Bingo calling more than just a volunteer gig for George Sturm
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 15/00) - Bingo calling is not just a volunteer job for George Sturm, it's also a hobby.
Every Sunday Sturm can be found at the Legion, where he has been calling Bingo numbers for almost two years.
He's not a professional caller, but that doesn't matter. Sturm has developed a good relationship with all the regular Bingo players, many have become his friends.
"I have a lot of fun doing this ... the reaction and the excitement of people when they win and just the interaction with them."
But Bingo calling doesn't come without pressures. There is always something that can go wrong, and when there's money involved you have pay extra attention to what you're doing.
"You don't want to make mistakes.
"You could call the wrong number that doesn't correspond to the ball you pull out, or call it under the wrong letter, and dumping the balls in the middle of a go-go series is a fairly major mistake."
When you play a go-go series, you play five games consecutively. Dumping the balls in the middle of the series would be devastating, he said.
"That's the most dangerous thing you can do is dump the balls because you have no way of knowing what's been called."
But Sturm doesn't know the consequences of making a mistake because he has never made one. But if he did, would he be reprimanded?
"It's a volunteer job. How can you get in trouble?" he laughed.
The ultimate perk of Bingo calling is you get to see plenty of extremely happy people. Sturm has witnessed about four or five $10,000 winners. Has anyone ever given him a cash reward after winning the big jackpot?
"No," he laughs. He doesn't expect it. He just enjoys doing it.
"It's fun, especially if you enjoy meeting a lot of people."
