What happens when a mysterious office phone bill exposes $5,000 in phone sex calls, an ordinary business trip places one man aboard US Airways Flight 1549, and a security consultant is kidnapped not once, not twice, but three separate times?

On Episode 13 of I Used To Work There, we have assembled what may be the most unbelievable collection of workplace stories we have ever released. From an emergency room nurse helping a chef escape an extremely uncomfortable zipper situation to a powerful Canadian workplace perspective from September 11, 2001, these stories move from hilarious to historic in a matter of minutes.

Then, we meet the last passenger rescued from the Miracle on the Hudson and hear what it was like to remain inside the sinking aircraft, surrounded by freezing water, darkness and floating luggage before making one final swim through the Hudson River.

When Day Shift ends, Night Shift takes us inside a haunted hotel where the smell of chicken noodle soup signals the arrival of a long-dead construction worker, and into a locked hospital call room where the lights go out one by one before an impossible discovery is made the following morning.

Finally, one man takes us through three separate kidnappings across Nigeria and Sweden. What begins with nine days drinking warm beer in the Niger Delta becomes 35 days of violence and mock executions before culminating in an escape from a moving van that plays out like something from a Hollywood action movie.

Every story you hear on I Used To Work There comes from real people and real workplaces because the truth is almost always stranger than fiction. Whether you have had a terrible boss, an unbelievable customer, a paranormal experience, or a day at work you will never forget, this show is built around stories just like yours.

If you are enjoying the show, please follow us on your favourite podcast app, leave us a five-star rating and written review on Apple Podcasts, and text a link to someone you know who has an incredible workplace story.

🎙️ Have a story? You can submit it two ways.

Pull out your phone, open the Voice Memos app, tell us what happened, and email your recording to [email protected].

Prefer to be interviewed? Submit the guest intake form here:

https://form.jotform.com/260164378157057

You can share your story openly or remain completely anonymous.

🏆 Employee of the Month Night Shift Story Competition

The Employee of the Month Story Competition is back, and this time we want to hear the scariest thing that has ever happened to you at work.

Presented by Edmonton’s Best Hotels, the Night Shift Story Competition is open for submissions from September 1 through October 31, 2026.

Submit your true scary workplace story for your chance to win a $1,000 USD cash prize. The winner will be announced during the first episode of November.

Haunted buildings, terrifying overnight shifts, unexplained encounters, creepy customers, dangerous situations, or anything that still gives you chills years later. Voice memo and interview submissions are both welcome, and you may share your story anonymously.

Submit using the email address or guest intake form above.

🏨 Night Shift Story Competition Sponsor

The Employee of the Month Night Shift Story Competition is proudly presented by Edmonton’s Best Hotels.

Fall is one of the most beautiful times to visit Edmonton, with changing leaves, major events, live music, theatre, professional sports and attractions throughout the city.

With direct flights from cities across the United States, getting to Edmonton is easy. When you book your stay through Edmonton’s Best Hotels, you can earn up to $225 in Mastercard gift cards to spend on anything you want while you are here.

Discover upcoming events, explore direct flights, book your hotel and earn rewards at:

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As the plane started banking, I just, you know, I looked outside and I saw that the skyscrapers in New York were above us.

And that's when I started thinking, something's going on.

But we're still just, we're going back to the.

Going back to the airport right until we started going towards the George Washington Bridge.

And I heard the only words I heard the entire time on the plane from the captain said, this is your captain.

Brace for impact.

Welcome back to I used to Work There, the show about wild folks.

Funny, intense, scary, dark, and sometimes completely unexplained things that happen to us during our working lives.

I'm your host, Kelly Kennedy.

Before we begin today, I want to welcome the more than 1,000 new followers who have just joined us on Apple podcasts since our last episode.

It is absolutely incredible to see how quickly this community is growing.

And whether this is your first episode or you have been with us from the very beginning.

And thank you for being here.

This may be the strongest collection of stories that we have ever put into a single episode.

Every time I make an episode of I used to work there, I feel this way.

But I feel like we keep topping it week over week.

Today, a mysterious office phone bill exposes what one employee was really doing at work.

An emergency room nurse helps a chef out of an extremely uncomfortable situation.

Then we meet the last passenger rescued from the miracle on the Hudson before heading into the night shift, where haunted workplaces give way to one man who was kidnapped not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions.

The employee of the month story competition is also back, and I am totally excited about this one.

This time, we are looking for your scariest night shift stories.

One storyteller will win a $1,000.

Yes.

$1,000 USD cash prize, presented by our first story sponsor, Edmonton's Best hotels.

And I will tell you how to enter that later this episode.

All right, people, grab your punch cards.

It's time to clock in for the day shift for our first story of the day.

It is my pleasure to welcome John calling in from Massachusetts with an absolutely hilarious story.

John, tell us what happened.

Okay.

It's maybe like 18 people total.

And one day we all get pulled into this meeting and the CFO is there and the CEOs there, and it's really serious.

And they say that someone on staff has run up a really large phone bill.

Of non work related calls.

And they're not asking for that person to come forward right then in front of everybody.

But if they would just come to either the CEO or the CFO at some point soon, they can just work out a repayment for whatever this, this amount of money was.

And we're all kind of looking at each other like, what is going on?

We did not understand.

So they send us on our merry way.

And I dig around a little bit and I find out that it was a question of a bunch of calls made to Vanuatu.

And I didn't know what Vanuatu was, so I jumped onto the Internet and I found out that Vanuatu is this little island in the Pacific that's really only notable for the fact that it acts as like a relay station for a bunch of telecommunications companies.

So a lot of phone calls go through Vanuatu for businesses.

So about two days later, the CFO's assistant, nice woman, young, 19, 20, super, super quiet, never said boo to anybody.

Like you'd barely even know she was there.

And she's just gone, like out of hand gone.

And it comes out that obviously it was her that had run up this phone bill.

And what was going on was because she was the CFO's assistant, she would bring him invoices and checks to be signed.

And he was kind of, he was a nice enough guy, but he was honestly kind of a doofus.

So he was probably like, pretty girl.

And he was signing off on these checks and things, and she was like covering parts of the invoice or not telling him exactly what it was for.

And it turns out that she had run up $5,000 worth of phone calls that he had signed off on not knowing what it was.

And it's not like she was making calls to long distance relatives.

You can probably see this coming.

She had run up $5,000 worth of phone sex, chat line calls.

This kid who basically, like, you would never hear a peep out of her, was apparently spending hours on the phone at work talking dirty to people.

But it gets even better.

So my friend JD was kind of the de facto IT guy for this office.

There wasn't really an IT guy, but he was like, he was the guy that, you know, quote unquote, new computers.

It was that kind of office.

So he would handle a lot of the IT stuff.

And they asked him if he would go into this woman's computer and clean out any offensive material.

Because the other story that came out was that there was a day where our government affairs guy needed to go talk with her.

And she sat, like, in a corner.

And her booth had.

Her cubicle had, like, three walls.

You had to kind of come around the third wall in order to, you know, to see her and therefore her computer.

So he comes around unannounced, and up on her monitor is this graphic porn picture.

And she very calmly clicks out of it, and there's another one underneath it.

And she very casually clicks out of that one and there's another one underneath it.

And she clicks again.

