You've Gotta Love Those Bingo Players

 I keep hearing a beep.  Do YOU hear a beep?  Not exactly the smoke alarm beep when it needs new batteries, but a beep none the less.  It's intermittent and only seems to happen in the mornings when I'm too groggy to figure it out.  Especially after late night bingo!

Suddenly THIS morning it was pretty insistent, so with my cup of coffee in hand, I began the search.  Sure enough, my alarm system panel was beeping at me.  After several tries of wading through the many menus, it finally said it needs service.  Wonderful ... I hope they don't charge for that kind of thing.  Wishful thinking!   At least I got the beeping stopped.

Out on the patio, things seem to be blooming ... the tree that is.  Everything else that blooms has died a horrible death and gone to the trash can in the sky.

Once sufficiently awake, Cooper and I went out for a little walk.  He heard Halo barking from behind the screen door, but couldn't see him.  He went ballistic.  Halo is his buddy who plays race horse with him.  That's pretty hard to capture with a camera, but here they are playing hide and seek next to my good neighbor's beautiful Ladies of the Nile, unlike mine which are the same age, but a fraction of the size. 

Yes, they have the same gardener problems that I have!! 

A little sewing, a little bull riding on TV and more sewing later, I was off to the Magic Castle and the wonderful peasants of Bingoland.  It started out okay until my helper called to say she would be missing in action.  No problem, there are any number of people I can bonk on the head and chain to my desk in order to count the cards.

We started out fine until her replacement needed to go play the pull tabs she paid for.   Can you believe it? The King stepped up to the plate, sat down and began to count for me.  He actually did VERY well!!!  I was sufficiently impressed until he grabbed the next victim ... I mean helper ... who wasn't quite as fast on the draw.  

That's when it happened.  She came up with her face completely covered by a mask, which makes it difficult to understand what she sayeth!  I could tell she wasn't the least bit happy.  YOU SHORTED ME ONE SET OF DOUBLE ACTION she yelled.  

My first response is always "you should always check your cards before leaving the desk".  WELL!!  THERE'S NO SIGN THAT SAYS THAT!  Yup, she's yelling loud enough for the entire building to hear.  If she had had a sword or a pitchfork, I'm sure it would be flailing in the air!!  

How many did you buy I asked?  THREE ... I paid for three and you only gave me TWO.  I asked if she checked through all of her cards, because sometimes they get stuck underneath something.  Yikes!  That brought about even more tantrum!

Finally, I asked for her receipt to confirm said payment, as I explained I only charge them what the counter tells me, and she only tells me as she counts them.  She was livid, to say the least!

May I please have your receipt?  She literally threw it at me.  Inspection immediately revealed the problem.  She bought TWO sets and was charged for two sets.  Whoa ... that didn't go over so well at all!!

WELL I WANTED THREE!!!  I'll be more than happy to sell you another set if you wish.  She stomped off yelling that we don't have anything posted about checking your cards before you leave the table and we darn well better get it posted!!!  Okay then .......

An hour later she came back to buy something else, still just as mad as a wet hen, as evidenced by the dollar bills flying through the air!!!  You just never know who you're going to deal with on any given night.

We had 140 peasants this night, making it hard for the Knights to keep up.  Seems we were a little short handed on the floor, but made a record amount of money for our charity donations.  

Every dime Bingo makes is donated for things like the Children's Burn Center, Children's Hospital, various school athletic games for the kids, to Veterans groups, scholarships ... whatever we can find that are legitimate charities without huge administration costs.  Yup ... we look into that too.  No use donating to a charity that pays their CEO a million dollars a year.

The infernal machine gave me a little trouble at the end of the night, but it was completely operator error.  That purchase I voided went back on as another sale instead.  An easy fix it was and I was headed home.  

Late night Bingo pretty much ruins the next day for me.  I'll most likely be on the couch, gearing up for the hot temperatures this week.