The Bobby Bones Show - Episode #8: Love Stories

Episode Date: July 25, 2019

Can a job lead to a life-changing relationship? In this episode, listen to several short stories of couples falling in love - on the job.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Go to ExpressPros.com. Welcome to On the Job. This season, we're bringing you stories about people finding their professional stride by virtue of who they know. Whether it's breathing new life into an age-old profession, taking the reins in a family business, forging your own path with a new idea, or landing the perfect job doing something you'd never before even considered. For this episode of On the Job, something a little different. Love stories. Stories of people who found jobs that led them to the person that they would fall madly in love with.

We have four stories today, from a young couple who became local legends after their lives collided at a cracker barrel to a 43-year marriage that started in the offices of a power company. While I am not outright condoning workplace romance, today I proudly share with you these stories of love on the job. For our first story, Bela and Matt, who live in Burlington, Vermont now. We did something a little different here. Instead of me interviewing them, I had them interview each other. What led you to apply for the job that you applied for 10 years ago this summer? Ten years ago, I was managing an art handling company in Seattle. I was fantasizing about a change in my life. And then one day, one of my coworkers came in and showed me this ad that he found on the

internet saying, you know, asking the question, do you want to ride your bike across the country and have it all paid for? And I thought that's the job for me. I can do that job. I want that job more than anything else. The job was for a New Zealand-based vodka company called 42 below. As a marketing campaign, they were looking for 42 cyclists to ride across America, wearing their logo and drinking their product in bars the whole way. I, let's see, I had already quit. my like real job in New York. I'd been working in marketing for like a few years and I was totally burned out. Bela was looking for a change too and she did a lot of cycling on her free time. So a friend of a friend told her about this 42 below campaign and said that they were looking for more

women. So she applied. And then I like got the call and they're like did a five minute interview. You're like great. Come on this ride for two months. We'll pay you. The 42 riders came from all over the world. They started in New York and they made their way south. I remember the first time that we, I mean, I like noticed you, but we didn't talk at all in New Jersey or New York, I don't think. But then the first time we had a conversation wasn't until we got down to D.C. I was definitely not, I was definitely not looking for a relationship. I was neither. Well, you were in a relationship. Kind of, not really. I'd been dating someone. but I don't know.

Bail and Matt kept things cool for a while, but one night they were in a bar in Austin drinking the vodka that they were supposed to drink, and at one point they went up to the roof of the bar together. And we just sat and watched the sunset and just talked. And I was like, I want to hang out with this person for as long as possible because there is never going to be a dull moment. Most of the time during this ride, the whole group set up tents to sleep in each night.

Baila's true nature on the trip was that she never had her own tent. You had your own tent, but you never set it up. And so you always like... It was a lot of work to set up a tent every night. Yeah, but everybody, literally everybody else was doing it. You were the only person that wasn't like pitching your own tent. No, a lot of people were sharing tents. Anyways, after making the wrong.

rounds in everyone else's tent. When they were in Texas, it seemed that it was Matt's turn. You asked me if you could stay the night of my tent. What did you think when I asked you? I wasn't totally sure that it was like flirtation or that it was for any other reason than you needed a place to stay and maybe you'd warn out your welcome with everybody else. We got in the tent and I remember like we were just lying there next to each other. And like I wasn't sure, I mean, I definitely had a crush on you, but I wasn't sure what was going to happen.

And then you grabbed my hand. We may have kissed. And then I think it's probably like for me, it's most comfortable to say at this point that for the rest of the trip, Beala didn't sleep in anybody else's tent from there on out. From West Texas to the end of their trip in L.A. Yeah. The job ended when they reached L.A.

everyone was headed back to where they came from, Matt to Seattle and Bayla to New York. They visited each other back and forth until Matt moved to New York to be with Bayla six months after the job. They got married six years later. That was definitely the best summer job I've ever had. Yeah, that job was an awesome job. It certainly was the best summer job I've had. And it definitely paved the way for the greatest job that I have in. my life, which is being your husband. It's certainly a labor of love. I think the pay could be a

little bit better. And maybe it's time for me to get a raise. Rude. I mean, I'm just saying. I mean, I can't come to them to go. Has it not, have not reached the time for my review? Where is that? Are we going on tour? For our next story, we head down to Virginia to meet a couple of local legends. I'm Katrina Nelson and I work at Cracker Barrel. Well, one of them. Kat's husband Travis was actually at work when we interviewed. He's kind of like the Phantom husband because he's not really into like being out there

in like public with stuff. He's more of a private guy. So he's not been in a single interview and I kind of feel like maybe he's imaginary. They get a lot of requests for interviews, partly because their love story starts at a Cracker Barrow. And for those of you who don't know, Cracker Barrel is a southern country-style chain restaurant. If you ever drive across country, you'll notice that Cracker Barrel seems to be the glue that holds American highways together. Kat works at the location in Christianburg, Virginia, where she and Travis first met. So I started working at the Cracker Barrel, and I was very nervous on my first day because I wanted everybody to like me. So I was there 45 minutes early.

