Meet Jay Fails, the beloved crossing guard at Hotchkiss, whose local roots run deep, with a family history in the area and a past in vending entrepreneurship. In this episode, he shares colorful tales of his childhood, the transformation of the region, and his unique phrases that brighten everyone’s day at the crosswalk.
Hi, I’ m Teo, and I’ m Dwyer, and welcome to the first episode of The HodgePod. The general idea behind this podcast is to interview staff and faculty members about their lives and experiences working at Hodges. Today, we’ re talking with the famous Jay Fales, our beloved crossing guard. You know him, you love him, and you’ re about to get to know him better. We hope you enjoy. I want to fold clothes for you. I want to make you feel good. If you don’ t mind, can you sit a little bit closer, because we’ re a bit worried about Okay, I didn’ t even see that. We’ re on a low budget right now, we have our traffic. I see that. Hopefully it’ ll work.
LKS had a ton of microphones and audio set up, which is perfect. So, can we start by talking a little bit about your life, your background, maybe start with your childhood, where you grew up, and what it was like? Sure, let’ s see what I have. Well, I was born right over here in Sharon Hospital, and I live still in the town of Sharon. But I was raised over here in Lakeville, Connecticut. My father was the local gym teacher here at Salisbury Central Elementary School. Oh, wow. I believe he put in, I want to say, a little under 40 years as a gym teacher up there. So everybody knows my dad in this town. Yeah, wow. Yeah, since then he’ s passed away, he’ s gone.
But, yeah, then my mom was a housekeeper, and she raised me and my two brothers and my sister. Yeah. Wow. Do you like it, living rurally? Do I like what? Living rurally in this part of Connecticut. Oh, this is a great part of Connecticut. Yeah. No, this is beautiful around here. It is really nice. Yeah, yeah, very nice. Have you stayed your whole life just around this area? No, when I graduated high school in 82, I took off. I went out west for a little while. I went to Arizona, spent some time out there. I went to Motorcycle Mechanics Institute out there, and I just got a mechanical degree out there. Yeah. But that was pretty much just for hobby. You know what I mean?
Because I enjoyed beating dirt bikes and things like that at that time in my life. Do you still ride a motorcycle? Not anymore because of some health issues. I think I’ m kind of staying with it. My uncle picked it up two years ago. Oh, really? Yeah. I had no one really expect it from him, but he loves it. Right. Yeah. He’ s been learning. He did some courses, I think. Yeah. Like motorcycle classes. Okay. For a weekend at some point. Yeah, yeah. That seems pretty cool. Yeah, no, it was very enjoyable. Yeah, yeah, by all means. Yeah. But I just need something. I need to stay away from it. Yeah. Do you still, like, fix up cars or motorcycles and things like that or not? No, I don’ t.
And that’ s only because I don’ t have the tools. You don’ t have the tools. Yeah. You know what I mean? To be able to fix something up properly, you really have to have, you know, a nice facility and nice tools. You know, you really do. Yeah. And I don’ t have that. That’ s fun, though. It is because a lot of kids here come from big cities. A bunch of New York City kids at Hotchkiss. And I’ m from New Haven. Smaller city. But I think it’ s really nice for everyone to get this rural part of Connecticut after. Like, I just know people, like, go back to the city and it’ s cramped and tight. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Too condensed into one spot.
And then here, there’ s a farm a mile away that we can walk to. Yeah. It’ s, like, super spacious. Right, right. Yeah, no, this is beautiful up here. This is a whole different ballgame. Yeah. It’ s changed in the last few years. Well, it’ s changed since COVID. COVID really played a big part around here. Oh. Big time. Because. Well, this area of Connecticut, the northwest corner of Connecticut, was always well known for New York City, their second homes. But then when COVID came into effect, they came and they were staying. Staying year -round? Yeah. Right. You know, they were working out of their homes, things like that. Oh, whoa. The corporations were allowing that to take place and stuff. And they were coming out here and they were scooping every house to be found.
