180 degree difference

We took a complete 180 from the way Monday went to Tuesday.

Tuesday was slow and worthless.

I am learning that taking 1st stick here doesn't make a bit of a difference when you go home!

It used to be, in Vegas, that starting on stick, on an 8 hour shift, you got the early push and went home that 20 minutes earlier than the rest, still getting the 8 hours of pay.

Last night we closed craps ( coz this ain't no 24 hour casino) at 1:30am-ish. My shift being 6-2 and yes I started on stick. I thought I was going to get lucky enough to go home as planned. Noooooooo.... close the table and then go "spade decks" Which is truly a waste of more than my own time because of course I can not remember the order of the 'original deck'... so someone had followed me and redid all my decks. A supervisor tried to tell me which was they went, and i explained "it wouldn't matter I was already told 57 times and still cant remember, I was born with Alzheimer's" He said, " Well maybe the 58th time a charm!" I granted him the efforts and let e tell me how it goes and to this moment i still can not remember.

Its something about rounded tops (hearts n clubs) are one way and pointed tops (spades n diamonds) are another way (A-K or K-A).

Some day i will make a cheat sheet to help me remember, but they are always in a hurry to get it done.

So whilst there are 6 of us at the baccarat table 'spading', the supervisor asks the table if we knew which direction the cards go naturally... there is a moment of silence, i blurt out "SOUTH" and he laughs, but the other white guy laughs even harder. Then the same person flips thru a finished deck and suggests it is a trick question. The boss spreads the deck and shows how theres is always an equal or greater than half of the pips pointing in one direction and the other in the opposite on each card.

so look at the pip cards here and see what He was trying to say...
especially in the clubs and hearts.

I know big deal huh, but this guy is full of mindless trivia!

For all of you in Vegas, he was a boxman at the Boulder Station before he came here. Some day I will ask him why he left there.

As long as he cuts back on sharing his useless Elvis trivia, he is the biggest Elvis know-it-all EVER known by me, and my Uncle Rob was a pretty big fan.

Sweating the Money

I guess the natives really sweat the money here! I have never been pulled off a game when the pace is good and the players are happy/winning. This is the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks, heck in my whole dealing career!

It is very disappointing to me, and probably to the players also, who I have built relationships with, the way I have been molded to.

They throw on dealers who have less experience to slow it down and stop the fun. "killers" I know because I am a killer when it comes to Blackjack.

So I got to be bored the rest of the night...
And lucky me, cap off the night at work with a 6 deck "spading".

Spading is also known as Suiting the deck. Something I have never seen or had to do in any other casino.

I have only ever seen the pit bosses take the decks off the game and put them back into the boxes. I have never even seem them re-suit the decks. Just mark the corners and box them up and send them off (to who knows where).

So now whenever I kill and close a card game I have to put the deck back in its original order and mark the corners with a fat sharpie pen. And how fun is is to 'spade' a menagerie of 6 decks, from a shoe game!

I hope I just get to stay on Craps tonight!

But at least my last toke drop from craps last night before going to cards was nearly 300.00 in greens!

Oh I heard the bosses were upset at us for the players giving us player controlled bets. And he was parlaying for us!

I am starting to wonder where the bosses stand...behind us or in their own corner...

I wish I knew just how to approach them and ask them.

Learning my Lesson

OK so with this work schedule and my latest illness, I've been kind of lazy to 'get dressed' until i have to actually leave the house.

Well, 1st of all the UPS or FEDEX men keep coming with goodies for me, and I have answered the door in my PJs (LOL).

2 days ago the UPS man came with a package from my Target wish list, the coffee press, thanks SL :)

Today the UPS man came with a large flat package, and I do not know who to thank. It is the Welcome mat for my front door entry. Who Sent this? Thank you who ever you are. There was no pacing slip or receipt this time :)

And the other day a UPS man brought me a package from my old landlord (something important left behind in the house in Vegas).

And 2x lately the FEDEX man came with Modems for our DSL connection. Had to return one, but thats alright.

Well after today's UPS Mans visit, S hollers that there are 2 people approaching the door. he gets the dogs outside and we open the door to meet yet another set of friendly neighbors, this time from across the street. So now We have met the neighbors on 3 sides... with in 2 weeks!

Like I think i have said before, or S has anyway, in 4 years in Vegas he never met the neighbors, and I only met one because UPS mis delivered a package of mine to them.

So the lesson learned, get dressed! be dressed, be prepared!

So anyone else wanna knock on my door today before I go to work, in 20 minutes? Coz now... now I am dressed and prepared!

Hot Shooter, Slow Game

So we start out on a pretty slow game last night. Then some people start to trickle in and a guy from TN comes up and wants to play but is waiting for his buddy to meet him there before he starts to play. Well he would soon be the next shooter and so in realizing this fact he buys in, while i am on base, his side. His buddy comes almost as fast as his turn to shoot. I'd been talking to him and encouraging him, and so when he gets the dice i make a big deal and announce "hot shooter coming up" and so thru the rest of my time of that base, then thru my break, and my stick time he was still shooting and the game was HOT.

