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There has been quite a bit of discussion the last several months about “Making it Rain”. I have never understood the practice so I decided to conduct some research. While I do witness it occasionally, the practice isn’t very prevalent in the clubs I prefer to frequent. To increase my exposure, I went to a few clubs I wouldn’t ordinarily visit. It still seems moronic and I don’t think I could imagine myself being drawn to participating in this act, but through observation I got a glimpse into the psyche of those who do. Here is a recount of the types of practitioners I witnessed and my read of each. I did see each of these scenarios play out more than once, but I will only recount one such instance.

Another Dancer
A dancer goes up to the stage and makes a bit of a show of dropping singles on her friend’s ass. I never thought much of it, but when I saw a girl I had history with do it I decided to ask her about it. She told me that they have an agreement. One will make it rain with 20 singles. Later that evening, the other will return the favor. The goal is to encourage the custies to follow suit. I never got the urge, but it did seem to get a few people out of their seats to stage tip. This practice actually seemed like a good idea to me, I just don’t know how effective it was. I didn’t check to see the dancer’s tip with the assistance compared to without, but if they keep doing it, it must help.

Throwing it up in the air
A guy walks up to the stage and just tosses a bunch of bills in the air and it all comes down like big confetti on the stage. The guy then turns and walks away, without even acknowledging the girl or anyone else. He gives off the impression that he thinks the entire club scene is beneath him. Last time I saw someone do this, just to be an ass myself, I went over and asked him why he does this. He just told me to fuck off. I did. From now on, I’m going to consider everybody that does this to be a self-absorbed asshole. The next time that dancer was on stage the same guy went up and did it again. This time I went up there too, stood next to him, and threw two dollars up in the air to mix in with his shower of bills. Both he and the dancer gave me nasty looks.

The stage slow drop
This seemed to be the most common. This young guy walked up to the stage, waited for the dancer to approach, and he asked her to bend over. He proceeded to let his stack of bills slowly slide off his hand onto her ass. The money flowed off of her and onto the stage. He then walked away without giving her any notice, just a smug look on his face. He looked around the club as he went back to his seat, seeming to relish in the moment because he thought people considered him a cool high-roller. I just thought he was a douche.

I had to find out what made this guy tick, so I decided to ask him about it. I can get away with this because I’m an older guy and I can act kinda goofy and self-deprecating. Anyway, after he walked past me I called over to him, “Larry?”

He turned around and looked at me with a strange expression. One that evoked a combination of “Do I know you?” and a “What do you want?” He didn’t ask any of those questions though, instead he said “Do you think I’m Larryfisherman?”

After I responded in the affirmative, he told me to fuck off. (I get that a lot) He then said that he took offense because Larryfisherman is nothing but a “self-admiring, story fabricating, club review plagiarizing, lame question asking 15 yr. old douchebag.” I still think it may have been him.

Dealing cards
Another young guy walks up to the stage holding a little stack of ones in one hand and waited for the dancer to come over. When she got down on the stage in front of him he started flicking individual bills at her with his other index finger, almost like he was dealing a deck of cards. After what must have been about $20-$30 he just stood there ogling her for the rest of the song and then walked back to his seat with a smile on his face. To me, this was the least offensive of the “Making it Rain” crowd I saw. He tipped the girl nicely, but I was least offended because he actually looked like he was enjoying the show and was showing his appreciation instead of just trying to look cool.

I actually approached this guy when he went to the bar to get a drink and told him that the “Making it Rain” practice is something that I didn’t understand. I asked him why he did it. He didn’t tell me to fuck off. Yeah!!!! He said he didn’t really know why he did it, kinda got caught up in the party atmosphere. He admitted that he was showing off to his friends and hoped that it would get the dancer’s attention. He seemed harmless. She made her way over to his table about 10 minutes after her set so I guess it worked.

The private slow drop
The one guy I saw do this was the biggest of the douches. He was a bit of a musclehead sitting on a stool at the bar with a beautiful Latina dancing in front of him, bent over with her ass high in the air. He wasn’t even watching her dance, he just kept dropping dollar bills on her ass every couple of seconds as he talked to his friend sitting next to him. This was the most pompous display and actually looked demeaning to the girl that was dancing. The guy really was a jackass. I came up next to him to get to the bar to get myself a drink. He snarled at me that I was taking up his space. I said, “Huh?” He made a sweeping motion with his hand as said, “This is my seat, this is my space, get a drink somewhere else.” I just chuckled and told him to relax, ordered my beer and then went on my way, tipping the dancer $5 in her garter as I left. She smiled at me. What a dickhead he was.

Unfortunately I still don’t have an appreciation for the practice, I really didn’t learn anything but I did have fun trying.