cary should have been there; he would have loved it! The cashier was desperately counting the cash and muttering, "We're still out of balance!" Another man, probably the owner, was watching him. A player got up from the poker table and brought up a rack of black chips for redemption. Now the owner said, "Those black ones are $100, right?" The player said something about just hitting a grand slam. He was as nervous as the cashier, and said he wanted to be cashed out right away.

Suddenly all eyes were on me. I was standing with $100 or so in greenbacks in my hand and said I wanted to buy some chips if I could. The cashier shook his head. "We don't sell to collectors, ever!" The owner looked at me and (with more interest now) in the money. He turned to the cashier, "Sell him what he wants!"

I got my chips. And I'm willing to bet, none of that cash ever made it into the till or onto the books. Mental note to self: that place wasn't going to be around much longer.