Clubs that Get It and Clubs that Don't

2/16/2011 8:49:14 PM

How do you know if the club management doesn't get it?  Here's a good example: 
 
I visited the Pink Poodle in San Jose around 6:30pm when the day shift was just wrapping up.  The physical club was nice enough, but after 3 songs went by and no dancers, I asked the waitress about it.  She said, "No one's tipping, so no one's dancing".  Soon the DJ even came on and started hounding everyone to move up to the tip row or else.  (don't believe me? read some of the reviews for this club) 
 
Finally after a few patrons volunteered some bills to test the waters, a dancer came up on stage.  What do you know?  People kept on tipping!  Amazing how that works!! 
 
Another thing, no lap dances going on.  Hmmm, why is that?  After talking to one of the girls (the only one who bothered to welcome me to the club - give her credit it was with a polite, friendly smile not a hustle and pressure) and finding out that the lap dances were $40 ... a SONG! (of which the dancer gets $15 and club $25) I started to put things together.   
 
I don't pretend to speak for all the dancers, but I have had a few tell me that they much prefer lap dances to being on stage.  If you think about it, wouldn't you rather interact one-on-one, maybe have some pleasant conversation, get treated like a person, receive compliments and decent money for your efforts instead of being up on stage like a piece of meat fighting for ones?  Kind of makes sense. 
 
A three minute song must feel like forever on stage and while it may take a couple more songs before a customer feels like they are getting a fair deal on a lap dance, it gives a chance for patron and dancer to get comfortable and helps her shift go by quicker.  (It is her job, after all, ya think?) 
 
I explained to the dancer I talked to that I liked her but I wasn't buying it.  Instead, on her last stage dance, I sat up, tipped her well and she gave me basically a private show.  At the end, I slipped her a $20, hers to keep, she did the work and I didn't want her to have to give to the club.  She thanked me several times and told me what a long, slow day it had been.  Maybe it would have gone by a little better for her if she had spent it a different way. 
 
This club doesn't get it.  No lap dances going on, means your dances are overpriced. Customers looking like they'd rather be somewhere else means they'll go somewhere else. No dancers on stage means they have no motivation to sell it.  They don't dance for ones, they dance to advertise lap dances.  Duh! (Duh, Duh, Duh!!) 
 
A club that gets it?  Alaskan Bush in Phoenix.  A low one song rate for try it out lappers and discount on several songs.  NUDE lap dances, not topless or g-string.  Lots of smiling happy dancers and customers, lots of pretty girls working.  (Oh and lots of customers tipping, too)

21 comments

Latest

Fenster

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14 years ago

At a club in Wichita, there would be people sitting at the stage, with a fully clothed dancer on stage who wouldn't take anything off until someone took one for the team, and gave her a dollar for NOT undressing. Maybe she'd actually be nude by the end of the second song.

Then the fun girl, Brittany, would run up on the stage with a big smile on her face, throw off all her clothes, and guys couldn't wait to throw money at her. Two songs, fully nude, and lots of money.

Hard to understand why the other girls couldn't catch on.

troop

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14 years ago

yup, alot of clubs and dancers really just don't get it. they think they're entitled to your money. that may work with the genuine losers but it doesn't work that way with me.

and fenster, some strippers don't catch on because they're arrogant or stupid!

Rod8432

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14 years ago

I've complained a time or two to dancers/bartenders that these tip-first clubs have it backwards. Most of us PLs are more likely to tip when the girls are naked. I think they should dispense with clothes about as fast as possible to provide enticement for us to visit the stage and tip. A good club for this is Go-Go-Rama in Laurence Harbor, NJ. They "get it;" the girls are naked before the first minute goes by and guys are queuing up to tip.

georgmicrodong

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14 years ago

I was talking to a local dancer not too long ago, and she claimed to do better on stage when she *doesn't* take it all off at once. In her three song set, she takes her top off about half way through the first song, and her bottoms halfway through the second. Completely unscientific observation on my part corroborated her take on it, in club where many of the dancers were schucking it all off as they walked up on stage.