And so real estate really took off. Bananas around here. Well, I had no idea. Yeah. And is that state -cons? Or did a lot of them go back to New York after COVID? No. They have stayed. Yeah. Yeah. You know, which is fine in one aspect. You know, it just depends how you want to look at it. Yeah. You know. Anybody that didn’ t get into the real estate market before COVID and now they’ re looking to get in. It’ s not really hard. It’ s real tough. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Inventory is low. Pricing, incredibly high. Yeah. Did you interact with hoshkas at all during your childhood? And do you feel like it has changed since then? Well, my father and I, we used to come up here all the time to hoshkas.
We would watch wrestling and we would play the golf course. And we would go out and pick up golf balls. We would go in the woods along the line and pick up all golf balls and stuff. I was a young kid and I would, you know, go home, get them cleaned up and put them in egg crates and then take them down to Cape Cod. We would go there every summer and I would sell them. But anyways, long story short. Yeah. Yeah. So, hoshkas has changed a lot since I was a little kid. Yeah. Especially the whole Mars area. That was a whole different ball game when I was a little kid. Outside hockey rinks, all that type of stuff. Do you still play golf? I haven’ t in a number of years.
But yeah, I would like to get back out. And I should get back out. Yeah. Because I’ m allowed to play the golf course here. Oh, yeah. You know. Yeah. It’ s a little benefit that I haven’ t done yet. Yeah. I’ ve played a few times, but it’ s always really fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, this is a beautiful course. Yeah. Nice course. Yeah. Yeah. It’ s amazing. Yeah, exactly. You know. Do you have a favorite hole? I kind of like the 8th hole. Yeah. Which one’ s that? Is that up to Koi? It’ s over towards the gate, the main gate. The one towards the main gate? Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It’ s right across the street from the main gate. It’ s the one you hit off.
Oh, yeah. And then it goes way down. That’ s the 8th. It’ s the big hill. And then the 9th, yeah, heads back up towards, you know, the clubhouse. Oh. Yeah. The 8th is a nice hole. That’s fine. We can move on to how long have you been working at Hotchkiss at this job? This is the start of my seventh year. Oh. Yeah. Okay. See, I got affiliated with Hotchkiss and I got affiliated with another school, Housatonic High School. Is that nearby? Yup. It’ s right down the road. Yup. That’ s so-called Region 1. They take care of all the local towns here. Okay. Yeah. Like, they have their own independent elementary schools, but then when you get out of your elementary school from that town, then you go to Region 1 High School.
So anyways, I got affiliated with Hotchkiss, and that school because I used to own a vending corporation and I ran that for 18 years, so I had vending machines here. Whoa. At one time, all the stack machines I owned here. Whoa. Whoa. So, yeah. So, I kind of stepped into the job. Yeah. I sold the business and they were like, ‘ So what are you going to do now, Jay?’ And I said, ‘ I don’ t know.’ And they said, ‘ Well, you know, we need some help on security, you know, would you like to apply for the job?’ And I said, ‘ Sure.’ And that kind of happened down at the other high school and I entered into the union and I became a custodian down there for six years.
Whoa. So, I did that part, or full-time, and this was part-time. And now this is full-time? No. Or is it still? I got rid of my full -time job at the local high school and I’ ve downsized. Yeah. I don’ t want to work as much as I used to. That’ s nice, though. Yeah. Yeah. What’ s your favorite vending machine snack? Oh. Vending machine snack. Boy, you know, I like those. They are the fruit juice. The fruit. Oh, like the fruit juice? I can’ t even think of the name of it right now. I think I know what you mean. It’ s like fruit, like gummies. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like those. Yeah. And Sour Patch. Oh, yeah. I love Sour Patch. Yeah.
I love Sour Patch. Are the vending machines still here from the company you sold? Or is it a new company? Some of them are still here. Some of them are still here that I used to own. Wow. Yeah. I sold the corporation to a local kid. The company had been in business from the 50s, 1957 I believe is when it actually started, and I bought it from a friend of mine. Him and his wife retired. It was Jim and Judy Kurosi, and it was called J &J Vending, and everybody called me J . J. Oh. So I just left the name the way it was and eliminated the N, so it was J . J. Vending. That’ s perfect. Yeah. It worked well. Yeah. It was an S corporation. Yeah.
