Here, in a nutshell, is why I continue to work in the casino business.
Over the Hill ...
Casino management don't care if I am older. If I show up to work, I have a job. Very few people will keep coming back day after day to a vicious and hostile working environment.
I am a table games professional and when I entered into this business, I did so with the idea it was a career opportunity. Now, it is just a job. The days when being a professional table games dealer with skills that the common man or woman did not have have, or hope to acquire, are a distant memory.
I am fortunate that I am planning ahead to the days when I will walk away from this shit hole casino I work in, and pursue my own personal and financial agendas. I know that I am not welcome in the present corporate structure outside of the gamming industry. I feel for this man who is working full time trying to find gainful employment. He is trying to pay his debt. He is not a bum. He is being treated as if he were a criminal. His only crime is growing old.
The economic out look for 2019 is not shining brightly early into the new year.
Apple News
Apple is cutting down its current production plans for new iPhones by about 10 percent for the next three months. Apple also slashed its guidance on revenue, partly blaming the revision on a weakening economy in China and lower-than-expected iPhone revenue in the Greater China region.
Sears News
After 126 years in business, Sears is expected to announce it is closing it's doors for good. The chain rejected a $4.4 billion bailout bid from Sears chairman Eddie Lampert. Lampert planned to buy the company out of bankruptcy through his own hedge fund ESL Investments.
John Deere News
Deere & Co gave an underwhelming earnings forecast on Wednesday for fiscal 2019 after missing quarterly profit estimates amid a U.S. trade battle with China that has depressed U.S. farm commodity prices and hurt agriculture equipment demand.
Grapevine News
Kwik Star here in Dubuque, Iowa has told people who had been earmarked for employment in 2019 that the company has re-evaluated their hiring outlook. Kwik Star will be hiring less people in 2019 than previously anticipated.
Holding onto this job I have at the casino was a smart move. I do not enjoy working a 10 shift on Friday and Saturday nights. I do not care for the abusive and stressful working environment. The second hand smoke is going to kill me if I stay too long, but for now, I must. All I have to do is suck it up for the year. I will bank $12,000. It is a done deal if I keep my shoulder to the wheel. I will finally be set to do what I want to do. The general state of the economy should not hinder my plans. Uncle Sam will not cut off Social Security payments.
I have five days off each week to get my projects up and running. No excuses this time around. I am in the right place at the right time. I have to fight to keep the ball rolling.
Today is the first day of the remaining days that are my life.
My ambitions are modest. I have no desire to build empires. I have no desire for fame.
My only desire is to resist the temptation that greed creates. I am grateful for the things that fate has bestowed;
I have what I need even if it may not be what I think I want. I am blessed.
I will work on improving myself as a human being. I will train my Mind, my Body, and my Spirit.
This is all I can do, and I may fall short of accomplishing this. Regardless, the act itself is the focus of this effort.
The only thing to be done is to master myself. Everything else will fall into place.
