Rivers Casino in Schenectady is offering a special promotion in May – play on Tuesdays and earn enough points to receive one of four cast-iron cookware sets. The listings include a cast-iron skillet, a cast-iron grill pan, and two cast-iron oven pans.
Okay. This sounds like it would work for me.
But here’s the complication. I have to play on Tuesdays between 12:00 noon and 8:00 p.m. I have to earn 75 points on that day and that day only. Then I have to go to a kiosk and print out a voucher. Then I take that voucher to the Rush Rewards counter and claim my cookware.
And since I work during the day … I can’t even earn the 75 casino points until I’m done with the day job, then I have to scoot over to Schenectady, park, get to the slot machines, and then I can earn the points.
Last week, I earned my 75 casino points … and got a cast-iron skillet. Fine. Three more Tuesdays and I’ll get the whole set of stuff.
Yesterday, I earned my 75 casino points – including hitting a nice return on one of the slot machines. Aces. I went to the kiosk – waited for the people in front of me to finish printing their voucher – then I printed my voucher – then I went to the Rush Rewards counter.
“I’m here to claim my cast iron grill pan,” I smiled, handing the counterperson my voucher.
“We’re out of the grill pans,” she monotoned back at me. “They’re only while supplies last.”
“Okay,” I said, “I can claim the grill pan when you get more of them, I’m happy to take a rain check.”
“We’re not ordering more of them,” she monotoned back at me. “We’re out of the grill pans. But you have a choice of this mini-air fryer or this gravy warmer instead.”
She pointed at the row of alternate products. I didn’t need an air fryer. And I don’t know ANYBODY who needs a gravy warmer. Seriously? A gravy warmer??
“Thank you,” I said, “but I’m here for the grill pan. I didn’t come here for a gravy warmer or an air fryer.”
“That’s all we have, sir. Maybe you should get the gravy warmer and give it to someone. That would be nice of you.”
Wait a second … you seem to think I have this desire to spend my money and give a gravy warmer to someone else? Try again.
She then realized I wasn’t going anywhere … and went to find her supervisor.
The supervisor repeated the same mantra. They only ordered X number of grill pans, and once supplies are exhausted, they’re gone. He then offered another option – if I didn’t want the air fryer or the gravy warmer, he would offer me what looked like a knockoff George Foreman clamshell grill. And as an added incentive, I could receive a $15 food voucher at one of Rivers Casino’s eateries.
Yeah … no. This was NOT working for me. And rather than go full Karen on the Rivers staff … I just left the casino. Empty-handed.
And don’t give me the “well, you should have at least taken something, better something than nothing,” to you I say, “I came there for a specific product. If the product was unavailable, then there should have been an option to allow me to get that item on another day. You don’t go to the furniture store with plans on buying a couch and have the salesperson say, ‘Oh, we have no couches let, but maybe you’d like this set of bean bags to sit in instead.'”
I went home and looked for that specific product on Amazon. But for some reason … the company that manufactures those products ISN’T on Amazon.
That grill pan is, however, suddenly popping up on eBay … with several sellers coming from the Capital District. You know … the same kind of people who go to Saratoga for the promotional bobbleheads and the promotional folding chairs and then drive home to put their goodies on eBay. Yeah, them.
Listen, I totally get it. I should have just taken Tuesday off and spent all day at Rivers Casino. And maybe I could have earned all the points I needed and then gotten the grill pan at 12:45 in the afternoon. Yeah, why bother holding down a good-paying job?
Then again, it’s not the first time Rivers Casino has changed my perspective on their operations.
So … yeah. Rivers Casino has two more cast iron promotions going on. But for now … I’ll just buy those items elsewhere. Whether it’s off eBay or on some other online store … I’ll get the cookware there.
Because it’s pretty obvious to me that the only thing Rivers Casino is interested in is those sheets of rectangular green paper in my wallet. That’s it.
And offering me a gravy warmer when I wanted a grill pan isn’t changing that perspective at all.
Ugh.
Chuck The Writer 
Oh come on, Chuck; it can’t have taken you that long to figure out every aspect of a casino is designed to separate you from your greenbacks. :p
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I learned something new today, that there is such a thing as a gravy warmer. A gravy warmer?
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I didn’t know such a thing existed either. What an incredible time to be alive. 😉
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