#But these days even a low-level job that I could tolerate enough for a paycheck and then go home to do the things I like?

[dualitysdownfall]

I'm going to ramble here, I don't like to just add onto the thread with my personal stuff like this but I drafted it in the tags and I'm not done, I'll run out of tag slots at this rate.

As a kid I internalized the idea that school was the most important thing for my future. I took it to heart early on and excelled in school. Well, this is my final semester of college and still do not have many useful skills outside of school.

If you tell kids they'll only thrive if they do perfectly in school--and they believe it--they still won't thrive because they'll focus on that over all else, instead of things like socializing and learning basic adult independence.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to value your studies, not all of that information/experience is useless, etc. But my education has been essentially the sole focus of my life for as long as I can remember, and so far it has not paid off like I thought it would when I was a kid. I don't have much to show for myself other than my academic record.

Like... I know so strikingly little about finances and bills and home maintenance, basic things that an independent person would need to know, right? I didn't have time to learn that stuff when I was in 3 AP classes at once! (and of course, i have forgotten most of the content of those classes so how much did i really gain from sinking so much of my time into them?)

A couple months ago (I think), my dad told me we should get me a credit card, and I said I didn't understand credit cards because weren't they like xyz? And he said actually it's like abc and he explained to me how they worked so I understood. Which is good. But while he was talking I just started crying because I'm twenty-two whole ass years old and I didn't know this. No one ever told me. Years into the part of my life where I might be expected to already be using this knowledge.

It's things like these that convince me that I could never be independent, which is why I never have been. Admittedly, part of my problem is that I can't drive for reasons I can't really fix, but that's solely a me thing and not what I'm talking about. Even if I could drive, I still don't know a lot about getting jobs or getting housing or how any kind of insurance works. If the government or bureaucracy is involved, assume I don't understand it. Hell, I'm not even entirely sure how phone plans work.

I guess my point is that this world is unfathomably complicated and doesn't exactly look out for everyone, and they didn't bother to teach us how to live in it.

If you want us to succeed in this world, patiently teach us how to live in it, instead of dumping us in an algebra class where we'll forget everything within a month.

Even now, I've never sought out a little entry-level part time job or whatever, because being a full-time student I don't have the energy or time to expend on anything else. I even have to put off personal projects and things I enjoy to focus on my classes. Now, at this point, you can pin that on me, because I did technically choose to go to college. But I chose it because I felt I had to: the world had me convinced that I wouldn't get anywhere without a degree. And who planted that idea in my mind...?

I've been a student my whole life. A good student, even. Which is what they want, what they told me to be, right? It's not good for a struggling student to tell them the rest of their life depends on them getting it together. But being smart as a kid didn't make it easier for me. I gave it my all and didn't get much in return. Folks out there have gotten opportunities outside of school that led them to success without needing to try as hard in school as I did.

School is not the be-all end-all that everyone makes it out to be.

And all this is not to mention how much time on the things I'm actually passionate about that I sacrificed in favor of my education. If I cared just a bit less about the distinctions on my high school diploma (who cares about that?!), I could have had more electives in things I really love like choir and art. I gave up that opportunity for reasons that in retrospect just don't hold up, and I'll never get that back.

These days I'm studying art, my passion, and I still have to put off personal projects. There's just enough time in the week to be a student and then recharge from being a student, and not a second longer. No job. Just enough free time hobbies to keep from going insane. That's it.

In four months, I will graduate. It will be the first time in my entire memory that I will not be a student. I don't know who or what I am without school. And it will probably be difficult to find out. Because once I've taken enough time to recover my energy after finals, and to celebrate my graduation, and to work on personal things that have waited months or years for me to have the time for them... after all of that...

I will still have to learn how to be an adult before I get to actually be one.

I think that when we tell teenagers that their lives will be over if they don't have the most perfect possible trajectory through the education system, that this is, perhaps, if I may be bold, not good for them,

[copiosis]

The World Says Your Job Sucks. Even If You Love It.

The world is changing. Fast. Conservatives, liberals and their political gladiators squabble over those changes. Free healthcare (or not), "women's right to choose" (or not), Citizens United and living wage jobs are the spoils. The future is side wants is the prize.

Each side's political leaders persuade their supporters promising "Jobs for all", and "rebuilding the middle class", and "Protecting existing jobs from competition". Or "raising minimum wage standards for low-skilled jobs". To me, these are synonymous with jail sentences.

