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So I just beat Royal about 2 weeks ago and had an absolute blast. 10/10 would do again
Whist playing, however, I actually made a list of everything I personally discovered, though some things may be wrong.
If you want to add anything to the list, suggestions are appreciated!! And if you notice any mistakes, please tell me and I'll fix it up a bit, thanks!!
Oh, and there are no 3rd semester spoilers! I only wrote down things between the first day and Christmas day, so don't worry about anything too major in this post djsjshks and I didn't write much about any of the Palaces besides from story related things
Anyway, here's literally everything I wrote down!! Enjoy, my dudes 🤠

The Atlus/Criwear intros have now been improved, with Atlus's intro having a bit of Joker at the start doing Jokery things
The loading screen for starting up the game now includes the PTs logo with 3 spotlights
Palace "distortions" that can be seen surrounding the screen now have a new look
You can now see the sillohetes of future party members in the Casino
The dialogue between Futaba and Ryuji are now actual dialogue boxes, not side dialogue that you'd see in Mementos
Loading screens are SO much faster and the "walking" loading screens now include more people
You can see Takemi walking towards the clinic when you arrive in Yogen
The scene after you cleanup your room, and going to school is now fully voiced
Sojiro generally has a kinder tone
The "New day" screen now has gone through some improvements. The clouds now move!!
Kawakami will accidentally hand you something whilst giving you your student ID. She quickly takes it back though before you can see it. Most likely maid service stuff
The ride back home now has additional dialogue of the road being extra packed at the end of Sojiro's monologue
You can meet Ohya interrogating a Station officer about the train crash
Arsène now has an "è" in his name
Arsène also talks with a "shouting" dialogue box. It's like a normal dialogue box, but it's shouting now
Not sure if this was in the original or not, but Ryuji has a bit of extra dialogue for him throwing the key away (not much, just a simple "ngh" but still)
The "ugh woe is me I'm a teacher and he's late boo hoo" is now voiced
A fuck tone of dialogue has been rewritten to sound better. Definitely an improvement
Sae now mentions what Kamoshida's crimes were ("He was guilty of everything - the abuse, the... violations...") (I think I'm not sure tho jdhdgh)
Kawakami when shittalking Ryuji will now get cutoff as soon as he approaches
While Ryuji waits for you on the roof, you can find Haru on the 3rd floor talking to a teacher!!! The teacher says how they'll leave the rooftop open so she go to the planters that she volunteered to take care of
The planters are already on the rooftop. I'm not sure if it was there last time in the original, but if it's not, it's a cool touch lmao
Sojiro's scolding for ditching half a day is now rewritten a bit +new dialogue options for Akiren
New dialogue from Justine about how neglecting your fate will lead to his death
New Kasumi scene
New Ushimaru question (The answer is Villians, or C)
New student thoughts scene talking about Kasumi
Kamoshida + Ann scene is now voiced + rewritten
Ryuji's search for the castle is now voiced (though it could've been in the original, in not sure)
Palaces now start at 40% security when you enter instead of 0%
After going through the Palace and meeting Morgana again, the dialogue of them going back into the Palace + so much more that I'm not bothered to write is now voiced
Safe room enterences are now all wiggly and distorted
Ammo is now replenished after battles
Morgana will ask after the gun tutorial if you want to directly command him or act freely instead of making new players go to the menu and find it
New scene of Ryuji and you discussing plans to take down Kamoshida + Goro and Sae walking in the background
New IM background. Messages now have sakura petals floating in the background
Whilst you're stuck at Leblanc, unable to go out, you can up all your stats! Studying at the booth helps your Knowledge, making Coffee ups your Charm, making Curry helps your guts, you can now clean Leblanc to up your Kindness (+some points for Sojiro if he's there) and making Tools helps your Proficiency!
Ann + Shiho can be seen walking in the background at 4/13
Some students walking to school now have voices
After the rally, Ryuji complaints about Kamoshida are now voiced
One victim of Kamoshida that you interrogate now has a voice
Students you can listen into now have a slighty darker "chatter" icon once you talk to them. Same with the "whisper" icon
Wrong answers to Ryuji's question about any names turning up are now voiced
After school when Morgana tells you about changing hearts, there's a little scene where you can get the students options on Ann
The scene after you chase Ann is now voiced
Ryuji post-suicide scene is now voiced
Makoto can be found post-suicide scene right outside the courtyard talking to a teacher about Shiho's suicide (Teacher's worried about it turning into a scandal while Makoto's like "bro wtf what about the fucking student??? Huh????")
Ryuji post running off to the PE office is now voiced
Ryuji shakes his arms when he gets pissed off at Kamoshida
Shadow Kamoshida's speech to the Knights after you enter the palace is now voiced + the scene after that
When a new weapon is found in a treasure chest, the person it belongs to will ask if you want to equip the item
After Ann's awakening, there's a little scene of the crew returning to the real world and talking about what the hell just happened
Sae's dialogue about Ann has changed
Sojiro tells you to "Stay upstairs while we're open for business." Not sure if it's in the original, but it's also voiced
Takemi has a new voice actor!!!
God, fuck, there's so many new voice lines, I'm not gonna put them in anymore since there's so MANY. I'll just mention important scenes that have voices from now on
Friends that go to Shujin will sometimes catch up to you and you'll both walk to school together
Some new people appear on Yongen street when you go to Takemi's for the first time! There's a stern old man who can't hear you (he thinks you're talking about Kindergarten), there's a talkative women (who actually mentions a "very good doctor who's very reliable." Possibly the Doc from Takemi's Route?) And a sick man who says he wants to go in, but doesn't have the guts. (alluding to Takemi needing Guts to rank up)
Iwai's first meeting is now voiced
Kawakami will talk to you after Kamoshida tries to get you expelled. There's now a new scene with Kawakami, Kamoshida and Kasumi
New student comments about you + Kasumi
There are new "thoughts" when quick traveling down near the lower right-hand side of the screen that give you hints (e.g. when hovering over the Library, it says "I think I could improve my Knowledge...")
By sitting on the toilet, you can find out how close you are to improving your stats
You can see your friends (Makoto, Haru, ect) walk to school
New Hiruta question (The answer is they're both the same, or C)
There is now a tutorial for baton passing since it's no longer a confidant ability
Chests now have a weird glitchy sound to them
Some items will give you some additional moves (Wind Ring will give you Garu, ect)
The twins will have new features for you in the Velvet room after you secure the route to the treasure.
The "Next Day" screen's weather will change depending on the weather in game
On 4/21, you can see Makoto and Sae hanging out in the background
The "Next Day" screen will also change when you send the calling card! A card will fly into the date instead of a dagger and the sky will become black and red
You cannot resell guns to Iwai anymore
The Palace security will actually go up to 100% when you send the Calling Card, not 99% like in the original
The Ass Chalice now has a sound effect for when you break it
Shiho and Mishima now appears as apart of Kamoshida's boss fight
New question, forgot which teacher tho (the answer is D, or all of them)
Morgana will tell you to work on your Kindness so you can talk to Ann
Confidants will now sometimes call you
Confidants will also have a little after scene after you hang out with them, mostly by phone call
The amount of people on the train will change depending on the time of day
You can get multiple choices for what to buy from the Home shopping channel now
Teachers will now sometimes call on your dumbass friends and ask them questions. Be a bro and help them out
New Kawakami question (answer is B, you stand by it no matter what, and then C, you have a duty to correct it)
Sometimes, when you're at the trainstation, confidants will come to talk to you. They are now voiced
New Usami question (the answer is B, or Four Colour Theorem)
Achievements for destroying Palaces have different titles now
Walking around the Wilton Buffet to get food is now voiced
Thieves Den, baby!!!!!!
Kawakami's lecture about Kamoshida is now voiced
When Kawakami goes on to explain multiple personalities and stuff like that, Akiren sits up a bit
There are more Chalk throwings by Ushimaru
The Library assistant will actually apologize to you if you spend enough time at the library!
New Kawakami question (Answer is Fatal Woman, or C)
The Monamobile will now purr when you rub the touch pad, and will yowl when you press it
Ryuji's Rank 5 now starts with a little scene of you two entering the alley to Protein Lovers gym (probably to show players where the gym is)
You can now also quick travel to the gym when you enter it
New Inui question (The answer is the Heian period, or C)
When traveling to places such as Inokashira Park, the windows on the train can change depending on the weather and scenery
New scene on 5/11. A school assembly is apparently happening on 5/13 after exams. Enter Maruki (He's the Counciler!!)
Maruki can now ask you questions in the classroom (Answer is the Placebo effect, or C)
The Morgana train button mash incident is now voiced
New scene on how to get to Madarame's shack
New Inui question (the answer is Hokusai Katsushika, or B)
New Usami question (the answer is 1:1.414, or B)
Treasure demon fights now have a new effect for when you enter battles with them (not unlike Disaster enemies, but this time it's yellow and sparkly)
New Chouno question (Answer is Together, or C, then Senses, or B, and then "Senses coming together," or B)
On 5/24, Kawakami announces a public cleanup campaign that the school will be participating in on the 30th
In Madarame's Palace, instead of you having to travel all the way back to the beginning to traverse the paintings, you can hop back in where you exited out of
Madarame's security guard is now no longer origami man, but instead it's this weird, blue angel dude with like a seashell horn?? Sorry idk all of the Persona names
New Kawakami question (The answer is Authur Conan Doyle, or B)
Operation Maidwatch is now voiced!
New Maruki class/question (The answer is the Halo effect, or B)
New scene with Ryuji, we're going to Kichijoji, baby!!!
When you unlock Lockdown during the Strength confidant, Lockdown will have a new feature called Incense. Incense will improve your Persona's focus and gives them more strength. You can find Incense not only in the Metaverse, but in daily life too.
The day when Ryuji forgets to change over to his Summer uniform, or 6/6, he will now catch up to you in the right uniform
The students walking around in the loading screens are now wearing their summer uniforms
Ann now wears a clover necklace with her Summer uniform (in her sprite atleast. Not sure if that was in the original)
Even MORE chalk throwing incidents with Ushimaru
New Kasumi scene
New Hiruta question (The answer is the number of legs, or C)
New Public Thoughts scene discussing Akechi and the Phantom Thieves (this is right before the Social Studies trip)
New Maruki class/question (The answer is Controlling public thought, or C)
Not sure if it's just me, but Kobayakawa seems a bit more of an asshole to Makoto
You actually exchange numbers with Akechi this time
New Hiruta question (The answer is Green, or B)
New Ushimaru question (The answer is Coins, or B)
Kinda newish scene of Makoto/Sae sister time? It's the same dialogue, but they're not eating this time and instead are talking in their living room
New scene of Makoto and Iida (the guy who got blackmailed by Kaneshiro and co.)
New scene of you and Ryuji finding the right line to take you to Shinjuku
The two trolls of Shinjuku scene has been rewritten.
New Usami question and Ann needs help answering it (The answer is Smartphone, or B)
Kaneshiro's introduction is now slighty different (the camera focuses on him talking to Makoto before zooming out and seeing her struggling on the floor)
New Inui question (The answer is a Pope, or C)
Kawakami's IM pfp has now been changed to her maid outfit
New scene on 6/25. Morgana/Ann's showtime introduction
When you enter Kaneshiro's palace, a dog enemy will spot you and will initiate a battle. You will be able to trigger Ann/Morgana's showtime!
New technical tutorial in the middle of Kaneshiro's palace since this is the first time you encounter enemies without weaknesses
Treasure demons will now sometimes appear in battles with other enemies
Kaneshiro's security cameras now have a sound effect for when they go out
In Kaneshiro's Palace, there's a miniboss right before the giant lock. In the og, right as you walked down the stairs, you were forced to fight before you could save in the safe room behind you. Now, in Royal, you can save before going to fight! (Credit to u/Theroonco for this fact!!)
