I'm Dealin'

I finally got a call this morning from that off-strip place I mentioned before and set up an interview/audition for 3pm today. Actually, all of this happened yesterday (Wed.), but I'm writing this at 3am and haven't gone to bed yet. This place was actually one of the very few casinos in town that I had never set foot in before, so I got there a little early to walk around the property a little.

Around 3pm, I met the assistant shift manager for day shift and she went through all of the normal "motions", such as talking about the property a little, asking me about the games I've dealt and also asking some common interview questions. As soon as I started talking to her, I basically got the vibe that I expected to see in that I was pretty much assured of the job if I didn't do anything completely insane during the audition portion.

After the interview, she had me go tap in on a blackjack shoe game. There were only two people playing and I aced that portion of the festivities in short order. Next up was a $10 pitch game, with some decent action. One guy had $50 up every hand, and the rest were $10-$20. Nothing too much to report there either. I did pretty good on blackjack considering I don't think I've dealt it in about a month! Of course I used all of the procedures from my old job and got a "what a little wussy shuffle" comment from the boss. Apparently this place has a much more elaborate and fancy shuffle procedure for their double-deck pitch games than what I've gotten used to. After blackjack, it was off to the craps table. Again, not too much to report. I did have a guy throw in a $6 3-way red, $5 horn-hi yo and an additional $1 yo on one roll. I guess asshats are pretty much universal in the off-strip world.

The good thing about this job is that it seems like I'll be getting way more hours compared to the old job. Being at a place with great toke days didn't do me any good when I was only getting 15 hours of work during many weeks! The other thing that really impressed me was how friendly and upbeat almost every dealer and supervisor was. I've heard that the floor sups and shift bosses were pretty cool at this place, but I didn't really expect to see it at that kind of level.

The not-so-good things about the job include the longer commute, the lower toke rates, and the lower table limits which I'm sure invite flea and stroker play......especially at the dice table. I'm also going to be working swing shift for the first time since last April, so that'll take some getting used to. The shift change really does suck since the special lady I'm seeing has a pretty normal day job and we've been able to see each other fairly regularly so far in the evenings. Oh, not to get off topic, but her name is Danielle....and that's pretty much all I'll say for now on the blog. If you want any more details, give me a call. Oh, and if you're a member of the Columbus crew coming into town soon, I don't really want to start asking for days off after starting a brand new job and being out of work for 2 weeks. So let's cross our fingers and hope for the extremely unlikely chance that I won't be scheduled to work on those nights you're here. I'm not holding my breath though.

One thing that I keep forgetting is how lightning quick things happen once casino auditions are held. At Nevada Palace, I started work the very same night that I passed the audition. At my last job, it was the night after. They actually asked me today if I could come into work tonight or tomorrow night. Quick thinking provided me with the thought that I have a date on Thursday, so I politely declined and will begin work on Friday night at 7pm.

Wish me luck.