Oliver Stone Out on the Town: A Mall Shopping Encounter with the Platoon Director

My celebrity encounter with director Oliver Stone happened when I was working at a novelty gift and clothing store in a mall. Now, I'm not necessarily a huge Oliver Stone buff, at least not enough to recognize him in person, and my co-worker, supervising manager Steve, was the one to recognize the director while he was in the store.

Oliver Stone is a ridiculously famous director who has been the driving force behind a number of controversial, memorable and popular films. He directed Platoon, JFK, World Trade Center and U-Turn, and his newest project, "Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps," starring Shia LeBeouf, has received a great deal of international critical acclaim.

Though I didn't know who he was for a while, I helped Mr. Stone and a companion during a shopping trip. He and his companion looked at many items in the store. Mr. Stone didn't say much most of the time; it was his companion doing the shopping.

Mr. Stone's companion was very attracted to a pair of black faux-leather pants hanging high on the wall in the store. Pleather, I think we called them. I hooked the pants down from the wall and handed the pants and hanger off to Mr. Stone's companion. Then, I stood back to let the customers browse the store.

The manager, Steve, sidled up next to me. "I think that's Oliver Stone," he whispered.

"Oh yeah?" I said.

After gathering some smaller items from the store, Mr. Stone's companion examined the pants for a moment, checked the price, nodded, and and rubbed the material on the pants leg, then suddenly declared, "These are not real leather!" and declined to purchase the pants.

After browsing a few moments more, Mr. Stone purchased a few random trinkets and costume jewelry. He used a credit card. Steve rang him up for his purchase, turning beet red during the interaction.When the transaction was completed and Mr. Stone and his companion had exited the store, Steve came up to me with the credit card slip.

"I told you it was Oliver Stone," he said, indicating the name and signature on the credit card printout. He almost seemed to be floating with glee.

After I got home that night, I got online and looked up pictures of Oliver Stone and verified that it was the man I'd helped in the store.