Death, Taxes, and the House Always Wins
Nobody’s Opinion
Last Friday afternoon, it was finally warm here in St. Louis. I actually had a day to go and enjoy the warm weather. It’s been a hard year for me, various reasons, but I ended up, by myself, expecting to meet someone at a casino on the banks of the Missouri. Since I got there early, I decided to take a stroll through the casino.
Now, I’ve been to Las Vegas…every hotel has a different theme…but on the floor? That’s where they make their money. All casino’s are bacisally the same. You go in, the lights overwhelm you, and you see a sea of lonely people. It’s been a while since I had been in one. I am not a gambler…But what I saw, was heartbreaking.
As I walked in the front door, I was shocked to see the newly designed slot machine. BIGGER, curved, with more lights: mesmerizing…fantasies. Dragons. The Chinese machines were filled. All colors of the spectrum pounding at your eyes…And various old people sitting forlornly, just pushing buttons. Again, and again, and again. Most of the people were white, very poorly dressed, most overweight…in fact they looked as if they were there trying hard to get money to pay their car payment. Clothes and shoes, worn…as if for years. Faces worried. No smiles. No talk. The typical ring of the machines…gone. But the casino itself? Stunning. More beautiful than most cathedrals…now cathedrals of loneliness and addition to hope. To ONE more push of the button…THIS time….maybe….but no.
Most of the bars: empty. Only a few people playing around the dealer. All serious. The roulette tables are now electronic, well some of them. It saves time, which means, the house makes MORE money.
But I saw, not ONE smile.
The sheer length of the floor was astounding. And I walked all the way to one end, where there were two old guys, clearly buddies, playing some kind of card machine…and talking to each other.
“Mike, I just got 4 3’s!” said one guy to his friend. “Wait, oh hell.” The other guy was amused.
“You guys must be buddies” I said as I stood behind them.”
“Yeah. We come here every Saturday, that’s my brother over there.” He pointed across the isle to two other men playing slots.
Clearly, these men played for fun, for companionship. A way to connect with friends. They told me that the games they were playing took a bit of concentration, unlike the rest of the machines which you just sat and pressed a button. They also said that the casino would send you to other casino’s for free…all over the country…I found that funny. Well…how about that. They are now shipping and flying in customers the economy is so bad.
It was good to at least see a few guys having fun.
Before I walked out, I saw a middle aged black lady stand up to walk off her slot machine. She had just won $74.80.
“Hey you won…cool!” I said to her.
“It’s been a VERY long time since I was in a casino.” I said. “How do you play this game? Do I need to buy some coins of some kind?”
“No, you got a dollar?
“Sure.” I pulled out a dollar. I put it in the slot and it sucked it right up. I then looked down and saw a bottom that said, and I kid you not. “1c.”
Oh, gee. I could spin 99 more times! Ha! Well, this will be fun. So I pressed the button, and nothing happened.
“You can press it again.” she said. So I did. and there you go game over. The “1c” was actually “50c.”
Talk about fraud. Tell me…I know I’m stupid but I actually do not gamble, so I trusted what I read to be the truth.
She laughed. (She could have told me.)
And there you go, my life summed up by the push of two buttons. Here I thought I would have all the time in the world to get stuff done, but no, nobody tells you: you can’t now believe politicians, people, wives, husbands, kids, news, youtube, tictoc, or even your mailman to deliver your mail anymore. The Police, the FBI, Congress, all liars……What happened?
Once upon a time, there was a feeling that MOST of the world played an honest game. And then, you find out, you’ve been lied too, and the big casino in your life not only always wins, you end up going …
Well they didn’t tell me! They lied! What the hell?
Yeah, my friend didn’t show up. She lied.
As I walked out of the lonely hearts club called the casino—it was daylight. I’m sure at night, with the bars open, there might be more laughter as they lose their money.
But one truth remained intact: There is one thing for sure: Death, taxes, and the house always wins.
You can bet on it. Want to survive? What’s the message?
Well, I already knew: Just…don’t…play.
About
I am a nobody. If the different classes of America were color-coded, I would be in the yucky brown, one rung up from the bottom. I grew up in Naples, Florida and live near the Mississippi River now with my husband and two dogs. I am part of the slowly disappearing middle-class. I was a musician most of my life: drummer/singer/keyboards—but I retired before the plastic surgery flu hit. I have no degrees, which could be a good thing…depending on how you view our educational system. I do have three patents…but that really doesn’t make me a somebody. The one thing that is constant in my life is my OPINIONS, which i have more than perhaps even Carl Sagan could have imagined…mostly political. (yes…my ancestors were crabby buggers)
Hopefully other nobody’s will put their opinions on my site. But, if you happen to be a somebody, you’re more than welcomed to help out.
It’s my Nobody Opinion that Nobody’s Perfect, and Nobody Cares, that Nobody Knows why Nobody Wins, and when that happens, Nobody Wonders, why Nobody Flashes, why Nobody’s Fooled, but then Nobody remembers that Nobody ALWAYS Reports the truth.
You can email me at joyanna_adams@yahoo.com
Joyanna Adams
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