What's the deal with buying the "lady" a drink?

avatar for Estafador
Estafador
BIG APPLE
So I always wanted to know why is it that buying the lady a drink considered "gentlemanly" ESPECIALLY SO in a strip club. What makes it gentlemanly, the fact that I am fascinated by the way she glugs down her "liquor" (if it really is alcohol)? What's the deal? especially in this day and age of women's rights and extreme feminist views? Isn't anything that a man does to or for a women considered misogynist in these current times? Why should I buy HER a drink just because she ask me even though I probably won't be as interested in her as I'd like? I would think in today's standards woman would think that when a man buy's a woman a drink (be it stripper or otherwise), he ALWAYS has a motivation (especially in a strip/club) usually some sort of sexual act thus that should give feminist a sign of misogyny brewing. Remember folks, even strippers today can be extreme feminists as shown in the mass media. So should I blame the baby boomers for the age old practice, the media for trying to mix "classy" with hip and current even if it blaringly clashes with feminist views? Or should I blame the wives aka grandmas of baby boomers who pass it down to their daughters who pass it down to their daughters who share it amongst their friends that men should buy a drink, never make yourself look helpless, view anything a man does as misogyny and still demand money for nothing because she is a woman she deserves it for just existing? Give this young buck the lay down old timers

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avatar for ime
ime
10 years ago
It's related to a thing called chivalry....which may or may not have it's place in the strip club depending on who you ask
avatar for anonymous99
anonymous99
10 years ago
Some clubs give girls commision from every drink a customer buys them. Also, some girls use it as a way to see if the customer is interested in them and spending money on them.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
10 years ago
In most clubs the waitresses are working for tips. So they hustle.

Some dancers use alcohol to fortify themselves for what they are about to do. We hope. LOL.
avatar for ilbbaicnl
ilbbaicnl
10 years ago
The deal is they want a free drink dude. And/or they want the drink commission. Some guys think its a good deal to buy a dancer a drink and get a few minutes of conversation. Probably better for everyone but the club if you just slip them a few bucks to talk to you instead. If I don't feel like buying them a drink I say "sorry I want to save my money for dances". If she keeps badgering you, she's a PDFH (Pesky Dancer From Hell). A PDFH is like an itch, all you can do is ignore it and hope it goes away. If a club has too many PDFHs, just gotta stop going to that club.
avatar for lopaw
lopaw
10 years ago
If the "buy the lady a drink" is considered the gentlemanly thing to do, then why do they always hit me up as well, using that very same line? Because it has nothing to do with being gentlemanly (or gentlewomanly either). It is simply another way for the club to quickly and easily get more money out of you. Many are either too polite or too intimidated to say no.
avatar for Dougster
Dougster
10 years ago
They are just trying to guilt trip weaker minds. That is all.
avatar for gawker
gawker
10 years ago
I believe many clubs have their dancers solicit drinks which cost us $10+ and are usually ginger ale & grenadine. Major income for the club.
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
10 years ago
It is just a social custom. Sometimes the girl will ask, as she wants you to start thinking that you have an investment in her. Other times, she just wants a drink and feels entitled to it.

I would say it is cheaper to comply, than to try and persuade her to see things differently.

Months back there was a thread about not falling into the trap ..... of thinking that you have to buy her a drink with alcohol or otherwise get her juiced, in order to get on with her. So in the future I will be making drink offers with specific non-alcohol language included.

Some customs are worth fighing about, but others are not.

Once in a lunch time restaurant a man at another table offered to buy me a drink. That scared the shit out of me. The offer was conveyed by my regular waitress. After the strange guy was gone, I thanked her profusely for helping me to dodge it.

SJG
avatar for ilbbaicnl
ilbbaicnl
10 years ago
SJG waitresses everywhere thank you for giving them a new way to get a really good tip.
avatar for ATACdawg
ATACdawg
10 years ago
Sorry, if I am interested, I offer. In the great scheme of things, it's a pretty insignificant sum
avatar for alabegonz
alabegonz
10 years ago
A misogynist would probably not be in a SC, let alone buy the dancer a drink.

Buying a dancer a drink means only one thing and that is having a good convo with her, ice breaker so to speak. It means she will stay for whole length of the content of the shot and probably more.

Plus my value as a customer normally goes up to her, more like a way of preselection, establish a foothold for the next level.