She gets back to her desktop, and she just looks up at this guy and goes, yes.

And he.

He had to leave.

He couldn't.

He could not speak, so he just went.

So they knew that there was probably some stuff on the computer.

And JD was my drinking buddy.

And so I asked, could you please.

Can I please sit with you while you do this?

Because I think it's going to be hysterical.

And he said, of course.

So after hours, everyone had gone home.

There's not a ton of cybersecurity.

We get into the computer and there are megabytes upon megabytes upon megabytes of porn on this woman's computer.

Like, if you can think of it, there was a picture of it.

There was a lot.

So we start cleaning that out.

And we also look into her email because, again, not a lot of security.

You can go into people's email accounts, and we see that she has an adult friend finder account as well, which is very active.

And jd, you know, we have her username.

So JD says, I wonder if she's dumb enough to use her own name as her password.

So we go in, he puts in her name, and boom, we are in this person's adult friend finder account where not Kink Shaman here.

Her and her boyfriend were looking for any number of partners for any number of lovely things that they wanted to do with them.

And I don't know what ever became of this woman, but wherever she ended up, I have to assume she's probably on the phone.

I have to admit, I had a pretty good chuckle after hearing this story.

John, thank you so much for submitting it.

And to each their own, but you probably shouldn't be doing that stuff at work.

Thanks again, John, for submitting this story.

John simply recorded this story and sent it on over to hrused to work there.com and we would love to get more story submissions like John's.

For our next story, we are going from an office to a hospital room where a chef comes in with a Very peculiar problem.

It is my absolute pleasure to welcome Ram to the show, who called in all the way from the United Kingdom.

I believe it is our first caller from the United Kingdom.

Thanks for calling, Ram.

Tell us what happened.

Hi, my name is Ram Gurujani and I'm a retired respiratory nurse consultant, but previously worked in trauma as a trauma emergency care in a busy AE department.

And this is a story about that which incidentally I've added into one of my books, which is called Code Brown.

But anyway, it was a busy shift in the AE department and a seriously injured patient, some traumatic, some worthy of a Darwin Award through self infliction, some seriously ill and more.

We did not have a limit on how many patients we had and they just kept on coming in.

As any A and E staff member can tell you, we don't have a limit on this particular late shift.

Diane, the Accident and Emergency Department respiratory reception clerk came up to me and whispered quietly, Sorry to disturb you, I know we're all very busy, but I've had this patient has come up to the desk and said he doesn't want to disclose what's wrong with him and needs to see someone, a male member, staff, quite urgently.

So therefore I said to Diane, I will see to him.

And in the meantime I quickly wrote some notes and prepared myself to go in and thought, I wonder what this is going to be.

This is going to be animal, vegetable or mineral?

Which orifice is it sucking?

And what was the reason and rationale behind it and what excuse would be given?

So we'd had all sorts of things from acorns in the anus that made their way mysteriously whilst out on a walk in forest and pieces of, you name it, it's been in these oracles for different people.

So, yeah, the forest acorn is probably the tamest tales I can share on this platform.

So anyway, I pulled the coat to cubicle three and there stood a gentleman in white top and chef's checked trousers.

He was not quite sitting on the trolley.

He stood guarded, seemingly embarrassed.

And I got hold of shit, I bet it's vegetable.

But calmly and professionally asked what the issue was.

Well, it's a bit embarrassing, I'm not sure how to tell you.

The chef said, I've worked in AE for many years and I've seen lots of stuff.

Just tell me how it is, I said reassuringly, okay, well, it gets very hot in the kitchens.

So you see, I'm a chef.

The man blabbered out and I thought to myself, duh.

Told me something I didn't know but my face said tell me more.

Well before it's because it's so hot I don't wear underpants and when I went to the toilet sad pee.

Well, I caught my will in the zip and I can't get it out his face now red hot embarrassment.

Now I just turned around and said is that all?

I exclaimed with an audible sigh of relief and he said what do you mean is that all?

It's really painful and it's really embarrassing.

As I then went on to say to him I thought it was going to be a carrot something wedged in I stopped myself completing the sentence, reassured the man and explained that I was going to put to do what I was going to do but he needed the man's consent.

But I needed the man's consent and signature and he was okay with me cutting a zip.

Absolutely.

Give me the pen and please hurry.

It hurts.

He said.

No sooner had the signal check been done, I took my scissors out of my top pocket, a strong pair of angle dressing scissors, and explained that I was going to do it's only a couple of minutes.

I'll cut the zip at the bottom of the run and pull it the other way so it will release your penis and relieve pain.

Okay, okay, okay, but please hurry.

Man said.

Obviously in the mix of pain and embarrassment.

With a small snip and a zipping noise, the man was free from his trap, his relief instant, his gratitude immeasurable.

Help, promotion and prevention of a repeat in the hand.

I advise now whatever you do, don't go commander when you're cooking.

Okay?

The chef agreed, shook my hand, grabbed his hold all and walked away.

Aerated and brief time asked me out of curiosity.

I've just seen the chef go so was it something he shouldn't have done?

Me, the consummate professional replied with a huge dose of tongue in cheek.

Not at all.

We zipped through the treatment and managed options for him and he was free to go.

I hope you enjoyed this story.

Thank you.

Don't cook Commando.

I think those are absolutely wise words to live by ram and to the rest of our UK listeners out there, if you listen to this show, please reach out to me.

I would absolutely love to hear more stories from the uk from a zipper emergency to a day that many of us will never forget, me included, it is my pleasure to welcome Nate calling in from Toronto to the show.

Nate is a repeat caller and he has a 911 story for us and and not your typical 911 story, although we do hope to get more of them.

If we have people listening from New York who were there, who experienced it, we would love to hear from you.

This particular call is from what happened in Toronto, Canada during 9 11.

Nate, welcome to the show.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Tell us what happened.

Thank you, Kelly.

And well, first I want to take a moment to acknowledge those that lost their lives on that day, their friends, family and loved ones and the people in many communities, like those in Gander, Newfoundland, that provided support that day.

Certainly it was an event that, that really shook us here in Canada in a lot of ways.

And, and I just want to share my own personal insight into that day.

Absolutely.

And I'm very happy that you called in with this story.

It's a powerful story because you don't really hear the Canadian perspective all that often.

But what I can say to all of our American friends out there, our listeners in New York, I was 12 years old.

I was in junior high.

And I will never, ever forget that day.

I still get chills just thinking about it, watching it on the television before school.

And then when we got into school that day, school was basically shut down.

TVs were rolled into every single classroom and we were told how important what was happening was, how horrible it was, and it affected everybody in Canada, even children.

I'm just a touch older than you, Kelly.

Just a touch, just a hair.

So I was on that day.

I was six years into my career and broadly and in fire protection engineering sector.

But, you know, at that time I was working at the Toronto Transit Commission and in part of the safety department as a foreperson and responsible for a union crew responsible for a particular sector of work.

So certainly, you know, you talked and you shared about the feelings you had, and certainly for me, it was hugely impactful in an uncertain time.

You know, I'll touch on some of the experiences that I had, but just wanting to make a note because I know that the reach of this podcast is really wide and that you referenced our listeners in New York City and elsewhere just to say from a very personal level, how, how impactful and that 911 was and uncertain the time was for us and especially, you know, for this really newly minted, you know, leader of people in my team.

