The truth is stranger than fiction

There's a famous saying, "The truth is stranger than fiction," and my own experience would agree with this. On a number of occasions I've encountered strange conversations and events in real life which would seem ridiculous if an author had included them in a fictional story.

Here are a few of those conversations and to make things a bit more challenging, I've made it into a quiz. See if you can guess what actually happened in each of the following situations...

"Please note, customers will be charged extra if we get your order wrong."

1) Curry Confusion

While on holiday one year, I went to a restaurant and ordered a chicken curry. However, unfortunately they messed my order up and mistakenly brought me a prawn curry.

Can you guess what the waitress said when I mentioned this error?

A) "I do apologise. I'll get your correct order brought out straight away."
B) "I do apologise. As a token of apology we'll knock twenty percent off the bill."
C) "Oh, well the prawn curry is more expensive, so do you mind paying a bit extra?"

Observant reader: "That's not ginger cake!
It's a gingerbread man!"
Editor: "I know, but I didn't have a photo of
ginger cake, so this will have to do."

2) Ginger Cake

One morning at work, the general conversation got onto the subject of food, and for some reason we began to discuss ginger cake. One lady reacted in horror to the mention of ginger cake, and even looked close to being physically sick at the very thought of anyone eating it.

To underline her opinion, she very passionately declared that she couldn't understand how anyone could eat anything as repulsive as ginger cake.

Can you guess what the lady had for breakfast the following morning?

A) Corn flakes
B) Bacon and eggs
C) Ginger cake

3) Soap Opera Dilemma

Spoiler alert!
Look away now, as this photo contains the asnwer.

While sunbathing on the beach while on holiday one year, two girls in front of me were having a discussion about TV soaps.

When discussing one particular TV soap they tried to recall the name of the street where this soap was set, but they couldn't remember what it was called. The exact comment that one girl made was something like, "What's the name of the street on _____ again?"

Can you guess which TV soap they were referring to?

A) Eastenders
B) Emmerdale
C) Coronation Street


. . . . . . . .

Scroll down the page for the answers...

1) Curry Confusion

I didn't have a photo of ginger cake,
but you'll be pleased to know
I had two photos of curry!

What did the waitress say when I ordered chicken curry but was given prawn curry?

a) "I do apologise. I'll get your correct order brought out straight away."
b) "I do apologise. As a token of apology we'll knock fifty percent off the bill."
c) "Oh, well the prawn curry costs more than the chicken curry, so do mind paying a bit extra?"

Answer: C

I have to admit I was quite surprised by the waitress' response, but apparently the staff had to pay for mistakes out of their own wages. That was why she was unconcerned about my dislike of prawns, and more concerned about being slightly out of pocket due to her mistake.

2) Ginger Cake

What did the lady who reacted in horror to the very thought of eating ginger cake have for breakfast?

a) Corn flakes
b) Bacon and eggs
c) Ginger cake

Answer: C

As bizarre as it sounds, this lady actually had ginger cake in the staff canteen for breakfast the following morning. And not just one or two slices, but half a loaf of ginger cake! To make matters even more weird, she then had the other half a loaf for her lunch! Her reasoning was that the only thing she had in the fridge that morning was ginger cake.

The woman was actually a very entertaining personality, so if you knew her you would totally believe this story. However, if it was featured in a fictional book it would probably seem a bit unrealistic.

3) Soap Opera Dilemma

"Duh, duh duh, duh duh duh..."

"What's the name of the street on _____ again?"

a) Eastenders
b) Emmerdale
c) Coronation Street

Answer: C

Amazingly, the exact comment they made was something like, "What's the name of the street on Coronation Street again?"

If that girl happens to be reading this, then I can also confirm the name of the doctor on Doctor Who is...

Doctor Who.

The name of the hotel on Fawlty Towers is...

Fawlty Towers.

And the name of the news programme on ITV at ten o'clock is...

ITV News At Ten.

As further evidence that, 'The truth is stranger than fiction,' when I was writing one of my first books, there was one occasion when I considered using a storyline inspired by real life, but in the end I decided against it as I reckoned that most readers would find it too unrealistic.

The storyline involved one character correctly guessing his boss's system password, and this actually happened to me in my very first ever job. However, it just seemed like lazy writing to have the character guess the password, even though I actually did just that in real life, so in the end I created an alternative way for the plot to resolve itself.