Very few dancers that I know of does this, though. And when they do, it usually has something good in there to explore.
avatar for grand1511
grand1511
10 years ago
A couple of my local clubs require dancers to get a minimum number of drinks from customers per shift or else they get fined. That, to me, seems pretty harsh. Or it could be SS. I still never buy them a drink.
avatar for jackslash
jackslash
10 years ago
If they have tits, they expect men to buy them stuff, including drinks. Strippers are just acting like women everywhere.

avatar for JohnSmith69
JohnSmith69
10 years ago
If the waitress comes up and suggests buying a dancer drink, it is a scam. I always use the same line: "no thanks, I save my money to spend on dances instead."

Only buy a dancer a drink if it is your idea, or at her request, and only if you like her and want to hang out with her for a while.

Another approach is to hang out with the dancers who are under 21. Most clubs are very careful about not serving them alcohol.
avatar for jerikson40
jerikson40
10 years ago
Many/most clubs make serious money on selling drinks. The markup on a drink is astronomical. A 12oz can of Coke is what, 40 cents or something? And when a club gives you a drink, it's 90% ice and 10% coke (or whatever). So figure maybe 15 cents or something of actual Coke in your glass.

And how much do they charge? Hell, I don't know. A buck or two? And someone can do the calculation for a liquor drink....markup is probably much higher.

That's why they make you feel like you are obliged to buy the dancers a drink. Often the girls don't give a fuck about a drink, but just as with tips, they rely on making customers feel it's the "right thing to do", and they're assholes if they don't tip or buy drinks. It's just another way to separate you from your money. And a lot of guys buy in to the bullshit, so it works.
avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
10 years ago
Waitress: “wanna buy the lady a drink?”

Me: “No thanks – I plan to piss in her mouth in VIP and that should hydrate her plenty”

:)
avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
10 years ago

“… A 12oz can of Coke is what, 40 cents or something? And when a club gives you a drink, it's 90% ice and 10% coke …”

40 cents – probably under 10 cents since most commercial establishments don’t serve soft drinks from cans or bottles but from those plastic bag things that use a nozzle (the can/bottle container and the fancy printing is probably more costly than the soft drink itself).


As a personal side note:

I visited E11even in Miami today (Fr 12/26/14) – went to meet a fellow TUSCLer and just check out the club out of curiosity since I’d never been.

Anyway – it was a DAYSHIFT visit – I ordered two water bottles (1 for me, 1 for my fellow TUSCLer) – total price for 2 smallish water bottles - $19 w/o tip.

This was dayshift – I asked the waitress if drinks were not 1/2 priced in dayshift – she said only alcohol not water or soft drinks – my fellow TUSCLer was not a drinker and I stopped drinking a few months ago so we kept the 2 water bottles for $19 where beers were $6 for dayshift (we got it up the ass and not even w/ Vaseline).
avatar for gatorfan
gatorfan
10 years ago
Nothing but check if she has a penis first.
avatar for rickdugan
rickdugan
10 years ago
Okay, if you club in NYC then I get it I suppose. Drinks are easily $20 in NYC clubs and my bar tabs, after buying my own drinks and a few for dancers. gets pretty damned high when I club in NYC, Fair enough I suppose, though if a few extra 20s is a problem then you probably shouldn't club in NYC, but the objection is at least understandable. I suppose I can also understand the CA folks who chafe at the thought of buying overpriced juice in a non-alcoholic nude club.

But for most of the rest of you, these objections baffle me. It is a normal and customary part of socially interacting with dancers and has been since forever. If $20 or $30 more is going to break the bank, then stay home - seriously - because strip clubs are probably not the best use of your money if things are that tight.
avatar for Dougster
Dougster
10 years ago
Um, could it be that it's the principle, RickyBoy? Not something guys with your self-confessed personality damage can understand?
avatar for jerikson40
jerikson40
10 years ago
The standard Dugan logic...

Everyone does it, so you should too. And hell, if you have the money, why not spend it? Because the dancers and the clubs expect it, so why run the risk that they'll think you're a tightwad? Cuz maybe the dancers won't like you if you don't spend your money on them. And you don't want to be known as a tightwad, right? Because it's so important what others think of you. You want people to like you, right?

As Lopaw said, "Many are either too polite or too intimidated to say no..." Maybe Dugan is one of those "too intimidated" guys.

