Gas Station Blues: The Unforgettable Lock-Out Story

Welcome to my Blogger With a Twist—a podcast about lifestyle, self-improvement, and personal stories.

Hello, everyone.  Hopefully, you are all experiencing a wonderful day.  For this episode, I will be delving into my updates about my teeth and an event I was supposed to attend -in February that got rescheduled for March.

On top of that, I will also be sharing a funny story about how I locked myself out of my job back in February.

That said, grab your snacks, and let's get this episode started.

If you live in Philadelphia, remember to use the link below to take the survey for a chance to win 500 dollars, or use my Linktree to get the link!  The deadline for the survey is March 31st!

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:41 Tooth Update
• 4:09 Wine & Dine Networking Event
• 8:21 Storytime: Locking Myself Out
• 19:41 Ending

Transcript

00:00
Hey you guys, it is your girl Brooke, your fellow podcaster,  entrepreneur  and creative artist from the East Coast.  And welcome to my podcast blogger with a twist.  So on my podcast,  I'll mainly be talking about lifestyle topics.  I may do a couple of rants or story times, but basically whatever comes to mind that is the gist of this podcast.

00:29
So if any of you guys find it interesting, definitely subscribe to the podcast,  share it with your friends or family. And last but not least,  get your snacks, your popcorn, whatever you like to eat, sit back and relax. And let's get this episode popping.

00:51
Hey, you guys, and welcome back to a brand new podcast episode.  And hopefully you guys out there doing good.  So look, I know that I did not drop a episode last week, and I am so sorry.  I pretty much got caught up with life. And on top of that,  I was feeling a little bit under the weather, but I'm definitely doing better this week. So for this episode,

01:20
I do have a story time for you guys,  which is about how your girl  locked herself out of her job. But before we get into this story time,  I do want to update you guys about two things. The first thing is that  in my last episode,  I talked to you guys about how the right side of my face swelled up and that I would have to go see my dentist and stuff like that.  So to sum it up,

01:50
I have to get another to extract it, which is the right, which is the two on the on the bottom right side of my mouth,  which I believe is the last molar on that side.  And I'm not going to lie to you guys when my dentist told me that I did start crying in the office  because I guess  for me, I thought I was doing so much better.

02:18
with my oral hygiene only to be disappointed. But,  you know, after I cried about it and felt sorry for myself,  I just kind of had to think about  it could have been worse  because  like I've said before, there are so many people that die from tooth infections  that either  by the time they treat it is too late or unfortunately,

02:46
They cannot afford to get it taken out or get it treated because as you know, living in the United States, when it comes to your dental care or your medical care, it can be very expensive, which is why a lot of doctors and dentists tell us that we should take care of our teeth and our health because when you do get sick or something happens,

03:14
You might have to pay a pretty penny  even if you have insurance, because  most of the time insurance only pays half of the cost unless you have really good insurance and it pays for everything.  But yeah, you guys, I'm actually getting a tooth extracted next Friday on the 28th. I would have gotten the procedure done sooner, but I'm actually going to a wedding on

03:43
this Sunday the 23rd and I felt like I want to eat the food that I ordered for the wedding.  So I just thought it made more sense. I go to the wedding this week. I can have my food  and then next week I'll get the tooth taken out. So that's that. And then the second and last thing that I wanted to update you guys on  is about the wine and dye networking event.

04:11
that I was supposed to go to back in February. But then  the people ended up canceling the event and said that they will reschedule it for this month. The event was  last Friday on March the 14th  at  Sullivan's Steakhouse.  I think that's the name of the restaurant, but it is basically right across the street  from King of Prussian Mall.

04:39
So when I got up there, I actually was running a little bit late because the event was from  6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Now, mind you, that day I  was already feeling a little bit under the weather.  A few days before that, I was coughing up mucus at my job. So a part of me  did not want to kind of go anyway, but I told myself, no, this is a good opportunity and I have to take it.

05:07
So I get up to the mall, I want to say around quarter to seven, if I didn't already say that. Now, mind you guys,  when I got inside the restaurant, I did not see any signs that would make me think  that there was an event or something or something happening at the restaurant.  So when I walked up to the hostess stand,  I told a girl why I was there. I showed her my  ticket from Event Break.

05:36
When I showed her it, she looked kind of confused because she did not know what was going on. So then about  three minutes later, two other people came up to the hostess stand.  And so I explained to the guy why I was there and I  showed him my ticket as well. So then he goes into the computer, does some stuff. And then about  three to  four minutes later.

06:05
He tells me that they canceled the event. And so when he told me that I was  shocked because I did not get any  message on Instagram, no email saying that the event had been canceled.  Like the last time that they canceled it, they at least gave me a heads up about three days before they canceled it.  But this time around, I did not get any type of notification.

