When a $10K Lottery Win Turned Into a Prank

Life often surprises us when we least expect it. You might start your day thinking it will be normal, but then something unexpected happens. These surprises can become stories we tell for years.

• I was in love with my best friend for a long time. One night, a mutual friend told me my best friend was going to propose to someone I didn’t like. I rushed there to stop him. He had everything set up for a romantic proposal. I picked up a piece of paper and read it, and when I looked up, he was on one knee, proposing to ME. 
• A guy at my old job gave me a lottery ticket. I scratched it and won 10k. Later, he asked if I had scratched it yet, and I said no. He left. My heart was racing. I decided to tell him it wasn’t a winner when he came back. 
  I turned it over to read how to redeem it and saw it was a prank. I’m glad I saw that before he came back. 
• After losing three kids to miscarriage and infertility, my wife and I started the adoption process. Days after sending our paperwork to China, we found out my wife was pregnant again. Twins. Now, I have three 11-year-olds, 7 weeks apart in age. 
• I moved across the country in June 2013. I kept in touch with my family on the phone. Everything seemed normal, nothing big was happening. 
  Then, in March 2014, my brother called. My mom had been seeing other guys behind my dad’s back and was leaving that day. No one told me about any marital problems. My brother hasn’t spoken to my mom since. Even extended family was shaken up, and things aren’t the same. 
• My first day at a new job. I introduced myself to a guy, and he said, “No time to waste,” and gave me tasks. I’d been working for an hour when my phone rang. It was from my new job. 
  I answered, and he asked if I knew it was my first day. I said yes, I was there, and David gave me tasks. He asked, “Who’s David?”
  It turned out a stranger had been telling me what to do, and I didn’t question it. We had a good laugh. 
• I accidentally left my receipt at the self-checkout machine. A woman rushed over, handing it to me with a smile. “You dropped this,” she said. I thanked her and left. 
  When I got home and unpacked the groceries, I noticed something odd. Written on the back of the receipt in hurried handwriting was: “Check your tires. Someone slashed mine in this parking lot.”
  My heart raced. I ran outside and found that one of my tires had indeed been slashed. I called the police, and it turned out there had been a string of similar incidents in the area.
• When I was little, I was obsessed with chocolate. Chocolate cake, syrup, bars, cookies, etc. One day, my mom bought some chocolate syrup and made sure to tell me not to eat it. She placed it on the top shelf of the fridge where I couldn’t reach it. 
  When she was in the bathroom, I dragged a kitchen chair to the fridge door and climbed on top of it. I grabbed the “syrup” and squirted about a gallon in my mouth. It was mayonnaise. I grabbed the wrong bottle. © daydreamingderpina / Reddit
• My parents split up when I was a baby, and I never really had a relationship with my father. I saw him a couple of times during my life. No birthday cards or calls. 
  Last year, mom said to me during a visit that she wasn’t even sure that the guy I thought was my father was my father. So this guy I’ve been curious about and wondering why he doesn’t care about me may not even be the right guy. Thanks, Mom. © ***a / Reddit
• My father liked to ride motorcycles, despite him being too old (he was 60). One day, he takes a day and just enjoys the weather up in the mountains. Unfortunately, he had a minor crash. He refused to go to the ER, but my brother made him. 
  They let us know that he had broken his hip, but it was a very minor fracture. We made him sell his motorcycles, and he swore he would never ride again, since he felt that his health was more important than riding. 
  3 months later, he gets a call from his doctor. He looked over all the scans from the accident and noticed the X-ray of his chest. It turns out my dad had a very early form of not 1 but 2 cancers, and both were easily treatable (lung and thyroid). If my father hadn’t gotten in the motorcycle accident, he likely would have died. © BIG_***_TRUCK / Reddit
• After my kids were born, I had a really hard time finding work. I have tons of experience, but being out of the workforce for five years is not a good thing when you’re in IT. Finally, I got a job, far below my level of qualifications. It was a non-management job: before kids, I’d been at the executive level. It didn’t matter though; it was work, and I figured it would be a stepping stone. 
  Got to work the first day, and sat down at what I thought was my cubicle. No one was there to train me or get me started, so I asked the woman next to me what her role was and who she reported to. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “I think everyone here reports to you.” 
  Apparently, they’d changed the organizational structure to make me a department manager but forgot to tell me. I couldn’t find my supervisor because he was waiting for me in my office. © miss_kitty_cat / Reddit
• My niece had a good friend in high school, and my sister was friends with her mom too. They always helped each other. 
  One day, my niece’s friend showed pictures of a family gathering. She recognized my dad and said he was her grandpa. This was how we found out we had 4 more sisters. © Unknown author / Reddit
• After I proposed to my wife, I planned a dinner for our families to meet. It was to discuss wedding plans. 
  As soon as my future father-in-law saw my stepdad, they both stopped and rushed forward. They had served in the same Air Force base in California nearly 20 years earlier. My stepdad and his ex-wife used to babysit my wife when she was a child. © drewying / Reddit

• My grandfather is a farmer and had a guy working for him. My grandfather went to Spain for 2 weeks. 
  That guy invited some people to my grandfather’s cottage without telling him. When my grandfather came home, he was upset. Instead of yelling, he invited the guy for dinner. 
• But when the guy came over, he saw only a banana on the table. He asked, “Hey, where is all the food?” My grandfather said, “This is the food, bananas, monkeys eat bananas, you are a monkey! And that is what you eat!” © bjozzi / Reddit
• I met a guy online, and he was cool. I found out he lived less than 2 hours from me. We met up and were like doppelgängers. 
  Turns out his father is my biological father’s older brother. Both our dads left before we were born. We both have soy allergies and Lysinuric Protein Intolerance (it’s genetic). He’s only a year older than me. © WeirdWolfGuy / Reddit