And Dugan, it's NOT a social interaction. Don't you get that? Its a service performed for money. They try to intimidate you into spending your money on shit that ain't worth it, by convincing you that it IS a social interaction. $20 or $30 is not the issue. It's whether you can be intimidated into throwing away money on useless shit. For me, high mileage lap dances are worth spending money on. Overpriced drinks that I don't want in the first place aren't.
avatar for Dougster
Dougster
10 years ago
Don't even bother. Took RickyBoy ten years to figure out how to pay homers for sex in the first place. Imagine how long something like this would take him to figure out.
avatar for Dougster
Dougster
10 years ago
"Maybe Dugan is one of those 'too intimidated' guys. "

Anyone who reads The System will have gathered that.
avatar for PhantomGeek
PhantomGeek
10 years ago
I usually buy a dancer a drink because it just seems like a polite thing to do, as well as an icebreaker. However, in one club, a couple of dancers have told me (out of earshot of others) that I don't have to buy them a drink/they didn't need one, but when a waitress asks if I'd like to buy the dancer a drink and the customer turns to the dancer, the dancer is supposed to say yes.
avatar for DandyDan
DandyDan
10 years ago
I have never liked those places where you have to buy the lady a drink because at least 90% of the time, they don't actually drink it, or at least all of it. I don't mind buying them something if I know the price will be the same as if I was buying it for myself, and in BYOB clubs, I never minded giving my alcohol away to dancers, but it's not the same price for the dancer, so it's a scam. That's why I like the BYOB clubs and the one juice bar I visit. They seem a lot more real to me.
avatar for dr_lee
dr_lee
10 years ago
I do it just to be chivalrous because I don't buy dances from most girls. It's probably selfish, but makes me feel better. But I don't offer unless a dancer comes and talks and sits with me. I automatically will buy a drink, unless it's one of those quick 'ask for a dance, then walk away' deals. If she sits and talks, I buy a drink for her. But my experience is that most girls won't come and talk to you. That is, I may on average get 1 or 2 girls a night that actually come up to me, so I'm not out of a lot buying a couple of extra drinks.
avatar for jerikson40
jerikson40
10 years ago
I have a policy called "pay for performance". Here's how it works:

If someone in a service industry (like a strip club) does something that I like, something that provides me with value, especially something over and above what others give or provide, I tend to pay them for that service. The better the service, the more I pay. If it's a REALLY excellent service, the sky is the limit and I'll empty my wallet.

On the other hand, if someone does something that is not something I want or need, and/or tries to intimidate me into paying for a service not performed, or not performed well, I will tell them to go fuck themselves, and I won't pay them shit.

So if someone asks me to buy her an overpriced drink only because she wants me to buy her a drink, or the club management is pushing overpriced drinks, that is a clear "go fuck yourself" penalty. Flags down on the play. Move the ball back 15 yards.

Pretty simple. In a service industry setting, I'm not trying to be a nice guy or get people to like me. I'm there for a service. In a real world, personal relationship setting, it's entirely different.
avatar for crazyjoe
crazyjoe
10 years ago
Lmfao @ Dougster and Jerikson about the system
avatar for IHearVoices
IHearVoices
10 years ago
I may, if the service/entertainment warrants, give a girl an extra tip that she can use to buy her own drink. Me buying one for her, though? No haps.
avatar for sclvr5005
sclvr5005
10 years ago
Its standard m.o. in the COI, and the lady drink hustle is constant and relentless. You either accept it as a necessary evil, or stop visiting the area. Its easy enough to just say no. The girls do appreciate it to help them meet their quota, but most won't hold it against you if you say no.
avatar for rattdog
rattdog
10 years ago
rickyboy is the typical new York yuppy douche bag. if I got the extra twenties to throw around then I don't have to worry about getting the same value for less. this not only pertains to strippers but to other facets in living in new York.

btw rickyboy I too also live in nyc, and I betcha my $20-60 will go waaay further than your $100 bucks in any strip joint. also at a regular civvie bar w/lots of girls around I wouldn't want you around as a wingman either. don't know what you look like but based on what you have written over the course of time on this board you could like GQ's finest man of the year I still wouldn't hang w/you.

so tell us rickyboy, how come the others here on this board "get it" while you don't and are so far out of touch?
avatar for Clackport
Clackport
10 years ago
I just see it like being at a bar or nightclub, if I like the girl's company, I'll buy her a drink. If I don't like her company (ugly girl), then I won't. I've had one dancer buy me drinks, I think that is the most effective hustle, how can you turn down a lapdance offer from that girl after that?
avatar for Subraman
Subraman
10 years ago
I love getting drunk with the strippers, so I'm always down for buying her a drink. I'm pretty up front with what my tolerances are, I'll tell her I'll buy her a drink _if_ she'll do a shot with me, since I'm not interested in sipping Mai Tai's together. And then I'll often order the lower shelf shots, especially in expensive places. But I always want my girl drinking
avatar for Subraman
Subraman
10 years ago
Actually, I realize I didn't answer the most important question: "So I always wanted to know why is it that buying the lady a drink considered "gentlemanly" ESPECIALLY SO in a strip club"

