Despite it being absolutely standard convention practice and Really Good Luck or a matter of waiving getting paid to not get a roommate; this Scene Famous Gentleman did not connect the dots and realized only in his hotel lobby that he would have roommates for the duration of the conference. They were also Scene Famous, shrugged, and started lugging equipment up from the car for the 4 classes and 2 "lounge mixers" they'd be running over the weekend while our Scene Famous Gentleman grew increasingly irate, demanded to speak to an organizer, received a volunteer, went Full White Guy on the volunteer, and the organizer made a note not to hire him back as she approached to straighten the situation out.
"Everyone has roommates. I'm sharing with my partner, co-organizer, and two of their partners. You don't get different treatment unless you pay for a room or waive the other benefits like pay or travel cost, and you didn't. In fact, given that your roommates teach equipment heavy classes, I'd run and claim some room before you lose all but half a bed and one lamp."
"What? This is insane! Don't you know who I am?"
"I know you're a big fish in a small pond who can't make it into NYC often enough to prove you work a big one well, and this conference is national. You had good references but you just made a scene, you're lucky I didn't cancel you. If my partner didn't want to go to your class tomorrow I would have.Get your room key, enjoy your stay. Your roommates have been teaching nationally for 20 years, ask them how often they don't have roommates."
...later, at the bar, when we're all dressed up and see Scene Famous Person (who we now think of as Local Scene Famous Person), he quietly says, "about once a year. I was really lucky to get twice last year. I thought it was the standard." He doesn't brag about how many people came to his class at the last con, but he does bust it promoting the two tomorrow. They go really well, even if the first one is really empty because no one wants to show up to the class run by the guy who asked the event organizer "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"
(The answer is always no.)
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