Mar 25, 2009

Discussion #1

I need to get something off my chest that is really bothering me from the trip. What has happened to customer service in the US? It is absolutely amazing, in this economy, the lack of customer service some companies are providing. The latest example is the Palazzo and this piece of shit BJ pit boss.

So the morning games are about to kick off. There are flat screens located in each of the craps and BJ pits. The BJ's TVs were still on ESPN, and I asked the lady pit boss if she could change the channel over to CBS. "I don't know how to. Its not me. Go over to the craps tables and they can do it." Ok, didn't have a problem with this at all. So I walked over to the craps table and asked the pit boss there if he could change the BJ TVs and not just him, but all of the guys behind the table stopped and just looked at me like I was crazy. "What?" asked one of them. I stated that they lady pit boss had me come over here to ask them to change the channel. Well they all shook their heads in disbelief and one of the guys said "No, she can do it. She has the remote as well."

Then I started to get mad. So I walked back and got a little pissed at the lady pit boss who gave me the traditional poor customer service line that I have fired so many people over. "Its not my problem. I don't have control of it." I would expect that from a dealer, but from a pit boss is unacceptable. Fuck you lady. I was so shocked by her behavior that I just got rude with her after she told me for the 5th fucking time it wasn't her job.

Now I'm not trying to be a complete ass and I would of been understanding if at any point she would of offered to call over to the craps table or said that she would take care of it. But nope. Nothing even close. I don't think I've ever heard a pit boss tell any of us when we've asked them where the cocktail waitress has gone "Its not my problem. I don't have any control of it." Nope. They always state that they will find one for us. Sometimes even make that fake phone call to the cocktail waitress pit saying that table 13 needs some drinks. Either way, most pit bosses make an effort. This one did not.

Couple this along with the obvious omission of cocktail waitresses on the north end BJ and Roulette tables and they are no longer a top of the line casino.

1 comment:

laurad said...

To follow up on this...I was there for the pit boss argument and was upset when Derek apologized. Why does someone pay extra to stay at the Palazzo? To get excellent customer service. Did we get it there? No. I compare it to the first time that we visited the Wynn. 4 of us sat down to play BJ in 2006 after strolling through the lobby like tourists. The pit boss came right over and offered to sign us all up for players cards. We played for maybe 2-3 hours and got taken, but had great drink service and a friendly interaction with the dealer and the pit boss who kept checking in on us. Then, the PB offered us free lunch at the buffet. Now that's the treatment I had expected at the Palazzo. Instead, we got rude and lazy.

My incident at the Palazzo (for which I may need Wiz to fill in some blanks or inaccuracies) was when a BJ dealer moved on to the next player before I had finished playing my hand. I had a 12 against a dealer 10 and hit. I got a 4-total of 16. I had been playing at this table for at least 2 hours and had never once stayed on 16. At this point, I think I may have thrown my hands up in disgust because it was literally the 30th time I had to hit on 16 that afternoon. Anyway, when I turned around to hit again, she had already given Wiz a 4 (which would have made me a nice 20).

I said "wait a minute-I wanted to hit". The dealer replied with "you waved your hand to stay". Uh-no I didn't. Then she started rolling her eyes at me for explaining that I hadn't wanted to stay on 16 (which any observant dealer should have realized since I was playing the card the entire time). Excuse me? This is what set me off. A simply, "I'm sorry, my mistake" and all would have been resolved. However, all I got was more eye rolling. When she asked if I wanted to call the pit boss over I said no (actually I think Wiz was starting to get scared at this point and jumped in and said "no, no, no that's not necessary"), but then I added that it would be nice not to get an attitude from her when she was the one that cost me money. I was playing $25 at the time, but others at the table were playing up to $300/hand. She clearly didn't care. At this point I think it would have been appropriate to call the pit boss over, but I just wanted to get out of there. So, on the next hand I clearly indicated what the "stay" hand motion was and colored up. I don't have my book with me now, but I'm pretty sure that was my last BJ session for the trip.

Anyway, the Palazzo isn't going to win any gamers with this type of attitude. Even the Sahara pit bosses were proactive in signing us up for cards.