Hippie Bill
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 6:58:02 AM
What ever happened to "pass me up a large bill, I'll make change"?
"Hit the last two and finish it up for the large."
john777
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011 11:25:33 AM
the trouble with games is nobodys in charge NOBODY GIVES THE ORDERS like they used to do. people do not teach their help anything , they just put them in a game and let them go for them selfs. last week i sat across from a balloon store and the kook in it called right threw my center joint, the guy just didn,t understand.
with it and all for it
john 777

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joan
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:52:38 PM
Again, a huge over-generalization. I know it happens...but it's not "the trouble with games", it's the trouble with SOME OWNERS. And I totally agree that it seems to be happening more frequently these days. But not everywhere, and not everyone.
JustJeff
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 2:48:52 PM
It seems like its one extreme or the other..No names mentioned,but I was letting my daughter throw for some goldfish not to lomg ago,and a dude from a joint down the way came up to me and handed me a "good for one free game" card..I almost cracked up,cuz I used the same card many moons ago...I told hi I used to be with it and I will stick to the hanky-panks Thank you very much!--He walked away not looking too happy.---I asked the girl working the joint if that didn't * her off a little having the guy come up to her customers like that and she admitted that it did..

The other side of the extreme is that NO-ONE calls me in...I don't know if its cuz I am scary looking or what,but when I worked joints,we called em or tried to anyway...It;s kind of funny too cuz if a guy or gal makes an effort and I like the joint,a lot of times I will play.But I damn sure ain't gonna play if they look like they don'e want to be bothered or are buzy talking on the phone...LOL---jeff
joan
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011 7:35:57 PM
Jeff, I think a lot of that comes from paying people salary...I notice that more and more owners are putting their clerks on a salary and this is the result. Eh, I guess it depends on the grosses to know if it's a smart move. If a goldfish joint is gonna gross $3,000 in a weekend no matter who's working it, then paying someone a $250 salary is a good deal. Even if it would have grossed $4,000 if you had someone calling people in, at 20 points, the lower gross and salary is a better deal for the owner when it comes to net profit.
JustJeff
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 9:55:12 AM
Originally Posted by: joan 

Jeff, I think a lot of that comes from paying people salary...I notice that more and more owners are putting their clerks on a salary and this is the result. Eh, I guess it depends on the grosses to know if it's a smart move. If a goldfish joint is gonna gross $3,000 in a weekend no matter who's working it, then paying someone a $250 salary is a good deal. Even if it would have grossed $4,000 if you had someone calling people in, at 20 points, the lower gross and salary is a better deal for the owner when it comes to net profit.




Joan,I would be interested in your opinion on the gentleman crossing the midway to try to get me to his joint next...In all fairness to him,he did say "when your through here",(meaning the goldfish joint).but I still think it is uncalled for..We had a thing years back where if you sent me a good player,I would tip you later on.But I don't recall ever prowling the midway for lack of a better word..I am trying to choose my words carefully here cuz I don't want to get jumped on,but ya'll want joint talk--I have been on both sides of the counter,in various types of games,so I think I qualify to have an opinion even though I have not worked them for a while (outside of a week in a hanky pank 3 summers ago.)

Joan you always specify about generizations..Just so you know,I for one know better than that without being told...
One other thing-- the salary issue has been around a while..I know of a show or 2 on Long Island that paid joint help by the hour decades ago.I think a lot of 4o milers do that for whatever reason..Most show owneres and joint owners did not get where they are by being stupid,so I think it is a fair bet that if employee A is on salary while employee B is on points,there is a good reason for it... Gotta run--have a nice day---jeff
joan
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011 11:25:45 AM
I actually think it's a smart move to pay salary in joints where you aren't going to find "agents" to work anyways...Drag a fish, duck pond, goldfish, frog bog etc...The owner isn't going to make a * ton more money by putting "qualified" people in those joints...so why not save money by paying a salary? Makes sense!

About the guy handing you a duke card while you were at another joint. I don't really know what to say about that. Sounds rude to me.
On the other hand, were the two joints owned by the same guy? Does he pay salary to the girl in the fish? Does that make it better? I really don't know. But I will rarely, if ever, hand a duke card to anyone at another game.
Bowler Roller
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 11:43:09 AM
Never talk to someone while they're under someone elses awning.