06:34
So when they told me that at the whole system, I was just like, okay, well, thank you.  And I just left out  and I walked down the street to the mall  and decided to just walk around  and just revisit my old stumping grounds. Since I did used to work at King of Prussia a couple of years back,  I did end up going to the food court and I got me some Chick-fil-A  because unfortunately there are no

07:03
Chick-fil-A's in Center City.  There used to be one years ago, but they closed that down. So sad.  So when I was sitting in a food court eating my food,  I just kept thinking, this is so unprofessional. I feel like if you are going to cancel an event, at least give the people that you invited a heads up because my whole thing is this, I could have been in a bid, okay?

07:32
Now, thank God the weather wasn't terrible or anything like that. But still the fact of the matter is that I wasted my time for an event that was canceled. Okay. And then number two, a part of me was really considering taking an Uber or a lift up to the restaurant because I was running late, which would have probably costed me about like 40 to $50. And so

08:00
when everything panned out the way that it did. I was so happy that I decided to take SEPTA versus paying for an Uber  because I would have been way more pissed off if I had done it.  And so other than that, you guys,  like I said, this week's episode is going to be a story time.  So if you guys are ready for this story time and get your snacks ready  and let's get this episode.

08:30
This  story time happened back on February the 9th,  which  was  over a month ago.  So that day,  I kind of already did not want to come into work  because I already knew that  if the Eagles  won the Super Bowl,  that Center City, especially Broad Street, would be  crazy.  Okay.

08:56
Like if you live in Philly and you know how Philly gets  when the Eagles win,  then you know exactly what I'm talking about.  That day I was working from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.  So I got to work.  Everything was fine.  About 30 minutes into my shift, I want to say  I ordered myself some food from Uber Eats  and it took about maybe like a half an hour to get there. So my food.

09:26
arrived.  I ate that. Well, I did not eat all of it. I just ate some of it and I just saved the rest for later because at my job I do have a microwave, which is great.  So  as I'm in a booth, this guy comes up to the window because I don't know if I've ever really kind of explained to you guys the type of gas station that I work at.  So if you've ever been to those type of gas stations where

09:53
You have the person that's inside the booth. That's the one that I work at. So people can't come in, you know, walk around.  So,  like I said, the guy comes up to the window and he was having trouble getting gas.  I was trying to explain to him what to do because unfortunately the pumps at the gas station that I work at are very outdated and they definitely be giving a lot of people headaches as well as me when I be trying to explain to people how to  work them.

10:24
So the guy wasn't getting it. And then  I realized that he did not speak that much English.  So in my head, I'm thinking, OK, let me go out and show this guy because obviously me keep trying to talk to him is not going to make the situation better. So on my way out the door, I did grab the key, which is on a key chain and always take it with me any time I leave out the booth because your girl is not trying to get locked out.

10:54
So as I'm going out the door, the part of the key chain that goes around your neck is somehow got hooked onto the door handle from the inside. So when I noticed that I tried to catch the door, but unfortunately I was too late and the door closed. So I did end up helping the guy at the pump. But after I helped them, I walked back towards the door and mind you,

11:22
The door is a bulletproof door. OK,  so now I'm thinking, how can I get back inside of this booth  without my boss finding out? Because my  boss did come  later on that day because he was going to help me out because he knew  that it was going to get crowded  if the Eagles won the Super Bowl. So I had a hairpin in my hair. I decided to take that out and I started trying to pick the lock with the hairpin.

11:51
I know something I probably saw on YouTube or TV or something. So I did that for about a good 15, 20 minutes.  Nothing was happening, okay? I did not have anything on me as far as my phone,  a jacket,  nothing. Everything was inside the booth. The only thing I had on, I think, was a  cardigan, a cardigan, kind of, but the cardigan...

12:20
was not that thick and that day it was cold and windy.  Okay.  And it was  after 4 p.m.  when I was out there trying to pick the lock and I'm just thinking, I'm not going to be out here freezing to death for the next hour and a half and some change. 20 minutes later, because at this point I just decided, well, I guess I'll just stand in front of the booth.  And if people

12:49
need to pay for gas or they need to maybe get a bag of chips or something. I have to tell them that unfortunately I can't get inside the booth. Now I did have to turn down a few people.  There was this one guy that got upset when I told him that I accidentally locked myself out  because when he was walking away I heard him  mumble underneath his breath,  how you lock yourself out.  And I'm just thinking to myself,  you don't have nothing to complain about.

13:19
Okay, at least you can go back to a nice warm car. I got to stand out here in a cold  until I figure out a solution.  So as I'm standing there, it's this lady  that was at one of the pumps  and I don't know what compelled me to tell her why I was standing out there. I don't know,  but maybe I looked like an lost  orphan. I don't know. So  I told her what happened and of course she felt so bad for me.

