Latest / Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories / Blood, Sweat, and Waffles: The Unforgettable Nights Behind the Counter

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Blood, Sweat, and Waffles: The Unforgettable Nights Behind the Counter · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

0:18
This happened to me back in the early 2000s.
0:21
I was living with my ex in Texas.
0:23
My girl and I had been forced to move cross country after we lost
0:26
everything in the house fire. We were in a very bad position
0:30
and when all hope appeared to be lost, her family offered to rent
0:34
us a place that had been just sitting unused.
0:38
The few things that survived the fire were packed into our old
0:41
Jeep. And we hit the road.
0:43
Two days later we arrived at her Aunt Jenny's house, Rd. worn and
0:47
ready to get moved in. We didn't have much, so it
0:50
didn't take long. Although we had to spend the
0:53
first night in sleeping bags on the floor, it was a giant first
0:56
step toward getting our lives back.
0:59
Early the next morning we went shopping for a new bed and it
1:02
was probably the most satisfying event in my life up to that
1:05
point and I never slept better than in that bed.
1:08
Maybe it was just the relief of having a stable place to live,
1:11
but I still look. Back at that time with fondness.
1:14
The next few days were spent scouring Goodwill in charity
1:17
shops for furniture, lamps and such, and by the end of the week
1:21
we were settled in and it was time to look for work.
1:25
I've never been averse to hard work.
1:27
Maybe I'm a masochist, but I've always sought out the most
1:30
physically strenuous jobs I could find.
1:33
I think a lot of the employers I encountered were a bit shocked
1:36
at how hard I pushed myself. My insane work ethic has a lot
1:40
to do with my upbringing. I was one of four children in a
1:43
very poor family. We lived in a remote part of
1:46
West Virginia and life was beyond tough.
1:49
Going to bed hungry was a regular occurrence, and although
1:52
I was not above raiding the neighbor's gardens and the
1:54
warmer seasons, my Christian morals stopped me from becoming
1:58
a full blown criminal. I'd rather not go into too much
2:02
depth about my folks, but suffice it to say my dad's love
2:05
of the good life meant he rarely had a job for very long.
2:10
Mom did the best she could, but she had her hands full taking
2:13
care of us and as soon as my last sister got old enough to go
2:16
to school, Mom began working part time with her sister at the
2:20
dry cleaners. Once I was old enough, I took
2:23
her place there and she moved on to better paying work.
2:26
Dad and Mom had split up by then.
2:29
Life only got harder after that, but somehow we all survived to
2:32
become useful members of society with families of our own.
2:36
At that time, there was plenty of work to be had.
2:39
Texas was just beginning to grow in the economic powerhouse that
2:42
it is today, and everywhere I looked, houses were popping up
2:46
and new people were moving in. Folks were hiring for every
2:49
imaginable position. I'd done landscaping work
2:52
before, so it seemed logical to try.
2:55
I bounced from job to job, site to site, doing any work that had
2:58
let me it put food on the table. But working in the Texas summer
3:02
was rough, and the rainy days weren't much better.
3:06
For some crazy reason, I turned to the food service industry.
3:10
I was trading one hot place for another.
3:12
Stupid, in retrospect, but I've been a line cook.
3:15
After high school, I knew my way around the kitchen.
3:18
There are a few things in the South people like more than
3:20
eating and our area was overflowing with places to do
3:24
it. I landed a part time position
3:26
washing dishes. The pay was all right, but I was
3:29
getting killed on gas costs in the long run.
3:32
I was about to go back to landscaping when I got a call
3:35
from a Waffle House. The pay was better and the
3:38
location was less than a mile from her home.
3:41
I could walk to work and Missy could take the car if she needed
3:44
to and it seemed like the best thing to do.
3:47
Now we could both work full time rather than juggle our schedules
3:50
with one car and I went for the interview and was hired in less
3:54
than 15 minutes. Missy was over the moon to hear
3:57
it, and I'll admit that I was pretty excited too.
4:00
Stable work, no matter what it is, can go a long way to ease
4:03
your money concerns. Missy's boss had been nagging
4:07
her to take on more hours, and now she could.
4:10
Overall, things were beginning to look up.
4:13
As I walked to the restaurant that Monday night, I had the
4:16
worst case of butterflies in my life.
4:19
For some reason, my instincts told me this job would be like
4:22
none before it, and boy did I turn out to be right.
4:26
My first couple of weeks turned out to be relatively uneventful.
4:30
There were occasional drunks getting a little rowdy, but they
4:32
usually calm down if we were assertive enough.
4:35
The rest of the staff were cool too.
4:38
Most of them were older than me, but they didn't take themselves
4:40
too seriously. When it was slow, we talked
4:43
about where we've come from and our hopes for the future.
4:46
But when we were slammed, everyone kept their heads down
4:49
and got the food out as quickly as possible.
4:52
And everything was going really well.
4:54
Until one Friday night when an especially drunk man came in
4:58
looking for trouble. In Texas, the bar is usually
5:02
closed down at 2:00 AM. Around 2:30 or so, the drunk
5:06
stumbled in looking for something good and greasy to
5:09
soak up all that booze. Waffle House is a very popular
5:12
place to do so. On this night, the regular group
5:16
of bar patrons came in for their late night meals, and since this
5:20
was a smaller city, we knew most of the people that came in.
5:24
The overwhelming majority were salt of the earth, hard working
5:27
folks just looking to let off a little steam.
5:30
They were harmless for the most part.
5:32
Unfortunately, this situation was going to be different.
5:36
From what I recall, it was just before 3:00 AM when a very
5:40
intoxicated stranger staggered into the restaurant.
5:43
I didn't recognize him, but I was there to cook food, not vet
5:46
people. And anyway, the drunk man paced
5:50
around, occasionally stopping at tables and then walking on to
5:53
the next. Most of the other patrons
5:55
ignored him and focused on their meals.