And I was just sitting in the car. I remember I had the short haircut, and I was like checking my lipstick and making sure that my hair was good. and he pulls up and parks beside me and I was like, oh my gosh, he's kind of cute though. And he gets out of the car first and starts walking inside. And I was like, oh, I'm going to follow him. And the only thought that I have of that moment that I remember is like, wow, he's got a great butt. Foundation to a great relationship. Great butts.

Yeah, he was a cook and I was a server and we fell in love in the kitchen. They were just co-workers for a while before they got together. It didn't happen right away. No, because funnily enough, we were both seeing other people at the time. Scandalous. I know. About a year later, they started seeing each other. And you guys continued to work together.

We did. And it was awesome. I know a lot of people think that, like, working with your significant other is super scary. And maybe it is, but it was perfect for us. Like, I've spent almost every single day with this guy for four and a half years, working together, living together. living together most of that time and I don't get sick of him so I think that's a pretty good sign. Kat and Travis got married four years ago and they decided that they were going to take all of their wedding photos at Cracker Barrel and these photos are awesome. I shared one of our wedding

pictures on Instagram and tagged Cracker Barrel and it exploded. Cracker Barrel shared the picture then their PR reached out to me and we started sharing the story with like Southern Living I think was the first one to grab a hold of it and it just like took off from there. Today.com picked up the story, NBC Boston, even Fox News had an article about them and they became kind of locally famous to the point where people were even coming into the restaurant in hopes of seeing them. A lot of guests were asking the servers like, is the cracker barrel couple here? Like are they working today?

Yeah. Four years later, they're still happy. Everything is really, really great. I thought that after we got married, things would be different for some reason, but it's exactly the same, and I think that's how it's supposed to be. So it's perfect. And you guys are still working together. How's that going? Unfortunately, no. He got a new job at the beginning of March, something that he couldn't pass up. And that's kind of been hard, him getting a new job. That must be a big change. You look really sad.

Oh, everything is good now, but at first it was like, it was really hard. I cried a lot. I mean, we were working the same shifts on the same days. We were always together. I'm an opener. So I go into work at five. I'm usually home by three. And then he leaves for work at five. So I see him for like 45 minutes a day now.

But you got to do what you got to do. For now, you can rest easy knowing that the Cracker Barrel couple is happy and thriving. Did you guys have a favorite dish together at Cracker Barrow or did you have different preferences? We have different preferences. and also we don't share. Usually he gets country fried steak, and I'm a huge fan of those maple onion and jam burgers. Those things are good.

I'll leave you with that. Hope you're hungry. More love stories when we come back. We'll get back to the story in a second. First, a word from express employment professionals. A strong work ethic takes pride in a job well done. This is you. But to get an honest day's work, you need a callback.

You need a job. Express employment professionals can help. We'll connect you to the right company. We're committed to your success and never charge a fee to find you a job. Express knows jobs. Get to know Express. Find your location at ExpressPros.com or on the Express Jobs app. And now back to our story.

For our next story, we go to Philadelphia to meet Amanda. I'm Amanda Pfeiffer O'Brien, and I write about and teach food fermentation. Before she taught fermentation in Philly, Amanda was in grad school in Monterey, California, when she decided to, well, sort of go into the business of fermentation. I needed a job, like a weekend gig, and there was an opening at a tasting room, a winery tasting room. And I was like, oh, that sounds amazing. I'll be, you know, getting free wine and getting paid to, like, drink and talk to people about wine. This sounds amazing.

So I applied for it. And I actually, like, totally remember I was walking into a class and I had a message on my voicemail from this guy. And, like, I'm an oral person. I like sounds of things. And I was like, I really like that guy's voice. That guy's name was Jake. His dad owned the winery.

Amanda went into interview with the dad, and she ended up getting the job. And when I went to pick up, like, the packet, the starting package. That was the first time I met Jake. And I walked home and called my best friend. And I was like, I'm totally going to marry the guy that I just met. And I swear I'm not that person. Like, I didn't ever say that about anybody before him. I'm like not, I'm not like a particularly romantic person.

I don't know. I felt a thing and I felt like a real thing. And I was like, he had an amazing voice. He's very cute. I think like a lot of women can really tell when they've met like the nice guy, which at probably earlier times in my life, that would have been less appealing, I would have been like, oh, nice guy. But I was like, oh, nice guy.

Like, I'm ready for nice guy. Nice guy is where I'm headed right now to tell my friend that I was going to marry him when I talked to him for 15 minutes is like insane. But it turned out I was right. It was at a time in my life where I was kind of trying this whole nice guy thing. No, I'm just joking. This is Jake O'Brien. I was the manager, so the boss.

