Always looking for early morning adventure, I decided to pack up my camera and head to the Firelake Casino between Shawnee and Tecumseh, Oklahoma at 5:30am this Sunday morning.
It was a beautiful morning.
I walked all around the place and took some cool pictures.
Then I put my camera in my pocket and went inside. Sorry, cameras are not allowed in the casino.
I walked around looking at people and wondering about them and trying to decide what I was going to do.
When I made it to the last row of slot machines, I saw a guy I know, sitting there, playing a nickel per roll and smoking a cigarette.
It was a guy I’ll call Grayson for the purpose of this posting.
Grayson is a brick layer. He told me he was waiting to go to work early this morning on a small job outside of town. It’s a cash job. It pays for his gasoline and cigarettes.
Grayson looked a lot happier and healthier than the last time I saw him. Back then, he was completely stressed out and coughing all the time and looking sickly. Still, he got up every morning and drove himself to the job.
I really, really love Grayson. He’s a great guy. He was in the Air Force, but he had to take a discharge because he was drinking and got into some sort of disciplinary problem. They let him out honorably.
He’s about 50 now.
He said being a construction worker is like being a migrant farm worker. You don’t get a steady paycheck, you usually get paid cash, sometimes on the very day you work.
I like the sound of that. You get up, you go to work, you do something, they pay you, and you go home. Awesome.
The system of checks is for the convenience of the employer, and it’s fine for most everyone, but you could look at it as the employer getting to hold on to the fruit of your labor for one or two weeks or more and then give it to you like he or she is doing you the favor.
Many times the job is a favor. A super favor. Mine was such a favor, but in reality a job is a two way street. Yes, the employer holds your money for a period, but they are also paying half of your social security, right? It’s cool.
Well, I met Grayson at the Salvation Army Lodge in Shawnee when I moved in there in September. He was there the whole time I was from then until December when the
Central Oklahoma Community Action Agency found me a place to live. Thank God for both organizations!!!!!
Anyway, the Salvation Army kicked Grayson out because he could not produce receipts showing where his money was going. The social services manager told him he had to report to her where every penny of his money was going. He had money in savings according to their agreed plan, he was working, he was paying rent, but he could not produce cash receipts, so she kicked him out.
Grayson sleeps in his truck.
He still eats at the Salvation Army, thank God, and takes showers there.
He doesn’t have to pay any rent any more.
And he’s not at all stressed out. He looks great!! He’s happy.
I’ve suggested that he go by and speak to a case worker at
COCAA on Monday about getting his own place. I’m sure they can help him like they helped me.
Grayson was always a little put out by the Christ thing. He’s a Native American and he needed a little help, sure. He was grateful for the place to stay, but says he felt pressure all the time from the social services manager and one of the guys running the 12-Step program to believe what they do about Jesus. He said he felt like they were telling him he was going to hell all the time, and it was stressing him out.
He looks fricken great now!!
OH!
Did I gamble??
Yes.
When Grayson and I said our good days, sure we’d meet again, I walked around a couple more times, then came back to the same machine Grayson was sitting at.
I pulled out five worn $1 bills from my wallet and put all five into the machine.
The minimum bet was $0.01 for each line, 20 lines, so $0.20 per spin.
$5.00 is then 25 spins, right?
So I decided I would push the button 25 times and see what I got.
I got $2.95.
So, I cashed out. This means that I pushed the button that makes the machine print me a ticket with which I can go get the $2.95 I won.
But then I thought, wait a minute! I came here with five dollar and I’m going to play five dollars!!
Actually, I had planned on the 25 spins as an experiment to show people that gambling usually doesn’t pay anything…
But then I thought, you know, some people come to play and so I should play.
What that means is when they say they’re going to spend $5 at the casino, they’re playing until it’s gone and they hope it’s a long time. It’s not gambling, it’s a game. It’s a game you hope you can make last longer. People sit there for an hour and think about nothing and relax… and spend $5 or $10.
Lightning does not strike them.
Lightning did strike me.
They pay their bills.
My bills are paid.
I decided to put the ticket back into the machine and spin one time at the maximum I could bet with my $2.95, which was $2.00.
Here we go!
Ding ding ding…. Winner $4.50.
So, I left with $5.45.
I’m going to church at the Salvation Army this morning. Expect another posting later.
These are all the posts about my time at the Salvation Army Homeless Shelter in Shawnee, Oklahoma:
Life in the Homeless Shelter
Life in the Homeless Shelter, Part 2
Life in the Homeless Shelter, Part 3
Life in the Homeless Shelter, Part 4
Life in the Homeless Shelter, Final Episode
Oh, by the way, you remember Terry from Congratulations Terry!
Well, Terry was the Shelter Manager for the Salvation Army for nearly three years. It was really wearing on him. The stress was incredible. Not all the stress came from the homeless. Actually, very little did. It was standing as a barrier between the homeless and the organization represented by the social services manager, like Jesus standing between man and the wrath of the Old Testament. The pressure. The pressure.
Well, Terry lived in the shelter as the manager. When he quit his job, he was homeless.
One day at work I felt like I needed to go talk to Terry and offer him a job in the future watching over the money I’m going to invest in building homeless shelters around the country.
So that evening I went to the soup kitchen at the Salvation Army Lodge to look for him. The social services manager sourly informed me that Terry wasn’t around, that he had quit that day. So I asked to leave my name and number.
Terry called me the next day. I told him I needed him. I also suggested that he go to COCAA and apply for some assistance.
COCAA put him up in a motel while he looked for a job. In a few days, he had a job. A month later he moved into his own place with a roommate. Sound familiar? That’s what COCAA did for me.
Thank God for the Central Oklahoma Community Action Agency. They are truly turning lives around.
It was a guy I’ll call Grayson for the purpose of this posting.
I’ve suggested that he go by and speak to a case worker at COCAA on Monday about getting his own place. I’m sure they can help him like they helped me.
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