Bar Pod
Bars are one of the few businesses that don’t let you lie to yourself for very long. The numbers are real. The feedback is immediate. The mistakes are expensive. Bar Pod is a podcast about what it actually takes to build and run bars—and by extension, any small, creative, high-risk business—without the hype, the shortcuts, or the guru nonsense.
Hosted by brothers Ryan and Chad, Bar Pod is a candid, conversational series about ownership, operations, and the long game of building something that lasts. Ryan handles the day-to-day reality of running multiple bar and hospitality concepts, while Chad brings the perspective of someone balancing bartending, ownership, and family life. Together, they talk through real decisions, real mistakes, and real lessons learned the hard way.
This isn’t a how-to manual and it’s not a highlight reel. It’s an honest look at what works, what doesn’t, and why most good ideas live or die on execution. Episodes explore everything from finances and branding to staffing, burnout, risk tolerance, and knowing when to push—or when to walk away.
Bars are just the lens. The lessons apply to anyone who’s started a business, thought about starting one, bought a building, managed people, taken on risk, or tried to design a life with more freedom and fewer illusions.
Bar Pod is thoughtful, practical, occasionally irreverent, and grounded in experience. If you care about building things in the real world—and doing it without pretending it’s easy—pull up a stool.
Bar Pod
Park Like a Gentleman — S3 Begins.
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
You ever notice how the smallest things give people away? We start with a hot take that turns into a surprisingly useful rule: you can tell a lot about someone by how they park. From there, the conversation sprawls the way it should when you’re posted up at the bar, from fall routines and bourbon to why door dings feel personal when you actually care about your car, and even a quick detour into paintless dent removal.
Then we get into real bar owner life. Weather is not background noise when your business depends on being outside, so we talk El Nino, humidity, hurricane season, and why “too hot” can crush outdoor bar traffic. We also dig into restaurant and bar social media marketing, the flood of AI-generated content, and why leaning on it too hard makes your brand feel fake. We’re not anti-AI, but we are pro-voice and pro-human, especially when customers can smell a copy-and-paste post from a mile away.
The back half is pure behind-the-scenes: staffing shortages, Chipotle chaos, the emotional labor of bartending, and the unglamorous problems that keep owners up at night like a keg cooler freezing over and needing a hairdryer at 11:30 pm. Along the way we swap travel plans (Traverse City, New England, breweries), float the idea of a budget winter car challenge, and close with a Guardians game recap that includes a foul ball wiping out a kid’s nachos.
If you like candid bar stories, small-town observations, and practical takes on the service industry, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who lives for bar talk, and leave a review so more people can find us. What topic should we chase next time?
Cold Open And Season Three Reset
SPEAKER_02Ready to go. What song is that? Oochie wale wale. What is that?
SPEAKER_01What is that from? Oochie wale bang bang? I don't know. That's from a song somewhere. I don't know what that is, dude. It is. I'm telling you right now, it's from a song. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Can't believe T Dub doesn't know it. I don't know what you don't know what that's.
SPEAKER_01T Dub are you gonna are you gonna fire up here and have you know jump in on this side?
SPEAKER_03I'm rolling right now.
SPEAKER_01You're rolling stone, bro. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Fine, fine. Did you smoke a joint before you got in?
SPEAKER_04Ryanan chun. Two buggers in the bug.
SPEAKER_05Bob coming at you.
SPEAKER_01Hey, here we are. It is he was into it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I like that. Fire up. Like fire up.
SPEAKER_01We got Lauren Michaels back there, I think. He always kind of reminds me of Letterman, actually, if TW does. This is season three, but you should get a big old beard. Oh, he's still going like uh Letterman does.
SPEAKER_03Can't go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you can. You'd be fine. Um okay, here we are. Season three, episode one, and uh everybody's probably wondering why there's all of a sudden season three, and it's episode one.
SPEAKER_02You yeah, you just kind of fired that up. It's it's it's really because we just wanted it to.
SPEAKER_01Well, we took a week off. Yeah. We took a week off. That's why uh we were off last week, and we are going to continue to do the show every two weeks. Um Fall's here. We're still busy. Chad's got kids' stuff. I got the new bar when Baby Use. We're standing busy. So we're gonna maybe make the episodes a touch longer, but we're gonna record them every two weeks so we can get more content.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you know, here's the thing. This thing also, that's just what I want to do. This thing is uh very loose when it comes to uh you know how we run it. So if every if all of a sudden a month or two months rolls by and we're like we need to go back to weekly, we can do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, maybe. Who knows? Who knows what will happen. You know, winter, I hate to say it, but fall and winter are looming. Fall and winter are looming.
SPEAKER_02But I'm I uh we I don't want to are we just starting off with weather? Yeah, that's what we're doing. You don't have to start with weather. We could, we could. I uh I'm ready for I'm ready for some oh boy. Did you see this large wasp thing? That's a large wasp. That's because the door's been open all day here. I know deliveries. I know that you're a big fan, and it's if it's basic as the as they say. I I want a pumpkin spice, I don't care. Oh, I'm ready, I'm ready.
SPEAKER_01I want a PSL, but yeah, so do I.
SPEAKER_02I don't care.
SPEAKER_01I don't care what anybody says. By the way, speaking of fall things, we're drinking bourbon right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that was your choice.
SPEAKER_01And I just buffalo, it's nice, isn't it? And see, I like drinking them out of a like a wine glass, a stemless wine glass. Well, it gives you some it gives you
Fall Vibes And Parking Pet Peeves
SPEAKER_01a little bit more wasp.
SPEAKER_03You're a trendsetter.
SPEAKER_01It's it's actually I don't know about that. Drinking bourbon before noon sounds weird until you do it. Okay, uh hey, here we go. Let's get going on some things. I noticed something the other day.
SPEAKER_02What do you got?
SPEAKER_01I got a you can tell someone's an asshole by the way they park. They'll just jump right into it, huh? Have you ever noticed that? I uh I I'm not gonna say where, but I see a certain person park every day. Um, and they just you know, they they take up a half of a spot. The wheel is all heck, you know, they just fly in there and jump out like a maniac.
