Not everyone wants in
Yet some feel pressure to take part
Someone in Wisconsin nabbed the $768 million Powerball ticket on Wednesday. If it wasn’t you, don’t fret. There’s a more modest $40 million up for grabs in Saturday’s drawing, and with March Madness basketball carrying on through April 8, there are even more chances to fatten your wallet. So, who wants in on the office pool? Not everyone.
While you flit around your workplace collecting money and jotting down the names of betting participants, remember – for those who don’t gamble and those on tight budgets, getting pressured to fork over two, five, 10 or 20 dollar bills week after week can become taxing.
Or as one anti-office-pooler put it, “flat-out annoying.”
“I don’t like being pressured into doing anything,” says LaTaye Davis,
45, who refused to participate in office pools while working at a medical center near Alexandria, Virginia.
“I thought to myself, ‘How am I going to know if we win? Are y’all going to even tell me if y’all win?’”
Davis says. The single mother felt empowered to hold her money close. Still, she says that opting out of the workplace’s collective lottery tickets turned out to be an alienating experience.
Not a team player
“All of a sudden, because I didn’t want to give them my money that one time, I stopped getting invited to things. They started saying I wasn’t a team player,” Davis says.
And she’s not the only person who thinks that the circumstances surrounding cash-collecting camaraderie can be isolating.
OFFICE LOTTO POOL “I really wanted to impress people. Still, I grew up with my parents telling me that it’s a waste of money, so I’d say ‘no thank you’ when people come around and ask.” Paige Waiver, 32