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At the mom-and-pop store I work at, we have several regular customers. Most come in in the morning, to hang around, and gab with my boss. However, by the time my shift rolls around, most of the regular customers I see are the ones who play the lottery, primarily scratch tickets. Some just stop in, buy a few tickets, and then go out to their cars, to scratch them; occasionally bringing in the winners in order to buy more, but often just leave. However, there are some certain regular customers who go well beyond that. I’ve come to nickname them “the Lotto Lingerers.” Here are some of the more notable ones:
The Russian Lady: Has a thick accent. Tends to stick to one or two types of tickets; notably, a $5 ticket called “Ruby Red 7s”, and a $10 ticket called “$10 Million Hold-’em Poker” (though she often buys a $2 ticket called “Sapphire Blue 5s”, similar in format to Ruby Red 7s, whenever we happen to have them). A typical part of her run will include getting “two Ruby Reds, and a Poker,” after which she’ll head over to the scancard booth to scratch them, returning a few minutes later. This often continues for 15-30 minutes, before she gets frustrated, and buys a last lot of tickets to bring to her car, though she occasionally scratches those outside, and returns for more...
The “Where’s The Beef?” Lady: has a voice similar to the character from the classic ‘80s Wendy’s ad, and just about as annoying (even more so if she’s in a whiny mood). Walks very slowly; has a cane, which rarely seems to touch the ground most of the time (she often leaves it hanging off the edge of the counter, which leads to it falling to the ground). Has dentures, which can be often heard shuffling around in her mouth as she talks. Is rather deaf, which means that I have to constantly repeat the amount of money (if any) she won on her scratch tickets, or resort to visual signals. Buys mostly $2 and $1 tickets; more often than not, rather than using the number system we have our ticket slots labeled with, she’ll just ask for “a number 2”, while pointing in the general direction of the ticket she wants. Constantly asks “do I have enough?” for her intended ticket purchase, often resorting to small change. Usually takes 30-45 minutes to finish a ticket run, resulting in a long (for our store) line forming behind her, since she usually scratches her tickets right in front of the main counter. More often than not, at the end of a ticket run, she’ll announce to me “This is it. I’m done,” yet she usually ends up getting more tickets anyway. Usually talks about how broke she is, and how cranky her husband must be getting, as he waits in the car for her to finish her run (he must have infinite patience, since he usually looks fairly content). Woe be to anyone stuck behind her in line...
Last but certainly not least, there’s The Addict. Regularly spents $100 or more in a single ticket run, often getting one each of our $10 and $5 scratch tickets. Spending $1,000 total in a ticket session is commonplace for him; he’s likely blown tens of thousands of dollars during my tenure at the store. Often spends an hour or more in the store, scratching away either at the main counter, or on a corner of the main counter, near the trash can. Usually only scratches parts of the tickets, looking for a three-letter code which indicates a store-cashable (between $1 and $500) winning ticket; brings any with a non-winning code home with him, to check and see if any of them are big winners (the stack of non-winners is regularly several inches thick!). Plows the entirety of his ticket winnings, if any, for the run back into more tickets. Rarely brings along enough cash to cover the amount of tickets he intends to buy, which means I have to keep a log of the amount of money he spends, to make for a running total of his debt. During one session, counting the amount he spent in cash, in ticket winnings, and the amount spent as credit, he blew a grand total of $1,170. It’s not uncommon for him to end up owing $200-300 after a ticket session (why my boss lets him do this is completely beyond me, but he pays the debt off eventually, so it’s not really my place to say). He’s always aiming for that big $500 winning ticket, which he has hit before, but not nearly often enough to support the debt he runs up each session. When he does, however, he usually tips me $40, telling me to use it to take my mother out for ice cream. The lesser regular lotto players have told me that our store is not the only one he plays lottery tickets at...
Honorable Mention: the Scancard Lady. Doesn’t play scratch tickets at nearly the same frequency as the three listed above, but still deserves a mention. Her primary reason for coming in is to play the daily numbers game. She typically spends $70-120 per session on three- and four-number combinations, usually involving the numbers ‘2’, ‘4’, and ‘0’ for some unknown reason. Usually has me play numerous manually-entered three-number combos ($3 a pop), and then starts handing me stacks of scancards, typically worth $3.50-7.00 apiece, and usually has me run them twice each. She always pays in checks, often writing them out for a bit more than what the grand total comes out to (again, I don’t fathom why the boss lets her do this, but he does).