You know, it was my first such instance of having to deal with an emergency.

And at this scale, it really was an experience that I will never, ever, ever forget.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So what happened?

Well, that day started for me pretty early 7am and then getting on with the day, but then when we started hearing messages from The Transit Control Center.

And again, for context, for some of our listeners, this was way before distributed mass media through the advent of social media and so forth.

So we had, you know, our radios tied in with Transit Control center and.

And we started hearing, you know, these messages about what was taking place.

And then it got to a point where the ttc, through the Transit Control center, activated their emergency response, their emergency operations plan, sort of organization wide.

So, you know, as part of that, our group stood too.

My team paired up and we fanned out to the designated stations as prescribed by the Transit Control Center.

And you know, as I said, it was part of our emergency operations plan, but it really functioned, or the purpose of it really had two important aspects.

One was to observe and report so that I was getting information from my team in the field at the designated subway stations, relayed to me at my designated subway stations.

And then I would report that information up to the Transit Control center and vice versa when Transit Control center had something to report down.

But it was also, in some ways, just as.

Or more importantly, to also facilitate a presence in the subway during that time that it was still operating before it was completely closed to be a presence for the commuters so that they saw TTC personnel on the platforms, in the subway stations and so forth that perhaps in some way helped provide reassurance to the public as well.

And this is wild because you're not security, you're not police, you're not armed, but you've been asked to go and essentially put yourself in harm's way if need be.

Well, and I want to make a very clear and specific point that our purpose was to observe and report and to be that presence.

The responsibility was to do just that in terms of observing and reporting.

If there was anything going on at a station that.

That gets reported to me, I reported as a Transit Control center.

And then appropriate personnel are dispatched, are mobilized for the given situation, whether it's something that requires a police response or fire department response or medical ems.

So.

So that I just want to make it very clear and deliberate point about that.

So.

Yeah, and it was obviously an intense and very uncertain period of time.

Yeah.

And.

And the responsibility, you know, I'm just again discussing about talking about our team.

Yeah, you know, it was a whole organization response for that.

So we all have responsibilities throughout.

Yes, we're not sort of trained like police and so forth, but we as an organization had still very much do.

But we were responding to our emergency operations plan.

And as well, for myself, you know, on a personal side, you know, I was at that time and for a number of years around that.

That time in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve with infantry and armored reconnaissance units.

So I had that part of my.

As part of my life as well, but on the civilian side, this was my first sort of leadership job in my career.

And it was tremendous how the team responded.

Certainly when we were talking before dispersal to our designated stations, there was a lot of concern, a lot of uncertainty.

Again, in the era before, before really, iPhones and social media, broadly, there is a lot of uncertainty.

And with that, you know, the undercurrent of that certainly is fear.

But what counteracts fear, what helps you move forward in those circumstances, is having a plan and almost even more importantly, practicing it.

So we were able to focus our efforts on doing what we were supposed to do as part of the larger organization's emergency operations plan.

Wow.

Wow.

And it's a story that you just don't hear.

Right.

Like, this is my very first time ever hearing a story about what was happening within Canada.

I'm sure for many of our listeners, the same thing.

And so at this point, you know, we're talking about this is what was happening in Toronto, but I imagine that this was happening across every major city in Canada.

Oh, absolutely, yes.

Yeah.

Certainly any municipally organized body, provincial agency, and certainly federal rail agency was, was, you know, was, you know, fully, you know, attuned to the situation and responding in accordance with their protocols and then private industries as well, of course, you know, certainly.

And no doubt there are many stories of old people in their workplaces on 911 that may also provide that.

Shed that light or provide that.

That window for all of us to see what happened in their work experience on that day, how they and their colleagues responded.

And I'm just thankful for the opportunity to share, you know, what my, you know, experience was as one of many, one of many individuals responding on behalf of the ttc.

Absolutely.

And I would like to say thank you, Nate.

Thank you for not only your service with the Canadian military, which I am deeply grateful as a Canadian, but honestly for your hard work on that day and for stepping up and leading and through probably one of the hardest experiences you will ever have had in your work career.

And so thank you so much for that for our listeners in New York.

You know, hearts are always with you.

We would love to have More stories about 911 if you were there, if you were a first responder or heck, if you just had a workplace and things were happening, would love to hear about it.

And obviously, to our fellow Canadians, too.

You know what, where were you guys that day?

What happened to you?

Especially to our friends in Gander, Newfoundland.

I know you guys had a pretty wild day.

If you're hearing this, please do call in and tell us a story.

You can also just pull out your phone voice, record a memo, email it to HR, used to work there.com or simply just email me, I have a story and we will get that taken care of.

Nate, it's an honor and a privilege.

Thank you very much, Kelly.

And just one other thing before we close out that, you know, this was an experience on a particular day, you know, at a particular time, you know, years, years, 25 years ago.

It's just unbelievable how time has passed.

And, you know, I just wanted to also have a point here that it's more than just, you know, a story of, you know, me having the opportunity to share a story.

It's the broader point I also want to make is about the coming together of many to respond together in an emergency.

Yeah.

And.

That has also resonated with me throughout these many years and for those that run and lead organizations, that every organization needs to have a plan in place and also to practice it.

Yeah.

So anyway, thanks for allowing me just to have those additional few comments there, Kelly.

Like I said, my friend, honor and a privilege.

Thank you for coming on and sharing that story with us.

A very unique take, a Canadian take, one of many.

And I look forward to hearing many more from a day that many of us will never forget to an event that many of you have heard about but have likely never heard the firsthand experience.

Dave, this is truly an honor and a privilege to have you on the show.

You were there, my friend.

Tell us what happened.

Well, Kelly, thank you very much for having me today.

It's.

It definitely was a day that changed, not only that, what happened for me that day, but also probably the direction of my life.

I was the last passenger out of the plane crash known as the Miracle on the Hudson, the plane that went down in the Hudson river that was highlighted in the movie Sully, which was really around the story of the amazing captain.

We had, Captain Sullenberger.

And so I was very honored and privileged to be a part of that experience.

Wow.

Walk us through that day.

Tell us what happened.

Yeah, I was at the end of a three day Business trip that we started for us in Tuesday and Sarasota, Florida, and Wednesday we were working in a manufacturing plant in Petersburg, Virginia.

That afternoon, Wednesday afternoon we packed up to head to New York City because the next day we're going to be working in a distribution center in Brooklyn, New York.

So that's how we got to New York that week.

End of a three day business trip.

That day started very early because I don't know if any of the folks who are listening have ever either been or worked inside of a distribution center, but they normally open up early in the morning because it's where the trucks run, the logistics run.

And that's why we were there.

We wanted to see how this, their systems ran.

So we got in that morning very early, about 5am to see the trucks coming in, the logistics, the systems, because we were redesigning a logistics transportation management system for this company that we were working with.

So yeah, so they started early, saw the trucks run, but that the trucks get done running about 8 o' clock in the morning because they're out on the routes.

So our day got done about 10 o' clock that morning.

So it was great for me because I've been out for a couple of days now and try to get home to my wife and four kids a little early.

So I wasn't supposed to be on the plane.

I was scheduled to be on the 5 o' clock flight because my standard protocol was always take the last flight out because you never know how the day's gonna go.

I can always back up.