5:57
And that was until the drunk man stopped at the bar and began
6:00
leaning too close to one of the regulars.
6:03
And I'll just call this guy. MM had been coming in on the
6:07
weekends way before I was hired and I bet he still does.
6:11
Mike had his own share of drinks and must have been annoyed at
6:14
the other man's presence. He started barking at the man to
6:17
get away from him and he told him he stunk.
6:21
The stranger took offense to this and tried to take a swing
6:23
at Mike but missed. Mike pushed him down to the
6:27
floor and stood up from his stool.
6:29
He was looking down at the stranger shaking his finger at
6:32
him while he cursed him out. The drunk stranger stumbled back
6:35
to his feet and rushed toward Mike.
6:38
He managed to punch Mike in the chest and stomach a few times
6:41
before Mike pushed him away again.
6:43
The stranger fell back onto the table behind him and just stared
6:47
for a minute before turning and running out of the restaurant.
6:50
I chuckled to myself as I watched the brief fight before
6:53
turning back to my work. A few moments later, I heard a
6:57
woman's voice say something like you're bleeding from your chest,
7:00
Mike. I turned back around to see Mike
7:03
wiping at the front of his Gray shirt.
7:06
There were a few dark spots on it and when Mike looked at his
7:10
hand there was what appeared to be blood on it, and that was
7:13
when we realized the drunk stranger had stabbed him, not
7:16
punched him. It looked like he managed to
7:19
pull out a knife during the scuffle and got a few quick jabs
7:22
before Mike could stop him. I'm not sure what made me do it,
7:27
but I ran to the back and grabbed a stack of hand towels
7:30
and from there ran over to Mike and began putting pressure on
7:32
the wounds. By now Mike had dropped to the
7:36
floor from shock I think, and a few other patrons helped me hold
7:40
the towels and the wounds while we waited for the ambulance to
7:42
arrive. This whole time Mike was talking
7:46
about his kids. I did my best to assure him that
7:49
he was going to be OK, but to be honest I had no idea how serious
7:53
his injuries were. About 7 minutes later the
7:56
ambulance arrived and whisked Mike away.
7:59
We had to close things down while we talked to the police
8:03
and just before dawn we were able to get things up and
8:05
running again and all I could do that morning as I walked home
8:08
was think about Mike. I continued to wonder about his
8:12
condition that whole weekend and when I showed up for work that
8:15
Monday I was told that he had a rough time but was now out of
8:18
danger and recuperating in the hospital.
8:22
For the next few weeks I was given little updates by some of
8:24
the customers that knew his family.
8:26
He was doing well and enjoying his time off of work though.
8:30
I think almost 2 1/2 months passed when I was standing at
8:33
the flat top and heard a familiar voice behind me.
8:37
I turned around to see Mike standing there with his big
8:40
toothy grin. I asked how he was doing and he
8:42
said he was great and we shook hands and he gave me a big hug.
8:46
He thanked me for saving his life.
8:49
I wasn't sure if I had, but I wasn't about to be rude and I
8:53
could tell that he was serious. I quickly mentioned the others
8:57
and tried to be humble about my part in it, and from there the
9:00
subject just veered off onto other topics and I returned to
9:04
my work. I'd continue to see Mike
9:06
regularly for about a year until I got a better paying job
9:09
elsewhere. It's been at least 15 years
9:13
since I last saw him and I hope he's still doing well.
9:16
I'm not sure if the drunk guy that stabbed him was ever caught
9:19
that night. It never seemed appropriate to
9:21
ask. He moved on with his life and I
9:24
didn't want to stir up bad memories.
9:27
Mike, if you do happen to hear this or see this, give me a
9:31
call. I'd love to catch up.
9:43
I used to work at the Waffle House in Bethlehem, PA.
9:47
People sometimes ask me if I ever saw one of those Waffle
9:50
House brawls or anything like that, but honestly?
9:53
It. Really wasn't that kind of
9:55
place. We were just down the street
9:56
from a bunch of bars and stuff, and the Lehigh College campus
9:59
was less than a mile away, so we definitely got our fair share of
10:03
customers during the midnight hours.
10:06
But I think during all the night shifts that I worked, I only saw
10:09
maybe two or three physical confrontations, and those mostly
10:13
consisted of a little shoving before the two people about the
10:16
fight were separated by their friends.
10:19
And that's not to say that I didn't end up quitting after a
10:21
very violent incident. It's just that the incidents in
10:25
question happened to be considerably more messed up than
10:28
some dumb St. brawl. As you can probably guess,
10:32
weekend night shifts tended to be the busiest when it came to
10:35
drunk college kids or sports fans stopping by for All Star
10:39
specials. But the weekday night shifts
10:42
could actually be pretty quiet. You get your giggly stoners
10:46
staring at the menus for like 20 minutes before ordering, but
10:49
they were never any trouble at all.
10:51
And the same went for the truckers and shift workers who
10:53
came in the store cold sober for their Patty melts and hash
10:57
Browns. But then this one night we had
11:00
this super sketchy crackhead looking guy walk through the
11:02
doors and I swear to God when he first walked in I was like 90%
11:07
certain that he was about to pull out a gun and rob us.
11:12
The Waffle House I worked at never had a single robbery for
11:15
the whole time that I was employed there.
11:17
But it was. Still one of your biggest fears
11:18
when it came to working the night shifts.
11:21
And whenever anyone came in who fit that profile, basically
11:25
anyone who looked like they're on crack, we always got a little
11:28
nervous and kept an extra eye on them.
11:31
The guy was definitely high on something, and not only was he
11:34
twitchy as hell, but after ordering his food he just sat in
11:38
his booth intermittently looking over at us without even touching
11:42
his grilled cheese. I let my Co workers know that
11:45
the guy was giving me some pretty bad vibes, then carried
11:48
on cleaning down my station. While kind of low key scoping
11:51
him out. As I'm watching Mr. Twitch some
11:56
regular looking white guy with dark hair walks in and then
11:59
orders a coffee and a piece of triple chocolate pie.
