Statistics in a Modern World 800
Coincidences 2003

A coincidence is a surprising concurrence of events, perceived as meaningfully related, but with no apparent causal connection. Should we really be surprised by these coincidences? Remember that when so many "unlikely" events are possible, according to the laws of probability, some of them are bound to happen. Like these...

(C.A.) Working at Pizza Hut there were many coincidences. I remember one that happened when I was cooking. Two orders had come up in a 5 minute time span. Both orders had the same last name on them, although they lived in different towns. Other than the same last name the orders that had been placed were the same, a pizza with two pieces without any cheese, something that never happens. When picking the pizzas up we even checked if it was for different people and it was.

(T.B.) My best friend, M.K., and I both applied to Pitt and we were both accepted. Out of the thousands of students who live here we got put on the same floor right next door to each other. I think this is coincidence.

(A.B.) I thought this event would never happen in my life. Growing up with names from African origin, we never really heard too many other people with the same names. Our names were considered unique and beautiful and their rarity made them even more special. My brother's name is Haafiz. My sister's name is Zakiya and my name is Ayanna. But one day as my sister and I were watching an episode of Change of Heart, I realized that our names made some public attention. One of the contestant's names was Ayanna. "Oh, what a coincidence!" I told my sister. But the surprise didn't end there. The host introduced the girl that went on a date with her boyfriend and to our surprise her name was Zakiya!! My sister and I couldn't believe that 2 girls on one show could have our exact names. What were the odds of that?!

(K.B.) Looking back into time, I can recall a particular coincidence quite vividly. As a young girl, I was a gymnast. At a certain gymnastics meet, they had held a raffle beforehand. My mom had bought one of the hundred tickets sold that day. Just before the awards at the end of the meet were handed out, they selected me to call out the winning ticket number for the raffle. My mom told everyone that I was going to select her ticket. Unaware that my mom had even bought a ticket, I ended up pulling her ticket out of the bucket! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

(S.B.) One specific experience I had in the summer after 9th grade surprised me a lot! I had been talking to a boy the same age as me on my computer over the internet. He lived in Texas, but his grandmother lived only about 30 minutes from me, and we became really good friends. When the time came for him to visit his grandmother that summer, my entire family came to meet his family at the mall for a day. We all had a great time, but I was leaving for vacation the next day and his family was planning on attending his uncle's minor league baseball game. We were bummed out that we only got to see each other once during his trip to Pennsylvania. The next day, we drove to Bethany Beach, Delaware, and when we arrived, he called us just to say hi because he was bored during their car ride to the baseball game. When I asked where the game was, he said Salisbury, Maryland, which sounded oddly familiar to me. I asked my dad where Salisbury was, and he said about half an hour away! It turned out that my dad and I went to the baseball game that night. Both of our famlies had travelled about 7 hours from Greensburg and ended up spending time together in another state.

(E.B.) Last year I received an email from a girl whose name is Erin Breen, which is strange because that is my name. She goes to CMU, but she was not contacting me because of our similar names. She thought she was emailing a friend who has almost the same email address as me.

(K.B.) This is not my coincidence but my mother's. She was attending Buffalo State College for her Master's program. The college is not very large, and the art education master's program is even smaller. One day my mother went in to register for class, and they told her she could not, on account of that she already had. Now, my mother had made a special trip in to register, so she knew she hadn't been in to register before as they suggested she had. She spent almost an hour trying to convince them that she still needed to register. Finally they figured out there was another woman in my mother's program with a name one letter off and a social security number one number off. My mother's name is Mary Ann Boyles; the other woman was named Mary Ann Bayles. They had mixed my mother up with this other woman.

(A.B.) A personal experience I had that dealt with coincidence took place last summer. My family and I were vacationing in the Bahamas at a resort. I was walking through the casino when I was approached by some girls. They asked if I was from Pennsylvania and I replied "yes". They next asked if I was in a band. Once again I replied "yes". As it turned out, my band had played at their prep school several times over the years and they recognized me some couple thousand miles away. The even better coincidence was that I spent a lot of time with one girl in particular and we got to know each other pretty well. When I got home I found out that girl was the ex-girlfriend of a guy who had recently started dating my ex-girlfriend. I had no idea. That was a pretty big coincidence to me.

(S.C.) The summer before my freshman year here at Pitt, I went on vacation to a small, private beach in Virginia called Sandbridge Beach. I kept running into the same girl, which seemed weird. I saw her at Busch Gardens, when I went parasailing, and then again when I rented jet skis. I thought it was odd at the time, but thought nothing of it until a couple weeks later when I saw her again. This time, we were in Pittsburgh and at cheerleading practice! It was my first practice, but I recognized her from vacation. Now I still see her almost every day because we practice so much! Little did I know that the girl I ran into would turn out to be a fellow Pitt cheerleader and one of my good friends! What are the chances?!

(J.C.) I remember the time when I went to Cohoes, a shopping store in Connecticut. Me and my mom were shopping and we met a woman who had a small baby in a stroller. My mom asked her what his name was and she said "Elyah James Cave"!! The little boy had the same exact name (first, middle, and last) as my nephew. There are so many combinations and it was a coincidence that this little boy had the same one as my nephew.

