Wednesday, I went in Country Mart to get scratchers out of the machine. Some to send Genius in his weekly letter I mail on Thursdays. Some for The Pony. Some for myself.
I stepped up to the right-side machine, and put in a twenty. I selected my $5 crossword, a new Break the Bank $5 ticket for Genius, and a $3 Gold Mine, also for me. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the balance, and saw $17! How was that possible? I had only put in a twenty! And I'd bought $13 so far.
Obviously, there had been $10 on the lottery machine when I put in my twenty. Again, I don't look to see if there's a balance on it before inserting my money. Just like I never went around sticking my finger in the coin return slots of pay telephones. There isn't SUPPOSED to be money in there.
As I was re-bobulating myself, a lady came out from behind the service desk which is about three feet away. As she walked past me, I said...
"I don't suppose you noticed anybody getting tickets from this machine. There was money left in it. I put in a twenty, and look, I've bought $13 so far. [I displayed my tickets] But there's still $17 left on the balance."
"Well, I didn't notice anybody."
"I know there's probably nothing you can do about it. I don't care if you guys treat yourself to tickets with what's in there. I'm just saying, there must have been $10 on it when I put in my money. So I'm only spending what I put in, and leaving the rest. It's not mine."
"I wonder if somebody checked their ticket, and then hit YES instead of NO."
"I don't know how any of that works. I always put in money. Let's see. I'm going to take this $2 ticket. And this $5. And I'm done now. I tell you, these new tickets aren't paying me anything!"
"I know! They're not."
"Okay, then. I'm leaving that amount in there. Not mine. Just telling you."
I went out. She stood there looking at the machine. Again, I don't care what they do with it. I just wasn't going to spend not-my-money.
Even Steven must have approved. I won $20 on a $3 ticket, and $15 on a $5. The Pony won $4 on his $2 ticket. No word yet on Genius's tickets
4 comments:
Even Steven was pleased that you are an honest person and rewarded you! I wish Even Steven would pay my laptop a visit, a it does not want me to comment lately!
What a honest person you are. Or, is just that you're worried that Even Steven will punish you if you take someone else's money?
I'm wondering now if I would have just used the $10 and not said anything, or if I would have owned up like you did. I'm also thinking I might have noticed the $10 balance before putting my money in and mentioned it to the assistant. We don't have those types of self serve machines here, so I'll never know.
Kathy,
Even Steven likes to dangle that carrot on a stick, to see if I will take it. I wish he'd stop fiddle-faddling with New Delly's mouse. It thinks I'm right-clicking about half the time I'm left-clicking. It's been going on for three days now. I might need a new mouse. It probably costs around $10...
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Sioux,
Gotta admit, I'm wary of Even Steven.
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River,
I love those machines! I can browse and get what I want, without taking up the time of a clerk. I never look at the balance before putting in my money. I still feel bad about last time, when I used that $5 one of the employees apparently left in it while talking, right before my turn. Not sure what I would have done this time, if this worker hadn't walked by me right then. With nobody around to report it to, I might have left it anyway.
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