I ate Freedom Fries today

[ForrestGump]

I went to a Toby Keith's Bar And Grill to say goodbye to some of the bartenders, young women I've come to know over the past year or so (we'd often go in there after work, when we were working late nights, and I'd now and then sing with the band that played there regularly and sometimes with another band). They're all being ditched because some unionized 'flair' bartenders elsewhere in the casino kicked up a fuss because they're not union and not certified as flair bartenders -- the casino introduced them as 'entertainers' and they and the band were the only reason I accompanied my work partner to any place named after that jingoistic f***wit from Oklahoma, no matter how divorced the chain is from the namesake.

Anyway, we used to get an insane reception in there -- the ego massage (a few other kinds of massage, too, typically) often came in handy and was much needed -- and the bartenders loved us as much as we loved them. I'm going to boycott the place now -- replacing these lovely and extremely pleasant young women with even more flair bartenders (mostly male) is a big mistake by management, too -- and we'll find some other place that offers us the same post-work diversions when we need them.

Anyway, for the first time I contributed actual dollars to the place, today, when my work partner, a friend of his, and I went in to pay tribute and ordered lunch. I ended up ordering a club sandwich that was pretty good but I was appalled to find that they list one of the optional accompaniments 'freedom fries.' I had no idea this chain did that particular stupidity. I was kind of aghast and let everyone around me know it, and when the bartender told me (in an ironic tone) that apparently we don't like the French I told her that I'd take the French over that idiot Toby Keith any day of the week and I requested that my fries be French or, at least, Belgian.

A few minutes later, when that sickening "courtesy of the red, white and whatever" crap song and video featuring Toby Keith came on the bar's multiple screens I turned to the main screen, that covered the entire band stage, and gave his visage a vigorous single-digit salute, and I didn't give a f*** what patriot saw me doing it. On the bright side, that sad piece of wannabe-Rambo ubernationalistic f***head garbage was followed by a video from Bruce Springsteen.

F*** Toby Keith, f*** any facility named after him, and f*** the f***ers who f***ed these young women out of jobs at which they excelled. :grr:

[SeattleGirl]

1. Run, Forrest, Run!

Was this the Toby Keith's by The Imperial Palace?

[ForrestGump]

3. Yep, that's the one

I always hated going in there because of the name and some of the music -- I always made sure to mouth "f*** you" when I passed by a big picture of old smilin' Toby -- but I liked the band, even when I didn't sing with them, and I really liked the bartenders.

:hi:

:hug:

[SeattleGirl]

4. Last time I was in Vegas, 2 years ago, MrSG dared me to go in.

He won the dare.....

[ForrestGump]

7. Y'all come on back now,

y'hear? :P

:D

[SeattleGirl]

8. Soon as I can. I'm having severe Vegas withdrawals!

Up until these past two years, I've gone to Vegas once or twice a year for the past 10 years. I miss it! And the next time I make it there, I wanna meet YOU!

[ForrestGump]

10. You said 'withdrawals'

:D

You should know that they don't like withdrawals here...they just want people to deposit their money here. :-)

Why? What'd you think I meant? O8)



Next time you're here, it's a date... :hug:

[SeattleGirl]

11. Silly Forrest.

I know they don't like withdrawals in Vegas, though last time I was there, I won $1200 on a Wild Cherry machine on my birfday!!!

And I'm gonna hold you to that date, darlin'. :loveya:

[ForrestGump]

12. I must be tired. I read that as "I'm gonna hold you down on that date"

Wishful thinking. :D

That was great, though, you busting the Cherry for $1200! :headbang:

I hope you got right on the 'plane back home after that, and didn't give any of it back to the casino. May fortune smile on you always!!

:loveya:

[SeattleGirl]

13. Bad boy!

:evilgrin:


I actually brought about $1100 back home with me. Used $100 of it to buy souveniers for the family.

[ForrestGump]

14. Woof. Woof.

That's my other dog imitation. :-)

You did it right, Ms Girl...escaped Vegas with winnings intact! It happens, now and then... :D

[SeattleGirl]

15. There have been a number of times where I've come home with

as much or more money than I went there with.

