Ok, so I'm breaking my own rules. But this is to good to not to share !

True or not, this is a cute story, and a good example to all of us.

Never judge a book by its cover! BLACK ROBBERS - True Story. By far the best email I've read so far....For anyone who didn't see David Letterman's take on this (and it's a true story...)

On a recent weekend in Atlantic City, a woman won a bucketful of quarters at a slot machine. She took a break from the slots for dinner with her husband in the hotel dining room. But first she wanted to stash the quarters in her room.

"I'll be right back and we'll go to eat," she told her husband and carried
the coin-laden bucket to the elevator. As she was about to walk into the
elevator she noticed two men already aboard. Both were black. One of them was tall...very tall...an intimidating figure. The woman froze. Her first thought was: these two are going to rob me.

Her next thought was: don't be a bigot, they look like perfectly nice gentlemen. But racial stereotypes are powerful, and fear mobilized her. She stood and stared at the two men. She felt anxious, flustered, and ashamed.
She hoped they didn't read her mind but, gosh, they had to know what she was thinking!!! Her hesitation about joining them in the elevator was all too obvious now. Her face was flushed. She couldn't just stand there, so with a mighty effort of will she picked up one foot and stepped forward and followed with the other foot and was on the elevator.

Avoiding eye contact, she turned around stiffly and faced the elevator doors as they closed. A second passed, and then another second.... Her fear increased! The elevator didn't move. Panic consumed her. My God, she thought, I'm trapped and about to be robbed! Her heart plummeted.
Perspiration poured from every pore.

Then one of the men said, "Hit the floor." SO SHE DID!!! The bucket of quarters flew up in the air as she threw up her arms and collapsed on the elevator floor. A shower of coins rained down on her. Take my money and spare me, she prayed. More seconds passed. She heard one of the men say politely, "Ma'am, if you'll just tell us what floor you're going to, we'll push the button." The one who said it had a little trouble getting the words out. He was trying so hard not to laugh.

The woman lifted her head and looked up at the two men. They reached down to help her up. Confused, she struggled to her feet. "When I told my friend here to hit the floor," said the average-sized one, "I meant that he should hit the ELEVATOR BUTTON for our floor. I didn't mean for YOU to hit the floor!" He bit his lip. It was obvious he was having a hard time not laughing.

The woman thought, my God, what a spectacle I've made of myself. She was too humiliated to speak. She wanted to blurt out an apology, but words failed her. How do you apologize to two perfectly respectable gentlemen for behaving as though they were going to rob you? She didn't know what to say..
The three of them gathered up the strewn quarters and refilled her bucket.
When the elevator arrived at her floor, they insisted on walking her to her room. She seemed a little unsteady on her feet, and they were afraid she might not make it down the corridor.

At her door they bid her a good evening. As she slipped into her room she could hear the echoes of laughter as they walked back to the elevator. The woman, extremely embarrassed, pulled herself together and went downstairs for dinner with her husband.

The next morning flowers were delivered to her room: a dozen roses. Attached to EACH rose was a crisp one hundred dollar bill. The card said:"Thanks for the best laugh we've had in years." It was signed: Eddie Murphy and Michael Jordan

And she didn't recognize Eddie Murphy?!?!?!

That's a great story :)

Urban legend. http://www.snopes.com/racial/mistaken/hitfloo r.asp

ok, it's an urban legend, but it's still funny.

reminder why I quitt posting. It's gotten to darn serious here.

urban legend or not it was still funny.

Actually I heard some statistic a few years ago (can't seem to find it now) that Michael Jordan is one the most reconizable people in the world.  More than some great leaders and other celebs.

funny story :)

Izzi! Please post! I didn't mean to discourage you! I'm old, ya see, so knew the tale. (I heard it first from someone who claimed it happened to her aunt's friend, and this was.... well, it was a while ago.... I'm old!)

I think the tale is funny perhaps initially, but in reality, I find it very discouraging. Blacks have more trouble getting taxis, are pulled over for "DWB" (driving while black), and so on.

But back to the tale, I saw something similar happen when my tall child was very small, just a toddler. We were at the vet's office visiting one of our cats, which had needed to be hospitalized, and the vet's wife was in the office with their little pug dog. My son was toddling around; the dog was very excited and running all over, so the vet's wife told him to "Sit!" and my son promptly obeyed! The dog didn't, however, and took the opportunity to climb all over my kid so he could lick my son's face. The vet's wife and I were howling with laughter!

That might have been the last time my son immediately obeyed someone.....! :-D

neither of my kids ever obeyed anything without trying to negoiate. Only thing to say about the story, I'm from germany, never heard about it before. Just had to look up what Urban Legend meant. and the spelling fairy ain't very nice today either.

athena_tavener, ever hear the song "Mr Cabdriver" from Lenny Kravitz? Good song and I know why he wrote it too. Shame.

Story was funny, but felt it was bs since Jordan and Murphy have to be well known, there faces were all over tv and billboards, buses, movie posters, ect in the 90's.

bill (wish he could meet Eddie Murphy some day, great comedian and actor!)

izzi, kids turn into attorneys and negotiators around three, I think! Mine certainly tries to negotiate everything now, for sure (and HOW!!).

Urban legends are really interesting (IMHO), and the Snopes site (www.snopes.com) is good, entertaining reading, and covers oh, so many urban legends! There are other sites, too, which cover them pretty well, but Snopes is the first one I turn to. There's a guy, a professor somewhere out West, who has studied urban legends and written several books on them. Jan someone.... his last name escapes me and I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment..... anyway, his books ("The Choking Doberman" etc.) are good reads.

billb, I have probably heard "Mr. Cabdriver," but don't remember it, alas.