And S corporations, they give you all kinds of different tax breaks. S corporation? Yeah. See, they don’ t even issue them anymore because there’ s so many tax breaks from the IRS that they did away with the S corporations. Yeah. If you had one, you’ re grandfathered. They wouldn’ t take it away from you, but now everything is like LLC. Yeah. Yeah. That’ s what I’ ve heard of. Exactly. Right. Yeah. You’ ve never heard of an S corporation. I have never. Yeah. What is an S corporation? An S corporation is, the best way for me to say it is that tax benefit wise, any stops that I had at schools, hospitals, nursing homes, they were all tax exempt. Whoa. Okay. And did you mostly serve schools, hospitals, because it’ s nearby?
Well, I did a little bit of everything. Yeah. Certainly if a hospital or a school called me, yeah. Yeah. By all means, I would be right on it as much as possible. Did you have any vending machines in Shering Hospital? Oh yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Born there, bring back a vending machine. What’ s that? You were born there and then brought back a vending machine. Yeah. Right. That’ s why. Exactly. Yeah. So. Yeah. No, I had this whole area bottomed up to be honest with you. What? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. At that point, there wasn’ t anybody around competition and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Do you happen to know if the vending machine in the Koi Common Room is still from the company you ran? Koi Common Room. Let me think about this one.
Do, do, do, do. You know that? I’ m not sure. I’ m really not sure. Yeah. But there are a handful that are still here. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any data on like which, what the Hoshka students prefer to buy from their vending machine? Like what was the best seller? Oh boy. That’ s a good question. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I’ m going to say at the time, probably Snickers candy bars and Twix candy bars. At that time. At that time. At that time. Right. You know. But I sold the business eight years ago. Things are different now. You know what I mean? Yeah. If I were to give it a guess, I think I d say that peanut butter crackers, Peanut butter. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I’ ve seen a lot of people getting them at Koi. Yep, yep, including myself sometimes. Yep, by all means. Yep, yep, yep. That was always a big seller for me. You know. Not necessarily here, but at other locations. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because at that point, I think I was buying those things to be honest with you. I would go to BJ’ s. I was buying them for 9 cents. You know. And I was, yeah, and I was rolling them over at that time. Just for 50 cents. Yeah, just to get rid of them. You know what I mean? Yeah. Kind of like a McDonald’ s, move it in numbers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe even $1. 75. I think it was $1. 75. Okay. Right. It was worth it though.
Two nights ago, I was so hungry. Yeah. I had the peanut butter cracker. Yeah. And would you refill them yourself? Yes. Go buy them. I ran the business totally myself, 100%. Yeah. I had nobody working for me. You know. It was nonstop. Did you like that? That type of work? Yeah. I did. Because it was very active. I was always on the go. You know. And that’ s kind of the way I am. Yeah. So do you have to go to like each individual vending machine, take out like the cash, and then? Yes. Okay. I would take the cash. Were you, did the transition into like contactless payment take place yet? No. It was just starting to come into effect. Okay. In this area. So you still had to work with cash?
Cash. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And then, oh. Another thing we wanted to talk about is, you have a bunch of cash phrases I feel like in the crossing, crossing guard, people say, you say like, be good, have a nice day. Yeah. And it’ s iconic, I think. I love it every time I hear you, be good. Makes my day. How have those originated? Are you conscious of them? Probably not, to be quite honest with you. Yeah. I think sometimes they just come out. It’ s just kind of standard for me. Yeah. Yeah. What is your, what do you think your most common phrase is, if someone says thank you on their crossing? Oh. Gee, you see, right now I don’ t even know what I say. Yeah. Every time. Yeah. Yeah.
I just want everybody to have fun. Yeah. Be good. Be safe. Yeah. Yeah. I get those. That is, they make my day actually every single time. Yeah. So. Yeah. The be goods are my favorite. Yeah. Sometimes I say you too, on accident. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. I think that works. Yeah. Yeah. We should all be good, so. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, do you have any, like, interesting or funny interactions with students at the crossing? Um, you know, I was thinking about that last night, actually. And, uh, I think the funniest thing that I saw up there, it wasn’ t funny when I saw it, it was afterwards, but anyways, there was no traffic coming. There were no people coming. There was, but there’ s this kid and he’ s riding on his bicycle, and I see him on the sidewalk.
