My Random Celeb Beef Is With Ellen

“Does anybody have any wicked random celebrity beef?” Those words seemed to flood my for you page on TikTok for about two solid weeks. I loved hearing other people talk about their celebrity beef, but should I share my own? Would anyone be interested after they found out that it was Ellen that I had beef with, especially after everyone else is coming forward with more serious beef about her?

I’ve never worked for Ellen. I’ve never so much as passed her in the street. I’m not a fan of hers and I can’t relate to her in any way. I’ve never admired her or given her much thought before I worked at Dillard’s. I worked in the shoe department, which was draw plus commission, and we carried her shoe brand. I didn’t know she had a shoe brand before working there. I don’t think she advertised them since the only time I ever saw her wearing them was on the signage for our store.

I didn’t have the same tasted as Ellen, so the shoes were what I would consider hideous. They often featured words like ‘Love’ written in large letters across the front of the toe bed or pictures of her dog on the side. The customers must have found them ugly as well since they rarely asked to try them on. The one time I remember being asked for them was by a middle-aged woman who quickly changed her name when she noticed Ellen’s name on the shoebox. She firmly told me that she couldn’t support Ellen’s lifestyle, and I just brought the shoes back to the stockroom. Ellen’s shoes only sold well when they were featured on the clearance rack, so I don’t think Dillard’s carries them anymore.

One day, when I was working in the shoe department alone, and my store manager came to tell me that I needed to sit in on the Ellen conference call. He made it sound exciting, but I would have preferred to stay on the salesfloor and sell shoes (which I did enjoy and miss doing). We had a strict time that we needed to check-in by, so I got someone to cover my department and went to the store manager’s office. The girl from handbags was there too since Ellen also had a line of ugly bags. We checked in, and then the store manager was instructed to mute the call. We weren’t allowed to talk to Ellen or anyone else who would be joining the call. The three of us sat in that office for over a half hour, talking to each other. All the other stores had checked in, but Ellen was running late. I know a lot of people would excuse this behavior, but it caused me to view her in a more negatively.

I know that she’s a celebrity and her time is money, but our time was also money and we made a lot less of it than she did. Every moment we sat there was another moment that we couldn’t earn a commission or make our sales goals. When she finally joined us, she made a joke to excuse her tardiness. It was the same type of joke she usually made on her show. The fact that she’d thought wasting our time was a joke irked me even more, but I put my feelings aside to see if I could learn something from the conference call.

The call itself consisted of someone from higher up within the company asking her questions about her shoe and handbag lines and her answering them. The only thing I learned about her shoes was that they had a gel insole. When the conference call was over, they unmuted the phones and I heard a bunch of sales associates trying to profess their love for Ellen. The store manager hung up before we could hear if she replied. I couldn’t help but wonder if I were the only one who felt annoyed that Ellen had wasted our time. Maybe I would have viewed the situation differently if I were a starstruck fan, but I did gain something from the experience. I’ve listed the conference call on my resume, and I almost always get asked about it during an interview.