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Podcast Episode Notes: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Armchair Anonymous: Unauthorized Evacuation
Episode Overview In this episode of Armchair Expert, Dax Shepard and Monica Padman engage in a lively discussion with "Armcherries" (listeners) who share their personal stories about embarrassing and humorous "unauthorized evacuations." The tone is light-hearted and candid, focusing on human vulnerabilities and the messiness of life, which aligns with the podcast's ethos of celebrating struggles that lead to growth.
Key Themes and Discussions
Introduction
- Dax and Monica's Dynamic: The episode opens with Dax and Monica expressing excitement about the stories they are about to hear, indicating that they expect some shocking and entertaining content.
- Prompt for the Episode: They use the prompt of "unauthorized evacuation," which serves as a humorous way to frame stories of accidents and embarrassing moments.
Story Highlights
- Jonathan's Experience:
- Context: Jonathan shares a story from his college days while working at UMass Amherst's dining hall.
- Events: After a spicy meal, he faces an urgent need to find a restroom but finds them all occupied. In a panic, he resorts to using a laundry room, leading to an unexpected accident.
- Humor and Reaction: The comedic element is heightened by Dax and Monica’s reactions, especially as Jonathan describes his attempts to manage the situation while dealing with his height disadvantage.
- Grace's Track Meet Incident:
- Context: Grace recounts a disastrous experience during a track meet.
- Events: Despite her nerves, she starts running after an adrenaline rush leads to an unfortunate accident. Her story highlights the juxtaposition of athletic achievement and the reality of bodily functions.
- Aftermath: Grace's experience emphasizes the camaraderie found in sports and how she coped with the embarrassment.
- Stacia's Baskin Robbins Blunder:
- Context: Stacia shares her story of working at Baskin Robbins during a chaotic summer shift.
- Events: After an unfortunate incident involving a milkshake and her period, she has to navigate a situation that leads to a messy accident.
- Resolution: Stacia's tale showcases her quick thinking and the pressures of teenage work life, alongside the hilarity of having to clean herself up while still on the job.
Reflections and Insights
- Human Vulnerability: Each story shared during the episode illustrates the universal experience of embarrassment and the unpredictable nature of life. Dax and Monica celebrate these vulnerabilities, reinforcing the podcast's theme of embracing the messiness of being human.
- Audience Engagement: The interaction with listeners adds a unique layer to the podcast, fostering a sense of community among those who share their stories publicly.
Closing Thoughts
- Dax's and Monica’s Reactions: Their humor and relatability are key in responding to the stories, making the audience feel connected and entertained.
- Gratitude and Recognition: The episode ends on a heartfelt note, as listeners express their appreciation for the hosts, highlighting the impact of sharing personal stories and the healing power of laughter.
Key Takeaways
- Embrace Vulnerability: Sharing embarrassing moments can foster connection and laughter, reminding us that everyone has similar experiences.
- The Power of Humor: Dax and Monica's comedic approach provides a safe space for discussing sensitive topics.
- Community Support: The importance of community and shared experiences is emphasized, showcasing how laughter can unify people.
Conclusion This episode of *Armchair Expert* exemplifies the show's core mission—exploring human truths through candid storytelling and humor. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own experiences and find humor in life's challenges.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous. I'm Dax Shepard, and I'm joined by Lily Padman. Hi. Hi. Today, we have our very favorite prompt. We try to use it sparingly, but every time we use it, I go, I don't know why we don't use it more, because this one somehow blew past episodes that can't be blown past. I agree. There's the potential that we heard the craziest story we've heard, or the most, the shocking all is. Yeah, yeah.
0:34were incredible. They were incredible. Like a really special, fun group. I'm even like thinking about trying to develop a friendship with the last person. Excuse me. Bless your heart. It was a cough. I know, but still, I thought you were dying. So we'll see. But may you find your way to heaven. Take him into your heart. In his name we pray. Oh, stop. He has risen. Yeah, this one is fucking unhinged. Can we say that? I guess we can't say crazy, but can we say unhinged? Yeah, it's so good. It's so, so good. Please enjoy Potential Air Best Unauthorized Evacuation.
1:27Hello. Jonathan, are you standing on a box? are you six foot eight? You're close. I'm just north of six nine. Holy smokes. Congratulations. You're above the doorframe. Thank you. Worked on it my whole life. That's very exciting. How many years did it take you to hit six nine? Probably 23, but I'm 33 now. And did you make use of this height? Did you do anything that lent itself? Did you play basketball or anything? I played basketball a little bit and then I stopped playing and then I lost everything. So no. Wait, what do you mean you lost everything? The skills. Oh, your skills. I tried to play basketball right now and tried to jump.
2:06I'm pretty sure my knees would just evaporate. I'm excited to see how your height's going to impact the evacuation. Oh, that's a great point. Yeah, it kind of raises the stakes. It will. It plays an adjacent role. Okay, great. Walk us through this unfortunate and fortunate event. So it took place in 2010, 2011. I was a sophomore, junior in college. That college is UMass Amherst. I live in Massachusetts. And so one thing that school is known for is it's really big. There's a lot of people that go there. And another thing is it's dining food is really good. It's like number one, number two in the country, at least when I was there.
2:42I was a student employee there. I worked at the largest dining common on the campus. And I worked at the sushi station, which sounds pretty bougie, but the student employees would roll sushi. And then I also worked, I think it was called teppanyaki. So it's like a big flat top grill with thick noodles. And I would just throw the noodles on, throw the veggies on. And there's a spicy paste called, I think it's like gochujang, probably saying that wrong, but I love it. It's like a red paste, really good. And so I would make up a lot of that and then parcel it into just individual dishes and put them out and then students would come and grab them.
3:12Jonathan, can I just, I know you probably get so sick of talking about your height, but what I'm immediately concerned about is that grill top was probably built for someone that was five, nine. I imagine cooking on that grill was probably terrible on your back. Did your back kill when you would have shifts? The first issue I faced was the fan hood overhead. That would take the exhaust. It'd have a nice sharp corner on the excess of it. And my freshman year took a nice head shot off that. And then from there was very aware of its surroundings. Yeah, you need to walk around with a helmet. Other reasons too.