Kaneshiro's palace now has golden doors you need to pay for to open up (Specifically 10,000 yen.) Fortunately, you can just beat the shit out of them to get them to open.
Kaneshiro's Guard near the end of the palace has been changed. Instead of Armless Brainless mcgee it's horse skeleton man with weird hat (again, idk persona names fdjdhsk)
Special animations will play for Caroline and Justice when lockdown is in effect
New lines from Caroline/Justine when lockdown is in effect
New Chouno question (The answer is Dogs, or C)
On 6/28, new scene with Ryuji/Makoto for their showtime introduction though the date may differ depending on your playthrough. I got mine just as I was about to send the calling card, so who knows?
New Kawakami question (The answer is Gold, or B)
Kaneshiro's entire first phase has been deleted. Instead, you just skip to Piggytron
Kaneshiro also now has 3 phases
New Inui question (The answer is Barbarian's Head, or C)
New Chouno question (The answer is Julius and Augustus, or B)
New Kawakami question (The answer is The Milky Way, or B and then Soumen Noodles, or A)
New Usami question (The answer is a Triangle, or D)
New Maruki class/question (The answer is Memories that last for a long time, or B, then Infinite, or C and finally Forever, or C)
New Makoto scene
New Kasumi/Goro scene (I literally gasped outloud as soon as I saw him I'm not kidding that really caught me by surprise dkdkshhs)
New Inui question (The answer is Thievery, or D)
New Maruki/Makoto scene
New scene with some Gossiping students taking shit about Kasumi and Maruki
New scene on 7/17!!! Festival, baby!!!!! + Ryuji/Yusuke showtime introduction
On the day of the fireworks festival, on the train loading screens, you can see people dressed up in Yukatas!
Not sure if it was in the game last time, but there's now dialogue of Medjed claiming to be modern day Robin Hoods
New scene with Ryuji asking you to check with people in your neighbourhood about Futaba
You can no longer slide down the sand in front of Futaba's Palace while in your normal attire
Anubis will now warn you if he'll perform Mudoon or Hamaon (Anublis tips towards Curse (Mudoon) / Bless (Hamaon) or Anus reset balance (if Anubis decides to stop the Insta kills))
New mementos rooms
New Treasure Demon dialogue if you already have that Treasure Demon in your party
I've also noticed that there are a lot more Treasure demons in Mementos, whether they spawn in or appear right after battle with another enemy
You can sometimes fall into the ground in Mementos
I'm not sure if this was in the original, but you cannot hang out with your confidants in certain areas if the weather is bad
The Big Bang challenge without the special on is 2000 yen on the burger's second phase and 2500 yen on burger's final form
Cognitive Wakaba's 1st phase has now been sped up. She will now dive down on her third turn
New animations for Futaba working in Necronomicon whilst she is talking to Sphinx Wakaba
New Cognitive Sphinx Wakaba + Futaba Dialogue
Just as jobs can now text you and ask if you can come in, Lala can now text you and ask if you can take a shift. She even has a unique Profile colour!
Also, more people will come in on Sundays to Crossroads. Instead of receiving 7200 yen, you'll get 12000 yen instead for your hard work
Kasumi's ending text (Unbreakable bond) is now different. Also, I think it was a different voice?? It said you gained a glimpse, not the ultimate secret though. Very interesting
Also, there's no new Persona for you to fuse for her and Kasumi herself doesn't get a new persona (I finished this before she even awakened so huh??? Wha???)
Futaba's integration into the PTs is now voiced
The Shinjuku Trolls/Lobster incident is now voiced
New scene of the Gang hanging out at the beach (it's animated, but it's one of the 3D ones with the models)
The Movie Theatre Mementos request is now right after Medjed's takedown, and you do not need to search for the name this time as Mishima just gives it to you. You can still find Yasuo Jochi (the target) at the movie theatre threating the old man
New scene on 8/30. Ryuji didn't do his Summer homework
The Takases (Kawakami's blackmail no-good doers) turn into the butterfly man and green girl fairy now (I think. I could've sworn they turned into a Succubus and an Incubus but who knows? I do remember fighting the enemies they turn into now though so again, who knows?)
Naguri (the guy that attacks indiscriminately and can be found out through gossip in the Flower shop) is also now a Kin Ki (again, not sure if it was in the og but I do not remember fighting a Kin Ki)
New Inui question (The answer is Prosperity, or C)
New Maruki class (The answer is Chronostasis, or B) (I'm also pretty sure the second hand stopping question was in the og, but now Maruki asks you the question.)
Not sure if this is actually in the fight, but whilst I was exploring the Thieves Den, I noticed Kamoshida (Monster oogly bloogly form) had a mini him on the Ann Cup.
The Yusuke Hawaii incident is now voiced
New scene with Kawakami
New scene with Maruki, Sojiro, Futaba and Morgana
New scene of the gang + Kasumi shopping for soveineurs (with an additional Haru in the background!!) (Also, unfortunately, instead of the original scene of Kasumi scaring you (she originally said "Konichi-WA") being translated to "Alo-HA", it just got translated to "Hello, SENPAI" which kinda saddens me but it's eh)
When you get back from Hawaii, if you say "Aloha!" to Futaba, instead of saying "He's been influenced..." she now says "He's been Hawaiianized..." Not sure why they changed it, I mean, it was fine to begin with but it's whatever ¯_(ツ)_/¯
New scene with Ryuji and Kasumi
The conversation with Futaba about Morgana's fissy fit is now voiced
New Inui question (The answer is Money loans for collateral, or A)
If you interact with the stuff in your room whilst the game forces you to sleep and Morgana is missing, you'll get text like "There's something that relates to the cat... I'm worried about Morgana..." (E.g if you interact with your work bench, it says "A cat left paw prints in the dust... I'm worried about Morgana..."
Haru's Metaverse outfit sprites have been remade
After Morgana's + Haru's little spiel, if you check on the stuff in your room again whilst the game tells you to go the fuck to sleep, it'll have different dialogue. It's mostly Akiren wondering who "Beauty Thief" was and being worried about Morgana
Again, even more dialogue about Morgana and Haru on the next day. "Why didn't I noticed that something was bothering Morgana...?" oh Akiren you sweet little child hit me right in the Kokoro
New Chouno question (The answer is Cats eating human tongues, or B)
The Morgana chase scene is now voiced
Finally, when Morgana returns, he'll comment on everything saying shit like "Oooh this place is as drab as ever lmao I'm glad to be back ahahah"
New Kawakami question (The answer is Centeral Europe, or B)
ALSO VERY IMPORTANT!!! If you check on your calendar, you can see Akiren's thoughts and what he did that day!!! I didn't know until now djdjdh (also, Hawaii has some cool stamps?? Stickers?? Probably not stickers but they're cool lmao (ALSO THE BIG BANG CHALLENGES ARE CALLED "TRIAL BY BURGER" KSJDHDHH)
New Usami question (The answer is 20 white, 12 black or B)
New scene of Yusuke/Ann for their showtime
The Sad Oh no Okumura Robot dying wahh scene is now voiced
Maruki can now meet you at the station, surprisingly
New scene with Haru and Morgana for their Showtime
New Ushimaru question (The answer is Imperial Household Agency, or B)
God, I tried to not include that much Palace stuff in here - especially the bosses - but holy fucking shit Okumura is fucking hard as shit and it took me 3 tries to beat him oh my god beware of the Borger man and forehead girl I'm actually shaking as I'm writing this just know I hate Okumura and his stupid bossfight
New scene with Kasumi, Maruki and some random teacher
New Hiruta question (The answer is Stars, or B)
New scene with Kasumi and anime scene!! and WHOOPS we've accidentally entered the metaverse WHAT
Gun Customisation has a new screen and new mechanics
You can also now instantly go to the Gun Customisation screen when you buy a new gun
New Inui question (The answer is Joseph-Igance Guillotin, or D)
New Usami question (The answer is Bouba, or B)
New scene with Kawakami at lunch at 10/11 telling you to go see Maruki + Kasumi and Maruki afterwards
New scene with Maruki and Haru on 10/20
New Usami question (The answer is 15, or A)
Instead of Makoto getting Akechi's number from Sae, we give his number directly to Makoto since we actually exchange contact info this time
New Maruki class/question (The answer is Memory Bias, or B)
New scene after the school festival. Yusuke is missing and is found by Maruki
The post-festival party is now accompanied by Kasumi, though afterwards you can hang out with your friends
New anime scene too!!
Ryuji's phone call about being the shittiest of shitbags is now voiced
Goro's prince outfit reveal is now voiced
Also, I forgot if I mentioned this before, but Akechi's pfp is now a different colour. It was grey before, but now it's light brownish
Not sure if it just randomly happens in October, but on 10/30, I saw people dressed up in costumes! Nice little detail (I even saw a Jack Frost lmao)
You can also find people walking around Shibuya in costumes!
Haru will instead be outside the school tending to the plants instead on the roof on Sundays if you want to hang out with her
New scene with Makoto and Haru!! It's the girls' showtime!!! Time to kick ass
I only noticed until now, but if you hold down the R2 button, (the button that makes you dash if you're unfamiliar with the PS controller like I am) you'll instantly perform actions such as jumping across ledges and climbing up walls
Sae now has actual cognitive-human bodyguards when she approaches you whilst you wander around the Casino (they actually kinda look similar from the bodyguards at the beginning whilst you're being chased lmao)
In Sae's Dice room, instead of crawling through the vent to reach the backrooms, you can just select "crawl" on the vent and instantly teleport there without having to crawl through since the two rooms are in seperate "areas"
New scene with Kawakami! She informs the class that Maruki will leave on the 18th, so make sure to rank him up to Rank 9 so you can unlock the 3rd semester!
Not sure if I just didn't notice before, but there are now people in the Dark Maze
Didn't notice earlier since my sneaking skills are so good, but safe rooms now bring Palace Security down to 0%, or something like that idk I was on 10% so it could be something like 15% or 20%, who knows lmao (edit: According to u/Theroonco, apparently this is a new confidant ability from Ohya! Thanks, worst girl, my opinion of you has slightly improved)
The battle areana is now voiced
Just like Maruki, Akechi will warn you that you will not be able to see him after the deadline, so rank him up so you can get to the 3rd semester!!
New Inui question (The answer is A Share of Stolen Goods, or C)
New Chouno question (The answer is a Sword, or B)
Futaba's Mementos scan is now a lot quicker
Also, I guess now is a good time to mention, but areas in Mementos can have certain qualities to them, such as all the shadows turning into the big hulky ones and the floor being weak which makes Morgana slip through them to the floor below. There's also a chance that the Reaper will spawn right away, which Futaba/Morgana will warn you that there's a certain strong shadow you have to look out for. These areas however will go back to normal after you leave them
New Ushimaru question (The answer is Any Age, or A) (And this was technically in the og, but they've reworded it so I'm just gonna put it in anyway lmao)
New Kawakami question (The answer is Crows eyes are hard to see, or B)
Nee Ushimaru question (The answer is because of high altitude, or C)
New Usami question (The answer is Cochleoid, or B)
New scene with Kasumi on 11/17
New scene with Maruki on 11/18, which is the day that he leaves
On 11/20, (the actual 11/20, not the one at the beginning of the game) you can see the SIU Director's face in the phone call thingymajig
True Justice now has actual text, not just question marks (it says "Cooperate as comrades who fight for justice and seek the truth")
Futaba's computer has now been translated in the subtitles, though I didn't get to read that much
New scene with Morgana. After the whole Interrogation Room incident, he asks you if it was Kasumi that helped you
New scene with Kasumi on 11/25
New angle/actions when hanging out at the downstairs Leblanc hideout
The Rats scene in Shido's palace is now voiced (And the rats voices are weird lmao rats rats we're the rats)
You can now eat cheese as a Rat in Shido's palace to regain Sp
After securing the route, Akiren thinks about keeping Akechi's promise to duel with him again (if you make it up to rank 8, that is)
The Eternal Lockpick is now called the Perma-Pick
On days that it is snowing, Snowflakes will fall across the IM screen instead of Sakura Petals (though they disappeared for some reason. Maybe because spring ended?)
New Vegetables for Haru!! Earth Beans that have the same effect as Charge and Star Onions that have the same effect as Concentrate
New scenes with Kasumi right before Exams and during Exams
Mementos Depths now have collectables that you can steal from
If you have reached the skill Live Painting (obtained on Rank 6), you can ask Yusuke to create skill cards in safe rooms
Your teammates speeches in the Velvet Room are now completely voiced
New ending Cutscene
And the entire 3rd semester :))

