pool shark
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Eric M. Jukelevics
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tony gives out a pool cue to a customer in the basement of the student union Tuesday.
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Name: Tony Contreras
Major: Liberal arts junior
Age: 21
Job description: Works as a cashier at Sam's Place in the Student Union basement. Gives people cue sticks, pool balls, and access to tables. Breaks 20s for high-roller arcade gamers. Catches people sitting on pool tables or banging on arcade games, regulate.
Job advantages: All the free pool a man can ask for. Gets to play all the new arcade games first and (don't tell anyone) for free.
Job disadvantages: Has to deal with punk high school kids, drunken billiards freaks, and all the other palookas that saunter into the joint.
Outside the Student Union game room, the sign might read "Sam's Place," but it might as well read "Tony's Place."
For 23 hours a week, at least.
Tony Contreras works 23 hours a week at Sam's Place as a cashier. But he's actually so much more.
"It's not in the job description," Contreras said. "But if people are sitting on pool tables, I have to tell them to get off. If there are people banging on arcade games, I throw them out. If there are high school students in here ditching class, I toss 'em out."
So Contreras is actually 50 percent cashier, 50 percent bouncer. Sure, he'll give you your quarters and even give you a fresh cube of chalk for your eight-ball game. But don't ever try messing with the Pac-Man machine. He'll toss you out faster than you can say, "Game over."
And if you're a friend of his trying to scam a free pool table for the evening, he'll give you this line:
"I'd tell them to come back when my boss isn't here," Contreras said with a mischievous grin.
A former hospital worker, Contreras took the job at Sam's Place seven months ago in order to consolidate his living space. To work at the hospital, Contreras had to drive several miles. Now he can walk to work. With a 15-hour class load this semester, the Sam's Place job is much more compatible with his schedule.
"I do homework sometimes when I'm working here," he said.
And what valuable job skills is Contreras learning at Sam's Place?
"Absolutely none," Contreras said. "Just learning how to count money faster than before. That's about it."
- phil villarreal
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