The Lady, the lift and the Strangers

I love the stories you hear from people you have just met. You know that they have said this story a few times because the words sound more confident and structured. But there is some magic about hearing a new story and knowing that you will tell it to your friends or maybe a person you’ve just met and that will be their first time hearing it and it will spread from their ears to their tongues and the story will keep travelling through different ears and mouths…

So I decided to share this story to you and maybe you will share this story?

Background information

I heard this story (which is true, may I just point out) about two weeks ago from a guy called Steve. I was doing some acting work with him at Birmingham City University and at lunch we drifted to that silence you get with people you’ve just met and don’t really know that well. And then he said, ‘One of my friends is a travel agent. Travel agents have the best stories they do.’ And that’s when I knew I was in for a treat.

The Lady, The Lift and The Strangers

One day a Scottish elderly couple in their 70s walked into the travel agents to book a holiday for their wedding anniversary. Neither of them had been abroad before but for some reason they decided they wanted to visit Las Vegas. Everything was going well on their holiday until as they were walking out of their hotel, the old lady realised she had left her handbag in her hotel room. She told her husband to wait in reception whilst she retrieved it and headed towards the lift.

As she was walking, she felt the presence of people behind her and turned to see three black men following her. (No racist comment intended- facts are facts) The old lady felt threatened by their presence and hurried into the lift with the hope it would close quickly. Unfortunately, her wish was not granted and the men followed her into the lift.

‘Hit the floor’, one of the men said. The old lady quickly dived onto the floor, her hands on her head, trembling with fear. The men seemed taken aback by lady’s response. They had merely meant for her to choose which floor her room was on, yet she presumed they were going to mug her! The men felt terrible that they had upset the old lady and calmed her down and walked her to her room to make sure she was okay.

The last day of their holiday arrived and the elderly couple went to reception to pay for their room. Yet, the staff at reception seemed adamant that their bills had been paid. Confused, the elderly man asked to see the manager to explain.

‘Are you the lady from the lift?’ said the manager to the old lady. She blushed, presuming her incident had travelled around the hotel.

‘Yes.’

‘All your bills had been paid as an apology by Mr Will Smith,’ the manager said with a smile. It turned out that the three men were none other than Will Smith and his body guards!

Hope you enjoyed this (true) story!

What would you do if you were in a lift with Will Smith?

xxx