Pretty good Downtown Grand offer

Yeah, if you come from someplace like Texas, Oklahoma, or the Deep South, where summers are truly awful, a Vegas summer might seem like an actual improvement. A 100-day degree there is unbearable; in Vegas, that's almost pleasant.

The thing to watch out for, therefore, is when it's going to be not 100, but 110 or higher. At that level, any activity outside, even just walking, is essentially impossible. There's just too much raw energy pouring down on you.

It used to be that you only encountered those really hot days in July and August. But thanks to that liberal hoax climate change, June and September can be pizza oven time as well.

Well, this here may be an understatement, but there's certainly some truth behind: I say that your tipping system is a failure. It seems to me that every good American gets this habit  like a vaccine shot  when he's young that he has to tip everybody who does you a favor. If you're undertipping (stiffing) then you're a bad guy. Europeans, and I know that, have a different mentality and they tip less because the companies pay the wages, not the customers. America has a different attitude in this regards. So, once this is said, let's go a little deeper into the subject: Let' say you're a poker dealer and you mostly depend on the tips that you get from dealing in cash games. On a good night, you perhaps make 250 (280, 350, I have no idea), but in a good casino and in a good game, you may make something around that.  On a bad day, or when you call in, then you get zero tips. You're suffering because you make less money than you are supposed to. The house may pay you a few bucks / hour, but that  can't make you rich and is not enough to pay your bills. Please correct me if I am wrong.    And what if you have gambling blood inside of you? Your shift is over, you had a good day , you made these 350 in that night. You were dealing in a soft and loose game and the chips are flying across the table. You are not tired and it's allowed to gamble at your casino while you're not at work. You grab your jacket to make you look not so much like a casino worker and maybe some people don't recognize you rightaway). You have a bad run and you go through your tipping money. Or you get tilt and get crushed in the craps pit afterwards.  Your whole day's work was for the birds.

Same applies to cocktail waitresses that I sometimes see sitting on a slot machine after their shift is over.  Do you think they're winning all the time? Or do you think they're just playing 25 dollars before heading home?

These were just 2 examples of a group of people that may be in trouble the older they get. But there are many many more of these groups.  I believe in self-discipline. And I just don't believe that all of the people that I see on the streets of Vegas are people that had simply bad luck. I know some people that live in Vegas, gamble little, don't have much, but have a job. There are jobs in Vegas, but you have to have a plan for your life. 

And, you don't have to be  capitalist to make money in Europe. But if you're not a capitalist, it's not a free ride into retirement. IT's not that Europe is good and America is bad. I am just saying that if you work in the world where tipping is part of it, you have to understand that every time you tip (or better, overtip), then you are doing somebody a favor, which is to your disadvantage. Whether you like this, or not. It's the cold truth. And this doesn't make us Europeans bad people if we tip on the lower end of the scale.

It's a simple reality: minimum wage, having not been adjusted for something like three decades, is simply not even remotely close to what is needed to live on. Even worse, in many states, restaurant servers can be paid a submininum wage, which last time I checked, was $2.13 an hour. Ridiculous!

The individual states have the power to mandate larger minimum wages. Whether that is done or not is heavily dependent on the politics of a given state. Red states settle for the federal minimum of just over $7/hr. Washington, Oregon, California...it's $15 or higher.

So when you characterize the tipping system/culture as a "failure," I'd say, well, then, what would be your solution? Force restaurants, casinos, etc. to pay for their employees a living wage? Well, in blue states, that's what's been done. However, casinos in blue states are mostly in tribal land, and they'te not obligated to pay the state's minimum wage, though many do.

I think you're overcharacterizing (is that a word?) dealers and what they do with their tokes. Sure, some stay afterwards and blow it. But the vast majority don't. And having dealt in Vegas and Reno for right years, I can attest that nothing makes you want LESS to gamble than watching people blow their bankrolls all day.

I also think that you're succumbing to a trope, that the streets of Vegas are filled with people who ruined their lives because they couldn't cure their gambling bug. Sure, there are some such people, but not nearly as many as popular perceptions say. The reason? Simple. It's possible to be a disciplined gambling addict in Vegas and survive. Pay your rent, buy food, and blow the rest. Even $50 can last all day in penny slots or nickel video poker.

