Description
Book SynopsisCasino Women is a pioneering look at the female face of corporate gaming. Based on extended interviews with maids, cocktail waitresses, cooks, laundry workers, dealers, pit bosses, managers, and vice presidents, the book describes in compelling detail a world whose enormous profitability is dependent on the labor of women assigned stereotypically female occupationsmaking beds and serving food on the one hand and providing sexual allure on the other. But behind the neon lies another world, peopled by thousands of remarkable women who assert their humanity in the face of gaming empires'' relentless quest for profits.
The casino women profiled here generally fall into two groups. Geoconda Arguello Kline, typical of the first, arrived in the United States in the 1980s fleeing the war in Nicaragua. Finding work as a Las Vegas hotel maid, she overcame her initial fear of organizing and joined with others to build the preeminent grassroots union in the nationthe 60,000-member
Trade Review
For all of the popular culture that's been based in and around the casino industry—Casino Royale, 21, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and many others—few have ever taken into account the stories of women working to keep the industry going.... Susan Chandler and Jill B. Jones penned this book with the desire to not only fill the void, but also to provide inspiration for others....The emphasis is most certainly on the harsh working conditions and uncertainty that many of Nevada’s women face. Casino Women unashamedly offers this view in an attempt to make more people aware of the conditions faced, and in the longer term, to improve these women’s’ lives.... Many of the tales included are certainly fascinating and provide an intriguing insight to an area hardly ever spoken about.
* CasinoOnline.co.uk *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments1. "You Have to Do It for the People Coming"Part I: Back of the House, Front of the House2. "They're Treating Us Like Donkeys, Really": Housekeeping and Other Back of the House Work3. "Kiss My Foot": Cocktail WaitressingPart II: Union Women4. "I'll Always Love the Union"5. "Here's My Heart"Part III: Nonunion Women Stand Up6. Darlene Jespersen v. Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.7. Liberation Theology, Pit Boss StylePart IV: Dealers: The Illusion of Power8. Dealing: The View from Dead Center9. Stuck10. Big Tobacco Rides the StripPart V: Women in Management11. Crossing Over to the Other Side12. Conclusion: "A Marvelous Victory"Notes
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