My Week with the Rich and Famous

Co-workers were practically tripping over themselves to be the first to tell someone the news: a movie was being filmed in our building.

Working in Boston, it’s not unusual to see movie set signs (large yellow signs with block lettering giving location instructions to the crew), and sightings of stars are no rarity. I even heard one Southie resident sold her toilet seat cover on E-Bay after Ben Affleck knocked on her door during a movie shoot and kindly asked if he could use her bathroom.

But this was different. The stars weren’t in the area, around the block or down the street. They were IN THE BUILDING, and we were going to find them. Because they were not small stars- they were Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper as well as Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner (OK, so I had to goggle a few to see who they were, but I was assured they were BIG).

And they were on the 8^th floor.

The 8^th floor suddenly became something akin to Area 51 in Roswell, full of mystery and secrecy. The button everyone dared someone else to push, the floor where the “beautiful people” were.

 
While I did not personally have a direct brush with fame in the elevator, it was painfully apparent who was going to push the magic ‘8’, and who was going to grind out another long, stressful day at the office on one of the floors the regular folk worked on.

One rainy morning, I blew through the parking lot with my hood up, wet hair plastered across my face, dragging along my ratty pink briefcase on wheels in one hand and a two-wheeler loaded with breakfast food in the other only to see ‘him’, who I swear was Stanley Tucci or at least very Stanley Tucci-ish. And it was immediately and painfully obvious how different our lives are.

His shoes were Italian leather, a color and texture “pleather” will never capture. His jeans were way too cool with the perfect amount of intentional aging not available from any retail chain. His white shirt was crisply starched and bright, not slightly grey and wrinkled from being tossed in with the rest of the laundry. I speculated that I could retire comfortably on the value of his jewelry alone, and I swear I saw his white teeth twinkle like an Orbit gum commercial.

Then he pushed ‘8’.

I contemplated pressing ‘9’ just to stare a little longer and get a peak at the holy grail on the 8^th floor, as I imagined a glowing light would beam through the elevator door crack just before it opened and angels would sing. But I was suddenly and painfully aware that I bought my boots on sale for $20 at DSW, I’m wearing a plastic hair appliance from CVS and I have hangnails, so I got off where I deserved to get off, the lowly 5^th floor.

My 2^nd brush with the almost famous or certainly rich came as I rushed to catch the elevator to the gym mid- afternoon. I tossed my duffle bag into the closing doors and barged my way in to find myself almost certainly with someone who is quite possibly somebody affiliated with something big. He did not appear to be stressed enough to have a regular job, and he was holding something that looked a lot like a script. “Quite an entrance” he commented with a smile, “You’ve earned a big checkmark” after which he drew a checkmark on his notepad. And I, for some reason, thought this was awesome.

The Hollywood week continued, with people making statements such as “I told Amy Adams she was beautiful!” “Jeremy Renner wished me good luck with my scratch tickets!” and “I saw Christian Bale smoking a cigarette!”

In those moments when lifestyles collide, we imagine everyone is more fortunate than us. I’m sure that Bradley Cooper’s car is not full of dents from grocery carts being rammed into the doors, Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t journey obsessively to the basement to check her heating oil level, and none of them have to worry about making it to the next bi-weekly payroll period.

But there’s a reason why envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Nothing good can come from it, and most of the glory we imagine everyone else but us is enjoying is just that – our imagination. And besides, there are a lot more glorious things in this world than being rich and famous.

 
Like family, good friends, and finding a pair of awesome leather boots on sale for $20 at DSW- Score!