Full Stomach | Campfire Stories with MrBallen

0:00So tonight's story is a classic scary story. It's a great story. It's very unsettling. Got a great plot twist at the end. But this story, it's sort of so unbelievable that I think a lot of people are going to have a hard time actually believing it. But I'll tell you that when this happened, the story happened in Hong Kong, this story got picked up by many major news outlets and was covered extensively, so that suggests there's some real credibility to this story. But ultimately, it's up to you to decide what you actually believe. But before we get into tonight's story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right campfire because that's all we do, and we upload two, three, even four times a week.

0:47So if that's of interest to you, go ahead and sign in to the Follow Buttons email account and delete all of their emails. Also, please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into tonight's story.

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2:27One evening in December of 1989, a young waiter named Zhao was bussing a table at the restaurant he worked at in Hong Kong when he heard the restaurant's phone ring. And the sound really stressed Zhao out because the restaurant was really busy that night. And it was only Zhao and one other waiter working along with the manager who was in back. And so Zhao, you know, he's bussing this table. He began looking around for the other waiter to see if maybe they heard the phone and they could go take the call. But he saw the other waiter and she was busy actually taking another table's order. And the manager was, you know, somewhere in back and would not normally take the call anyway.

3:04And so Zhao, you know, he sighed and, you know, stopped busting the table and went over and he picked up the phone. And right away, he can like barely hear the person who's talking. It's a voice of what sounds like a very frail older woman. And she's practically whispering into the phone. And so Zhao had to like block his other ear because it's so loud in the restaurant and he's straining to listen and he's asking this person to speak up. But finally he can hear, you know, what this woman is calling for. And she's calling because she's trying to place an order for delivery. But this is in the 1980s.

3:36So this is before there were things like Uber Eats and, you know, DoorDash. And in Hong Kong at the time, if somebody called in to a restaurant for a delivery order, what it meant was people like Zhao had to take the order and then literally take the food and actually physically bring it to the person who had called it in. So this is like sort of a very tedious thing for somebody like Zhao. And so as soon as Zhao could tell that the reason this woman had called was for a delivery order, he's like, oh my goodness, could it get any worse? Like I have so much to do here, it's so crazy, and now I have to literally run this woman's order to her and then come back and continue my work.

4:14Like, man, what bad luck. But it wasn't like Zhao could do anything else. Like, he couldn't tell the woman no. So, you know, as best as he could, he listened, and he told the woman to, like, repeat her order, like, let me write down what you want. And so eventually, he heard that what she wanted was stir-fried rice noodles with an extra egg, an order of beef chow fun, and a couple servings of fried rice. And then after he took down her order, he told her that he'd be there in about half an hour. And then he hung up. About 15 minutes later, the bell rang in the kitchen. And so Zhao walked over and he saw that the food was ready, the takeout food.

4:49And so he grabbed the bag, he grabbed the receipt that showed the address of this woman's apartment, and he stapled it to the bag. And then he found the other waiter who was working that night, and he told her to please look over his tables while he was gone. He'd be right back. And then, with the food in hand, he left the restaurant and began running across the city to get to this apartment. And so he gets outside and he looks at the address and he starts running in the direction of this apartment. And, you know, after several minutes, he gets to the apartment complex. He makes his way up, and he finds the door of this woman's apartment.

5:20And he knocks on the door, and he just waits. And nobody answers the door. And so, you know, he's looking at the time. He knows he needs to get back to the restaurant as soon as possible. He has people that are waiting for him. And so he knocks a bit louder this time and sort of calls out like, hey, delivery. No answer. It's still just quiet inside this apartment. And so he looks at the receipt on the bag that, again, shows the address of this woman's apartment to make sure he's at the right one. And he's like, yep, I'm definitely at the right apartment. And so after a few more moments of silence, Zhao, he just gives up trying to be polite here.