And that's about it!! Again, if anything is missing or incorrect, feel free to tell me!
Thanks for reading kdjsjs 🤠🤠🤠

The Story of VIP man

Vegas Super Bowl Weekend Trip Report

TL/DR: Had a great run at the craps tables Super Bowl weekend. Arrived in Vegas Friday afternoon and departed Monday afternoon and stayed at Planet Hollywood. Got on a hot roll first session of the weekend and didn't look back - no losing days! I had some memorable rolls and hit the bonus bets.
SuperBowl trip:
My friends have been doing the SuperBowl weekend trip in Vegas for years - I joined them for the first time in 2018. This is my second trip with this crew.
My game:
I place the 6/8 for $30 each (or $60 on the other number if 6/8 is the point). Pass line & continuous come bets with odds (down with odds if the 6/8 hit).
For odds, at a $10 table I'll take full 3-4-5 X odds (or 5X odds if allowed) out of the gate. I didn't find much in the way of $10 tables in Vegas .... AT $15/$25 tables I start my odds $30 on 4/10, $40 on 5/9 and $50 on 6/8 - press my odds if the table heats up and then increase my come bet if the table stays hot.
I'll bet $15 on the hardway if the point can be rolled hard (i.e., 4/10 or 6/8) and I dabble in the bonus bets (repeaters and all-tall-small)
Friday afternoon
Check-in, hit the patio at Beer Park (Paris) for an adult beverage.
Back to Planet Hollywood for craps. Open $15 minimum table. The first 2 base dealers had my game figured out in seconds: "down with odds", they'd leave $15 change in the come for me (knowing I'd have another come bet) and on my "off and on" wins they'd pay me in all nickels or combination of $25/$5 chips or all $25 chips depending on how well supplied I was with $5 chips ("dealing to the rack" in the lingo).
First session I bet $5 each on the repeater 9 and repeater 10. Both came in this session and I was off to the races.
Changed for dinner, had another winning craps session at Planet Hollywood and then off to dinner
Friday dinner
Went to the off-strip Herbs & Rye steakhouse. My friends and I went there last year and enjoyed it. This year it was a bit of a miss (the steaks weren't cooked to order / got messed up). They do have a happy hour (1/2 price steaks 5-8). With my good run in the afternoon run I covered the bill for the 4 of us (with my friends covering the tip).
Friday night
First stop - The D downtown. It was loud, busy, smoky and full of characters. 10X odds with the table minimum bumped from $10 to $15 shortly after I arrived. I got stung here and gave back a chunk, but not all of my afternoon winnings.
Second stop - Binions. Played at the "Cowgirls" table near the doors (Cowgirls = scantily clad female dealers, like at Blackjack tables at the pleasure pits of other casinos). Dealers are inexperienced, but I did remember one dealer from last year who knew her stuff. $15, minimum and 5 X odds. Had a nice win here.
Third stop - Linq. Met up with friends who came in on a later flight. Found a $15 table. Bought in for $500 ... choppy table, got the dice ... down to the felt and found myself reaching into the wallet for another $100 so I could bet odds .... and then got on a great run (as the shooter)! Eventually got my odds to the maximum and then got $25 come bets out there with max odds too. I had $5 each on the All-Tall-Small and I had all the spots filled up except the 2-12 for what seemed like a dozen rolls. After the inevitable 7-out, I cashed out $1500 and called it a night.
For the $15 games Friday night at all casinos my advice is to pack your patience, enjoy the scenery (Linq and D have go-go dancers), kibbutz with your friends and drink your complimentary adult beverage. The tables are busy, some players are inexperienced, some dealers are on the new side too, it's hard to hear the dealers (and vice-versa) and there is lots of irregular action (small mid-roll buy-ins, hands in the table when the dice are out, etc.).
Saturday afternoon
Had lunch at YOLO's (Mexican restaurant at Planet Hollywood). Played at Planet Hollywood (lowest min was $25)
Used my $150 in free play at Blackjack and lost six consecutive hands. (Why I didn't use my free play at craps is a mystery, even to me).
Got my losing Super Bowl bets in.
Had a nice win before lunch at craps - gave much of that back after lunch.
After a break, Round 3 to me, though .... $25 table, got the dice and had a nice monster roll. Again I had $5 each on the 9-10 repeater bets and they came in 2-3 times. I got my pass line up to $75 with odds and made my point (collecting $525). My pass line bet progression is patient so I figure I may have made 5-6 points (1-2 points with $25 pass line, 1 point with $30 pass line, 1 point with $40 pass line, 1 point with $50 pass line and 1 point with $75 pass line). Once my pass line got to $30, I had $25 come bets going and once my pass line got to $75 I had $50 come bets going.
Two guys next to me bought in for $200 and coloured up $2000+ each. I also had a big win.
With no boxmen at the table there was a 5 minute delay as they had to wait for a supervisor to become available to approve the chips the players were colouring up.
Saturday evening / show / dinner / night
I had tickets to Absinthe at 8pm, so headed down to Caesars Palace for around 5 PM to pick up my tickets. Caesars Palace was, well, Caesars Palace. The $25 tables were jammed up like a $5 game downtown, the $50 tables were busy and they even had a $100 table open. It was a big win just to find an open spot at a $25 table.
The vibe at Caesars is money. Money. Money. Money. Lots of action and well-heeled gamblers. Even the dealers - one craps dealer at my table, with his slicked back mane of silver hair and gold necklace-pinky rings-gold watch looked like the Central Casting prototype for an old-school Vegas dealer.
Escaped with a small win. Then - in another big win - my friend and I were able to find a spot at a bar for a pre-show cocktail. Caesars was hopping.
Absinthe was great! Highly recommended. Amazing acrobats/performers in an intimate setting. Raunchy, offensive and hilarious comedy bits from the MC and his assistant. Plus the sexy Green Faerie.
Dinner was at Hell's Kitchen: Highly recommended. I had the lobster risotto and the crispy-skin salmon.
After dinner, found a $15 table at the Linq and had a decent win.
Super Bowl Sunday
Planet Hollywood minimums were $50 before breakfast. Went to Paris (Mon Ami Gabi) for breakfast and found $25 and $15 tables at the Flamingo.
The $15 table was jammed so we played at $25 .... and hit the All-Tall-Small with 5$ on each. Ka-Ching! Migrated to the $15 table when spots opened up. At the $15 table, things were up and down (mostly down) ... I had a nice roll that got me mostly back to where I was when I left the $25 table - I hit the small (with $5 on it), 2 hard sixes ($15 and after $10 pressure a $25) and multiple points (I had my line bet up to $30 and had it hit).
I had a nice win at the Flamingo for my 3 hours of play (10 AM-1 PM), but my total win was less than what the bonus bets paid out. The bonus bets saved my session!
Went to Blondies (in the Miracle Mile mall at Planet Hollywood) for the Super Bowl watch party. Blondies is a sports bar with a well-executed attractive women serving cold beer business model. This has been my friends go-to party for years ($200, open bar, buffet, etc.). I won the halftime squares (Pats 3, Rams 0) for $1000. Then, a guy I met at this party last year, said "tiskertasker89, you have the 3-0 square, i have the 3-3 square lets split our interests for the 3rd quarter and final". I agreed, and the 3-3 squares came in both times and I collected another ~$1000.
Flush with cash and booze I played the $50 tables at Planet Hollywood after the game. A new experience for me. It worked out. After some choppiness, I got on (reportedly - based on a dealers comment - a 40 minute run). (I was more focused on having to the bathroom than shooting). I almost doubled my buy-in, took a break (met up with my friends at the Planet Hollywood centre bar) ... took another shot at a $50 table and dropped 1/2 my winnings in ... seconds?? ... called it a night and ended with a respectable win for my first time playing $50 minimums.
Monday
Didn't play on Monday - didn't want to tempt fate. This trip, I only lost at one casino and barely had a losing session. Breakfast at the Cafe in Planet Hollywood, bought souvenirs, got a 20 minute massage at the mall kiosk. The equivalent of the football kneel-down to run out the clock.

