Armchair Anonymous: Craigslist Debacle

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[3] Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous.

[4] I'm Dan Shepard.

[5] I'm joined by Lily Padman.

[6] Hi.

[7] Her.

[8] Welcome to this episode of Armchair Anonymous.

[9] It's great to have you with us for this.

[10] It really is.

[11] It helps since you are here for the recording of them as well to bring the whole.

[12] Thank you for me. Yes, I'm talking to eventize.

[13] Oh, thank you for having me. Yes, it's like exciting you've stopped in.

[14] Thanks for having me. Yeah, maybe I should have told you what the bit was before.

[15] Yeah, because I thought you were talking to the arm cherries.

[16] Well, them too.

[17] I'm glad they've joined us.

[18] Today is Craigslist debacles.

[19] And we've got some doozies for you, as you might expect.

[20] Oh, yeah, there's some fun ones.

[21] Craigslist was the Wild West when it first came out.

[22] It was.

[23] Man -seeking woman, woman seeking man. man -seeking, man -women seeking women, it's all in there.

[24] Yeah.

[25] Please enjoy Craigslist debacles.

[26] Hello.

[27] Hi.

[28] Can you hear us?

[29] Yes, I can hear you.

[30] Wonderful.

[31] We're calling you Michelle.

[32] Yes.

[33] Michelle, you're a musician or you are having sex with a musician.

[34] Yes, it would be the second one.

[35] My boyfriend is a musician.

[36] The computer is actually on a keyboard right now.

[37] We've got four or five axes leaning against the wall that he is regularly shredding, I bet.

[38] Mm -hmm.

[39] Yeah.

[40] Would you want to tell us where you're calling from?

[41] So I'm in Cleveland, Ohio.

[42] Wonderful.

[43] You know, my whole in -law family is from Cleveland.

[44] Actually, I didn't realize that.

[45] Yeah, Kristen's both grandparents live there from there, both parents from there, relocated to Detroit.

[46] Yeah, I love it.

[47] And you know what I'm going to ask you?

[48] How often are we at Cedar Point?

[49] You know, I am not a huge ride person.

[50] I'm not a big thrill seeker.

[51] And I have like a lot of motion sickness stuff.

[52] So if it wasn't for that, I'd be about it.

[53] Okay.

[54] It's not a great place for you.

[55] No. Okay.

[56] Now, did your Craigslist debacle take place in Cleveland?

[57] It actually takes place about an hour south of here.

[58] So to kind of set the tone for this, my town I grew up in is really close to like Amish country.

[59] So, like, very conservative, a lot of, like, conservative Christians, and my family reflects that my parents are super sweet, religious people.

[60] They didn't allow any rated our movies in the house, no alcohol in the house, grew up very sheltered.

[61] So when this all took place, like neither I or my parents really knew the dangers of interacting with strangers on the internet.

[62] You were a little naive to the worldly people?

[63] Yes.

[64] Just a little naive.

[65] So this happened when my mom and I were working on buying my first car.

[66] Right when I was out of high school and starting to commute to community college, we started to look online.

[67] I know very little about cars, but the guy I was seeing at the time was obsessed with his Honda Civic.

[68] Great car.

[69] Very trusted.

[70] Didn't have a huge budget.

[71] I was just using some of my personal savings.

[72] So we went to look on Craigslist, found one that a guy had listed a couple of towns over.

[73] Great.

[74] My dad was working a lot.

[75] So my mom was like, I'll go with you.

[76] We'll go look at this car.

[77] So we got there and everything seemed normal.

[78] She had coordinated with him over the phone and everything.

[79] We test drove it.

[80] I was all on board.

[81] It was like a Honda Civic hybrid, which would be great for commuting.

[82] So I sat in our car and waited for her as she wrapped up with him.

[83] talking about next steps to buy it.

[84] She gets back in the car afterwards, and she tells me what happens.

[85] She says there's an issue with the title, and so he is having us wait until tomorrow to come and get it.

[86] But I gave him a check for a deposit.

[87] I was like, okay, but then later that evening, she was like, you know, this seems a little sketchy because the listing said it had like a clean title, like there shouldn't be any issues.

[88] The next day she let the guy know she was canceling the check and that we were going to not move forward.

[89] with it.

[90] Well, the guy flipped out.

[91] He started calling her terrible names.

[92] He was like, I already cashed this check.

[93] You're going to overdraw my bank account.

[94] She's like, well, it's not my problem.

[95] Yeah.

[96] So he was freaking out.

[97] And I believe my mom just like ended up blocking him.

[98] And we thought that that was that.

[99] So we're sitting there late at night and her cell phone starts blowing up.

[100] And it's text after text after text, phone call after phone call.

[101] It's all from different numbers.

[102] And there were dick picks.

[103] Oh, boy.

[104] And there was a bunch of sexual context to all of the voicemails and text messages.

[105] Oh, boy.

[106] My mom is, like, so shocked.

[107] Like, we were both just like, I don't know what this is, what's going on.

[108] We realized that he had put her number on a personal's ad on Craigslist.

[109] Oh, my God.

[110] Sneaky.

[111] Oh, wow.

[112] that's a revenge for you oh wow yeah we ended up finding the ad and it said her number it said like a bunch of like sex acts she would do in the bedroom oh my god yeah yeah and so we tried to get the post taken down we tried reaching out to the guy we were having no luck and my mom was just like I just can't keep dealing with us so she had to change her phone number yeah what else can you do oh my god boy it's It's interesting.

