The Story Of A Woman Who Won $10,000 Will Make You Always Want To Read The Fine Print

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We’ve all been there.

You download something or visit a website and are met with a lengthy list of terms and conditions you blindly agree to because you don’t care enough to spend far too much time trying to interpret complex legalese.

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I’m assuming approximately zero people reading this have ever actually spent time examining the fine print when it comes to electronic contracts like these. If you’re like me, you’ve also signed and initialed some things in lieu of reading them because no one has time for that.

However, according to the Tampa Bay Times, you might be doing yourself a serious disservice by not being as thorough as the doctor in The Big Lebowski when it comes to scanning legal documents.

Last month, the Florida-based travel insurance company Squaremouth decided to add an easter egg to its contract in the form of a $10,000 prize for anyone who cared enough to sift through the details of their 4,000-word insurance policy.

They were operating under the assumption no one would actually care enough to peruse the contract but they severely underestimated the abilities of 59-year-old Donelan Andrews, a self-described nerd who makes a point out of reading any terms and conditions before agreeing to them.

After printing out the policy, she found a section that read:

“In an effort to highlight the importance of reviewing policy documents, we launched Pays to Read, a contest that rewards the individual who reads their policy information from start to finish. If you are reading this within the contest period … and are the first to contact us, you may be awarded the Pays to Read contest Grand Prize of ten thousand dollars.”

After contracting Squaremouth she received a giant check—both figuratively and literally—for her efforts.

I guess it’s time to start reading the fine print.