Reply #19: Come to Vegas, you'll REALLY love it here!

[Systematic Chaos]

Please accept my apology for responding to your rant with one of my own, and I certainly am not trying to hijack your thread, but I guess I'm both sympathizing with you and getting some of my own pressure off my chest at the same time....

For me, the single biggest mistake I ever made was to decide to become a casino dealer (after dropping out of college due to poor finances and needing to work to support myself). I am now stuck here not just for the job but for the insurance which my wife and I would be in serious trouble without. I would give anything at all to leave, but I can't and it's my own goddamn fault. But anyway...

One thing that will stay with me until my dying breath is how, back in the early 90's, I went to work for one of the larger temp services here in town. Their first assignment was for me to go and do some work for the March of Dimes, COLD CALLING people to ask for help with some fund drive! This was work that in any other area would be voluntary only, and is usually done by schools, senior citizen centers or whatnot. But, I was asked to go to work for $6 an hour, calling people who in 95% of cases were as cold as friggin' ice to me, doing this stuff that was supposed to be volunteer work. The director of the office explained to me that NOBODY, not one organization or school or anything, was willing to do this and we were their last resort.

Not only does Vegas share many of the problems you speak of where you are. No, there's also a complete lack of historical importance with buildings being torn down that in many other places would be renovated or preserved as historical landmarks. The Desert Inn and the old ice plant off the railroad tracks downtown come to mind. There's virtually no culture here whatsoever, unless it's some casino putting on an art exhibit and charging admission. People are so disconnected and selfish it's just unreal. And, worst of all, our main employers, the casinos, are among the greediest bastards you could ever share a location with. Remember the benevolent gesture after 9/11 when the major casino companies like MGM Grand gave $2 million to the NYC relief effort? They recouped that money in just a month or two by laying off over 25 THOUSAND employees and failing to reinstate about half of them, even though the brunt of the tourism slump was over in about a month. I used to date a young lady who worked as a nanny for a reasonably well-to-do single mother with two preteen sons, and she lived with her employer full time. I was allowed to visit whenever I wanted as long as I didn't stay past the boys' bedtime and I would sometimes help the kids with homework. I can't tell you how often the boys would bring home newsletters from their school imploring parents to donate such menial items as paper towels and the like because the budget was so bad the school couldn't afford it. But, that doesn't stop the gaming companies from holding all kinds of "career fairs" in elementary schools where the students get indoctrinated into becoming the next batch of maids and buspeople. After all, since we're 47th in the nation in education standards, you gotta think big.

I'm glad you're going to be getting out of a stifling environment soon. I'm sure you'll feel much more comfortable in DC. At least you know that you're getting out in some definite time frame. I wish I could go back 15 years and change some of my own decisions. :(