Off Kilter

Happy Monday everybody!

Here it is the middle of the night (still kinda feels like Sunday in my world), but my internal clock is so whacked out that I sometimes have to check the Weather Channel to make sure of the day and date.

I *thought* I was going to have the entire weekend off, but that was not the case. Around 9 o'clock on Saturday night, I was dozing in front of the TV when my phone rang. Thinking it was one of my degenerate friends calling, proposing some sort of late-night Vegas buffoonery, I scrambled to answer it. But no, it was the casino calling, and the poker room manager was asking me how soon I could get down there.

So I took a quick shower and got dressed in my stylish black clothes and headed out. I did a fly-by of the poker room to tell 'em I was there, and I saw that all but one of the tables were full. That was a good sign. I still had a couple of minutes before the next push, so I had time to hit the uniform room and get a clean shirt if I hustled.

Before that, however, the priority was to head over to the pit and say hello to my favorite gal. I hadn't seen Kimmy in almost a month, and found her delivering a tray of drinks to a baccarat table. So I snuck up behind her and gave her a squeeze, and we had a couple of moments of a happy reunion. But she was slammed and I had to get over to the poker room, so we could only chat for a minute or two. But it was great to see her again.

My first table of the night was a no-limit game, so that was a good start, but even the limit games were lucrative. I had a three-table push to begin the shift, so I was off to a good start. I got a break after that, so I hurried back to the dining room hoping to have dinner with Kimmy. Unfortunately, she ended up with the early break that night, and we passed each other in the hallway. So my break was much less enjoyable--the food sucked and the company wasn't nearly as attractive.

After that, I was pretty much locked down in the poker room for the rest of the night. A couple of graveyard dealers came in after I got back from my break, and I figured that they'd send me home. I didn't worry too much about it because I'd already made some good money, and anything I made that night was just a bonus. But they kept me around--the room was still hoppin' and I was in for the long haul.

I also saw that my second table on that push was another no-limit game, and our big high-roller guy who hooked me up for about $300 one night back in May was there again. Score! I figured that I was in for a very big night.

But it was not to be--he got busted just before I got to the table, and his seat was empty when I finally pushed in. That sucked. But all was not lost. It was still a good table, with the exception of one grouchy old stiff. But everyone was tearing into his bankroll like a pack of vultures on a carcass, and he was getting more pissed off with each hand he lost. It was hard to keep from smirking every time I pushed a pot to somebody else, because this guy is such a whiny asshole, always cursing and throwing his cards around, bitching about the other players, always asking for a new setup, along with being a total stiff. So it was lots of fun dealing that table, even though the high roller was gone.

The night just flew by, and during one long and protracted no-limit hand, I looked up from the table while a player was taking his own sweet time making a decision, and I saw Kimmy walking towards the poker room. Her shift was over, and she was heading for the garage, and came by to say goodnight, giving me a wink and a wave. That made my night, because walking by the poker room was quite a trek out of her way. So yeah, she's still got me on the end of her string...

Anyhow... We stayed pretty busy till around 4:30 in the morning, and suddenly all the games started breaking. Mine lasted till about quarter till five, finally going dead after the stiff asshole guy tried to steal a big $250 pot and got snapped off on the river. I thought his head was going to explode when the other guy showed the winning hand, and he stomped off in a huff, cursing and frothing at the mouth. There were only three players left by then, so they called it a night once the fish left the table.

I hurried to get my game closed down, counting down the rack and re-setting the decks. I managed to get out by five, and I had a nice pocketful of cash for my efforts. It turned out that Saturday night was my second biggest night of the month.

I considered sticking around and having some breakfast, but when I got back to the dining room I saw that the eggs were overcooked, the bacon was greasy, and the hashbrowns were underdone. Instead, I just came home and had some cheese and crackers (creamy Havarti and some multi-grain Wheat Thins, if you must know). I thought I'd be tired, but after such a busy night, I was still keyed up for several hours. So I spent some time wrestling around on the floor with Bear & Stoli, trying to wear them out, and getting myself completely covered in dog-slobber as a reward. I took a shower and finally fell asleep around noon, and spent most of Sunday afternoon dozing through the Brickyard 400. I finally woke up around 8 pm, grabbed a can of DCWL, and ate some more crackers. I was much too tired and lazy-feeling to go down to the kitchen and make any real food, so my dining adventures for the day were somewhat uninspiring.

Luckily, I'm scheduled to be officially off today, so when the phone rings, chances are that it won't be work. However, my boss sent a memo out to all of the floor supervisors on all three shifts telling them that even if I weren't On Call, they could still call me in if they needed me. So I'm basically the Break Glass In Case of Emergency dealer--I'll always take a shift if they want to give me one. But even though my schedule is always a crapshoot, today I'm putting my money on the Don't.

Regardless, it'll be nice to be able to spend a day trying to re-align my sleep schedule and get my system functioning like a normal person. Tomorrow I'm back on that crummy 6:00 am shift with all the old farts for the rest of the week.

Mikey