Currently I work full time at a Main Line Tapas and Tinis restaurant in Chester County. On Friday June 26, 2009 I was the closing server. I had not been excited about this as I had just returned from South Carolina. After a twelve hour drive over night and only a little sleep during the day, I had walked into work thinking I was an earlier cut. But, much to my dismay I discovered I was in fact closing the restaurant.

It started to slow down early. While the the restaurant saw a bigger Friday night hit than it had in a couple weeks, people were filing out around nine. This was good for me. It meant that I could hopefully have the place fully closed and out the door by 11:30. Around nine thirty or so, a couple of gentleman walked in and asked for a table by the window. They were going to be mine.

The wait station was suddenly a whirlwind of quiet commotion. No one wanted to be too loud, but everyone was quite excited. I was confused. When I asked what the big deal was, I discovered that there was a bet going on whether the man at my table was the OxiClean guy. Billy Mays?, I thought. Nah. It did not look like him at all! There were certainly more than just one black hair and full bearded man in the world. His voice was too soft to be the powerful Billy Mays. I took care of them like just a normal table. Treated them the same as I would anyone else.

But the commotion got to be too great in the wait station and the kitchen. I was suddenly the only one who did not believe Billy Mays was sitting at table 104 by the window. I went to clear their appetizer plates when I made a mistake. I asked him if he knew who Billy Mays was and explained that I was attempting to clear up a bet. Low and behold, and slightly to my dismay, it WAS Billy Mays. My sister imitated him all the time. His booming voice and overly cheesy smile. My family did not really like his cleaning products, but that’s a different story for a different time. I had to step back and apologize for not believing it was him – and for causing a raucous when a nearby table suddenly took pictures with him.