Paying Homage To My Bingo Peeps!

[00:00:08] Hello, and welcome to The Broke Bingo Addict. This is a podcast that ventures through the wild and crazy world of bingo. This is much more than your grandmother's bingo. My name's Shari, and welcome to this week's episode, which as always is for entertainment purposes only. Hi, everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of The Broke Bingo Addict. What I want to concentrate on this week is specifically talking about the bingo community.

[00:00:37] I've been playing bingo in California for years now, and if you told me when I first walked into a hall that I'd end up with some of my closest friends sitting around that table, I don't think I would have believed you. But seriously, bingo has brought people into my life I never would have met otherwise. Different ages, different backgrounds, different everything. Today's episode is partly a celebration of that and partly something heavier. First, I want to mention for those of you who are not aware of how I got started in bingo

[00:01:05] and why I realized what a beautiful space it was. So my father was an avid bingo player. In reality, he had been a golfer all his life. He absolutely loved golf, but he got sick, and he was no longer able to play golf, and so he needed something else to do with his time. And we happened to live in Las Vegas. Okay, that's where I grew up was Las Vegas, Nevada, and they had bingo in all the hotels or most of the hotels. Several hotels had bingo, and my father would go do that.

[00:01:34] And so at a certain point, my brother and my sisters, we wanted to play too, so my dad would take us. And I think the first few times, he was really embarrassed. We were not good. We were those people who would yell bingo when we didn't have bingo and didn't have a clue what was going on. But we still had a great time, mainly because we were there and we were hanging out with my father, which was a lot of fun. But eventually, it kind of pared down. My sisters and my brother didn't really seem to get into it as much as I did or didn't have as much fun playing it as I did. So I continued to go play bingo with my dad whenever I could.

[00:02:04] But eventually, my dad passed away at this point like over 30 years ago. But this is where I saw the other connection, the other value in playing bingo. And that is when my dad passed away and we had the service and obviously we had the repast and people coming to the house to pay respects. I was so impressed and so moved by the amount of bingo players that came and paid respect to my father.

[00:02:32] And so I always realized, you know, this is more than just going out there trying to win some money or kill some time. This was a real community that was really special. But after my dad passed away, it was actually sometime before I got back into playing bingo. I was living in Southern California. And for whatever reason, I wasn't aware of bingo halls. I just thought everything had to be in a casino. And at a certain point when I was living in California, I did realize that they had bingo in casinos out here.

[00:03:00] They weren't close to my home, but they did have bingo. So I was really excited to find that out. My first place playing bingo was out at San Manuel. San Manuel. So remember, anybody remember that? San Manuel used to have buses that would pick you up. I live in Culver City, California, and San Manuel was about an hour and a half from where I was. And, you know, I didn't like to drive out there if I didn't have to. So it was nice to go over to this place not too far from my house, actually where I started playing bingo regularly, which is really ironic because I didn't know that they had bingo there at the time.

[00:03:30] But I won't go into that. But I would. I would take the bus out to San Manuel. And you would play all day. It was like an all-day thing. And it was huge. It was an absolutely, positively huge location. And I would play bingo out there. And it just made me feel good. And it was my happy place that I would go there. So that's where I initially found out about playing bingo. But at some point, and to be honest, I don't know when that was, I found out there was a

[00:03:56] bingo hall within walking distance, easy walking distance. It was about two blocks from my house. And so I started playing there. And that was Buckingham. So again, this is where I found out that this is such a community because I go over there. And the cool thing about bingo, as I tell other people who tend to be afraid, it's like, I don't know if I want to go because I won't know anybody and I don't know how to do anything. And the cool thing about it is if you go to a bingo hall, all you got to do is sit down.

[00:04:24] That's all you got to do because somebody is going to talk to you. I mean, even if it's just because they're getting excited because they almost want to bingo or their set or their case, whatever you want to say, and they're getting excited, they're going to say something because they're sitting next to you. Or you might have a question. And if you, you know, ask them a question, I can't imagine anybody not taking the time to answer the question. Most people do. I'm not going to say they're not begrudging about it because people can be very begrudging.

[00:04:50] And I really think it depends on where you go to play bingo, how open up people are to helping you. Sometimes people are playing a lot of cards or sometimes people have a hard time themselves concentrating or whatever. But regardless, if you go to bingo, you're going to make some friends. And that's what I think is really cool. Like I said, Buckingham was the first regular place in my neighborhood that I started playing bingo. And I am still friends with those people today. Okay?

[00:05:16] Those are people that I go out on social events with, that I go to play bingo with still regularly, that I call to say happy birthday. Or I call to make sure that their anniversary has been a nice celebration or whatnot. We have those connections for people that I've known since way back when. Now, what's happened since that time is I know so much more about bingo. I know so many more bingo locations. And actually, I guess I was kind of forced because of COVID to stretch out because that

[00:05:43] bingo hall that was right across the way from my home closed down. And as I've mentioned, I know I've mentioned it, is one of the few that didn't return after COVID. So I've been forced to go out to other places. So yet again, here I am going out to another place. The first place I branched out to was St. Joseph High School out in Bellflower. The first night I went there, again, I didn't know anybody. I certainly knew how to play bingo. But every bingo hall has a different way of doing things.

