I had a very memorable 21st birthday 29 years ago and this is still one of my favorite stories to tell so here you go....

At 17 years old I was hired to work part time at GNC, the vitamin store. I was a smart kid and a hard worker so I managed to gain favor quickly with management and easily became full time and assistant mgr by 18 years old. It was a time that the company was in a fast growth

period and launching a franchise program. The store I was in was old and dated and was one of the first to be selected for remodel. After the remodel, the store of course got a lot of visits from corporate personnel which brought me good attention for my efforts. I was quickly

promoted to mgr in a store that was slated to be closed due to declining performance. I managed to make the store profitable in only 6 weeks and took it from last in the district to top 5 consistently. After about 6 months corporate decided that I deserved better (or more that

they could make more money with me elsewhere) so they moved me to a bigger store that needed help. Same story.... Store went from middle of the pack to top 5 and as high as #2 a couple times. One day after a regional managers meeting and Corp headquarters, the VP asked me to stay

after to discuss some things.
He talked about a project to open 10 new stores in Connecticut that were to be sold as franchises and he wanted me to take over a flailing existing store up there and to oversee the setup, openings, and training of personnel of the new stores.

A pretty awesome offer given to a 20 year old. After a weekend of discussion with my girlfriend it was decided that it was a great opportunity and we would make the move. On Monday morning the VP wasted no time calling to get my answer. I confirmed that I would accept and he said

"great! I'll have Teresa (his secretary) arrange a flight and hotel within the next couple weeks so you can scope out your store and search for a place to live. He next informed me that he had another confirmation of another person that was going to be relocating from Pittsburgh

to Connecticut and his name was Scott. He is asst manager in the Monroeville store and will be running a store in Milford, CT while you'll be taking Springfield, MA. At the time, the Springfield store was the largest by square footage on the east coast and it carried weights,

clothes, food, and cosmetics. I was pretty stoked to get in and get dirty. I didn't know Scott and the first time we would meet would be when we sat beside each other on the plane. We made the typical niceties then BSed about store stuff then quickly realized that we had the

same twisted sense of humor and knack for sarcasm. An instant friendship was formed. We landed in Hartford, got rental cars to head out to see our respective stores and made plans to meet back up at 8:00 to discuss our findings. We ate at the hotel and retired to the bar to BS

some more. The more we talked to more we realized we were brothers from different mothers. The equality in our levels of consciousness was staggering. Scott asked how old I was and when I told him I was 20 he replied, "GTFO.... So am I! I thought you were closer to 30 because

you seem so much more tenured. " I thanked him for the compliment and said that since we're both 20 that we'd have to spend our 21st birthdays getting drunk together. He agreed and I asked, "when is your birthday so I can remember?" He told me his was February 17th. I said

, "stop fucking with me, who told you that?" He said what do you mean? I said, "that's my birthday and you know it, quit screwing with me. " He proceeded to pull out his license. Sure as shit we were born on the same day same year. What are the chances?? It was July at this point

so we were months away from this event. In the meantime, Scott and I both shared success in our respective stores. I took my store from dead last in the region (again) to consistently #1 or 2 within 3 months along the way firing a bunch of lowlifes and hiring new staff for not

only my store but, the new ones as well. Amongst my new hires in those few months was a guy named Ken. He was a great guy that was always upbeat and happy. He aspired to move up within the organization so he was a motivated employee and one of the best I had there in my time.

As February approached, I shared with Ken the plan that Scott and I had and expressed that I was gonna have my girlfriend be our designated driver but, she really wasn't that interested in the deed. Ken says, "I think I have an option for you if you're ok with it. I don't know

if I told you but, I also bartend 3 to 4 nights a week at a bar called Woody's just east of Hartford." I said, "I wouldn't want to impose Ken, we'll be ok." He exclaimed, " nonsense, I'll handle this and you'll have a fantastic time." I called Scott and told him the plan and he

was very happy. I informed my girlfriend and she was quite relieved to be off the hook but assured Ken she was available if needed. From that point on it was the Ken show. He told us both to be done by specific times and he'd be picking us up and needed to be at the bar at 7.