Moose42

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14 years ago

In Baltimore, IMO, Scores gets it but Hustler does not. In both clubs the dancer will be topless mid-way through the first song, and fully nude mid-way through the second song. But in Hustler it can take a while to get a girl on the stage and having to wait an hour or so to see a girl is not uncommon. But at Scores there are always a number of girls ready to dance. No waiting an hour to see some titties. And my experience in the rooms tells me that Hustler has too much of an "over-your-shoulder" vibe -- you can't get away with anything. At Scores you pay to play, and the more you pay the more you play -- which I can definitely speak about.

samsung1

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14 years ago

Here in Columbus, some clubs charge $50/song for lap dances. $30 to the girl, $20 to the club. What a rip off. Also clubs in columbus will fine girls $50 if they see them sitting on a customers lap.

bitterdbag

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14 years ago

The sad part about the Pink Poodle, and all the clubs in the south bay, is that they could lower there dance prices and stop cutting songs short, but the "No Touching" rules would still make $20 seem like too much money to spend. It's why there are a ton of people who make the long trek to San Francisco and avoid the local San Jose area stripclubs. I'll be in Phoenix for spring training and I'll definitly checkout the Great Alaskan Bush Company!

inno123

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14 years ago

On the stage getting delaying for too long can cause the audience to lose interest, but mostly it will be because the dancing is boring. The more important rule is that the taking it off should be an *event* in the performance.

The bigger problem is that with so much of the girls' incomes coming from the lap dances it makes doing a stage performance almost a waste of time in the dollars per minute department. The same thing goes fom the customer's standpoint. If a LD is 20 dollars a song then a dollar tip on the stage should get a quantity of attention worthy of one twentieth of a lap dance. If it doesn't then certainly the customers will use their budget where it will get the best deal.

Book Guy

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14 years ago

Here's a weirdness -- at Penthouse in New Orleans, for $100 you get 20 minutes in a couch-cubicle; for $250 you can get 30; or $375 for an hour. In other words, the more you buy, THE WORSE THE RATE is per song. Uh ... who did the math? The management of course. So the dancers all push for the half-hour or hour, and some refuse to do the 20-minute at all (or they give you sub-par dances during that time, I'm willing to bet, if you do insist on it).

Rod8432

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14 years ago

inno123 - I agree about the "boring" part. I've often sat there with my couple dollar tip ready to go, but am choosing not to use it until she's naked. I want a pussy close-up when I tip, so tend to delay tipping until that happens, which makes waiting during the clothed part boring.

I'm not a tight-wad, by the way; I often tip the same girl two or three ties during her dance, often once per song during 3 song set. It's just that if my singles are running low or I'm not turned on enough by her to tip more than once, I tend to withhold my tip until she's nude.

And regarding the rail tips vs lapdances, I don't think it's one-twentieth of the "quality," but rather roughly one-twentieth of the time. It's easy for a popular dancer to make $10 or $20 in tips during song that she might've made during a lapdance, each PL getting his proportional slice of time. I think the reason we buy LDs is committed/personal time, plus in some cases, the opportunity for higher mileage.

GeorgNzola

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14 years ago

Comments on Phoenix strip clubs. The Alaskan Bush Company has two sides: topless dancers w alcoholic beverages and a nude side without alcohol. IMHO, ABC is boring unless you will only accept nude. I've been to ABC twice over the past couple of months and found the dancers to be boring and, though not coyote ugly, not very sexy either. If you're coming to the Phoenix area for Spring Training (or any other reason) seriously consider Centerfolds (mix of enhanced and natural topless dancers) with some hot lapdances; Bourbon Street if you prefer a place with 90% artificially enhanced blondes, 5% enhanced brunettes and 5% other; and Bandaids for the neighborhood bar atmosphere with a diverse group of dancers (white, black and latina) with only 5-10% artificial boobs. Christie's (Phoenix) on 32 street and the other on Baseline (Tempe) are dimly lit opulent strip palaces which get mixed reports, mostly expensive but some people like the dancers. Whatever you do, stay away from the places which have a University Dr/Ave address. Except for Xecutive Show Lounge, the rest are rip-off model studios. Also, stay away from Dream Palace. You'll spend a lot of money for absolutely no return. Have a great time in the Phoenix area.

Dolfan

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14 years ago

There should never be more than one song without a dancer on stage. Clubs with multiple stages don't have to run them all at once - but if there isn't a girl on stage something is wrong, very wrong. I've also got a problem with the clubs who charge girls for being too friendly with customers in their seats. That's just absurd.

Some girls at clubs here easily make more than $50 or $75 for their 2-3 song stage shows, which is what they'd get for private dances during that time. If you want a dance from the ones who give energetic interactive shows you've got to be a regular or ask for some dances while she's on stage. Those girls make enough on stage and will often just hang out in between stage sets. But there's still the ones who don't take their top off during their first song, and/or have a 2nd smaller pair of panties on and drag out removing those until the last 30 seconds of their set. Then they walk around looking confused as customer after customer rejects their "wannna dance" pitch.

I've often wondered why the dancers don't self police, one crappy dancer can clear out the stage side seats and it'll take two or three good ones before they fill back up.

rl27

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14 years ago

One of the stupidest things I see, are those clubs who make the dancer stop the private dance they are giving and go on stage when it is their turn, regardless of whether she is with a regular customer who has been getting multiple consecutive songs and usually goes for 12 or more songs. The only time she is excused is if she is in the Champagne Room.

