Fortune teller in the office

You could bring in a bunch of fortune cookies and have people compare the fortunes to the ones they got from the fortune teller. If you're good with schtick then this would be good one for you, just don't go all Carrot Top (or worse Gallagher) on them.
 
xenxabar said:
You could bring in a bunch of fortune cookies and have people compare the fortunes to the ones they got from the fortune teller. If you're good with schtick then this would be good one for you, just don't go all Carrot Top (or worse Gallagher) on them.
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My daughter says that you should add the words "in bed" to end of the fortune (the one that comes in the cookie). It almost always makes it better. I have to admit, it works pretty well.
 
xenxabar beat me to the suggestion. Sigh.

Make a nice big sign saying FORTUNES HERE with the fortune cookies in a bowl in front of it. I am betting you will get more attention than her, everyone loves to get free cookies in the office :D

There are places that actually do custom fortune cookies, so you can come up with whatever you want to put in the cookie. Just do a search online ;)

And you can alway hand Madame Whatever one as soon as she arrives, so much fun if you can have the cookies all filled with an appropriate saying ;)
 
Start to tell people in the office why you think they are fake, for example reading are general, about career, money, relationships, etc. So when people see her in action they will hear exactly what you have been telling them.
 
mac said:
Thanks for the input - it's an upper. It's not a huge office - we all know each other, so we know who the woos are and who are not. Also, my sense of humour is something they graciously tolerate... ;-) I was intending on making it fun - that's why the "horror"scopes and nothing serious - but I also like the recap on generalities. I did offer to make a seance for next year, instead of hiring a scammer. That will take planning, but should be fun - and it seems to have created interest.

If you have any other ideas on getting this crowd to have a scammer go hungry, let me know!
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Given the size of the office, I'd have to agree with those who say not to do this in "party-pooper" mode. Unfortunately, all the ideas I have are fairly confrontational. If nothing else, just let them have their fun. I have some close friends on the LOLLIPOP who are Neo-Pagans. When we were on deployment this spring, we'd get together and occasionally they'd start getting woo-ish (playing with energy balls, that sort of thing). I generally let them alone (though occasionally I'd put my hand over their's when they made their energy balls and say "Nope, still nothing").

Mostly we respected each other. They knew I didn't believe what they did, but they also knew I respected them as people. As such, I could get away with doing things like that. The end result (for me, at least) was a more enjoyable deployment. The same is true for this party, I think. Play into it. Let them have their fun. Are they wrong? Yes. So what? It's a party. A Halloween one, at that.*

Now, if any of them actually start trying to give this fortune teller money to tell them how to live their lives, then I'd worry.

*That reminds me, any ideas on what to dress the BorgMonkey up as for her first "official" Halloween? We're taking her trick-or-treating, because Mommy and I are sugar freaks, and we have no problem using our daughter to get candy for ourselves...

Marc
 
Being a bit of a showman, I would be very tempted to predict the fortune teller's predictions. Write them out on various notes and sealed in individual envelopes. Circulate round the party asking your work collegues what the fortune teller told them and then produce the relevant 'prediction' from your pocket for them to open. This should either convince them that:
a) the fortune teller has no special powers or
b) that you do have special powers

Either could be a good result. :)

Personally I wouldn't directly confront the fortune teller directly at the party as it would serve no purpose except to make you look like a party pooper. But to make an entertaining non-confrontational exposé later would do most good to show people that there is really no skill in handing out ambiguity disguised as advice.
 
Marc L said:
*That reminds me, any ideas on what to dress the BorgMonkey up as for her first "official" Halloween? We're taking her trick-or-treating, because Mommy and I are sugar freaks, and we have no problem using our daughter to get candy for ourselves...

Marc
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Depending on how round the BorgMonkey is, a pumpkin costume is always cute.

And for the OP - go with the fun. The suggestion about handing out fortune cookies was very cool.
 
mac said:
Any sane ideas, please?
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Here's one - reach down and pull out whatever is stuck up your posterior. Then give your head a shake. It is a halloween party, with a fortune teller just for fun in a small office. They say that these people are "for entertainment purposes only", right? Your company is just using her for entertainment! You do not have to fight fortune tellers everywhere! This person is not coming in to rip off the grieving or anything else. She is doing essentially the same thing as your magician would be doing. Go to a reading and have fun with it. See how many cold reading tricks you can spot. Count the hits and the misses.

