Joe Schmoe

I am probably the only one happy to be working, and not watching, the football game in the entire city.
See service industry workers tend to develop a drinking problem. Not all of them but the reasons are obvious. You deal with the general public and work stupid hours long enough you get through the shift with the promise of a (cheap) drink at the end. Luckily there are places you can go that won't break the bank because the bartenders understand. Of course then you have to tip well and the money just goes back and forth among the industry workers.

Anyway, I have a friend in town and have been on a bender for a couple days. I knew coming into work all the peeps at the hotel would be at the game and I could just, well, blog and stuff.
I literally can't even think about alcohol without getting a headache.

All right, let me tell you a story. I have been dying to write about some of the celebrities I have met/encountered what have you, but seeing as I have less than two weeks of employment here I do not need to risk getting fired.

However, I will talk about my first week here because its pretty harmless,yet amusing all the same.

I had just started and barely knew the phones. Well, I barely knew anything really. I knew how to smile and nod and say "checking in?" But this phone was ringing and I noticed nobody was answering it so I picked it up.

"Hello, this is Hotel Worker at the front desk. How may I help you?"

A man's voice says, "This is the manager of Joe McIntyre. I know your gym charges for a day pass. If Joe wants to use it can the fee be waived?"

I'm thinking, Joe who? Oh right. The New Kid who is making a comeback as a Christian rocker.

I say, "Well, this is my first week and I am not sure. I will have to ask a manager."

The thing is, it's not our gym. It's a national chain and they give our guests a "discount" day pass. In the end we would have to pay for it. I didn't know if they ever made exceptions or what.

He says with a smirk in his voice, "Oh? You're new? Well, this will be a great experience for you to learn how to deal with celebrities."

I roll my eyes. Get real, guy. I'm like maybe Joey McIntyre was a celeb for 15 minutes back in the day, but I was not a New Kid fan and to me he's just a person. If this guy thinks JM is such a celebrity then he should be able to afford the fucking $10. Right? I will never understand how people who are famous expect everything for free. What I think is that it's not really the famous person who wants it for free. It's their managers and entourages and whoever else tells them they look pretty all the time that wants to save a buck.

So I tell the dude, "I'm sorry. We can not waive the gym fee. There is a lovely jogging path along the lake if you would like to know how to get there."

"That's OK. I don't think he'll have time to work out anyway."

Yeah, I thought so.

On the other hand, later that week LL Cool J came to me for a room key. He was nice and very good looking in person. I smiled at him and he smiled back. Very good looking.