I have a feeling Joe may be a family friend - I'm a wheelchair user and the mascot yesterday sat next to me at the Big Game last year. Joe was training and was called over by the family - the words exchanged, although I can't remember them now, led me to believe that they went back - but he knelt down next to the youngster and chatted to them for ages. Opposition fans love to hate him but he's a very good guy.
I have another, more personal, anecdote from after the Challenge Cup Final in Cardiff when my friend and I were invited - by guess who, Joe Marler - to tag along for the squad night out. We joined them at Oceana and they had an area booked out on the upper area of the club. We were ushered into the lift, which duly broke down halfway up. A bunch of the squad, Joe included, spent literally 2 hours trying to strongman the lift back down to the ground floor before the fire brigade showed up.
In the end, once we were back on solid ground, we had a few drinks with Joe on the ground floor area and he then invited us back to the team hotel for more drinks. I sat at a table with Conor, JK and Tofty and shared my thoughts on the season. The whole squad were great with us and I'm happy to admit that I was a wide-eyed 20 year old with a bunch of my heroes around me, but Joe was the man that night, as he is today.