What's all the Confusion?

I hadn't been back to Rick's in few months. The places in NYC for me are by opportunity and my proximity, I don't plan to only go out to a club but to go after being near by for some reason (plausible deniability you know). This night I was at a regular industry happy hour near by on 35th St that had taken the summer off. Rick's has always been my place to go after and more times than not, it's been a fine way to end the evening.

I'm almost a regular here. The doormen sometimes recognize me and one of the bartender's and I know each other better. It's handy because I usually get a couple of their "Come Back and See Me" cards at the end of the night which gets me in with no cover - normally $20, the next time. Coat and hat check is free so I always do it, don't know if it is actually mandatory.

Place has been described thoroughly before, long and narrow, stage on one end. After coat check, host walks you in trying the sell, he'll help you out etc. Telling them, yeah, yeah, I've been here before, usually cuts the chatter and I tell them I'm just gonna start at the bar. This guy came back after I settled and seemed to drop his host act a second. He said, look, I know you've been here before and probably know the deals but let me know if you want to do VIP or something. I've always shrugged off VIP in NYC clubs because they quote $800 for an hour and I pretty much said the same to him. He said they have a $400 half hour too, first time I heard that and it piqued my interest but that wasn't gonna be a thing this evening.