Another Magical Night!!!

How could Bingo possibly get any worse you ask??  Believe me, it can ... last night was another magical night in the Kingdom and a GREAT example of the Boy Scout motto ..... BE PREPARED!!!

It started off as any ordinary night ... the King who holds the golden key to the safe was 15 minutes late.  You wouldn't think that was anything to write home about, until you drug out all your supplies, the ATM machine and the dreaded  C a s h   R e g i s t e r,  with only 15 minutes to count the bank and get ready to sell!!

This poor cash register has been used and abused in the Castle since about 2004, but none of us expected the giant tantrum it threw last night.  As soon as I plugged it in, it said it was out of paper ... which it wasn't.  Before I could stand up and turn around, it went into a fit of rage and locked up.  Nothing ... and I mean NOTHING was going to change it's mind.  Where's a good ax when you need one??

We have a problem Houston .... how can we possibly handle 115 people buying an average of $50 each worth of cards, give out change, cash back and receipts with NO cash register???  Do it by hand???  You've GOT to be kidding!!  I seriously didn't think it could get any worse ... but it ALWAYS can I guess.  Okay, I've learned my lesson ... can I go home now??

The answer was of course NO ... the peasants were already lined up and banging on the Castle door.  So I grabbed my trusty abacus (little hand calculator) and the cash box and opened about 15 minutes late.  That's not a good thing in Bingoland!!  We closed the door, got a door man to stand guard, and allowed one person at a time in to the table.  My cohort Ann counted the cards and called out the games as I frantically added up the prices, got the total and made change.  It's a good thing I have a degree in accounting, or I think we would have been in trouble.  In over 115 purchases, only one didn't add up correctly!!  Not bad Cinderella ... not bad at all!!  I should get the glass slipper and a Prince for this job!!

In the meantime, the King ran over to Costco and purchased a new cash register, which they spent the rest of the night programming for Bingo.  Every so often I would take a break and go check out the new plastic, flimsy piece of beautiful black machinery and see how it was going.  They couldn't seem to get it to zero out completely, so when they ran off to the banquet table, I ran the tape and it worked fine.  The main problem is that we need five divided sections and it only has four.  That means something has to be placed on the table in a box ... a perfect way to do accounting, right??

The good news is that at the end of the night (thirty minutes past the time I turn into a pumpkin), there was no accounting to be done!!  With no balance sheet to match, we just counted the cash and were done.  Hmmmm this might not be such a bad idea after all!!!  Maybe the new register will get sick and die ... accidentally of course ...........

Alas, I went home with no glass slipper and no Prince in tow ... not even a toad to kiss goodnight!!  I keep kissing Cooper, but so far no luck!!  It's always a fun night in the Magic Kingdom!!!