I had a very giant mental block. towards entertaining the notion of dating one of my employees. It just felt wrong. So we were in a situation for a very long time where Amanda was working there. Obviously, affinities were developing. There was like some flirting happening. But I was really trying to not let it go past a friendly level. The Tasting Room employees and people who worked in the shops around the area

would always get together after hours to drink and have fun. It was a motley crew. And they all saw the attraction between Jake and Amanda. So they all kind of try to convince Jake to make a move, led by this charismatic older gentleman named Dawn. He was like the Don Juan of the community. He was like 70 years old. It was very charming and with like, you know, just kind of like flirt with all the customers. And eventually Jake was convinced that it was okay.

And he was so funny. I'm sorry, this is actually making me laugh to remember those. he asked me out and like without like a moment's hesitation I was like yes yes I will go out with you and then he before I'd like finish saying yes he was like I've invited a whole bunch of people to go no one could make it but Don the older guy so they all drink throughout the day enough where Jake was in no shape to drive home at the end and either was Don who slept on Amanda's couch Yeah, so our first date ended in a slumber party with a 65-year-old man. No, I think he was definitely at least 70.

But everything else about that's accurate. Amanda and Jake live in Philly, and they've been happily married for 14 years. For our last love story, we go to Manhattan to meet Charlie. Charles Clary Senior, and originally from Brooklyn, New York. And Raquel. Rekal. And do you want to know where I was born? Bertientes, Cam away, Cuba.

Charlie and Raquel have been married for 43 years. They both grew up in the city and met back in 1972. Charlie was working in the accounting department at Con Edison, the energy company. And one day she came in and started to work and I noticed her very quickly that's one good-looking babe. She had long brown hair and she had on platform shoes. I think it was a beige pants and a flowery blouse. and I just remember all of that. And I said, hmm, very nice.

I remember Charlie. I don't know that I was interested in him at first. And I got to know him a little bit. And I found him to be extremely annoying. And that hasn't changed much. But I also found him to be a very honest and sincere person. I liked teasing him. And I would go by.

his desk and he has a cleft chin, which you can't tell because of his goatee, but I would press it together and call him culito, like it's a little butt. How'd you feel about her picking on you? I loved it. I loved it. It was a tension that I was getting. They worked together for about two years before they started dating, but after they did, Charlie proposed to her two months later. I went to her father. Of course, he said yes. that's it. The rest is history, as they say. Even though it's been 43 years, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. We are very, very different people, and we come from very different cultures.

Raquel's family is Cuban. Charlie's is Irish, and this ended up being a problem for Charlie's family. When I was going out with Raquel, it came across that they really didn't like her because she wasn't Irish, she wasn't Italian, she wasn't German, she was Cuban. She was Cuban. And a little bit of an archie bunker attitude came out from both of them, and I didn't really like it. And it got to a point whether it was her or them. And I said, bye-bye. Really?

Yeah. It just was a racial thing with them. And, yeah, that changed our lives in a big way. because he lost contact with his parents, and I never wanted that for him. So that was tough. That was tough. I had no problems with it at all.

You don't like it? Tough. I mean, I'm not going to give in for someone that I love very much and to have a walk away. No. No, I worked for that. They lost contact with Charlie's family for eight years. They eventually started seeing each other again,

three years after Raquel and Charlie had their first kid, Jen. But to this day, Charlie is not very close to his family. If you had to define love, how would you do that? You know, everyone is going to have a different definition of the word. To me, it's compassion, it's trust. the other person is having feelings for you who care for you, who attend to you when you really need it, whether it's physically or emotionally.

And Raquel is everything that I've just described. That's what I feel it is. Respect and just caring about each other, honestly. And that's what we've done. Do you still think you're figuring stuff out? Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't think you ever completely, you know, I still wonder what's inside his noggin most of the time.

It's always me. It's never hard. No, I talk nice about you. Here you are talking about what's inside my head. For On the Job, I'm Otis Gray. To see pictures of all the couples in this episode, go to our website, expressprose.com slash podcast. Thanks for listening to On the Job. Brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.

Find out more at Expressprose.com. This season of On the Job is produced by Audiation and Red Seat Ventures. Our executive producer is Sandy Smallins. Our producer is Otis Gray. The show is mixed by Matt Noble at the loft in Bronxville, New York. Find us on IHeart Radio and Apple Podcasts.

If you liked what you heard, please consider rating or reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. We'll see you next time for more inspiring stories about discovering your life's work. And now for a bit of breaking news between your breaking news, with me, the Geico Gecko.

Here are some things you ought to know today. People who switch their car insurance to Geico save about $900 a year. Experts are calling that, nice to know. Also, plants can hear when bees buzz. My phycas just heard that. And finally, animal experts have confirmed

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