Wednesday, July 7, 2021

BINGO ..... With Police!!

As I have said in the past, you never know what will happen at Bingo.  When you get 130+ people who have been locked up for 18 months, who have become sick and tired of everyone, there's bound to be problems.  Just another Bingo night.

Last week ended peacefully, or so we thought, with us walking out the door later than usual.  However, people never cease to amaze us.  Apparently an entire family came to play.  Aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters ... the usual.

Many times they place bets on who is going to win ... or maybe everyone tosses in an extra $5 for the group to buy extra cards to play.  Deciding who gets what when they DO win can be challenging. 


Loud voices could be heard from the back.  Pretty soon people were standing up screaming.  Despite the requests of the four acting body guard Elks members, they would not calm down.  The police were called. It took THREE patrol cars to get the message across that family squabbles should be taken back to their own house.

These people are SERIOUS about this gambling stuff.  They are superstitious about the numbers on their cards and exactly where on the card that number is located.  They are superstitious about who TOUCHES their cards.  They are superstitious about the color of dobber, where they sit, who sits next to them, what they wear, what they eat, what they drink, where things are located on the table.  SERIOUS I'm telling you!!!!  

In the end, no one was jailed and they finally calmed down enough to continue play to the end.  


It doesn't help that we pay pretty good as Bingo goes.  There are 22 games and we pay $250 for every one, not counting the Hot Ball (buy a ticket and get THE number ... if you win Bingo with that number, you win that pot too) which will net you usually around $1,000.

So yesterday I arrived at 3:00 to begin setup.  There's a lot to do, making sure we use the boxes of bingo cards in the correct order, counting money, refilling our stock from the storeroom and setting up my barriers to entry.  It's hard to keep the throng at bay when they want to pick their cards before anyone else gets the winning page.  

The Castle Lawyer handled the infernal machine (cash register) this time.  True to its nature, it tried to trip her up a few times, but it all came back ... like riding a bicycle.

The kitchen served up their usual indigestion, the winner of the night being the cheeseburger.  I SWEAR I'll never eat another one.  

At last it was our time to leave.  I put the cash register away, along with everything else.  Suddenly the Castle Lawyer was yelling ... WHERE'S THE CASH?  What?  It's in the cash box!  NOOOO ... where's the final payoffs?

Still in the cash register I just put away, where else???  We finally hit the door, yawning all the way.  At least there were no 911 calls before we escaped.  On the other hand, calling the police always wakes everyone up.  Let's hope that doesn't happen again.

10 comments:

  1. Marcia said, "It's just BINGO..." I said, "Nope, it is way more than that to these people." Lucky no one spent the night in the pokey.

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    1. So true Dave. It's always surprising to me the things that happen!

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  2. Replies
    1. Come on down Doug .... it's actually pretty fun!!!

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  3. Interesting- Check your guns & knifes before you enter.
    Nancy, your lodge is fortunate to have you & other tolerant, supportive, "all in" members who volunteer their precious time in support of the membership & their fundraisers. Its unfortunate some believe its an opportunity to go off their meds, venture out into the public domain and behave like ignorant clowns. These jerks need to offer an apology to the lodge before being allowed top participate in any future lodge sponsored activities.
    Bingo is obviously an environment I would not thrive in.

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    1. Franklin you hit the nail on the head. The good part is no alcohol is allowed. Can you just imagine???

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  4. Some people take things way too seriously and forget to have fun. Glad everything turned out alright!

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    1. That's it! You should see them when they win!!!

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  5. Wow quite the bingo story! Some people are just amazing aren't they?! Definitely awesome pay outs! I bet you were glad to get out of there!

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    1. I glad every Tuesday night when I get to leave! LOL

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