3:45But yeah, for sure. Okay, I just got worried about you. Okay, so you're popping noodles on this grill top. So my shift is always a dinner shift. It was like four to nine. And about half hour of running my shift, I'd take my dinner. Usually when I was working there, I'd make a big old plate of that noodles, load up on the gochee jing because I liked it. Go eat, come back to work, clean up, and then head back to my dorm. And usually, full disclosure, by the time I got back to my dorm, that's about time when the spice would make its way through and off I go. Clockwork. So this night, I had my dinner, went back to work, and then was cleaning up and started to feel some grumblings inside.
4:21And I thought, we're okay. We can finish up the shift and head home and clean up a little bit more. And then we thought, okay, let's just be smart here. Let's be proactive. Let's go find the bathroom and head out. It was the end of the night, so a lot of students were leaving. It was closing. The bathroom was occupied near the front of the building. I said, that's fine. We have an employee bathroom down opposite end of the whole building. So I head downstairs, employee entrance side. There's the laundry room. There's the freezers where all the food's kept. Hustle past all that. It's the end of the night.
4:52That's occupied too by some student employee. You've just spent a lot of your time crossing this building. At this point, you're probably thinking like, God damn it, if I just headed home, I might be there by now. Yep. But I still need to like clock out. And so at that point, there's a little bit of panic. Not a lot yet. So I start heading back the other way. Maybe that bathroom's now open. Obviously make it all the way back up the stairs. It's not. We're fully in a panic mode. We start heading back downstairs and we're like, all right, maybe that one's going to be open. In my head, we know it's not.
5:22So we start thinking, what's around me? And earlier, I walked past the laundry room. So we duck into the laundry room. We close the door and we assess the situation. What's in here? What can I make use of? There is like a sink, a washer, a dryer, a mop bucket, a trash bucket. and we think, what would I cause the least collateral damage? You're about to shit in public in a closet, but you're still a gentleman. I'm not looking to ruin anyone else's day but mine. Yeah. Yeah. But the decision was then made for me as I was weighing the options and the cork has been popped. Oh, okay. Oh, my God. Oh, wow.
6:01Lava flows out. Oh. Hold on a second. And you're staring at a bucket? We're weighing decisions. These are decisions to be made and they were not made in time. It sounds like you had decision anxiety or decision fatigue. But I also want to point out, because I know you so well, Monica, when you heard that the cork popped, I felt like you got a little PQ. Did you get it? No. No, I did not. I don't know as well as I thought I did. I felt it kind of viscerally. Okay, okay. Because when I talk it. Okay. Train left the station at this point mentally. Yeah. And so I am very tall. My pants inseam is 38 inches.
6:34So I figured, okay, there's a lot of capacity here to be filled up. Sure. and we're safe. The damage is done. The toothpaste is out of the tube and we're just like, let's just go clock out. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. No, let's not just go clock out. Your pants are full of shit. We want to lock the door somehow. We want to turn them inside out, get it in that bucket. Maybe, I don't know, we're going to try to mop up the inside of the pants. There's a washing machine there. I might wash and stay. I might just spend the whole evening dealing with this. But did you make any attempt to fasten the ends of your pants?
7:04I shoved the bottom of the pants into the shoes. So we're hopefully a self-contained system here. Okay. This is smart. Closed-loop system. It must be a smart school. Well, he's smart. You can tell. Yeah. Technically, I don't agree, but barely. Wait, what color were the pants? Dark jeans. Okay, that's good. That's what you want. You'd prefer black, but sure. So, yeah, I go, clock out, and I make my way amongst the crowd to head out. It's still pretty busy, but I'm walking like a cowboy that just got off a long horse ride or something. I'm trying to be nonchalant about it, but, you know. Also, can I add, again, I know I keep talking about your height, But it's like, you're not able to blend in.
7:39Whatever you're doing is going to be observed. If you got a crazy walk, people are gonna be like, look at that tall guy with the crazy walk. Also, your butt is like at most people's faces. That's where the danger comes in. Really unfortunate for them at this point. Bad on a normal day. Terrible today. So we're walking up the front stairs amongst the crowd. We crossed a hundred or so yards to my dorm room. We get upstairs, shower. Those pants obviously destroyed, threw them in the trash in the trash room. immediately and went to bed and at this point i thought that's the end of the story but unfortunately that's just part one oh no oh wow part two next day we fast forward to this shift again i'm getting set up in the sushi area some other student employees just like talking say hi we catch up and then one of them say hey did you hear about mike mike is the guy who worked at the nearby station and she starts laughing and she says he broke his arm and i say i don't know why that's a funny bit of information to tell me but sure and she's like no he slipped and fell when leaving work last night and i was like i still understand why this is hilarious to you no no no he slipped on the stairs on poop stop it no no i'm not about to take full blame for this because we don't know 100 that someone else didn't have a story right after this that's right plausible deniability well at first glance i was like this is crazy this is you it's your fault and now you're trying to shirk your responsibility but what i will say in your defense is other people ate the same noodles that fucked up your butt so maybe multiple people shit their pants that day that's a good argument and you already said it's a huge school i don't think it was yours i just think if you have 46 000 students probably on any given day one or two people have shit i don't think it would have escaped the sock you would have noticed it a little morse of the shame pauling out you don't know you fucking broke your co-worker's arm what a left turn allegedly and he had to cast like up to his arm like the right angle cast for like a couple months fuck you really got him oh no and he probably wasn't able to work no he's fine he probably got a lot of attention got a date oh if i broke my arm on somebody's poop oof really quick though i have follow-up questions How did they know it was shit?
10:02The smell and the look of it. It was like on his shoe. Oh, okay. That makes a lot of sense. I bet people would have assumed someone brought a dog in. But the dining common?
10:16I'm trying to help you here. I don't know why you're pushing back so hard. Oh, it was the stairs at the dining. Oh, no, it's definitely you. No, it's you. And I'm your defense attorney. I need you to shut up and let me paint the case for you. Oh, my God. And by the way, we'll probably have a prompt in the future that's like, tell us about a crazy way you broke a bone. We might talk tomorrow. Oh, let's write that down. That's a great idea. That would be pretty funny. Did you come clean? Oh, no. No, no, no. First time anyone has heard this story in my life. My wife's here. I said I got approved for the prompt.