It's all show biz at the club, obviously enough; it's not "gentlemanly" to buy your stripper a drink, but it's sure in the club's interests to make it feel that way. One of the many things I love on SW is how the girls love to take advantage of standard boy-meets-girl type rules ("buying me a drink is just the decent thing to do!") when it's to their benefit, and in fact get outraged when guys don't do those things, but any standard boy-meets-girl interaction that they're uncomfortable with is met with outrage, even if it was made in good faith (look at the outrage just about getting asked where they're from, and other standard small talk!). Anyway, always fun to bring this back 'round to the alternate reality that is SW.

That said, again, I love getting buzzed with the strippers, and *always* buy my stripper a drink (in fact, many drinks) if I'm planning on spending lots of time with her.
avatar for Diva1975
Diva1975
10 years ago
It's a nice gesture and tells the girl you are prepared to spend some money
avatar for alabegonz
alabegonz
10 years ago
"and the lady drink hustle is constant and relentless. "

Pretty much.

You have to know how to game it to enjoy it, though.

I've learned it through experience, now, it doesn't faze me a bit.

I guess when I do it often I learn the stimuli-response down to the basics level.

Actually, I enjoy it now when they hustle me for a drink.

It's a ZEN thing.
avatar for Corvus
Corvus
10 years ago
Reading all the comments this has been an interesting post. I try and not drink much at SCs anyway because I'm always driving afterwards. And I usually would rather spend my cash on dances than drinks. But I have been known to buy drinks for dancers if the situation is right.

It seems the clubs I visit are not those with high drink hustle from dancers or waitresses, and I'm happy with that. In fact my favorite club, Bourbon Street Circus in Phoenix, doesn't allow dancers to drink while working the main floor. They have to go to a designated part of the bar if they want to drink. Unless something has changed recently??

I wonder if the drink hustle is a regional thing because I don't encounter it often or at all in the SW.

The two Mexican SCs I've been to certainly used the "buy the lady a drink" push hard, but that is hardly a good comparison to US clubs.
avatar for JohnSmith69
JohnSmith69
10 years ago
While there are obviously exceptions, my experience is that the drink hustle clubs often tend to (1) cater to tourists rather than regulars, (2) have poor management and/or poor customer service, and/or (3) have more than their fair share of ROBs. I avoid such clubs with a passion.
avatar for jerikson40
jerikson40
10 years ago
Stripper sez: "It's a nice gesture and tells the girl you are prepared to spend some money"

Lots of things are nice, but when it comes to throwing money away on useless shit, I tend to be "not nice". I don't give a fuck if the dancer thinks I'm a nice guy. I'm not there for her approval.

If she does a good job, I'm the nicest guy in the world, and I'll treat her like a queen.

And what is the benefit to me of "telling the girl I'm prepared to spend some money"? I'll spend some money if she does a good job in entertaining me. That's her job. If she's looking for some asshole who's prepared to spend money on her even if she doesn't do shit, just for sitting there and looking pretty, then my "go fuck yourself" rule applies.

Women are not entitled to money solely because they are pretty. Many dancers seem to think they are entitled to lots of money for doing nothing more than sitting there in a bikini and looking pretty. Fuck that. The world is full of pretty girls.

Do what the rest of the world does. Work for your money. Do a good job. Earn your money. Be better than the rest. Be the best at what you do. Otherwise, fuck off, and go find some douchebag who needs an ego boost and is stupid enough to stick $100 in your thong merely because you're a girl and you're talking to him.
avatar for ilbbaicnl
ilbbaicnl
10 years ago
I make up my mind within 2 minutes if I want a dance, and then I ask her for one. If we are still on the same page after the dancing (which means it was 3 - 4 dances at least), then I will generally ask "would you like a drink or do you see somebody else that might want a dance?" If she wants to move on to the next custy, I say "come back later for a drink if you have time." I find that if you respect a good dancer's need to be in the money zone as much as possible, she will respect the needs that brought you to the club, and get her freak on with you to the limit of her personal boundaries. She is also likely to prefer you as someone to have a blab with on a slow night.
avatar for Estafador
Estafador
10 years ago
So the majority of us, bar rickdugan, agree that we use it not as a way to be polite but as a standard form for her to stick around. The illusion of "being polite" is just a secondary effect, no less effective than any other "nice" gesture. Glad we see it that way (at least that's how I'm interpreting everyone is thinking) because we all know once your out of dough, the girl is out of service. Unless you build good repertoire but those are cracks and crevices in the rules which won't be discussed in today' topic.

