Hottest place in town may be inside this Chick-fil-A cow

Jodi Harter

As the Chick-fil-A cow, John Martin has acquired fans across James Island, including these from James Island Elementary School. "Little kids like you a little bit better than big kids do," Martin said.

When John Martin was a boy, he wanted to grow up to be a baseball player, a comedian or a mascot.

Dreaming big paid off. Now, Martin is the Chick-fil-A cow.

You may have seen him standing on James Island roadways and waving, or handing out chicken sandwiches on Folly Beach. Yes, even in the summer heat. The hottest place for a cow, Martin has found, is in the median where the James Island connector intersects with Folly Road. "I thought I was going to die," Martin said of that experience. "I really did."

It didn't help his body temperature that he opted to "direct" traffic.

"His personality comes out through the cow," said Jodi Harter, who does marketing for the James Island Chick-fil-A.

At any given time, she has five to 10 people she can ask to be the cow, she said. But she asks Martin to be the cow the most.

Martin said he found out about the job through his best friend, who also was a cow. When the friend "got a real job" about a year ago, Martin "mooved" into the position.

"Try to explain to your parents that you're the cow," the 22-year-old said, adding that they think it's hilarious. It was when Martin told his mom about his new gig that she reminded him of his childhood dream.

Inside the suit, he wears shorts and a T-shirt, as well as a headband to keep sweat from dripping into his eyes. He also wears an "ice vest," but it quickly warms and becomes more cumbersome than helpful. He somehow says this without really complaining. He seems more amused.

When passers-by ask if he's hot, he shakes his cow head by twisting his entire upper body. He can see straight ahead only, by looking through the cow's neck.

The self-described "germ freak" tries to mentally block the fact that other people have been in the suit. He asks Harter to wash it often.

How often? "It all goes by the smell," he says.

After cleaning the costume in the washing machine, Harter combs out the fur with a dog brush, she says with a laugh.

As the cow, Martin has gone roller skating at Hot Wheels (where kids dove in front of him to try to make him fall) and Spinning at Gold's Gym.

He spends a lot of his cow time at schools promoting Chick-fil-A's Spirit Nights, when a portion of proceeds are donated to a designated school.

At the elementary schools, he feels like the pied piper. Kids gasp and scream when they see him. They hug him and give him high-fives.

They can't believe the cow can hip-hop the "Soulja Boy" and "Walk It Out." Right now, Martin's trying to teach himself Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance to add to his repertoire.

"I really like kids, so it's fun to just make them smile and laugh and be happy," he said.

Harter said one time a little girl was so stoked Martin patted her head that she said, "I'm never gonna wash my hair again."

Martin won't be donning the cow suit much longer. He recently graduated from College of Charleston with a bachelor's degree in communication, and will start a job with Young Life, a relational ministry aimed at high schoolers, in August.

When he applied for the new job, he didn't use the word "cow" on his resume. Instead he wrote, "independent contractor."

Do you have an interesting job you'd like to tell our readers about? Do you know someone who has an unusual occupation? Let us know about it. Send an e-mail to Kristen Hankla at khankla@postandcourier.com or call 937-5548.