That’s right. I’m talking about your job. Whether you like it or not, the world would prefer its absence. Like that guy you can’t stand being around, your job is not only annoying. It’s probably killing you.

Why aren't politicians promising to end the need to work "jobs" at all? Do they (and the rest of America) not see how much better life would be without them? I do.

I'm not alone.

A small Faction advocates ending, not jobs, but all kinds of "working". Once and maybe still considered fringe, that may change given the future we face.

Advances in Artificial Intelligence and automation are already having their way across many job sectors. That's increasing. When companies like Pepsi say they are aggressively pursuing automation, and trucking companies see billions of savingsin self-driving trucks, you can bet, the workday's days are numbered. Meaning, jobs are on their way out.

Instead of fighting the inevitable, we could analyze if jobs are essential or not. And if not, what could be better than people working jobs.

Faction members say jobs are neither essential nor valuable.

But mainstream America still sees benefit from them. Despite their problems and obvious downsides. Downsides most people know. Downsides I'll share in links below.

Post Industrial Revolution Jobs Are Soul Crushing

This Faction, of which I am a part, says jobs crush souls. They're divisive, making competitors of your fellow humans. They make people sick. They waste lives in return for a paycheck.

People on their deathbed agree with me.

^^ What many who died regretted about life while dying. Read the whole article here.

Sure, some love their jobs. But they are the minority. Thirteen percent of people like going to work worldwide.  Many of those have adapted to their jobs. Meaning, they tolerate it. They don't really like it. How do I know? Offer them $10 million. See if they'd keep doing what they do for "work”.

Job lovers used to be the majority. But it wasn't jobs people worked back then. Before the the industrial revolution and mass production, people specialized. Not the specialization we see today. Where one person does one thing contributing to a assembly-line like production process.

They specialized around things they were passionate about and thus experts at. Or they had the aptitude (the natural talent, i.e. passion) to become good at it. They took pride in their work. And their output reflected that. That's why some of their output is still going strong hundreds of years later. In architecture, machinery, hardware and more, their work is their legacy.

Today, not so much.

I believe even if you love your job, you'd gladly give it up were a viable, engaging option available (and there are). Something more compelling that doing what you do. What compels most to work is need. They need things working gives them.

But work isn't the only way to get those.

Nearly all people give up working in the end. We call it "retirement".

Some give it up when a miracle happens: like winning the lottery. Or tragedy: a crippling injury or near-death experience.

So what should humans do with this thing most of us don't want to do?

The Faction says humanity should support people following their passions. The pursuit of leisure, and Maslow's idea of "self-actualization” should our focus. These pursuits not only vastly enrich humanity as a whole and the individual too. They also can solve all our pressing global, societal and environmental problems. But first, we as a civilization must organize said civilization away from "the daily grind".

That is possible.

Besides, it's passionate people who create humanity's breakthrough solutions. Not the ones complaining about what they do for a living. Imagine what could happen if everyone were passionate about what they're doing. Rather than flipping burgers, crunching numbers, and working in rendering plants. Unless those things are your passion.

^^Photo: Photo: Wahyu Setiawan on Unsplash

Jobs keep people so busy, affording enough time and energy to complain about problems. With more free time, people could be solving more problems they see. Create fewer problems too.

Jobs As A Belief Habit

Believing jobs are what people really want is a hard habit to break. For some, breaking the habit causes an existential crisis.

^^Someone indoctrinated to the “need” of jobs. Is it common sense? It is common. Sensical? I don’t think so.

But generally, satisfaction people get from workingcan be had (in greater levels) through passions. There's nothing a job provides that a passion can't in the right context.

People prefer not going to work. It's obvious when you listen to how people talk about work at work.

On Monday, people are trying to get over the end of the weekend. Why do weekends go by so quick? No one ever said "Thank God, it's Monday!"

By Tuesday they're hoping Wednesday (hump day) comes quicker than it feels like it's coming.

By Wednesday, people already are talking about being on the week's downslope.

Come Thursday, they breathe a sigh of relief: just 24 more hours before "TGIF"!

When Friday does come, people are excited. No, not about what they're doing. About what they're going to do come evening and on the weekend.

On Saturday, they're happy. But then...

On Sunday there's the general agreement that Monday looms and everyone's got to go back to work. Reluctantly.

I know this because I felt this way. I'm sure the stats don't over exaggerate the crowd I belonged to when I worked a job.

