Nashville resident Rick Poole was so inspired by the recent Friends reunion that he decided to recreate the magic in his own life. The special, released directly to HBO Max earlier this year, featured the core cast members of the hit sitcom reuniting in a recreation of the show’s set. Once there, they reminisced and shared stories almost twenty years after the airing of the final episode. Poole thought, “if they can do it, why can’t I,” and decided to host his own reunion, inviting the five other people he worked with at a Burger King twenty years ago.
“I was watching these six stars reunite and the magic felt so palpable that I decided to set up a reunion of my own,” said Poole. “I was beyond excited. I hadn’t seen these people in twenty years and they are like family to me.”
Of the five invited, only three surprisingly showed up. The others responded with excuses that would have helped them shirk a shift back when they really worked at the fast food restaurant, saying they were sick or had a family emergency and couldn’t come in that day.
“How did I feel when I walked into the set built to look exactly like our Burger King? Uh, confused mostly. I still don’t understand it at all,” said Keith Palmer, former BK cashier. “I saw the others inside and was just, like, ‘oh, hey guys. What’s up?'”
The team’s former manager, Sarah Turner, also seemed baffled by the whole ordeal. “I thought maybe Rick was joking when he asked, and then the offer came through. HBO Max paid all of us a hundred bucks to show up,” Turner said. “Or at least the contract said it was from them, but it was handwritten and the logo was just kind of drawn on in the corner. Plus, there weren’t any cameras there. Regardless, I wanted the hundo and wasn’t going to question it. I just kind of went. It must have been pretty important for Rick.”
“I didn’t tear up or anything. I have actually seen Keith and Sarah a ton since our time working together,” stated Skyler Parker, the Burger King employee who shared the most shifts with Poole. “Everybody else too. We hang out all the time. Actually, Rick is the only one I haven’t seen. To be honest we were never that close. I don’t even remember him working there.”
Despite any lingering strangeness, Poole says the reunion was exactly what he was hoping for. “The energy was electric! The second we entered the set it all came back,” he said. “Everyone had that same stressed-out awkwardness we all did when we would clock in back in the day. You should have seen it! Some of them really seemed like they wanted to be literally anywhere else, which really took me back. I know the fans loved it too.”
When asked to elaborate on who he was talking about when he said “the fans,” Poole laughed and refused to answer. Whoever he was referring to, whoever may have for some reason been longing for a one-day reuniting of three young people who used to take their drive-through order, we do hope the reunion lived up to expectations.
That goes doubly for you, Rick Poole.