10:50She's like, what prompt? And I didn't answer. She said, what prompt?
10:56At the end of this, would love to say hi, but we don't know what kind of face we're going to get. Okay, it's all coming clear to me now. Does he remind you as well of that great comedian? He reminds me of Zach Woods. Yep. Do people tell you that? Yeah. That's flattering. Oh, yeah. He's hilarious. Yeah, he's also really good looking. Very good. Okay. Well, we'd love to talk to your wife. I want to see what kind of gal you wrangled with this wreckage in your past. She's pretty cute. He's going to lower his head to go. Oh, my God. He did have to. Yeah. Fuck. Well, we heard him killing her. we've never seen her oh yeah oh my gosh i can't believe it's you guys hi there who's this cutie pie who's this little redhead she was wondering who daddy was talking to in the closet uh no one don't worry about it just a good story princess anna's husband that's who daddy's talking to big fans of frozen over here that carries a lot of weight in this house Well, you guys, happy holidays.
11:56What a great story. He almost killed a man by shitting his pants. He won't tell me anything. I have to wait to listen. Oh, this is exciting. I just ruined the plot twist. Did you guys meet in college? No, we actually met in high school. Didn't know each other. But we're not high school sweethearts. Correct. We reunited during college. At a bar in your hometown or at a reunion? Actually, exactly. At a trivia. Yeah, a little Irish bar in our hometown where kids played trivia after high school because they were living at home with their parents. Can I say that's a great group. If you're going to meet someone at a bar, do it at a trivia night.
12:31I agree. Put that degree to use. Yeah, we were pretty good too, so we decided to get married. Nice. Do you guys continue to compete in trivia? Not much. We have two little ones now, so it's harder to get out for trivia nights. Yeah, you're fucked for about seven more years. It's a good trade-off. It is. Thanks for chatting with us. That was great. Thank you so much. All right. Take care, you guys. All right. Bye-bye. Bye. What a great little. He was hilarious. We love him, right? Mm-hmm. And we were just talking about redheads. I know. That was weird. Little redheads. Oh, I should ask if she had dimples.
13:06Hello? Hi. Sorry. I don't know why my video's not working. Let's get that video cracking. What's happening?
13:17you know your voice without video accompaniment you could be nine i was like did link and call you'll have to guess how old i am oh this is starting with a mystery but i also want to see you you can try disconnecting and reconnecting oh rob's is disconnect and reconnect see if that works okay i'll be back hopefully see in a few. I think she's going to be 29. I think she's 72. Oh. She's 13. I think she's 6. No wonder she can't figure out how to get the video to work. She's 6. Well, if she's 6, also an authorized evacuation is like not that funny. It's like what one today. Like, obvious. That'd be funny if we had a baby call up.
14:00I pulled my pants one minute ago. I didn't want to, but it happened.
14:25there you are we can see you success how's it going good I feel like Monica was probably right while you were gone we guessed at your age I said 29 I said 13. I said 72. I turned 29 in a month. Holy shit. Oh, good. Congratulations, Monica. Oh, that's very exciting. It's funny, though. With my job, a lot of people are like, are you 12? Are you 14? Do you talk on the phone a lot for your job? No. Are you a mechanic? No, I'm a fly fishing guide, actually. You are. Oh, that's so cool. Where at? What state? Yes. Michigan. Oh, guess? I would guess Wyoming. Montana. I'm in Montana. Wow. Don't fucking celebrate too hard.
15:12They're neighboring states. No, that was really good. They share many of the rivers. There's only like three options too. That was really good. It's like the same. Yeah, it could have been Idaho, Wyoming, or Montana. A 33 % chance. How long have you been doing that? Three years. I've lived here 11 years. I came out here to go to college. And let me ask you this. I don't want names. I just want to know. Have you had celebrity clients? Yes, we have. Yeah. Yeah. Celebrities love fly fishing. The town I live in, apparently Jeff Bridges lives here and then John Mayer lives here as well. Oh, wow. You've never seen either of them prowling the streets?
15:46I've seen John Mayer. Oh, at a bar? He goes downtown a lot and then I weirdly pass his house on the river a lot. Okay, great. Creepy. So let me ask you this, though. Do you fly fish in the winter? No, I'm retired. Okay, so you take the winters off, I guess. Yeah. Before I was a fly fishing guide, I was a wedding and event florist. So I still do that freelance in the winter. Okay. Do some people bounce back and forth between ski stuff and fly fishing? Yeah, I'm also a ski instructor. Oh my gosh. I had a hunch. Real Jane of all trades. Okay, let's talk shit. Set the scene for us. What happened? I honestly, I had to like reach out to some people because I think I blacked this out of my memory a little bit.
16:35Sure. Brown out. That's what they call it. I was a senior in high school and I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I was really big into soccer. So I traveled around a lot. And then in the spring, soccer was pretty quiet. So I always did high school track. So it was the end of the season and it was the state track meet. So a select few of us, not the whole team, made it to state. And I made it on the 4x200 meter relay. That was the only event I qualified in. For state, we traveled down south towards Seattle. And it's fun to be on a relay team for it because you're not in a solo event. You can warm up together.
17:16But I would notoriously get so anxious before a track meet. Everyone's just watching you and you're kind of on your own and you're just sprinting as fast as you can. So we're headed down south and I can feel my tummy, just a lot of nerves. And the four by two is the first race at track meets. This is different than any other track meet because it's high schools from all over the state. Sometimes you go to track meets and it's just you and a few other teams. But no, it was a full stadium and people were there to watch. Wow. We're getting warmed up. We're wearing big sweats. It's pretty chilly. And underneath, I'm wearing super tight compression shorts, you know, the really short ones, and a little singlet top with my school's name on it.
18:00My stomach is just still not feeling great. Oh, no. Can I ask a quick question? What had you eaten earlier that morning? My go-to before track beats was a peanut butter and pickle sandwich. Oh, wow. Get a little acid, get a little protein. Carbs. But no fish for breakfast, nothing dicey. Not that day, no. Okay, okay, okay. They give you a warning like you have 10 minutes. And I was the first leg. So I'm the one that gets in the blocks and then they shoot the gun and you start sprinting. And everyone's really stoked. You can feel the energy in the stadium. People are excited for the first race.
