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| Sci-Fi Legend or Anti-Nerd? |
First of all, let me give you a bit of a background of how I came to dislike good ol' Shatner. (I made a convenient list at the bottom of this post if you don't want to read everything.) For the past few years I have worked for a family friend selling toys at comic conventions. It's seriously one of the funnest jobs to have for a talkative nerd like me.
The thing is, I rarely go out of my way to meet the special guest unless it's someone I really want to meet. Instead, I let my customers and friends tell me their celebrity encounter stories. Since I started the convention lifestyle, I have always heard the whispers and the rants about a particular celebrity who everyone loves and adores until they meet him: William Shatner. I never paid any attention to these stories. I've come to learn that the professional convention attendees are hard to please. It wasn't until Mr. Shatner and I ended up in the same convention that I knew all the rants were completely justified.
My first encounter with Mr. Shatner's insanity was when I was helping another friend with her booth. I was confused as to why she had to rearrange the back of her booth until a convention volunteer explained it to me. Our dear Mr. Shatner would only be signing autographs on the stage and so us common folk would not take pictures of him, the stage was to be covered up. That meant if you had a booth next to the stage, you had to move your things so they can properly cover Mr. Shatner up. It's a pet-peeve of mine that Special Guest don't like their picture taken at conventions but it's something I've learned to accept. What really irked me was that he had to use the stage! All the other guest were put in another room where volunteers stopped stray photos from being taken. (A job, I sadly once held. It's not fun.)
Out of curiosity, I checked how much an autograph was. Normally, most autographs cost about $10 to $25. At that point, the most expensive I've seen would be about $50 but most of the time it came with a photo-op as well. When I saw how much Mr. Shatner was charging, I instantly knew I would never like him again. For only $75 you could get your own autograph! Want a photograph as well? Well get your wallets ready to shell out another $75! Yup, that's right. If you want BOTH a photo and an autograph, you would have to pay $150. (That price was from about a year ago. From what I hear, the price has gone way up.)
Oh, that is not all folks. Let's say you are willing to pay for all that stuff. First of all, don't feel ashamed, you are not alone. Many people save everything they can just to meet their childhood hero. Unfortunately, it leads to why I truly despise the man. All my customers were so disappointed and angry for "meeting" him. The process to get something signed takes about 5 seconds. Sometimes he'll even look up and say, "Hi." Think Mr. Shatner will take the time to say something to an innocent, naive kid who worships the ground he walks on? Nope, not even. I even heard stories where he was plain out rude to people. Fans work so hard to meet their heroes and it's completely unacceptable that he should treat fans badly.
Now, I know what's coming next. You want to defend him. You want to say its hard for a legend like him to always be nice. Maybe it was a bad day. Maybe he's sick and tired of Trekkers. Well, if you want to defend Mr. Shatner, go out, meet the guy, then come back and tell me about your encounter. Until I hear a decent story, I will stand by that he's the worst person to visit during a convention.
Here's that small, convient list I promised you:
- Mr. Shatner is a jerk to fans. All of them. Even kids.
- Mr. Shatner overcharges just to get something signed.
- Mr. Shatner is a diva.
- Mr. Shatner is such a jerk, he's name was turned into a curse word.
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