The guessing game.

I hate embarassing situations. But here is one I am subjected to on an occasional basis.

My friend says to me:
"Guess how much I paid for this bonsai tree!"

In front of me sits this little thing. It's cute, and looks like a pretty example of a miniature tree.

Now, I know how this annecdote is supposed to work:
I guess a arbitrary figure, and then the teller of the annecdote amazes me, by revealing the price is x10 in either direction.
"OH WOW! It was that much/little?"
Fin.

But there is a problem.
I have absolutely zero knowledge of how much a bonsai tree is worth.

You could tell me £15, and you could tell me £1,500, and neither would particularly amaze me.

But if this annecdote is going to work, we are going to have to avoid that part where I make a guess and it is virtually right. That makes for a terrible annecdote.

What I tend to do is make a ridiculous guess.
"£1 million" I say, in the hope that this will save the annecdote.

Inevitably, though, they role their eyes and say:
"Come on, have a serious guess"

Well, that might have been a serious guess! I don't know! And now this stupid story about the price of a tiny tree has become worse than uninteresting; it has become something that is causing great stress.

I am now at the point where I am forced to make a serious guess.
But the problem is that, because they have asked me, I know that the actual figure is going to be incongruous to what it should be.

So now I have to try to guess whether they are trying to impress by how high the price is, or how low.
Cos if I guess £50 now, but the revealed discount the price is £75 (but should have been about £350) the the story is ruined.

If I guess £500, and it actually cost them £350, the story is similarly ruined.

I can't win.