I've been a busy dude this week. I didn't even realize that I haven't posted anything since last Saturday, but since I'm home tonight and wide awake I thought I'd give a brief update. First things first--work has gotten busier all of the sudden, but I think it only has to do with the Thanksgiving holiday week that is upon us. Two months ago, we 'extra-board' lackeys were lucky to have one day of work a week. I was poor and broke but luckily the experiences of 2002 taught me to survive that bump in the road with minimal consternation. Then suddenly we were getting scheduled three days a week and the daily toke average went from about $120 per shift to about $175 per shift--very nice. It seemed much busier, but the unofficial word we were getting was that extra-board dealers still weren't allowed to work more than three days a week. (I figured something was amiss when on three different occasions other dealers tried to give me shifts and each time I was denied picking it up...)
Then the tokes started going way up and I was getting spoiled (last week each shift was over $200!). It was nice, as working just three days a week I was bringing home bigger paychecks than I was five years ago at Schwab working full-time (of course, that was after a fortune worth of deductions were taken out, but my life is much simpler now, and the bottom line is all that matters at this point).
The big toke days were attributed to a few bigger players that came in every day, one in particular that I'll call 'Dick'. He came in every night with tens of thousands of dollars in cash carried in a man-purse and basically just threw money around the casino. While it was nice to have him playing, it was an absolute pain in the ass to have him playing at my table. He was truly the rudest, foulest, biggest loser of a human being I've encountered in my brief sojourn here in Sin City. Luckily he didn't like me much--I only dealt to him twice and just crushed him both times.
Anyhow, it turns out that that particular gravy train has run it's course. Apparently he somehow crossed the line and got banned from the property. So this next paycheck will mark the end of the 'Dick' contribution. I'm not sorry to see the guy get booted, but as rude as he was, he was a good tipper. On the plus side, those guys are a dime a dozen here in Vegas, and I'm sure he'll be replaced shortly. In the meantime, instead of just having my usual three days of work that I've become accustomed to, this week I have five days scheduled. Since I know that I'm not allowed to work more than 32 hours a week, I'm sure I'll be getting off early on one of those nights (yeah, being a peon I'm scheduled to work on Thanksgiving--no prob--I've got no family here and I planned on having my turkey dinner at work anyways...) But it's nice to see a full work schedule again. Hopefully soon I'll be off of the extra-board and finally get a full-time paycheck and full-time benefits.
For as little as I've been working, it sure seemed that I didn't have much time on my hands. Of course I've spent lots of time looking for a suitable second job--although I don't need one at this point, it'd be nice to have a little extra income. Earlier this summer I had three incomes, and now I'm down to one part-time income--which I can survive on--but it's tough to save, and another commitment would instill a bit of discipline that I've been lacking. (I haven't even used an alarm clock in two months for cryin' out loud!)
There's still poker school to finish, and since I paid $800 it would be a damn shame to let that go to waste by not finding a job in a poker room. But I have seriously lost all interest in poker, whereas two years ago it was all I lived for. Since my interest in playing has waned, my interest in dealing the game seems to have done the same, also. Although, if I think about it logically, there's no reason to not deal poker--I don't much play craps or blackjack anymore either, but I still enjoy dealing those games. And with poker I'd get to sit on my ass all day with the added bonus of not having to report all of my tips to the IRS! Hell yeah--stick it to The Man!!!
Although I'm rambling about it, I guess that I just haven't thought it all through yet. But the smart money says that by the turn of the new year, my days will be spent dealing Hold Em, and my nights will be spent doing the blackjack/dice/pai gow trifecta.
On the social side of things, I've had a few visitors lately, too. My friend Sammi was here last week and we managed to get together for a few drinks and a few more laughs. And the setting was fantastic--one night we hung out in the Parasol Bar at the Wynn. To say that it's a nice bar would be a tremendous understatement. Yeah, it's a bit chic and frou-frou, but we bohemians managed to fit right in and enjoy the upscale vibe. It helped that all of the martinis were top-shelf varieties, they offered my all-time favorite wine by the glass, and we were served by yet another Greek Goddess of a cocktail waitress that this town is so famous for. I've been to the Wynn twice now, and both time were extremely positive experiences. Nice place if you've got the ducketts.
Mikey
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