Turkey of the Year

Since I mention the Flying Saucer in practically every post, let’s mention them one more time. Tonight is their annual “Turkey of the Year” glass for “Buy the Beer, Keep the Glass” night. This year they have selected FEMA as the Turkey of the Year, for screwing up the Katrina relief effort. Now I’m not denying that FEMA deserves the award, but I’d like to offer an alternate suggestion.

Paul’s pick:
Turkeys of the Year: The Flying Saucer’s dart boards

When I play a game on the Saucer’s dart boards, using house darts, it usually takes 30-35 minutes to finish. Not because I’m that bad a shot, but because the dart boards are completely worn out. Look at the bullseyes next time you go in; you won’t find craters that big on the moon. In a round of 3 darts, you can just about count on at least 1 dart falling out. I don’t know if the boards have been replaced since the Saucer opened in 1997, but from the looks of them, I’m guessing not.

We actually have mentioned this to one of the managers, and he said he’d call his beer distributor and see about getting new ones. Okay, I’m about to make a suggestion, and this is really thinking outside the box, so you may have to re-read this several times. Here ’tis: How about getting in the car, driving to West Memphis Wal-Mart, and BUYING some new boards? What would 2 boards cost, $35? I tend to think that wouldn’t cut into profit margins much, given the amount of beer people buy up there.

And buy some CHALK while you’re at Wal-Mart! I’m tired of keeping score with a sliver of chalk half the size of my fingernail.

Hmmm… maybe there’s a business reason why they don’t replace those boards. If the boards suck, it takes longer to play, which means people drink more… and spend more.

All right. That’s the end of the rant.

Trivia update: the Rapscallions failed to extend their winning streak to 3 in a row last night.

UFO update: People are still buying me birthday beer, which allowed me to put away beers 193, 194, and 195 last night. Five to go. I still have some cheap ones left on my to-do list, and I have extra money left over from this week’s food budget, so I’ll probably go ahead and knock them out this coming weekend when I get back in town.

Heading to Little Rock after work today. I’ll probably post from there a time or two. Back Friday.