Quiet Please

CINDY: Opening one’s big mouth at a table game can be fraught with possibilities that go from bad to worse. They almost never go from good to better to great. I think many players are in an agitated state from time to time and it is best not to agitate them anymore.

ABBY: We both learned very early on to not give advice to other players and not to engage in any talk that could not be characterized as unimportant. Politics? Religion? Movies? Books? Nope.

CINDY: But we have heard things!

ABBY: Oh, yes, we sure have. Since we didn’t say these things, we feel free to share them with you.

CINDY: If, however, you said any of these things over the many years you have been playing in the casinos, we forgive you. No one is perfect. So go and walk in peace.

ABBY: The Lady said: “Do you have to spread out in your seat? You’re taking up the room of two people. Why don’t you lose some weight? Being fat isn’t good for you and it isn’t good for people who have to squeeze next to you at a table. And you look like you sweat a lot.” The man raised his hand and a nurse came from the slot aisle with a wheel chair. She helped the man into it. It took some maneuvering to get it done. He left the table.

ABBY: Then I opened my big mouth. “I guess you feel bad about that poor guy.” The Lady looked at me and said, “He certainly was fat and he was certainly taking up too much space. Because he’s a pig doesn’t mean we have to tolerate him at our table. I’m glad he’s gone.”

CINDY: I was going to hop into this but I realized there was no convincing the Lady that she was being overly harsh to the poor man. So I just shut up.

ABBY: But I kept going. “It isn’t ‘our table,’” I said. “Anyone is free to play here.”

CINDY: And that was Abby’s big mistake.

ABBY: The Lady looked at me and said, “Who told you to interfere in this? I am not speaking to you and how dare you insult me?” I told the woman I was not looking to insult her but the man obviously had some difficulties and she just seemed to make it worse. “I did not make it worse. Aren’t we all more comfortable without that guy here?”

CINDY: Some of the other people at the table nodded. I mean they gave little nods. I don’t think any of them wanted to get in the line of fire.

ABBY: I turned from the Lady because I was done speaking to her.

CINDY: But she wasn’t done.

ABBY: The woman raised her hand to get the attention of the floor person, “Sir! Sir! This lady,” she pointed at me, “is harassing me.”

CINDY: The floor person came over and said, “Mrs. Deligula, what seems to be the problem?” The Lady explained how obnoxious Abby had been. Abby just looked stunned. “Mrs. Deligula, why not play at your own table?” He pointed to an empty table. Mrs. Deligula huffed and went to her very own table.

ABBY: The floor person said, under his breath, to me. “She and her husband, the guy in the wheel chair, can really be problems. They like to fight.”

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.