Work as it is construed today is not what humans are meant to do. I mean, we are doing them, so I guess we're meant to. For now. But jobs are catalysts. Jobs sometimes offer so much negative stress they propel people in the direction of their passions. Some do that. I'm one of them. Many others tolerate the stress instead.

Today, thanks in great measure to my wife, I'm following my passions. But I'm not unique. Every human being has a passion. That's what you're here for. Not work a job you don't like, tolerate, or become acclimated to.

^^Seriously.

The Transformational Power Of Passionate People

Ever notice that people following their passions are, well, passionate? They're not working. They're not watching the clock. They're not dreading Monday, or any other day of the week. They're enriched. They're in the flow. They're engaged. For them, time flies. Where did the time go? They ask!

People following their passion also produce excellent output. In many, many cases, that output inspires people. A lot of people. Even the strangest passion fulfills the actor and benefits the world. Including this guy,who eventually became a millionaire and was Knighted by England. For what? Creating the strangest art I've ever seen, or not seen:

Many passionate people are millionaires, world changers, leaders or all of these. Some are so humble and their work so obscure, you don't know them. Like Snowflake Bentley, whose passion changed our view of snow. No, not Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, the weather phenomena:

Someone following their passion views the week much different than a working person. Passionate people have six Saturdays and a Sunday in their week. Not the Monday-to-Friday working stiff drudgery. The rest of their lives are unlike most of us too.

What would it be like to have every American following their passion instead of working for a living? That's the question I asked at Copiosis six years ago.

Today Copiosis still going strong, promoting a better system than what we've got today. One that can easily allow every American...every human...to follow their passion.

Imagine how much better the world would be. How many better products we'd have. How many millions of passionate people we'd have. And a more healthy world we'd be living in.

A utopian fantasy? Some are beginning to say such "fantasies" are sorely needed. The faction I belong to believes this. Given the shape of our world these days and where it looks like it's going.

The Future Is Not Work. Nor Jobs.

The future is here. It emerges from the present. In this emerging future there are no jobs. Humans don't need to prepare for it like some cataclysmic apocalypse. Instead, we could be rushing head long towards it. As though it holds all our answers. Which it does.

Universal Basic Income, aka Andrew Yang's "Freedom Dividend"is a nice interim measure. It will help with humanity's thumb-twiddling. We still hold on to the past as though it's the present. Even though our entire planet is showing us our old ways are destroying us. The planet too. A Freedom Dividend can help us “bridge" here, where jobs dominate, and “there", where they've become mostly extinct.

^^A UBI could be a great bridge to a great future.

It could be a great catalyst. What could it catalyze? A great leap forward. Into what?

A future where you'll be inspired, rich and passionate about what you're doing.  Because what you're doing aligns with who and what you are.

That's a future I'd say anyone would want. Unless you're still stuck in that habitual thought that "people need jobs.”

They don’t. And the future agrees with me.

[lisabelkin-yahoonews]

The contrarians: They didn’t vote for Trump, but they would now

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Isaac Brekken/AP

David Kord Murray, the owner of a small business-finance company in California, admits he likes to be different — “to take the contrary position.” Yet even he is surprised to have reached his latest conclusion — that while he strongly supported Hillary Clinton during the campaign, and voted for her without reservation, he now wishes he had cast that vote for Donald Trump.

“I like what he’s doing, and I wish I had voted for him,” he says. Not having supported Trump sooner, he says, makes him “feel like a coward.”

A lot has been written since Election Day about people who didn’t vote at all and wish they had because they were unhappy with the results. And a lot more has been written about those who cast their vote for the winner and came to regret it. (There is even a popular Twitter account called @Trump_Regrets with more than a quarter of a million followers.) And there is talk of hushed Trump support, people who voted for him but don’t admit that to pollsters or their social circles.

But what of those who might be called “Donny-Come-Latelys”? People who did not support the candidate on Nov. 8, but now, 100 days in, find that they do?

There are probably not a lot of them. No national polls count them in particular, but Trump’s historically low approval rating indicates there has not been a surge of conversions. They are hard to find for interviews. When Yahoo put out an invitation on social media there were far more jokes about unicorns than there were people raising their hands. “I don’t believe such a person could possibly exist” was one typical response.

They do. And their reasons for changing their minds provide a glimpse at how the messages of this young administration are being heard by one slice of the population.