[113] And even in a small town, you put that kind of ad up and the customers come running.

[114] They're everywhere.

[115] Wow.

[116] Oh, yeah.

[117] Okay, so all the messages and stuff were all from different people.

[118] Yeah.

[119] I mean, there'd probably be a couple from one person, but it was just number after number.

[120] So you can't block that because you're just going to continue getting different numbers reaching out.

[121] Yes.

[122] Oh, my Lord.

[123] And we're certain it was him.

[124] We just have a hunch it was him.

[125] Had to have been.

[126] We're pretty.

[127] pretty certain it was him yeah yeah he was real upset by the way fuck him if someone drives two hours to your house to look at a car your title had better be in order yeah what a dick move he was obviously fucked up yeah he's a vengeful man i know that yeah but you do wonder if there ever was a problem with the title or it was a scam nuts yeah there is a little bit more to it i called my mom to get some details and she actually told me that the guy tried to friend her on facebook a few years later Jesus.

[128] Oh, really?

[129] Yeah.

[130] He's obsessed with her over this.

[131] It's really weird.

[132] Yeah, they've gotten rid of personal ads since then, so that's good.

[133] Oh, good.

[134] Yeah, a lot of people are getting murdered.

[135] Oh, fuck.

[136] Yeah, there was a lot of stories.

[137] Yes, yes, there's a lot of these hookup stories that ended in murder, and I think they didn't want the liability anymore.

[138] Smartly, so.

[139] It does remind me of something I thought was really funny growing up.

[140] My friend Ken Kennedy, his dad was a big -time rascal.

[141] And when he was younger, when he would have.

[142] enemies he would put an ad in the detroit paper free harley parts work midnights call late not only are they going to call in the middle of the night it's people interested in free harley parts it's like kind of the perfect thing wow like the worst group of people you and this in the 70s when like harleys weren't all that popular yet it was oh my god oh my gosh that's horrible yeah it was so unexpected and i don't think my mom had ever gotten a dick pick before that what if she left her religion and your father behind she was like i'm awake now look at what's out there changed have you used craigslist since i have my sister bought a pig on craigslist oh my goodness positive story miniature one i assume no a full -blown pig yeah it was supposed to be a gift for someone and they didn't want it so we had to return it oh oh my god you really have have not had good luck on Craigslist.

[143] No, I have not.

[144] But thank you so much for letting me tell this story.

[145] Yes, thanks for sharing us, Michelle.

[146] Delightful to meet you.

[147] Yeah, it's so nice to meet you both too.

[148] I just want to thank you both, how much work you do around like vulnerability around mental health and recovery and everything.

[149] I run a small nonprofit in the Cleveland area that works on like the front lines of the overdose crisis and trying to reduce overdose fatalities and a big barrier you're always to the work that we do is stigma.

[150] So the more that people can be out in the platform that you all have and reducing stigma, the more it makes my work a little bit easier.

[151] So I wanted to say thank you for that.

[152] Oh, my goodness.

[153] We're delighted.

[154] And thank you.

[155] Thank you for what you do.

[156] You just got trunk full of Narcan.

[157] Basically.

[158] Yeah.

[159] Yeah.

[160] That's a lot.

[161] Yeah.

[162] It's wild here in L .A. parents are just having to get realistic and they're giving their kids Narcan and they're giving their kids fentanyl testing strips it's interesting to watch everyone try to figure this out yeah we do distribution of those and trainings and everything it's a wild world out there this podcast also helps a little break for me from the day -to -day stresses so that's nice as well it's a dark undertaking you yeah it really impressive yeah it is well michelle great meeting you and thanks for doing that work absolutely thank you for everything that you do this was such a dream to talk with you both.

[163] So have an awesome rest of your evening.

[164] Okay, you too.

[165] Bye.

[166] Bye.

[167] All right.

[168] Ready for Darian?

[169] Yeah.

[170] Darian?

[171] Hello.

[172] Yes.

[173] How are you?

[174] I am good.

[175] How are you?

[176] Good.

[177] I see that we share a red beard in common.

[178] Yes.

[179] And this is all thanks to testosterone, man. I'm a trans guy and I've been on hormones and this thing just...

[180] Wow.

[181] Wow.

[182] I had no idea there was red anywhere because I have brown hair and then Bam.

[183] I feel like that's common.

[184] I have blonde hair, red beard, brown eyebrows, and yeah, everything.

[185] I got all the colors.

[186] Calico.

[187] Yeah, it's funny now because we adopted and my son has red hair.

[188] So when we are out in public, people think that he's mine because we have red hair there.

[189] Of course.

[190] Now, you're what, injecting testosterone.

[191] Are we on the same cycle, you think?

[192] I don't know.

[193] I do twice a month and the legs.

[194] What do you do one millimeter?

[195] Yes.

[196] Yes, okay.

[197] Sam, virtually the same cycle.

[198] Yeah.

[199] Okay, so you have a crazy Craigslist debacle.

[200] Yes, I do.

[201] Oh, please tell us.

[202] This happened in 2012.

[203] My wife and I were dating for about a year and we were living together in an apartment in Charlotte, super broke.

[204] We both worked in a restaurant and we had one vehicle.

[205] My goal was to save up some money to buy a used car for her.

[206] So I went to Craigslist to try to find.

[207] find some extra work in order to do this.

[208] Okay.

[209] Some supplemental income.

[210] This guy responded to me. He needed a part -time office assistant.

[211] He was an artist.

[212] And he traveled a lot between the U .S. and some places in Europe.

