DanChad
We certainly attract an eccentric population to our little slice of
drunken paradise we call Tybee. Seems like a lot of them are from
Ohio (for some reason). Anyway, scores of people set up camp here
every year, and a lot of them get chewed up and spit out, but a few of
them make it. You don’t need to know a backstory cause they’re here
now and dammit, they’re cool! A wise man once told me that Tybee
is the end of the road, there is nowhere left to run. He is not wrong.
You think you know somebody, and then a SWAT team kicks in their
door for a bank robbery in the 80’s. Or you quiet neighbor gets in a
knife fight with his roommate. Recently, a very well established local
business “owner” fooled us all into thinking he was someone he quite
literally wasn’t.
Just to lead off, normally we don’t use real names or single someone
out. But, considering the name we knew him as wasn’t, in fact, his
real name, and it’s all a matter of public record now, I feel perfectly
ethical in naming names. I met Chad Faire the first year we ran
Breezy. I picked him up at a corner bar on the south end, sober. He
said he was headed north. He was wearing an oyster house shirt
and diamond-studded Gloria Vanderbilt sunglasses. We chatted and I
would say we hit it off pretty well. I was told he was the new general
manager of said oyster house and would be buying it himself very
soon. I asked where he lived and he said just drop him at the first
Chu’s, that was close enough. Cool. I complied, he gave me a $20,
said he’d be using us daily and to save his number. Done and done!
Nice to meet you Chad.
That routine repeated itself thru a few years. He truly became one of
my favorite customers and a really good friend to my whole family
actually. Even my little sister liked him. I think I can speak for a large
30 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | DEC 2018
By Joey Goralczyk
portion of the island and say he was very well liked. My family became
regulars at the oyster house, just to go see him. He didn’t seem to
do a lot of managing though. Bartending yes. Serving yes. He even
cooked on occasion. Never thought about it, but he was the owner
allegedly. We partied together, drinking Irish breakfast till we puked.
We would have house parties and dinner with him. We did slap-bets,
wherein the winner of a bet gets to slap the hell out of the loser. He
was a drunken kleptomaniac too. If he was wasted, no salt shaker or
ashtray was safe. I imagined his house was a large collection of petty
contraband, though I never saw it. He was always very helpful and
generous. He helped me bail a few really good friends of ours out of
jail. I really liked the guy.
Alas, when I made that fateful trip for burgers and got into a little
trouble, Chad was the first to offer me a job. I didn’t even have to
ask. I went from court one day to train at the restaurant the next.
When your friend becomes your boss it can get a little strained, but
we were still tight. He took care of his employees and I was blindly
loyal (obviously). Did notice some weird things though. Like, if he was
the owner, why did the “former owner” spend so much time there? It
seemed like he answered to her a lot. I soon found out that he was the
owner of the company, but not the building. Okay, that’s not what you
said 4 years ago, but whatever. Also, why is your reclusive boyfriend
Dan getting so many calls and mail at the restaurant? Strange, but
again whatever. The 4 story house he “bought” was also clearly a
rental. Everyone knew it. Maybe Chad was just proud. Surely my good
buddy wasn’t actually a pathological liar and con man, right? You
can’t fool EVERYONE, right?
So one day, out of the blue, I showed up at work, and my co-worker
told me that Chad was out. Whatever do you mean? He owns the
place. No, no he doesn’t. He was the GM and he got fired. Well, that
sucks. I’ll call him. No answer. What the hell? A week or two went by
and a sheriff’s officer came in, looking for Dan, except the picture
was of Chad. I was completely aghast. I could not believe it. We gave
them his phone number and they knew where he lived. I went home
and told my family. Also shocked, my dad called him, as did I. He
answered and we told him what happened. He said it was a mistake
and he’d be back in town later that week. I’ve never seen him again.
Amazing. He fooled EVERYONE. Chad was Dan, and Dan was Chad.
Danchad. He made off with a large amount of cash, which he just
straight up stole from people who considered him family. I really
don’t know what else to say. We were all friends with a con-man.
He finally got busted in Key West a couple of weeks ago and made
headlines. It’s kinda surreal to read that story. Dude was a fraud. I
guess Tybee isn’t the end of the road. There is Key West!