SPEAKER_02Park like a fucking gentleman and a lady. The the yeah, the the the half spot thing, if you park with a line going down the middle of your car, yeah, I can't stand that.
SPEAKER_01You're a dick.
SPEAKER_02Now, granted, now this isn't is it's not considered what I do. What was that noise?
SPEAKER_01Oh, he was opening the last-oh, he's got the he's got the other camera out. Yeah, he's doing some shots. Wow. 4K. Okay. Uh so production value is off the charts. Yeah, well, and also, so with parking, and you know, you and I like to take care of our vehicles. I park, I park way out. So no matter how far I park, but it's funny when I come out and the parking lot empty and somebody parks right now because they're it's a lemming thing.
SPEAKER_02And they're drawn to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're drawn to it like a light bulb. So I I would argue when people parking of lemmings my intersection again.
SPEAKER_03Can I talk about it later?
SPEAKER_01You're you're talking shrub road? And 250. Where you turn left on the strobe? Well, we're on the cars already.
SPEAKER_03Well, you're talking about lemmings.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You go in that the left-hand lane, we have 20 cars. Nobody goes in the right lane. Nobody goes in the right hand.
SPEAKER_02Everybody's afraid of merging. Shh, they're really tough. And nobody I love flying in the right lane on me. Me too.
SPEAKER_01Boot it right. And I'll be just blast right by there.
SPEAKER_02That's real nice. Um, but yeah, parking. I you know what else? I park far out too because I don't want door dings. I can't stand well, they're the door dings. I can't stand door dings. You look down the side of your car and it's all beautiful, and then there's a I'm training myself on a little PDL.
SPEAKER_01Huh? Paintless dent removal? Oh, that's PDR. I'm sorry, PDL. PSL to PDR. Not just PDR.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01PDL? You could no, I like What's that mean?
SPEAKER_02Public Ur? No. Are you sure?
SPEAKER_01Are you uh abbreviated just because just for fun? That's well, it's that's what they it's a whole thing. I've been watching videos on the internet on how to do it. So it's uh it's you know, PDR. I want to. Pumpkin dent lot today. I'm gonna I'm gonna learn how to take dents up. Well, you I like that. You know what? You'll like it when you get a dent in your car and I'd fucking charge it. I like that.
SPEAKER_02Charge me, god dang it. Are you gluing it or how's it work?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's the glue stuff, and you pull it out and you got a light that shows you the lines and stuff. I I'm I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna go grab an old fender from a junkyard and practice on it. You're a man of many hats, aren't you? I you know, I try to be. I tried to be.
SPEAKER_02I like that. Um I heard it I uh and I'll bust this out just because I heard it yesterday and it made me laugh. I saw a quote that somebody said, just to sum up life in general, it's pretty dark actually, but it's it made me laugh. You're born, um, you watch pants go from baggy to skinny back to baggy every 10 years, and then you die. Where that's the that's the full your your life cycle is based on pants.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's pretty dark.
SPEAKER_02Isn't it? It is dark, but it made me laugh because I was like, you know what? That's kind of true. Like, it is kind of true. They go from skinny to baggy, skinny to baggy uh every uh every 10 or 15 years. And that's pretty much that's the that's the life cycle.
SPEAKER_01We got a little project called Holy Shirts and Pants. Holy shirts and pants.
SPEAKER_02Don't make us to don't make us out to be saints just yet. We do turn a bit of profit. What movie? Oh come on, wedding crashers. Wedding crashers, there you go.
SPEAKER_03What about bell bottoms? They fit in there somewhere. I've those are bell bottoms.
SPEAKER_01I've seen those around once in a while. You're considered baggie.
SPEAKER_02We're tight right now.
SPEAKER_01We're tight right now, tight pants are back. And now if you notice on on shorts, that you know the dudes are wearing short shorts. Bro. I got a couple pairs and I I like them, but I'm worried about it.
SPEAKER_02You moved to the short shorts. You're gonna lose a piece out of the bottom.
SPEAKER_01I'm worried. I'll be sitting down, somebody's gonna get some bubblegum, you know. You don't want it.
SPEAKER_06Jeez.
SPEAKER_01Oh, bat wing. You know, you don't want you don't want that.
SPEAKER_02Oh, twig and giggleberries coming out the bottom. You'll be sitting there, next thing you know, that's just kind of taking out coming out for a peek. You know who started that? LeBron James is the one who started that. He started the whole deal. He started wearing short shorts on the basketball court, and then everybody, then it moved to fashion, and now dudes are wearing like super short shorts.
SPEAKER_01Fads are amazing how they work. You know, that reminds me of another fad. So on uh, of course, everybody's drinking Mick Ultra because of landman, right? And then, but he also the truck he drives is like uh is that like uh flat tan. Flat tan? The color is flat tan. Oh actually, kind of like the bar, like this color. Like the bar pod color. Like a beige? And yeah, like a beige. And so not everybody. Those trucks are everywhere. You know, they say taupe. They say taupe is very soothing. They look taupe is very soothing. What what movie is that? Come on. I don't know that. I'm off on that. Taupe is very soothing. Oh shit. Uh, that is a oceans. Oh. That is an oceans, that is an oceans 11. Well done. Oh, that was tough. Well, but they say tope is Brad Pitt. They say taupe is very soothing.
SPEAKER_03But you're right, you're seeing colors of the vehicles very flat. I mean, I I don't I don't like them. I don't hate them. I don't hate them.
SPEAKER_02Now, you but here here's now speaking of T Dub back there as a you know original um drag racer, yes, I would say. Yeah back then cars were bright colors.
SPEAKER_03Bright colors, metal flake was metal flake, and we've got bass boats.