(A.C.) I have many coincidences that I have encountered in my life, but one in particular stands out. About two years ago my family and I were leaving our March vacation from Puerto Rico and when we arrived at the airport, they told us that the flight was over-booked. My dad is 76 years old and he told them we had to be on our flight because he had to receive surgery the next day. The airport woman then bumped all of us into first class. As we boarded my dad had to sit with a middle-aged older man because we have an odd amount of people in my family. The man and my dad began talking about where they were headed and their pasts. It turned out that the man actually was returning to his home to see his wife and children and the man and wife were actually married in the same town where my dad grew up and their reception happened to be at my dad's restaurant that he sold only 3 years ago. My dad and our family made the assumption that he was just a regular business man returning to New York, but all of us were actually from Philadelphia. This was a really weird coincidence for me and my family.

(L.D.) One remarkable coincidence I know of involved my father and his brother, both of whom are engineering professors. My paternal grandmother was on a plane flight and struck up a conversation with a young woman. The woman was describing her collaborations with two different engineering professors, one at Virginia Tech and the other at the University of Texas at Austin. The woman explained that they had assisted her greatly in graduate level research, and also mentioned that they were brothers. My grandmother was struck by these comments and upon asking their names, confirmed that she indeed was their mother! The experience was positive for my grandmother because she appreciated the woman's feedback on the successful careers of my father and uncle, and it subsequently became a family story.

(G.D.) When I graduated high school in 1991, I decided NOT to go to college, and my father kicked me out of the house. I then moved into an apartment with a friend named Brian Scholz. Brian worked at his family's hardware store. The phone number there was 412-921-1727. After living with Brian for four years, there were many occasions that I called him at the hardware store. After receiving a job offer as an ironworker out of state, we parted ways and the hardware store eventually went out of business. I moved to Ohio for five years, but eventually was injured on the job and returned to Pgh in 2000. After purchasing a house in Pgh about 2 miles from where the hardware store used to be, I got my utilities turned on. The phone number that I was issued was indeed 412-921-1727. I did not even realize that the phone number that I was given was the old hardware store number until I started receiving phone calls regarding questions pertaining to home improvements. The really strange thing about the whole ordeal was that Brian and I rarely keep in touch anymore, maybe two phone conversations a year. I was on the phone with him one afternoon, and I had to put him on hold because of another call I was receiving. The other phone call was someone calling Scholz Bros. Hardware at 921-1727 wanting a window repaired. I told them that they had the wrong number and Brian and I were dumbfounded. Very low odds of this happening but this is a true story.

(K.E.) A few weeks ago, my good friend Sara and I had just realized that we both love the same comedian. His name is Brian Regan and he has been on Comedy Central Presents, the Tonight Show, and many others. We had been talking about how we appreciate his humor so mucy because it's intelligent and clean. The day after we found this in common, Sara and I went down to the Waterfront for some dinner and shopping. As we walked over to the restaurant, we passed a comedy club featuring a large poster---with Brian Regan on it. Sara gasped or squealed or something and ran over to the ticket counter. Sure enough, Brian Regan was in town, performing that very weekend! Neither Sara nor I had ever been to a live comedy show, and we were so excited that our first would be our favorite. As we purchased our tickets for the following night, we reflected on how coincidental the whole experience was. Repeatedly, we asked, "What are the chances? What are the odds??"

I am a 33 year old divorced mother of 3 children. I last attended school (college) 10 years ago. I dropped out because being lazy and partying were more important. A lot has happened over the last 10 years and I never thought I would be back at college finishing my degree. Like I said, I dropped out, got married, had 3 children over 6 years, battled alcoholism, have gotten divorced and am now trying to finish my degree as a single mom with only child support and alimony until I graduate and can find a job. Given all of these factors I don't believe that the expected value would be that I would be where I am and graduating in May. But I also think that the coincidences in these past 10 years have led me to where I am as difficult as it is and has been.

(N.F.) I was working on my computer one afternoon last fall. My friend Matt lives six hours away and I had not seen him since the summer. I had actually been working on a web page about filming short films at home, which he had helped with the filming. I was writing a segment about filming on location when Matt called on my cell phone. This is coincidence because he normally just emails me or IMs me, but I was writing about what he and I filmed and he randomly called. Another coincidence is, I was calling my girlfriend in the middle of the week (we call whenever either or us is free). Anyway, I called, but a recorded message came up saying the line was busy (normally it just does the standard busy signal). Anyway, I decide to wait a few minutes before trying again. My phone rings a few seconds later and it's my girlfriend. She said she just tried to call, but there was a recorded message saying the line was busy. I told her I just tried calling. Apparently, we called randomly at the same time.

(J.F.) One of my own experiences with coincidence is somewhat similar to the one told in class. Last year, I was a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. I was in the middle of transferring here to Pitt in the second semester of the year. Pitt sent me my information that I had been accepted along with a paper with classes that had been transferred. I took a look at this paper and noticed that there were classes on there that I had never taken. I eventually called and asked them if they had my information. After much confusion, the girl realized that there was a Jessica Fike that was transferring as well and our files had been switched. (It was weird that there were two J.Fike's that were both transferring to Pitt this year.)

