get a mob guy to come with me and apologize to him because I was afraid they'd burn my house down. Oh, my God. So I had to apologize to him for beating me up. He's 300. I'm 150. Yeah. He asked me if I wanted some more. I said, I didn't want anything to begin with.

Three, two, one, bang. Men at Work podcast, welcome back. I'm your host, Kyle Pagan. I'm here with the People's podcaster, Matty People's. Yo, what up? We got Vito behind the camera. We want to welcome back all our returning listeners, our blue-collar babies. Mm-hmm.

Our middle-class mommies. Okay. And our white-collar criminals. Hello, folks. Tax evasion. And if you're in the 1% and you're listening to this podcast, get a fucking life. Yeah, you got it. Anyway, hey, thanks for coming back.

If you're a new listener, this podcast is called Men at Work. The point of the podcast is we just ask people, we go around the place, just ask people what they do, and then we let the conversation kind of go from there. So if you're back, we appreciate it. If you're a new listener, we appreciate it. Tune in. We're going to talk to some people in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia and find out what they do for

a living. What's better for the Men at Work podcast than hitting up people on their lunch hour? You want to come on right now right now please hello yes my name's Ralph Lauren okay my name is Jamie oh and I am a meat popsicle. How do you mean by that? What's that mean? What are you talking about? Actually, I work at Walmart two nights a week, and that's it. Yeah, I could have seen that coming.

I'm kidding. So what do you do? You work at Walmart. You're out here painting in Rittenhouse. I'm also an artist. Very nice. I do art shows. How long have you done that for?

And we have 10,000 days left, and if you've got to go, go with a smile. Really? We have 10,000 days left. What do you've got to go, go with a smile. Really? We have 10,000 days left. What do you mean by that? What's coming? That's like 30 years. That's not that long. Until about 30 years.

That's pretty good. About 30 years, right? Give or take. I think it's like 27. But nothing bad is going to happen. It's just 10,000 more days of happiness, and then it's going to be even happier after that, man. What happens when we hit that 27-year what happens what's the big stuff good stuff

good stuff so which is just like for an example give us something to expect many more podcasts you think it's gonna be just nothing but podcasts yeah way more we already have too many yes eternal doom we are actually committing to the problem this is cool I like holding a microphone yeah Yeah, right? Yeah. Kind of feels awesome. You're good on mic, man. Well, you hold a marker for a living as well, and then I guess what do you do at Walmart? Oh, I stock shelves overnight.

Graveyard shift. So you're used to just holding things. I don't like that saying, graveyard shift. Yeah, you said it, though. You don't like that. I don't like that. What's a better word for it? Night shift?

Yes. We'll call it night shift. What's your guys' names? Kyle. I'm Matt. Matt and Kyle. Good to meet you. It's the Matt and Kyle podcast. It's the Matt and Kyle podcast.

It's the Matt and Kyle podcast. It's the Men at Work podcast. What station is this on? YouTube. YouTube.com. Awesome. Yeah. Whoa. So talk to us about painting.

So you come out here and you paint for everyone how square. I'll put it into a song. Yeah, please. I paint out here in the park and it's not dark. So if you're here in the park, it's not dark. So if you're here in the park, swim over like a shark. Come to watch you paint in the park. Thank you.

Yeah. So how long have you been painting? For about eight months. Oh, really? Yeah, I've been playing guitar since I was 15. Why do I feel like there's an audience? There will be, hopefully, one point. I'm very grateful you guys let me do this. Since I was 15. Why do I feel like there's an audience? There will be, hopefully, one point. Yeah. I'm very grateful you guys let me do this.

Yeah, man. Would you like to show one of the paintings on the camera? Just get your work out to all the folks that we have watching? Oh, my God, yeah. Absolutely. I'm so grateful. This is your episode. Thank you. Me?

Yeah. I mean, you're number one, so. I'm very grateful. Hector Fergie. Yes, sir. What was his name? 27 years left. I don't know. What's his name? 27 years left I don't know

What's his name? Maybe Mark? I'm just rhyming With the rest of his song I think it was Jose There's no way it's Jose It can't be Jose Um

Josempic? He's got some really Really good It's cool as shit When he says he's been Doing it for 8 months I was like damn That's actually

This is pretty good For 8 months Yeah Look everybody In a major way So show them Right on the camera Yeah perfect

Yeah I'm an artist That's pretty good For eight months, man. Yeah, that looks awesome. I'm going to thank you guys again, man. Yeah, yeah. So what days are you here? What time are you usually here? Usually whenever it's nice out.

Okay. So people can buy this stuff? Yes. How much is this going for? This one, I usually sell this one for like 40. Show that camera. 40, 50, you know. Okay.

Reasonable? Not much. I have another art show coming up. It'll be my second art show, but I don't know when. So when I get the postcard for it, people will know like I do. How does somebody get from Walmart to just one day being like, hey, I want to paint? Well, it's kind of a sad story. My girlfriend, she passed away from cirrhosis

of the liver i'm sorry to hear that it was like maybe almost a year ago and i was i was just crying all day and then i saw my friend trey painting and then like i was like i tried it no he wasn't my friend yet i kind of forced him to be my friend and it's not the best friendship start it really yeah it really really really helped me keep my mind off of stuff. And I really love it. And everything that comes along with it. People actually like my art. Yeah, I do too.

It's like icing on the cake. So you tap into your emotions and you put it out on paper. Absolutely. Nice. And it keeps my mind off of stuff. It's very helpful. Shout out to Trey, my favorite artist. Trey's the man.

We love Trey. Yeah, he got me started on this. Very nice. So your painting, it came from a lot of kind of upset feelings. Is there paintings that come from like you're feeling happy, you're having a good day type of thing, or is it you have to channel a little more of a darker kind of tone? No, absolutely.

A lot of them are happy. Yeah? Yes. Yep. I did a painting of Gino's from my memories. This isn't from a picture. Oh, Gino's, thanks. Yeah, see it on there?

Yeah. That looks sick. Did you do the Starbucks one? Yes. That Starbucks one is sick. Thank you. That's really good. Dude, that's really very much.

You've only been doing this for eight months. Yes. I feel like he's some undercover, like, Bolivian famous artist from, like, Bolivia. He's a, whoever the dude is that chopped his ear off. Check his ear. Make sure the ear's still there. We gotta see both ears here, brother. By the way, you guys are very, very funny.

Thanks, man. Awesome. Yeah, you're great, dude. Awesome, Miss. What a mess. So do you paint in the park, or you go somewhere else, and then you bring it here to just show people off? Like, where do you usually paint at? Oh, I do a lot of it here. Right in here? Yeah? No kidding. Does anybody ever get in your way, or kind of, like, start screwing with you while you're painting and messing up, or you're able to kind of focus? Sometimes, but I don't mind it, you know? Yeah, no kidding. Does anybody ever get in your way or kind of like start screwing with you while you're painting and messing up?

Or you're able to kind of focus? Sometimes, but I don't mind it, you know? Yeah. Yeah, because I love all these people. You know, love will fix our broken civilization. You ever do graffiti? I will. No, I was never a graffiti artist.

No? No. Okay. But I love it. I think it's great. Yeah. I really do. What's your history of employment look like? What do you mean?

Because you're Walmart now. Yeah. Painter as well on the side. Yeah. Were you always in customer service? Were you always in stocking shelves? Or did you have kind of a different kind of history when you got out of college or when you were 18? No, I didn't go to college, but I graduated from Kensington High School. Oh, okay.

Shout out. Oh, yeah. I'm a house painter. I can paint houses. Got it. Oh, yeah. I'm a house painter. I can paint houses. Got it. Maybe that is... I never thought of that. Maybe because I used to paint houses, and then it just flipped over to...

Yeah. I can see that translating. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. How long did you paint houses for? Instead of straight lines, he went squiggly lines. He goes squiggles.

He goes beautiful squiggles, very honestly. Now, really quick. I'm looking at this one, and I'm seeing a lot of text. So we're seeing... Is that just... I'll take this one. this one, and I'm seeing a lot of text. So we're seeing, is that just this guy right here? There's a lot of text. Oh, is that? Okay, so it is. I didn't know if it was like an invented language,

but I'm seeing now it's just kind of like double lines with the. It says Eagles, Phillies, South Street. Thank you. I thought it said you came to the prediction of the 27 years. Rittenhouse is right here. Philadelphia, it looks like, is right here. Port Richmond. Yes.

Germantown. Yes, thank you. Fishtown. You guys are awesome, is right here. Port Richmond. Yes. Germantown. Yes. Thank you. Fishtown. You guys are awesome, by the way. Thank you. We appreciate you coming on. We couldn't be doing this without you and stuff.

So where does it go from here? You just keep coming back to the park and selling paintings? Yes. I love it. I really do. It helps me a lot. Keep my mind off stuff, you know? Yeah.