Lastly, I don't think most people feel shamed or obligated to tip. It's simply both part of the culture and an economic reality. Without tipping, that waiter or dealer simply wouldn't be there. And if they were paid fairly, your meals would cost more and your gambling would be more expensive.

It may seem like I'm defending the American socioeconomic model. I'm not. I actually think the European model is superior. But Vegas isn't part of Europe. (Some say it isn't part of planet Earth.)

I was thinking whether or not answer this all but since I realized that we have different opinions and this whole talk leads no nowhere I decided not to.  I respect your tradition and do my share of tipping.  I'm glad it's just for a few weeks each time, because the way I gamble and dine-out, it would go into the thousands that I'd be tipping all year through. And this, with all due respect, is money that would be missing in my pockets. You do what you want, and I have the free life to visit whenever I want.  I still believe that even some of your fellow citizens have also started of thinking about this entire system. The people involved (staff) or the people constantly tipping all year through. 

You don't seem to understand that if the tipping culture didn't exist, the casinos (and every other business sector where tipped employees abound) would charge more for the services you get and the goods you buy--because they'd have to pay their employees more. The costs to you are roughly equivalent either way.

So if we suddenly outlawed tipping tomorrow, that money would still be leaving your pockets; it would just go directly to the employer instead of the employee. I would actually prefer it that way, but there wouldn't be any savings involved.

I'm also from Oklahoma, so the lack of humidity IN LV makes the summer tolerable.

BTW, the camel jocks have shouted Death to America since '79. They actually mean it. The world will be a safer place without a nuclear Iran. Love him or hate him, Trump will eliminate that threat for the next 25 years. Quit complaining about short-term hikes in gasoline.  It's still cheaper than it was under the previous administration.  It's $3.05 in OKC and is still dropping. 

Wow - what a surprise. An intelligent discussion gets fire-bombed by the cult...

Perhaps you should go to the Sink and start an "I love Noble Dear Leader Trump and I want to have his baby' thread. You will find kindred souls there.

Yes, Kevin, I am fully aware of the points you mentioned. do not underestimate my common sense. The point I was trying to bring up but what probably hasn't got to you yet is the fact that the whole tipping system within has too many loop holes and that's why is a failure. The government doesn't get its share from it (the tax) because it can only estimate a certain amount that people earn from the tips but don't have a clear figure. And with all the restaurants and the people in the industry together you know exactly what that mean.    If the restaurants and casinos etc would be forced to pay a FAIR PAYCHECK for their staff then the whole system would be a little more....organized. People would know at the cashier what they have to pay is what they owe. The employees would be able to calculate with their paycheck negotiated with the company before being hired. The system would work.

I know that I would not pay less because restaurant prices would have to go up but restaurant owners would have a different calculation of course, and so would have the casinos. But then, after all, I see 6:5 black jack and triple zero roulette in Las Vegas and ask myself: wtf is going on? And I see a 12 dollar coffee at the express coffee stand in the hallway of a major strip resort , plus tax, plus tip of course. And I also ask myself ...wtf.

I know it's pointless to discuss it, because the system will not change. The rich are getting richer, and the people that don't handle to swim along inside the pond will go down. pure and simple.  

Your president believes by coming up with new tarrifs every other week or so he can solve the financial problems your country is in. Tarriffs have never been the solution. But as long as people believe that they have to have a big car to impress their neighbour and the newest iphone ever, always paid on credit card debt, then it's their problem. I find it just a bit hard to dig myself out of a hole I have created by myself by falling into this trap and buy and buy and spend money that I don't own. From that perspective, I can tell you, Kevin, yes, we Europeans are different from the American way of life.  But if you like to pay 30 per cent annual interest on your credit card charges, be my guest. I love to buy stocks of the credit card companies that are in the business to take out people that do not understand what the real way to go could look like. 

From Switzerland 

Boris

Thanks for putting this up!   This would be a nice little gem for folks planning a trip that didn't have any other offers (and might be better than some folks offers!)

Appreciate it!