AZDuffman's Blog

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Was he serious?October 28th, 2015 at 6:01:54 pm
So I have a 20" TV I need to get rid of. I would use it as a bedroom TV but family has given me 2 nicer TVs, so I need to get rid of it. I know even at $5 it will not sell, so I put it "free" on CL. Now not one but two different people ask if I can deliver it!

One I ignored, second said, "are you mobile?" I ask what he means and he asks if I can deliver it! I write back asking if he is seriously asking me to deliver a TV I am giving away for free?" Then he gets mad at ME, says, "I don't want it anymore!"

What is this world coming to?

Comments
odiousgambit
October 30th, 2015 at 2:43:01 am
People who do charity work are constantly stunned at the mindset *some* of the recipients. Probably this guy has been on the take for his whole life. When that is the case, it seems to also be true that he won't be exposed to any reality checks - that has to be pre-instilled elsewhere, it can't come from the charity [not these days]. To whine about something that is given away for free may really pay off sometimes - that has been his experience and his learning curve in his world.

We are volunteering for a bit of "feed the hungry" type stuff around here. You focus on the people who really need it and really appreciate it or you become so cynical you can't do it.
AZDuffman
October 30th, 2015 at 3:30:40 am
I hear you there. When I was a PCO we did some work at public housing units. Amazing the difference how people acted. Some people could not be more polite and accommodating. Then a few units down you would get totally demanding jerks.
Face
October 30th, 2015 at 12:01:04 pm
My mom just told me a story of how she got ranted upon over an offer at a yard sale. This was the upscale 'burbs, too. Assholeism isn't just a product of the inner city poor, for sure.

I delivered my boat, which I sold on CL. It helped that he was right near the college where I had hockey anyways, but he was an awesome old man. I would've delivered it no matter where he hailed from, because he was awesome and not an a-hole. Kinda sad that a good guy is seen as remarkable, since they've become so rare.

Pro-tip - next bad day, take that TV into the basement with a bat and just bash the snot out of it. Not only does it feel good, but then you can bag that TV up and send it out with the normal trash, instead of waiting for big garbage day or paying extra to dispose of the boob tube TV.
Fleastiff
December 29th, 2015 at 8:37:21 pm
I once has a retired meteorologist offer to drive over 35 miles each way to deliver some electronic breathing equipment to me since her husband's equipment was now all electronically backed up and mine was then in a situation of if the power goes out .... so do I. As this was on the eve of an approaching huricane. It was free and she giving it away not selling it.

Some nights you really earn your side hustleDecember 13th, 2014 at 5:41:34 am
I just need to vent.

Some people make you really earn the cash you make at a side hustle........

Guy sits down to play, clearly dragged his wife to the table. She clearly wanted to be doing anything else. Guy says I am dealing "wrong." I explain that I am dealing it the same as any casino. Says it is still wrong. Says having blinds is dealing it wrong. So somehow myself and every casino is doing it wrong but he knows how to deal it right. Grrr.

Later what looked like a couple and their daughter sit down. Wife mostly knows how to play. Daughter somewhat knows what is going on. Husband probably knows rank of hands but little more.......

I hate dealing poker to total novices because the concept of folding a hand is unknown. You almost might as well let the cards stay face up and deal them out. So there are a few hands of this. A total grind. Next I try to explain blinds. I say "small, big" and point (the room is very loud so I try to not have to keep screaming,) As they do not know I say "put out one, put out two." Sounds simple, but they keep screwing that up. Then the biggie. Dad bets 2 green and 2 red, which is $12. (Our chips are mostly red with some green so we call red $1 and green $5 instead of $5/20 as the later would confuse too many players and new dealers alike.)

So I tell daughter $12 to call. She says she doesn't have any green chips (remember, he put out 2 red and 2 green.) I say no problem just put out 12 if she wants to call. She again says she has no greens. I again explain the chip values. Yet again she says she has no greens. By this time her mother starts trying to explain the concept. This went at least one more time.

I swear, it's like I'm playin' cards with my brother's kids or somethin'

Comments
Fleastiff
December 15th, 2014 at 12:56:09 am
So she was hesitant to put out twelve ones rather than two fives and two ones, the latter seems more sensible. Instead of put out 12, you should have said put out 12 ones.