(J.G.) When I first started college I started taking Child Development at CCAC. My first semester I took a math class, a small math class. It just so happened that a handome guy sat in front of me. We really did not talk that semester. But the next semester I took a second class in the same room with the same professor, and what do you know, he comes walking in. The best part was that the next class I had he was also in. Eventually he became my boyfriend after four semesters of us having classes together. It's funny that after we started dating we had no classes together, no matter how hard we tried.

(J.G.) A coincidence from my own experience occurred this past weekend. On Friday night, my friends and I went to Sing-Sing at the Waterfront. While we were there, we met a loud and crazy guy who was really getting into the show. At the end of the night, the guy approached my roommate and asked her for her phone number. She figured she would never see him again, so she gave it to him. The next night we went to Mario's in the South Side and the "wild guy" was there! As it turns out, the guy goes to Duquesne. We made the assumption that the guy was older and not from around here. It was pure coincidence that the guy who we thought we would never see again actually only lives five minutes away from us.

(S.H.) My grandmother had a subscription to Reader's Digest. One week there was a story of a young adult male 18-20 years old who had stopped a purse snatcher. After thwarting the criminal and returning the purse to its rightful owner, he was recognized for his efforts and the story was published soon after. The hero's name was Steve Hayner, a student at the University of New Mexico. After reading the story, my grandmother told me about it and I didn't believe her. The next day, she dropped off the digest and showed me the article. To my surprise, Steve Hayner did in fact save the day. I showed friends and other family members the article and they were amazed how I could be in two places at once. Another funny anecdote regards my birthday. My mom was pregnant with me and was walking in my backyard. She saw a turtle crawling and picked it up. A few minutes after playing with the turtle, her water broke. Every year after that, around my birthday, the turtle would keep finding its way back into the yard. To this day, I look around the area by my house on or near my birthday and can still see Rocky crawling about like all those years ago.

(M.H.) I found out about a really strange coincidence the day I became Bar Mitzvahed. I was introducing my grandparents to my rabbi and whlie they were talking about where they lived they both realized something. Not only did they both live in Long Island, New York, but my rabbi happened to live right around the corner from their house. And upon further questioning they realized that my rabbi's daughter was my mom's best friend during grade school. Another coincidence happened a few years ago. When I was little I used to live in Bensalem, PA, but later moved to Langhorne, PA. A few years after I had moved to Langhorne I ran into a kid who not only used to live in the same neighborhood as me in Bensalem, but we were also in the same first grade class together.

(S.H.) This past summer I decided to take an independent trip to study at a Spanish language school in San Jose, Costa Rica. The classes at the school ran Monday through Thursday allowing the students to have long weekends to travel to the various volcanoes, beaches, and rainforests of the country. On one particular weekend, a friend I met at the school and I decided to go to Manuel Antonio, a pristine, unspoiled beach surrounded by rainforest. Manuel Antonio is located on the Pacific side of the country and takes about 3 hours by bus from San Jose, which is located near the center of the country. I was literally in the middle of nowhere, lying on a nearly deserted beach surrounded by giant trees, iguanas, sloth, and monkeys. Suddenly, I see a young guy walk through the trees toward the ocean. I look at him and think, "Man! That looks like a kid that was in one of my classes last semester!" I thought it had to have been a look-alike; what were the chances it would actually be that guy? I yelled his name and there was no response. It looked so much like him, though, I decided to get up and have a closer look. I walked toward him, and at that moment he turned around and saw me. He pointed and said, "Hey, is that you?" Then we both laughed. It was the kid from my class. I asked him what the heck he was doing there, and he wondered the same about me. It turns out we are both Spanish majors and we both got screwed over by Pitt Study Abroad programs being cancelled at the last minute. I was supposed to have gone to the Pitt in Cuba program, and he was supposed to have gone on another trip through the school, but something also went awry with his plans. We both had limited time to find another Pitt credit program and fill out all the paper work. Costa Rica is full of language schools that have rolling admissions. You can virtually sign up today and start classes the following week. Although our Spanish major plays a role in choosing to study in Costa Rica, I still find it rather strange and surprising that someone I know would be there on that secluded beach, at that exact moment, in that exact spot. It definitely was a crazy coincidence I will never forget.

(Z.H.) My roommates and I happen to be big hockey fans, and one of my favorite coincidences happened while we were watching the 2003 NHL all star game. In previous years, one lucky fan at the all star game was chosen to take a shot from center ice on a goal no bigger than 6 inches across. If this shot was made the fan would win one million dollars. Due to the extreme difficulty of the shot, most fans never came close. Right before intermission of the 2003 game, I remarked how lame the contest was, and spoke of how it would be much more interesting if a fan took a shot on one of the actual all star goalies. I even named my favorite goaltender, Nikolai Khabibulin, as a great choice for such a contest. Khabibulin is a Russian goaltender who bears many of the same personality traits of a rabid wolf. He constantly twitches and always has a crazed look in his eyes, and I thought it would be hilarious to see a fan shoot on this intimidating player. Intermission came along, and as I readied for the usual lame contest the announcer stated that this year a lucky fan would take a million dollar shot on none other than Nikolai Khabibulin. I thought it was quite the coincidence that this crazy situation came true minutes after I thought it would be a unique idea. Needless to say, the fan still missed the shot.

