Spotted on the Selling Floor: Ray Liotta

In my time in retail I have been witness to the shopping exploits of the who’s that of the Australian social and entertainment scenes.

I have also been a witness to a myriad of my career crushes.

The cherry on my star-spotting cake, until today, sadly was Britney Spears.

It is fitting, being as I am in my farewell week, that today I was graced with the presence of the biggest star yet.

Ray Liotta.

Holy whack, I saw Ray Liotta.

Now while a lot of you are probably thinking Ray Li-whata, I imagine there is an equal amount of people thinking what the hell is Ray Liotta doing in Brisbane.

That was my first thought.

Let me take you back. Picture it, level two, 1:50pm today.

I was loitering around the counter winding down the ten minutes left before my lunch break when one of my colleagues approached in a fluster.

“Did you see that guy over there…famous…in movies…80s…you know him.”

“What? I don’t see anyone.”

“You’ll know him. He’s a big star…American…famous.”

My first thought was Patrick Swayze until I very sadly remembered that he had died. (RIP Patrick…you were a good man).

“Who?”

“He was in some big movies…supporting characters, generally a villain. Really defining face…you know him.”

The urgency and excitement of my co-worker was enough for me to investigate.

“Where is he?”

“In the fitting room. I tried to talk to him but his minder kept me away.”

It was at that point I realised we were actually dealing with someone famous.

I slowly wandered out to my reserve, past the fitting rooms, trying to catch a glimpse.

Damn all doors closed…but there were three people loitering in a barricade around a fitting room. I had located the celebrity.

My reserve is down the end of the fitting rooms, so I came up with the plan to loiter on the other side of the door and when I heard the fitting room open I would burst out of the reserve and catch a glimpse of our as yet unnamed celebrity.

After a nervous few minutes of waiting, in which I grabbed a random piece of clothing to make it look like I wasn’t a crazy stalker, the door opened and like a flash…I was out.

As I approached the entourage I decided to slow and make the most of my walk past to ID the celebrity.

My colleague was right…I knew the face.

Field of Dreams, Goodfellas, Muppets from Space.

It was Ray Liotta. Mr Ray “I worked with Scorsese” Liotta.

I was at a loss as of what to do. Do I say something? Do I keep walking? Do I stop and pretend I’m busy and eavesdrop?

Clearly my thought processes had slowed down my walking as Ray and his three minders, which I now realise were stylists, all stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

Shit. I had to come up with a plan and quick.

I decided to stop and clean the fitting room I was in front of, which conveniently had clothes in it, re-group then walk out casually and say hi.

I took a deep breath, started walking, looked at Ray and meekly said “Hi” as if I didn’t recognise him.

That pretty much makes him my friend…and now I’m one degree of separation from Robert de Niro and Kermit the Frog.

Awesome!