Other quick hits
At the $50 minimum table at Planet Hollywood they didn’t let me bet less than $50 odds …(I was planning on $30 on 4/10, $40 on 5/9 and $50 on 6/8) ... The base dealer – who had initially set up my bets before the stick said “Hey, it’s a $50 game” – gave me a knowing look and said “the Rio -which is owned by the same company – would let you do it”. After no odds for a few rolls, I eventually took single odds on all my pass line and come bets.
At the Linq after a point of 5 or 9 was made I said to the dealer “Oops – sorry - I’ve over-bet my odds”. I had a $15 line bet with $80 odds. I was expecting them to hand back my extra $20 – instead they set up the over-bet as a place bet and paid it. I thought this was generous of them (Although, I guess I’m assuming that on a losing wager in this situation they wouldn’t take the odds over-bet).
For the “you can trust the rating system” file, after my cashing in my chips following my Sunday session at the Flamingo I asked the supervisor what my average bet was and how long I played. She said – “I’ve already closed you out. Let me check. You’re Kenny, right?”. Ummm, no. I'm tiskertasker98 ... In fairness, there was a shift change during my play … but still
On Saturday, my friend – who is a Diamond player but somewhat new to craps - hit a repeater bet and didn’t realize it didn’t stay up. I was playing at a different table. The crew didn’t remind him that his repeater bet came down. Of course, the repeater hit again and he thought he was on it. For the “all well that end’s well file”, though, my friend did hit 2 repeater 8’s on his last craps session of the trip on Monday morning.
A few times, dealers were tripped up by $15 come bets with $30 odds on the 4/10, $40 odds on the 5/9 and $50 odds on 6/8…. To me this is bread and butter craps … full Double Odds and all bets pay $75 …Anyways, no big deal, the underpayments were easily corrected and the overpayments somehow got overlooked.
A nice zinger: Good-guy craps player at the Flamingo (he had an all-day $1 hard six for the crew) got thanked for his crew-wager and said "No THANK YOU. You dealers are the hardest working guys in Vegas. Although, if I'm with an all-female crew I have to say you dealers are the SECOND hardest working girls in Vegas".

Baltimore Maryland - Carnival Pride Compared To Royal's Grandeur Of The Seas

Because of the bridge, there is a limit to the size of cruise ship that can come into Baltimore. I thought that might make for the fairest possible comparison between two ships across different lines. Please keep in mind that while I have attempted to be as comprehensive and unbiased as possible, this is from my perspective. As a result, some items (e.g. youth program) I reviewed may have no relevance to you while other items (all-inclusive drink package) I didn't review at all may be extremely important to you.
Many times where I say "on the Pride/Grandeur", the statement is true across the entire Carnival/Royal line but I have stuck with this usage specifically because I do not know enough to know which is specific just to the ship and which isn't.
About Me: I am in my early 40's and cruise with my wife and two daughters (ages 10 and 12). I primarily cruise Carnival because of the cost to value factor but we have no brand loyalty and all three cruises booked in 2018 are on 3 different lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian). Besides cost, I choose cruises based on itineraries as I like to go to at least one new place each time I cruise which is hard to do without also leaving from new ports each time.
Ship Factoids

Completed: Pride = 2001, Grandeur = 1996
Last Upgraded: Pride = 2014, Grandeur = 2017
State rooms: Pride = 1062, Grandeur = 1142
Passengers: Pride = 2124, Grandeur = 2446

Cruise Cost
I'm a deal hunter and, in both cases, the cruise was booked at least 9 months in advance and the price was monitored daily for price drops. The prices below are per person per day keeping in mind a family of 4 sharing a single interior cabin.

Cruise Fare Including Taxes/Fees: Pride = $58.54, Grandeur = $66.13
Daily Gratuities: Pride = $12.95, Grandeur = $14.50
Add-on Gratuity: Pride = 15%, Grandeur = 18%

I will cover the cost of specific items like room service separately. The add-on gratuity is here because I didn't really have anywhere else to fit it but if you order a drink at a show or eat in the specialty dining, this reflects what will be tacked on to the bill automatically on the respective ships.
The $9.14 a day difference may not seem like much but for a family of 4 over a week adds up to $255.92
Cabin Size/Amenities
An interior cabin for 4 passengers was compared. The Carnival Pride is a slightly larger ship but has fewer cabins and can accommodate fewer passengers. This was very apparent in the size of the cabin as it seemed luxuriously spacious in comparison to the Grandeur. The Pride has a mini-fridge where as the Grandeur does not. The Grandeur has a flat screen TV on an adjustable wall mount while the Pride still has a big old CRT TV. You can find the average square footage by searching online but I don't think it will really help to appreciate just how tiny the Grandeur rooms were in comparison.
Internet
Internet at sea sucks which is nowhere more apparent than on the Carnival Pride. That being said, the cost for their value plan when booked in advance is $4 per day. On the Grandeur, the price was $15.95 per day. At that price, surely it was going to be blazing fast in comparison right? WRONG I only got a 24 hour pass and after the first hour, I went to customer service to cancel and get a refund. I talked to several people who said the same thing (no coverage in the cabin, only works when everyone else is asleep, etc.) but I also talked to someone who said he was video chatting on a daily basis so I will just leave this with a caveat emptor
Technology
The Carnival Pride has the Carnival Hub App which is a game changer. This free phone app gives you access to your stateroom charges, deck plans, activity guide, menus, etc. An optional capability for a one time fee of $5 for the entire cruise, allows you to chat with other guests on the ship. With younger children, this was huge. And because it was only local communication (no satellite uplink required), it was fast and reliable. Apparently RC has a similar app but it isn't available on the Grandeur.
The Grandeur has touch screen displays at the stairs on each deck which allows you to get an activity guide, see today's menu as well as map out how to get to something on the ship. This was really cool and the Pride didn't have this though it was available from the Hub App.
The Carnival Pride had a number of kiosks through-out the ship where you could check your room charges as well as on the TV in your room and the Hub App but the Grandeur had none of these - you had to go to Guest Services and get a print out each time (what a waste of paper).
The Grandeur had self-service soda machines for people who purchased the soda package but the Pride does not.
Gift Cards
This may seem like an odd thing to review but as I mentioned before, I am a value shopper and can get gift cards for at least 10% off which is a significant savings. Online and on the Pride, I could use a gift card to pay for anything (cruise fare, taxes, gratuities, excursions, etc.) and the process was easy - just enter the gift card information. The Grandeur was excruciating painful in comparison. When the gift certificates arrived in the mail, I discovered that I had to hand write information and then mail them back to Royal and that it could only be applied towards the base cruise fare. Once received, Royal then marked my account as being handled by a travel agent (I'm not making this up) which meant I could no longer have full control of my account online and had to call and explain each time any time I wanted to make a change.
Bring Your Own WateJuice/Soda
I'm not covering alcohol but I believe both ships allow each adult guest over the age of 21 to bring on a certain size bottle of wine/champagne.
Carnival Pride's official policy is that each guest, regardless of age is allowed to bring 12 cans/cartons of juice/soda/sparkling water. These must be placed in your carry-on luggage. Bottles (plastic/glass) are specifically prohibited.
The Grandeur's official policy is that no outside drinks are allowed aside from the alcohol allowance mentioned previously. In practice, they seem to look the other way for bottled water.
Effectively, you can bring bottled water on the Grandeur but not the Pride. You can bring 12 cans/cartons per person of juice/soda on the Pride but not the Grandeur.
Both ships make medically necessary allowances (you can bring on distilled water for a CPAP machine for instance).
Food/Dining
We always get "early dining" but both ships offered 3 options (early, late, my-time). The only difference to note was that early dining is 6 PM on the Pride but is 5:30 PM on the Grandeur.
The quality of the food in the main dining was great on both ships. The service in main dining is also excellent on both ships. The only difference between the two was the options offered. On the Pride, there is a section for "rare finds" where you might get to try something that you might not otherwise have such as frog legs or rabbit. On the Pride, there is also a section for "local" which is representative of whichever port you just departed from (Caribbean jerked chicken for instance). The Grandeur didn't have these on the menu and by the end of the cruise, the offerings seemed repetitive.
The buffet dining is a different story all together. The Windjammer on the Grandeur is tiny in comparison to the Pride's Lido. This was problematic for two reasons. First, seating. Second, offerings. The Pride has a ton of places where you can tell someone what you want and how you want it and they will make it for you (Blue Iguana for tacos/burritos/fajitas, Guy's Burger's for hamburgers, The Deli for hot/cold sandwiches, the Pizza Pirate for pizza, etc.) as well as a number of cuisine specific self-serve (my wife loves the Asian food from Chopsticks). On the Grandeur, I didn't really see any made-to-order food options in the Windjammer except for breakfast at the omelet making station which the Pride also has.
While I have tried a number of specialty dining options on a number of ships/lines, the only equivalent specialty dining that I experienced on both ships was the sushi restaurants (Pride = Bonsai, Grandeur = Izumi). Both were excellent. I think the Grandeur had the edge in terms of range of offering but the Pride had two options that I thought were unique. First, there is a "boat for two" for $22 which comes out on a literal boat and was too much for my wife and I to finish. Second, they had a "surprise and delight" feature (again, $22 for two) which was the chef's choice. Again, I think the Grandeur had a wider selection of options but the a la carte pricing was a bit more.
EDIT: My wife just informed me of one other difference which I was unaware of as I skipped the second formal night on the Grandeur. On the Pride, when they had lobster and filet mignon on the menu, she was allowed to order as many as she wanted. On the Grandeur, she was told only one lobster tail per guest. Because I didn't come to dinner that night, she ordered one for me and then ate two.
Excursions
Since this is a highly personal choice, it is hard to provide any meaningful comparison but there are two things worth pointing out. On the Pride, excursion prices are fairly stable and you likely will not see any discounts unless you follow John Heald and find one of the rare promo codes. On the Grandeur, the prices seemed to change all the time and every week I was getting an email offering a certain percentage off different excursions. I'm not sure either is superior but as they are different, I wanted to point them out. The second thing I wanted to mention I struggled if I should include or not as it has more to do with itinerary. The Pride tends to arrive at port early in the morning and depart around early dining giving you quite awhile to book whatever excursion you want. The Grandeur had weird arrival/departure times which made excursions more difficult to plan. Nassau for instance (Pride 8AM - 5PM, Grandeur 1PM - 11:59PM).
Entertainment
Kids: I couldn't keep my youngest daughter out of the youth program on either ship so I would say they are equivalent. Both ships have an arcade as well as age designated areas and lots of things for the kids to do. That is where the equivalency ends as Carnival wins this category hands down. On the Grandeur, kids are not allowed in the first row of shows and in the first 3 rows must be accompanied by an adult. On the Pride, every comedian must have a family friendly show in addition to the adult only show. The Pride has two water slides and a Splash Zone. The Grandeur has a rock climbing wall. The Pride has a ton of family targeted entertainment such as Hasbro The Game show where as the Grandeur seemed to tolerate those under 16. The Pride had events such as the Dr. Seuss breakfast ($5 per person) and Build-A-Bear where as I don't remember a single thing like that on the Grandeur.
Adults/General: The Grandeur only had 1 location where it put on shows (The Palladium) which is a two deck theater. On the Pride, there were two locations - the Butterfly lounge which doubled as the Punchliner Comedy Club and the Taj Mahal which is a three deck theater. The Grandeur did shows with a live band which it called an orchestra. The downside to this was they took up a lot of space which limited the size of the performance of whatever act was performing. On the Pride, they put on shows that use moving floors, backdrops with projected scenes as well, pyrotechnics as well as raised/lowered floors. None of that was possible on the Grandeur. On the Grandeur, there only ever seemed to be a single show that was repeated twice to accommodate differences in dining times. On the Pride, there seemed to be multiple different shows every night where the one in the main theater was repeated. For instance, there might have been three comedy routines in the Punchliner (1 family friendly by the first comedian, a later adult only by a second comedian and then the last show would be another adult only by the same comedian as the family friendly). That same night, they might have a magician in the main Taj Majal theater perform the same act twice.
Laundry
On the Grandeur, you need to check towels in/out using your sea pass card where there is a $25 charge for any towel not returned. These are roughly the same size as the bath towels - just colored blue. On the Pride, 4 towels are in your state room (more available upon request) and are giant beach towels. The cost if one is lost is $22. Oddly enough, you may also buy a brand new one for $22 if you want one to keep (they are nice towels).
The Pride has self-service launderettes on nearly every deck. The price recently went up to $3.25 to wash and $3.25 to dry for a total of $6.50 to do a load of laundry ($8 if you also need to buy detergent but we bring our own pods). The Grandeur doesn't offer any self-service laundry and charges $34.99 to do a small bag of laundry.
Room Service
Continental breakfast is free on both the Pride and the Grandeur. The only notable difference is the hours (Pride = 5AM-10AM, Grandeur = 6AM-11AM).
Room service is $7.95 + 18% gratuity on the Grandeur. It is more complicated on the Pride due to recent changes. The Pride stopped offering complimentary room service 24 hours a day but expanded the menu. From 6 AM until 10 PM, there are still complimentary room service items available but it now offers several other items during this time that range from $2 to $6. From 10 PM until 6 AM, an expanded menu is available with items ranging from $2 to $6.
Miscellaneous
I like beer - different styles of beer. The Pride doesn't have a lot of craft beer options. The Grandeur didn't have any. I ended up drinking Newcastle the entire Grandeur trip. On the Pride, I at least had a handful of options.
The Pride does not change the clock to match local times when in port but the Grandeur does. I watched both systems cause problems with other guests and do not feel one is superior to another. The important thing to remember is that even though you are on "island time", you must remain vigilant if you are supposed to be in a certain place at a certain time.
Trivia on the Pride is on the honor system (self-scoring) where as you are instructed to swap sheets on the Grandeur. The Pride gives out "ships on a stick" and sometimes medals as prizes where the Grandeur gives out a wide range of items (pens, highlighters, key chains, carabiner, etc.).
Both ships have a section of the casino marked as non-smoking. Until the Grandeur, I thought that was like saying you have a non-peeing section in the pool. I was so surprised on the Grandeur of the lack of smoke smell that I actually played black-jack several times. This was not the case on the Pride where I would actually go up a deck just to avoid walking through it.
On the Grandeur, while in port, my daughter couldn't sign herself in/out of the youth program despite my authorization that she could do so. I can't remember if this was also the case on the Pride. I think we may have only noticed this again because of the weird port arrival/departure times.
The Pride had a dedicated "game" room, library and chapel. If the Grandeur had these things, I didn't find them but they did have a bookcase that served as their library.
The Pride has bathrobes available upon request for any category cabin and any loyalty level guest. The Grandeur only has bathrobes available for higher level cabin categories/loyalty levels.
I have only cruised on the Grandeur once but towel animals didn't seem to be important. On the Pride, we had a new animal every single night in our room but on the Grandeur it seemed to be once every few nights. On the Pride, one morning the entire Lido deck was covered in towel animals - in extremely creative ways. Nothing like it happened on the Grandeur. This may not seem like much but the kids were kind of let down.
This really isn't about the ships so I hesitated to add it but I feel it is an important distinction. Royal's website is a hot mess compared to Carnival's.
Closing Thoughts
While the Pride provides much better value dollar for dollar, we had a great time on both ships and would go on either again for the right price/itinerary.
If I didn't cover something that you want to know about, please ask. Both ship's have "The Quest" for instance which I didn't cover but would be happy to discuss if someone wants to know more.