So.

But I always wanted to make sure I was on that last flight.

Okay, okay.

So you get to the airport, I imagine everything goes pretty much normal.

You get on the plane.

What happens after that?

Yeah, it was 11 degrees and snowing in New York City in the middle of winter.

So that's no big deal, right?

So flights were delayed.

No big deal.

LaGuardia, no big deal.

Happens all the time.

So get on the plane.

I was one of the first set of passengers to board the plane because of my status, because I flew so often, I flew over 100,000 miles a year.

So I get that privilege, right, to board early so I can get my seat went to C15A, that's four rows behind the left wing on that plane, did exactly what It.

Every single time I got on a plane, didn't pay attention.

Right.

Yeah.

I thought I knew everything.

Didn't read the brochure.

Didn't know where the exits were.

Didn't listen to the flight attendants.

Didn't do any of that.

Because you know what?

I fly so often, it's memorized.

That's right.

That's what I tell.

I said, tell people I said, I'm just like you.

Right.

No one else listens either.

Right.

Yeah.

But I guarantee you I do now.

Yeah.

Because now I know how important it is to be aware on a plane.

Because that day I was.

But, you know, all good.

Right.

We took off 60 seconds into the fight.

No big deal.

Right.

And all of a sudden you hear a big, big explosion on the flight.

And, you know, never heard an explosion on a plane like that.

So that got my attention, especially since we were flying over New York City.

Yeah.

So that's what got my attention.

But what I think was one of the saving graces of that day is, you know, no one knew at that moment in time what happened on the left side of the plane where I was also happened on the right side of the plane.

Both engines got exploded the same exact second.

Wow.

I. I really believe that if we would have heard.

And I've talked to some other passengers likewise.

I think they.

They think most people agree if we would heard, boom, boom.

And you're over New York City on a plane.

Yeah.

I think a lot of people would have a different reaction.

But we all heard one.

One explosion.

So most of the people on the plane kept their heads because they.

I think they all realized like I did, planes have multiple engines.

All this means for me is I'm not going home early.

I'm going back to the airport to get another plane.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

But that's not what happened, as we know, because as the plane started.

Started banking, I just, you know, I looked outside and I saw the skyscrapers in New York were above us.

Oh, wow.

And that's when I started thinking, something's going on.

But we're still just.

We're going back to the.

Going back to the airport, right.

Until we started going towards the George Washington Bridge.

And I heard the only words I heard the entire time on the plane from the captain, said, this is your captain.

Brace for impact.

That's when I.

And I'm sure pretty much everybody, the other passengers knew that something catastrophic is about to happen.

Because you don't hear that on a plane.

No.

Something like, you hear something like that and the Plane's descending, and we were just crossing the George Washington Bridge, and we only cleared the bridge by roughly 400ft.

Whew.

So he was.

That's why I tell people.

And that's the part of the story you do not hear about that he, he was not only skillful getting the plane down, but getting that plane, a de.

Incapacitated plane, over a bridge.

Wow.

Where you have, at rush hour, where you have roughly 800 cars on the bridge at any one moment.

See, I didn't know that, of course, until much later when I started talking to some of the people who are in New York City and New Jersey about all the logistics.

Right.

Yeah.

On average, there's 800 cars on that bridge at any moment during rush hour.

So just think, Kelly, if he just dips that thing down and hits the bridge, not only does he take the plane out, he takes a bridge out with 800 cars on it.

Unreal.

So he gets all the credit in the world.

Right.

So he gets it over the bridge, but now we're heading straight to the river.

And as we know it, he, He.

It's the only place he could have gone skillfully got it down.

Because if he would have, I tell people, just think of the logistics.

Now, he doesn't hit it perfectly backside first.

He just.

He's one degree off.

So he's one degree off to the left.

He's toppling through Manhattan during rush hour.

He's one degree to the right.

He's toppling through Jersey City, New Jersey, during rush hour.

He's one degree nose down.

He's going to the bottom of the Hudson River.

He's one degree backwards.

He's going backwards back towards.

Back to Hudson River.

So you hit it perfectly.

Wow.

And so.

But now you're in the middle of the river place filling up with water.

And it was approximately 36 degree water at that point in time.

So in Celsius, I think it's maybe one degree.

Maybe.

Right.

So now you have another situation going on.

Right.

So great, you got it down, but now we survived, but you gotta get out.

And that's where it became a whole team effort.

What was the impact like when you guys hit the river?

Yeah, he estimates he hit between 110, 120 miles an hour.

So it was a very.

It was a very rough hit.

And when we hit, I went all the way back in my scene, all the way up.

It was like a hard impact.

Yeah.

So, you know, it's like one of these jarring hits.

But then when you Come up.

You know, when I got done and got done going back and forth, I looked up and looked out the window, and I saw a light.

So I knew that I was alive.

But that's when the water started rushing in.

And the water immediately was anywhere from ankle to knee deep.

Immediately where I was at.

And I was at 15.15A.

Which was, you know, about.

About maybe a quarter.

Maybe a quarter from the back.

Right?

Okay.

You break it in quarters.

So, yeah, I was towards the back of the plane.

The back of the plane was just level.

Deep water.

Wow.

Wow.

And what was going through your head in that moment?

I had a game plan.

See, I played sports and athletics and in business, you know, I always would never go into a meeting or a game without a plan.

Right.

And, Kelly, my game plan was aisle up, out.

So as we were going down, and as I said, if I survive this thing, I better have a way to get out of this thing, Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the game, I kept saying, aisle up, out.

Aisle up, out.

Aisle up, out.

Because one of the things I learned through my experiences, not only in my life, but my experiences of being head security for a guy by the name of Tony Robbins, is if you say things enough, it gets ingrained in your body.

So now you're reacting, you're responding, you know, instead of having to think about, you're just reacting.

Yeah.

So I knew that if I was gonna have a chance, I better have a game plan that was aisle up, out.

So when we got down.

Right.

I already had my game plan.

I knew at that point in time, all right, it's time to get to the aisle, get up the aisle, get to get out to the wing.

Right.

But that changed for me, so.

Because I executed, you know, step one, aisle.

But when I hit the aisle, something happened to change that day and change pretty much the direction I was going to go.

Not only that day, pregnant the rest of my life, I heard my mom start talking to me.

And my mom would tell me when I was a child, I know she'd say this to my sister and brother, likewise.

But I heard in the back of my head, it was, if you do the right thing, God will take care of you.

Yeah.

One of the greatest things about my mother is.

And my wife and I were guilty of this.

And I would say many parents are probably guilty of this.

My mother made her kids make decisions when they were young with consequences.

So my mom didn't say do the right thing.

She said, if you do the right thing, God will take care of you.

Which gave me the option, what's the right thing for me?

Right.

I could have gone up and out, which would have been fine with me, right.

But I grew up in a small town where everybody took care of everybody.

So instead of going up the aisle and at the wing, I climbed over the seats to go towards the back of the plane, see if anybody needed help, because I knew I was okay, but I didn't know if anybody in the back was okay and all.

So I said, let me just go back and back.

And then I got back there, things were moving pretty quick.

People were okay, but things were moving quick because as I mentioned before, Kelly, the water was about chest level deep in the back of the plane.

So you had to move quickly.

