Another One Bites the Dust

Red Light called yesterday to remind me bingo has been moved to 11:00 today, Friday.

Lucky for me, thought I, because my Friday workout is at 11:00. Except, Trainer is pallbearer at a funeral this afternoon, moved my session up to 9:30 — but I wasn’t about to tell that to Red Light.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her I couldn’t make it because it’s a workout day, but she said something that made me change my mind and decide I’d bite the bullet and go to the hours and hours and hours long bingo.

I did offer to skip today’s workout, give trainer the day off, so he could do what he had to do as the funeral is for a close friend and client who died as a result of a motorcycle accident. However, trainer said he had to be in the studio this morning for other reasons, so my coming in early is what he needed from me.

So anyway, what Red Light said to change my mind about telling her I couldn’t attend because it’s a workout day was, "Did you hear the new Community Manager is gone?"

She’s talking about No. 9, hired into the position February 14, whom I’ve never seen nor met, but heard was all high heels and tight pants.

"What do you mean gone!?" asked I.

"We don’t know if she quit or was fired, but someone from Corporate is covering her desk".

After getting off the phone with Red Light, I checked Corporate’s website to verify the information and, sure enough, the job opening is once again posted.

That’s around 7 weeks she lasted.

Believe it or not, we had one who quit after a week and won who quit while still in training at Corporate — never set foot on the property.

So, after this morning’s early workout it was off to the Community Room to glean some good gossip. OOPS, I mean to play bingo.

The prize table was full of stuff to choose from.

I had a feeling I was going to be a winner, so I pre-decided on those tie-dye spatulas.

To up my chances, I sat at the table with a woman I'll call Lucky Lady because, no matter what the event, no matter what prize is up for the taking, she wins and, wouldn’t you know, seating worked. I was the first to call bingo, so I got those spatulas. THEN, I was the third to call bingo, went back and selected the one to the left of the tie-dye ones.

I think I stole her luck because she wasn't winning.

Had there not been a rule that you can only win twice, I'd have stayed to win that polka dot spatula as well but, seeing no need to sit through ten games, when I'd already reached two wins, I left with my loot during the break after Game 5.

I was the only one out of 12 in attendance wearing a mask

I gave the luck back to Lucky Lady by giving her my cards to play for the remaining games.

And, btw, the rule that you can only win twice came about as a result of Lucky Lady being so lucky.

When No. 8 was manager, Big Friendly Guy got upset about a winning streak Lucky Lady was on, got all in her face screaming, shouting, so loud that No. 8 and the two maintenance guys came running in to break up whatever was going on.

Lucky Lady is in a wheel chair, so Big Friendly guy is no longer allowed in the Community Room and bingo players are now only allowed to win twice.

I had an opportunity to chat with the Talker, ask her about the day I saw her having that long conversation with Karen.

"Was she complaining?" asked I.

"No, she’s been nice since the manager told her she’d have to leave if there were any more problems".

I wonder if Karen will drop the nice act once she finds out the Community Manager is no longer here.

As for why No. 9 left so soon, or was fired, one person in bingo told me the rumor is it has something to do with one of our maintenance guys — the younger one. That "He couldn’t get any work done for following her around".

"He’s married", said I. "He lives here with his wife and three kids. Chasing after her would just be greedy. He has more than he can handle as it is".

"Yeah, but his wife isn’t here during the day. She works", said the spinner of this tale.

Another person at bingo said, "The rumor is, SHE (No. 9) was interested in him".

Neither makes sense to me, so I’ll just have to accept not knowing why she’s gone and whether she quit or was fired.

Maintenance Guy might be sad to see that bit of eye candy gone, but Activity Director isn't going to miss her because of the fiasco in getting the Activity Calendar out in a timely manner. Hopefully, No. 10 will do better in that regard. And maybe No. 10 will set up a meet and greet so we can at least see whose gonna be gone next before they're gone.

Also hopefully, No. 9 didn’t steal anything like the Tyrant (No. 8) did. He absconded with all the bingo equipment us seniors had amassed over the years.

The equipment was purchased with monies us seniors had collected through Bake Sales and Raffles and other money making activities back when we had a Residents’ Activity Committee.

What the hosts are working with now is almost like a little toy set, acquired through donated money. All the prizes were purchased with money donated as well. Red Light, the Baker, the Talker and Jan, our painted rock lady, asked members of their families for donations to get bingo up and running again.

Twin 1 tells me she just did an event with the Lauder company, as in Estée Lauder. That she mentioned to them she was familiar with their brand because one of her fondest memories was waking up to the smell of my scent — Cinnabar perfume. When she left the event, they gave her a box of Cinnabar to give to her mom …. ME … an entire box!

Cinnabar is still my signature scent.

When Twin 2 and I had separate rooms in separate sections of a hotel in downtown Los Angeles — there to participate in the Bat Man 5K, she got on an elevator, smelled my scent, called and asked if I’d just gone down the elevator.

I had, LOL.

So anyway, I recently spent $60 for a 1.7 oz bottle of Cinnabar, as I was getting low, but sounds like I’ll never have to buy another bottle as a box of bottles is headed my way.

Some of those bottles will make a nice donation to the bingo prize table.

Today was Birthday Bingo. Evidently, it’s Birthday Month as I heard the Baker say her birthday is coming up, Red Light’s is coming up. I ran into my buddy Apache as I was getting out of the car arriving at the Pain Cave. He says his birthday is coming up; and today was the birthday of a resident whose always been one of my favorites. Let’s call her Genie — just because.

At any rate, the Baker made cupcakes, served at the 5-game break, for Genie’s birthday and Mother’s Day.

Lucky Lady has a nice singing voice, and before I opted out of bingo and headed back to my unit, I was lucky enough to capture her serenading Genie with the song she sings in Spanish for birthdays.