It sucks to be Dayanna Rodas right now. Imagine having Adam Sandler walk into your restaurant, and you don't even recognize him. Instead you tell him he has to wait half an hour for his IHOP pancakes. (As someone who only eats homemade pancakes, I think she did him a favor, but I digress).
I worked at The Plaza for nearly 23 years. In that time I experienced The Advent Of Famous People three times. And I had three wildly different experiences with each of The Renowned.
The first time was back in early 2006, after The Plaza Building Formerly Known As Arbys was taken over by HMS Host, and I was promoted to Overnight Supervisor. Just like Dayanna, unbeknownst to me, I waited on A Famous Person. And the customer after him said excitedly (honest to God!) "Do you know you just waited on Walter Ray Williams, the bowler?! That was him!" I peered at Mr. Williams, taking his tray over to a table to start on his breakfast. When his potatoes were done, I took them over to him and said, "You know, I watched the Pro Bowlers Tour on Saturdays before Wide World Of Sports for a million years. I should have recognized you".
And he smiled slightly and said, "Let me guess, you were an Earl Anthony fan?" I laughed and replied, "That was my mum. But anyway, it's nice to meet you -- welcome to Pittsburgh!" He gave me a tired smile, and went back to his coffee.
The second brush with The Illustrious came a month or two later. This time The Celebrated One could hardly wait to share his identity. Seems he was the lead singer of The Povertyneck Hillbillies, surely I had heard of them. (In the interest of full disclosure, I had heard of them. It was hard to walk around in Pittsburgh in 2006 and not hear of them, such was their publicity machine. And I had seen them at a free concert down at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Regatta and danced to their cover of the old Kiss tune "I Wanna Rock N Roll All Night"). But, rather nettled by his self-importance, I said, "No, 'fraid not". He asked, a tad incredulously, "Do you listen to country music?" And I answered truthfully, "Sorry sir, I really haven't listened to country since the mid-80s". (People, don't ever do this. Maybe I deserved what followed -- did this band actually get any of the food they bought into their mouths?)
The third time's the charm. A few years, and one Plaza demolition and rebuild later, I was working in "the new building" at Coffee Paradise, when a man came in and ordered a latte and a pastry. I marked the cup, and while my co-worker made the drink I totalled up the order and took his money, then slid over to get the pastry my customer had ordered. Something about his voice was familiar, and I stole a look at him as I got his pastry. An older man with dark eyes and a mustache, and a very distinctive voice. The face was familiar, too, and as I ran his voice back in my mind, it clicked.
I stepped back to my register and observed, "You look and sound like John Astin". And his face opened into a mischievous smile I recognized and he said, " Well, there's a very good reason for that, young lady. I AM John Astin!"
Mr. Astin was very gracious. I asked him if he minded hanging around a minute because I knew someone who would like to meet him. He agreed, and after I paged my Manager-In-Charge, I told him I had read his former wife Patty Duke's autobiography Call Me Anna, and noted how she had talked about how people still remembered The Patty Duke Show fondly and would come up to her and sing the theme song. I wondered if fans sang The Addams Family theme to him? Probably anticipating I might do so, Mr. Astin wisely said no. Then we talked about a few of my favorite of his TV roles, whereupon Mary, my MIC, joined us.
"Whaddayou want, Claudia?! It's Saturday and I'm busy!" came Mary's typical bellow.
"Too busy to say hello to John Astin?" I queried with a smirk.
Well, then she recognized him, and they talked for a few moments. Mr. Astin courteously stayed to sign an autograph for Mary, shook our hands, and off he went. But we buzzed about it for days. That man has class, and I will never forget him.
Those are my work-related "Famous People" stories, and I'm sticking to 'em!