[213] He needed help getting some, like, information out to potential clients, as well as fielding some stuff from his current clients.

[214] So that was kind of what I signed up for.

[215] Can I say already seems a little rare that someone in Charlotte.

[216] is an international art female.

[217] I just, right out of the gates, I just want to say it sounds already a little bit like a cover story, but please continue.

[218] Well, yeah.

[219] You want a car.

[220] You don't give a fuck.

[221] I do nothing.

[222] Yeah, right.

[223] I was just like, okay.

[224] And I do nothing about art. I was just like, sure, whatever you need help with, I'd be happy to help you.

[225] So I talked to him on the phone a few times.

[226] We emailed back and forth.

[227] He basically told me that he was out of the country and that he was going to be back in a couple months and we would meet then, but we would do this kind of trial basis thing until then, and he told me how much I was going to get paid.

[228] So I started doing some stuff for him, printed out a bunch of stuff, put together these packets, mailed them off, did all this stuff.

[229] His clients sent payment for his art to me. So like, I got these United States Postal Service money orders, like delivered to my door.

[230] And they were in your name, not the artist?

[231] Yeah.

[232] He told me that he needed me to basically use some of the money to pay myself and to reimburse me. And then the rest of it, I had to send to him through money packs that I got from Walmart.

[233] Okay.

[234] So I have these money orders.

[235] At this point, I still was like a little naive, didn't realize that this might not be quite legit.

[236] Yeah, on the up and up.

[237] But I also went straight to my bank, gave them.

[238] these checks and they put them right in my bank.

[239] They all cleared.

[240] And Deerian, what kind of money are we talking about?

[241] Is this thousands or is it hundreds?

[242] I think the first set of checks was maybe three or four, but it totaled around $2 ,000.

[243] Okay.

[244] So then I recouped the stuff that I'd paid in for my time, and then I sent him the rest of the money.

[245] My wife knows about what's going on, but she doesn't know the ulterior motive is I'm trying to buy her car.

[246] The next round of checks I get, It's the week of Christmas.

[247] So my ability to go to the bank was limited because I still had a job, and I couldn't get there before they closed.

[248] So I sent him the 2 ,000 that I had in my savings.

[249] I talked to him on the phone about it, and he was like, you can just pay yourself back.

[250] Oh, boy.

[251] Maybe the day after Christmas, I go to deposit these next set of money orders.

[252] I don't know, maybe three or four grand.

[253] The clerk stops and she goes and walks away.

[254] And then she comes back with the manager and tells me that these money orders are fake.

[255] And that the first ones were as well, yeah?

[256] Right.

[257] I felt like the world stopped spinning.

[258] Like I just felt sick to my stomach.

[259] Yeah.

[260] I didn't have any money.

[261] We were living paycheck to paycheck.

[262] So I left and I was like, what am I going to do?

[263] I had to close my bank account.

[264] I immediately went to the police.

[265] Basically, the police department laughed at me. They were like, there's nothing we can really do.

[266] I sent them all the communication I had with this guy, the number, the email, all this stuff.

[267] And I tried to reach out to him, and he, of course, isn't answering.

[268] And now I'm in like a real bind because now I'm negative money.

[269] Yeah.

[270] Four or five grand, I think is what it ended up being negative.

[271] And I didn't have.

[272] So I had to close my bank account so that my paycheck wouldn't be direct deposited.

[273] Because otherwise, I'm not going to be able to pay my bills.

[274] I got a call from the bank a couple of days later, and they told me that I had 30 days to pay the money back or they were going to have warrants issued for my arrest for bank fraud.

[275] Sure.

[276] Oh, my God.

[277] Hits.

[278] Called my parents who do not have any money.

[279] And my mom's like, you need to call your dad.

[280] They want to call my dad.

[281] I called my dad.

[282] He basically met me at the bank.

[283] I thought he was going to pay it, and I was going to owe him.

[284] Yeah.

[285] He basically went as like emotional support.

[286] while I begged the bank to give me the money to pay them back.

[287] Yes, yes.

[288] So, I got scammed on Craigslist.

[289] Oh, big time.

[290] Oh, my God.

[291] So did you end up having to pay the money back to the bank?

[292] Well, yeah.

[293] So we didn't get two cars until three years later before we got married.

[294] Oh, you were trying so hard.

[295] What did your wife say when you told her all this?

[296] Oh, God.

[297] She was really supportive.

[298] Oh, okay.

[299] That's nice.

[300] Like, she didn't tell me that I was.

[301] was an idiot, which I appreciated, even though I felt like an idiot.

[302] Of course.

[303] When I told her I was going to be doing this, I was like, of all the stories that I would be telling, it's this one that I am like the biggest loser of.

[304] We've had episodes about people who have been conned and I feel so bad for them.

[305] They're so embarrassed by it, even though it's not their fault.

[306] Yeah, it could happen to any of us.

[307] These people know how to execute it.

[308] Ironically enough, a few years later, I responded to an ad on Craigslist and guys, a job and that was my job that was legit for five years until I chose to step back from that to be a stay -at -home dad.

[309] So Craxas isn't always.

[310] Yeah, it's like Twitter.

[311] Prosen cons.

[312] But I definitely was more hesitant.

[313] Yeah.

[314] I'm impressed you went back.

[315] Yeah, you got back on that horse.

[316] Daring got back on that horse and he got himself another job.

[317] Wow.

[318] Wow.

[319] Oh, I'm so sorry.

[320] That breaks my heart that you were going.

