More about The Dalai Lama and meeting him!

At Birks, two other people saw H.H. The Dalai Lama.  Our watch repairman, Ernie Tisseman, met The Dalai Lama as he returned from coffee.  He told me that The Dalai Lama gave him a nice smile and a little bow.
Also, a girl in the diamond department saw the group walking by, but was afraid that they were a new type of Hari Krishnas!  So, she turned away!!!  She was quite upset when I told her who it was!
In 1980. The Dalai Lama was not well known in Canada.  It was his first visit here, in fact.
I was so lucky to have been reading a newspaper the night before, because there was a photo.  That was how I knew who it was!
I asked the Birks' office if they had been notified of the visit.  They had not.
The funny part of this was how the older staff would say, "Who?  The Dolly Lama????"