18:36I'm still feeling weird. I try to use the bathroom and I just write it off to nerves. The moment you start running, it kind of disappears. And so they tell the runners to get ready. So I take my sweats off and get in the starting blocks. And I'm still like a little shaky, but I actually feel okay. When my tummy pains went away, I feel like I'm relaxed. And he says, runners, take your mark, get set. And then he fires the gun. The moment the gun went off, my body just released everything. What? Oh, great. Before you even got to run. Right on cue. or probably simultaneous to you starting to exert.
19:21Yeah, the gun goes off, and in my head I'm like, oh, shit. But it kind of let me get powered me. I fucking took off. Well, you probably got a shot of adrenaline like you've never had. And I don't want anyone to see this. I got to run away. You got to run right out of the stadium. That's exactly what I was thinking. Blessing in disguise, my shorts were navy. Oh, thank God. But they're just skin tight. so I can feel it coming down. Oh, God. Oh, no. And if you had to guess, no one's going to like this part, but I must know. Consistency. If you had to guess at the volume, would you say there's like a pint glass in your shorts?
20:00More or less. About a pint glass? Yeah. Oh, so bad. There's a lot of pickles here. I'm just going to keep sprinting. I feel good now, right? Of course. Sure. You got it all out. And I can feel my shorts are just soaking wet. Oh, wow. It's just happening. I try not to think about all the teams on the sidelines and then everyone in the stands. I just handed off the baton and sprinted right to the bathroom. You did. You just ran right off the track. But listen, you have the heart of a champion. I love that you didn't let that get in the way. What would have stopping even done and everyone knows still about the poop?
20:37What do they say? Like, better to be quiet than open your mouth and confirm that you're dumb or something. There's some fun saying about talking too much. But in your case, way better to roll the dice and think like people might be curious why you ran away or stay and let them know exactly what happened. Sadly, a lot of people saw what happened. They did. They were able to see. Even though you were lightning fast. Well, how did you perform? It was great. We got like fourth place, I think, which was huge for us. Oh, great. So it was a good, good start. but my mom saw me run off and she actually came into the bathroom and i was just sitting in the stall and she went to the local fred meyers and got me some underwear and some pants and stuff oh why didn't she just go grab your sweats no one knows what to do no everyone's panicked yeah her little baby with her like i can only imagine how young you sounded when you're actually 17 I was like a fucking three-year-old in there.
21:38Oh my God, this is awful. High school? Oh, how many people do you think were in attendance? There was quite a bit. Washington's a big state, so they were from all over and it was definitely filled up. I just went home after that. My mom just drove me home. You didn't stick around. No. You wanted to get out of there. It was a little rough. Oh. Did people make fun of you after? Who all saw? A lot of my team noticed it because they're just watching me. Yeah, you're the first person we've ever interviewed that shit themselves in front of a huge audience. Like staring directly at them. You're watching your body move.
22:18Yeah. And was there any follow-up with the team when you guys got back together? Did it spread pretty quickly? It spread pretty quickly. Everyone was like, oh my gosh, are you okay? They weren't making fun of me. But they were like, is that why you left? But duh. God, people do not know what to say. Did you have a lover at the time? I did. How did they feel? I don't think I ever told him. He wasn't there. Sometimes this would spread through the whole school. Oh, in my school, the entire school would have known within an hour. People have been like, do you hear the relay team got fourth in states?
22:52Yeah, well, I heard one of our runners shit themselves. I think Grace. And they're like, oh, cool. But fourth place is great. I feel like with cross country and long distance runners, this happens. Yeah, it does. It's standard. Yeah. There's numerous videos of marathoners coming across the line. It is. It's a common thing. I'm really proud of you. You kept your head in it. You kept it floored. I really admire it. Thank you. Yeah. It was the little extra power I needed to finish that race. Well, Grace, I love this story. I look back on it fondly. It's happened a few more times in my adult life.
23:25I would imagine sometimes you're out on that boat for a long time fly fishing. Luckily, no poop stories. We're going to knock on wood. But waiters are ideal to shit yourself in. You're wearing a toilet, basically. I know of people that have had to throw their waiters away. Sure. Can I give a quick shout out to my two ladies that listen with me? Of course. Jenny and Abby, you guys are my girls. And thanks for having me on, you guys. Yes, this was so fun. Have a happy birthday. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak out and remove all doubt. There it is. Doesn't really roll off the top.
24:03Abraham Lincoln. Was it? Babe Lincoln. Oh, it was this time? One of his quadrillion great quotes. He's like our Churchill. No, but we've said that before and then it's never him. Well, he said, don't believe everything you read on the internet just because there's a picture with a quote next to it. That's what Abe Lincoln said. He said that? Oh my God, he's ahead of his time. Hi. Hi there. What name are we going by today? I was hoping you guys would pick for me. Okay. You look very much like my aunt, and her name was Sue. That's not a popular name anymore. Sue's cute. Is it okay? I think that's cute.
24:40It's not really popular, but that's okay. I'll take it. It's not popular, but it's cute. Yeah, what about Susie? Like, Susie Q's. Susie Q's cute. I like that. Yeah, that's a great hostess product. Susie Q's, did you ever eat those, you guys? You mean Swiss cake rolls? I mean Susie Q's. It was a bit of a chocolate dark devil's food cake, then a huge dumping filling of the Twinkie filling, and then another chocolate long cake, rectangle. Interesting. Really good. Okay, so we're going with Susie. Again, it's very promising that you want a fake name because hopefully that means this is hugely embarrassing.
