NYC subway workers caught partying & watching Tfue in secret “man cave”
Freepik, Wirestock / Instagram, @tfue[jwplayer 91I9RIGm]
A trio of New York City’s MTA subway workers have been suspended without pay after investigators discovered a secret “man cave” that they used to kick back, drink beers, and watch Tfue’s Twitch stream.
New York City’s subterranean transit system is filled with a variety of storage rooms and facilities, particularly at the iconic Grand Central Terminal, which is home to both MTA subways and Metro North trains. At one such room, a former locksmith shop below Track 114, the MTA’s Inspector General, Carolyn Pokorny, discovered a hidden “man cave.”
Following some failed investigations into the incognito lounge within the past couple years, it was finally opened up in September 2020 and investigators discovered a full suite befitting a gamer’s relaxation zone.
Not only did they find a visibly used couch, but also a carefully hidden futon, refrigerator (fit with an opened 24 oz. can of beer), microwave, and a wall-mounted TV hilariously left on Turner ‘Tfue’ Tenney’s Twitch stream.
The "man cave" also had a futon with a secret storage compartment, as well as exercise equipment, airbeds, and a fridge 🤣
(via MTA Office of the Inspector General) pic.twitter.com/KkmOMhZ00F
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) September 24, 2020
As the NY Post’s David Meyer reports, Pokorny was a blend of surprised and impressed with the workers’ secret lair: “Many a New Yorker has fantasized about kicking back with a cold beer in a prime piece of Manhattan real estate — especially one this close to good transportation. Few would have the chutzpah to commandeer a secret room beneath Grand Central Terminal.”
But the few that did turned out to be a trio of Metro North employees (a wireman, carpenter foreman, and electrical foreman). Unsurprisingly, given their professions, the three had crafted custom wooden cabinets to half-heartedly conceal their makeshift furniture and had even set up a mobile hotspot to enable their kick-back entertainment.
The locksmith room was converted into a storage room by the MTA, but five years after the electrical foreman last worked with the locksmiths, it appears he and a couple fellow employees decided the room was better suited to relaxation. While certainly understandable in one of the world’s busiest transit hubs, the Post reports that they also admitted to hanging out there while receiving overtime pay.
Tfue has over nine million Twitch followers, according to third-party metrics website, TwitchTracker. Now, one just has to wonder how many more of his followers are watching the stream from unauthorized, subterranean man caves.