The Rant

I’ve got about 2 1/2 hours before I have to get ready for work, so here goes.

First off, a big Fuck You to the company that I work for, NetworkM. You know what, I can handle missing out on the meal allowance. That was free food, everyone figured that was the first thing to go when we hit upon hard times, so I’m not too pissed off about that – except for the fact that we’re being given no alternative now. You won’t bring in a freaking microwave so that we can bring something from home and heat it up? Not like it would matter because the casino doesn’t let us bring in outside food, but now I either have to waste $5 a day going to Jack in the Box (because there aren’t a whole lot of other options at 12:30 in the morning), or leave a sandwich in my car every day. I had to do that back in ’07 when I was humping the courier job, and I got tired of sandwiches VERY fast.

But I’m not even that upset about that. No, it’s the other benefits you’re slashing. No shift differential? You do realize that you could’ve cut everyone’s wages by 50 cents or so and accomplished the same thing? But no, that would make everyone angry – you can’t have that! So instead, you only piss off those of us with the misfortune of working after midnight. Between the shift differential and the meal allowance, that’s basically $16 a day out of my paycheck. And because that’s not enough, you reduce our PTO – which is supposed to be our combination of vacation and sick time – down from 120 hours a year to 80. Do you realize that I had two separate trips lined up this year – one to Washington, and one to Las Vegas – and I’ve already been forced to postpone them because of the plans of other people? And now I have to postpone them further because I won’t have the hours when I wanted to take those trips? Fuck you.

Oh, and I’m just glad I never paid into the 401K, now that you’re halting the matching funds.

Next, a generous helping of Fuck You to the players at the casino. Every single one of them. You know why they’re having to slash our benefits? Because we’re getting our asses kicked on the tables and giving away all of our bank money to these cretins. There are players there that bet big which I wouldn’t mind losing to, because they’re nice people and they’re there for the fun of it. But they never seem to be the big winners – no, it’s the fucking degenerate in the Raiders knit cap who has to call every single card coming out of the shoe, slapping the table when he wins like he’s Tito fucking Puente. It’s the 550-pound human bowl of pudding who smells like a rotting corpse. It’s the skanky Hispanic bitch with the obviously unnatural breasts and excessively made-up eyes, who has to remind us every ten minutes she deals at Normandie like that makes her the expert on Blackjack – as she stands on a 15 against a 10. I realize that casinos – especially the kind I work at – don’t attract the most normal of people, but God damn it, do they have to get so fucking lucky?

Oh, and the idiots who bank $15 when there’s $300 on the table, then ask us to go kum-kum with them. You know what? Fuck You. I don’t want to go kum-kum with you, I want to fucking pull my plaque! You think you’re going to take over the world $15 at a time? Meanwhile, every time you shake it’s a fucking King high or 98/22 or something similarly impotent, so I end up having to clean up your mess. The fact that you can bank less than 5% of the action and still get to shake the dice is beyond me. What, is Mr. Big Money over there going to reimburse you afterwards for poisoning the well?

And while I’m at it, a big Fuck You to the casino staff. The dealers, the floorpeople, the chip runners, the managers. When I can start to reliably predict what’s going to happen – like the woman who banks a miniscule portion of the action shaking shit; or every 9, 10, or 11 becoming a 26; or the guy jumping in on a Three Card dead spread and betting $100 on the bonus, then getting a Straight Flush on the first hand – it’s hard to believe that you guys aren’t at all responsible, and these are all just flukes of probability. Especially when you guys show absolutely no interest at all in enforcing any of the rules that your employers, not mine, established. And especially now because you won’t let us object to any rule violations on the tables, so now the players have even more of a free reign over the game than they already had. Is it any coincidence that we’re getting massacred and losing our benefits at the very same time that the casino instituted their “sit down, shut up, and give us your money” policy on us? Doubtful.

You dance and cheer whenever we lose, and talk about us as if we’re the scum of the earth and that it’s our moral obligation to give all our money away. Fuck You. And stop fucking complaining about how it’s been a bad day and you’re not making any tips, because I don’t fucking care. Even on a bad day you make as much as we do, so stop bitching because the guy betting white chips that you were shoe-shining the whole time didn’t toss you a bone after he won five hands in a row. Be glad you fucking have a job – one that clearly doesn’t require you to put together a coherent sentence in English.

Think I’m done? Not hardly.

Next, a giant Fuck You to the state of California. I hope you enjoy living in a state that’s populated by illegal aliens, welfare queens and hand-wringing socialists, because they’re trying to drive everyone else out of the state. Thanks to a few cowardly state legislators, we’re all being socked with at least $28 billion (and up to $70) in new taxes over the next two to five years, including higher sales taxes, gas taxes, car registration, and get this – a 5% surcharge on our income tax. They’re taxing our taxes, for God’s sake! All so they can continue giving their litany of social services to people who either don’t want them (the 50% high school dropout rate in Los Angeles) or shamelessly abuse them (OctoMom). The economy’s in the crapper, people are losing their homes and getting laid off, and you think that what’s going to make things better is higher taxes? Or maybe you don’t think the taxes will make things better – they’ll just placate all your union supporters who, by the way, pitch a shit fit at the slightest request at concessions on their own contracts. Now that the chances of me finding work in the TV business are slim to none, I see no reason why I ought to stick around. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to be sending out resumes to anyone that can receive them. I’ve got 2 1/2 years experience in the casino industry – that ought to count for something. I really don’t want to leave behind all my friends and family, but I’m sick of this fucking government coming after us again and again and again to subsidize the leeches of our society. Fuck You all.

And you know what? Fuck You to all you morons who thought that buying a home on minimum wage and flipping it was a good idea. It’s your fucking fault the economy collapsed. I paid attention about 10% of the time in my high school Economics class, and even I know that the price of anything plummets when everyone’s trying to sell and nobody’s buying. You idiots! I live within my means, as I’ve been doing my entire adult life. I paid off my car. I rent, don’t buy. I have minimal credit card debt, and always pay more than the monthly minimum. I don’t throw money away on extravagant things I don’t actually need. I put a little bit away in savings whenever I can. But thanks to everyone trying to get in on the next big gold rush, banks are failing, every industry is begging for a government bailout, taxes are going up, and now I have to suffer the consequences of your mass stupidity. Fuck You! The government shouldn’t be bailing you out – they should let you all go bankrupt, and let the rest of us who are actually responsible human beings prosper. Why do I have to be penalized because of our mistakes?

And finally, Fuck You to anyone who leaves a comment on this saying anything like, “don’t get so bent out of shape about things you can’t control,” or “don’t take your shortcomings out on everyone else,” or shit like that. I don’t want to hear it. I’m sick of people telling me that I’m in no position to complain about anything. What exactly do you think you’re going to accomplish saying something like that? Do you honestly think I’m going to sit back and think, “Hmm, maybe I need to take what they’re saying in consideration, take a hard look at myself, and work on improving my standing in life”? Fuck no. I’m going to get pissed at you for not letting me vent. So if you’re going to make some remark about how I’m in the wrong for whatever reason, stuff it. Anyone who does, it’ll be the last comment you leave on my journal. I don’t fucking care.

And yes, my hand still hurts.