Walk and he comes flying right up to the crosswalk and he stops and uh before I could even hit the button anything like that he just falls right over; he’ s crashing right over you know so I flew across the road because you know at that point I m thinking, oh, you know something, something major has happened, you know what I mean? So I get over there now. He’ s laughing hysterically, the bike’ s on top of him, and he says to me, ‘ I forgot to put my feet down.’ Yeah, that, that, that went down in history in my book, yeah, yeah. But anyways, do you recognize kids that cross the road? Like, do you kind of recognize the faces and the names? I recognize all faces, you recognize very good with faces.
Okay, names are a different thing, okay, yeah, yeah. There’ s a handful of kids I’ m real good with names, and then there’ s, you know, some kids they have different names, very unusual, yeah, yeah. They just don’ t click with me as well, you know. Give me a Bill or a Peter or a John, that that Yeah, our names are Dwyer and Tayo, which isn’ t not too memorable, I think yeah, but that’ s not bad, that’ s not bad, it’ s doable, yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, right, yeah, yeah. But there’ s, yeah, there’ s some what’ s the least memorable name.
So on revisit days when there are other students coming, are you aware of every single student that you haven’ t seen before? Do you remember yes, yeah, for the most part, yeah, like yesterday, for some reason I noticed a lot of students that I had never seen. Oh yeah, we have some exchange students from um Vancouver, is it I think Quebec, Quebec from Canada, okay, who I think play ultimate frisbee and they re staying here for a few days okay so there’ s like maybe 15 of them yeah yeah all right because i kept saying i’ ve been up here since september and i don’ t recognize these faces yeah yeah yeah okay all right well that is playing
that in here something here because i always think about what would be KPIs and retails you know what about a virtual story when someone respond to me and then i walk away from thereina sound you know i was likable was i mean actually i guess i think 98 percent of people would say oh be well hey nigga i love koe all right you’ I’ m really lucky you brought this day I Christmas video by you guys, thank you so much. Well, he’ s right, this is King Activator, okay, Jay’ s friend, you’ re welcome noon. I try to stay consistent as much as I can, so to speak. Anyways, I have lunch around noon and I am very good on taking a nap every day, to be truthful with you.
I have a tendency to take a nap. Then I’ ll get up, I’ ll have my cup of coffee and head up here to Hotchkiss. Hang out here till late, take care of the kids, and then I head on home. Enjoy a little bit of TV. I have a roommate, so him and I visit every night, you know we shoot the breeze. He actually works here. He works at ENR laundry services, Wayne? Oh yeah, I know. I talk to him every time I drop it off. He knows you. Yeah, oh really? I told him I was doing an interview with you, you, both of you, but he knew you. Oh yeah. I don’ t do my own laundry. Oh okay. Alright, yep, yep, yep. Oh, we could have had both of you guys on then.
I don’ t know if he would have done it. Yeah, what TV shows do you watch? Well, to tell you the truth, I got rid of my Dish TV because I live deep in the forest, and it’ s gotten to the point where the trees have actually gotten so high that I lost my satellite. Whoa. Yeah, so I just watch Pluto TV now. And Pluto is a lot of things that are like the older programs, like maybe like Matlock, The Love Boat. You probably know The Love Boat, don’ You’ re saying ‘ t’ to me? I’ ve heard of The Love Boat. I don’ t know Matlock. Yeah, so that’ s what we watch, you know what I mean? Our own solved mysteries, you must know that.
Not even why I don’ t think I know that. Okay, all right. Is that what you’ re watching right now, or does it change every night? Oh, no. I mean, I could bring it up now on my phone or whatever, and no, I mean, it’ s got a wide selection of everything, and it’ s totally free. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, it’ s totally free. You bring it up on your phone, and we went and got all the hookups at Verizon up in Great Barrington, Mass., and you hook it right up to the rear of your television, and you play it on your phone, and it shows right up, and it’ s all free. Oh, wow. Wow, that’ s cool. Yeah. So I save $90 a month.