And as you and I just talked about a moment ago, the impact of the plane, the backsides of plane where it hit 110, 120 miles an hour.

So on that impact, those bins have broken open.

So now you got luggage floating in water, 36 degree Fahrenheit water.

And one more thing just to add to another dimension, you gotta remember this is late afternoon New York City in the winter.

So it's dark.

So it's getting dark, but the back of the plane's already dark because it's below, below the water line.

So now it's dark with chest leaf water, 36 degree water, luggage floating around.

So you're just trying to make your way out.

So I got behind the last person, started making my way out.

So I started feeling my way out.

And the first light that I saw on the right side of the plane was a 10F, the exit door.

I'm out of here, man.

Time to go.

But then I got to the door and looked out.

It was an amazing sight.

There was no room on the wing or that little boat for me, but people were already being rescued.

This was about two to three minutes after this plane hit water.

Wow.

And people already being rescued.

I tell people those are the real heroes.

No kidding.

There was a guy who said something that night and I heard him.

I give him 100% of the credit.

He said the crew got everybody down that day in the crew and passengers got everybody out.

But the real heroes were the first responders.

And they got there in about two minutes after the plane crashed.

Wow.

They get, I give, I tell them they are the heroes of the day.

But that's how I became the last passenger out, because there was no room on the Wing or the boat for me.

So that's why I was inside the plane waist deep in 36 degree water for about seven minutes.

But there was no room because you were back there trying to see if somebody needed help.

Man, I can't think of anything more heroic than that.

Yeah, I just check it out, right?

Just I can see if anybody needed help because you know, you know, you know, you're all right.

But the back of the planes where the hit happened, Right.

So that's how I got.

Became the last passenger out.

And it was about seven minutes inside the plane as it was sinking.

The plane went down in the.

Down in about 24 minutes.

Wow.

What I mean, down doesn't mean the whole plane was down.

It means.

Sure, but it sunk.

It was like slanted, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So I was holding onto the lifeboat because it was floating out into the river.

And until about seven minutes later, something happened and made me say, okay, time for me to go is when one of the boats was part of the rescue.

It was a tugboat.

And I don't know if anybody here listening has ever been or seen a tugboat, but they're the big heavy boats that tug those boats in.

Right.

So one of the tugboats was there as part of the rescue.

He had to back out from one of the ferry systems, come in.

As he was backing out, he hit the front of the plane.

Now, that's not that big of a deal unless you're inside the plane.

And I was inside the plane because when he hit it, it shook the plane.

Yeah, when it shook the plane, that was the first time I felt water going up my backside.

And that's the moment I said Titanic in my head.

I mean, I like, I could see like yesterday I said Titanic because all I could do is relate to is that movie Titanic.

Boat tipped up and it sucked everything down in it.

It's like I said, man.

And my thought was, don't be sucked in it inside a plane.

Sure.

I had.

I would have no shot.

That's when I jumped in and swam to the closest boat that I could find.

Happened into that.

That wing.

And that was the longest 15 meter swim I ever had because the water was on with 36 degrees.

I was fully clothed.

But there was also jet fuel now in the water.

And that's why I wear glasses today because I got jet fuel in my eyes later from that swim.

Okay.

That's how I got off the plane.

Kelly.

Wow, man.

Absolutely one of the most wild and unbelievable stories we've had on the show yet.

Dave, I do want to just say you are a total hero.

That was amazing.

There's a lot of people who wouldn't have gone back, man, I'm happy you made it.

I can't believe that happened.

It's hard to believe that a crash like that can happen and everyone can walk away.

Incredible.

In water.

That's what I tell people in water.

And it's.

You know, it's.

And one of the things I attribute that to is not only to the captain, the first officer getting the plane down.

I say they get all the credit getting it down.

But it was the passengers and the crew together with the first responders.

It was a total team effort.

And it's amazing how I tell people.

One of the things, Kelly, especially in the world we're in right now, with all the crap that's going on in this world, you know how 155 people who don't know each other or care about each other check their egos at the door and pull off something and never been pulled off in the history of aviation?

How does that happen?

Where people who don't agree with each other, don't know each other, care about each other, come together?

Yeah, that's.

This is a recipe for how you pull a team together quickly to get something done.

And step number one is you check your ego.

It's a door.

No one's better than anybody else.

Right?

Amazing.

Amazing.

Dave, incredible story.

Thank you so much for sharing it with our audience.

And congratulations.

And, dude, you're a total hero.

Well, I'm honored to be here.

Thank you so much.

I think there was a lot of heroes that day, but I think that everybody who.

Who contributed did something to the greater good that day and show people what can be done if you just.

Just focus on the big mission, not yourself.

Absolutely.

Once again, Dave, thank you so much.

Incredible story.

Thank you.

And with that, things are about to get a lot darker.

It's time to enter the night shift after a quick sponsor break.

Welcome back to I used to work there.

Before we head into the night shift, the employee of the month story competition is officially back.

And this time I want to hear the scariest thing that has happened to you at work.

The night shift story competition is presented by edmonton's best hotels.

Submit your true workplace story between September 1st and October 31st for your chance to win a $1,000 USD cash prize.

The winner will be announced during the first episode of November.

You can submit your story using the link in the show notes or by emailing h R. I used to work there dot com.

There are a ton of things happening in Edmonton, alberta, Canada this fall, including the Canadian finals, rodeo scream, ufc, fight night, live music theater and much, much more.

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Now find a quiet place, turn off the lights, grab a flashlight.

We are entering the night shift for our first ghost story of the evening.

It is my pleasure to welcome Brittany calling from New Jersey.

You may remember her from multiple stories about the Flanders hotel.

Well, she had just one more.

Brittany, welcome back to the show.

Tell us what happened.

I sure do.

So later on as I worked, you know, throughout the years in the hotel, I always just assumed that any ghost activity was Emily, since she was the only ghost that I really, really knew about at the Flanders.

And then one night when I was working the overnight shift, it was about.

It was right before midnight, and I'm sitting at the front desk by myself.

It was the middle of winter, and I get this really strong smell of chicken noodle soup.

And I was like, huh, Maybe there's someone in the kitchen because it does have a restaurant at the hotel making chicken noodle soup.

And then it dawned on me, like, it's almost midnight.

There's nobody.

There's nobody in the kitchen.

And I'm like, there's nobody else here.

It's the middle of winter, so all of our other staff have gone home.

And I'm like, so nobody should be in the break room heating up chicken noodle soup.

I'm like, that's really strange.

So I leave the desk and I do a little walk through the back area, the break room, the kitchens.

Nobody's there.

But the smell of chicken noodle soup is very, very strong.

And I'm like, this is really odd.

And then I hear a big clang come from one of our storage closets.

And it was locked, so I kept it locked.

I didn't want to look into it having known about the ghost at the hotel.

So I Said, I'll just.

I'll just let it be.

The next day, I come in and I tell my manager, and I'm, like, kind of laughing about it, and I'm like, yeah, it was really weird.

I smell chicken noodle soup.

And she just very casually goes, oh, well, that's Jack.

And I was like, I'm sorry, that's who?

And she's like, that's.

That's the ghost Jack.

And I was like, I didn't know we had a ghost named Jack.

I thought it was just Emily.

She said, no, no, there's a lot of ghosts here.

And I said, well, what's Jack's story?

