On Friday, I, along with dozens of others, was dismissed from jury duty following a few hours of pointlessly sitting without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. And so, with the unexpected free time, I got my emissions check and then renewed my car registration. I followed that by going to an accountant to sign my tax return.

Everyone thinks of the Strip as unionized. And, except for the Venetian, in many ways it is. Certainly, one result is the extraordinary customer service Strip resorts provide. I was reading yesterday about the Service Gap, which is what academics are calling young clerks who text friends and talk on cellphones while you wait for their attention. I am familiar with the Service Gap from retail stores all over the Las Vegas Valley, especially during this busy time of year. However, I've never had any problems with the union employees who work in frontline positions at Strip resorts.

Great customer service is one of the things that Vegas tourists count on. Steve Wynn made a fetish out of offering staggering customer service at his properties. In fact, customer service connoisseurs tell me that service at the Bellagio has not been the same since Wynn was bought out by MGM. For Wynn-level service, you now have only Wynn on the Strip.

On the other hand, we are talking nuance: Service at the Bellagio has been flawless in the experience of everyone I know who has visited, eaten, seen a show or just shopped there. It is not just the high-end resorts. I had great service staying at the Sahara and even Imperial Palace. I've rarely experienced anything but outstanding customer service on the Strip in hundreds of visits to different resorts for different reasons since 1999. The Service Gap in my world appears at the corner store and not on Las Vegas Boulevard.

How much of the credit for this goes to the unions is not easy to say. But certainly, Strip employees (unlike minimum-wage cashiers) see themselves as having a career more than a job by virtue of getting a living wage, employee retraining for job changes and growth (through an academy jointly sponsored by the union and resorts), and, especially, total health benefits.

Still, even in union resorts, not every job is in a union. Certain occupations have traditionally steered clear of unions. One of those occupations is Las Vegas card dealers, who feared that their own system of seniority and tip pooling and back-scratching, dating back decades, could be disrupted by a formal union structure. The last time a union tried to organize dealers, in 2001, the union was soundly rejected. The Review-Journal summarized the dismal results:

"In 2001, votes were held at 11 properties, with dealers at the Tropicana, Stratosphere and the New Frontier approving union representation.

A tip sent to me by a reporter from The Los Angeles Times and also put out in an e-mail Flash by local political writer Jon Ralston both say that Harrah's has cut a deal for a new service contract with the union representing many of their frontline workers. This puts tremendous pressure on MGM/Mirage who are engaged in a parallel process to cut a deal swiftly with the union. The rate of growth, combined with the level  of competition in Vegas right now for both customers and quality employees, means that no major resort company wants a strike in 2007, if it can be avoided. My guess is that when the details of the agreement emerge, Harrah's workers will feel very pleased with the deal.

As predicted on the Buffet yesterday the county has decided to repeal the rule preventing taxi cabs from getting kickbacks for delivering customers to topless bars based on the fact that it would be too hard and expensive to enforce. In fact, according to the Review-journal, taxi drivers are getting bribes from other businesses as well:

(Caveat: I support the free coffee; no one should be falling asleep behind the wheel and I am notorious for my own Diet Pepsi consumption.) So, the County has decided to abandon this area of enforcement altogether and leave it to taxis and businesses to sort out how much additional bribe a taxi driver deserves for delivering a customer who has already paid the taxi a full fare for the trip.

Apparently, the clubs owners are already crumbling on a deal to present a united front to stop paying these kickbacks to cabbies - our own OPEC announcing a short-lived production quota. So, what does this mean for customers wanting to take a taxi ride to a topless bar or anywhere else? Don't ask your driver for advice; do your research and know where you want to go; insist on being taken there. And, always remember there is no such thing as free advice or tips in Las Vegas even if it does not cost you anything. Think of talking to humans here (at least, in their work capacity) like seeing an advertisement. Most locals you contact for "impartial" advice on restaurants, production shows, nightclubs or topless bars including concierges, bell desk employees, valets and, of course, taxi drivers generally have been recruited to market answers to all of these questions to you. 

(photo by Wendell Donahoo/HBO)

In Sunday's print version of The Movable Buffet I talked about the State of the Wayner and only had space to touch briefly on his current dispute with union musicians. For those interested I wrote a more detailed look at the Local 369's walkout on Wayne Newton show for Las Vegas Weekly. In that article Newton and the president of Local 369 both pinpoint the importance of a 1989 strike by the union that was dealt a fatal blow after two weeks when Newton, at the time perhaps the biggest star in Las Vegas, crossed the picket line. As a result of that strike casinos began moving shows to taped music and also casino orchestras went out of fashion. Nowadays, casinos pay a headliner with a lump sum and the headliner must pay their own musicians. So, in this case, the union is in the awkward position of having a problem with Wayne Newton but not with The Flamingo where he is performing since it is a Harrah's property and that company is on good terms with all of the local unions.

(photo by Christine Cotter/LAT)

The war between taxi drivers and topless bars has escalated. Apparently, according to Jeff German's column, at a meeting on Monday, management of all the major strip clubs agreed to form a united front to end the practice of paying kickbacks to taxi drivers. When I arrived here in 1999 the bounty paid by clubs was around $20 a head for each customer in a taxi. Since then that number has been hitting $70 thanks to the competition between the many high end new clubs that have opened like Treasures, Scores and Sapphire.

I hate to side with rich club owners over the taxi drivers. But the arrogance of the taxi drivers is amazing. Greg Bambic, a Vegas taxi driver, is quoted in German's column saying:

This is outrageous since the taxi drivers are already being paid by their customers and there is no reason the drivers should be collecting extra money from the club. This practice is technically not allowed by County regulations. But the County regulations are simply not enforced and, even if they were, don't apply to limousine drivers, only taxis. Tourists are the ones getting shafted in the end with higher covers and more expensive drinks. I have suggested before that the best way you can fight back is to demand that a driver let you out across the street from your strip club of choice. Or, if you allow the driver to take you to the club, make sure the driver agrees to forgive the meter as your ride is being paid for already by the strip club.

(photo by Wendell Donahoo/HBO)