bathroom troll refuses to give me towels
s88
New York
I went to a SC near me. First time there, but its not my fav local SC. This SC opened in a former "ultra lounge" nightclub and it is closed monday through wed. The bouncers all wear black polo tshirts with the name of a security guard company. Strange but okay, this SC doesnt want real employees since they arent open every day. Some portable stripper poles were installed. There is no stage or front row. I goto the bathrooms, and they are all unisex single occupant. 6 of them going down the hallway in the back of the SC. There is a bathroom troll at the beginning of the hallway with his supplies on, IDK what to call it, permanent granite changing table with a mirror above it like in a hotel room, antechamber, make up mirror. Inside the bathrooms, gold paint on the walls, TP on a portable stand, a sink and a soap dispenser, and a door knob with a push bottom lock. No paper towels, no trash can. No paper towel dispenser on the wall, the ultra lounge was built without them. I looked for screwholes, never found any, the club was built to be 100% bathroom troll all the time every night. The troll gives you 2 sheets of fan fold paper towels when you exit the bathroom (really when you exit the hallway). If you are a clean freak (umm, this is a SC after all, you probably arent a clean freak if you are here), it is impossible to open the door knob without using your soaking wet hands unless you resort to TP to dry your hands.
The bathroom troll is a very tall african with an accent. No security guard polo shirt like the bouncers. 1st bathroom trip was uneventful, except when I didn't immediately throw the paper towel in the trash can, he took 3 steps, blocked me from leaving the hallway/changing table area, then pointed to the can. Strange to block me, but I guess he was being helpful. I threw the paper away and he unblocked me and I went on the main floor again.
2nd trip to bathroom after DFK and DATY. I asked bathroom troll for paper towels to take into the bathroom. He refused. I told him you have no towels in the bathroom. He leads me to a bathroom, opens the door and points to the toilet paper stand. I told him, where are the paper towels, he said I get them when I leave the bathroom. I asked him again, he said no. I asked him if he is refusing to give me paper towels. He take 3 steps towards me and looks down on me (Im short), tilts his head side to side with his veins poping out of his forehead and shouts at me that I need to "relax [slight pause] relax [slight pause] relax man" 1 foot from my face. These are fighting words. He never answered me "are you refusing?" question. At this point I walk away towards main floor, I get the SC manager, tell him his bathroom troll refuses to give me towels and is fliping out on me. SC manager and I goto mirror/table/start of bathroom hallway area. I dont hear the conversation between troll and SC manager, but they do a couple sentence exchanges, SC manager gives me a hand signal to wait, he goes into the DR, comes out with 3 kitchen floral printed (supermarket style, not commercial) paper towel sheets from a roll and gives them to me and walks away.
WTF just happened. Bathroom troll is insane? I wish I heard the conversation between the troll and SC manager that made the SC manager have to goto the DR to get me paper towels. Is the SC manager a coward, or so cheap all the paper towels come out of tip $ and bathroom troll buys them himself.
I goto the bathroom, wash the pussy juice off my face, go back out on main floor, realize this SC's staff truly sucks and my mood is shot for the night. I never get abused at my regular SC, and decide to go home. I'll be back to my regular SC tomorrow. Thank goodness I didnt blow all my $ on this new SC.
2nd staff sucks incident. There are no waitresses at this SC. Just cleaner men who pick up glasses off the tables. I normally never drink alcoho and let this stripper know beforehandl, but a stripper convinced me to buy 2 shots for $44 even after I told her I dont buy alcohol. I did one shot of jack daniels for me, one for her. No lemons and no cognacs (no Hennessy, nothing similar either) at the SC bar that night (what kind of SC is this?). Stripper and me had problems even finding a liquor they had in stock. If she wasnt from my alma mater, I wouldn't have agreed to doing a shot with her. She could recite the names of a number of adjunct profs I know and quirky campus rules that it is impossible for anyone who didnt go there to know. SHe recited the names of 2 adjunct profs that were students in the year ahead of me, and these 2 guys were inseparable 10 years ago as students, and are still inseparable at my university as adjuncts. The male bartender goes off on me that I didn't tip him. I told him I can buy 1L of jack daniels for what I just paid 2 shots for. He turns around and goes deal with another customer. Stripper goes off of me why I didn't tip him. I told her he is paid well enough, and if he doesn't like the pay to not work for it. She gives me the $2 an hour reasoning, and then I tell her, I dont drink and it was her idea. I tell her why should anyone drink in a SC, I'm hear to live life, and remember it vividly, if I am drunk, I dont remember it. She tells me, a SC is a dream, you need to go home and not believe it happened, that the SC is a different world. I told her, I'll go watch porn if I want a dream, and I want to remember this night forever, not forget it. We agree to disagree and goto VIP. This stripper was zero mileage and I stopped after 2 songs. The next stripper gave me DFK, stick shifting, and DATY.
