Strip Club Drink Scams

7/8/2010 7:45:37 PM

Getting ripped off by dancers is a common topic on TUSCL. However, bartenders and waitresses in strip clubs are just as bad when it comes to scamming you out of your money. The mark-ups on beverages at a strip club are already astronomical; don’t let it get any worse. Here are observations and tips from working in the service industry and being the victim of many of these schemes as a consumer.
1. The waitress overcharges you the price of a drink, with a tip already added on to your bill, unbeknownst to you. You end up tipping on your unknowingly “cost jumped” drink. The waitress makes twice the tip off one drink.
**Get to know the price list. Call out any waitress that is padding her purse at your expense. Most clubs have multiple waitresses working; patronize the ones that treat you well and decline service from the scammers.
2. The bartender gives you a watered down drink, perhaps half the specified amount of alcohol or even less. You end up having to buy double the number of drinks to reach your desired level of intoxication. The bartender expects double the tip since he or she served you double the number of drinks.
**Keep an eye on the bartender while he or she is mixing your cocktail. Call them out when they are shorting you. Complain to management about impotent drinks.
3. Many establishments will sell you a bottle of premium champagne but did you ever realize you may have been served Korbel, or possibly even Cook’s, poured into an empty Dom Perignon bottle. When you paid $15 for that Vodka Red Bull, did you think it would be made with Ketel One and Red Bull? Try Skol and Roaring Lion.
**When getting bottle service, always watch the bottle being opened in front of you. Never accept a bottle that has been opened “in the back”. When ordering a cocktail, try to do so while at the bar so as to keep tabs on the quality of liquor being used.
4. Frequently waitresses will take away your beer or glass before you finished said beverage. The idea here is that you’ll have to buy another and the waitress will make yet another tip off of you. She doesn’t care if you only took three sips out of that $7 beer. 
**Ever see those guys that take their drink to the bathroom with them? This is why. Wasting a good beer or alcoholic beverage is not only a waste of resources and your money, but more importantly a party foul.
5. “If you don’t keep buying drinks, we’re going to kick you out.” This is the golden rule at some clubs. These clubs could care less if you get a DUI or even alcohol poisoning, so long as you keep buying overpriced drinks. Not only is this unsafe, it is illegal in most states to keep serving alcohol to someone who appears to be drunk. These are the same types of places where, not ironically, you hear stories of patrons vomiting on dancers.
**I have been kicked out of clubs before for refusing to buy a drink. A waitress couldn’t milk another $1 tip off of me, so she went and got the bouncer to toss me out. Her short memory forgot I tipped her well across six beers. Also never mind the fact I was the only guy in the club tipping the stage. If a club’s staff cares more about your money than your wellbeing, go to another club. Luckily the drink hustle has been dying off in most cities, but it is still alive and well in many Big Easy clubs.
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">If you come across a scamming waitress or bartender in a club, call them out. After all, their job is hospitality, and ripping you off is not hospitable. Face it, 99.9% of servers don’t claim their cash tips on their 1040, and people not paying their fair share of taxes forces citizens with documented incomes to be the victims of tax hikes. It is perfectly fine to stiff a ROB every once in awhile.

11 comments

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CTQWERTY

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14 years ago

Lol!   "Party foul"! 
 
Well-written article, Sinclair! 
 
I will say a dancer told me the VIP price increase at Brad's Brass in Indy (our #2-ranked club) jumped from $50 for a half hour VIP to $100 because of the "legal troubles of the club."   Specifically, they served a guy and served and served him until his blood alcohol level was waaaaay over the legal limit.   He then left the club, drove through a stoplight and hit and killed a married father of three.   The wife's attorney sued the club for not cutting the guy off.   Unsure where the matter is now, but I sure wish it would've stayed at $50 for the VIP...   The comments from the dancers about the change was that it used to be so easy to keep guys in there for a loooooong time.   Well, when many clubs are $250+ for a half hour VIP, $50 is a breath of heaven.

bigdude012

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14 years ago

I had a dancer or fee collector not sure which short me change for a LD.  Instead of throwing a fit I just let her know that I would just add it to the tip.  Truth was it was only $10.  I'm almost certain it was the fee collector, probably b/c i didn't put any money in the tip jar when I arrived.

rickdugan

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14 years ago

The issue I tend to run across the most is No. 2 - weak or watered drinks.  This problem lessened when I moved to straight Jack on the rocks, but even then there are some places that are clearly inserting the water nozzle into the bottles, particularly in some major cities.   
 
I usually sit at the bar so my gig involves tipping the bartender well, which helps me out on a lot of fronts.  When I used to mix my Jack I would ask for a drink "with a kick" and tip a few bucks when I received it.  If drink #1 was weak, I re-emphasized the "with a kick PLEASE" on my second order.  If #2 was still weak, I tipped less.  The message was usually received by my 2nd or 3rd drink and, if not, then the tips remained low.

potheadpl

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14 years ago

I can honestly say the ONLY drink issue I have with clubs is the price of dancer's drinks. It's OUTRAGEOUS.

georgmicrodong

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14 years ago

Fortunately, while the dancer drink prices are ridiculous around here, they aren't truly a scam, because you know (or should know) what you're getting when you pay $20 for a drink, i.e. time with a dancer.  And since I don't drink alcohol when I'm in a club, and my wife only drinks bottled beer, watered down drinks isn't a problem for us. 
 
That said, for general purposes in any bar, not just a strip club, good article.

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14 years ago

I've noticed my tab seemed padded sometimes when spending a long time at the bar at one of my favorite clubs. Moral: don't take anything for granted. A bartender who you may think of as a "friend" because of your frequent business may actually take advantage of you as your "party" extends itself.  Try to keep a running count of what you've ordered to avoid being taken.  Question big tabs politely simply for the sake of  getting the bartender to justify everything.--keeps them on their honest toes over the long run--but do it in a friendly way, more of a "help me with this" approach so as not to insult anyone, but the whole exercise puts them on record as knowing you're watching your tab so they won't think you're an easy mark.  

Philip A. Stein

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14 years ago

samsung1

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14 years ago

I don't mind the waitresses padding on an extra $1 to the price because I understand there are people out there that won't tip.  But what makes me upset is when they refuse to serve an ice water claiming they are "not allowed" and you have to order a bottle water instead.  Then later you see a couple come in and they both order their ice waters w/ lemon no problemo.  Then you also go up to the bar and ask for an ice water and she serves it no problem (I usually give a $1-2 tip for it). 
 
  What a lying bitch but I doubt it would get you anywhere trying to complain.  The only way mgmt takes your complaints serious is when you tip them lol

samsung1

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14 years ago

Some strip clubs have "happy hour" on certain days and certain times.  Sometimes this means the prices of drinks will be cut in half and at other places it may only mean the prices are reduced by a $1.  Also I have noticed some places have prices like $5.25 instead of just $5 or $6...they do this thinking you will tip $1.75 instead of $1.  I also think I remember reading about some strip clubs (I am thinking Vegas here) having an "open bar" (excluding top shelf) during their slow times to attract customers.

oriole1

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11 years ago

To be honest, drink prices should not be so high in SC's. They don't pay the dancers. I tip dancers but F*** the bartenders! Tell them if they want tips, show the patrons some skin on stage. Anybody can pop a bottle top, takes talent to dance on stage, luridly!

oriole1

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9 years ago

Tipping only proliferates laziness. They'll never work for a living if you GIVE them money. You get an hourly wage, work for it. A monkey can be trained to open a bottle.

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