I can see getting pissed off at the Sylvia Brownes of the world who are clearly exploiting the grieving. But I don't see the point of getting upset at a performer at a corporate party. Sheesh.
 
Thanz,

How many people in this thread have advocated getting upset?

How many people in this thread have suggested doing anything to stop the others havin fun?

Conversely, how many people have said it is important not to ruin the fun of others?

You are painting a wall that is not there.
 
Garrette said:
Thanz,

How many people in this thread have advocated getting upset?

How many people in this thread have suggested doing anything to stop the others havin fun?

Conversely, how many people have said it is important not to ruin the fun of others?

You are painting a wall that is not there.
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Perhaps I am being a bit harsh. But I just don't see a need to get any sort of word out about fortune tellers in this kind of a setting - or proving a point about cold reading, astrology or anything else at a halloween party.

As for advocating being upset - the thread is premised on being upset at this person - he didn't book a reading so that she would get less money, he wanted to replace her with someone else, and even considered going to management about it.

Sorry, but I just don't see a fortune teller coming to a halloween party as any sort of call to action - unless that action is a chance to experience a fortune teller without putting money out of your own pocket and having a little fun.
 
Thanz said:
Perhaps I am being a bit harsh. But I just don't see a need to get any sort of word out about fortune tellers in this kind of a setting - or proving a point about cold reading, astrology or anything else at a halloween party.

As for advocating being upset - the thread is premised on being upset at this person - he didn't book a reading so that she would get less money, he wanted to replace her with someone else, and even considered going to management about it.

Sorry, but I just don't see a fortune teller coming to a halloween party as any sort of call to action - unless that action is a chance to experience a fortune teller without putting money out of your own pocket and having a little fun.
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You don't see advocating the idea that a paranormal phenomenon is real as a problem?

Just where would you draw the line?
 
CFLarsen said:
You don't see advocating the idea that a paranormal phenomenon is real as a problem?

Just where would you draw the line?
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I don't see anyone here advocating that a paranormal phenomenon is real. I see a company hiring an entertainer for a party. If they hired a magician, would we have to expose that there is no such thing as real magic?
 
Thanz said:
I don't see anyone here advocating that a paranormal phenomenon is real. I see a company hiring an entertainer for a party. If they hired a magician, would we have to expose that there is no such thing as real magic?
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I asked you where you would draw the line. Please answer the question.
 
CFLarsen said:
I asked you where you would draw the line. Please answer the question.
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I know that this is one of your favourite exercises - the drawing of the line. I don't draw a line in the abstract. I prefer to examine each situation on its own merits.
 
Long before I knew anything about cold reading and the truth about fortune tellers, I went to a halloween party and a palm reader was there. Without any malice at all (I knew very little, good or bad, about palm reading and suchlike), I decided to give it a fair go. You know, just in case there was something to it. So I let her talk, didn't give feedback even when she was extremely wide of the mark, and sat through an excrutiatingly embarrassing five minutes of awkward pauses.

Thirty minutes after that, she read significant other's palm and among other things, told her that her life would improve if she was single. We broke up that very night.

So the moral of this story is.... um, don't mess with the fortune teller. Because its just awkward, and you might lose your girlfriend.

:rolleyes:
 
Thanz said:
I know that this is one of your favourite exercises - the drawing of the line. I don't draw a line in the abstract. I prefer to examine each situation on its own merits.
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So, pick two situations. One, where you won't have to expose that there is no such thing as real magic, and one where you would.
 
CFLarsen said:
So, pick two situations. One, where you won't have to expose that there is no such thing as real magic, and one where you would.
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I have already done that. Don't have to - when a fortune teller is hired for some fun at a corporate halloween party. Should be exposed as fraud - Sylvia Browne, telling a woman who lost her firefighter fiance in one of the Towers on 9/11 that he wouldn't be found because he is in water. Really, Sylvia Browne in any situation.
 
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