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Speaker 1: It's that time time, time, time, luck and load. So

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Speaker 1: Michael Varry Show is on the air.

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Speaker 2: One of you may remember Charles Charles was a caller

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Speaker 2: for the show sometime back. He'll remember when we'll ask

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Speaker 2: him in a moment. And Charles at the time was

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Speaker 2: the fry cook short order cook at the waffle house.

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Speaker 2: And what caught my attention, because I get a lot

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Speaker 2: of emails, was it Charles mentioned Jonathan Kim and Jonathan

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Speaker 2: Kim uns gringoes. That's how Russell is able to travel

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Speaker 2: the world watching Depeche Combo and YouTube and all these

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Speaker 2: things and live this awesome life because he's created a

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Speaker 2: great culture at his company. And twenty something years ago

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Speaker 2: he hired this guy who was I think at most

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Speaker 2: a manager, maybe not even a manager at bia Peretti's,

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Speaker 2: and Jonathan sort of rose through the ranks and now

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Speaker 2: is the president of the operation. And I just for

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Speaker 2: fun on Saturdays and Sundays, I will call him ten

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Speaker 2: o'clock and Warren, Hey, what are you doing. I'm out

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Speaker 2: at the Tombol location. Check in the construction. Where are

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Speaker 2: you going from there? I'm going to go out to

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Speaker 2: Conrad and then where are you going from there and

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Speaker 2: going out to sugar Land. So he visits all the

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Speaker 2: stores constantly, and he does it on Saturday. He does

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Speaker 2: it on Sunday. Used to he would get up on

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Speaker 2: Sunday morning and play golf, which was his one indulgence

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Speaker 2: for the week, and then he would in his golf

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Speaker 2: clothes then go and visit all the locations. They have

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Speaker 2: over twenty locations. I mean, it takes a while. They're

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Speaker 2: spread they're all spread out in the suburbs anyway, So

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Speaker 2: this gotch ass. Charles sends me an email and he says, uh, oh,

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Speaker 2: by the way, we talk about you sometimes every morning

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Speaker 2: at the waffle house because I'm the short order cook

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Speaker 2: here and Jonathan Kim comes in every morning and he

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Speaker 2: eats something like ten eggs and this, this, this and this.

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Speaker 2: So he's got my wife on this darn thing because

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Speaker 2: she's on the she needs more protein kick. And so

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Speaker 2: I told her, well, you know, Jonathan eats ten eggs

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Speaker 2: every morning, and she says, so tell me about that,

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Speaker 2: what you know? What super was it due to you?

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Speaker 2: What is it? How do you feel afterwards? And so

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Speaker 2: she can't eat ten eggs. She's one hundred and ten pounds,

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Speaker 2: but she eats probably I don't know five or six

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Speaker 2: now and she swears it's made a world of difference

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Speaker 2: for her. But anyway, Charles had a story. He was

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Speaker 2: living in his vehicle. He was a strong for the

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Speaker 2: mother of his child. He loves his child and just

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Speaker 2: wants to be active in his child's life. He worked

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Speaker 2: these long hours. Well, things took a turn for the

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Speaker 2: worst after that, and Charles has emailed me regularly, sin Sin,

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Speaker 2: and so I feel like I'm going through it and

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Speaker 2: we had a recent break in the case and it's

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Speaker 2: not a good development. And I thought, you know what,

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Speaker 2: there's probably some folks out there and ladies, I'm not

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Speaker 2: beating up on you.

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Speaker 3: I'm not.

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Speaker 2: I don't want you to think I am, because I

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Speaker 2: think in most of the time when there's a breakup,

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Speaker 2: the woman gets a short shrift and she gotta take you.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of dads that don't even stay involved

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Speaker 2: in the life of the child when there's a split,

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Speaker 2: and the courts have now largely recognized that for many

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Speaker 2: years that was the case. So if you're that dad

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Speaker 2: who is actually trying to be involved in your kid's

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Speaker 2: life and do the right thing and see your kid

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Speaker 2: on the regular. These are the guys that get short

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Speaker 2: shrift because the system issued that everybody is as bad

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Speaker 2: as some guys are. So the good guy gets the

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Speaker 2: presumption against him and it makes it very very difficult

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Speaker 2: for him, very difficult, and that's not right, that's not justice.

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Speaker 2: So Charles had something happen to him that I thought

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Speaker 2: he should probably share with you. Welcome to the program, Charles, Charles.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I'm sorry, I was checking. Can you hear me?

