All swing shift employees had to be at work by 6 p.m. and were scheduled to work until 4:30 a.m. Reason? The entire strip is locked down by 7 p.m. and nothing moves across it or by it until sometime around 3 a.m. – except bodies…thousands of partying bodies.

Just getting into employee parking was a nightmare. If you allow three feet between your vehicle and the one in front of you, someone cuts in with reckless abandon…frustration supreme here.

Surprisingly, the poker room was packed. In past years it’s common to sit dead-spreads for hours because there are normally about 15 games running out of 30. Not so on this night. We didn’t have enough dealers to man the games. At 4:30 a.m. there were still approximately 20 games running. It was a long, noisy night. I worked my 10 1/2 hour shift and escaped…many of my fellow employees were there much longer.

At midnight I was dealing a $1-$5 limit 7 Card Stud game…I barely noticed the rejoicing of the New Year…throughout the room other players left their chips on the table and went out to the Strip to watch the Fireworks Display…not the players in my game, they wanted to play so I dealt. Hello 2002!