When I was in high school I worked as a banquet and room service waiter at a fancy hotel in Santa Barbara.
One really busy night, I received a call for room service. All I heard was, “This is blah blah blah, and I’d like to order room service.”
I was trying to grab the room service menu to ensure I got the order right. Halfway through the order I recognized his voice and blurted out, “Oh my god, you’re George Carlin.”
He laughed and said, “I think I already told you that.”
I apologized and finished the order. When I knocked on his door his wife (I think) was already in bed. He looked almost exactly like the photo above. I put his food down, went through the order to ensure it was correct, and handed him the bill. I looked him in the eye and told him it was an honor to meet him and I thanked him for the hours of laughter he provided me while listening to his albums.
He was very gracious and thanked me. When I shut the door behind me I realized he had given me an $8 tip on a $22 bill. It was the biggest percentage tip I had ever received. I was a broke HS kid and, in 1978, that was real money. I wanted to knock on the door and thank him for the tip, but I knew his privacy was more important.
For a guy who made a name for himself being cr*ss, and sometimes vulg*r, in his humor, he made a huge positive impression on me for his graciousness.
