***This did not happen to me, but I thought it was a funny story, and I'm going to bake these cookies this weekend. You should try it too!
When decent people get screwed over, this is the result! A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don't know already, is a very expensive store; I.e., they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00. Lets let them have it! THIS IS A TRUE STORY! My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us 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 the waitress said with a small frown, 'I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe.' Well, I asked how much, she responded, ' Only two fifty - it's a Great deal!' I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my tab. Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus Charge 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.' That was Outrageous! I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was 'two-fifty', which clearly does not mean 'two hundred and fifty dollars' by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because, according to them, 'What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the Recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point.' I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the State of Texas . I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney Generals office for engaging in fraud I was basically told, 'Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your 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 in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe From Neiman-Marcus....for free. She replied, 'I wish you wouldn't do this.' I said, 'Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!' and slammed down the phone. So here it is! Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny off of this recipe!
NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)
2 cups butter 24 oz. Chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 cups sugar
18 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)
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.
Jake Ward is a wonderful friend and excellent craftsman, he did most of the work you see here. Since Brandon lost the use of his left shoulder and arm he mostly handed Jake supplies and held brackets for Jake while building this magnificent storage shelf in our garage. Thanks JAKE!!! 
After being so inspired by Jake to create more shelf space in our garage, we visited our next door neighbor who has lots of peg board walls and wire rack shelves and discussed some ideas to create our own. We visited Home Depot and got supplies. I was Brandon's left arm this time and we were able to install this wire rack shelf above or 4 X 8 ft peg board wall!
We were so inspired by Jake to add shelving to our garage that we installed a wire rack shelf and a peg board to the adjoining garage wall. Our next door neighbor has lots of it installed in his garage and he gave us some great ideas. We went to Home Depot for supplies and I was Brandon's left arm for this project. Look at our great big 4 X 8 ft peg board and wire rack shelf! - Awesome!