12:03
My Co worker serves him and he takes a seat at the counter to
12:06
drink his coffee so I just keep on cleaning while I watch Mr.
12:10
Twitch. Mr. Twitch looks up and we make
12:13
eye contact for a second and then he looks back down with
12:16
this sort of nervous expression, like he's either high out of his
12:19
mind or something and the paranoia is kicking in or he's
12:23
thinking about doing something crazy and I'm getting more and
12:27
more nervous. But then to my left, I hear,
12:31
Don't I know you? And I look around to see that
12:35
Mr. Coffee and Pie has turned around on his stool and is
12:38
talking to a guy eating in the booth behind him.
12:42
The guy in the booth is like, I don't think so.
12:45
But then Mr. Coffee and Pie is like, no, you, you went to such
12:49
and such elementary school. You were in my 4th grade math
12:51
class with, with Misses so and so.
12:53
And I can hear that the guy at the table having a bit of moment
12:57
of recognition, but I wasn't watching them like I was
13:00
watching Mr. Twitch. They go back and forth about how
13:04
crazy it is to run into one another in a Waffle House at
13:06
1:30 in the morning and then start reminiscing about this and
13:10
that and the other. I lost track of their
13:13
conversation when I went to get some more cleaning supplies, but
13:17
when I returned they were wrapping up their chance
13:20
encounter with a few. Good to see is and take cares.
13:23
But then out of nowhere Mr. Coffee and Pie stops by the door
13:27
and says. Oh and one more thing.
13:31
Then I look over just in time to see him pull a gun from out of
13:36
his jacket. The guy sitting in the booth
13:39
didn't stand a chance. He looked up just in time to see
13:43
Mr. Coffee and Pie pull the trigger and then after three
13:46
shots the guy slumped forward onto his half eaten plate of
13:50
food. The place was so quiet after Mr.
13:54
Coffey fired his gun that after I ducked down below the counter.
13:58
I heard the. Sound of the gun hitting the
13:59
floor after he dropped it. I stayed down below the counter
14:04
while I heard the door open and close, and then everyone stayed
14:08
silent for a few more seconds until some lady started
14:11
screaming like a God damn banshee.
14:15
At the time, there wasn't really any kind of contingency plan for
14:18
someone getting shot in the face at your Waffle House.
14:21
So we. Did the only thing we could
14:22
think of and got everyone that hadn't run off to walk behind
14:26
the counter so we could guide them out into the rear parking
14:29
lot. Naturally everyone was extremely
14:33
shaken up and the woman that had been screaming was hysterically
14:36
crying. The restaurant was closed for a
14:39
few days after that because obviously the cops had to
14:42
perform all kinds of crime scene analytics and forensic stuff.
14:45
Waffle House offered us free counselling and a bonus to
14:48
anyone from that shift who would return to work.
14:51
But unlike my 3 Co workers who were working with me on the
14:54
night of the murder, I didn't take management up on their
14:57
offer, no matter how generous it may have seemed.
15:01
Now call me a coward, but I just figured why go and work back at
15:05
a place like that where every time I wiped on a table, every
15:10
time I looked at it, I'd be reminded of that guy slumped
15:14
over in his food with that stream of blood just oozing off
15:17
the table onto the floor. I take my hat off to anyone that
15:21
could just go back and act like nothing happened, but to me
15:24
personally, I'd rather just get a job someplace else.
15:28
Someplace I don't have memories of someone getting murdered
15:31
right there in front of me. I saw some crazy stuff during my
15:44
time working at a Waffle House. I saw some brawls between drunk
15:49
family members. I saw some people getting freaky
15:51
in the booths like they thought no one could see them.
15:54
And I saw people doing drugs right there at the counter as if
15:58
they didn't give a damn who saw or told on them.
16:02
But the single worst thing I ever saw was something I walked
16:04
into on a quiet Monday night shift at the time when I never
16:08
expected to see anything so haunting or horrifying.
16:13
Like I said, it was just after midnight, so technically a
16:15
Tuesday morning, and the only two people seated were these two
16:19
dudes who looked like they were a little more than just friends.
16:23
They were sitting at their booth flirting and holding hands and
16:26
stuff. Then at that point they both got
16:29
up and headed for the bathroom. One of my Co workers waited
16:33
until we were out of earshot to make a very crude joke about how
16:36
if they're not out in 3 minutes I'm going in there to pry them
16:40
apart. It was just a dumb joke though,
16:43
like I don't think anyone believed that they were about to
16:46
do anything unsavory in there. Then within a minute or two, the
16:50
older of the two guys walked out of the bathroom, thanked us for
16:54
his meal, and then wished us good night as he walked out of
16:58
the door and over to his car. We figured that he'd wait for
17:01
his boyfriend or husband or whatever.
17:03
Even as he got into the driver's seat and started the engine, my
17:06
buddy and I figured any minute now, little twinker bell in the
17:10
bathroom there is going to come running out to join his Boo.
17:13
But no, the older guy slams his door shut, backs up his car, and
17:18
then drives out of the parking lot and off into the night.
17:22
We're both like. Huh.
17:24
That's weird. Where's the other guy?
17:28
Then after a minute or two of waiting around, I volunteered to
17:32
head into the bathroom to see what the deal was.
17:35
I honestly figured the younger guy would be in the bathroom,
17:37
probably just still in a stall crying because the older dude
17:40
had just broken up with him or something like that.
17:43
That or maybe the younger dude couldn't handle his liquor,
17:46
puked all over the bathroom, and then the older guy was just like
17:48
F this crap I'm out of here. I remember pushing open the
17:52
door, calling out hello, anyone in here, and the question
17:59
immediately struck me as dumb because unless they escaped out
18:02
the air vents, there had to be someone in there right away.
18:07
I could see that there was someone sitting in the toilet in
18:09
one of the stalls, but the fact they didn't respond to my
18:12
question had me mildly concerned.