[00:06:10] And at this point in time, they were playing bingo not only inside, but they were playing it outside. I think there was still some residual COVID stuff going on. So people were being careful. So I sat outside the first time I played there. And I had gotten a table with these two other ladies. Now, mind you, I had never met those ladies before in my life. And from then on, we played together. So again, what are you talking? You're talking COVID was in 2020, finally got over. And two years later, whatever.

[00:06:40] But those are still my friends. We still play bingo. We still, you know, when we travel, we get souvenirs for each other or show pictures of the family. There's so many relationships that are built in bingo communities. And that's what I think is really interesting. Because it's not only just people who are exactly alike. I see people who are older people hanging out with younger people. I see people of different races, different religions all hanging out with each other. And I love that because it's such an interesting community to be around and supportive. That's the word I'm looking for.

[00:07:08] It's such an incredibly supportive community to be around. And I'm very blessed and very grateful to be a part of it because it's what keeps me saying going through all the things that are going on in this country right now and just general things in life. But some other things that I think are really funny about bingo, I love the fact that there are all these little habits that are created. So some of the things that I think are funny. I'm not one of these people. But I love that there are some people who will bring in 85 daubers with them, you know,

[00:07:38] and they set them all up and they line up all the different colors and they have different little trinkets that they bring with them. I'm not that person. I'm actually the person who, even though I have a lot of personalized daubers that I've been given or I've ordered and that I absolutely love. I have some really, really nice daubers that, like I said, I either ordered myself or have been given to me. I tend to just do one basic dauber. Maybe I'll do two daubers in case for some reason you need to change a color for something.

[00:08:06] Maybe you've daubed something and you need to have another color to differentiate what you've daubed incorrectly. So I'll do that. Maybe I'll have two daubers. But I do get tickled that people have a lot of daubers sometimes and they have a whole set that people set up. You know, they have just, you know, can take up almost half a table with all the little things that they have. I will say that I do have a couple of trinkets. I have a turtle that one of my friends gave me that people ask me about all the time that I love. I have a frog. I have a couple of things that I do like to set on there just because I like to set them on there.

[00:08:36] I don't think of them as any particularly lucky charm or anything, but I do like to have them with me because they make me feel good. There are a couple of little idiosyncrasies that I think people have. People like to sit in a certain seat. That's a big one, by the way. That's the big one that I think is funniest about bingo players is that people love to sit in a certain seat. And this happened to me about two weeks ago. I was going to a location, one of the new locations, and you can order your seat online.

[00:09:05] And my girlfriend and I wanted to make sure that we got our seats because we thought it was going to be really busy. And the place where we normally sit had already been chosen. So we picked another spot. And I got there and I didn't have any problems, but I did see somebody kind of looking at me and I didn't think anything of it. But I found out when I went back another time that the lady who was sitting to my right, that's actually what she had considered her seat. So I think she was kind of a little, you know, miffed at us that we had taken her seat. But I'm not that person. I don't care.

[00:09:32] If you have a seat that you really like and there's other seats available, I'm happy to move. I will absolutely move. In fact, that happened to me this weekend. I went to St. John Bosco, which is a place that I like to play at. And there's a particular area that I like to sit in. But what happened was that I wasn't sure if I was going to go or not. So I didn't order my ticket online to the last minute. And when I did, there were only a couple of seats available. So I just picked something and I got it. When I got there, I got there late because I was trying not to buy so many pool tabs.

[00:10:02] So I got there late. And when I got there and I got my stuff and I went to go over to sit in my seat, that was a sign to me there was somebody in that seat already. But not only was she sitting there, like I just mentioned, she had a plethora of stuff. I mean, she had so much stuff set out. But I noticed that the table next to us, which, by the way, online looked like it was sold because I would have chosen that table, didn't have anybody sitting there. So I told her, don't worry about it. You sit there.

[00:10:30] I'll check with the manager, make sure nobody's coming for that seat. And then I'll just sit there if that's fine. And we're all good. It is no skin off my teeth. So it worked out great. She got to sit there. She was sitting next to her friend. She had all her stuff already. I got to sit at a table that was, you know, just as good for me as any other table and location. So and I actually ended up sitting next to a nice lady, too. So it worked out fine. But I just love the fact that people have this thing about their seats. And I totally understand it. You have your lucky spot and you want to be there.

