Dear Diary: The most embarrassing thing I've ever done on the job... aka that time I freaked out Ryan Reynolds
Today, I did a question box over on Instagram and someone happened to ask: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve done at work?
I figured it was perfect timing to share, as I recently stumbled upon this photo that I honestly didn’t know I had taken!
Here goes. We will call this story…
“That One Time I Freaked Out Ryan Reynolds”
Let me paint this picture for you: The year was 2010. I had finally gotten a job working in the costume department on a movie, and it was my first real job out of college. Wes and I graduated from the University of Georgia in May of 2010, and it was October. I was only a few weeks into the job, and doing well. I was a PA (production assistant) for the costume department on the movie The Change Up, and I was so excited to finally have my foot in the door. I worked for an incredible costume designer named Betsey Heimann, who I have to thank for the rest of my career. She made sure I got experience in all areas of the departments, and on this day in particular, I was to meet her on location in Downtown Atlanta. I believe my call time was something like 7:30.
When I went to set, I usually had important things they would need that needed to be there on time that I’d be bringing with me.
We had just been at this same set the day before, so I was familiar with it. I knew parking would be a pain, so I tried to leave early enough to give myself extra time. When I got in the car, I realized I needed gas. I stopped at a gas station right next to my house, and started pumping.
I remember this day in particular, I felt cute. The weather was just right. And I was proud of myself for really going all in to this job and working my butt off. I’d dreamt of this, and I was really doing the damn thing!
Funny enough, I remember my outfit. I was wearing one of my go-to looks, which, let me remind you: this was my insecure era, so I had safe outfits. Outfits I felt safe and cute in but still felt like I wouldn’t be noticed.
I had on black patterned tights, a black dress I had found on clearance at Target that just so happened to hit my waist at the perfect spot, and an oatmeal colored cardigan. I paired this with my tall brown boots and pulled my hair halfway back. I had taken the time to do my makeup that morning. I remembered for once, I actually was feeling pretty.
As I was pumping gas, I got bored and realized I could use this time wisely and throw away the trash from my car. I opened the car door and grabbed the trash. As I was heading to the trash can, I went to step over the gas pump hose and…. I tripped. TRIPPED. ATE IT. FELL RIGHT ON MY FACE.
I can still remember the sound of my face hitting the cement. I looked up and I saw a man who had also been pumping gas, and his jaw was dropped. Before he could even ask if I needed help, I was putting the pump away and getting back into the car as fast as I could.
I went back home, freaked out for a minute, and definitely thought my face would be way more scraped up than it actually was. It HURT.
I texted my Supervisor, Joyce, and tried to figure out a way to tell her what had happened without sounding totally bizarre. I told her I was fine, and that I was still coming to work. I was just a little scraped up.
So I continued on to work, I was about 30 minutes late.
As a PA, you don’t expect to ever have any contact with actors, right? So I was embarrassed to show up with my face scraped up, yes, but honestly… I was just so happy to have a job. I honestly thought I’d only see my boss and a few people from the department on location. No big deal. I’d do my dropoff, then head to the office to get some paperwork done.
Well. As I was walking through Woodruff Park, heading to the location where we were dressing background actors, Ryan Reynolds whizzed by me. Then he did a double take, turned around, and in his typical goofy, Ryan Reynolds way said “WHOA!!!!! Did we add a ZOMBIE SCENE?! Makeup department did awesome!” I somehow managed to get out the words “no, I fell down” and then he kept on walking.
He was being 100% serious, and was very confused. Lol. By the way, he is one of the coolest actors I’ve ever “worked with” IRL - definitely exactly what you’d expect! Super nice guy.
Anyway… 😂😂😂😂
When I got to where my boss was, she told me I still looked really pretty (lol) but was worried about my face. She insisted that I go to Whole Foods and get Arnica gel, which actually cleared it up super quick. Then I worked from the office the rest of the day, I didn’t want to scare anyone. Ha!
If you know me in real life, then unfortunately you know that things like this have happened a lot… mostly on the job. This was probably the most embarrassing thing though, although I can actually think of one more story that happened NOT on the job but affected my appearance at work which was really embarrassing. I’ll save that one for another day… if you’re lucky. Ha.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this random storytime! 😂❤️ Needless to say, I will NEVER look at a gas pump the same, ever ever ever again. #SafetyFirst
