Work. More Baloney?

[JDoors]

So-o-o-ooo ... They're trying to get blood out of a turnip at work, squeezing here and there, cutting there and here, closing this, opening that, etc. Things are slow and, my guess? Management is just as bored as we are and have nothing to do but pointlessly shuffle things around while making up one new rule after another (Hey, get a REAL job, will ya?).

So, here's a new one: Hourly employees will now pick up their paycheck stubs from the Human Resources department.

It's a casino so there are cashiers cages all over the place. One window was always dedicated to employee transactions, but they're closing that cage entirely so, no employee window.

So how is it baloney to go to HR for our pay stub? Umm, we have employees working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Human Resources is only open during business hours and is closed on holidays.

I got off work this morning at 5 am and HR doesn't open until 7 am. So, get my pay stub tomorrow? No, tomorrow's Saturday, HR is closed. Get my stub the next day? No, the next day is Sunday, they ain't open on Sunday. THE NEXT DAY? I don't work that day. In fact, I don't work until the FOLLOWING Thursday night when I'll again get off work at 5 am Friday morning (and my pay stub from the previous week will have been sent to the accounting department, where it will be shredded if I don't pick it up).

So I get the choice of; Waiting after work on Friday morning for TWO HOURS until HR opens, go home then come back again (which would take around an hour and about $5 in gas -- every week from now on), come in on my day off (again, an hour of my time plus gas costs), or have them mail it to me and not know what's on it for four to five days (my check varies greatly from week to week, by as much as $400, I can get the "net" from my bank but then I have no idea how many hours they paid me for, they've made mistakes before, how much was from what category, how much in taxes, how much went to my 401k, etc.).

I would think I have a right to know what they did with the money they owe me and whether or not they actually PAID me what they owe me, but apparently myself, and hundreds of other employees, no longer have the right to be told in a timely or convenient manner.

[Honda_Boy]

Smack em around a little and tell em to go back to what they were doin before

That's jacked up though. Why do all that BS? For me, on Fridays after 11 or so, I just drive across town (12-15 minutes) walk in, grab my check from my storage bin (for Cellphones, keys ,etc. while working) and bolt it on over to the bank (8-10 minutes, to the one I like) and deposit it then go do whatever. I use about $2.50 in Premium doing that. And on days I'm not off, I have to go back at 4. If I don't go before and do it, I'll have to wait either till the next day (banks in Grocery stores are open on Saturdays) or if I'm working all day, I have to wait till Monday to deposit it.

Speakin of which. I need to get my shower and get ready to go get my check and buy a CD.

[Bubba Bob]

J - that's what management is usually good for, screwing things up. "If it ain't broke, fix it untill it is". Would you happen to be union? Could put some pressure on the company to go back to the old ways...

Edited June 20, 2008 by Bubba Bob

[garmanma]

Any chance for Direct Deposit?

[irregularjoe]

That really sucks.

I'm surprised that they don't try to pay you in poker chips.

[TheTerrorist_75]

That beats waiting for a customer to pay off at the completion of a job. Sometimes I have to wait 30 days, which is what the contract gives them. After that they need to pay interest, so they wait right up to the last day.

I would demand direct deposit on your actual payday and have them mail your stub.

[JDoors]

That really sucks.

I'm surprised that they don't try to pay you in poker chips.

DON'T EVEN GO THERE!

First, I realize how whiney I can sound. I have "a" job, I'm paid well, and I hardly do any work! What's to complain about, right?

I already have direct deposit, in fact, that was one of those new rules a short time ago: Every employee must have their paycheck direct deposited. Too bad for you if you don't have or want a bank account, huh? GET ONE. (That one must rankle the many immigrants who work there.) The rule was in preparation for the employee cashier's window being closed a couple weeks later.

I could get the pay stub mailed, though they never bothered to announce this IS an option, you have to have heard about it through the grapevine. But when I get paid I want to know, right then and there; what they paid me (I can check the "net" online but have no way of knowing what the "gross" was, it varies by as much as $400 week to week, the people MAKING the rules get paid a salary so they don't have a clue why we might want to see the ACTUAL pay stub), how many hours they paid me for (it varies week to week and may not be correct), how much I received in tips (the VAST majority of my pay, and I have no way of knowing what it works out to until I see the pay stub), how much went to which taxing authority (I keep track), how much went to my 401k (I keep track) and whether or not the correct matching amount was distributed and when (I keep track), how much went to insurance (I keep track), and whether or not there were any "miscelleneous deductions" (there are several associated with working in a casino).

