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Annoying Strip Club Practices ... Part 2:

Club_Goer_Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Annoying Strip Club Practices – Part 2:
“Wanna Dance (When You're Sitting at the Tip Rail/Front Row) ?"

The first twelve years or so, of my strip club-going was in L.A. (There are over 100 in the metropolitan area. Perhaps I saw half of them in my years there: 1992-2006). Every single club I went to had a tip rail. It seemed to be a common courtesy (I was told it was rule, in one club), that dancers not solicit dances at the tip rail. The idea is for the dancer on stage to keep the customers' attention so that she will be able to interest them in dances when she leaves the stage.

In 2004 I began making trips to Seattle, where I eventually moved to in 2006. I noticed just the opposite here. First, none of the clubs, in 2004, had a tip rail. But there was always a front row of seating. It seemed to be about six feet from the stage. Most clubs were designed like this, perhaps in accordance with state law. (Two exceptions to this design are the Déjà Vu Clubs. The DV clubs have steps leading down from the stage all around it which entices the dancer on stage to come down to the floor level and “mingle” with the customers in the front row. The Vu clubs do get customers to tip the dancers on stage because of this. Another club that opened last year does have a tip rail, but it's well protected and distanced from the stage)

Once I got started going to Seattle clubs, I noticed that neither the clubs, nor the dancers have this code of ethics, or courtesy. Dancers will approach customers sitting in the front row/tip rail and ask them for dancers. I find this very annoying. If I'm sitting in the front row, it's because I want to watch the dancer on stage at the time, and be interrupted by another dancer who wants to ask me for a dance. I even go so far as to make sure my body language shouts, “I'm watching the dancer on stage now!” They still don't get it and bug me for dances when I'm sitting in the front row.

Is this a concern for you at the clubs you attend?