I'm a Sagittarius and according to those astrological thingy's (and yes that's the technical term) that I read each afternoon I'm prone to bluntness, in the extreme. In most cases I would agree with this assessment, in almost every faucet of my life I find that I regularly open mouth, insert foot and yet still able to ramble on like an idiot. Last Tuesday was no exception to this very inconvenient rule.
I work in Stratford Ontario, yes home of the Beebs, no this isn't a story about him. The closest I've ever come to Justin Beiber is making pizza for his two uncles ... the one likes anchovies. Anywho, I work in Stratford as I said, in a small business Video store, Video Plus Book and CD's to be exact. One of the perks, I guess, is that on occasion I do get to interact with some celebrities, well known and not so well known.
Since actors and actresses can write off their entertainment purchases most want a receipt and our customer notes reflect such wants. I know this and can usually prepare our old system for said receipt once I see the actor or actress approach.
So, on Tuesday it was business as usual. I saw a man walk in, recognized him as an actor and began the process of preparing the computer to print a receipt. At this point I should mention that although I was aware that this person was indeed an actor I did not know his name, nor did I recognize him from any show or movie in particular.
He grabbed "Game of Thrones Season 1" to rent and brought it to the counter. I asked for his membership number and if he wanted a receipt. Since it's all such a blur I can't exactly remember now how it was that we got on the topic of him being an actor but let's just say I made a point that he was and he agreed to said point.
We went through the usual rental stuff, I made the polite conversation in my customer service tone and was almost home free when he rounded the corner to leave.
That's when it happened.
Having the sale complete and the knowledge of his profession in hand I shout out like an idiot, "Were you in anything good?"
Yeah, I know.
No really, I know.
I have no excuse for myself, as I said the foot usually finds it's way to the mouth. Like the nice guy that he is he just laughed as I apologized and asked if that question was rude... all the while thinking to myself, "Of course it was rude you idiot!"
He responded with, "No, of course not." I almost believed in him too, probably would have if it wasn't for the fact that I was the other person involved in this exchange and knew better. Then, and this is where it begins to turn toward the stalker fan end of the pool ... he answers my original question, our conversation going a little something like this ...
Actor: "I was in a show in the early 90's about a vampire who -"
Me: (Screaming) FOREVER KNIGHT!
At this point maybe you know who the actor is, maybe not ... either way it was Geraint Wyn Davies
Yes, Geraint played a vampire long before the vampire crazy hit and they were the "it" thing. I was about 7 at the time of Forever Knight and yet I still remember LOVING that show, in fact Nick Knight was my first vampire crush. He was the reason I started to read novels about vampires and saw movies about vampires and yes, started to write about vampires as well.
Onto the rest of the conversation ...
Geraint: Yes.
Me: Oh my god! I loved that show, I used to watch it with my grandma all the time.
Geraint: Oh I'm glad you liked it.
Me: I had a HUGE crush on you, oh my god you were like the reason why I loved that show. I thought you were so cute. You are like ... wow ... oh my god!
Geraint: Chuckles lightly.
Me: My grandma thought you were so cute we watched the show all the time together. I can't believe this.
Geraint: Laughs ... getting a bit louder now.
Me: (Coming to my sense) Oh my god (I really did say that a lot I'm not just adding it in for word count), okay, well I'm really embarrassed now, maybe you should go.
Geraint: Laughing again ... "Oh don't be embarrassed. Have a good day."
Then out he walks.
I take a big gasp of air and continue my work day.
Wednesday comes around ... I bet you thought this story was over didn't you?
No.
So Wednesday comes and I'm working with Al ... for those who frequent the store you will know that Al in and of himself is quite the celebrity ... and I'm telling him all about the encounter. Just as I finish by saying, "And I felt like a complete ass..." in walks Geraint ... looks at me, and laughs. And has continued to do so every time he comes into the store.
Not only does he find me hilarious now, everyone in my family now knows this story ... as well as everyone at my work ... thus the embarrassment is complete.
And THAT my friend is how to be an ass in front of an actor you have a huge fan-crush on.
