The so-over-due-it's-laughable update...
So, I guess in my brain I had nothing worthy to say for the last year, or nothing I wanted to say. I am still here, I do still check livejournal daily. Let's just see if I actually have any followers left myself. Annnnyway.
I started a new job about a year ago. I trained for and then became a table games dealer at the local casino. It's a job everyone thought I'd be good at doing. I'm sociable, intelligent, I've ALWAYS loved a good game of Blackjack, and the casino is supposed to be a hot, exciting industry. Flash, glitz, glam, big action and big drama. Everything I should love.
Once more, I find myself stumbling through this shameful, extended quarter-life crisis (as they've termed it for my generation) into a job that I've found myself hating. Lessons I've learned in the casino industry? Next to no one leaves a casino happy. A good ninety percent of the people walk in, get a brief adrenaline rush playing (and losing) between several hundred and several thousand dollars on the game, usually get verbally abusive to the dealer because clearly it's all our fault, and then stalk out again. To the problem gamblers (about 20 percent of the population), they'll do this with every spare cent of every paycheck they have.
To the compulsive ones (about 3-5 percent of the population) they will do it with their house. And car. And children's college fund. They will do it to the point they've lost their job and are stealing from family. And then they'll do it to the point that they kill themselves at the casino (about 1 a year for any given casino). We're trained to recognize or stop these things, but we're actually not allowed to use our training on the floor. Unless someone flashes a gun, I just have to shut up and deal the cards.
I do not love my job. I do not even like it. I am used to giving people a rewarding experience and lasting memories for their thousands of dollars, not misery and guilt. No one's really happy in a casino. So, I gave it a year. At this point, I strongly think I will be taking my paid time off and going back to waitressing. I liked waitressing and I was a GOOD waitress. No, it's not some glamorous big title or impressive job. But it pays the bills decent to well, and I know I can give people a great evening for their money. I'm a great waitress.
But, between then and now, I have PTO I can use! I don't get it when I leave, so I'm strongly thinking of using it all up before I go. I was already planning on using some to go to Seattle in late February, but now a dear friend of mine has offered for me to come to Hawaii the week BEFORE Seattle, then we'll fly over to Seattle together. I've never been to Hawaii, and if I cover my plane ticket, he's putting me up for free and will cover my food for the week.
It feels horribly irresponsible of me to use my tax return to buy a 500 dollar plane ticket to Hawaii, when I should do as I planned to split that money between extra payments on my student loans and my savings account. But, my savings account is actually looking pretty damn good right now. To the point if I (knock on wood) lost my car totally, I could replace it. I've got over that 'three months cushion' socked away already. The student loans are totally up to date and I've made lots of extra payments on them this year. I really want to go to Hawaii. If I could just get rid of that guilty voice of responsibility in the back of my head that says taking a trip to Hawaii a month before I leave my job is a DUMB idea.
But you only live once, right? So... that's me. What are all you lovelies up to?
I started a new job about a year ago. I trained for and then became a table games dealer at the local casino. It's a job everyone thought I'd be good at doing. I'm sociable, intelligent, I've ALWAYS loved a good game of Blackjack, and the casino is supposed to be a hot, exciting industry. Flash, glitz, glam, big action and big drama. Everything I should love.
Once more, I find myself stumbling through this shameful, extended quarter-life crisis (as they've termed it for my generation) into a job that I've found myself hating. Lessons I've learned in the casino industry? Next to no one leaves a casino happy. A good ninety percent of the people walk in, get a brief adrenaline rush playing (and losing) between several hundred and several thousand dollars on the game, usually get verbally abusive to the dealer because clearly it's all our fault, and then stalk out again. To the problem gamblers (about 20 percent of the population), they'll do this with every spare cent of every paycheck they have.
To the compulsive ones (about 3-5 percent of the population) they will do it with their house. And car. And children's college fund. They will do it to the point they've lost their job and are stealing from family. And then they'll do it to the point that they kill themselves at the casino (about 1 a year for any given casino). We're trained to recognize or stop these things, but we're actually not allowed to use our training on the floor. Unless someone flashes a gun, I just have to shut up and deal the cards.
I do not love my job. I do not even like it. I am used to giving people a rewarding experience and lasting memories for their thousands of dollars, not misery and guilt. No one's really happy in a casino. So, I gave it a year. At this point, I strongly think I will be taking my paid time off and going back to waitressing. I liked waitressing and I was a GOOD waitress. No, it's not some glamorous big title or impressive job. But it pays the bills decent to well, and I know I can give people a great evening for their money. I'm a great waitress.
But, between then and now, I have PTO I can use! I don't get it when I leave, so I'm strongly thinking of using it all up before I go. I was already planning on using some to go to Seattle in late February, but now a dear friend of mine has offered for me to come to Hawaii the week BEFORE Seattle, then we'll fly over to Seattle together. I've never been to Hawaii, and if I cover my plane ticket, he's putting me up for free and will cover my food for the week.
It feels horribly irresponsible of me to use my tax return to buy a 500 dollar plane ticket to Hawaii, when I should do as I planned to split that money between extra payments on my student loans and my savings account. But, my savings account is actually looking pretty damn good right now. To the point if I (knock on wood) lost my car totally, I could replace it. I've got over that 'three months cushion' socked away already. The student loans are totally up to date and I've made lots of extra payments on them this year. I really want to go to Hawaii. If I could just get rid of that guilty voice of responsibility in the back of my head that says taking a trip to Hawaii a month before I leave my job is a DUMB idea.
But you only live once, right? So... that's me. What are all you lovelies up to?