Lottery Quitters
I loved reading about Jennifer Southall, who won more than eight million pounds on the UK Lotto earlier this month. Whereas we're used to winners saying how their win won't change their lives, and how they'll still be delighted to continue cleaning toilets at their local camp site for minimum wage, Jennifer lived her dream by resigning from her job within an hour of finding out about her win. I salute you, Jennifer, and would love to have seen the look on the face of your boss at the time.
Let's face it, resigning from the humdrum 9 to 5 is a dream that a lot of Lottery players share. So why don't we hear about it coming true more often?
Once again, I believe it's because the majority of lottery winners say what they think we want them to say. So they tell us that it's, "Nice, but won't change my life". Or that, "I love my work at the meat packing factory so much that I'll be trundling out ready meals for a while yet."
Yet I suspect that some, if not most of these "deliriously happy" workers are actually plotting to hand in their resignation at the earliest opportunity, just as Jennifer did. Except that, unlike Jennifer, they don't have the guts to say so.
Perhaps they think we'll view them as being selfish. And we probably would. But what's wrong with selfishness? We all have one life to live and if we've just won several million pounds or dollars then we owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to make the best of that good fortune. And we can't often do that when we're up to our knees in sludge as we clean the council drains, now can we?
So, once again I'd like to tip my hat to Jennifer Southall of Newport, Gwent. May you enjoy every second of your life as a millionaire and continue being as honest as you were the first day you won. Hopefully, you'll inspire future lottery winners to seize the moment in a similar way!
Carpe diem!
Article Last Updated: 20/04/2007 13:33:06