You deal poker? I thought you were a landsman chasing covenants running with the land.
AZDuffman
December 15th, 2014 at 5:26:09 am
Correct, she thought that in didn't just need to be $12 but two green and two red, or.......well, I don't know what she was thinking. Seriously, she must have been more loaded than it appeared because any half-intelligent adult would say, "I have only red, what are they worth/how many do I need to put down, etc." FWIW I did tell her just put out $12 a few times. Said it a few different ways.

For how much casinos have sprouted nationwide since the late-1990s it is amazing how many people have no idea, and I mean none at all how anything about table games and poker work. Perhaps I am a degenerate and some of it is intuitive to me. But I mean, they don't grasp where to put a chip to place a bet, even with the little box on the layout, to wait their turn, rank of hands, anything.

This, however, was just the worst I have seen in some time. I will chalk it up to booze. They gave us dealers two drink tickets each, which of course we could not use. That is a sign that the crowd is a drinking crowd.

As to the later, yes, I am a landman. I spend my days either at the office or with all the other misfits like myself at the courthouse. I deal casino parties as a side hustle. Started when I was so broke I needed any side hustle and dealing was nice. After doing it a few years I looked an my 1099 and saw it amounted to almost an extra month of income from the day job! As I got older I realized so many guys have side-hustles and that gets them the extras in life. $30-50 an hour is not a bad way to spend a night.

The thrill of (near) victory!October 14th, 2014 at 5:05:54 pm
I swear to God that the first poker tourney I ever played I made the final table and we chopped (5 players.) To this day I still cannot believe I did it with some of the stupid plays I made. Until yesterday I never came close again. Always too aggressive or too docile or just caught a frozen wave of cards.

So a buddy an I decide to enjoy Columbus Day and go to the poker room at Meadows. As I will not be able to blow off many more of these federal days with the new client (enough online that the courthouse doesn't matter) I was extra up for it. He had a dentist appointment later but ever the optimist says, "won't matter, we will both be knocked out early."

Early it was about the tightest tourney I ever sat in. One fish got knocked out fast. It was the true, "If you can't spot the sucker......" moment. I spotted him as a sucker right off. I saw one guy he just kept calling and I knew at the second call he would go all-in and lose. He did and did. When he went out it was about 23 of 26 still left, and stayed that way to near the break.

The tightness along with only 8-9 at the table was good for my style of play. It hurt that you could get no action on premium hands, but no all-in idiots either. I was near fading when I called an all-in with KQos to an A?os. It was just a tourney moment where you have to go all in or go home. I drew to a flush and essentially knocked the guy out as he had just enough for an ante left.

We fade down to final table and my buddy decided to cancel his dentist appointment (dentist or poker, hmmmmm......) Still tight play and I have a stack on the low end of the high stacks. My buddy fades and dies at fifth, leaving us at the bubble. Guy to my left has a small stack but keeps winning a few. Eventually he has to go all-in and loses. WE HIT THE MONEY!

The chip leader would not chop so on we go. The guy between me and him, to my right, is who I want to pressure. I get some fair but not good cards at the right times and make some all-in raised. Chip leader keeps thinking and keeps folding, saying if I do win he will be too dented. The other guy keeps folding.

Eventually it is just two of us. I get a flush on the flop and go all-in. He calls and says, "FLUSH TO THE 8!" As if in a movie I flip my cards and say, "to the Queen." He is critical so I get KQ suited and push all-in next hand. He calls and wins. At this point he asks for a smoke break. What am I going to do, deny him? This isn't ESPN and he is actually a cool guy.

So we go to the bar and my buddy is there, I tell my buddy, "check this out, last two players we decided to be friends!"

What happened next made my day. The guy tells me how great I have been playing. I say I had to go all-in and he says, "don't kid yourself, you were watching us and played the all-ins right. You are no maniac." As if I was not happy enough he says he will do a "gentleman's chop" if I want. My term. He suggests a more balanced payoff but the casino is not involved because he just wants to see how it plays out.

Well, I got really bad cards with really high blinds and just shoved. Came in second. But having never had any sports ability I never had an opponent on that level say something like that. What a last day before a new day gig begins.

Comments
odiousgambit
October 15th, 2014 at 3:17:01 am
>he says he will do a "gentleman's chop" if I want

You don't say what that is, and you don't say if you accepted [to continue playing sounds like you did not accept?]

