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Tuesday, 29 April 2008

Steal or no Steal!

The story about the bingo manager who got sent to jail for stealing £31,000 from her employers does not surprise me. Although I never saw anything on a huge scale like this, I have seen instances of money being 'borrowed' from the staff in clubs that I have worked at. When you are working in an industry where the majority of people are overworked, underpaid and living on a shoestring budget, any chance to keep yourself ticking over until the next pay packet is appreciated.

When I first started out in bingo, I was working for a small independent company which paid there staff in cash every Thursday. Now I know what I am like with cash, so I had to make a concerted effort to go straight to the bank and put it into my account before I found the nearest pub (and subsequent fruit machine) otherwise come Friday I would be skint! However not all my work colleagues would be the same and Thursday/Friday/Saturday would be a popular time for socialising and spending, before the inevitable hangover on the Sunday and the realisation that they would have to borrow from the club to pay for the essentials (rent, bills etc) My first club were very good with this and after a chat with the manager you were usually given a few quid which would be taken straight out of your pay packet come the following wage day. The problem is for some of the staff this became a vicious circle of borrowing money/paying it back. I had one friend who, come pay day on the Thursday would come round to everyone he had borrowed money off; the club, staff and even in some instances the customers and pay them back what he owed, only to find out he didn't have enough left over to cover himself for the rest of the week. So the next day he would be back to borrow a tenner here and a tenner there until the next Thursday!!!! I don't think I ever saw him with a full pay packet in his hand in the 2 and a half years I worked there.

The other problem you have is when the staff decide to make up the difference in illegal ways. Stealing is an unfortunate truth in any job that involves cash and underpaid staff with the right opportunity, and bingo is no different. My first job in the club was as a change giver-we only dealt in 10ps but at the end of a busy night my pinny would have about £500 in notes in it!!!!! When I moved up to giving the prizes away on party bingo on busy nights i would start off with £2,500 in my hand. There was not a lot to stop me from just walking out of the building and getting on the first train out of town! And a couple of times other staff did just that!!!! Also I had to come face to face with a supervisor once when my float which was correct when I counted it at the end of the session, mysteriously was £15 down five minutes after I handed it to them to check. After a few 'careful words' the money was surprisingly found before senior management became involved!

The staff that used to disgust me though were the ones that actually took money from the customers, especially the vunerable ones: things like giving £9 in change to a customer who gave them £10, short-changing people at the diner and bar a few pence here and there. This sort of staff were the lowest of the low and they made me sick. It's one thing to steal from the club; but to steal from a poor old-age pensioner who can't remember whether they gave you a £10 or £20 pound note is despicable!

Fortunately this sort of crime is becoming rarer and rarer as bigger clubs use CCTV to not only protect the staff and customers, but also the huge amount of money on the premises as well.
In my experience at these modern clubs any sort of illegal activity is dealt with swiftly and efficiently, and in the case of money being legitimately borrowed it is all strictly monitored and policied so both parties are protected.

7 years ago when i started in bingo i was on £2.75 an hour as a 25 year old!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder all this sort of borrowing was going on, especially in the small clubs. But one good thing the goverment has done for the industry in the last few years is to introduce the minimum wage scheme (currently £5.52 an hour). Small compensation I know for the rest of the burdens they have given the industry, but it does mean that IOU's in bingo safes are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

And to end with something my dad used to say to me 'if you can't afford to buy it then you can't have it' Wise words Dad!

Posted by Brett at 01:03 | Add your comments [0] | Links |

Tuesday, 22 April 2008

Regional finals: well done Andrew

Well Gala's (thats Gala's.......not the NBGA!!!!!) caller of the year regional finals have been completed and a big well done to one of my former relief callers, Andrew who scooped the prize for the south-east region. There are 11 regions in the Gala company so Andrew will be faced with 10 other regional finalists in the grand final at the end of June in Birmingham.

It would be arrogant of me to say that I taught him everything he knows.....................




.........................but seriously! I always knew that the guy had something to offer the bingo world. He has a friendly and welcoming personality on stage which the customers seem to adore: the only thing he has lacked in the past is the confidence to take the next step..............Well, Andrew you took that step and you blasted the rest of the competition out of the water!!!!!!!! Good luck with the final and I will do my upmost to be there. Just remember everything you learnt off me!!!

If anyone knows the results in the other regional finals then please let me know. I do know that my part-time Gala TV colleague Peter Carlisle from Liverpool did not make it through to the final but any other information will be appreciated. As soon as I know, you guys will know!!!!!!

Posted by Brett at 04:24 | Add your comments [6] | Links |

Saturday, 19 April 2008

Big Wins.........Keep or Share?

I never share with family and friends when I play bingo. Now you may say that is a selfish and 'scrooge-like' attitude but I do not want to get into the situation that some people do when they win big! The recent news this week of Sisters going to court to get a share of a £50,000 jackpot cements my belief. The whole story was in the national press today (mirror) and it is just a sorry state of affairs that a whole family is torn apart due to a big win at the bingo. For every story you hear about close friends sharing a million, you hear other tales of friends and loved ones taking each other to court over a few grand.

The national lottery had the same sort of press when it began; before it created contracts and the suchlike to counteract any such disputes over big wins.

So follow the example of this website and print off the prize share agreement form, get your bingo pals to sign it and save yourself the lawyers fees the next time you win big at bingo!!!!!!

Posted by Brett at 20:44 | Add your comments [0] | Links |

Friday, 11 April 2008

Back to Bingo!!!!

