As you know, I've been procuring my daily 44 oz Diet Coke from Orb K, due to the off taste of my magical elixir at The Gas Station Chicken Store. More on that another day...
Anyhoo, I've also been cashing in my scratcher winners at Orb K. I don't usually do that. On the day in question, I stepped up to the counter with my 94-cent Polar Pop Diet Coke, and two winning scratchers to cash in. My clerk was a skinny dude I've seen there before. He's never overly-cheerful, or even cheerful at all. Just does the transaction without speaking. I'm pretty sure he's stoned most of the time.
Stoney was being his regular self. I don't mind. I'm not there for small talk or a new friend. I do, however, draw the line at being scammed. I'm pretty sure he tried to rip me off. Not as sure as I am that Farmer H is trying to kill me. But fairly sure.
Here's what I handed Stoney. Not the exact tickets. These are losers. But they are the exact lottery games that I handed him. A purple 50X, and a green Money Mania Multiplier. Each of my winning tickets of these kinds was a $15 winner. So it was $15 on purple, and $15 on green. For total of $30.
You'll notice that there is no mistaking the fact that there are TWO tickets. Different sizes, different colors. I handed them to Stoney, saying, "I'd like to cash these in, and buy more tickets." Yes. I was spending it all back. I turned my head left to look at the board displaying the scratcher games. I wanted two of the $10 tickets, and two of the $5 tickets. Decisions, decisions!
Meanwhile, I sensed in my peripheral vision Stoney scanning my winners. I turned back to the counter to request my new purchases as he was setting the tickets over on the counter behind the register. Usually, they lay them right in front of me while printing out the winner receipt that they need for the register.
"That's $15," said Stoney.
"You mean $30 total, right? Because they won $15 each. I gave you two tickets."
Stony almost got an expression on his face. He had a delayed reaction. "Oh. Yeah. I dropped one."
INDEED! He had let one of the tickets fall to the floor as he was making his move to set the other one behind the register. He bent over and picked it up. Then moved back to the scanner. Whether he actually scanned it then, or went through the motion to look like he was scanning it, I don't know. Then he just looked at me.
"So it's $30, right?"
A little nod.
I gave him the numbers of tickets I wanted, and he rang them up, along with my Polar Pop Diet Coke, and charged me 94 cents. The register automatically sent my 6 cents change down the little metal slide into the little metal dish.
Seriously. I'm pretty sure Stoney thought I didn't know what I won. Like I was one of those feeble people who hand over a draw ticket, and say, "Did this win anything?" Mrs. Hillbilly Mom is no spring chicken, and she was not hatched yesterday. I spent an entire career making sure I was not outsmarted. To think he could pull this scam on me was ludicrous.
They're on camera 24/7, you know. And there was a sign on the door saying they were having open interviews for cashiers that very day. I don't know if Stoney was an experienced criminal, running his scam... or too high to know what he was doing. Either way, he should not have been behind the register.
I haven't seen him there since, but I know to keep my eye on this one.
4 comments:
He may appear stoned, but I'd bet he knows exactly what he is doing and maybe that's why they're hiring new people.
River,
I think you're right. He actually seemed surprised that I called him out on his shenanigans!
I think you just might be right!
Kathy,
I have a built-in shenanigan detector!
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