I want some honesty.

[J]

A 92-year-old great-grandmother from Queens accidentally discarded a winning $1 million scratch-off lottery ticket - but a scrupulous supermarket clerk saved the day.

At a state lottery press conference in Flushing Meadows yesterday, Mary Alice Fallon, a regular customer at Deirdre Maeve's supermarket in Breezy Point, recounted how she bought three tickets on Nov. 24.

The Far Rockaway woman scratched them, thought they were losers and asked the clerk to toss them.

But the employee, Chris Connelly, 24, decided to double-check the tickets, so he scanned their bar codes on the store's lottery computer terminal.

And one, a "$1,000,000 Mania" ticket, "popped up a winner," he said yesterday.

He had no idea it was a million-dollar winner, but he did have a clue it wasn't chump change.

The machine's instructions were for the winner to claim the prize at lottery headquarters, an indication the ticket was worth more than $600, the threshold for income-tax reporting.

"I told her, 'Wait, I think you have a big winner here.' I first thought maybe it was $1,000," he said.

He scratched off squares on the ticket that she had missed, "and there it was, a million dollars. She was in disbelief, I was in disbelief," he said.

"She kept asking, 'Are you sure, are you sure?' "

Fallon said she knew something was up when Connelly's face turned pale, then "I was almost numb" when she learned of her prize.

"If it wasn't for Chris and his honesty, I could have thrown away $1 million without knowing it. I guess someone was watching out for me," she said.

Connelly said he wasn't tempted to pocket the cash.

"I know this woman well," he said. "She comes in every day. It would have been bad karma if I kept it."

Fallon is divvying up her newfound riches - to be distributed annually over two decades, according to lottery rules - with her seven children.

After taxes, each one, or their designated heirs, will net about $32,000 a year, or $4,000 apiece, for the next 20 years.

"What a way to end your life," she said.

Connelly has been working at his parents' grocery since graduating from Siena College two years ago.

Each of her children gave the honest, hardworking young man a $100 gift to thank him for helping their elderly mom find her fortune.

An appreciative Fallon "hooked me up" with the family's generosity, said Connelly.

The state lottery also announced five other $1 million scratch-off winners, including Queens resident Lucille Kimble, 89, who is donating a portion of her winnings to a scholarship fund.

What would have done?

Me personally I could try and tell myself I would have done the right thing and gave it back. But in all honesty that's a bull shit lie.

 

[Gards Jr.]

I would actually give it back tbh. I always feel bad and if it was someone that deserved it, why not let them have it?

 

[seX-Power]

I would have taken it. My excuse would be that I would not want to give the 92 year old a shock induced heart attack. Call me black hearted, but I could not pass up an opportunity like that.

Lol at the clerk's bad karma shit. And the 100 dollar gift he got.

 

[Kizza]

I would have taken it. Seriously.

 

[Quintastic One]

I wouldn't of double checked most likely. lol. But say everything up to the discovery of the prize happened, if it was just a random customer, I would take that shit in a second. If it was somebody I knew who was a regular customer who always came in and wasn't a bother to nobody, hell yeah I would hook them up. I would be like "Hey, you deserve this". I know, thats subjective, since I don't know whether the stranger was a good person or not, but eh, its honest. lol

 

[Kaptain KnicKy]

I would've given it back. I'm not morally corrupt. It's the same as robbing a bank...

 

[Australian Badass]

Given it back.

Although having that kind of money would be awesome I would feel bad.

 

[Quintastic One]

I'd rob a bank

 

[LadyHotrod]

I'd keep it and claim it as mine.

She obviously didn't care much about it in the first place. You snooze, you lose, granny.

 

[★Chuck Zombie★]

^^ MY thoughts exactly.

 

[Beer]

Would've kept it. Obviously.

 

[Montana]

If i knew it was less than 1,000 i'd give it back.

If it was more like 1,000,000 i'd quit my job the next day.

 

[JurassicBonez]

Well 1st off, I wouldn't have looked at it and just threw it away. But if I did, I would have kept it. Technically it's no longer her's she threw it in the trash. She ain't want it. Sure I'd felt bad, but once the money came in I would have forgotten all about it. I maybe would have been nice and after I got some of the money, I would have slept some bucks in here bag at work or something. Or put some in her mail box and not put my name on it. But I would have defenatly kept it. If it was like a couple hundred dollars, I would have gave it to her but not a $1,000,000.

 

[monkeystyle]

I wouldn't even think twice. If she can't be bothered to be certain it's not my problem.

 

[Enigma22]

i would have kept it in a heart beat..