Still get to watch The Love Boat. That’ s a good deal. Yeah, well, you know, it’ s free, yeah. Do you listen to music a lot? Sometimes I do. They actually have music on Pluto. Oh. You know, I mean, I don’ t have a stereo at the house. It has everything. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah. So I’ ll kick it on there, and, you know, if I’ m home enjoying my time off, I’ ll listen to music. What genre? What’ s that? What genre of music? Genre. Like, what type of music? Who are your favorite artists? Oh, well, I always kick on like the 70s or 80s. You know what I mean? That’ s my music. Yeah. Like rock and roll? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, like, I don’ t know.
Maybe a soft rock and roll. I don’ t want any head-banging stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some of the stuff I hear playing out there now is just too much. Yeah. How about food? I mean, you’ ve lived here for, like, a lot longer than any of us, so what are your food recommendations? Because I know there’ s a lot of debates about, like, what’ s the best pizza place and what’ s the best place to order from. What do you prefer? Well, that’ s a tough question. So, yeah, I’ ve been around here for years. The restaurant industry in this area has changed dramatically. But as for pizza, I’ m going to go for Dino’ s down in Lakefield. Dino’ s, okay. I like Dino’ s.
I think he delivers a good New York pizza. Yeah. That would be my recommendation. Tell you where you want to go this afternoon. We could try it out. Yeah. Well, they deliver. Yeah, we could also do that. Have you tried Papa Louie’ s in Great Barrington? You know what? They’ re gone. They’ re gone? They closed. I think they closed and they opened up again, like, in a different spot in Great Barrington. Oh, did they? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they closed, like, their original store, and now they have one in, like, one of the alleyways. Okay. But that place is super good. Right, right, yeah. Because they were up on 20 Royal Street. Yeah. Up on the corner there. Yeah. Okay, because my roommate just told me. He said, no, no, they’ re closed.
They’ re gone. Yeah. Maybe he’ s not away. No, yeah, they reopened somewhere else. Oh, okay. That place is really good, too. Yes, yes. Very good pizza. Yeah, yeah. And to be honest with you, I really enjoy Four Brothers. Four Brothers Pizza down in Armenia? Uh-huh. Heard of that, never had it. Yeah? Oh, yeah. I mean, they’ ve got nine different locations. Yeah. Yeah. Do they deliver, too? I don’ t think they would deliver this far to Hotchkiss. Okay. Yeah. They might. They have a restaurant in Millerton. They have a Four Brothers in Millerton. They might come this far. Okay. That’ s the pizza place in Millerton, then? Across from the diner? Like, across from the diner? Nope. That is? Oh, God. That’ s Taro’ s. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Four Brothers is just go further down the road there, and then you come to the T, and you hang a right. You would be going up 22 north, and it’ s just a little bit up there on the right-hand side. Hang a right after the T store? No, just go past Taro’ s. Okay, yeah. And then the highway becomes a T. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then take a right. Got it. I don’ t think we’ ve ever been there. No, we haven’ t. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think their pizzas are very good. Yeah. I used to work for those. I used to work for those guys years ago when they first came to this country. I was 10 years old. Yep. Their very first restaurant, one of them, was Mise’ s in Lakeville.
They made Mise’ s? Or, um. Yeah, you could say that they made Mise’ s in a way. It was called Brothers Pizza. Wow. And it was Billy and Peter Stephanopoulos. And their other brothers, Nick and George, had Kent Pizza Garden. So, but they were gold mines. And I was 10 years old. I made all their pizza boxes, cleaned all their pizza pans, all that. And, uh, then those guys leased those restaurants out. They joined forces, became four brothers, and opened up 10 four-brother restaurants. Wow. And they became a chain, a franchise, so to speak. How did Mises get separated, do you know? Or is it still part of the chain, just under a different name? No, not at all. No, they sold it. They sold it. Yep, yep.
They sold it off to the Andronas family. And then, so they sold it to the Andronas family. And then the Andronas family sold it. And they moved down to Florida and retired. And then that’ s when Eddie Mises bought it. Or whatever his last name is, I’ m not quite sure. Mises. Yeah, so. Mises is a good, good last name for a pizza space. Yeah. I was pretty lucky. Yeah. Sounds like pizza. Yeah. I’ ll tell you, that location down there has always been a gold mine. Kent Pizza, I went last spring. It was really good. Oh, yeah. We had an advisory trip to Kent Pizza. And I think we’ re going again this spring. Kent Pizza. I’ m excited for it. That’ s the one you’ re talking about, right?