Babymoon Review - Bahamas - Breezes Resort

I was hunger scammed by a casino and need advice on how to move forward

SHOT 2018/My tales of adventure in Las Vegas

So, you wanna go to SHOT show? You think it's all fun and games? Get to play with guns? See Jesse James and R. Lee Ermey? SHOT show is the annual pilgrimage of the unwashed masses to Las Vegas to rub elbows with youtube celebrities, bloggers and overseas businessmen copying US made equipment and share infectious disease.
If you love guns, gambling and gonorrhea - SHOT show is for you! It is not my typical idea of a good time. I am not a big fan of Las Vegas.
However: I do attend for a few reasons. First, I do enjoy travel and I'm platinum on AA so I can usually score an upgrade. Second, industry people are in there that I do hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars with business with so it's nice to put a face with the name and see what deals are out there. SHOT for me has been a bust for the past few years. Being a value guy, I want to buy at $1000 and sell at $3000 and as of recently the gun business is more like buy for $1 and sell for $1.10 if you get what I mean.
We used to do business at SHOT and now it's just checking in on foursquare, instagram and rubbing elbows with bloggers and the like. I want to make money, not spend money so this is very annoying to me.
Anyways, onto the play by play.
Monday, January 22nd. One day before SHOT show.
The TSA line is a shitshow thanks to, well TSA. I have pre check and breeze right through.
I slog my way to the lounge, as shitty as it is to wait for my winged chariot to DFW. I have gone from being in an abusive relationship with Delta to being in an abusive relationship with AA. Although if you really want to experience the battered spouse feeling, UA is a few gates over.
I board my flight to Dallas/FW and my Renton assembled chariot is having a problem with one of the ring laser gyros, the hate agent tells us we are delayed for an indeterminate amount of time. Even as an AA Plat, I have no cleared upgrades. I am number 4 on the list with one seat open to Dallas/FW. I am 39/61 for Dallas/FW to LAX.
Fuck my life.
I gate check my bags to make life easier for me and the rest of the folks slumming it. If I don't have to worry about being short on time, I like to gate check to free up bins for those who are not as fortunate. Eventually I board and ask the FA to say hi to the captain and get a ride report. Light chop all over north texas today and we're going to take the long way around the field due to wind.
Me: I guess it's true. Dallas always does seem to blow a little harder in the postseason...
CA: Hahhahaha
FO: You got that right! Go eagles!
Having brightened the day of the flight crew, I head back to my MCE seat in Y and kick back and relax by listening to my Rumours, my favorite fleetwood mac album on my ipod.
We land at Dallas an hour and a half late eating into my 4 hour spa layover I had planned. I hightail it to the Centurion lounge in terminal D, my home away from home. Thankfully I don't need a massage since I brought my friend Laura some homemade chocolate rice crispy squares and she gave me a one hour massage and gave me a happy ending.
I grab a plate and help myself to some of the excellent chicken and some mashed red potatoes and bacon It is cheesy and DELICIOUS. Between that and the poblano rice, I can feel it going straight to my thighs. No, I do not care. NOM NOM NOM
https://imgur.com/a/WBcyd
The lounge is packed. The bar is full and I grab a quick single malt as I have my meal since American's not going to feed me. They begin boarding to LAX as I walk out of the lounge. I make it to the gate and the entire plane has boarded because the screens say they are boarding group 9.
Giving the FA a friendly nod, I ask to say hi to the captain and I stride through J and say hello to the two gentlemen flying today. Aviation nerd protip: CHECK YOUR ROUTING!
I didn't, but I had a hunch since arriving from the east we'd get the ANJLL 1 or the HLYWD 1 arrival. I got a 50/50 shot. Let's see how good I am.
Drop my bags at the threshold, poke my head in.
Me: Howdy guys, we still looking good for the Hollywood 1 tonight?
CA: Man, you did your homework yes we are! GABBL transition as a matter of fact!
Damn I'm good.
FC: Nice! I know you guys take a rash of crap from drunk Parker so I like to say hello to the folks who do the heavy lifting and I'm a total airplane dork so it's cool to check the place out.
CA: I'm an airplane dork too! I'm Jeff Rowland, nice to meet ya!
SUPER nice guy. He gave me a tour of the airplane, even took a picture of me in the left seat.
https://imgur.com/a/xVIy6
Here he is showing me some stuff around the airplane. He gives me the grand tour of the 787-9 including this neat feature that actually measures how many G's they have on landing so they know whether or not they need an overweight landing inspection or not. AMAZING airplane. I'm shown all the bells and whistles and they tell me how fun the plane is to fly. Jeff takes a few pics of me in the best seat of the house. I tell the guys I'll see them at the in and out burger on Sepuldeva and I hike back to my seat in W.
The FA's were wondering where I was, and they gave away my assigned seat. I take an empty center aisle seat and make life easier for everyone. W in the 787-9 is a solid hard product. The BE Aerospace MI-Q seat is a good ride whether in it for 3 hours to LAX or 13 to CDG like I was in a few months ago. https://imgur.com/a/iPHVh
The boarding door closes for an on time departure and I watch another airplane movie - American Made with Tom Cruise. He's so dreamy. Jeff's PA's were really lame and had a whole bunch of people laughing in the back on the way to LA. The flight was not long enough. The landing is a perfect grease job on 24L and we await a tug to get towed into gate 41 at LAX. I say thanks again to the flight crew - worthy of note, http://andystravelblog.boardingarea.com/2018/01/29/pilots-lette
My next hop via a 737 to LAS is uneventful. I stop at the Centurion lounge for some freshly squeezed OJ. It is DELICIOUS as AA's app tells me my bags are being unloaded.
I grab my things and hop in the last car Hertz has in the gold section - a 2016 Toyota Corolla. Times are rough. I'm at Circus Circus again. I check in and tell the lady about the last time I was there with the neighbors and the extremely loud sex. Full story: tail end of this - https://www.reddit.com/guns/comments/5podeq/shot_2017my_tales_of_adventure_in_las_vegas/
She damn near busts a gut laughing and upgrades me to a skyrise room and gives me a line pass and complimentary buffet.
I arrive to my room where housekeeping has not cleaned it to my exacting specifications. Specifically, there are like three hairballs from a cat in the chair next to the desk. I ask for another room and they set it up for me. It's now 1AM. In and out burger is closed.
Fuck.
Tuesday, January 23rd SHOT Show Day One
You gotta get into the palazzo garage before 8AM or you are not getting a spot. I get in at 8:01 and miraculously find a spot. They are doing so much construction at the resort that I don't recognize it. I grab my pass and check in with some other industry associates. My first day is semi-eventful as I check out the sig 365, a very promising concealed carry product as well as a few other really neat things and many many useless items.
I run into u/chugbleach in the basement and we trade stories. He shows me some neat stuff he's been working on. We plan to dine later in the week and I continue walking the show when I see the most amazing booth ever.
Backstory: https://www.reddit.com/guns/comments/7ag6oj/gsg_stg_44/dp9u9hw/
I let fluff buy the hook, he posts $120 to win $100 if he gets his HMG gun by the end of Q1. If gun arrives on time, he gets $100 from me. If no, I get $120 from him.
I walk back to chug.
FC: DUDE DUDE DUDE YOU GOTTA SEE THIS COME QUICK
CB: Okay lets go
We walk briskly not 100 feet. I stop quickly. Chug looks confused.
I gesticulate wildly to our right.
This is what we see.
I crack up laughing and can barely contain myself. This is the greatest thing I have seen in weeks.
On that note it is time to take a break for lunch. I head up to one of my vendors who has a hospitality suite for the show and they are serving jambalaya for lunch every day. As a Louisiana boy, we do love jambalaya. There's a reason I spend lots of money with them. I eat and have a coke as I trade gun jokes with other gun dealers. I wander around the show and nothing else jumps at me.
I walk the footbridge over to the Wynn to see how the house is doing. The poker room is full. I draw $2500 from my credit line and head down to the craps table to throw some dice. I have some mixed success as it's getting late and I want to hit the in and out burger so as I'm getting ready to leave, Laura sends me a bunch of filthy text messages about what she wants to do to me when I get back. My chips and raging boner leave the tables quickly as I duck into the bathroom to tell her that if she wants to treat me like a prisoner on a conjugal visit - I went to 8 years of catholic school, she's entering a world of pain. She says game on.
After a quick trip to the cage to cash out, I'm up or down something like $100. I swing by in and out burger for a double double. It is delicious. Sleepy time.
Wednesday, January 24th. Day 2 of SHOT show.
Alarm goes off at 7:45 AM. I wash up, eat and get breakfast. In the garage by 8:15. Still manage to find a spot! Attendance is down this year. I get in line at Larue. They run out of dillo dust at 8:39. This is the line at 8:35 https://imgur.com/a/KLHrg
The show opens at 8:30. Fuck my life. I grab a dillo and some stickers for some friends and a few HK calendars. I wander around and talk to the guys over at Franklin Armory and their new SBR that isn't an SBR, SBS that isn't an SBS and rifle that isn't really a rifle BUT IS STILL A FIREARM. The projectiles they want to sell have fin stabilization and it's like a 55 grain flying Lombardi trophy. It's an interesting idea but I'm not 100% certain I would buy one personally. I trade war stories with a few other friends I meet up with at the show. I head down to the basement and I'm looking at a few accessories from Tactical Walls.
Just as I'm ready to leave - Joe Mantegna shows up and says hi to the reps.
FC: Mr Mantegna! I love your work! Can I get a picture?
JM: Sure.
Someone grabs my phone and snaps a pic
FC: You are great in the simpsons as Fat Tony. Just the best!
JM: (in fat tony voice) I don't get mad. I get stabby.
FC: That's awesome! Thanks! Enjoy the show!
I send the pics to some friends who enjoy snappy Mamet plays and they are all jealous. I head down to the basement. The ATF booth is vacant due to the government shutdown. So is the FBI booth. Oh well. I head upstairs to the manufacturer supplier section and I find out that Olympic Arms is still in business making things. I do a lap and get some business cards from some precision machine companies that can make some elaborate parts. Jambalaya again for lunch. Nom nom nom.
I head down to FN to talk shop with the guys down there and give them shit. FN's new innovation is a two tone FDE/Black gun. So now 50% of the gun does not have to match. I trade barbs with Mike Hoffman and we debate the age old question, is it really gay if you can suck your own cock? Just as I mention this, Steve Bannon shows up at the booth. That's my stop. I say hello to the director of commercial sales on my way out and go to the Knights booth where I find they're making 6.5 Creed stuff now. Interesting how quickly that cartridge has caught on. I talk shop with a few of the KAC guys and then I steal some more HK Kalendars for friends back home.
I hit the Circus Circus buffet with my free pass for the unpleasantness and it is not that great at all. They ran out of roast beef. I mean, really? SHOT SHOW IS IN TOWN! We are beef eating gun owners, and you're gonna run out of roast beef? This would never happen at the Wynn, an amazing property. I make a mental note to sell my MGM Mirage stock and buy some Wynn in the morning. I head back to the craps table and lose a shitload of money. I witness a heater happen after I color up and watch people go nuts. My luck at MGM properties has not been good. Ugh. I don't feel like doing gunnit live and head to sleep early.
Thursday, January 25th. Day 3 of SHOT show.
I message Chug and let him know that it's gotta be tonight if we're gonna hang since I fly out Friday night for Boston. We plan to make plans for dinner. I head to the show and get there at 3 minutes to 8. One of my best customers calls me wanting an XM2010. I head over to Remington and through some finagling they manage to say YES WE CAN SELL IT EVEN THOUGH WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SELL IT. I work up a quote and get the customer the info and tell him what's what. I visit the nighthawk custom booth where they have a new gun chambered in .45 APC.
https://imgur.com/a/9bNe7
I kid with a few FBI guys about their attention to detail. I saunter about the show. Leatherman Tool Group always has some nice things to play with. Tim Leatherman is engraving tools for people with his autograph. I'm happy with all of his products I own and I stop by to shake his hand and tell him that my wave has saved my ass on a hundred different occasions and I once resurrected a Ford off the side of the road. He says he loves hearing the stories and he's a pretty nice guy.
I wander about a little more and I find myself over at the Emerson Knife Company booth looking around.
For those not in the know, Emerson has a bunch of specwar types as customers. Damn good knives and operator customers. One of them is behind the table wearing a badge that says JOHN SMITH - JOHN SMITH INC. He's got arms that are as thick as my legs and he looks like a Navy Seal. He bolts upright from his seat and looks at my wrist.
"Is that a 1675?"
FC: Sure is! Damn good eye! My dad won it in an underground poker game in Hong Kong in 1968 from a couple of navy guys on shore leave that flew F4's off Dixie Station.
"Holy crap, that's fucking awesome!"
We talk watches and guns and killing people for a while. He says he's in the navy and the budweiser insignia necklace he is wearing tells me everything I need to know. Nice guy. I wonder what his real name is as the show closes down and as I walk out the magpul booth gives me a laugh. A paper sign on the door says "DOOR IS LOUD AF CLOSE GENTLY"
I'm not kidding - https://imgur.com/a/GgSkU
I head over to Chug's hotel and he gives me the grand tour. It's way nicer than my hotel. We go out and have dinner. I'm asked if I like Thai.
FC: Tie good, you like shirt?
Nobody gets my simpsons jokes. We go to dinner where a good time is had by all. Chug gets a call and needs to drop off a SHOT show pass to a co-worker of his flying in. As opposed to all the mechanics of a dead drop at the palazzo etc I tell him fuck it, just give it to me and I'll pick him up from the airport. In exchange, I tell him I want all the leftover chicken wings from the Thai place.
It's a deal. I grab the wings and head to McCarran. There's a guy in a BRZ hauling ass and I decide to see what this shitbox can do. I get the Corolla up to 115 MPH on the highway before backing down to a more sensible speed. After 5 minutes of MARCO / POLO I find the fellow and give him his shot show pass and a ride to his hotel. I find it funny that last year I ran an unapproved uber substitute and here we are again and the same thing is happening. I'm offered gas money or a beer after the show and I tell him hey, it's your first time at SHOT - enjoy the show, don't sweat it.
I hightail it up the strip to the Palazzo where I play a bit and eventually see a heater in progress. I split the 6/8 for $120 each and they hit. I press it and they hit again. Maybe this won't be a bad trip after all. Table craps out and I cash out still down a few bucks but better than when I started.
By the time I make it back to the room, it's 4AM. I eat the chicken wings. They're delicious.
Friday, January 26th. Day 4 of SHOT show.
I've gotten most of what I want to get done, done. I ordered some Firearm Instructor body armor from one of my guys since lots of people want me dead first thing in the AM and things were going good. I sleep in and debate what I want for breakfast when I realize things are going a little too good. Nothing really bad has happened this trip yet. I pack up and get ready to leave the hotel when I get a push notification.
MOTHERFUCKER
My flight to Boston has been canceled.
My confirmed first class seats on one of the hardest to upgrade legs in the entire AA route network - LAX to BOS, gone. AA proactively books me on the flight leaving LA a few hours later IN COACH. A middle seat, even. No, just no. I call American and they tell me the plane is broken. Damnit. I look on the app for acceptable reroutings and there is nothing available in first. I say fuck it, I'll deal with this shit later. I have the rental car until midnight, lots of time to make a new plan. I check out of the hotel, throw my bags in the car and head down to the show and it's a freaking ghost town. Parking spaces everywhere. I say bye to a few folks as my phone sends me a notification. WSJ: STEVE WYNN ACCUSED OF DECADES OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
Oh FUCK MY LIFE. I bought the stock back on Wednesday. GODDAMNIT STEVE WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BULLSHIT
I skip lunch and walk across the street to the Wynn and their corporate office.
You see, I have a simple theory. If the allegations are false, they should have no problem sending someone out to listen to my concerns and say the allegations are false and here's everything we're doing to fight it. If the allegations are true, they'll send down hired goons to throw me out the door.
It's sorta like spousal infidelity. If A finds evidence of B cheating, credit card statements, sexts, racy pictures, etc - and A confronts B and B admits it and says I want a divorce, B is guilty. If B says A is cheating on them what the fuck are you doing looking at my credit card statements and phone you're the one that's wrong and invading my privacy get the fuck out of my house - B is really guilty.
That's the theory. If they go full retard and bounce me off the property, the stock is probably going to go down some more. If they address the concerns, things should not be as bad.
Since I walked through the property the last time I was in town, I knew where the corporate office was. The name on my broker statement says WYNN RESPORTS and so did the sign on the doors. I walk through the doors and to the end of the hallway where there's another electronically locked door that is unlocked.
