Sometimes the most unexpected moments come from people you’d never imagine testing you.

What would you do if an A-list actor strolled into your quiet café, ordered a latte, and then decided to give you an impromptu pop quiz in mental math?

Would you freeze under pressure?

Or would you rise to the challenge?

In the following story, one barista finds himself face to face with Bruce Willis and ends up earning bragging rights.

Here’s the full scoop.

Bruce Willis gave me a math test

Back in 2009, I was having a lot of family issues at home, so I went to visit my mother’s two sisters in Idaho for a change of scenery.

There’s a resort there, owned at the time by a billionaire who also owns a line of gas stations that use a dinosaur for their logo.

It’s a very high-end resort, drawing some of the nation’s richest and famous, such as Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, and many other people of that caliber visited and/or owned vacation homes there.

I liked it so much, I decided to make the move long term, and found an apartment and a job as a barista in a coffee shop (not S-Bucks).

That’s where the story starts…

He tried his best to act normal.

It was about 8pm, and I remember it being either November or December, mostly because of all the snow.

The shop closed at 9, and I was doing some cleaning ahead of time so I could get out of work at a decent hour.

A man walked in, the ball cap on his head pulled down to cover his eyes, and his head down against the biting wind blowing in from the mountains.

I greeted him, and when he looked up, I recognized him.

I was told to act normal when a celebrity walks in, as they justifiably don’t like being mobbed by fans out here.

I took his order, which I remember as two small lattes.

He was alone, so I assumed he was in town with his wife, and she was either at their vacation home or shopping at one of the many expensive shops there.

That gave Bruce Willis an idea.

The total came to $6.47 (It’s funny: I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, but I remember the total of Bruce Willis’ coffee order from 6 years ago).

Growing up the son of an accountant with a strong desire (borderline obsessive sometimes) to gain my father’s approval, I learned to make change in my head at lightning speed.

Less than 2 seconds after seeing the $50 he was about to hand me, I told him his change would be $43.53.

He paused, a little smirk on his face.

BW: Did you do that in your head?

Me: Yes, sir.

Amused, he pulled out a few other combinations to test his counting skills.

Bruce then puts the $50 back in his wallet and pulls out a $20 bill, two $1 bills, and three quarters, totaling $22.75, and asks me what the change is.

I tell him $16.47.

He proceeds to repeat this a few more times with different combinations of cash he has on him.

I’m not sure if a combination of fatigue and jet lag put him in a state where he found my petty math amusing, but he was clearly having fun.

I finally had to end it, since I still had stuff that needed to be done (cleaning the soft serve machine takes no less than 45 minutes).

Me: I have to get back to work, so I’ll do one more. If I get it right, you have to tip me!

You never forget something like that.

That last part was a joke, obviously. He agrees and pulls out $72.45. Before he can move his eyes from the money to mine, I say it’s $65.98.

BW: That’s pretty cool.

Me: …

When you’re 19 and Bruce Willis tells you something that you take for granted is cool, it tends to leave you speechless.

I made his coffee, gave it to him, and wished him a good night. Before he left, he dropped $20 in the tip jar and told me I earned it. He was such a cool guy, lots of respect for him.

Wow! Bruce Willis sounds like a great guy!

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit think about what happened.

For this person, celebs are regular people, except Jesse James.

Here’s someone with a less friendly interaction with Bruce Willis.

This is so cool!

Yet another person who doesn’t think Bruce is that nice.

What a great story to tell!

It’s always cool hearing about celebrities acting normal.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.