My husband and I were coming home from England last March, and we were stuck at Heathrow for two hours with this woman and her tattooed boyfriend. First, she comes into the terminal wearing a black satin hoodie with enormous Asian-looking emblems in gold on the back, with the hood pulled up and her oversized sunglasses on. Not exactly an unobtrusive outfit. The boy, in turn, is wearing that stupid hat, sunglasses, and his tattoos. They walked into the VIP lounge for British Airways. I was relieved.

Alas, it didn’t last. They emerged and Paris went into the Swarovski store (or whatever it’s called), and led the salesgirls on a skip around the store — literally. She kept dashing from one side of the store to the other, pointing at various articles and making the girls take them out for her. At one point, I turned to see her jumping up and down, and clapping her hands while squealing.

In the meantime, a crowd of lemmings was gathering. They stood about 15 feet away, snapping pictures of the pathetic pair with their digital cameras and cell phones. A few of them even got on their cell phones to call and tell their friends. The crowd grew and grew, and BenjiBoy got more and more sullen, looking extremely put-upon anytime anyone asked to have their picture taken with him. My husband and I were thoroughly disgusted, but it really brought home to me how stupid most people behave when they recognize someone from the tabloids. It’s our own fault, really.