Three days after everyone else, the only lottery store in Harrogate, Tennessee is finally selling tickets. And the solution to what seemed a complicated problem, was simple.
It wasn't a lottery technician who helped solve the problem at the Chevron D and B Quick Stop. It was a customer.
For the last three days, Quick Stop workers had to turn away customers wanting lottery tickets.
"They don't like it and I've had to turn them down several times," said Penny Overton.
But Friday morning, things changed. "Someone came in and fixed it. I was in my car and the girl who was here by herself called me on my cell phone and told me everything was okay. So I rushed over here," Overton said.
"I just unplugged the power to the back of it," explained Jeff Rogers, an electrician. "I'm in here every morning, laughing and asking them when can I buy lottery tickets. Today I just decided, it's about time to fix it for them."
He unplugged and re-plugged the modem. A few minutes later, a lottery technician came in and said Rogers did the right thing.
The store manager said lottery officials never suggested unplugging the modem.
While the Quick Stop's lottery sales have been steady Friday, that can't make up for the grand kickoff the store missed. "It's still disappointing," Overton said. "We could sell a million tickets today and I'd still be disappointed. I'm sorry but I would be."
Tennessee lottery officials said out of 3,500 retailers, about three percent aren't running. That's a little over 100. They said they're trying to get technicians to those stores as soon as possible.
Reminds me on how I was watching my food in a toaster oven for 15 minutes... wondering why it wasn't working... and then suddenly realized it wasn't plugged in ^_^
I forgot about my toast one morning and had the whole kitchen in a cloud of smoke. The button on the toaster was stuck in the down position, I hate the smell of burnt toast. Good Luck to the store in Harrogate, I hope you sell a Winner!!!
I can't believe the store personnel didn't think of that. I know when I train the stores I am responsible for, I tell them to do two things before they call the lottery hotline if their system locks up or won't work. First, I tell them to run what we call the "three button reset", a combination of three key presses which reset the machine. Second, I tell them if that doesn't work, they should unplug the power and the phone line, wait 30 seconds, then replug both, phone line first. Then, if that doesn't work, call the hotline.
I tell them to do this because, inevitably, the first two things that the hotline operator tells the clerk to do is run the reset, and if that doesn't work, unplug and replug. Those two things solve 90% of the problems, and, since the reset procedure takes anywhere from 3-5 minutes, it saves both the retailer's time and the hotline operator's time in waiting for the resets to happen.
Reminds me on how I was watching my food in a toaster oven for 15 minutes... wondering why it wasn't working... and then suddenly realized it wasn't plugged in ^_^
I forgot about my toast one morning and had the whole kitchen in a cloud of smoke. The button on the toaster was stuck in the down position, I hate the smell of burnt toast. Good Luck to the store in Harrogate, I hope you sell a Winner!!!
I can't believe the store personnel didn't think of that. I know when I train the stores I am responsible for, I tell them to do two things before they call the lottery hotline if their system locks up or won't work. First, I tell them to run what we call the "three button reset", a combination of three key presses which reset the machine. Second, I tell them if that doesn't work, they should unplug the power and the phone line, wait 30 seconds, then replug both, phone line first. Then, if that doesn't work, call the hotline.
I tell them to do this because, inevitably, the first two things that the hotline operator tells the clerk to do is run the reset, and if that doesn't work, unplug and replug. Those two things solve 90% of the problems, and, since the reset procedure takes anywhere from 3-5 minutes, it saves both the retailer's time and the hotline operator's time in waiting for the resets to happen.