diff --git a/autopilot/contractor/hosts_test.go b/autopilot/contractor/hosts_test.go
index 028da682d..b2aacb1af 100644
--- a/autopilot/contractor/hosts_test.go
+++ b/autopilot/contractor/hosts_test.go
@@ -52,20 +52,27 @@ func TestScoredHostsRandSelectByScore(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("unexpected")
 	}
 
-	// assert select is random on equal inputs
-	counts := make([]int, 2)
+	// assert select is random on equal inputs, we calculate the chi-square
+	// statistic and assert it's less than critical value of 6.635 (1 degree of
+	// freedom, using alpha of .01)
+	var counts [2]int
 	hosts = scoredHosts{
 		{score: .1, host: api.Host{PublicKey: types.PublicKey{1}}},
 		{score: .1, host: api.Host{PublicKey: types.PublicKey{2}}},
 	}
-	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
+	nRuns := 1e5
+	for i := 0; i < int(nRuns); i++ {
 		if hosts.randSelectByScore(1)[0].host.PublicKey == (types.PublicKey{1}) {
 			counts[0]++
 		} else {
 			counts[1]++
 		}
 	}
-	if diff := absDiffInt(counts[0], counts[1]); diff > 40 {
-		t.Fatal("unexpected", counts[0], counts[1], diff)
+	var chi2 float64
+	for i := 0; i < 2; i++ {
+		chi2 += math.Pow(float64(counts[i])-nRuns/2, 2) / (nRuns / 2)
+	}
+	if chi2 > 6.635 {
+		t.Fatal("unexpected", counts[0], counts[1], chi2)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/autopilot/contractor/hostscore_test.go b/autopilot/contractor/hostscore_test.go
index f6d3b12b2..41347ec72 100644
--- a/autopilot/contractor/hostscore_test.go
+++ b/autopilot/contractor/hostscore_test.go
@@ -240,10 +240,3 @@ func TestCollateralScore(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("expected %v but got %v", 0, s)
 	}
 }
-
-func absDiffInt(x, y int) int {
-	if x < y {
-		return y - x
-	}
-	return x - y
-}
diff --git a/worker/worker.go b/worker/worker.go
index 60dfb475d..a01813e2f 100644
--- a/worker/worker.go
+++ b/worker/worker.go
@@ -1480,7 +1480,7 @@ func discardTxnOnErr(ctx context.Context, bus Bus, l *zap.SugaredLogger, txn typ
 
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second)
 	if dErr := bus.WalletDiscard(ctx, txn); dErr != nil {
-		l.Errorf("%w: %v, failed to discard txn: %v", *err, errContext, dErr)
+		l.Errorf("%v: %s, failed to discard txn: %v", *err, errContext, dErr)
 	}
 	cancel()
 }