Rebecca Gonzalez received an unexpected phone call on a weekend when retail store employees were scheduled to have the day off. The store was understaffed and her manager needed her to come in for a few hours.
It would be a life-changing change for Gonzalez.
Because of the rush of customers over Labor Day weekend, Gonzalez said in an interview with the Times that he was unable to keep his plan to buy lottery scratchers during his lunch break. Instead, she bought it at the end of her shift after almost forgetting to buy it in the first place.
When she scratches it, it is revealed that she has won $1 million.
“I only told one person at work, and it was my manager who asked me to stay late on my day off,” she said. “He couldn’t believe it.”
Gonzalez bought scratchers twice a month, and the most he ever won was $50.
It was a gamble her father had always taken, and Gonzalez started doing the same for the thrill of what-ifs. She never dreamed she would win $1 million.
And I didn’t think she bought much of a scratcher that day.
“We were going to have a barbecue, so naturally I wanted to be home with my family,” Gonzalez told the California Lottery.
In fact, the only reason Gonzalez wanted to buy a scratcher that day was because she found a $10 bill in her pocket that was left over from the raspads and shaved ice her daughter had bought. After finding it, she decided to use it during her lunch break to buy a scratcher.
But the store was busy and she almost forgot about her plans until she felt $10 burning in her pocket as she walked back to her car at the end of the night.
She returns to the store, buys a scratcher, and begins revealing game spots, revealing a $1 million prize.
Before winning, Gonzalez’s life as a working mother consisted of going to work during the day and sharing a room with her two children before attending night classes at Mount San Antonio University to pursue higher education. It was a difficult life where I had to get up early to take my children to school. Radiologist.
Now, the family has an offer on a five-bedroom house, most of their debt has been paid off, and Gonzalez has given two weeks’ notice to work so she can focus on school. She says it’s a far cry from her low-income upbringing, where her family struggled to make ends meet.
Gonzalez said that when he told his family the news of his win, they cried.
There is a verification process for winners, and Gonzalez said she was told by California Lottery staff that a video was recorded of her jumping up and down during a celebration outside a local liquor store to verify her scratch card.
“As I was doing that, I was looking up at the sky and thanking God, because this is a blessing,” she said.
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