Fear the Ardo

Published by Toronto Mike on August 21, 2010 @ 08:40 in Toronto News ~ Toronto Focus

Tales From The ExAre you going to the Canadian National Exhibition today? I'm not, but I do have a CNE story to share.

We called him Ardo and we feared him. Ardo was my boss when I worked a game booth at the Ex from '89-'91 and his persona was thug-like, a tough dude you didn't want to mess with. He did his best never to let you catch him smiling. With every snarl and command his legend grew.

The typical game booth attendant working one of his several games was either a teenager or in his or her very early 20s. To keep us working hard and in line, Ardo decided very early on that presenting himself in such an intimidating fashion was his best bet. He was right. Your biggest fear was getting an earful from Ardo or having someone escalate an issue or incident to him. People told tales of what Ardo once did to this guy or that guy. Fear was his motivational tool of choice.

This worked the first year I worked for Ardo, but at some point during my second year Ardo let his guard down. I was permitted to see him in a more relaxed state and he even began laughing in my presence. For Ardo, it was all about trust. Until he trusted you, he played the tough guy as well as any cast member on The Sopranos. Once you earned his trust, you could clearly see he was indeed a softy underneath it all. Ardo's bark, in all it's tenacity, was far worse than his bite. I'm pretty darn certain he's there right now glaring at his new game booth attendants while his legend permeates the midway.

In a previous CNE story, a girl who worked for me at Pop-a-Ball chimed in with a comment. Betty wrote the following:

I love reading your CNE stories every year. I worked with you at Pop-A-Ball and went to highschool with Ms. BlondAmbition (she got me the job). I also worked at the gambling booth right next door. HATED working the microphone!! I used to see Ardo for many years after that setting up every year. I remember him always threatening us about handling his cash, but his nephews (or maybe they were cousins) would steal from him right under his nose at the gambling booths.

The legend of Ardo grows...

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3 Responses to "Fear the Ardo"

Digger
August 21, 2010 / 10:45

I'm enjoying your CNE stories. One summer, a friend got me a job for the last couple of weeks of the summer. I ended up having to "monitor" various carny games for the Ex to "ensure" that the games were "fair" and that punters were indeed winning an acceptable number of prizes. To a person, the carnies would show the punters exactly how to win at their game, even using the more-inflated or slightly off-balance balls, for example. It was safe to do that, because virtually nobody actually paid attention and did what they were shown, so they did not win a prize when they put their money down.

In an odd way, it was kind of fun to watch. Some people asked what I was doing there. I had to explain. On more than one occasion, I had to say to people that they were shown exactly what they had to do to win. Obviously they did not do that, and I wasn't the person to complain to. Whoever was running the game at the time would share a quiet smile with me after the person walked away.

That was a fun couple of weeks before going back to school.

Anonymous
August 21, 2010 / 16:43

Haha. That's exactly how I remember Ardo except I guess I never really earned his trust cause I mostly remember snarls. Only once do I remember him being nice to me. One evening there was a large group of friends and family that were determined to win at Pop-A-Ball. They were throwing money at me like crazy! I just knew that on that night I would have brought in the most money for Ardo. That night after the Ex closed I waited anxiously for them to annouce who brought in the most money. I was soo excited cause I knew it had to be me and this would put me in Ardo's good books. Sure enough, it was announced it was me and Ardo looked at me and smiled (Actually it was more of a snarly grin, but we are talking about Ardo). I guess that was my reward because I don't remember getting anything else like a little bonus to add to the $5/hr they were paying me.

I also remember the game monitors. I thought they were there to see how much money a game would take in and then estimate a percentage amount of what the Ex should expect from that company. Didn't know they were there for the consumer! The difference in the balls at Pop-A-Ball was subtle, but obvious upon closer inspection. I remember a few people asking to see the balls and picking the ones they wanted to play with and being so scared Ardo would see this. He'd get furious when we had to give up one of the jumbo prizes. I also remember the small prizes they gave away cost them 25cents and I think it was $2 to play a game.

Ryan
August 21, 2010 / 20:51

I worked one year for Ardo at the Ex. Clearly Mike got me the gig (I am currently working my only job that Mike did not get for me - although it is going on 10 years now).

It was obvious from day one that i sucked at what I was asked to do, which was yell out to everyone in earshot to come and give it a try.

I was afraid of Ardo. I was an akward teenager (as opposed to the akward adult i am now) and just wanted to make enough money to get me that new pair of blades i wanted so bad. I am pretty sure i set records for least amount of money brought in. I just didn't want to bother those people walking by the booth - (maybe because i hated it when they bothered me).

But based on what Mike just wrote, I was treated a lot better than some random bum. I had an older brother managing a booth who was on Ardo's good side. Thanks Mike, I still remember hearing you tell me that Ardo needs me to bring in more money. I am glad i heard it from you and not Ardo. I still have nightmares. HA HA

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