Atlantic City: "We Were Violated!"

[Teach]

Preface: It’s been 30 years since I visited Atlantic City for the first and only time. It’s a visit I would just as soon forget.

Atlantic City: “We Were Violated!”

“We’ve been violated,” I said. “Is anything missing the security guard asked?” I replied, “I’m not sure, but they sure ransacked the place.”

My friend “Bucko” and I had been in Atlantic City that weekend. We had two purposes. One was to gamble, the other was to qualify for the Alex-Trebek-hosted game-show Jeopardy! The Resorts Hotel was hosting a contest search.

We flew down on a Friday afternoon on Spirit Airlines from Boston’s Logan Airport. About an hour later, we arrived at the Atlantic City airport. We were the bussed to the hotel-casino.

That evening, we played a few slot machines and table games. The next day was “Jeopardy! Day.” I remember that we had breakfast and then headed upstairs to a conference room where we were handed a sheet of paper with ten questions. You needed to get seven out of ten correct to advance to the next level. Each contestant was allotted three minutes.

I remember smiling when I saw the first question. A long-time history teacher, this was a “piece of cake. Question: “Who, in 1856, was the first presidential candidate of the Republican Party?” Answer: John C. Fremont. (“Free Soil, Free Men, Fremont”). If they all could have been that easy.

There were four other questions I knew very well. There was one that dealt with the French word for “box”: boite. Yet, I missed the one I should have got. That incorrect answer cost me the chance of moving on. The question: “What is the capital of New Zealand?” I wrote: Auckland (it was once the capital). Yet, since 1865, Wellington has been the capital of New Zealand. Ouch! “Bucko,” by the way, suffered a similar fate; he also missed by one.

During the afternoon and evening, we played slots and table games. By 10 p.m. I was ready, as my father used to say, “To hit the hay.” “Bucko” remained downstairs in the casino to make a few more pulls on the slot machine, or it is presses. I remember taking the elevator up to our 4th floor room. As I neared our room, I see a commotion. People are milling about. What’s going on?

I quickly learn that somebody has broken into our room. The door was off its hinges. It looked like somebody had taken a crowbar and wedged the door open.

At that moment, a security guard, said, “Is this your room?” I replied, “Yes.” I’ll never forget his sarcastic first words: “Welcome to Atlantic City!” As I look in, our clothes are strewn everywhere.

Thankfully, neither of us leave money in the room. I either put it in my pocket or in a room safe.

A minute or two later, after checking to see if anything’s missing (at first, I thought my underarm deodorant had been stolen (maybe the thief had a perspiration problem). Yet a short time later (I check again) I find nothing’s missing (I don’t know about “Bucko”; he’s still down in the casino). When “Bucko” comes up to the room, about ten minutes later, he reports “nothing’s missing.”

Before he leaves, I ask the security guard whom I talk to about this. He tells me to go down to the main desk. He says, “They’ll assign you another room.”

As “Bucko” and I go back down to the main desk, I tell “Bucko,” “We’ve got to ‘milk’ this for all it’s worth.”

When we reach the front-desk, the clerk asks, “What happened?” Drawing on all the acting skills that I had developed from my elementary-school days when I played “The Wolf” in “The Three Little Pigs,” I said, “We were violated” (my 2nd grade teacher would have loved it). I embellished this B&E matter as much as I could. I remember saying, “What if we had been in the room?”

In the end, the hotel upgraded us to a room in which you could have played a half-court basketball game. We also got “comped” for two meals, breakfast and lunch.

When we exited the front desk, we both chuckled. Yet, we both knew this could have been a much more serious matter.

The next day, we ate our “comped” meals. We also decided to walk along the boardwalk. I believe we stopped at Bally’s.

By mid-afternoon, we were bussed to the airport to catch our flight back to Boston. It had been a weekend that I will never forget; yet one I would just as soon forget. Neither of us qualified for Jeopardy! Nor did either of us make money at the casinos. All we could say when we got back was: “We had been violated!”

[proximity]

idk why a resorts story makes me think of our old forum friend charm city whizz but it does lol.

hope ccw is well!

(another) great story teach!!