[ForrestGump]

16. Good job!

Seems like a lot of people -- certainly a lot of people I know -- feel like they have to keep gambling until it's all gone, and it will go, because the odds always favor the house in the end. They'll play, win big, and just keep going until they're down hundreds or even thousands -- my SIL was like that after we first arrived here (I used to accompany her on all-night marathons and she'd often ask me to play with her money -- I won her literally thousands and she'd blow it and her own winnings by 7 AM). :-(

I remember one time she gave me $100 that I worked up higher on poker machines, then took to the tables and translated into right around $3000, that she added to her winnings...then I watched her rip through $7000 with depressing speed.

I used to play poker machines and, at the tables, blackjack and three-card poker (with her money, with her keeping the proceeds -- the only significant exception was the first time I played blackjack when, through doing everything possible against the fairly rigid guidelines, I profited $400...for a few minutes I thought I could make a living that way, but then I came to my senses). I don't really remember much of how to play either table game now, a couple of years later (even though I learned how to deal blackjack a while back) because my whole life long I've always seemed to have a real problem retaining the mechanics of card games. Apart from those expeditions, that stopped when she realized she might have a bit of a problem and got big-time into Texas Hold 'Em and getting very good at it (I don't even know how to play it and have zero interest in ever learning it or watching it on TV), I've probably gambled about five dollars a year. :D

[SeattleGirl]

18. When I go to Vegas,. I have a specific amount set aside for

gambling. What I do, when I win, is hold back the winnings, and continue gambling on the original amount. I find that works well. And I don't have the attitude that I HAVE TO WIN. I like gambling, but I'm reasonable about it.

[ForrestGump]

21. That's a good system

It's what I'd do, too. At the very least, I'd protect my initial amount, but flipping that idea on its head is even better.

Losing lots of money is just kind of depressing to me, even now that I've actually got a little bit of it on hand.

[SeattleGirl]

23. I often play the nickel slots if I'm not doing well on quarters.

I really do love gambling, but always within reason. Not gonna spend the rent money in Vegas.

[ForrestGump]

24. I like the poker machines (even though I don't know how to play real poker) because

you can play on them all night on just a few dollars, going way up and then doen, then up again....

Seems like they know when you're going to talk on the machine, when you're getting close to zero, 'cos that's when I always win something big. :-)

A week or so ago I spent a few hours in the company of a nurse from SC, helping her play video poker (25 cent). It'd been a long time since I played anything at all, but the gist of it came back and together we stretched out her $20 investment for hours...can't do that on the regular slot machines and fruit machines, that really eat up dollars quickly (though some of the gimmicky bonuses they have now are fun and my SIL have made hundreds off some of those machines). I liked her company and we had a lot of fun -- we got her up to $40 and she cashed out, put $20 away, and we played the rest of the time on the other $20 until it ended up all gone. So she played for hours, we both had fun in each other's company, and when she walked away to join her sister for dinner she walked away exactly even. I like that. :-)

[SeattleGirl]

25. I love video poker.

I have a program on my computer so I can play. Not real momey, but it's fun.

I really like the multi-play machines, especially the 10-line ones.

[ForrestGump]

27. Those multiplay machiens are crazy

:D

For a while, my SIL and I played them a bit. We discovered a really fun one in a Vons supermarket. I don't think it was there, but somewhere we played a 100-line machine. That was totally nuts...fun! :D

I really like blackjack, and have done well at it, but I'm really just not a gambler. Can't remember all the intricacies of blackjack -- yeah, it's a simple game, but it requires some care, speed, and memorization of combinations and so on -- and I can't count cards. If I gambled, I'd probably get more into blackjack than something like Hold 'Em or any of these other poker games that've become so trendy lately. I'm kind of intrigued by baccarat...I bet it's something I could get into, especially if I went out and bought a tuxedo (and maybe a Walther PPK).

