TL;DR I accidentally kind of threatened Martin Luther Kings Jrs wife...without knowing it
When I was in college I worked for a midsize luxury hotel brand at the front desk, bell hop, bartender, security and pretty much anything they needed. Once there was s large enclave of Southern Black Baptist staying in the hotel for some charity event or something. I was told the big suite and adjoining room was being held for the babysitter who would watch the children of the leaders during the event. I was told she was to be given whatever she wants and it was comped as part of the package. Pretty typical in large events. The lady showed up around 10PM and I loaded the bags onto a cart and began conversing with the old lady while I walked her to her suit. She was very nice, we talked about our religion, my service in the Corps and my college classes. Somehow we began talking about the worst thing that could happen, as a joke. Stuff like '' at least we didnt have an earthquake'' or whatever, joking around politely. So, it took 15 minutes to get her to her room and unload her junk. The whole time she kept insisting she needed to pay and I assured her there was no need. By the time I was done she was downright obstinate that she wanted to go downstairs and pay. We argued for a few moments until I, in keeping with our running joke said
''Mam its fine, Ill take care of anything and its noted in your file, worst come to worst I'll have to explain, its not like they are going to shoot us''
Her face dropped, she responded with ''that will be all'' and ushered me out of the room. While walking downstairs I saw my buddy (who happened to be black ) and hes all excited I got to talk to the old lady. I said ''whatev, old hag didnt tip me, 20 minutes and all i got was attitude''. Of course, he looked at me like I had grown an extra ear and said ''you know that was Coretta Scott King...Dr Kings wife?''
Shit meet fan. In my defense, the only pictures I had ever seen of her were from the '60s beside MLK. To this very day I feel terrible about this. Some dude, in a hotel in the south, tells Kings wife no one is going to shoot her, inferring ''like they did your husband''