13:48
She was asking me,  you have somebody that you can call or somebody that can bring you a coat or some gloves?  And I told her, unfortunately, no, my phone is inside the booth and I don't have any numbers memorized.  So the lady ends up calling 911 for me, okay? And so when I got on the phone with the operator, I told them what happened and they basically told me, oh, unfortunately,

14:17
Nobody can come out today. You're going to have to contact a locksmith. Eventually the lady did leave, but she really did not want to leave me out there, you guys.  She was also  asking me, do you want to sit in my car?  Look, that lady was so nice, but I told her, look, I appreciate it, but I will figure out something.  So after the lady left,  I decided to walk across the street.

14:45
Now across the street was a locksmith  shop. But mind you, it was a Sunday, so they was closed.  Now next to that was a smoke shop  that basically sells like  cigarettes and blunts and stuff like that.  I asked the guy inside, look, I know this is a weird question, but do you know how to pick a lock? And the guy looked at me like,  what do you mean? So I told him  that

15:15
I work at the gas station across the street and unfortunately I accidentally locked myself out  and I don't know what to do.  So then he asked me, well, do you want to call somebody?  So I told him that I don't have any numbers memorized and my phone is inside the booth.  So the guy was like, I guess looking at me like, well, I don't know what to tell you.  So I told the guy, well, you know, thank you anyway. And I walked back across the street. Now I'm thinking to myself,

15:44
I have to figure out something, okay?  So then I thought about it, wait a minute, there is a fire station less than a block away.  And I know firefighters,  they know how to break into doors. But my main concern was I don't want them to break the door.  And then I have to explain to my manager, my boss, how the door got broken.  I did not want to have to explain that, okay?  But the same token, I really had no other option.

16:13
So I walked down the street to the fire station and two firefighters get out the fire truck. One walks,  I think around to the back of the truck. But then the second one, I was able to flag him down. I was like, excuse me, excuse me. So I walk up to him and I'm like, look, I know this is a weird question, but do you know how to pick a lock? So the guy looks at me like, what do you mean? And so I explained to him that I work at a gas station.

16:41
up the street and I accidentally got the key locked inside and I need somebody to help me get it out. Blah, blah, blah. So then I guess he walks over to the fire chief. I guess you could say like the boss of the fire station. So then he comes over. He was like, oh, Brooke, come on, come inside. I walk inside a fire station into a room of like six or seven other firefighters. And now I think to myself, I know this man.

17:10
and got me explaining what happened to me like I'm on display.  So I explained to the firefighters what happened and I was like, look, I need you all to get me back in. But please do not break the door. OK, do not break  the door.  They was like, look, we got you. We'll meet you down the street at the gas station. So I walked back down the street to the gas station. About a minute later, they meet me at the gas station. And so.

17:38
I showed the one firefighter through the window of the booth. Like you see the key because the key literally you guys was hanging on a key chain around a door handle. After I showed the one firefighter where the key was,  the other one goes to the door and they take like this  silver  plate or whatever or metal plate  and they put it in between the door and.

18:04
Like a minute or two later, they was able to open the door without breaking it down.  And I was so  grateful and happy. And I told him, thank you so, so much.  And when I tell you guys  once I got back inside their booth,  I did not leave  or anything  or basically until my manager came because I was not trying to get locked out a second time around.

18:32
But yes, that was my story time, my fiasco that day,  because when I got off of work that day,  Broad Street was packed okay. And thankfully my boyfriend did order me a lift to go home because except the,  I think certain  bus routes was like shut down because people  was just flooded  on Broad Street in Center City.

19:00
Yes, you guys, those firefighters, they definitely saved your girl's life. And to this day, I have never told my manager what happened. I'm pretty sure if he ever get a chance to look back at the cameras, he probably will see.  But look, if he does not know,  I'm not going to tell him. OK.  But yeah, now when I think about this story, I laugh about it. But at the time, I was not laughing. OK, I was cold  and I just felt.

19:28
such like an orphan because I felt like at least if I had my phone on me, I could at least call somebody. So yeah, I guess that's the end of the story time.  If you guys enjoyed this story time, definitely  like the podcast, share it. And also,  I believe in my last episode, I also told you guys about me partnering with Now Included for the survey.

19:57
So, like I said, if you live in Philadelphia and you want to take the survey, which is basically giving your perspectives  about the health care system in this city, then definitely take the survey. The link is in my link tree link and deadline to take the survey  is March 31st.  And other than that, thank you guys again for listening. Hope you guys have a great day, a great week.

20:27
And until my next episode,  peace.