Please clarify, thanks
odiousgambit
October 15th, 2014 at 3:17:21 am
and congratulations
AZDuffman
October 15th, 2014 at 3:51:01 am
Sorry, a "gentleman's chop" is my term. Meaning that we agree how we will chop but we keep playing just to see how it turns out as if the casino is in on it the game would end. So in reality the winner could have said "up yours" and took the winner's share, but we put it on our honor to chop.

The winner was getting $500 and the loser $243. So the deal was loser kicks the $43 to the dealers for both of us and the winner kicked $100 to the loser. And surprisingly they paid us in cheques, not in cash which is what I got in AZ.

And thanks!

“The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them.'”October 9th, 2014 at 2:08:07 pm
An up and down week up here. For those who do not know, the project I was on ended one week ago today. The last few days of it the signs were all over. The last day I turned in one more tract and then kind of read the news and posted here, my boss sitting right next to me doing essentially the same. At the end the parting words were, "take tomorrow off and wait for a call" and a "well, hopefully I see you when you are back from vacation."

The email then came with the following in it, "It is our intention to re-engage your services as quickly as possible, hopefully within the next 7 calendar days." Some more about hopefully working with them again and, "but it is our hope that you elect to continue providing the agreed upon services."

This was Friday of last week. I rested Friday and put a few resumes out on Monday because in this industry there are no guarantees. By Tuesday I had a new gig with a new client, a touch more flexibility, and get to learn 2 new counties, one neighboring Ohio. The offices of the new place are in a 100% nicer part of town, a trendy part of town at that. One of the trendiest.

Oh, yeah, and a few more bucks a day! Not killer-more, but enough for a nice dinner for one.

All happy times until the old client calls and you feel like talking to the old girlfriend who went on a break and you found someone new. Yes, I liked it there, I really, really did. I would not have even explored much but for the hiatus. I got picked up fast. It didn't sink in on the call, it sunk in on the email where it said they "acknowledged and accepted my contract termination." I mean, of course it is terminated, just feels so final at the moment I read it.

I would say it is the first time I left a job I liked for an unknown, but it was not a "job." It was a "gig." A "client." Few are the W-4 jobs in this industry. "Long Term" can mean a year, sometimes less. Not to forget, but the move was sold as "an opportunity." I don't begrudge the Chief who told me that, she could not have known. Business is business.

The lessons for the client are if you like the work of a person, find a reason to keep him because even a few days on the street and people will look elsewhere. The lesson for the contractor is keep doing good work and know where to find the next client.

And that is that. One day I may work with them again. Or they might have been a break-in house and I did not realize it. I like the new place so far, they came in on the high-end of my rate request. But remember the motto:

“The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them.'”--Don Draper

Comments
petroglyph
November 17th, 2014 at 8:13:54 pm
Job security in my business is when the boss said, see you in the morning.

This is what will be coming out in the world in a few yearsAugust 22nd, 2014 at 9:22:51 pm
College Freshmen say some weird things, but this one I never heard a player say before.

"This is called free odds and is the best bet in the casino as it has no edge."
"Is there a way to bet evens?"

**facepalm**

Comments
odiousgambit
August 24th, 2014 at 4:57:37 am
I don't know how dumb they are, but they are different.

From what I can tell, this current bunch is quite cowed compared to us. Their Educators have convinced them to trust what the Enlightened Ones want for us. In the matters of environmentalism, racial equality, control of their lives by the state, and even the imperative of volunteering for charity, so many are sold on it. Watch out for the Disillusioned though, there is always a group of those, some of whom have made it to Ferguson MO.

By the time I was 20 or so, a group of us were remarking on how different the incoming underclassmen were from us. "A different breed". Already. It only gets worse with further distance. I looked for and couldnt find Guy de Maupassant's observation that when you pass a graveyard of only the last generation you are observing what's left of a remarkably different "vanished race" of another age. This is so true.
AZDuffman
August 26th, 2014 at 3:07:33 pm
It was a rare time I had another dealer with me. Before the games opened we discussed how his kid was a HS Junior this week and what he should do with his life. I gave my now-standard speech against college unless he is getting a very technical degree as a waste of money and get some trade skills.

I am lucky in that my job attracts misfits and not go-along types. Even when I was in college you could see the indoctrination take hold in a bunch of the class. At least none started going on an anti-fracking rant at the table.
1nickelmiracle
September 1st, 2014 at 12:46:40 am
All generations have their moments. We've been gone from youth for so long, we've forgotten how it was and half the dumb things we've said and done ourselves.
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