``My daughter and I had finished a salad at the Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas and decided to have a small desert. We decided to try the Neiman-Marcus Cookie. It was so good that I asked if they would give me the recipe. She said with a frown, `I'm afraid not', `Well', I said, `Would you let me buy the recipe?' She agreed. I asked how much, and she responded `Two Fifty'. I said with approval, `Just add it to my tab'.
``Thirty days later I received my statement from Neiman-Marcus and it was $285.00. I looked again and remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement said 'Cookie Recipe-$250'. Boy was I upset! I called Neiman's accounting office and told them the waitress said it was `two fifty' and did not realize she meant $250 for a cookie recipe. I asked them to take back the recipe and reduce my bill, but they said they were sorry, but all recipes were this expensive so not just anyone could duplicate the bakery recipes...the bill stood.
``I thought of how I could try to get even or try to get my money back. I just said okay, you folks got my $250 and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover will have the $250 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 can get even and I will.' So here it is, please pass it on to someone else or run a few copies...I paid for it, so now you can have it for free!!!''