- This topic has 29 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
What is it about people that work in bookies that make them such idiots? I know they must deal with some difficult customers but i very rarely get served by anyone who is courtious/ has a smile on their face and most annoyingly have much knowledge of racing.
The two ones I use most Betfred and Ladbrokes are pretty appaling.
here are two true scenarios which played out recently
me (to the manager of the ladbrokes)" Can i put an ante-post bet on the
King George"Manager " what’s an ante-post bet?"
me "it’s when you back a horse in advance"
Manager (to the rest of the staff) "ooh we’ve got a difficult one here"
So annoying!
The two ones I use most Betfred and Ladbrokes are pretty appaling[/b:tf3gmf4u]
Ah -now I know where all conspiracy and inside information stuff was coming from on the corruption thread
Sixfieldsboy, if you think the people behind the counter are idiots, have you ever thought what their opinion of you is?
Having worked behind a bookies counter, I am aware that not all betting-shop staff are Einsteins, or that familiar with the sports that they are taking bets on. But, I suggest that your complaint should be addressed to the employers of these idiots.
As Irish Stamp as pointed out, he has also worked, and I think, still does, for a bookmaker, pay peanuts and you will attract monkeys. Who else would work long hours for the minimum rate. Irish Stamp will also know just how idiotic some punters can be.
Sound to me as if the manager was taking the pizz out of you.
Colin
I once suggested on Betfair a sitcom should be written called “The Bookies”. This scenario should be the first gag on the first episode!!!!
I am not too good on the writing front, but surely the Graysons and Stermeyers could get their skulls together and produce a script worthy of a BBC3 slot at the very least?
[FX Ronnie Hazelhurst-type music]
“Yes, it’s The Bookies, starring;
– Shaun Williamson as the wisecracking but put-upon manager of an ailing branch of Corals,
– her out of Lab Rats as the token dimwit cashier who thinks an Exacta is an ice-cream desert made by Walls,
– him out of Lab Rats as the undergraduate who’s strictly working there to fund his studies and not a porn habit (that’s just a vicious rumour),
– John Barden as the ancient punter who never moves from the seat nearest the heater except to go for a pee,
– and a hitherto unheard-of twentysomething Chinese guy playing the sweary, petulant FOBT-dweller in a clumsily racist piece of casting.EPISODE #376; the usual hilarious antics ensue when a German tourist visits the bookies and asks to do a Heinz. Bella Emberg makes a special guest appearance as John McCririck”.
[/FX Ronnie Hazelhurst-type music]
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
“Yes, it’s The Bookies, starring;
– her out of Lab Rats as the token dimwit cashier who thinks an Exacta is an ice-cream desert made by Walls
gcThat would be the unutterably lovely Jo Enright.
As Irish Stamp as pointed out, he has also worked, and I think, still does, for a bookmaker, pay peanuts and you will attract monkeys. Who else would work long hours for the minimum rate. Irish Stamp will also know just how idiotic some punters can be.
Colin
So you and Irish Stamp were/are monkeys?
Hmmm…monkeys in low paid jobs? (eat your heart out Killroy)
It’s a good job you’re not an MP.
That’s her, Rory, and in common with most things from the West Midlands**, she is indeed excellent.
Already 40, would you believe?
gc
(** in no particular order: Mrs Column, the MCW Metrobus, pork scratchings, Led Zeppelin, Martin Harris, Jacqui Oatley, spacerock, Dudley Beer Festival, the Daimler Fleetline, Pop Will Eat Itself, the Plough Inn near Shustoke, KateGoes, etc etc)
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I find it hard to believe that any manager of a bookmakers (especially Ladbrokes) did not know what an ante-post bet was. I think the story has been embellished for effect.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I find it hard to believe that any manager of a bookmakers (especially Ladbrokes) did not know what an ante-post bet was. I think the story has been embellished for effect.
That story is no word of a lie! The manager in question is a complete plonker! Here is another scenario that happened last wkend in betfred
I took a slip up to the counter and asked to take the price on the certain horse in the 2.30 at Ascot. The woman goes to me ‘there is no 2.30 at Ascot.by which point there is a small queue forming behind. I say i’m pretty certain and she goes ‘there’s no 2.30 at Ascot’ and tried to make out that I should go away and check it. So i open the paper I have and show her the 2.30 at Ascot, to which her brain clicks into gear and she works out that she is looking at the wrong page on the computer…
So i’m keeping pretty quiet at this point despite her being inept…then she finds the 2.30 at Ascot and says there are no prices because they have taken them off because it is too close to the off. This was 15 mins before the race. So i say what are you talking about there’s 15 mins to go to which she says to her mate, "if i don’t go out for a fag in a minute i’m gonna fu*king explode’ .
at which point I walked out. I have noticed them treating a lot of customers with contempt and there was no way that I was gonna let her do the same with me.
I find it hard to believe that any manager of a bookmakers (especially Ladbrokes) did not know what an ante-post bet was. I think the story has been embellished for effect.
