This is 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 she 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... and 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. Surely they knew her
hesitation about joining them the elevator was all too obvious. 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: Do what they tell you. The bucket of quarters
flew upwards as she threw out her arms and collapsed on the elevator
carpet.
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. She 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 man 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.

She 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 3 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 while 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