Interesting people

[BroSCFischer]

Since I started working in hotels I have met some interesting people.

I have met a descendant of the Earps.

I have met the star of a cable reality show (Speed network).

I have met someone who worked in a soup kitchen woth Henry Winkler, Tony Danza, Erik Estrada, and Connie Seleca. (Tony Danza ands Henry Winkler are apparently very nice/down to Earth, Erik Estrada seemed to be "wired", and Connie Seleca was "so beautiful".)

Anyone else met someone interesting while at work?

SC

[Marmalady]

Since working at the store, I've met a human cannonball - not even his regular job, he does it for charity events. And a man who restores Spitfires for a living (as someone who loves old warbirds I was all )

And while I was at the Car Parks office, a young man came in to our counter one day to renew his residential parking permits (for a very posh area, but meh....) it wasn't until he had gone that I realised that the other girls in the office were peeking through the glass partition and nearly wetting themselves with excitement. Apparently he was a professional footballer and played for our local team... and had been dealt with by the only Service Advisor who hadn't the faintest idea who he was.

(No, I'm not into sport. Why do you ask?)

[mharbourgirl]

Hrm, many years ago in my youth I worked at a gas station. One of my regulars was the North American kickboxing champion (at that time). Really cool guy who looked like a small, scrawny accountant.

Another interesting customer there was a VERY convincing cross-dresser. I knew he was a guy, but my young male co-workers didn't and thought he was a really attractive blonde girl. I never said anything, and they never figured it out. Still think that's funny.

I also once met Harrison Ford when he was in Halifax making a movie. I pretended I didn't know who he was and treated him like any other customer, and he seemed to appreciate that. Saved the squeeing until after he left, 'cause, well, Harrison Ford!

[dalesys]

Saved the squeeing until after he left, 'cause, well, Harrison Ford!

Christine Lavin's been there.

[bhskittykatt]

Ed Begley Jr used to stay here frequently. I only met him once. He came down for an ice bucket or something. I don't remember. All I thought was "Damn, that guy looks like Ed Begley Jr!" Of course, later I checked in the guest register, and it was him.

I met a very devoted Sasquatch hunter once. He seemed a bit...intense.

When the fair came to town, we had several people working there stay here, including a clown. I forget the clown's name, but he'd make us balloon animals.

We are pet friendly, and once we had a women who bred those little fighting fish. She had 42 of them, all set up in their individual cups. I was working housekeeping at the time, and while I was never assigned to clean her room, I tagged along one day with the housekeeper who did, just so I could see all the fish everyone was talking about.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I've talked to a few celebrities or their reps on the phone. I talked to Khloe Kardashian (whom I'd already heard calls sometimes) for about a minute before her connection cut out. I also had a long chat with Meredith Vieira of The View/Today Show fame, though I never let on I knew who she was. I think I placed an order for her even.

The weirdest one was probably an assistant for Marc Anthony who was looking for design services for Mr. and Mrs. Anthony (aka Jennifer Lopez). Why was it funny? Because it must have only been a few days later that I heard she was dumping him. Who's gonna use all that furniture now??

Also, not too long ago I got a call from someone representing the Glee set. That was kinda cool even though I don't really follow the show.

[Food Lady]

I've never met any celebs at work, only outside work, that I know of. Well, it's likely I've waited on some of the local football dudes and didn't know it. I just don't care about sports, so.... Oh, I did wait on a local NBC news anchor, but unless you live in her city, you wouldn't know her. Racketman might.

[ozcatbug]

Another interesting customer there was a VERY convincing cross-dresser. I knew he was a guy, but my young male co-workers didn't and thought he was a really attractive blonde girl. I never said anything, and they never figured it out. Still think that's funny.

This happened at my work as well. My store was next to one of the airports in England. At the time of the incident, there was a large number of Polish workers in our crew. The guys used to do a specific whistle whenever they thought there was a really nice woman walking through the store. So I heard the whistle, and had a look at the new victim. I almost burst out laughing. The woman was wearing a Virgin women's flight attendant uniform. I didn't know if she was pre or post op, but while she was very attractive, it was obvious she wasn't born female. I turned to my co-worker and asked "Do you think they have any idea?" She looked and said "Oh she has been coming here for a couple of years. They have no idea, and please don't tell them. This is too funny." What was even funnier was listening to the whistle being repeated throughout the store. Even funnier still was letting one of the guys know that the woman he had been checking out wasn't a woman at all. He refused to believe he was checking out a guy in a skirt. A very beautiful guy, I have to admit, but a guy none the less.

