Shift Change

avatar for inno123
inno123
Begin Rant

Visited a club and the doorman apologizes that things are really slow because it was 'shift change'. Not the first time this has happened but usually it is not too bad. But this time it had to be a half hour before the first dancer appears.

Is this anything but a lame excuse for lazy and/or incompetent management? If I go to a fast food place does the counter-person say 'sorry, shift change, can't cook your burger for another fifteen minutes!' Of course not. They are open, they need to be able to serve customers.

I mean come on, how hard would it be to have a few of the day shift come and stay a half hour later or some of the night shift to come and leave a half hour early!

End of Rant.

36 comments

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avatar for Club_Goer_Seattle
Club_Goer_Seattle
12 years ago
I sense that it is an individual club's poor management. When I lived in L.A., I recall a few of the small clubs being short of dancers around shift change, but the larger ones always had enough dancers so that customers didn't notice. Some clubs (here in Seattle as well as L.A.) actually have some girls scheduled for a "mid-shift," app. 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. to alleviate that problem.
avatar for gawker
gawker
12 years ago
Valid complaint.. most of the dancers coming in for the night shift are late. The day shutters cant wait to get out and on to bigger & better things like their kids, boy friends, etc. I've had this happen at the Foxy Lady in Brockton and the dormant gave me a couple of free passes which was a nice gesture.
avatar for Alucard
Alucard
12 years ago
Go in at a different time.
avatar for SuperDude
SuperDude
12 years ago
Dancers are not knows for being on time and focused.
avatar for gatorfan
gatorfan
12 years ago
Mid shift prior to shift change is worse
avatar for DandyDan
DandyDan
12 years ago
This is absolutely a symptom of poor management. Most of the places I am familiar with that have a shift change have a short overlap period where both shifts are present. The old shift essentially has a chance to sell their final lap dances without being ushered out the door. I also know at least one place with a staggered shift, where one shift begins at 5pm and the other at 8pm, with the early shift leaving 3 hours before closing. As for my favorite club, dancers essentially set their own schedule, so shift change is a non-concept there.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
12 years ago
At most of the clubs that I go to, the dancers set their own scheduals and management has little say as to if and when they come in or leave.
avatar for minnow
minnow
12 years ago
This isn't an issue for me as I either 1) Rarely enter clubs at an hour where this would be an problem, or 2) Clubs I patronize either have a mid shift to pick up slack, or very flexible hours.
Often, clubs have staggered hours when dancers arrive, or leave so that there isn't a large influx/outflux wirh a dead spot happening while incoming dancers get ready in dressing room. Those dancers who come in early get cut some slack on house fees while those coming in later pay higher house fees.
avatar for bang69
bang69
12 years ago
try going at different times
avatar for ilbbaicnl
ilbbaicnl
12 years ago
At a fast food place, the employees get paid the same whether there are customers or not. Strippers have no incentive to be in the club or on the floor if they don't expect to sell dances. Some clubs discount house fees for dancers who work during slow times, and/or fine the ones who don't. I think clubs in Vegas pay the dancers a small hourly wage for the day shift, but I haven't heard of that anywhere else.
avatar for tenisbum1776
tenisbum1776
12 years ago
I know at one of my local clubs, if a dancer is on stage and ready to go at 3pm she pays ZERO house for the day. Come in before 6, the house fee is 50% of normal.
avatar for daddysgirl1
daddysgirl1
12 years ago
From my experience when I danced, most dancers get ready at work. Which can be an advantage for other dancers who start during shift change already to work.
avatar for lopaw
lopaw
12 years ago
I hear ya, inno123. Same thing happened to me last night at my fave club. I usually get there early and am gone by 6pm, but last night I got out of work @ 6pm and headed over there intending to stay til 9pm or so. Arrived right at shift change - maybe 4 dancers still hanging out from dayshift. I wasn't too concerned, since I figured that the night shifters would start filtering in by 7:30 or so. By 9pm there were a grand total of maybe 5 dancers in the house. WTF?? I know it's a Wednesday.....but really? 5 dancers? And here I was all excited about actually getting a rare taste of early "night" shift. Whatta joke.
avatar for inno123
inno123
12 years ago
@Bang69 and Alucard: Why should I have to adjust my schedule to their bad management! There are plenty of other clubs, some only a 15 minute walk away!

