I lamely Pit lottery-ticket buyers at convenience stores

Yeah, we don’t have a state lottery here in NV, but when I go to the California side of Tahoe I’ve been known to buy a scratch off ticket or occasionally the six-spot when I’m stopping to get a soda. I don’t honestly think I’m going to win, it’s mostly just for shits and giggles. I have a better chance of winning the nickel machines back home.

Although one time in PA I bought a ticket for a buck at a machine and won like $60. I was like “sweet, carton of cigarettes.”

~Tasha

I just mentioned to my best friend yesterday, " I know it is irrational, but everytime I am just trying to get a paper and a pack of gum, and someone in front of me is blowing mad money on lotto, I just have to say something."

I know I shouldn’t. And I am usually a very polite person. I swear. But almost every time I am stuck behind a lotto person, I mumble and groan and say flat out, “Grrr. You are NOT gonna win!”

What a waste. You could have re-invested that money. In 60 more tickets.

I used to work in a convenience store and I had to deal with these people. We finally had to make a rule not to scratch them off right there on the counter by the register, primarily because of one woman who would literally stand there and scratch the damn things off for an hour or more.

One time, she hit a couple hundred bucks on one - over the course of the rest of that day and the next, I watched her buy the entire rest of the roll (300 tickets). Needless to say, she did not profit in the end.

My last company sent me to training for 6 weeks. The morning lectures were so dull and painful that I started buying $2 bingo scratch off tickets with my coffee each morning.

I could waste an hour taking my time rubbing off a number and looking forward to the antipication of seeing the possibilities of winning.

I hate the mouthbreathers that have no concept of probilities and odds that hold me up getting my paper and coffee in the morning. Buying one of this two of that and forty seven of the other thing. They stand at the edge of the counter partly in the way, scratching off the codes at the edges of the cards just to see if they won or not. To me the fun of a scratch off ticket is the game itself.

I am beginning to feel like my Dad when he tells stories about paying 20 cents for the movies. The last carton of cigarettes I bought was only $4. I cannot comprehend paying $60 on a carton of cigarettes.

Jim

I’ve actually planned what I’d do if I ever won the lottery. The only trouble is I’ve never once bought a lottery ticket. I’ve gone in on tickets with people for one of the big jackpots but I’ve never bought a ticket.

All through high school and college I had a part-time job a drugstore that sold lottery tickets. The pharmacist/owner appreciated the money it brought in, but thankfully kept it as the bottom priority of the store (“we’re here to save lives, not sell lottery tickets”). The cards to fill out were off in the far corner, and the ticket area was separate from the cash register. Otherwise, we’d have had people trying to get medicine stuck behind mooks buying a hundred tickets at a time. Seeing how much money came in and how little money went out cured me of any interest in gambling unless I can be on the house side.

I remember one elderly woman who’d come in every afternoon and spend an hour (and about $20-$50) on scratch tickets. She’d write a check to pay for them, then use the few dollars she’d win plus some of her own cash to buy more, then eventually she’d write a larger check to buy back her original check plus a few more tickets. She’d spend the whole time muttering and giving us dirty looks (because we were obviously keeping the winning tickets for ourselves), and leaving silver shavings over everything. Man, the look she’d give you if anyone else won something while she was playing.

Then there was the guy who always had his stack of daily lottery cards. Hundreds of them, already filled out. At least he was considerate enough to only buy them on Sunday afternoons, when he knew the store would be dead and nobody would be waiting behind him. Nice guy, too.

I always hate it when people rag on lottery players. Mostly because lottery proceeds in my state go towards paying my tuition (Hope Scholarship).

Does it really though? I was under the impression that while lottery proceeds went to education funding, the states then typically reduced education funding from other sources by a similar amount to spend elsewhere.

Don’t scratch at the fucking register, and don’t hand the clerk 20 powerball or whatever tickets and say"Check this for me" when I am trying to buy gas during work.

If you don’t know the numbers, you fucking dumbass moron, wait until the clerk is not serving customers who want to get in and out.

And also don’t turn in ten bucks of scratchers, and then say "Well let me have one of those, no wait, two of the…no wait, one of the…

Goddam rude fucks, I am gonna jack one of you lame motherfuckers one of these days.

Missed the edit, but wanted to point out that you can get a ticket that shows the numbers for powerball. Ask for that, five seconds, instead of “check these tickets for me”

I buy lottery tickets (not the scratchers) when the pool has accumulated enough to be more than the odds of winning. Then I don’t feel quite so stupid. I got five out of six once, $1,000. At the rate I’m buying, I’ll be playing with the house’s money for quite some time.

You all sound like a bunch of losers to me.

I buy a couple Lotto tickets a week. At that price, the daydreams of “what would I do if I won the Lotto” are worth it. But buying more than a couple is idiocy.

What’s worse is the dumbasses who never believed you when you told them they weren’t winners. “What do you mean-check it again!”

:rolleyes:

The only ones who piss me off are those who buy daily numbers. Instead of filling out a handful of slips beforehand they show up with a hand written list of 20 numbers and make the clerk punch them in one at a time. I once challenged a person on this, asking why they they didn’t fill out the slips. The reply was “I don’t pick the same numbers everyday”. So? Fill out the damn slips, don’t waste everyone else’s time.

They’re just like the bozos inevitably ahead of you on line in a fastfood joint. Standing on line for 10 minutes, it’s finally their turn, and then they decide to look at the menu to figure out what they want. Asshats.

There’s a store I go into solely because it’s in the same building in which I work. They sell lottery tickets. The store is small and cramped.

People stand in a long line by the door to get tickets. When they get them, they step out of that line into the only available space – the entranceway and the path to it – and start scratching.

Never mind that now no one can enter or leave the store.

When you ask them “excuse me,” and politely dip you head to indicate “you are literally playing in traffic – you’re standing in the traffic lane, playing the lottery,” they move only grudgingly.

Sailboat

The proper course of action is to walk up to the counter and pay for your soda. She’s not in line and she’s not being waited on. She’s just standing at the counter. If she squawks about it, ignore her. Hand the clerk your money and walk out.