@rickdugan Just because your in the game doesn't necessarily mean you need to play by the rules. This isn't a sport, this is life. I have inclination to believe you are more the sheep than the Shepard. You follow example and don't truly lead your own, just police what already exist and what many don't like. Because I live in NYC I should just buy a drink when that same $20 could have been used for a test drive lap dance. But I guess the rich and famous are different from us normal folk (and for the record folks, I have officially quit visiting Manhattan strip clubs altogether unless a friend insists on me tagging along with him.......this excludes Harlem of course even though I never been).

Maybe she needs to fill her quota, but if I'm drunk (probably not but IF I AM) I need money for that taxi home (hopefully I was smart enough not to drive my car there)
avatar for mjx01
mjx01
10 years ago
The "buy a lady a drink" bullshit is nothing but a scam to make more money for the club.
avatar for JamesSD
JamesSD
10 years ago
Strip clubs aren't exactly the pinnacle of feminism. Sure, there are plenty of feminists who would argue that as long as the women are choosing to work there, it's actually the dancers taking advantage of us PL. That said, it's pretty obvious that the rules in the strip club are very different than the rules in the real world.

Honestly though, it's like when a stripper asks for a tip after a LD. She's free to ask, you're free to say no.

If you're just there to drink and talk to half dressed women and not buy LDs or VIP or ITC, buying a drink is a way to pay her for her time. If you're shopping for dances, it's on her to make her sales pitch on her time, not on your dime.
avatar for alabegonz
alabegonz
10 years ago
"buying a drink is a way to pay her for her time"

Yeah, that rings true for me.

There's one or two dancers that simply wastes their time sitting beside me, though.

I feel so bad about it that I am forced to either send her out for round or just buy her a drink.

I really don't know why she would hang around and lose money on my time.
avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
10 years ago
^^ Nicely and clearly put James
avatar for Hubo_Hubad
Hubo_Hubad
10 years ago
Over here in the Philippines, buying a "lady drink" means that she will sit next to you for a while. In some places, it will be a specific time, in others it will depend on how well you resist her or the waitress's suggestion of another drink. In a few places, you just get to put your arm around her for a chat. In others, you get a lot e.g. your hand in her panties and hers in yours.
avatar for rickdugan
rickdugan
10 years ago
estafador posted: "@rickdugan Just because your in the game doesn't necessarily mean you need to play by the rules. This isn't a sport, this is life. I have inclination to believe you are more the sheep than the Shepard. You follow example and don't truly lead your own, just police what already exist and what many don't like."
*********************************************************************************************************************************************

That could be it Esta. Thanks for helping me along to the epiphany that I've been a silly sheep all this time. ;)

But wait a minute, I just had another revelation. Maybe the barside drinks are part of my gig because they are often the most direct route from the club to an OTC outing? Once you've bought your 2-3 LDs the girl is often on to her next target. However, a girl who appreciates a few cocktails will often stick around for a bit, especially if she is getting a little extra on top. This affords greater opportunity to build rapport and to feel her out on the OTC front.

Just a thought Padawan. But if you prefer your current method of wasting cash on clothed LDs and then seeking out cheap relief in the warehouse district in Queens, then go ye forth. ;)


avatar for rockstar666
rockstar666
10 years ago
At $3 for a drink in my usual club, it's no big deal for me to buy dancers drinks so I do. If they were $10 I'd probably decline.
avatar for Estafador
Estafador
10 years ago
@rickdugun my man, you essentially just told me, if it isn't broke don't fix it. That doesn't exactly answer what makes it gentlemanly or required by the higher power for me to bed them. Maybe I'm the broke one and want a cocktail (this one is exclusively for the non-strip clubs), why do we still apply the rules of the 1950s (and before) especially since both parties work. But for all drinking establishments (strip clubs included) you've essentially told me, we do so ONLY and ONLY for the expectancy of provision i.e. sex. Doesn't seem to be any other reason really. And to get that is a gamble and a exception, not the rule. Your success doesn't equate everyone else's. Especially when people on the board here have already expressed that they have just asked with or without the drink. Hell I had some broad ask me for OTC...I turned her down because I was broke at the time unfortunately.
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