A Spanish Reporter, Natalia Escudero, was live on television when she announced that she is going to resign from her job. On the 22nd of December 2019, she was covering the annual Christmas lottery, El Gordo (The Fat One), in Valencia, Spain. The total prize money was approx. R35billion and is one of the world’s largest lotteries. After the first prize winning number 26590 was announced, Natalia realised that it was the number that she had on her ticket and that she is also a winner. The prize money for this number was €4,000,000 approx. R63million.
She immediately announced, on air, that she will not be coming in for work the next day and shared her excitement with the crowd surrounding her. She then interviewed some of her fellow lotto winners, who said they will firstly pay off their debt and were overwhelmed by their good fortune.
Unfortunately, when she later discovered that she was one of many other lucky winners and that she will have to share the prize, reality stepped in. The cost for a Spanish lottery ticket is €200 (approx. R3000). In order to give everyone a chance to share in the big winnings, you have the option to buy a 10th of the full ticket at €20 (approx. R300). She only bought a €20 ticket. After the prize money was divided, her share was only €5000 (approx. R79 000)!
Some of South Africa’s biggest lotto winners said they will still work even though they’ve won. They, at least, first confirmed that they’ve won the full amount, before making a statement of what they will be doing with all the money they’ve won.
In June 2011 a man won R102million and stated that he wants to use his winnings to expand his business.
In July 2016 a man who won R87million, stated in his interview that he had no plans to quit his job.
In May 2018 a woman in her 50’s said that she will still work for 6 months and then start with an early retirement after winning R58million.
In February 2019 a man in his 50’s won R232million. He stated that he had no intention of quitting his job.
In November 2019, a father of 2 who won R6,4million, stated that he was not planning to change his lifestyle and that he will not quit his job.
It is not just South Africans who are dedicated to their daily jobs. In May 2016, a bus driver from Cheshire, England, Mr. Kevin Jones, won £6,162,138million (approx. R117,868,020). Just by guessing the UK Lotto winning numbers correctly, he was set for life with his winnings at the age of 57. Instead of informing his employer that he will not be coming in for work, he still woke up at 5:30am the next morning to go to work, as he didn’t want his regular passengers to be late for work.
It all depends how you feel about your work, whether you enjoy what you are doing, or hate it. Some people will quit in a second if they are unhappy in their working environment, while others will continue to enjoy what they do every day.