As far as salary: you get what you pay for.
Every crowd has a silver lining - PT Barnum
joan
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011 1:14:34 PM
Originally Posted by: Bowler Roller 


As far as salary: you get what you pay for.


More and more lately, I've been seeing them get the same, no matter what they pay..
I say, if your help sucks and you can't find better, pay them what they're worth...
Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't 'tip' your harder workers..but honestly? If they're just going to sit there and make change and not really call people in anyways, why share the profit?

Now, my daughter is 13. She works a duck pond like nobodies business. Her favorite call is "If you can't win this one, I'll give you your money back!". Every time we go anywhere that she ends up working, she consistently WAY outgrosses any local help in the joint with her. But she's 13. If she stays in the business, which I highly doubt she will, NO WAY will she be working a duck pond as an adult. Who would? I don't see many 'duck pond agents'. In fact, the kid in the joint with me that just turned 20 has been in it his whole life. He was great in the duck pond when he was a kid...but the minute he turned 18, somebody broke him in to the working joints, and the rest is history, lol.


So paying a salary in a joint where you get either little kids or unqualified help seems reasonable to me.
JustJeff
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:03:06 PM
Originally Posted by: joan 

I actually think it's a smart move to pay salary in joints where you aren't going to find "agents" to work anyways...Drag a fish, duck pond, goldfish, frog bog etc...The owner isn't going to make a * ton more money by putting "qualified" people in those joints...so why not save money by paying a salary? Makes sense!

About the guy handing you a duke card while you were at another joint. I don't really know what to say about that. Sounds rude to me.
On the other hand, were the two joints owned by the same guy? Does he pay salary to the girl in the fish? Does that make it better? I really don't know. But I will rarely, if ever, hand a duke card to anyone at another game.




I thought the same thing about the people being affilialated,and forgot to mention that when I posted earlier! First I asked her if that was her old man ,then I asked her what she thought about it.(Him trying to get meto come over with a duke card).She could have been fibbing I don't know..

My old lady could work a spot joint better than me as far as the mechanics of it,but she didn't have the same mentality as far as trying to get paid,so she would send me her customers on occasion.But we were in the same joint and she did the sending,I didn't stalk her and try to get her business...A little difference there than what I experianced..

What you say makes perfect sense to me when it comes to certain joints,..Others absolutely not. ..No sense naming which joints we are talking about on this type of open board,but sufface to say that we agree on most issues..

One thing we all agree on is that the old days are gone forever! whether that is good or bad is debatable..I know that it was fun back in the day being in on a certain private club so to speak..Nowadays with youtube and other web-sites showing anybody who can read how everything under the sun works,

(And not always correctly I might add--LOL)

,it is certainly a new way of doing things..

I think it was Bowler who said you don't go under someone elses awning!--I agree...On the other hand It seems like some of these guys are starving out there so I didn't get too mad at the Dude for trying to make a buck---Just didn't like his method...jeff
Bowler Roller
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:57:45 PM
I admit to jumping out of my joint, on occasion, to sell frogs when our clerk in the bog had a tip too big for him to handle. But it was our joint, and that money would have walked away if I didn't.

Once, at the Ft Worth Stock Show, the weather was killing us. I was on break and saw the other derby with about 10 women play once and leave, so I walked them all to my derby where they stayed long enough to give me a decent payday. At least I let them walk away from the games first.

Being mainly a mic man, I got many, many accusations of awning calling.
Every crowd has a silver lining - PT Barnum
ringmaster
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 10:33:34 PM
Dah .........when there is a clerk and an agent, the clerk's job is to handle the trickle and steer

scores to the agent.
joan
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011 11:47:17 PM
A couple years ago, I was playing a spot that was (to say the nicest thing I can think of) incredibly slow. Know what happened? The clerks in the two uckersay joints quit trying to gross ANY money, and were instead just handing duke cards to everyone they could get to stop, in hopes of getting a 10% tip off a big one. Thing is, it was slow. Any of us could have called in any of those players ourselves. duh. So when one of the guys finally got a score, he wouldn't tip the kid, because he had come out of his joint to hand the customer a card, while the guy was walking in anyways! lol.
Anyways, I don't know what the point of that story was, but I just remembered it while I was reading this thread, and it made me laugh.
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