[321] It's so stressful when you're broke oh fuck i've definitely come a long way since then but man at that time i thought my life was over yes i don't know what i'm gonna do i felt like such an idiot we think our life's over all the time we do yeah it's kind of like our thing to do is just think our life is completely over oh man well darian great meeting you thanks so much for telling us that story yeah absolutely it was great meeting both of you tell your wife we say hi yes absolutely okay take care bye bye hello What's up?

[322] Wonderful.

[323] Michael, what is that, a set of pearls behind you?

[324] Yamaha.

[325] Yamaha.

[326] Okay.

[327] I see you.

[328] Michael, where in the country are you?

[329] I am just south of Seattle.

[330] In Tacoma?

[331] Very, very close, yeah.

[332] Wonderful, beautiful country.

[333] How far are you from the sound?

[334] 25 minutes or so.

[335] We're right on Lake Taps.

[336] Okay, wonderful.

[337] Michael, you have a crazy Craigslist story?

[338] Oh, yes.

[339] All right, let's hear it.

[340] What year was this?

[341] I pinned it at about 20, 10, but I was talking with my mom about it, who's also part of the story.

[342] Wonderful.

[343] She seems to think that it was a little earlier, like maybe 2007, 8, somewhere in there.

[344] That'd be early Craigslist days.

[345] Oh, yeah.

[346] The Wild West of Craigslist.

[347] I used to be a serial Craigslist surfer.

[348] Probably spent a lot of time in the free section.

[349] I'd be sitting at work.

[350] I'd be bored just kind of hanging out, kind of looking for deals, I guess.

[351] Online shopping in a way.

[352] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[353] Right.

[354] So instead of going directly to Amazon, you might go check out Craigslist or offer up before you do Amazon.

[355] I worked at UPS at the time, and I was, again, bored.

[356] And so I'm sitting there and I open up Craigslist and end up finding myself in the free section.

[357] Kind of right on the top of the list was free canoe in like all caps.

[358] Oh, yeah.

[359] I'm like, are you kidding me, dude?

[360] I'm in Seattle.

[361] Yes, yes.

[362] I had been already kind of starting to get interested in getting a kayak.

[363] But at the time, I was just out of college, so I wasn't making a lot of money.

[364] And kayaks are like $1 ,500 or $2 ,000, whatever.

[365] And so I see this free canoe.

[366] I'm like, dude, that is awesome.

[367] You have to be quick with the free shit because right away, somebody else is going to snap it up.

[368] It's just kind of like that sort of environment.

[369] You've got to be a shark, right?

[370] Down at the bottom, it's something like first come, first serve, which means there's no way to gain an edge with the seller or whoever's getting rid of this thing.

[371] And then I noticed that it's up in Bothel, which is kind of north of Seattle.

[372] But it's right by my folks' house.

[373] Maybe they can help me out.

[374] I called my mom.

[375] And I was like, all right, dude, here's the situation.

[376] And so I explained the situation.

[377] I'm like, dude, this is a time sensitive issue.

[378] We've got to get this thing sorted out right away.

[379] It's right by your guys' house, dude.

[380] Grab the truck.

[381] Get over there, Mom.

[382] It sounds like something you would have your mom do, Monica.

[383] It really does.

[384] And she would do it.

[385] Mom, go now.

[386] out.

[387] Someone else is driving there now.

[388] Faster.

[389] But I'm working.

[390] I don't care.

[391] You can fucking quit your job.

[392] She's like, yeah, we'll get your dad together here and we'll go pick this thing up.

[393] I think it's like 2 o 'clock in the afternoon or something like that, maybe three.

[394] I got a few more hours of work.

[395] And then I get home and Jamie, my wife, and I lived with also a best friend of mine.

[396] You know, I'm just regaling them about this free canoe.

[397] Maybe another hour or two go by.

[398] You know, my phone starts ringing.

[399] I see it's my mom calling.

[400] So I pick up the phone like, hey, dude, what's up?

[401] I call my mom, dude.

[402] Immediately I can hear it in her voice that something is just like 100 % wrong.

[403] Her voice is like shaking.

[404] She's like, Michael, what did that ad say?

[405] I'm like, what's going on?

[406] Is there a problem?

[407] Yes, he won't let us go.

[408] What?

[409] What?

[410] He's got your dad at gunpoint.

[411] No. Oh?

[412] I'm like, holy shit, dude.

[413] All this stuff is just flying through my head.

[414] I am literally like outside my body at this point.

[415] Yes, you've gotten your parents kidnapped.

[416] What's up guys?

[417] This your girl Kiki and my podcast is back with a new season.

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[436] I'm trying to get more information from her about what's going on.

[437] She's like, he's got your dad at gunpoint and he walked him around to the back of the truck.

[438] He's got me locked in the front of the truck.

[439] What the hell?

[440] This is so heavy on me right now.

[441] Like, I'm crazy.

[442] Really, like, I got to call 911.

[443] I'm still trying to kind of figure out what's going on.

[444] Like, still gathering information, seeing what I can get out of her.

[445] Because I'm trying to get his mental state.

[446] Like, is this guy crazy or what?

[447] So she's kind of explaining some things No, he's got us locked in the truck.

[448] He had them both captured in the truck and then got my dad out and brought him around the back of the truck is how I understand it.

[449] And then, you know, had him a gunpoint while my dad wrote down the license plate number.

[450] And then I guess he put my dad back in the truck and went inside the house.

[451] And so my mom is on the phone with me for part of this.

[452] And I guess he goes to call the cops.

[453] So from his side of things, he's like, somebody's trying to steal my shit.

