Sept, 2024
After one of our longest drive days, we made it to Jackson, MS!
We were a little worried about an impeding storm passing through, a lot of folks around were reporting hurricane-level rains and winds. We decided to just play everything by ear!
Our first event was at a place called Finnan's Pub, and we joined them for their very last day of business on Tuesday. When we originally scheduled with them, it was meant to be on a random trivia Thursday. But about a week before we headed to Jackson, they DMed us on Instagram and asked if we could come on Tuesday instead, as they were planning on closing their doors forever after service! We of course said yes, and showed up at the Pub right as their Happy Hour started.
It went great for the first hour or so, but we noticed some people were being a little more... let's just say... enthusiatic than normal and it made us a little nervous, but we kept up.
The rain was drizzling, so we were all inside the NUTmobile while folks came in for peanuts and pictures. People would come in and out pretty quickly, but then we had a gentleman (let's call him Matt) come in, sit down, and say
"Listen guys. I need you to do something for me. My friends dared me to steal the NUTmobile so I need you all to give me a ride."
We all kind of laughed - we hear stuff like this all the time so we figured he was just like many other people who have asked for ride before.
"Well, we're parked here for Finnian's Pub right now for their last day so we can't give you a ride but you can always request the NUTmobile on our website for a personal ride!"
Matt looked away, out the window, clearly disappointed (this man looks to be in his 30s, btw) and goes "Hmmm that's not going to work for me guys. You need to give me a ride. Can't we just take it around the block?"
We laughed again and politely declined. At this point, Matt was SAT in his seat, with no intention of getting up. He looks back up at us and with some obvious frustration, he says (while pointing at each of us), "Fear. Fear. Fear. I don't know why you all look so afraid of me."
Now, I was not afraid of Matt. Not until Matt told me I should be afraid of him. And then, well yes, I was afraid of Matt!
He went on to sit in the NUTmobile talking with us for about 30 minutes, saying things along these lines:
I can read people like a book and I can tell you want me to leave (he did not leave)
I need this ride you don't understand.
I don't mean to be strange, but what hotel are you staying at?
(In response to us saying we enjoyed talking to him) Liar. Liar.
Safe to say, right when we finally got him to leave without escalating, we left the Pub and drove back to our hotel!!!! (Don't worry, we told him a completely different one from where we were actually staying.)
Thankful to have Ryan, who stood in front of Katie and me while we were sitting at the front of the NUT, and stood between Matt and us the whole time we were in the situation. Also, I am very thankful for our boss, Teagan, who has always instilled in us that if we EVER feel unsafe we are allowed to leave any event. We travel across the country, so we are bound to run into some Matts - this could have gone so much worse and I'm so thankful we were all safe and sound. It is now something we laugh about often - the stuff Matt said was CRAZY and we were so happy we were all there to witness (and protect each other) so we could all debrief and decompress that chaos. 🤣
Our event the next day got canceled because of the impending weather - so we were on our own to fill the day. Katie had the amazing idea to decorate the NUTmobile for Halloween - so we went to the Dollar Tree and bought decorations together and then spookified the NUT with fall leaves, pumpkins, cobwebs, and other Halloween decor. This was honestly so special to me because when I started this job I thought I'd be without theme parties and decorating for an entire year until I got back to Chicago and started living with my friends again. So, the fact that we got to bring a little theme party magic on the road really brightened my day.
Our final event in Mississippi was with Martin's, and they had 2 locations, one in Jackson and one in Madison, so we were able to go to both! This was a totally 180 from our first day in Jackson. Everyone at Martins' was incredibly kind and excited about the NUTmobile, and we had an incredible time at both locations. Ryan was able to get a free hat from one of the servers too, which was one of his big goals for the year!
Mississippi was... interesting for sure. I don't know if maybe I missed something about it that I totally should have done, but I will say I don't necessarily feel super sparkly about MS. But maybe we can blame that on Matt? LOL.
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