18:15
I asked. You OK there, buddy?
18:19
And when that question got no reply, I knew I had to check on
18:22
the guy to make sure he was OK. We didn't get a lot of drug use,
18:26
but it was always a possibility being a late night spot.
18:29
So it dawned on me that the guy might be overdosing or something
18:33
like that, and I knew I had to act fast.
18:36
I walked over to the stall, tapped on the door, but it
18:40
moved, showing that it was unlocked.
18:43
I then pushed it open a little more and as it touched the guy's
18:46
knees it was just enough gentle force to push him off balance
18:51
and send him falling off the toilet to his right, and the
18:55
second he hit the floor I could see something poking out of his
18:59
right eye. His left was wide open and
19:02
undamaged and he seemed totally unconscious, but there was
19:06
clearly. Something long and thin sticking
19:08
out of his eye in a way that I couldn't see the exact entry
19:11
wound, but I knew it must have been bad because there was a lot
19:15
of blood dripping off whatever it was that was stuck in there
19:19
on top of what was all over his clothes and on the floor too.
19:24
I immediately felt sick but rushed to call the cops and told
19:27
my Co worker to lock the front doors because the restaurant was
19:30
now a murder scene. And that's what it looked like
19:34
to me anyway. All that blood and an
19:36
unconscious person who's been stabbed.
19:38
Right through the eye and one who hadn't responded to anything
19:41
I'd said. I was almost positive that guy
19:44
was dead. So imagine my surprise when the
19:47
ambulance shows up. We walked into the bathroom and
19:50
the guy. That I thought was dead.
19:52
Was just stumbling around the bathroom with a hand partially
19:55
covering his wounded eye. I think the poor guy suffered
19:58
some kind of horrible brain injury or something.
20:01
The EMTs were telling him don't touch your eye and not only was
20:05
he acting like he couldn't understand them but the stuff he
20:07
kept responding with was like nonsense baby talk.
20:11
It was really distressing to see and I had to leave the room as
20:15
the EMTs went to work on the guy and then wheeled him out to the
20:18
ambulance. The cops showed up around the
20:21
same time then after locking the doors behind them.
20:24
We threw up a closed. Sign and then got to talking to
20:26
the cops and giving them descriptions of both the older
20:29
guy in the car he was driving. Nothing I ever did or saw was
20:34
crazier or scarier than what I saw that night, and frankly I'm
20:38
glad nothing ever topped it. But the thing that haunts me so
20:42
much about the whole thing wasn't just how that poor guy
20:44
got stabbed in the eye so deep it messed with his brain, it's
20:48
how we never found exactly what happened or why it happened in
20:52
the 1st place. We didn't hear any screaming or
20:55
yelling, which you'd figured if there was a fight like that
20:57
someone would have made enough noise to attract our attention,
21:01
but it was totally quiet in there.
21:03
Those two guys look like such a happy couple.
21:05
And on the way out, the guy who had done the eye stabbing didn't
21:09
seem to even have broken a sweat.
21:11
He seemed relaxed, had a big smile on his face, and was
21:14
perfectly charming and polite when he thanked us for
21:17
everything we did that night. But all that after he just tried
21:22
to kill someone in our men's bathroom.
21:25
Like I said, I saw my fair share of crazy fights and served my
21:28
fair share of creepy customers. But none of those memories keeps
21:32
me up at night. Like remembering the way that
21:35
guy smiled as he walked out. It was like taking someone's
21:39
life, or at least trying to take it, was like the most normal
21:43
thing in the world to him. It was the weekend before spring
21:56
break was to end and I was out with a few friends from school.
22:00
This was my senior year in high school.
22:02
Everyone except my friend Keith was in their final year.
22:05
Keith was a junior and to be specific, it was Saturday
22:09
evening at around 15 past midnight.
22:12
The four of us had piled into Keith's Mustang and went to see
22:15
a movie earlier in the evening. After the movie ended, we
22:18
decided to go to the Waffle House for a late night snack.
22:22
We ran into a couple of more friends and lost track of time
22:25
and. Before we knew it, it was way
22:27
past our curfew, including Keith's who was driving, and we
22:31
all paid our bills and rushed out to the car only to find that
22:36
it had a flat tire. Panic started to take over for a
22:40
moment, but Kim, Keith's girlfriend, managed to calm us
22:43
all down and I was the only member of the group who had ever
22:46
changed the tire before, so obviously I was chosen to do it
22:49
this time. I began by asking Keith where a
22:52
spare was located and I was rewarded with a very blank stare
22:56
and a lazy shrug, and it was clear that it was going to be of
22:59
no help. So I just went in search of it
23:01
myself, and after countless minutes of digging through a
23:05
giant pile of clothes and junk, I finally found it.
23:09
Luckily the Jack and a lug wrench were lying underneath and
23:13
once I was able to dig everything out.
23:15
I rolled the tire. Over and jacked up the car.
23:18
Kim was kind enough to sit next to me and light things up with
23:21
her phone. Keith and our friend Seth just
23:24
sat on the curb texting people while we did the work and to be
23:27
honest there really wasn't much they could do.
23:29
But their lack of concern did annoy me a bit, especially
23:32
Keith's. I shrugged it off and got down
23:35
the business. The spare did appear to be a
23:38
little under inflated, but it was going to have to do for now.
23:42
And the actual operation was going relatively smoothly, but
23:45
it was looking like we'd be on the road soon.
23:48
Until a new problem arrived. Just as I was beginning to hand
23:52
tighten the bolts on the spare, a car of college guys pulled up
23:56
a few spaces over. Normally this wouldn't have
23:59
really mattered, but in this case it probably meant trouble.
24:04
You see, my friends and I had problems with these guys in the
24:06
past. Three of the four in the car had
24:09
jumped and beaten one of our friends at a party the summer
24:12
before, and Keith and I ran into them a few days later and almost
24:15
got into a fight with them. A lot of threats were exchanged,
24:19
but their girlfriends got them to back off and I knew that
24:22
wouldn't be the end of things. And now here we were, almost a
24:25
year later, unable to get away or distance ourselves.
