However, being in the casino business myself, I've never had a totally pleasant conversation with ANY casino manager. If they're talking to me, I would normally expect them to advise me to get a good night's rest before setting out on my new job quest in the morning. So before returning the call I put on a nice shirt and tie, combed my hair, then stood up straight before I punched out the private number, then remembered to spit out the Listerine and cleared my throat when the secretary answered. "Hello, this is John Jagger's secretary, how may I help you?"

My response was naturally "Hello, may you help me? Err, may I help you? Uh, might we help me?" Then…"How may I direct your call?"

"Uh, yes, uh, Mr. Jaggers please, this is Ken Pearlman returning his call."

"Yes" she perked up " Hello Mr. Pearlman, let me get you Mr. Jaggers."

Well, now I did it, I didn't expect to get hooked up to him directly, I straightened my tie as his phone rang. "Yes, this is John Jaggers" "Hi, Mr. Jaggers, this is Ken Pearlman returning your call." "Yes Ken, thanks for calling back, I received your column (I sent him a copy certified mail) and I was terribly disappointed to hear of this incident," he said. I thought for sure he was angry that I lashed out against his employees and that he didn't believe any of it (I wonder if he saw the surveillance film of the sports book manager slamming the trash can on the counter in my face and couldn't deny it).

But I was ready, if he forced my hand I was ready to throw up the US Constitution, the Bible, and possibly a few choice lines from that Nicholson movie where he plays the general "YOU WANT THE TRUTH, YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!" But he continued, " I was shocked to hear the treatment at the sports book and I want to tell you, this isn't Caesar's Palace, we don't operate this way," he said apologetically.

"I know, Mr. Jaggers (this is where he asked me to call him John), that's why I was so shocked at the treatment and decided to send you a copy of the column. If this was some downtown casino I might not be surprised at this treatment, but the last place I would expect a story like this is out of Caesar's Palace."

Now before we proceed, let me explain briefly what happened in case you're too lazy to go back to last month's column and read it. I made a simple bet last month on a Cubs/Astros game to go under the 8 1/2 total runs. The game only scored 6 total runs. When I returned to the sports book to claim my winnings ($40) the writer that wrote the ticket slid the ticket back to me and said "This ain't a winner" and looking at the ticket I saw that rather than the "Cubs and the under 8 1/2", it read "Clements and under 8 1/2" this was the same writer I had a short conversation with the day before about the possibility of the Cubbies winning the World Series, who now claimed he'd never seen me before and it was my problem for not reading the ticket before I left the window.

After reading the ticket and seeing the mistake, I asked the writer if he didn't take any responsibility for writing the ticket as he repeated it back to me, in his own words "the Cubbies and the under, good bet with Lieber pitching." However, 24 hours robbed the poor guy's memory of even talking to me. He took the losing ticket and threw it in the garbage as I asked to talk to the shift boss, who, after hearing the conversation, immediately said, "This is your problem, you have to read the ticket before you leave the window." Said Vinnie Michaels, the sports book shift boss. My response was only that the writers should be responsible enough to print the ticket the way it's read back to the bettor.

"Do you really think I just took a losing ticket and tried to pawn it off on you for a $40 shot?" And his response? "Well, this ain't a winning ticket so maybe you are." and with that I asked for the ticket to show his shift boss along with my story, and without hesitation, he took the waste basket, slammed it on the counter and said "you want it, go get it yourself."

I was then faced with fishing through the spilled beers and coffee cups and other losing tickets to find mine to the embarrassment with the onlookers. YIKES, what do you do in a situation like that? You can't call security; you can't call the gaming commission (they only handle machines and table games). I called the operator and asked for the casino manager who listened politely to my complaint but just finished the call by saying he couldn't help me since he only deals with the machines and table games.

Well, most people would have been stifled right there, without any hopes of a human ear to hear the outcries from us little gamblers who somehow want to count for something to these people. But there was one person left in the organization I might have a ghost of a chance to speak to plead my case, and that was the head of casino operations, John Jaggers.

And so he continued "I was shocked at this treatment, I called these people into my office and gave them a stern talking-to about this incident." John said (I think right here he had to be considering any strength of the written column appearing anywhere chastising Caesar's Palace's shabby treatment of ANY of their patrons.) "Make no mistake John, I take full responsibility for not reading the ticket, and that's why I told your people I wasn't asking for any compensation, I just wanted to let you know of the incident. What if I were blind or just had bad eyesight, or worse, I couldn't read (English). Wouldn't you expect if a person makes the bet, the bet is then immediately read back by the writer, then when the person acknowledges the positive read-back, the ticket is then typed out as the money is handed over, that that person should expect in any situation (level of education, level of eyesight, level of lighting in the sports book, or level of understanding the English language, or a combination of any of the above) that your writers should be responsible enough to do it correctly or take the loss at their mistakes?"

And the inevitable answer "Yes"... now what?? The rest of the conversation was polite niceties; I thanked him for calling, and for the concern. He assured me this wouldn't happen at Caesar's again, and if there was anything he could do for me.... (This is where all you guys line up and say "Ask for the Emperor's Suite, ask for the Surf-And-Turf at Nero's, a couple hookers and a limo...") well, that's where a guy with a little class just simply says, "Thanks for just listening, that's all I wanted."

And so I say to John Jaggers, thank you for calling, thank you for caring, thank you for showing my readers that there are casino operators out there that do take pride in their casinos, in their jobs where the numbers speak for themselves and pressure is a way of life, for a brief few minutes he reached out and touched one of those thousands of people who time after time can only walk away disgusted, disgruntled, and dismayed, not just because they lost their money, not just because they felt cheated, but because the casino just took their money, and no one even cared that they ever existed.

He asked that I warn my readers to be responsible, to read your sports tickets, your keno tickets, to remember the warning on the slot machines, "mistakes VOID all payoffs" and more than anything "PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK." And if worse comes to worst, just call the head of the casino and cry like a baby, and just maybe he might just answer your call.

-Ken Pearlman