The Ladder Club

The Ladder Club

We thought we were keeping our club a secret, but some wives have been asking very specific questions about our monthly meetings, and our once-a-year trip. I would think it’s no longer a secret.

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There are 7 of us and we meet on the 7th of every month.

We have a fund, which we contribute to every month.

$77 are our monthly dues. Half is retained for club expenses.

What we do with the other half of the money is why we meet once a month. There are eight ‘blank’ boxes, which are placed on a ladder. We all get to select one of those boxes. One of those boxes contains half of our monthly contributions along with any previous unfound balance.

At the end of our meeting, we open those boxes. If someone is lucky enough to get the box that contains the funds, he gets to keep the money. If we all miss the box with the money, that money Chills in the Fridge for another month.

In order to keep the lucky box a secret, we all see the money being placed in a box, but those blank boxes all look the same. Some refer to the money box as the Fridge.

It’s really surprising how many times seven men can miss the Fridge, and the balance keeps accumulating. Once a year we take the other half of the ‘expense’ money, donate half of that to a selected charity, and head to a casino for a weekend to try to increase the remaining balance.

If someone drops out of the club, they forfeit any share of the Chill. If someone joins in place of that person, their entrance fee is half of the Chill.

After three years, nobody has left the club. One wife partitioned us to join, but refused to participate in the required initiation.