Eight employees and suppliers connected to Alimentation Brébeuf in Brébeuf, Quebec, won a $2 million prize after Stefano Crisafi discovered their winning ticket.
A group of eight Laurentides residents who work closely together has won a $2 million prize, but the first reaction from several members of the group was disbelief.
The group, made up of four employees and four suppliers connected to Alimentation Brébeuf in Brébeuf, Quebec, won the top prize in the August 19 Québec 49 draw.
Group leader Stefano Crisafi was at the grocery store on Route 323 in Brébeuf when he checked the ticket and realised that the first selection was the winning one and was worth $2 million.
There was just one problem: his coworkers were not convinced he was telling the truth.
Crisafi is known for his jokes, so when he shared the news, the group initially assumed he was playing another one on them.
“Nobody believed me. They all said, ‘Put your wife on the phone. She’ll tell me if it’s true!'” Crisafi said.
Marie-Reine Perreault, who has worked as the grocery store’s assistant manager for 37 years, was camping on the Côte-Nord when she heard the news.
“Don’t wake me up at 7 a.m. for a joke,” she recalled saying.
Mario Lafleur, a soft-drink delivery driver who has been doing the job for 24 years, also wasn’t immediately convinced.
“Don’t mess with me this morning, it’s not funny!” he warned Crisafi over the phone.
Ghislain Lacasse, who has delivered bread in the Mont-Tremblant area for 34 years, was similarly sceptical.
“I didn’t believe it at all!” he said.
The $2 million win brought together a group whose members have spent years working alongside one another, turning an ordinary work connection between employees and suppliers at the Brébeuf grocery store into an extraordinary shared prize.
