Carol The Coupon Queen

Carol Ochaba, from Rhode Island, USA, has two all-consuming obsessions - and a plate for each of them.

For 46 years, she has worked as a waitress at Chan's Chinese Restaurant in the splendidly named town of Woonsocket. Her dedication to duty is largely due to a passion for the establishment's delicious boneless chicken and gravy - with pickled beetroot on the side.

At 63 years of age, however, Carol has now decided that it is time for her to retire. But she has the number plate PUPU-4-2 as a memento of her tireless service to the catering profession - and the boneless chicken!

Her other life-long interest is collecting 'special offer' coupons from newspapers and magazines. One of Carol's claims to fame is that she was once crowned 'The Coupon Queen', after her coupon collecting was the subject of the PM Magazine TV show in 1983.

By fastidiously collecting hundreds of grocery coupons she managed, on one occasion to buy $581 of food for an outlay of just $20. If it wasn't for the tax, they still would have owed me 71 cents, she says.

Carol decided to mark her new-found celebrity status by purchasing the number plate QPONS. My life is laugh, she says. If you can't laugh, give it up.

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