Mary Ann Shaffer was given a lottery ticket from a customer at her concession stand, and she thought her ship had come in. The single mom of two scratched her ticket to find she won $25,000. But when she looked for a phone number on the ticket to see how to collect her winnings, she realized she'd been had. The ticket read, "Claim forms supplied by Santa
Claus. All winning tickets must be validated by the tooth fairy and
conform to her game rules ... All winners are losers and must have an
excellent sense of humor." And this is why I detest crappy practical jokes like this--"sense of humor"? What is that bullshit? I'm with the patrol officer who examined the ticket, Bear Terstegge (isn't that a great name?) who said, "How can anyone be so mean around Christmas time?"
But since it's Christmas Eve, I wouldn't post a shitty story like that if it didn't have a somewhat happy ending. See, word of the mean trick spread around the pier where Shaffer sells hotdogs, and people started giving her cards, gift certificates, and big fat tips. One of her regular customers bought Christmas gifts for Shaffer's kids. I guess depending on the generosity and kindness of other people is a safer bet than any lottery ticket. Awww.