Right, right. Kent Pizza Garden was good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep, yep. Exactly. It kind of sits back off the road. It Behind something little bit. Yeah, right. What do you get from Dino’ s? What’ s your favorite meal? Usually, I just go with your chicken bacon ranch. Chicken bacon ranch. It’ s pizza. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he makes the best. Yeah. Yeah. Is his name Dino? Yes. It is. Okay. I didn’ t know that. Yep. Yep. I had not connected. I didn’ t know that either. Yeah. I feel like I had friendship, but. Yeah. I know to the best of my knowledge, that’ s his name. And is it like a, did he start it, or is it a family line? How did it? He actually started over in Millerton, New York.
Okay. You know where Salisbury Bank is right now? Right across the street from Cumberland Farms? Oh, it’ s, I think it’ s close to where we get dropped off. It’ s got to be. Yeah. You guys know where it is. You’ re probably just not visualizing. Yeah. Yeah. But anyways, where Salisbury Bank is now. That building, of course, wasn’ t there, and that was a little plaza, a little strip plaza in there. Yeah. And that’ s where he started, Broadway Pizza. And there was a Napa, then there was another restaurant around the corner. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that was a very good buy. They, and then I tried buying that place with a partner of mine at the time. And anyways, yeah, they let that whole place go, man, $500,000.
That was a steal. Whoa. And anyways, that’ s where he started. Yeah. Yep. And then once that sold, he had to move. So that’ s why he ended up over here in Lakeville. Has Dino lived here most of his life? And do you know him? I know him enough to talk to him and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And I used to have his kids down at the high school when I was custodian down there. Yeah. Down here at the local high school. His kids went down there. Yeah. That’ s fun. I’ m learning so much about Lakeville. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I haven’ t known. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Is there anything else you think we should know about Lakeville that maybe we shouldn’t? Or something about the surrounding area? Um, I don’ t know.
Not that I know a lot about it, because I don’ t. But I know there’ s a tremendous amount of history here in the area. And I don’ t know if you’ re aware of it or stuff. We had a lot to do with the iron ore. The iron ore? Yeah. Yeah. There’ s a lot of iron ore here. Hmm. Yeah. So there was mining? Yes. Whoa. I didn’ t know that. There was a tremendous amount. Yeah. It had a lot to do with building cannons, cannonballs, all that type of stuff. Like during the Civil War? Civil War. Yes. Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. And a lot of that iron ore came right from this area here. Yeah. And there s still a lot of furnaces in the area that are around.
Blast furnaces, they call them. Out of use, but just still present? Yes. Oh, yeah. They’ ve been out of use for, yeah. A hundred years? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Plus. Two hundred years? Yeah. But there’ s a furnace still, and that’ s over in Sharon. There’ s one over in Canaan. There’ s a few around. Yeah. But the one in Canaan is, like, totally intact. It’ s beautiful. And you can go and see it. Yeah. Canaan, Connecticut. Yep. Where is that? It’ s about 15 minutes down the road. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, you’ re headed up towards Massachusetts. Yeah. You know, another five minutes, you’ d be into Mass. Yeah. Yeah. Changing topic, did you play any sports as a kid? And what were your favorite sports? You know, I really wasn’ t that much into sports.
If I did do sports, it was only because you were so -called. You had to do sports. Yeah. Yeah, that or maybe peer pressure. You know what I mean? But people thought I was into sports, so to speak. My dad was a gym teacher, you know what I mean? They just thought I went, you know, with the territory. But that wasn’ t the case. But the sports that I did play, I used to wrestle. I enjoyed wrestling. And then I think that was really about it overall. See, when I got into high school, I really wasn’ I went back to school. I really wasn’ t into sports. And I actually got put on work study. Hmm. So I went to high school, and I did a few classes.
