"NEIMAN MARCUS"INTERNET HOAX

COOKIE STORY & RECIPE

Recently, the internet community has endured a wave of e-mail hoaxes and pranks, exploiting users unfamiliarity with how the internet, and computer systems in general work. With the explosive growth of the internet and its popularity, more and more new users are "getting online" and becoming targets for pranksters. "Ancient" myths, like the cookie story, are just waiting for a critical mass of people who have not been exposed, so that they can go streaming across the net again. There is no technical solution to this problem. Even when users users become experienced enough to be able to tell a silly message when they see one, anyone can get suckered sometimes. It seems that all users of the internet will have to put up with a certain amount of nonsense. The cookie story (Mrs. Fields, Neimen Marcus, etc.) is a myth. It has been circulating for at least 10 years in various forms. Although the story is a hoax, the recipe is quite good. The Story and Recipe are reproduced for you below:

"This message is sent to you with the hope you will forward it to EVERYONE you have ever

even seen the e-mail address of. In the spirit of the originator, please feel free to post it

anywhere and everywhere.

Okay, everyone....a true story of justice in the good old U.S. of A. Thought y'all might enjoy
this; if nothing else, it shows internet justice, if it can be called that.

My daughter & I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas & decided to have
a small dessert. Because our family are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the
"Neiman-Marcus Cookie". It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe
and they said with a small frown, "I'm afraid not." Well, I said, would you let me buy the
recipe? With a cute smile, she said, "Yes." I asked how much, and she responded, "Two fifty."
I said with approval to just add it to my tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement from Neiman-Marcus and it was $285.00. I looked
again and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I
glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe - $250.00." Boy, was I upset!!
I called Neiman's Accounting Dept. and told them the waitress said it was "two fifty," and I did
not realize she meant $250.00 for a cookie recipe.

I asked them to take back the recipe and reduce my bill and they said they were sorry, but
because all the recipes were this expensive so not just everyone could duplicate any of our
bakery recipes... the bill would stand.

I waited, thinking of how I could get even or even try and get any of my money back.

I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250.00 and now I'm going to have $250.00 worth of fun."
I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover will have a $250.00 cookie recipe
from Neiman-Marcus for nothing. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "I'm sorry
but this is the only way I feel I could get even," and I will.

So, here it is, and please pass it to someone else or run a few copies... I paid for it; now you
can have it for free.

(Recipe may be halved.):

2 cups butter 4 cups flour

2 tsp. soda 2 cups sugar

5 cups blended oatmeal** 24 oz. chocolate chips

2 cups brown sugar 1 tsp. salt

1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated) 4 eggs

2 tsp. baking powder 3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

2 tsp. vanilla

Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars.

Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add

chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie

sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Have fun!!! This is not a joke --- this is a true story. That's it. Please, pass it along to everyone
you know, single people, mailing lists, etc...

Ride free, citizen!"

Remember most internet hoaxes involve chain letters (trying to get you to pass it on to someone else). This does nothing but tie up valuable server time. Do Not Forward these chain letters.

"NEIMAN MARCUS"INTERNET HOAX

COOKIE STORY & RECIPE

Remember most internet hoaxes involve chain letters (trying to get you to pass it on to someone else). This does nothing but tie up valuable server time. Do Not Forward these chain letters.

For more information about Internet Hoaxes point your browser to:

http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/hoax.html