Current Events > Methinks things are finally turning around for me.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I recently moved up to New York to stay with my dad for a bit. He and his wife work at a casino, and they managed to get me a job there too. I'm a Slot Attendant, which basically means I go into the slot machines and fix little things, such as refilling the paper that the cash vouchers are printed on, and I also get to give people the jackpots they win, which is a little nerve-wracking and is quite a process but is still pretty neat. It's a really cool job.

So far I've gotten one paycheck (it's weekly here instead of every other week like most places), but I know what my next one is going to be a little early. I get minimum wage which as of now is $12.50 in NY. BUT I get tips as well, basically how that works is when someone gets a tip (usually we'll get tips when giving out jackpots. The patron will give us a small portion of their winnings), we put it in a box, and all of the slot attendants who don't get a salary get a portion of the total tips for each day based on what hours they worked that day.

Last week was a bad week for tips, due to a massive snowstorm (we got like 40 inches of snow), and I still got almost $350 after taxes. Not a lot, but far more than I was making at my last job. Found out this week's pay is gonna be about $500. And I worked yesterday, where we determined I was going to make about 40 dollars an hour from tips alone. So that'll be on next week's paycheck, and since I'm working Saturday and Sunday too it should be a big one, unless we get more snow or something. (Our workweeks are Monday-Sunday, which is a little weird but whatever). Dad said with any luck I might get a paycheck of almost a thousand dollars. Far better than my last job, where I worked maybe 8 hours a week if I was lucky and made less than a hundred bucks a week.

I think the only thing I don't like about the job is being on my feet all day. I've always had issues with my feet, and standing for 8 and a half hours a day (minus two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch) isn't helping. But even that I'm starting to get used to.

Home life is far better than when I was living with my mom. Don't get me wrong, she's great, but after living with her for 22 years I just needed something fresh. I really miss my dog that I left with her (we have 3 dogs here and my dog Finn doesn't get along with other dogs, so I had to leave him in Maryland), but I visited for Christmas and will probably visit every three months due to needing to see a doctor in Maryland since we couldn't find one up here who would take our insurance. So it's not like I'll never see Finn again.

Dad's gonna be charging me rent soon, which I wish I didn't have to but I'm fine with it because I know it's how the world works. I also have a lot more responsibilities around the house than I used to, which again I don't prefer but it'll probably do more good than harm in the long run. Eventually I plan on getting a place of my own up here once I save up enough.

TL;DR: Working at a casino is the bee's knees and life seems to finally be going my way... I probably just jinxed myself by saying that though LOL.

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So more pay, but how does it translate to the higher cost of living? Just curious.

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Jabodie posted...

So more pay, but how does it translate to the higher cost of living? Just curious.

can't quite answer that tbh. I lived with my mom in Maryland my whole life up until this point, and while dad's charging me rent, it's not as much as it would cost to get a place of my own up here.

I should also mention I'm in a rural area, not New York City or anything like that, so I think places out here are quite a bit cheaper than they would be in the big city.

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Ah I gotcha. Hopefully you can start building something up then.

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