The $1000 T-Shirt

I needed to get out of the house tonight and clear my head, so after supper I took a ride across the river to the Glory of Rome.  I only took in $20 with me, so I wasn't planning on doing a lot of gambling.  As I was walking in from the parking lot, I passed by people that were leaving the boat, and a lot of them were carrying white Caesar's t-shirts.  When I got to the pavilion, I saw more people carrying the shirts.  Maybe I'll get one, too, I thought.  Wrong.  I quickly found out that the plain white t-shirts were for the Diamond and Platinum players card people; not for the lowly Gold card players like me. Back in the day before they switched to the Total Rewards player's card, you could actually had a chance at cashing in your comp points for cool merchandise.  Over the past few years, I have a very cool tote bag, a leather checkbook cover, windbreaker jacket and a game set.  But when Total Rewards came along a year or two ago, they made it almost impossible for small time players like me to accumulate comp points.  At the rate I go over there and with the few dollars I spend in the machines, I'll never be a Diamond card holder. 

Before walking on to the boat, I took the opportunity to stop and gawk for a few minutes.  The doors to the VIP room were wide open, and I could see the high rollers in there clammoring for their free t-shirts and eating free snacks and drinks.  I shook my head in disbelief as I stood there watching the people. I'd say the majority of the high rollers in there all looked as if they couldn't have afforded the gas to get them there, much less drop a grand or more each time they come to the casino boat.   As soon as I got home, I got online and did some research.  In order to get a Diamond card, you have to drop about a grand each time you go.  Yep, a grand.  And to achieve Platinum status, you have to drop even more than that.  And I'm not talking about a one-time thing, where you go and spend $1000 or more and boom, you're suddenly a Diamond or Platinum card player.  This is on a regular, frequent basis. 

I walked on over to the boat, amazed at what I saw - dozens and dozens of people who look like they didn't have a pot to piss in, carrying t-shirts that literally cost them thousands of dollars.  I hate to say this, but I kinda figured out how come the WT that I saw could afford to spend that kind of money there at the boat -- they sure aren't spending it on their oral hygiene, their hair, or their clothes.  I'm sorry, but I'll continue visiting the dentist on a regular basis and when the time comes, I'll fork over for a nice set of dentures instead of spending it on a slot machine.