Do I sign this? Broken record time! Also, Poker!

[ackmeow]

Just got off an 8 hour shift right after the lottery drew. A big one too. Lots of people checking tickets and claiming prizes. Normally we delegate customers to the self checker so they can come up to the cash with a significantly smaller stack of tickets but sometimes they get sneaky.

This fine example of post-cranial hemorrhage came up to us with a drink. Pretty woman, middle age. Biiiig smile on her face. We ring her in, announce the total. She's not listening. She's digging in her purse.

We announce again. She still doesn't listen. Finally she finds what she's looking for.

Now, a note on the Canadian lottery. They "Invented" the lottery "Poker Lotto." It's an instant win play. You buy it for $2 and it tells you whether you won right then and there. The same "Cards" are used for a daily draw too so customers keep their tickets. After printing a "Poker" the machine freezes up for a few seconds as it sends the results to the main lottery server. This irritates the hell out of us as we have to wait 4-5 seconds before we print off another ticket.

I swear this ticket drives me nuts. It's like your drunk uncle making it loudly public that he's got a tapeworm. In a crowd. In front of city hall. While he's hugging you.

You can guess why this ticket became popular. Instant gratification or disappointment. Some customers buy 40 SINGLE tickets. That's about 10-15 minutes of repeatedly pressing the "print" button and hearing "DING!!! VRRRRMMMVVVPRRPRPRPRPRP! AWWWWW!!!) (Yes, the machine actually says "AWWWWW!!!" when you lose.)

This lady had a stack.

If ticket were pages in a book, this lady had War and Peace. All pokers.

So, I try to delegate her. She doesn't listen, instead pushing the wad of wrinkled, scratched and mangled tickets to me and smiles kindly.

Did I mention that wrinkled tickets don't scan properly?

So, a good half an hour later, I finish with her. She won $24 out of a possible (Didn't bother to count) $80 in SINGLE pokers.

How she got that many out of some poor convenience worker without them shoving a red hot CACTUS up her nose I don't know.

So, she's done. We give her the money, she leaves. Phew.

Nope.

2 hours later, she's back. This time with 3 twenties in her hand.

Ooh! Cookie to who can guess what she wanted?

Yup. Not in pairs, not in triplicate. SINGLES

Bawwwwwwwwwwwwlllllll.

Ok. So I start printing them off. She wins a free ticket on the first one. Lucky her. (Lucky me...) I give it to her.

Now one would think that after purchasing all those OTHER pokers she would have gotten it in her head that to claim, one must sign the tickets.

Did I mention this woman is a walking concussion?

She looks at the ticket with a "Huh?" expression. I tell her she's won a free ticket. She looks down.

Concussion: "What do I do?"
Me: "Sign, please." *Hands over pen.*
Concussion: "Do I sign this?"

Yep. She asked that.

Me: "Please."

She signs away, and I put it through, printing off her free ticket. (29 more to go.)

I give her the replacement ticket for the daily draw and she ONCE AGAIN looks at it.

Concussion: "Do I sign this too?"
Me: "Um, sure."

Next ticket! Two dollar winner! Can that pay for intelligence? No!

Concussion: "Do I sign this?"
Me: *Getting annoyed* "Might as well sign everything I give you."

So she signs it.
And the next one. (Losing ticket.)
Aaaaand the next one. (Loss again.)
And the next one And the next one And the next one And the next one And the next one...
She signed everything I put in front of her. Even the receipts. My hubris has caught up to me. I even had to replace the pen she used. I can't even run the winners through because she's caught up on signing a ticket printed off 6 tickets ago.

So, after an excruciating 20 minutes of *sign*-"DINGDING-VRRRRRPPPPPPPPBPBPBPBPBP BUM BUM- AWWWWW!"-*sign* and *sign*-"DINGDING-VRRRRRPPPPPPPPBPBPBPBPBP WINNER!!! YAAAAHHHHHHH! BINGLEBINGLEBEEE BINGLEBINGLEBEE BINGLEBINGLEBEEBEEBEEEE!!!"-*sign* (I hear that in my dreams.) we finish up. She's won about $34 in instant wins.

Guess what she asks for??? Yep. More.

Nope. This time I tell her we need to serve other customers. She frowns, but moves TO THE BACK OF THE LINE!!!!

UUUUGHHHHHHH!!!!

So I spent about 50 minutes with this woman, tried to get her to leave, apologized to other customers and ringing them in between the "DINGDING-VRRRRRPPPPPPPPBPBPBPBPBP BUM BUM- AWWWWW!" but she kept at it.

All in all, about$130 or so on over a hundred wasted tree skins. Winnings: Nonexistent. She put it all back into poker.

Next time I see her she's getting the fire extinguisher. Maybe some blunt force trauma to the noggin will slide that braincell back into sync with it's sole brother.

[Mystic]

Do you not have casinos where you live? If not, this makes sense, but I still feel bad for anyone who has to work these machines. People get so addicted to gambling. I mean, I buy the occasional lotto ticket, but my slips are pre-filled out and I keep them in my car. In, out, and gone in a matter of seconds and I only play maybe once every few months, but when I see these people, especially the scratchy players who sit there trying to decide which ones to buy, then scratch them and buy more... I no longer feel sorry that they are broke and can't afford food.

[ackmeow]

On the point of casinos, let me offer this little story: The LG (Lottery and Gaming commision) released scratch tickets that instead of winning money, you won redeemable slot tokens at participating casinos.

First day we got those, we sold 8 PACKS.

that's a pack of 50, for $2 each. $800 of casino tickets that day, not including the regular tickets. One person actually bought a whole pack of them.

