2004-09-27 ~ 3:09 a.m.

Irish Eyes A Dealin'

Tonight's dealing story is all warm and fuzzy.

This Irish woman comes up and hands me $20. I ask her if she wanted singles or fives and she said, "I want the whole twenty on number 27." Easy enough. There was another guy on the table who had been there for awhile, so I looked at him and said, "You realize you're going to have to put some on 27 too." And he said, "It does seem like I'm obligated to." (Because he had been asking people for numbers all night.) Then this lady tells us that it's her sister's birthday, so she's playing 27 because it's the 27th, you see.

Now, when people do this, it is very rare that they hit. I mean, 1 out of 38 numbers, ya know. And can dealers purposely miss a number? You betcha. Missing one particular number isn't actually that hard. But, and I swear, I found it in my heart to not look at the wheel when I spin anymore. Even if it's someone I hate. I just think it should be up to the universe if someone should win or lose. (Disclaimer: though I say I can miss a number, there's still the randomness of the bounce, so, eh.)

Anyway, I spin this thing, I hear it bounce, I look over and it bounces right into number 27. I start jumping up and down and say "It's 27! It's 27!!"... and she starts screaming and screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH HOLY FUCK!!!" Then her friend that was there said, "Pardon her Irish," which I found incredibly funny. The best part was that she had absolutely no clue how much she had won.

And for those of you not in the know, she had won $700.

She screamed for a few more minutes after I handed her the money. She was so happy, we took a polaroid of her, and I signed it from "Dealer Extraordinaire".

Generally, when people unexpectedly win this month and get all excited, they usually forget to tip. Not to mention that they were from Ireland. No one in the world tips like Americans do, so I really hadn't expected anything from her. And that's what I got before I left the table, but I was still happy for her, so I gave her a congratulatory squeeze on the arm on my way out of the pit to go on break.

20 minutes later I came back, but I went to a different table, and she came over and said, "I'm sorry I forgot earlier. Thank you." And she gave me $20. And, yeah, that's not even a 3% tip... but whatever, who's counting? :)

I don't do it for the money. I do it for the love.

Also, drinking and cooking don't mix.

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