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TechAmazon

Amazon Worker Wins Lottery and Quits Job, But the Company Thinks He’s Joking

By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
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By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 7, 2019, 1:02 PM ET

Dean Weymes is living the dream, but he had a hard time convincing Amazon, his employer, that he wasn’t pulling their leg. 

Weymes, until recently, was an employee of the transport team for the online retailer in the U.K., but soon after arriving at work on July 30, he checked his lottery numbers – and saw he’d won the “Set For Life” National Lottery. He decided to go home sick that day.

The next day, he came in to quit his job. In filling out the paperwork with HR, he was asked to fill out a form explaining why he was leaving. 

“I wrote ‘won Lottery/retirement?’ and they were like ‘you can’t put this down’ — I think they thought I was putting a joke reason,” Weymes told The Daily Mail. 

He wasn’t. 

Congratulations to Dean, what would you do if you won? Learn to fly 👩‍✈️, visit remote islands 🏝 or enjoy the world’s best foods 🍣…#AmazingStartsHere#SetForLifeTNLpic.twitter.com/EQFfKLAHSF

— The National Lottery (@TNLUK) August 6, 2019

Weymes will receive £10,000 (or roughly $12,000) every month for the next 30 years. He says he plans to pursue a longtime dream of being a screenwriter now that he’s financially set. (The money will also be used to help support his autistic brother.) 

Amazon is taking its mixup in good humor, wishing Weymes well and saying it hopes he writes something for Amazon Studios somewhere down the road.

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Catch up withData Sheet, Fortune‘s daily digest on the business of tech.

About the Author
By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

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