I think the owner could have given them "something"  They would have probably been happy with 500.00 a piece.  As far as firing them, he was way off base.  If he did something right in all of this he will prosper  but if he did something wrong he will go under.  Plain and simple.  Word has a way of getting around and most folks may not appreciate what he did.  He was plain greedy and that is my take on it.  Apparently he did trust them to run his station because he was never around.  Maybe he will get lucky and the next group he hires will steal him blind because loyalty is not generally bought and sold like a good.  It is trust between management and their workers.  That trust says that each will do the right thing in the absence of the other.  Most lottery retailers do give their workers something..kind of like a gift or bonus  for doing a good job.

This guy is obviously a low life, he could have said no to the employees instead of showing gratitude for their hard work. What the hell is 2000 dollars out of 255,000 that he didnt earn? As for his excuses on why he fired them, i say Santa Claus is more real then his story. This low life deserves the karma he puts out. I hope with any luck he will be on the headlines again...but not for winning the lottery...but the for the bad luck he gets!!!!!

Taking my cue from this article, I decided to nip any future misunderstanding in the bid.  I call my staff into the kitchen and told them straight out that should this corporation recieve any windfall from Powerball that they would not (and I emphasized NOT) recieve any benefit.

My kids wondered what a Powerball was and my wife promptly dumped my supper into the garbage disposal.

Should I fire them?

Keep the kids. The wife? Well, no comment.

^{_{Modern "education" teaches a version of history so fictionalized, it should be followed by "TM"}
They're warning me about Osama or whatever. Picture me buying the scam; I say "never!".}

  And RJOH and look how many people here thought then that the Kroger Corporation was wrong for doing good within the local community in which the store is located! 

Yeah go ahead and grease the wheels of the big corporations and forget about the people who work for them. Because if it wasn't for us workers working for them, they wouldn't be where they are today! I remember one person saying something like that along those lines on the Kroger story!

Now that's a funny way of looking at things! You don't work at some job somewhere you don't earn a living and if you don't earn a living, you don't have a roof over your head, no food in your belly, no car to drive! So for those who have the mentality of if it wasn't for me working for you, you wouldn't be the company you are today, better get off of that way of thinking altogether. Because there are plenty of other people out there that did that job way before you came along and there will be plenty more to do it after you're dead and gone! "There is no one at any company that's not expendable, NO ONE!" Always remember that and do your job to the best of your ability and don't ask for things you have absolutely no right to be asking for and you'll have that job! And if not, you'll end up on the unemployment line! "Explain that one to your wife or husband and kids as to why you're now unemployed."

LOL

 "God gave me the gift to cover the loss to pay back a credit card," Mathew said.

 Yes, I'm sure God thought so much of this guy that he touched that lottery ticket and made someone a winner, so that Mathew can go on gou-- *cough* umm... selling petroleum products, making the CEOs even more filthy rich than they already are. At the same time those lowly employees couldn't have been good people in God's eyes or else they would own their own gas stations where they could look down on their own slave wage employees.

 And he's buying a stairway to heaven, where the streets are obviously paved in high interest plastic.

Could it have been that the former manager demanded equal slpits between the owner and employees? Even if that had happened the owner could say no and negotiated to $5000 a piece for each employee.  That would have shown appreciation from the owner toward his employees. Poor thing! It did not happen. I guess his employee turnover cost is minimal being compared to sharing lottery bonus.

While the store may not be required to share the commission, it would be morally right if they did share some of it. If stores had a policy of sharing any commission, it would encourage staff and boost morale.

$10,000

$5,000

$2,000

Are you guys crazy?  Why would some gas station, anywhere, give employees that much of a bonus? 

Maybe the equivalent of one week's wages, but not thousands of dollars.  They are not entitled to it anymore than if the gas station showed a profit of $255,000 in the normal course of business.  And they had the guts to ask if the owners would share?  Huh?  IF I want to share, it will be offered, you don't ask.

Quote: (Former manager Sabu Elvumkll of Park Ridge met with the owners on behalf of the cashiers to ask that some of the $255,000 commission be shared with the other employees.)

I think his business is already being affected by the allegation that his station had a problem with water in the fuel. 

I agree with all those who are irked anytime a clerk asks for a tip or a share from lottery ticket buying customers, and that employees are not entitled to any bonus the store earned (I am pretty sure the bonus check is made payable to the owner of the store and does not list the names of all employees as would be the case in a lottery pool).

I don't think this store owner is going to have a problem replacing those fired employees...people are losing their jobs left and right, so I am sure the pool of available minimum wagers is brimming full up around Wadsworth.

On another note, that makes this the second IL lotto win in a 2 yr timespan for a store along Route 41 (the other store was a Marathon about 2 miles further north)...does this qualify this stretch of highway lucky like they write about that stretch of road up in Fond du lac Wisconsin where the 100 Sargento Cheese workers hit a $200M annuitized jackpot Powerball and someone else also bought a winning ticket for a different Powerball drawing from a store along that stretch?  They say people go out of their way to purchase powerball tickets there.  My thought is...it's the numbers stupid...not the place...and I also think...

Maybe he should have told them no and explained to them that he needed to save his business so they could all keep thier jobs. If that was the truth behind his decision not too share his commission, but too fire them just plain old stinks!!!! I don't even understand the people who feel that this guy was even remotely right or smart for the way he handled this whole situation. I personally think some of you have no compassion if it happened to you we would see a whole different point of view. I don't feel he had to share his commision or even explain himself but sometimes we have to do things were not used to doing just because it's right and will save ourselves and others a whole lot of heartache and regret. I wish those ex-employees well and hope they find more loyal employers, some actually do care about their workers. That will probably take a while since they will likely have to explaine why they were fired from their last job.

I believe we would not have the economic crisis in this country if more employers valued their employees. No business can be successul without the dedication and loyalty of its employees. Personally when it comes to playing the lottery, I prefer to go to stores where the cashiers are courteous and have a winning attitude. Just imagine the positive energy that could have surrounded that store if the owner would have shared just a little of the winnings. GREED is one of the 7 deadly sins.

And I guess those ex-employees didn't show any GREED huh? Yes they sure did and they got their just reward!

As the lottery says they give the bonus check to the stores owner who sold the winning ticket! And if the owners wish to share some small part of it with the employees, that is their "CHOICE" to do so if they wish too! But most owners use the win fall to upgrade their stores! 

No we would not have the economic crisis in this country if the mortgage companies hadn't dreamed up those interest only, option ARM (pick a payment) type loans; obviously, the profit motive (WAMU, Countrywide stood to make hundreds of billions had this scheme actually worked) overrode common sense...that people buy homes to pay them off, not to "rent" their own home. 

No we would not have the economic crisis in this country if the mortgage brokers had done the right thing and put people who actually qualified for prime loans into prime loans instead of pulling a fast one and placing them in subprime loans.

No we would not have the economic crisis in this country if the people who bought homes or refinanced their existing mortgage actually read their mortgage documents BEFORE signing them...and if they knew they couldn't understand the jargon, had hired their own real estate lawyer to review the documents and translate the pertinent sections into laymans terms...i.e. this is a subprime loan with an adjustable interest rate that will reset in such and such a time, and when it resets at the specified interest rate increases, your monthly payment could go from X dollars to XXXX dollars or this option arm loan will add to your principal balance if you do not make at least the interest payment.

Everything else you said is true, but remember that all businesses exist to cater to the customer...not the other way around (that is businesses do not exist to cater to the employee).  Obviously there have to be some tangible benefits for the employee.  However, because the ultimate risk of the business' success or failure rests with the owner, the owner has to be the greatest beneficiary of the business.