And there is a little bit of a lure that he used to bring his chicken noodle soup with him in a thermos every day to work, and that's what he would heat up.

And unfortunately, he passed away when part of the building collapsed, and he passed away under the rubble.

So she asked, did you hear a bunch of.

You know, did you hear a lot of movement, sound, anything like falling around after you smelt the chicken noodle soup?

And I said, actually, I did a bunch of stuff in the storage closet.

Definitely fell over, which I did not check for later on.

And she said, oh, yeah, definitely Jack.

You had your first experience with him.

Oh, wow.

Wow.

So that's my.

That was my first experience with Jack there.

Did it freak you out in the.

Moment when she very casually said, yeah, you had your first experience with Jack?

Because I think in my head, like, I was like, I don't know.

It's just.

Could be left over from the kitchen.

And then, you know, we hear stuff banging around all the time from who I thought was Emily.

So then when it settled that there was another ghost who is very close to my work area, because apparently that room, that storage room, was around the area that he passed away and where the collapse was.

I was like, okay, I guess I'll get to know Jack pretty well for the next few years.

Wow, that's.

That's a great story, Brittany.

And actually, that is enough to stand alone on its own.

We're gonna actually just make that an independent story.

That's great.

Love that.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my.

Yeah.

Yeah, that shit.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, that was.

That's crazy.

I would have chill, like, immediately.

Just.

I can feel the chills going down your spine.

Yes.

Yeah.

When it really clicked in my Head.

And I was like, oh, oh, there's more ghosts here.

And I was like, and he's right here.

He's behind this wall.

That's where he hangs out.

She's like, yeah, he's harmless.

He's fine.

Good to know.

He just hangs out in the storage closet.

Don't worry about him.

Yeah.

I was like, okay, all right, enjoy your soup.

And, you know, the next.

You know, the next few shifts that I went in, whenever I smelt soup, I went, have a great lunch, Jack.

And just kind of called it, you know, left it at that, and.

And let him enjoy his lunch.

Well, thank you for another incredible story, Brittany.

And if you have a haunted workplace story.

Yeah, I want to hear it.

Thanks, Brittany.

Thank you.

Well, from a haunted hotel to a haunted hospital, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome Jules from Texas to the show.

Jules worked in a haunted hospital.

Tell us what happened.

Well, so one of the things about being a physician is you get dragged all across America for your training.

So this one is actually happening in Wisconsin.

When I did my residency.

So I went from way north and then way south and somewhere in between.

So this was during my residency when I was actually on my cardiology rotation covering the Thanksgiving call.

So, you know, it's Milwaukee, and when it's late November, it is so cold.

Like, so, so cold, and it's so windy, and it gets dark super quickly.

So to kind of paint a picture from where I live, to reach the VA hospital, I had to drive basically two cemeteries.

So first it's like a really old, kind of like gothic looking, crumbling old civilian cemetery.

And then you see those headstones and the trees.

And then before you can reach the hostel, you had to drive through the military cemetery.

So it's basically just endless rows of just those white headstones, like, all perfectly lined, perfectly shaped.

So during the winter times, when you have the snowfall and then you have either the moon or the street lights, when wind shines on it, the entire field, kind of clement, like, glistens, like glitters almost.

You know, I mean, like, it has very, like, that glow to it.

All of them looks alive, basically.

So the courtroom in this VA is that it is very kind of creepy because when you look outside the window, the entire row of the courtrooms overlooks the cemetery.

And all the windows with those old, like, with the hatch, and you had to open them manually so the wind actually comes through and it's very, very cold.

So I was on call, and for Thanksgiving for cardiology, I was kind of bored twindling my fingers and then I was like, okay, let me just pick up my free meal, and I'll go back to my call room.

So I went pick out my free meal, and then I was heading up to the call room to wait for people to call me.

So this call room is actually batch access only, so you have to have a badge.

And it's basically this long row of rooms, and each side has essentially, a little room.

And there's just no lights, just black.

It's dark inside.

All the lights are off.

So in theory, if someone was to jump in front of me or jump behind me, I would never know.

There's this very long stretch of hallways, just rooms like that.

And Cardiology's room is the last room on the left.

And for whatever reason, that room has two beds, but we're only on call one person at a time.

So I have no idea why there are two beds in that room.

But when you go in there, you know, it's like those college dorm beds with this very cheap headboard.

And the mattress is like, you can.

When you lay on it, you can feel every single spring.

And the tv.

Yeah, and the TV is like those old boxes with the dials, and you can see the faux wood and the antennas poking out.

And the bathroom, for whatever reason, I don't know why they have this abnormally low bathtubs, but it's like.

And those, like, mosaic tiles.

And it's all chipped, and you can't really tell what color they are because it's very dim.

So I would assume it's stained yellow.

And it has all these, like, brown rings on them and stuff.

I don't know who uses the bathtub.

I really don't know why their bathtub is in this column, to be honest.

You know, So I was like, okay, let me just.

You know.

So I set up, got my free dinner.

And it's like a turkey that's sliced so thin, pretty much translucent.

Cranberry sauce, and I think some stuffings or something.

I'm, like, sitting on my bed, twirling with a little antenna, trying to figure out a channel.

Finally got one channel that sort of works with aesthetics, you know?

And I'm just, like, sitting there.

I turn on all the lights, and even with all the lights, you can barely see anything very well.

So two bites into my very, very, very mediocre Thanksgiving meal, suddenly, like, the TV suddenly went completely, like, static.

Like, completely.

Then the.

It's not like the lights went out at the same time.

It went off sequentially.

So first the bathroom light Went out.

And then the light above the TV went out.

And then like, so I have two.

How you call it, a nightstand, the one by the window went out.

And that's when I, like.

I was like, oh, crap, I'm leaving.

And then before the light next to me went out, I ran out of room so fast.

Knock everything as it is.

Stethoscope and everything.

Forget about it.

Cardiology, no problem.

No stethoscope needed, you know, So I literally run down the hallway.

There's no one else in the car.

I think I was the only one there that night because I would have known the door would be closed.

All the doors were open.

Just ran out.

I bolted out.

And then I just spent the rest of the night, like, sleeping in the main cardiology console room, which has a sofa on it.

So we usually start rounding about like, 7:30.

So around like, 6:30, my co resident started coming in.

And my chief resident was like, why are you sleeping on the sofa?

I was like, because, of course, I cannot say that there were electrical problems, right?

Yeah.

So I was like, oh, you know, I just want to be closer to my patients.

She looked at me like, you're really weird.

And.

And then I was like, so, like, do you want to, like, walk with me to get my, like, stethoscope?

And she's like, why?

Why can't you, like, not go get your stethoscope yourself?

I was like, oh, I just want to, you know, like, just come with me.

And then she was like, fine.

And then so we both, like, walked to the car room because I was the only one there last night.

And then it's badge access only.

There's no way, you know, the cleaning lady doesn't come until, like, nine, you know?

Yeah.

So I walked down the hallway, and when we opened that door, she kind of, like, looked like, at me really weird.

And I was kind of like, eh, here's a stethoscope.

Let's go.

Because when you look at that bed by the window, there's clearly an indentation of a body.

And that bed is clearly slept in.

Oh, creepy.

Yes, clearly.

And the problem is I was the only one on call, so.