SPEAKER_02So I'm I'm I'm okay. Bass boats, potato chips, potato chips with motors. You gotta you gotta uh you gotta we kind of work movie quotes into this because we always like
El Nino Forecast And Bar Weather
SPEAKER_02toss them through there. We have a little uh weather, a little El Nino note.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so uh as I'm paying attention to weather, you know, we love weather around here. Um apparently we are going into a super El Nino cycle. So is that like a Spanish superhero? It's super El Nino and Nacho Chip. It's kidding. Um what it it's uh it's something to do that's terrible with the with the uh with the the temperature, the the Pacific versus the ambient temp and all that. And I guess I guess the the um the um the the gap is big this year. So usually after an El Nino winter, you get like a crazy hot summer. You got some messages or you got check? That's more important here. No, no, no. Listen.
SPEAKER_02That's why we're watching Listen. I got a lot going on today. I'll get back to your El Nino. I got I got foster had a haircut this morning. We got uh we have bar pot, of course. Um I've got I've got we're leaving for vacation tomorrow for the kids. Is it tomorrow you're leaving? We'll talk about that later, but yeah. But then I've got uh roll into their school to drop off everything and do a little open house for their both classrooms. So there's a lot going on, you know, a lot of a lot of fall, fall activities. All right, well, thanks for the update. You're welcome.
SPEAKER_01Uh so what's El Nino? Back to El Nino for here. Um okay, so uh for uh it means uh the hurricane season could be dicey. You know, we saw Hawaii already got a hurricane. Jesus. It snowed in Hawaii. I saw that hurricane. I saw that out of skied that shit. Yeah. Um winter in Ohio, classic El Nino is warmer and drier in Ohio, which we do not like. No, no, uh wetter across the south and the east. Uh potentially more snow in the west, which I do like. Yeah, that's good. Um but what it means for us next summer is a potential for a very hot, record-breaking heat index. I don't want that. And I don't like that. And that's and it's funny because you know, we we have bars that are based on being outside. There is such a thing as too hot.
SPEAKER_02Oh, dude.
SPEAKER_01But well, I mean, if I give me mid-70s.
SPEAKER_02Anything, I've always said this, and I said the same thing when I worked at Put in Bay, anything above uh really like 92 degrees, and you start to see negative effects on an outdoor bar business.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's even a little less. It's probably less. And humidity is a big is a big uh big point. Um, but it'll be interesting to see what that does this winter. Um, you know, drier, easier weather, people come out. Although there's always when you get a good snowstorm, good, you know, people like to come out during a snowstorm. Snowstorm parties are fun. Yeah, they're awesome. Like we will, yeah. Anytime there's gonna be a substantial snowstorm, we'll open, unless it's January, because we'll be skiing. See, now I see now I I I know it's against the grain here for most people, but man, I love inclement weather. I I'm into it. I agree. I love it with you. I love it. I love it. I like it. I'm a little concerned we're gonna be stuck inside here soon, all the time, with the inclement weather that's coming. What? Just based on temps warming up.
SPEAKER_02We got flies coming for us.
SPEAKER_00There's so many bugs down here.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I gotta do something.
SPEAKER_01God damn jackass.
SPEAKER_02There it is. There it is. Oh, he's got every time there's a fly, you gotta bring up.
SPEAKER_01That's weather news. I got one more thing before we get into a little bar news.
TikTok Negativity And A Great Burger
SPEAKER_01Okay, let's hear it. I saw this guy on TikTok. He goes by Midwest Traveler. Okay. He was shitting on Sandusky, Ohio. Ah, boy. And so he's he he he definitely looks like the type of fellow that lives in his mom's basement. Like he's down, he was down on Columbus Avenue taking video of Columbus in the morning, or like when there's nobody, he's like, There's nobody around, it's a ghost town. Bro, that same night, like it was party at the pier, it was rocking, there were, you know, freaking 12,000 people down there. Don't so but I but I I I some people did a little dive into the guy.
SPEAKER_00Oh boy.
SPEAKER_01Uh pretty much all of his reviews are negative. So he's just one of those guys that's doing it for clicks. So hey, Midwest traveler, why don't you click this?
SPEAKER_02I like that.
SPEAKER_01Make it too.
SPEAKER_02Let's go. Pop on down here and give us a bad review, Pat. Pop on down. Oh no, that sucks.
SPEAKER_01Why dude? I was just talking. I hate that negative shit. Uh you know, and I would argue that there's you can find cool things anywhere. In the morning, I put me down in the middle of some some town in the middle of Iowa, and I bet you I can figure out how to have a good time.
SPEAKER_02Pop me down at eight o'clock in the morning down to Mr. Smith's there for a coffee in there. That's a that place is jamming in the morning.
SPEAKER_01So that guy can take a also, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Take a long walk off a shortcut.
SPEAKER_01Go back to your mom's basement and freaking turn on your freaking switch and be quiet. That's about as funny as a screen door on a battleship. It's submarine. You sound like an idiot when you say it like that. That's back to the future. Okay. So that's that. Um yeah, I didn't like that guy. Pissed me off. He sounds like he sucks. I have been watching uh I'll tell you what, this guy's killing it. What? Uh burger review guy.
SPEAKER_02Oh, he crushes.
SPEAKER_01All right, you guys. All right, you guys. He just got back from Florida. I saw it. Checking him out. So I had a burger um over at Sidetracks on Barrett Road the other day.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So Sidetrax, of course, is between here and Bayview. So I'm driving that a lot. Let's go over to Teeks. And I want to tell you. Yeah, I like that burger. That was a fantastic burger. So it was it was the bun was done right. The bartender over there, too. And it's the bartender that cooks it. So he was bartending and cooking burgers. Impressive. Can you get them there for a burger?
SPEAKER_02They go old school too. Can't you get like fried mushrooms and stuff with it?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, yeah. I had a mushroom one. Yeah. It was like a mushroom. Remember the mushroom secretary's? It was like that. That reminds me of Terry's, yeah. I recommend that for um for you. Okay, let's move on to bar, restaurant stuff,
AI Overload And Data Center Backlash
SPEAKER_01industry stuff. Probably a good idea. Um people need to chill out on the AI slot. It is every post of all the it's just it's just like let's post things, let's use AI. I yes, AI, I use it. I helps write our script. You know things like, but like sure, everything is just obviously AI, and I think you're losing customers by doing that too much. Too much, yes. People are just like, oh, there's another one. It's wild wacky Wednesday.