There's a security guard who is nonplussed sitting at a desk wondering if I'm lost. I explain to him that I'm a shareholder and I want to know what this company is doing about this catastrophe. He says he can't say/do anything and I'm instructed to leave. I ask him if he can take a message. He says yes, and I'm like you just said you can't do anything. So what's that supposed to mean?
I argue with him about what he supposedly can and cannot do as I eat raspberry macrons that have been plated at the reception area of the corporate office. THESE BETTER BE THE BEST FUCKING MACARONS I HAVE EVER EATEN GODDAMNIT. They are. Fuck.
He tells me that my best bet is to talk to someone else at the resort, not him. Fine.
I leave and head to the concierge desk - because from one concierge to another, we can solve problems. I explain the situation and instead of routing me to the press office or investor relations - they give me a phone and tell me to speak to guest services. AKA the people that help you with your stay as a guest of the hotel. I give the lady taking the message about 15 minutes worth of comments and she's assured me that they'll be passed along to management.
Given the circumstances I think that's the best I'm going to do today. Now, there's the issue of me being stuck in vegas for another night. I look down at my phone and AA has offered three itineraries flying out of McCarran tomorrow IN FIRST CLASS that gets me to Boston in a timely fashion. I jump on the 625AM flight to Charlotte. This means I need to be at the car rental by 525AM and out the door around 0430. Fuck my life. And I have nowhere to sleep/showeshit/shave.
As I'm walking back to the esplanade to cross back over to the Palazzo where my car is, I notice the registration desk. I get in line and a lovely lady asks what she can do for me.
I tell her that I'm a shareholder and I'm pretty mad about the way the company is handling their sex offender in chief. And given the $18 haircut I took on the stock today, if there's an angry shareholder discount on a room tonight I think that would be more than fair given the circumstances. She agrees and gets me a bottle of water and the manager. The manager asks me if I've stayed at the hotel before, the answer is yes and asks to see my ID so she can see if she can plug me in at a repeat guest rate.
A few minutes go by and I wait patiently at the desk when I'm tapped on the shoulder.
There's two former NFL linebackers, one with his back towards me and the other introducing himself as the director of security.
Hmmm. Lets see. For those not in the know, there's only one exit in and out of the wynn registration desk.
If there's two bodies on me, there's gotta be at least two more at each side of the wall behind it that I can't see, I figure 4 sets of eyes running the eye in the sky all with their eyes glued to the monitors, the director of security is holding my ID which means he's already got my play, my comps, my markers, run me through central credit, my red card, he's got metro running me for wants/warrants and there's probably an unmarked metro ford next to a service exit with an open door and a seat reserved for me in the back.
I look down at my watch. The market is closed. I can't sell. Fuck. Because there is no way in hell this stock is holding $180 monday morning.
Quickly, I bang out a message to my brother letting him know I am about to be arrested at the Wynn and to start googling Las Vegas bail bonds.
The two security guys tell me to step away from the front desk and they want to know what the hell I'm doing. I tell them I want answers from the management of this company about how they're handling this disaster. They say I can't just walk into a casino corporate office and ask to speak to someone.
Well, I just did. Why can't I?
They said it represents a major security risk and a breach of their perimeter. After all, Mr. Wynn takes his security at the hotel very seriously.
Me: I suppose if I were a sex offender with hired goons, I'd take my security seriously too. And if you really didn't want people going back there - last time I checked, this is a casino. The doors have locks. Perhaps you should have oh I don't know, locked them?
Wynn Security: What makes you think you can just walk in here and talk to us like that?
Me: I'm a stockholder. Technically you work for me.
Wynn Security: You honestly expect that a big company like us is going to send someone out of the corporate office to talk to a guy like you about a thing like this? That never happens in corporate america.
Me: That's strange. Michael Moore did exactly that and that's what made him famous. What's your point?
We bantered in the registration area of the Wynn for something like an hour and 45 minutes as the director of security wandered back and forth. They never backed down with the questions and I never backed down from the answers. A lot of casino security is former law enforcement so they're looking for that time you change your story like on an episode of cops. For instance, if it was cops it would go like
Cop: who's drugs are these?
1: Never seen em before
fast forward 2 min
1: I mean my friend smokes pot, maybe it's his
Cop: I thought you said you never seen em before?
fast forward 2 min
1: So I smoke a little pot okay
Cop: I thought you said it might be your friends pot?
fast forward 2 min
1: yeah it's my pot
They were looking for a reason to throw me out and as far as I can tell, they probably still are. I'm sorta expecting a registered letter in the mail barring me from the property in a week. If I start yelling, it's disorderly conduct and they have a case. If start pushing someone around, same thing. But if I speak candidly and gesticulate wildly and raise cogent points about how every single hotel employee I've dealt with thus far owns a combined total of zero shares in the company - they have no skin in the game and I do. So, they can't really criticize my opinion as wrong because I'm the stockholder not them. At least, that's my opinion. I could be wrong.
Well, the goons disagreed with me and said I was wrong. They also said that this could have been accomplished with a phone call. I said no, because you wouldn't take a phone call seriously. And now you're taking this seriously. So, match point: FC.
They didn't like that. It would not surprise me in the least if Steve Wynn was in the security booth with a radio telling his guys to find some reason to arrest me and have me sent to Clark County booking. This guy just feels guilty as sin. I can't prove it but my gut has usually been right about this sort of thing.
As I'm waiting for my inevitable arrest and booking, I wonder if American Airlines will allow me another flight change due to temporary incarceration. Because there's no way I'll be able to leave the state with an ROR or a signature bond out. I look over at Mean Joe Greene Jr and tell him I was too angry to eat lunch and I'd like to have a seat before my blood sugar crashes and my head hits the floor and Steve sends me a bill for the shattered italian marble.
He gestures towards a chair in the reception area and I have a sit. He offers to bring me another water. I decline. He brings me a water anyways. I consume both the waters as compliments of the house as a sign of untoward cooperation.
Out of the corner of my eye I see the director of security talking to two metro PD guys with handcuffs out. I hear over the radio they're asking for a rover to take me down to the security office for fingerprinting and photographs. He is gesticulating wildly.
The director of security comes back over and he tries to get me to crack on my story. I tell him I'm here as a shareholder as a private citizen demanding accountability of the management. I will not apologize for walking through an unlocked door to the corporate office asking to speak to someone to hear out my concerns, I will not apologize for going to the concierge since the previous person was very unhelpful and I will not apologize for expecting the highest standards of a fortune 1000 company chairman and CEO. And until you pony up and buy some stock, I'm not about to take a lecture about what is and isn't acceptable behavior from people who don't have skin in the game protecting what should be by all accounts a registered sex offender.
He looks back at Metro PD.
They shrug.
They've got nothing chargeable on me.
Hell, I'm not even counting cards this time.
Next thing I know he quickly walks away and returns with a late 20's hispanic fellow who introduces himself as the hotel manager. He says that he's gotten a report from security and that Mr. Wynn's private life he cannot comment on but the concerns I have will be sent up towards management.
FC: So you're the hotel manager? So you report to Matt Maddox. You tell him that this is a mess. Nobody comes back from this sort of thing. Not Harvey Weinstein. Not Louis CK. Not Matt Lauer. Not Bill O'Reilly. Not Bill Cosby. Not Kevin Spacey. Not Charlie Rose. Not Al Franken. And the LAST time this happened at Mirage, a shareholder revolt wound up sending the company into the hands of MGM. What's to stop Sheldon from across the street from doing the same thing? You tell them that.
The manager nods and offers me a room at a rate, inclusive of resort fee and taxes of $335/night. I take out my phone, look at the Hotel Tonight app and realize that I'm being charged more money than if I were to book the room from a consolidator.
Now, I don't mind the lie about understanding where I'm coming from. I do mind the insult to my intelligence. I am handed back my ID and the hotel manager offers his business card. I take his business card and go over to the cage. I close my credit line and take my deposit out of the cage. I'm down for the trip. Fuck this shit, I'll deal with it later. I call my brother and tell him that I've been released. We look at some flights and to get back to Boston will require another night in Las Vegas. Everything leaving tonight is full due to the conventions closing up.
AA has some seats open in first via Charlotte and Philly, I take the Charlotte flight leaving at 6:30 AM from McCarran and they confirm me seats in first all the way to Logan. This is the only thing to go right today. I purchase some clean clothes since I will not have time to do laundry in Boston anymore due to the delay and head over to the palace station oyster bar. The wait is about 2 hours but I make some friends in line while I'm there. I am torn between the alaskan chowder and the bouillabaisse. I ask Steve behind the bar what he thinks is best. He says do the bouillabaisse. I tell him that sounds excellent, and to add extra lobster. I ask him how long, he says could be 30 minutes but check back in 20. I tell him I'm gonna go hit the tables and I'll be back in 20. The timer on my phone begins counting down.
I belly up to the nearest craps table and I drop my cash down. I tell them I want it in black and red and the croupier complies. I bet the 6/8 split with mixed success and the pass line with odds. The shooter misses the point. I look down at my dwindling stack of chips and there's 15 minutes left.
Fuck it. Go big or go home. Lets get this shit over with. The point comes off. I drop $100 on the pass line. New shooter gets the dice and the come out roll hits a 10.
I look at the gal with the whip. I throw her a stack of chips.
FC: Full odds on the ten, $200 hard way, give me all the numbers and a nickel c and e.
New shooter proceeds to hit every number on the board, midnight, yo and a speed limit. Pass line pays even money. Pass odds pays 2-1. I'm looking down at a big stack of chips. What the fuck just happened?
I drop $100 on the pass line again, the point comes out for an 8. I take full odds and all the numbers. New shooter hits every number on the board, midnight, yo, except the 8. The guy next to me has the all or nothing at all working so the only thing left to hit is the 8 and it's gonna pay 175:1. The 8 does not hit. Everyone is chasing the 8'er from Decatur.
I look down at my stack and the table limit and the boxman.
FC: hey Joe, what's the juice on laying the 8?
Joe: 5 points!
I take down my pass line odds.
FC: I want everything off and I'll lay the 8 for a dime.
Everyone at the table looks at me like I'm a lunatic. I slide over two purple chips and two green for the vig.
Time remaining until bouillabaisse: 8 minutes.
Lets see what happens. The dice bang around a bunch of more times. I'm ahead for this trip. Way ahead. Next thing I know, the gal with the whip calls no roll. One of the dies have left the table.
Time remaining until bouillabaisse: 4 minutes.
This is my stop.
FC: Take down my lay, and I'll color up.
The boxman colors me up, I leave a nice tip for the crew and start to walk over to the cage to cash in. I hear screaming and profanity, I turn around and I see the dealers stacking chips. The shooter has 7'd out.
Time remaining until bouillabaisse: 2 minutes.
There's a long line at the cage. I walk back to the oyster bar and I see a big bowl with a plate covering it. Steve behind the bar has thought of everything.
I turn the plate over and look down at my stack of chips. Maybe today won't be so bad after all.
https://imgur.com/a/bjK7R
The bouillabaisse is delicious. The win is even more delicious. I nom my way to the bottom of the bowl and settle up the bill. I leave Steve a nice tip as I head over to the Palazzo to say hi to some friends. I find myself at a craps table you can hang meat upon. This is not good. It's getting late and I head over to my room at the Mandalay Bay.
Now, here's the fucked up part. This girl I've been hooking up with didn't hook up with me before I left for SHOT. She's been messing with my brain for a whole week. I check in to the Mandalay Bay where there's a goddamn pornstar convention going on.
FML.
I find myself down at a craps table at 11PM and bringing a frontier flight attendant named Amber back to my room. The lucky streak continues. My flight leaves in a few hours. I kick her out of my room and pass out.
Flight leaves at 625 for CLT. Need to be at McCarran at 525. Out the door of the hotel by 5AM at the latest. I set my alarm.
*Saturday, January 27th. *
I wake up to see the sun shining through my hotel room. I look down at the alarm clock. 8:01AM.
My long standing joke is that I sleep like a dead prostitute. The evening of ravenous illegal in 48 states sex has taken its toll. Fuck. I grab the phone and press the button for guest services. I turn on the speaker as I open my bag wide and just stuff everything in as fast as I can. I throw my boots on as I tell them to check me out over the phone. I haul ass downstairs to the garage and I get to McCarran and board the shuttle to Terminal 1. I walk up to the AA desk knowing I am 11 different kinds of fucked. Nancy the gate agent starts working on my departure. AA's rule is 2 hours from departure on a flat tire. That's 8:25 AM. It's a few minutes before 9. Nancy the great agent cannot get anything to work. She has to put me in the special services line. By the time I get there, they tell me I'm flying standby and I'm on the flight to Philly leaving at 1PM in the afternoon. There is no way in hell they can get me on the 10AM to Phoenix.
My cousin is getting married in Boston and she is going to fucking kill me. I told her I'd be there around 6PM on the rebooking. And now I'm going to be leaving for Philly in 4 hours. Granted, the Amex Centurion Lounge has freshly squeezed OJ but that's not going to be enough today. I run to TSA and get cleared. I run past the Centurion to head straight for the Phoenix gate. Hopefully other folks have had an irish layover. The gate agent there starts working me and she says that they have two open seats and that they're gonna get me on. Just sit tight. I step to the side to let her help a few other folks gate check bags. The clock is ticking and her colleague closes the boarding door as I'm standing next to the gate looking fucked. I take a deep breath and try to keep it together.
A tap on the shoulder.
"Sir, your boarding pass. Exit row window. I've taken the liberty and called back to make sure there's space in the overhead for my bags so you don't have to gate check. You are good to go."
I look up at the three ladies working the podium.
FC: Can I hug any of you?
Gate Agent 1: No
Gate Agent 2: I'm sick
Gate Agent 3: Sure, why not?
I head behind the counter and give her a hug. She seems pleased.
I hightail it to the door. Gate agent 2 opens it up for me. I run down the jetway like a charging rhino, Chris Christie like. The flight attendants greet me by name and they realize that my nose is bleeding from the 8 ball I shared with Amber a few hours back. The FA points at my nose and asks me if I'd like to step into the lav. I realize it's probably pretty bad. I leave my bags in the galley and duck in and I stuff a bunch of paper in my nose as an ersatz tampon. I walk back out, grab my bags and I declare to the entire plane it's the dry air not a cocaine problem.
Nobody believes me.
I take my seat and there's an empty seat between me and an in uniform FA on the way home. We chat a bit and Cathy thinks my story is hilarious. She even gets on AA's PALL list for the flight to Boston and checks and says I'm number one on standby R4. A nice lady, I offer her one of my extra LaRue Dillo's. She thinks they're cute.
The working FA walks back and looks down at the traveling FA and says very discreetly there's a 40 minute ground hold due to PHX losing a runway. This is gonna be really really tight. My connecting flight to Boston is not looking good. We wait the 40 minutes for the hold and make it to PHX about 15 minutes behind schedule. I bolt to the Boston gate. I ask if they've cleared all the standby passengers. They say yes. I say I should be number one and they hand me a ticket in coach.
FC: Any way I can talk you into a seat in the front of the plane?
The hate agent just looks at me funny. He does not seem to think that's happening. He asks me if I have status on the airline. Sure do. He says no promises.
I tell him no sweat, I'm gonna go take a leak and come back around in 5.
I walk back up and he hands me my new boarding pass.
https://imgur.com/a/IJuPe
I call my cousin and tell her that I'm gonna be a few hours late. Great ride all the way into Boston. I sleep like a dead prostitute.
https://imgur.com/a/RKMSu
Just as we cruise past the city of big shoulders, the FA wakes me up.
"Mr Hayden, would you like some ice cream?"
I look at my neighbor who is a middle age female executive and she is plowing through hers like Sherman through Atlanta.
FC: You know what, Chuck? I've always wanted to say this. I'll have what she's having.
https://imgur.com/a/our5R
Ice cream on the ground, delicious.
Ice cream on a plane, FUCKING FANTASTIC.
FC out.

