Location: Caroline Hedger Apartments
Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2013; 6:00-7:00 pm
This was a program I had never
done before, or even come close to doing.
But I was free this Wednesday evening and decided to make the trip. And boy, it was a long trip - way up north
near Loyola. The commute meant that
I was rushing to make it in time. I
arrived a couple of minutes late, meaning that the Bingo session had already
commenced. Melissa, or Missy, was
leading this one and she asked me grab a Bingo card and go over to a table. I saw a table with a lady and a gentleman and
went over to sit with them. What
followed was the most hilarious Bingo episode of my career.
 |
| Here we go again |
One of the volunteers was at a whiteboard, writing down the numbers that had been called. This, in my opinion was a great idea, since
it allowed everyone to fill out the numbers that they may have missed, and also
let me catch-up despite being late. I
noticed that the gentleman at my table was constantly giggling. Well, I have been to several Bingo sessions, but
have never seen any resident find it to be an amusing game. I asked him what was so funny and he replied
that he was just in a good mood. I could
appreciate that since it is definitely better than the alternative. I looked around me and saw that Missy had
brought some cupcakes for the residents and they were some of the most colorful ones
that I had seen. I also noticed that the
gentleman on my table had a bottle of hot sauce with him and I asked if he
planned to use it on the cakes. At this he burst into a new set of giggles and I was happy to have contributed to his good
mood.
The lady, who introduced herself
as Romi, asked me if I was from the Philippines. I said no; I was Indian. This did not seem to convince her and she
asked me if I was from any other oriental country. I said no; I was originally from India. She asked if I had a different ancestry. I said not that I’m aware of. “No,
really”, she asked suspiciously. I
said yes, I was sure! Man, she was
difficult to convince. This exchange
added further fuel to the giggling man’s humorous fit and he continued with his
silent laughter. Missy, on the other
hand, was as serious a Bingo caller as I have ever seen. Well, at least someone was having fun.
Romi won and selected a word
search book. She told me that now she
couldn't win another prize till everyone else had won; which I found to be a
practice consistent with other places. Next, the giggling gentleman won and to my immense surprise, he handed his board to
Romi, who chose another lady to get the prize. I was confused and asked the gentleman why he
had given his prize away and he said that he was not allowed to win. This was strange since he had not won before
and I was wondering if he had somehow managed to get himself banned from
winning prizes over here. I was about to
ask that when he said that volunteers were not allowed to win. Wait.
What???? A volunteer!!! This gentleman - Tom,
who I had been mistaking for a resident, was actually a volunteer. Man, what a faux pas.
In the meanwhile the game
continued and a lady at another table won and as she got up to choose a prize,
Romi went on a tirade where she claimed that the lady had already won before
and was hiding her earlier prize. Tom
started giggling as Romi took it up a notch by claiming that the lady who
had supposedly cheated was drunk last Saturday.
Now, what did that have to do with anything? In my opinion what the other lady did in her
free time was her business, but apparently not according to Romi! I looked at Tom and he said, “Now do you understand why I’m giggling?” Yeah, now I understood and I was having a
blast. Another lady won and Romi resumed
her tirade, saying that this was her 4th win. I was quite sure it was an exaggeration, but did
not correct her. Instead I looked at Tom
and both of us burst out laughing.
Next, Romi won and even
though she had a prize, she got up with an innocent look on her face and
claimed one more – garbage bags this time.
She then brought them back and hid them underneath the
table. The she removed them and kept on
top. Then she hid them again and finally
when Missy announced that everyone had a prize, she displayed them
proudly. “Make up your mind”, I said.
Tom giggled. Romi was now
warmed up and said that everyone over there cheats and if I looked under all
the tables, I would find lot of hidden prizes.
I said that perhaps she should get a bag next time so as to hide hers and
Tom called me a troublemaker, at which I started laughing and he joined in.
Missy was looking at our table
suspiciously and seemed generally irritated at our behavior. Amidst her glares, Romi continued her
complaining and when someone called Bingo, she accused them of cheating, though
how can you cheat at something which is as transparent as Bingo numbers was
beyond me. Just as Romi was
complaining that someone had won for the 5th time, she won herself
and went to claim her 3rd prize, another puzzle book. Missy asked how many prizes she had and
Romi said only 2 – as she hid the garbage bags again. Then she continued muttering how others were
claiming multiple prizes and Tom asked her if she would jump off a bridge just
because others were doing so. Romi hit Tom playfully as he started giggling again and Missy glared once more.
Finally the hour was up and it
was hard to believe that we had managed to pack so much action in such a short
time. By action I mean the hilarity
which had ensued and I told Missy that this was the most fun I have had,
without getting into the specifics as to why.
Before I left we chatted about the Chicago Cares ‘Christmas Caroling’ project that she is leading in December, and I
told her that we should have spiked ‘Eggnog
with Rum’ on the bus as we went from one site to another. This seemed to relax her and she let go of
her irritation with us. I left that day
as I usually leave after a Chicago Cares project, happy that I had come. The only difference was that instead of
smiling, I was laughing. What an
evening!
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
No comments:
Post a Comment