SPEAKER_02I've moved on. If you notice, the last uh my last five posts on Paddlebar for music have been me. Yeah. Not anything AI related. And I'm not saying don't use AI once in a while.
SPEAKER_01It's a useful tool, it can do logos and things, but like just pure basic AI just because you're because you don't have time to do it. I don't think it's a good idea.
SPEAKER_02You lose you lose the individual voice when you're using that stuff too much. Yeah. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I guess there's a page out there called Know Your Meme. Know your meme. So you know if it's AI or not.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's already uh the all the so a lot of the social media um uh units. What? They're they're units uh platforms, they're detecting whether it's AI or not, so they they let the Well and they're probably gonna limit you, let you know, and all that.
SPEAKER_01And like I just you know, I just I just think that uh it once again though, it can be helpful for like I use so many things and it's great, but just take it easy with the AI stuff. It's pretty obvious that that's not your bar in the background and it's some AI shot of something in you know the Caribbean and things like that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and who's the dude or someone's going around taking pictures of towns and they're not even the picture of the town?
SPEAKER_01Oh, so that's a lot of AI generated stuff for clicks, so they try to get ads and stuff on so yeah, you're getting like these fake articles and they're wrong, and if the towns don't look right, yeah, that's silly. Yeah, but you know it's funny. You know what's funny is this just brings up AI. We gotta put down the damn phones for a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, this just brings up a larger thing that's happening. Trend is the a the push against AI right now is actually kind of crazy. It's people are there's there's people saying in politics right now, they'll cross party lines if the other party is against AI and data centers.
SPEAKER_01AI, uh, you know, here's here's here this might be the good thing about AI.
SPEAKER_02You ready for this? It's gonna bring human beings together.
SPEAKER_01It's gonna bring us back together because everybody, I don't care what side of the political spectrum on, you don't like data centers. Except for uh a certain guy that's running for governor, he loves data centers, but everybody else really doesn't like data. Um yeah, nobody likes data centers. I think that uh that's a good good way to get people together. We don't like them. I like that. Do them if you're gonna do data centers. I'm not saying there's not an opportunity to do them, because uh there's been some ways to to do a data center properly, yeah. Make sure that money goes back into the community, use solar power, use you know, alternate, you know, don't just make it hotter and another super duper ill niño. Anyway, that's the rant on. Goddamn robots, Jack. You have in here something about I just watched T2 the other day, by the way. Oh, wait a minute. Revisit that. That's that's not that's not T2? Which one's that? No, that's iRobot. That's Will Smith. Oh, I don't want you know that's that's all that much. I after Will Smith slapped the shit out of Chris Rock. I still think it was fake. I kind of lost my taste for Will Smith. I still think it was fake.
SPEAKER_02Ed's having a tough time with the flies back. He was really getting jiggy with it. He was getting jiggy with it. Welcome to Miami. Um, Chad Tripoli
Chipotle Problems And The Chuck Shick Story
SPEAKER_02revisit? Oh, listen to this. We always like Tripwire. This is you revisit, huh? Yeah, we always like Tripoli revisits. Amber went the other day. She texted me on the way back from work and said, What do you think about Tripoli for dinner? I go, you know what? Yeah. It's been a couple weeks. Let's do it. Okay. I get a text later that said, there's a sign on the door that says, sorry, online dining room closed, online visit, online orders only.
SPEAKER_01Lack of employees.
SPEAKER_02So you couldn't I or their or their square system was down, or I don't know. Other system was down, who knows? Uh but yeah, online, so so so no.
SPEAKER_01Uh you know, I have heard uh because I used to love Chipotle, I have heard that our local Chipotle is more of the problem, and there's a Chipotle, I think, in is it Norwalk? That's really good.
SPEAKER_02That's really good. I will say this. Since then though, I went in yesterday. I was so since we I wrote that note down. I went in yesterday and had a pretty good experience. Yeah. It was there was no line, everything happened quickly, people were friendly. So maybe they're maybe they're trying to change a little bit. But the the thing at the sign of the door was kind of hilarious. Oh, here's a here's our dining room. Sorry, you can't order.
SPEAKER_01I uh only from your I have to use a fake name uh when I order Chipotle after all of our segments about Chipotle. Are you? I used I use Chuck Shick. Chuck Shick. Caddy Shack. Very nice. Thank you. That reminds me of a story.
SPEAKER_02Wow. What do you got?
SPEAKER_01Quick one. Quick one. I don't know if I use Chuck Shick or Frank Malone, but um it was um this was a college story. Quick College story. Oh, I know where you're quick college story. You ever heard this one, Dad? Don't know yet, have it. Might have led me to my PR career because this was in college as a Boeing Green. If you recall, Boeing Green celebrates St. Patrick's Day. They go big. Yeah. People party and they get up early. The bars open at like 5 a.m. party. And uh so I was went to the bars at 5 a.m. because that's what you do as a 22-year-old or whatever I was. Um and it was a beautiful, it was a beautiful one of those one of those St. Patrick's Days where it's like 70 degrees and so everybody is jamming. Yeah. And um in class the next day, uh, young lady next to me says, I thought your name was Ryan. And I'm like, It is. And she goes, Really? Oh, because you were on the news last night and your name was Chuck Shick. You were on Toledo 11. And I was like, What? And apparently I did a uh interview about how the about the party scene in Bowling Green with a reporter outside of BW3s while you were blackout drunk. While I was blackout drunk, apparently that's it was a great interview. I nailed it. Yeah, three sheets to the wind. Three sheets lit up like a Christmas. I kind of seen it. I kind of I kind of remembered it after she reminded me, but uh yeah. That's hilarious. Chuck Shick. Chuck Shick. I don't know. I think it was Chuck Shick was the word I used. Or it could have been Frank Malone because one of my go-to's was Chip Whitley.
