Tales From The Magic Castle

 WHOA ..... it's a lovely 64 degrees this morning!  What could be better than that to begin the next story of trials and tribulations at the wonderful Magic Castle of Bingo.  I prepared as usual, with TWO cups of my favorite Joe!!  Just like a cheap bottle of whiskey, I've been cutting it with a copy cat recipe from Frances.  It's not perfect, but it will make my current stash last a bit longer.

Oh yes, I did get a tip on two more cases, which I ordered from Amazon.  Seems now it will tell you "delivery tomorrow", but in two days you get a message that says it will be 30 days late.  Then it didn't show up at all, but they had my money all that time, plus another week to wait for the refund.  I know, I got desperate, so from now on I'll make my own.  I'll let you know how that goes.

What I DID receive was nothing short of amazing.  Halloween is coming up, not that I have lots of kids stop by.  Last year there were about 40 on two flat bed trailers, but they just drove right by my house.  Too bad because I always hand out the FULL SIZE goodies.  

Here it is .... a huge box of Snickers (my favorite of course) that came packed in an insulated box WITH AN ICE PACK!  Who does that?  I never did find out who the seller was, but they got rave reviews from me.  Why Snickers you ask?  Because if no one shows up, I get to keep them in the fridge and have a delicious snack any time I want!

On to the Magic Castle .....

So here we are, having already run the cattle through the chute line.  There were a couple problems with "I forgot my wallet", all the way to "where did I put that wad of cash"!  For the most part it went well with some folks buying $80+ worth of cards, followed by $100 worth of pull tabs.  Boy what I could buy with THAT!

That's when I heard the first BINGO!  SIX TIMES!  The caller hollered "Game #1, SIX WINNERS".  That's important because it tells me to get out my calculator and figure out what each payout will be.  Then he starts the next game.

I counted out the money and started handing it to the three volunteers who deliver the goods, one of which causes trouble EVERY week.  He said he had 3 winners, which meant 7 total.  Ummmm no, the caller said six.  There was a big argument between the me and that volunteer.  The King was called.  Problem was, there's no way to check since the caller had already started the next game.

I collected all the cash and started over, paying out 7 at the order of the King.  Last week, another incident occurred with the exact same volunteer.   I heard 8 ... he said 7 ... so I paid out 7 in spite of my head screaming 8.  Then they came back and said ... oh gee ... it WAS 8 ... and so I had to pay out one more, which made me short.  

Obviously there's a problem there, so I have to come up with a solution.  I've had player troubles before, but not volunteer troubles.  We'll see what happens next week I guess.  

I don't know if I've showed you what dinner looks like.  Since we work about 8 hours, we get dinner, the likes of which always come with a big question mark.   Chicken?  Hamburger?  Corndog?  Here's the chicken strips which are crunchy and delicious.  They would be MORE delicious if they had more than half an ounce of chicken inside the thick crust.  I don't order fries ... this is my Lady in Waiting's order.

THIS is mine ... a very tasty corndog, deep fried to perfection.  The kitchen is full of volunteers also, which is why Diane got her chicken while I had to wait 30 minutes for the corndog, even though they were on the same order.

These are from Foster Farms and the DOG is made with chicken.  If you put enough ketchup and mustard on it, you can't tell.

In spite of the payout problems, I ended the night on a high note ... I balanced.  That makes Nancy a happy camper!!

Even better, I'm met by this guy at the door every time I get home.  I can hear him barking from the garage!!  What a welcome home!!!  It makes me forget Bingo every time!!!

Yesterday, our Elks Lodge had a 9/11 memorial service in memory of those lost.  This being the first year, it didn't go flawlessly ... I'll relay that story tomorrow.  For now, I'm going to finish up my cup of fake coffee before taking in a little rodeo.