This guy became the richest person of all time but it didn’t last long at all
There are a lot of rags to riches stories out there.
Whether it be some great idea started in a garage or a lucky lottery ticket, we all love a story of an underdog hitting it big. But some stories aren’t quite so conventional.
John Reynolds took ‘Get Rich Quick’ to a whole new level (NBC)
In fact, one man became the richest in the world in very unconventional circumstances – not that it lasted all that long.
Chris Reynolds checked his bank account and found that £70 quadrillion had been deposited there. I would ask you to imagine yourself in this scenario, but I wouldn’t want to give you a heart attack.
This bewildering situation happened back in July 2013 when Reynolds opened up PayPal. To give you an idea of how huge this number is, it has 17 figures.
With this gigantic figure sitting in his account, he was now the richest person in the world. This put him ahead of Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim who has a net worth of $67 billion.
Before this point, he’d never received more than $1,000 on PayPal, which came after he sold a set of vintage BMW tires on eBay.
Speaking about his surprise wealth to the Philadelphia Daily News, Reynolds said: “At first I thought that I owed quadrillions. It was quite a big surprise.”
We all have big plans about what we’d do if we hit the big bucks. Buying a house usually tops the list, but we all say we’d like to donate to charity, to make ourselves feel better.
This amount landed in Chris Reynolds’ PayPal (PayPal/Chris Reynolds)
What was topping Reynolds’ list of priorities?
He wanted to help bring the national debt down and buy the Phillies – the Philadelphia baseball team.
However, PayPal quickly clocked that a mistake had been made and apologised for the ‘inconvenience’.
I think PayPal has a different definition of ‘inconvenience’ to the rest of us.
In a statement, PayPal said: “This is obviously an error and we appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understood this was the case.”
The money had to be withdrawn from the account, but the company offered to donate an undisclosed amount.
“We think it’s inspiring that he decided to use this occurrence to donate to a cause he believes in”, the company said. “And we hope to honor this spirit by donating to a cause of his choice – we’ve reached out to him to make this offer and to let him know we are grateful that he’s a customer!”
Featured Image Credit: Chris Reynolds/NBC
Topics: Money, US News, Sport, Business
Ben Thompson
On the morning of 9 March, nobody showed up to open the store in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, after all six staff members, including manager Trina Tribolet, resigned due to being overworked and underpaid.
The night before, they’d left a handmade sign in the window of the store saying they quit.
The sign read: “We quit! Thank you to our amazing customers. We love and will miss you!”
WBAY
Another sign elsewhere in the store explained that the ‘whole team has walked away due to a lack of appreciation, being overworked and being underpaid.’
According to Economic Policy Institute’s Company Wage Tracker, 92 percent of employees at Dollar General are paid less than $15 (£11.72) per hour.
On top of low wages, staff were often forced to work seven days a week with Tribolet telling 9News that this past weekend since she quit was her ‘first time off since Christmas.’
She also noted that Dollar General’s food donation policy was another factor in the mass walkout, saying she was ‘disturbed’ by the amount of food that was thrown away due to strict company guidelines.
“There have been tears that have been shed over the fact that we’re throwing away coffee that is not expired, but it’s close,” Tribolet explained.
“Or you’re throwing out a box of Lucky Charms that you know there’s a whole bunch of kids that would love to eat those, but you can’t donate them out because you’re supposed to throw them away.”
WBAY
Alongside being forced to throw away products that were almost out of date, she claims they were also required to get rid of any items the store no longer sold.
Tribolet says having to throw out perfectly good food that could have gone to families in need was the ‘last straw’ for herself and her colleagues.
In a statement released after the walkout, Dollar General confirmed that the Mineral Point store was closed for three hours after the walkout.
They have since hired new staff.
“Additionally, we are proud to serve local Wisconsin communities with donations through our Feeding America partnership at 21 stores across the state,” the statement read.
“The Mineral Point Dollar General store has donated nearly 7,500 pounds of food to local food banks such as Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin over the past twelve months.
“Food safety is a top priority for Dollar General and Feeding America members, therefore, DG stores are required to follow Feeding America donation policies.”
Featured Image Credit: WBAY
