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Those who thought that the 13 Starbucks employees who won an $87 million lottery payout back in 2000 were a sign that the universe had an innate sense of justice might want to rethink their rosy worldviews in light of recent developments.
Seems that one of the lucky lotto winners ran afoul of the Seattle Police Department over the weekend, dying in a police shooting after he either:
A. Recklessly brandished a gun at officers trying to break up a brawl (police version),
or
B. Selflessly attempted to break up a barroom brawl by firing his gun in the air (family version).
As Seattle investigators attempt to unravel the Rashomon-like mystery of what exactly happened that day, more casual observers may ponder variables of fate, kharma, and whether it really is advisable to enter into a lottery pool with one's co-workers.
The unfortunate end to this "Starbucks to big bucks" tale also invites us to engage in wild hypotheticals: Would you take 4 years of being a millionaire is you knew you had to die at the end of your term? 8 years? Is it better to be a live wage-slave or a dead multi-millionaire? Is life fair? Asceticism: yes or no?
And perhaps most importantly of all, "Would you like non-fat milk, or soy in that?"
