tuscl

A Question about Strip Club Management

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 4:24 AM
I was at a strip club in Jacksonville, NC, last night, and, among other things, was chatting up a stripper. During the course of her rambling answer to my question, "So how did you become a stripper?", she mentioned how difficult it is to get a stripper job. One thing that she said was that, when looking for a stripper job, she had called around to a dozen or so clubs to inquire about whether the clubs were hiring, what the work requirements were (i.e., whether she would be required to work a certain number of shifts, whether shifts were assigned, etc.), what house fees were, and so on. She stated that among the dozen or so clubs she had called, only two had actually answered her perfectly legitimate questions. The remainder had refused to talk to her about anything and insisted that she visit the club and apply prior to getting her questions answered. Now, no legitimate business functions this way. If the bank is hiring, they take out an ad in the paper and explain whether the job is full- or part-time, whether a degree or certain level of experience is required, or whatever. A legitimate business with a job opening will field a phone call about the job without requiring someone to come in and apply for the job before learning more about the job. Given that most strippers I have talked to are working a long way from their hometown (As one stripper once told me, "You don't sh*t in the box you sleep in."), this seems particularly ridiculous. Why should a girl have to drive two hours round-trip just to learn (for instance) if the scheduling scheme of the strip club is going to consistently butt up against her "regular" job? The fact that, according to this stripper, the vast majority of her contacts are doing this to the general inquiring female public tells me that this is a part of strip club management. These people are trying to do something by this apparently asinine type of behavior. But what is it they are trying to accomplish? Does anyone know what is behind this (apparently) outrageous practice?