5:55He really needs to get back to the restaurant. And so he just starts wailing on this door, yelling like, hey, delivery, like get out here and get your food. And now this time, he hears some movement inside of the apartment. And so he stops banging on the door. He hears, you know, the locks being unlocked. And then the door, it opens inwardly, but only a tiny bit, like a crack. And it's dark inside the apartment. And it's bright in the hallway. And so from his perspective, Zhao's looking into this crack and he can't see anything. but eventually out of this darkness of this little crack a little hand shows up and in this hand is money and through the crack the hand reaches with the money and so Zhao he reaches out he takes the money and then a voice comes through the inside of this apartment and it's that same very quiet frail voice of the woman who had called and placed the order and she just said for Zhao to leave the food right there.

6:50Just drop it, take the money and go. And so Zhao, he's thinking how bizarre this is. Like, why is this woman acting the way she's acting? Like, why can't you just open the door all the way and literally take your food inside? Like, you asked me to come here with your food. You basically invited a stranger to your apartment. Like, why would you now be so cagey? It just, it was odd. But at the same time, Zhao didn't really care. She had given him the money, which covered the order. And at this point, he could just leave the food and go back to the restaurant. And so that's what he did. Dropped the food, left the apartment complex, ran back to the restaurant, and continued his night and basically forgot about this woman.

7:28So later that night, after the restaurant had closed, Zhao and the other waitress were cleaning up and getting ready to leave when the manager came out of the back office looking really upset about something. And he sort of strolled over to Zhao and the other waiter, and they both stopped instinctively when they saw the look on his face and they're sort of looking at him and he comes in and sort of out of nowhere, he's like, I know one of you two has been stealing from this restaurant. I know it. And immediately Zau, he looks over at the other waiter and she looks back at him and they're like, what?

8:03Like Zau knew he did not steal any money. There was no way he was talking about him. And from the looks of it, the other waiter, she definitely did not seem like she, you know, been caught stealing and so the two of them kind of looked back at the manager and they're like what are you talking about like we didn't we didn't steal from you like what do you mean like what are you talking about but the manager was like i know one of you did it i don't know who but one of you did it and i'm telling you right now if it ever happens again you're fired and then the manager just turned around and he walked back into his office and so Zhao and the other waiter are just left standing there like, what just happened?

8:42But at the same time, Zhao anyways, he knew he didn't take any money. And he's just like, you know what? I just want to go home. This has been a long day. I want this to be over. And it seemed very much like the other waiter felt the same way. And so the two of them just kind of shrugged and they're like, I don't know what he's on about, but I didn't do anything. And they finished cleaning up. And then before long, they had left for the night.

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12:17Expedited transfers available for a fee. tips are voluntary and don't affect the service. Available in select states, terms and restrictions apply. Visit earnend.com for full details. The next day, Zhao was back at work. And once again, it was extremely busy. And once again, they were understaffed. It was just Zhao and another waiter, a different waiter than the day before. But still, it's just the two of them and the manager who was in the back office. And so it's just another very stressful day and all day, you know, Zhao He's thinking about the fact that the manager had effectively accused him of stealing the night before And that really hadn't been resolved just from the perspective of the manager hasn't talked about it again So it's like the elephant in the room But you know at this point Zhao was just doing his job because you know, he didn't steal anything He knew he didn't steal anything and so he figured it was just a misunderstanding if it gets brought up again And there's definitely an explanation here.

13:15And so all day and into the evening, Zhao's just working like mad. So is the other waiter. And then at some point in the evening, the phone in the restaurant rings. This is in the middle of, you know, the busiest time of the night. And once again, Zhao, like he's hearing the phone ringing and he's hoping the other waiter is available to take the call because the last thing he wants to do is do another delivery order. But just like the night before, his co-worker was busy taking orders from other people and so it fell on Zhao to take the call. And so Zhao, you know, he trudged his way through the very busy and very loud restaurant to the phone.

13:51He answered it and immediately he recognized the voice. It was the same woman who had called the night before. The woman he could barely hear. She was talking so quietly. And so again, he had to block his ear to hear what she wanted. And again, she was placing an order for delivery. So again, Zhao would have to be the one to literally go run to her apartment and drop off her food and then hustle back and finish a shift. And so feeling sort of annoyed and a little frustrated, because he can barely hear this woman, he's like, hey, can you please repeat your order? Like, I need to write down your order.