24:30
I quickened my pace as fast as I could, but it was obviously too
24:33
late and just seconds passed when I heard a drunken curse
24:36
coming from a yard or so away. Great, I thought, as if things
24:41
couldn't be any worse. These morons were drunk as a
24:43
skunk and I knew this wasn't going to go well and rather than
24:48
react I just continued my work and our only hope was to get
24:51
this done before a fight broke out.
24:54
Keith and Seth started exchanging words with those guys
24:57
and things got heated quickly and I whispered to Kim under my
25:00
breath that things were going to be OK but in truth I clearly had
25:04
my doubts. The last lug nut was tight, and
25:08
just as things were popping off, I didn't see the first hit, but
25:12
I knew something was wrong. When the light disappeared, I
25:15
turned around and saw Keith stumble back onto the ground.
25:18
Seth was all alone now and outnumbered 4 to 1.
25:21
Without a second thought I ran towards the attackers, swinging
25:25
wildly with that lug wrench as I went.
25:27
In hindsight, it's probably a miracle I didn't seriously
25:31
injure anyone or kill anyone with it.
25:33
I know I made contact with at least two people, but I'm not
25:36
sure where, and I continued swinging around like a madman
25:39
until I heard a voice behind me telling me to stop.
25:43
It took me a moment to realize that it was Seth.
25:45
I turned around and saw him waving his hands and now that I
25:49
was out of my haze, I could see Keith lowering the Jack while
25:52
Kim helped him. I didn't know where the college
25:54
guys had gone and at that point I didn't care.
25:58
My single thought was to get away from the situation.
26:01
Seth and I gathered up all the tools and threw them into the
26:04
trunk while Keith and Kim got into the car and started it.
26:07
We hopped into the car and pretty much squealed out of that
26:10
parking lot. It's a miracle that the spare
26:13
held up, and I don't recall checking the nuts one last time
26:17
before leaving. And now that's when I began
26:19
asking questions. Seth waited patiently until I
26:23
finished to answer me, and he said that three of the four were
26:26
about to jump him. But I went crazy and started
26:29
swinging that wrench around and they turned to jump on me, but I
26:33
hit them all a couple of times and they just turned tail and
26:36
took off. And to this day I still don't
26:40
really remember much of it. I guess it doesn't matter
26:43
though. We all got away unharmed and we
26:45
never saw those idiots again. I was worried.
26:48
For a while that the cops were probably going to show up, but
26:51
thankfully they never did and hopefully those losers learned
26:55
their lesson that night. No matter how tough you think
26:58
you are, a scared nerd with a lug wrench probably is tougher.
27:12
I worked in a Waffle House for almost 2 years, mostly night
27:15
shifts and I saw some wild things in my time.
27:18
I saw a. Lot of drama and a lot of stuff
27:20
that made me laugh my butt off, but it was rare that anything
27:23
actually creeped me out or scared me.
27:26
But then the one thing that I actually did take home with me.
27:30
Has stayed with me for quite some time.
27:33
We had a. Guy pull in just after 6:00 AM
27:35
on a Sunday, just like he was headed.
27:37
To church, and with all the same kind of cheerfulness too.
27:41
I remember his order like it was yesterday.
27:44
Steak and eggs, extra hash brown with biscuits and gravy on the
27:47
side. Man ate like a king that
27:50
morning. Then as he sat there over a
27:53
clean plate and as the customers were filing in here and there, I
27:58
remember seeing him make a phone call.
28:00
And after that, he just sort of sat there and waited.
28:04
When two cops first walked in, people looked up, but only in
28:08
the way that they would if any other kind of customer walked
28:10
in. We get a lot of police officers
28:14
on and off duty thanks to the 10% law enforcement discount
28:17
that we offer. So it's not uncommon to see them
28:19
walk through the door. But to see them walk straight up
28:24
to our well dressed churchgoer and pull the handcuffs straight
28:28
out? That didn't just draw everyone's
28:30
attention, it pretty much demanded it.
28:34
He just stood up, turned around, let himself be handcuffed, and
28:38
the cops walked him out of the building and out to the patrol
28:41
car. One of the cops drove the guy
28:44
off, then the other came back to recommend that we just close for
28:47
the day. Forensics were about to be all
28:50
over the guy's car and it'll be one hell of a bad look to have
28:53
an active crime scene in our parking lot.
28:56
My supervisor touched base with management and they agreed that
28:59
having people watching all that CSI stuff over their breakfast
29:03
melts was. Probably a major no no, and
29:06
about an hour later we'd close down the restaurant and I was
29:09
walking to my car. Just as they were pulling the
29:11
first body out of that guy's trunk, I caught one glimpse then
29:18
averted my eyes because I instantly recognized that the
29:21
body was small child sized and I did not want to deal with the
29:26
memory of seeing a dead kid like that.
29:29
I texted some Co workers later on saying I was pretty sure that
29:32
they pulled a kid out of the guy's trunk and then a few days
29:35
later the whole story broke on the news.
29:38
The well dressed, cheerful customer who ordered his steak
29:41
and eggs, extra hash brown with biscuits and gravy on the side
29:45
had killed his whole. Family that morning before he
29:48
decided to drive them to a Waffle House.
29:51
And the guy must have known that in the very best case scenario,
29:55
he was going to jail for the rest of his life.
29:57
Worst case, he'd just be up for lethal injection.
30:02
But before any of that, before he had to face the music, the
30:06
guy wanted a few final plates from his favorite breakfast
30:09
place. And I swear to God, I would
30:12
never, ever have guessed what a terrible thing that guy had
30:15
done. The way he came up to the
30:17
counter like it was just your average Sunday morning.
30:20
It was like the part of the guy's brain that accounted for
30:22
emotion was just gone or broken. I can't even imagine the kind of
30:28
headspace that I'd be in if I just annihilated my own family.
