Ceasars poker room--stupid is as stupid does!

[Terry]

[ QUOTE ]
At one of these rooms I auditioned and was told by the poker room manger that I needed to smile more, that anyone can deal that what they care about is having dealers smile.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sigh. Yes, this has been going on for quite a while now. I remember when the MGM first opened (the casino, not the poker room) -- they were doing “song and dance” interviews. Literally, everyone applying for a job had to stand up and sing and dance in front of the group. They weren’t looking for “employees”, they were looking for “cast members”.

They hired a ton of loud out-going back-slapping smiling people who couldn’t deal a lick. They passed over many of the best dealers in town who were quiet, competent, polite, and fast. Even though they had a lot of weeding out to do after opening and they got rid of the Human Resources manager who came up with the idea, the song and dance type interview continues to spread in a toned down version.

Harrah’s uses it and so do some other companies, Ramada, for one. Every applicant must go through a session in which they are judged on their actions in a group based on some pop psychology body language quackery guidelines. Didn’t smile enough – no job. Didn’t shake hands firmly enough, didn’t speak assertively enough, nervous while standing up and reading a poem to a room full of strangers, sat with arms crossed, didn’t greet the strangers you sat down next to, didn’t make eye contact with enough people in the room, walked into the room hesitantly rather than confidently – no job.

Experience and ability are not part of the interview, only personality. Those who are by nature quiet or shy will not be hired regardless of other qualifications. Naturally outgoing chatterbox types quite likely will be hired without any showing of competence, knowledge or ability. The justification is that they are in the “hospitality” business, not the “casino” business. Sigh.

Once they reach a certain level, Harrah’s executive are extremely well paid. The way to reach that level is to go by the book, serve your time, and don’t rock the boat. If a person is promoted to a position he can’t handle, the response to complaints from co-workers who must take up the slack and straighten out his messes is “At Harrah’s we learn to live with our mistakes.”

This isn’t a diatribe about Harrah’s, they are just a convenient example. I was playing in the Mirage the night the Bellagio opened. I noticed a lot of new dealers and was astounded by the constant yells for “Floor!” Turns out that many of the Mirage dealers had gone to Bellagio and the new hires had no experience and were dealing their first live game. They were trained by Mirage to insure they had the proper “hospitality” attitude.

I’ve been gone from Vegas for over five years now, after spending over 20 years in the pits. This little peek from inside the business can’t change anything, but I hope it helps some you to understand a bit about why what is happening is happening.

The bosses used to say “Dummy up and deal.” Now they say “Smile! And talk to the players.”