Why the hell do they show poker games on ESPN? Is it a sport now? 'cos, yeah, when I go into a casino and see poker players gathered around a table the very first thing I think is what great athletes are in the room.... :eyes:

[SeattleGirl]

30. Non can do the 100 line machines!

3, 5 or 10 line machines are the ones for me.

I don't think I'd call poker a sport, but there is something interesting about it to me. I think it's the "stragegery" of it all. Appeals to the logic side of my mind.

[u4ic]

33. When I was in Monte Carlo,

the tables started at $10,000 Canadian. And this was in the 80's. :o


I can say I'm not a gambler, but I'm a good turf handicapper. Dirt, forget it.

I don't think I could make a living at it - but I've gotten the past 5 Breeder's Cup turf winners in a row - a few were longshots. I really have to start placing a few bets here and there.

[ForrestGump]

36. You could be huge in Vegas

:D

You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the floor (if you bring me one of those milk chocolate slabs, anyway...I could sleep on it!).

I've wandered through some of the more upscale casinos here just looking at table limits (minimum bets, I mean)...some of them are absolutely obscene.

[u4ic]

37. If I keep eating too much chocolate

I could be huge anywhere! :silly:


Now would one of those chocolate slabs last until bedtime? :P



How can anyone afford some of those minimums, I don't know. Of course I didn't bet in Monte Carlo...I took about $10 with me, and blew it all on the slots. It's fixed, as far as I'm concerned and I want something I have a chance with, anyway.

I have a better than average chance, especially when the Euros come over here for the turf races. I'm pretty good at picking them out, even if no one (here) has heard of them before. :-)

[ForrestGump]

39. You're huge in

my heart; so is your spirit. :hug:

Unhuge otherwise. And just outright purty.... :loveya:



As for the chocolate slab: define 'bedtime.' :P


And, yes, all the games are rigged, in a sense (by which I mean, that's true in places where all is above board), because all the games favor the house, statistically. The machines are programmed to take in more than they give and the table games will all, on average, benefit the house...blackjack's one of the more even games, I believe, and approaches a 50-50 situation if you can count cards (which is why Vegas casinos hate card counters and very often deal multiple decks from machines).

You need a big-money dude to bet on your advice and give you a chunk of the earnings for your trouble. I'd better get busy making myself a big-money dude... :D

[u4ic]

42. Awww...thank you

:hug: :loveya:


Define bedtime? As in your bedtime? Perhaps next Saturday, at 3 pm? :shrug:


A BIG chunk of those earnings, fella. Studying form and pedigree is no easy matter. ;)

[ForrestGump]

34. She basically just pumped money into them and we saw what came out,

to the best of my recollection. She would've put money in a soda machine at that time, though, to see what came out. :D

Yep, lots of strategererriness in that game.

[hfojvt]

2. the young women

shoulda joined a union.

Sadly, Tobias KKKeith is a Democrat. I wonder how he feels about the war now.

[ForrestGump]

6. I think Keith is probably more an opportunist airhead than a hard-core Freeper type

You know..bandwagon-jumper. My partner met him (with Wayne Newton) there one night last year and they hung out together all night...he sounds like he was a pretty decent dude, in person (he was enthralled with the whole Elvis thing, too). I don't know him, so my response to Toby Keith is predicated on his public statements and atrocities like that red-white-blue song. If I ever meet him, I'll keep an open mind. I'm willing to believe he's a decent man, even if we actually do disagree on politics and the Dixie Chicks.

That was my reaction, too: well, unionize the girls! I mean, it's not like it's a huge hurdle. But apparently it is because they didn't go through the barback-to-bartender channels or get 'certified' as flair bartenders. Still seems stupid to me. I hope that they all find new jobs quickly, and good jobs. We should be in touch with some and maybe we'll go wherever they go. These young women are beautiful -- that was part of the point of the whole thing -- but they also have great personalities and I say that not just as a person who frequented their establishment and benefited from their public 'face' but as someone who doesn't drink and who therefore never contributed anything to their bottom line...my work partner and I (Elvis impersonators) would always get hugs and kisses from them when we went in, which we know for sure at least sometimes drove the men at the bar (many of whom give $50 tips or greater in an effort to woo the bartenders) insane with envy. They always gave me free bottles of water, too, and used to always give my partner free beer until management clamped down a bit.

