Oh, I didn't actually go inside any stores to look. Hick dropped me off at our old favorite casino, where he has been going alone on Thursdays, after his Goodwill tour, to get a weekly comp of a $15 Walmart gift card. Yeah. I understand that he gambles more than $15 while picking up the card. Anyhoo...I have the same comp, so I figured I'd ride along this time, purely to give Hick my gift card. I'm selfless like that.
First cat out of the bag, let me reveal that I did NOT leave a winner. In fact, it was worse than my last outing last week at our NEW favorite casino. This time, I lost $20 more than half the money I took to lose. Still...I didn't leave empty-handed. I guess a slow hemorrhage is better than a severed casino bankroll bleeding out.
Hick's costume shop was farther away than he thought, and he barely made it back to meet me for our designated lunch time of 1:15 at Burger Brothers. Which might have been just as well, because once again, they ruined my burger.
That is a well done burger, my friends. And I don't mean that as a compliment to the chef. I mean that my burger was cooked into a tasteless dry blob which no amount of ketchup or mustard could save. I had ordered it to be cooked "medium," as did Hick. His had juice dripping out, and the pinkish tint that signifies "medium."
"Can't they ever get my burger right? It's always THAT GUY! The same one, every time, who messes up my order!" DAHNA. That's his name! There on the receipt!"
"He doesn't cook it himself, Val. He just takes the order."
"Which gets messed up every time! Look. He also used my MYCASH for payment. After I specifically told him we were just using my $10 food comp, and then paying the rest."
"That's all right."
"Well, it wasn't YOURCASH that he used! Of course it was all right with you. That's $6.88 that I didn't want him taking! I could have used it as free play."
Yes, I was a little steamed about the burger. But that's not the smokin' hot part of Val's casino adventure.
I spent some time after lunch playing QuickHits. Specifically, QuickHits Riches, With Rising Multipliers. There are four machines in the row. An old man was playing the middle left, and an old woman was playing the middle right. They appeared to be together. The two slots on the ends were available. I took the one closest to me, on the right end, which put me sitting next to the old lady. I swear, within 30 seconds of me plopping my ample rumpus onto that stool, that little old lady fired up a cigarette!
Are you freakin' kidding me? Hasn't she heard of emphysema? The smoke wafted across my face, right under my nostrils. Seriously. You could see the trail of it as clearly as a Pepe Le Pew stink plume. She couldn't have calculated its placement better with a slide rule, a level, and a
But wait! I had hope. The Old Man stood up, and asked her what they should do, and she said, "Probably get more money." So her husband or clandestine lover or sugar daddy left for the cash machine. But Old Smokey didn't! I really wanted her machine. It's the one I like to play, and it had been busy earlier. I'd gotten a turn on the one the Old Man was using, but the people sitting on each side of it then had looked at me like I was a seasoned criminal leading a migrant caravan across their border. So I didn't stay long.
Anyhoo...Old Man returned and doled out some cash, and Old Smokey renewed her puffing like she was depending on that smoke to cure my flesh for later consumption in the dead of winter. I'm a stubborn ol' Val, though, and I refused to leave. I guess I showed HER! Though my lungs might beg to differ. I hit a couple bonuses on my last $20, and had to cash out (to cash in with my other tickets from earlier) rather than lose it back. Because it was time to meet Hick.
At least I didn't see a child gambling on her grandpa's knee this time...
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PART 2 on Sunday. (Don't get excited. It's not all that great. It involves Hick.)
I could not taste the non-flavor of that juice-less burger just from the picture.
ReplyDeleteExactly! That's why I took the picture. I was SO disappointed. I'd been looking forward to the burger almost as much as the gambling. Hick's was more of a medium-well, but STILL, it at least had some juice dripping out.
DeleteI think you need to take matters into your own hands about those burgers. Take it back to the counter and slap it down all indignant-like and demand a medium burger instead of dried beef jerky. Get what you paid for! And then get all up in their faces about using your "mycash" instead of regular money.
ReplyDeleteI would have had to walk away from that smoker my lungs just can't take that kind of abuse.
Sadly, I'm a complainer, not a confronter. Like Hick said, that guy didn't make the burger, he only took the order. I could see on the receipt that he had indeed put MEDIUM.
DeleteHe has a really thick accent, too, and I don't know how long it would have taken to make my point. The guy had also forgotten the milkshake for the lady who picked up her order while we were in line, and she came back demanding it. I might be indignant, but I'm not into making a scene that will make that guy's day more miserable.
The MYCASH, though...I will definitely say NO MYCASH the next time we go. Maybe he will understand. As for the smoke, my love of gambling apparently outweighs my love for my lungs.
Forget the order guy, speak to the cook. Be confrontational just once, they'll remember you forever as the "medium" lady.
DeleteHeh, heh! I might be remembered as "medium," but I doubt it would be as a "LADY!"
DeleteSome casinos are smoke-free, or have smoke-free areas, don't they? It's been so long since I've been in one I can't remember.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any that are smoke-free. This one has a non-smoking area where Hick has a favorite game, but he says people smoke in there all the time, and aren't chastised. It's just a little section in the back corner of the casino, with no walls or anything else to keep the other smoke out.
DeleteI will say that this casino has drastically improved their ventilation system in the past year, and the wall of smoke that hit your face when you entered, even way down in the hotel section, is gone now.
In our area the casino is the only place you can smoke, you can't even smoke at the beach! There are enforced non-smoking areas in our casinos. When I pass a smoking area I have an urge to light one up. Nothing is better than that one cigarette, nothing worse than HAVING to have that one cigarette! I can fight the urge.
DeleteMan! It seems like smoking is more regulated in NJ than public pooping! I guess maybe that ex school superintendent might still have his job if he was only a smoker, and knew that his shenanigans were frowned upon.
DeleteI REFUSE to eat a burger that well done!
ReplyDeleteI rarely refuse to eat ANYTHING! The exception being pepperoni, which I will pick off a pizza rather than waste PIZZA!
Delete