We were ready when commanded and headed to Woody's. En route Ken says, "just to let you know, this is Paul Newman's bar." I said, " no way! Will he be there?" He said no and that he was only a partner and rarely comes in. Bubble slightly burst but still a cool detail.

We get to the bar and Ken simply states "enjoy yourselves, I got this." He then gives us a pitcher of kamikazes and says start with this, I'll get your food going. We start knocking those down while we poorly played pool. About 30 minutes in Ken comes out of the kitchen with

stately dinners of T-bone steaks, massive baked potatoes and veggie sides. I said "Ken, this is too much. I can't spend all this money." He asked "who says anything about paying? I told the boss what was up and he gave the green light to make it extra special and on the house!"

Our jaws were on the floor. We ate and drank like Kings. We were handed remote controls to put whatever we wanted on TV while it was announced to the bar that if anyone didn't like what we wanted to watch, too fucking bad because it's our 21st birthday and it's our choice.

We found a typical guy movie (I think it was Commando with Schwarzenegger) and left that on while we threw darts, played pool, drank, and fell....a lot! I mean we were constantly pulling ourselves up off the floor. The bar closed at midnight and we were appropriately sloshed.

OUT OF OUR MINDS, NEEDED HELP TO WALK PISS DRUNK. Ken assisted us one at a time to his Jetta. The whole time we're thanking him like blithering idiots. He sets me in the passenger front and Scott in the back. Scott immediately lays down and Ken says, no you don't... You gotta

You gotta stay up cause I have to get you out when I get you home. I had the wherewithal to say, "do you think he should go home alone in this condition?" Ken agrees and phones my girlfriend to let her know that he'd like to leave Scott at our apartment for safe keeping for the

night. She agrees. Ken then forces Scott upright and seatbelts him in place. We proceed to motor toward my apartment which was in Enfield and about 20-25 minutes away. We get 5 minutes into the trip and Scott is yelling from the back, "you gotta stop, I gotta pee, I gotta pee,

I gotta pee! We've been driving for hours and I gotta pee!"

Ken and I are cracking up and he proceeds to pull off the road. He gets Scott out of the car and props him against a tree and says, "I'll do anything for you but I won't do that!" Scott laughs and does his duty.

Ken then helps him back in the car and now Scott won't stop singing the Meatloaf song I'd Do Anything For Love. He had us laughing our asses off. Ten more minutes down the road in really getting dizzy and tell Ken that I'm not sure I'm gonna make it home without puking. I tell

him he'd better pull over again. He says, "I told you guys I got this..." He then reaches in the back and pulls up a lined bucket, hands it to me and says, "there ya go, hurl away." And I did... Over and over and over. I puked until it hurt. He then hands me a bottle of water

and atravel bottle of mouthwash. Dude was so prepared it was scary. I used his toiletries then rolled down my window and put my head out to try to make the dizziness and hurling subside. He managed to get us both home successfully and proceeded to help us into the apartment.

He and my girlfriend put us face down on the floor of the extra bedroom and said their goodnights. We woke up the next day with crushing hangovers and spent the better part of the day recovering. We thanked Ken repeatedly when we an him next and he proceeded to tell us that

all the patrons were quite entertained by us and were putting bets on each of us for falldowns, missed dart throws, miscues on the pool table, trips to the restroom, etc. He said it was like Vegas with all the betting and everyone was in on it.

He next tried to hand us a pile of money that was donated by the patrons for us as a birthday present. We were once again flabbergasted by the gesture and decided that Ken should keep the money as a tip for babysitting us all night.

So that's my story and I hope you enjoyed it. I lost track of Ken and don't currently know if he still lives in Connecticut. I'd assume so because his whole family was there. Scott now lives in Florida and we still communicate frequently.