(R.K.) This summer on my family vacation to Aruba, we decided to go horseback riding one day. While we were at the ranch, to our surprise was our third cousin and his family also going horseback riding. We were talking about our flight and it ended up that we were even on the same flight to Aruba and we didn't even notice. After horseback riding, we all got on the shuttle that takes you back to your hotel and it ended up that our cousins were staying in the SAME hotel, on the SAME floor. This was too many coincidences in one day for me to believe. How often is it that you see anyone you know in a foreign country?

(K.K.) Last April after the semester ended my sister and I went to London to visit her best friend. About half way through the week we decided to go to see the London Eye in Central London. The London eye is a giant oversized Ferris wheel with about 10 different capsules to ride in. And to my huge surprise when I stepped onto the capsule we had was my childhood friend. Of all the places and even the coincidence that we were getting on the same capsule was crazy. This was one of many coincidences I've encountered.

(C.L.) I recently transferred to Pitt from Ohio University. Although I am an English major, I do of course have to take science courses sometimes. When I was at O.U. I took a lecture course on plant biology. The class was a fairly big size, but my professor was interesting and a first year professor. I was walking to class here in Oakland and I saw a familiar face, who I at first thought just was one of my professors. Then I realized, yes it was one of my professors, but it was the plant bio one from O.U. Of course, if I would have run into her on the streets at O.U. it would be no coincidence but in Pittsburgh it was, of course, surprising. She was speaking about the plant biology field to Pitt students.

(H.L.) This past weekend, my mom, sister, her boyfriend, and I were all out driving around Uniontown to see the fall leaves. While on our little adventure we decided to stop off at some antique stores and look around. Well, to the surprise of my sister and me (and my mom) we saw my dad there... with his new girlfriend, whom we had yet to meet! Several hours later we decided to go home, but of course, we were hungry, so we decided to eat at Chi-Chi's. Not only after 20 minutes of us being seated my dad and his girlfriend came in and they were seated only 10 feet away from us! This was a somewhat bizarre and awkward day for all of us.

(E.L.) One coincidence I can remember is when I was sent to come to Pitt as a freshman. I had gotten a call from my soon-to-be roommate and I asked him what sports he participated in, to which he replied "skateboarding". Skateboarding is the sport I'm best at, so we had something in common. When I finally met him on the day he was moving in, I asked him what nationlity he was to which he replied, "I'm part Filipino." I found this to be quite a coincidence since I am Filipino too. To this day, he's still one of my best friends.

I have so many coincidences that have happened in my 31 years 10 months of life, however none as rewarding as this very personal experience. My parents divorced when I was about 12 years old. My siblings and I stayed with my mother. I guess when my dad left my mom, he left us too. Years went by and I could count the number of times my dad visited us. Once I was old enough about my second year in college my mom told me that my dad had a child with another woman and that was the reason they divorced. She also told me that after their divorce my dad began to spend time in jail off and on. She admitted he always wrote to her about us. She even admitted she still loved him and was writing back to him for years. I asked her about the child he had had. She told me it was a little girl a year or two older than my youngest sister (my mother re-married). I desperately wanted to see my dad and meet my half sister. My mom by this time was divorced again, but dating. She informed me that my dad would be coming home and staying with her because as part of his parole he couldn't live in a public housing community. In the meantime prior to the conversation my parents about my dad living with her I was caring for my son and about 3 foster children. The dad my dad came home, we planned a huge dinner party for him. My mom picked him up. My house was filled with family members. My dad walked in and the first thing I heard was, "DAD." I looked around and one of my foster children had her arms around his neck. Imagine the shock when he hollered back, "Toot". Coincidence or Divine Intervention?

(L.L.) My senior year of high school, I went to the Dominican Republic with 17 of my friends for senior week. While on vacation, we met a great deal of people our age and we spent time with them during our one-week stay. During our trip, I met so many people that I couldn't remember all of their names. When it came time to go to college that following fall, all I knew was that I would be rooming with a girl named Kristen. Other than some random information, like what town she was from and her full name, I didn't really know much. When we actually met, we both knew the other looked familiar, but didn't know why. She was from a different state than I, so that wasn't it. It wasn't until a few days later when I was putting up pictures from the summer that we realized that we had already met during senior week. It turns out that she was the girl that my best guy friend was dating long distance after meeting on vacation.

One of the many coincidences that I experienced in my life occurred recently in this class. In talking with one of the girls that I have been sitting by since the beginning of the semester, I learned that I had experienced yet another coincidence. I had glanced over one time and had noticed her last name, and thought it looked familiar. Recently, she and I were talking about our majors. She asked me what my major was. I told her I was in graduate nursing school, and my major was Nursing Education. She told me her mother had been a nursing instructor. Instantly I knew who her mother was. She had been an instructor of mine fourteen years ago in nursing school. I didn't need to ask her what her first name was. I remembered what it was from hearing her mother speak of her so often. Unfortunately, her mother passed away six years ago.

(A.M.) When I moved into Pitt's Litchfield towers at the beginning of this semester, I picked up my key early in the day before I was ready to move in my real stuff. Unsure of what room I was in, I asked for my key in Tower B. After I had my key, I took an elevator to drop off my refrigerator. I then went home to finish packing my clothing. Later that night my family and I unpacked our Jeep and took an elevator to the 7th floor in Tower B. Strangely, my key would not turn in the door when I tried to unlock it. When my mother and I went to Panther Central to inquire about the situation, we discovered that I had been given the key to another Ashley Martin's room! Not only was that strange, but it turns out that there were three Ashley Martin's moving in as freshmen this year and we all have the same middle initial J!