Absolutely. One of my trademarks is I go all the way around. You see how I go all the way around? Yeah, you do. I like that. Ah, that's cool. So you use all parts of the canvas. Yeah.

Do the back. Yep. Nice. So people are getting their money's worth. Yep. And this particular one can go any direction you want it to, see? Shit. Yeah.

Cool. That's awesome, dude. You're really fucking good for eight months. Yeah. Thank you. Holy hell. Whoa. I haven't been good at anything in my entire life.

This is great to see. I'm very, very grateful, guys. Thank you. Yeah, no problem, man. Well, we'll let you get back to painting. Yeah, man. Thank you. Thank you for coming on.

Guys, man, God bless you. Jamie, right? Jamie Brady, yes. Jamie, yes. Jamie Brady. Nice to meet you, man. Thanks for coming on. Do you have Instagram or social media or anything?

Not yet, but I'm setting it up now. Good. Hey, listen, may the force be with you. Thank you. And I love you guys like brothers. Yeah, I love you more. Thank you for everything. Live the next 30,000 days.

10,000. Don't get greedy, dude. I got greedy. I got greedy. Thank you, brother. Thanks, man. Cheers. Have a great day.

Jamie from the Rittenhouse Painter. Who's better than Jamie, the Rittenhouse Painter? That guy was awesome. I mean, I'm telling you, I can't believe getting that good at something. And that wasn't, if you saw it on camera, that wasn't just kind of placating the guest. That was deeply talented shit, and I can't do anything at all. Yeah. You know? So right now we're in Rittenhouse

Square. I think it's right about to be noon, so we should be getting, like, the rush crowd, but we are on a Friday. So who knows if people came into the, uh, into the, um, into the city today to go to work, like your Comcast and your insurance companies and everything. So, I mean, hopefully we get some people.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. That's kind of my go-to. If it's nice out, I'm like, I have to call out. I'll get fired. It doesn't matter. Because it's just above 70 degrees? If it's above 70, I have to go drink a beer at 9 a.m. and call my mom and tell her I'm sorry about everything.

It has to happen. It has to happen. It is beautiful out there. It's a great day here in Rittenhouse I'm hoping the lunch hour I did run into a friend in the city we're doing a podcast where people tell us what they do for a living drink the hop on cool hang out hang out you throw those on grab the microphone what's your first name Evan Evan Evan nice from the area center city born and raised right now square wow never left uh yeah i went to college in boston and came back what do you do for 11 i'm retired what'd you do i was a union electrician for 37 years a blue collar baby

one of us northeastern in boston came back here and yeah and got to the Union and did that for so did you use your degree because Northeastern's a really really good school I mean I didn't use my degree as electrician then I went to five years of trade school after five years of Northeastern because of the co-op where your parents pissed no no I no. I mean, you know, to tell you the truth, if you're a union electrician, I'm about 13 years ahead of a doctor in the earning curve who's paying medical school. He's paying malpractice insurance. Sure.

He's an intern, and I'm making six figures 10 years ahead of him. That's actually big on TikTok right now. That's right. He's in his late 40s or 50s before he's caught up to me. Yeah. So people might look down at you, but a union electrician right now probably makes minimum $1.50 starting. Wow.

You know, that's without overtime. Yeah. I don't know if you're on TikTok, but we're on TikTok. No, I'm not on any media. Yeah. The trades are like really big right now. The trades have always been the go-to. But people are starting to realize. People don't know it because they always look down the trades. really big right now. The trades have always been the go-to. But people don't know it

because they always book down the trades. It's a stigma. There's a weird kind of like, or not a hand on that one. As somebody who could barely do four years of college. You could do side work all the time if you want. A doctor can't do side work. If you want to fix up a house. You want to fix up a house. Don't got to call an electrician. I got my guy Evan. What we're trying to say is doctors are idiots.

We don't need doctors is what we're saying. No, no but um you know you could uh go on vacation and if you go to the union hall in hawaii you could sign up and work for a week you don't get a paid vacation it's like a traveling nurse it is like the odd job of somebody who can actually do some kind of manual labor or actually help around the house is so i mean you call the uncle who can get everything done yeah you know how many times i get side call you know people for side jobs yeah i don't do side jobs, but I get calls all the time. A ceiling fan or a light fixture or something.

Absolutely. Is Philadelphia a good union city? Philadelphia is one of the few union cities left. There's not many. What are the other ones? I think Chicago, New York, East Coast, big cities. What labor were you in? Shout the boys out.

What number? Local 98. Beautiful. I labor were you in? Shout the boys out. What number? Local 98. Beautiful. IBEW. Cool. Oh, I know those guys. They sponsor the Phillies. Yeah, yeah.

That's them. Were you there when Jim Tomei came? Yeah, yeah. I wasn't there. I mean, I was in the union. I remember when he showed up at the stadium. So Jim Tomei comes for his free agency visit. Yeah.

And his dad was a union laborer. Yeah. All the 98 guys were outside cheering him on. What a good move. Yeah, yeah. What a great move. He signed with the Phillies. Yeah, he signed with the Phillies, yeah.

The rest is history. Yeah. No, that's awesome, man. That's so cool. I mean, I think right now, like, people, you know, I went to college. I had a marketing degree, so I guess I technically do what I did. What did you do in college? Finance.

I had the face and the haircut. I don't have the job. That's not it. I did business management. Oh, there we go. The co-op for five years. I think that's the go-to when you don't really feel like being in college. It's like, I'll get a business degree, shut the parents up, and then I'll go from there.

It really is the move. What would you, if someone's like watching this right now going through college or just out of college, because like I went through it. I used to work at the big tower in the sky, Comcast. I was in recruiting. I hated my life. Good job. I got a couple buddies there.

Yeah, good job, good people and everything. But, you know, you're doing the same same thing the rat race and all that stuff right and I knew I wasn't supposed to be where I was and I was kind of like you know 26 years old being like damn life's over so what do you do now so now I do this and I do content and stuff so I got I was one of the lucky ones I got out you got out I got out what would advice though would you give people if if they were watching us like kind of in college right now I think if you can get any of the building trades a carpenter is great trade electrician plumber and if you're not aspirations to

be a doctor or a lawyer or something like that then you know if you you know I would get in the building trades I mean if you can get in you know it's tough to get in but if you can get in you know I would get in so but is that even for people who aren't kind of like innately handy like is it something that you think can be learned? Well, no. First of all, you can't be afraid of heights. Sure.

Okay. I'm out. That'll do. Yeah, I can't know can do. Yeah, because, you know, you're on a deck job on a high rise 30 stories up. You're afraid of heights. You're 6'5", dude. Don't look down.

You're screwed. And then you have to be somewhat handy or want to be handy, you know. Yeah, sure. If you have no desire to be handy, then don't bother. Once again, not a union guy. I am probably the opposite of any union guy. I'm not handy. It doesn't have to be union.

It could be union, non-union, whatever. But my goal in life is to make so much money that I don't ever have to fix things and I can just pay somebody. Like, I want you. We'd call you. We'd say, please help. Do you need any nephews? No, I don't. You're not recruiting any nephews?

We could really use you here. I rent. I just had to call. I poured beans down my garbage disposal, and they don't break down. So I had to call a real man to come unclog my garbage disposal earlier this week. That's pretty bad. Unclog his beans. That's pretty bad.

That's unhandy. Beans, I didn't think were that damn dense. This is a true story I probably shouldn't have shared live on the internet. Also, potato peels, you're not supposed to throw down there. Yeah. There's too many. Oil, too, right? Oil, too, yeah. Really? Well're not supposed to throw down there. Yeah. There's too many. Oil, too, right? Oil, too, yeah.

Really? Well, if you rent, you know, whatever. I'm a renter, so. See, I don't do any social media. No Facebook, TikTok. I don't even know how to get on that stuff. Well, that's it. I'm old, so.

It's a good move. Probably for the best. Yeah. Well, too old to learn it. What year did you graduate college? 82. 82. Wow, you look very young. 66.

You'd think the union would weather you a little bit. I've seen some union guys. Well, I was at the convention center for 27 years. That's a good gig. That was a good gig. So I was on a deck for nine years. If I was on a deck

my whole life, I'd be a little more banged up. Sure. Is there any projects that, like, anyone would know around the city that you've worked on? Liberty One, Liberty Two, the Rittenhouse Hotel right here. And then Liberty One and Liberty Two are right in front of us right here, which is really cool. Rittenhouse was my first job. Cool. Still standing.

Looks good. Still standing. I worked down at the casinos, the Playboy, the Claridge. Really? Where was the Playboy at? Well, they're all closed. The first three I worked at. It was down to casino. Where Sugarhouse is?

Trump Tower. It was a Trump, the Playboy, the Claridge, the Brighton. The first three or four closed down. That was down in Atlantic City? Atlantic City, yeah. Oh, wow. Any crazy stories? Anything you saw while you were working down there?

