There was an instant perma-smile on my face after I confirmed traveling to Las Vegas. It was not there because I was staying at a 5-star hotel or that I would be seeing Cirque du Soleil for the frst time or even that there was a chance of meeting chef Mario Batali at his restaurant Otto. Nope. This grin came from finally being able to purge the bucketful of coins collecting at my home. Enough cabbage, I thought, to fill at least 6 childrens piggy banks.
I overloaded my change purse, which weighed down my handbag significantly. But, justified that I would unload at the first casino and then change my buckets full of winnings to paper bills ready for some serious spending.
I was immediately stopped at the airport scanner by security.
"I need to inspect your purse", said the man in uniform, "please do not grab anything out of the bag while I am doing so." I panicked for a moment wondering if someone had slipped something illegal in there. I didn't want to get arrested before I won big in Vegas.
The young man proceeded to swab the inside of my coin purse. "What are you looking for?" I asked.
"I'm sure you could figure it out." He sarcastically said as if I was already convicted of something. But, for the life of me I couldn't figure out what.
I said, "I'll just Google it when we are done here." After that the security kid decided that I would make for a pathetic embezzler and told me they were checking for drugs.
I came out clean. But, was left to ponder how my coinage translated into drug dealer.
We arrived at THEhotel at Mandalay, dropped off the bags and hit the casino. There was not a chance that I wanted to take this change back to the airport with me. I scoped out the quarter slots, sat down at one that I considered lucky and prepared to play.
Where did the coin slot go? I see the locale for inserting paper bills, but nothing for the currency I have been lugging around. Seriously? Maybe it was just because this was a newer, fancy casino. I bet that the older ones still had my beloved slots that accepted coins. Nope. Couldn't find one in Vegas.
Back to the airport with a purseful of change. At least I know what to expect.
Have you ever been stopped at security?
