I met Billy Bob Thornton in a bar in Minneapolis one night. I'd worked a long day and was walking back to my hotel room, when I looked over to my left and saw Billy Bob sitting at a bar with 2 or 3 other people. Well I went in and grabbed a seat right next to him, ordered some food (wish I hadn't, kind of rude) and eavesdropped on his conversation. They were talking about baby names of all things. I knew a joke about baby names, so I nonchalantly told my joke to a guy whom I later learned was Billy Bob's manager, who told Billy Bob that he had to hear my joke. Billy Bob turned toward me with the biggest grin I've ever seen and all I could think was "Don't screw up. He won an Academy Award!" I somehow nailed my joke and Billy Bob shook my hand as he introduced himself, "I'm Billy." I must have said something boring afterwards because Billy politely returned to his previous conversation. That was ok by me, Billy made my week just sharing a moment of his time and being a nice guy. Glad I met him instead of your celebrity chef neighbor.

Was the ordering food the rudeness or the eavesdropping?

This is the socially exceptable form of eavesdropping. You know, where you make it obvious you are eavesdropping and then enter the conversation.

The food. I ordered pasta primavera and its aroma filled the room.

Billy's a pretty nice guy, whatever his eccentricities. Was his band playing in Minneapolis?

Yes he was there promoting an album.

The grocery store nearest to my house happens to be right across from the Saints' training facility [1]. It's not uncommon to spot a player in there every now and then. I mostly ignore them as I'm not a die-hard fan, and well, I wouldn't want random people bothering me while I was shopping either.

[1] http://goo.gl/EBitf (sorry, direct maps links are gigantic)