[454] Oh.

[455] Mm. He comes back out.

[456] He's got my dad's truck keys, right?

[457] So they can't go anywhere.

[458] They're just kind of locked in the truck.

[459] At the same time, my mom, she had gotten off the phone with me and called the police.

[460] They're both calling the police.

[461] Oh, my God.

[462] So a couple minutes later, all these cops come flying down the drive.

[463] They open their car and they draw weapons from a couple different police cars.

[464] And they're like guarding themselves with their doors open, right?

[465] You know the drill, Dax from your time on chips, right?

[466] That's right.

[467] That's right.

[468] I know this formation.

[469] So the cops kind of calmed the situation down.

[470] Well, it sounds like first they rev it the fuck up and then they calm it down.

[471] Right.

[472] A couple of the cops went to console my folks.

[473] A couple of the cops went over to console this guy.

[474] And they kind of separated them.

[475] I guess the long and the short of it, what happened was a neighbor, a couple doors down.

[476] Was pissed at this guy.

[477] Exactly right.

[478] And to fuck with him said, come.

[479] take my canoe.

[480] Oh, my God.

[481] So many Craigslist shenanigans.

[482] Dude, it was just crazy.

[483] Yeah.

[484] So I guess the neighbor had written a couple of different ads.

[485] Come take my tools.

[486] Come take my canoe.

[487] You know, all the shit that was sitting outside this guy's house that they could see.

[488] Oh, my God.

[489] Wow.

[490] Oh, boy.

[491] It's rare that, you know, the cops arrive at a scene where everyone's a victim.

[492] Yeah.

[493] Yeah.

[494] Everyone present is a victim.

[495] This guy just had his canoe stolen.

[496] These people have been abducted.

[497] Oh, wow.

[498] Wowsers.

[499] Michael.

[500] That's a good one.

[501] Yeah, that's powerful.

[502] And there's maybe an allegory in there, too, about free shit.

[503] I don't know.

[504] It feels like there's one sitting there.

[505] That's a little one.

[506] Maybe that's the allegory.

[507] Needless to say, that was the end of my Craigslist career, certainly for free shit.

[508] Now, I will say that I still look at offer up for shit.

[509] that I need, you know, here and there, but I'm certainly not going to the free section.

[510] There's just no value in it anymore for me. Sure.

[511] Yeah, stakes are too high.

[512] The lives of your parents.

[513] Obviously, they were scared shitless, both of them because they've never been held at gunpoint before or after that event, but they bought me a little pewter canoe ornament, almost like a tree ornament.

[514] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[515] To commemorate the situation.

[516] Oh, my gosh.

[517] God, that's great.

[518] So I came into this through my wife is a absolute super fan.

[519] Yeah, go grab her.

[520] Yeah, get her in here.

[521] Hello.

[522] Oh, my guys.

[523] What's your name?

[524] I'm Jamie.

[525] And this is my son Vaughn.

[526] Hi, Vaughn.

[527] Hi, Jamie.

[528] Hi, guys.

[529] So he actually just by coincidence got to watch Zathura for the first time over the weekend.

[530] Oh, do you recognize me?

[531] And then when my husband said that he had heard back from you guys about doing this recording, I was like, guess who dad is having an interview with on Tuesday?

[532] He's talking to the astronaut.

[533] He goes, n 'n't.

[534] And I was like, yeah.

[535] Oh, my God, I love listening to you guys.

[536] You're the best.

[537] Thank you.

[538] I do the exact same thing with our kids.

[539] I'm like trying to find something they care about within the thing I'm wanting them to care about.

[540] Yeah.

[541] Yes.

[542] I know you won't care about him.

[543] But let's see.

[544] Oh, you like Zethora.

[545] Yeah.

[546] Well, great hearing from Michael.

[547] Yeah.

[548] What an incredible story.

[549] Yeah, we had been dating maybe like less than a year when that whole thing happened.

[550] And obviously I heard about it like after the fact because this was like before iPhones.

[551] So he couldn't like look up the Craigslist ad on the fly when his mom's telling him this crazy story.

[552] But it's always been so nuts.

[553] So when I heard you guys have this prompt.

[554] He was actually in Israel for work.

[555] I heard the prompt at the end of whichever episode it was recently.

[556] And I was like, babe, you have to write in.

[557] Like I promise you, nobody has that story.

[558] Yeah.

[559] Yeah, that was great.

[560] It was wonderful.

[561] I did not know how I was going to resolve.

[562] I'm like, what, a psychopath put an ad for a freaking air?

[563] Oh, duh.

[564] Yeah, that makes sense.

[565] Yeah.

[566] I feel like I remember them saying something about how even they had a detective that was looking at the IP address to see, like, where it had originated.

[567] And that's how we ended up finding out the neighbor.

[568] Pissed off neighbor.

[569] Oh, my God, so great.

[570] You guys are just the best.

[571] Thank you.

[572] Nice to meet you.

[573] Wonderful meeting you.

[574] Yeah, you too.

[575] Have a great night, you guys.

[576] Okay, bye -bye.

[577] Oh, so funny.

[578] Oh, wow.

[579] Okay.

[580] All right.

[581] Drew.

[582] Hi.

[583] Can you hear me okay?

[584] Yes.

[585] Can you hear us?

[586] Yes.

[587] Oh, my gosh.

[588] This is so exciting.

[589] And I get to see the new chair.

[590] Oh, I know.

[591] You're one of very few.

[592] One of the first.

[593] Go ahead.