I don't believe I should have to wait a week to find out if my paycheck was in order.

For some customers we have to withhold taxes on their winnings. I can't tell them, "Trust us! We did it right. We'll mail you the papers with the final numbers, you should get it next week." Yeah, that'd go over big. But I guess one third of the employees can wait for that information, or devote the time and money necessary to GET the information in a timely fashion. (Whine, whine, whine.)

[irregularjoe]

"have "a" job, I'm paid well, and I hardly do any work"

That's MY kind of job. Actually I had one for 12 years back on the east coast.

May I ask what you do?

Joe

[Pete_C]

Times are tough all over, have been for some time and are getting worse.

I remember over a year ago they stopped electronic (direct) deposit because the banks were charging to much for it and the cost added up. Originally they offerred to mail checks , but then the Post Office raised rates and they decided that there was a savings to be made there too so that was stopped. Back to picking up check at human resources.

Many years back , they decided that because so many of the people who worked different shifts or off site came in early in the morning on payday , and those on shift took longer at lunch to cash / deposit their checks that on payday human resources / payroll would not open doors and hand out checks until after 2:30PM . Even when electronic deposit was an option they continued this policy, since it had been policy. Now they close the door at 4PM , and if you have not picked yours up by then you wait till the next day, unless you have a key and the alarm code.

[JDoors]

"have "a" job, I'm paid well, and I hardly do any work"

That's MY kind of job. Actually I had one for 12 years back on the east coast.

May I ask what you do?

Joe

Twelve years of doing nothing for great pay? What was THAT? If it wasn't the military I want in!

More than you wanted to know about my job:

I work in a riverboat casino and my title is "slot floorperson." The most visible thing I do is pay people when they win a slot jackpot. The part YOU know about is: You get paid. There's all kinds of behind the scenes stuff that goes on; check the Restricted Patron List (RPL) for people who have been banned or self-banned from gaming (cheats, people repeatedly evicted for misbehavior, people who no longer wish to be allowed to gamble, among other reasons), doing the Federal paperwork (W2's for reporting of income for tax purposes), sometimes a picture of the winner has to be obtained through surveillance (if they don't have a valid ID we give them a receipt for the money, which they can claim when they bring proper ID, the photo is to make sure we're paying the correct person), or a surveillance photo of the machine (if the winner doesn't spin off the displayed jackpot, to avoid anyone else claiming they "just hit" again, they wouldn't be able to get away with it due to other safeguards, but it avoids a confrontation), doing mucho paperwork for persons holding a foreign ID (which requires we deduct 30% for taxes that goes directly to their government, they then file to get any overpayment back from their government), cutting a check if they'd rather have one (a cumbersome, time-consuming process, the check won't clear for at least three days -- like they don't have the money or something), having progressively more people verify the amount paid as the jackpot amounts go up (at one point, in addition to the always required survellance, cashier and security verification, another slot floorperson is needed, reach another level and a slot supervisor is needed, and at yet another level a casino shift manager is needed, I have yet to pay one that requires higher verification than that, though it's been done by others), and on and on and on and ...

They did recently eliminate our personal involvement in the Bank Secrecy Act, a bunch MORE paperwork, photos, checks and rechecks. There's annual retraining for all the necessary paperwork (if mistakes are made not only is the casino liable, I am personally liable, I can go to jail and be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars -- Oh, and I'd lose my job).

Then there's all the stuff I do that is less visible but equally important; fix minor machine problems (bills jamming, vouchers jamming or running out, machines freezing up, etc.), determining if a machine problem requires a technician (reel "tilts," among other things), watching someone's machine while they run for whatever, looking up previous play on a machine when someone requests it, schmooze the hell out of the nice people (or even the less-than-nice ones if they're generous tippers), and dozens of other little things that add up.

