♠ Saturday, June 30, 2007
Weekend Update
We were officially hired by the casino this week. In fact, we had two days of orientation at the New Buffalo high school, a group of about 75 of us. Although we did the normal stuff, filling out of forms and such, they also had an eight-hour timewaster about how we're a team, and give great customer service, and don't sexually harass anybody. They made it as entertaining as possible, the bullshit stuff, but it was still fundamentally bullshit. We did get paid for orientation, but it was only at our base rate, which is darn near minimum wage. So in a couple of weeks I'll see something like $40 in my checking account, after taxes. Maybe not even that, if they start the payroll deductions for health care and the gaming license.
That's about it. I haven't been playing a lot of poker the last couple of weeks because I haven't had money to do so; I'm pretty much eating ramen noodles until the casino opens, at least for mock casino. Sometime during mock the employee dining room opens full-bore, so I can eat real food cheaply.
They've decided we're good enough at craps that being on a live game will get us where we need to be, so they've started teaching us blackjack. Although I'm not perfect dealing blackjack, I'm happier with where I am in blackjack than where I am in craps. I think next week, I'll try to stay on the craps table for practice, rather than blackjack. The following week, we'll actually be in the casino, and the week after, mock casino starts.
We finally got official word on whether employees can play at the casino: They can. However, they can't play within two hours of their shifts, and they can't bet more than $25 a hand, and they can't win a progressive jackpot. The rule currently reads that we can't bet more than $25 per hand of poker, which effectively means that we can't play. I pointed that out to one of the pit bosses, so maybe it will change—but I probably need bring it up to someone higher than that.
That's it: A non-profound thing that says we were officially hired, so you'll officially see me on the floor. The casino opens to the public at 10PM August 1, though the published opening date is August 2. That is, if you were planning on coming in and harassing me.