30:32
I lose my appetite whenever I even get remotely stressed out.
30:36
So the idea that this guy bashed in his two kids brains and then
30:39
thought I could go for some biscuits and gravy right now?
30:43
That's just about the creepiest, most haunting thing I've ever
30:46
been unfortunate enough to cross paths with.
30:59
Worst thing I ever saw at a Waffle House.
31:01
Started as one of the nicest things I've ever seen.
31:04
At a waffle. House.
31:06
There's probably something deeply philosophical in there
31:08
somewhere, but I'll be damned if it's me that's finding that.
31:12
So me and a fellow buddy stopped by a Waffle House in Gainesville
31:16
a few years back. First and last time we ever
31:18
stopped there. Then as we're eating, a man
31:21
comes walking through the doors and gets the reception of the
31:24
minor celebrity, and we soon figured out why.
31:28
The moment after the guy walked through the doors, different
31:31
groups of different tables started trying to get his
31:34
attention. It was just after two in the
31:36
morning, but the place was still really busy because it had all
31:40
the Saturday night drinkers in there.
31:42
So there was a whole bunch of people calling out Mr. Brewer
31:45
over here, Mr. Brewer and stuff like that.
31:48
My buddy and I were like, what's going on?
31:51
But like I said, we soon found out Mr. Brewer was obviously
31:55
some kind of big shocked, or at least he sure played it that way
31:59
'cause he starts walking to each of the tables that seem to
32:01
recognize him and handing out. Wads of cash.
32:05
And he's not just giving them the money, he's sitting down
32:08
with them, talking to them, asking about their families and
32:11
their jobs and stuff. Real pillar of the community
32:14
type things. And some folks are refusing the
32:17
money and are just happy to check in with him.
32:19
But others, and I mean no offense by this, look like they
32:22
needed it, you know, so they seemed only too happy to take
32:26
his money. Anyway, this guy carries on
32:29
going from table to table. Then when he seemed done with
32:32
his rounds, he stood up and waved goodbye to everyone as he
32:35
walked towards the doors. But then as he's walking, some
32:40
lady in the back starts calling out something like, why didn't
32:43
you pay for our meal? I looked over and the lady and
32:47
her old man were looking over at this Mr. Brewer guy and they
32:51
looked mad. Mr. Brewer starts telling them
32:54
that he can't pay for everyone's meal, but this doesn't go down
32:57
well with the lady and her man and she starts saying how Brewer
33:01
there was trying to embarrass them or something.
33:04
And by this point people were telling the lady to shut up.
33:07
And this is making her man even madder talking about don't you
33:11
talk to my woman that way. But Mr. Brewer's chill tells
33:16
everyone to pipe down, then basically explains that if
33:18
they're going to be so rude, he's most definitely not paying
33:21
for their food. People start clapping and
33:24
cheering, and it's all amped up to 11 because most people are
33:27
drunk out of their minds. But again, the rude couple do
33:30
not take this well. And the angry man gets up,
33:33
marches toward Mr. Brewer, and takes a swing at him.
33:38
The guy is drunk and Brewer seems sober as a judge, so the
33:42
swing completely misses and then people are jumping in to
33:45
separate them and push the instigator out of the Waffle
33:48
House. There were people keeping him
33:50
outside, people making sure Mr. Brewer was OK, and people
33:54
yelling at the rude lady to get outside and control her man.
33:58
My buddy and I are just trapped in the middle of all that chaos,
34:01
so we're both just like, let's get the hell out of here.
34:04
And they're taking a few final sporkfuls of food.
34:07
We got up and head towards the door right in time for the
34:12
shooting to start. I didn't see where the shots
34:15
came from, but I saw Mr. Brewer just buckle and hit the floor.
34:19
Then the next thing, someone's getting wrestled to the ground
34:22
outside and the cops showed up just in time, put the cuffs on
34:25
him while folks outside helped hold him down.
34:28
And the shooter was that angry guy trying to defend his woman's
34:32
honor or whatever, and he just killed a man because he wouldn't
34:36
give them money to pay for his waffles.
34:40
I think that was probably the worst thing I ever saw.
34:43
Not just in the Waffle House either, ever.
34:46
And my mom loved that movie, To Kill a Mockingbird.
34:49
And I once asked her why it was called something like that when
34:51
there was no mockingbirds in it. And she told me it was because
34:55
it was the worst kind of sin, To kill a Mockingbird, because all
34:58
they did was sing and make folks happy.
35:01
And I feel like that's what angry guy with a gun did.
35:04
He killed a mockingbird. And I just pray that he realizes
35:08
what he did and what a terrible, terrible sin it was.
35:22
I used to work at a Waffle House and we used to have this one
35:26
family stop in whose kid was a total psycho but also had some
35:30
pretty serious learning difficulties too.
35:32
So it was a difficult situation to say the least.
35:36
I think he was only like 13 or 14, but we used to joke about
35:40
how his parents must have been slipping supplements into his
35:42
milk bottle or whatever because he was huge for his age.
35:47
And that was just about the only funny thing about him though.
35:51
Everything else was a total nightmare.
35:53
He beat up two employees one day, broke one of their noses,
35:57
and did thousands of dollars in damage to both company property
36:00
and Staffs. Televisions, windows, doors,
36:04
gaming systems, windshields, glasses, phones, you name it, he
36:08
broke it. His parents used to get mad at
36:10
us if we called the police to help us.
36:13
They didn't want him to get a bad reputation in the community.
36:15
Which was ironic because I'm not sure his Rep could be any worse.
36:20
We weren't officially forbidden from personally pressing
36:22
charges, but it was not encouraged.
36:25
Everyone did everything to make sure he never faced any
36:27
consequences for the two staff that he pulverized.
36:31
He had to draw a picture to say he was sorry.