[OC] Wasted my vacation after being repeatedly hunger scammed

What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas

I’ve made a terrible mistake. I’m normally one of those ‘oh let’s play it safe at all times’ kind of women, but not this time. I think I messed up big time.
I used to be your average ‘Plain Jane.’ I worked at an average desk job, making an average income, in an average town. I was very much a loner with no friends of family to speak of, so I was very surprised a few weeks ago when the ladies at work asked me if I wanted to go on a week-long trip to Las Vegas with them. We had always been cordial and polite, but I wasn’t ever invited to the weekly book club meetings, or the occasional Friday lunch at Red Lobster. I always blamed the age gap; I was early 30’s while they were well into their 50’s. Deep down I knew that it was because of my standoffish demeanor, and possibly my lack of personality.
Normally I would have politely declined, throwing out some random excuse like, “I don’t have any vacation time left,” or “I don’t have anyone to cat-sit for me on such short notice.” My acceptance of their invitation was out of my mouth before I’d even realized I’d said yes. There was an immediate chaos as a whirlwind of women practically carried me back to my desk, my ears full of excited chatter about how much fun this was going to be.
1 hour and a maxed out credit card later, I was booked for 8 days and 7 nights of fun in the sun in the City of Lights. I was a little anxious about rooming with Claire, a woman I barely knew, but I figured a little anxiety was worth getting out of my comfort zone for a week. This would be good for me. I needed this, I reminded myself.
The few weeks leading up to the trip flew by. Before I knew it, I was standing in the lobby of Treasure Island collecting my room key. The ladies from the office were very kind, and included me in every stop on their daily itinerary. Go to this casino this day, see that show that day, eat at this buffet, back to the casino where everyone won a few dollars, etc. Claire and I bonded over night time facial creams and Forensic Files the second night of our stay as we crawled into our beds at 3:30am. The trip was turning out to be a success in my eyes. It was a little overwhelming at times, but I was finally making friends. A grown adult should have friends that don’t walk on four legs and have a tail.
The third day of our trip was the day that changed everything. I wasn’t feeling very well from the heat and lack of sleep, so I decided to stay at the hotel for the day and take advantage of the pool. I laid there on a lounge chair underneath a thick layer of sunscreen when I heard “Oh, shit!” followed by ice cold liquid splashing across my legs. I jumped up quickly, only to have my eyes land on a perfectly average looking man.
“I’m so sorry,” he said hurriedly as he dabbed my legs with his towel. “I was looking off to the side, and tripped on your chair, and well the rest you already know.”
“It’s fine, it’s okay,” I said, using my own towel to soak up the rest of his drink that sprinkled itself across my thighs. I could feel my cheeks burning red with embarrassment, “I should have pulled my chair back further. I was in your way.”
He settled down into the chair next to mine, extending his right hand out, “I’m Paul.”
We spent every waking minute together for the next 3 days and 3 nights. He was everything that I didn’t know I’d wanted in a man. Funny, but not hilarious. Charming, but not cocky. Attractive, but not Tom Cruise handsome. We gambled, ate amazing cuisine, and made love. He laughed when I showed him my terrible Rocky Balboa impersonation, and I stayed up an extra ten minutes each night to watch him sleep. There’s something to be said about watching someone sleep. That’s when they’re at their most vulnerable state, so innocent and peaceful.
Our last day together was upon us before we knew it. He seemed as bummed out as I felt about having to say goodbye.
“Fly out to Florida to see me, Linds,” he suggested as I slowly packed my suitcase.
“I would love to, I really would. I just, I have to work, Paul.”
“Next week. I’ll book you a ticket right now,” he said while pulling my laptop into his lap. His fingers immediately blazed across my keyboard. This was something I’d come to realize in the last few days about him. He didn’t take no for an answer. ‘No’ didn’t seem to even exist in his vocabulary.
“I don’t even know how many vacation days I have left.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m booking you a one-way open ended ticket. You can figure out your days off before you come down, and we will book your return flight later.”
I zipped my suitcase shut, and sat down next to him with a sigh.
“Well, I have always wanted to go to florida,” I said, cozying up to his side just in time to see him finish up the purchase of my ticket.
Paul slid the laptop off to his side and slung his arm around me.
“At approximately 11am on Thursday that wish will be granted,” he whispered in my ear, punctuating his last word with a kiss to my temple.
“Four days,” I said, snaking my arms around his neck.
Those four days proceeded to coast by at a glacial pace. Work wasn’t so bad now that I had a few acquaintances in the office to help make the time go by faster. On Monday the ladies (especially Claire) were full of questions about Paul and our budding relationship, wanting to know every gory little detail. With all of their questioning, however, I realized how little I had answers for. “Where does he work?” “What does he do?” “Does he have family, and what are they like?” “Has he ever been married?” I soon grew overwhelmed with all of the answers I was lacking.
At lunchtime I pulled out my phone with every intention of shooting all of these questions to Paul, only to see that he’d already text me 13 times.
8:01am: Hey beautiful
8:22am: Good morning, gorgeous
8:43am: How’s your morning going
8:57am: I miss you so much, Linds. Hope your day is going good
9:05am: I can’t stop thinking about you
9:07am: 3 more days
9:19am: 3 more wake ups and we can be together again
9:26am: Linds, you there?
9:33am: Linds?
9:41am: I am going to take you to my favorite beach when you get here. You’ll love it. So peaceful.
9:49am: I really wish you’d answer my texts
10:03am: I’m gonna head to lunch. I’ll text you later
10:58am: Back from lunch. Where are you?
I was instantly floored at the amount of attention I was receiving from him. I wasn’t one to really even have an actual boyfriend, let alone be chased by a man. It felt so good to feel wanted. I was always the one who was friend-zoned, or was given the line “You’re like my sister.” It was such a nice and welcome change to be pursued.
Forgetting the reason I pulled out my phone in the first place, I immediately texted back:
11:05am: Hey handsome, sorry my phone was in my purse. No phones allowed on the floor. I miss you, too!
We proceeded to text throughout my entire lunch, making plans for my trip later in the week. After that morning I started keeping my phone hidden under a pile of paperwork. I didn’t want to appear disinterested, so I made sure to make myself as available as possible at all times.
I found out a few things about Paul through the conversations that took place over the next few days. He did have a few distant relatives, but they were scattered across the country and they didn’t keep in touch. His parents passed away years ago in a horrific car accident, and he’s an only child. When I attempted to push for more details about his life, he had the tendency to offer a short answer, or completely clam up and change the subject. Even when I asked what he did for a living, all he would say was that he worked as a foreman for a construction company.
Finally the day arrived for my trip to Florida, and my stomach was a ball of nerves. I must have unpacked and repacked my suitcase 4 times. The last text message I received from Paul was just before I stepped into the terminal to board my flight.
“See you soon,” was all it read.
“Can’t wait!” I quickly replied.
When I arrived in Tampa, my welcome party was underwhelming. I wasn’t expecting flowers, a red carpet, and a flash mob, however, I did expect Paul to be there to pick me up. I left 3 voicemails before resorting to text messages. Finally, after 6 texts, each one getting a little more frantic, he replied simply with his address. I was a little pissed, but more so confused. He’d seemed so excited about my coming out that it felt a little strange that he wasn’t waiting for me to take me to his house. I ended up taking a cab. I had a 45 minute drive to calm myself down, and justify Paul’s absence. He probably had to work, I thought. Maybe he was running last minute errands to free up his time while I was there.
When we pulled up to his address I was slightly taken back at his house. I’m not completely sure what I was expecting, but the simplicity of his house caught me off guard. It was a nice yellow ranch with a brown privacy fence that stretched off a few feet to the sides, then disappeared off to the backyard. There was a basic walkway from the driveway to his front door, and a single palm tree off to the side. No frills, nothing to spruce it up a bit. If it weren’t for the car in the driveway, I’d have assumed the house was vacant.
I made my way to the front door, after retrieving my bags and paying the cab driver a hefty sum. I knocked on the door, eagerly waiting an answer. A few seconds later I knocked again. I leaned off to the side to see if I could peer into the front window, but thick curtains blocked any view to the interior of the house. Just as I was about to knock a third time, the door opened and there stood Paul. I immediately threw myself on to him, wrapping my arms around his neck, and kissing his face. “I missed you so much I’m so happy to see you It feels like it’s been forever,” poured out of my mouth.
It took me a few moments to realize that he wasn’t returning my hug. Instead, I could feel a gentle pat-pat-pat on my back.
“Hey, are you ok?” I asked, pulling back a little to look at his face.
“Yeah. Come inside,” he nodded, breaking my embrace and grabbing the bags. I followed him inside and quickly noticed how dark it was. There weren’t any lamps on, and the only light coming in was the moon light that squeaked through the cracks between the curtains. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, but from what I could see the interior was as simple as the exterior. Minimal furniture, and literally no décor. Not even a potted plant. I stayed a few steps back as we made our way into the master bedroom.
“You’ll sleep here with me,” he said gruffly, setting my bags to the side.
“Of course I will, silly,” I giggled as I wrapped my arms around his waist. As quickly as my hands met, his were there pushing my arms away. “What’s the matter?”
I stood there, dumbfounded, as he shook his head, and crossed the room to lay in bed.
“Um. Aren’t you happy to see me?” I had to practically force the words out of my mouth.
“Just get changed and come to bed, Lindsey.”
I stared at him intently. On the outside I probably looked calm, but inside my brain was swimming with insecurities and doubt. Slowly, I pulled my pajamas from my bag, made sure to change with my back facing him, and slipped into bed.
A few days went by, and his standoffish behavior continued. The first few days I chalked it up to the newness of being reunited, and the stress having to get acquainted to our being together outside of vacation. Paul had gone from being funny and sweet, to quiet and withdrawn; his joking turned to silence and cold glares. I tried to talk to him about the sudden behavior change, but was met with the bedroom door being slowly closed in my face.
There have been other subtle changes as well. Every night since I have arrived here he always receives a call from a man at 11pm. It’s the same routine every night: his phone rings once, he answers after the full ring, he talks in a hushed tone very quickly for about 1 minute, and then hangs up. I could hear the urgency in the man’s voice on the other end, but it was too muffled for me to make out any of the words. Of course, I had asked Paul about these nightly calls, but I didn’t get an answer. I tried to peek into his phone a few times, but I didn’t know his passcode.
Paul also stopped sleeping very much. He didn’t appear to work very often, as he was only gone for a few hours during the day. I wasn’t sure if he was sleeping at work, but he was definitely not sleeping in bed at home. He would just lay there.
A few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and found I was alone in bed. I called out to him, but he didn’t answer. I made my way through the house, checking every room, only to find it empty. I even checked outside to make sure his car was still in the driveway. On my way back to bed from the restroom I noticed a glow coming from underneath the bedroom closet door. I opened the door to find Paul sitting cross-legged in the center of the closet, facing the back wall. His hands were placed on his knees, and his back was as straight as a board.
His head, though. His head was tipped back as far as it could go, eyes staring widely at the ceiling. His mouth hung slightly open, unable to completely shut from the overextension of his neck.
“Paul?” I gasped.
He didn’t answer, didn’t even move a muscle. I inched forward and spoke a little louder.
“Paul, honey, are you ok? What are you doing in the closet?”
Still no response. A bundle of uneasiness settled just below my bellybutton. I slowly eased my hand towards him.
“Honey, you-“ I started to say, fingers just an inch from his shoulde,r but was interrupted.
“I can’t see it,” he said. His voice was so low, an entire octave lower than usual. I don’t know how he was able to even talk with his neck stretched so far back.
Sleep talking?, I thought.
“But they are open,” he replied in his dream state.
I wasn’t normally one to eavesdrop, so the feeling of guilt that settled across my shoulders was expected.
I, again, reached out to touch him, to wake him. “Paul, honey, you need to come to bed,” I said gently.
He flinched when my fingers brushed his skin, as if I’d burned him.
“Lindsey, go to bed,” his voice, now a bit louder.
“But Paul,” I started.
“GO.”
I jumped so severely from the force in his voice that it knocked me off balance, sending me backwards into the closet door. I fumbled clumsily with the door knob, my eyes glued to his unmoving stature, to the very second before the door was shut. I returned to our bed, careful to stay on my side. I tried to stay awake, waiting for him to come back to bed, but after an hour I’d fallen asleep.
The next day I was determined to talk to Paul about what had happened the night before, but was again met with silence and a closed door. That night I took extra time getting ready for bed, intending to seduce him into being the man that I thought I’d fallen in love with. I sauntered my way out of the bathroom to the best of my ability, and found him lying in bed.
The moonlight snaked its way into the room through the slight part of the curtains casting a sweet glow as I tiptoed across the floor. The closer I got to the bed, the better I was able to see him. He was lying on his back, arms crossed across his chest, staring at the ceiling. I slowly eased my way under the covers and scooted up next to him. My fingers caressed his side as I showered the side of his face with kisses.
His body remained unaffected, his face a blank slate. I leaned my body over his slightly, closed my eyes, and pressed my lips to his. His once warm and soft kiss had been replaced with tight lips. I lifted my lids to see that he was still staring at the ceiling.
“Paul,” I whispered.
Nothing.
I repeated his name, more forcefully this time, staring into his eyes. He didn’t even blink. It was like he was looking right through me, as if I wasn’t even there. His once loving brown eyes were now cold and completely empty of any emotion. If his body wasn’t warm to the touch I would have questioned if he were even alive.
Frustrated, I rolled away from him, back to my side of the bed.
Tears stung my eyes as I whispered, “You can’t ignore me forever. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but if you don’t stop this I’ll just go home.”
“You’re staying,” he said as he rose out of bed, crossed the room, and shut himself in the closet.
“What?” I called to him, knowing I wasn’t going to get a response. I, again, slept alone.
The following morning Paul left a little earlier than usual for work. The second I heard the deadbolt slide into the lock I bee-lined it for the closet, determined to figure out what was going on in there. As I crossed through the threshold of the bedroom, I glanced back at the front door to make sure all was clear. Once I felt that I was safe, I tiptoed my way towards the closet door. The air of the room seemed to grow thicker with every step I took. A brick of dread settled itself into my lower abdomen causing my legs and arms to feel feather light.
I reached out and grasped the doorknob, pulling the door open a few inches. The light was still on as I peeked inside. It was void of any clothing. In all of the excitement from last night, I failed to notice that the closet was completely empty. I slid the door open a few more inches and eased my way inside. To the left were bare shelves from floor to ceiling, and to the right was a single horizontal rod. I placed my hands on the walls and felt around, pushing every few seconds to see if there was any give, but found nothing.
I knelt down to the floor and slid my hands along the carpet on the floor, working my way along the edges. As my hands passed the bottom shelf in the back corner, the front piece of wood moved the tiniest bit. Excitement immediately overpowered any dread that I had felt as I worked out that small flap of wood, exposing a hidden cubby. It was only about 3 inches high and 6 inches wide.
I lay my head on the floor to peer in. Tucked a few inches back I could vaguely see the spine of a book. I reached in and pulled it out to examine it. It was soft, brown, and leather bound. I held it gently as I passed it from one hand to the other, searching.
The front, back, and spine were blank. Cautiously, I opened the cover. There, on the inside of the front cover where one would usually write a sweet dedication, was a simple marking. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before, a hook like symbol with a few dots.
There was a single ribbon slipped in the middle of the book, so I opened to that page only to find it completely blank. I flipped through the pages before that one, and all of them were blank as well. Every page in the book was unmarked. I pulled all the pages over and studied the marking again. My fingers grazed down the inner cover. My index finger seemed to take on a mind of its own, lightly caressing the symbol. I repeatedly traced the curve of the hook with my fingertip, tapping each dot. With each trace, the air in the closet grew heavier. There was pressure growing behind my eyes and in my ears causing each beat of my heart to sound like the beat of a drum inside of my skull. My throat muscles began to tighten, and I arched my neck back slightly in an attempt to alleviate it. The book tumbled from my hands onto the floor, and almost immediately the pressure in my head began to slightly cease.
My hands fumbled along the carpet, pushing the book back to its place in the cubby. I, as carefully as possible, put the wooden plank back in its place, and crawled out of the closet kicking the door shut behind me.
I lay on the floor for what felt like hours, until my body felt normal again.
Later that afternoon I found myself still alone, which was unusual. Paul rarely left the house for more than just a few hours, and he had been gone most of the day. No matter what I did to keep my mind busy, it kept trailing back to that empty journal in the closet. It trailed back to that strange symbol that marked the front of the book. Back to the possessing affect it seemed to have on me physically. I felt the overwhelming urge to crawl back in there and run my finger over the slight curvature of the hook; to place my fingers lightly over the dots.
I fought that urge, instead busying my brain with mindless daytime t.v. shows and dusting the long planks of the fireplace mantle that remained undecorated and untouched. I had attempted to text Claire, my friend from work, but I kept receiving an error message. I tried to call her, but was given the ‘We’re sorry, all lines are currently busy’ response. My phone was rendered useless, and tucked back into my purse.
Numerous times throughout the day I would find myself back in the master bedroom next to the closet door, unsure of how I ended up there in the first place.
Paul finally came home later that evening, his hands full with Chinese takeout and a dozen roses.
“Linds, I’m home! I brought dinner.”
I stood frozen in my spot in the kitchen, confusion anchoring my feet to the floor.
“Hey,” he said as he leaned around me to place dinner on the counter, “I brought you these.” The roses were placed in my hands, a kiss placed on my temple.
“Paul, I-“ I started, unable to form a full sentence.
“Orange chicken with a side of rice, and 4 eggrolls with a side of sweet and sour sauce. Your favorite,” he said as he pulled out plates and the appropriate silverware.
I set the roses on the counter next to me, and stared briefly at Paul. He was back. Not just back from work, but actually back. He must have felt me staring, because he looked over at me and gave me that warm smile that made my knees go weak. Relief flushed through my body, and I threw myself at him wrapping my arms around his neck. Unlike a few days ago when I’d arrived on his doorstep, he wrapped an arm around my waist, and his other hand lazily rubbed up and down my spine.
“I missed you. I missed you so much,” I whispered, afraid that if I’d used my voice that it would crack and give away the immense amount of emotion I was feeling at that moment.
He chuckled. “You just saw me this morning.”
“No, not –“ I started, but he cut me off with a chaste kiss to the mouth.
“Come on, Linds, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
That night was the best night we’d had since Vegas. We ate dinner hurriedly, as Paul was eager to get to the bedroom. I was just as eager, as I was really in need of the attention and connection that making love would provide me with. The last few days were so full of confusion, that I was desperate to feel any kind of reassurance of love. I’d needed the soft touches, the whispers of sweet nothings, the skin on skin contact. I fell asleep quickly afterwards, our limbs tangled together, and his fingers grazing my lower abdomen.
I woke a few hours later to use the bathroom, quietly chastising myself for not going before falling asleep. I rolled to my side, intending to steal a kiss before getting out of bed, and found that I was alone. My eyes instantly shifted to the closet door, the same glow creeping out from beneath it.
I quickly made my way to do my business in the restroom, staying as quiet as possible so not to disturb Paul. As I tip-toed past the door heading back to bed, the muffled sound of his voice speaking my name stopped me in my tracks. I pressed my ear to the door and listened intently. A few quiet moments passed, so I gripped the door knob and pulled it open.
The air was noticeably heavier in the small space, and seemed to roll out of the doorway in waves. He sat there in the closet the same way as before. Legs crossed Indian-style, hands on his knees, and his head tilted back, his neck nearly to its breaking point with his mouth slightly agape. His lips began to twitch. I lowered myself to the floor, leaning my back against the door frame.
“I am. I understand,” he said, his monotone voice breaking the silence.
“Yes, Lindsey’s ready. It’s working.” My heart started to race at the mention of my name. Ready? I thought. Ready for what? What’s working? An internal battle was going on inside of my head. I wanted to ask questions, to guide his sleep talking, but I didn’t want to wake him. A moment later the one-sided conversation continued.
“It’s too soon. I have no way of knowing.” His voice was so void of any emotion that it sent chills from the base of my skull down to my tail bone.
“Too soon for what?” I whispered. “Too soon for what, Paul?” I leaned in closer as the words escaped my mouth, and saw the journal I’d found earlier sat open in his lap. A very familiar pressure started to build in my head.
My heart pounded in my chest as each second passed, waiting for his response. My breaths were rapid and shallow; my brain screamed for more oxygen.
“Lindsey will be with child . It is the order. It will be done.”
My heart felt like it dropped to the lowest pit of my stomach. I clumsily stumbled backwards, shutting the door once my body was clear. I sat there dumbfounded for what felt like ages, before finally springing into action. I knew that he would be in that closet for the rest of the night, and only had a few hours left to gather my things and leave.
I ransacked the master bedroom for any items of mine that I could find, and stuffed them into my bag. When collecting my toiletries from the top of the dresser my hip caught the edge, sending it all tumbling to the floor. I froze, waiting for any type of reaction from Paul. The house remained quiet, the closet door remained shut. I gathered the last of my things, threw on some clothing, and walked out the front door.
I ran for the first mile or so in the night, but exhaustion quickly set in and I had to resort to speed walking. I tried my best to stay in the shadows, walking through people’s front yards, staying off of the sidewalk whenever possible. Every time a set of car lights came up from behind me, I quickly ducked behind a bush or the side of a house, convinced that he had found me. And every time the car just continued past me down the road, relief would flood through my entire being.
Finally, about an hour later, I made it to a brightly lit gas station. It was completely dead, with the exception of a young man behind the counter. The cashier was eerily pleasant, and called a cab for me. He acted as if it was the most common thing in the world for a young woman to walk into his place of business with a giant duffel bag at 3am, frantically asking for a cab.
Upon arriving to the airport, I paid cash for my ticket for a plane that left for home in just a few short hours. I spent those hours huddled in the ladies room back stall, listening to the second hand on the clock on the wall tick-tick-tick the countdown to my being on that plane and home free.
That was over 8 months ago. I arrived home to find that I had been relieved of my job, and quickly relocated to a small town outside of Cleveland. The last months of my life have been full of cash jobs, month-to-month apartment rentals, and different small towns throughout the surrounding states of Ohio.
My life is now full of uncertainty and the sharp pang of dread. The feeling that I’m being watched is always there in the back of my mind, filling my nights with horrendous nightmares, and silently urging me to pack my few belongings and get back on the road to a new destination during the day. I sit here tucked away in my small apartment, gently rubbing my swollen belly, attempting to calm the baby boy that is kicking at my ribs.
I fear for myself, but mostly I fear for his little life that has yet to begin. I realize that I am hormonal, and pregnant women have the tendency to have very vivid dreams and nightmares. These nightmares, though, are full of hook-and-dot symbols and men whose eyes glow gold. I can’t help but feel that they are a warning of what is yet to come.

