ONLY IN JERSEY......

     I know that I just wrote about the Powerball jackpot and lottery curse yesterday, but this might go down as one of the most cruel, but funniest stories I've read in quite some time. This might go up there with the time my friend, Scotty B from Z100 and I played a joke on Greg T "The Fratboy", where we gave him a scratch off that was a sure winner. Scotty bought it at a gag gift shop. We set up a camera to catch Greg's reaction and it was priceless! We watched Greg scratched the numbers off one by one and realized he had won. He actually started crying thinking he was a millionaire. He then proceeded to tell us all off since he thought he was able to quit his job and be a millionaire until we asked him how he was supposed to redeem his ticket and collect his money. The redemption ended with "You can pick up your cash at your mother's house!" Then Greg really started crying when he realized the joke was on him. Cruel? Yes! Funny? Yes! Because it was all caught on tape!

     Well, let's fast forward to this past Saturday night for the last Powerball drawing. For about 20 minutes, the staff of a North Jersey Italian eatery, Grissini's in Englewood Cliffs, apparently thought they had become a bunch of millionaires after matching all six Powerball numbers for the $900 million jackpot. They thought they were filthy rich! The servers, bartenders, cooks and other employees started hugging and jumping for joy. One dishwasher even quit! That is hilarious! You have to see this video....It's ridiculous!

  
     One valet even told a customer to pull his own car around since he was a millionaire now. The restaurant called it "pure pandemonium" on their social media pages. But the screams of celebrations and crying quickly came to a halt after they realized that bartender Charlie Poveromo had read the winning number from last Wednesdays drawing and not Saturdays....THAT SUCKS! If they would have had those numbers last Wednesday they would have been millionaires today, but the ticket in the photo above was for Saturday's drawing and not Wednesday's. How's that for a kick in cojones? 

     According to Poveromo, his friend had sent him Saturday's numbers from the Powerball website just after the 11 p.m. drawing, but apparently the site hadn't updated the new numbers yet. It's called looking at the date of the drawing first, people! Poveromo said, "I dropped my phone I was shaking so bad. I finally found (my phone) and by that time there was already a buzz in the restaurant. People were crying and everything." A buzz? If you watch the video, it was "pure pandemonium!" Poveromo said no one realized they had the wrong numbers for 15 to 20 minutes. 

     The restaurant's publicist, Angela Thomas, said the blunder was by no means a publicity stunt, but someone still may have played a cruel joke on the restaurant staff. I don't think it was a joke. I think it was a simple mistake of not reading the right date for the numbers. Despite the let down, the staff will take another shot at tonight's $1.5 billion jackpot. They've already picked up more than $400 worth of tickets, according to Poveromo. Well, my message to the staff at Grissini's, keep an eye on that date! Or at least wait 15 minutes for the Powerball site to update. Or watch the drawing live at the bar! Regardless, your video was priceless (almost as priceless as Greg T's video). Thank you for today's entertainment.