I saw the subject line and thought, “Oh, no. Not THAT hoax, again.” Then I looked at the sender. My jaw fell to the floor. (Actual jaw shown at left) The e-mail said:

PLEASE READ THIS - THIS IS FROM MY FRIEND [name withheld] IN MICHIGAN - AND IT REALLY HAPPENED TO HIM - I THINK HIS APPROACH TO GETTING BACK AT CORPORATE AMERICA IS AWESOME! READ AND THEN GO BAKE!!

Yes, it was the 20-year-old Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe chain letter, where someone purports to be getting back at corporate America by forwarding a cookie recipe that normally costs hundreds of dollars. Of course, it’s a hoax. Google “neiman-marcus cookie hoax” and you’ll see what I mean.

But how could this be? This came from a woman I not only work with but respect as a highly intelligent human being. Granted, she was in a sorority at Michigan State. Grabba Kanna Pabsta, I believe. But you can’t hold that against her. (She’s in the photo on the left, though I’m not entirely sure which one is her. That was taken just before her Freshman Chemistry final, which she subsequently slept through)

I had to immediately write her back and chastise her for forwarding that e-mail. She replied with the same thing I’ve heard a hundred times: “Well, I usually check Snopes, but this came from a friend of mine and…” yada-yada-yada. I will never be able to look at her the same way, again. Like Tonya Harding, OJ Simpson and Kwame Kilpatrick ..the lustre’s just gone, man.

So, let this be a lesson to you: 99% of all e-mail forwards are hoaxes. Kelsey Brooke Jones was never really missing, AOL and Windows never invented e-mail tracking software and Neiman-Marcus doesn’t sell cookie recipes.

Now, copy this blog and forward it to all of your friends. Once it reaches a thousand recipients, CBS will send you a check for a zillion dollars. Do it. It really really works!!!

(add your own stories!!)

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