Minor things that bother you

[hotdogPi]

When the person in front of you at a convenience store has to guide the clerk to their cigar brand through the tobacco rack behind the counter.

Nah, those older people who take 10,000 years to buy lottery tickets or play a millions different numbers when you are just there to get a quick pick.

I've noticed that if I'm there for food, they'll sometimes put me ahead of the lottery ticket buyers.

[thspfc]

It's dumbfounding to spend more than a few bucks a week on the lottery. I mean, lottery tickets are bad investments period if you're being as smart as possible with your money, but I understand the appeal of paying $2 to potentially win millions. People who buy like $40 worth of tickets or scratch-offs at once, or hold up the line with their hand-picked numbers because they think they can outsmart a random number generator, are more puzzling than annoying to me. The lottery business runs on bad decisions.

[elsmere241]

One time I stopped at a convenience store to get some copies made of my college transcripts.  There happened to be a long line for lottery tickets, because this was when Delaware was one of the few states where Powerball was available.  I got to the front of the line eventually.  The clerk said I could have come right up, and made the copies for free.

[MultiMillionMiler]

It's dumbfounding to spend more than a few bucks a week on the lottery. I mean, lottery tickets are bad investments period if you're being as smart as possible with your money, but I understand the appeal of paying $2 to potentially win millions. People who buy like $40 worth of tickets or scratch-offs at once, or hold up the line with their hand-picked numbers because they think they can outsmart a random number generator, are more puzzling than annoying to me. The lottery business runs on bad decisions.

I play one mega millions and powerball a month. When the Jackpot is very high, like over 750 Million or a billion, I'll get a quick pick in addition to my same set of numbers that I play monthly.

[ZLoth]

It's dumbfounding to spend more than a few bucks a week on the lottery. I mean, lottery tickets are bad investments period if you're being as smart as possible with your money, but I understand the appeal of paying $2 to potentially win millions. People who buy like $40 worth of tickets or scratch-offs at once, or hold up the line with their hand-picked numbers because they think they can outsmart a random number generator, are more puzzling than annoying to me. The lottery business runs on bad decisions.

You can put all gambling in the same category. In the end, the house always wins.

Having said that, I only play the lottery when the jackpot exceeds $250 million. It's a long shot, but it's fun if I look at it as money lost and entertainment money. The long game says that I maximize the contributions (both regular and catchup) to my 401(k) and keep making the monthly payments for my mortgage so that it's paid off by the end of the decade.

[kphoger]

I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life.  And I've been in a casino several times, but never for the gambling.  It's something that's just never appealed to me.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life.  And I've been in a casino several times, but never for the gambling.  It's something that's just never appealed to me.

My wife is big into lotto tickets and usually buys them weekly.  I've never had purchased one before I met her, I view it as throwing money away. 

I used to work in Las Vegas and Laughlin.  I did enjoy the cheap hotel rates but only rarely ever felt the need to place a wage on at sports book, table games and slots don't do it for me.

[GaryV]

You can put all gambling in the same category. In the end, the house always wins.

The lottery is an extra tax on those who aren't too good at math

Having said that, I only play the lottery when the jackpot exceeds $250 million.

Because you couldn't possibly get by on a measly $10 million or $20 million.

[J N Winkler]

To me, there is a distinction to be drawn between slot machines, lottery tickets, keno, bingo, roulette, raffles, etc. on the one hand and games like poker on the other.  I don't feed slot machines (etc.) because I know the odds are not in my favor and I get no entertainment value from spending my money that way, but in principle it is possible to come out ahead on a consistent basis if one is a skilled poker player.  I just haven't tried it since it takes time, effort, and (ideally) a sinking fund to build the required expertise.

[skluth]

I used to buy lottery tickets  fairly regularly until I retired. I stopped buying them because the main reason for my buying them was I wanted to retire early. I did buy some when it hit $1B because that was just insane. I don't care for gambling otherwise. I've been talked into joining a couple Super Bowl pools but don't seek them out. My ex got me to join him at the slots in the Mirage one time when we scored a cheap 4 night vacation in Vegas after 9/11; I popped $10 into the quarter slots and begged to go back to the room because casino lights and sounds overwhelm me.

[thenetwork]

I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life.  And I've been in a casino several times, but never for the gambling.  It's something that's just never appealed to me.

My wife is big into lotto tickets and usually buys them weekly.  I've never had purchased one before I met her, I view it as throwing money away. 

I used to work in Las Vegas and Laughlin.  I did enjoy the cheap hotel rates but only rarely ever felt the need to place a wage on at sports book, table games and slots don't do it for me.

Slots used to be fun when you could get coins back at any time.  I used to have a system where I would sit at a slot, play 10 coins -- one at a time.  After the 10 coins were played, I would cash out. 

If I had more than the 10 coins, those coins would go in my "profit bucket" and cash those in at the end of my visit for larger bills.

If I ended with a net loss, I would start another round with the lesser amount as a new threshold.  Lather, rinse, repeat until all of the original amount of coins were played then I go to another machine or start with a new set of 10 coins.

Everything in the profit bucket goes home regardless, so I am usually coming home with something.