A lot of crazy stories, but we don't have enough time. Give us one. We have all the time in the world. Seriously, we're just two guys in a park. Where's this going to? YouTube. It's just YouTube, yeah. If you want to censor it or leave names out, by all means.

Yeah, you can leave names out and everything, yeah. I mean, there were some crazy stories at the convention center when I first got down there. There was a lot of pilferage. So if you needed a TV, know exhibitors would come all with all their TVs right and I saw a guy going to hopper in the restroom and exhibitor with his TV a forklift came picked up the TV put it on a pickup truck and took off before he got out of the bathroom you know and or you would say I'm working there I wanted a TV the TVs The TVs would go in the back on the trucks.

You'd take the TV out of the box. The box would get checked. The number right in my own box is if you get to California, an empty box with no TV in it. Oh, jeez. You know, because they would do the number, the checks. Sure. But no TV would be in it. And then guys would take TVs, put them in the parking lot out back,

and another guy would steal, break into the car and take it off him. You can't report a TV that's already stolen right and the guys were stealing TVs off each other well I'm guessing this is probably a while ago so TVs are probably heavy as hell at this point the box is when the flat screen just came out okay just got a flat screen okay I get there in 93 so early 90s okay but yeah I mean I saw fights I mean the 90s at the convention center everybody's making big money and there's 600 guys from different uh brought up in different neighborhoods and it was you know the trades were fighting each other for work and so there was fights every day fist fights every day um they

brought a guy down there named the gorilla you know who the girl is never good no let me show you a picture. Hold on. I have an image in my head. I love that you just have a picture of the gorilla. It's a wallpaper, yeah. Oh, my God. That'll do it. The headline is, Gorilla is out of jail and the law is watching. He was out of the pagans.

So the carpenters brought him down there to straighten out the laborers because the laborers were muscling on the Carpenters' work. So they gave him a union ticket. He's not a, you know, Carpenter. You just hired him to be the muscle? Yeah, I just hired him to be the muscle. And he went around knocking her. He was like 9-0.

He's undefeated down there. So he would just challenge a guy to a fight, like maybe the leader? He knocked me out. Why did you go against the gorilla? Well, I didn't go against him. He said I was being a smartass. Were you being a smartass? Probably, yeah.

So then afterwards, I had to get a mob guy to come with me and apologize to him because I was afraid they'd burn my house down. Oh, my God. So I had to apologize to him for beating me up. He's 300. I'm 150. Yeah. He asked me if I wanted some more.

I said I didn't want anything to begin with. I wasn't even hungry. So how did the gorilla pick and choose who he went after? Well, his higher-ups would say, look, this guy's trying to muscle in our work. He called a picket line. He said, anybody cross it, I'll knock them out. A guy tried crossing, he knocked them right out. Holy shit.

His own picket line at the convention center. And was the gorilla from the area? Yeah, he's a South Philly dude. South Philly guy. Now, when you went against him, did you get any licks in, anything, or just kind of one-and-done type? No, no, he knocked me out. But I kind of got my bones getting in a fight with him.

Sure. Oh, so you got some street cred. It has to. I mean, that guy's massive. And he ended up getting shot nine times and survived. Holy shit. I brought an organ in broad daylight. Brought an organ in broad daylight?

The gorilla's still with us? Yeah, he's still alive yeah he got out of jail took like four cops to uh get him at the convention center they had to knock his legs down double cuff him wow so you get a little bit of kind of cred from that did you interact with him at all after or kind of see each other and go look steve okay steve montevideo uh yeah turns out maybe 20 years later my brother's in a car show in a car club so he said you know every 10 guys get to dinner and we talked about cars so we got there they wanted to hear some stories that don't met the girl story another guy in the car club was a gorilla's brother oh my god I didn't

even know it he's everywhere yeah she's they don't talk but it was his brother dude yeah that's sick. And then one guy got knocked down and they drew a chalk outline on the- No way. Yeah, at the convention center on the ground, you know, where he got knocked out. Hey, they're a bunch of fucking comedians and the traits. It's unbelievable. I would have never known that the union got down like this.

Maybe I'm just naive but I didn't realize that there was this much kind of- Well, it's a lot different. Are there any good books for anyone to read or do you read or you just kind of lived it so you don't really give a shit? I mean, there's plenty of mob books. There's no books about the convention center. Wow. But, yeah, it was interesting.

Do you have any buddies that are still in it? Do you know what it's like today? Yeah, a lot of buddies. Yeah, I mean, I meet the guys maybe every two weeks for lunch. Is it better, or is it worse now? No, it's much better. They cleaned it all up. Yeah?

Yeah. Yeah. My business agent at the time was named Johnny Dougherty. I've heard. Yeah. I've heard of him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My business agent at the time was named Johnny Dougherty. I've heard. Yeah. I've heard of him. Yeah. He's the one that got me down to the convention center.

I met him in 93. I was laid off. I was number 700 on the list. Wow. In 91. My number came up. In 93, we had lunch. He says, well, I got this gig at the convention center.

He says, at the time, it was part-time. You know, there wasn't a lot of shows down there. I said, all right, well, I need one more year to get vested. I't a lot of shows down there. I said, all right, I need one more year to get vested. I said, I'll go down there. I ended up staying there 27 years. Wow. Johnny Duck, he's always in the news, everything. What's he like from a perspective

of a guy who... Well, first of all, he kept me working for 36 years, so I have nothing bad to say about him. He's a die-hard for his guys. You know, he's a diehard for his guys. You know, the other stuff I have no comment on. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, he was good for me, so he kept my family, you know.

I got to say, man, you must have loved it because you came on here and you're like, if you're looking for a job, go into the trades, don't be scared. And you did it, and you got your shit rocked by a guy named the Gorilla. You must have loved the job. I loved the job. Yeah. I could have worked 10 more years, but with our pension and annuity, it was cheaper for me to stay home than working.

And why should I risk getting injured? Yeah, that's the biggest endorsement. But it's a great gig. Plus, I had a good gig at the convention center. Yeah. But even in the field, it's a good gig. One last question for you. You're retired now.

Yeah. I mean, you lived a great life. You lived an exciting life. What the hell do you do to compensate for it now? That's a good game. One last question for you. You're retired now. Yeah. I mean, you lived a great life. You lived an exciting life. What the hell do you do to compensate for it now? That's a good question. My mom's 96, so I go take care of her bills. I go eat lunch in the city

and walk around and do this and just kill the day. For 27 years, you had the time of your life, and now it's time to settle down. I like it. You earned it. Thanks so much, man. Nice talking to you dude yeah great meeting awesome thanks for coming on everything we really appreciate it yeah how are you i'm doing terrific guys absolutely great day what's your name mike mike and we're here with kate kate how are you little family vacation nice where you guys coming from uh brooklyn oh you're not here for the Knicks game, are you? We went last night, actually.

Yeah, what did you think? It was really exciting. It was her first playoff game and her mom, too. My son and I go all the time and see the Knicks. You worried she's a jinx? No, not at all. We had a great time. We really did.

People were nervous because Philly, you guys got a reputation for... Oh, you guys do, too. Yeah, yeah. No, but we, like, nervous because Philly, you know, you guys got a reputation for. Oh, you guys do too. Yeah, yeah. No, but, like, we don't have, like, a courthouse underneath the football. Yeah, yeah. We demolished that stadium. That stadium is done. Right, right.

We knew that, like, snowballs were thrown. So, people were nervous. They're like, should you wear your knick hat? And we ended up talking to the guys behind us. They were great. We're misunderstood. We're respectful. And, look, we knew the talking to the guys behind us. They were great. We're misunderstood. We're respectful. And look, we knew the Sixers needed the game.

And it was exciting. The third quarter was unbelievable. They hit 10 three-pointers and Bede went nuts. But then we did go back and look at some of the video after the game. It was not pretty. What are you talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to hear the ref stuff.

I don't want to hear the ref stuff. You know, yeah, yeah. I mean, I felt bad that playing the Knicks in the playoffs. New York and Philly were both tortured franchises. Putting us against each other is unfair. Yeah, yeah. Well, look, the Sixers got a seventh seed because Embiid got injured, right? And this shouldn't be a first-round playoff match, right?

This is at least a second round. These are both top teams in the East. It's definitely a second round. Only three wins separate them. Yeah. It's crazy. And you sort of see what's going around. The Celtics clearly are the team to beat,

but the two next best teams are the Knicks and the Sixers. Probably true, yeah. It's a bummer that they're playing each other now. I like hearing the no mention of the Bucs. We're not a Doc Rivers team. He's not playing, you know, and the Bucs are kind of, you know, preseason, yes, but postseason, they don't scare me. So, Mike, what do you do?

