RICH AT HEART : Mechanic Vows to Keep Working After Winning $2.1 Million
As suddenly wealthy as he may be, Robert Diaz is not about to trade his overalls for silk pajamas.
Diaz, a sturdy ex-Marine, says the $2.1 million he won Saturday night at Lotto will not lure him from his job as a mechanic in a Sherman Oaks service station.
“Everybody is asking me why I don’t quit,” he said Tuesday, resting after conducting interviews with several prospective financial counselors. “Well, I can’t do that. I’ve got a responsibility. And I love working. I love working on people’s cars. I get a lot of return customers, and I like that.”
Some would argue that Diaz, 31, needs return customers the way an engine needs a return knock. He earns about $30,000 annually--he would not identify his employer for fear of upsetting his boss--but will receive another $86,000, after taxes, each year until 2007. The first check, due next week, will usher in no excess.
“I already had a trip to Jamaica planned for seven days in July,” he said. “This will make it a little bit better. And, later on, I might go to Hawaii for a week or two to catch some rays, but I’ll have to work that out with my boss.”
So devoted is Diaz to his work that he has thought of just one bauble he has to have right away: a new toolbox.
“I want one about that big,” he said, pointing to a seven-foot-tall armoire in the living-room of friends in Sherman Oaks.
Diaz’s sleeping bag was stretched in front of the fireplace. For a week, he’d been camping out at the home, waiting for escrow to close on a $103,000 house in Lake View Terrace that he recently purchased. Unbidden, he installed a garage-door opener for his vacationing friends, and he says he will use part of his new-found fortune to help them fix their swimming pool.
“I’m always working,” he explained. “Every night, I pray. I say, ‘Please God, let me stay healthy and let me keep working.’ ”
Diaz, a Glendale native, has worked as a mechanic in the San Fernando Valley since 1981. While attending an automotive trade school, he worked nights loading and unloading freight cars.
Diaz learned of his new status when he bought cigarettes Saturday night at a liquor store on Ventura Boulevard.
“The clerk said, ‘Hey, you’re a millionaire, dude.’ ”
“I said, ‘I’m rich at heart. That’s all that counts.’ ”
“He said, ‘Rich at heart? What does that mean?’ ”
Diaz said he intends to share some of his winnings with his family. His father, Rudy Diaz, has been disabled for years, the victim of chemical burns suffered in a dry-cleaning shop. Rudy and Elvira Diaz raised eight children and now live in Lake View Terrace.
Diaz is divorced and split up with a girlfriend about six months ago.
“She came by yesterday,” he said, “and she said, ‘So I hear you’re a millionaire.’ ”
“I said, ‘Yeah. That’s nice, isn’t it?’ ”
