10 Things I Dislike About Gamblers, continued:
1) They never ever shut up. Things they never ever shut up about include: how much they are losing, how much they were winning before they were losing, how they would have won if "this" had happened, how much it is the dealer's fault.
2) They take no responsibility for anything. Everything they lose is due to the fault of the dealer, someone else misplaying a hand, someone standing behind them, touching a card wrong, or otherwise violating the superstitious sanctity of their stupid little world.
3) They take credit for winning. As if some force other than dumb luck had anything to do with their occasional wins, they gloat and preen and scream about the totality of their skillfull victory. They talk about being "hot" or "shaking good" or "having feeling" as if it relates to something. They try to present themselves as good people. This is especially noxious when relating to the game of pan 9, an infant's game that would quickly bore monkeys with its dull repetition and complete lack of a learning curve. There is nothing to learn.
4) When they lose, they become your best friend. The shoeshiners, as they're known, hang around behind whoever happens to have money and ingratitate themselves by cheerleading that player, commenting on extremely obvious things that happen to go in that player's favor, and basically maintaining a constant stream of blather (see #1 above) in the hopes that the player will give them $25 in return for going away.
5) They complain until they get their way, then complain some more.
6) They are amazingly stupid. Again, this may be specific of the California casino environs in which I work, in which all the players lack basic skills like counting numbers past 10, listening comprehension, and reasoning skills.
7) After a 72-hour stretch spent hunched over a card table, they tend to smell like butt.
8) They are emotionally undeveloped. Little things upset them, like accidental physical contact, a word they don't understand, someone pointing out when they're wrong, too much sugar in their coffee. Then they will try to exact quick, loud revenge, begging for attention from the floorpeople and fighting against the perceived violation of their rights "on principle." There is nothing funnier than hearing a gambler say, "it's the principle."
9) They sometimes win, which maintains the illusion in their minds that they are good people, God favors them, and they should continue in their ways, because, they reason, they must be doing something right.
10) They are constantly all around me.