The girls at my regular SC are more ratchet, but I wont be dealing with entitled staff who think their shit don't stink. If it wasn't my first visit, I would've told the male bartender "what you are going to do to earn that tip?". This new former ultralounge SC has no drink minimum either.
The bathroom troll is a very tall african with an accent. No security guard polo shirt like the bouncers. 1st bathroom trip was uneventful, except when I didn't immediately throw the paper towel in the trash can, he took 3 steps, blocked me from leaving the hallway/changing table area, then pointed to the can. Strange to block me, but I guess he was being helpful. I threw the paper away and he unblocked me and I went on the main floor again.
2nd trip to bathroom after DFK and DATY. I asked bathroom troll for paper towels to take into the bathroom. He refused. I told him you have no towels in the bathroom. He leads me to a bathroom, opens the door and points to the toilet paper stand. I told him, where are the paper towels, he said I get them when I leave the bathroom. I asked him again, he said no. I asked him if he is refusing to give me paper towels. He take 3 steps towards me and looks down on me (Im short), tilts his head side to side with his veins poping out of his forehead and shouts at me that I need to "relax [slight pause] relax [slight pause] relax man" 1 foot from my face. These are fighting words. He never answered me "are you refusing?" question. At this point I walk away towards main floor, I get the SC manager, tell him his bathroom troll refuses to give me towels and is fliping out on me. SC manager and I goto mirror/table/start of bathroom hallway area. I dont hear the conversation between troll and SC manager, but they do a couple sentence exchanges, SC manager gives me a hand signal to wait, he goes into the DR, comes out with 3 kitchen floral printed (supermarket style, not commercial) paper towel sheets from a roll and gives them to me and walks away.
WTF just happened. Bathroom troll is insane? I wish I heard the conversation between the troll and SC manager that made the SC manager have to goto the DR to get me paper towels. Is the SC manager a coward, or so cheap all the paper towels come out of tip $ and bathroom troll buys them himself.
I goto the bathroom, wash the pussy juice off my face, go back out on main floor, realize this SC's staff truly sucks and my mood is shot for the night. I never get abused at my regular SC, and decide to go home. I'll be back to my regular SC tomorrow. Thank goodness I didnt blow all my $ on this new SC.
2nd staff sucks incident. There are no waitresses at this SC. Just cleaner men who pick up glasses off the tables. I normally never drink alcoho and let this stripper know beforehandl, but a stripper convinced me to buy 2 shots for $44 even after I told her I dont buy alcohol. I did one shot of jack daniels for me, one for her. No lemons and no cognacs (no Hennessy, nothing similar either) at the SC bar that night (what kind of SC is this?). Stripper and me had problems even finding a liquor they had in stock. If she wasnt from my alma mater, I wouldn't have agreed to doing a shot with her. She could recite the names of a number of adjunct profs I know and quirky campus rules that it is impossible for anyone who didnt go there to know. SHe recited the names of 2 adjunct profs that were students in the year ahead of me, and these 2 guys were inseparable 10 years ago as students, and are still inseparable at my university as adjuncts. The male bartender goes off on me that I didn't tip him. I told him I can buy 1L of jack daniels for what I just paid 2 shots for. He turns around and goes deal with another customer. Stripper goes off of me why I didn't tip him. I told her he is paid well enough, and if he doesn't like the pay to not work for it. She gives me the $2 an hour reasoning, and then I tell her, I dont drink and it was her idea. I tell her why should anyone drink in a SC, I'm hear to live life, and remember it vividly, if I am drunk, I dont remember it. She tells me, a SC is a dream, you need to go home and not believe it happened, that the SC is a different world. I told her, I'll go watch porn if I want a dream, and I want to remember this night forever, not forget it. We agree to disagree and goto VIP. This stripper was zero mileage and I stopped after 2 songs. The next stripper gave me DFK, stick shifting, and DATY.