[594] Be brutally honest.

[595] I don't mind.

[596] I mean, it does give grandma vibes, but I think it's fine.

[597] It is humongous.

[598] That is the largest chair owner.

[599] It's comically big, yes.

[600] It's a good size for a big boy.

[601] Room for me to grow.

[602] That's right.

[603] Always want to grow.

[604] That's metaphorical.

[605] Yes.

[606] Monica, did you inherit the other one?

[607] Yeah, it got passed down.

[608] Really, I'm afraid to get rid of this one.

[609] Like, juju -wise.

[610] Yeah.

[611] So it's mine now.

[612] Where are you at?

[613] I'm in the Chicago suburbs.

[614] I'm in Naperville, not far from Bolingbrook, where you spent some time.

[615] Oh, I know.

[616] I know.

[617] What's his ass is from Naperville?

[618] Oh, Bob Odenkirk.

[619] Oh, yes.

[620] They ran some headlines saying, like, Bob Odenkirk wanted to get out of Naperville as a teenager.

[621] And it's like, yeah, everyone does.

[622] I know people were, like, their feelings were really hurt.

[623] neighborhood.

[624] Everyone wants to get out of everywhere.

[625] That's the kind of human nature.

[626] I think it's just the teenagers do, right?

[627] Yeah.

[628] Drew, you had a crazy Craigslist experience.

[629] I did.

[630] So this was about 12 years ago.

[631] I was two years out of college.

[632] So right after college, I signed up for a teaching program where I had to commit two years of teaching.

[633] I got sent to rural South Carolina.

[634] Oh, wow.

[635] And I was dating my college boyfriend who did not go to rural South Carolina.

[636] Do not blame him that really quick were you close to this murdaw family actually yes you were i didn't know any of these people but they were just a couple hours from where i was just kind of like right smack dab in the middle of the state so it felt very similar watching that documentary was like oh i'm taking right back to that experience i honestly didn't really think in this day and age that was still happening i had no idea like there was family run town still oh yeah the town i was in was quite family run Wow.

[637] Wow.

[638] Wow.

[639] Wow.

[640] It felt more of a study abroad experience than anything else.

[641] But it was great.

[642] I loved it.

[643] I loved it.

[644] South Carolina's wonderful.

[645] But so we were dating long distance and like shockingly a couple 23 year olds.

[646] It just didn't really go super well.

[647] But I had already taken a job in New York City to teach.

[648] And so I really wanted to do that as a really cool school.

[649] I didn't want to back out of that commitment I made.

[650] We had already picked out an apartment together.

[651] So just like, things were figured out, and I kind of was just on a pathway to move up to New York, even though by the time the school year was ending, I don't think we really talked for like a couple weeks.

[652] So it's one of those things where it's like, we both kind of know this probably is not going to go well, but like what else am I going to do?

[653] So I sell my car in South Carolina for a couple thousand dollars.

[654] I have no money.

[655] I was making $27 ,000 as a teacher in South Carolina.

[656] So I have like $5 in the bank.

[657] Basically take the money I got from selling my car.

[658] My mom.

[659] and I rent a U -Haul and drive it up to New York City.

[660] Driving a U -Haul through Manhattan was a harrowing experience.

[661] Oh, yeah.

[662] No, thank you.

[663] I don't know how we survived that.

[664] That could be its own prompt.

[665] Tell us about the time you drove in New York City.

[666] You've driven through Manhattan.

[667] Exactly.

[668] But we get to the apartment.

[669] It's in West Village, so these tiny little streets.

[670] Bethune?

[671] What's Bethune?

[672] Bethune is one of those little side streets in West Village that we rented on.

[673] Yep, it was a Waverly place.

[674] Oh, that's literally...

[675] Very famous.

[676] Three blocks away, yeah.

[677] Yep.

[678] So I get myself up in the apartment.

[679] He was at work because I have the summer off for teaching, so I kind of just came in the middle of the day and say goodbye to my mom.

[680] And the door clicks and I realize, I got to go.

[681] I don't want to do this.

[682] This is going to get dragged out so long.

[683] We need to just cut it.

[684] Yeah.

[685] I don't want to start this experience with this.

[686] Exactly.

[687] And just like, I have nothing to do all summer.

[688] He's at work.

[689] I got some time to get this figured out.

[690] And if I don't do it now, the school year is going to start.

[691] And then I definitely won't be able to do it.

[692] Yeah.

[693] So pretty much the next day, we just sort of call it.

[694] And I end the relationship.

[695] And shockingly, he's like, I don't really want you in this apartment very much longer then.

[696] Yeah.

[697] Which I didn't really think through.

[698] So I realized, oh, I really got to get out of here.

[699] All my stuff is still in boxes.

[700] So I find a short -term storage unit where I can throw some stuff for a couple months.

[701] I only have about eight weeks until the school year begins.

[702] So I only have a little bit of time to figure.

[703] your stuff out.

[704] For even like a short -term storage unit, that's kind of a good amount of what I have my checking account.

[705] So I need to find movers because there's no way I'm doing another U -Haul through Manhattan.

[706] What do you do when you have no money and need services is Craigslist?

[707] There we go.

[708] There it is.

[709] So I started at fairly reputable places that had business names.

[710] Yeah.

[711] But they really need advance notice.

[712] They're like, we can be here next week.

[713] I'm like, no, I really need this like today.

[714] I got to go.

[715] And very quickly, we lose the business name.

[716] and it's just like a guy's cell phone number.

[717] Yeah, first and last name, then just first name.