I work in wealth management. Oh, speaking like a big New Yorker. Sounds like a New Yorker. Brooklyn Heights? We're in Greenpoint, which is as far north as you can go. I love Brooklyn. And, yeah, I'm not with, like, a Wall Street firm. We're sort of like a small independent firm. And yeah, we help people make good financial decisions.

So I was asking like for the people who don't know at home, i.e. me, what does wealth management do? Like what's the layman's terms for it? Yeah. So financial planning would be a way to say there's like a certified financial planner that they're starting to put into universities and business programs. And it's really anything that's to do with personal finance. Yeah. So, you know, tax planning, investments, retirement planning, all that kind of stuff to help you make good decisions and plan, you know, for the right stage of life that you're in. Sure. So we sort of keep people on the right track.

Now, were you always good with money or you're a big spender back in the day? What was the evolution like? Yeah, so I started as a teacher in New York. Really? So yeah, it's not like the easiest place to like, you know, I'm a little older than you guys. I started in the late 80s. I was making 25 grand a year as a teacher.

So you need to be smart with your money to live in New York and do that. Most of my friends were, you know, like lawyers and bankers and stuff. So, yeah, I kind of view myself as, you know, I'm good with numbers, and, you know, that's kind of what got me thinking about it. And it's been a great profession because it's always evolving, and, you know, you're really helping people for the most part. What would you teach?

I was a math teacher. I hope so. That makes sense. It would be hilarious. He was like, spelling. I hope so. That makes sense. It ends up. It'd be hilarious. He was like spelling social studies. Let me flip it around. How did you guys decide to do this, and how long have you been doing it? What are you getting out of it?

We've been doing it for a little while now. We're about a couple months in, and we just kind of wanted to do something where he's been a man on the street guy where he'd go up and do interviews, and we kind of thought like a long-form interview podcast would be a nice kind of mix up and meet people find out what people do and yeah get more information on it's a lot of philly we go to jersey we've been atlantic city that kind of thing but just trying to meet the people trying to find out what's going on we like having conversations with people because people kind of when they talk about their job unfortunately and fortunately it's a lot of like what kind of defines them as a person

yeah in a way um like but there's also interesting stories like you start as a teacher and then you become a wealth manager like to dip opposite ends of the spectrum kind of in a way like you go to corporate and you were actually and then you were doing were you doing civil service and now you're doing corporate wealth management stuff so it's interesting and we like to kind of talk about that kind of stuff and also idiots guys that's the biggest part we're also dumb guys this doesn't work out we're gonna call you now you next week. We'll need you, dude. You guys are pretty smart. You're feeling it out. No, and I got to say, I'm a little older, like I said.

I like giving advice to younger people, and I had no idea what I wanted to do when I went to college. I had a business major. I didn't use it for a decade. We just talked to Evan, who went to Northeastern, and he was business management. Business management. Okay. Became an electrician for the union. Was he the Johnny Dawkins guy, or was that a different guy? He was the Johnny Dawkins. Business management. Okay. Became an electrician for the union. Was he the Johnny Dawkins guy or was that a different guy?

He was in Johnny Dawkins' union. Okay. That's funny. We were saying it kind of makes sense. You get a business degree if you have no idea what you want to do and you go, this is a nice backup. If I have to, I'll be an accountant, whatever, but I'll try something out to start.

Right, and I did a little of that to get in. I went to work for an accounting firm and did some did some tax work it wasn't fun at all no not like I was learning and personal finance is different I would I'd recommend it for for people don't know what they want to do because it has a practical application it's not like you go into work for a big corporation and you're sort of doing something that doesn't relate you're learning things that can help your family and your friends and stuff so I recommend it to young people now what's the what's the stress like i mean you're handling somebody else's money these

huge big dollar assets are you stressed as as can be it's funny i i would say no no because we do a lot of planning are you good at it no it's not that i'm so good at it but we the people and the we understand the history and what the risk is and like like you put the money, you see it on the news, like the stock market went down 2%. Or in 2022, the stock market went down 25%. You need to understand that and plan around it. But things have evolved that are very friendly for the investor. And there are ways to get diversified pretty easily without a lot of cost. And you know the history.

And we have conversations with our clients about getting started, what you can expect to lose in a bad year. And the thing about money is, if you need it in a year, you should put it in a bank and in a safe place. But if you don't need it for 10 or 20 years. Put it under your pillow. Keep it under the mattress.

Actually, you could actually earn 5% interest now, so you don't want to leave it under your pillow. You should get a virtual bank account and switch it from your regular bank account that's paying you half a percent. And you can link it electronically. If you have $2,000, if you have $10,000, you get 5%, it makes some sense, right?

That's $500 a year, right? That's real money. We've got to find $10,000. As soon as I get $10,000, give me about 15 years, and I'll come find you. What advice, and we can give a little disclaimer saying this is not tax advice from Mike, the wealth manager, if we need to. What advice would you give to young people right now who, like, if, like, would you put your money in mutual bonds, savings accounts? What would you tell people right now? Yeah, young people, your biggest asset, like, for later in life is your future earnings. Right?

So you sort of think about it, you know, I'm probably not making a lot of money doing this. At some point, you're going to do something that makes you some money. What are you trying to say, Mike? What the hell, man? We don't come to your business and be like, Mike, you're probably not handling these funds correctly. I hope you're making a lot of money, but I imagine the podcasting world is pretty challenging. You tell some interesting stories. Views are going up.

Joe Rogan's probably making some good money. It's all dependent on you. You're our big earner. Is he a client? Not a client. He's too poor. But I think Spotify is taking care of him. No, so really as a younger person who's able-bodied and healthy and going to work,

most of your money that you're going to spend later in life you haven't even earned yet. So, like, you can lose everything you have, right? And you're probably going to be fine because you can go out and earn it again. If you're older and you're, you know, you said the guy's an electrician or whatever, you're probably not going to do that until you're 80 years old and you've accumulated money. You need to play more defense but when you have the time horizon and you're younger set up money for a rainy day that's the first thing right in the beginning and then when you have more money than that or you start

to the money starts coming in put it into retirement accounts and and and protect yourself from it like I don't know if you guys had corporate jobs or not like 401k plans away you put 5% or 10% of the money, I don't know if you guys had corporate jobs or not, like a 401k plans away. You put 5% or 10% of the money away, you don't feel it coming out of your paycheck, and you start building things up. And that you can invest aggressively in stocks. Like I said, because if you lose it, it doesn't matter.

And you've got like, you've got a long time horizon to use it later in life. So when you're younger, you can actually be more aggressive. And when you get older, you want to protect, you want to play a little more defense. Hey, before we let you go, you got a stock you're looking at? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if this gets to my compliance. We stay away from individual stocks. It's like even the stock market, like if you invest in exchange traded fund and getting a little into an ETF, you can buy like S&P 500. That's the 500 biggest companies in the U.S. by market cap. That's a good place.

Just do that. That's a great place to go for a young person. It's, you know, with the time horizon for it. And then with that, you're going to get the biggest companies like Microsoft and Amazon. You're getting a little piece of everything. Actually big pieces of those. But a good place to go is an ETF like the S&P 500.

That's what I'd recommend for that retirement account that has a long time horizon. But for the short stuff, get it into a bank account that's getting you 4% or 5%. As you build it, maybe you don't have $10,000, but $1,000, you're going to get $50 a year. It's not nothing. Those are my two tips for your listeners. So the S&P 500 and FanDuel. Those are my two tips for your listeners. So the S&P 500 and FanDuel. Those are the two big— Yeah, when you win the big bet on FanDuel, then put it into the savings account.

There you go. What are your names, guys? Kyle. Matt. All right, guys. Great talking to you. Great to meet you. Thank you so much for coming on.

All right. Keep up the good work. This was a lot of fun, man. Yeah, man. Thanks for hanging out. Good luck managing that wealth. Have fun in Philly. Do something fun today.

What a great guy, man. Yeah. What. Thanks for hanging out. Good luck managing that wealth. Have fun in Philly. Do something fun today. What a great guy, man. Yeah. What have we got? A wealth manager? A painter? We've got a... The richest guy of all time? That's one of those guys.

The richest guy of all time. The demeanor that he has is like, I have so much money that this means nothing to me. And I kind of enjoy that. It puts me at ease, very honestly. I am so bad. I'm not bad with money, but, like, I am terrible with, like, I think if you just read, if you just, like, sat down and read for an hour, you could probably, like, triple your money in 10 years.

I don't know if this is right, people, what I'm saying, but it feels right. But mine just does exactly everything he said. It sits in a bank account that's making like half percent interest for like the last, since I was like 15 years old. You're preaching to the choir. I just got my tax return and I was like,

I have to get rid of this right now. It's the best tax return I've ever gotten and I'm halfway through it. It's been two weeks. Dude, that hits differently. It's unbelievable. I fucked up my taxes this year. I only got like $300 back

because I fucked them up. Yep. And you know what I did? My girl, my fiance was like, just redo them. And I said, they're done. Yeah. They're done. Yeah. I mean know what I did? My fiance was like, just redo them. And I said, they're done. Yeah. They're done.

