Just One More Hand by Ellen Mutari

Author:Ellen Mutari
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The Squeeze on Service

Many of the frontline service jobs in the casinos have no direct connection with gambling. Working in a casino hotel or restaurant involves many of the same duties as working in regular hotels and restaurants. You check in the guests, make the beds, set and clear the tables, recite menus, take orders, serve the food, mix drinks, and schmooze the customers. With one big difference. Your customers are probably losing money. Most of them expect it and handle it gracefully. Many of them are happy with the comps that you help provide—free drinks, free meals, free shows, free rooms. But not everyone.

Nora, a customer loyalty representative, was hired right after college in a frontline service position at the Borgata. She earned about $11 per hour standing behind the tall customer service desk for an entire shift. The busiest days were when the casino was running special promotions, like giving out prizes, occasionally dearer ones such as Vespa scooters and cars. Attracted to the position because of an interest in marketing, she soon learned that she faced a dead-end career ladder. She was stuck at the desk, signing up new customers, checking points, and explaining promotions and the rewards structure. It was hard to stay on her feet all day. “It was tiring. I mean your legs definitely get sore and cramped but yeah, you have to stand.” Sometimes reps would take their shoes off under the desk, but would quickly put them back on again when the supervisor was near. Because they were gambling away their money, customers expected things in return. “Some of them were very nice and some of them were, you know, awful; they would throw their [loyalty] cards at you if they didn’t agree with it and you just basically had to stay behind your desk and apologize and stand your own and you couldn’t move and you just had to deal with it.” She decided to move on, getting a job in a medical office.

Heather, a married suburban mother with a no-nonsense demeanor, has worked in a casual restaurant in one of the Trump properties for over twenty years. Her work record is spotless, and she enjoys many of her regular customers. When she came back from sick leave, some of them hugged her saying “We missed you!” and “You can’t leave again!” They ask her about her kids. One customer, though, accused her of ignoring him for fifteen minutes, even though the time stamp on his check disproved it. He told her supervisor, “Well, yeah, I lost all this Goddamned money! I don’t want this bitch waiting on me.” Heather refused to put up with the name-calling and asked her supervisor to let someone else serve him. But he got increasingly unruly and they had to call security to remove him.

Walter, a studious-looking waiter who works swing shift in a family-style restaurant, views such customers as a challenge. His job, as he sees it, is to try to make them feel better.

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