Power Ball and the Art of Following Directions

Yes kiddies,,,,, Its POWERBALL night. Thought for today is "Ya gotta be in it to win it". I guess that means that you need to buy a ticket if you want to take that 292 million to one chance of being the only winner of 1.5 BILLION dollars.

So yesterday i went in search of a Lottery Machine. Now i have to tell ya, we don't play the lottery often. In fact, the last time was in NJ when they only picked three, yes just 3 numbers. That said, these new games truly baffle me. BUT never the less i was determined to get us a PowerBall ticket. Hey, it only takes one ticket to be a winner.

But the bafflement continued when i got to the machine. Lots of buttons to choose from. Lots of ways to lose money. Yes, lots of confusion on my part. Finally i see the Power Ball button. The choices are $2, $4, $10, or $20. So i pushed the $2 button and waited for the machine to do something. And waited. And waited some more. Finally i asked if i was supposed to put the money in first and then make a selection.
Have you ever asked a question and had folks just stare at you? You know, that incredulous stare that says "is this guy for real"? Or worse, in the south they look at you with pity in their eyes and say "OH, Bless your heart darlin'".

Well, that was what i was getting. Finally, after the internal hysterical laughing ceased (i know they were laughing,,,,, i could feel it) a woman said " Yes, just put in the money and make a selection".
OK. That seemed simple enough. Put in my money and i would push the $4 button, and get 2 Power Ball tickets. We would each have a chance of beating the 292,000,000 to 1 odds.

This is where the "read and follow directions" comes in. 

I only had a $20. So i put it in, and pushed the $4 button. 

Out poped a ticket with two lines of numbers on it. So far so good. 

Now i just needed my change from the $20. I waited. Then waited some more. 

Then started looking at the writing near the slot where i had put my $20. 

Directions. HHHMMMM!!! 

THIS MACHINE DOES NOT GIVE CHANGE

We now each have 5 chances of beating those 292,000,000 to 1 odds. Ill let you know tomorrow how this turned out. Grenville