More Than Just a Celebrity Sighting Today

Today I went into the City to get my Manhattan fix. From 14th St & 7th Ave, I walked to do some shopping at 6th & 18th, then up to 23rd, and over to Madison Square Park. It was a beautiful blue-sky day, about 60 degrees. I'd forgotten that there was an art exhibit in the park - but was reminded quickly when I saw several tree houses perched above me. (Actually, I didn't know it was an "art" exhibit until I Googled it just now - turns out that tree houses, not unlike scaffolding waterfalls, can be art too.)

I was done with my shopping but not done with the City, so I walked up Madison Ave and decided to stop in at one of my favorite places - the Astro Gem shop at 34th St. I did a little Christmas shopping there and then wandered up the block to the antique book store that I've been dying to go into for months. Every time I've been past it in the past it was closed.

I walked in and a charismatic, good-looking guy immediately caught my attention - he was telling the nice, curly-haired Croatian book store attendant a story. How easily I got pulled in. The customer doing the talking was like a magnet - the kind of guy that everyone gravitates to at a party. He was telling a story about a buddy of his who used his own hole puncher to get free coffee at Starbucks with those wallet-sized 'club' cards that you get punched every time you purchase a coffee.

It seems his buddy had punched a card himself and presented it to the barista gal at a Starbucks as payment for his coffee. Apparently he'd gotten away with his scheme in the past. But the young gal wasn't buying it. She took one look at the card and said, "You punched all of these today." How could she tell? Customer Guy explained it - there were bits of paper still attached to each hole on the back of the card. "You know, like hanging chads," he said, and I had to laugh as I recalled that fiasco from the last election.

But the girl absolutely refused to give his buddy a free coffee because she suspected he'd cheated on his card. My two new friends in the book store both felt that she should've given him the free coffee because Starbucks is a multi-million dollar corporation. To me, it was more like stealing. But, after reflecting, it occurred to me that they did have a point. What's the big deal over one lousy cup of coffee? Customer Guy's point of the story was that this coffee shop girl was on a power trip.

"That's just like my experience at the post office yesterday," I told the guys. I explained that I was mailing a box of books in a used box that still had some 'Bath and Body Works' printing on the box. But I'd taken a magic marker and marked through the writing because the post office has some new rule about marking out everything pre-printed on a box. My marker was low on ink, but I managed to mark through everything before I left home for my walk to the P.O.

Nonetheless, the woman at counter wouldn't take my box. I said, "But I marked through the writing." She looked at the box and started reading aloud, " Bath and Body Works, 1-800- . . . ." I was like, "Ok, ok. But, come on, I marked through it." She said nope.

I tried again, "But I walked all the way here from home, can't you please take it this time so I don't have to go all the way home and come back? See, I marked through everything!" (like a good little customer).

Not only did she refuse to mail my package but she claimed there were no magic markers at the post office. (Right, and chickens don't lay eggs.) There was absolutely no reason for her to refuse my package. I'd clearly done my due dilligence and marked through all the printing on the box. I just hadn't done it well enough for this disgruntled postal worker who is obviously a control freak.

As I told the guys in the book store, I waited five minutes at the other end of the post office, then I simply walked over to another window and gave the box to a different postal employee to mail. The girl didn't look twice at it, much less make any remarks about my poor marking job.

Mr. Customer sided with me, saying, "It's all about power and control," and proceeded to tell us another story about a time he was a student living in Spain.

We talked for a little while longer. Eventually we were done telling our 'power trip' stories. I was anxious to browse the wonderful old books. I was looking at these cool antique maps when I overheard Mr. Customer say something to Book Store Guy about his "show." I kept browsing. A bit later, I turned around and asked him "What show do you do?" He told me, "Mad Men on AMC." I'd never heard of it, I told him. I said there are only a few shows on TV that I really like to watch, like Law & Order. He told me that his show is about a 1960's ad agency in NY. And, as I recall, he mentioned something about it winning a couple of Emmys.

Then he asked me, "You ever watch The Sopranos?"

"Oh, of course!" I told him, "I love The Sopranos." He said that he'd done several of those episodes too. I told him I thought that was cool (of course).

I assumed he was a writer. Nice guy. Extremely engaging. Great talker and story teller. He introduced himself as Matt, we shook hands, and he left the store with a smile and a wave to both me and Book Store Guy. After Matt walked out, I turned around and told Book Store Guy, "See - that's what I love about New York! You meet so many interesting people," and he agreed.

He and I chatted later. Turns out he has a PhD and teaches Philosophy at Fordham. But he only makes $20,000 a year! Man, those are poverty wages for NY. That's why he lives in a s----y studio apartment and has to do the book store job on the side, he told me. Meanwhile, high school teachers start at $50K, and his ex-girlfriend, who is a jewelry buyer for some NY company, makes $160K a year. To buy jewelry. How unfair is that? She's in her 20's making $160,000 for a job that Book Store Guy said, ". . . would be like me going into Versace to pick out suits."

I had a great day. But here's the cool part. This evening I decided to Google Mad Men to find out if this guy Matt's name is listed as a writer.

Boy was I wrong. He's not a writer on the show, he's the creator of the show!

So, the attractive and outgoing Customer Guy with the great personality is actually a big TV producer by the name of Matthew Weiner! Here he is on the AMC web site, with that same genuine, engaging smile. There are more photos of him on IMDB. Wow! I shook hands with a television show producer today and didn't even know it at the time. That's another first for me. (If you live in New York, you get lots of those. How lucky I am.)

It's like the couple who looked at my apartment yesterday (which is up for rent now). She's an attorney, and her husband Chris works at Gracious Home, an awesome home decorating store chain here in NYC. Apparently, he has celebrity sightings all the time at work, his most recent being Goldie Hawn (which he failed to tell his wife for two whole weeks afterward, as if it was nothing. She, of course, had a cow when she found out. "Why didn't you tell me?!").

How cool is that. I love New York. :)