[imagesource:facebook/Chris Reynolds]

There was once an average American Joe who became the richest man in the world after accidentally being credited with $92 quadrillion.

I am not even going to convert that number to the silly Rand because our minds cannot fathom those many zeros.

Chris Reynolds, a car salesman and father of three, briefly held the coveted title belonging to the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, all thanks to a jaw-dropping technical error by an online banking service.

In fact, his seventeen-figure amount not only dwarfed the net worth of the world’s hitherto richest men but made their endless squabbles over new apps or big spends on superyachts look absolutely paltry, noted DMARGE:

This month marks the ten-year anniversary of the astonishing incident which began when Reynolds casually checked his PayPal account one morning and was confronted with a wholly unexpected set of numbers: his balance had skyrocketed to $92,233,720,368,547,800 USD.

At first, Reynolds couldn’t believe his eyes, worrying that he had somehow managed to wrack up a record-breaking amount of debt, saying he “thought that [he] owed quadrillions”, as reported by Super Car Blondie.

“My thought was a) it’s a mistake, and b) it’s a big mistake. It was more funny than elating,” he told the NY Daily News.

When Reynolds posted a screenshot of his account to Facebook for a laugh, he went viral, with past acquaintances coming out of the woodwork to try and squeeze in as a keen close friend. Classic:

Image: Facebook/Chris Reynolds

To put the figure into perspective, a billion is one-thousand times larger than a million, and a trillion is one-thousand times larger than a billion, already a near-inconceivable amount of money. A quadrillion, however, would be one-thousand times larger than a trillion.

But his fortune was shortlived as PayPal swiftly corrected the astronomical glitch, returning Reynolds’ balance back to the far more humbling $0 at which it had stood beforehand.

You would think that the payment service would have offered a small sum to thank Reynold for his honesty and grace, but instead, they offered to donate an undisclosed amount of money to a charity of Reynold’s choice.

How…kind.

When asked what we would have done with his unexpected jackpot, Reynolds displayed philanthropism and passion in equal measure: “[I would] pay down the national debt and, definitely buy the Phillies because I love the team and it would be within my budget”.

Of course, there were those who suggested Reynolds withdraw the amount to his bank account before the glitch was rectified, while other unsolicited advice was far more creative.

One person imagined a conversation between PayPal and Reynolds, where Reynolds — having used his fortune to buy PayPal — would command his newly bought employees to leave the astronomical sum untouched. Smart.

This might be the only man on the planet who felt the pure ecstasy of being powered up on cash only for it to crash and burn and leave him feeling wholly disappointed in a matter of minutes.

Whether this was a banking blunder or a cosmic joke, it serves as a helpful reminder that having money does not last long.

[source:dmarge]