It was 1981, June I think. I was working swing shift at the Circus Circus hotel. Our Shift Boss was a guy named Elvin Tweety, and at the time he had terminal cancer. Elvin was a great guy. If we were standing dead on the craps table (which means we had no players to speak of) he would ask us how much in tips we had. If we said "Zero" he would reach into the table bank and give us a stack of Green chips ($25.00 chips) which was $500.00 to be divided 4 ways. We always made at least $125.00 per man. "Put that in your Kick", he would say with a smile.
The Fabulous Riv! It's no longer here. I miss seeing it on the strip.
I was on a break at Circus Circus and when I came in off my break, the bosses had "brought up the LID" which means they were closing the game for the night. But this night it was different. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had our Box man in cuffs, and the casino manager was writing out "Pink Slips" (he was firing our crew!). I never saw the Boxman stealing $100.00 bills, but when I begged not to be fired, the boss said: "If you weren't in on it WITH the Boxman, then you weren't watching him carefully enough, and therefore I don't want you working here! Security walked us out to the street and no trespassed us off the property for a year. I was DEVASTATED!
It kind of looked the same when I worked there.
How was I going to pay my bills? I had worked there for a year and I could always count on Elvin Tweety on the nights when business was slow! So I decided to try something. The other dealers on my crew said farewell and we agreed to stay in touch. I took off my pink Circus Circus Clown Blouse (it was kind of embarrassing to wear it anyway) made of polyester replete with cigarette burns from careless players.
I walked right across the street at 11pm and into the front doors of the Riviera. Standing there at the top of the steps in the casino was the Riviera Casino Manager: NORM BUZZ. He sort of looked like a cross between Ed Sullivan and Boris Karloff, only scarier. I was trembling in fear. I had to say something and get his attention, so I said: "Hey Norm, how come I haven't started working yet?" He looked at me, startled. "Refresh my memory", he says. I said, "you promised to put me to work 6 months ago and I'm still waiting! What Gives, Norm?"
What a place this was. I have lots of stories about this casino.
Now, you have to understand; NO ONE EVER GETS A JOB AT THE RIV! Someone has to die first and then there are 100 people with JUICE that are before you! Norm says, "Listen Pal, I apologize for taking so long. Have Human Resources send me your Application tomorrow morning, come in and get fitted for your vest and we'll get you on the schedule." At this point, everything is going surreal. No one gets a job at the Riv. It's worth 1,000.00 per day in tips. It's a JUNKET JOINT. Plane loads of New York Mobsters came in once a week and it was nerve racking to handle them. I had never seen that type of action before.
These girls were OFF THE CHAIN (meaning they were great!)
I came in the next day and demanded Human Resources send my application up to the Casino Manager's office. They panicked because they couldn't find my application. (I never applied!) They did a quick ten minute interview and filled out my application themselves. They had a runner deliver it to Norms office, backdated 6 months prior. Then Human Resources sent me over to the uniform room for my shirts, ties, vests and aprons. Then I was assigned a locker. I then went to the dice pit and told the schedule maker that Norm wanted me on Swing Shift (the MONEY SHIFT!). I was assigned to a crew. I couldn't believe I pulled it off! I was now one of the Riviera Dealers and no one could figure out how I got the job! My stomach ached, and it ached everyday when I went to work. I had to pinch myself. My wife and I jumped up and down on our bed in celebration. All of the dealers were suspicious of me and thought I was a plant!
At first everyone was stand-offish because they thought I was there to cause problems. As time went on, I went through some amazing circumstances and I made some amazing money. A day didn't go by where my stomach didn't ache in anticipation and I didn't find myself in some sort of surreal circumstance of some sort. Next I'll visit some of the altercations I experienced and the strange but fortunate outcomes. Like the time I gave my tips ($3,500.00) to my crew after mistakenly dropping our money in the wrong tip box and allowing the dealers on that table to steal the tips from my crew. Stay tuned. Tomorrow is another day!
Be sure to go back and read the other two posts in order to prepare you for more!!!
/@knowledge-trust/craps-dealer-chronicles-part-1-anatomy-of-a-las-vegas-dice-dealer
/@knowledge-trust/craps-dealer-chronicles-part-2-hustling-tips-from-the-laker-girls