SPEAKER_02Chip Whitley. That's a good one. Chip Whitley. Do you remember you do you really? Do you remember in Breckenridge when I was out? We we got we had another fun uh St. Paddy's Day celebration. I was out doing backflips off the rock in front of the Breckenridge, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because I we used to always take work off that day. Yeah, you were.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you did a backflip in our side yard and cut the hell out of your foot. That's when I got it, but I got you.
SPEAKER_02Why don't you try one older? I don't think that works.
SPEAKER_01What about in the water? You think I can still pull one off? Oh, in the water?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just on standing ground. I don't think I could do it anymore.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like so that so the poly thing is probably kitchen shortages, which is a real thing. I think people are having those problems. Having a hard time finding people. Uh it's tough. It's tough. It's tough out there. We lucked out, we got good staff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we have great staff. Yeah, good good staff.
SPEAKER_01We have great staff good good people. Um yeah. Yeah. What else you want to talk about? For sure.
SPEAKER_02Drop some Volstead
The Emotional Labor Of Bartending
SPEAKER_02update.
SPEAKER_01I'll tell you what, I am uh I'm getting fed on my algorithms, uh, service industry and bartender stuff all the time. I like that. And it's hilarious. I like that. But I did see one the other day that talked about as a bartender, the emotional labor of being a bartender. Because not only you're you're making drinks, yeah, you're trying to assess everything like, okay, uh, I'm, you know, I just made that drink, I gotta make sure I'm ready for that guy. That guy's tabs over there. Yeah. Uh she's gonna need uh espresso martini, not at paddle, though. Um and um, oh, I've been talking to him about his problem that we're talking about. Um oh, I got a smile for this guy, emotional support person over here. Oh shit, I need ice. Oh no, the the Tito's just ran out. All these things. This is why bartenders go dark at the end of it.
SPEAKER_02And that's that's why a lot of bartenders and service service industry workers want a beer or something right after their shift because they're they're they're they're just melting. It's hard to land the plane. Well, yeah, you have to be the master. There's a lot of things. You have to be the master of a 30-second conversation. There's a reason why.
SPEAKER_01And read it too. Read it if that person wants a 30-second conversation or just wants a drink, and you know, it's reading that reason.
SPEAKER_02I got to experience firsthand when I first moved to Denver after Steamboat. Uh remember I worked at uh a recruitment place. Oh, yeah. I was a recruiter. You love that job, by the way. God despised it. Anyway, uh it just like we've talked about before, um, for a lot of sales jobs, a lot of other a lot of jobs in general, um, they want you. They wanted me then. Can't a little overheat there, but yeah, it's a little warm in here. Yeah, it is. They wanted me looking for people that had bartending experience. Oh, it makes sense. Sure. Because they're they're you know, usually quick-witted, um, you know, able to run in a fast-paced environment, etc. So, but yeah, you're right. It's there's a lot to it, bud. All right. The and that's aristocrat of the working.
SPEAKER_01And the aristocrat, which uh the cocktail. Well done. Well done. Cocktail. Um coglins. Yeah, that's true. That's why I I after a after a long shift, which I don't do as many as I used to, uh more on the more on the You got it? Infrastructure and things. We gotta get I tell you what, and here's what I'm sick of too, this time of year, is the goddamn flies and spiders. I did deep dive on spiders. I'm sidetracking here. But do you know why you see spiders so much this time? Have you noticed that this time of year the spiders are everywhere? You're always walking. You're always walking through um Bugs Life is a great movie. Uh you're always walking through spider webs. Always. So spiders this time of year is when newly born, newly hatched spiders that hatched early summer can start to see. So they start to travel.
SPEAKER_06Start to see.
SPEAKER_01They start to move more. And it's breeding season, so the males are out there looking for a piece.
SPEAKER_05Oh. Damn.
SPEAKER_01So that's why spiders are that's why you're always walk-you ever notice you're always walking to a spider web this time of year? Whether you're inside or outside, one's already getting you on the face.
SPEAKER_02Oh, here it is. You're telling me there's 16 legs right now. Just boom.
SPEAKER_01Well, and spiders are everywhere. When the when spiders have 16 legs, boom. I'm just like, never mind.
SPEAKER_03I got Bip Bow one the other day. Oh, my right arm.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that takes it swelled up like a balloon. All right, all right. Now we're really going all over the place. Let me tell you about arm problems. Yeah. I got tennis elbow.
SPEAKER_00Has anybody had spinning out of control has anybody ever had? Have you ever had it? Yes, I have. It's horrible. Last little like eat tennis elbow. Oh, yeah. It hurts so bad. Me too. I mean, right now this is a pain.
SPEAKER_01If anybody knows any good cures for tennis elbow other than bourbon, somebody told you about something, right? Noon on a Wednesday.
SPEAKER_02John tell you about something you got.
SPEAKER_01I got a little thing that I wrap around it and I try all these things. It kind of works.
Spiders, Flies, Tennis Elbow, And Boogers
SPEAKER_01That's what the bourbon is for. Um, let's see, where are we at here? We got uh people are gross. That's probably just a general why do people wipe wipe boogers on walls and bathrooms?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you had a booger situation there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I repainted. What? Yeah, people like to wipe boogers on the calls. I don't know why people do that. And it was just heavy hit. Usually we don't have that. And you know, it's not, it's a it's a dudes do it. There's no way it females, it's a guy thing that picked, but you think so?
SPEAKER_02Girls are a little bit more than you think.
SPEAKER_01I like to, yeah. All right. I mean, I will uh we love them. Uh I've been dreaming of coolers. Oh, because of the one you the problem. I got the one over at Teaks, which keeps uh it's and I figured out the problem. I think I have it solved, but like I'm waking up in the middle of the night thinking about bar coolers. That's not good.
