Why I am a Geek

[charliesmum]

I'm listening to The Barsky Show, and they are talking about this story where some bartender at Applebees got a $10,000 tip, and they are having people call in with their good tip stories, and someone calls in saying his friend (or father or something) saw on the Oprah show that Donald Trump paid for some guy's house after the guy helped him with a flat tire.

Now anyone who is even a casual reader of Snopes.com probably recognises this as an Urban Legend, and Barsky and Company are believing this, so what do I do? Email them with the link. It was bugging the heck out of me that they would be duped over this.

The funny thing is, some guy called in with a story about how a woman left him her room key, and offered to sleep with him, and they didn't believe that.

The good news is, they got my email and announced they were duped, so I feel all vindicated now.

Comments

[nam-jai.livejournal.com]

Good for you!

Thanks to being a Snopes reader, I have more than once prevented an urban legend from getting into print at the newspaper where work. I think the culprits have always been columnists, throwing in a story they don't bother to check if it's fact, as long as it proves their point.

[silverhill.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way. I recently forwarded a Snopes link to a friend who insisted that a certain story was true.

His response was "It's real! A coworker heard it from a nurse .... which is exactly how urban legends get started."

:)

[chavvah.livejournal.com]

I always check Snopes when I get one of those 'missing children' forwards, or whenever someone tells me a story that sounds too fantastic to be true. It's also proof that truth is stranger than fiction!

[archaica.livejournal.com]

Good for you!

[october31st.livejournal.com]

Would you be able to link us to that particular Snopes page? I've seen a news story on Yahoo about this with names and locations and everything and cannot find any Snopes link refuting it.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Here ya go! (http://www.snopes.com/luck/trump.htm)

[october31st.livejournal.com]

Oh, ok, thanks! I misread the post and thought you meant the Applebee's thing is false, but I understand now. I guess the other story arises from the hope that, as Homer Simpson put it, "if you help a rich man, he SHOWERS YOU WITH RICHES!"

[jessii-6.livejournal.com]

Snopes.com is a great thing. It happened to me recently as well - although on a smaller scale. Some people will believe anything