Class and the office lottery

A lot of people say they’d keep working if they ever won the lottery, but how many actually do?

Forty-eight. employees of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s headquarters say they will.

They pooled their money and hit on last Thursday’s Powerball, hitting on the $172.7 million jackpot, earning each $2.2 million because they took the cash rather than the annuity.

As with some recent office pools, there was plenty of opportunity to stiff each other. Matt Sheridan, for example, one of the youngest employees, was out the day some lottery tickets were bought, so he asked a colleague to throw some money in the pool on his behalf.

The other employee did. That ticket turned out to be a loser, but the next week, Sheridan double-checked with the other employee, who said he didn’t want to play last week’s game. But Sheridan owed him some money, so he threw money into the pot on his behalf.

“When we found out [we’d won], he ran over, he gave me a hug, he said, “Well, I wanted to kiss you, but it seems a little too much,” Sheridan said.

They got their cash this afternoon…