Who wants to be on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"?

I never really wanted to be on the popular TV game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" but I confess that I did covet that $1 million top prize. In fact, in the year 2000 I made it through the second qualifying round to be a contestant four times—but my name was never drawn to appear on the show.

Here's how it worked: Potential contestants had to compete in a telephone contest in which they dialed a toll-free number and answered three questions by putting objects or events in order. Callers had ten seconds to enter the order on a keypad, with any incorrect answer ending the game/call. The 10,000 to 20,000 candidates who answered all three questions correctly were entered into a random drawing in which approximately 300 contestants competed for ten spots on the show, using the same phone quiz method.

The phone quizzes weren't easy. They required extremely careful listening, fast and accurate recall, and quick reflexes. For every four or five tries, I was lucky if I succeeded once.

One time, I was at work when I made it through the phone quiz round, and I needed to wait by the phone for a potential call back inviting me to participate in the next round. Unfortunately, a staff meeting was about to happen and my participation was expected. I went in to my boss's office and told him my predicament, expecting him to laugh my ass outta there and order me to attend the meeting. To my surprise, he did the opposite: told me to stay and wait for the possible call. 

My boss was a nice enough guy that he might've granted me permission to skip the meeting anyway, but I suspect he also didn't want to be known as the dude who prevented me from winning a million dollars. As if there was ever a risk of that happening...