SPEAKER_02Now I will say though, you you fixed the one here when we had the same problem, similar problem. You know, put the little you put the little computer fan in there.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, yeah. So this one's keeping up. So but over there, since it's there's no air conditioning at all, I get them. I can't. You're not, you're not. I'm about to ruin my mic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So so for how do listeners and viewers, right? These are the these are the fun little bar stories that you wouldn't think of or know about unless you were unless you were here. When we first opened this bar, our bar, our keg cooler back in the main bar was overheating all the time. And what that means is it freezes, and then all of a sudden you come here one day and it's 58 degrees, and your beer is you can't pour it, right? So our particular cooler um was doing that here, and Ryan figured out that it wasn't getting enough air pushed through the fan. Right. So he installed a little fan. Mr. Fixit, they use it, he used a computer fan, and now it's been working wonderfully ever since four years. And now he's having the same problem at TEAKS, except for TEKS is
Keg Cooler Fixes And After Hours Chaos
SPEAKER_02inside, of course, it's inside a building, but it's not air controlled here, right? Like here. So it's having the same issue, but it's worse.
SPEAKER_01So these are the little things that just drive you crazy. So I'm now venting the building, but I have also found a Did you put a fan, uh vent fan? Yeah, doing that. Uh, but then I found an apparatus. It's a it's a separate apparatus that will turn off the cooling system, but leave the fans running for like two hours every night, and it'll and that'll melt it. So that's what I'm trying to do. Because the the stock, that's what the that's what the cooler does when it defrosts itself, yeah, but it's just not enough. He I sent him, he sent me a I said, I sent him a text up, I think, on Monday.
SPEAKER_02I believe on Monday, and I was like, Ryan, what's going on? This is it looks like Paddle you know did well, blah, blah, blah. It was like 11:30 at night. Sent me a photo back of him inside the keg cooler with a hairdryer melting the ice.
SPEAKER_0111 30 on a Friday night.
SPEAKER_02I was already in bed. What did it say? It just said I hate bars.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, what's the next note here? It says Zach the Midwest Traveler douche. I think we covered that. Oh, that's him, huh? Yeah. I guess his name is Zach. That makes sense. That adds up. Where's Zack? Without him. Yeah. Tack him back around. That would be increase the cheap. That would be more wedding cards. These flies are gonna drive me fucking crazy. Yeah. I'm done with summer. I'm done. I'm done with bugs and all the things that I'm done with it. We still haven't even got into wasp season yet.
SPEAKER_03It's just starting now.
SPEAKER_01Wasp? White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. I thought you were talking, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Show about random white people.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, you guys are finally coming around.
SPEAKER_02I've always been the winter guy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you Chad, you've had it nailed forever. And I've just kind of faked myself because Dad over here could live on the surface of the sun and be perfect.
SPEAKER_02No, he's coming around now.
SPEAKER_01I'm coming around. This is why I spent so much time in Colorado. I like if I could wear a hoodie every night outside, I'd be I'd be per I'd be set.
SPEAKER_03I'm really looking forward to snow trips.
SPEAKER_01I'd have done well in northern Michigan.
SPEAKER_02Oh my goodness.
A Late Night Vietnam Vet Story
SPEAKER_02What? I just found out. So there's a note in here that says lollipop. Now you got it? Oh, I remember. It's a little explicit. I'll try to. The lollipop club? The lollipop club? Yeah, you would do with the ice cream and movie that. Oh, come on. Wolf of Wall Street. You know, we had a smoke to join, had a couple of some ice cream.
SPEAKER_01Fucking flies are everywhere.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they are.
SPEAKER_00How do they have so many, so much bigger?
SPEAKER_02I've got a B situation at home right now. Oh, I know. You're a wee. We got a real B. So the Lollipop guy. You've you've also this actually wraps it wrapped this with a little bow here. Um, you put a note down about put your phones down at the bar to pay attention to each other, right? Which I agree with. That's awesome. Um I'm showing ice on the mic sorry. Friday night. Yeah, don't do that. ASMR. Friday night. Wait, wait. All right. Is that right? ASMR.
SPEAKER_03ASMR. What's the name of it?
SPEAKER_02It's a weird trend in social media where you make you you you like crumple bottles.
SPEAKER_01Auditory. Is that a word? Oh auditory. People like listen to things like zippers opening and closing, or you like when you're scratching on a food review person, it's how they it's like they unwrap the burger and like so it crinkles.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's just fucking stupid.
SPEAKER_02I would agree. Yes. Anyway, sorry, go back to the lollipop guy. Um whatever that means. Friday night, uh, dude, I was cleaning and gentleman kind of hung out late, and he was a Vietnam vet. Okay. And he had some really cool stories. So, man, while I was cleaning, you know, it was an hour past closing. That lives across the street? Yeah. Oh yeah. It was past closing. He only comes in once in a while. Yeah, no, he's nice. He drinks NA's, actually.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh, nope, different guy. Oh, different guy. Oh, that guy drives a GTI. He does. Oh, I know that guy. He's got a sailboat. He does.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's a good dude. Super good dude. And so I'm just listening to stories about Vietnam and uh this place called, I think it was a longpo in Subic Bay. And he's talking about, we were talking about how things are different, you know, and he went he was 18 years old when he went to Vietnam. Sure. And so this is a kid from, you know, Ohio. I think he might have been from somewhere else in the Midwest then. But he basically was talking about how he had zero experience with anything. And then he goes to Vietnam. And he said one of the first things that happened when he got off the the the ship is he went into Subic Bay, a longpo. I don't know where that is in Vietnam, but anyway. And you're probably not saying it right now. I'm probably not. I'm probably not. But he said there were, you know, the the military had basically you know took over this town. And so there were a lot of um um American-ish bars and things. Yeah. And he said this one bar, do I have it in here? It was called The California Club. The California Club. He said one of the first things that he saw as an 18-year-old kid when he went to the California Club, this is phenomenal. He said there were dancers, Vietnamese dancers, and they would line up lollipops on the ground and bend down and pick them up if you catch my drift. No. Oh, and then they'd all get up at the same time, pull the lollipop out, and give it to the guys, the the the Vietnam soldiers.
