The Moth - Crowd Control: The Moth Podcast

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

This episode originally aired on January 31st, 2020. This episode, stories from crowded places and spaces. Hosted by: Dan Kennedy Storytellers: Tere Figueras Negrete learns a lot about her fellow passengers when her commute goes awry. Slow service at a deli counter leads to an angry and regrettable outburst from Adam Wade. If you've been moved by a story this year, please text 'GIVE25' to 78679 to make a donation to The Moth today. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Moth podcast. I'm Dan Kennedy. This week, we're talking about crowds, getting lost in them, or maybe even finding your place in the crowd. First up, Terry Figuera's Negretti. Terry told this story at a Miami StorySlam where the theme of the night was The Fast Lane. Here's Terry live at the Moth. So how many of you guys have experienced the magical wonderland? that is Miami-Dade Public Transportation System. So I take the train every day from Civic Center on my way home. So the other day, like normal, we are chugging along southbound when all of a sudden the train rolls to an ominous stop. No big deal what happens, but we all kind of look up from our cell phone

and see what's going on. When all of a sudden a woman yells, oh my God, there's a man on the tracks. Sure enough, there's a guy. normal looking guy, kind of looks like, Alton Brown. It is not Alton Brown, but he's like booking it down the tracks. We hear helicopters in the distance, police sirens. I found out later that this guy was shocklifting at Merrick Park,

and Coral Gables Police have launched like this SEAL Team 6-level manhunt, because, you know, like, Coral Gables, right? So we are stuck on this train with no power until they catch this guy for three. hours. It is a dismal hellscape. There is no air conditioning. There's like babies crying, where there's so many

babies on the train. The conductor keeps wandering in with these like sassy but unhelpful updates. Like, I think that guy must be smoking that flaca. Like, not useful information. So, I decided to make the best of it and introduce myself

to my neighbors. On one side, there was Tony, a very cool 20-something who I assume is either like, a DJ or a graphic designer. And then there is Danny who is setting to be a paramedic. And halfway through this ordeal, Danny just announces loudly to the whole train, I think we should just turn the power on and just fry that guy. And I'm like, Danny, bro, like, your shit got dark real fast. And he just looks at me by way of explanation and says, Lord of the Rings, bro.

And I'm pretty sure he means Lord of the Flies. But like, I don't want to be a bitch about it. I also have not read Lord of the Rings, so maybe there is like a famous scene involving like a train and a wizard and like, I don't want to get

into it. So at that moment we hear this booming voice out of nowhere from the back of the train, like the voice of God. I am diabetic, claustrophobic, and narcoleptic, which is like an amazing list of afflictions. So we turn to see the source of this voice

and it's this tall guy with a heat jersey and sunglasses. He has enraptured the whole train, and then starts to make demands. I need water, snacks, and freedom. Like, holy crap, this guy is Braveheart. He is the William Wallace of the Metro Rail system. You, sir, have our attention. And bus passes for a month.

Bus passes for a month. Ladies and gentlemen, who is with me? We need to stand united for justice. So Tony, the DJ graphic designer, stands up and starts chanting, bus, pass, bus, pass. And Danny, the Tolkien-loving sociopath, starts chanting, power to the people, power to the people. The whole train is clapping and cheering. And we are no longer strangers on a train.

We are a movement. And just when I think that, like, Danny and Tony are going to, like, pry open the doors of the train and we're going to rush out into the tracks, like the cast of the amiss, just like, storming the barricades, demanding free bus passes and snacks from Miami-Dade Transit. Just like that, the train rumbles to life, and we begin to move. And the moment is over. Everyone scrambles for their bags and their babies and their cell phones. But I learned something important that day about myself, about Miami. I learned that we are all just speeding along on our own parallel tracks, on our own fast lanes,

never intersecting, rarely connecting, never thinking about where we are, always thinking about where we should have been already. But when it all comes to a screeching halt, we are all ultimately bound by three universal but simple truths. water snacks freedom that was Terry

Fagaris McReddy Terry spent 15 years as an award-winning reporter and editor with the Miami Herald covering in her words the murder, mayhem, an assorted mischief

of the 305 her storytelling has been featured on NPR in Reader's Digests, The Best Stories in America, and in the Lifetime series, Her America, 50 Women, 50 States. Terry lives in South Miami with her favorite audience, her husband, and two sons. Are you curious about the hidden side of everything? Then I have a podcast for you. I'm Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio.