[718] Exactly.

[719] We are at a first name basis with like an area code, not in the state.

[720] There's a lot of red flags immediately.

[721] Call the guy and I was like, I just need 10 boxes moved from this apartment to the short -term storage unit.

[722] It's not even that far.

[723] It's only take like two hours of your time.

[724] And he's like, no problem, we'll be right there.

[725] So not a good sign looking back.

[726] They pull up in like a truly just unmarked white van.

[727] Like may have been stolen.

[728] I don't even know if there's license plates on it.

[729] There's no name.

[730] But I'm like, yeah, sure.

[731] Absolutely come in my apartment.

[732] Yeah, yeah.

[733] Come on in.

[734] So he gets in and says, you know, because sometimes people kind of try to skirt out on payment at the end, we really prefer payment up front.

[735] Which I'm like, yeah, totally.

[736] You know, I'm from the Midwest.

[737] I'm just like, absolutely that makes sense.

[738] I'm so sorry that's happened to you.

[739] Exactly.

[740] How much?

[741] And he's like, 400.

[742] I'm like, cool.

[743] And I just willingly hand over $400 to this strange man in my apartment.

[744] And I also realize, wow, I'm just one person.

[745] So I should probably stay in the apartment as they're moving.

[746] Because, you know, it's one of those are like the door locks behind you and all this stuff.

[747] So it's like, well, I've got to stay here.

[748] I don't even think about the fact that I'm not following them out of this apartment.

[749] right so about an hour goes by all the boxes are down and I say all right let me just do like a quick walk through just make sure I have everything leave the key I'm sure I wrote some like sad little note or something you don't know what just walked out of your life even though I instigated this you just lost the best thing that ever happened to you yeah all of a sudden you're mad yeah you're in love with you this is your loss but I don't do I don't know like 10 minutes go by I walk out and like very quickly I start to see in my boxes.

[750] And they are just everywhere.

[751] They're all over the sidewalk.

[752] What?

[753] The van is clearly gone.

[754] Yeah, they just dumped on.

[755] I'm surprised they even went through with all the dumping it on the sidewalk.

[756] I would imagine my first to steal the money.

[757] Why would they just steal your stuff?

[758] Well, I didn't have a lot of value.

[759] Again, like very poor teacher.

[760] Right.

[761] But I had a TV.

[762] I had a computer.

[763] My mom had got me this nice DSLR Nikon camera.

[764] That was probably like the most expensive thing of all.

[765] of that, all that was gone.

[766] Luckily, I didn't have any, like, jewelry.

[767] So they did take some of it.

[768] Oh, yeah.

[769] They, like, looked and found anything that could be of value.

[770] So robbed you and come.

[771] Yeah.

[772] Wow.

[773] So that's about as good as it can go for them, right?

[774] Yeah.

[775] Because I'm wondering if normally they just want to steal people's shit and it's like, oh, no, then they figured out, oh, that's smart.

[776] We get the money up front.

[777] And is it about the money or the shit?

[778] Well, they decide based on the person.

[779] Yeah.

[780] How much they can get away with.

[781] I could not have had just like a larger target on me of like I'm two days into living in New York City I'm like little Midwestern I just broke up with someone I don't know anyone in the city so I'm just panicked and they did a great job I can only blame myself honestly like tremendous start to finish from them but so now all my shit is just everywhere and I'm trying to grow like eight more arms and just like put my body on top of my forever 21 shirts that I have from college still and I just are obviously I'm just like falling.

[782] I don't know what to do.

[783] So then I decide the next best move is calling the police, which is pretty embarrassing looking back.

[784] I just don't know what to do.

[785] No, I would totally do that.

[786] Or the hospital.

[787] Well, to me, it's another layer of the naivete.

[788] Really?

[789] Yeah.

[790] They can't, no, they're not going to, they can't really do anything.

[791] But you need to tell them still.

[792] Just in case.

[793] All this is the hour of their day where they got to write a report about this thing and nothing's ever going to be done.

[794] And so I can't see why that's a defendable use of their time.

[795] It's definitely not.

[796] But they came.

[797] Basically ran down the story of like, so you called this guy, yes.

[798] You didn't have a company name.

[799] No. You didn't have their name.

[800] No. Of course, the number I had called is now disconnected.

[801] Oh, burner phone.

[802] Wow.

[803] Oh, wow.

[804] They knew what they were doing.

[805] They really did.

[806] And the cop basically by the end of me telling the story is just cackling and laughing.

[807] And basically just ends it with like, well, welcome to New York.

[808] look, and it just takes off on his merry way.

[809] Because honestly, he should have.

[810] So I learned my lesson.

[811] Well, really quick, what did you do then?

[812] How did you get the remainder of your shit to the storage unit?

[813] Yeah, so I just schlepped everything back up the stairs as best I could.

[814] I had to spend, like, one more very uncomfortable night in the apartment, and then just rented a car and just, like, made a couple trips myself to the storage unit.

[815] I actually really did love my time in New York.

[816] I was just going to say, you survived this.

[817] I did.

[818] I found an apartment with also strangers who didn't want to rob me and kill me that were lovely.

[819] And now, 12 years later, I'm married to my best friend from that teaching program.

[820] Oh, that's nice.

[821] So, you know, it all came full circle.

[822] It all came out in a wash. Well, I'm glad they didn't murder you.

[823] You know, honestly, that was probably on their list of all.

[824] A couple apartment showings that I went to that it felt like it was a murder apartment.

[825] Yeah.