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; source: seattletimes.com

Notably, most of those who shifted did so not because they came to look more favorably upon Trump but because they now look less favorably upon his opposition. As Dennis Dayley, a retiree (and Clinton voter) outside of Seattle, wrote to the Seattle Times a few days after the inauguration: “I really thought the election was between the lesser of two evils. Now, due to the negative coverage of Trump and the obvious slant against him, much of it false or misleading, the news media has successfully made a convert out of me. Congratulations! You have turned me into a Trump supporter!”

For Matt Green, a self-described libertarian in Dallas who didn’t vote at all, because he “disliked everyone” (including the Libertarian candidate), it was both the press coverage and the constant protests that changed his mind.

“The media and the left kept calling those who voted for Trump ‘racist’ and ‘misogynistic,’” he said. “I know the people who voted for him are good people. They cast their votes because they were pro-life, or pro-Second Amendment, but not because they had malice in their hearts toward immigrants. I know these people, and if I have to take sides I’m going to side with the people who I know.”

At the time, Green was an editor of a conservative website called the Rouser, and 10 days after Election Day he wrote a column for that site titled “I Didn’t Vote for Trump, But I Wish I Had.” In it he wrote, “Seeing the outrage and general disregard for decent human behavior from the left, it has become clear to me that, despite the moral downfalls of this narcissistic man, he is the best choice to take control of this country.”

For Jacob IsBell, it was all of the above — plus the violence. A musician and podcaster from Albuquerque, he did not vote the national ticket in November, though he did vote in the state and local elections. Then, in the days afterward, he watched as anti-Trump protests turned violent. When Milo Yiannopoulos was not allowed to speak in Berkeley, that was IsBell’s turning point. “Not because I support anything the guy was going to say, but I support his right to say it,” he says. “I find myself so bothered with what I view as the violent assault against free speech. It was a galvanizing event. I thought, ‘If this is what the opposition is, then I’ll pick a side.’”

On his next podcast, on Feb. 3, he spent 12 minutes on the topic “I wish I voted for Trump.” (The video of his podcast has had 42 views as of the time of this writing, two of which were by this reporter.) “Is there any greater endorsement than to be fought against by all those that are part of the establishment?” he began.

These new converts can each give you a list of things they don’t like about the man they now tentatively support. “I hate what he’s doing bringing back coal jobs that we don’t need, I hate that Kushner is in charge of all those things, I hate his general demeanor and attitude. And the Twitter stuff, it’s annoying and childish,” Green says.

“I’m very much opposed to a wall,” says IsBell, who is married, he says, to “a legal immigrant from Peru.” His four brothers are married to “legal immigrants from Mexico, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, and they have all learned Spanish and their children speak Spanish, except my brother whose wife is Filipina, he speaks Estonian, go figure.”

“I disapprove of his warlike actions in Syria,” IsBell continues. “I recognize that Donald Trump himself is a very arrogant, brash person. Should I go on?” Still, he says, the disapproval is “outweighed more and more by my disgust with his opposition.”

Jacob IsBell’s mother, Emily; father, Michael; youngest brother, Travis; Jacob IsBell with his son, Jojo, on his shoulders; wife, Kat; and sister-in-law Angelica (from the Dominican Republic). (Courtesy Jacob IsBell)

Murray, the California business owner, has his list of disagreements too. They are all the reasons he did not vote for Trump in the first place. “I voted for Hillary,” he says. “I think she would have been an excellent administrator and that she had, perhaps, the best résumé of any candidate in my lifetime. My concern about Trump was his lack of government experience as well as his lack of political experience, his inability to unite and ‘play politics.’

“I thought Obama did a great job,” Murray continues. “I was proud to call him my president. He had, and has, class, grace and a deep intellect. But he divided us, and the result is Trump. I’m not proud of him and his ego. But I believe the primary role of the president is as chief executive, and the primary responsibility is economic. I think Trump can make America great in terms of economics.”

And economics are most of his reasons for shifting his support. “Deregulation of business. Smaller government. Self-reliance. A respect for the hardworking women and men that built this country, and don’t want their paychecks supporting political institutions that run counter to their beliefs,” he says. As a small-business owner he believes Trump will — already has — “cut through the regulation that is killing me and my customers. I agree there should be business regulation, but it’s reached levels where it’s ridiculous.”

Still, he says, that might not have been enough to change his mind toward Trump if not for the “nastiness” of those who oppose him.

“The anti-Trump group is extremely vocal, and they don’t understand the other side,” he says. “They just can’t fathom why anybody would support Trump, and I find that frustrating and shortsighted. The anti-Trump movement seems elitist, entitled and incredibly closed-minded. Intolerance is intolerance. The Trump side seems more tolerant to me.”

