Can't Save'em All

The janitor at my work called in and quit today because he won the lottery.

 

Well… he won a lottery…

 

Then again, maybe he didn’t.

 

The janitor at my company is a good guy, always nice, but not as fast as the rest of us. He tends to make bad decisions, and now he’s going to fall into the worst of them.

 

Back in December he was contacted by mail about winning a seven million dollar lottery and now all he has to do is send them five hundred measly dollars and they’ll send him his seven million.

 

*audible sigh*

 

Yeah, they’ve been working him for three months and they’re now closing the trap, and to make matters worse he’s so excited about winning that he’s already quit his job.

 

It blows me away that people still fall for these things, but as long as there are people ignorant to this stuff they’ll keep scamming.

 

Now, this part of the post gets a bit tricky because I’m writing all this as it happens, I’ll break it up into parts as I learn more.

 

Part 1

I found out about this when I got into work tonight and quickly sought out one of his friends that works here to see if there’s a way to save him. Mike, his buddy, was on his way out to meet with him tonight, but had no idea how to break it to him in a way that wouldn’t offend him. (how do you tell someone they’re a dumbshit?)  So I coached him on a few points to make, and then printed out Wikipedia’s article on Lottery Scams. Unfortunately it’s all I could do. (on a side note I learned that a lottery cannot ask for any money at all, even $0.32 to mail you a check, all their expenses must come directly from the winnings.)

 

The only thing the janitor has going for him is the irony of his financial situation, he’s too poor to “win the lottery.” He’s already indebt to the pay day advance places (in case you don’t have those, they’ll loan you what you’d get in a pay check with high interest, then you sign your paycheck over to them) and his credit is shot, so there’s no chance of a loan elsewhere. Also, none of his friends want to loan him money because either they think it’s a scam (a duh) or they’re just as poor.

 

Part 2

A sad update to this little story is that Mike just got back to the office (while I’m writing this) and told me that the janitor not only quit but is driving around town in a suit anxiously awaiting his riches.

 

It turns out that the “lottery” is actually part of an online game where you click on numbers to win a prize, and he clicked enough times…

 

Part 3

I was just got off the phone with the janitor and he wasn’t too happy with me doubting his fortune to be. I used every ounce of tact I had to make sure I got the info I needed to help him without insulting him. Unfortunately he’s only gotten one letter from them (in the mail) and the rest has been through the phone (no paper trail).

 

-The name of the company is something like “Gold Rush” (yes it’s vague, but this is the info I got from him, he wasn’t happy I was doubting.)

 

-I also have a phone number with a first and last name. Granted, most times you talk to Mark Wilson in tech-support, the person on the other end of the phone is Samir and is working at an outsourced calling company in India.

 

The good news is that the first two of my three major questions came up as “No”.

Question 1: did you give them you Social Security Number?

Question 2: Did you give them your Bank Account Numbers?

Question 3: Do they have your Home Address?

 

(Question 4: will be if he would like to buy a bridge? Or maybe even the statue of liberty.)

 

Part 4

A little bit of research shows that the phone number for “the lottery guy” is a Cell phone based out of Jamaica. I called the janitor and told him, but be “matter-a-fact-ly” told me that he already knew the calls were coming out of Jamaica.

 

I think I’ve officially done everything I could do. I feel like I’m about to see a puppy get run over in the middle of the freeway, I wanna stop it from happening, but it looks like that pup is gonna be a pancake…

 

 

 

 

 

Ever since this started I’ve been rolling it all around in my head, “why would someone fall for something so obvious? And how can he be so stubborn to not listen to those trying to help him?”

 

I’ve been racking my brain over this, but I think I’ve finally figured it all out. Falling for this lottery for him is much the same a falling in love.

 

You find that person that you think is perfect for you and everyone around you is tearing them down. The people you call friends are telling you that the one you love is a thief, and even through you trust these people, you’re in love, and they just don’t understand. You’ve been completely taken; you’re broke, miserable, and financing her trip to Vegas with your alimony payments.  

 

 

 

On A Positive Note: I tried, despite the outcome, I tried.

 

 

Exile

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