Las Vegas gamblers are a tough crowd. Not only do they get visibly irritated when the dealer is green and inexperienced, but they become downright verbally abusive when a wig is so bad it distracts them. These were but a few of the challenges faced by Scott Sibella, president and COO of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, when he went undercover at the second-largest hotel in the world.
Sibella took it all in stride. He said he was just glad he didn't have to put on tights to perform upside down in the MGM Grand's Cirque du Soleil show, 'KA.' "That was considered," he confided to AOL.
The MGM Grand stretches across 126 acres of prime real estate on the Las Vegas strip, has 7,000 rooms, 170,000 square feet of casino space, 9,000 employees and more than 50,000 visitors a day. Sibella had only been running the massive property for a few months. Just a few months ago he'd transferred from one of the company's other 13 properties on the strip, the Mirage, which is smaller, with "only" 3,000 rooms.
The Strip stripped down
Although new to his position, Sibella was happy to go undercover because he was anxious to see how the recession was affecting the hard-hit workers of Las Vegas. "Thee years ago we couldn't find enough people to fill all our staff positions," he said. "Now when a position becomes available, we have many applicants and it's very competitive." Sibella knew that the high unemployment and high foreclosure rates were extremely hard on the city he'd lived in since he was 2 years old.
And he sure got a taste of that as he tried the various hotel and casino jobs the 'Undercover Boss' crew had set up for him. His first duty was to work with a roulette dealer who had been working at the casino since it opened in 1993. Roulette is an extremely complicated game, and Sibella confessed it was tough to get a good spin and to remember all the player's payouts.
And the players weren't exactly patient with him. Comments like "Nice rug!" referring to the uncomfortable undercover disguise he was wearing, were among his challenges. The dealer supervising Sibella told him that there are worse things to watch out for, like the cigarette smoke that constantly hits you in the face, while your working. Sibella realizes this is a difficult issue because smoking and drinking are so often a big part of gambling to many customers. But he also realized the importance of seeing what could be done about the second-hand smoke, for the sake of his employees.
Going back -- way back
Sibella's second job was a blast from the past! He worked with a front desk agent doing some of the same things he'd done during his first year of college at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where he's studied hotel administration. But he found the new computer systems to be far more sophisticated -- and complicated. He was a little frustrated to find out that the brand new system took so long, and that the one it replaced was faster.
His frustration only grew when he found out that the front desk clerk he was working with takes smoking breaks in the valet area, where customers can see her in uniform, kicking back. She knew it was taboo, but she said that area was closer and quicker.
It was back to the casino for Sibella's third job, working with a black jack dealer. The gregarious dealer did his best to explain his job's intricacies, but Sibella had a hard time catching on. The rowdy players gave him an extremely hard time, but ended up winning (possibly because of Sibella's goofs), so at least they were happy.
Playing with the players
The fourth job was a tough one that not everyone is aware of. Sibella worked as a guest service representative in the slot machine area, making sure the machines were clean and signing up players up for Players' Cards, which allow them to earn free buffet dinners and tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil show, playing at the hotel. Sibella found that getting players to sign up for the bonus program was not as easy as it looked, and he was surprised to learn that there were no incentive programs for the employees to sign up more than 10 players per shift.
In less than two weeks on 'Undercover Boss,' Sibella learned almost as much about the lives of workers at a gambling resort as he had in an entire lifetime in Las Vegas. "I worked with some great individuals, and it was so touching to see what they're going through," he said. "Sometimes you forget what it's like, when you reach my level, but this reinforces how much our employees -- and our customers -- mean to us."