(S.M.) I don't think I have a coincidence except in 3 jobs 4 people have my birthday: in the navy, a division of 30 people, 2 had the same as me; as a lifeguard of 9 people one; and in a fitness center another one that I know.

(N.M.) Last Sunday night, my boyfriend and I went to Denny's, somewhere we never really eat at due to the horrible service. About 2 minutes after we sit down his phone, or what we thought was his, rang. He has a unique phone because of two reasons: 1) the rings are not found on another phone and 2) the phone was discontinued shortly after he bought it. But sure enough, it was the table next to us: the guy had the exact same phone. Right after that guy hangs up his phone my boyfriend's rings. It was our two friends. They used to live by my boyfriend (which is near Denny's) and now they live by me. We were polite and asked them to dinner but knew it would take them 35 minutes to get there. They accepted nonetheless...they were right around the corner from Denny's! They had been visiting a relative. As if that wasn't enough of a coincidence, before my boyfriend and I got to Denny's my mom called and asked where we were and I told her we were by Dairy Queen on the way to Denny's. She was at that exact same Dairy Queen!

(G.M.) Last spring me and a group of my friends traveled to Deep Creek, Maryland and stayed in a house for a weekend. My friend, Glen, and I were the only two who brought CD's with us. By the end of the week our CD cases were a jumbled mess. I thought that he had my 50 cent CD but he didn't. He assumed that he lost it. After about two weeks I found it in my Marvin Gaye CD case. Later on that day he dropped off a brand new copy of a 50 cent CD.

(D.M.) A coincidence that happened to me involved a vacation my family took to Ocean City, New Jersey. One summer my mom, dad, sister, and I took a week long vacation down the shore. We stayed in a hotel off the boardwalk and went to the beach and walked along the boardwalk every day. On the third day, we were walking along the boardwalk and I looked to the sides. At first I didn't know who I saw and then I looked again and I said, Mom, I think that person is Aunt Anette. She says it can't be because she is from Texas, why would she come all the way to New Jersey. We then went up to the lady and it turned out it was our aunt. It was a coincidence that our relative from Texas was at the shore the same time we were and we ran into each other.

(R.M.) One of my friends for many years got shot almost three years ago. The chances of that happening alone my be coincidental. However, the coincidence just keeps coming. she got shot in her own bedroom by her own cousin. This is both shocking and coincidental in itself, however, this also happened on my 16th birthday. I woke up that morning to a telephone call that said she had been shot and spent most of the day visiting her in the hospital. This same friend is doing very well today. In fact, she is also a student at Pitt with me and our dorm rooms are right next to one another.

(A.M.) This past weekend, my family came up from Maryland to visit me. Unfortunately the day that they got here, I had to work. I was scheduled to work from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. but in the world of retail, you rarely get off on time. I had not spoken to my family all day but I had told them the night before my anticipated time of getting off of work and that I would see them when I got off. I walked out of my job at Ann Taylor at 4:24 p.m. and I was all prepared to walk back to my apartment when I just happened to look to my left and see my family's car approaching me. It was such a coincidence because we hadn't spoken all day and they just happened to be driving by my store at the exact moment that I was walking down the steps!

(K.M.) In 1999 I traveled solo for 2 months to Iceland, W.Europe and Scotland. Along the way I met a few people who had some odd coincidences. Furthermore, I had a few of my own. First, my friend Jodi that I met in Barcelona ran into a guy that she used to work with in Oregon that was staying in the same hostel as us. Second, while in Berlin I was hanging out with two guys from Tennessee. While at the hostel, they ran into a girl that they used to go to school with. Third, over a two-month period, while traveling in Berlin, Brugge (Belgium) and all over Scotland, I ran into the same 3 American girls that were traveling together. What made it even more odd, was that they were on the same bus tour as me in Scotland. Nevertheless, it was quite an interesting trip.

(S.M.) Every time I tell people my name they say it's interesting or they've never heard of it. Everyone's heard of the name Sasha, or at the most familiar pronunciation. But see, my name's pronounced Say-sha, long a, and most people have never heard of it. Yes, it's a Russian boy's name, or at least the spelling Sasa pronounced the same way is, but my parents added an h to make it more feminine. Well, over my senior year I started a job working at Friendly's, a family restaurant in Allentown, PA. There, I met another server with the name of Sasha, or the more familiar pronunciation. It was slightly difficult at first, the cooks would get confused over which server they were calling, because our last names both also started with M and the receipts would only print our first and last name. The cooks would just usually call out Sasha, the familiar pronunciation. Now, the other waitress had worked there for a couple of years, she was only twenty, and at first it was kind of fun. Then it became tiring. We would just call out the correct pronunciation of my name, just when we knew that it was my order they were finished with. And then one day, when the cooks called out Sasha, neither of us answered. Now, it was obvious why I didn't answer, my name wasn't pronounced Sasha so I figured that they meant the other waitress. What I didn't know, but found out later, was that her name wasn't pronounced Sasha either. Her name was pronounced Sash-a, the first part sounding like the word sash. She had been named after her grandmother. So coincidentally, we both had the same spelling of an unusual name and neither of us had the most familiar pronunciation.