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Speaker 2: I can hear you, all right? So I brought us

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Speaker 2: up to where we are so that we get this in.

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Speaker 2: I think it's important for people to understand that as Charles,

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Speaker 2: as they were figuring out child support, Charles would pay

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Speaker 2: for his child, and the mother of his child, correct

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Speaker 2: me if I'm wrong, tries to keep the child from him,

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Speaker 2: and that's just tearing him up. He lives for this child.

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Speaker 2: I was living out of his vehicle to try to

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Speaker 2: make all this work. He moved up to Livingston to

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Speaker 2: make all this work. Well, he takes another job forty

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Speaker 2: hours a week, so he's working eighty hours a week.

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Speaker 2: Was a waffle house and Denny's. What was the two

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Speaker 2: locations you.

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Speaker 4: Were working originally it was the waffle house and the

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Speaker 4: pizza hut down there in the port, and that was

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Speaker 4: when I was sleeping in the car after the separation.

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Speaker 4: It's a really long story, but our separation involved me

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Speaker 4: losing my job up here in Livingston where I was

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Speaker 4: staying my residence, and then to survive, I moved back

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Speaker 4: down there where family was in the South Houston area,

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Speaker 4: started taking up work down there. Couldn't get a place

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Speaker 4: to live down there because one full time job I

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Speaker 4: didn't make enough income. Ended up getting a second job

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Speaker 4: just to qualify for a place to live, and at

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Speaker 4: that point I had to go into court. We show

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Speaker 4: up and the court bases the child sport off whole income.

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Speaker 4: So they go and they base my obligation off of

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Speaker 4: eighty hours a week, which you know is pretty daunting.

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Speaker 4: Fast forward a couple of months. I'm completely exhausted. I

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Speaker 4: had one morning I got up to go to the

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Speaker 4: bathroom and the only thing I remember I remember after

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Speaker 4: that is I was on the ground look looking at

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Speaker 4: the base of the toilet with a bunch of blood

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Speaker 4: coming out of my head. I was so exhausted that

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Speaker 4: I either fell and hit a ledge or I'm not

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Speaker 4: really sure what happened that morning.

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Speaker 2: As a general rule, if you fall in the bathroom,

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Speaker 2: you don't want blood coming out of either head. It's

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Speaker 2: not gonna it's not any well, no it's not.

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Speaker 4: But I ended up leaving a job because of that.

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Speaker 4: And the issue is that it's not exactly an easy

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Speaker 4: process to go in there and get your obligation a

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Speaker 4: mended whenever you lose income. And I was just trying

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Speaker 4: to survive at that point for about a year and

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Speaker 4: a half and I worked on getting into a higher

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Speaker 4: paying position. Waffle House stepped up and they paid me

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Speaker 4: several more dollars an hour put me overnight and in that.

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Speaker 2: How much working out how much did they take you

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Speaker 2: up to?

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Speaker 4: I was making sixteen something an hour.

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Speaker 2: Okay, and before that.

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Speaker 4: It was like twelve.

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Speaker 2: And they gave you the pay increase because you were

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Speaker 2: willing to work overnights.

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Speaker 4: Working overnights and another race for a position change.

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Speaker 2: What was the position change?

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Speaker 4: Basically, you take these cooking tests and if you can

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Speaker 4: meet expectations, you go from the grill operator to the

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Speaker 4: master groll operator, and you can go from the master

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Speaker 4: row operator to the rock Star gral operator. It's just

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Speaker 4: like their little you know, little fun position turn.

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Speaker 2: People have to address you differently at that point.

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Speaker 4: No, no, but.

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Speaker 2: All the cookie shows now these stupid the chef chef

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Speaker 2: will right her chef. It's the most annoying thing ever.

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Speaker 3: Hold on a second show he sold separately.

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Speaker 2: American sniper Chris Kyle passed twelve years ago, and twelve

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Speaker 2: years a long time. It feels like forever ago, and

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Speaker 2: he would still only be fifty one today. That puts

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Speaker 2: into perspective. You know, you have to.

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Speaker 5: You have to get up and pick up the pieces

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Speaker 5: when you lose some who's such a big presence, not

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Speaker 5: only in your family but in the nation, and now

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Speaker 5: you have.