As for famous people, at the theme park I met a former actor from "Home and Away", an actor that had been out of work for a while but has recently returned to regular tv, a famous Australian swimmer well known for the flippers that he calls feet, and a famous former AFL player. I was really excited to meet the out of work actor and the footy player, but no-one else knew who they were. Mum was really jealous about the Home and Away star, but I was unimpressed. His girlfriend on the show was really tall, but from looking at him it was obvious he must have been standing on a box in his scenes with her since he was the same height as me! And seriously, those flippers on the swimmer were massive. I was worried he wouldn't be able to fit them inside the roller coaster. He did, but he had to turn his legs slightly to the side.

[Antisocial_Worker]

...Oh, I did wait on a local NBC news anchor, but unless you live in her city, you wouldn't know her...

I met a local news personality here one night while in line at Subway. They look weird wearing that TV makeup out in the real world.

[EricKei]

I pretended I didn't know who he was and treated him like any other customer, and he seemed to appreciate that.

With the few celebs (of any stripe) I've either met or heard of, many seem to feel the same way - when doing "everyman" stuff like grocery shopping, they just wanna be treated like anybody else ^_^

Speaking of which...

John Goodman used to frequent the boutique grocery where I worked. He was always really really cool and friendly. He would chat with the stockers and joke around just like any other customer. The few times he got annoyed at all were when the younger employees started hounding him for autographs (Management put a stop to that really quick, but he didn't show up for months afterwards). I also delivered pizza to him several times. He would always walk out to the car in flipflops and shorts, he seems to be a really down-to-earth and friendly guy. Awesome tipper, too ^_^

The rest were local celebs, mainly newscasters (the veteran casters here do get treated like big celebs, it's not unusual for an Anchor-level caster to work at the same station, on the same news/show for 30+ years). A couple lived near the aforementioned grocery.

One cool one I got through my line once was an announcer lady for the local PBS station, WYES -- I believe she's long since retired, but, even in her 60s~70's, she still had this wonderful, velvety voice that lent a certain air of class to the programming and ads...So much so that I recognized her simply by her voice and told her that I was a fan when she came through. Sadly, I Can no longer recall her name (anyone know?), but addressed her by it at the time, 20something years ago. She was a really cool and sweet lady, too.

===================

My old roomie used to be a "featured extra" (read: you can see his face, but no actual lines spoken) on some movies that shot here, so he got to hang out with some celebs -- as usual, some amazingly cool, some, not so much.

[Gumby30]

At a previous job I got to go with the publicity director to a pretty large convention, mostly movies and video games. While I was there working I got to meet Michael York (who we were there to work with, he's lovely!), Toby Stephens (I drooled), Ray Harryhausen and Andy Serkis.

Through the same job I also got to meet a Nobel peace Prize winner - that was pretty awesome.

[Sandman]

only real famous person i met so far has been Ray Rice. got to shake his hand. my guitar teacher on the other hand has met many more people. i don't call the hockey players i met interesting, because i met some of them before they became famous.

[DeltaSierra]

Not me - I've not met anyone remotely interesting while working, but my Mom used to work for a very prestigious hotel in Vancouver in her early 20's (40+ years ago) and she had the opportunity to meet a lot of famous actors and actresses. She said that Lucille Ball was a hoot in real life, and she liked to tie the doormen to a pole in the lobby with a scarf and tease them (she gave $100 bills as tips!), Bob Hope liked to come down and flirt with the girls working the front desk, Bette Davis always brought her own chef and demanded he cook for her in the hotel kitchen, and Joan Crawford WAS a total bitch.

[Kristev]

I met a relative of Susan B. Anthony once. It was for a job interview with a school (for a teacher's aide position). When asked about heroes, I mentioned Susan B. Anthony as one. I didn't know that the woman doing the interview had married a relative of hers.

[lobo94]

Joan Crawford WAS a total bitch.

If we go by "Mommie Dearest," the above comment would be an understatement.