Prop bets were flying in and getting paid every single roll. In the middle of my stick time i get tapped ont he back and it is another dealer, who was not part of our crew. I have to finish my duties on stick with payouts and set up of new bets and I think she was then sent to a base ( my base), no big deal. We keep the game going and the payoffs too. Then at the end of my 20 on stick I get tapped off by ANOTHER person who was not in our crew, and as i go around the table the boss sends me to the other table... The 1st thing in my head is Phil's voice* (never question a supervisor on a game, just do what they say and if you wanna ask later, off hte game, thats up to you) so I just take it for what it is, they send their 2nd most experience dealer off the game. I guess they thought I was too hot for the players and maybe they were bringing in a cooler, or 2 or 3, becuase all but 1 of hte 4 of us got exchanged. The shooter shot for about an hour!

Our other game was a dead game tho for the most part of the rest of the night. But the hot game soon died off. I heard one supervisor tell another to close our table and they were going to use the extra bodies while they tought newer dealers the carnival games. I'm sent to break, it is just about 10:00pm. When I get back from my break I am sent home...

A. You're sick
B. You're bottom of the totem pole
C. We're overstaffed

So I go home no big deal. It was a welcome directive in my favor, due to my under-the-weatherness. I just wanted to sleep!



* I have had 2 impactful Phil's in my career as a dice dealer. 1st my instructor at the dealers school. 2nd my supervisor at Oshaes. I learned a lot from both of them!
If either of you are out there reading this, I thank you for all you have taught me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I might not have decided to move here had my juice from one of them had gotten me farther.
I had hopes for either moving up the ladder to dual-rate then floor at the kiddie pool, which is an action I waited too long for and never saw come to me.
OR I had hoped to get uiced into a job at the GN... Which I did audition for.
I felt like I was dead ending where I was. So, Here I am... dealing on an indian reservation in Santa Fe, NM.

Just a Visus

So Thursday I wake up with a kind of sore throat you get before you get a cold. I thought it was just gonna go away, that I had maybe snored too much. The day went on and I went to work. I was not as loud as I normally am, I couldn't hear as well as I normally do and not to mention on the way to work I think I started to fall asleep driving, so ya I was lethargic too. I dunno maybe the bosses noticed I was not myself, even tho they had not had much time to learn what I was like... Having only just started on Monday. Well just about 2 hours into the shift the boss comes up to me while on the table and asks me if I want to go home. and I hoped on it with out hesitation! Explained to her I woke up with a sore throat that day and was gonna ask about the EO policy. She said, sign here and go home, get some cold medicine and rest. I thanked her and left.

So Friday, my 1st day off from my new job I got up and went to the urgent care doctors office to find out It's simply a virus kicking my ass and it will pass on it's own. I could take OTC cold meds to help relieve symptoms. Gets lots of rest etc, so I lay in bed the rest of the day and watched out new Direct TV between nodding off. I hoped the whole sick feeling would pass by the next morning... no luck. I wake up today and get a small bowl of cereal with S and his phone rings. We go get breakfast with a friend and I stick it out the best I can. I get cold sweats and all that shit... When we get home I took my temp and i have a slightly raised temp consistent with a cold. So I decide to head to work and let them decide to send me home. I give the parking lot security guard my story... that I am an employee and I am there to work but mostly to let the boss know I am sick and try to get excused from my shift, so he lets me park up front, woohoo, otherwise it is grand opening weekend and we can not even park in the employee lot, but rather in a muddy clearing in the construction zone north of the whole establishment and take a 'shuttle' to the building. I lucked out! Multiplied by 2 and a half.

I go to uniforms and get mine on. I head out to the pit early and find the boss of all bosses. Explain I was sick and did not know what the employee procedures and policies were, and was going to work if I had to. He led into a story about when he moved up here and how he was warned of getting sick around 2 weeks after moving here. Scoffed at the thought and sure enough got sick as scheduled! So he knew what I was going thru, the elevation change virus. Sent me on my way home and told me if I was still as ill tomorow to make sure to call in 4 hours before the shift I was scheduled for.

This was teh 2 stars for lucky today. Then comes the half, as I mention I was told I would get fast-tracked to at least dual-rate so I could sit box. I have the back issues ans dont think I could continue to deal 5 days a week ( let alone 6 as I was scheduled for this last week, thank god for early outs and sick days). Well he says he would see what he could do about it. *fingers crossed* I thanked him and excussed myself.

So here is hoping I can get into the suit soon! And that this virus leaves me by tomorrow night!

We Need STUFF

So we gave away so much stuff so we would not have to move it or what ever, now we need to replace it. I have been surfing Freecycler and Craigslist and then I had an idea to make a wish list.

Target has a List maker, kind of like a gift registry and so I utilized it this morning.
What fun... kind of.
At least I don't have to go int he store and scan everything like I did when we got married.
So, anyway if you are interested in this at all here is the link to my list.
I am sure I will discover more things to add and add them as I think of it if they have it.
Big ticket items, I don't think I would go to Target to get.
We need a few large furniture pieces... Sofa, Dresser... But I hope to find these in the Craigslist or from Freecyclers. Or hit it big in a slot machine and just go buy it. I'm plain folk tho- I dont need fancy pansy stuff. Just Functional and attractive. So please keep you 1960's velour-like upholstered sofa to yourself please LOL. S has already hated my hot pink velveteen pincess chair since the day he saw it, but it's an antique - and it goes OH SO WELL with his haunted clock. :)

Almost every city has Freecyclers, its just a forum to post things you want, don't want anymore, need, etc... all based on FREE, as in just giving it away to someone who needs it. like hte whole PAY IT FORWARD concept.