As a teen, I had a Saturday job in WH Smiths in Manchester Airport in the early 2000s. Frankly, I didn't care if we had any celebrities come in, and was generally unmoved whenever my colleagues would say things like: "oh, it's Victoria Wood!" etc. They're just people, people like us, right?
One morning, when I was perhaps still only 17, the Liverpool United team were were in the airport. One of the footballers chose my till. The colleague next to me asked for his autograph. He obliged, then smiled at me kindly, and asked me if I also wanted his autograph. I politely accepted his offer.
After he left, I asked my colleague who he was
Only Michael bloody Owen 🤣🤣🤣 You know, perhaps the second most famous actively playing English footballer those days?!
A year later, when bored and alone in the Terminal 3 Arrivals concession, I served Mel C, AKA Sporty Spice. Now this time, I was GOBSMACKED, shocked and SHAKING with nerves! I wanted to tell her how much she and her fearless-seeming bandmates and their "GIRL POWER!!" had meant to me as a quiet and often bullied younger teenager.
All I could say was "w...w...would you like a bag?"
She studiously kept her eyes down and quietly answered "no" in her unmistakable Liverpudlian accent.
Years later, I read that she had been battling crippling depression and anxiety and eating disorders precisely around the same time I'd served her.
I'm glad I hadn't asked her for her autograph.