Restored faith in humanity

Monday is my lottery ticket-buying day. I do it once a week – no more, no less – and for those of you who pooh-pooh this exercise, I can only tell you that I am my mother’s daughter. She loved scratch tickets and I can’t tell you how many hours we spent giggling over our tiny wins and fantasizing about the big one that would certainly come later. Anyway, this past Monday, I stopped in at the usual gas station to pick up this week’s tickets and I asked the guy behind the counter for four $5 tickets. “Not those,” I said, as he reached for one of those word game tickets that take too long to scratch. So he handed me four tickets and I gave him my $20 and left. Only when I got home and Rick and I were scratching the four (I do let him in on the fun) did I realize that I had four TWO-DOLLAR tickets, not five-dollar ones, and the guy had squeezed me for twelve bucks. Not only that, but there were only $6 worth of winnings in the four. I was indignant. All the next day I stewed at work over how to confront the scammer. Surely he would remember my handing him the $20, but would he admit it? Should I demand the name of his supervisor and relate what had happened? Should I shame him in front of other customers? Finally, the long work day ended and I stopped back at the same gas station. He wasn’t there. In his place was a young, intelligent-looking woman wearing thick glasses and green fingernail polish. I was flummoxed. “You probably can’t help me,” I began, “but yesterday…” and I told the tale. “Oh, but I can,” she replied, and reached over next to the cash register to pull out a receipt with $12 neatly folded in it and numbers showing how a lottery customer was owed this money. The young man I had so vilified in my head had taken the time to set things right in case I came back. What could I do? I told her to thank him, put together the $12 and my $6 in winnings and bought three more $5 tickets. One of them is worth $10. And tomorrow, of course, I plan to turn it in and buy two more, going after that really big win. And if I hit, some guy who works behind a gas station counter is going to get SUCH a tip.