Yeah. They'll be there next year. They're going to ask for it again. My dad does my taxes. I don't know if that's surprising to hear. That's not surprising at all. He hit me up. The four years of finance school.

He hit me up, and he hit me that I owed quite a bit. I got the tax turn in, and then he hit me that I owed about half of it I got the tax turn in and then he hit me that I owed about half of it back because he screwed something up. How's your job going, Neddy? Bad. I don't know if they like me and I worry about it every day. That's life, though. Yeah, it's kind of brutal. I go in, I do comedy at night and then I get in the next day with a slight hangover and I go, boy, I hope I can do this for 10 hours today.

Oh, got it. And you do it? Well, I wouldn't say I do it, but it happens. Seven hours? Why do you work 10 hours, by the way? Just a hardworking guy, God. And you do it? Well, I wouldn't say I do it, but it happens. Seven hours? Why are you working 10 hours, by the way? Just a hard-working guy, man. I don't work on Fridays. That's why I'm here. Oh, shout-out to you, actually. That's actually smart. It's not the worst deal. Hi, ladies. How are you?

Would you guys like to come on? We're doing a podcast where we ask people what they did for a living or what they do for a living. You seem like you've got some interesting stories. Yeah, we'd love to have you on. Take a load off. We won't hold you up too long all right thank you absolutely have a good one okay i hear you i don't think so trying to make our mile walk okay very nice good luck and uh godspeed pretty ageist of you there dude uh yeah ask people what they did for a living yeah i did i assumed what are you digging the grave for her for?

Let her live. I just assumed she was retired. I did not assume she was on the back nine putting on 18. All right. Only fans. How you guys doing? We're doing a podcast where we ask people what they do for a living. You want to hop on?

We won't hold you up too long. We won't hold you up too long. We won't hold you up too long. Actually, you know what? We're going to do the first exercise. One right here and one right here. Yeah, yeah. We're going to guess what you do for a living. Oh, my God.

I can't wait. All right. Oh, wow. You're never going to guess. You really won't. All right. Okay. Actually, you know what?

You're going to throw these on. I'm Matt. I'm Kyle. And I'm Kyle. It's called Men at Work. Yeah. This is our work. Oh, we're perfect candidates for this. Not specific. It's called men at work. Yeah, this is our work. Oh, we're perfect candidates

Actually, you know, it's funny because people think it's like one guy goes you only interview men I said no, it's just really making fun of us that like this is kind of our job. Yeah So we're gonna guess what she does can you tell us you do, unless you do kind of the same thing she does? We do not do anything. Am I doing the right thing? Yeah. If you want to put those on, you can hear us. Obviously, you're not an audio or podcast.

Not an audio engineer. Why would you say that? We can knock that one off. What do you do? I'm a reinsurance broker. I thought you were supposed to guess. We're going to guess you. Why me?

Because you look more interesting. No, because you sat down here and was like, you're never going to guess. Is that what I thought? No, no, no. You also have to guess where I live. We have to guess where you live. What's my social security number? What's my five-year goals? I bet you don't know. So you're an insurance

broker. Re-insurance. Re-insurance. What's the difference between insurance and re-insurance? Insurance for insurance companies. No. Oh, no. Don't throw me over there. Are you the problem? insurance and reinsurance? Insurance for insurance companies. No. Obviously. Oh, no. Don't talk to me over there. Are you the problem? What's happening here?

Oh, no. So what is... It's me. I can actually just... I have all the power in the world. Mute right there. Fuck! She's back.

She's back, folks. So reinsurance. Insurance. Yeah, exactly. Okay. We don't have to go any further than that. No, no. I want to know. Give me an example. Because once again, we do this podcast because we're idiots don't have to go any further than that. No, no. I want to know.

Give me an example because, once again, we do this podcast because we're idiots and we want to learn about what people do. Yeah. Insurance companies need insurance. Okay. So my company finds insurance. Okay. So if the Sixers are your client, someone falls off the escalator, you're the one who

does the insurance for that. So the insurance company of the insurance for that so the insurance company of the Sixers I find them insurance yeah okay cool perfect too much all right on to you fair we're gonna guess what you do all right we can ask a couple questions around awesome they're never gonna get do you work in the city you tell me no we give a couple surrounding questions around it. So we have a reinsurance friend. Do I work in the city?

Yes. I don't live here. Okay, a city. A major city. Not a major city. Okay. You're never going to guess. I'm a pretty niched woman.

Uber driver. A corn husker. Yeah. Sort of. Sorry. Is that close? See? She said she's not in the city. She's not in the city. Hold hold on so do you work in farming do you work in

agriculture I don't work in agriculture but what I do involves being kind to the earth and tending to it do Do you work in this time zone? No. Do you work in the central time zone? No. Do you work in the western time zone? Mountain West. Mountain West.

Okay. So you're in like Denver, New... Are you in Denver? Nope. Mexico? New Mexico? Are you a park ranger? You said Denver and then New Mexico?

Are they not in the same time frame? I don't leave the East Coast. No, it's very, that would not be my second guess next to Denver. Okay. It's close to Denver, kind of. Okay. I felt like, do you work in like a national park, something associated with a national park? I work, I live in a national park.

You live, you're homeless. So, Wyoming. I live in Wyoming. You live in Wyoming. Okay, are you Cheyenne? No. What's the Jackson Hole? Jackson Hole. Okay, so you are wealthy. I live in Wyoming. You live in Wyoming. Okay, are you Cheyenne? No. What's the Jackson Hole? Jackson Hole.

Okay, so you are wealthy. I'm not wealthy. I'm the opposite of wealthy. Because a lot of people in Jackson Hole are wealthy. That's where you're wrong. Really? You clearly don't know anything. But doesn't Kanye has a house there?

All my, like, I know people that are like rich as shit. Sandra Bullock does too. Sandra Bullock has a house there? Sorry, I'm kind of like blocking you out. I'm a little surprised. I've long said that I don't think that Wyoming is a state because I've never met anybody from Wyoming. I'm not from Wyoming.

You're not from Wyoming? I'm from Boston. Oh, like a liar. Like a what? Like a liar. I thought you said you're from Wyoming. No, no, no, I live there right now. Live in Wyoming.

Hold on, we're trying to guess what she does. Dude, think outside the box. So you work in, or you live in a national park? I live like 10 minutes outside. Yosemite? Nope. How the fuck do you live in Wyoming and not Yosemite? Yosemite's in California.

Nuh-uh. Yeah. You guys don't know anything. That's why we're here. I'm bringing a lot to your life in a valuable way. Yosemite is in California, Grand Teton National Park. Grand Teton National Park. Okay.

So I live in Jackson Hole, which is town. Are you a government employee? No. Are you self-employed? No. Okay. I've said enough. You guys can figure it out from there. No, that's not fair. This is fun. Are you a reinsurer? No. I'm the opposite. You're an uninsurer. Okay. Yes. You burned the park. You're an arsonist. A little bit. Okay, so, all right, here we go. So, is that true, though? You burn things? No.

Oh. You've got to be real with us. Emotionally, yes. Emotionally, you burn things. Are you a deforester? No. Can I help you a little bit? Please, absolutely.

I work with kids. I would have never. That's not even on the radar. You teach kids how to become arsonists? No. Okay. Can I just tell you? No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no. I would have liked to have heard it. I like this game. This game is good. So you work with kids. You're in Wyoming in a national park. I just, yeah. I think it's cult leader is the only,

that's the only thing I can deduce from kids, national park, middle of nowhere. Are you in a national park. I just, yeah. I think it's cult leader is the only, that's the only thing I can deduce from kids, national park, middle of nowhere. Are you in a cult? Kind of. No, no, no. Is it a religious job? Is it affiliated with a religion? Can I just tell you?

No. Okay. You've been on for like five minutes. We have a lunch to get to, boys. What time? One o'clock. What time is it? Twelve.

You got all the time in the world. Twenty-three minutes. We got time. Can you give us a question to ask her? This is your job. We're phoning a friend. She's kind of led you down a path that you're probably not going to get in. She keeps saying that too.

It works with kids. What's the first job you think of? Teacher. I'm a teacher. Oh, my God. I thought it was like a fun, cold thing. That stinks out loud. Oh, my God. I hate it was like a fun, cold thing. That stinks out loud. Oh, my God. I hate teachers.

Science. Like, academy. Yeah, but it's complicated. What subject do you teach? I teach third and fourth grade. What's the subject? Is it just a science overall? Have you guys been to elementary school?

Hmm. Have we been to elementary school? Yeah, like, they don't really have, like, general. Like, she teaches math. Oh, really? Like, you teach. No, like, in grade school, you teach, like, multiple things. Oh, I didn't know that.

