... As A Bat

Well, they always said I'd eventually go blind, and I guess they were right. Having to be at work sometime around 6:40 or so every night, it's still fairly bright outside this time of year. So I usually wear my normal non-prescription sunglasses for the drive to work. And if I've gone all day without wearing my prescription glasses, like I do when I'm at home, I really don't feel like I need them.

So, I walked inside from the parking garage, and immediately realized that I forgot to bring my 'real' glasses. Holy crap--it was awful. I'm so used to wearing my glasses at all times in the casino, and this one time I forgot them, man, I couldn't see a damn thing. People were waving at me from a distance and I couldn't recognize them. I couldn't read any of the progressive jackpots on any of the slot machines, either. And forget about reading the scores on any of the games being played on the TVs in the bar. I felt seriously handicapped. Everything beyond 20 feet or so was just plain blurry.

It's amazing though, because I realize now that my new glasses have made my eyesight even worse. I know it wasn't this bad back in January before I got them.

And besides being half blind, the casino was just packed to the gills, which was good, but it was hot as hell in the pit. And I was on my least favorite Crap On A Stick string of tables--$5 Flea Gow, a $10 Super Fun 21 double decker, and a six-deck shoe next to the roulette wheel that *never* goes dead. Not only are they crappy games to deal, the tables are always completely full, so you work your ass off for the entire night.

So I started off getting the second break, meaning that I'd do 20 minutes on Super Fun 21, then get my first break at 7:20. At 7:40, I went back and hit the shoe game. At 8:40, nobody came to tap me out.

That really sucks. So I called the floor guy over and asked him to find out if I'm supposed to be doing 1:20 minute rotations, instead of just an hour (there was no indication on the road map when I got to work that we'd be doing 120s, so it seemed odd). He came back a minute later and said "Yep, everyone is doing 120s, four dice dealers called in sick".

Right then, the shift boss walked by and I said Hey, I heard you're short of dice dealers--I'll go over there!!! Pleeeeease???

She just looked at me and shook her head, giving me a smirk that said Sorry bro, your ass is stuck dealing blackjack tonight...

Damn. So much for being teacher's pet.

So not only was I stuck on the crappiest tables in the pit, but I was doing hour-and-twenties on them, too. Ugh.

Next up, eighty minutes of hell on the $5 Pai Gow table. The only redeeming aspect of being there was that I just caught all the cards in the world and wiped out all of our fleas in about an hour. That made the evening a little more enjoyable.

Since we were doing 120s, that meant that we had a fourth table somewhere, but I wasn't quite sure where it was. Eventually, I found out that it was in Chinatown, back at on of my regular tables, Pai Gow #2, a ten-dollar game. Sweet. Doing an hour and twenty over there was like a mini-vacation from the rest of my shift. It's a sit-on-my-ass and watch TV in the bar game, even when it's busy.

Unfortunately, I still couldn't see shiat. But then I thought--Wait a minute, my glasses are in the center console of my truck! So on my next break, I wandered out to the garage, found my glasses, and spent ten minutes sitting in my cab, listening to music and enjoying the full-on blast of max A/C.

The rest of the night was much easier now that I could see again.

I was hoping for the half-hour early out, but didn't get it--I got stuck dealing a $10 double-deck pitch game until 2:40. And for those of you that think that all I do is kick people's asses at the tables, I'm here to tell you that with one guy in particular, he was down to his last $15, bet it, had to borrow another $15 from his girlfriend to double down, and he won the hand. And by the time I got tapped off the table about a half-hour later, he had almost $800 in front of him.

So yeah, miracles happen!

Once I got out, I was exhausted. We were soooo crazy busy all night long, which is good--I dropped over $200 in tokes, even with all the time I spent dealing Pai Gow. But man, I felt like I got absolutely worked over by the end of my shift. I couldn't decide if I wanted water or a beer, so I figured I'd meet in the middle and have me a Michelob Ultra. I still have a bunch of free drink tickets in my wallet for a few on the local bars, and one of the little cuties I hang out with on occasion happens to work at one as a bartender on weekends (and she's a cocktail waitress at the casino four nights a week). So I thought I'd go see her.

She had just finished up her shift at the same time, so it was a good time to visit and catch up. As much as the mind was willing, the flesh was weak, and I found myself almost dozing on the barstool. I just didn't have my A-game, so I called it a night after just one round.

I came home, took a shower, and found my second wind. I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, took out the trash, and found the time to write this post. But now I'm truly exhausted and really need to get some sleep.

Today is going to be a long day--my niece Alli is in town, and I'm supposed to call her and make some plans--hopefully for lunch tomorrow instead of today. I also have to go and look at another house at some point, and tonight after work, we're having a going away party for my buddy who opened the Chinese restaurant. He's decided that after sinking about a hundred grand into it, he should probably be working there full-time (I swear the guy hasn't slept in the past three months). So tonight is his last night with us, and afterwards our whole shift is going out together to toss back a few shots and laugh it up a little. That should be fun.

If I have the strength, I'll post some more before Monday, if not, well, have a good weekend and I'll see ya then!

Mikey