Back at My Keyboard

Well, here it is Monday afternoon, and I figured I better post something since the natives seem to be getting restless. Sorry gang, there just hasn't been much of anything happening lately that has been interesting enough to write about.

The holidays are officially over, and we're dead slow at work. I don't recall it being as bad last year, and now that the end of the year has passed, I can make a few comments. First of all, comparing final paychecks against last years W-2's from a friend of mine who has been full-time a lot longer, I see that we dealers made almost exactly $8000 less in 2006 than what was made in 2005. Yeah, brilliant move, bringing in all those lower-limit games. Perhaps the casino made more money, but since my bottom line was affected negatively, I don't much care how much the casino made. I *do* know, however, that the ghetto-ization of my casino seems to be in full swing, and our tokes have reflected it for the past several months.

New Years Eve was a perfect example--our friends at xxxxx and xxxxx, according to word on the street, made over $400 a pop that night. We made $171. Nice. Last year, at least we made $240.

I'm thinking it might be time to search for other income options. Whether that means a second job, temp work, or a new job altogether remains to be seen. But the current situation is unacceptable as it stands. And it doesn't seem to be getting any better. They keep adding more and more dealers, and late at night we always seem to have at least five or six dead games with dealers standing around doing nothing. That just kills our toke pool.

Last night was absolutely awful. I was dealing Rapid Roulette, and by the time the computer broke down and chased away our last flea player, we had a whopping seventy-five cents in the electronic toke box. The rest of the pit was absolutely dead, and they had sent home everyone on the E.O. list by midnight. Once the Rapid Roulette table was closed down, I told the assistant shift manager to go ahead an put me on the early out list, as we'd be lucky to crack $80 in tips that night.

Her response was Go ahead and go home now, I don't have a table to put you on.

So with that, I joined the herd of dealers heading for the door at least three hours early. Maybe because so many of us went home early, it might put the day's take over $100 for anyone who stayed the full eight, but I'd be surprised.

Of course, it is the first weekend after the holidays, and some slowdown is to be expected, but damn, we went from a packed casino to what looked like an abandoned warehouse in no time at all.

Anyhow, on my way out the door, I ran into my friend Jen, who I hadn't talked to in a couple of weeks, and she suggested that we go out for a beer. Not a bad plan--it was still early and I was wide awake, so a few minutes later we were sitting at the bar at Chilly Palmer's bitching and moaning like most dealers do during their time off.

Actually, I'm sure I'm sounding a little bitter and pissy, but it's really not that bad. I can't complain too much about the money--it's more than I was making in Nashville at a relatively well-paying but boring job, and usually my job nowadays is anything but boring. It's just that it hasn't lived up to my expectations, as far as the bottom-line is concerned. But I'm making a decent living and all the bills are paid, which is quite a difference from the Dark Times of 2001-2002. It's just that if I were in charge, there would be some obvious changes. And I'd crack the whip on all the hosts and tell them to start bringing in the big players, Or else!

Anyhow. It's looking up. Today is my Friday and I've got the next two days scheduled for doing absolutely nothing except catching up on some reading and doing a little bit of light housework. I might do a bit of blogging if I feel so inspired, but I'm making no promises.

By the way, I'm glad that the BCS Championship game is finally taking place tonight. I think the Powers That Be shot themselves in the foot, though, waiting so long for the game. The 'Bowl Season' seems like it's long over, and I think the BCS should've wrapped it up a week ago, at least before the NFL playoffs started. It really seems to have lost something by waiting this long. But I'm still gonna make my pick, and I choose Florida. If Michigan was the second-best team in the country, playing Ohio State to almost a standstill back in October, then Florida should win the game easily. Michigan got owned by USC, and Florida not only played two more games since Ohio State last took the field, but they had to run the SEC gauntlet to get there. I'd say they are much more experienced/prepared than Ohio State. I'm taking Florida. By the way, did you know that Ohio State is something like 0-7 all-time versus the SEC in Bowl Games? We *all* remember that Clemson game so many years ago...

Peace out. More tomorrow, I promise.

Mikey