Didn't win on the national the other day: all of my bets fell or pulled up.........damn it!!!!!!!! but I have had a few days off and managed to go back home to Bognor Regis and had a Sunday night session at the local club there. It's the first time I've been in a hall this year and it was nostalgic to be back!!! Spoke to couple of old friends and told them what I was up to. Most of them haven't got Sky so they think I have left the industry! The caller was rubbish though and I only had one sweat on all night! the fruit machine was a lot friendlier though and after a couple of quid in I was £40 up so all in all excellent!!!

Back in Bristol now working again, I haven't gotten around to visiting any clubs here yet (apart from Gala Fishponds which I am still employed with) but I'm going to make an effort in the near future...........any suggestions would be appreciated

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Posted by Brett at 20:01 | Add your comments [0] | Links |

Saturday, 5 April 2008

Grand national day!!!

The Grand national today reminds me of my early days working in an independent bingo club. We would always do a sweep stake with the staff and some of our regulars-it was always good because the race would be between the afternoon and evening sessions so we would all crowd round the TV during our break to watch it!!!!
I never managed to pick the winner in the sweepstake but I do remember dashing off round the corner from the bingo to the local bookies to put £1 each-way on Red Marauder a few years ago and it romped home at 66-1. I had to wait until after the evening calling session shift before I could go off to the pub to enjoy the winnings!!!!!!

If you have had a flutter today then good luck!!!!!!

Posted by Brett at 16:03 | Add your comments [2] | Links |

Tuesday, 1 April 2008

NBGA or GALA:which caller of the year comp to enter?

For the last couple of weeks I have been on facebook having a right conflab about the bingo caller of the year comp. This all stems from my disappointment that there were hardly any Gala entrants in the NBGA version of caller of the year last year.


The consensus seems to be that my calling companions at Gala would rather enter the internal Gala caller of the year competition; the regional finals of which are being held at the end of April, than to even consider the NBGA version (which starts its preliminary rounds this month)


'Why is this??I hear you cry!'


Well, if you become NBGA caller of the year you have technically beaten over 600 other callers in clubs up and down the land whereas the Gala comp proves your the top caller out of 160ish clubs!

The gala comp offers £200 for the regional title and £500 as the national prize. The NBGA gives £250 to the regional winner and £500 plus an all expenses trip to America for you and your partner for being the ultimate champ! Looking at in black and white and it seems to me like the NBGA one rocks in terms of prizes and prestige!

But look a bit deeper and you find out why the Gala comp is preferred by the majority of Gala callers.

Gala prides themselves on having a pool of professional callers. They even have a calling school and a rising scale of calling qualifications from green card (qualified) to specialist and then to training caller (the top level) The Gala caller of the year competiton is basically a celebration of this. You are judged purely on your calling abilities, your appearance and your professionalism. This is what attracts the Gala callers!

The NBGA in comparison is looking for more than just a caller. Its an ambassador for the bingo industry that they want. You are judged via a interview which assesses your bingo knowledge/and how you would deal with the media, and you have to 'entertain' the crowd for 3 minutes before you are also assessed on your calling abilities.

I can understand that in terms of difficulty the Gala one is the easiest comp to go for as all you have to do is do what you do every day in club whereas the NBGA one wants you to know your legislation and see you dance/sing/do magic (whatever!) This seems to be the major stumbling block for my Gala colleagues:


'i don't sing/dance/entertain at work so why should I for the NBGA comp? The gala one doesn't do that!'
is what I am hearing constantly.

The thing is this is a misinterpretation of the rules of the NBGA. You are required to 'entertain' the crowd for 3 minutes but there is absolutely no mention of singing/telling jokes or otherwise! All you have to do is to engage the players: and that is what you should be doing every time you go up on stage anyway! The entertainment section equates to less than 10% of the total marks (a paltry amount: you get marked more on your general appearance-around 20%) and I know from a judges perspective that all they are looking for is someone who can get a rapport with the crowd without going over the allotted time whether it be by singing or by telling a story; this guarantees you at least 7out of 10 marks in my opinion.

Out of the two competitions the NBGA contest is the more revered because of the media responsibilities you will endure. In my tenure as COTY I had to attend numerous radio interviews and local TV appearances not to mention perform at special events (see earlier posts for more on that, including eggheads and calling for celebrities)

After speaking to former Gala callers of the year you are very rarely used for anything PR related upon winning the Gala accolade! Actually the gala caller of the year title is nothing more than just that: a title. You might get the opportunity to call the big link games and you will get an audition for GTV but that is about it!

And if you think that the Gala caller is more professional than cast your minds back to the last 2 winners. Michael Farley did the splits on stage and the current champ Michael Edwards sang all the way up to the podium! Now is that something that happens every day in the club?! Even neutral watchers of last years final agreed that the winner won because he "stood out" from the other 10(?!?!?!?) finalists and showed some personality whereas the others were too similar. Maybe that is what is going wrong with the Gala competition: because of the success of the calling schools you are actually producing clones of what a caller should be at the detriment of why players love callers in the first place-there personality and individuality


What am i harping on about?! Why is this an issue? Am I just bitter because I never won the Gala competition?

Maybe! But the one thing that i can advise is why limit yourself? Enter as many competitions as you can if you think you are the best. I have been called arrogant on numerous occasions but I feel you need to have self-belief to do the job that you are doing! I am not an arrogant person in real life: I just know what I am capable of and I am competitive. I'm annoyed that because I now work predominantly on GTV that I am ineligible to enter either competition (and I could do with another trip to Las Vegas!)

If you are a hungry caller you would be thinking right now:

'great.......thats one less bingo caller to worry about! The title is mine!'

so what are you waiting for? DO IT!!

(Good luck to all the regional finalist's in this years Gala competition. Keep me posted on it all via this or any other media)







Posted by Brett at 00:40 | Add your comments [4] | Links |

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