Delays and Apologies

Short Version:

My day job is BS to the point there may even be a strike next month. Not kidding, it's that bad right now. I had planned to publish one story or chapter every week, but it's kind of hard to find the energy to come home from a long day of work then do... more work. I'm sorry. Stories will get done, just slower than one per week.

Long Version:

I work in a casino. My job is to empty and fill the slot machines, sort and count the poker chips, and count the casinos incoming cash. It's a small casino so the full Soft Count team is 6 people. Or it's supposed to be. Back in February the previous Supervisor quit after a long 25 years of service and left the job to me. Nice pay raise and everything. Cool. Team = 5/6. We hire a new person the following month, March, no problems. Team = 6/6 again.

Then someone quits. Team = 5/6. Unfortunate, but we can still do our job well enough.

April. The newest person quits after only 2 months on the job. Team = 4/6. That's not good. It's tight, but we can finish the job working an extra hour a day. In other words, everyone is working 9 hours a day, 5 days a week. We need more people. Talking to my boss I'm pretty much told no help is available. We in Soft Count have 3 places we can pull people to help out in a shortage. Accounting, but they're shorthanded. The Cashiers, but they're too shorthanded too. Our other properties, because we're part of a larger company, are also too shorthanded. We're screwed.

May. I get a call from one of my remaining employees... there has been an accident. She's probably... just done. Team = 3/6. That's. Too. Few. I go to my boss to beg for some kind of help. Basically get told to go fuck myself. Or, as he literally put it, "I guess you'll be working overtime then." Not kidding, that was his response. Me and my team are each now working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. And it's still not enough. One of us has to work a 7th day each week just to keep the casino's money moving. My employees are pissed and complaining. I'm complaining! There is simply too much for the 3 of us to do in a day. If we don't get some applicants soon... there might just be a strike. I'm actually considering taking what employees I have aside and just telling them to stay home, but I want to be patient. I'm trying to be understanding. The casino is in a tough spot right now. Maybe there really isn't anything they can do. Yeah, I don't really believe that myself. But whatever. I don't want to be the brand new Supervisor that can't handle one month of extra work. My employees do begrudgingly admit they like the extra fat paychecks. Working 60+ hours a week may be brutal, but there is a benefit to your savings account.

America sure is in a weird place right now. I keep hearing about the unemployment numbers, then look at the casino's job openings and just end up scratching my head. We've got openings in literally every single department. Want to work security? We need you. Want to cook in our restaurants? We've got an opening. Always dreamed of being a card dealer? We'll take you.

Where are all these unemployed people begging for money? We're hiring. We're desperate for people right now. I don't get it. I know everyone hates casinos. Me too. In fact, just about everyone who works in the casino thinks gambling is stupid. Is working in a casino that unappealing? Would you rather take unemployment checks over being a simple cashier in a casino? Come on, you get to collect so many funny stories while working in a casino. Like that time we had a drunk guy lose his phone, but then refuse to go look for it himself because that was "our job". Or the one guy who couldn't find the bathroom so he thought he'd just pee in a trashcan and no one would notice. Or the crazy lady that wanted to fight the dealers and had to be escorted out of the building where she then dared the cops to put cuffs on her, so they did. Or the time we had a lady who forgot to take her medications and had a episode that sent her running around the building screaming about "snipers on the roof".

Though that last one must have been really annoying for the other customers. Like, you're just sitting at your machine or at one of the card tables when this crazy lady runs past screaming about the "snipers on the roof". How do you even respond to that?

Oh well. Take care of yourselves everyone. There is a lot of talk about shortages and a big recession coming up. I've also heard that recessions tend to last between 2-5 years. So, what might you need in that time besides food and water? The thing that came to my mind was clothing. So I bought me 2 extra pairs of shoes, some shirts, pants, etc. The kind of stuff that, even if there is no recession and it was just a bunch of paranoia, I'm still going to use anyway at some point. Some day I'm going to need those shoes, as long as my feet don't start growing again. Think ahead and prepare everybody. Good night.