25:15That's the goal today. Yes, indeed it is. Oh, my God. I can't wait. Yes. All right. Hit us with it. Okay, so this summer, I was sick. I had an awful cold and then it turned into laryngitis. So I lost my voice. When this happened, though, I was starting to get my voice back. I'm living at home with my parents while I'm at school. It's a good thing to mention. I have a boyfriend. We'll call him Jack. We both work nights. So when he stays over at the house, we have the house to ourselves in the daytime. and so I want to say around four in the afternoon this day Jack was in the mood for some sexy time sure I wasn't feeling a hundred percent back but felt well enough to proceed with the sexy time oh my god good you're a trooper so at the foot of my bed I have a white wardrobe and then across the room I have my closet so at the other end Jack's head is at the end of the bed and I'm sitting on top of him and things are going very well great to the point where i reach my climax oh congratulations that's great almost immediately after that it started to feel very wet down there oh okay to the point where jack then stops and he asks did you squirt or something oh boy why is it so wet down there oh my god is he still your boyfriend he is okay we've been I had it for almost three years.
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26:48Can I pause you for one second? Because I want to work through Monica's reaction. Monica, don't you think that's preferred to, would you shit? Like, at least it was sexy. I think he shouldn't mention it. I will also say, at this point, he thinks he's done a very, very excellent job. Yes. He's proud of himself? That's even worse. No, she just came like a racehorse, she just said. Like a racehorse. Well, she didn't say that. It was a little bit implied, but yeah. but now we know why. Well, we're about to, yeah, okay. But I'm him, right? I'm downstairs and I see this wonderful climax and then it's super wet.
27:27I mean, that's a pretty natural conclusion is like, maybe she squirted. I understand that you might think it, but I don't think you should ask. Well, you're in a trusting, loving relationship. Yeah. Well, it didn't sound like anything. Did it bother you? I know what it is. You did his voice and you made him sound like a dumb-dumb. I think that's what Monica's being figured out. Yeah, okay, yeah. I'm not very good at replicating his voice. Maybe I should have practiced. You're five. All right. So he asked you. Did you squirt? And he said, why is it so wet? Well, I know you said, why is it so wet?
27:58I don't know why, but then I look behind me and all I see is just brown everywhere. Oh, God. So you sprayed. Yeah. It's like my ass exploded all over us. Oh, my God. I have white bed sheets, the white wardrobe. It reached all the way across to my white closet. Oh, my God. It exploded. Wait, hold on. I'm shocked you didn't hear it. I had no idea it happened. I didn't even feel it. Right. A lot of stuff was going on down there at the time. Maybe I did feel it and I didn't realize. Well, I think you did feel it, which is why it was racehorse, as you say, territory. It probably made it better. I don't really want to admit that, but it is.
28:48It is. It is. Wow. Oh, Susie, what an experience.
29:12like the best way i can describe it is you know if you're carrying a glass jar of marinara sauce Oh, yes. And you drop it and it explodes. The scene that it happens, there's marinara sauce all on the floor, but there's still splatters everywhere. Yeah, spatter analysis like they do in a murder scene. Holy shit. Oh, wow. You covered the room. You painted the room, as they say. And what's your first thought? This is not happening. Oh, sure. Denial. I'm still sick. My nose is still congested. I don't know if it smells or not. Oh, sure. And he's still confused. He's like, are we still going or what?
29:52So I'm just like, no, stop. I put my hand over his eyes and his nose. I think at this point he thinks that I must be like on my period or something and I don't want him to see it. He still doesn't know that I just shit all over him. That there was an explosion. Did you consider saying, oh my God, babe, you shit everywhere. Jack. Oh my God. It's totally okay. It's right up into my asshole and then out of my asshole. But wow, buddy, you really got it everywhere. But it's okay. Good job, Jack. No, it definitely would have been more likely to be him than me, but I don't think he would have believed that.
30:31Okay. Oh, you got a real issue on your hands. Because I imagine your goal now is to somehow escort him out of this room and clean it up and he never sees a thing. Yes. In the back of my mind, also, this was supposed to be just a quickie. My parents are going to be coming home soon from work. Oh, God. This is a disaster. Oh, my God. I'm so stressed. His eyes and nose is covered. I help him off the bed. We're both naked, covered in shit. I walk him across the hall into the bathroom. I help him into the shower. Okay, he's doing the right thing. He's letting you do all this. He's not like me. The whole time, he's like, what's going on?
31:13Just uncover my eyes. I'm like, nope, just trust me. You don't want to see this. And as I'm turning on the shower, I hear my dogs running up the stairs. Okay. They're getting curious. Yes, they smell something. So I have to decide, am I going to clean him off or stop this mess for getting even worse? No, you got to get in there because they're going to track it all over the house. And mind you, upstairs is all carpet. Oh, no. This is as bad of a scenario as. You can get yourself into it. Yeah. So I decide I'm going to leave Jack. I say, Jack, just keep your eyes closed. Just try to clean yourself off the best you can with your eyes closed.
31:56I got to go do something else. And as I'm running back to my room to get my dogs, I just hear him yell, my God, it's shit for me. And then he starts throwing up. No, no, no, no. I hear him yakking. No! It's like I wrote this scene.
32:22Wait a minute, what? I wish he shit himself somehow. Like it led to just a full collapse. Oh, yeah, that would make me feel a lot better if we both did it. Wow, so he's dry heaving in the shower. Now, what's happening with the dogs? Have they gotten there? Thankfully, I stopped them in time. They were just sniffing. But I kicked them out of the room and I closed the door. and now I am just like standing in shock at what my body had just done to me. Yeah. And you're also like, where do I begin? Do I clean myself up, put on clothes in case parents come home, then begin cleaning? Do I start cleaning now while I'm still naked?
32:57I decided I was just going to rip the sheets off of my bed and I hid them in the closet. I had baby wipes sitting in my room. So I just started wiping everything down. I can't smell, but I assume it's smelly. So I open the windows, light the candles, but it's still just so bad. I am quickly realizing I'm not going to get it cleaned up in time before Jack gets out of the shower. So I grab all of his stuff and I throw it out in the hallway. I hear him turn off the shower. He took a really quick shower. He should have taken a lot longer to clean himself off. Yeah. Jack, take your time. We need a little time right now.
33:38I just throw on a big... shirt just to cover myself up and I meet him out in the hallway and he's just confused he's like what happened like are you okay and he was like you don't need to be embarrassed it's okay and I was just so mortified after he threw up everywhere that wasn't his choice you don't choose to throw up he's not like you know what I'm gonna throw up right now whatever I'm just saying you can't then say don't be embarrassed after you're of course gonna be embarrassed but he regrouped And he got himself together and he knew I got to support her now. He also might have put two and two together.
