Lottery Madness (sorta long)

[Talasar]

Just a quick one before I run to bed.

Yesterday's power ball jackpot was at 500million USD for those who don't know. Needless to say yesterday we sold TONS of tickets for it. Not a big surprise and not the suck in question.

Well this morning I was doing books (Yey for mostly trained assistant manager) with a Cashier on duty. I work in a C-store so where I do books is literally right behind our main register. Unless I'm counting the deposit then I'll be locked in the back room.

Now at my store we have a few regulars that ask for 'winning tickets' either quick picks on the various lottery tickets we sell or scratch cards. It's normally just joking or 'Well I don't want to ask for a losing one!' If they don't when they brush it off an buy another one.

Turns out, this what we all thought was a perfectly harmless joke has finally come back to bite us.

Little bit of back story here. We have two new girls in my story, J and N. N is not new to the company just to my store. She's one of those 'been shoved to just about every store in town' types and is basically useless. Customers hate her, her coworkers hate having to catch up the work she didn't do on her shift, and if we weren't sort two people she'd be fired by now. J is new, she's great and while she's still making those 'new employee' mistakes she learns from them.

Last night before my shift N was working and apparently sold this SC a lotto ticket. He says he asked for 'a big winner', normal enough request that we all take for jokes (though apparently we shouldn't).

SC of course did not get a big winner, so he shows up today with his non-winning ticket in hand, while I'm doing books. So I was present for all of this.

SC- Irate guy with a losing ticket.
J- Shiny newbie
Me- Third Shifter and assistant manager
W- Boss man AKA my manager.
Officer M- Regular cop customer, likes three hour old black decaff coffee.
Officer P- Other Regular cop customer, doesn't drink coffee but buys lots a red bull.

J- Normal greeting everyone gets when walking into the store.
SC-I want to speak to your manager.
J- Okay, one of the assistant managers is right here. *gestures back at me*
Me-*sets the stupid liquor invoice I was battling a side* Hi, what can I do for you, sir?
SC-I bought this ticket last night and it's not a winner!
Me-Okay...?
SC- Well the girl last night said it would be!
Me- Sir we have no way of guaranteeing winner or not.
SC- The girl last night said it was a big winner when I asked for one! I want a refund or a winning ticket!
Me- Sir lottery tickets are completely non-refundable or exchange especially after the draw date. I'm sorry there's nothing I can do for you.
SC- Yes there is you can give me my money back!
Me- Unfortunately I can't. We can refund lottery tickets.
SC- The girl last night said it'd be a big winner!
Me- Sir I have no way of telling what the clerk that worked last night said or not. Even if she did say that which I doubt she did, I can't refund that ticket. Or any other ticket.
SC- Get me your manager!
Me- Sir I'm the MOD today, there are no other managers in the store right now.
SC- Then CALL HIM!

Me- Alright one second please. *grabs the store phone to call W*
W- *clearly just woken up by his phone* What'd you break?
Me- Nothing this time, there's a guy here that wants to return a lotto ticket because it didn't win. He claims N said it was a big winner.
W- We don't do lottery ticket returns.
Me- I told him that. Didn't work. Ideas?
W- Tell him again.
Me- Okay.*Hangs up* *To SC* My manager says we don't take lottery ticket returns, no exceptions.
SC- You stupid *!#@ @$@#% the girl last night said it'd be a winner! It's not and I want my money back.
J-
Me- *slow blink, deep breath, turns on the patented 'dealing with drunken idiots on third shift' voice* Alright sir, as this has turned into you swearing at me and not listening. You now have two options one you can leave my store of you're own volition, or two I can call the police and have you removed from the property banning you from a C-store* locations for life.
SC- I SAID I WANT A REFUND.
Me- Option two it is. *dialing 9-11 as Officers M & P walk in* Oh good, you saved me a phone call! Could you two please help this nice gentlemen off the property for refusing to leave my store?
SC- I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT A REFUND!
Officer M- Sir why don't you come outside with me and explain my while my partner talks to Talasar?
SC-Not without my refund.
Me- I can't give him a refund on lottery tickets, especially not ones that have been drawn already.

