Emerald beards of grass bladed sweet under apricot sky; cotton candy breeze, banana sun and warmth healing forlorn hearts–or tearing them apart. It was 6 AM. Too early for liquor, beer and millionaire golfers but I was the country club bartender. The gated community of Windance was stained with vicious rumors, ego-maniacal fools and blistering women. Mornings were nice–filling ice chests with Budweiser, Heineken and Coors–chatting with the early birds. The older ladies came in scented of coconut sunscreen wanting cups of water with lemon to perfume sulfured artesian.
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Maybe I am the worst employee ever, or maybe I’ve had the worst employers known in the history of Earth – you be the judge. I was once employed by the Copa Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi – one of the most freakish jobs I’ve ever had. It was for the most part a great place to work – the money was fantastic and the atmosphere was extremely fun. If you are a long time reader, you know I’ve had some bizarre experiences, which is one reason my horror and fiction stories are so freakish. I just had to share this experience with you all. The Copa Casino was completely destroyed by hurricane Katrina. It was less than 10 miles from my home.
copa casino
The Sexual Harassment Incident
This first story occurred on the original Copa, which was an old ship, not the one pictured above. I worked on the original and the new one. I had a manager, who was a creepy overweight guy in his forties and everyone knew his dad was a state senator – he often bragged about it. He often talked the beautiful young cocktail waitresses into playing a game with him called “trust”. It involved the girl falling backwards and “trusting” him to catch them. He had been after this girl, Amber (who was 18 years old and recently had breast enlargement surgery), to play the game with him. I was busy working and the perverted manager (Fred) convinced Amber to play the game. Fred thought I wasn’t paying attention, but I was onto his game. Amber fell backwards and Fred caught her – simultaneously cupping her breasts in his hands and morbidly staring down her top. As she leaned forward, he kept his hands on her breasts, fondling them gently with a sickening look of molestation in his eyes. She turned and slapped him while screaming, “Get your fucking hands off of me you old pervert.”
He replied, “Oh, I’m sorry…it’s just the way you fell.”
Amber was feeling sick about the situation and began crying. I had forewarned her but she didn’t listen. I convinced her to report him for sexual harassment. In a casino, sexual harassment cases happen everyday and most go unpunished. She felt more confident about it because I was a witness. The next day at work, I learned that Amber had quit and no charges had been filed. I am quite sure they took her in a back office and threatened or scared her. Fred told me and I quote, “If you ever say anything about me again, you are finished…and I mean six feet under. I know people who can make you disappear.”
I retorted, “What? You’re threatening my life? The last three people who threatened me ended up dead or paralyzed and I didn’t have to know any ‘people’ – I did it myself,” hey, if you play hardball with me, I up the stakes. The storm blew over after a few weeks. I feel bad I ever said that to him. Read on and see why.
The Sickening Cook Incident
I was on lunch break and ordered a hamburger and fries at the employee cafeteria. I specifically asked for no cheese. I received my meal and noticed cheese on my burger. I asked the cook, a gay black guy named Bobby to to please make me another burger as I didn’t want cheese. I could see into the kitchen – apparently, the cook didn’t know I could see him. He bit the cheese off of my burger (with his saliva drizzling mouth) and spit it into the garbage. My eyes almost popped out of my head in disbelief. He wrapped it back up and brought it to me. I took it to my manager, the perverted Fred, and told him what happened. Even he was disgusted and said he would fire the cook. A little while later he said, “The cook said he would call the NAACP. He said you just don’t like him because he is black. Besides, he said you are lying…sorry dude.”
So the cook kept his job, but I was viewed as the bad employee…again.
The Evil Manager Incident
I was out $5.00 for my oral infected hamburger and was told to shut up or I would be fired. You have to understand that the main boss, another creepy old bastard named Russel, just so happened to despise me. I am quite sure that Russel was responsible for all this but couldn’t prove it.
The first day I ever worked there, the main manager Russel, screamed at me, “Hey boy…yes you! Do this, do that!”
I screamed back at him, “Don’t ever talk to me like that. You will treat me like a person.”
After that day, he hated my guts. I was the only person out of 50 employees in his department that actually screamed back at him, as difficult as that is to believe. Alright. Now to the most unbelievable aspect of all:
The Twilight Zone Occurrences
My days off were Tuesday and Wednesday. I checked my schedule on Monday and stayed home on Tuesday and Wednesday, just like my schedule ordered. I was fired on Thursday because they changed my days off Monday night – after I went home! They said it was my responsibility to recheck the schedule Tuesday morning, before enjoying my normal days off.
