Category Archives: Jack Ritchey

DARTHAM CITY, METROPOLIS – After a string of strong-arm robberies, alleyway muggings, and family-owned grocery stores getting trashed by thugs all brandishing the same suspicious hoodie with red bull horns on top, local billionaire and reclusive genius Wayne Kent has decided to stay home again. “I’m not going out there. Did you see the news? No way, man. My house has iron gates, and I have booze” declared Kent from his study with an excessive fireplace. “You know my parents died out there, right? My butler was like ‘Mr. Kent, the city needs a hero like you – only you can tame the Bull’, but I have a lot of 90 Day Fiance to catch up on, so I’m in for tonight. And tell them to turn off that stupid spotlight.” At press time, a the heinous visage of a bull with the phrase “Toro is Chaos” has been spray painted all over mailboxes and buildings across Dartham, and the clock atop city hall has suddenly begun a looming countdown to midnight, while Mr. Kent reportedly considered taking a bath.

Jack Ritchey – 1.14.2020

KIRKWOOD, MO – During the Friday afternoon “rush” at Kirkwood’s Union Station Hut, sources confirmed Friday that “all aboard!” was violently screamed at the only six Amtrak passengers boarding the train. “There was a conductor pacing up and down the platform like a basketball coach, and yelling into our faces like it was the last day on earth. And yet we were all standing within four feet of each other. How many people are required to constitute ‘all’, anyway?” inquired ticket-holder Mike Enrich, noting that he ended up being the only person in his car, except for the conductor who entered and demanded to see tickets from nobody. “I was surprised when they told people not to stand in the aisles while waiting for a seat in the dinner car. They must really think people still use trains. I was only taking the Amtrak to downtown because my car broke and I’m avoiding the Metrolink.” At a news conference this afternoon with only two attendees, Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson urged the members of the press to quiet down, and that this was far too much media attention than they could handle.

You’re unique. You’re a freaking unicorn rockstar! Maybe you’re a “wears flip-flops in the winter” type of girl. Or maybe you’re a “dances while people are looking” guy. Hah, I know I am. That’s why, if you want a Diet Coke, you should just have a Diet Coke! Who cares if you get a little cancer with it, that’s just the kind of person you are, bae!

Mmm, that is good. And it’s woke! And with all that aspartame turning your insides into a fuming discolored bio-hazard, you are free to live your life how you wanna live, no matter how short it will be! Maybe you wanna go swing on a jungle gym while you still have the strength? Maybe you want to travel to Rio before your bedridden! Either way, however you do you, do you! Before cancer does you!

Plus, medical science has come really, really far lately, am I right millennial? They’ve probably cured cancer by now, as far as you know or care. Besides, you’re 18 to 24 and you live in America, so you’re invincible. Obamacare? What’s that!? In fact, go climb up on that statue in your floppy hat and sundress, take a cute ‘gram with your BFF, and slap a goofy filter on it! Look at you! That will make a perfect “before” picture!

And did I mention we have delicious new flavors? Because Diet Coke by itself is basically just poison, we decided to dress it up a little for you. Like we do with rats. Mmm, goes down just like all the medicine will!

• Ginger Lime – This refreshing combo of crisp lime with a hint of savory ginger is sure to make your tastebuds scream with delight, before your actual mouth screams with pain from the surgeries. Fun fact, old timey navy guys used to eat limes on board ships! That won’t help you though.

• Twisted Mango – Woah, dude! How did they twist a mango?? Haha, just kidding fellow facebook user. Twisted mango is really just mango with ‘twisted’ slapped on front. However, “twisted” will accurately describe your stomach in a few years. Just like a dog! Tasty A F!

• Zesty Blood Orange – Get used to the sight of blood early, only with ‘zest’!

• Feisty Cherry – Tie a knot out of the stem on this crispy treat. There’s nothing artificial about this flavor, except all the artificial flavors! After you wash down the combination of tangy cherry and chemicals you’ll be sure to say “that was both refreshing and created in a laboratory!”

So don’t listen to what all those haters or doctors say, you just go and do you. Because you are the only you there is, until there isn’t anymore!

Diet Coke. Who cares if you get cancer? Just drink it!

Jack Ritchey – 8.8.2019

Is this Jack? Hi Jack, my name is Marianne, I’m calling from Great Lakes Student Loan Services and totally legitimate carpet cleaning business. How are you today? I don’t actually fucking care how you are, idiot. You owe us your life, and I am going to guilt you into submission like a wobbly puppy during this strangely polite five-minute phone call, and it’s going to be so damn sweet I’m going to serve it for dessert. I can actually hear in your trembling breath that your stomach has just dropped, is that correct? Great! Do you have five minutes to talk, you broke-down deadbeat loser? Great!

Before we continue, I have to let you know that this call is being recorded for quality assurance.

So, dummy. I’m looking at your account, and it appears you currently have a past-due amount on your tri-weekly billing statement of one-hundred twenty-two thousand dollars and sixty-three cents. Yeesh, that’s one horse-tit amount of money, right? You’ll never have that amount of money at once in your entire useless life. And yet ironically it’s exactly what we gave you, and now you owe it back to us several times over. You must feel like a right wasted time of a person. Is that correct? Wonderful! Can you please verify your address for me?

Now, in order for you to avoid interest on this account, I need to remind you that this is a federal law school loan, meant to be used by law school students for law school. Did you actually attend law school? That’s interesting, because if you had, you would obviously be able to pay this absurd amount of money on a regular basis, because all lawyers are rich guys who wear suits and get jobs immediately in big fancy law firms and never pay rent and drive around in Land Rovers. I know this for a fact because I watch the USA Network. Do you currently own a Land Rover? Hmm. And do you get the USA Network? I see. I’ll make a note of that in your account.

