Famous People

There is a thing going around on Facebook where you say 5 famous people you have met. I put Bob Hope, Shirly Temple Black, Steven Tyler, Aretha Franklin and Roger Staubach. You wouldn't believe how many famous people I have met. I can't believe it sometimes. If I was smart I would have kept a list but I didn't. The following is an email that I sent to one of my buddies because she wanted to know who I met where.

I met all those people working in hotels. I was an operations manager for almost 15 years with Starwood and met hundreds of famous people. Whenever anyone famous came in it was usually my responsibility to find out their needs / wants, then meet them as they arrived or go get them and then escourt them in (with or without security depending on who it was) and make sure that their stay went well.

Bob Hope was one of my favorites. I met him a few years before he died. He must have been 95 or so. He arrived late at night with his wife and was meeting and greeting everyone. He was very gracious. Then he decided he was going to go on a walk in down town Atlanta by himself at midnight. All I could think was, "You aren't getting killed on my watch." Downtown Atlanta at that time was not a very safe place. So I let him go and had security shadow him the whole time. Can you imagine him out there on his own?

Shirley Temple Black - I met her about 25 years ago in Seattle. She was coming into town for an actors convention. She was great and really friendly.

Steven Tyler - Spokane 1997. He was really funny. Tiny guy. Maybe 130 lbs soaking wet. I could totally take him.....;-) He flew commercial, called the hotel for a shuttle with his whole band and then stood in the lobby, signed autographs and had his picture taken until everyone had their fill.

Aretha Franklin was Atlanta 1995. She came in with her whole entourage unannounced. We had to scramble to set up billing and 60 rooms. Then when it didn't turn out exactly right she was pissed. There were about 100 people and maybe 30 different sets of billing instructions. Some had meals, calls and all incidentals expensed. Some only calls and there was everything inbetween. Upon getting the bill she came in and started ripping me. I sat back and took it for a while and then I tried to explain that if we had it in writing and in advance it would have been much easier. She was still mad and yelled. I then said, "You are good at what you do and I am good at what I do. All I am asking for is a little respect." Honestly, that is what I said. I thought it was pretty funny. She didn't. Then she stepped out and her brother and I had a good laugh. He was her traveling secretary.

Roger Staubach was in my bar when I was doing that. It was Houston about 1991. Really nice, very humble and easy going.

I could go on and on.... Tracy Chapman, Bob Costas (Actually really got to know him), Sinbad, Amy Tan, Donny Osmond, Michelle Kwan, Ed Asner, Tommy Lasorta, Harry Caray, Francois Mitterrand (I loved his business card. It said Francois Mitterrand, President of France), Tommy Lasorda (I have some funny stories about him), Marilyn Manson, The Backstreet Boys, too many sports figures to mention, many political figures and media types, blah, blah, blah..... My hotels were always one of the bigest in the areas I lived and therefore we had all the big conferences, teams and media events. Crazy but fun.