34:10Oh, she's still sick. He should have just not even asked me to do it. He's learned his lesson now. I just tell him you need to get dressed right here in the hallway. I brought all of your stuff out of my room and you're leaving as soon as you get dressed. Like I kicked him out. And as I was shoving him out of the door, I told him we never, ever speak of this ever again. this never happened goodbye love you please leave okay great did he hold true to that yeah we still haven't talked about it he doesn't even know that i'm talking to you guys that's why we're gonna use some fake names yeah i've actually only told my sister about it what a story though i bet so many people have done this i've listened to the previous poop episodes i honestly think this is karma because the whole time I was listening to those, I was like, I can't believe so many people just can't control their bowel movements.
35:09Yeah, be careful who you judge. That's the lesson of this story. And it gets a little worse because I realized that now I'm still covered in shit. Right. I get in the shower. Now I'm thinking this bodily fluid, what do you call it, Daxchinius? Oh, Hannes. Hannes. Yeah, Hannes Rios. The illness has made its way back inside of me. No! Oh. That's why we could feel that it was extra wet down there. Right. Oh, fuck. Yes, of course. It's very close. This is the worst UTI ever. I cleaned myself really, really well. I ended up not getting UTI or a yeast infection, but I was very paranoid. Wow. Well, you dodged a bullet.
35:52And I'm glad. The gods just wanted to smite you a little bit for being judgmental, but they didn't want to give you a continued condition. Thankful that's the only time it's happened. Knock on wood. Literally knock on wood right now. So I bet you'll probably never have sex if you're sick again. No, I've had a cold like the last two weeks and we haven't done it at all. I'm not risking it. Yeah, you just can't roll the dice. Yeah, it's like, you know, shame me once. Once your body betrays you that way, rebuilding trust takes a while. Yeah, but shout out to my sister because I was calling her as I was cleaning everything up.
36:27because I needed some emotional support. I needed to process what just happened. And instead of telling me everything's going to be okay, she burst out laughing. She was like, oh my God, this is such an armchair story. You totally have to submit this. We already planned this as it was happening. Good. Your sister's got her head in the right place. That's right. Yeah, she's the one that introduced me to you guys. Well, listen to me, Susie Q. this is in the running for the best one I've ever heard. This is really fantastic. The fact that it was all over the room is so powerful. The marinara analogy was really good.
37:05I can picture that. You know how it gets like behind the stove. How does it get behind the stove? It's so confusing. Now you guys, the marinara is great. But of course I went in my head too. If you can imagine putting a one gallon can of paint on a stool and then taking a sledgehammer and just fucking smashing it. That to me is what I'm seeing. That amount of spatter and yeah. I think that's pretty accurate except to give you a little bit of TMI, the consistency matched marinara sauce. Right. That makes sense. Right. Okay, so this is a 20 out of 10. Oh, what a good one. I'm very proud of you. This is like therapy for me.
37:51I'm too embarrassed to tell anybody else aside from my sister that just mocked me. So I'm glad I got to tell you guys too. I promise you many, many people are going, oh, thank God, I'm not the only one. They feel seen. This is the power of sharing trauma. Yes, I'm glad I could heal other people's trauma. Oh boy, well, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. That was spectacular. Thank you guys for letting me share. It's so awesome seeing Dax's chair in person. Nice meeting you guys. Yeah, you too. Have a great rest of your day. Bye. Oh, man. Wow. That was spectacular. That was a big one. I think even if you have a pretty good appetite for these kind of stories, that one's going to test some people.
38:36Well, it's scary, too. It's like you just never know. You don't. Her stomach didn't even hurt. Right. It was her larynx. You sent me a video of a woman shitting at a grocery store. Oh, yeah. And it's epic. Yeah. It's a gal in thin cotton, kind of baggy but short shorts. It's CCTV. It's like being filmed in the grocery store. And she rounds this. It's either a frozen food, like one of those up to your waist frozen food. The like ice box, like open ice box. Yeah, it's like an island in a kitchen kind of a situation. But it's like probably three feet off the ground. And she comes around the corner and she just quickly squats.
39:17She takes her terry cloth shorts, pulls them to the side and does a squirt like a goose. It's so disgusting. It's so foul, but it's not quite honus honus. It's in between. And then she just gets right up and strolls away. You and I luckily had the same conclusion, which is like, no way that's the first time. It was so practiced. So much muscle memory, like the way she squatted, got that thing to the side, squirt, and then stood up and walked away. I was like, oh my God, she's doing this all the time, I think. Maybe she's the one that did it at the dining hall. Oh, she could have. She could probably do it while walking.
39:51Hi. Oh, my goodness. How are you? To be honest, I'm thrilled and also extremely nervous. Of course. Let's forget that that's coming. And let's first talk about the fact that this is a ding ding ding for Monica and I, because we were just talking about the dreamiest hair that her baby could have. And you literally have what we were both. At least this is exactly what I was. 100%. This is the most gorgeous hair a human can have. That has made my entire 2024. I appreciate that. As a little girl, I did not love my hair. And so just hearing you say that does something like deep for my soul. So thank you.
40:26Oh, it's incredible. Dark ringlets like that are just the most beautiful. Do you have dimples too? I have like a little dimple, a little freckles. Stop. The other piece of the puzzle for Monica was dimples. Yeah, if I'm designing my kid, I'm making them have duples. I'm making you. How exciting. Monica, I give you permission to adopt me today. I can't wait. A lot of things in childhood I didn't love about myself, and I've grown to love. So thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I was just talking to my daughter about this. She was telling me people have freckle filters now. And I'm like, that's so crazy because people with freckles hate freckles, and people without freckles want freckles.
41:05And I said, you know, the headline is you want what you don't have. Absolutely. Okay, Stacia, walk us through this very human experience. There's nothing to be nervous about. Anyone who says they haven't shit their pants is a liar. No, because I hadn't until recently. So now it would be a lie. So yeah, you're right. I'm hoping that hearing more and more of these stories gives you a lot of empowerment to one day share yours because we're all on the edge of our seat. Oh, people really in the comments were like, what are you talking about? We're not going to hear every detail of this. Yeah, we need all the nitty gritty.
