I had an interesting experience the first time I played BJ in a casino. I went to LV (circa 1985) for a 3 day vacation and on one of those 3 days, I went into one of the downtown casinos and sat down at a BJ table. I forget which casino it was. It wasn't my very first time. But it was sometime during my very first 3 days. It was a long time ago.
I had read a lot about the game before I left home. I had memorized the Basic Strategy. I also had a BJ software app that ran on my PC and I had practiced playing and counting cards for several weeks before I went on the trip. The only strategy that I decided to use was to keep my eyes on the dealer's hands every second of the play. I knew that I couldn't do much else. But I could do that and I did do that. OK. Here's the story that I think is interesting:
As I recall, the casino wasn't particularly crowded. Maybe that was because it was around 3 A.M. I had been playing for about 30 minutes at a $1 table when two ladies sat down. Each of them was about 30 years old and they were very nicely dressed - very fashionable. About 5 minutes after they sat down, one of the ladies put a $20 bill on the table and asked for change. The dealer put a $10 chip, a $5 chip and for the remaining $5, he placed two $1 chips side by side and instead of placing the fifth chip on top of the two piles, he just kind of waved his hand over the chips and the lady smiled at him and said "Thank you" and began to take her chips.
Before she moved them I said, "Excuse me lady, but I think you should count your chips the dealer only gave you $19 instead of $20." The dealer smiled at the lady and said demurely, "Sorry lady. That happens sometimes. It's been a long shift." I think the lady was not very experienced. She didn't display any anger. But she said something like, "Hmmmph. The money goes fast enough as it is."
I didn't even consider calling a pit boss until the next evening. I was foolishly feeling so proud of myself for catching the dealer at this move that I never thought of much else except how clever I was to catch him. But, what do you think? Should I have called for a pit boss or a manager? I mean, how the heck is one shift any longer than any other shift anyway? I knew about the eye in the sky. I think I should have called for the pit boss or a manager and negotiated some kind of compensation for the lady.
I understand why the dealer would short her $1 because I used to have a friend who worked in a gas station and he would short change most of the customers who came in for gas - especially the women. He told me the women were much easier marks because they almost never paid attention to the meter or to their change and even on the rare occasion they noticed the short, he would just apologize very profusely, "Oh, I'm really sorry. So very sorry Ma'am. So sorry", and they would never make any fuss. They actually seemed happy - as if they were proud of themselves for noticing the short. But they didn't think it through to realize this was no "one time accident". It was his daily bread and butter.
He would cheat people who paid cash for gas. If they asked for $10 and didn't watch the meter, he would just put $9 in the tank and keep the extra dollar. If they did watched the meter, he would put in the full $10 but then short them on the change. He said credit cards was his favorite. If they asked to fill up the tank, he would stop the gas on an amount like $8.79 or $8.97 and then write the ticked for $9.87 or $9.78. If the customer noticed, he would smile and apologize. He was "oh so sorry. I guess I mixed up the numbers." He told me that only one person ever said anything to him in the past year and none ever told the manager. He made out like a bandit. He told me that he made more money with this "sideline" than he made with his wages.
But here's the kicker! When he apologized, almost no one would ever make a fuss because, "It's only one dollar, after all. Who would ever steal just one dollar?" But he used to do it up to 50 times per evening. It was almost impossible to steal $50 from a customer at one time. But it was very easy to steal one dollar - fifty times per shift.
I figure the way dealers make change and count out five dollars is so standardized that no dealer would make that "mistake" unless he was drunk or was cheating. What do you think? Should I have made a big fuss about this? I'm guessing that I might have been able to ask the manager to give the lady some compensation - maybe even $100? After all, she appeared to be a very nice lady and I really enjoyed the way she smiled at me. But I was very foolish and was just thinking about how clever I was. I was such a dummy!
P.S. I see there is a "Stories" forum and I tried to post this in that forum. But the s/w told me I was not "subscribed" to that forum and so I couldn't post there. Can anyone tell me what that is about? Why do I need to be subscribed to that forum in order to make a post there?
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Originally Posted by Skyler62
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