- Two weeks after I was fired, the manager Russel had a stroke and was paralyzed from the waist down. He also suffered severe memory loss and will live the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
- A year later, the cook who chewed the cheese off my hamburger, was murdered in a crack-deal-gone-bad by gang members.
- My manager Fred had a massive coronary and is now dying of lung cancer and emphysema.
- I saw the waitress Amber recently working – of all places – as a waitress serving hamburgers at a Sonic drive thru. She still has a great body and is quite beautiful; however, her teeth are all rotted out and she’s married to a crack dealer. She didn’t remember who I was. She said, “I think I worked at the Copa Casino, but that was back in the day and it’s all just a fog.”
I thought to myself, “Back in the day? Hahahaha….you’re only 22 or so and it happened just a few years ago.” Thank God they fired me from that place before I ended up next on the grim reaper’s list. I often wonder if I had placed an evil curse on them. Nowadays, I try my best to handle things more wisely. The final incident was the casino being destroyed by a hurricane. It’s definitely from the twilight zone.
*The picture is from Hurricane Katrina Damage Photos – Mississippi Gulf Coast. Check out all the incredible pictures by clicking the link.
While I could get many types of jobs, some more respectable than others, few can equate the starting pay of casino bartending. I have many years of experience in it and need to make enough money to pay for my 3rd round of college. Believe it or not, I’ve had over one-hundred different types of jobs in my life. I am truly a jack of all trades.
I am taking a brutally honest look at working as a casino bartender and I don’t even care if what I write here gets me fired; I can simply go work at another casino, there are plenty here. Besides, these people don’t read blogs anyway. If someone is good at it, they can easily make $50,000.00 per year; that’s less than half of what could be made in Las Vegas but is still a hefty starting pay.
casino bar
Drugs, cutthroat politics and prostitution are the name of the game. It’s generally a terrible job for a young person with a drug habit. However, someone who is above these problems can do very well. Within three days of working, I already knew 23 drug dealers who openly sold drugs – while on duty – to customers, game dealers, casino management and of course bartenders and cocktail waitresses.
Many cocktail waitresses and bartenders I’ve personally worked with have nasty drug habits (including myself, but I’ve since quit drugs). While working during a busy shift, I overheard two girls complaining about getting a much needed break so they could get a fix. To fit in, a bartender’s relationship to the waitresses must be open and honest.
I am experienced enough to know how to deal with the situation. Though I no longer use drugs, drink or smoke – I must appear to be “cool” with those who do. They must be comfortable with me as 20% of their personal tips come to me. In turn, between 15-20% of my tips go to the barback (the guy who keeps my liquor rack full, washes my glasses and helps me keep the bar clean). A good barback can make a lot of money but it is an extreme, physically demanding job.
The Story of Two Cocktail Waitresses
cocktail waitresses
When my waitresses came back from their break, I could tell the girls were highly intoxicated – not on cocaine or meth, so I guessed it was heroin or something similar. I made 31 drinks for waitressX. While waiting for me to finish, she slightly lowered her head and puked a mighty stream into a large garbage bin next to the bar.
I said, “Three points! Good shot…you didn’t spill a drop!”
She wiped her face with a bar napkin and giggled, “Hehehe…you’re so funny Bobby! I snorted oxycodone ( a powerful narcotic alkaloid used as an analgesic and sedative), it always upsets my stomach!”
The other inebriated waitress said, “That’s nothing.”
She stood three feet away from the trash can, put her hands on her hips and in true American fashion, proudly retched a more streamlined projectile – her stomach contents into the can – perfectly and with no splash back! She proclaimed, “That’s how it’s done…and I don’t even need a napkin.”
I stood in amazement by these two. I’ve done this job for years and this was my first cocktail waitress vomit spitting contest. After the shift slowed down, I was free to converse with these two lovely drug addicts. They are both twenty-one years old and incredibly beautiful (wait until they turn 30! They are in for a rude awakening if they live that long).
Because they had already lowered their guards, I knew I could give them a speech (a screed actually) about how they would end up dying from their actions. They were actually talking about going out after work to drink alcohol and snort cocaine!
