Except if you do color up my 100s, I still have my 1000s out there. So again where is that rule saying if I have small denim chips I must use them?

Color me up and I still do the same thing.

For me, this is out of line by the dealer. You made it worse by calling him a cock, obviously. I just believe strongly that dealers should only care about smaller chips if they actually need them, especially in the early levels.

While personally as a dealer I would have left your 1k out there I could see the dealer wanting you to put six chips in on the 600 blind level because that level is the easiest to run into needing the change the most. All it takes is three callers with 1k chips and you need 12-100 chips for change and having it already out there in the form of the bb-ante and blind is the easiest and fastest way to make everything happen.

But besides all of that this whole thing could have been avoided had you just obliged and put 6-100 chips out in the first place and certainly calling out the dealer to talk to you like a man and then calling him a cock was out of line. Judging by the fact you got a penalty for needling tells me this is not the first time you have had run-ins in this room/TD because I never saw a player get a penalty for just needling. As far as the dealer sitting there ignoring you I can bet you he is the type that its better if he sat there quiet because if he were to open his mouth his job would be in jeopardy, I would know because I am that type of person when I am really steaming.

I just think a dealer doing this is way out of line, as put forth in the OP. If he actually needed the chips, that’s one thing. He doesn’t actually know that.

He was mildly out of line. You acted like a child.

Maybe they've had enough of you always needing change.
Try making the dealers job easier and you play more hands.

Use the oversize chip when several others have called with small chips.
If it looks like the dealer is gonna have to make a lot of change,
use your small chips, maybe even change up a big chip for your neighbor.

The dealer was wrong to ask you to change out your 1k chip as your BB. It was unprofessional. It is why you noticed that no other dealers do it. The reason not to do it is that it slows the game down. If you win the hand pre flop there is no need to deal with it. Similarly, if there is a raise and you call there was never a need to change out the chip. If the dealer is trying to make less work for himself (so he won't have to change it if the pot is limped or if you fold to a raise) that is unprofessional. The only time I would give a dealer some slack here is if the arm nearest you is injured in some way. But I would expect the dealer to say something to the table and ask everyone to help out. I have never seen this happen this way but I have seen dealers with injuries (carpal tunnel, wrist bandages, fingers taped together) and I think players understand that the less work they make the dealers do the better.

The sole responsibility of the dealer pre flop (regarding chips) is to make sure the blinds are posted and the ante as well. I have seen too many times a BB fold thinking they were UTG. There are also times (less frequent) that I have seen UTG post thinking they were the BB.

The Floor coming over and supporting the dealer is equally unprofessional. This tells me a lot about the room. In some rooms the Floor will back their dealers regardless of the rules and favor them over the players. It can be to reduce paperwork (not having to write dealers up). It can be to gain the support of the dealers for personal reasons (like if a Floor does something cringeworthy there would be a better chance that the dealer would stand up for them). I personally try to avoid these rooms if possible. It is why I stopped playing at the Taj in Atlantic City even though the games were juicy.

For all the chip hoarder theorists, the best way for dealers to address this is to toss them a 1,000 chip and ask for ten hundreds when change is needed. There are strategic reasons why players hoard low denomination chips. Some times its about having large stacks and the image it brings. For tighter players it can give the illusion of playing loose especially if a new player comes to the table. Typically low denomination chips get accumulated when you win pots so having a lot of them will lead players to think you have won pots. I personally like to have low denomination chips so that I can shuffle them. I prefer to do that with low denomination chips so that it doesn't alter my stack size for players that want to look (and in the event that a low denomination chips rolls out into the pot at the exact wrong time at least I can just make it a min bet if anybody gets technical about it).

This whole thing gets progressively worse when the dealer doesn't ask another player to change out their 1,000 chip in the BB. That is even more unprofessional and spiteful. The worst thing a dealer can do in my mind is knowingly try to tilt a player. That this didn't get resolved in your favor (by any floor or TD letting you know that it would be dealt with) is inexcusable.

I am glad that you learned from this. It is never OK to call a dealer a name as an insult - regardless of anything that has happened. Had I been at the table I would have let you know that in no uncertain terms. However, you would also have seen me defend you regarding the 1,000 chip blind issue.

While I do find the dealer's original request for small chips unusual, I can't imagine spending anytime worrying about it.

Live dealer's are people too and it is WAY better to spend a day with live dealers rather than a computer. You have to expect that every now and then, dealers will be grumps or make mistakes. It is part of the live game. Get used to it.

In a recent double flop $25 bomb pot, I stopped the dealer from a big dollar mistake. Two players all in pre, Player1 is a whale, already $10K in the hole, and drunk. Player2 is a very good reg. Everyone wanted P1 to win so that he could continue to spew chips. P2 had already won the top board and P1 was calling for a K in the hopes of splitting a ~$4K pot. K was exactly what came much to the relief of P1.

As the dealer pushed chips, I looked at the board and yelled, "stop, wait!" The K had given P2 a straight for the scoop.

The dealer apologized repeatedly, P1 cursed me as the dealer took back his chips, and a random player not in the hand told me to STFU since I wasn't in the hand. P2 thanked me, and told the dealer not to worry about it. Dealer's make mistakes.