Yeah we have casinos. Our booth isn't that different from one tho. Buy a scratch, walk 10 feet to the food court and sit down. Come back, claim. Rinse, wash, repeat.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Lord almighty. I'd be kicking the hell out of that machine yelling AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! within a week

[PastryGal]

That poker lotto must be unique in your province because it isn't in out here on the east coast. I remember when the self checkers were new, no one wanted to use them, thought they were lying and I'd tell everyone, "see this cord? it goes from the big machine to the little self checker, so you're not getting ripped off"

[Nemesis44UK]

I no longer feel sorry that they are broke and can't afford food.

I've seen this quite a lot. When I used to work in a store, there was always a few hardcore gamblers who would dig through their purses/wallets for enough loose change to buy a scratchcard, then wander off with watery eyes as they would almost always lose. Unfortunately, some of these individuals were really lacking in basic hygiene and I used to wonder about the standard of their lives.

Other scratchcard addicts would be forty-something women who would buy £20 or £30 of cards, sit on a nearby bench and go to work. Sometimes, they would win £5 or £10 and no prizes for what they would spend their winnings on....more scratchcards that they wouldn't win anything on.

Again, must be nice to have a life where you can afford to spend £100+ per month on scratchcards........

[Sapphire Silk]

On the point of casinos, let me offer this little story: The LG (Lottery and Gaming commision) released scratch tickets that instead of winning money, you won redeemable slot tokens at participating casinos.

First day we got those, we sold 8 PACKS.

that's a pack of 50, for $2 each. $800 of casino tickets that day, not including the regular tickets. One person actually bought a whole pack of them.

Whoa. Let me get this straight.

Your Lottery Commission sells scratch tickets that, if you win, give you NO money but only tokens you can use at a CASINO?!?!?!?

My brain just broke.

[ackmeow]

Pretty much. More popular than bottled happiness.

Amazing.

[emax4]

I lost it at the first instance of "DING!!! VRRRRMMMVVVPRRPRPRPRPRP! AWWWWW!!!

Do you have any say on policies there? In order to keep the waiting customers happy and keep the line going, maybe you could put up some sort of sign that says, "After purchasing and/or redeeming a batch of tickets, you must step to the back of line to purchase and/or redeem additional tickets, as to speed up the line for our valued customers."

[Grape The Cat]

Gah. I am so glad we didn't sell lottery tickets at WM. And that machine would drive me crazy(ier).

[ackmeow]

I lost it at the first instance of "DING!!! VRRRRMMMVVVPRRPRPRPRPRP! AWWWWW!!!

Do you have any say on policies there? In order to keep the waiting customers happy and keep the line going, maybe you could put up some sort of sign that says, "After purchasing and/or redeeming a batch of tickets, you must step to the back of line to purchase and/or redeem additional tickets, as to speed up the line for our valued customers."

We do have that policy but some customers get so mad at it that they just ignore it. Besides, the till is seperate from the lottery machine so I can help other people inbetween. If they want to sit and wait for 20 minutes while we scan, there isn't much we can do about it. There's no valid reason for refusing service. (At least to head office.)

I hate Poker Lotto, but it's done in such a way as to not interfere with my other duties. *Sob.*

[AyreBiskits]

she could have been wanting to buy pants

[emax4]

We do have that policy but some customers get so mad at it that they just ignore it. Besides, the till is seperate from the lottery machine so I can help other people inbetween. If they want to sit and wait for 20 minutes while we scan, there isn't much we can do about it. There's no valid reason for refusing service. (At least to head office.)

I hate Poker Lotto, but it's done in such a way as to not interfere with my other duties. *Sob.*

That's understandable. Customer's can get as mad as they want to, but it's not their store and not their rules either. I would simply move aside and start waiting on the other customers. And if the lottery person gets mad, simply point to the sign. If they can't read directions, they probably won't follow any directions you give them. And at that point, what's the point of waiting on someone who won't do as they're told or obey the rules?

If head office or the manager questions you about it, ask them if they would rather please the remaining customers in line and lose the one customer who won't obey the rules, or keep the person who won't obey the rules and lose (insert number) customers and following business? The longer they take to answer, the stupider management/head office is proving themselves.

[AccountingDrone]

Geeze, I get amazingly tickled when my lotto ticket wins $2 ... we get one of each of the 3 types each week mainly because the money is supposedly split between the state's education funding and the lottery commission. Cheap thrills for $3 total a week. [to date, in the roughly 20 years we have lived in CT, I think we have won a total of about $500 all tickets combined]

[Shalom]

Your Lottery Commission sells scratch tickets that, if you win, give you NO money but only tokens you can use at a CASINO?!?!?!?

So, either you lose, or you get a chance to go to the casino, where you will also lose (more often than you win, else they wouldn't be in business).

This does not strike me as a great bargain here.

First time in my life I ever saw gamblers doing their thing, I was about 17, and the Jersey Shore had just legalized certain forms of gambling. While my family was on vacation to Wildwood, I personally witnessed someone feeding quarters into a one armed bandit. She hit an 80 coin winner, and first thing she does is start feeding those same 80 quarters right back into the exact same machine. I couldn't believe this. At least move to some other machine, right?

I dunno, I guess gambling just isn't my thing. Sure I'll buy a lotto ticket once in a while if the jackpot is astronomical, but I don't really hold out much hope of winning anything, and I've never done a scratch-off. I do remember reading a survey once that said there were some people for whom "win the lottery" was a big part of their financial planning. Maybe that's one of the reasons why the economy is as screwed as it is at the moment...