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Speaker 2: This gaping hole in your life. Who's rough, Charles, they

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Speaker 2: bumped you up above sixteen. Do they give benefits at

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Speaker 2: waffle House?

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Speaker 4: Well, they actually are really good of their employees other

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Speaker 4: than the you know mee being a fat person. I

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Speaker 4: like the employee meals. But there's some numbers you can

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Speaker 4: call if you ever need assistance with like mental health

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Speaker 4: or legal issues that will help gets you to like

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Speaker 4: a discount earlier. They do several things for the employees,

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Speaker 4: and not everybody knows about it because you have to

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Speaker 4: go back and read the boards, and people don't really

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Speaker 4: go and read.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, the the on the rock star chef, like

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Speaker 2: what would be one of the things they would ask

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Speaker 2: you on that.

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Speaker 4: So they're basically going to dump you off by your

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Speaker 4: off on a Sunday morning when you have a full

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Speaker 4: house and you just have to keep everything going by yourself.

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Speaker 2: So if they dump you off because you know, some

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Speaker 2: guy got in a fight right before you, or he

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Speaker 2: got arrest and they hauled him out of there, and

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Speaker 2: you've got a restaurant full of people at the waffle

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Speaker 2: house and they're all hungover or some of them still drunk,

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Speaker 2: and there might at any point be an outbreak or

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Speaker 2: a mob or whatever else. What is the first thing?

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Speaker 2: Do you like? Put out forty eggs and start I mean,

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Speaker 2: what do you do? Walk me through that checkdown?

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Speaker 4: There's a a whole like pattern. You start with your knats.

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Speaker 4: Typically I just fill the whole grow up with bacon

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Speaker 4: and some sausage just to get it going. And you

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Speaker 4: just get all your eggs going, and you want to

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Speaker 4: be in the rhythm of like having your eggs pre

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Speaker 4: cracked in the bowl so you don't have to waste

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Speaker 4: time cracking them, you might as well go and just

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Speaker 4: drop all your waffles and get all the irons going

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Speaker 4: at the same time, because I mean, you're gonna need it,

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Speaker 4: you know, And so it's just you try to keep

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Speaker 4: everything going as as fast as possible at that point,

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Speaker 4: keep all your toasters going, and you don't sit there

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Speaker 4: and wait for them to call out what you need.

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Speaker 4: You just start making it ahead of time, just to

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Speaker 4: try to get the plates out as quickly as possible. Okay,

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Speaker 4: So that's my opinion. They disagree with it.

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Speaker 2: That's okay. I only want you're so so you roll

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Speaker 2: out these eggs. How many eggs can you do you

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Speaker 2: roll out on the griddle at one time?

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Speaker 4: Well, we could have like six pans going at the same.

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Speaker 2: Time, and how many per pan?

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Speaker 4: Two or three? So you're talking about twelve to eighteen eggs?

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Speaker 2: And how long does that egg cook? Oh?

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Speaker 4: Well, just the boons. If we're talking about a light

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Speaker 4: egg with a hot pan. I can get some over

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Speaker 4: easy eggs out on about forty five seconds maybe, But.

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Speaker 2: You do another stuff in between when you crack them

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Speaker 2: and when you come back.

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Speaker 4: To it, right, so you throw it on the fire

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Speaker 4: and then you turn to your right and you run

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Speaker 4: down to go put toasts down or drop a waffle,

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Speaker 4: where you go to your left to go grab some

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Speaker 4: more meat and throw it on the grill, or take

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Speaker 4: something off and out of the corner of your eye,

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Speaker 4: you're trying to keep an eye on the eggs so

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Speaker 4: you don't burn it.

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Speaker 2: Charles, I'm not trying to puff you up. Okay, this

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Speaker 2: isn't incoming fire from the Taliban every direction and mortars

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Speaker 2: and IEDs, but this is emergency room triage because we've

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Speaker 2: all cooked. And you know, if I cook for me,

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Speaker 2: my wife and my two kids, I make an absolute mess.

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Speaker 2: Everything is burned. I don't. It's not that it's that

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Speaker 2: hard to perform the tasks you're performing. It's keeping your

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Speaker 2: cool knowing that I have to do A and B

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Speaker 2: and C then back to A, then B, then back

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Speaker 2: to A, then D, all in rapid succession while people

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Speaker 2: are waiting for their food and they're a loud noises

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Speaker 2: and this has been going on for hours on end,

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Speaker 2: and you're tired. That's not nothing.