(D.P.) A coincidence that happened in my life was after my freshman year of college. I attended Slippery Rock when I was a freshman and that summer some friends and I went up to Cedar Point to spend the day. Well, I ran into 3 people from my English class first semester. These 3 people were not together, they were with their own friends. I just thought it was crazy to see 3 people from my English class up there. One of them even won the same prize that I did playing a game. I think that was an incident that would be very hard to replicate.

(A.R.) Last Saturday I was going to cash my paycheck. The bank was closed, but their window inside the next-door grocery store was open, so I went in there. I was not surprised to see my cousin working one of the registers in the store, but when I rounded the corner to the bank window I was surprised to run right into my grandparents who had stopped to pick up a few things.

(R.R.) About 4 years ago, when my brother still lived at home, we wanted a dog really bad. My dad didn't want one though. I was thinking to myself if I just brought one home then my dad would never just get rid of it. Apparently my brother was thinking the same thing. It was on a weekend and we both went out to do our separate things. I was going to look for a dog. Little did I know my brother was too. I went to a flea market not too far from my house. I saw all the little puppies, then I look over and see my brother standing about 10 people away. Thank god we saw each other, I don't know how happy he would be if we each brought a dog home.

(A.R.) I went to Canada last weekend. While I was there I went to this bar. At the bar I ran into this guy that I used to go to high school with. I haven't been home nor seen anyone that I went to high school with in over two years. Given the fact that I live far away and Canada is far from me makes it weird and a coincidence to see someone that I went to high school with.

(D.R.) When I was in 7th grade I met my best friend, Megan. One day, our parents met each other while the two of us were hanging out. Well, it turns out that they already knew each other. In fact, while they were pregnant with Megan and me, they were in the same Lamaze class. So technically, Megan and I met BEFORE we were even born!

(J.S.) While my parents were married we lived on Leslie Road. My dad's name is William Schaffner, a fairly common first name but uncommon last name. We pronounce our last name Schauffner. After we'd been in our house for a little more than ayear, the house across the street sold and a family moved in. The father's name was also William Schaffner, but pronounced with a short a Shaffner. My parents divorced when I was still very young and I didn't remember my neighbors. One day in a high school class I had class with the son of my neighbor, Brian. We had talked for a little while before class started and found out that people had always pronounced his name the proper pronunciation of my name, and vice versa. I thought this was very coincidental for 2 men who have the same name to live right across the street from one another (poor postman!) and to have children who were the same age, and have the pronunciations reversed.

(C.S.)You may think that this story is just a stupid coincidence, but I believe that there is somewhat more to it than that. There are two events that caused me to be totally freaked out when this happened. The first part of the story you probably are going to think is really stupid, as many people do, but after you hear the second part you might understand why I am telling you about the first. I was walking home from work and I only had a dollar in my wallet. As I was walking down Forbes I noticed this guy sitting on the street in Indian style with his eyes closed and his palms in the air. He looked like he was meditating or something. Anyway, as I was walking past him I was thinking of the dollar in my wallet and I thought to myself; "I am going to go to McDonalds and buy a milkshake with this dollar." Right after I thought this in my mind, I glanced at the guy, his eyes were closed and they suddenly popped open and he said; "Excuse me can you spare a DOLLAR?" It was the way that he spoke to me that freaked me out. He said it like he KNEW I had the dollar. I jsut stared at him and said no and quickly walked away. OK, so you're thinking so what that is really a stupid coincidence, but listen to what happened later that day. Later that night I was walking home from my friend's house. My mom had let me borrow her car this weekend and I had left it parked in the parking lot that is free on Saturday. As I was walking back I don't know why I thought I should go check on the car. When I got to the lot the gates were closed and my car was trapped in the lot. I started to panic because I didn't have any money to pay for the cost of parking it over the weekend. I asked a cop what they were going to do to my car and he said either charge me for two days of parking (which I had no money for) or give me a ticket (which I had no money for). I was so upset with myself I wanted to cry. I started walking around Oakland for some reason and I was walking past the same place where I bumped into the guy earlier. He was still sitting there in Indian style with his eyes closed exactly how I saw him earlier. As soon as I saw him I stopped and just stared at him. His eyes popped open and he looked at me again. He asked what time it was. I told him 11:11. This was really strange to me because everyone always says "eleven eleven make a wish". He then asked me what was wrong and I told him about my mom's car. He said to me "don't worry; you'll be ok by the end of the night." I said good bye to him and kept walking around trying to think of something to do to get my car out. At around 11:50 I bumped into some guy. He asked me why I was walking around by myself so late. I told him about my mom's car and he just so happened to be the owner of the lot! He let my car out and told me that the service is only free until 7pm on Saturday. I was so happy he let me out for free. I jumped into the car and drove to my apartment and parked on the street. I was in the house and safe by midnight.