I gave our bartender today a $15 tip on my $9.99 sandwich...I just feel so bad about how they're being treated and wish I could magically help them find perfect new jobs. :-(

[hickman]

5. Is this another anti-union thread?

I think I'm starting to like Toby. I don't give a crap about the french/freedom debate. The French have already won it by being right. I do give a crap about the union busting that has been going on in this country for 20 years. Blue collar isn't just a stop on the money train. It's a complete lifestyle that has existed for 200 years, supported since the 20's by unionization.

[ForrestGump]

9. Of course not

But I'm sure you already knew that.


I vaguely remember you, and what I remember has my totally unsurprised that you're starting to think like Toby. Not that Toby has anything at all to do with the operation of this chain.

I know how good unions can be. I also know what damage they can do -- I come from a place where unions, far more powerful than any in the US (and, indeed, Soviet-aligned in that they were run by hardline communists, mostly from overseas), almost destroyed the economy completely. My thread's got nothing to do with the positives or negatives of unionization (if anything, I'd be on the side of unionization) and everything to do with an institution treating its employees with zero loyalty -- a very common trait in Las Vegas, even more so than in the wider USA -- and shooting themselves in the foot while doing so. It's also got to do with them taking away something I enjoyed, as little as I enjoy bars or even most social settings.

[hickman]

19. I did not in anyway mean to offend you.

I never said that I might be starting to think like Toby. Why, if you "vaguely remember" me would you slam me like that? :shrug: Please explain.

[ForrestGump]

20. Toldja it was a vague memory

So vague it was probably of someone else whose user name might have included 'hick,' 'man,' or the letter 'H.'

In which case I'm sorry...I tend to forget the identity of bozos I encounter here and the things they post, which'd be nice except for the danger of pinning vague recollections of extreme bozocity on innocent parties.

Sorry.

But, no, nothing against unions (in general). They're not all equal -- some undoubtedly have too much power and others certainly too little -- but I'm a kind of libertarian socialist and think that, in a perfect world, all labor would be organized or (even better, if probably impossible because of human nature) things'd be so good for workers that no unions would be necessary. The casinos here are partially unionized...most I'm familiar with have some units that are union and some that aren't...it's, not surprisingly, usually better to be in the union. The way the casinos are here -- the ones on the Strip, anyway -- it'd be a good thing for every employee to be protected by union membership.

[hickman]

31. I spewed on my keyboard, rum and coke all over the place.

"pinning vague recollections of extreme bozocity on innocent parties." I have done that too. Now I have to CLEAN UP THE MESS. I THINK MY CAPS LOCK IS STUCK.

[ForrestGump]

32. Stop YELLING at me

Bozo. :P



Peace.

And unstickiness...

[jus_the_facts]

17. Merci Mon Ami....

:D

:hi: :loveya: :hug:

[ForrestGump]

22. Voulez-vous couchez avec moi?

Ce soir? :D

Behave yourself, garçon.

:loveya:



:hug:

[jus_the_facts]

26. oui mon cher je ferais ainsi ....

....avec plaisir!! :evilgrin: :*

[ForrestGump]

28. C'est bon

Mi casa es su casa. :P

[jus_the_facts]

29. sí de hecho....

...ambos serían agradables! :o

[ForrestGump]

35. Hey. Best not be touching my

agradables.




Not in public, anyway. :D

[jus_the_facts]

38. LOL...

....Prometo no tocar su agradable en el hombre público Gump! :rofl:

[ForrestGump]

40. These online translators confuse me:

"I promise not to touch its pleasant one in the public man Gump!"

:D

I have never met that public man, I swear. We're just friends. :P

[jus_the_facts]

41. heheheee...

...it doesn't translate into the same thing when you reverse it back into english....wtf?!! :D