Each week we hear from some of the most fascinating, scholars and thinkers as we tackle big topics, like how whales became the face of environmental activism, how to succeed at failing, and whether public transportation should be free. Go ahead. Listen to Freakonomics Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Next up, a classic moth story from Adam Wade. This is one that we're bringing out of the archives, actually. Adam told this story at a slam where the theme of the night. was anger. Here's Adam Wade live at the month.

How you doing? My name is Adam Wade. I am originally from New Hampshire. Two years ago, I had the lowest point I had living in New York. At the time I was living in Hoboken, New Jersey, I hadn't worked for a full year. And I had worked my way up from a basement apartment to an apartment on the third floor, and I had to give it up. And moving

with my friend, Tricia, God bless her, with a lot of cats. And I'm, like, asthmatic. So it was, like, the summer, and I'm sitting in there, and she has a place at the Jersey Shore. And this is me and the cats. And I got my, like, my air filter and my humidifier going. And, like, I'm not working. I've had interviews.

Everybody says I'm a nice guy, but they won't hire me. And it was just so frustrated. And the cable wasn't working. I go, I need to do something to make me happy. And, like, I like, roast beef sandwiches. So. I had $7 in my wallet. I go, I'm going to go to a shop, right,

and I'm going to get a nice Italian bread. I'm going to make it myself, and then I'm going to get a quarter pound of Borishead, Rose B. Ferre, and we're going to be all set. So I go in. And there's one, there's a gentleman, he kind of looks like Eric Roberts from Pope of Greenwich Village. He's working behind the deli, and it's just him.

He's just kind of shaking. And he's waiting on this elderly Italian lady, so he's waiting on, I guess, 61, so I take the number, and it's 62. And I'm just waiting there. And she's like, hi, John. How's your mother? and they're talking about his mother, and I'm like, come on, like,

I got absolutely nowhere to go, but I'd like to get my rose beef in my roll and get out of here, you know? So they're finally done, and I'm like, all right, hey, John, I'll have a quarterpon. And he's like, excuse me, and then this other elderly Italian lady cuts me in mine. And they say, how's your mother?

And she's like, he's off dialysis, and they're going back and forth. And I'm like, I mean, I'm a way back guy, but I just like, I'm getting there, you know. And so I'm sitting there. She ordered a lot of stuff for a little lady. So finally, and I'm ready to jump on it. So they say goodbye, say IDMI, and I go, quarter pounded for us.

And just as I say, two, like, there must have been twins, elderly, cut me a line, and they order, like, the whole place. And I'm starting to get pissed off. And like, as I'm going there, a lot of Obok and Yuppies are, they're gathered around. So there's a lot of people now, and they go, and I'm holding on my number, hold on my number and I'm starting to shake it. And so they're like, I tell your mother we said hi and he's like,

I will, bye ladies. And then I'm like, and then I just, I go, Quart upon a Boris head right now. And he's like, excuse me, I gotta make a phone call. I just go, oh, Jesus, oh Jesus. And like, all the yuppies are looking at me like, I'm a jerk. And I'm like, geez, this guy, so he goes and makes a phone call

and he's at least five minutes and he comes back and I know, okay, there's no, I don't see any, elderly Italian ladies, it's me, and the yuppies, and I got my number, I'm all set. set so he hits the numbers thing but he hits it twice and he goes all right number 63 and then I just stopped I go wait a minute I got 62 I've been waiting here you let a half of Italy cut me I'm ready to go I go I want a quarter pound of Boris head roast beef and I want it rare please John and like the poor guy like I thought he was