Once casinos issued printed vouchers instead of coins at cash out, my system was "killed" off as it was too complicated to redeem vouchers every time.  But it was a great system while it lasted.

The vouchers.....and the advent of FREE slot machine apps in my smartphone, have pulled me away from wanting to hit casinos.  Not to mention that casinos will lure you in with penny/nickel/dime slots, but there is a minimum line play that usually make one pull of a penny slot actually 50 cents.

[JayhawkCO]

To me, there is a distinction to be drawn between slot machines, lottery tickets, keno, bingo, roulette, raffles, etc. on the one hand and games like poker on the other.  I don't feed slot machines (etc.) because I know the odds are not in my favor and I get no entertainment value from spending my money that way, but in principle it is possible to come out ahead on a consistent basis if one is a skilled poker player.  I just haven't tried it since it takes time, effort, and (ideally) a sinking fund to build the required expertise.

Hence why I used to be a semi-professional poker player but think buying lottery tickets is akin to throwing money into the sun.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Even when the jackpot was 2 billion, I only got $10-12 dollars worth (5-6 sets of numbers), that's it.

[skluth]

Even when the jackpot was 2 billion, I only got $10-12 dollars worth (5-6 sets of numbers), that's it.

IMO anyone who buys more than that at any time regardless of the jackpot is nuts. I could afford $20/week on lottery tickets in the hopes of an early retirement. But that's all I ever spent and now that I'm retired I only know the jackpot when it makes the news.

[MultiMillionMiler]

I just played my usual set of numbers + 5 quick picks. If the jackpot was something like $10 Billion, then maybe I'd get 10 sets of numbers, but never more than that.

[Scott5114]

This reminds me of a discussion I saw once about whether a particular event happened in a novel. The writer never explicitly said that it did, so some parties to the discussion said it didn't occur–"It only happened if the writer said it happened." Some others (myself included) said silence doesn't matter if the event in question is immaterial to the storyline–for example, the same novel likewise did not tell you that any of the characters had a bowel movement on any given day, but nobody would dispute that every one of the human characters would have had such at some point during the months-long story because that is what humans do. It just didn't matter to that particular story. (Whereas in A Song of Ice and Fire, a certain character being seated on the privy proved to be quite important.)

Internet fandom spaces tend to draw the distinction of referring to anything that explicitly happened in the text as "canon" and anything that did not is "not canon". Not canon can cover anything between that which is likely to have happened but wasn't covered because it wasn't interesting or relevant to the story (meals, hygiene activities, children having homework), to things that the reader can surmise happened, but which happened outside of the narrator's view, to things that are fan theories. Many fans choose to engage with a work more fully by creating creating derivative works (such as art or writing) to fill in what they think might have happened in these gaps.

To me, there is a distinction to be drawn between slot machines, lottery tickets, keno, bingo, roulette, raffles, etc. on the one hand and games like poker on the other.  I don't feed slot machines (etc.) because I know the odds are not in my favor and I get no entertainment value from spending my money that way, but in principle it is possible to come out ahead on a consistent basis if one is a skilled poker player.  I just haven't tried it since it takes time, effort, and (ideally) a sinking fund to build the required expertise.

This is because poker is a game of skill with an element of chance, rather than a game of pure chance, as all of the others are. This was a point that was heavily relied on in litigation surrounding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 as it relates to online poker.

I find that, to distinguish the degree of skill a game requires, it is useful as a thought experiment to consider how difficult it is to intentionally lose rather than intentionally win (since a failure to win can also signify a lack of skill). Looking at popular casino games:

- Slots, keno: you surely cannot guarantee a loss (this was occasionally problematic when I worked at a casino, as sometimes employees would try to dispose of small amounts of money left on slot machines by "spinning it off", only to inadvertently win sums of money large enough to become awkward and embarrassing to have to deal with).
- Baccarat, roulette, craps: you can only guarantee a loss by intentionally wagering on two opposing outcomes and counting on the house edge to cause the return to be less than the amount wagered
- Blackjack: you can usually guarantee a loss by intentionally busting, but no blackjack table I know of will allow hitting on 21
- Poker: you can easily lose nearly every time by folding (excepting the edge case where you are the last player to act and everyone else folds first, which rarely happens)

Slots used to be fun when you could get coins back at any time.  I used to have a system where I would sit at a slot, play 10 coins -- one at a time.  After the 10 coins were played, I would cash out. 

[...]

Once casinos issued printed vouchers instead of coins at cash out, my system was "killed" off as it was too complicated to redeem vouchers every time.  But it was a great system while it lasted.

On the rare occasion I play, I use the same system, but I have never played in a casino without a ticket-in ticket-out (TITO) system. My procedure is:
- Bring a certain amount of money to the casino in cash. Any cash that is not to be gambled is left at home (other than perhaps a few $1s or $2s  for tipping wait staff).
- Visit the cashier cage and obtain a large number of small bills (I prefer $10s for this purpose but Chickasaw casinos often do not have them because they suck at customer service, so I am forced to use $5s if I am unfortunate enough to be one)
- Play one bill at a time. Cash out when I am satisfied with the result.
- Keep the vouchers in my wallet in voucher form.
- When my wallet contains all vouchers and no cash, cash them all out en masse and leave the casino.