About the only thing that tops this is a club that will call a dancer away from a lap dance with one of her regulars to entertain a bachelor's party at their table. This happened with me at Columbus Gold, while I was getting a dance from Tara Parker. Back when she used to dance at Columbus Gold when she was not on tour featuring and before she started featuring full time.

She along with Karen, a fitness model/bodybuilder who used to dance there, and two other dancers were all called out of their dances to sit at a table of drunk morons who spend nothing on the dancers.

Since then I now only visit Columbus Gold if their is a feature I want to see, and is not going to be at a club within a 3 hours drive anytime soon. Which is rarely.

One club that gets it, the Living Room in Dayton, Ohio. If a dancer is giving a private dance she can ask to be taken off the rotation, and they don't require the dancer to tip the bouncer to get taking off either.

Another rip off are clubs that charge more for a half hour with the dancer than it typically costs for a half hour worth of songs. A lot of clubs will charge $300 or more for a half hour, while you can get an hour's worth of dances for $200 (at $25 a dance) or $240 (at $30 a dance) with a typical 3 1/2 minute song. Especially when most clubs the Champagne room dances are no better than the VIP dances.

A few years ago, clubs would charge $200 - $300 for the champagne room, but a lot of the dancers would give 30 minute specials for $150 dollars in the regular private dance area, and the clubs that would let them. The dancers that did usually took home more money than those who didn't. Now none that I know so, do so.

4oureyes

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14 years ago

rl27 -- I'm not quite sure of your math. My calculator says that an hour's worth of 3 1/2 minute songs at $25 each adds up to $425. That's roughly 17 songs -- I suppose that if there's enough gap between songs it might only be 16, but that's still a lot of $25 songs. It comes out to $510 for $30 songs.

Hugh_G_Rection

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14 years ago

I think many of the clubs that 'Don't get it' are banking on their customers consuming alcohol and being less discriminate with their income as the blood alcohol level increases.

This works well in the short term, sad but true. I think one of the keys for getting the most from ANY club is to 'drink responsibly': I hate to parrot the MADD/ morality types, but it pays to keep the consumption down somewhat and keep your head in the game while visiting strip clubs (or any establishment that mixes adult entertainment and alcohol).

Do the heavy drinking on an alternate night, for your wallet's sake ;)

rl27

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14 years ago

4oureyes, read the comment again. I said a half hour not an hour. 30 / 3.5 minutes = 8.57 songs in a half hour. You round down since you can't buy half a song, and the gap in songs comes up to about 8 songs.

potheadpl

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14 years ago

I went to Brass Flamingo(NPR, Florida) on a Sunday afternoon and experienced the same "no dancer on stage" thing. It was weird. Granted, there weren't a lot of girls working, but I noticed girls drinking at the bar while the stage was empty. A couple of guys sat next to me and left after the third song went by with no dancer.

If girls are in the club and NOT doing lapdances, they should be on stage, whether guys are tipping or not. That's what the club is in business to do.

maybeenuf4u

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14 years ago

Because these girls are "contractors" who work for tips, the club can't say get up there & dance.

It is frustrating, but whether you want to tip early, or wait til you see pink, its still a bargain. & it helps me decide with whom I'd like to get a ld. I like to wait at least until I have an idea how many girls on shift, or whose popular w/ the lds.

So girls, get up there. its also a way to secure a ld too.

•

14 years ago

I remember when the Circus still operated in Cleveland. Ownership insisted that there always be a dancer on stage during hours of operation, regardless if the place was packed or if there were zero customers. It kept the dancer honest about what their jobs were and helped to curtail the bad attitudes that some get when business fluctuates. But those days are gone here, but it was a good lesson to follow.

Clubs that let dancers cop an attitude have lost control of their employees and when they don't put a dancer on stage, they cheapen themselves, in mhy opinion.

sanitago

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14 years ago

I think a lot of the reason the dancers don't get up on stage if no one is tipping is because (at least from what I know) the clubs charge them "rent" for the time they're on stage. think about it: they get up on stage, no one comes over to tip, and at the end of their set they're in the hole to the club. no one with any money sense is going to buy that deal.

skibum609

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14 years ago

You folks need a road trip to Providence Rhode Island. Even though the l;aw change made things tamer around here, its still mostly 2 way contact above and below the waist in most clubs with dances ranging from $20, $25 to some specials i.e. 2/25. Topless and Nude areas and all the clubs have full liquor licenses and drink specials, free shots at one club on the hour aswell, with no cover until 8pm.

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