(A.S.) It was my second year of high school and I was a junior at the particular time. I was in the cafeteria standing in line at the salad bar, when all of a sudden a fight broke out between two guys. The fight was a very intense fight that involved trays and chairs being thrown around like baseballs and frizz-bees. The fight somehow started over a girl that was the girlfriend of one of the guys, yet at that same time she had slept with the other guy, while promising him that he would be her next man. The two silly fools didn't take the time to notice that both of them were being played by her, while she stood by her other man watching the two duke it out for her. Well, the fight lasted for at least fifteen minutes and both of them ended up with a couple of scratches and bruises on them. Some were particularly on the arms. When the security guards came to break up the fight, the both of them ran off and got away from being in trouble. So, the security guards asked around and in the crowd for the names of these guys. A couple of girls from the crowd said that their names were Anthony and Anthony. The security guards asked for their last names, but those girls did not know their last names. Now, what security did about all of this was hold up the entire lunchroom in order to get the suspects of all the cause of the ruckus. The two Anthony's never made out the lunchroom instead they hid in the crowd. Well, the security split the lunchroom into two lines and asked each person what their name was and what homeroom number did they belong to. When they found an Anthony, they made him stand out of the two lines. Unfortunately, my name is Anthony and there were twenty-two other Anthony's also. Now, what are the odds of that happening? Wait a minute. It gets worse. Out of those twenty-two Anthony's fifteen were black and I am black also. So security asked the crowd what race was actually fighting. They said "Was the fight based on black versus white, white versus white, or black versus black?" The answer to that question was black versus black. So they took all the black Anthony's down to the office for questioning and let everyone go, but wait that still not the bad part. It gets even worse. When we went to the principal's office, the principal himself came up with a solution to determine who was actually fighting. He did this not by issuing all of us suspension, but by making us hold out our arms he looked for bruises on our arms and on our faces in order to determine who was actually fighting. None of us had bruises on our face, but five of us including me had bruises on our arms. Now, that is bad because the day before this happened I had a baseball game that I got hit by the ball three times. I got hit once on my left arm and the twice on my right arm. So me and the other four guys had bruises on our arms. So the principal came up with another solution and that was bringing some of the witnesses from the lunchroom and asking them who fought. Now, nobody at that time wanted to be called a snitch unless they themselves wanted to get beat up. So, the principal took those witnesses in private and asked them "do you know the nicknames of the two who were fighting?" They said it was Tj and Tj. Now that is not funny because my nickname was Tj and I knew two other Tj's in the office with me. Next the principle dismissed the other two Anthony's and kept the rest for more questioning. I pleaded to the principal it was not me, but he did not want to believe me nor did he believe the rest of us. Well, my time was running short until the two other Anthony's started to argue again, when the principal stepped out for a moment. Then they began fighting again. when the principal came back in the office, he saw a part of what was going down in the office. So, I got off and the other two Anthony's, who was really the suspects, got twenty days suspension from school. Now, I ask you how unlucky was I?

(L.S.) I have two coincidences to share that I found very interesting and somewhat amusing. My first one happened while I was studying abroad in Spain. I met a girl there, named Jamie, who I soon became good friends with. After a few weeks, I realized that I didn't know her last name and when she told me it was McCaslin, I was surprised because my best friend from home's name is Jamie McCaslin as well. Even more coincidental, I found out that they share the exact same birth date of August 12, 1983. Luckily they weren't born in the same hospital or the doctors might have mixed them up! My other coincidence occurrence happened one weekend while I was visiting my family back home. My family and I decided to order two pepperoni pizzas from Pizza Hut. However, when our pizzas arrived we received 8 onion pizzas! Neither my family nor the delivery man seemed to know what had happened. However, apparently the only other Smathers family besides my own in our entire town had decided to order pizza at the exact same time as us, and Pizza Hut had accidentally switched our addresses. However, there was a happy ending to the story because we got to keep all the onion pizzas and we still got our pepperoni ones!

(J.S.) I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was in 7th grade. One time when I was at the doctor's I was confused with a 62-year-old woman. One time when I was getting my back X-rayed and we went to pick up the results, I received the results for another Julie Strand who was 62. It was funny that there was another woman getting her back X-rayed at the same time that I was. It's a good thing that they now ask for social security numbers for identification!

(C.S.) During my Pittstart session a few years ago, I met his guy on the incline on Mt. Washington. We hit it off extremely well and spent the rest of our small group time together, and found we had a lot in common. By the end of the night, though, our two groups of friends gravitated in opposite directions, and after a hasty goodbye, we separated in different directions, too, never to see each other again. The next day I woke up and actually prayed that I'd see him again before I left. I figured it was a false hope, very unlikely (he wasn't in CAS), so I went about the day, completely forgetting my little wish. Then, around 2:00, I had my first advising session. My advisor was running late, and it was about 2:30 when a familiar face strode into the advising waiting room. Who should it be, but the guy I'd met the previous day! I couldn't believe it (and still can't). Total coincidence.

(J.T.) The other day I went to see my father at his office. I was there to pick up a pass from him. He told me that he might be in a meeting when I got there, so just go on in and get the pass from his jacket pocket. In the process of doing that, a lady walked into his office and asked me if she could help me and I explained who I was and what I was doing. At that point she introduced herself and asked me how I liked my job. I said it was ok and gave her a puzzled look. She then explained that she used to work in the very same office that I work in now. Although it was some years ago, she did mention a few names of people hwo have stayed the course and are currently working there today. She also was surprised to hear how long I stayed (3 years) since the average time for workers was only 2 years. It was just funny to meet someone who had actually gone through the same work environment and shared office space with some of the same people, while I was just at my dad's office picking something up.

