Greer Wylder was working at home one recent afternoon when her assistant called with exciting news. The casting director for the “Real Housewives of Orange County” wanted to meet with her and discuss a role for her on Bravo’s reality TV show.

Greer, who writes a weekly column for the Pilot on shopping called “Best Buys,” apparently caught the eye of producers with her “Ask Greer” column in Coast Magazine.

“My sister (Noel) loves the show. She loves reality TV,” Greer said, adding her sister wanted badly for her to join the cast.

I caught up with Greer Tuesday night as her husband, Bill Lobdell, celebrated the successful release of his memoir “Losing My Religion”  at Lucca Cafe in Irvine with a party featuring a who’s who of Orange County leaders. To my surprise, she told me Bill “loves all that crap,” too.

So you’d think Greer would be all over that. You’d be wrong. She had misgivings nearly right away. Would they make her into a caricature? Could she stand the invasion of privacy? On the other hand, it could help her business with heightened publicity. Or could it?

“I just think it would ruin my personal life,” Greer said. “And, anyway, I don’t have any drama in my life so why would they care?”

I was surprised to learn Greer’s so private. She puts herself out there and has developed a strong brand in the community as someone in the know on Orange County retail. Yet, she says, “I’m an introvert. I don’t even like going to parties.”

So she and Noel turned to a favorite childhood gag. Since they both sound so much alike, Noel called back the casting director to get the skinny on the show’s plans. The producers wanted interior and exterior shots of her home, pictures of her kids and they wanted to meet the whole family.

Greer never called them back. Not interested.

“I like to people watch. I don’t want to be the center of attention,” she said.

Then, she told me excitedly, about her plans for this summer. And at first she didn’t see the connection, but it made a lot of sense to me. She was notified today by Volunteers for Peace that her application to serve in Kenya near Nairobi was accepted.

“No water, no electricity, no nothing,” she said, explaining how she’ll unplug from the OC this July.

Instead of huddling up with a reality TV show’s producers and allowing cameras into her life to shape a character out of her for an audience, Greer Wylder will go to Africa to serve the poor. I really admire that.

We talked a bit about how perhaps the country’s mood is shifting and that folks are heeding the call for more public service as we dig ourselves out of this mess we’re in. Perhaps the days of the proliferation of misery on shows hosted by exploitative personalities like Jerry Springer are over. One can only hope. Like Greer, I think most of that stuff is trash and calling it “reality TV” is an oxymoron. It’s anything but reality.

Working a mission in a foreign country — now that’s reality.

P.S. Bill’s party went splendidly and I met a lot of great people there. About 65 people came, chatted, and snacked on tasty food as Bill signed books.

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