Hard Luck

We ride down thirty floors to the mezzanine level.
When the doors slide open, Roger takes my elbow and guides me out.
The entire hotel looks like it’s gleaming. The marbled floors are buffed to a high shine.
The chrome details on the ceiling stretch downwards like stalactites.
“This way,” Roger says, bypassing the escalator to the top of the curved staircase leading
to the gaming room. “I want the entire floor to see you.”
It feels like every eye in the casino is on us. For a moment, the noise from the slots and the
conversations fall mute as the seconds stretch out in a surreal dreamlike suspension of time.
What have I gotten myself into?
Then Roger places his hand on the small of my back and we walk together slowly down
the golden staircase.
No turning back now.
We wind our way through the tourist tables towards an ornate set of doors where two men
with beautifully tailored, monochromatic black suits stand ready. One of the men nods to Roger
and inclines his head towards me.
“Good evening, sir,” he says. “Evening, madam.”
The man then opens the door to another room.
This one is filled with tables where tuxedoed men and elegantly clad women sit together.
Gold and black chips are stacked high in front of most of the men in this room.
The cocktail waitresses aren’t smiling. They all have matching red lips and are wearing
identical body-hugging, short black dresses. They move smoothly, deliberately, between the
tables, deftly staying out of the grasp of high-rolling men sweating over their winnings.
“Welcome to your new office,” Roger says to me with a laugh.
He takes the two glasses of champagne a waitress offers him and hands me one.
“Our clients are among the wealthiest, most powerful men and women in the world,” he
says, using his glass to gesture at the room.
“They come to Las Vegas on business or on a break from business. They’re preoccupied
with glamour and luxury. They want to experience sensuality. They come here to play among the
elites, the crème de la crème.
“That’s where we—well, that’s where you come in,” he says, nodding at me.
“Your job is to make these men, and sometimes women, feel as if they’ve reached the