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1 year ago
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7. "Many years ago, while working as a waiter at a high-end restaurant in Wellesley, MA, I was made responsible for managing a 3:00 p.m. lunch reservation for a party of two under the name Willingham. Sure enough, at 3:00 p.m., Willingham, a very large, muscular male, entered the restaurant. I politely told him I needed a few minutes to get him seated while I tended to some other dining matters. I turned and headed towards the back of the restaurant and the kitchen. As I did, I watched Willingham exit the restaurant. Moments later, Willingham re-entered the restaurant through the same front door and escorted Oprah Winfrey and a young female guest into the bistro. My jaw dropped and almost hit the floor."
"I stood in awe, mouth agape, and watched Willingham as he walked beside Oprah and her young guest. He found them a nice, quiet, isolated table in a small area of the restaurant and sat them. He then turned, locked eyes with me, and beckoned me to his side. He said to me, 'I’m gonna be sitting right here,' and pointed to a separate table maybe 10 feet away. 'You bring me the check when you’re done.' When he sat, his baggy, oversized shirt pulled up a bit, revealing a concealed, holstered pistol on his hip. Willingham, I realized, was the bodyguard.
I approached Oprah’s table, all the while remembering Willingham was watching everything. And he had a gun. 'Hello and welcome,' I muttered with hesitation. 'My name’s Tommy I’ll be taking care of you today.' Oprah smiled up at me, almost saintly, removed her glasses, and said, 'Well Tommy, this is my first time here. Can you please walk me through your menu and perhaps make some recommendations?' Again, my jaw dropped. This time it hit the floor. So, with as much grace as I could manage, I walked Oprah through the menu, after which she decided on a cup of chicken tortilla soup and a hot tea. She was the nicest, most polite, and most respectful guest I have ever served, regardless of her celebrity status.
Oprah spent about an hour at the restaurant having lunch with her friend. Upon her exit, she stopped to say hello to everyone she passed. I brought Willingham the check as requested. He paid, then escorted Oprah out to a waiting chauffeur.
Once they departed, I scanned the credit card receipt that Willingham had paid with. Willingham left a 100% tip."
—Anonymous
28. "My wife and I have been to almost every late-night show out there (Letterman, Colbert, Stewart, Fallon, Corden, Kimmel, Meyers, etc.), and most of the hosts seem nice enough, especially Meyers. But, John Oliver was the absolute worst. The whole experience was very strict, stiff, and uncomfortable for us and the other guests. Most shows have time for the audience to ask the host questions, and Oliver's producers repeatedly pressured guests to 'come up with a great question' to ask him. When he came out, he barely wanted to talk, and then when people began asking questions (which were genuinely good and thoughtful questions), Oliver literally made fun of each of them. He made them feel bad for even asking their questions and made the rest of the audience laugh at them. My wife and I had both thought of questions to ask, but we definitely didn't raise our hands."
—Anonymous
29. "I was in New York and got to see an outdoor concert at The Today Show where Keith Urban performed. After the show, they had fans line up along the metal railing, and he came by to say hi. He stopped to talk to each person, doing a quick selfie with everyone, but when he got to me, he skipped me and went to the next person. I thought he just missed me in the chaos of it all, so I went further down the railing and waited again. And, again, he took a selfie with each person, then got to me, and skipped me again! My wife was watching from a distance and pointed out that I was the only guy in the line, and she saw another guy waiting after me, but Urban skipped him, too. Maybe Keith Urban only wants female fans?"
—Anonymous
31. Finally: "I used to work as January Jones' stand-in. In my decade in Hollywood, I've never encountered a worse human being. Thankfully, the rest of the cast/crew on Mad Men and The Last Man on Earth were fabulous, kind folks. I also worked on Community and can vouch for the fact that Chevy Chase is awful. Owen Wilson is also gross. I worked on Inherent Vice and he kept hitting on a 19-year-old, was horrible to the hair and makeup team, and let his dog disrupt the set."
"Joaquin Phoenix was incredible though — very nice and humble. Emma Stone was nasty, entitled, and rude (I was a dancer in La La Land), but Ryan Gosling was a total gem. I wasn't a fan of his until I saw how he interacted with all the fan-girling extras. He couldn't have been nicer or more patient. Will Ferrell and Michael McDonald are very serious and the total opposite of their characters. Not mean, just very serious. Jessica Alba is kind of a bratty diva. It was a simple ice cream commercial and it took so many takes to nail her few lines. Bruce Willis was cool. Bono was horrible. He kept almost a thousand people waiting for hours and cost untold amounts of money for being late to a commercial. Jeanette McCurdy is nice, so is AnnaLynne McCord. Denise Richards brought everyone treats to set. Will Forte is one of the good ones. He was an amazing boss, and so was Breckin Meyer. I worked on his show Men at Work. Ashton Kutcher is a diva. Doug Jones was the best!"
—Anonymous
English (US) ·