[826] We danced around all of these things in the first couple months of New York living.

[827] A part of me goes to, there was two guys?

[828] Two guys.

[829] That's a lot of effort in breaking the law and placing ads and having burner phones all to go get $400.

[830] Well, and they'll sell the TV and the computer and those things.

[831] Maybe steal a couple hundred bucks.

[832] Still, it's a lot of work and effort and sophistication for not a ton of pay.

[833] Hey, I probably just have normal jobs and make more money with that creativity.

[834] That's true.

[835] When we tell the movie version of their lives as criminals, we can't have the scene where they go one last score so we can get out of this thing.

[836] Oh, yeah.

[837] Because we'll go like, what, that's $400?

[838] Yeah, not enough.

[839] Not even like a quarter of rent in New York City.

[840] Like, that's not going very far.

[841] No. Wow.

[842] That scene's not going to be in the movie.

[843] It just can't.

[844] It just can't be.

[845] It cannot be.

[846] Drew, what a great story.

[847] I mean, I'm sorry.

[848] Your spirit almost got extinguished, and it didn't.

[849] That could have really, some people would have called mom and dad and just been like, get me the fuck out of here.

[850] You're right.

[851] I'm wrong.

[852] Good for you.

[853] But stuck with it.

[854] I just want to say, too, I found armchair.

[855] I know everyone kind of at the end, like says, this is why I love your show.

[856] But I found armchair when I had my first baby and I needed something to do in the middle of the night when I was up all night.

[857] And a friend suggested this was four years ago.

[858] And because it was so long, it would get me. through a full night of being up with the baby and kind of kept me saying through those first few crazy months.

[859] You know what that means, Drew, we will be forever linked to one of the most joyous periods of your life in a decade, the way music can.

[860] Yeah.

[861] Yeah, probably associated that whole time.

[862] Absolutely.

[863] And I just had our second.

[864] And so now you guys have so many more shows.

[865] So it's like, it's great.

[866] It's so much entertainment at three in the morning.

[867] We'll try to keep you fertile for another.

[868] That's right.

[869] Thank you.

[870] Well, great meeting you.

[871] Thank you.

[872] That's so lovely to hear.

[873] How wonderful were the soundtrack of that.

[874] I like that.

[875] Me too.

[876] All right.

[877] Bye.

[878] Thank you.

[879] Oh, man. Oh, man. These cherries are lovely.

[880] They're lovely.

[881] That was fun.

[882] Whoop.

[883] Do you have any stories?

[884] Do you have any stories?

[885] I don't like when the world's taking advantage of our cherries.

[886] Me either.

[887] No. I feel protective.

[888] Do you have any crisis stories?

[889] Wow.

[890] We might have found the one thing I don't have a story about.

[891] Well, I would not expect you to.

[892] Have a story about Cravis?

[893] Yeah, because you are primed and I get taken advantage of it.

[894] Like you're aware, hyper -aware.

[895] No, you know, I do have a Craigslist story, but it's super positive.

[896] The one thing I sold on Craigslist was my Harley -Davidson, my 2000 ultra -classic electric light.

[897] And I had had it at that point for, I don't know, maybe 15 years or something.

[898] And I just never wrote it.

[899] And I decide, okay, I'm going to sell it.

[900] So I've never ran an ad Someone responds, great Come to the house They don't call or maybe I miss it And they just let themselves in And then all of a sudden Chris is like Wow who's that huge dude in the backyard And I look out in the driveway And there's a dude in the garage Oh boy.

[901] Yeah and I'm like oh that's the Craigslist guy So I'm now walking out And yes because of me I'm like this dude's humongous Like there's a fucking big man at my house He's like, this is going to be potentially a hell of a fight.

[902] Oh, geez.

[903] So I'm talking to him.

[904] Hey, what's going on?

[905] Where do you live?

[906] And he's like, I live on Crenshaw.

[907] You know, I'm down in South Central.

[908] And I was like, oh, cool.

[909] And he said, but, you know, I work up in Malibu's.

[910] I got a long drive and I really want a motorcycle.

[911] And I said, oh, where do you work in Malibu?

[912] And he's like, oh, this place called, it was either passages or promises.

[913] It was a treatment center.

[914] Oh.

[915] I go, oh, yeah, I know.

[916] Well, the treatment center?

[917] And he looks at me and he goes, yeah, bro.

[918] you a friend of bills and I'm like yeah we immediately hug went straight to a hug and we started talking about how much time we have and blah blah blah and then he goes well look I love it I just got to run up to the bank and get the extra 2 ,000 he had brought like I can't remember well I think it was like maybe I wanted eight and he had brought six and I go you know what man you can you can have it you go crazy so that was a Craigslist story that was like really heartwarming and wonderful and a great experience.

[919] I wish he had called.

[920] Yeah.

[921] That's all of him and cool.

[922] Somehow I scammed him in the story.

[923] Dude acting like you're sober.

[924] I should all these red flags.

[925] Oh, that's really sweet.

[926] I like that.

[927] All right.

[928] Love you.

[929] That was fun.

[930] As always.

[931] Do you want to sing a tune or something?

[932] We don't have a thing song.

[933] We don't have a thing song for this new show.

[934] So here I go, go, go.

[935] We're going to ask some random questions And with the help of armcherry's book It's suggestions On the flyer rhymed dish On the flyer rhyme dish, enjoy Follow armchair expert on the Wondry app, Amazon music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[936] You can listen to every episode of Armchair expert early And ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app Or on Apple Podcasts.

[937] Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondry .com slash survey.