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Speaker 4: Right, right, Well, it's purely mechanical.

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Speaker 2: You get it down.

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Speaker 4: You just get into a rhythm and you're just you're

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Speaker 4: just acting. You're not really thinking about it.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so you turn around and what is the most

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Speaker 2: common plate? Scrambled egg two scrambled eggs, eggs, bacon, grits, toast.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, basically the hash browns. Grits are less common than

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Speaker 4: hash Browns.

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Speaker 2: I think has a stupid.

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Speaker 4: I do.

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Speaker 2: No, I'm dead serious. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not

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Speaker 2: insulting you. I don't see a purpose in hash Browns.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. It's it's the worst use of the

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Speaker 2: product that I can It's the worst form. I don't

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Speaker 2: understand it. I don't understand it. But anyway, y'all don't

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Speaker 2: do grits.

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Speaker 4: What, Yeah, we have grits.

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Speaker 2: Oh, it's just it's a side order. Okay, so do

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Speaker 2: you kind of all right? So you're you're pulling the ticket.

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Speaker 2: It's not digital, right.

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Speaker 4: Oh no, it's we don't we don't have tickets. Are

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Speaker 4: calling it to you. You're setting your plates. They tell

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Speaker 4: you three orders of scrambled egg three scrambled plates, and

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Speaker 4: you're putting out three plates with a jelly packet on

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Speaker 4: the bottom, and you're throwing some hashbruns on the top.

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Speaker 4: An actual reminder right there, and if it's wheat coast,

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Speaker 4: you flip your jelly packet upside down. If it's raisin

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Speaker 4: raisin toast, you're throwing an apple butter on there instead.

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Speaker 4: And they have a whole marking system so you don't

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Speaker 4: have any screens. Raviously, you've been in the waffle house

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Speaker 4: before and you just have that server yelling, actually telling

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Speaker 4: you what they need and you have to run down

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Speaker 4: and dress your plates for it.

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Speaker 2: And is the is the waitress the expeditor? Is she

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Speaker 2: the one that's that's taking the plate and presenting it

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Speaker 2: like she there are things she's going to add that

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Speaker 2: you're just putting the food out there? Are you putting

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Speaker 2: Remind me, now, are you putting the bake in, the

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Speaker 2: egg and the toast all on one plate or are

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Speaker 2: you sending out a plate of each?

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Speaker 4: Well, we have side plates for the bacon and all that,

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Speaker 4: and then you have the bigger plate for the meal,

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Speaker 4: which would be like the eggs toast, and then the

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Speaker 4: hash brands are the grits.

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Speaker 2: On average, how many waitresses are there working a shift?

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Speaker 2: Probably about three, so you're keeping all of their orders separated.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you just have it on that little.

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Speaker 2: Long harder than Charles. That's a lot harder for the

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Speaker 2: rest of us than you realize.

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Speaker 1: Briskets and berry letting it all hang out, going against

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Speaker 1: the grain is what we do on the Michael Berry Show.

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Speaker 2: Can stop sending me your hash brown comments. I don't

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Speaker 2: care that you like them. It doesn't make them. It's

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Speaker 2: the worst use of potatoes out there. One of my

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Speaker 2: friends said, whether to do potatoes, how can you be

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Speaker 2: against them? Well, i'll tell you what. Put them in

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Speaker 2: a juicer. They probably got a blender back there. Put

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Speaker 2: them in a blender and make potato juice out of

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Speaker 2: it and serve that to people when they go. But yeah, exactly, here,

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Speaker 2: here's your potato sludge. Eat This is a potato smoothie.

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Speaker 2: That's gross. Why'd you give me that? Well, it's potatoes.

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Speaker 2: The point isn't whether hash browns are good or bad.

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Speaker 2: That's not the point. The point is you got ten

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Speaker 2: things you can do with hashbrown with potatoes before you

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Speaker 2: get to hash browns. Why would you ever get on

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Speaker 2: your checkdown list? Right, Tom Brady? Why on third and

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Speaker 2: sixteen did you do the fun beforeward like Kenny Stabler

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Speaker 2: and the Holy Roller, hoping that the right guard would

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Speaker 2: pick it up and run that's well. I looked over

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Speaker 2: Randy Moss and he was covered. And then I looked

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Speaker 2: over it. What was that little fellow that came here,

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Speaker 2: a little slot receiver, Wes Welker. I looked at Welker

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Speaker 2: in a slot and he was covered. And then I

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Speaker 2: looked over at Antonio Brown, and I thought he's crazy.

