Why I hate lottery...

[El Pollo Guerrera]

... I play the lotto ...




... I'm never gonna get out of my current job unless I win...




BUT not all the time, and I am organized when I do go the counter when I buy tickets.

See. I put aside a few bucks whenever I get paid, but let the money build up for a couple of months before buying. Plus, I add in any winnings from previous draws and any free tickets. So, when I do buy, I end up spending around a hundred dollars for one draw.

I also have been known to let other customers ahead of me so that they can go on with their day and not wait. I'm just that kind of guy.



ON ANOTHER NOTE, I did see a guy completely flip out when a clerk refused to validate his winning ticket.

Then I got to see the card... it was one of those scratch'n'win cards that had a maze of some kind, and the 'winner' didn't follow the rules and drew a line straight to the jackpot square.

He stormed out of the business swearing and yelling that he would just go elsewhere to get his prize...

[jjc927]

I see one guy in the store I work in at least twice a week that he will stand at the customer service station for at least an hour just playing scratch offs.

I also once saw a woman turn in $257 worth of winning tickets just to spend that money on more tickets.

[Bright_Star]

I had some managers who did the constantly rotating scratch-off thing. One was talking about how he'd won X amount of money on one ticket and y on another and how much he'd made. I asked him how much he'd spent on buying scratch tickets this week. It didn't seem to sink in, though.

They don't seem to realize that if they spend more than they "win" then they haven't really won anything.

[Seshat]

My father gave me good advice for gambling.

Treat it as entertainment. Select how much you want to spend on the evening's entertainment. Put that in your left pocket. That's where you spend your gambling from.

Put any winnings in your right pocket.

Nothing in your wallet or your right pocket may be spent on anything while you're gambling. If you don't have the discipline to stick to that rule, he figures gambling isn't a wise form of entertainment for you.

That way, if you did win anything, you take it home. And if you didn't, you only spent what you'd allotted for the entertainment anyway. No different from seeing a movie, or buying a book, or any other form of entertainment.

[ArcticChicken]

I had some managers who did the constantly rotating scratch-off thing. One was talking about how he'd won X amount of money on one ticket and y on another and how much he'd made. I asked him how much he'd spent on buying scratch tickets this week. It didn't seem to sink in, though.

[MournBlade]

I don't remember who said it but lottery is a tax on people bad at math - no surprise they are less than stellar in other areas as well including manners.

[parresa]

I work at a gas station. We have scratch off tickets under a glass display case. Lottery drives me absolutely crazy.

As soon as I see someone lean their elbows down on the counter and stare at the lottery I get a sinking feeling. It's very rare that someone will quickly tell me what tickets they want, buy them, and leave. Most of the time it goes something like this:

SC: I'd like a number 5 *LONG PAUSE* and a number 7 *LONG PAUSE* and 2 of the lucky millions from the other register's tickets *LONG PAUSE* and another number 5 *LONG PAUSE*what number is number 6 on?

Me: 57.

SC: Okay I'll take one of those *LONG PAUSE*no make it two *LONG PAUSE* give me a number 17...

All the while the line is building up.

Then there's lottery witch. I don't see her much now that I work 3rd but I stayed over this morning and she came in. This is my memory of this lady:

Lottery Witch: I'd like a $10 ticket! I want your manager to pick one for me, then we can take our vacation to Mexico! HAHAHA! (she tells this "joke" every time and my manager always picks out a ticket for her).

Me: I'm sorry, Manager isn't here today, which ticket would you like?

Lottery Witch: You can pick one for me!

Me: *picks ticket* Okay, here you are, that will be $10 please.

Lottery Witch: No. Give me a number 18.

I'm pretty sure she deliberately asked me to pick one so that she could insult me by refusing to buy whatever I picked.

Then there's repeat customers. They buy tickets, run out to their cars and scratch them, then immediately turn in whatever has won, then use the money to buy more tickets. I have a regular customer on 3rd who does 2-8 transactions in quick succession depending on his winnings. It drives me nuts. Just buy your tickets and get out!

Then you get a customer like Crazy Lady:

Crazy Lady: I'd like 10 number 4s.

Me: No problem. *pulls out tickets and folds them in half as it's a long sheet*

Crazy Lady: NO DON'T FOLD THEM NEVER FOLD THEM!!!

The worst though are the people returning scratchoffs that aren't winners. It's very common for people to hand me a stack of 20 scratched tickets but there are only 3 winners in the pile. For each ticket I have to scan it, enter a number from the ticket (half the time I have to scratch it off to reveal the number myself since they didn't) press send, and wait a second. All the while the line gets longer.

I really hate lottery.

Edit: I forgot this one...

Customer: I'd like a winning ticket please. Hahaha!

Yeah I only hear that one about 5 times a day. Shut up.