Does your work phone number still end in 5284? I see, so you DO have a job.

It is very important to address your past-due amount. Are able to pay that today? No? That seems crazy to us, because money falls out of the sky and everybody wins the lottery at least twice a year. And since you are currently working in your dream job with a wife who has no demands and you didn’t have to pay for a wedding, we think it’s a very reasonable amount. In fact, I just recently blew my nose and a 10 karat gold bar fell out of my face, as we assume is the case with every person in the world. Have you tried blowing your nose recently? Uh huh. Has your wife tried blowing her nose, or any other dependents?

I see, and I fully understand where you are coming from you lying, irresponsible child. Well, why don’t we talk about your options.

First there’s an income-based repayment program. In this program, we will deduct literally eighty-nine percent from your already sad paycheck. This will be in place until your loan is sufficiently paid off (never), no matter how much money you ever make in your entire wasted “career”. The benefit of this program is that – just kidding it’s awful. All your money is now our money. You made this bed, guy. Now you sleep in it. How does that sound to you?

Well, your other option is for me to put a temporary forbearance on your account. This means you can sleep tonight, and we won’t be coming to break your wrist and kill your cat today, but if you don’t make any changes to your account very soon you will have nothing left to pet with your limp, misshapen arms. This is many customers’ preferred option. Is that ok?

Thank you, that’s wonderful news! I’ll go ahead and make those changes for you, you hapless bum!

For your convenience, and to act as a gloomy horror forever dangling over your entire world, I am going to send a transcript of our conversation to your email. With your permission, I will also be sharing this conversation with your former law school professors and your parents, as well as having it played aloud at your funeral while we pass around a collection plate to all your family and friends asking them to make up for your failing, you pathetic loss of a person. Can I just confirm your email real quick?

Terrific. Is there anything else we can help you with today? Thank you so much for your business Jack. We genuinely enjoy it. Genuinely. Have a wonderful day!

Jack Ritchey – 4/10/2019

This is the first of a running series on how to be a human. Today’s installment – how to operate an elevator properly and convincingly. Go be human.

So you got a job in a building that requires you to ride an elevator every day. Good for you! I bet you keep some groceries in a shared kitchenette and took a few pics of that view for your Instagram. But don’t get all high and mighty (pun intended). If you’re going to fit in with the rest of the humans, you need to learn the do’s and the hey-don’t-do’s of riding an elevator. Let’s start with the easy stuff.

Elevator? I Hardly Know ‘Er! – The elevator is a human carrier. Like a tiny room that moves you to different “floors” of the building. Sure, you can use the stairs like a freaking Libertarian, but most people prefer the luxury and care-free lifestyle that comes with automatic heightening. Most tall buildings have at least one elevator. Ideally there is one for every employee working on the property, but this is very rare and usually only found in lighthouses, so be prepared to share. As of 2018 there are only up-down elevators. They don’t go side-to-side or large-to-tiny.

Call That Boy – Most Elevators have a call button to let the giant robot that controls the building know you want to be raised. It might look like an upward arrow or just a button that lights up when you touch it. Be excited when it lights up, and say something nice. It’s doing this for you, for Christ sake. The least you can do is notice. If the call button is already lit up, you don’t have to push it again. The elevator is already on the way and you contribute nothing by pushing it again. In fact, if you see somebody else do this, give them a firm solid slap across the jowls like Moe.

Where To Stand – When the double-doors open, that’s your sign that the elevator has arrived. Let people off the elevator because humans are three-dimensional being who occupy space. Step on in, and move to the rear of the car, away from the door. This will let other people onto the elevator who also want to go to high places. Most people turn around and face the door they came in while riding the elevator, but if you want to create a very uncomfortable staring contest, the option is there. Go ahead and pick the weakest stranger and stare at him dead in his stupid face.

Where To Go – You should probably know this before you get on, but you need to have an idea of which floor is your destination. Whether it’s 18 (yay!) or 25 (boo!), locate the number associated with your goal on the panel and push the button. Again, this button will light up, so be ready to compliment the button on a job well done. There a lot of other buttons in this human container. Feel free to push any of them to just see what they do. Your elevator buddies will love you. The door close button does not work.

Movement – When the shared coffin begins to ascend, hold the railing with a white-knuckle grip as you dangle for your life inside a hollow cacophony of doom, taunting the devil through the hubris of man with nothing beneath you but the lingering pulse of inevitability. If you’re lucky, gravity won’t obviously overcome and snap the few flimsy cables and pull you down hundreds of feet into the blue flame of death, screaming the deepest breath from your frozen lungs while strangers watch the courage ripped from your hopeless soul in empty, overpowering fear. Ashes to ashes, truly alone. The final equalizer.

You’re Here! – You made it! Try not to be too surprised when the doors open and things are different than they were when they closed. It’s supposed to be! You’re in a whole other world now. Depending on what button you pushed, you’ve been lifted or lowered to a different “floor”. Go ahead and step off the elevator. Don’t bother “holding the door” for other people to get off first because you’re all going to the same place and the door isn’t actually closing anyway so just get the hell out of the way. In fact, if somebody else tries to do this, call them an idiot and poke them in both eyes at the same time like Moe.

And there you go! You’ve successfully completed elevators, Human Basics 1. Tune in next week (or later) for more helpful basics on how to be a human!

Jack Ritchey – 12.4.2018