Sophos has verified (not that we needed them to) this is a hoax:
Subject: Fw: PLEASE DO THIS, IT IS HYSTERICAL!
An old lady walked into a Grocery Store.
She wanted to buy the best dog food in the world
for her little puppy.She went up to the cash register to buy the food.
The saleslady told her that the store did not allow
old ladies to buy animal food unless they show the
actual animal because a lot of old ladies like to
eat the animal food themselves.So, the old lady went home, got her dog and went
back to the store to buy her dog food.The next day she came back to buy the best cat
food around.But the Sales lady told her the same thing, so the
old lady went back home and brought her cat to the
Grocery Store to buy the cat food.The next day the old lady went to the Grocery Store
again carrying a big container.She went up to the the sales lady and said, “Put
your hand inside here “..The Saleslady shook her head. ” NO ” , she said,
“there is probably something in there that will
bite me!” .“I promise you there is nothing in here that will
bite you,” the old lady said.So the Saleslady stuck her hand inside the container
and screamed.To find out what was inside the container you
must send it to at least 8 people.When the computer says your mail has been sent,
hit ALT-8 and the container will pop up on your
screen.
Please do not forward these type of things. They waste people’s time and bandwidth.
August 23rd, 2006 at 2:05 pm
THIS DOES NOT WORK YOU WILL NEVER FIND OUT WHAT IS IN THE BOX!!!!!
February 26th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
If you want the answer for this chain letter go to: http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/oldlady.html
September 20th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
There is another, darker reason hoaxes like these are created or propagated. When you forward a message, your address and those of the people you sent it to are automatically added to a part of the message called a “header.” Your e-mail program may not display these headers, but they are there. Some spammers (spam is unsolicited commercial e-mail) put themselves on mailing lists or groups so that they can get these oft-forwarded chain letters and search the headers for addresses they can use to send their junk to. I counted nearly 200 e-mail addresses in the latest version of this one I received. If you get a lot of spam and wonder why, maybe this is your answer. Break this Chain.
Oh, and in case you were wondering about the joke, here is the unabridged (and only slightly funnier) version:
An old lady went to the store to buy some food for her dog. Upon reaching the check-out, the clerk told her “I’m sorry ma’am, but the store manager heard that many old ladies on limited incomes buy dog food and eat it themselves. We now have a policy - if you want to buy dog food, you have to show us your dog.”
Annoyed, the lady went home, got her faithful Fido, and returned to the store, where they sold her the dog food without question.
The next day, she returned to the store to buy cat food. Again, she’s reproached by the cashier: “I’m sorry ma’am, but the store manager heard that many old ladies on limited incomes buy cat food and eat it themselves. We now have a policy - if you want to buy cat food, you have to show us your cat.”
Frustrated, the woman stormed home, retrieved her precious fluffy and returned to the store, where she was sold her cat food without further incident.
The next day, the woman returned to the store and strode right up to the cashier with a box in her hand.
“Put your hand in this box,” she told the puzzled clerk.
“What’s in it?” the clerk asked.
“Just put your hand in here,” the lady said.
“No, there’s probably something in there that will bite me”
“Nothing will bite you, I promise.”
Reluctantly, the clerk put her hand in the box, felt the contents, pulled them out to examine them and let out a scream. Smiling, the old lady asked “now, may I please buy some toilet paper?”
Break this chain.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Thank you for the answer; I haate chain mails like this
March 5th, 2008 at 9:17 am
I got angry when the message wouldn’t work, so instead I googled it and found your site. I am glad I found it in time. I then copied and pasted the answer and sent everyone who had received the message from me an explanation and told them to delete the “Hilarious” message. Thank you for warning people.
May 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
After receiving the message three times, I gave it a try. I got mad when it didn’t work, so I Googled it and found your website. I felt bad sending this to all my friends, so I sent them an explanation. To find a funnier version of ‘Old Lady’, go to: http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/oldlady.html.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
omg… I got this a million time nad it’s killing me. grrrr… I hate it when I get these type of chain mails
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:13 am
Don’t send any Emails that advise you to FW: anything to your friends……….or you might start losing them.
PS:I am an agnostic
and happy that way
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Good advice Drew.
PS: You don’t have to be agnostic. And if the Bible is true, you won’t always be happy that way.