There are two sides to all celebrities: The squeaky-clean images forced upon the public by PR reps and their actual personalities. To provide you with a glimpse into the real Hollywood characters are Mollygood’s very own readers, telling tales of celebrity encounters big and small. Up this week: Reader Candice's experience waiting on Ethan Hawke.

I live in Nova Scotia, which is a really small province in Canada. We don't even have a million people in our entire province. Needless to say, we're not exactly crawling with celebrities. So on the rare occasion one is around shooting a movie or TV show, it's a really big deal.

Last summer I was working at a restaurant in my town called Antigonish (pop. 5,000) when in walks Ethan Hawke. He bought property about a half hour away from my tiny cafe and had stopped in my place of work other summers before I started. Coming from this very isolated town where hockey players and the Trailer Park Boys make more of a splash, no one seemed to care in the least (except myself, who was in the kitchen hyperventilating). He and five of his friends (including his soon-to-be newlywed) sat down in my section. No one but me thought this was the least bit interesting, including the packed restaurant. I even went to one of my tables (four middle-aged women) and told them, "That's Ethan Hawke!!!!" Their response: "Oh. Can we get some more coffee?" (Back to eating their clubhouses.)

I went over, dropped some menus and managed to mumble out something about a special while keeping direct eye contact with the floor. That's when Ethan Hawke sort of laughed, sensed my nervousness and touched my arm and said, "Hi, how are you?" Now to me, growing up in this tiny, very rural town, I was obsessed with all things pop culture and celebrities. I had seen him in countless movies, knew whom he dated and that he directed a Lisa Loeb video. HE WAS IN REALITY BITES! HE WAS MARRIED TO BEATRIX KIDDO! My witty response? "I'm … wow. You're Ethan Hawke." Then everyone laughed. He said, "So I am!" My tension lightened up a bit. After my initial awkwardness, I managed to serve the whole table without spilling anything or having a nervous breakdown. He was super nice, very cordial and made my summer. I can see why he digs his place in NS so much — no one bothers him or treats him differently (other then the occasion starstruck waitress at the small cafe on the way to his place). He came in several more times that summer for coffee, and every time he was so polite and such a great guy.

E-mail your own celebrity encounters to whitney@mollygood.com.

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