Too Busy

Talk about worn out--I feel like I actually have to *work* for a living, now. Yes, it seems that my employer has decided that we were overstaffed (Duh, every month they kept announcing "We're hiring ten more dealers!"), so in addition to all the Food & Beverage personnel that got shiat-canned last week (one entire restaurant was shuttered and all employees let go, for example), they decided to let the axe fall on a few dealers, too.

Originally, there were 11 dealers, that I know of, that got canned, and unfortunately, Falcon Rob was one of them. Truly, that sucks. But he's got a few irons in the fire, and his 'Coming to Vegas' bankroll is still intact due to not having to, say, buy a new transmission or move out of a house full of thieving strippers a month after arriving in town... So I'm sure he'll be ok. No panic yet. Besides, he deals dice, so he can find a job anywhere. At least that seems to be casino business dogma. Anyhow, adding up everyone else that I know of who got the boot last week, it seems that there were a couple more than just the original eleven. We lost at least that many on my shift alone.

Ten oughta do it, don't you think? You think we need one more? You think we need one more. All right, we'll get one more.

I feel bad for Rob--I was the one who told him to apply there, and did all I could to help him get hired. It feels like a big waste of time and effort, now. And believe me--I can name at least five other dealers they should have gotten rid of instead. But I guess they went by seniority instead of ability, attitude, or personal grooming habits...

But, there are side effects to all of this 'right-sizing'. On the plus side, I cannot deny that our tokes have gone up, noticeably. On the other hand, with fewer tables open, we are much much much busier. (I walked into the pit last night and was like Holy Shiat! Where did all these people come from? And then realized, for the first time, that we're in the midst of a three-day holiday weekend.) And this is the first time out of three that, when working for a company that was downsizing, I didn't get the pink slip. Yep, I was laid off twice from the brokerage business. If the casino business was gonna do it to me, too, well, I might've had to turn to a life of crime. Or sloth. I mean, even more sloth than I'm into already.

But when I saw the roadmap, I found that I was scheduled to deal one blackjack game, one Pai Gow game, and one carnival game (Crazy 4 Poker). It was a fairly cool string, and I had some fun players, and since I was so busy, the night was just flying by.

But suddenly, all my happiness and good times evaporated.

Instead of heading over to Crazy 4 Poker at midnight, they told me to take out the 2nd base dealer on Craps #1.

I walked over to the dice pit and was instantly depressed. The dealer I was taking out gave me a big shiat-eating grin. He asked for an early out, and got it, and I realized why. He was on the most jammed-up game I'd ever seen, and all 16 players were a Who's Who of our A-list strokers. Unless you work there, you have no idea, but it was just the worst possible game you could ever imagine dealing.

Not only that, but the gal on stick was just singing like a canary, so all the oddball bets were paying off and everyone had racks full of bullets. Now, I certainly don't mind people winning, and I love a hot dice table just as much as the next guy, but not for these asshats. The boxman had a resigned look on his face that just screamed Please--anybody but these morons...

So I tapped into the game and I was just immediately overwhelmed. There was so much action and so many chips stacked up all over that the layout looked like the map room on Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was ridiculous. Of course, I was praying for an immediate Seven-Out, just so I could clear the board and start over. But it didn't come for a good long time. I was getting worked so hard that I had sweat literally dripping off of my forehead. The boxman was kind enough to grab me a towel to pat myself down with after each roll, otherwise I might've turned that craps table into an indoor salt pond.

And besides the seven jackasses at my end who wanted to press or change every bet after each roll was one particular dipshiat who was doing Come bets, but changing them from $5 to $10 every roll. (And for his bets on the five and nine, he insisted on having his odds at $18. Cocksucker.) Seriously, I haven't seen so much douchebaggery on display since somebody handed Mercury Morris a microphone.

But I survived, and when I got on stick, it was time to pay. Not one prop bet landed, and my calls were pretty much point-seven-out for the entire twenty minutes, finally chasing away the worst of the offenders.

Originally, I was high on the list for the half-hour early out, which I usually get. And because of my original table rotation, the latest I should've gotten out was at 2:40, getting the last break of the night. But no. Getting sent to dice screwed up my whole night--not only did I *not* get out early, by the time the table got closed and the bankroll counted, it was well past quittin' time. I was one of the last people out of there. And I was worn out!

I came home and took one of those wonderful post-work scalding-hot showers, and then collapsed on the couch while Rob and I watched a little bit of recorded Jeopardy (it's the teen tournament this week, so the questions are a little easier).

But after sitting there for an hour or so, it was all I could do to lift my carcass off the couch and shuffle off to bed, where I crashed until 11:00 this morning, waking up only because my phone was ringing. It was the gal from the eye doctor's office--turns out that my new glasses had arrived, so I got up and headed down to pick them up before the office closed at 1:00 pm.

Holy shiat! I can see! It's a miracle! Oh lord, Oh sweet Jesus!

Yep, the difference is amazing. At some point this weekend I'll snap a couple of pictures and post them up so everyone can see my new, more sophisticated look. And they even gave me a nifty new protective hard case to carry them around in when I'm not wearing them, so hopefully they'll last longer than my typical pair of sunglasses, which get just downright abused.

But, that's about all for now--it's time to put in another load of laundry and make sure my wallet and cellphone don't get washed.

More later--

Mikey