The girls at my regular SC are more ratchet, but I wont be dealing with entitled staff who think their shit don't stink. If it wasn't my first visit, I would've told the male bartender "what you are going to do to earn that tip?". This new former ultralounge SC has no drink minimum either.
17 comments
I agree with others that the name of the club would be helpful, but I'm guessing it was one of the ridiculous tourist traps in NYC given the pricing structure and the clubs you've reviewed before.
On this one, even your phrasing makes you out to be the victim, even though you're an adult and responsible for your own decisions. Dang man! Anyway, not tipping the bartender was a total douchebag move, IMO. Of course, throwing a tantrum about it is a completely douchebag, unprofessional move by the bartender... but to be expected, SCs are all about poorly trained employees and douchebag/cunty entitled behavior.
-->"WTF just happened. Bathroom troll is insane?"
On the one hand, pretty crazy story, the way your phrased it. On the other hand, you have so many problems with so many people on such a regular basis, that I wonder if there isn't much more to the story. In any case, I think it always pays dividends to be friendly and share a few jokes with everyone in the club -- no one is beneath me, not even the bathroom troll, and I feel like it always pays dividends ... in this case, a little friendliness might have made the difference between him breaking policy and giving you a towel on the way in, and the confrontation you had.
@Dominic77 I wonder if its so nobody can clog the toilets, but the SC had commercial tankless toilets with the chrome lever. Maybe the previous owner decided that if nobody is allowed to take a towel into the bathroom, you dont need to send in anyone to clean it (sweep them off the floor). How a woman is supposed to throw out her tampon or pad in this SC/NC short of clogging the toilet by flushing it is beyond me. Unisex bathrooms, no trash cans. Maybe there were trash cans in each bathroom but they were removed when it became a SC.
@Subraman
"Anyway, not tipping the bartender was a total douchebag move, IMO. Of course, throwing a tantrum about it is a completely douchebag, unprofessional move by the bartender... but to be expected, SCs are all about poorly trained employees and douchebag/cunty entitled behavior."
At some SCs I've seen bartenders just increase the price by $1 for 1 drink per order or to the next $5 mark on a multi drink order on every drink regardless what the POS right behind them says is the price. I mentioned what the menu says, they just repeat *THEIR* price. I know they are adding a mandatory tip so no point of calling the SC manager. I only go once per visit to the SC bar anyway. With waitresses it is funnier as some will add their $1, and then with the randomness of the bartender that night, that will add another $1. So the same soda by waitress is $5 on one night, $6 on another, and $7 worst case on the next night.
I dont regret buying the 2 shots. I learned to be more forceful next time, and not let a stripper cloud my judgement because there was 1 degree of separation between me and her. I shouldve recognized the "buy shots" conversation as an analog to "wanna dance" and told her I only buy dances, I dont drink, and she has a choice to make, and if her goal is to get customers to get her drunk, she needs to move on.
At $44 for shots, I'd be out $175 for me to get a buzz (22*8). That is 8-9 songs of LDs. In the philosophical debate about drinking in SCs, she said "you are paying for people to look at you and a hot girl with a $1000 handbag to sit next to you when you order a bottle [in a regular night club]", I told her "those men are idiots, those girls aren't going to date those guys, they are there just for the free alcohol, nothing more, there is no connection between that girl and guy, I'd like a new car for $7K", she argues "its $7K because the rent has to be paid to keep the building open", I stopped answering back and she switched topics. Since the stripper grew up in Vegas, she thinks Vegas SCs and Vegas night clubs are the gold standard of clubs. A girl group can goto a night club, and get multiple guys to spend $1000s on them in alcohol they drink and food they poke at and dont eat, and if a guy touches her leg she throws a fit and gets security to kick him out. No thanks, I'll stick to SCs where contact comes very quickly and cheaply. It takes only $20 to find out if she is zero mileage or not, not $200 or $2K like in a nightclub.
"On the other hand, you have so many problems with so many people on such a regular basis, that I wonder if there isn't much more to the story."
IDK, I only start threads on TUSCL about bad experiences. My good experiences wind up in replies to other TUSCLer's threads.
"In any case, I think it always pays dividends to be friendly and share a few jokes with everyone in the club -- no one is beneath me, not even the bathroom troll, and I feel like it always pays dividends ... in this case, a little friendliness might have made the difference between him breaking policy and giving you a towel on the way in, and the confrontation you had."
