Walk into the Eagles’ Nest at Biola University on a Thursday afternoon between 2 and 8:30 p.m., or on a Sunday between 4 and 8:30 p.m., and you’ll find a paper plate leaning up against the cash register. You will find that this plate is imbued with speech, though not, perhaps, in the traditional sense. Words inked across the plate’s surface, though themselves frozen in place, have the ability to bring about conversation. (And it doesn’t hurt when the cashier opens her mouth and asks the words).

10/6/2016:

“If you were to invite a fictional character to your next birthday party, who would you choose?”

This week’s answers were fairly standard. Batman came in first place.

Aladdin’s Genie and Harry Potter rung in the honors as runners-up.

Other interesting responses were Stitch,

Michael Scott...

... and Darth Vader.

I think that my idea to ask my customers a “random question of the day” originated with my English professor, and Biola’s Creative Writing master. He starts each class session with what he calls a “stupid role question.”

Beginning my cashiering duties at the Eagles’ Nest, I honestly felt a little jealous of the workers who could interact so casually with the customers. I have a bit of difficulty with small talk. One, I’m not very good at it. I don’t tend to know what to say. There’s either the standard “How are you?” “Good. You?” “Good.”

Awkward silence while I finish ringing you up. Or there are those anxiety-ridden moments when you’re not doing so “good,” but don’t really want to ring up your troubles with their change. (And as for the question “What’s up?” — I have never fully gotten the hang of answering it.)

When I first started asking random questions, it was a little stressful. Even today, after I have been doing this for about two and a half semesters, some people give me a weird look when I ask a question. But it’s also a ton of fun, and I have seen conversations begin because of these questions.

So, if you, like me, are a bit awkward around strangers, but need to make conservation, feel free to get started with these:

If one of your possessions (or a piece of furniture) turned into a food overnight, what food would you want it to turn into?
(And which possession?)

If it turned out that (insert current location here) had a portal to another world, (like the Narnian wardrobe) where would you expect to find it?

If some part of your outfit was a secret gadget, what would you want it to do?

If you had to advertise something (a product or company, for example) via poster or commercial, what would you choose to advertise?

Can’t get enough? Good news! Now you can find even more odd questions on my Facebook page. And check back in future weeks for more Random Question articles here on Odyssey!