Real thinkers

People make mistakes. It just goes with the territory of being human. While many mistakes that get made are harmless, and possibly amusing, some can cause quite a bit of discomfort. And then, of course, there are things that people do that may not seem like mistakes until after the fact. However, we can't simply write about mistakes that became apparent in the shining light of the past.

So instead, we have to find examples that really may not have displayed the best judgement.

Take, for example, an interview with an oil company executive. When asked about gas prices, he tried to joke that they were "too low". Right, because your company just isn't making quite as obscene of profits as it was when gas cost $4/gallon? Oh, that's right, you only charged that much because you needed to cover your own costs. None of that money went into your company's coffers. You know, except for that record-setting profit you got to make each month that prices went up. Listen, when the country is in a recession, and people are scraping and scratching for money, the last thing you should probably do is talk about something being too cheap, especially when you aren't the one who isn't sure if they'll be able to afford that box of macaroni and cheese later on.

Speaking of scratching for money, that's the subject of our second story today. We do we highlight this one? Well, because it's about a woman who may very well have won a lot of money off of a scratch-off lottery ticket. Because she didn't believe it herself, she gave the ticket to a friend and asked them to take it to a gas station to verify the winnings. Now, at this point, a few things leap out at us. First off, why have it taken to a gas station? It's not like they will happen to have that much money on-hand, in case someone does win multiple thousands off of a ticket. Secondly, why would she pass the ticket to a friend to verify? Sure, there are always people out there who would do exactly what was asked of them in this situation, but there are plenty of others who would seek some sort of commission for having to do the leg work. In this situation, the "friend" decided that their commission was 100%, and scampered away with the ticket.

Who knows, though? Maybe the friend is sitting on the ticket, waiting until gas prices rise to a more normal level.