Describing it takes more time and effort than actually doing it ... Now. It used to be far more hectic (practially unbearably so). They've eliminated "coins," you have to use bills or vouchers printed by the machines for play. Handling coins was well over half my job, so half the work I used to do was eliminated. Patronage has dropped precipitously for too many reasons to go into. So we pay a jackpot, stand around, fix a bill jam, stand around, push some chairs in, stand around, pay another jackpot, etc. When we DO pay a jackpot, some people are EXTREMELY grateful and generous and enjoy sharing their new-found fortune by tipping, so we make good money (though it varies tremendously, from pretty darn good to YEE-OW-ZA!).

[irregularjoe]

"have "a" job, I'm paid well, and I hardly do any work"

That's MY kind of job. Actually I had one for 12 years back on the east coast.

May I ask what you do?

Joe

Twelve years of doing nothing for great pay? What was THAT? If it wasn't the military I want in!

More than you wanted to know about my job:

I work in a riverboat casino and my title is "slot floorperson." The most visible thing I do is pay people when they win a slot jackpot. The part YOU know about is: You get paid. There's all kinds of behind the scenes stuff that goes on; check the Restricted Patron List (RPL) for people who have been banned or self-banned from gaming (cheats, people repeatedly evicted for misbehavior, people who no longer wish to be allowed to gamble, among other reasons), doing the Federal paperwork (W2's for reporting of income for tax purposes), sometimes a picture of the winner has to be obtained through surveillance (if they don't have a valid ID we give them a receipt for the money, which they can claim when they bring proper ID, the photo is to make sure we're paying the correct person), or a surveillance photo of the machine (if the winner doesn't spin off the displayed jackpot, to avoid anyone else claiming they "just hit" again, they wouldn't be able to get away with it due to other safeguards, but it avoids a confrontation), doing mucho paperwork for persons holding a foreign ID (which requires we deduct 30% for taxes that goes directly to their government, they then file to get any overpayment back from their government), cutting a check if they'd rather have one (a cumbersome, time-consuming process, the check won't clear for at least three days -- like they don't have the money or something), having progressively more people verify the amount paid as the jackpot amounts go up (at one point, in addition to the always required survellance, cashier and security verification, another slot floorperson is needed, reach another level and a slot supervisor is needed, and at yet another level a casino shift manager is needed, I have yet to pay one that requires higher verification than that, though it's been done by others), and on and on and on and ...

They did recently eliminate our personal involvement in the Bank Secrecy Act, a bunch MORE paperwork, photos, checks and rechecks. There's annual retraining for all the necessary paperwork (if mistakes are made not only is the casino liable, I am personally liable, I can go to jail and be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars -- Oh, and I'd lose my job).

Then there's all the stuff I do that is less visible but equally important; fix minor machine problems (bills jamming, vouchers jamming or running out, machines freezing up, etc.), determining if a machine problem requires a technician (reel "tilts," among other things), watching someone's machine while they run for whatever, looking up previous play on a machine when someone requests it, schmooze the hell out of the nice people (or even the less-than-nice ones if they're generous tippers), and dozens of other little things that add up.

Describing it takes more time and effort than actually doing it ... Now. It used to be far more hectic (practially unbearably so). They've eliminated "coins," you have to use bills or vouchers printed by the machines for play. Handling coins was well over half my job, so half the work I used to do was eliminated. Patronage has dropped precipitously for too many reasons to go into. So we pay a jackpot, stand around, fix a bill jam, stand around, push some chairs in, stand around, pay another jackpot, etc. When we DO pay a jackpot, some people are EXTREMELY grateful and generous and enjoy sharing their new-found fortune by tipping, so we make good money (though it varies tremendously, from pretty darn good to YEE-OW-ZA!).

I was an electrician on the railroad.

Wasn't "great " pay, but it was good. I was also the union rep, so that helped with the perks. Although it required a lot of unpaid time as well.

Your sounds like a very interesting position. I'm always interested in how other people make a living.

I'm not a gambler, but I have visited the casinos out here a few times. (they are all on the reservations) Have to say that I like the coins. Something about that sound that falling coins make coming down the chute. I can understand how they would make your job harder though.

Thanks,

Joe

Edited June 25, 2008 by irregularjoe