Boss Bitch

I was looking forward to spending the day outside yesterday... the weather was gorgeous. Instead, I spent most of the day on a conference call guiding a bunch of people who were only interested in covering their asses rather than troubleshooting the problems we were having.

I am taking Wednesday off to make up for losing my Saturday to this crap.

You get to make up the lost time? Nice. I worked Saturday, too. My company just demands that I work unpaid overtime, with no endpoint defined.

When I had to do those calls, i would just tell my boss (who had roped me into the call) "Tell me when they are ready to fix the shit". I prefer the technical bridge calls to the administrative bridge calls any day.

I prefer that everyone just stay away from my crap and let me run it. But, hey, that doesn't happen.

Still employed!

WooHoo!

Good

I'm glad to hear it, Robb!

Great to hear it, now can we all start kvetching again?

Congrats Robb, good to hear!

I'm being forced to go on a two hour casino tour for work today. So many people would enjoy this, but I am SO not one of them. Still, gotta know what the competition is up to.

what would happen if you got injured "ON THE JOB" at the competitions place?
How would that look?

The casinos aren't our competition, they're our customers. But they are also the best place to see our competitors' products.

sorry. misunderstood. I thought you meant you were going undercover into a competing casino.
either way, do the casinos know you do this?
I assume yes.

I would be curious to know what types of things you assess. And is your assessment based on observation, or actual measurements of anything? I would think that appeal or lure of the program is essential. But do you have any way to know that something you think looks luring actually translates into more revenue for the house?

Do they have XXX rated games? (For the likes of Tony, not me, of course. :) )

Anyway, I think the whole thing is interesting. I really like going to races, too. Having worked where I could watch horse races from my cube, that only added to my interest. Never had a losing day, either. And picked a, oh I forget what you call it now, the top three finishers in any order, one day.

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El Jeffe
sorry. misunderstood. I thought you meant you were going undercover into a competing casino.
either way, do the casinos know you do this?
I assume yes.

Sure. Our competitors do it, too. It's really the best way to see a game. Not just the game, but the cabinet, how it is grouped, how many people play it, etc.

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El Jeffe
I would be curious to know what types of things you assess. And is your assessment based on observation, or actual measurements of anything? I would think that appeal or lure of the program is essential. But do you have any way to know that something you think looks luring actually translates into more revenue for the house?

The reason that we, as engineers, go is to see what innovations our competitors are bringing to the games and how well they actually work out. There are other people who access the games' appeal and longevity. The fundamental metric is how many of the game the casinos buy, which is based on the cost of the game and the revenue it brings in. I don't have (or want) access to those numbers; I will take the higher-ups' word on that.

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El Jeffe
Do they have XXX rated games? (For the likes of Tony, not me, of course. :) )

I think that they're illegal most places, like everywhere in the US. Even if they were legal, we'd probably be leery of making them. Our average player is a 55 year old female, and you don't want to risk offending your base. But I don't speak for my company; perhaps they have plans that I am unaware of. If so, I hope that I get to work on those games!

Had a crummy day today. Started telling a friend about it. The conversation ended with:

Friend: I think you need a drink.
Me: I need a bottle of airplane glue and a handful of buffalo tranquilizers.
Friend: That can be arranged.

I heard you can't even get the good airplane glue in third world countries anymore...

Looks like you picked the wrong day to give up amphetimines, CS.

DPBD: 3 more layoffs in my group today. 200 for the company this week. Morale sucks. More work. Fewer people. Longer hours. And you never know when the Reaper is coming for you.

(Yeah, yeah, Blue Öyster Cult joke here.)

Tell me about it.

The stress level I have is just through the roof. I have sort of an aversion to "detailed record keeping" so I use post its to track stuff that I ought not forget to do and lately every surface of my work space is looking like this except mine are not so colorful and tidy.

I have one week that all of my family can be together with the POTENTIAL for a vacation this summer.
My boss has denied me that week.
I'm sure my wife will be depressed even more with this news.