I Tried To Work In a P.K. Dick Refence In The Title But Failed Because Nothing Usable Rhymed With "Solar"
For years, I picked out 365-day calendars for the people at work who actually do all the work--aka, not the managers or "vice presidents." It's about a dozen people, usually, and I always enjoy giving out the calendars, and everyone seems to enjoy getting them.This year, though, I had another idea.
"So," I said one day in early December to three people who work in the back office, "would you guys rather have your pick of calendars this year, or would you rather have the equivalent amount in lottery tickets?"
In less than a picosecond, they all said "LOTTERY TICKETS!"
Every person in the office wanted lottery tickets. Remember, this was a choice between a calendar with a different page every day or lottery tickets that could (in total) be scratched off in less than two minutes. But there's that gambling thrill, that one in a million chance, that somehow makes it exciting.
I'm the wrong person to get that thrill, because I've always said that lottery tickets are a tax on people who don't understand math. But free lottery tickets are a different matter.
A woman who works near me (who is one of my favorite people in the office) came up to me after she had scratched off her lottery tickets. "How'd you do?" I asked.
"I made twelve dollars!" she said.
"Hey, at least that's enough for a nice lunch," I said.
"Or," she said, laughing, "it's enough to get--a calendar!"
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