Kitty Problems

[glb]

2-5 No Limit Full Table

Friday night at was playing at a local game and I ran into an interesting situation. Two guys at the table were "kittying" (sp) the pots they won. They were putting approximatley 10% of each pot they won into their kitty. They were both huge fish so they kept busting out and having to reload. However, they were not using their kitty when they were "all-in". First question: Should I have said something about it? I did not think it was my business to get involved in other people's pots.

Later, when there was over $300 in their kitty, I got involved in a big hand with one of them. I flopped two pair and checked. He bet out $40, I raised to $100. I turned a boat, and checked. He moved in for $67. I still had approx. $300 behind me. I asked the dealer, "The kitty is in play, right?" The dealer appeared confused and said that he didn't know. The two guys who were kittying started arguing with me and saying that the kitty has not been in play all night. I tried explaining to them that you cannot remove chips from play, and that half of the kitty should be in play for each player. They started getting loud, so I just called the $67.

After the hand, the dealer apologized and said he made a mistake, and that the kitty should have been in play.

I play at this place every week, and get along with everyone. How should I have handled this situation and still appear to be there for fun? This game extremely loose and I don't want to kill my action.