14:23And so feeling annoyed, Zhao, you know, he took down her order, which was the same as the night before, stir fried rice noodles with an extra egg, an order of beef chow fun, and a couple servings of fried rice. And after writing it down, he told he would see her in about 30 minutes. And then he hung up. And then 15 minutes later, the kitchen bell dings. Zhao walks over. He grabs the bag of food. He attaches the receipt. Out he goes. And he runs across the city over to this woman's apartment. And up he goes. He gets to her door, which he knows is the right one because he had been here the day before.

14:54And he pounds on the door right out the gate because apparently this woman takes forever to come to the door. And so So he's pounding on the door saying, hey, I'm here. Delivery, delivery. And eventually, he hears the sound of movement inside the apartment, the sound of locks turning. And then the door opens just a crack, and then out comes a little hand with some money. Zhao, he takes the money, just like the day before. He hears the sound of this woman saying to just leave the food outside in the hall. He does just that. He places it down. The door shuts, and Zhao turns, and he leaves, and he goes back to work.

15:28Later that night, after the restaurant had closed, Zhao and his other co-worker were cleaning up, you know, happy that the day was finally done. And as they're doing that, again, at least from Zhao's perspective, this is the second time this has happened, the manager comes storming out of the back office looking really upset. Now, again, the other co-worker was not here the night before, but the other co-worker could see, like, clearly there's an issue. And Zhao had stopped as well, you know, waiting to hear what the manager had to say. and the manager comes over. But instead of addressing both of them, the manager looks right at Zhao and he just says, I know it was you.

16:05You are the only one who was here yesterday and today. And I'm telling you, there is money missing from the register. It's you. You're the one stealing it. Now Zhao, like he knows he didn't take any money from the register. This didn't happen. There's no way that this is true. Like it can't be true. And so Zhao, like he needs this job. And so he can't just like fight with his manager. But he said, like, that's not possible. I don't know what you're talking about. Can you please explain what you mean? Like, I don't know. I don't know how this could have happened, but I'm telling you it was not me.

16:41Now the manager, he's sort of staring at Zhao, you know, trying to size him up to see if maybe he's lying or not. and he can't quite tell. And he just, he says to Zhao, well, well, you know what? The reason I know that somebody is doing this, that this is not some mistake is because the money from the register is not just missing. It's that the money has been replaced with counterfeit money. Like someone is taking money, you Zhao, and putting counterfeit money back to sort of make it seem like no money is missing, but I know it's counterfeit money. Like I can spot it. I know it's counterfeit money.

17:15You're doing that, Zhao. You did that. You stole from me. And if you don't give the money back, you're fired. And so Zhao, at this point, he's like, what? I didn't do that. I have no idea what you're talking about. There is no way that's true. I did not do that. At this point, the manager just turned around and went into the back office. And then when he came out again, he was holding the counterfeit money and he showed it to Zhao. And right away, Zhao could tell like yeah that's blatantly counterfeit money like it would never pass as real money he knew right away what it was so this was not just typical fake money it was something known as ghost money in hong kong some people will literally burn this this fake money this ghost money at the funeral as sort of an offering and the belief is that by doing that this money somehow goes to the deceased person and they can use this money in the afterlife so it's sort of part of a a funeral ritual.

18:12And so Zhao knows this is ghost money. He would recognize it as not real money. And so the idea that this was put into the register to somehow dupe the manager into believing that, don't worry, no one stole any money here, just seems sort of absurd. And so Zhao, he says to the manager, like, well, wait a minute. I didn't do this, but if I were to take money from the register, I wouldn't have left behind this obviously fake money. I would have just taken the money. I didn't. But why would I put this obviously fake money back in the register? That definitely wouldn't fool you. It didn't. And the manager, you know, he was thinking about it and he was like, yeah, actually you're right.

