Name-Dropping

For the get your giggles any way you can file:

Had a customer come in yesterday--he's fairly regular, works in an office two doors down, used to be on the county government and was a deputy for a while in the sheriff's department. He's a big guy--6'2" or something and 240, at least. He comes in to order a centerpiece, which he tells me he's going to pick up later that afternoon. Fine, good, I get all the specifics and tell him I'll call him when it's ready.

He says, "Don't you wanna know who it's for?"

Confused, I say, "Oh, do you need us to deliver it?" Because he had already said he was going to pick it up.

He said, "No, but don't you wanna know why I need it?"

Frankly, no, I don't really care. I mean, I don't need to know the information to make the arrangement, right? But, with my polite customer service voice, I say, "Sure, who's it for?"

"It's for Bill Pullman! I'm having dinner with Bill Pullman!" The Bill Pullman, of While You Were Sleeping and Independence Day fame, among others.*

The whole thing would've seemed like a crass episode of name-dropping were it not for the fact that this pillar of the local community--this full-grown, man-sized pillar of the local community--was positively giddy at the prospect of having dinner with Bill Pullman. For the minute and a half that he was giving me the details, he was transformed into a six-year-old boy unwrapping exactly the birthday gift he'd hoped for.

I hope the dinner went well and, Mr. Pullman, if you liked that flower arrangement, call us anytime!



*My personal favorite of his is actually Lake Placid for all its campy goodness--Betty White, who only has a few scenes, is so funny the movie wouldn't need much else.