41:36I will share and the fact that this is how I have to meet you all, I'm like, here it is. So I'm in Nashville, Tennessee. This unauthorized evacuation takes place just south of Nashville in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. To really set the scene, this was the summer of 2008. I was 17 and I was working at my job, Baskin Robbins. Yeah, girl. 31 flavors, now 32. It's a lot of flavors to keep up with. I loved it. And this specific Baskin Robbins was very popular for two main reasons. One, it was the only ice cream shop in that side of town. And then two, we were right off one of Tennessee's most trafficked interstate.
42:17So we had a lot of local customers that would come in, a lot of regulars. And then we also had a good amount of travelers and passerbys that would pop in through our drive-thru and head on their merry way. So it was a summer shift, a hot Tennessee summer. People are at the ice cream shop getting their goodies. It was me and three other high schoolers running this whole place. Of course. Why give this much responsibility to high schoolers? I always say this when I go back home to Michigan. I'm reminded that young people run everything back in Michigan. So you go to a Dairy Queen, sometimes there's no one there over 14.
42:48Just not setting anyone up for success. So I was 17 and I was the shift leader, meaning I had full responsibility of the story. You were the manager, basically. General manager. Yeah, assistant to the regional manager at this point. So we had a busy summer shift, as we always do. And it had just been relentless back-to-back orders for about an hour. And me and the girls, we are just kind of pushing through. We're all miserable. We've had angry customers. We've not had a break. And just more and more people keep flooding in. So our entire front lobby was filled with people enjoying their ice cream and a long line that had started to form.
43:24And our drive-through had also been pretty backed up. Ugh, there's a nightmare. Yeah, we're all covered in like ice cream drippings and sticky whipped cream. You just live sticky and not in the sexy like I got whipped cream. It's just like the gross way. So it is a busy time. We've been back to back. We've not had a break to make this day even worse. I had just started my period that day. And girls know your period, you're crampy. You get like weird hot flashes and heat flashes as like you're dealing with pain. It was one of those days. And we just had no break. And so we're all trudging through.
43:57and all of a sudden we hear a big collective gasp in the front of the store. And we all kind of turned and look and hear crying from a little boy and he had dropped his milkshake all over the front part of the lobby. So on top of like an entirely packed store, we had a huge chaotic milkshake mess. We all take a collective sigh, the girls and I, and I quickly come up with a plan. I'm like, you're going to cover drive-thru. Don't let that drop. You make him a new milkshake and you just man the front as best you can. I'll clean up this mess. So I walk to the back to get the mop. Another one of these like hot flashes come on and I'm just feeling really overheated.
44:37So I go into our walk-in freezer to just try to collect myself before I go out there and clean up this mess. I walk into the freezer. I'm on the borderline of tears. I'm just about to lose my shit. And I just tell myself, just like suck it up. It's cool down. I'm still having trouble cooling down from this hot flash and i say you got to get back out there i open the freezer door i go to the mop bucket bend over to turn on the mop water and as soon as i do a fart comes roaring out oh my god again period gurgling of the stomach up your whole system guys i was on the verge of asking but it felt inappropriate i'm like doesn't the period Also, you often have some butt stuff.
45:21Yes. There's all kinds of things happening. Because the cramping and the oof. The system's a mess. Yeah. It's in disarray. The hot flashes were probably the first sign. I just didn't realize that. And so I immediately realized what has happened as I go to turn on this water. And just my instinct was to put my hand on the back of my pants. Yep. And as soon as I did that, there was liquid all over my hand. And I am panicked on what to do. Oh, my God. because you already have this fire burning at the front of the store oh my god it's chaotic really important Baskin Robbins had a very specific uniform you had to wear you had your visor you had a blue shirt and you had khaki pants oh no why worst color imaginable because it was summer it wasn't khaki pants it was khaki shorts oh so I'm like what am I going to do so So I'm just panicking.
46:12I have shit all over my left hand. And I have got to get to the bathroom. The only way to get to the bathroom was to go back out through the ice cream bar, through the front lobby, over the milkshake, into our bathroom. You'll walk right by the problem where people are going to be like, hey, what's she doing? I had to enter the chaos. And so I don't make eye contact with anyone. I'm just sprinting as fast as I can. And I get to the bathroom and someone is in there. No, why? Why? This tastes too much. Wait, is the milkshake chocolate? I actually don't remember the color. I want to say mint chocolate chip because that's just like seared in my brain.
46:50But I don't know. Because I think I might have gone to the milkshake and slipped. Oh. And gotten it all over my pants. And then, you know. If you were doing your best thinking and you weren't panicked in your amygdala, you probably could put all that together. That would be the move. Come up with the mop bucket and then just, whoa. Oh, no. And then you're all over. But you're screaming like, oh, no, I'm falling. But you sit. Yeah. And honestly, that was something I would have done. That was my personality. But my executive functioning was closed down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I am at the bathroom.
47:20I just immediately turn my back to the wall so no one can see me. And I'm waiting there for a few minutes. And that's when the smell really starts hitting me. I'm like, this is really, really bad. I genuinely close my eyes like an ostrich, just praying no one can see me as if that's going to help. I finally get into the bathroom. I just take my pants down. I got to assess the damage. and it was as bad as I had expected, I go to start washing my shorts in the sink as if that's the only thing I can do. And quickly realized that that was also probably not a great move because this is not like khaki material.
47:52This is like some Walmart or Kmart hybrid fabric. So I just now have very wet shorts and a brown stained short. Oh, and what about your underwear? Like, are you out in the Baskin Robbins? Like, make it? How are you washing your pants? I do remember I was in a thong and had a tampon. This is way too much information. No, no. These are all the details. I remember standing, essentially butt naked, in washing, and I had to put the shorts back on. And I was like, okay, what am I going to do after I put these shorts back on? Because they're visibly now wet because they're khaki. They're visibly wet, and they're still visibly brown.
