Pennys New Job
Due to covid hours at her office job had been cut, forcing Penny to look for a job on the side to recoup the lost hours. She had sent resumes out to ads she found online, but often the interviewer was looking for more experienced workers.
Luckily she found an ad looking for a nighttime manager at a retirement home. The ad specified no experience necessary, and the hours worked perfectly on her schedule, so she phoned in for an interview, and got the job a few hours later. Penny smiled to herself at how easy the job was, she just had to walk around and check up on everyone, if there was an emergency she just had to call the nurse on standby, easy.
On her first shift, she quickly realized that easy also meant bored. There wasn't much to do, she walked around the first hour, talking to everyone, but people either were eating, playing some games, sleeping, or watching tv.
Penny glanced at the clock from her desk and groaned seeing that only 2 hours had passed, she still had another 3 to go! She didn't have her phone on her, that was against the rules and she had to put it in the office. The only thing she had was her purse and the only thing that could keep her distracted was a piece of gum, lipstick, and her car keys.
Another half an hour passed and soon the room started to empty out. "Huh, guess everyone has an early bedtime," Penny muttered to herself.
There were only 3 retirees in the room left with her, they were all sitting at a table talking amongst one another. Shrugging to herself she got up to see what they were up to.
Halfway to them, she saw they were playing a card game. She wasn't sure which one, she was never one to play games growing up, except of course if drinks were involved.
"So what game are you three playing, when you should be in bed this time of night? Go-Fish? 21?" She asked them as she reached the table.
"Poker." A bald man answered she thinks his name was Larry. "Wanna join us?"
Penny glanced nervously around the table, she was vaguely familiar with the game, but as she looked at the center she saw they were gambling real money. The point of working here was to save money not to spend it.
"Poker? Sorry gentlemen but I'm here to make money not spend it." She said shaking her head, she turned around to start walking back before she felt someone grab her wrist.
Penny turned around and saw it was Larry. "Heyyy, not so fast Penny, were just having a friendly game here, you can bet as much as you're comfortable with." The other two men were nodding in agreement.
Penny bit her lip, she would be in big trouble if she got caught playing games instead of working, and she didn't want to lose any money. But as she looked at the pile of money at the center she could only imagine how much she could do with all of that. She would have more money to spend on clothes, maybe even enough to fix her car.
"Sure, I could play a few hands." She smiled at them sitting at an empty chair.
Larry had been kind enough to explain the rules to her, she thanked her lucky stars he was being kind. She initially cashed into the game at $50. It was the most she felt comfortable losing if she was horrible, and plus she had more money in her purse for rent. But the first hand came out and she won!
Penny squealed in excitement as she won her first hand, and her pile of money grew bigger. The next hand came and she won again! Penny started to get really excited as luck seemed to be on her side, no matter which hand she had, and whether it was good or bad she always came on top.
'I can't believe my luck! I should go to casinos more often!' Penny thought to herself as she won another hand. Soon she had around $200, if she were thinking logically she would've bowed out by now, but she was hooked on this game and wanted to continue playing. Unfortunately, she was too caught up on her winnings she didn't notice to glance Larry made to his friends before dealing the next hand of cards.
The next hand was dealt and she had a pair of 6's. She smiled to herself as she knew a pair was always good, so she bet big. When it was time to reveal she had a giant smile as she showed her hand. Before she could reach over and grab it she saw one of them show a hand of a pair of kings. Penny's heart dropped as she realized she lost, and she saw the pot go further away from here.
'It's okay, I was bound to lose eventually, but I still got it!' She thought confidently to herself.
The next hand came and she saw she had a 2 and a 6, not good. Still believing that maybe she'll still get lucky she continued to match bets. However, in the end, she didn't even come close to winning and watched more of her money being taken away.
Penny bit her lip, she still made more money than what she came in with, she could back out now. But as she had to admit playing poker and winning was very fun, and as she glanced at the clock and saw she still had a while before her shift ended, she figured playing more wouldn't hurt.
It did hurt, very much. Penny learned the hard way that the house always wins. Any good luck she had was gone as with each hand her hand got worse and worse, and whenever she thought she was about to win, whether it was with a full house or three of a kind Larry always had a better hand. But the thrill to win was still there so when she eventually ran out of money she reached in her purse and threw her rent money in as well. To her horror that still didn't stop the losing, spending every cent on her to recoup her lost money, but as the final card turned over she groaned as she lost another hand.
"Okay, one more hand! Deal me in!" She spoke up as the deck was being shuffled.
"Sorry Penny, but you're out of money," Larry told her while shuffling.
Confused, Penny glanced down and her jaw drop as she realized she had no money left! She started to breath harder as she realized what she just did, she just lost her entire rent money for the month! She wasn't going to get paid for a few weeks, she was screwed.
"Please! One more hand, you have to let me win back my rent money! I'll be kicked out of my apartment if I can't pay this month's rent!" She pleaded, hoping they would give her mercy.
Larry gave her an innocent smile. "Well, we want to let you in but you have to barter with something. Neither of us are interested in the purse, and we're sure you wouldn't gamble away your car."