I’d walk into ET Surf Skate Snow to get a new pair of skate shoes. The shop, which still is coincidentally around the corner from where DEUCE Athletics is now, would be where I bought my first skateboard & later my first surfboard. The year was 1998. I was 13. One of my favorite things about getting a new pair of kicks was having Jason ‘Weeman’ Acuña size me up & give insight on the shoes. This particular day would stay with me more than 20 years later, however.
I’m not being charitable when I say I remember Wee Man’s infectious positive energy & how remarkably personable he was & how it trumped the fact that he was a bonafide pro skater (with achondroplasia, nonetheless). Who he was in the room outshined what he did outside of it… even for a 13 year old. Two years later the first episode of ‘Jackass’ would air on MTV. He’d become an international celebrity, star of three #1 motion pictures, and a world-wide restaurateur. Today, however, he was helping me find a size 13 in Osiris Shoes..
The reason I‘m writing about this particular day 2 decades later is because an older kid, maybe 17, came in while Mr. Acuña was helping me. He struck up a side conversation about something in the store. Then, he made a throwaway comment: “…dude, by the way, are you guys hiring? I could use a job.”
I’d never seen Jason be anything other than jovial in that place and what he said in return has impacted me as an entrepreneur ever since. “Are you serious?” Acuña responded. He was deliberate and firm. The kid started, “Well, yea, I just figured..” Acuña stopped him, “Of course you would…This is the greatest place to work on Earth. There are people WAITING for a spot to open up to work here. They’re all gnarly. PROS, man. And, they’re WAITING to work here.” He said it as if the young man didn’t even know what he was asking and it was true.. he didn’t. I was struck with 1) how passionate he was about where he worked and 2) how ET built a place that attracted only the best/most committed individuals (at a skate shop, no less).
This is the origin of employee culture at DEUCE Gym. Thank you, Jason.
Logan Gelbrich
@functionalcoach
1/31/20 WOD
Make 5 attempts at the following for load:
100′ Farmers Carry
Then, complete 6 rounds for time of:
10 Axle Deadlifts (225/155)
20 Over-the-Bar Burpees
10 Toes-to-Bar