I heard on the radio that Art Garfunkel recently celebrated his 66th birthday.  It made me think of two things:  in the song Old Friends, sung by Simon and Garfunkel there is a line about how strange it is to be 70; and, my wife, who was a student at the University of Virginia at the time when Garfunkel lived in that area, once encountered him in a shop there in Charlottesville.  She said, "Good afternoon, Mr. Garfunkel."  He just looked at her.

When I shared this story with someone, she relayed a story of her own.  A friend of hers happened into an ice cream shop in a town where Robert Redford was filming a movie.  The woman saw that Redford was there in the ice cream shop and became very flustered.  She ordered her cone, paid for it, received her change and left the store.  She returned very quickly, saying to the cashier, "I paid for my ice cream cone, and received my change, but I never got my ice cream."  Redford himself spoke up and said, "It's in your purse."

Indeed, she was so unnerved by the presence of a celebrity that she didn't realize what she was doing.

Probably my favorite story of someone interacting with a celebrity was told by someone I knew in high school.  He lived in Boston for a while, and once attended a Boston Celtics basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks.  Prior to the game, he and some friends were outside the arena when the Bucks arrived.  The star of the Bucks at that time was Kareem Abdul-Jabaar.  This was when he still was known as Lew Alcindor.

 My friend said, "Hello, Lew."  And according to him, Alcindor replied, "Hello, you stupid jerk."

It's fun to encounter a famous face -- but you never know what will happen.  My advice is always be polite, respectful -- and not easily disappointed.