And then I would leave high school at 11 o’ clock. I had a job. And that’ s how I got my credits to graduate. Is that still a thing, work study? You know, I honestly don’ t know if it is or not. So it’ s like you don’ t have to do as much academics, and you just get to work after school? Right. And then weekly, your boss would fill out a report and hand it into the school. And I had a work study program. His name was Howard O’ Dell. And the other guy after him was John Mongeau, was his name. What was your favorite job during high school? Oh, I used to work at a place, it was great. It was called Hans Rocky Enterprise.
And this guy, he just dealt with all exotic cars. And I used to take care of, yeah, polishing his cars and all that, take care of all that. What’ s your dream car? Well, when I worked for him, he would let me drive around in a Jaguar XKE Roadster. Whoa. Yeah. I don’ t know about that. I don’ t even think I had my license, to be quite honest, we didn’ t. Oh, yeah. I’ d go down to the center of Lakeville to go get a sandwich or something, driving around, yeah, in a Jag convertible. Oh, boy, that was something. That’ s pretty sweet. I think I got to see that in a movie. Yeah. It was nice. What weight class did you wrestle at? Toyota’ s wrestling this year.
Oh, yeah? You know, I want to say I did 128 and maybe 136. 136 or 138, I’ m not quite sure what the weight categories were. Yeah. We have a really good 138 wrestler that went to nationals this year. Oh, really? Yeah. Yesom. Yeah. Shout out, Yesom. Yeah. Yeah. Did you like, I know you said you didn’ t really like sports, but what drew you to wrestling over other sports? Tell you the truth, I really didn’ t want to wrestle, to be quite honest, which I wanted to be on the ski team. Oh. There were some teachers fighting over me. I wanted to go on the ski team, but this one gentleman who was the coach, he needed to fill that spot. The weight class. Yeah. The weight class. Yeah.
So there was peer pressure involved, to be quite honest with you, so I ended up just going for wrestling. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I did all right. I didn’ t go to any championships or anything like that, you know what I mean, because my heart wasn’ t into it. Yeah. You know what I mean? I just wanted to go out and ski. You know? But. What is your, do you still ski? Have you only skied once? Have you skied in this part of the country, or do you go out somewhere else to ski? Do you still ski? I haven’ t skied in a number of years. I’ ve never skied other than here in New England, to be honest with you. Yeah. I mean, I’ ve gone up to Vermont.
You’ ve gone up to Vermont. Yeah. I’ ve gone up to Killington. Yeah. I went up there one whole weekend and stuff, and did a lot of skiing up there. Yeah. Yeah. Which was very enjoyable. Do you guys ski? I ski, yeah. You do? Okay. Have you gone to Killington? No. I’ ve been to Stowe, and then I go to Park City. Okay. Utah? Every March. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Which is super cool. Right. Right. But then I also ski sometimes here in Butternut and Catamount. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Which is a bit less exciting. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, there are smaller mountains. Yeah. Yeah. I’ ve skied probably once a year for my whole life. Right. And every year I start, I’ m really bad.
And then by the end of the weekend, I can get down, but. Yeah. Yeah. I’ m not the prettiest skier. It’ s fun, though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It certainly is. Yeah. I know as kids, we did a lot of skiing. We really did. Yeah. Yeah. A tremendous amount. I look back at all the crazy stuff we used to do. Yeah. It’ s a miracle we were even here, to be honest. Yeah. Yeah. But. This is kind of a personal question. I’ m going to, like, there’ s a bit of a back story. My brother just got his ears pierced. Yeah. And it’ s, like, a really big deal in my family because my parents really didn’ t want him to do it. Yeah. And he just turned 18.
So I’ m kind of curious, like, about your ear piercings and why you got them and, like. Oh. See, I don’ t know. It was something I always wanted to do, to be honest with you. Yeah. You know, because I usually wear a lot of jewelry, to be honest with you. Yeah. You know, bracelets and necklaces and rings and stuff like that. For some reason today, I’ m not or whatever. But, yeah, I always wanted to do it. And then one time somebody gave me these earrings as a present. And so I went and got them pierced. When was that? What was that? How long ago was that? This was probably maybe three years ago. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’ s really cool. I didn’ t notice you had earrings when just crossing the road.
