BINGO Never Disappoints!

Woohoo!!!!  BINGO IS BACK!!  Really big sigh!!  I'm exhausted.  I feel like I got thrown off a horse going 30 mph down a fence line working a steer, landing flat on my back ..... WHAP!!!  Yeah, it happened, in front of 35 people signed up for a cutting horse class with one of the premier trainers in the U.S.  I just laid there thinking ..... I'm REALLY tired.  I think I'll just stay here for a few minutes.

Of course everyone came running, but I was just fine.  It definitely feels like the same thing happened last night.

We usually start at 4:00, setting up all things bingo.  I got a call at 3:30 that there was a long line outside in the heat, three of whom were in wheelchairs.  Have you ever been to Disneyland?  If you're in a wheelchair, you get to go to the front of the line, so everyone rents a wheelchair and plays the "I'm Hurt" game.

This is serious business, as they MUST have their special LUCKY SPOT at the table.  I didn't let them in.  Someone else did.  Truly, I can't have people running around my area while I'm counting out the cash or setting up.  I herded them back behind Door #2 like a good cowgirl does.  They were inside, but out of my way.

There was the occasional glitch, like what the heck do we do with these red tickets?  Oh ... I'm supposed to hand them out?  Okay, I remember that.  Luckily the Castle Lawyer showed up and between our two brains, we were finally ready to go.  Or so we thought.

This is the mini-me infernal machine, the ONLY thing we did not check out a few days before.  As you can imagine, everyone uses their debit cards.  Credit is not allowed.  I ran the first card through and it said No Address.  What?  Please don't fail me now with 130 people standing in line.  No phone connection.  I rebooted, hit key after key, unplugged and plugged it in four times.  NOTHING!!

LEN!!!  LEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone had to pay cash.  That meant saving bingo cards (because they are special cards with the exact right numbers in the exact right place on the card) while they ran across the street to the bank.

We kept plugging away, feeling like the gestapo for allowing only two people in our area at a time.  Usually there's something like ten with the accompanying 100 db twelve conversations going on at once so we can't hear a thing.  Oh the fun!!

Amazingly, everyone was in such a good mood to be back throwing their money away, that there were no fights or even shouting at the bingo caller.  THAT was a first!!

The good news is the infernal mini-me never came back to life.  It apparently couldn't find the big wide web in the sky.  It's actually easier on us that way, but rumor has it they will fix it by next Tuesday.  Oh yes, the magic comes about every single Tuesday of the year!!!

At long last, the second set of games began, meaning it was dinner time for us peasants.  The Castle Lawyer put in our order.  Apparently they were so backed up it took 45 minutes to get our lovely indigestion leader of the world hot dog.  It's always a two-Tums night.  Five minutes later, they closed the kitchen, having run out of food.  That's two weeks worth of food.  That means we have nothing for NEXT week.  Not my problem I whispered to myself .... not my problem!!

The really good news is since I spent over an hour raising the prices of food on our menu board and reprogramming THEIR infernal machine, it seems they made money!  WOOT WOOT!!

At long last it was time to close the till.  It took some brain work to remember what the heck to do and when to do it.  If it weren't for the Castle Lawyer, we would be in trouble in Bingo City.  Amazingly we were only four dollars off, accounted for by all the nickels and pennies we get from broken piggy banks that are dropped in a change jar for once a year counting.  No one likes to count and roll change every week.

And so the night ended for us, me feeling like I had a broken back after being perched on that stool for six hours.  Yup, just like cutting cattle.  I found out later I had cracked a vertebra in my back from that fall.  It didn't keep me from getting back on the horse and finishing up that session, just like it won't keep me from heading back to the melee next Tuesday.  

The good news (not for the Castle Lawyer) is I'm leaving after that for the wild blue yonder and a new way to get there.  Won't THAT be exciting ... how to find your way after getting LOST!!