Prize Pigs

Today I went to the Terminus Building to do some work for High Rise (watch it.  Watch it now).  

Before I continue, let me give you some background.  At my last "real" job, I dealt with all of our prize winners, contests, and contest entries.  I learned that there is a small group of people, we call them Prize Pigs, who enter contests - a lot.  These people come to all of the events (and not just ours, these same people would also stalk other radio events too), entered every contest (multiple times) and memorized the rules (to make sure they could enter multiple times and call us out if we changed anything).  They were freaks.  They would also take a t-shirt every time they saw us even though everyone knew they had just taken one from us the other day.  These people very rarely had positive things to say or would even say "thank you."  After doing what I did for a while I got to know these people (most of them just by their names, some by faces as well) and would do what I could to find a way to make ineligible (we had a rule that you could only win a prize once every thirty days and only once every six months if you won a prize valued at more than $600).  I got to the point where I would include a line in all contest rules (and post liberally on contest pages on the website) that only one entry per person was permitted and multiple entries would disqualify you.  This barely stopped them.  These people got tricky too.  They would set up multiple email addresses and use nicknames, for instance Bill Smith's email would be BillSmith@email.com and he would also enter as William Smith using WilliamS@email.com.  Very sneaky, but I was onto them.  Don't get me wrong, there were a few that were nice and obeyed the rules, and I always took that into account, but the majority of them were awful, selfish people.  If a contest ended early due to a glitch in the computer system, or something was slightly tweaked (like a method of entry) my phone would ring off the hook.  If someone won concert tickets to one show on Monday and then tickets to something else on Wednesday they would call me to tell me they didn't want the tickets they won on Monday because they knew they couldn't have both and more than likely they would end up only with the pair they won first.  I was as diplomatic and polite as I could be, but these people wore me out.  One guy on the phone one day told me that he plays online sweepstakes all the time and wins thousands of dollars worth of prizes on a regular basis.  I'm all for winning stuff (like the lottery or a good game of trivia) but seriously to make it a hobby, a lifestyle is bizarre.  

So, back to where I began.

I was Terminus today doing some database stuff for High Rise (seriously, WATCH IT) and I noticed how many times the same freaking people entered a contest to win AirTran Airways tickets (if you watch it you too can enter).  It brought me back to old times at the radio and dealing with these Prize Pigs.  When you see someone has entered multiple times, especially if they are trying to be sneaky about it all it does it make you want to ensure they will not win.

There is nothing wrong with entering contests.  I enter everyday (because the rules say I can) to win a trip to the Galapagos Islands with Alex Trebek (and I am going to win) and from time to time I buy a lottery ticket (but the lotto is different because you have to pay to play).  But I will never become a Prize Pig.  

These people are pigs in every sense of the meaning.  They hoard things and most of them are overweight.  I'm not slamming pigs (don't come after me PETA).  I love pigs and think they're cute and wouldn't mind having one one day.  To paraphrase Bon Jovi, these people give pigs a bad name.