Vol. 5, No. 5, May 2008
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You Can Count on Colombo
For more than two decades, this Harrah’s dealer has been Mr. Dependable.
Cal Ripken would be proud. Baseball’s fabled iron man, revered for playing a record 2,632 consecutive games over 16 seasons, would tip his hat to Harrah’s dealer Dennis Colombo. On February 2, 1985, the Indianapolis native reported to work there for the first time.
And he’s never missed a day. Never.
Through six presidential administrations and nearly 6,000 workdays, Colombo has stayed perfect despite bad weather, borderline sickness and a truck with more than 320,000 miles. The Egg Harbor Township resident may own the world record for workplace durability, but he’s also served with distinction. In March, Colombo was named Harrah’s 2007 Employee of the Year.
When summoned to the ceremony, “I thought it was probably the whole thing about not calling out sick, and maybe they’d give me 100 bucks,” he recalls. “Then they announced my name and really blew me away. They give you 5 G’s take-home, which is always terrific, but they’re also telling you how much you are appreciated. That means a lot to me.”
Colombo never forgets his pre-casino grind and a myriad of jobs that paid minimum wage or slightly above. Those jobs required long hours and the same attention to detail that casinos do; working them, Colombo realized it pays to think big.
“I had my share of lousy jobs before I came to the casino,” he says. “Really, I’m just thankful to have a position as good as this one. You realize that you work in a place with real good people. The pay and the benefits have always been there. To me, you can’t beat it.”
He proves it every day in the casino. Colombo credits his parents for instilling humility and a strong work ethic. He discovered the shore while visiting relatives, and when he saw single women walking around Wildwood, “I thought I’d gone to heaven,” he says.
So he moved here from Indiana. He worked the low-paying circuit and saw the financial potential in casinos. After launching his career, Colombo came to regard his durability as a source of pride.
“To me, the idea of not calling out is a gift,” he says. “It means I have been fortunate, that I haven’t really been sick. The biggest threat would really be oversleeping (he works the 4 a.m. to noon shift). I have multiple alarm clocks all over the house. I live alone, so there’s nobody to wake you up if you oversleep. If that happens, you’re done.”
Colombo loves the variety of games and the relative calm of the marina district. Over the years he has seen tokes escalate and a comfort level grow between customers and employees.
“It’s important to let customers know you’re on their side,” he says. “If someone is having real bad luck, I may tell him the same things happen when I play.”
For Colombo, this has been a winning game for nearly a quarter of a century.