18:54But then he was like, well, you know, what must have happened then is, you know, you must have accepted this counterfeit money from a customer and not realized it like this is your mistake you must have allowed someone to pay with this this ghost money and just not noticed it you know you're very busy maybe that's what happened and zhao's like no like there's no way i would have accepted clearly fake money i would have said no this is not real money like there's no way i would have made that that mistake and so the manager is like well then how could how could this money have gotten into the register like were there any strange customers here over the past two days?

19:34I don't know. Maybe somebody somehow, someway managed to pay with fake money and you didn't notice it or something. Do you have any memory of strange customers or seedy customers over the past two days? Now, Zhao, he wasn't immediately thinking, oh, I wonder what criminals I ran into in the last couple of days that maybe paid with counterfeit money. Because in his mind, there was no one like that over the past two days. It was just normal people, except he did just immediately think about that woman who had called on both nights and had the same delivery order that he had taken to her apartment.

20:11And he thought how weird it was that she had only opened the door a crack and handed out a little bit of money and told him to leave the food on the ground. And like, for just whatever reason, even though in some ways he knew, like, there's no way that woman has anything to do with this counterfeit money, he just found himself telling the manager, he's like, well, actually, there was like this one woman, like I delivered food to her the past couple of nights. And he sort of described the whole thing and just kind of how weird it was that she would have him leave the food in the hall. And she was, you could barely hear her.

20:42And he sort of was confused about the whole thing. And so like this didn't explain the counterfeit money at all, but it was like the only weird thing that Zhao could think of. And the manager by this point did believe Zhao. Like he had sort of changed his tone and he sort of believed that something weird was going on here and it wasn't Zhao. Like he was now sort of working with Zhao to figure it out. And so the manager was just like, okay, well, you know, if this lady calls again, let me deliver the food to her. Let me see if maybe I can talk to her and see if somehow, some way I can figure out if she's the one giving us the counterfeit money.

21:20And so the next day, Zhao is back at work. And again, it's a busy day at the restaurant. And all day, it's just him and one other coworker. And they're busy all day. And then in the evening, around the same time that this woman had called the past two days, the phone rings. And this time when the phone rings, Zhao immediately runs over and he grabs it. He doesn't care about what he's doing. He was waiting for this call because he was told to, if she calls, hand it over to the manager. And so he picks up the phone, he answers it. And sure enough, it's the same woman, the woman he can barely hear.

21:55And she orders the exact same meal to the exact same address. And once again, Zhao takes it down and he says, we'll be there in 30 minutes. And he hangs up. But this time, after giving the order to the kitchen, Zhao went to the back office and he told the manager that, hey, she called again, so the food will be up in about 15 minutes, and if you want to take it over there and see for yourself, you're welcome to. And the manager was like, great, I got it, I'll take it. And so sure enough, about 15 minutes later, the bell rings in the kitchen, the manager goes out, he grabs the food, he looks at the address on the receipt for where this lady lives, and then he leaves the restaurant and he makes his way across town.

22:34He gets to the apartment building. He gets up to the door and he knocks. And after a few moments, there's silence. And so he knocks again and he checks the receipt again to make sure he's at the right place. And he knows he is. And so he's knocking some more and he's calling out, you know, delivery, delivery. And eventually he hears movement inside of the apartment and he hears the sound of locks turning. And then just the way Zhao described, the door opened just a crack, and then a little hand came through that crack, holding out some money. And for the manager, it actually was pretty disappointing, because for whatever reason, he just felt like, this is going to be it.

23:12This person is going to hand me the ghost money, the counterfeit money. This is going to explain it. Maybe it's like a senile old person who's confused, and they're accidentally giving out the wrong money, here. Maybe that's what's going on. And somehow Zhao just didn't recognize it or something, even though he claims he would have seen it, but maybe that's what happened. But no, the money that was coming through the door was definitely real money. And so the manager, he just took the money and the woman told him to just leave the food in the hallway, which he did. And then the door shut and the manager put the money into his pocket.

23:47He left the apartment complex and he walked back to the restaurant.

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