The Anticlimactic Story

I find some of the most entertaining moments of my life are spent sitting on the couch having a great conversation with someone. The majority of my conversations consist of three different things. Either they will be conversations reminiscing about past experiences, talking about someone behind their back (good or bad), or telling a story about something which happened recently. The third type brings me to this week’s problem “The Anticlimactic Story.”

Recently I was telling a story to one of my friends about one of my encounters with a customer at work that day. Let me take a second here to explain what the actual story was. I was cashiering at work and someone was curious as to how much it was for bananas. After I told them the bananas cost 1 dollar. The customer responded by telling me they should be 50 cents because they were going bad. I responded by saying, “Then don’t buy them.” That was it. That is the story I decided to tell my friend. I know, very uninteresting. When it happened to me I thought it was hilarious, but as I worked my way through the story I felt my friend’s anticipation building waiting for the one interesting part to arrive. That is when I realized there was no interesting part. This story was leading to nowhere. If I told it like it was my friend would ask, “And then what happened?” I would respond with, “That’s it.”

I needed to improvise. I needed to make something up that would make my story interesting and change the “and then what happened?” to a “that’s crazy!” So I did a little rewriting. The story I told my friend ended with the customer throwing a banana at me and knocking over a stand of chips out of frustration. That was all it needed. My friend got the exciting ending he was looking for and I saved myself from telling an anticlimactic story.

I saved myself that time, but sometimes I refuse to believe that I am telling an anticlimactic story and I don’t include the alternate ending. I am invariably met with the, “And then what happened?” That is why we all need to protect ourselves against anticlimactic stories. If you start telling a story and immediately start questioning why you are telling that story think of a more exciting ending as soon as possible. Don’t go too crazy or they won’t believe you. It just needs the right amount of interesting to make it work.

Next week I will look at another one of the world’s most annoying problems “The Extended Door Hold.”