I always find intriguing human interest stories when I buy the New Zealand Herald, and the one I found this week has given me some great ideas for a new plot.
The story is about young professional people in Japan. They’re so busy working that they don’t have time to make friends. The new trend is to hire actors or fake friends to fill out party numbers and make themselves look popular. When a man or woman is getting married, and they don’t have a large family, they hire people to swell family numbers. Here’s a link to the story in the Telegraph.
Our Prime Minister John Key is currently in New York for the United Nations summit. Today he’s been on Letterman and he also rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. I really like our Prime Minister. He’s very down to Earth and has a real gift for chatting to people. He’s also doing a good job.
Do you think you’d ever hire fake friends? Did you see our Prime Minister on the telly?
Related posts:
September 25th, 2009 at 4:35 am · Link
Fake friends, hey? Interesting story.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:12 am · Link
Fake friends? Oh my, that’s just sad.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:21 am · Link
Hmmm… I don’t think I’d need fake friends, but I can see where someone else might. It could also work for social status type parties or club openings where you need a good body count to be seen as successful.
And no, I haven’t seen the PM, then again I haven’t watched TV that wasn’t a kid cartoon in a bout a week. Sad, I know.
So, um… when’s my next MM book coming? LOL!
HUGS!
September 25th, 2009 at 10:36 am · Link
Oh, I LOVE the fictional options the idea of fake friends presents. Wow. What fun we could ALL have with that theme.
September 25th, 2009 at 1:02 pm · Link
Fake friends, I don’t think so. This reminds me of the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith when he finds out she hired an actor to play her father in the wedding.
September 25th, 2009 at 3:09 pm · Link
Hmmm.
No, I wouldn’t hire fake friends.
But you are right in that it makes a great book idea. Or movie even.
:)
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
PS – Are you on Twitter? I’ve looked & can’t find you.
September 25th, 2009 at 3:28 pm · Link
Eeep. Fake friends? What’s the point if you have no friends to impress? LOL!
September 25th, 2009 at 7:21 pm · Link
I think hiring fake friends is so sad. Is being popular or appearing popular really that important? I tell my kids all the time you don’t need a lot of friends in life, just a few that you know you count on to share the joys of life and pick you up when things aren’t so great.
But hiring them? Not a chance.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:35 pm · Link
Fake friends? Isn’t that what I have Twitter for? Ha! No, I can’t imagine hiring fake friends!
September 25th, 2009 at 11:45 pm · Link
Susan – I think it’s a great story idea. Definitely go ahead and use it if you can.
September 25th, 2009 at 11:50 pm · Link
RK – no, I’m not on Twitter. So far I’ve resisted the lure of Twitter.
September 25th, 2009 at 11:51 pm · Link
LOL – Jennifer. That’s right. Friends are there to impress!
September 26th, 2009 at 8:44 am · Link
Lol, I never hid the fact that my social life is zero. So no fake friends for me.
I do have some friends. They live in my brain.
September 26th, 2009 at 11:38 am · Link
I’m not sure I know how to deal with fake friends. It’ll be too weird. I did see the Prime Minister on doing the Top Ten List on David Letterman. I loved his accent. They were joking about how long the flight is from NY to New Zealand.
September 27th, 2009 at 12:45 pm · Link
Jane – our PM has a great sense of humor. I don’t think our last one would have pulled that off.