And all the lights were back on, by the way.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I was like.

And then there's that food there.

And then she was kind of like, what are you gonna do?

Like, you're gonna swear to it?

I was like, yeah, don't worry about it.

Let's just go.

Wow, that is super, super creepy.

So did anything like that ever happen to you again?

No, because first, that was my last call for VA ever, so that was the end of it.

And then the next year, I was not there, not at the VA anymore, so.

And then that was it, so.

But there's, like, a lot of, like, I think that VA is pretty famous for, like, ghost appearances.

Apparently.

There's, like, a lot of history behind it.

In fact, if you have the chance to go to the Milwaukee va, when you look at the bricks that used to build the hospital, it's this, like, yellow cake color.

Apparently, it's very famous.

Like, that specific brick is very native to the area, so.

Wow.

Wow.

Incredible story.

Love it.

Thank you so much for calling in, Jules.

Very much looking forward to some more from you down the line.

Absolutely.

Really enjoy your show.

Highly recommended, everyone.

Anyone does not subscribe, they need to subscribe.

It's a very, very cool, you know, podcast to listen to.

I really love it.

So.

Amazing.

Well, hey, you're very well connected.

I'm sure there's a lot of people who might have some great stories, so tell them about us.

Absolutely.

I'll definitely do.

Awesome.

Thanks, Jules.

All right.

Thank you.

Huge shout out to all the doctors and healthcare workers out there.

You guys are all exceptional.

You are doing amazing work, obviously, with our son Fox, recently being diagnosed with cancer.

We have gone through a lot over the past 40 days, and we are so extremely grateful for all the healthcare workers out there.

Thank you so much for what you do.

I'm sure it feels incredibly thankless at times, but it's exceptional.

You are exceptional.

Thank you so much.

And if you have stories, we would absolutely love to hear them.

Send in all your hospital stories to H R. I used to work there dot com.

For the final night shift story of the evening.

It is my absolute pleasure to welcome our first story from Scotland and our storyteller Simon, in the very first hostage story that our show has ever had.

And he has found himself taken hostage not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions in a way that plays out like something right out of a Hollywood movie.

Without further ado, it is my pleasure to welcome Simon to the show.

Simon, tell us what happened.

Okay, so in the course of my work in a.

In a.

In a former life, I. I managed to get myself in a position where I was.

Well, I didn't manage to do it.

It's just the way things worked out that I ended up kidnapped three times in a row.

Three years on the bounce.

So I, you know, went for the hat trick.

So the first one was in Nigeria.

First and second one were in Nigeria.

The first one, I was a maritime security consultant working on a, on a, on a vessel in Nigeria.

And as, as with most of these things, it was an inside job.

The guys on the, on the vessel were the local Nigerians were getting money for passing information to guys on, on the onshore.

Lo and behold, one night we got woken up at about half eleven with gunfire, lots of thudding and banging and myself and, and another guy got, got shoved into a, one of these, basically a skiff, long wooden speedboat and thrown in, tied up at gunpoint.

And you know when you've got, it's, you know, you've just woken up and you've got like 10, 12, some of them very large Nigerian gentleman and they've got GPMGs which is you know the, the British equivalent to the M60.

So it's a hefty bit of kit.

They've got AK47s and they're all yelling and screaming and shouting in the middle of the night.

And yeah, it kind of, it's a persuasive, persuasive argument to go and do.

Sold because I was kidding.

Wow.

So got into this boat Christ knows where we went up rivers and in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria and yeah, no idea where we went.

So that, you know, the idea of escape was pretty damn slim really.

So yeah, we did as did as we were told and then we got to this beach, we got shoved out and then there's a bunch of guys met us from the village that was up wherever, you know, just up the, just up this track.

And they were like guy, just don't worry, we're not going to hurt you.

We, nobody's going to hurt you.

We've got you, you know, you're safe now and we want to swap you for money basically.

You know, we want to make a political statement to the oil companies and to national government, local government, etc.

Because the, the pipelines were leaking there were polluting their land, they weren't getting any money, there was no jobs etc, etc.

So they were doing it as part of an organization called MEND which is the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

And they used to wear red armbands and headbands to signify that it was them.

So yeah, spent nine days in the village there first few they said they weren't going to hurt us.

They put it into a hut with mattresses, mosquito nets, malaria tablets.

They fed us two, three times a day.

As in many places like this, the water is obviously a valuable commodity.

And it's quite expensive to buy and the local beer was cheaper.

So we basically had a nine day bender in the Niger Delta drinking beer, which is, you know, still what you expect.

No.

Wow.

So, yeah, so, you know, first two or three days we're like, yeah.

We weren't really sure if we could believe that they were, they weren't going to hurt us.

And then kind of day three, halfway through, it was kind of, yeah, okay.

They really are just gonna.

So we end up playing football with the kids.

We started offering to help.

So I ended up cleaning and servicing their weapons for them because they were in a shit state and made ourselves useful.

So, you know, in these situations, the more human humanizing you are and the more you make yourself useful and likable and the less chance they want to kill you, essentially.

And on day nine, we got woke up and said, right, guys going home.

We went to winding down the rivers, met another boat and somebody could see a town up the river.

There was jetties and stuff and all.

Another boat came to meet us.

A big bag went into the boat we were in.

We cross decked into the, into the, the one the money came from.

We, they turned around and went off and we just waved goodbye and that was it.

And then we got a. Yeah, wow, that was that.

It was just, you know, a bit of a booze cruise.

Wow.

Wow.

So was that your first time being kidnapped?

That was the first one, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Second one was in Nigeria again.

I was there under different, different with a different purpose and I managed to get kidnapped with four other people.

And this was very different vibe from the very beginning.

Okay.

You know, the first one scared the crap out of me to start with.

When you get kidnapped, you know, I'm, I've got, I'm lucky.

I've had very good military training over the years, so I kind of knew how to handle myself.

But it doesn't stop you shitting your pants, you know, it's, it's.

Yeah, it definitely tests whether your adrenaline is working or not.

Honestly, the words that rang through my head were, oh, for fuck's sake, not again.

Yeah, yeah, same thing.

Lots of guns.

There was lots of gunfire.

RPGs being fired this time.

Wow.

Well, to kind of, you know.

And then we were bunged into, taken to the, the, the little beach, thrown into boats, take.

Whisked away again.

But it was a very different vibe.

These guys were just scumbag criminals this time.

And we got held for 35 days before they got.

They got their money.

Wow.

You know, it's more than some, less than others.

You know, it's.

So in that time, the first, I'd say the first three weeks was we were all five in one hut.

No mattresses, no mosquito nets, no other tablets.

Given one small bottle of water a day each and fed once a day.

And that was.

That was, you know, that was, that was that.

And it was the first three, three, three weeks kind of left alone.

They'd kind of throw stuff at us in the, you know, and just bang on the hut and stuff like that.

But by the time the three weeks was up, first three weeks they were getting, you know, kind of getting really angry that they weren't getting the money.

So they started to take it out and take us out and give us a beating, throw us back in one at a time.

Sometimes they take us all out and give us a, you know, a kick around and punch us and then hit you with a but of a weapon and stuff like that.

And then it went to mock executions with pistols, AK47s.

One night they were really drunk, drunk and drugged up.

