Picking the winners

It was the final day of our seasonal promotion, and the air in the office was a mix of excitement and that quiet, focused energy that comes with finishing something. I had the list of entries open on one screen and the prize details on another. My job was just to make sure the right people got the right reward, and that it all felt fair.

The quiet before the spin

I remember scrolling through the entries one last time. There were hundreds of names, people who had taken the time to engage with us during a busy season. It felt like a responsibility, not just a task. I wanted the process to be as transparent as the glass on my screen.Before I even loaded the wheel, I pulled up the prize inventory. We had a limited number of the top-tier items, and a few more of the smaller thank-you gifts. I just sat there for a minute, double-checking the quantities against my notes, making sure the math in my head matched the spreadsheet. It’s a small thing, but getting that wrong would have been the worst kind of mistake.

Seeing the names land

When I finally hit the button to spin, there was a strange stillness. The wheel whirred through the colors, a blur of potential. Then it slowed, and the first winner’s name settled at the top. It wasn’t a random string of data anymore; it was a person.I watched it happen a dozen more times. Each name that landed made the promotion feel real in a way the planning never did. These were the people who had won something, and I was the only one who knew it yet. That moment of quiet knowledge is always a bit humbling.The list was complete. I saved the results, closed the tool, and just looked at the final roster. My part was done. The next step was sending the emails, turning my private list into public news. But for that moment, it was just the names and the quiet certainty that the process had been straight.