Drinks on the House

While working on the Harrah’s South Tower expansion, it was fairly easy to forget that you were working at a casino. We were high above the crowds that circulated through the downtown gaming district and the work itself kept us focused. But once or twice a week, a Harrah’s rep would come up in the man lift and distribute ‘drink tokes’. He usually carried a coffee can full of the cardboard tickets worth one drink apiece. These would be passed out to the crew and then at 3:30, we would gather up our lunch pails, thermos’s and other gear before getting in the man lift and descending to the Restaurant Level. Here, stairs would take us directly to the casino and the bars.

Somewhere in this time frame, Harrah’s also began the construction of a new Sports Book and parking garage. And right in the middle of this remodel and new construction mess was a bar. Most casinos have bars scattered all over the property and Harrah’s was no exception, except that this one bar became ‘ours’. Once a day, just after 3:30, this bar filled up with guys in hard hats. No civilians allowed. Oh, sure, they might wander in by mistake, but one look at the clientele would cause them to depart in haste. Beer was the only drink consumed and it was usually Bud. Order a Coors and there was a good chance that you would be ridiculed all night. You could order Millers safely, as popular opinion had ‘no opinion’ about that one.

And being highly paid, we would usually give the bartenders a buck with each free toke. The bar might hold the entire construction crew, perhaps 75 people and they were all drinking and giving the bartenders a dollar for each drink. They were raking in the money! This resulted in great service and the promise of just a few more free drinks, even after the tokes had all been used.