I'm feeling a touch better today--my throat isn't nearly as constricted, and while it still hurts to swallow, it's not as bad as it was the past few days.
I gutted it up and went to work last night, over Angy's not-so-subtle protests. Yeah, I know I need my rest, but unlike the real world where a sick day doesn't cost you any money, in casino-fantasy-land, no workie = no money. And the money has been so much improved lately that nothing short of being on the slab would've kept me from going in.
But I offered Angy a compromise--I said I'd sign the Early Out list and indicate that I was sick, which usually gives you priority, and as soon as the first table closes, you get launched. Well, I did, but again, we were so slammed last night (it was a fight night, too), that the entire casino was just packed for almost the entire shift. Finally, at 1:40, the boss came over and said Hey, do you want an hour? I replied with I'll take whatever I can get! The dealer next to me had just closed her Holdem table, so she came and tapped me out right then, freeing me up after just seven short hours...
I was an exhausted wreck, but I somehow survived.
Of course my throat was killing me the whole night, but it didn't affect my voice. And I wasn't running a fever, sneezing, or coughing, so to all outside appearances, I looked fine. But my immune system was working overtime to kill this bug so I barely had the strength to put one foot in front of the other. And it was messing with my brain, too--as the night wore on, I kept f*cking up at the Pai Gow table--dealing to the wrong spot, mis-setting my hand, etc. It took every bit of concentration to keep from dealing like a retard. Then my favorite cocktail waitress walked by and said hello and winked at me while I was selling a player $300 worth of chips, so of course I scattered them all over the table like a rookie, half of them rolling back into the rack with the house money, so I had to start all over again for surveillance. I'm sure I looked like a complete dumbass.
On my first break, I wanted something to help make my throat feel better, besides a salt-water gargle, so I got some grilled chicken and stuffing. The chicken was ok, but the stuffing was fresh off the burner, so it was piping hot. And the mushy consistency was just what I needed. And it seemed to work better than ice cream to sooth my throat. I washed it down with a tall glass of apple juice, and felt much better. After each hour, I just another drank another huge glass of ice-cold apple juice, and it helped carry me through.
Then, around midnight, one of the old-school dice dealers was hanging out by the salad bar grabbing a cup of soup. I asked him what they had, and he told me that it was chicken noodle! Oh hell yeah. I grabbed one of the big 20 oz. styrofoam coffee cups, and ladled it full. Talk about just what the doctor ordered--it was hot and tasty, full of onions, carrots, noodles, and grilled chicken chunks. And it made me feel about a thousand percent better, which I needed, because that last hour and a half really took it out of me.
When I finally got out, I went over to talk to the bosses, telling them about my visit to the doctor earlier in the day, and asked if I might be able to use a couple of my floater days for tonight and Monday, enabling me to basically call in sick but not lose any money. But I was denied--no floater days can be granted once the schedule is posted. And, apparently, we are already short about three dealers for the next few days, too. But I was free to call out sick and not get paid if I wanted to do that...
I declined, but right now I'm *really* feeling like calling in sick tonight, just because I need the rest. But it's not like I'm dealing dice or a trying string of blackjack games. I'm on my 'home' string of Pai Gow games where I get to sit on my ass all night, so the stress factor is low. We'll see how I feel after my nap this afternoon.
It's days like this that I miss the good old days of working in the real world.
Mikey
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