It came unexpected. Oh I had applied for a job at the new casino here in Cleveland like thousands of others, but the casino website was so jammed with so many others attempting to apply that I could not make the connection. It was about 4 months later that I finally was able to complete the on-line application.

I first applied for their chief of security, after all I was a police officer/trainer for many years, I figured they would jump at the chance. I spoke to one of my buddies at the Cleveland Police Department, he said they did not want a cop mentality, but security guard one. I then tried for a bartender's position, I had held various positions in the nightclub field, and again I received no response.

It was sometime in July I received an email asking if I would consider a position in the table games department, anything would be better than my current job, so I responded in the affirmative and shortly received detailed information on the date and location of the interview.

On the appointed day I arrived better than half an hour early, such is my practice. There were about two dozen others also waiting, we did not wait long before we were herded into their offices and into the interview room. There must have been better than sixty people there.

Those in charge greeted us and introduced all those that would be judging us. We were then informed that this would be a different kind of interview. Moving to a flip chart she peeled back the first page, there in large letters were two paragraphs. The first read, the best vacation I had ever had, and the second was the best customer service I had ever received and what made it the best.

When called on we were to stand and give an impromptu speech about one of these topics. Oh it was painful listening to some of the others, no volume, monotone speech patterns and every violation of public speaking you could name. I noted that only about 25% had obeyed the 'dress for success' rules that they suggested.

Finally I was called, this was no challenge for me as I had spent so many years on the stage. I even managed to touch on both topics. There was a huddle of the interviewers and a group was called to accompany one of them out of the room. A wave of shock and disappointment when through those of us that remained. Finally one of the interviewers reappeared and informed us that this group had passed.

Now it was on to the Math test, and I wanted to leave right there and then as Math was never a strong point of mine. We were given a test with 80 questions, we had to complete a minimum of 20 questions with at least a 75% accuracy, and we only had 5 minutes. I flipped though the two pages and completed the easy problems, I then went back to work on the more difficult ones.

All too soon they called, TIME. As they collected the tests I asked permission to leave then as I am sure I did not pass, I was told to wait and they would walk me out, so I waited. I chatted with some of the others there as we played with the roulette table, dice and cards on the other tables.

We were all shocked when the proctor returned and announced that we had all passed. They then asked if anyone was interested becoming Texas Holdem Poker and regular Poker dealers, I was not one of them. We signed up for gaming classes, I took the night classes so I could keep working and I chose blackjack as my core game. School was set for the following week and I looked forward to this new experience.