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Speaker 2: And then I looked and finally I got down to

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Speaker 2: you know, that's all there was left. Oh well, then

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Speaker 2: that makes that a good play, fumble forward, hoping the

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Speaker 2: right guard land on it eight yards down the field. Charles, Yes, sir,

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Speaker 2: So you were working forty hours there and forty hours

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Speaker 2: at another job. She's kicked you in the house. You're

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Speaker 2: living in your truck. You're working eighty hours a week

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Speaker 2: of a job that's already harder than most jobs. You're

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Speaker 2: not exactly pushing paper. You're working yourself to a nub

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Speaker 2: and resting by sleeping in your car. Your fat as

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Speaker 2: all get out. You've got to be uncomfortable. Every inch

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Speaker 2: of your body's got to be hurting. And they used

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Speaker 2: those eighty hours and the money you were making off that,

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Speaker 2: which hold on sixteen bucks an hour times eighty, so

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Speaker 2: you were making probably.

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Speaker 4: No, No, you weren't making making the okay, No, I

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Speaker 4: wasn't making sixteen yet at that point it was ten

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Speaker 4: dollars an hour at more than twelve dollars an hour

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Speaker 4: at the other.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so you were making eight nine hundred dollars a

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Speaker 2: week take home less than that, and they based that

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Speaker 2: what your child support should be, right, correct, And your

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Speaker 2: point of that is twofold. Number one, I can't work

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Speaker 2: eighty hours a week. That was to get myself out

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Speaker 2: of my car and not be homeless anymore. And number two,

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Speaker 2: if I'm working eighty hours a week, I can't see

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Speaker 2: my child who I'm paying child support for.

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Speaker 4: Exactly exactly, And that's that's my main issue with it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, is you not getting a lawyer and negotiating a budget?

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Speaker 2: Who could have said what I just said on your

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Speaker 2: behalf wearing a suit which tends to convince judges and

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Speaker 2: did it pro sae. But we'll discuss that in a moment.

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Speaker 2: And I've had this conversation off there. So when are

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Speaker 2: you back in court today?

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Speaker 4: You know it's going to be in a couple of days.

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Speaker 4: I believe it's on Thursday.

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Speaker 2: Okay, what are they trying to get you to pay

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Speaker 2: in child support.

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Speaker 4: Well, the letter that will send to me they want

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Speaker 4: me to pay essentially six hundred dollars a month right now.

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Speaker 2: And what do you think is fair?

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Speaker 4: Well, the state, wells is twenty percent of your income

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Speaker 4: post taxes, and right now I'm making fourteen dollars an hour,

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Speaker 4: and I think you base it off of a full

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Speaker 4: time income. At fourteen dollars an hour, we could come

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Speaker 4: up once an amount that's fair, but I think that

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Speaker 4: they should just limit it to not be more than

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Speaker 4: forty hours a week.

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Speaker 2: I go back for these guys, Gay second, Charles, I'm

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Speaker 2: just doing some some math in my head. You said

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Speaker 2: sixteen dollars an hour, but now you say fourteen dollars

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Speaker 2: an hour, and you're doing forty hours a week, right,

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Speaker 2: that's right, right, So that's five sixty a week times

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Speaker 2: four weeks is twenty two hundred dollars, right, right.

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Speaker 4: Then you take your taxes out and then you figure

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Speaker 4: when if I do the taxes, I like to multiply

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Speaker 4: the amount by zero point eighty three. And then you

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Speaker 4: take that amount and you multiply it by point two

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Speaker 4: and you trigger out your monthly obbligation.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So let's do really, let's two point eight three

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Speaker 2: times twenty four hundred dollars. So, uh, you've got about

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Speaker 2: you've got about two thousand. Let's do round numbers. You've

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00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 2: got about two thousand and so you got so you

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Speaker 2: think you should pay four hundred dollars.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it should be right around four hundred. Now they're

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Speaker 4: asking for six right now?

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you probably gets to the level that you

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Speaker 2: could have afforded a lawyer for a while, right, even

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Speaker 2: a strips in her lawyer. So are you right to

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Speaker 2: see your child? Now? Is she giving you? Is she

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Speaker 2: allowing you visitation at all?