26 comments

  • Dougster
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    11 years ago
    Well both strip club managers and strippers have some control issues. I think strip club management finds it important to show that they are boss right from the start. It's part justified to keep what would otherwise be pretty unruly girls in line, but it's also partly because they like it just because "they can".
  • nickifree
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    11 years ago
    Would you get a dance from a stripper before knowing what she looks like?
  • gawker
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    11 years ago
    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In order to behold their beauty they want to see them. There are plenty of 5 foot 6, 110 lb. women who would not be able to make it on stage. There are other intangibles which I'd like to personally assess if I were in that position - some of which would be indefensible if some bizarre anti-discrimination suit were undertaken.
  • rickdugan
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    11 years ago
    I am not overly surprised by this. Clubs have a lot of exposure to the bad acts of a variety of parties (people looking to sue them, LE, liquor and other licensing agencies, competitors, etc.), so I'm sure that many of them are going to be hesitant about giving out a lot of information about their operations over the phone.
  • Dougster
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    11 years ago
    You are a very weak apologist for strip club management Rick. Still think it would be the perfect good for a shifty fast talker like you. Only question is if it would pay better than your current salesboy job.
  • Dougster
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    11 years ago
    "perfect good" = "perfect job" for the RickyBoy
  • 3LeggedMan
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    11 years ago
    The biggest issue here is that the manager can't get his BBBJ over the phone.
  • tumblingdice
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    11 years ago
    Word up tripod.
  • rockie
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    11 years ago
    JJ15: I don't want to visit a club that is subject to the hiring requirements of your so-called legitimate businesses. The merits of an exotic dancer can be only measured in person. Even with that circumstance, it's surprising what passes muster these days. Can't wait until your local bank holds it's weekly amateur night try out!
  • Dougster
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    11 years ago
    Huh? I don't think she is suggesting they hire over the phone without meeting the person, just give out some basic info so girls can decide whether it is worth pursuing further.
  • JayJay15
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    11 years ago
    @Dougster Exactly. What most of the commenters seem to be missing is that this is not a question of hiring. If a girl shows up who is not fit for stage I am sure that there are lots of reasons she can be excluded, pretextual or genuine. I am merely asking why it would not be civil - and a good business decision - to give out a small amount of information to potential dancers who call over the phone so that they know whether showing up to apply is even reasonable for them. If a girl gets the information, shows up, and doesn't pass muster, they can always refuse to hire them on whatever grounds they would normally reject them when they tell them to come in and apply anyway. Even the incredibly subjective pretext, "Your dancing is not up to snuff for this club" or whatever.
  • Dougster
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    11 years ago
    Legal liability. We got some mighty paranoid minds in here!
  • JayJay15
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    11 years ago
    @Che Sounds plausible. Thanks. But I can assure you that the stripper I was talking to last night did not appear to know that. She must be new.
  • Papi_Chulo
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    11 years ago
    “… no legitimate business functions this way …” SCs – and everything else that goes w/ them – are barely on the borderline of “legitimacy” – one should really not expect much – it is what it is.
  • Club_Goer_Seattle
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    11 years ago
    Your first three paragraphs center on one facet of strip club hiring practices: As others have stated, no matter how much or how little info. a club may give an inquiring dancer by phone, the clubs still want to see the dancer in person before hiring her. But, that also seems to fly in the face of the phenomenon that so many clubs seem to hire any dancer that walks in the door to apply for a job. (But, they still want to see her in person, first, just to ensure that she's really human.) Do not assume that strip clubs are legitimate businesses. As to strippers living a long distance from their job--yes, that's common. They don't want to risk the potential embarrassment of being seen working in a strip club, close to home, by people they know. I can recall a couple of stories about dancers who did have that happen to them. Long commutes to work are common for dancers. (But, not here in Seattle, from many that I've known.)
  • jabthehut
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    11 years ago
    Douchester seems to always want to pick a fight! He just can't help himself. He accused rickdugan of being a "weak apologist" for SC management when all rick was doing was telling his POV. That is what everyone in this thread is doing but douchebagster is too dense to understand that. He just keeps saying stupid stuff that makes him more irrelevant.
  • Michellemarie
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    11 years ago
    I can think of a few explainations. I've tended bar at a few busy strip club and received a ton of calls from prospective dancers. Some asked basics (times, house fees), but some asked things like: "Is there someone there to teach me how to dance?" "How fast can I make $1000?" "You don't search bags, do you?" or "How much will I make?" These were all red flags, indicating I was talking with an inexperienced dancer or junkie, both of whom keep you on the phone forever then show up strung out, if at all. Other possibilities: - Did she call at 11 pm on a Friday, talk to a busy bouncer or bartender, etc? - there's a huge amount of information prices, rules, shifts, etc. that have to be weighed at every club and it's not as simple as the dry numbers. A dancer who thinks that you can weigh the details against each other is an unexperienced dancer. A club might be the most expensive with house fees, but no staff expect tips, they have great security and they have much more business than anyone else. Another club might be cheap and flexible, but have no cameras or rules so you have to be willing to do extras to make any money. At some clubs, customers are used to tipping a lot, at some clubs no one tips for rooms or dances. You shouldn't need to ask more than 2 or 3 questions. - Schedules can usually be flexible... for the right dancer, so clubs don't want to tell a pleasant, smart, hot hard working dancer that they have strict scheduling rules. They also don't want to tell a dancer that schedules are flexible, then realize she is a better *ahem* fit for weekdays or day shifts. I can only work two evenings a week, but I don't tell clubs until I'm there and they see that I'll be an asset to the company anyway.
  • bang69
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    11 years ago
    sc's half to be careful when hireing employees.
  • Shamrock211
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    11 years ago
    At the club I work at we'll give very basic info out: Shift obligations, length of shifts, stuff like that. We never discuss house fees cost of dances or any details about how the club functions overall. We get a lot of calls every day about girls looking for work, but in the end if they don't show up in person it's all irrelevant. And call me old fashioned, but if I want a job I'm going to show up in person to apply for it. In past jobs where I've been a manager, I'm simply not interested in hiring anyone who can't be bothered to haul their lazy ass to the business in question.
  • inno123
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    11 years ago
    There are a lot of bad managers out there but the worst mistake is assuming that a strip club is just like some other business. In other businesses you send a resume and they review your degrees, qualifications, prior experience etc. At a club they care about your looks, your moves, and whether you are OK with getting naked in front of strangers. Messing around with the merely curious is a waste of time. So they have regular audition times prior to opening or they just ask dancers to come to the 'amateur contest' night.
  • DandyDan
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    11 years ago
    It's not difficult to get a stripper job, because all clubs are hiring. What it is is that it is difficult to get the ideal stripper job for a given strippers circumstances. My ATF had to work at several clubs before she found the one she works at now. (She once gave me a rundown of all the clubs she ever worked at, and there must have been at least a dozen.) And I'm sure that's true for the vast majority of strippers.
  • deogol
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    11 years ago
    Well I guess all entertainment is illegitimate, because casting calls require you to show up....
  • ilbbaicnl
    •
    11 years ago
    I think most clubs are always hiring. They keep hiring even when they run out of lockers in the dressing room, and the new girls just have to somehow deal with not having a locker. Until enough girls with lockers quit and free them up (which happens fast). There are a lot of clubs that give black dancers a really hard time.
  • Aurora5
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    9 years ago
    What does it mean if a club refuses to tell an inquiring dancer the fees? I'm very curious because this strip club and 2 or 3 other strip joints have all been either sued or shut down, or just shut down or sued and reopended.
  • NinaBambina
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    9 years ago
    If she works in a higher volume city these clubs are always getting their time wasted by girls who either aren't serious about dancing or who wouldn't get hired based on appearance. That is why they often will just tell girls to come to the club so they can see what you looked like... Tip-out varies in an individual club based on the shift and possibly mannny other factors depending on how the club is run so questions like that are usually not going to be answered by whoever answers the call. When she goes in to audition they will tell her that. The stripping industry is unlike most, and the management can vary from completely professional, or to a close family-style environment, or to completely corrupt. It's a titty bar, not corporate America. :)
  • twentyfive
    •
    9 years ago
    In all forms of show biz you need to show up if you are interested the most you will get from a phone call is the location & what time to be there the appropriate time to ask the questions posed by the OP is at the casting call
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