It turns out the sole winner of a recent $310 million Powerball jackpot was a supervisor at a fiberglass factory in Three Rivers, Mich.
Julie Leach, 50, was working the third shift at Aquatic Co., a maker of hydrotherapy beds and showers — until she won the jackpot, that is. She bought about $20 in tickets that night.
"I work the third shift and about 6:30 at night, I stopped for a cup of coffee" and bought the tickets, she said. Leach checked them later, during a break.
"I was having a real bad night at work, I went to McDonald's for lunch. Thought, 'May as well check my numbers,' and that's when I realized I was a winner," Leach said at the news conference where she was introduced to the press.
Leach didn't hesitate in calling her job (where she'd worked for 23 years) a “dirty, nasty job” that she quit on the spot.
She also told her boss that she wouldn't stay even if he gave her a raise.
That's no surprise. Few people would stay on the job — any job — after winning $310 million. (Leach took a lump payment of $197.4 million, or about $140 million after taxes.)
The other day at Plastics News we had a "what would you do if you won the lottery" discussion. The bad news is that I learned that if our staff ever strikes it rich, I'd have to quickly figure out how to put out a newspaper by myself.
But I'm sure they were all just kidding...
Still, if you think your company could really qualify for one of those "best places to work" awards, it would be nice if they could — at a minimum — not badmouth their employer in the press conference where they get the giant check!
(Thanks to my colleague Rhoda Miel for suggesting this item).
