The Normal Stuff

There hasn't been much to report lately from Sin City. I had a three-day weekend these past few days and only worked a 6 hour shift Sunday night. Before you say anything, NO I did not take early out (EO). Like I've said before, there has been exactly one night since I started dealing 15 months ago where I've voluntarily requested EO, and that was when I was sick while working on Boulder Highway and my friends from Ohio were coming into town the next morning. My shift just happened to be 6 hours last night, which happens for some reason about twice a month.

Since its been a while between "casino-related" posts, I just thought I'd drop some tidbits from work since its now been about 6 weeks since I started dealing at my new place on the Strip. First, speaking of EO, its a little surprising how little EO is requested from my fellow dealers on a nightly basis. The tokes usually hover around $90 a night, so they're not the greatest, but a large percentage of my co-workers work some other part-time job. Honestly, I have no idea how they do it! Some of the dealers who work graveyard come in at the end of my shift looking like zombies since they just got off of an 8-hour shift somewhere else on very little sleep. But like I said, there are only a few people on the EO list every night. Its funny in that the "nice" place that I worked at in Henderson for ten months before being "downsized" was about a $47,000+ a year job for those lucky enough to be full-time, but in saying that I'll also say that I've NEVER heard people bitch about their lives so much than in that breakroom! On the flip-side, a full-timer at my current Strip place only makes about $35,000 per year (give or take) and I RARELY run into those once-common gripe sessions in the break room. All-in-all, people seem generally happy at my current place, myself included.

Getting back to the EO subject though, there are two types of EO, forced EO and voluntary EO. Don't think that I was making even close to that $45,000 that I mentioned earlier at the Henderson place. Usually, I'd be lucky to get three days on the schedule, and way more times than not I'd be forced home early by my a**hole supervisors. I had absolutely no say in it. Perhaps I'm venting a little too much right now, but its crazy how that company keeps making it onto these national publication "best places to work" lists, and yet I spent ten months of my life realizing that it couldn't be farther from the truth. In the case of my current company, it has somewhat of a reputation for being an "evil" enormous entity, but so far I've been averaging 4.5 days per week on the schedule and I have yet to be sent home against my will ONCE! When my grandma passed away the day before my first shift, I went in the next night before working even one minute at a table and talked to my main shift boss. He IMMEDIATELY whipped out the schedule from the desk and whited out my name from the on-call list, thus allowing me to fly home the next day!

Some other pluses to working at my current place:
- Kick-ass employee dining room - At least compared to Boulder Highway and Henderson. They even have a carving station during swing shift. Is it the best cut of prime rib I've ever had, hell no....but its FREE prime rib!
- Much more variety of games - At Henderson, I ONLY dealt dice and blackjack, but mostly blackjack. On Boulder highway, I always dealt dice, and it was to some of the most dreadful vermin you'll ever meet. At this point, I've mastered every single game in my Strip place after only about 3 weeks (except roulette).
- Fun tourists - I've worked on the Strip for 6 weeks now, and I've never dealt to the same people throughout my entire shift. While off-strip, it was a nightly occurrence. Tourists have lives and things to do. Off-strip fleas have no lives and some of their only point for existence is to slowly waste away at a $3 craps table for ten hours a day.
- The company encourages fun! - What other casino have you ever played at where the company EXPECTS the dealers to high-five players, shake their hands and lets them use their cell phones at the tables without sweating it (within reason)?

Now don't get me wrong, there are some downsides to my current place. One reason the tokes are much lower is that, in general, tourists don't seem to know how to tip. NO, I'm not saying everyone is a jerk or anything because for the most part, all of my non-LIR playing customers are cool. Sure, you'll see me blog about some asshat after a shift, but those are the exceptions (which make for more interesting blog fodder). But I routinely see some tourists winning $500-$1000 on a craps or blackjack table, and they'll just throw in like $10 at the very end when they color-up. Uh, I guess I appreciate that $10, but tipping someone who makes minimum wage exactly 1% of your winnings is somewhat of a kick in the nether-regions. But I can't be too angry with them because the majority of them simply don't know that I survive on tips and they'll still genuinely thank me for a good job, which NEVER happened dealing to the burn-outs off the strip!

Am I butt-kissing my current place a little right now. Uh, probably, but all of my points remain valid. So I'm not just saying this stuff because I recently found out that a wife of a "big wig" in my company reads my blog every once in a while! ;-)

For this week, its one down and three to go at this point. I'm on dice for 2 out of the next 3 nights, which will be nice. Since we're always pretty busy, the shifts seem to fly by on the craps table! Tonight, I'll be getting out of bed and heading over to Steve's to hopefully watch the Red Wings wrap up the Cup on home-ice. Then its off to work for 8 hours, and then more Strip wandering while I wait around for the HR office to open at 8am. Any ideas on what I should do (no gambling) on the Strip at 5am for three hours???