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Speaker 4: So there's been there's been issue with that. Also, when

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Speaker 4: I followed the I actually filed to take her back

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Speaker 4: into court. This was not on the child's child support issue,

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Speaker 4: but this was on another issue in the household where

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Speaker 4: my kid's living, the person she has living with her,

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Speaker 4: I had gotten arrested for a possession of a stone

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Speaker 4: firearm and drug paraphernalia and a big thing from three

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Speaker 4: years ago. When we were on court, I was complaining

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Speaker 4: about the guy having a substance abuse issue. Well would

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Speaker 4: I know that he I know that he smokes weed

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Speaker 4: and I personally don't want that around my kid. He

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Speaker 4: was five years old at the time. No, I don't

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Speaker 4: believe so.

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Speaker 2: Is the guy Mexican?

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Speaker 4: No, he's a white guy.

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Speaker 2: What's his first name? Is it Darryl Way? Is he

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Speaker 2: a bad guy?

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Speaker 4: Well, I don't think he's a terrible guy. I don't

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Speaker 4: like that around my kid. No, she isn't, is he? No, No,

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Speaker 4: he wasn't. Wasn't a felon. I imagine that's different now that

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Speaker 4: he got arrested for deny possession of the stolen.

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Speaker 2: Firearm and you called him in on that, No.

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Speaker 4: No, I didn't. Actually they he has seizures, and so

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Speaker 4: he was driving her vehicle without a license and their

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Speaker 4: tags were out and they got pulled over for that.

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Speaker 4: Then no, no, it's not so he ended up getting

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Speaker 4: you know, they had he was with a friend. The

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Speaker 4: friend had a bag full of weed that was portioned out,

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Speaker 4: and he had a hot gun on him, and so

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Speaker 4: he gets pulled out of the car. They find the

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Speaker 4: stolen firearm on him, They find his pipe. That's where

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Speaker 4: the drug paraphernalia comes in. And then the other guy

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Speaker 4: actually had ran but then came back and he had

401
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Speaker 4: a backpack in the car full of marijuana. So it's

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Speaker 4: a long story. Basically, the first time I went into court,

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Speaker 4: the judge wouldn't even consider the substance abuse complaints that

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Speaker 4: I had because there were no drug charges. And so

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Speaker 4: whenever I found out that he was in court for that,

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Speaker 4: I went and got a copy of the police report,

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Speaker 4: went over it, and then I decided to file to

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Speaker 4: go back into court to discuss these things. And at

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Speaker 4: that point she stopped letting me see my kid for

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Speaker 4: about a month and a half and it got really

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Speaker 4: ugly between us. Again, what if she wasn't too happy.

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Speaker 2: Would it bother you less? If he was raging alcoholic?

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Speaker 4: Probably not. I still wouldn't be happy with her around

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Speaker 4: my kids.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but then it wouldn't be a climb the stupid

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Speaker 2: drug laws tears because I start here that our country

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Speaker 2: is failing you today. Invest in Kleenex, ladies and gentlemen.

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Speaker 2: And this is the Michael Berry Show. I got a

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Speaker 2: self directed study credit in law school for my third

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Speaker 2: year and I was in England, so the university was

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Speaker 2: very kind to me. They allowed me to count my

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Speaker 2: PhD credits, which we call an LLM here in England

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Speaker 2: as my third year of law school, so I got

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Speaker 2: two degrees in three years, which normally law school takes

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Speaker 2: three years. It was pretty awesome of them to do

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Speaker 2: it the way they did it, and I had to

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Speaker 2: come up with They had to come up with one

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Speaker 2: extra course to get me through, which I took while

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Speaker 2: to in a bar. And there was a professor that

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Speaker 2: had been there forever named Joe Sutton and his son,

431
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 2: Johnny Sutton, is a charming, very smart guy who was

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Speaker 2: US attorney who's done some awful things, which with which

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Speaker 2: I disagree. I don't think he's a bad person, but

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Speaker 2: he's one of these guys that worked for the Bush family.

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Speaker 2: He's like a mercenary for the Bushes. He's the one

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Speaker 2: that went after the two border guards. You remember Will

437
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 2: He wrote the song Yeah, Campion and Ramos and I

438
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 2: had him on during that time, and I started our

439
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:39,119
Speaker 2: discussion by saying, your father did myself directed to study

440
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:41,439
Speaker 2: at Utidorge. Your father he was kind of in his

441
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 2: twilight years as a faculty. Remember, they kind of kept

442
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 2: him around, but he did it, and he and I

443
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:55,160
Speaker 2: formed quite a friendship. And my subject was pro se representation.