What school did you go to? I'm not sure. I can't remember. So I teach everything. You teach everything. Yeah, you're a jack of all trades. Master of none. Which is why...

Well, I would prefer a master of all things. I can't believe we opened the present, and it was teacher. I like... Which we like. I'm pretty... That's... You said arsonist for a hot sec there. Which you can do both.

You led me down a, like, I actually think reinsurer is a more interesting job than teacher. That's why, yeah, I don't appreciate that. I'm going to be honest. You clearly don't know what you're talking about. I might not. When's the last time you talked to a teacher? And when's the last time you went anywhere outside of Philadelphia? You thought Yosemite was in Wyoming.

I did. So you don't know. It's fine. It's fine. Like, it's East Coast bias, but, like. Very much. I don't know. You guys are, like, there's a lot of you.

You're the first reinsurer I've ever met. Yeah, thank you. Nice. I think you have a really interesting job. Tell me more. I like teacher. I like teacher. I think teacher's good.

I think reinsurer's good. I'm not shitting on teachers. But, like, I'm just saying, like, I've sold a really interesting job. Tell me more. I like teacher. I like teacher. I think teacher's good. I think reinsurer's good. I'm not shitting on teachers, but I'm just saying, I've sold a bag of goods. Could you teach these kids right now, just quickly, something off the bat? Yeah, but that would be inappropriate. Yeah, I guess that would be inappropriate to yell at kids. That's pretty fair. I yelled at kids last episode. True.

Good teacher. So what's teaching like in Wyoming? I thought... In a national park? Well, how much do I want to say to you? That's fine. I mean, I don't think this will get out to Wyoming. It's really...

It's awesome. I love what I do. Good. And I work... I teach third and fourth grade, but I'm going to teach in a residential treatment type of facility with kids who are trauma impacted. So... Oh, wow.

Okay, so now I'm an asshole because that's actually... I think you're an asshole no matter what. That's fine. Because being a teacher is a lot more complicated. Dude. I'm emotional. 100%. I'm out here talking to a camera.

Like, I 100% agree with you. I'm just saying. I felt like I was sort of bad at good. I have nothing against you. I don't know you. You've got a very interesting job. Did you always want to be a teacher? Now he's interested.

Now I am. I didn't grow up saying I know for sure I want to be a teacher, but I think I've always known to some capacity that that's what I'm meant to do with my life is work with children who need somebody who can get them and help them do what they need to do in the best way and I've always kind of found my way back there if that makes sense that's a nice answer did you always want to be a reinsurer that would be concerning if I said yes're shy. I want to do insurance, Mom! Please! Absolutely not.

Yeah, okay. But do you like what you do? Yeah, I do. I get to travel all over the place. That's sick. That's pretty cool. She's cool people. Badass businesswoman.

Yeah. We're very different. Yeah. Yeah. That's got to be a tough job. It is tough. It is tough, but it's good. Learn a lot. Yeah. And what did you go to school for? Act tough. It is tough, but it's good. Learn a lot.

Yeah. And what did you go to school for? Actuarial science. That'll do it. Yeah. I hated that class. No wonder you guys are so much smarter than we are. We should have asked your degrees first. Let's leave it at that.

Go ahead. Go to the Danny line. We'll let you enjoy yourself. Thank you guys for hanging out. Thanks for letting us bother you. You're a lot of fun. Thank you for what you do. Enjoy the city.

Enjoy Wyoming. Thanks. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. That was pretty funny listen i didn't mean to shit on the whole teaching profession stuff i know what you guys do are great things and everything i was just don't make me guess you think you think wyoming you'll never guess what i do you know national park i thought it was gonna be pretty exciting i started

to get pretty damn excited and like we said. What's this lady do? And like we said, of course, teaching disadvantaged kids, that's a beautiful, wonderful thing. We love teachers. I did not want to guess. I thought it was going to be something like I killed the president or something. You know, something nuts like that. I thought it was going to be like scientists for the super volcanoes that sit underneath the national parks. Maybe, yeah, true. NASA, whatever they do. Teacher. Teacher. Reinsure, yeah. The national parks. Maybe, yeah, true. NASA, whatever they do.

Teacher. Teacher. Reinsurer, too. I think that girl's kind of responsible for the 2008 collapse. I think that was all that was dependent. I mean, I'm just guessing. I don't know how old she was. She looked young.

Great moisturizer. But I think that was the whole thing. From my understanding, it was the people insuring the banks sold the things they insured to other people, and then when they all defaulted, everybody got fucked. That's my understanding of it. I thought it was the housing crisis, but you're smarter than I am. You sounded smarter than I am. What if those girls watch this back?

How are you guys doing? You guys want to come hang out for a second? Come here for a second. Just one second. Do a quick little interview? You're good. We ask people what they do for a living on a podcast. We'd love you to sit down we don't take much of your time what's your name lola lola nice name very nice what do you do for a living i work at um termini's on a street oh

down south philly yeah uh like like uh like world famous uh bakery yeah uh what do you what's your specialty um mostly cannolis yeah nice are you a baker what do you what's your guys specialty um mostly cannolis yeah nice are you a baker what do you do there no we just like we like talk to the customers give them tours but yeah mostly that yeah the the main the flagship store gives out tours yeah I? Like four months, three months. It's very nice. No kidding. Have you always been in the tour? No.

No. I'm actually 16. I haven't even graduated high school yet. Yeah. So that's why I was like, oh, what do you do for a living? I'm like, turkeys. So is most of the people on the tours, are they like older people? You got to find ways to relate to the old? It's really all types of people.

Really? Like all different age groups. It's mostly tourists, though. Okay. Yeah. Is that something you want to do in the future? Hospitality? No. I don't know what I want to do yet, but probably archaeology.

Anthropology, yeah. No kidding? Why so? I don't know. I just really like history. I'm into history and stuff like that. It's very nice, yeah. Got it.

Is that going to be the major? You're thinking a history major or an archaeology major? Wow. Probably something like that, yeah. A lot of reading, dude. Do you ever just bring that into the tour stuff? Just talk about the history of what's going on? Or is it just, it's got to be buried byology major? Wow. Probably something like that, yeah. A lot of reading, dude. Do you ever just bring that into the tour stuff, just talk about the history of what's going on? Or is it just, it's got to be very by the books?

Sometimes. Like, sometimes I'll, it is by the books because it's already laid out, you know? Like, it's very specific how they want us to do it. But there is a lot of history, so it's hard to touch on all of it at once. But it gets easier as, like, the tour goes on. Okay. Do you ever lie on the tours to spice them up? No. Do you think about lying on the tours to spice them up? No.

Do you think about lying on the tours to spice them up? No. I mean, the tours really are interesting. Like, the history, like, there is, like, sometimes where I'm, like, I try and, like, get them to, like, persuade them more because they lose interest because they're looking around. They're like, oh, they see all different types of things. I'm like, well, if you come over here, like, you know, try and guide them.

But everything's pretty planned out on how they want us to do it. That's fair. Give us an interesting fact about Termini's. It started in 1921, and they have five locations. Wow. Reading Terminal, like Packer Park, Comcast Center, Live Casino, and the A Street one. So, yeah. Nice.

Yeah, it's a very, like, interesting company. It's very good they're very family oriented yeah I like it what's the craziest fact about it that you throw out on the tour to really like if somebody's losing interest you broke them back in what do you live out I'll be like oh if you come over here this mixer is from like World War two yeah actually is surprisingly I don't know how it lasted that long but this is storm D-Day that mixer itself yeah that's incredible that's cool I've never heard of this place before but I'm already interested here yeah tour guide is selling yeah a child of termini's like did you go in no no I'm actually from Miami yeah okay so on thickens yeah so why it's a long

commute yeah I know so and I'm not's a long commute. Yeah, I know. So, and I'm not, like, it's very, like, Italian, like, and I'm German. I'm not Italian at all, so it's, like, a whole different culture I had to learn. You might want to keep that World War II fact to yourself, then. No, that's crazy. Those two don't mix well. You got to be careful there, yeah. That's crazy.

Yeah. If you don't mind me asking, how'd you make your way up here from Miami to then now South Philly you're working in? My, so my mom married my, which is now stepdad, and his family is very like South, like not South Philly, but more South Jersey area. And we've lived in cities my whole life. My mom used to travel a lot. She lived in London, LA. So basically we just came up here because my mom loves Philly.

Believe it or not, it's probably one of the most diverse cultures in this city I've ever been to. It's true. Which is crazy, yeah. I would agree. Philly is nuts. You've got the Polish, the Irish, the Italians, the Mexican neighborhoods and stuff like that. It's crazy. Yeah.

