Idealcrap

A couple of weeks ago RunningL8 left a comment with a bunch of reason to floor and I wanted to touch on one of them because it is something that I thought about when I made the decision.  I’ve heard the statement from many people but she brought it up so I thought I would give her credit.  The basic complaint goes like this – I’m tired of dealers that don’t talk and don’t make any money.  This is certainly a problem and one that needs to be addressed.

As with many other issues, how you feel about this has a lot to do with your personal beliefs.  I really don’t think about it.  It’s just not in my nature to worry about what other people do.  I have a belief that if everyone takes care of themselves then everything else will take care of itself.  I don’t have the time or the energy to worry about what everyone else is doing.  That being said, everyone has a responsibility to carry his or her own weight.

One of the things that became apparent to me when my attitude started to suffer was my inability to make money.  This weighed heavily on my mind as I felt like I was letting everyone else down.  I found myself struggling to make the average everyday because I was just miserable.  I’m not pretending that it’s the only reason I want to floor but it is a reason.

I think every dealer that comes into work has an obligation to make the average.  If you routinely don’t make the average then you need to take a look in the mirror.  Nobody has a table full of stiffs every night.  It’s just not possible.  You need to ask yourself what you are doing wrong and what you can do to make more money.  If you’re in pit 5 its one thing but you should be able to grind out 200 dollars a day just in sympathy.  But you have to make the effort.

When you work in a pool joint you have a responsibility to everyone else to make the best effort possible.  It should make you feel bad to come in every day and live off of everyone else.  Have some self respect and some internal motivation.  Maybe you can call it pride but you should have some.

There has been a quote on Dicedealer.com for many years that 80% of the tokes are made by 20% of the dealers.  Come into work every night and strive to be part of the 20%.

Peace, love and good happiness stuff.

Matt

Tiger Woods had scheduled an interview with Oprah today at 4:00 but he called to say he would be late.  He told her he had a couple of more holes to play.

I’m calling bullshit on The Rock.  There is a new memo up today declaring a lack of interest in a formalized toke committee.  I’ve said before and I will continue to tell everyone that I don’t care much if we have a toke committee or not but this process has given me that funny feeling in my butt that was normally reserved for SunCruz (more on that later).  The memo claims that 31% of the dealers expressed an interest in a toke committee.  Please note that was 31% of the people that voted.  If you didn’t vote, or more likely, had no idea there was going to be a vote, you voted no.  Well, you didn’t exactly vote no, but the company was kind enough to cast a no vote for you.

Even in a casino, that shady.  There was no numbers on what percentage of the votes were yes and how many were no.  You know, like a true representation of the opinion expressed by the people that voted.  Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of having a vote if someone is going to cast a vote for you?

As you all know the stupidity of my fellow humans never let’s me down.  This is something that I’ve noticed for about 6 months but the first time I saw it I just thought it was on stupid person.  After seeing in happen hundreds of times it becomes a statement of the stupidity of mankind.

Imagine you standing at 15 dollar table.  Some kid, it’s usually a kid, walks up and buys in for 20 dollars.  They then bet 15 dollars, lose, and then look at the five dollars with a confused look on their face.  They look at the five dollars, look at the sign, look at the dealer, then look back at the five dollar chip.  I love it.  Then they walk away.

I had to deal tonight and I was reminded why I hate dealing.  I had a guy at my table stuck 11.5K.  I get him up to about 20K and he stiffs me.  So I took the money back and wished him a good night. 

Speaking of getting your ass kicked.  Last week everyone’s favorite Pit 1 player took a beating.  At one point he had 11 reserved tables in Pit 1 on Saturday night.  I’m too pissed to get into this in depth but if you believe in collective will this was a great example.  When you’re the biggest asshole in the room and you have the entire room to yourself it shouldn’t surprise you when the entire room is directing all of their negative energy your way.  I’m not saying I believe it, I’m just saying.