He knows many will react to his opinion by calling him all sorts of names. By doing so, he says, “you’re making my point for me.”

[ahnsael]

Last night was a much smoother night than the night before. No ambulance calls...there were a LOT of dirty ashtrays, but it was party day (first Saturday of every month is party day were we have giveaways and such) so that was to be expected.

The only hiccup -- during the party, three of our four cash-out kiosks (where people put in their cash-out vouchers and the cash they won -- or had left when they gave up on winning -- is automatically dispensed to them) ran low enough on money that they all shut down. One was working when I got there, but it also ran too low on funds about an hour later and also shut down (and I’m not someone with access to refill them, at least so far).

So I had to cash everybody out myself (not a HUGE deal -- it’s a pretty simple process to scan the voucher and verify that it’s legit, and then pay the person, then put a line through the bar code and write “PAID” on it, then run a report at the end of the shift of every voucher I ran, with the voucher itself as supporting paperwork to show that I did indeed pay it, and didn’t just hand out money for no reason).

But...it was a lot of vouchers.

Well, maybe not that many. I think I paid 13 all night (plus two hand pays, where the machine wasn’t communicating with our voucher system for a short time and wouldn’t print one for them at all, so I had to do different, somewhat more complicated paperwork, and then pay them after I had all four required signatures to verify that I had paid this “mystery money” for a legitimate reason).

But all in all, I paid out over $3,000.  If someone would have hit one of our larger jackpots (or even two of our smaller ones), I would have had to get creative. Granted, if “getting creative” is factored in, I could have paid probably three large jackpots or six smaller ones, but nobody hit one. And while I’ve paid multiple jackpots in a single shift, it’s pretty rare.

We have a couple of jackpots that are due to hit any day now, if my gut feeling/past history is any indication (there is one that I was SURE was going to pay yesterday between my shifts, but apparently four people who all knew each other played all four of those machines, at 1¢/spin -- so it didn’t even go up much; it went up more during my shift last night than it did between the shift I left yesterday morning and the shift I started last night). It didn’t.

I chased it for a little bit this morning (I didn’t hit it, but my $100 investment turned into $300 and I chose to cash out rather than keep chasing the $1,050 jackpot -- which is supposed to pay by $1,199). It may still be there when I get to work tonight.

I did have a few players there last night -- and they were all nice people, and I would have loved to pay them. Especially since that jackpot is designed to not HAVE to be paid by a casino attendant, because it maxes out at $1199.99 and taxable jackpots are $1,200 or more.

If it’s still there when I get off work tomorrow, I may spend a little too much money chasing it. But that would be okay if I hit it. But that all depends on how close it is to its maximum. Because when it is hit, it has a random number generator which tells it, “when the jackpot hits this particular amount, pay it.” And whoever places the bet that increases the jackpot to that amount, is the one who wins it.

If it’s still over $100 away, I won’t spend more than $20 chasing it. But if it’s at something like $1,195, I’m gonna chase it until it pays -- because that would happen before I lost more than I would win (I love being the shift that tracks our progressive jackpots and knows all this -- but is also allowed to gamble at the casino, including on the very same progressive jackpots that I track).

I may have had to pay someone in all $20s instead of our usual $100s if multiple people had hit last night (our policy is to pay in the biggest bills possible unless requested otherwise, because if someone hits $4,000 -- which I’ve seen happen several times now; that’s a Royal Flush betting five $1 credits -- and we pay them $3,600 in $100 bills and the rest in $20s, that looks like we’re “fishing for tips,” which is a thing our company is against (and I’m 100% okay with this policy -- while tips are wonderful, and I love getting them [managers on my shift are the only ones in the company allowed to even get them, though I usually leave them to my staff unless we get enough that, even splitting it evenly, all of us can have a nice chunk of change]).

I don’t do what I do for tips, and I want to provide the same level of service to a non-tipper as I do to someone who tips us out -- this is my record -- $140 to each person who is working if they hit a jackpot (there were three of us). That person literally tipped out over 20% of her win, when I include the bartender (who doesn’t split tips with the rest of us unless they choose to -- and they never do, naturally, but they tipped him on top of the tip they gave the rest of us).