And I didn't realize that until I actually, because now I'm over in like sort of by Pashunk, but a little more towards Mile Messing Ave. And it's very like Mexican and Cambodian over there. And the culture is just insane it really is a diverse say pashunk again pashunk okay so that's how you say it right because there was a there was a uh an article in the paper this week that was like are we saying pashunk or are we saying it wrong but i think i like the way you say it pashunk yeah is that how you say it pashunk yeah i when i first moved here i my friend at school was like because i used to

call it pashunk she was like why are you used to call it Passyunk, she was like, why are you calling it that? It's Passyunk. I was like, well, it's spelled Passyunk. And a lot of the pronunciations here are different than they are from where I'm from. For example, like Arganav is Argan instead of Oregon. Yeah. It is.

It's Argan. That would just be a Philly dialect. I will say, somebody from New Jersey and somebody who can read, it is Passyunk. And I'm going to keep saying Passyunk, I think. I think I'm going to stick with Passyunk. I think it's that, too, but I can't deal with the people. It's the Philly people that give you a hard time on the short. So I'm just like, oh, okay, yeah, you're right.

No, you're doing the right thing. It's just the Philly folks have their little pronunciations. I'm from Jersey, so I like to make fun of the Philly folks and the way you talk over here. You pay $5 to get into our city, so shut up. Okay, fair. I can see that. Where do people get tours? A Street.

A Street? A Street. A's in what? No. Wait. I hope that's not a fact on the tour. Where are we? I'm trying to think.

I think it's right by 8th and Dickinson. All right. I don't know, because it's like one of those streets where... People, Google Maps, Termini Brothers. Yeah, just look up Termini's, go to the one on A Street, follow it, and you'll find it. Go see Lola for tours. Hit her up. Yeah, absolutely.

Awesome. Thanks, Lola. No problem. Nice to meet you guys. Enjoy your day. Have fun. How are you? I know you're interested.

Come on over. What do you got, five minutes? So we have a podcast. It's called Men at Work. We just ask people what they do for a living, and the conversation just goes. Have you got five minutes? I've got time. That's good.

Oh, crazy. And we've got the guitar. Oh, my God. Sit yourself down. Get comfortable. Oh, shoot. I know. We've got a little official here.

I know. Sorry. Absolutely. Got to get that audio. We need it. So who are we here with? I'm Kat Melvin. How are you?

Kat. What's your name? Kyle. Kyle, really nice to meet you. Matt, nice to meet you. Good to meet you. Kat Melvin. I'm a wimpy hand there.

I was grabbing that. That's all good. I'm a wimpy hand there. I was grabbing that. That's all good. I get wimpy hands, too. What do you do for a living? A contractor. Well, actually, I make furniture, and I'm remodeling a building over here in Center City. Got it. Right now.

How long have you been contracting? 20 years. 30 years? Yeah. A long time. You like it? Oh, I just cussed it. I'm sorry.

You like it? Yeah, cool. Do you think? I love it. I work for myself, and I also make furniture, which is satisfying. Yeah, that's awesome. That's the goal. Work for yourself.

This is what I'm saying. That's the goal. I mean, I've had the worst narcissistic bosses in my life, and yeah. But in a way, that's a good thing, right? Because it knew what you wanted to do. Maybe not the time you realized it. Well, I'm kind of on my fourth career, so. Let's hear the first story.

Give us in chronological order what we've got. You've got an interesting story. I like this. It's more of a nightmare. But no, I started out as a screenwriter. Cool. And then I left that in the early 90s. I used to train horses, show horses competitively.

Wow. So that was before I started being a screenwriter and a little bit after. Okay. But then I had a kid that kind of slowed things down, so I started flipping houses. Wow, what a crazy thing. How do those connect? I did some speech writing for some politicians in Texas.

Okay. I can see that, the screenwriting. Yeah. Ended up in Tennessee building boat docks and decks and stuff, and now I'm in Philly. I know. The last 15 years of my life has been a refugee crisis out of the South, okay? Okay, totally fair.

Where are you originally from? We're just in survival mode. I like that. I like that. And so now you're just building furniture and you're a contractor for people. Yeah, well, for myself. For yourself? Basically, yeah.

And I'm loving restoring this old building. I'm learning how to make my own plaster cornices now to replace the broken and rotted out ones. So that's kind of cool. So residential, more commercial? Like what's your contracting? My contracting is on residential. Residential. Yeah.

Cool. So you're living in Philly now. Where are you originally from that you eventually made your way up here? Are you from around here? I'm from Dallas originally. Cowboy fan? No. I knew the family and they suck. You know the Jones way up here. Are you from around here? I'm from Dallas originally. Cowboy fan? No.

I knew the family, and they suck. You know the Joneses? Yeah. His daughter lived across the street from me. You knew the family? Yeah. Wait, you lived across the street from the Joneses? Yeah. Shy Anderson and his wife, my brain, their kid was my kid's age.

Got it. Oh, wow. And they lived across the street from me. Got it. Their house faced our arena that we trained our horses in. Oh, big money over here. Did the Joneses ever buy any horses from you guys? No, no.

Bastards, what terrible neighbors. Yeah, they stink. Buy a horse. What are you playing there? So I've got, this is a roundback ovation. Beautiful. Been beat up a lot. That's why I don't put it in case.

I just sling it on my back. It's weird. No, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, the strap is nice nice can you play anything for us would you have anything you want to throw out just a tune real quick yeah I cut my bangs with some rusty kitchen scissors. I screamed his name till the neighbors called the cops. I numb the pain of the expense of my liver.

Don't know what I did next. All I know, I couldn't stop. Word got around to the barflies and the Baptists. My mama's phone started ringing off the hook I can hear her now saying she ain't gonna have it don't matter how you feel it only matters how you look go and fix your makeup girl it's just a breakup run and hide your crazy and start acting like a lady cause i raised you better gotta keep it together even when you fall apart this ain't my mama's broken heart wish i could be just a little less dramatic like a Kennedy when Camelot went down in flames. Leave it to me to be holding the matches when the fire trucks show up and there's nobody else to blame.

Ooh. Let's keep the revenge and keep us spotless reputation. Sometimes revenge is a choice you gotta make my mama came from a softer generation where you get a grip and bite your lips to save a little face go and fix your makeup girl it's just a breakup run and hide your crazy and start acting like a lady cause i raised you better gotta keep it together even when you fall apart this ain't my mama's broken heart powder your nose paint your toes line your lips and keep them, cross your legs, dot your eyes, don't ever let them see you cry. Go and fix your makeup, girl, let's just don't break up, run and hide. You're crazy and start acting like a lady, cause I raised you better.

Gotta keep it together even when you fall apart. This ain't my mama's broken heart. I added a guitar on that for that bridge, so fair enough. That was phenomenal. An original. That was too cool. Dude, that's awesome. I made it my own. I love that.

That extra bar. So, I mean, contractors, show horses can play the guitar. Like, you're a pretty interesting woman. Oh, yeah. Thank you. I got to say, you have a very can play the guitar. Like, you're a pretty interesting woman. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I got to say, you have a very Drew Barrymore kind of aura to you. Oh, well, thank you.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm always going for that free spirit, no hate in my heart kind of thing. I'm sorry about that. No, you're fine. All good. Yeah, no worries. You know what they say, hate ages you. Yeah.

So, yeah. Yeah, it makes sense. I got to stop hating. I got to stop hating. Yeah, we got to stop. I'm actually 15. No, I'm just kidding. I'm actually 15. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Yeah, and I'm like, yeah, you've got some revenge going deep. He's feeling it. Got crow's feet. I'm getting my full quarter's worth out of this video game of life, right? I'm getting an experience. I like that. Right? I'm getting experience of all different kinds of situations.

That's such a Drew Barrymore line, too. I'm telling you, I'm getting my full game out of all quarters. That's beautiful. Well, I'm telling you that I also am trying to raise my XP and HP points on this one around because next time I'm going to come back a little more, like, prepared. Oh, yeah. Okay. I like it.

I like it. But anyway, it was really fun talking to you. Oh, you're a lot of fun. Do you play instruments? No, never played instruments. Never cared to play instruments either. Really? Yeah.

Sounds like somebody who tried and couldn't do it. Oh, 100%. Actually, I think I did pick up a guitar at one point. I never forced my parents to buy me one. Hey, guys, would you guys want to hop on? We're just doing a podcast where we ask people what they do for a living. Hang ten for a little bit. We just ask people what they do for a living and then kind of go from there.

Yeah. We'll give you five minutes. Yeah, we won't hold you up. Yeah, and if you stink, we'll cut it. Yeah. Fair enough. What's up, man? How are you?

Two handsome lads here. Holy moly. Jesus Christ, don't assault our guests already before they even come on. What can I say, man? All right. What's your name? Rory. Rory.

Sick name. And your name? Buckin. Buckin and Rory. Dude, Rory's a sick name, and then you just upstage with Buckin? I can't even say. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Where are you from? We're both from London. Nice. No kidding. Nice, man. What brings you to Philadelphia? I'm studying here at UPenn, and he's visiting me. I'm on holiday.