@Gatorfan...why is a mid-shift even worse? Few clubs are going to be experiencing their peak customer numbers as soon as they open or right before they close so having one or even two mid shifts spreads the supply better with the demand.

@Shadowcat...actually that would be a better solution, since some dancers would decide to do a mid-shift, but apparently in this club you either decide to be a day shift girl or a night shift girl. As I said, lazy management.

@ilbbaicni...unfortunately it becomes a vicious circle. There is nothing inherently completely dead about, in this case, the 7-8 PM hour OTHER than the customers have been trained to never come at those times (besides the customers who, like myself, took the lesson to be to never go there again). In addition in California, unless this club is breaking the law, dancers must be employees and thus must get minimum wage.
avatar for Alucard
Alucard
12 years ago
Well inno123 go somewhere else then if it such an imposition on you to modify your behavior.

I'll bet the same situation occurs at the other club 15 minutes away.
avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
12 years ago
“… how hard would it be to have a few of the day shift come and stay a half hour later or some of the night shift to come and leave a half hour early …”

As hard as finding non-flaky reliable dancers – they seem to be an endangered species!
avatar for crazyjoe
crazyjoe
12 years ago
You can just sit there and fart until the dancers come out
avatar for inno123
inno123
12 years ago
@Alucard... I certainly will go someplace else, but it still is terrible lazy management. Three of the nearest clubs are:

Spearmint Rhino City of Industry
Synn, City of Industry
Deja Vu City of Industry

All of which I suspect you have at least heard of. And I can promise you that the only time those clubs will go a half hour without a dancer in evidence is when they are closed! When you are facing that kind of competition management can't be lazy
avatar for mjx01
mjx01
12 years ago
The situation certainly doesn't make the management look good in this case, but it's really more about dancers flaking out and not showing up on time. What's the club going to do if the girls are late on a regular basis?
avatar for Pablo Antonio
Pablo Antonio
12 years ago
Inno:

I feel your pain, but you have to understand 3 things:

1. Most dancers are independent contractors. They work when they feel like it. Management doesn't care when they show up because the dancers pay the club to work there. And managers have limited rules they can impose on independent contractors.

2. Most dancers get ready in the girls dressing room. They take their sweet time. I have waited an hour and a half for a hot dancer to get ready.

3. Dancers don't care if you wait or not, there will always be a PL who will come in as soon as you get pissed off and leave.

My advice is to cool your frustrations and have patience.
avatar for inno123
inno123
12 years ago
@pabloantonio...No need to have patience, I'm just going to go to one of the well run clubs nor far away that never have this problem, and I will hardly be alone.

1. Frankly if dancers actually were allowed to pick their hours some would work the mid-shift hours on their own. Problem solved. Management rigidity is what makes them be either day shift or night shift.

2. Well, if the customers have learned never to come in between 7 and 9 then it is no surprise that the dancers wait it out, but it is just a vicious circle of bad management, bad behavior, and fewer customers.

3. No, the customers are going down the street. I can certainly promise you at DV at the same hour there were five to ten times the PLs than this club had in a building with about the same footage.
avatar for inno123
inno123
12 years ago
@mjx...have a mid-shift? I figure what's really going on here is that there is a day shift manager and a night shift manager and they are each being unwilling to share dancers. So the day shift manager hustles his dancers out the door well before he leave and the night shift manager doesn't want his girls showing up at all. Meanwhile the few regulars in this club have learned when not to go and the dancers learn it is pointless to show up on time because the club will always be empty...vicious circle.
avatar for lopaw
lopaw
12 years ago
As long as dancers come and go as they please with little or no repercussions, nothing will change.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
12 years ago
Re mid shift. Most of the clubs that I am familiar with, in addition to the house fees, they also pay the manager & DJ, etc. If a day shift dancers stays past the day shift then she has to pay the night people as well. Would mid shift dancers pay each shift manager, etc just half. Seems like that might create a book keeping nightmare.
avatar for Alucard
Alucard
12 years ago
Exercise your right to choose inno123.
avatar for inno123
inno123
12 years ago
@shadowcat....ah, the tip-out systems. I could go on a whole separate rant on the evils of the tip-out system. But suffice it to say that any mid-shift dancer could do an end-of-shift payment to the day shift manager based on her revenues so far in her day. Most tip-out systems have the dancers giving a fraction of their revenue.

