Here we go again!
Almost a year to the date, give or take few months, I went through a company's attempt to control costs at their employees expense. I was one of 50 laid off their full-time job with little more than, "your job has been eliminated." I survived. I went a month unemployed without benefits because of a technicality of my having been a full-time student prior until that is I found a job with one of the big casino's that border the Lake. I was thrilled for many reasons, but one that made me the happiest was one comment I was told upon hire. "In our thirteen year history, we have never laid anyone off and if we find that the work your doing isn't the best match, we'll find you something else to do in the company. We never lay anyone off."
Fast forward eight months and I'm shocked, as many are, to find these words not true anymore.
Last week, all the dealers had their hours cut by a full day. It was supposed to be temporary until business picked back up again. With the economy so bad right now, the trickle has finally traveled down to us. Without guests gambling, eating in the restaurants, etc it makes good business sense (I suppose) to do this as the backlash only hurts us by affecting our toke rate. This generally speaks for all positions across the casino.
Then last week as well, rumors began to fly about fifty supervisors and dealers being laid off and random drug testing being done to weed people out. None of these claims could be confirmed and when I left Saturday morning after my shift was up, I pushed all these concerns to the back of my mind with warm days ahead and fun things planned taking priority.
Yesterday was my first day back in a few and I missed quite a bit it seems. I was a bit confused before I began when I noticed a sign-up sheet for differing shifts. It struck me odd, but I quickly picked up the day they had cut from me only finding out the reasons for so many openings afterward. Supposedly every day since Monday, they've been doing "sweeps" and pulling people off their games or catching them before their shift began and telling them to go to the HR (human resource) department and given their walking papers. Reasons are many and diverse. Game knowledge, points, call-offs, evaluation. It depended on the person and what position they held. All reasons though seemed more like excuses and who they picked and why, random. Some awesome workers and good friends of mine, both supervisors and otherwise, have been laid off this week. Tuesday they had fifteen people walked off the boat by security. One woman I heard was in tears as she had just closed on a new home and was the sole money maker in the family. It's all sad and the general atmosphere at work is one of anxiety. No on knows who might be next and some say they'll be continuing these "sweeps" till the end of next week though others say just till the end of this one. It's horrible with all the whispers going around without solid fact behind it and only adds to the stress many are feeling.
I'm just hoping I'll have a job myself. I have never called off, never been late, I know 5 games and my last evaluation was with perfect marks, but even this doesnt make me feel any safer. Better people than I, and ones with more seniority have lost their job in the past few days.
Fast forward eight months and I'm shocked, as many are, to find these words not true anymore.
Last week, all the dealers had their hours cut by a full day. It was supposed to be temporary until business picked back up again. With the economy so bad right now, the trickle has finally traveled down to us. Without guests gambling, eating in the restaurants, etc it makes good business sense (I suppose) to do this as the backlash only hurts us by affecting our toke rate. This generally speaks for all positions across the casino.
Then last week as well, rumors began to fly about fifty supervisors and dealers being laid off and random drug testing being done to weed people out. None of these claims could be confirmed and when I left Saturday morning after my shift was up, I pushed all these concerns to the back of my mind with warm days ahead and fun things planned taking priority.
Yesterday was my first day back in a few and I missed quite a bit it seems. I was a bit confused before I began when I noticed a sign-up sheet for differing shifts. It struck me odd, but I quickly picked up the day they had cut from me only finding out the reasons for so many openings afterward. Supposedly every day since Monday, they've been doing "sweeps" and pulling people off their games or catching them before their shift began and telling them to go to the HR (human resource) department and given their walking papers. Reasons are many and diverse. Game knowledge, points, call-offs, evaluation. It depended on the person and what position they held. All reasons though seemed more like excuses and who they picked and why, random. Some awesome workers and good friends of mine, both supervisors and otherwise, have been laid off this week. Tuesday they had fifteen people walked off the boat by security. One woman I heard was in tears as she had just closed on a new home and was the sole money maker in the family. It's all sad and the general atmosphere at work is one of anxiety. No on knows who might be next and some say they'll be continuing these "sweeps" till the end of next week though others say just till the end of this one. It's horrible with all the whispers going around without solid fact behind it and only adds to the stress many are feeling.
I'm just hoping I'll have a job myself. I have never called off, never been late, I know 5 games and my last evaluation was with perfect marks, but even this doesnt make me feel any safer. Better people than I, and ones with more seniority have lost their job in the past few days.