That's awesome.
Our most annoying, stiffest O/8 player had never said a word to me. This guy never passes up a chance to push buttons, he's one of THOSE guys...but he always left me alone. Maybe he knew I wouldn't take his ****, or maybe I just never gave him a chance to complain about me, who knows, who cares...
But last week, as I'm pushing out, I thank the players and take my leave, and he cracks sarcastically, "Thanks for the rush!" He hadn't dragged a single chip during my down, got rivered a bunch, because O/8.
"Play better, what do you want from me?", I replied without breaking stride.
He went bananas. I didn't stay and listen to it, but he chirped his outrage for several minutes. He tried to be loud enough that I could hear him from the next table while I waited to push in. He was especially loud when he told his dealer, "He's got $100 in chips coming--that last dealer was supposed to tell you that, but he was too busy smarting off!"
That's fair.
Or, I was distracted by some jackass. Either way.
A few nights later, this guy is playing when I push into the game. He tells another player, "You know what this dealer said to me the other night? 'Play better!' Can you imagine the nerve?"
I took the bait, because dealing is boring. "Is that how it happened? You were sitting there,
minding your own business, when I suddenly turned on you?" He made it clear that he was not listening, nor interested in my version, by scowling, shaking his head, and making puppet motions with his hand: the thumb acts as the lower jaw, the fingers the upper, the universal signal for "blah blah blah, whatever."
I didn't care, I had addressed the accusation, but I wasn't going to get bogged down in this nonsense.
Props to this guy, tho: when the game stopped because a doddering old man had announced, "I'm $100 behind," when I started pitching, then discovered his wallet had <$100 and he wouldn't act until he had plumbed the very depths of his wallet, Grumpy Stiff expressed his annoyance with a pithy, "Deal better!" I lol'd, a good line is a good line. He seemed impressed that I took it so well, like when you hit somebody and he doesn't go down and you think, "Oh man, this guy isn't like the others, this isn't going to be so easy."
The third act of this tragedy was this past weekend. I pushed him a pot, got my usual $0. Instead, he turned to the reg next to him: "Hey Joe, you know what this dealer told me the other night? 'Play better!' Can you believe that?"
"Really?", Joe replied. "Wow." Joe didn't give a single ****, lol.
Again, I stupidly felt the need to not let this one-sided account go unchallenged. "Joe, have I ever told YOU to play better?" Joe could not think of an occasion where such an exchange occurred. Angry Stiff again expressed shock that I would dare to double down on my position, so I interrupted him with, "Because Joe leaves ME alone, and I leave HIM alone, if I have to spell it out for you!"
Angry Stiff: Doesn't seem smart to me, tho, to smart off to customers when you work for tips.
YTF: Are we talking about customers who tip? Or are we talking about YOU?
I guess O/8 players would rather discuss politics and racism than tipping. When I sensed that no one found that funny, I STFU.
But I don't care if I ever say another word about this again. I don't get to call out stiffs very often (read: never), so even if it was dumb, it still felt good.