This whole time there's been a small interest group of customer gathering to watch. Because hey real life drama is the best. Officer M move to sort of usher SC out of the store, SC struggles he either flails or takes a swing at Officer M, Officer P joins in, and about five seconds later SC is in cuffs being hauled out screaming by the nice officers.

Moral of this story? Make sure to tell everyone asking for big winners that you can't promise jack with a side of squat. I really don't get paid enough for this.

[barainga]

Well, it was a winning ticket. It wasnt your fault they drew the wrong numbers.

[depechemodefan]

I just...wow....

Same thing at the library, people call us for something, and then say, "can you give me the winning numbers for tommorrow's lotto?" They expect you to joke with them, but since I'm not a joker and rather serious Isay, "sorry, I don't have it." then they get pissy because I'm not joking with them.

N sounds sucky with other things but probably not sucky for the sc's belief he would get a winning number; it could have happened with anyone. Unless N was serious that she was going to sell him a winning ticket (sc: I dont want to get a ticket, it's a waste of money. N: no, you will totally win, I guarentee it). You joke with them and it bites you on the ass or you are serious with them and it bites you on the ass.

I just still can't wrap my mind around the guy seriously thinking he would get the winning number. Yeah for cops!

[Talasar]

I have no doubt that if N did say 'Oh yeah it's the winning ticket' she was joking. I gripe about how useless she is often and it slipped in here. I'll probably end up doing a co-workers rant about her eventually.

[barainga]

I remember while back I saw a post on here. Some one who worked for a paper had someone calling in wanting the next days lotto numbers.

[Swordsman422]

What a shithead.

You have to love it though when some of your best customers are local cops. When Gabby Proctor and I were both working at the hobby hole, the local policemen were our buds. Whenever a customer threatened to call the police becuase they didn't like our return policy, we'd let them. Woe unto them when they discovered that the officer on scene was happy to answer. He got an excuse to go to the hobby shop while on duty and he got to laugh some asshat out of the store as a bonus.

[Talasar]

I regularly comp officers that come in their fountain drinks/coffee because I like having them come in when I'm working over nights. That and the fact we have the only restroom in like a mile radius they can use. M and P are awesome guys and always seem to show up when there's trouble brewing. It's like they have some sort of radar for it.

[XCashier]

How could the SC not know that the ticket was non-refundable? Basic Common Sense 101, plus I'm sure it says so on the ticket itself. I have never, ever heard of any place giving refunds for non-winning tickets. I doubt very strongly that N guaranteed the ticket, even jokingly, and even if she did, so what? She's a store cashier, not the Lottery Commisioner.

Hooray for Officers M and P! Superb sense of timing!

Lets hope a nice stay at the Greybar Hotel teaches that asshat a lesson he won't soon forget.

[Victory Sabre]

It was very fun to sell 30 to 40 times the amount of tickets because of the massive Powerball jackpot. I'm glad we didn't get anyone like that, but it would be fun to take care of some idiot like that.

[depechemodefan]

I hope the sc appears before Judge Judy to sue the C-store for not giving him he winning ticket. It's people like him that make me wonder how we as a species will not end up dead due to stupidity.

[ArcticChicken]

My response to that one is usually "Sir, if I could do that, do you really think I'd be working here?

[Bright_Star]

Only a psychic cashier can give you a winning ticket....lol.

[MoonCat]

"Sir, let's look at the logic for a moment. Most of the tickets will not win. Do you honestly think the lottery commission, or the stores, are going to refund every single person who didn't win? Do you know what would happen if they did? There would be no money left to pay the winner, which means nobody would win!"

You could twist their brains with that.

[ZombieDeterrent]

Sorry- winning tickets are reserved for staff members

[ackmeow]

When I worked at a convenience and people asked for the winning numbers, I pull up the last set of winning numbers, print them off and hand them to them.

Some customers were as cheeky as I was and joked back, others got mad. Meh. It made me happy.