About 15 years ago I worked at an e-commerce website and answered the phones. One day a guy called in, gave his name (which sounded vaguely familiar to me), wanted to do an order over the phone, and have it shipped to an address in lower Manhattan.

I thought the address was weird because it had no apartment number, it was just like 144 E 13th Street or something. So I asked if it was a business because we got a lower rate for shipping to commercial addresses and he says something like, “Uh no, it’s my home.” So I kinda knew he had to be somebody to have that address.

Then a lightbulb went off in my head and I go, “Didn’t you write Joe vs. the Volcano?” And it definitely caught him by surprise and he was very gracious as he accepted both my praise and offer of free overnight shipping.

Another time, a co-worker there got a “don’t you know who I am?” from Seth Godin when they refused to bend over backward to fix an order he placed.