SPEAKER_03No, the soldiers.
SPEAKER_02And he said, he was basically he was basically like, you could imagine my face.
SPEAKER_01This is inappropriate content.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it is, but uh, I think I said it in a way that uh is not so yeah, you kept it uh jeez. He told that story. He said that's one of the first things that he saw when he got off the boat and had a night off.
SPEAKER_01That's kind of like when I got off the boat uh going on the Key West, and the first thing I saw was Fantasy Fest. Very similar situation.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. So that's the lollipop guy.
SPEAKER_01There it is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. He didn't do that, did he? Oh I believe.
SPEAKER_01I believe Chad's the inappropriate one in this episode.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he is. Well, I'm just repeating a story with a little with a little extra ASMR. Uh so yeah, tied it all back up. I don't know how to transition out of that.
SPEAKER_03And a bow.
SPEAKER_01You're 31 minutes, by the way.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, listen to people at the bar. It's fun to go.
SPEAKER_01I got 31 minutes too. I timed it as well. It's fun, it's fun to take the stories are great. That's why I've always said that um, you know, listening to people at the bar, and that's why bars in general are one of the best places to hang out because you learn so much.
The Budget Car Challenge Returns
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh, by the way, uh, people have been asking if we're gonna do the car thing this winter. Do we I'm in? I'm in too. Do we do that? We have to take him, though, because we need a professional videographer to follow us.
SPEAKER_03Well, do we do that tough with a game of the week, you know?
SPEAKER_01Basketball. You can find somebody to do a game of the week for the five years. We would just it wouldn't be five days. You can okay. It'd be fine.
SPEAKER_03Count me in. Five days. Wait, we'll do it afterwards.
SPEAKER_01You can't do it in five days, can you? However long it takes, we might it might only last a day. Why don't we just wrap it in? You might not make it to Chicago. Yeah, that's a good point. Well, we could do it after uh after football, before basketball.
SPEAKER_02Not if you're gonna grab a Bonneville, it's not gonna work past Chicago or whatever you plan on grabbing. A Grand Marquee.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna that's what I want. Grand Marquee. I want I want a big American car.
SPEAKER_03That's what I want for for the What's the line from Blues Brothers?
SPEAKER_02Oh, uh it's Cop Shocks, Cop Engine. No, no, it's it's I got half a pack of cigarettes. Yeah, it's dark outside. We're wearing sunny glasses.
SPEAKER_01Is it 100 miles to Chicago or is it 500 miles? It's a hundred. I don't remember. Full tank of gas, half pack of cigarettes, Stark Wars sunglasses. Hit it. Hit it, yeah. Hit it. That's a great point. Hit it. Good movie. Yeah. Uh so anyway, a lot of people have been asking about that. Uh, we kind of put it out there, so I think we have to do it. I like it.
SPEAKER_02That's my opinion. I like it. Um what was the budget again? How much do we have to spend on the car?
SPEAKER_01Three.
SPEAKER_023,000 or 2,000?
SPEAKER_01Was it three or two thousand?
SPEAKER_02We'll have to check the archives. We're gonna have to also, yeah. It'd be cheating if we went and looked and see how we gotta we gotta decide on a budget. We can't do research before and say, oh, we found cars for around this. It's gotta be like a budget and then you go find it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you gotta do that. That's gotta be part of the show, like of you going to find the cars.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I love it.
SPEAKER_01There's a new grand tour coming out, by the way. Is there really? Yes. I love that show. I've been re-watching that actually.
SPEAKER_02I got uh you're
Upcoming Trips And Brewery Plans
SPEAKER_02heading up to Travers City? I got a couple trips coming up tomorrow. Uh we like to take the kids up to Michigan before we go to school on Tuesday. Yeah. So our school starts. So we're going to Traverse City. Yeah. Um, we've never spent some time up there. I'm excited to go sleep in Bear Dunes. Anybody who sees this before we go or or you know, tomorrow or whatever, and wants to throw something in the comments of something I should do, do it. Yep. Um, please. But yeah, we're excited. We're going up there with kids. It'll be fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Travis City's fun.
SPEAKER_02Are there any breweries up there that need to go to? Oh, yeah, there's a bunch of breweries around there.
SPEAKER_03What fruit is uh Traverse City known for? Cherries. Very good, right?
SPEAKER_01Oh, that came that was quick. I uh well, I spent a lot of time. You know, McKenzie and I make our trip every fall to uh you know northern Michigan. So we're we're gonna do that later too. We've done South Haven the last two years, which is awesome.
SPEAKER_02Uh but we wanted to go a little further north as well.
SPEAKER_01Well, they start in Sagatuk.
SPEAKER_02That's a great town.
SPEAKER_01Well, there's a great brewery there, too. Yep. Yep, Sagatuck is.
SPEAKER_02And then and then uh I'm sure you've got some travel coming up too. But I have got it's Amber Knight's 10th anniversary in September. Right. So we're gonna do, we decided on doing a New England trip. We're gonna it's great, dude. We're uh we've now we've we're gonna start in Mystic, Connecticut, and then make our way up and end in Portland, Maine. Portland, Maine. And do like Maine brewing, because that's one of the things that's in Freeport, which is not far out of Portland, halfway. Yeah, half hour north. And then you know where we know we're passing by as well?
SPEAKER_01Narragansett. Oh, you should definitely stop and get grab a Narragansett, grab a cold stuff. Speaking of Narragansett, it's funny how many people try to order those beers and can't say it. Naraga. Can I get one of those Naraga dig we am I saying are we saying it right?
SPEAKER_02It's Narragansett. It's Narganza.
SPEAKER_01It's Narragansett. But I will say it took me a while. I had to do some research to figure it out. Naraga sit. Narra Narga. They make great beer as well. Not gonna work here anymore. Not gonna work here anymore.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, so I'm it we're excited about that trip.