(J.T.) Unfortunately, most of the 'coincidences' that have occurred in my life have involved my car (well ex-car now). The one I wish to inform you of does involve "Misty", my 1996 Mercury Mystique. (Or Mercury Mistake as the car has become known.) In November of 2002 the head gasket in Misty broke and I ended up having to replace the entire engine---at the time it seemed like a good idea, I couldn't afford another car and Misty was still in good shape minus the engine. Well, I got her back in December and upon driving home I had a talk with her about various things. Since I had just spent a pretty penny on her, I told her how nice it was to have her back, and that I missed her and all that jazz. Then I made the mistake of mentioning that while Misty was in the shop, I had been driving my parents' 2002 Chevy Prism (which is the current car I drive now), and that I had really enjoyed driving the Prism. I also told her she better treat me right from now on, because I had enjoyed driving the Prism. Well, Misty responded like a jealous girlfriend---no sooner had I said that (I've learned my lesson about badmouthing a car while near the car) the check engine light came on. Well, it was back to Protire for me. It ended up just being dust in a sensor, but it certainly was odd the check engine light came on at that exact moment. As a final summary, Misty must have held a grudge, because in (about) the year that followed, the regulator in the driver side window broke, I had to replace the rooters and brakes, there was a leak in the AC system, I had to replace wiring involved with the spark plugs, plus normal maintenance like State Inspection and Emission, oil change, tire alignment, etc. etc. Then, to celebrate the anniversary of the head gasket breaking, it broke again a few weeks ago (which is when my family and I got rid of the car). (My family has been using Protire for just about everything as far as car maintenance for the last ten years, so I know it's not faulty work that caused all of my car problems---just "bad luck" with that car I guess.

(C.T.) At the time my mom was pregnant with my older sister, my parents decided they wanted to be "surprised" by the sex of the baby as opposed to the doctor telling them after having seen the ultrasounds. Between only themselves, they picked out both a boy's and a girl's name to prepare for either eventuality, and refused to reveal either on to ANYBODY. So when my sister was born and it was discovered that she was indeed my sister and not my brother, she was given the girl's (obviously) name that my parents had secretly chosen: Charlotte. Had she been a boy, she would've been named Bradley. Under the exact same circumstances, I was born three years later. In this case my parents had picked out Colin and Meredith as their names of choice. So Colin it was. My sister's last 2 to 3 years of high school were accompanied by the standard barrage of college solicitations that one would expect for an exceedingly successful student. However we all quickly noticed an odd phenomenon. For about every three pieces of mail addressed to Charlotte Tucker, there would be one for Bradley Tucker as well. In that there was obviously no Bradley Tucker in our family, nor had there ever been, and my parents had never told anyone about their name choices until after the births, we were all somewhat dumbfounded. A college registry my dad called to investigate told him there was indeed a Bradley Tucker in their files at our address listed as a prospective student, but no plausible explanation could be offered as to how it had gotten there. Three years later, some solicitations were sent to Colin Tucker. And incredibly enough, Meredith Tucker also was sent some information on colleges, although not on nearly the scale Bradley Tucker was. Perhadps the non-existent Bradley was a more diligent student than the non-existent Meredith. To this day, junk mail addressed to Bradley or Meredith Tucker is still occasionally delivered to our house, usually in the form of credit card solicitations (the good people at Visa even feel that Meredith qualifies for Platinum status). I guess it's fairly easy to accrue great credit status when you aren't, technically speaking, an actual person. I've maintained the position that there's no way this can be JUST a coincidence, but my parents swear up and down it's the only explanation.

(D.V.) One coincidence I remember my pastor told me about that happened to him defines the phrase "small world". He was up in Erie, Pennsylvania with a family that asked him to be there for their son who was dying of cancer. Anyways, while taking the elevator up to the designated floor, he casually started talking to another man in the elevator. Upon hearing him speak he noticed the very familiar Pittsburghese accent. Curiously, my pastor asked him if he was in fact from Pittsburgh in which the man replied yes. This instantly brought back memories of my pastor's neighborhood in which he grew up in. Surprisingly, the man said he lived in the same neighborhood. What was even more astonishing was that, as it turns out after a couple more questions that these two strangers lived in the same house. My pastor's family sold the ouse to this guy's family some 30 years ago. Talk about a small world!

I went camping two weeks ago. My husband and I went with another couple. He was friends with the husband and I had never met the wife, When we did meet we found many similarities. We had both purchased the same jacket from the same store the week before our camping trip. Her husband proposed to her in the same place and spot where my husband proposed to me. We listened to the same music which is not main stream and we both have food allergies to milk and other products. We both drink the same type of soy milk for the same reason. It was sort of strange all of the coincidences we found out about in the 2 day weekend.

(B.W.) In April of 1998, I was traveling from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Houston, Texas. The actor Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, the X-Files) was also on the plane. In the Houston airport I had the chance to meet and speak with him.

(B.W.) Earlier this year, I met a girl who went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. My best friend from back home also goes to the Art Institute. I told my best friend that I had met this girl who went there and she was real cool. So their school started and my friend called me up, and he was explaining this girl that he had met at the Art Institute, and to my surprise he was talking about the same girl I was talking about and had met the weekend before!

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