That story is no word of a lie! The manager in question is a complete plonker! Here is another scenario that happened last wkend in betfred
I took a slip up to the counter and asked to take the price on the certain horse in the 2.30 at Ascot. The woman goes to me ‘there is no 2.30 at Ascot.by which point there is a small queue forming behind. I say i’m pretty certain and she goes ‘there’s no 2.30 at Ascot’ and tried to make out that I should go away and check it. So i open the paper I have and show her the 2.30 at Ascot, to which her brain clicks into gear and she works out that she is looking at the wrong page on the computer…
So i’m keeping pretty quiet at this point despite her being inept…then she finds the 2.30 at Ascot and says there are no prices because they have taken them off because it is too close to the off. This was 15 mins before the race. So i say what are you talking about there’s 15 mins to go to which she says to her mate, “if i don’t go out for a fag in a minute i’m gonna fu*king explode’ .
at which point I walked out. I have noticed them treating a lot of customers with contempt and there was no way that I was gonna let her do the same with me.
“If I don’t go out for a fag in a minute i’m gonna ******* explode..“
Visions of someone else asking for a price and.. BOOOM!!
You wear your heart on your sleeve sixfieldsboy! A nice, honest and wholesome post.
I once suggested on Betfair a sitcom should be written called "The Bookies". This scenario should be the first gag on the first episode!!!!
I am not too good on the writing front, but surely the Graysons and Stermeyers could get their skulls together and produce a script worthy of a BBC3 slot at the very least?
I wrote one in 2006!! Entitled ‘Go On My Son’, it was part of the BBC Talent series where you could write a ‘sports short’ of max 15 minutes. To be honest, it wasn’t really having a go at the staff directly, it was also looking at the characters in my local betting shop. I based all the characters on real people, just gave them a name change to protect the innocent! Unfortunately, although I got through the first round, I was then contacted by the BBC to say it hadn’t made it. Never mind – back to the day job!!
Darren – AngloGerman
________________________________________‘The Hungarian’s going hell for leather’ – Jim McGrath
What is it about people that work in bookies that make them such idiots? I know they must deal with some difficult customers but i very rarely get served by anyone who is courtious/ has a smile on their face and most annoyingly have much knowledge of racing.
I’ve not had experience of any staff not knowing what an ante post bet is, but only yesterday, I tried to get an ante post bet on the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at Cheltenham. The horse I wanted wasn’t listed, but as usual, the ‘Others on Application’ notice was up. I enquired to the member of staff, only to be told ‘That horse isn’t running in that race. They’re the only horses running’. I asked her if it was possible to call her head office as I wanted to place a bet there and then and get the price, but for whatever reason she refused, simply saying ‘That horse isn’t in that race so you can’t back it!!’. Grrrr……
Darren – AngloGerman
________________________________________‘The Hungarian’s going hell for leather’ – Jim McGrath
Sixfieldsboy, if you think the people behind the counter are idiots, have you ever thought what their opinion of you is?
Having worked behind a bookies counter, I am aware that not all betting-shop staff are Einsteins, or that familiar with the sports that they are taking bets on. But, I suggest that your complaint should be addressed to the employers of these idiots.
As Irish Stamp as pointed out, he has also worked, and I think, still does, for a bookmaker, pay peanuts and you will attract monkeys. Who else would work long hours for the minimum rate. Irish Stamp will also know just how idiotic some punters can be.
Sound to me as if the manager was taking the pizz out of you.
Colin
I know that my manager at Coral was being paid far less than the average wage in the UK for doing a far more dangerous and IMHO skilled job than some who get paid more than her do.
I still work in the industry Colin just not in betting shops or in the retail side of things.
I know a few things about customers and have been told by a colleague in the past that they are full of mugs (totally agree with that) and they run themselves – at least as far as making a profit go’s.
I now only visit them to watch the big races and that’s only when i’m back in the UK.
My experience of bookies shops over very many years is that the staff are generally well informed, well trained and know what they are doing. Obviously some are more ‘user-friendly’ than others, just as in any other walk of life. I tend to only nip in to watch the odd race now rather than using them for betting purposes so things may well have changed.
However, I’d suggest that if Sixfieldboy’s posts on here are anything to go by it’s likely that any winding up may well be happening the other way around.
A very long time ago (when SIS was just coming into the shops) I used to work for Stanley Racing in Merseyside. I saw it as a way of combining my love of racing with having to work for a living.
At that time, about 1989, the manager of the shop I started my ‘training’ in picked up less than £100 each week for managing the shop.
I quickly realised that I wasn’t really going to be able to watch as much racing as possible while working and eventually I went to college then University and had a different career.
Anyway, some of the things I do remember:
Being told to refer any bet over £10 to the manager.
A local unemployed lad betting 50ps and £1s… before he started dealing heroin and then had £2000 on Nohalmdun winning a race at Haydock. I was terrified it would lose and he would smash the place up.
The occasional punter wandering in wanting £50 bets on correct frame scores in relatively obscure snooker tournaments.
The punters refusing to leave the shop as a fire broke out in a rubbish bin. The papers on the board then caught fire and the fire brigade stormed the shop and met with resistance as regulars wanted to listen to the Extel blower.
The ‘slow-counters’. People handing over the betting slip just before a dog race; listening to the commentary and if their dog was slowly away they’d change their mind. I told the manager what was happening – he didn’t believe me and the regulars in that shop loathed me.
In my short-lived career in the business I probably worked in about 20 different shops. I’d say the vast majority of managers didn’t know one end of a horse from the other, but they quite liked their jobs. Lots of the counter staff had families, other commitments and had little interest in sport never mind racing – but they were friendly enough so that didn’t bother me.
Having said all that, it was a ‘learning experience.’
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.