444
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 2: Pro Se is the Latin term that means roughly representing

445
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 2: yourself in court. And I started it with dishonest abes quotation,

446
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 2: he who represents himself as a fool for a client.

447
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,200
Speaker 2: And I've always loved that line, and that's what came

448
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,160
Speaker 2: to mind when Charles and I were emailing me. We're

449
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,560
Speaker 2: emailing back and forth over the last couple of days

450
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 2: about him getting dragged to court and feeling that it

451
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,919
Speaker 2: was wrong that they based the amount of his child's

452
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,360
Speaker 2: support on how much he made when he worked eighty

453
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 2: hours a week, but unfortunately he didn't have a good

454
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,400
Speaker 2: lawyer to explain that to the court. Yeah, so that's

455
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 2: kind of a bummer. So now he's stuck in that.

456
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 2: So Charles, I have to give you credit. Yeah, you're

457
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 2: one of these guys kind of in a Forrest Gump way,

458
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,959
Speaker 2: but you're one of these guys that just keeps plugging along.

459
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying you don't make terrible decisions on occasion,

460
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 2: but I keep you lovable as all get out, and

461
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 2: people that know you, like Jonathan Kim tell me you're

462
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 2: just charming as you can be. And I guarantee you

463
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 2: waffle House lives in fear that you're going to move

464
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 2: away again because they just can't find people like you

465
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:03,600
Speaker 2: to do what you do. You're worth your weight and

466
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 2: goal to them, and I think you're a big boy

467
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 2: from what I've heard.

468
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 4: Well, that's the thing. I moved away from them back

469
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,360
Speaker 4: in September because my kid wanted me to be closer

470
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 4: and they don't have a waffle house up here in

471
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,479
Speaker 4: the Livingston area, and I ended up moving back up

472
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,200
Speaker 4: here to on Alaska, which is just up one to

473
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 4: ninety from Livingston. Yeah, so that I could be four

474
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 4: minutes down the road to my kid. And I had

475
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 4: gotten an office job out here and that just wasn't

476
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 4: really working out. I wasn't able to keep up my

477
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 4: performance there, and so I ended up going to the

478
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 4: new Dennis that they built out here, and that's where

479
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,600
Speaker 4: that fourteen dollars an hour is. So I'm trying to

480
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 4: find another little part time.

481
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 2: Are you talking to the microphone because Ramon won't turn

482
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 2: the volume up and I don't want to have to

483
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,359
Speaker 2: change my setting because then everything else will be too loud.

484
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 2: So I'm hoping I'll get you to do it on

485
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:55,800
Speaker 2: your end. Do you have it up?

486
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,920
Speaker 4: I actually have I have my phone up to my ear.

487
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,680
Speaker 2: Do you not hear me that way I can. Okay.

488
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 2: So you told me that there is that like waffle house,

489
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 2: and this shocks me that there are Denny's partisans and

490
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 2: that they make fun of the waff It's like it's

491
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,400
Speaker 2: like the Socials and the Greasers.

492
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,160
Speaker 4: Right right, And now I'm working for Denny's over here,

493
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 4: so that you know, you have an actual computer screen

494
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,880
Speaker 4: with everything already listed on there, and I really don't

495
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,879
Speaker 4: like it. I have to turn around to look at

496
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 4: what I need to cook instead of just glancing down

497
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:37,480
Speaker 4: a line. Waffle House, in my opinion, is definitely easier

498
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 4: because you get all of your plates set up and

499
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 4: I can just kind of peek over and I know

500
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 4: exactly what I need just by looking at the plates

501
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 4: real quick. Whereas Denny's it's kind of disorganized on the

502
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 4: computer screen and you're trying to count down tickets to

503
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 4: figure out how many of each item you need, and

504
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 4: it just takes longer.

