Why I do What I do
By Michael Broderick
More than fourteen years ago I first stepped out onto a gaming floor of a casino, not as a patron, but as an employee, and I (hardly) have not looked back since. I was welcomed into an entertaining world where mavericks like me, people who didn’t think like others, dress like others, work the same days and hours like others, could find a niche that not only gave them job satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment, but also a way to make a great living. It's akin to the American promise. In the gaming industry, as in America, any person who fits in, regardless of creed, color or walk of life, can be successful if they work hard. It is a promise, like the American dream, that in the gaming industry you can achieve whatever you put your mind to, that through hard work and sacrifice each one of us can have our own personal measure of successes and still come together at the end of the day as one team, one department, one property, one company, and ultimately, one industry. It is a promise that has always set this industry apart from others and ensures that the next generation can pursue their dreams here as well.
When I walk the floor on a Saturday night or on a New Years Eve, I look around at my fellow co-workers, who like me are not relaxing with their families or friends at home during the holidays or on the weekend. They are here too, working to please our guests or to keep everything functioning properly. Working to make the rooms clean, or working to prepare food, and it reminds me of my grandfather who also made a career in the hospitality industry many years ago. I think of my grandfather who worked his way up from being a simple steward in a hotel kitchen to executive row, ultimately running some of the great hotels of his day. He is the one who taught me the meaning of hard work in the service industry, the sacrifices it takes, the long hours and sometimes the demeaning work of serving others. He used to say, “When my guests were having the most fun, I was working the hardest,” and that saying still rings true for me today.
Of course there are also the perks that everyone on the outside looking in might covet. I get to meet new and interesting people, sometimes celebrities that I book for the showroom or who might happen by to eat in our restaurant or stay at our hotel. I also get to give away great prizes, like cash, cars, and other things of the same sort. For me, everyday is a new day because my work is interesting and intellectually stimulating. I get to use my creative energies thinking of ways to have fun. I get to plan and develop events and promotions, and then I get to celebrate with our guests at our parties and special events or when they win something significant on the gaming floor. These are just a few examples of why people's eyes light up when I tell them I work for a casino. They say, “Wow, that sounds like a great job! I wish my job was like yours.” When I ask the same question about their professions, I have found that these same people who think my line of work is great have equally envious jobs; some have been special agents in the F.B.I., submarine commanders in the United States Navy, and thoracic surgeons. But my job was what they wished theirs was like. However these aren’t the reasons why I do what I do. The real reason is much more profound than celebrities, parties and envy.
There are times that I have been criticized for my chosen profession—vocal naysayers and skeptics that accuse me of profiting from the losses of others and ruining the finances of families. I understand where they are coming from and why they feel that way. However, as with anything in life, any excess, including gaming, often leads many down a path of despair and anguish. I know this, and I empathize with the people who might have troubles because of their excesses, but I never compel them to partake when I believe there might be trouble on the horizon.
Ours in an entertainment and service industryNothing more, nothing less. I don’t want to sell it or have it perceived as an answer to financial problems or an escape from reality. I don’t want my customers to be people who really shouldn’t be in the casino for whatever reason, and I am and have been taught to be very conscientious if I believe someone might have a problem. If I do identify people with problems, or when those who think they might have a problem come to us, we happily, yet discreetly, guide them to resources and organizations to assist them with their troubles. If they ask us for our help by not allowing them on the gaming floor or in any specific venue on the property, we acquiesce to their request, no matter how big of a customer they are.
Even though some might disapprove of my work, I am still proud of my industry. Gaming is but one entertainment option amongst many, but ours offers a wide array of amenities, all in one place, something that you might not find any where else. Gaming is and has been the chosen industry of great businessmen and women, like visionaries William Harrah and Steve Wynn, former Harvard professor Gary Loveman, marketing gurus and direct mail innovators John Romero and Dennis Conrad, politician and Washington D.C. insider Frank Fahrenkopf, Jr., inventor and technology genius John Acres and glass ceiling decimator Diana Bennett. These are the men and women who have truly shaped this industry and who I, like others, look up to. These are the men and women who if they had chosen any other line of work, without a doubt would have been just as successful; but they didn’t. They chose our industry to make a living. My industry.
If I had to put into writing the reasons I work in this industry, this is what I would say. As I have mostly worked for Native American gaming enterprises, I like the fact that I have been a part of helping a once ostracized and burdened people regain some sense of self-worth and dignity. A people whose American promise has not always been kept by others, or even been there at all for them though they were here first. But above all, and in the end, I derive great satisfaction knowing that the fruits of my labor, thanks to gaming and hospitality and the opportunities it has given to me, help me provide for my family and put a roof over our head and food on our table. That is why I do what I do. This industry, like this country, has given me and others the means to not worry about my children’s healthcare and housing, not worry about their options for higher education, not worry about where their next meal will come from. It has provided the resources to teach them something about diversity in this brave new interconnected world, something my grandparents and parents, (and maybe even yours), didn’t always have. Because of gaming, I worry less about my children’s future when I tuck them in at night.
So at the end of the workday I leave my office to go home to the loving embrace of my children knowing that I made a meaningful contribution, a difference in other people’s lives as well as my own, and I hold my head up high.
Michael Broderick is the Director of Marketing for Lake of the Torches Resort Casino.