So I went to work this morning (I usually work the 3am-11am "moonlight" shift) with hopes that something crazy would happen in the casino, thus giving me blog fodder for all of my new loyal readers. Unfortunately, the most interesting thing to happen was having a stimulating conversation with a drunk for about 30 minutes on a craps table that was completely dead for about 70% of the shift. In other words, same ol' same ol'. However, I did receive one piece of extremely disturbing news. Every single "extra board" dealer on my shift was given ZERO hours on the schedule next week!
Let me back up. For those who don't know, almost every casino dealing job in Vegas that's worth it's salt is not attainable as a full-time position when starting. The usual progression for a dealer is to go to dealing school, find a "break-in" job, take some lumps for about 2-6 months working 40 hours per week for very little money at a piece of s**t joint, and then get into a better "mid-tier" dealing job which usually includes a better environment and much better pay. The better pay, of course, coming from tips (since just about every dealer in town makes around minimum wage base pay). The bad news is that when first starting this mid-tier job, almost everyone needs to go through a part-time "extra-board" period before becoming full-time. This is my current situation. While on extra-board (probably around 9 months), I am usually only scheduled 2 or 3 days a week at the most, and they can basically send me home on a whim, whenever they feel like it, even after a couple of hours if things are really dead.
Well, whoever is the power to be at this point (I have no idea who's really calling the shots) has decided that every single extra-board dealer will get NO hours next week on the schedule, and there's even some contradictory information floating around that we may even be banned from picking up shifts from full-time dealers who want to give them up. Bottom-line business I guess. What this does though is it puts me in a quandary, which as I see it, forces me to choose between the following scenerios:
1. The most obvious choice would be to, once again, pick up all of my belongings, move to Italy, and live in peace and harmony under the sea with those Italian divers mentioned in the story above.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oa8t-vVKUmk
2. Sit this storm out until better days hopefully appear. I have to think that once the weather gets cooler and football season gets in full gear, the business in the casino will pick up a bit and they'll throw us 2 or 3 shifts per week again, which in my situation is enough to live on. I do have rainy day money, but I get very agitated when my weekly expenses start eclipsing my income.
3. Find another part-time job. I doubt if I'd want to find a non-dealing job since that is the reason I moved to Vegas in the first place. However, finding another dealer job part-time is tricky. I would most likely be taking a step down, since many upper tier casinos force you to work ONLY for them with no other dealing jobs, or I would have to work "part-time" for them, such as O'Sheas on the Strip, who advertise the job as part-time but still work you 5 or 6 days a week (it's a benefits thing that gets confusing). What I would need is another part-time job like the one I have now, getting 2 or 3 days a week to suppliment the lousy hours at my current place AND who would be flexible in scheduling me around my other job.
4. Quit and find another job. Like I mentioned, there are jobs out there. For example, Imperial Palace is looking for a couple of dealers, and they even advertise it as starting "full-time". The problem with that scenerio is that I would most likely be taking a pay cut compared to what full-timers make at my current place, and it still seems worthwhile to wait it out for better money here, even if it still is months away! I have four months of seniority right now, and it would be a shame to give it up for a lower paying job elsewhere.
5. And finally, the option that I seem to be leaning toward right now. TEMP! There is a dealer's temp agency in town that supplies dealers to casinos that need them on short notice. Check out their info. at http://www.dealersemploymentagency.com/dealers.htm. There are a couple reasons why this appeals to me. I would be more in charge of deciding how many shifts per week I'd work and also where. If they wanted me to work on the extreme other side of town on a night when I actually do have regular moonlight shift scheduled, I could kindly say "no thanks." The other big reason is that it would allow me to get out to many different casinos and actually see what it's like out there. My current place, and Nevada Palace which was my break-in joint, are both locals casinos for the most part, and temping may introduce me to a wide array of places, some being mostly tourist spots with much different clientele. I would also be committed to nothing, not having to apply or audition at these places. I could possibly find out that there is greener pasture on the other side of a hill that I'm not even aware of yet.
We'll see. There's still a lot that I don't understand about the temping option, but it may be worth looking into. Until then, I guess it's back to peanut butter and jelly for me for a while.
1 comments:
First off, I would ditch the "Under The Sea" option. I've been underwater for long periods of time (albeit in a tube, not a bell), and unless you have adequate facilities, which bells don't, it can really suck. Also, do you really want to spend 2 weeks alone with some weird dude playing scientist and running expirements on you?.
I would go with option #2 or 5. you're right, different places operate differently, even in the same industry. #5 would really potentially expose you to these differences.
Or you could go with option #6, which would be a combination of option #2 with the addition of locking yourself in your room (appt) and living on online porn for the duration. You could probably last a few weeks without getting really bored. :)
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