505
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 2: If you drive. If you drive the Louisiana on Iten,

506
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 2: before you get into Orange, there's Highway sixty two that

507
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,040
Speaker 2: runs pard It runs perpendicular to the to Iten that

508
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 2: you're on, and I grew up very close to that

509
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 2: intersection right there and when you're headed that way, so

510
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:18,040
Speaker 2: you're eastbound, So the northeast corner of that intersection of

511
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 2: the highway which is a flyover, and sixty two, which

512
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,920
Speaker 2: is the highway which takes you up East Texas right

513
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 2: there in that northeast corner, and there's a place called

514
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 2: Fads and inside Thads which is a gas station that

515
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 2: used to be my elementary school. They tore that elementary

516
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 2: school down and inside of Fads is a Denny's. And

517
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 2: when they built that Dennis, my parents were very excited

518
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 2: because Denny's was their kind of place. And so you

519
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 2: would pull up there and then be all the eighteen

520
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 2: wheelers out in the parking lot, and the would be

521
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 2: the lizard, the lot lizards, what Yeah, the lot lizards

522
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 2: all out there. And then a guy I went to

523
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 2: school with turns out he was a lot lizard, and

524
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 2: that was awkward because he's well whatever. So anyway, I

525
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 2: go there with my parents one and my wife, and

526
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 2: my wife's a good sports never going to criticize anything,

527
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 2: and we go in that Denny's and it's been there

528
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,400
Speaker 2: for about two years at that point when I finally

529
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 2: go and we go in that Denny's, and it felt

530
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,480
Speaker 2: like it had been there for sixty years. But it's

531
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 2: like a city pool in an urban environment, it's trash

532
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,400
Speaker 2: to day, or a public housing project is trash today.

533
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 2: It opens, and it was really cold, which felt weird,

534
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 2: and you're seated, which feels odd, and you're very far

535
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 2: and they got carpet on the floors, and the staff

536
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,000
Speaker 2: doesn't seem like they want to be there, and I

537
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 2: just thought, how does this place survive? Whereas waffle House,

538
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,239
Speaker 2: which is not nearly you know, Denny's, tries to do

539
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 2: things that make it seem nicer. Waffle House is like,

540
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 2: here's the grill and Charles's cooking. You can sit right

541
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 2: next to him or a little bit further away on

542
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 2: a Melomine bent deal that we bought all the old

543
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 2: dairy queen chairs, and your waitress is going to walk

544
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 2: ten steps here and here's your menu, And I just go,

545
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 2: I love it. How can it be that I love

546
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,120
Speaker 2: waffle House and I won't be seen dead in a

547
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 2: in a Denny's.

548
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,840
Speaker 4: Help me, Well, waffle House just waffle House just owns it.

549
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 4: We're not We're not trying to hide the fact that,

550
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,440
Speaker 4: you know, maybe things are a little run down, you know, Denny's.

551
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 4: I've been through several different Denny's just to go eat,

552
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 4: and some of them are pretty rough, Michael. They're they're rough,

553
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 4: and You're right, they don't seem like they want to

554
00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 4: be there, because I guarantee you they don't want to

555
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,680
Speaker 4: be there. But that's where they are and probably can't

556
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 4: find them. No the Denny's, Yeah, serve staff, Yeah, yeah,

557
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:37,720
Speaker 4: did you?

558
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 2: Did you ever go to the Dutch Kettle on?

559
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 3: Uh?

560
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 2: Hasn't been there. Oh, it's not there anymore. It's Gumbo Donner.

561
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:46,760
Speaker 2: He's a guy that took it over. He's done a

562
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 2: great job with it. I like the guy and I

563
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 2: love their menu, But the Dutch Kettle was the last holdover.

564
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,880
Speaker 2: You would go in there and they would be there

565
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,480
Speaker 2: would be people smoking, and some of them were actually customers,

566
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 2: Like your waitress would come over, she have a cigarette dangling.

567
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 2: What can I get for you, darling? And she's she's

568
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:05,800
Speaker 2: moving it. What maybe, what can I get you? And

569
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 2: she turned my wife, honey, what you want and she

570
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,240
Speaker 2: was already pouring your coffee and it was just it

571
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 2: was so glorious. I miss that. They'll never They'll never

572
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 2: open new places like that. I'm just glad I'm old

573
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 2: enough to remember it. And there was a Dutch agaunt.

574
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:22,360
Speaker 2: Go ahead.

575
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 4: You never got any cigarette ashes in your in your coffee, no,

576
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 4: did you?

577
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he knows, you know. It was just it

578
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 2: was an that acrid smell. I love the acrid smell

579
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 2: of smoke. That's what a diner should smell like, Charles,

580
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 2: I wish you the best of luck, my man hanging there.

581
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 2: Stay in touch,