Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the American Idol After Party

While in-between jobs about 5 years ago, and needing money; I started catering from time to time for a little bit of cash. What I learned though, is while the cash is sh*tty, the stories that I come away from with are worth way more than the check I get. I've had a chance to see how the famous and wealthy party, which is usually over-the-top lavishness. Now that I have a full time job though, I try to avoid the catering whenever possible. Except for last night, when I was asked to work the American Idol After party.

The after party was in a tent on top of a parking lot attached to the Nokia Center in downtown L.A., which is where the finale was held. Now, I know when I say "tent" you think of a standard party tent or canopy you might see outside for a tailgate party. This tent however, was big enough to hold 2,000 guests, and over 200 catering, security, and event staff. It also had two 60 foot TV screens inside of it, (showing FOX all night), a DJ tower, two bars, 4 buffet stations (yours truly was running food out for buffet station #1), a dessert station, Go-Go dancers, and fog machines. It also had wall-to-wall carpeting, and plush couches and chairs, 6 photo booths, and traveling photographers.

In the interest of being succinct, I'll try and keep my observations short, and to the point:

• The crowd there took everything. And by 'take' i really mean stole. They took American Idol pillows, wrappers, cups...shoot, I saw one lady even loading her purse with American Idol cookies into her purse before she left.

• American Idol contestants are a big deal...and I know none of them. There was a bunch of them there, signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. I asked all my fellow caterers "who is that?" and not one of us knew any of these people. What I do know is that they all seemed to try really hard to look like celebrities.

• Ke$ha rocks. Unfortunately, she wasn't there, but when the DJ put on "Don't Stop" everybody in the party got into it. And I mean everybody: the teenage girls, boys, their mom's. Dad's there escorting their kids were bumping up and down. Hell,I even saw the security guards with their dark suits and earpieces bobbing along to the music. And yes, I'll admit it- I caught myself singing along.

• Paula Abdul is the smallest person alive. She was also a walking petri dish last night. She came to the afterparty, and seemed to be the one that everyone wanted to meet. I didn't realize who it was, I just saw a crowd surrounding her taking pictures, videos and waiting their turns to meet her. When she made her way over to my station, I saw that it was Paula, still in her little pink dress and heels from the show. She hugged everybody. She also can't weigh more than 95 lbs, which only leads me to believe how small all the other celebs are on the show, because she certainly doesn't look that tiny next to Seacrest and the crew.

And last but not least, I had the same experience at this event that I've had at every other one I've catered. When you are part of the wait-staff, then you might as well be invisible as far as the guests are concerned. They won't look at you or acknowledge you unless it's to hand you an empty plate, or piece of trash.