Happy dealers?

I come to the casino to gamble. The last thing that I need/want to see is a group of miserable people. It's actually getting to the point where I am contemplating not leaving any more tips.

Are there any happy casino floors?

 

They must prefer their base wage rather than making more money.

 

Plenty. The staff at aria and bellagio are generally great. You'll catch the occasional grump, but it's rare and that happens with any service interaction. The worst I've seen lately are dealers who are neutral and just there to put out the cards, and that's not always a bad thing.

 

I'm the type that wants neither. Just deal and let me lose my money in silence.

 

I don't know it seems that many gamblers at my local casino already don't tip no matter how happy or helpful the dealer was. Last week at the craps table a player was doing a lot of hard way & place bets and adding to them at various times during a roll. The dealers were helpful in keeping track of his bets and catching his thrown chips. He was sucessful, but never once did he make a dealer bet or leave a tip when he left the table.

Personally I most likely need to increase my tips to keep up with the times and table limits. I have to remember it is not 1999 again

 

I recall being at Circus Circus Reno about 30 years ago and one 21 dealer had a table of young partiers at his table. Every time he busted he would lead the whole table in some loud ritual cheer that you could here across the casino.

I was surprised the floor allowed it and was hoping the young people were tipping well as that table was definitely the funnest one in the place.

 

On my last trip I had some very fun BJ dealers at Cosmo and also had a lot of fun with a couple roulette dealers at Aria.

 

Ha, I remember one time about a decade ago at Hard Rock, the dealer caught a 21 against my 20, and I groaned, "Ah, sh*t". The dealer looked at me with a straight face and said, "Sir, this is a reputable establishment, you can't use that f***ing language in here". I almost fell off of my seat from laughing.

 

This is an awesome story. And yes, a very enlightened floor supervisor. I've never understood why some dealers and supervisors sweat the money and actively root against the players. The cards and dice will take care of themselves. You might as well at least pretend to be on the side of the players, because they're going to lose in the end no matter what anyway.

I counted cards pretty seriously years ago and it was always baffling and amusing to me how many of the employees (especially Asian dealers for some reason) thought they were doing their employer a favor by being surly with the players. As if their negative vibes led to more dealer BJs and 7-outs at the craps table. They should just be nice. Cheer for the players when they win, and cry with them when they lose. They're (almost) all going to lose in the end anyway. Might as well make it a pleasant experience for everyone involved.

 

When the dealer appears unhappy I feel bad karma and usually get up and leave. I don't expect them to go overboard to entertain me but I do like a little dialogue. When it's just me and the dealer it is very boring when they don't say a word and I really get irked if I tip them and they don't even acknowledge it. If they can't or won't say thanks a nod will do.

I do see a lot of unhappy dealers at my local who had a different company take over (I won't mention the name but you can guess) as it affects the dealers and the customers. They still try to be nice but you can tell they are unhappy. It hurts them to see unhappy customers too.

 

Most places have dealers that are more or less ‘fun’. I usually observe each table for a few minutes before I commit. Often, of course, depends also on the other players as the poor dealers have to ‘deal’ with a lot of nonsense. Only place that sticks out as having some of the most engaging and fun dealers is Cromwell. That place, however, is undergoing a lot of changes but I would always check it out is the ‘fun’ part of gaming is important to you.

 

I'm happy that I was able to know several friendly dealers downtown over the past decade. Unfortunately, they've pretty much all moved on to other non-gaming careers.

While I know we're focused on dealers, I do wonder if the perception of less fun environments at the tables has to do with the worse gaming conditions. Crappier rules and higher minimums are going to lead to people losing money at a faster rate than they are used to. That isn't a recipe for happiness.

 

slightly off topic, but on the same trend:
have many of you ever noticed that some BJ dealers seem to take it personally, as if they are playing against you with their own money, instead of house money?
No aw shucks, I'm sorry my 6 card 21 beat your 20. no "nice hand" when you hit a big double down. almost seems like they take pride in having a dealer BJ.
I have not noticed this recently, but definitely in some joints in years past

 

Yes I think some players act like it's the dealers fault for the worse gaming conditions and take it out on them with less tips and more grumpiness. It you don't like 6:5 BJ don't blame the dealer and make constant compliants about the odds, move on or stop gambling. It is hard to be happy when people treat you as the enemy.

 

@VegasBJ - I've DEFINITELY noticed that. My guess is this: Dealing is actually a crappy job. You get more assholes than fun people and you know that on the whole, very few people tip as they should. So a good many dealers probably develop an attitude to pull against these assholes they have to serve in their crappy job.

It's a two way street though. A fun, engaging dealer is going to make me gamble more and tip more.

 

And even then, they normally are totally fine with people counting, because for every one person who can do it well, there are ninety-nine who can't. The cards are the cards, the dice are the dice. You want people having a good time, that's how you get repeat customers.

 

This is true for a lot of Vegas positions. Without getting into the tipping debate, it's amazing to me how many people don't even think to tip a buck or two to the cocktail waitress or the taxi dispatcher.

 

My most memorable dealer in Vegas was an older gentleman who dealt baccarat at the Bellagio. At the time, he seemed to always be dealing at the BIG baccarat table and he was always happy and would actually sing while he was dealing. He's be cheering you on when peeling the cards or say stuff like, "you can beat a 7! Easy. Show me that Natural!" LOL. That guy was awesome.

 

It was Aria that brought me to write about this. It took a bigger player for their attitudes to change.

I don’t mind neutral….

 

Interesting! You might have just caught a bad shift. I've never had an issue at Aria, even just playing at $25.

The only two bad experiences I've had were Bellagio, where the dealer went off on a whole gun-control rant (and not to get into politics, but much as on this board, it's not what I sit down for), and NYNY (a roulette croupier told me, after three spins, that the reason I wasn't winning was because I wasn't tipping him).