Right. I see it now. Yeah. That’ s pretty cool. People will know. Yeah. I like them. I didn’ t see them either. Don’ t pay attention. Yeah. Really? You didn’ t see them either? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn’ t think about them until Tyler brought it up. Yeah. No kidding. Oh, that’ s funny. I think they’ re cool. Yeah. Yeah. I like them a lot. Yeah. Well, it’ s really funny because, you know, some people, you’ ll be talking to them and stuff, and they’ re looking at your earring. Yeah. Yeah. But they’ re not saying anything. You know what I mean? They’ re not saying anything negative or anything positive. And you’ re trying to get their readout on it, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And it’ s just like, yeah.
And they never give you any comments. But then I’ ve had a zillion people comment on how nice they are and how, you know, how good they look. Yeah. So I’ ve taken it on. That’ s cool. I think everyone should get their earring pierced. Yeah. Once in their life. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the good part about it is if you get tired of it, you just take it out and they will heal up. Mm -hmm. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it’ s just a tiny little hole. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’ s not like those large things. I’ m not quite sure what they even call those. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. Once your ear lobe is stretched out from those, it’ s there permanently.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Do you have TikTok? No, I do not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Do you have any social media? I do have Facebook. You have Facebook. Oh. Yep. Yep. Yep. TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram are definitely the most popular. TikTok and what? Snapchat and Instagram. Oh, Snapchat. Yeah, I’ ve heard all the students have it. Yeah. Yeah. I’ ve got one friend and he wants me to get involved with Snapchat and stuff. I just haven’ t done it. Yeah. I think it’ s not worth it. Yeah. Yeah. You know. And not only that, but to be honest with you, I’ m not overly good on the phone. Like, I don’ t know how to do computers at all, unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I have all I can do to navigate my phone.
Yeah. I’ ve gotten a lot better, but … Yeah. Put me behind a computer and I’ m lost. Yeah. Yeah. It just wasn’ t my era, so to speak. Yeah. Is there anything you wish students did differently when they were crossing the crosswalk? Just like introducing themselves, go slower, something like that? I don’ t know. It’ s kind of a vague question, but is there anything you wish students did differently when crossing? Yeah, there are, but I’ m not sure if I should say anything. That’ s fair. Okay. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. That’ s understandable. And it’ s not bad by any means. You know, just in the long run, it would help them with their safety, I think. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Yeah, because that’ s what we are. You know, we’ re a safety and security officer. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Not only do we secure things, but we ve got to keep an eye on everybody and make sure that they’ re safe. Yeah. And thank you so much for keeping us safe. Oh, yeah. That is very nice. Yeah. It’ s not a problem. Yeah. It’ s a pleasure. I think it makes my parents happy knowing you’ re here to protect us. Yeah. All right. And tell us to be good. Yeah. All right. Yeah. No, I’ ve had a few kids, you know, write out quick little notes and give them to me. Oh, yeah. You know, which is nice. Yeah. Yeah. The last one was Chris Yu. Oh. If you know Chris.
He’ s on my floor. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Chris jotted out a quick little, you know, thank you note and stuff and gave it to me. Yeah. Which was very nice. Oh, that’ s super cool. Yeah. Sweet. Yep. Good work, Chris. We’ re friends with Chris. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Good. Very nice guy. Yeah. All the kids are nice out there for the most part. They really are. Yeah. For the most part. Yeah. Yeah. For the most part. Well, you got to throw that in. Some of them are bad at biking, but some fall off their bikes. Some are nice. That is something. Do you have any more questions, Taya? I don’ t think so. Yeah. All right. That’ s interesting. Well, thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you so much for having us. You’ re very welcome, guys. I’ m really glad we got you. Yeah. Thank you so much. All right. And yeah, thank you again for all you do, keeping us safe every day. Oh, yeah. Coming here, making the crosswalk safer. Not a problem, guys. It’ s been a pleasure getting to know you better. And I hope people who listen to this podcast will now feel like they know you better. Yeah. Okay. When they cross the road. They’ ll notice your ears. Yeah. All right. Never heard of your story. They’ re looking at those earlobes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. Well, thank you so much. Take care. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Have a great day. Here we are. Okay. Be good. Be good. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Good job.