36:34
He finished the picture and his parents brought him along to
36:37
present it to us with an apology and I swear to God he looked one
36:41
of my Co workers dead in the eyes and said I'm not sorry.
36:44
I'm glad I did it, I wish I'd hurt them worse.
36:49
His mom yelled at him, told him not to be so rude, and I don't
36:51
think any of us were all surprised.
36:55
I ended up dealing with him on a couple of other occasions and
36:58
when he wasn't in a rage he had his moments of decency and one
37:02
of our calmer conversations. He was playing Legos and I asked
37:06
him if he'd like to talk about some ways to avoid hurting
37:09
people when he gets angry. The kid looked me dead in the
37:12
eyes and said no, I don't want to stop hurting people, I like
37:17
hurting people. I asked him why and he shrugged
37:21
and told me I just like it, it's fun.
37:27
I still think about that kid from time to time, and whenever
37:30
I do, I wonder how much longer it'll be before I see him
37:33
featured in some online news article about how he's killed
37:37
someone or beaten them half to death.
37:39
Something violent in nature anyway.
37:42
I hope his family have found more effective ways to deal with
37:45
whatever he was suffering with. But to be brutally honest, I
37:49
think the way they treated him made him worse and worse.
37:53
You can't have kids like that thinking there's no
37:55
consequences, even if they are a little slow.
37:59
And that's how you end up with the Green River Killers or Sons
38:02
of Sam. As I said, I wonder what they'll
38:05
call that kid if worse comes to worse and he ends up taking a
38:09
life instead of making one for himself.
38:20
In the early hours of April 22nd, 2018, 29 year old Travis
38:25
Jeffrey Reinking pulled into the parking lot of a Waffle House in
38:29
the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville, TN.
38:33
Sitting in his pickup truck, Travis spent the next 4 minutes
38:36
contemplating what he was about to do.
38:39
He was completely naked apart from a thin green jacket which
38:42
covered his torso and resting on the back seat of his truck was a
38:46
fully loaded assault rifle. Travis was born in Morton, IL on
38:52
February 1st of 1989. He had a history of erratic
38:56
conduct, paranoia and delusions and was particularly obsessed
39:00
with the globally renowned singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.
39:05
He once told Co workers that Swift had accepted his marriage
39:08
proposal, but when confronted on the date of a supposed
39:12
matrimony, Travis announced the engagement had been cancelled
39:15
after he realized that he was gay and that he and Swift were
39:19
never ever, ever getting back together.
39:24
In May of 2016, sheriff's deputies in Tazewell County
39:28
responded to a call from Ryan King's parents in the parking
39:31
lot of a drug store. Upon their arrival, paramedics
39:35
saw Travis was suffering some kind of mental breakdown and
39:38
heard him claim that Taylor Swift was hacking his phone as
39:42
well as stalking him. A subsequent written report
39:45
stated Travis is hostile towards police and does not recognize
39:49
police authority. Travis also possesses several
39:52
firearms. Later in 2017, Travis was living
39:57
in an apartment above his father's crane rental business
40:00
in Tremont, IL. He was briefly employed as a
40:03
crane operator for another company, but quit his job in
40:06
March 2017. Because he believed police were
40:09
following him and that his last chance to marry Taylor was
40:12
swiftly approaching. In June of that same year, an
40:17
employee of his father's business called the police,
40:19
saying Travis had walked downstairs carrying a rifle and
40:22
wearing a pink dress. He then tossed the rifle in his
40:25
trunk, cursing loudly as he did so, before departing the
40:28
building. On another occasion, the
40:31
director of a public swimming pool called the police report
40:34
Travis had arrived wearing and I quote, a pink woman's house
40:38
coat. When asked to leave, Travis
40:41
reportedly exposed himself to lifeguards and members of the
40:44
public alike, but fled the scene before he could be apprehended
40:47
by attending police officers. Just over a month later, Secret
40:52
Service agents arrested Travis near the White House after he
40:55
crossed a barrier and refused to leave.
40:58
The Secret Service said Ryan King had said he wanted to set
41:02
up a meeting with the president and that he mentioned being a
41:05
sovereign citizen. Travis was subsequently charged
41:09
with the misdemeanor of unlawful entry and entered into a
41:12
deferred prosecution agreement. He agreed to perform 32 hours of
41:17
community service and agreed to stay away from the White House
41:20
on the pain of much more serious charges.
41:24
By November of 2017, Travis had successfully completed the
41:28
program, meaning his case was dismissed entirely, but his
41:32
conviction meant authorities in Illinois were entitled to revoke
41:35
his state firearms authorization.
41:38
Police then confiscated 2 bolt action hunting rifles, 4 semi
41:42
automatic long guns, and a single handgun.
41:45
However, after being approached by Travis's father, Jeff
41:49
Reinking, who promised to keep the weapons secure and away from
41:52
his son, the firearms were returned.
41:55
Travis was once again employed as a crane operator from January
41:59
until April of 2018 and used his wages to relocate to Davidson
42:03
County, Tennessee. However, on April 3rd, he was
42:07
fired after claiming that his fellow employees were in I quote
42:11
after him. It's not clear what Travis did
42:14
over the next two weeks or so, but on April 18th he stole a
42:18
brand new BMW X6 from a dealership in Brentwood, but was
42:23
swiftly apprehended by the police after they tracked the
42:26
car's location using its built in GPS system.
42:29
Again, it's not clear what Travis did in the days between
42:32
his arrest for car theft and his arrival at the Antioch Waffle
42:36
House. But after those long 4 minutes
42:39
spent contemplating his future, Travis grabbed the rifle,
42:43
stepped out of his truck, and began walking towards the
42:46
restaurant. Inside the Waffle House, 2 close
42:50
friends named James Shawn BJ McMurray were enjoying their
42:54
food. James had been an electrical
42:57
technician since the age of 18, stating that I've been
43:00
destroying stuff and putting it back together since I was a
43:03
little kid. I would take stuff apart and
43:05
just hope I could reassemble it. After graduating from Tennessee
43:09
State University, James began working for AT&T, installing
43:13
Internet, television, and phone connections in homes and
43:16
apartments across Tennessee. James and BJ had been sat in the
43:20
booth for around 25 minutes when suddenly both heard a loud pop
43:25
before a nearby window suddenly shattered.