Having worked with someone who once worked at a coin-op casino, hearing his horror stories of things like coin jams, hopper fills gone awry, and cashout handpays at unpredictable times due to hopper depletion has made me truly have no desire to experience one. It sounds worse for both the employees and the patrons in every conceivable way.

[ZLoth]

In the same vein as gambling and purchasing lottery tickets, I never could understand the appeal of tobacco and alcohol beyond the additional tax revenue generated for the states. I'm a teetotaler, and my life is full of reasons why I should drink and smoke which all add up to one big reason I should never get started. Plus, there is that part of drinking and driving which can result in one tragic accident.

Is investing a form of gambling? In a sense, yes. But, I'm the slow-and-steady investor and as long as I'm beating the rate of inflation, I'm happy. (2022 is laughing at me.) Sure, I have my "big gain" story, and all that gain went straight into my mortgage for my home.

[thenetwork]

Having worked with someone who once worked at a coin-op casino, hearing his horror stories of things like coin jams, hopper fills gone awry, and cashout handpays at unpredictable times due to hopper depletion has made me truly have no desire to experience one. It sounds worse for both the employees and the patrons in every conceivable way.

Well, there was that business trip to Vegas when on my final night there, I stayed up ½ the night in front of a certain $1 Video Blackjack Machine at Caesars....

For every three $1 coins that came out, an erroneous FOURTH coin would drop into the winnings tray.  Let's just say someone had to refill the machine twice, and yet nobody caught the malfunction.

Then I went to another casino for double-deck blackjack for a few more hours, developed a new chip profit system and left town $800 heavier.***

*** The following was an a-typical result.  Most results lead in debts...

[Scott5114]

For every three $1 coins that came out, an erroneous FOURTH coin would drop into the winnings tray.  Let's just say someone had to refill the machine twice, and yet nobody caught the malfunction.

You see why casinos aren't interested in maintaining coin-op systems anymore...

[thspfc]

To me, there is a distinction to be drawn between slot machines, lottery tickets, keno, bingo, roulette, raffles, etc. on the one hand and games like poker on the other.  I don't feed slot machines (etc.) because I know the odds are not in my favor and I get no entertainment value from spending my money that way, but in principle it is possible to come out ahead on a consistent basis if one is a skilled poker player.  I just haven't tried it since it takes time, effort, and (ideally) a sinking fund to build the required expertise.

Poker is equivalent to lottery and slots if you don't know what you're doing. A good poker player (or a mediocre/bad player playing against really bad players) will make money over the long run as the impact of dumb luck is minimized by large numbers of hands.

[Scott5114]

To me, there is a distinction to be drawn between slot machines, lottery tickets, keno, bingo, roulette, raffles, etc. on the one hand and games like poker on the other.  I don't feed slot machines (etc.) because I know the odds are not in my favor and I get no entertainment value from spending my money that way, but in principle it is possible to come out ahead on a consistent basis if one is a skilled poker player.  I just haven't tried it since it takes time, effort, and (ideally) a sinking fund to build the required expertise.

Poker is equivalent to lottery and slots if you don't know what you're doing. A good poker player (or a mediocre/bad player playing against really bad players) will make money over the long run as the impact of dumb luck is minimized by large numbers of hands.

Only to the extent that, say, football or chess is equivalent to lottery and slots if you don't know what you're doing.

[Takumi]

When I worked at 7-Eleven a long, long time ago, we'd have a separate line for lottery people on lottery nights.

[jakeroot]

Speaking of convenience stores, the "only one checker" thing at most normal (non-Wawa type) convenience stores always drove me crazy in the US. Sometimes took forever to check out. Here in Japan it's common for other employees to step whenever the line grows beyond one person, often there is always two or three people behind the counter ready to step in when needed. I was at a Lawsons the other day, fairly busy (three people in line), and an employee walked in, apparently just arriving for their shift, and immediately ran over to the counter and started helping check out. That's some excellent customer service.

[kphoger]

For Epiphany, we always cook rouladen.  For that, I buy bottom round steaks, have the butcher put them through the tenderizer twice, and then pound them out even more at home.  Today on my way home from work, I stopped at Dillon's, grabbed four steaks, went to the meat counter, and asked him to put them through the tenderizer.  He said that the machines were all shut down because the meat department was understaffed.  Grrr.  So I went to a different Dillon's location, grabbed four steaks, went to the meat counter, and asked him to put them through the tenderizer.  He said they no longer do that.  Oh man, I was fuming after that.

So now I've got no beef, and I'm really hoping I can get them on my way home tomorrow at midday (I'm taking a half day because it takes a long time to cook this meal).

[MultiMillionMiler]

The Cash lanes. Whether there are not enough of them, or they are scattered in some random pattern where you have to switch lanes at the last second. Either put them all on one side, or in an alternating pattern so you know there's 2 cash lanes on either side of an ez pass lane...etc, and you don't have to suddenly get 5 lanes over cause your exit happened to be on the wrong side of the toll plaza. Since EZ pass is available in all lanes, the cash lane positioning should be a higher priority.