There are other lesser Lotto Lingerers, but they’re not quite as notorious as these four. Whenever someone laments that they play too many tickets, I often mention The Addict, and they usually agree that he’s crazy. Perhaps I’ll mention some of the lesser lingerers in future installments, if anything notable comes up.
-Adam
The Russian Lady: Has a thick accent. Tends to stick to one or two types of tickets; notably, a $5 ticket called “Ruby Red 7s”, and a $10 ticket called “$10 Million Hold-’em Poker” (though she often buys a $2 ticket called “Sapphire Blue 5s”, similar in format to Ruby Red 7s, whenever we happen to have them). A typical part of her run will include getting “two Ruby Reds, and a Poker,” after which she’ll head over to the scancard booth to scratch them, returning a few minutes later. This often continues for 15-30 minutes, before she gets frustrated, and buys a last lot of tickets to bring to her car, though she occasionally scratches those outside, and returns for more...
The “Where’s The Beef?” Lady: has a voice similar to the character from the classic ‘80s Wendy’s ad, and just about as annoying (even more so if she’s in a whiny mood). Walks very slowly; has a cane, which rarely seems to touch the ground most of the time (she often leaves it hanging off the edge of the counter, which leads to it falling to the ground). Has dentures, which can be often heard shuffling around in her mouth as she talks. Is rather deaf, which means that I have to constantly repeat the amount of money (if any) she won on her scratch tickets, or resort to visual signals. Buys mostly $2 and $1 tickets; more often than not, rather than using the number system we have our ticket slots labeled with, she’ll just ask for “a number 2”, while pointing in the general direction of the ticket she wants. Constantly asks “do I have enough?” for her intended ticket purchase, often resorting to small change. Usually takes 30-45 minutes to finish a ticket run, resulting in a long (for our store) line forming behind her, since she usually scratches her tickets right in front of the main counter. More often than not, at the end of a ticket run, she’ll announce to me “This is it. I’m done,” yet she usually ends up getting more tickets anyway. Usually talks about how broke she is, and how cranky her husband must be getting, as he waits in the car for her to finish her run (he must have infinite patience, since he usually looks fairly content). Woe be to anyone stuck behind her in line...
Last but certainly not least, there’s The Addict. Regularly spents $100 or more in a single ticket run, often getting one each of our $10 and $5 scratch tickets. Spending $1,000 total in a ticket session is commonplace for him; he’s likely blown tens of thousands of dollars during my tenure at the store. Often spends an hour or more in the store, scratching away either at the main counter, or on a corner of the main counter, near the trash can. Usually only scratches parts of the tickets, looking for a three-letter code which indicates a store-cashable (between $1 and $500) winning ticket; brings any with a non-winning code home with him, to check and see if any of them are big winners (the stack of non-winners is regularly several inches thick!). Plows the entirety of his ticket winnings, if any, for the run back into more tickets. Rarely brings along enough cash to cover the amount of tickets he intends to buy, which means I have to keep a log of the amount of money he spends, to make for a running total of his debt. During one session, counting the amount he spent in cash, in ticket winnings, and the amount spent as credit, he blew a grand total of $1,170. It’s not uncommon for him to end up owing $200-300 after a ticket session (why my boss lets him do this is completely beyond me, but he pays the debt off eventually, so it’s not really my place to say). He’s always aiming for that big $500 winning ticket, which he has hit before, but not nearly often enough to support the debt he runs up each session. When he does, however, he usually tips me $40, telling me to use it to take my mother out for ice cream. The lesser regular lotto players have told me that our store is not the only one he plays lottery tickets at...
Honorable Mention: the Scancard Lady. Doesn’t play scratch tickets at nearly the same frequency as the three listed above, but still deserves a mention. Her primary reason for coming in is to play the daily numbers game. She typically spends $70-120 per session on three- and four-number combinations, usually involving the numbers ‘2’, ‘4’, and ‘0’ for some unknown reason. Usually has me play numerous manually-entered three-number combos ($3 a pop), and then starts handing me stacks of scancards, typically worth $3.50-7.00 apiece, and usually has me run them twice each. She always pays in checks, often writing them out for a bit more than what the grand total comes out to (again, I don’t fathom why the boss lets her do this, but he does).
There are other lesser Lotto Lingerers, but they’re not quite as notorious as these four. Whenever someone laments that they play too many tickets, I often mention The Addict, and they usually agree that he’s crazy. Perhaps I’ll mention some of the lesser lingerers in future installments, if anything notable comes up.
-Adam
), and a further $100 or so after that.
She actually thinks that "poor people" spend their entire paychecks on lottery since they see it as a get-rich-quick thing.
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