Part of the whole tip out system is that the shift managers start to think and act like pinps protecting and exploiting their stable of ho's rather than somebody managing one part of a single customer focused business.

@Alucard....indeed I shall exercise my right to choose, but part of what I am is looking at how design and management makes one club great and another the pits.
avatar for samsung1
samsung1
12 years ago
At kahoots they have three shifts instead of two. 11:30am-7pm is day shift. 4pm-11:30pm is mid shift.. 7pm-2:30am is night shift. This lessens the burden of shift changes.
avatar for tumblingdice
tumblingdice
12 years ago
Inno! Let me buy u a long tall glass of shut the fuck up.Dancer A tips out manager,bartender,dj,doorman 10% of gross.Managers are there to make numbers,theres no conflict between day n night.Dancer A tips bartender,doorman for leads,tips manager to overlook,tips dj for branding. It's a biz.Custy minus cash.
avatar for inno123
inno123
12 years ago
@tumblingdice...hit a bit close to home I have. Look it is pretty obvious from your ONE review that you are actually a shill for the club, and I am betting that your wallet gets filled with tip-outs. I don't know if your tip-outs are 10 percent total or each to the manager, bartender, dj, and doorman or 40% total.

Frankly I haven't seen a doorman or dj or even a bartender give anything to me remotely worth ten percent of what I gave to the dancer.

Lets call things what they are. Having a manager demand ten percent 'to overlook' is extortion. It is "pay me or I'll rat on you and get you fired". And since we both know that what the manager is 'overlooking' in exchange for a cut of the payment is sex for money how exactly does that make said manager something besides a pimp? It's a biz, squeeze the ho's for your take for protection.

Not to mention the whole tax fraud angle of everybody being slipped cash under the table.

The DJ's job is branding. He either brands or he is not doing his job. You expect that in a radio station the DJ is going to say to the ad sales staff pay me ten percent of your commissions or I won't push your products the way you want? No, that DJ is going to be fired or told to go back to the booth and do his job. Do you think the doorman at a hotel is going to tell the manager pay me ten percent of the room rate or I will tell arrivals that the place stinks? No, that doorman is going to be either fired or told to get to the curb and do his job.
avatar for TortillaChip
TortillaChip
12 years ago
If a club doesn't have dancers working the stage or even the room, it means the dancers run the place and the mgr sucks or is spineless. It will never change. A mgr isn't going to read your complaint, get an epiphany and change his mgmt style. Yes the club sucks but the cold reality is if you don't change your schedule you will continue to be disappointed. If there isn't a particular stripper keeping you there, I'd hop to the next club.
avatar for Bonesbrother
Bonesbrother
12 years ago
@inno123,

tumblingdice is not a shill for the club. He is a shill or pimp for avalons07, who he thinks is his girlfriend and only fucks him. If he ever got pussy from another female, he might realize what a fool he is.
avatar for Tiredtraveler
Tiredtraveler
12 years ago
Some club all the girls disappear at shift chair because thay are afraid they will be charge for another shift if they stay over and are not out by the prescribed time. The better managed clubs over lap a little and have a all dancers call to the stage for both shifts before the early one leaves. This gives the impression to the custys there are more girls than there actually are.
avatar for tumblingdice
tumblingdice
12 years ago
B Bro! Can u break that down for me.Pms?
avatar for tumblingdice
tumblingdice
12 years ago
Inno,welome to America my friend.Wave it wide and high.
avatar for tumblingdice
tumblingdice
12 years ago
B Bro, Yeah I know Avalon, she's a kick in the pants, but she's not my gf. I'm jammin another shrimp platter where you work.
avatar for tumblingdice
tumblingdice
12 years ago
Wow Inno you busy?
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