Speaking of everybody’s favorite Pit 1 player, why is it that if you have a million dollars you can ask for a 1000 dollar table and bet 25 dollars a hand but if you don’t have a million dollars and you want a 1000 dollars table you have to bet 1000 dollars a hand?  Just asking.

Peace, love and good happiness stuff.

Matt

There seems to be some misunderstanding about the recent vote taken by the Rock regarding a toke committee.  First, if you read the memo carefully you’ll see that it wasn’t a vote to get a toke committee.  It was a survey to determine the interest level among the dealers for a toke committee.  There is a huge difference in that statement. 

I’d like to address the way management is handling the vote for just a minute because it offends me.  If you read the memo there is no doubt that management doesn’t want a toke committee.  (more on this in a minute)  In light of this, they are conducting the vote in such a way that I doubt there will be a majority of dealers vote in favor of a committee.  The fact that they count anyone that doesn’t vote as a no is one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard.  Imagine the country saying anyone that doesn’t vote gets recorded as a vote for the incumbent? 

Second, as an argument against the toke committee, they point out that it will cost the dealers 440 dollars a day.  Where did they get this number?  Wouldn’t the dealers determine what the committee gets paid?  This is nothing more then a scare tactic.

Third, who’s counting the votes?  If the people counting the votes want a particular outcome and don’t let anyone else watch the count?  I’m just sayin.

Those are just some of the things that I have a problem with as far as the way this vote is being conducted.  On a more intellectual level, I can’t figure out why management cares.  I can’t think of a single reason why the company cares whether there’s a toke committee or not.  I know I have a tendency to be a smartass so I want to make sure I’m clear that I’m being serious here.  If the company doesn’t want us to have a toke committee then they need to let us know why.  We’re all big kids, we can handle it.  Put out a memo and state your case.

Next, I’ve been told by middle management that any toke committee will not be allowed to make by-laws, petition management for vacation tokes, or affect the toke rate in any way.  This also pisses me off.  I get real nervous when someone starts telling me what their going to do with my money.  If a toke committee doesn’t have the authority to make by-laws and affect the way the tokes are counted and the oversight, then there is no reason to have a committee.

OK, so I’ve told you all of the reasons why I don’t like the process they are using.  It seems a lot like lip service to me.  They’ve set up the process to get the outcome they want and that offends my sense of fairness.  All that being said, I don’t really care one way or the other.  Seriously, the only reason I would vote for a toke committee is if I thought there was something wrong with the way the tokes were being counted.  I think the system we have in place is transparent and works just fine for me.  Since the committee will have no authority then there is no reason to rock the boat.

If you will allow me just a minute I would like to make a suggestion.  Why does swing shift have to count the tokes?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to have people on graveyard count the tokes?  Seriously, you can’t tell me we don’t have six people standing around doing nothing at 0400.  Hell, tell the first six people on the EO list they can leave as soon as they finish cutting tokes.  Inside a week they’ll have the process down to 20 minutes.  We won’t have to pay them because they’ll be on the clock and nobody will have to stay after work.  Just an idea.

Peace, love and good happiness stuff.

Matt

Evidently nobody told Tiger Woods that when he got married he didn’t get to play 18 holes anymore.

I just saw two Senators on CNN arguing about the climate change bill that currently being debated in Congress.  I don’t care where you come down on the whole global warming debate.  Personally I think the science is to complex for most people, including me, to follow.  However, that’s not the point.  Here’s the deal.  We know that CO2 emissions are harmful to people and the environment right now.   The so called “climate change” bill would reduce CO2 emissions which is good for everybody.  If the bill happens to reduce global warming 20 years from now then so much the better.  Let’s take care of the problems we have right now and it will reduce the problems we will have in the future.

In the same vein as climate change, this whole debate about health care reform is killing me.  This entire debate has very little to do with health care and everything to do with health insurance reform.  We have the greatest heath care system in the entire world.  In fact, I don’t want them messing with my health care at all.  We don’t need health care reform we need health insurance reform.  We need a plan that breaks the hold that insurance companies have on the country.  Any so called “reform” that doesn’t offer people an opportunity to buy into a not for profit insurance plan is a win for the GOP.  Capitalism is built on competition.  Period.