[Table] IAmA: I've worked part-time at Chinese restaurants (in the U.S) whenever I get a break from school for the past 8 years, I'll tell you everything you want to know about this business!

Verified? (This bot cannot verify AMAs just yet)
Date: 2014-06-02
Link to submission (Has self-text)

Questions	Answers
Is uneaten food ever recycled back into the buffet?	OH GOD! Sadly, yes! After working at some places long enough, since workers eat off of the buffet as well, you learn to spot what's left from the day before. For example, left over chicken wings are soaked in water over night, fried again the next day and brought out during busy hours to mix in with fresh ones. Re-fried wings are darker in color.
	Not all of them recycle food, and those that do select those that can be easily re-cooked. The last place I worked at doesn't save anything at all, it's owned by a family who isn't so greedy like many other owners.
	Oh! Forgot one other disgusting practice. When the owner decides to do this they are seriously the greediest bastards in the business. In restaurants that recycle food, they often keep the meat, grind it up and make them stuffing for another item. Here's the nasty bit, some of these places pick out meat from the plates after the tubs are carried into the kitchen. I've never worked at a place that do that, but heard the story from a co-worker who had. I've since been avoiding anything stuffed at Chinese restaurants.
Why do they soak them in water overnight? Is that so they aren't dry when they re-fry them? Cos I'm just thinking that wings soaked in water would splatter like hell once they hit the deep-fryer.	Yes, to keep them from getting too dry. The deep fryer is at very high temperature, sure it will splatter but all that water evaporate quickly.
Are health code violations common across all Chinese restaurants? In my area it seems like at least once a year a restaurant closes down because of it then reopens under a new name with the same management.	All the restaurants I worked at have violations here and there, many would definitely close down if the inspector show up in the middle of the day. Strangely enough I rarely see the inspectors showing up even though we regularly receive threats from unhappy customers.
	A lot of the processed food are put in the container and left somewhere on the kitchen floor (either to cool off, marinate at room temp, or simply for convenience), often without covers. Workers walk around, water splash up from the floor as they walk by. If an inspector really cared they can swab a food container in the kitchen and there will be a lot of bacteria, things are hardly washed, rinsed at best. There are things I don't eat in the buffet because I know how they are made.
There are things I don't eat in the buffet because I know how they are made.	Anything stuffed. One item comes to mind is the lobster roll (fried rolls with meat stuffed inside), you can't be certain if the meat is clean.
Food on the floor uncovered? That seems like a relatively easy thing to avoid for potentially making someone very ill. I now sincerely wish Chinese food wasn't so damn good. It's basically impossible for me to remove it from my diet at this point.	Covering something is another step you have to spend time to do, isn't it? Remember when I talked about convenience?
Can you give a phonetic annunciation for Tsao? I have heard it called "T-so" or "Sd-ow" and just plain "So" Help a Caucasian out with this so he can order more confidently.	"Taw"
Well fuck, I guess people that work at chinese restaurants probably know how to interpret a wide variety of mispronunciations?	Well, there aren't other dishes that start with "General", even heard people call it general chicken before.
Not to get all rascist or anything but are you asian yourself? I tried to apply for a job at a chinese restaurant and they wouldn't let me because im white.	Not racist at all! I am. They don't usually hire non-Chinese mainly because of language barrier. As you can see they communicate in their native tongue and commonly they are not fluent in English. Secondly, they don't want to hire someone who might report them to the authorities for the things these places typically do (eg. false reporting revenue). And yes, I do speak Chinese.
你看得懂吗？	你说呢？
In my area they hire whites to the delivery.	Have seen that, sometime places even have white people answering the phone, they likely got the job through connections.
Yeah, it also isn't just white people that are banned. I know in my area all the restaurants are from different parts of China and have a different dialectic, so they will only hire Chinese from their region.	Correct! Chinese DO indeed discriminate among their own people.
What's the most unsanitary thing you have seen?	When you stir-fry things, there will be times when a thing or two fly out of the wok when you are flipping them, sometimes they are right on the range, sometime they are on the floor, those things WILL go straight back into the wok. I've seen the chef pick up stuff from the floor and throw it back into the wok way too many times.
Also do you have any opinion on customers who go straight for stuff like crab legs and shell fish and load up platefuls of it (like are these customers frowned upon, are they stereotypically Chinese)?	As far as people who go straight for the good stuff, don't we all? You will get dirty looks when you load up on seafood no matter who you are. I personally go to a casino and pay the good money for the better stuff without getting those dirty looks.
I've never been to a casino, what is special about the food there? Is it just the seafood or are there just really nice restaurants targeted toward big spenders.	Luxurious pigging out.
What is msg and why is it so bad?	It's a flavoring agent, commonly used in Chinese cuisine and industrial food production. It's bad because many Westerners have found themselves to be sensitive to Mono-Sodium Glutamate (MSG); think about Gluten.
	If you are allergic to MSG, calling to ask the restaurant if they use it in their food won't help. ALL Chinese restaurants use it, but not all items require it.
	Fact: While we are on the topic of allergies. Some restaurants include peanut butter in their Lo Mein. The sauce used to cook Lo Mein is pre-made, about 4 cups of PB in a 5 gallon bucket of sauce, so there is a chance that someone with peanut allergy has eaten Lo Mein containing peanut butter.
Glutamate and gluten are completely different things. The bad rep for msg was some suspected health concerns raised in the 90s, which have since been proven to not be a thing. It acts a bit like a salt, so can dehydrate you. But otherwise you're fine.	I know they are different, I actually did a meta-analysis research project on the effects of MSG. I was just referring to how people are reacting to the discovery of the "supposed" detrimental health effects of MSG and Gluten. People feared MSG just as people avoided Gluten even though they are not Gluten intolerant. Edit: well, I guess I shouldn't have assumed people know what's behind this gluten-free trend, many people who are doing gluten-free diet can't tell you what is it!
There is no such thing as an MSG allergy. They only people that claim to have one are hypochondriacs or "Internet health nuts" that don't know what MSG really is.	At least that's what a lot of the research on this topic says, but placebo can be a bitch depending on what you're trying to test.
Do you guys make any actual authentic Chinese Food or is it all American Chinese?	Ask any new Chinese immigrants they will tell you they've never had anything in the typical Chinese buffet in the U.S, even if they had something with the same name in China, the American version will be tweaked. There are exceptions nowadays with some new restaurants bringing authentic Chinese food to standing out in the competition.
	Edit: the amount of sugar required in the typical Chinese buffet food is definitely not "Chinese".
the amount of sugar required in the typical Chinese buffet food is definitely not "Chinese". Ha - you've obviously never been to Shanghai.	Well, I guess I should have said the percentage of dishes requiring large amount of sugar is definitely not "Chinese". I'm not denying that some Chinese cuisine utilize lots sugar, but not all dished they do. In an Chinese buffet, pretty much all items had sugar added.
Does your restaurant you work at have authentic Chinese food or is it all American Chinese typical?	And the answer is yes and no. I have worked at many and am not working at one right now. You want authentic Chinese, go to China-Town.
I know where it is. I was just asking and was curious. I wanted a straight answer. Thanks.	What do you mean you know where it is?
Obviously this is illegal. Do local authorities just overlook a lot of this like illegal immigrant field workers? Is there a known protocol illegals know to follow when the authorities show up?	They run if they can. Couple years back the ICE actually bust into these houses WITH FULL TACTICAL GEAR AND ASSAULT RIFFLES in the morning to arrest workers, some of these houses have kids living in them too, to a point they couldn't book more people into their local office, the bail was like 10k for females, and 30K for males. They made good money doing that for a while. There are states that enforce these laws more, and illegal workers avoid working in those states.
	Edit: Lots of couples have kids here, they become an Anchor Baby
No matter what I do, I can't get homemade fried rice to taste like the genuine article. Is there a trick that I'm missing here? (Peanut oil? Chicken stock instead of water? MSG?)	First things first, are you certain that your white rice is cooked right? That's the mistake a lot of people make right off the bat.
I've always wondered - how much of the buffet items are made from scratch and how many are frozen/pre-packaged and then just fried or heated up before serving? Any specific examples?	Almost all from scratch depending on the which restaurant you go to. The only things I've seen that come in frozen are the fried stuff. A busy buffet sometimes buy Egg Rolls pre-packaged because it's time consuming to make. Onion rings, french fries...everything that's definitely not Chinese is bought in a package.
What are some "off menu" items that pretty much every Chinese restaurant makes for non-Western customers. How can I get Chinese restaurants to sell me authentic Chinese food?	There is no such thing, these places would not go through the trouble to serve someone something different. China Town = Authentic Chinese food. Link to www.youtube.com
Dogs ?	Not at the Chinese restaurants Americans are familiar with.
	There are restaurants in some Asian countries that specialize in dog meat, and they farm raise these dogs, just like how people harvest horse meat in some European countries.
If I get an all-you-can-eat Buffet what do I need to stack my plate with the get the most value for money?	Seafood, you get dirty looks when you chow down on plates upon plates of seafood, best bang for the buck!
How is the sauce for the basic stir fried vegetables made? I love it as a side and have no idea how to make it at home. Every recipe I find is for something with teriyaki or hoisin sauce. All I want is the clearish sauce used in 99% of Chinese restaurants for the stir fried mixed vegetables.	Chicken stock brought to boil, add salt & pepper, scallions, sesame oil, add corn starch to get the right consistency then cover veggies with sauce.
Everything he said..a little garlic and white pepper is good too.	Yeah, definitely forgot about the garlic, toasted in the wok with tiny bit of oil before pouring chicken stock into the wok.
With there being so many items on this menu, I suspect most of them share preparation, so its not really that difficult to prepare all of the options? Or do the chefs really have their work cut out for them with so many options?	As far as preparation, things can get very specific for each item, that's why people keep complaining about how they can't replicate something they had at the Chinese place at home.
That's good to know, also explains where there is a difference between these otherwise seemingly similar "fast food" Chinese place. So...what's that roasted chicken recipe?	Link to www.reddit.com
The sauce used for chicken feet (black beans). What is the recipe?	I've always asked the chef for the recipe for the black beans sauce, but it's a lot of trouble like many other sauces they use, it involves many steps. Cooking at the restaurant is quite different than what online recipes tell you to do, you don't add ingredients as you go. The sauces are made in large amount at a time, and stir-fry is really mixing all the meat and veggies with the sauce after they are deep fried or blanched.
I've tried several recipes I found on the net, none of them are like the restaurants.	Edit: I remember one thing that made replicating the sauce difficult is that one ingredient may be the byproduct of some other food they make.
Do you work in a Chinese buffet catering to non-Asians or ones that Asians go to? Have you heard of the Zen Buffet chain in Southern California? I'm Asian and it seems Zen Buffet is the only one my family and friends will go to.	The ones I've worked at catered to the general American population. I have never been to CA, so I have never heard of Zen Buffet.
Where are the oysters sourced for the oysters with black bean sauce? Why are they always the biggest oysters I've ever seen? They're easily the size of my hand or bigger and Asian buffets are the only place where I see them.	Are you talking about mussels w/ black bean sauce? A lot of people confuse that with oysters. Regardless, they are farm raised, mostly in Latin America (in countries like Guatemala).
Where do the desserts come from? All Asian buffets seem to have the exact same desserts. The square of cake with jelly top, the jelly roll, the macaroon, etc.	Desserts are made by dessert factories and sold in brown cardboard boxes. One of the pastry company is called King's Pastry in Ontario, Canada. These companies supply wholesale companies that deal with the Chinese restaurants; a nationwide Asian restaurant wholesale company is called Asian Foods. I worked for a boss that knew the founder of Asian Foods personally, he started the first Chinese buffet in a state, and there were no supply companies at the time so he had to buy everything from a grocery store, that grocery store was owned by the founder of Asian Foods who saw the potential in supplying the Asian restaurant business.
Thanks for the reply! Yea, Southern California has lots of Asian buffets where the main clientele are Asians (and Hispanics, but mostly Asians). Zen buffet has the biggest name recognition amongst all the Asian buffets around here. I love Hot and Sour soup (that's how I normally gauge a Chinese restaurant's quality), so I wish I could find a buffet that had a good one. It's always this thickened soy sauce water with random bits of egg and bamboo suspended in it. No, oysters with black bean sauce. They use these giant oysters, spoon on some black bean sauce, and bake. Only 6 or so fit in one of the steam table pans on the buffet, so they're gone in seconds (usually because one person camped out and got all six and the next batch is 30 min away). The crab legs are REALLY salty! I guess that's why. Although, since they charge for soda and Asians don't usually order a drink that costs extra when they go to the buffet. Only the non-Asians will order the $2.39 drink, so that's only 1/4th of the clientele. I wish they wouldn't delay the premium items since everyone ends up camping out for them (and stealing tongs from other stations so they can also be grabbing crab even though they're not first in line). Because it's so rare to have a batch put out, everyone grabs as much as possible as fast as possible. I'm convinced that if they would just keep it continuously stocked, people would just grab what they could eat and they would end up going through less crab in the long run. Good to know about the desserts. I've always wondered about that because every Asian buffet in California has the exact same setup of desserts. Do you guys do the sliced bananas in that fluorescent red syrup? What the heck is that syrup?	Strawberry sauce, that's it, same as those you would put on waffles. Some places even use sauce that has strawberry chunks. You can't taste the strawberry in that dessert? Now you know, make them at home!
How common is it for an American to come in who speaks Chinese? Do most Chinese restaurant workers in the US speak mandarin or cantonese, or is it mixed? My mandarin is not amazing, but not terrible either (according to my Chinese friend). If I tried to order in chinese, would they be just be offended?	It's becoming for prevalent with Westerners going abroad to China, for school or business. Most of the restaurant workers speak Mandarin, and this business is dominated by people immigrated from China's Fujian province, the province right next to Taiwan across the ocean. There people came from the City of Fuzhou and the surrounding area, they have their own regional language (people often call it a dialect, suggesting it's a variation of Mandarin, but in reality is a completely different language). They wouldn't be offended, actually a "老外(Lao Why)" (Chinese word for non-chinese person) speaking Chinese is very fascinating to them.
Also I remember going to a Chinese take out place near me once and they actually had the chinese catalog for take out restaurants sitting out for people to look at...what is the name of this catalog? Seemed like it was something nationally circulated throughout the chinese take out community.	Pretty sure it's the Chinese newspaper, they often print weekly or bi-weekly so they can get quite thick.
Why did no one ask him what he WOULDNT order at a chinese restaurant??? ahhh now i wanna know what i should stay away from...	Anything stuffed. You never know if the meat is clean.
GGOP XD thanks. But now I must break up my love affair with crab rangoon sad face	Crab rangoons are fine. It's the stuffed meat that's sketchy.
How would I, a college student, get into working part time at Chinese buffets during school breaks?	Are you Chinese? do you speak Chinese? If you are non-Chinese, you better speak Chinese. If you can't speak Chinese, you better have connections with the owner or know people working there.
	Edit: Chinese buffets really aren't non-chinese worker friendly, plus the hours are horrible.
Yes, I'm American born Chinese. I can speak at a conversational level, but I'm just worried that I wouldn't be able to hold my own in a restaurant setting.	People are very judgmental there, mainly on your efficiency at working this laborious job. Some people are just mean for no reason, keep in mind, many of these workers spend 6 days a week, 12 hours a day working in there, after 10-15 years some of them develop personality problems. I've seen many people like this.
Is the iced water at a chinese buffet okay to drink or should I go for something else like hot tea or a Coke?	They are fine, comes right out of the soda fountain, if not, it's just from the faucet. It really depends on if you have a sensitive stomach, if you drink from the faucet at home you'll be fine drinking water at the restaurant; generally you should concern more about the food than the water.
Why do all Chinese food come in same cardboard barrels?	Not all, but it's just the way it got started, they keep it the same way to give you that sense of consistency, you correlate consistency with authenticity.
How much food do we need to eat at the all you can eat that you guys loose money?	You can't, the whole point of buffet is people with big appetite balance out with people with small appetite, so at the end of the day, they don't really lose money. But if you really want to know how much you personally would get your money's worth, 5-6 plates full should do it for a buffet that costs around 12 bucks (depending on what they serve), or you can do two full plates of crag legs.
After working at these restaurants, would you ever take a date to any of the buffets you've worked at?	I would depending on the occasion. Saw some kid brought his prom date to the buffet, both still in their full outfit for the night...
Is any of the food really 100% vegetarian? I've been lied to so many times by Asian restaurants.	No. Everything deep fried (even vegetarian) is done in the same deep fryer with the same oil. Some veggie only dishes are deep fried in the oil for a second or two (instead of blanching with water), this process makes the food look better when it's done. The only things I can think of is guarantee 100% vegetarian is the steamed vegetables...well, they are boiled with water, no steaming at all.
	Edit: example, spring rolls are fried in the same oil as the pork egg rolls.
Why do you work in Chinese restaurants? Are those jobs just easy to get if you are Chinese? Is there something else you like about it?	It all started when I was hanging out at a family friend's restaurant when I was a kid, then I started helping out here and there, nothing seriously; I would some times head over to Blockbusters to play games when I get bored. Then I was looking for a job when I started high school like many other kids, filling out applications and all but none responded. Then the idea of working at a Chinese place began. You don't need applications, you agree to work, the owner agrees to hire, and you start the next day. Pay all in cash at the end of the day if you wait tables. The thing I like about it is I can work whenever I decide to spend my break from school working, I just call the place and ask if they have opening, sometimes they just tell someone else to go on vacation and return when I am back to school, and people who work full time there are pretty willing to leave for a bit since they typically work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, so they need the break.
	Edit: the job isn't necessarily easy, you need to work fast and efficient, if you can't do that you'll get fired as fast you can get hired. I actually hate this job overall, you meet so many horrible people, not just you wouldn't want them as your customers but you just wouldn't deal with them in life in general.
OK. This is really late. I love Chinese food, my girlfriend is from mainland China, I can speak like three words of Chinese. And nowhere in all of my compendium of knowledge, either direct or through my girlfriend have I found a good General Tsos's recipe.	The recipe is complicated that's why. People can't make it because it takes so long, even the chef don't make them when they are home. Here is the brief process just to show how time consuming it is to make this dish. I don't have the full recipe though. Batter is made with eggs and other flavoring. You have to add the right amount of everything to get the right consistency otherwise you can't get the right crunch after you fried the chicken. The sauce is prepared separately. Lots of ingredient: chicken stock, soy sauce, lots of sugar, that sugary water inside canned pineapple, ground chilli pepper... Chicken is covered in batter and deep fried, then let to cool. when order comes in, the fried chicken is again deep fried. Then the sauce is brought to boil in a wok, fried chicken is then pour into the sauce and "stir fried", corn starch is then added to bring that sticky, gooey goodness. so yes, all the seasoning is done before hand.
How do you make that tasty tasty chicken happen?
Any food that you think is the safest bet at any Chinese restaurants?	The typical fried rice and lo mein, they are simple with few ingredients, there aren't many things you can do with them to be greedy and save on costs.
If you're still taking questions, can you tell me some awesome recipes? Or was it all mostly pre-packaged stuff?	Roast chicken: Use chicken thigh meat or breast, cut them into pieces that are about .5-1 inch thick and 3-4 inches wide.
	For about 3 pounds of chicken: Sauce: Half an onion, 4-5 slices of ginger, 3 table spoons of oyster sauce, 3 table spoons of salt, 3 table spoons of oil, 1 table spoon of pepper, 6 table spoons curry power, 2 table spoons of cooking wine, 1 table spoon of MSG (or not), add hot sauce if you like spicy food. Mix everything together and marinate the chicken in it overnight inside your refrigerator.
	Cooking: lay each piece flat on aluminum tray, pop into oven for 45 minutes on 425 F. turn all pieces half way to get them evenly cooked.
	*I'm not certain on the proportions, I just eye ball everything when I cook, so all the numbers are just what I think is the amount I add.
Alright wisbucky. Everything you have said has been spot on. Im sure you have seen my other post about me working for chinese restaurants for nearly 20yrs of my life(from delivering, serving, bartending, managing, POS support, marketing, web development etc) What is "the VERY BAD!"?	Have you read the comment where I talked about recycling left over meat from customer's plate for stuffing in a different item (eg. lobster rolls)?
Awesome ama, read through the whole thing cause I love chinese food. Hope I'm not too late but how is the beef in all chinese dishes so tender? This has puzzled me for a long time. I'm pretty sure it's flank, and the high heat shock factor in a wok could be it, but very difficult to replicate since you need the special high heat burner. Is there any industry trick to it?	They are kept in a thin batter, pretty much add flour to the beef, provided that there are still quite a lot of moisture on them, add little water so the mixture of beef and batter isn't too dry; you are going for the thin runny, slimy coating over the meat. When it's time to cook, you deep fry them half way done, then prepare the beef however you want in the second half of the cooking process.
	Edit: oh, pretty sure it's corn starch instead of flour.
Do you have a god recipe for breading? I've tried several and the breading is always falling off, limp and wettish, absorbing too much oil, etc.	I don't have a good recipe for breading.
Be honest, would you eat there?	I do, all the time! I go to buffet dates with my friends while I'm not working and at school.
Are you talking about a single restaurant? or multiple ones (and how many)? Where are you located? Where any of them better or worse than the others in terms of health and safety?	Talking about my experience working in multiple restaurants, but things pretty much are the same across the country. I'm in the midwest, and I can't name any establishments for obvious reasons, sorry!
Can't believe no one asked... At places where both are served, any difference between the buffet food and the made-to-order food?	No difference, the chef just make the small portions for the made-to-order, that's all.
Where do they get their cat?	This was an AMA about Chinese restaurants. If you have questions regarding pussy wholesale, you need to consult your mother.
How's is General Tso's Chicken really made?	Link to www.reddit.com
How do I hook up with one of the Chinese waitresses?	The same way you would any other waitresses if there is no language barrier.
Are they careful about the food they serve ? Perhaps if it fell on the floor, do they just pick it up and serve it anyway ? Ever had any incident when someone spit/peed/masturbated in the food ?	Link to www.reddit.com
	No excrement involved in the cooking process. But, there was this chef who has the habit of picking his nose as he waits for the food to get done, the owner warned him some many times.
Recently went to a hibachi buffet that had a very large sushi bar. I had about 3 plates full of sushi then dessert. If it cost $12 for unlimited food, did I get my money's worth and did the workers hate me?	Around 3 plates FULL of sushi I think you got your money's worth, but also depend on which kinds you had, the raw ones generally cost more because those require higher quality fish. It's quite common for people to have that amount of sushi if they are solely there for that, so waiters get quite used to seeing that, but around 5 plates though...you will get your money's worth and people will hate you.
Did you ever work at a restaurant with "yellow" fried rice?	Yes, it's food coloring added after the white rice is done cooking and before it's fried in the wok.
Why do you keep working at Chinese resturants?	No other skill set, can't speak the language fluently, and illegal residence status usually put a stop to whatever dream they had before coming to the U.S.
Why are so many of the main dishes sweet but the desserts taste bland and sugarless?	Restaurants add as much sugar as they want to their dishes, but they buy the desserts in package.
Any warning signs that a place is overall substandard and that they do this type of meat grinding from left overs? I have to admit, I hand't been to a buffet in a while and went to one a couple weeks ago. There just seemed to be a lot of strange things, odd textures and smells that alarmed me.	Trust your instinct, that's pretty much what I do when I eat at a place I don't work at.
Anthony Bordain once said a good judge is by checking out the bathroom. If they can't keep that clean, and it's an area open to the customer, than go elsewhere.	Applies for all restaurants.

Last updated: 2014-06-06 12:52 UTC
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