Many many moons ago, there was a Question of the Day about how dealers run off stiffs from their tables. I was reminded of it last weekend at my local casino when a big winner walked away without tipping and the dealer muttered, just loud enough for the rest of us to hear, "Thanks for nothing, champ." I went looking for the old QoD, but couldn't find it. Can you rerun it, please and thank you.
More than happy to. This is one of our favorites -- from way back in 2008.
A dealer might do any of the following:
** make disparaging comments about how the stiff played his hand to embarrass him.
** tell the other players that had the stiff played his hand correctly, the dealer would have busted and everyone would have won.
** pitch a stiff's card off the table, so he had to get up and retrieve the card(s) from the floor, or actually hit the stiff with the cards, or skip over the him by "forgetting" to deal to him
** knock over a stiff's drink, so it spills onto his lap. This is an advanced move; it takes a lot of finesse to make it look like an accident.
** at craps, whack a stiff with the stick -- again, by "accident."
** create a misdeal if the stiff gets a good hand. (This is done by purposely dealing the house too many cards, dropping the deck, knocking the shoe off the table, etc. Such actions render all hands and wagers dead.)
** discreetly alert the cocktail waitress that a player doesn't tip, so she avoids him or "forgets" his drink if he orders one.
** run over the stiff by pressuring him to hurry up and make a decision as to hit, double, or stand. (This is highly unnerving and makes a player feel like there's a spotlight on him.)
** place the table's one ashtray in front of the stiff so that he's inundated with smoke.
** tell the stiff how to play each and every hand (incorrectly, of course).
** take one of the checks from the stiff's winning payoff and asking, "One for the boys, sir?"
You might've noticed that these ways and means are ordered from least to most aggressive. Certainly, dealers are trained to handle tipping etiquette gracefully and to avoid comments that could be seen as judgmental, confrontational, or intrusive. But sometimes, they just can't help themselves.