The more pissed off they got, the more they used drink and drugs to kind of.

And then they started hitting us with the.

With the flat side of a machete.

Oh my gosh.

And honestly, that was one of the worst bits, I think because if you just one small.

You could tell if they most.

They were too stupid and drunk.

They forgot they'd had magazines in.

So after the first click, you know, you knew you were safe.

So.

So that was.

That was a kind of a bit of a, you know, saving grace in some respects.

And then the other delightful thing they did was they dug a hole and they tie your hands and feet and they'd stick you in this hole head first and leave you there for hours.

And they got.

The blokes in, the guys in particular would use it as a toilet while you're in there.

Oh my gosh.

And then again at the end of 35 days, they.

We were just put in a boat, taken up river actually to the same town on the.

On this river.

Yeah.

And again we were this, you know, met, money swapped and off we.

And off we went.

And both times in Nigeria when I got got debriefed the first time, bearing in mind we spent nine days drinking warm beer.

Then we got showered and cleaned up and sorted out and debriefed and then took us out for a Chinese in, in Victoria island in Lagos and got drunk, which when they did it the second time as well.

But we, I appreciated it more the second time than the first time.

Yeah, so that was, that's.

That's number, that's number two.

Number three was in Sweden.

And the guy I was taking care of and, and using to gather information, this was for a financial institution he worked for and gathering information about some of their dodgier clients.

And he'd.

I trained him in, in covert surveillance, you know, anti surveillance and counter surveillance.

He'd spotted that he'd been followed, same type, you know, by the same vehicle, same person he recognized.

He told me, I went, had a look, yes, you're being followed.

So I then went and started doing some surveillance patrols around the back of this house in the east, the islands east of Stockholm and that I went around one night and I parked up the bottom of the road and there was some vehicles that weren't normally there.

I went around the back of the house and there were people there with weapons.

So I went back to my car, got on the phone to the office to say look, yeah, this is on.

And as I was on the phone, van pulled up, headlights glaring in the.

In my eyes taken out, jacket taken off me car keys, phone smashed.

The phone started giving me a.

Kicking me around the car park and beating the out of me.

Threw me in the back of this van which is one of these big, big transit vans.

And it had the bench seats over the wheel arches.

So I was sat as you go in.

I was sat on the left with a guy between me and the door and a guy between me and the sort of the cabs, the front end, I know we were, I knew which direction they didn't heard bit.

They didn't cuff me, tie me, hood me, nothing.

So I kind of had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was just kind of.

This was gonna be a one way trip.

Yeah.

And this is the only one I had the opportunity to even try to escape because in Nigeria I had no idea where I was sure.

And it was pointless on foot in the.

You know, but here I had, I had the chance to be able to get away.

And the only thing I could think of as I'm sat in this bench seat and there's this guy between me and the door is I tried to get as much saliva in my mouth as possible.

Then I adjusted my feet so my right foot was back left and I was leaning forwards anyway, the guy to my right, the muzzle of his weapons tapping my leg.

So as I felt how I got spit in my mouth I have no idea.

But I grabbed the muzzle of his weapon, pushed it away, lunged forward, spat everything I had in the face of the guy opposite, shoved this guy to the door, let go of the weapon and flicked the latch.

Thankfully I didn't because I hadn't heard it being locked.

Sure as we were.

So we fell out.

I. I landed on him.

He hit the road.

Wow.

For my blow.

And his head went and hit the deck and popped.

So he was gone.

So that was one down.

Thankfully we rolled and I. Yeah, I was feeling.

So I hobbled in and in.

I hobbled off the road into the trees because this thing skidded because it was snowing.

This was mid March in Sweden and it was snowing.

It was about 9, half 9, 10 o' clock at night.

So they, I. I went into the trees and I did like a.

A dog leg.

So I went in the trees about 50 meters or so and they went back in the direction that we'd come and just.

And then.

And in between these trees, where they planted these pine trees, there was like plow troughs.

So I just laid myself in there and covered myself with as much stuff as I could and laid there because there was still traffic going on the road and obviously this guy's head had popped like a melon.

So there's blood everywhere.

Sure.

And I, they, they kind of.

They spent a few minutes looking for me but there was so much, there was still too much traffic to be.

So I heard them dragging him into the.

This guy into the van and off they went.

And I must have laid there for about hour and a half, two hours making sure that they hadn't just driven up the road a little bit.

And they were waiting for me to come out.

Sure.

And then I had to make my way back to where my car was to see if it was still there.

And thankfully it was.

The door was still open.

The inside of the car was still.

Was now full of snow.

Yeah.

So I did.

And then at that point that was, that was it.

And I managed to get.

I always had a spare key.

I'd hidden it in the, in the chassis, underneath the chassis of the car.

So I got the spare keys, drove back into Stockholm to my apartment, got on my laptop on Skype, got hold of the office because I got the message out.

He'd actually got away.

Yeah.

And he'd run the, the kind of surveillance drills and anti surveillance stuff and gone to a.

His.

The plan was for him to choose a hotel randomly and just go to it.

So he did that.

I was Then informed he was.

Got my kit and went to the hotel and we flew back to the.

We flew to the UK the next morning.

Wow.

Wow.

So that's in.

In a.

In a high speed nutshell, that's those three that.

Wow.

Simon.

Those are the craziest stories that have been told.

Like.

And this show's got some crazy ones.

Those are the wildest stories that have been told on this show yet.

That is absolutely unbelievable.

You know what, what effect has this had on your life?

I'm rather bent and broken.

I work from home.

Yeah.

I don't go out.

You know, it.

It has, it does have a.

You know, it changes the way you look at life and it changes the things you want to do.

I like, I like being home.

I was.

I spent my time after that working from home as much as possible being at home.

So I was kind of the stay at home dad.

Yeah.

And my wife was out to work at the house and I would.

I spent most of my time working from home after that.

So.

Yeah.

Does change you.

No kidding.

No kidding.

Well, I'm happy you made it.

I'm happy you're here.

Thank you so much.

Stories.

And man.

Yeah.

If you.

If you've had anything similar to Simon happened to you, let me know.

We'd love to hear it.

HR I used to work there.

Dot com.

Simon, it's.

It's an honor and a privilege.

Thank you.

No.

Enjoyed.

It's.

No, it's.

Happy to.

Happy to tell.

Don't mind.

It's.

You know, and it's.

The crazy thing is I know people who've.

You've had crazier things happen to me than that.

So.

Wow.

You know, it's a.

It's a mad world.

It's a mad world.

Well, looking forward to future stories.

Simon, thank you again.

Thanks again for your time, mate.

Cheers.

And with that, another episode of I Used to Work There comes to a close.

What an unbelievable collection of stories.

From workplace absurdity and moments that changed history to haunted buildings and three kidnappings.

This may genuinely be the wildest episode we have ever released.

Thank you so much to every storyteller who trusted us with their experience.

And thank you to every one of you for listening, following and helping this show continue to grow.

If you've enjoyed today's episode, please follow.

I used to work there.

On Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, please leave us a five star review and tell us what you love about.

I used to work there.

Every rating and review helps new listeners discover the show and the employee of the month night shift story competition is also open.

You can find our story submission link in the show notes or email hrused to work there dot com.

I'm kelly Kennedy.

This is I used to work there and we will see you on the next shift.