Sitting in a coffee shop in St. Louis.

A representative of Nike and a man working in the STL mayor’s office just finished a meeting to discuss a potential grant from Nike.

Mind you, the Nike man made a point to remind Mayor man to “leave in different directions.” Like that isn’t sketchy or anything.

Anyway, apparently Craig Williams of Nike wants the Key to the City of St. Louis. I guess he’s from here? Seems like a shitty reason to be given the key, but this is politics after all.

Mayor man says it’d be great for him to meet with the Mayor, maybe come to her luncheon. Nike man can’t make that happen because Craig Williams is currently in Paris. But not to worry, Mayor man says he will make sure Nike man’s proposal gets put on the mayor’s desk.

The grossest part about this is that the guy from the Mayor’s office was apparently seeking advice on how to best apply for Nike grant funding for either a St. Louis athletic complex or coach and athlete sponsorships. I found the phrase, “making sure the athlete and the coach are taken care of” suspect coming from the Nike rep. Either there’s something very sus going on with these young athletes, or they are not getting the full grant money/the mayor’s office is getting a cut.

TL;DR: I already knew St. Louis and Nike were corrupt, but the fact these two errand runners were blatantly discussing shady things in the middle of a normal cafe was mind-boggling.

If you’re going to have less than optimal business conversations, don’t do it in a public setting.