September 14
Manned the new employee parking lot last night. It had been moved recently from the southwest corner of Monte Carlo to what used to be the south guest parking lot, which means guests now only have the garage, the short term lot, or valet to park in.
The employee lot was moved because there is going to be a lot of construction in the area between the Monte Carlo and Bellagio, which is to the north of us. MGMMirage, which owns most casinos on the south part of The Strip, is going to put in a large condo/hotel/casino/shopping complex in there. There isn’t much there now, except the Boardwalk, home to the worst – though only 24-hour – buffet on The Strip, and rumor has it that will be coming down.
MGMMirage seems intent on world domination. In the spring of 2004, they bought Mirage Resorts, which got them, among other things, Bellagio, The Mirage, Treasure Island, the Golden Nugget downtown and a half interest in the Monte Carlo.
(The Monte Carlo was built in 1996 as a joint venture between Mirage Resorts, which provided the land, and what was then Circus Circus Enterprises, which did the construction. Because Circus Circus is a dump and Mandalay Bay is a classy joint, Circus Circus Enterprises would eventually change their name to Mandalay Resort Group, which also owns Luxor and Excalibur among others.)
The coffee pot was going all night long. Guy actually made the first pot, while I was on my way out there. Now, Guy taught me everything I know about making coffee in the basement coffee room, but his outside coffee lags. The reason is in the basement you use pre-measured packets and there is a commercial coffee maker and, honestly, it’s pretty hard to not make a great pot of coffee because Monte Carlo forks over for a good coffee service.
At Eddie – 1 though, there is just a regular coffee maker you get at the corner drug store and a large can of coffee. I am not entirely sure where the coffee comes from, because the can never changes. It’s a Maxwell House can and it always seems to magically refill itself.
Guy’s first pot was typically weak. He said he used two-and-half scoops and I told him I could piss a stronger beverage than that and he graciously invited me to perform a sex act on myself. I made the next pot and used two and three-quarter scoops which was, as usual, perfect. Judy came by for a cup, shined her flashlight at the pot and when she couldn’t see all the way through the pot she herself proclaimed it perfect.
It was a very slow night everywhere – outside, the casino, the hotel. It was so slow 88TonyB came out to the shack and he was out there so long when D-Dawg called from Eddie – 2 to kill some time I had to tell him I was sitting there chatting with eight-eight and he got the hint that now may not be the best time to call and chit-chat and hung up.
September 15
Here was your Henry lineup for last night:
Henry 1 – moi
Henry 2 – Lee
Henry 3 – Frisch
77Rick, Lee and I barged in on an old lady sitting on the can tonight. I would like to emphasize this is NOT standard MCSD policy but bear in mind if Lee and I are sent on a call and 77Rick is providing back-up, we’re not there because the radio is too loud.
I was on routine patrol on 31 when I got the call.
– Control, Henry 1 and Henry 2…
Right there you know something is up. If it’s a routine call, Junior will only call one Henry unit, wait for acknowledgment, then announce the assignment. If another Henry unit is required, he’ll send him after sending the first Henry unit.
…85 to 27-213. Report of a woman having a heart attack. All units, let’s go Code 30.
Code 30 means everybody keeps quiet. It’s not as severe as going four-nine-nine, which means an emergency is in progress, but it’s sort of like four-nine-nine lite, as Houchins used to say; nobody is supposed to say anything unless it relates to whatever is going down.
By chance, we all get there at the same time. I knock and while I can hear some sort of response from the room, I can’t quite make out what it is and our report is that someone is having a heart attack and what if they can’t respond?
So we make entry. Bathrooms are either to the immediate left or right of the door at Monte Carlo and the bathroom door is open and I can see an elderly lady getting up off the can, pulling her pants up; on one of the beds another elderly woman is standing up and pulling up her pants.
Neither was having a heart attack.
Officially, of course, I am pro-nudity in the workplace, but all three of us could’ve done without this, but you have to take the good with the bad in the hotel racket.
The call came at 0350 and was only the second call of the night. I had had a guest assist early on, before the rest of the graveyard shift came on.
Here is your Henry lineup for tonight:
Henry 1 – moi
Henry 2 – X-Ray
Henry 3 – Shaggy
Shaggy, along with Butch, have changed the seating arrangement at briefing.
There are four circular tables in the briefing room and seating is fairly consistent, with most people sitting in the same place every night. When new people report aboard they usually sit wherever there’s an open seat their first night. For example, I usually sit in the back left table because that’s what was available when I reported to graveyard after training on swing shift, and I am usually joined by D-Dawg, Matt, Lee and Houchins.
Then Shaggy and Butch invaded. Their Mondays coincided with D-Dawg and Matt’s entire weekend and the end of Lee’s weekend and with the two day’s I’m Henry 1 and come in an hour early, so it’s not surprising our spots got taken; they were the ones that were open.
Now there’s only one or two seats in the back left table and sometimes I end up sitting at the front left table with Rich and Bi-Bob but even that’s iffy because if Ted or Junior, who usually come in at 2200, happen to come in at 2300 I am taking their seat and unlike the New Breed I am respectful of the seating preferences of those senior to me.
