asking for a clock in a cash game

[lighterjobs]

is this common practice? last night i was in a hand at my local casino in the seven seat and the table was full besides the eight seat. a drunk guy sat down and started talking to his friend in the nine. after about thirty minutes he bought in and was taking at least thirty seconds to act preflop. on one particular hand he was first to act on the river in a pretty big heads up pot with four spades on the board. he sat there just looking at his cards and at the board for over a couple of minutes. i started looking around at the table and could see everyone at the table was pissed because this was only 6/12 and he wasn't even facing a bet. i could tell i wasn't the only one getting angry, so i asked the dealer if he could start a clock. he acted like he knew what i was talking about, but when he called the floor over, he didn't know what i was talking about. it seemed weird because i thought the floor guy would know what starting a clock meant. just wondering if this happens often in cash games, or i made an ass out of myself for asking to start one.