I worked at one of those large optical houses. We were just filling orders and passing them along to the real grinding lab. Our boss was a complete tool.
He insisted on checking all orders himself, even if it slowed us down. Make a "7" look like a "1" and he'd flip out in your face, treating you like you'd lost a patient in the OR. "You have to actually read!" he'd shout.
He was also a cheapskate. He'd pick through the recyclables to make money on the aluminum.
When our receptionist got lottery tickets for her birthday, she scratched them all off while answering phones. Most were losers, so she just stacked 'em. She won maybe $5. Our boss saw the stack of losers. He asked her if she wanted them; she said no. He scooped up the loser tickets and retreated to his office to inspect them, to make sure she had not skipped a winner.
It gave me an idea. I bought a pack of five "winning" lottery tickets from a fabulous online joke shop.
I also bought some real lottery tickets and scratched them all off. Any low-value winners, I kept aside. I left the losers on my desk, a few per week. Sure enough, he'd ask me, then pick them up, run back to his office, and check them. It cost me maybe $15 plus the bargain price for the fake winning lottery tickets.
I started "accidentally" leaving the low-value winners out. He'd ask; I'd say he could have them. He'd pick up these $2 winners, grin, make little squealing noises, and retreat to his office. Then he'd leave us alone for most of our shift.
Finally, I "accidentally" left out first one fake lottery ticket, then another. I had scratched each one off like I was such an idiot I couldn't read a winner: a $10,000 winner! He'd ask; I'd say he could have them.
He'd make this gasping, wheezing sound and prance back to his office. For about three weeks, he was almost pleasant; he even praised our work. Finally, with the fourth "winning" $10,000 ticket, we all heard him shouting, whooping and hollering.
He bursts out of his office, gets right in my face and says, loud enough for the whole office to hear, "I said you have to actually read! You just gave up $40 grand, buddy boy!"
I look all sheepish and say, "That's great for you, boss. I guess you read way better than I do, like the fine print on the back that tells you how to claim your $10,000."
He looks. He reads. He laughs. Then he cries.
But he never, ever says anything else about my work for the rest of the time I'm there.