43:29
I knew straight away that they were gunshots, James later said,
43:32
So me and BJ rushed towards the bathrooms to take cover.
43:36
Yet it also occurred to him that if he hid in the bathroom, he'd
43:39
be cornered and almost completely defenseless.
43:43
It was then that James remembered the simple three word
43:46
instruction that had recently been given to people caught up
43:49
in such a senselessly violent incident.
43:52
Run, hide, fight. James positioned himself behind
43:58
the counter, out of sight of the restaurant floor, just as a
44:01
heavily armed Travis walked through the doors of the Waffle
44:04
House. He fired two more shots at
44:06
cowering innocents, killing one and seriously injuring another.
44:11
But following that second shot, Travis's weapon suddenly jammed.
44:16
Sensing the opportunity to strike, James launched himself
44:20
over the counter and lunged for. Travis's rifle.
44:23
As his hand found the weapon's barrel, searing pain shot up
44:27
James's arm. As the heated rifle barrel
44:30
inflicted second degree burns to the skin of his palm.
44:34
But at that moment, and thanks to the huge amount of adrenaline
44:37
coursing through his veins, James could barely feel any
44:40
discomfort whatsoever. All he was focused on was
44:44
neutralizing the threat. Travis had been completely and
44:48
utterly surprised by James's decisive and valiant actions,
44:52
and failed to prevent him from wrestling the rifle from his
44:54
grip. James then tossed the rifle over
44:57
the counter, out of Travis's reach, and then began furiously
45:01
beating him. Travis discarded his jacket, the
45:05
only item of clothing he was wearing during the ensuing
45:07
fracas, and then fled the Waffle House on foot.
45:12
The subsequent manhunt lasted just under 34 hours, but
45:15
eventually Travis was tracked down to some woods not far from
45:19
the Waffle House, where he was cornered, then arrested
45:22
following his eventual surrender.
45:25
Shortly after news of the shooting hit the airwaves,
45:27
Nashville Mayor David Briley was quoted as saying.
45:32
It's a tragic day for our city anytime people lose their lives
45:35
at the hands of a gunman. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam
45:39
added that he was deeply saddened by the tragic incident
45:43
in Antioch earlier this morning. And we mourn the lives taken in
45:46
this senseless act of violence. Prior to his trial, Travis was
45:51
charged with four counts of criminal homicide, 4 counts of
45:55
attempted homicide, and one count of having a firearm while
45:58
committing a dangerous felony. Following an intense psychiatric
46:02
examination, forensic psychologists declared that
46:05
Travis was suffering from severe schizophrenia, leading a judge
46:09
to categorize him as unfit to stand trial.
46:14
Travis was then committed to a mental hospital for treatment,
46:17
but just over a month later, it was determined that
46:20
psychologists had grossly overestimated the extent of
46:23
Travis's mental illness, and then, in essence, Travis had
46:27
played up the worst of his symptoms in order to court their
46:30
sympathies. He was declared fit to stand
46:33
trial, but in January of 2020, prosecutors announced that they
46:38
would not seek the death penalty against Travis and would instead
46:41
seek a sentence of life without parole.
46:45
Travis pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 16 counts
46:50
of murder and assault, and was found guilty on all counts at
46:53
his trial's conclusion. Then the following day, the
46:57
judge sentenced him to life imprisonment without the
47:00
possibility of parole. Travis's father, Jeffrey
47:03
Reinking, was later charged with unlawful delivery of a firearm
47:07
for returning the weapons to his son.
47:10
He was eventually found guilty in May of 2022 and sentenced to
47:14
a year and a half in prison. The attack claimed 4 victims,
47:19
Aquila de Silva, De Ebony Groves, Joe Perez, and Torian
47:25
Sanderlin, but all agreed that if it wasn't for James Shaw's
47:29
courageous actions, many more people would have lost their
47:32
lives. James later established A
47:35
GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the families of the four
47:37
victims, with donations surpassing 200,000 by May of
47:41
2018. While he has been described as a
47:45
hero by numerous people, including Tennessee authorities,
47:48
James has stated that he does not think of himself in those
47:51
terms. Quote, I did that completely out
47:54
of a selfish act. He said I was completely doing
47:58
it just to save myself. Now on me doing that, I
48:01
recognize that I saved other people, but it was never my
48:04
intention. I never set out to be a hero.
48:07
I'm just a regular guy who happened to be in the right
48:09
place at the right time. The following month at the 2018
48:15
MTV Movie and TV Awards, the late Chadwick Boseman won an
48:19
award for Best Hero for his work in Black Panther.
48:23
However, during his acceptance speech, Bozeman brought James
48:27
Shaw to the stage and instead presented him with the award for
48:31
Best Hero. Bozeman then stated receiving an
48:35
award for playing a superhero is amazing, but it's even greater
48:38
to acknowledge the heroes that we have in real life.
48:45
Hey friends, thanks for listening.
48:48
Click that notification bell to be alerted of all future
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narrations. I release new videos every
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Monday and Thursday at 7:00 PM EST, and there are super fun
48:57
live streams every Sunday and Wednesday nights.
49:00
If you got a story, be sure to submit them to my subreddit R
49:04
slash Let's Read official or send it over e-mail, and you
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might even hear your story featured on the next video.
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And if you want to support me even more, grab early access to
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all future narrations and bonus content over on Patreon, or
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click that big join button to hear about the extra perks
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offered from members of the channel.
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And check out the Lens Re podcast, where you can hear all
49:25
of these stories in big compilations.
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Look at it anywhere you listen to podcasts.
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All links in the description below.
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Thanks so much, friends. And remember, watch where you
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peddle your bread.