I have a fond memory involving a tarot reading I recieved in college (not nearly as awesome as the story upthread, but still fun).
I had just moved in with a new roommate and we were chatting and getting to know each other. She mentioned she was into tarot and offered to do a reading. I was game, so she pulled out her cards and had me pick nine cards from the face-down deck, which she proceeded to place face-up in her preferred spread. As she laid them out and I saw the images for the first time (they were quite lovely), I was like, "You have a bird deck? That's so cool!"
She went pale and gave me an odd look. "No. I don't have a bird deck. It's an animal deck."* She showed me some of the other cards and sure enough, there were all kinds of critters represented. I'd just happened to pull all birds.
I no longer recall the details of the reading itself, or even what birds represented - it wasn't anything bad - but I'll never forget how strongly it affected her. She was legitimately freaked out. Talk about a doozy of an ice-breaker.
*Just did some poking around the internet and, based on the year and what I recall of the artwork, I'm fairly certain it was the Druid Animal Oracle Deck.