As I’ve noted here before and as many of you have noticed, I have begun flooring at least 4 days a week.  The response I’ve gotten from this move is as varied as you might imagine.  Just for the record, I’ve decide to move up (or down) to flooring is because I’m burnt out.  Seriously, I was going to kill somebody.  I’ll explain more about that in the next paragraph but I do think it’s funny that everybody brings up the money angle.  Money just isn’t as nearly important to me as my mental health.  I’m happy every night now.  I don’t have migraines anymore and I don’t hate my job when I leave every night.  The thing that I find most interesting is the number of people that tell me they hate dealing but won’t move to the floor because of the money.  Why hate what you do?  Life is too short.

OK, so here it is in a nutshell.  I hate rude people.  As a self proclaimed Buddhist I also hate the word hate but it’s the only word I can find that gets my point across.  There are many things that I don’t like about dealing but I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what it is that I hate the most in attempt to understand it and to explain it to everyone else.  Here’s the deal—

If you sit at my table for any length of time or repeatedly day after day and don’t tip, you are the reason I can’t deal any longer.

I’ve heard all the excuses; “You should be used to it by now.”  “You should just ignore it.”  You have to let it go.”

Here’s the truth.  I can’t.  If that makes me a bad person then I guess I just have to live with that.  I just can’t stand rude people and I think if you can sit at a blackjack table and bet 25 dollars a hand for an hour and not put me up for 1 dollar then you’re rude.  You here me say all time, “be nice” and that’s what it comes down to.

I’ve said it a million times, you don’t have to be a George, you just have to show me you care and that you’re not an asshole.

Peace, love and good happiness stuff.

Matt

It’s no secret that the night before Thanksgiving is the biggest night in the bar business all year.  Because of this well known fact, Floyd’s, our nightclub, was closed.  Go figure. 

Also, last night at 3 am the realized they didn’t have enough people coming in on graveyard to cover all the games that were open because we were so busy.  I’m going to defend the company on this one.  After all, it’s not like they mark these holidays on a calendar or anything.  The same thing happened a couple of months ago when Labor Day snuck up and surprised everyone.

Now I’m going to talk about the bonus that we all received a couple of days ago.  Well, not exactly about the bonus but about the complaints I’ve been hearing about them.  Specifically, the considerable difference in our number compared to the floors.  It seems that a large group of people think this is somehow unfair.  I have a couple of problems with this.

First, don’t be jealous, it’s not a good color on you.  Be happy for fellow teammates.  Spend more of your time being grateful for what you have and less time worrying about what everyone else has and life will be much better.  Instead of being jealous or upset, consider all the kids, wives, husbands, boyfriends, etc. that are going to be able to have a very nice Christmas.  Be happy for that instead of what you didn’t get.

Second, with very few exceptions I don’t hear anyone complaining they can’t get a floor job.  Before you complain about the bonus the floors get, ask yourself if you would do their job.  Since the vast majority of you would much rather deal then floor, the bonus should be irrelevant.  If you want the bonus the floors get then you should take a floor job the next time it’s offered.  Then you won’t have anything to be jealous about.

And another thing.  As most of you on swing shift know, I’ve started flooring four days a week because if I continued to deal I was going to choke somebody.  However, when I told people what I was doing some people called me “stupid,” because of the money I was giving up. That’s a direct quote by the way.  When the numbers came out I mentioned that we as dealers make more money then the floors.  Those same people were quick to say, “We don’t make that much more.”  So which is it?  You can’t have it both ways guys.

Ok, I’m done ranting on this beautiful holiday.  Wait, no I’m not.  I shouldn’t be forced to watch the Lions play on Thanksgiving if they don’t have Barry Sanders.

Oh, and if you go shopping at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow, you’re crazy.  Please feel free to come up to me at work and say, “I’m crazy.”  I will know what you’re talking about.

Peace, love and good happiness stuff.

Matt