Location: Floating World Gallery
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2013; 5:00-11:00 pm
Throughout the course of these
journals, I have reported being lost several times and have also assumed
responsibility for many of those missteps.
However, I refuse to do so on this occasion. Here I was, all cleaned up after this
morning’s project and dressed in jacket and tie. I followed the directions on my phone and was
actually congratulating myself for being a bit early. But when I reached the exact position where
the dot on my phone’s map was asking me to be, it was the wrong
location. I had followed the directions
on my phone and they were wrong. I
searched for the name of the facility we were supposed to be at, and it was more than a mile away.
This meant I was going to be late and I called Wilson to let him know
what had happened. Mind you, the
directions provided to us were correct; it was just that the map on my phone
had a mind of its own. I let lose a
tirade on the phone regarding the maps and Wilson just told me not to worry and
take my time getting there. While I couldn't find a cab, I did hop on a bus, and arrived at the gallery 15 minutes
late and fond all the volunteers – including Wilson in a suit - gathered around
a Roulette table.
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| The good wheel |
This was one of the rare
occasions where One Brick had two events running simultaneously. I had almost signed up to help out at the
annual fundraiser for St. Michael’s Church, but Wilson convinced me to come to
this one instead. Our task was to assist
St. Vincent de Paul in its ‘3rd
Annual House Of Cards’ program.
According to the One Brick website, “St.
Vincent de Paul Center is an 89 year old social service agency, serving the
needs of Chicago's poorest through a childcare program, homeless outreach and
at-risk senior service care. Located in
Lincoln Park, St. Vincent's is one of Illinois' largest single-site nonprofit
childcare programs. The St. Vincent de
Paul's Child Care program is committed to provide a loving and caring
environment that will enable a child to grow physically, socially,
intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.” Besides this, according to the organizations
webpage, “The Center provides outreach,
assistance and case management for more than 100 low-income, isolated and
mobility-limited Chicago seniors. he
program offers services to homeless individuals and those in danger of becoming
homeless through preventive measures, provides basic needs items and services
to clients, and connects clients with programs and services, such as housing
and job training that will improve their situations.” Tonight they were raising money through
organizing a casino night and One Brick volunteers were going to function as
dealers. We were just one group of
volunteers that evening, but taking a look around, I realized that
we were the most in need of training.
That’s what was happening right now.
I had never played Roulette
before. The only experience that I have
as far as gambling is concerned is an occasional poker game back in grad school. Even then, we had not really played for money, as much as bragging rights. I paid
attention to the instructions that were being provided, and as good as the
gentleman was in explaining the rules, I was struggling to keep up with the
various betting scenarios. He answered
all of our questions patiently and then moved on to the craps table. Our Event Manager, Amy – whom I had met at a
One Brick CFE event, asked if Wilson and I could manage the Roulette that
evening and we said yes, well Wilson said so and I just nodded. We had approximately 30 minutes to practice
and become expert dealers.
What followed was me getting
familiarized with the various bets and payouts as well as one of the most
important skills of Roulette, spinning the wheel in one direction, while
releasing the ball opposite to the spin. During the spin process, the dealer uses
their judgment to call out “No more bets”,
at which point the players stop betting and the dealer has the
right to reject late bets. Wilson and I
role played, where we switched between being a dealer and a player. Another challenge was learning the
denomination of the chips and what each color meant. Plus, there were two types of chips: there were ones for betting, while the others had actual denomination
and were to be exchanged for cash. We
decided that Wilson would be the ‘banker’
responsible for settling the bets whereas I would spin the wheel.
 |
| Our table at the back |
We were admiring the beautiful wood
trimmed Roulette wheel, when we were told that our table was actually at the
back of the facility, this one being reserved for another group of
volunteers. So that’s what we did and as
we went to our station, it was apparent that this table had probably being
salvaged from a scrap yard and was falling to pieces. No, really it was. I spun the wheel and that send one of the
dividers between the numbers flying off at great speed into the direction of
the bar and it was fortunate that both, the girls managing the bar as well as
the bottles and glassware made it without any damage. We recovered the piece and reported this to
the man who had trained us. He told us
to do our best and try avoiding touching that piece. It looked like Wilson and I were stuck with
this table.
Soon the people started
arriving. Some needed explanation on how
the betting worked, while many already knew.
As the games progressed, both Wilson and I because quite good at it and
were soon not referring to the cheat sheet. The speed of the game was amazing and I was
surprised at how quickly I had picked it up.
I was diligent in calling “No more
bets” and on a few occasions, refused to accept bets placed after the
announcement. Furthermore, I was
insisting that no one place any new bets till I lifted up the marker signifying
previous rounds number – and I enforced this often. Wilson kept joking that I was taking this too
seriously, but I was now in character.
For the next 4 hours, both of us worked non-stop, without any break and
hardly broke a sweat. It was by far the
most fun I have had and at one point I was dealing with 8 beautiful women surrounding
me. Wilson took a picture, saying that
only with One Brick is something like this possible. Aah, the man knows me too well.
 |
| The house always wins! |
We saw all sorts of people, from serious gamblers, to those who were just having fun, to some high
rollers. One guy rushed in and just as I
was about to close the betting, placed a black ‘50K’ chip on a color…and
won! One guy kept betting on red while
one couple kept betting against each other. Many were superstitious about the color of their betting chips. Towards the end of the evening we started getting some heavy rollers and
I suspect the open bar had something to do with it. But no matter what, the old saying is
absolutely true. For all those who have
visions of going to Vegas and then retiring, let me tell you something that I observed
first hand. Okay, here we go – “The
house always wins”. By the end
of the evening, we had cleaned up and almost everyone left after losing all of
their chips. But that was not the main
reason why they were there. Win or lose,
people had a great time. Towards
the end, one girl lost all her chips, but was overjoyed when I let her spin the
wheel. It’s amazing how small things
like these make some people happy. And
Wilson, nothing delighted him more than handing chips to winning
people. It shows the person that he is,
happiest when giving. I asked about the
floods and he said the things were bad in the suburbs. In fact he was headed to a shelter after this
and was going to be up all night, having slept only 4 hours over the last
27. He may not be getting any rest, but because he is out there, the
rest of us can sleep easily.
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