SPEAKER_01Good. Yeah, we're going up that way too. Uh in uh September, we are going to a wedding in Vermont, so we're gonna bump bum around that area. Check out maple syrup in that. Maple syrup and that. Lobstah. Like lobster. Like a little maple syrup behind the ears.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's awesome. Another wedding crap.
SPEAKER_01I just watched it the other day. That's why it's fresh. Anything else? You got going on? You know what? I it felt like a pretty fresh episode. Pretty fresh episode, I think that's right. We didn't he didn't laugh. You got a trivia question for this?
Local Bar Trivia And Pour One Cut ’Em Off
SPEAKER_03Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_01Oh, what do you got?
SPEAKER_03Here, this is an interesting one. I was out to Snyder Collision yesterday, their game of the week sponsor, Tammy Snyder.
SPEAKER_01Notice how he's getting getting his his game of the week in here. Of course, of course.
SPEAKER_03North Coast. He's always fucking pitching, isn't he?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Ultimate sales guy. Anyway, we're talking about out on uh old railroad, by the way.
SPEAKER_03Yes, you're talking about Bayview, antiques and that. And the bar that used to be there was called, of course, uh Lauderdale Inn.
SPEAKER_01Lauderdale Inn. That's where the karate place was, right?
SPEAKER_03Right, but I forgot after it was called the Lauderdale Inn, what was it called?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I don't know. I don't I you got me, man. No clue. What is it?
SPEAKER_00BG Breeze. BG Breeze?
SPEAKER_01Like who's with the BG samples?
SPEAKER_03I have no idea, but I remember that. What? BG Breeze. Then it became the karate place. Right. Oh, Lauderdale Inn? Had no idea. BG Breeze. Thank you, Tammy.
SPEAKER_02Okay, good, good stuff. Uh okay, here you go. Well, I brought up. Do we have a poor one cut emoff deal? We wanted to keep going with that, didn't we?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. What was that segment? What were we talking about? Poor one cut 'em off. Do you remember? You think about it while I'm asking a trivia question. All right. What was so it's now called Sidetracks. Yes. What were the two names before Sidetrack?
SPEAKER_03One was Hunters. Oh, Hunters.
SPEAKER_01That's the one I remember.
SPEAKER_03One other one. R and R, not R. It was like that.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it was. It was it was a yeah, it was.
SPEAKER_03Not R. That was out on Route 6. It didn't have letters. I mean, it didn't. I mean, it hit.
SPEAKER_02It was something and something, right? Yeah. Oh, you're close. Oh, Fins and Feathers. Nailed it.
SPEAKER_01Because I thought it was a pet store when I was a little kid. Fins and feathers.
SPEAKER_03Fins and feathers.
SPEAKER_01What was the poor one out? Cut him off. Well, I I can I can tell you what. Who? We can bring up the Midwest traveler guy. Oh, cut him off. Cut him off. He's done. You're out, dude. She's done. You're out. If he sees this. I hope he does. I hope he does. He's got like 19,000 followers. Does he really? Yeah, that'll be. He probably. They're all fake.
SPEAKER_03We know if there's a takeaway for me on this episode, it's the lollipop story.
SPEAKER_02Down at Subic Bay. Oh boy. Man.
SPEAKER_01Subic Bay. I can just imagine that guy telling that story.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if they want to know about it. That's fantastic. That was at like 12 30 at night. You know, we're done.
SPEAKER_01It's all dark in here. I'm cleaning things up. You're cleaning things up, and you're getting that story. A late night lollipop.
SPEAKER_03Sound effect. Oh, I can put some sound effects in there, too.
Guardians Game Recap And Closing
SPEAKER_02All right. I think we've had it. Hey, uh, on a last note here, you know I like to I like to talk about the Guardians. The Guardians.
SPEAKER_01I was there last night. Great game.
SPEAKER_02Great game. Yeah. Did you go anywhere else in Cleveland or just hang just go to the game? That's it.
SPEAKER_01No, we didn't. We didn't. We went to we stopped at an oyster place in Westlake. Uh Salty Marys, I think it was called. It was cool. Good. But uh we talked about going to Johnny's and it just got a little late.
SPEAKER_02It's not if you're driving back.
SPEAKER_01Well, I had a I had I had uh two beers at the game, and that's after that, you can't drive. So I that's all I did. Yeah, you were at the district tickets? Yeah, that's I love hanging out.
SPEAKER_02You didn't go over to left field and grab a hands.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, but we did we did do a walk. I had something fun last night. We walked around the whole stadium, and while we were walking, uh we were in left field, yeah, um, a foul ball knocked right. I'm talking from here to dad landed in this kid's nachos. No, and just knocked his nachos all over the place. I mean, the ball was right there. It was hilarious. It was a bang, and these nachos went flying, and these are kids scrambling to get the ball. Jalapenos in there. Nice time, jalapenos salsa flying. Nacho cheese. Nacho cheese. That's a good ballpark. We did we did go to the heritage park part, you know, where all the the history of the of uh of uh you know Say you know, all the all the folks.
SPEAKER_02Everybody's everybody's in it, including myself. I'm I'm a what they which fan is short, fan is short for fanatic as somebody always doing this.
SPEAKER_01Like back to the lollipop story. Yeah, god.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, the tribe, as poorly have they as as they've played for the last month and a half, they are still in the wild card, right? They've tied with Detroit or a half game back of the wild card race. And now the White Sox have the White Sox have lost to the Cubs um in the last two games in on walk-offs. It's always so now all of a sudden, now all of a sudden everything's really tightened back up again. So let's get behind our Guardians right now. Yes. We need some mojo. Joe Adele had six RBIs last night.
SPEAKER_01Come on, baby. All right. Go guards with that. Go Guards is not a sports bar. It's like a little spot, but we can sprinkle it in there. Yeah. Go guards. It was a good time. Okay, hey, that's it. Season three, episode one. Season three, episode one is done. We'll see you in two weeks. Late.
SPEAKER_05This is not the one.