going to start crying he's like I'm so sorry so I go don't worry about apologizing just get me my meat so he cuts it and he's doing it and he gets in, and I just grab it, and like, I get to him, they're like, I haven't such a tough time. I felt good at yelling at someone. It just made me feel really good inside, and I'm still shaking. But I feel, so I'm heading to the cash register,

and one of the elderly Italian ladies that cut me grabs by him, and she goes, shame on you, shame on you. John's mother's sick. And I'm like, and I just water. I get my rose beep when I go home, and I'm still shamed. I go, and I get the cat scram, and I'm making my sandwich.

And I can't stop thinking about John's mother. And it's like the way I am. And I'm just sitting there with John's mother. Jesus Christ, this poor guy, I'm not hungry, so I Google Shop, right, Hoboken. And I get on the phone, and I go, please can have the deli department. John answers. I go, John, it's Adam. Wait.

And he's like, who? I'm the guy that just came in the yield that you had the recorder problem with me. He goes, oh, yes, I remember. And I go, you know, I'm really sorry. And I go through my whole spiel. I'm having a rough summer. And he's just always like,

don't worry, you seem like such a nice boy. He goes, you'll get a job, don't worry. And like, it made me feel so good. And I'm like, you know, John, how's your mother doing? And he's like, she's off dialysis, but you might go back. And we're going on.

And it's like the best, like, 15 minutes of my life. And then he, like, he cuts me short. Like, you know, Haddle, I'd love to keep talking to you. It's been a great conversation. But there's a lot of people here that want their meat and cheese. So for the rest of the summer, I went in three or four nights a week. Some nights I wouldn't even get anything. But I would have money to go to bars.

I'd talk to John. See how it's money. You'd keep the faith. And then I met Wilma that did the samples, and I'd have samples to eat. And then Dorothy at the checkout 15 or less. and like they help me you know and I'm fortunate to say like I had a job for a year or a year straight

and I just go I can't go in every night to shop right I got a life but I go in on Saturday afternoons and it's packed you know and it's always really busy I just get my grape nuts and cranberry juice but I'll always no matter what I'll always go and say hi to John if he's there and I'm like hey John

how you doing you know how's your mother and she's like off dialysis she's riding the bike I'm like that is He's fabulous. He's like, how's work? I'm like, great. He's like, I knew you'd be all right. And like, oh, yeah. And like the crowd, you know, they're starting to get annoyed. And then I'm like, all right, John. I'll say, have a good day. And he's like, hey, Adam, come

here. And I'm like, what, John? He's like, I want a quarter pound of Boris had roast beef? I'm like, come on, John, there's a lot of people there. I can't do it. You know, he's like, come on, have a quarter pound of roast beef. All right, give me the quarter pound of roast beef. And I've become one of the old ladies.

That was Adam Wade. Originally from New Hampshire, Adam is a 20-time Moth slam winner. And you might have seen him on HBO's Girls or on Comedy Central's inside Amy Schumer, he believes that one of the best decisions he's ever made in his life was walking into his first Moth Story Slam over 16 years ago. And we're so proud to announce that Adam has recently launched a special with Audible. You can listen to his Audible original. You ought to know Adam Wade, which is a collection of some of Adam's stories told in front of a live audience at audible.com slash Adam Wade. That's Audible.com slash A.D.

A-M-W-A-D-E. So go check it out. You really ought to know, Adam Wade. And that is it for us this week. Come out and join us at an upcoming Moth Night near you, or pitch us one of your stories, because we want to hear from you.

You can find out more on our website at the Moth.org. Until next time, from all of us here at the Moth, have a story-worthy week. Podcast production by Julia Purcell. Dan Kennedy is the author of Loser Goes First, Rock On, and American Spirit. He's also a regular host and storyteller with The Moth.