Shift change

Watching a Foxwoods Resort Casino shift change is a lot like watching a newly docked ship empty its crew.

Food and beverage workers were first off the buses running between the remote employee parking lot Saturday morning. Then, dealers started entering the mix of passengers bundled against the chill and wind. A subsequent bus deposited a load of valets in their insulated jackets identifying them as such.

Finally, in the tradition of ship stokers of years past and Navy submarine nukes of today, the engineering staff emerged from buses, a final set of stragglers with some still clad in their poopy suit coveralls. They are fresh from the bowels of the casino's mechanical plant where they have spent the last eight hours or so tending to the systems that keep the buildings running.

The waves of departing workers ebbed within minutes. They ducked into cars for the ride home and left the lot waiting for the next tide.