What do you do for a living? I just started my biotech. I work in biotech. Okay. Biotech. Biotech. He's at a very British. I'll pump him up.

He has a drug discovery PhD at Cambridge. At Cambridge? And he's just spun out the drug. He's trying to cure some disease. It goes over my head, but he's now like started a drug company that's going to cure something. We're not going to get views by just telling us that it's in biotech. Wow. You're some just like scientist that just clocks in and puts the pills into dispensers.

Drug discovery. So can you give us a little more color to that? What's that like? It's full of people who don't wear trousers that fit and don't look you in the eye but um it's uh it's pretty cool yeah just trying to what do you want to give obviously uh we we try and uh improve the way that we treat uh bacterial infections so got a big issue and they're not working so that make its way over here or is that just strictly for us yeah i course. Yeah, yeah, man. You provide all the money.

Yeah. Really? We do? Yeah. Big market, big money, investing, big sales. We've got a nationalized health service in the UK, so it's not as much funds in the UK health system. We're cheaper, but...

Yeah. We need to be cheap, too. So you're directly involved in it. That was nice of you to pump them up. What do you do? I'm an investor in the company, so I want to use any time I can pump this company up. So it's your company? Yeah.

Oh, sick, dude. So you go to Cambridge, you get a pen. You went to Rowan, I went to Temple. I mean, we're just sandwiched in between two of the smartest guys in the world with the coolest names. Four bastions of intellectual ability. Buckin is an investor, and he goes,

let me pump them up. He goes, he's inventing some bullshit. I don't really know what it does, but am paying millions for it yeah so what what could we like if this does like go through like what how would this help like society uh improves how antibiotics work so uh they're struggling at the moment a lot of resistance and we just basically give them a big booster and uh prevent that resistance occurring and can treat it faster, more effectively. How is bacterial infection science going? Is it good right now, or is it underfunded? I'm saying you should just make sure that you pass the Pasteur Act

that's going through Congress at the moment. Got it. I'll do that when I get home. I'll do that as soon as I get home. Should I call my congressman? Yes, please. Okay. Tell him Rory saw your act out. What's the pastor? Tell him Rory said sort your act out. What's the pastor act?

It's basically making it more commercially viable for people to innovate in developing these sort of novel antibiotic or antimicrobial therapies. Got it. We've always said pharmaceuticals, they just don't get enough money, man. We've got to take care of these guys. These poor, underfunded kids, man. And then Bucking, so you're at Penn right now yep also an investor in the company very fortunate small investor but you know hopefully makes it big yeah so I'm penny I'm a business investor okay thank you

so just moved up to us like a year ago got one more year very nice hoping to stay like find a job eventually okay you wanna stay here I want to stay here sure at least for three years I got the visa okay and then yeah we'll see what happens from now you know but I love it here in Philly what do you want to stay here? I want to stay here for sure, at least for three years. I'm gonna get the visa and then yeah, we'll see what happens from there, you know. But I love it here in Philly. What do you want to do? So I was working venture capital before, I'll probably stay in that space after, just back like on this side of the Atlantic. Yeah, that's a little straight to you because your dream to be here is actually to be a reserve quarterback. So that's, yeah, I mean...

Dude, hold a clipboard for $ 000 600 000 1.2 million yeah i'm 29 now it might be a little late um i think you're out of the money i i played i played pro rugby when i was younger very badly i would say i was probably one of the worst pro athletes in the rugby team like my terrace is in this city so um but yeah i'm not playing anything anymore but you know if the eagles want to give me a call, I'm open. Dude, I hold a clipboard for like 1.2 million. Talk about investor. Oh my God.

My goodness. That seed capital is going to become the wrong capital. That's how you cure bacterial infections. Just be a backup quarterback. What do you do there? What, uh, what area of VC were you in? Uh, so I'd invest in like very early VC funds themselves so like guys who are investing me like 10 or 20 million which like the precedes like the

very initial idea stage I would basically invest in their funds firstly and then when they get breakout companies so I can like talk about one fund I invested in last year a guy on the west coast Starship Sean shout out to my boy shout out to the boy they yeah they invested in a company called Reflect Orbital okay and they what they do is they put mirrors into space to sign solar like light down to solar farms at night

he was like the first investor in that company I invested in this fund and then what we then what we do is try and invest alongside the managers and the companies do well to solar farms at night. He was like the first investor in that company. I invested in his fund. And then what we do is try and invest alongside the managers and the companies that do well. He's obviously doing crazy shit. Like this company, there's a very low probability of success. But they've had some initial success. They just raised the round for a really top venture capital investor in the Valley.

And then we try and like invest alongside it as this company grows. So I see that you guys are drinking black coffee. We have milk in our coffee. Are we idiots because we do creamy coffee? Is it smart for people to do black coffee? I mean, I wouldn't say that. Flat whites in the UK.

Flat white over here. My girlfriend's a flat white. We're trying to keep our carbs low. We're heading down to Angelo's at the moment. I'm showing him my first Philly cheesesteak. Very nice, man. You started at the top. Is that the best?

In my mind, it's the best. That's what I thought. It's a solid one, yeah. It's a solid choice. And I will say this. I've been making myself laugh in my head pretending that your last name

is Ham Palace. Which last name? It's not that, sadly. It's not Bucket and Palace. That would be good. We got two of the smartest guys we've ever met, and I'm like, oh, is your last name here, Palace? Obviously, your job, VC stuff, is to make money,

like is to invest in growing businesses and stuff. Are you worried about the bad things AI can do, like kind of like take people's jobs and shit? Like, does that ever kind of cross your mind or is it kind of just like, no? No, no, definitely. I think the way, at least I'm like, I'm not the deepest thinker on this,

but the way I think about it is that I think it's a tool to make people like, in every wave of innovation, there's always been like some sort of disruption where, you know, people, like, industries have naturally just sort of, like, shifted. But I think it's going to be a tool to make people be able to do their job better, more efficiently, take away some of, like, the shit work that people have to do.

It'll be the cotton gin of technology. Wow, what a pull. I would have went with Google, but... Sorry, sorry. The papyrus of... But yeah, that's definitely something people need to be thinking about. I hope a lot of people in the industry are thinking about it. Smart people really interest me because I always wonder,

were you born smart or did you just work insanely hard? Do you think you are smarter than the average person or do you just work your hard? Like, do you think you are smarter than the average person or do you just work your ass off? Or is it both? Or is it both? I don't know.

You're a savage worker, man. You pound yourself. You're a savage worker. He's a guy. He's fucking smart. I'm a big picture guy. My work arm. Okay, it's cool.

So that's cool. That's great. I think the smartest thing you can do is recognize who the, you know, people are way smarter than you in other areas and then I'm just like, hey guys, do you want you can do is recognize who the, you know, people are way smarter than you in other areas, and then I'm just like, hey, guys, do you want to go for beers?

And then, you know, maybe we could execute on this, and then they do it for you. Cool. Very fair. All right. Yeah, man. Fellas. Guys, thanks so much.

Thanks so much for the pleasure. What's the podcast called? Huh? What's the podcast called? It's called Men at Work. So this is us at work. Talking to men about their work. Talking to other men about work. Talking to ladies about work. So this is us at work. Talking to men about their work. Talking to other men about work.

Talking to ladies about work. Anything people do, we want to know. That's how you meet a VC at Penn, and that's how you meet a guy who's going to save us from the antibacterial world, or bacteria. If you pass the PASTER Act. PASTER Act. Big shout out. Let's go.

Go speak to your congressman. Everybody do your research on the past pester yeah and the pastor act all right all right thanks guys appreciate it thanks so much guys appreciate it thanks have fun at angelo's yeah i think we can end on that that's awesome we met ham palace yeah i think there's a couple cool guys interesting i think we got the most some of the more interesting people we've had so far yeah you come to a park sometimes you don't know who you're getting yeah this is a nice mixed bag. I had a great time.

But, man, thanks to everybody. Thank you to the union worker. Thank you to the wealth manager. Thank you to Ham Pallison, his boy Rory. Thank you to the contractor slash show horse. And then do we have any other ones? Oh, we had the painter. We had our painter friend, yes.

Jamie, who we might go over and look at his art after this. Yeah, make a sale. But hey, I'm Kyle Pagan. And Matty Peoples. Thank you as always. Thank you guys. And Vito behind the ones and twos over there. We love you, buddy.

Producer extraordinaire. Couldn't have done it without you. Thanks, guys. We'll talk to you. And we'll see you next week. Men at Work podcast. Peace and bliss. Like, rate, subscribe.

All of it. Go and fix your makeup, girl. Let's just don't break up run and hide through crazy and start acting like a lady cause I raised you better gotta keep it together even when you fall

apart this ain't my mama's broken heart