That would've worked for you. Maybe it wouldve worked for me if I said "hi hows your night" and treated him like a stripper but why should I be fake nice to someone for a fucking paper towel, Im not asking for cigs/cologne/mouthwash/candys. I wasn't sure in the moment if the towel issue was a language barrier problem or not. I was setting up the process for a complaint to the liquor board about the paper towels but I never let made any threats to the staff or the manager that I was going to do that. The SC manager just knew I was correct, accepted everything I said about bathroom troll at face value, and never protested or told me no. SC manager fixed my problem, but in a way as bizarre as the whole no towels in bathroom rule. Since SC manager fixed the problem, I had no reason to bring up the govt since I had no more problem.
w.r.t. bathroom troll - yeah these guys are not exactly the most refined bunch - most people that do this job probably don't feel good about what they have to do and do it b/c they probably don't have other good choices - I've def seen more than one confrontation b/w bathroom troll and custy (usually at dives) and I myself had one a few months back.
I imagine the bathroom trolls work on 100% tips and I imagine they gotta pay for all their supplies - they probably work as independent contractors per se and not hired as employees by the club (I assume, not sure) - many seem to have an attitude and sorta like dancers they expect to be tipped by every custy that goes in the bathroom but many custies don't so they kinda already have an attitude about it not to mention it's kinda a demeaning job - I assume he did not want to give you the paper-towels b/f you went-in thinking that perhaps you would walk out w/o tipping as some custies do - and yeah; it makes sense if the bathroom troll is there handing out towels that there would not be towels in the bathroom (or even soap) since if that was the case then most people would use the bathroom's supplies (soap, towels) and not his.
Many people working in SCs are not the best of the best society has to offer; add to this that they are dependent on tips for the bulk, if not all, of their earnings, then things can get testy - take ti for what it is - i.e. SCs are not the Ritz Carlton - i.e. reality is that be glad when you do get good customer-service but don't exactly feel shocked or taken-a-back when you don't - i.e. it's the nature of the beast and you should expect it and just roll w/ it w/o letting them step all over you; but also try to see it from their side; SCs work a certain way and part of the way they work is tipping for certain things.
Now you're thinking straight -- you made yourself sound like a victim first time through, now you realize you're a grown man who got easily manipulated by a 20-something girl into doing something you evidently didn't want to do. And then, you compounded your mistake by, instead of just committing to it, stiffing the bartender and embarrassing the girl -- no wonder she gave you such bad service. Your mistakes add up to the worst of all possible outcomes -- too weak to be firm that you don't want drinks, buying insanely priced drinks, stiffing the bartender, embarrassing the girl, then arguing with her ... literally, anywhere along the chain you could have made a smart decision and potentially reversed it all. And after all that, of course you got zero mileage -- she was disgusted and pissed, so because you let yourself get swept along, you were out all the money AND didn't get mileage. You're thinking straighter in your quote above -- if you don't do shots, then just tell her "I don't drink, I'd rather spend my $ on you", and she'll be fine, and you would have been able to see if you'd get decent mileage or not
-->"and she has a choice to make, and if her goal is to get customers to get her drunk, she needs to move on."
Okay, and now you need to figure out how to talk to her in a way that doesn't come off hostile and argumentative. Then you're there!
-->"At $44 for shots, I'd be out $175 for me to get a buzz (22*8). That is 8-9 songs of LDs. In the philosophical debate about drinking in SCs, she said "you are paying for people to look at you and a hot girl with a $1000 handbag to sit next to you when you order a bottle [in a regular night club]", I told her "those men are idiots, those girls aren't going to date those guys, they are there just for the free alcohol, nothing more, there is no connection between that girl and guy, I'd like a new car for $7K","
The whole Vegas thing is absolutely fascinating. My ATATF is basically a professional hot chick in Vegas ... she and her smoking hot friends wander around the hottest clubs -- and I do not believe any of them carry $1000 handbags, which would be much to cheap (100% serious) -- find groups of guys who have bottle service, and then basically sweet-talk the guys into going gambling ... the guys always give the girls gambling money which is theirs to keep, or else the girls charge $1000-ish to spend the rest of the night hanging out. No sex, almost ever, the girls have their own separate social lives for that. It's a whole different mindset in Vegas.