[00:10:57] I only get mad when people are in a position where they feel like they are owed that seat, whether they have reserved that seat or not, they feel like it's their seat and people don't have the right to be in there without their permission. So that's the only thing that kind of bothers me. It really truly, truly does. It's first come, first serve unless you've reserved it. So one of the other things I get tickled about are things that people tell you about good luck. And this one is only because I never thought of this one. OK, certain people have things like the step of the horseshoe, like, you know, you know,

[00:11:25] you're not supposed to have a horseshoe hanging down because your luck falls out. And then somebody told me about the dauber caps. You have to have your dauber caps sitting up on the table. They can't be sitting down for the same reason your luck is running down or whatever. I think that's what the rationale behind it is. But whatever it is, I've totally fallen into that. I cannot be at the table and have my dauber caps be turned down. They have to be turned up. And I kind of get stressed when I see other people and they have theirs turned down.

[00:11:54] I don't want to get them sucked into it, too. But it does bother me when that happens. So that is my one little thing. The other thing was, and I think I mentioned this recently, too, there was a lady that I sat by one time and she had a thing about rubber bands. If you're aware, there tend to be a lot of rubber bands in Bingo because people have the pool tabs. And depending on how you buy them, they come out with rubber bands on them and people take them off and they leave their rubber bands. Some places have boxes or some place for you to distribute the rubber bands. But a lot of people just have them on the table.

[00:12:23] I still don't know what the rationale behind it is other than it's bad luck. But I'm telling you, this lady was just about to have a coronary until I took my rubber bands off the table. So I just thought, you know, Bingo is such an interesting community. I can't tell you. I absolutely love it. But the connections that you make and the spirit that's actually there is really amazing. I mean, I'm not going to say there's not some friction sometime. You have absolutely heard me talk about some of the things that go on that get people, you know,

[00:12:51] and kind of squabbles and some kind of animosity between one another. You know, this group is mad at that group or somebody's mad at a certain caller or somebody's mad at a certain manager or stuff. That's part of being in a community, okay? But for the most part, it's a wonderful set of people who are out there just trying to have fun and trying to support each other from one week to the next, hoping that somebody wins. You know, I love when people win. I get mad when I'm not winning. I'm not going to lie about that.

[00:13:19] But I absolutely love when people win because you get so excited and it's such a joy to say, Bingo. You know, that's what we're all there to do. We all want to be able to say, Bingo, and sincerely win something. I don't care if I'm splitting with somebody. If I win, I'm so happy that I won. And if somebody won with me, then I'm happy for them. But it is a great group of people and they do for one another. You know, they come together.

[00:13:44] Like I said, with talking to Raina last week, there's so many bingo players or so many bingo halls that go out and support the community. They're doing things to try to help people around them. They're not just doing it for themselves. They are also out there trying to give back. And I think that that's what makes the difference between bingo players and, you know, a lot of other activities that are out there. It's just not a self-centered sport. So that's about the joy of it.

[00:14:13] That's what keeps me coming back every week. But I'd be lying if I said this episode was only about the good stuff. Because when you build something this real with people, when you see the same faces year after year, you also have to sit with what happens when those faces aren't there anymore. And lately that's been on my mind a lot. I want to take a moment, and I hope you'll sit with me, to talk about one of my bingo buddies that passed recently. And interestingly enough, she wasn't one of my longtime ones, okay?

[00:14:43] This is somebody that I've probably only known for a couple of years, two years at the most, that we started playing bingo together. And she was initially introduced to me by one of my dearest, dearest bingo buddies. And they had actually been friends for over 70 years, okay? She was a good friend of my friend Pam. And her name is Darlene Crosby. She recently passed away. And when I say recently, I just mean in the last couple of days passed away from cancer.

[00:15:10] This was, as I recall, her third bout with cancer. And she had told me previously that she was done. She was done doing the fight over and over again. And so she did what she thought she could to stave it off as long as possible. And she did for a while. But unfortunately, she succumbed to it, like I said, just a few days ago. And it's sad. It's just really sad to have these people that you build these relationships with. And then they're gone.

[00:15:39] It's like, what do you do with that? And she's not the only one. There are two other people I know in the bingo community that have passed recently. And those are just people that I know of. There's so many bingo halls in this town. I'm sure there are a lot more people who have done it. But it's hard. And I think about that. You have to realize that as diverse as bingo is, and it is very, very, very diverse, it is still predominantly elderly people.

[00:16:06] So that's something you've got to keep in mind, that these people are going to pass away. I remember I went to one of the Bosco Tech events, and I think they had five people. It might not have been. It might just have been three. But I thought it was five people who were over the age of 90 celebrating their birthday at bingo. And I don't know where those people are now, but that was a few years ago. So it's very likely that they have also passed. So it's hard. It's very hard.

[00:16:35] Darlene was a really nice person. And I'm happy that even though it wasn't a long time, I'm very happy that I got to know her for the time that we did. And we got to enjoy our favorite pastime, which is bingo. So anyway, I want to close the episode on that saying, rest in peace, Darlene. And to my other fellow bingo players, let's keep doing what we do for as long as we can. That's it for this week's episode of The Broke Bingo Addict. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:17:05] And I hope you'll come back for the next episode. In the meantime, take care. Bye.