I Shouldn't Complain

You know, we all have good days and bad days at work. Overall, I'm fairly satisfied with my job, but lately it's sucked like crap on a stick, money-wise. But I worked a full eight hours today, for the first time in what seems like forever, and the money was actually decent again. Well, good enough that I stopped at the bank on the way home to make a deposit. It's been awhile since I've done that.

Early on this morning, we only had one game going--I was dealing a short-handed 4/8 game. I think there were four regular players at the table, plus the 8:00 am dealer and the floorman who were both playing on the clock. But the game came to a stop when an old man came stumbling in to the room, looking like he was having a heart attack. Seriously, he barely made it to the desk, and he couldn't talk and he was barely breathing. The game came to a halt, as the floorman and the other dealer hopped up to offer assistance.

The security desk, with a portable defib kit, is just a few steps away, but the guy recovered after a couple of seconds and refused all assistance, saying Oh, this happens all the time, and then he asked for a rack of chips, wanting to get into the game. Everyone at the table, myself included, was like WTF? Did you see what I just saw?

He sat down and joined the rest of us, playing like nothing happened. It was a surreal moment, to be sure.

He was sitting in the 10-seat, just to my right, and since I was locked down for several hours, (yep, I sat there dealing for 3 1/2 hours straight at one point), I was worried that he'd keel over right there next to me. Since he was sitting right next to me, I could see his cards every time he looked at them, and I could see that he was about the worst poker player I've seen in months--he was calling damn near every hand with the worst draws or bottom pair--he would rarely fold. But he was great for the game because in the four hours he sat there, he re-bought three times, giving away $400 before calling it a day. The rest of the players loved it, and I have to admit, so did I. Whenever there is a big fish at the table giving away chips, I'm pushing better pots because everyone wants a shot at his bankroll, so I end up making good money due to all the action.

Every time he called for another rack of chips, you could see the other players all grinning and giving each other knowing glances. Before long, the table filled up and nobody was willing to give up a seat.

Eventually, he ran out of money, and we were worried that the game might break, but by then the room was much busier and we actually had three tables going. I *almost* had to work overtime, but even though there was just one more dealer than open games, and a waiting list, I got cut loose on time.

Anyhow, the point is, even though I wasn't expecting much when I got to work at 6:00 am, and still sat on my ass doing nothing for the first two hours of the day, it turned out ok. And as frustrating as it is some days, I really do enjoy my job.

So I probably shouldn't complain, it could be much worse...




Mikey