48:25There's no soap in there to scrub. I've ruined them. I've ruined my entire existence. I'm like, I've got to just get back to the back room, get my keys, and I'm just going to drive home. I'm not going to clean up the milkshake. I've got to get out of here. I deline it out of the bathroom. It smells horrific. It's very clear somebody's had like some things going on. Some sickness, yeah. I go through the lobby. I hop over the milkshake mess. It's still chaotic out there. And I just grab my keys. I don't tell my coworkers. I don't tell anyone. I just go to get in my car. Now, the fun part about this is actually probably what's seared in my brain the most is it is a hot Tennessee summer.
49:00So it is probably 100 degrees out. I had a super old clunker had a 1992 Ford Explorer and it had like weird leather seats in there. So I get into my car and I'm getting second degree burns sitting on this searing leather and none of my windows go down. My passenger side window will roll down, but no other windows roll down and I don't have working AC. So I'm sitting in my hot shit pants with my legs burning, no ventilation. And our drive-through is backed up. So I'm not really able to like get out of our parking spot. So I'm just sitting there. Finally get home. I shower. I change. I clean off my car, go back to work.
49:39And I was just like, maybe they won't notice that I was gone. Oh, you went back. Oh my God. I did go back. The rush had died down. And I will never forget a girl I was working with. Her name was Courtney. She just looked at me and she's like, what the hell? And I was like, I'm so sorry. I had a period accident. I felt like that would get me out of it. And she was like, okay, didn't mention it at all. And so I got out of it. I lied to her. So that was my unauthorized evacuation. Oh, man. That could have also been under the heading. Like, tell us about the worst day of your life. Yes, I was going to.
50:09But we had a heading that was like Alexander's no bad, very whatever. That one. We did that once. This could have definitely been a bad. I thought the same thing. There's too many things going wrong at once. Perfect storm. And, you know, I wouldn't have had to go out there if the milkshake hadn't have fallen. That's why I like this prompt. You deal with people dying in your life. That's horrendous. There's all these things you deal with. But I would argue you'll never experience anything on planet Earth that's as bad as having a pants full of shit and trying to figure out how the fuck to get out of the situation.
50:35That's about as high stakes as it gets. Both my friends know this story. I have chosen to own it as an adult. And I was like, if I get a chance to meet Dax and Monica, it's worth telling millions of people. Well, it's also a character builder. It is. You really find out what you're made of and you find out I can survive. You also just feel more human than you've ever, or more animalistic than you've ever felt. More Tonka-esque. Yeah. I was also on my period during my incident. So, Monica, you just say it's a period accident, not a shit accident. And you should tell us. Right. That's okay. I'll TBD on that.
51:09I want to just have my cringe moment. I know all the Armcherries have to express gratitude, but you guys really did a good job reflecting on this in the Lisa Kudrow fact check recently about how do you accurately and adequately share your appreciation with like people you've admired from afar. And I don't know if I'm going to do it correctly, but I do want to name just like deep gratitude for both of you. Just one, who y 'all are into the work you put into the world. Monica, as a brown girl, who's lived and born and raised in the South, the way you have chosen to share vulnerably about that experience on such a wide platform has helped this little brown girl feel really seen.
51:49Oh, that's so happy. And it's something I don't think a lot of people who don't experience that understand how important it is. And you bring light to it in the small moments and in the big moments, how it shows up. So thank you for choosing to share that. You're just such a beautiful soul. And I really appreciate you. Oh, thanks. First of all, A plus. Yeah, you nailed it. Yeah, I'm a little welled up. You did so much better than I did with Lisa. I mean, of course, it's her compliment. Well, it's her compliments. So it's probably easier for me to hear. But yes, that was great. Well, thank you.
52:15And Dax, I have an equally, like, hopefully heartfelt one for you. We have a lot in common in our upbringing. I had multiple stepfathers. Addiction, alcoholism, abuse was part of my childhood. And it kept my father from being able to have an active role in my life. He struggled with sobriety. It ultimately killed him at a very young age. So I never got to have a relationship with him. And I've worked really hard to change generational patterns. And I see that you have, too. and I might cry at this part, but seeing how much you love your girls and how much you choose sobriety every day for them brings my heart so much joy.
52:54I understand sobriety is not an easy thing to choose hour by hour. I've had to love a lot of addicts through my life, and I know it is a hard decision, and you doing it because you love your daughters and your family so much is such a beautiful gift. And as a hopefully generational change maker myself, I see that in you and you give me a lot of encouragement just in who you are and how you show up and how you actively fight against those survival tactics that we had to grow up with. You brought up my daughters and now there's tears streaming down my face. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Stacia, you deserved that.
53:32Yeah, you did. We should have had a dad just like me. Thank you. Well, when I adopt you, I'll be your dad. Well, you'll be my grandchild at that point as well. Oh, that's true. Yeah. I'll take it, but I'm raising my own daughter, as you can see, and it's been really healing. I love that. And I have a very full life now, and I'm super grateful for all that you've done. You've completely fucked me up, so mission accomplished. Thank you for listening to us. We do not deserve you. No, no, we don't. You're incredible. You guys are wonderful, and I really appreciate who you are and the work you put out.
54:05I really do. Right back at you. Well, thank you. That was a really nice Christmas present to me and I think to Monica. Yeah, thank you. All right. Well, I pray I bump into you in Tennessee. Yeah. I'm praying even harder. So hopefully we'll make it happen. All right. Great meeting you. Bye. Bye. Oh, boy, she got us, huh? She's very sweet. Every one of those stories was dynamite. Those were big ones. Biggies, not a dud in the group. I don't ever want to go to the well too often, but I got to say this prompt always delivers. It does, but if we heard it every week, I would be sick of it. That's why I said I don't want to go to the well too much.
54:43This was great. They knocked it out. Knocked it out of the park. Thanks, Arm Cherries. All right, I love you. Love you. Do you want to sing a tune or something? We don't have a theme song. Oh. Okay, great. We don't have a theme song for this new show, So here I go, go, go We're gonna ask some random questions And with the help of Armcherry's book Get some suggestions On the flyer, Rindish On the flyer, Rindish Enjoy
From the publisher
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about an unauthorized evacuation.
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