[3224] in Humor
Re: A true story
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Khusid)
Thu Jun 8 13:13:46 2000
From: "Michael Khusid" <misha37@hotmail.com>
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2000 13:08:22 EDT
Even if this is an urban legend, it's certainly worth
reading :-)
Mike
(multiple forwards removed)
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 big.. very big...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 immobilized her.
She stood and stared at the two men. She felt anxious, flustered and
ashamed. She hoped they didn't read her mind-but God, 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, and then another. 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." Instinct told her to do what they told her. The bucket of quarters
flew upwards as she threw out 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 mightily to hold in a belly 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, ma'am." He spoke genially. 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 them roaring with
laughter as they walked back to the elevator. The woman brushed herself off.
She 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
Michael Jordan
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