Three Percent Off
June 16, 2010
I don’t know what in the hell is going on at the Wynn, but I’m going to have to put a filter on my newsreader because every time I try to take a dump, a new headline pops up from the polarizing company.
From Google News via the Associated Press (dear god please tell me an RJ writer did not contribute to the article) @ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jxDJpplVAfwdW6DZWvawoRlw7b0QD9GC27F80
In summary:
Wynn Resorts Ltd. CEO Steve Wynn says his company has laid off 220 hourly and 41 salaried workers from its two Las Vegas hotel-casinos.
To say that Steve Wynn (or “Thugdog Nasty” as he is known in the ‘hood) has been a busy man is an understatement. Stealing tips, hiding fees in fine print, opening pools, booking ringtone bands, laying folks off … homeboy deserves a break.
Perhaps he should take a few days off, chill by the pool, and drink some shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots shots.
Speaking of the aforementioned “fees”, I went through the booking process to see how well they were disclosed, and I found my answer:
Not very well.
You have to click a smallish-printed “Terms and Conditions” link at which point a window opens and displays the fee. 90% of people will never click the link. Attached is evidence of the size of said link (lower right of image). The website is copyrighted by Wynn Resorts International (which is why I blurred the prices and images on it), but I am using my own screenshot for the sole purpose of ridiculing and criticizing the disclosures on said site.
Wynn Terms and Conditions
They suck.
Balls.
Back to the topic at hand … the Wynn/Encore is laying off 261 people (3% of their work force), and obviously this is a shame. Then again, 2,300 people are about to make more money with their hours restored. Frankly, I’m not sure how to call this one. It’s kind of a mixed bag.
Deep down, I’m certain that a man of Steve Wynn’s wealth could easily afford to keep on these 261 people and raise the salaries of every other worker. When you have more money than God, and you’re damn near 70 years old, why not dig into your own pocket and pay your people? I mean, what the hell else are you going to do with it? Buy Garth a Space Shuttle so he can spend an extra seventeen minutes per week with the family?
When you are 68, statistically, you have 10 more years until you take the ultimate dirtnap. Be good to people. Forgo the extra ten million dollars. Take a loss for the benefit of 200 working people with families who are going to face record NV Energy bills this summer. What is money at this point?
Your people are your company. Why would you steal their tips and lay them off when you have plenty? Capitalism does not equal greed. It simply means the private ownership of capital. It saddens me to see a man of enormous means deciding whether to lay people off or cut hours, when he really doesn’t have to do either.
I understand that the shareholders ultimately help make these decisions, but this is when a CEO should cash in some AAPL stock and make sure his people are covered.
It’s an easy thing to say, but that is exactly what I would do.
Then again, with my attitude, I could never become as wealthy as Steve in the first place. I would cave at the first employee sob story. I simply do not have a level of psychopathy that would enable me to get to such a level of wealth. I use the word “psychopath” in a literal sense, not as a pejorative. It is my firmly held belief that most highly successful businessmen and elected officials are almost certainly psychopaths. You simply cannot succeed in either of these endeavors without ruthlessness and a pathological lack of empathy.
It is nothing short of a national tragedy that these are the people we worship in this country. These are our idols. This mentality is a large part of our decline. Fuck the other guy until his rear end bleeds simply to add a little more to the existing mountain of bling. I digress.
I’ve been camped bedside for the last 40 hours due to yet another case of tourist flu. Before I moved here, I rarely, if ever got sick. Now, it’s a once a month ordeal due to the various strains of rice flu from China, dingo flu from Australia, Alanis Morrisette Flu from Canada , and idiot flu from Texas.
I still don’t feel 100%, but screw it. I’m heading out to play some cards.
Nothing makes a person feel better than winning money.
At least that’s what I’ve been told.
Someday, I hope to experience it first-hand.
Written by ColinFromLasVegas on June 16, 2010 at 4:08 pm
I also read that article about Steve Wynn and his dealings with his work force. And I thought the same things too.
But watch for more of his idiocy in the news. Steve Wynn has demonstrated in the recent past that he does not blame himself or what he does as the problem. He seems to blame the current Presidential administration, Democrats, Senator Harry Reid and anyone else who puts forth the idea that those who make a shitload of money need to be taxed. Because he knows for the past 30 years or so, he has gotten away without having to do that. He makes it sound like they are stealing from him. When all this President and his administration are doing is…running it the right way. The way it’s supposed to work.
The way I look at it, he lays off all those people in order to get out of paying the taxes he is required to pay and/or he does it to provide him with the extra money needed to pay those taxes…take it out on his workers for his obligations as a citizen of the United States. It’s all about money to him. Not people. People are expendable.
Don’t get me wrong…The guy builds quality casinos that, when you walk in, you go wow, this is some shit. But I really don’t care for this guy’s political viewpoints or the heavy handedness of how he runs a casino.
But then again, that’s what casino owners do. They go for the hearts and minds.
No. Not that military hearts and minds thing.
More like he’s heartless and does mindless decisions that only benefit him.
Written by ColinFromLasVegas on June 16, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Oh. Forgot to add something….
Get better quick, Rex.
Hope you get rid of that Chinese pteradactyl dysentery communist flu quickly….
Just don’t get with Michael Jackson’s ex-doctor for medical assistance. He’s been slapped out of business here and will be unable to write prescriptions anytime soon…..
Written by Ted Newkirk on June 17, 2010 at 2:55 am
Steve Wynn laid off the bottom 3% of his work force. The slackers. Yawn.
This let him reward the hardest working 97% (who were having to make up for the slackers) with a 40 hour week again. The payroll difference was only $3 million a year.
This was not about money. This was about moral (which the article I read from AP stated). If you are working 32 hours a week and busting ass to cover for a slacker who is also working 32 hours a week, you are going to not be happy. It isn’t fair.
What is fair? Giving the best employees 40 hour weeks and firing the slackers. The bottom 3% of your work force.
I’ve cut one persons hours who was slacking and used the cash to hire someone who wanted to bust ass. Nothing wrong with it. I’m not here to assure that everyone on the face of the earth has a job. I’m here to run a business and keep my readers (and advertisers) happy.
To those of you who support the slackers or suggest that Wynn should keep them employed out of his own pocket, I challenge YOU to go keep someone lazy employed out of your pocket. Just to be nice to them. Until you do, don’t criticize Wynn. He wasn’t put on earth to assure lazy people employment.
BTW, the R-J wasn’t scared to go after Harrah’s (corp). Wynn’s local ad budget for print media is next-to-nothing. How the R-J or Sun report on Wynn has nothing to do with ad dollars.
Written by Ted Newkirk on June 18, 2010 at 12:53 am
Correction on my part. The AP story said:
“Wynn said the moves will add $7.7 million to the company’s payroll. Without the layoffs, restoring the hours and salaries would have cost nearly $10 million.”
Those who see this as the “big guy” vs. the “little people” are way off base. Wynn is spending almost $8 million more per year.