Where are the friendly blackjack dealers?

Sit back and observe a table, the dealer (and boss) personality/interaction.  Agree there are more sour/straight faces than in years past, Strip or elsewhere.  I look for the friendly ones.  Also, friendly chatty players can turn a sour vibe around sometimes.  

Changing the subject a little:  Recently I tried to goad Strip dealers into saying how awful it was for them during the F1 race.  As in, did they hate it?  Tired?  Sore feet?  Player complaints?  Were certain, e.g. international players rude or low/no tippers?  Honestly, to a man/gal, they all said yeah it was busy but "it was fun".  I pointedly asked about tips, did theirs (overall) increase during F1 due to high traffic/play?  Several said that while high volume of play of course filled the tip boxes quicker, management had brought on more dealers as needed which seemed to even out the overall take.  Of course my 'scouting report' on this pretty much involved maybe six dealers at one high end Strip casino, so can't take that info to the bank.

Candy

This was probably a situation where the dealers weren't going to tell you the real story, for fear of retribution if they were overheard by their bosses. The FU-1 was actually a nightmare for people who worked on the Strip, because (anecdotally), the construction tripled the amount of time it took to reach or cross that area. As far as was it lucrative for dealers--well, the period of the actual race was short, so it couldn't have been that much of a gold mine, even if the tables were flooded with drunken rich folks who actually toked.

But insofar as whether you received honest answers--I'm reminded of an old Wizard of Id comic strip, where the King of Id is taking a visiting dignitary for a walk through his kingdom and his guest stops and asks a peasant what life in Id is like. The peasant says, "I can't complain," and the dignitary asks, "Why not?" The peasant replies, "It's forbidden."

I noticed that even 3 weeks after the race they were demolishing the building which was / is located across Ellis Island. AT that pace, they will soon have to start to assemble the bars again for the next race in a few months. what a joke!!!

In my experience the dealers arent the issue  - its the other players at the table.   For some reason blackjack attracts gambling degenerates more so than any other game - and they tend to blame everyone else around them for their losing hands.     I find the vibe at craps tables to be alot more friendly - but I digress.

Workplace morale starts at the top.  In a casino the  pit bosses and floor managers set the tone.  If they are nasty and mean to their dealers then the dealers tend to hate their job.   Finding dealers that satisfy your requirements comes with trial and error until you find the right vibe.      For me - El Cortez, Main St Station, and Stratosphere have always been fun table game joints.     Ellis Island too if you can get a spot.        

Well, in my dealing experience--which is admittedly over three decades ago--there were stupidvisors, at all levels, who positively frowned on my or other dealers' being too friendly with the customers. I was told two different times, by two different floormen, "Your job isn't to socialize with the customers, it's to take their money." I honestly don't know if or to what extent that vibe persists, but I'm sure there are still dealers, and even pit bosses and floor supervisors, who were trained and think that way. Back then, and maybe now, they seemed to think that a dealer who is "too chummy" with the customers might be cheating in their favor.

I absolutely think that no one should give their business to a place/table with a stonefaced dealer. A player who bets the $15 minimum is ponying up $900 an hour. I spend that type of money, I expect more than grim silence from the person who is taking it.

    Surly dealers only cost themselves possible tokes and bets with their attitude. As long as they deal professionally, I don't care if they smile or chat - just deal the cards. They are there to take your money - and you are there to take the casinos money. 

Yes, dealers who don't bother to interact with the customers probably do cost themselves tokes. Unlike you, most people do care if the dealer is pleasant, and they generally expect to lose but want to have an enjoyable experience, regardless of the outcome. In fact, most customers are not there to take the casino's money--they're there to have a good time.

could there have been a communication problem between the supervisor and the dealer? From my prospective the supervisor is right, and the dealer is right. There are times at which it is extremely important for the dealer to proceed dealing and handle the game at a certain pace. During those times it is not a good idea to halt the game and discuss with the player the best dining options in town.  A good dealer knows when to put the conversation mode at a minimum. That is when a lot of money is involved and the game is getting serious.  

A lot of times I have been sitting at a table and wanted to play my game and then I noticed that the dealer was not particularly interested in his job and preferred having a nice conversation and in a consequence slowed down the game. You see this all the time, especially when a player starts flirting with the dealer or vice versa.

If the game is head-to-head and it's 3 a.m. and it doesn't bother anybody else, then it's absolutely ok to increase the conversation level. 

I would not necessarily blame the bad supervisor when he said "you are there to take the money". The supervisor could have explained it in a bit different way so the dealer would understand it.  

You have no idea what a tremendous impact it has when a good player leaves the casino because the dealer prefers to talk to a friend at the table or starting a flirt conversation while the other player is losing. That person might get up and walk and never return. And tell his friends about it who will also not come to play anymore.  Think about. 

Two sides of the coin. Just like Starbucks wants you to be friendly and engage with the customers, but also make the damn coffee; people are waiting. When I dealt, I made sure that I didn't stop the game to have a conversation. After my first week or so dealing, I found that the job itself was occupying maybe a fifth of my brain--a ronot, and a pretty dumb robot at that, could have done it. But my cottage-cheese brained stupidvisor assumed that by talking to the customers, I was slowing down the game.

The opposite of your scenario is when someone comes to Vegas and is dealt to by a zombie while losing. That person may also never return.

There are so many casinos in Las Vegas that one doesn't really need to put up with a lot of guff, a lot of inattention, or a zombie dealer.  I usually come to LV at least once a year (2023 was the first time since 2011 that I didn't visit), and there are casinos I barely even think about patronizing. 

One that starts with a C and whose parent corporation is named for it comes to mind.  Craps and blackjack dealers who spend much more time talking to their visiting-while-off-duty friends, constant attempts at short paying, and "supervisors" who won't even try to fix things and who suggest that one play elsewhere--well, I've taken them up on that offer.

Now at my favorite casino back here at home, the problem isn't so much the dealers as the players.  My God, the ignorance and the lack of (un)common courtesy is maddening.  Worse than the fact that the dealers can't correct the players without getting heat from manglement is that even when corrected, the players do the same darned thing.  Heaven forbid that any one should do like a pit boss did at a table at Sunset Station where I was playing a few years back, a craps shooter whose time with the dice each roll could have been timed with a calendar, and give the staller the heave-ho.  "Sir, you have been instructed repeatedly to throw the dice within 30 seconds, and you keep on playing with them instead of throwing them.  You're done."