I would phone in my resignation. The folks at the office would never see me again. Then, I would proceed to do nothing.
Peter Gibbons: “What would you do if you had a million dollars?”
Lawrence: “I’ll tell you what I’d do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.”
“That’s it? If you had a million dollars, you’d do two chicks at the same time?”
“Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I were a millionaire I could hook that up, too; 'cause chicks dig dudes with money.”
“Well, not all chicks.”
“Well, the type of chicks that’d double up on a dude like me do.”
“Good point.”
“Well, what about you now? what would you do?”
“Besides two chicks at the same time?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing, huh?”
“I would relax… I would sit on my ass all day… I would do nothing.”
“Well, you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin: he’s broke, don’t do shit.”
I wouldn’t change things too soon, because I’d want to get things in order, and wait for things to calm down before letting the world know that I was the winner. How fast it took to quit would depend on how long that would take.
I don’t know; I like what I do (English professor), but sometimes I wish I weren’t doing so darn much of it.
I think if I won the lottery, I’d probably teach a course here and there as an adjunct (only the interesting ones, no freshman comp), engage in scholarship whenever the spirit moved me or I spotted a conference in a place I’d really like to go, and spend those long lovely summers writing and traveling. It sounds like it would be a nice life, and it would free up a proper job for someone who really needs one.
That said, I never actually play the lottery, so it’s a moot point anyway.
Divorce Mrs. Montoya, look up Wayne and let him know she’s available now
Pay off my house (I have 3 kids, still don’t need to itemize to get all my tax money back)
Pay of my buddy Shawna’s house (no, it’s not like that!)
Get the body work done on the MR2, paint the thing black, replace the aging 4AGE with a shiny new 4AGZE right outta the box.
Return the call to my boss and explain my absence for the last 3 weeks was due to my quitting unannounced.
Drive to Monterey (observing the posted speed limit of course) and watch the sunset from Asilomar beach. Spend a few days becoming familiar with Laguna Seca.
I think that if it was their intention to continue working then they made a poor decision by going public with their lottery win. I can see resentment and other problems stemming from co-workers jealousy and avarice. Otherwise, if they’re happy and they want to work, what the heck. Good for them.
I’m self-employed and, while most days I’m a bit of a lazy sunovabitch, I could never see not doing something. With $60 million to blow, I’d expand my photography business ten fold and I would love to get my hands in on a nice pub, perhaps a gastropub, that I could make my own.
I would definitely want to do something that would leave some kind of mark and that would involve interacting with people. It’d be kinda boring just sitting on $60 mil and not working in some sort of capacity. I personally don’t ever see myself retiring in the sense of never working at all.
If I had a normal 9-to-5, you bet I’d be out of there in a heartbeat. But to start something new, not to never work again.
Well, your odds of finding the winning ticket in the gutter are not that much worse than the odds of buying the winning ticket . . . so you never know!
But after several months of lying around doing nothing but indulging my every whim, I’d probably be calling them up begging them for some part-time hours. I’ve been working since I was 15, I don’t know how to not work. What do not-working people do all day?
I wouldn’t let anybody know that I won right off, and I would tell work that I want to resign for reasons of health, and that I would take 30 days to train my replacement. My last day when I am actually in the office to turn in my laptop and other work related stuff I would cater a farewell lunch for my department [I really love a lot of the people I work with] from the Cookhouse [a really good BBQ place right down the street.]
mrAru would retire ‘to take care of my declining health wife’ and we would decide where we wanted to buy property and live, We would pay off the current microfarm and settle it and 1 million bucks on our current roomie.
mrAru and I have discussed various things - and one thing we discussed was running an internet cafe/coffee house somewhere. Hire a great staff to run it, and enjoy it by hanging out there like in a really nicely equipped private booth - a couple of killer computers, custom benches and table and lighting, and some sort of ability to be semi private, sort of like the private booth that Frenchy and Oney had in the Cotton Club movie. No alcohol, and open 7/24, and a small stage in one corner so we could bring in live musicians, I like jazz folk and celtic music as background entertainment. Maybe some limited pub grub. If we went this way, we would buy the building that the place is in and have our apartment upstairs.
I would feel a tinge because my boss is cool and has been good to me, but she’s cool enough to understand why I would get the hell out of here on the double. I would take just my Magic 8 Ball and pug figurine and GO.
I would quilt and sleep until I got tired of it, and then go volunteer somewhere.
I love my job. It’s a dream job, and I’m crazy-lucky to have it. But if I won 8 figures in the lottery, I’d stay until my current project was done (so as not to leave the team in a bind) and then I’d be gone. Why?
It’s still a job, and it comes with stress, and occasional long, long hours, and a 45 minute commute each way.
There’s not enough time left in my life for me to do even half the things I want, even without a 50+ hour per week job. Heck, just reading books and listening to music could fill all that time – what, the world is going to run out of books and music?
Plus, I’d spend more time with my wife and kids, and I like to compose and arrange music, and I’m a hobbyist board game designer, and I love to hike, and I’d play more board games, and I’d find adult basketball leagues to play in, and I’d join the local singing group I currently don’t have time for, and I’d put more hours into my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and I’d watch movies and play video games, and I’d work on my novel, and I’d travel, and go to baseball games, and help my wife in the garden. AND, I’d finally get the 8 hours of sleep each night that I’ve been dreaming about since I became a parent, since I wouldn’t be trying to squeeze all those hobbies into such a small sliver of free time.
There’s enough I want to do in this world to fill 100 hours a week easy, for the rest of my natural life. When people say they’d be bored if they weren’t working, it well and truly boggles my mind. Which reminds me: I’d have more time to play Boggle!
My uncle won almost $4,000,000 in the 1980’s. It isn’t as much as that in the OP but it is substantial and could have made it possible for never work again if he planned it correctly. Instead he was a poster child for lottery winners gone bad. 300+ pounds - check. Lose of spouse - check. No money left - check. On welfare and food stamps now - check.
He smirked when his unemployed ass won the Megabucks based on his habit of $100+ lottery tickets a week. He wasn’t mentally equipped to handle it of course just like many irresponsible poor people can’t. That is why I think state lotteries are abominations and predatory. Being poor is only a side effect of having little money. Some people are equipped to handle it but giving poor people millions is like giving them 10 feet of gold rope to hang themselves. Many middle class people can’t do it either.
I’m pre-med right now - want to be a doctor. After paying for med school, taking care of my family (paying off the mortgage, doing upgrades on the house that have been talked about, getting my parents a new car, and setting up a fund for my future children, nieces, and nephews, I would still go to med school. Then I’d open a FREE clinic in a poor neighborhood of NYC or Chicago (my two towns). You show up, we’ll try to help you. I don’t care if you make $5 a week or $5000, we wouldn’t ask. If you think you need free health care, we’ll serve you. I’d hire a surgeon, nurses, a dentist, orthodontist, GPs, an endocrinologist (for the diabetics) and OB/GYNs at competitive salaries. Prescription drugs would be free. My father (if he accepted the job) would be CEO, in charge of the finances. I would work there say, 3 days a week, at a competitive wage. I figure that would pretty much use up everything. Frankly, I might need more money, so I’d look for matching grants to keep it funded.
So yeah, I would pretty much proceed with my career plans.
“Come to this house, be one of the comfortable people…”