I told them a story of three people I know who had died from mixing pain-killers and cocaine. It was quite a horrific tale which I thought would scare them. I was so wrong! They laughed and laughed, continually puking and spraying fluids from their nostrils. One told me, “You should be a professional comedian Bobby! That’s the funniest story I’ve ever heard. Don’t worry about us, we do this everyday!”
I was mortified, I couldn’t believe it! How could 21 year old girls be that far gone? Heroin, it turns out is their favorite drug and it is at epidemic levels here where I live. From the Mississippi Gulf Coast to New Orleans (which is around 120 miles from my house), heroin is available for school children. This is only where I live, I’m sure it’s nation wide. These two girls were doing all this right in front of the customers with absolute reckless abandon.
My sister, who is a child psychologist, deals with 7 year old heroin addicts every day. One important job that needs more people is drug counselors. The money isn’t great but the job’s importance is. I am personally thinking about becoming one. It’s unbelievable to see this going on. It’s impossible to keep drugs off the street, however, effectively educating people can be done.
Other Freakish Incidents
During the same shift, a guy was caught smoking crack outside during a smoking break and was escorted off premises by the police. I also witnessed a blackjack dealer selling pills across the table like they were casino chips!
I walked into the casino liquor room trying to find my barback. He was snorting cocaine off a case of Crown Royal. He said, “Wanna line? I only snort off of Crown Royal cases…that’s why I’m late…I had to get one out, we just got a shipment of liquor in!”
He grabbed a large garbage cart with wheels as I needed him to empty the puke filled bins near the bar because of the noxious odor. As we peregrinated back to the bar, he strutted stylishly pushing the cart and said, “Dude, I make pushing garbage look good.”
He then fixed his hair with a free hand in one of the many casino mirrors. I began feeling sick to my stomach because I know…this is reality.
The casino bar picture is from Matthew’s public gallery.
The cocktail waitresses in the picture are not the girls I work with.
Working as a bartender at many casinos and golf resorts throughout the years, I have met many famous people. Bartending might seem like a below average job to some of you, but rest assured the money is phenomenal. I loved bartending!
One really fun bartending job I took was at the Windance Country Club here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It was filled with rich jerks, cheating housewives and gossip so intense it made everyday a blast. I served giant glasses of liquor to prominent surgeons just before they went to perform an open heart surgery.
One doctor told me, “Gotta steady my nerves before I handle that scalpel!”
Brett Favre: Lord Of The Jerkoffs
The richer people are, the greedier they are. That’s a fact of life. A poor man could have a cheeseburger, but he’ll give you half of it if you’re hungry. If the guy is a millionaire, he’ll have his bodyguards throw you off a building if you ask for anything!
Brett Favre, record breaking quarterback for the Greenbay Packers, happened to come to the golf resort one day. He’s a local hero and several of my friends know him personally. He approached the bar and in a very rude tone, ordered, “Gatorade.”
Pretending to ignore him and and acting like I didn’t know who he was, I said, “Huh?”
He looked really mad after his 1st 9 holes of golf! He raised his voice a little more,”Gatorade.”
“What flavor?” I shot back in true, busy bartender fashion.
“I don’t care. . .just give me a Gatorade!” he almost screamed.
I handed him the Gatorade and he threw a dollar on the counter. He quickly turned and started walking off. In an extremely authoritative tone I said, “Hold on buddy! That dollar isn’t enough! It’s $3.50!”
He pulled out two very wet, nasty dollar bills. He flung them onto the bar, where they stuck like greasy, sweat laden noodles. He grunted like a wild boar looking for fifty-cents. He was red faced and furious ! He angrily threw a handful of change at the bar. It of course ended up on the floor.
I threw a glare of wicked viciousness through his skull and throated, “You had better watch that attitude punk! Nobody acts like that in here!”
He stormed out of the bar to go finish up his remaining game. Later that day, my boss asked me what happened. I explained that I thought he was one of the gardeners or maybe a cart boy. I never admitted that I knew who he was.
Worst of all, he didn’t tip! All those millions of dollars and he couldn’t give me a gratuity! I used to be a fan of his until that day.
My best day was when five Hawaiian Tropics models came in. They were all wearing bikini tops and tight shorts. They ordered five bottles of water from me.
I managed to keep the lovely ladies at the bar for almost an hour, and they were leaving! Their limo driver kept saying, “Hurry up girls, we are late!”
They ended up tipping me $80.00 for being so nice to them! The girls were very friendly and I had a load of fun talking to them! I was so caught up in the moment, I forgot to charge them for the water…LOL!!!!!