But it’s not a requirement, and we’re not supposed to even DISCUSS tips on the casino floor lest we end up pressuring someone into thinking they have to tip us (that’s a company rule I’m still trying to pound into my employees’ heads because some get really upset if someone doesn’t tip on a jackpot but we don’t know if they just came out WAY ahead or whether they have already put in MUCH more than what they just won -- even on a $4,000 jackpot sometimes that person may be $5,000 in on that machine and now they’re at least in better shape but they could still be down a grand) so it’s not our place, policy-wise or Kenny-wise, to question the lack of a tip.

So for you occasional Vegas (or other gambling destination) visitors: I can’t speak to policies at other companies or as to whether you are treated well if you don’t tip on a big win. Or even for a drink. I still have to remind my bartenders that they should provide the same service/drinks to a non-tipper as to a good tipper.

You are not required to tip.

If you do, that’s fantastic. From someone who has made it to my next paycheck simply because of tips, I can tell you with 100% certainty that any tips you give are appreciated. I personally tip when I can -- usually $2 per drink (it used to be $1, but one of my favorite players at MY Casino always tips $2, and I no emulate her in that -- and it seems to make me VERY welcome at other casinos, as opposed to just being “tolerated”).

And yesterday, I had a VERY good day. I gambled too much this week, and as a result lost too much money. But yesterday, I got a few VERY nice wins -- which got me my entire paycheck back and then some (you should NEVER count on this, and I still shouldn’t have gambled as much as I did, but at least the $20 I put in yesterday turned into -- very literally -- $700 by the time I left). I tipped my cocktail waitress/slot attendant (the same person; they do both) $20. I tipped one of the porters (that’s “custodian” to those of you who don’t know the term “porter,” as I did not before I was in the business) $20. I even went to the bartender and handed him $20 (even though I’m pretty sure he splits the tips that the server gets). That was on top of my regular $2/drink tip.

I don’t say this to say “this is how you do it.” How you do it is completely up to you. I’m just saying that we appreciate tips. But, unlike most food servers at restaurants who are paid less-than-minimum wage, we aren’t (or at least should be) relying on them. Granted, in our company, most employees DO start at less-than-minimum wage (Nevada has a silly law that, if you work for a company that offers health insurance -- which is expensive and not that good, though we’re hoping [and working] to change that -- then that company can pay you $1 less per hour than minimum wage. And we do. And I’d be willing to bet that other casinos in Nevada do the same.

What it all boils down to: tip if you want to. If you don’t want to, don’t tip. For me, personally, I’ll treat you the same way no matter what, but I can’t promise the same from other casino employees (especially if it’s a different company than the one for which I work, where I’m at least TRYING to get the employees on the same page as me -- but since they make a bit less than I do [I’m not exactly getting a living wage but I definitely get by], it’s a hard sell).

If someone is a server (full disclosure: I know from my time in Washington state that there is a state law there that requires servers to get at least minimum wage as opposed to something like $5-$6 less because they’re traditionally tipped -- but not ALWAYS tipped), please tip them. If they’re a casino employee in Nevada, they may be making $1 less than minimum, so tip if you please.

But if you’re ever in MY casino, I’m gonna flat out tell you that while I appreciate any tip(s) you give, whether it’s enough for me to take a cut or not without feeling like a heel (I had two different people tip me $10 each last night -- one of which said “you’re the only cool manager here, so this is for you” -- but I gave both of those tips away because my staff makes less than me and even with an even split as policy says, I would have felt bad taking some of that), they are not necessary.

My industry, and even my company within this industry, is different than most (which is part of what I LOVE about my job). So while this is my point of view on the subject, I cannot promise that every other company in the industry (or other people in that company) will agree with this little rant.

But personally, I’m just happy that you’re in my casino. After all -- you may win or you may lose, but the house ALWAYS has the advantage. So even if you win, someone else will lose. And that’s my job security, right there.

It’s when there’s nobody in my casino at all (tipping or not) that I start worrying about my livelihood. But I’m pretty sure we’re gonna be okay. Even if our head-count goes down to zero sometimes on my graveyard shift, we have a lot of people come in during the day. And even on graveyard, I see more losers than I do winners (I mean that in a “did-they-win-or-did-they-lose” sense, not a “these people are just losers” sense).

Granted, last night we had more winners than losers, it seemed...but that’s great, because they can tell their friends, who will come in and play with us -- and again, while some people will win, and win BIG, in the short term, in the long term the house ALWAYS has the advantage. People can and DO win -- sometimes life-changing amounts of money. But in the long run, I know my paycheck is secure.