B-11

Posted on March 7th, 2008 by admin

Being an activity planner for senior citizens means a few things. I have to talk very loudly all day long. Everything that I create (fliers. notices, calendars, etc.) has to be in size 18 font or larger. And I have to call Bingo on a regular basis.

At the facility where I work we hold Bingo games every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Bingo is really like a religion for the residents there. If we ceased to have Bingo they would cease to exist. And we don’t want to go rushing that in any way. Luckily for me, we have volunteers who call Bingo on Mondays and Fridays. I am the official Bingo caller on Wednesdays. That means that for an hour and a half, I holler a combination of letters and numbers until some little old lady or gentleman yells BINGO! They usually don’t yell Bingo, they quietly say Bingo and assume that since I am under 40 years old I have the ability to hear like a wild deer.

Bingo is one of our most attended activities. And I don’t really know why. It is a super boring game that doesn’t require any thought process. Wait, maybe that’s the very fact that makes it so popular. Each Bingo card costs 50 cents. Most of the residents play at least 2 or more cards at a time. We usually end up collecting $70 to $80 for all of the cards. This money is then split up into 8 regular games and 2 specialty games. By ‘specialty’ games I mean Crazy T, Small Picture Frame, or Postage Stamp to name a few. It’s a little depressing that I am a 22 year old who can name every possible Bingo out there.

The residents take Bingo games very seriously. There is virtually no talking during the games. And if someone dares to crack a joke or chat with a pal during the Bingo calling, they are quickly hushed by our local drunk lady. Our drunk lady brinks a huge glass of wine to every Bingo game. She absolutely HATES it when other folks chat during the game. Apparently, the caller can only be heard if the entire room is dead silent. Unfortunately, Drunk Lady usually calls false alarm Bingo’s. False alarm Bingos are when a resident thinks that they have a Bingo, but when I check their card they don’t have it. False alarm Bingo’s are upsetting for everyone. The person who called it can get a little embarrassed because they messed up and the other residents had to wait for the delay while I check their card. Drunk lady had 2 false alarm Bingo’s this Wednesday!

Bingo is a continual source of laughs and funny stories so I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot more about Bingo in the future.

But this week’s Bingo not only brought me a few good laughs, but a wonderful surprise as well. As I mentioned before, each Bingo card costs a whopping 50 cents. Before the game starts I go around the room and collect the money. Some residents bring dollar bills while others bring a handful of pennies to pay for their cards. Some can afford it and some can’t. But I will take their money anyway. Today a resident dropped a large coin in my money cup. I did a quick inspection and saw that it was a 50 cent coin from 1818. Since I’m always looking to make a buck I swapped this possibly valuable 50 cent coin for two quarters from my pocket. Since old people can be a little clueless sometimes, I’m sure this lady didn’t think twice about dropping the coin from her birth year into the Bingo pot. Her loss. When I got home I told T about my special coin. He took a quick glance on the Internet and saw this same coin going for upwards of $8,000 for those that were in mint condition. My coin is far from mint, but it’s not in that bad of shape. Our rough estimate is that this coin is worth anywhere from $45-$150! Hellz yeah! That pretty much made my day. I really hope that this lady has a whole stash of these coins and brings them to Bingo every Wednesday. But then I would be put in a sort of weird moral dilemma that would make me lose sleep. Or not.

Here’s a picture of the coin-not my coin but same thing except mine is from 1818! Sweet huh?