Every Picture Tells a Story: How I Almost Went to Work for Trump

 

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
THE STORY OF HOW I ALMOST WENT TO WORK FOR DONALD TRUMP
WASHINGTON, DC / ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (2000)

In 2000, my career in Washington reached a dead end. As in full stop. That’s when I seriously started thinking about moving to Las Vegas and launching a new career.

The thing was, most of my casino and gambling contacts were in Atlantic City. Over the years, I got to know many executives, and some even became good friends. At the time, no casino was a bigger centerpiece than the Trump Taj Mahal, branded after the New York City circus clown that would eventually enter politics and become the disgraced 45th president. The Trump Taj Mahal also boasted the largest poker room in Atlantic City.

I approached a few executives seeking career advice. To my astonishment, about a month later, a few of them announced they were driving down to Washington and wanted to know if I was interested in coming to work for them. It was an odd overture because even though I knew Atlantic City, I never contemplated working there.

So, the Trump Taj Mahal team came down and we had a meeting. Then, we went to dinner. Their offer was tempting.  Very tempting.

The offer was as follows: I was offered a base salary plus commission as a “VIP Host.” Casino hosts can make good money, well over six figures, sometimes more than that. The Trump Taj Mahal’s offer was really spectacular. Any new “business” I brought to the casino would result in a 25 percent commission. Call it a kickback. If I recruited any gamblers, and they lost, I’d get a quarter of the cut. Obviously, if I was able to persuade high rollers to visit the Trump Taj Mahal, and they lost big — I would win big. All the expenses would be comped, of course — even limos to and from Washington (about a 4-hour drive). Of course, the Trump Taj Mahal was only after high-end gamblers. There’s a lot of money in the national capital region, and the casino had no one to go after it, which is where I might have fit in.

Unfortunately, Washington is not (or at least wasn’t at the time) a city with people who gambled in casinos. New York, Philadelphia, and other big cities were ripe markets for the services of a casino host. Washington, uhh–not so much. Accordingly, I was reluctant to accept the job offer even though there was incredible upside. But the real reason I turned it down was because I simply wouldn’t have been any good at it. Stroking rich people and babysitting losing gamblers doesn’t strike me as a fun job, even with the obvious perks and financial incentives. Hence, I guess the main reason I turned it down was because I would have sucked at the job. Instead, I moved to Las Vegas a year later and became the Director of Public Relations at Binion’s Horseshoe (go figure). Things could have gone the other way, and perhaps had circumstances been a little different, I would have worked for the Trump Taj Mahal. Ultimately, neither casino would survive — Binion’s Horseshoe closed down in 2004. The Trump Taj Mahal survived much longer but closed in 2016 (after multiple bankruptcies).

In 2000, some of the Trump Taj Mahal executives came down to Washington when this photo was taken at a local restaurant. Marieta is there in the photo with the group. I easily recognize Tom Gitto, the amiable former Trump Taj Mahal Poker Manager. I believe that’s Tom McDonough (who later worked for Caesars Atlantic City — I might have his name wrong….please correct me). Tony Marino was the exec I was closest to, as he ran the casino’s limousine services, then later did other things for the poker department. The lady in the photo with glasses was a VP of operations, but I don’t remember her name, I also can’t remember the other younger lady, but I remember her from the Trump Taj Mahal.

I’m sure that my life would have been very different had I taken this job. I made the right decision. But I also miss the poker gang from the Trump Taj Mahal and the many times I spent with them in Atlantic City. It was also great having them visit us in Washington.