Saturday, June 18, 2011

It's All About ME and the Male Stripper!


   On a recent weekend, I went bar hopping with a couple of friends. Now the bars weren't just any kind of bar, I stopped in at three clubs with male strippers/dancers. What a surprise! Right? The experience we had varied so much at the three locations, that I felt it was worthy of a blog. I'll start with the most negative and move to the most positive. I'm not naming the locations or the city where they are located. I want to focus more on customer service and hopefully provide experiences that other male dancers, club managers, owners, show directors, etc., can learn from. Maybe they will be able to avoid falling into a downhill slide toward closing the doors.

   I have contacted the management at the three locations to provide a little constructive feedback or appropriate "pat-on-the-back" or "grope-in-the-crotch". Well, you get the idea. I try to never give negative reviews of a bar that has male strippers. I do not lie but I try to find some redeeming quality that I can focus on because I truly want all exotic male dancers to succeed. It's all about me and my pleasure. The more places I can visit and see the boyz, the happier I am! But I also want to make it clear, that it is the customer, like me, whose happiness and positive experience will keep the bar or club open and successful. We go to these clubs and bars to watch and tip the boys, but I'm the one with the money in my pocket, so if I don't get a little attention and treated kindly, then that money will stay in my pocket.


   The three of us walked into the first bar and received no response from anyone in the bar upon entering. There was no welcome, no thank you for stopping by, etc. We were visiting on a Saturday night and although the bar is known for having many male dancers, we saw only 3. It was almost 11:00 p.m. so the place should have started to come alive. The bartender who waited on us was friendly and unfortunately, the only high point of the visit. We were eventually spoken to by an incoherent dancer who we could not understand. We will not attempt to guess the reason of his incoherence. It was not a language impediment or a strong accent. I will simply state that when I looked in his eyes, I could tell he had blasted off from earth and was currently floating through the Milky Way Galaxy or beyond. The interior of the bar was in need of a few repairs and a thorough cleaning. We officially dubbed it the “skank hole” after we left. And we agreed that the bar is most likely on it's last leg unless customer service and quality of dancers improves. It hurts me to speak negatively about a place that has much potential, but after visiting several times over two years, and having similar experiences, I fear the writing is on the wall.


   Our recommendations to the first bar include, more dancers who are more appealing to the customers. Someone should greet each person that enters the door and let them know they are welcome and their business is appreciated. This could be a bartender but at a male strip club it is more effective if the greeting comes from one of the dancers. The dancers need to be trained in how to interact with customers. If they are wanting to make tips, they need to realize the importance of each individual patron in the success of the bar or club. I suggest they clean the place up and fix the building problems. There is no reason that the customers should feel they need to take a bath after they leave a place of business, unless the dancers caused them to sweat. That is always ok. However, we have written this bar off as a lost cause and will not be returning. This will please my partner who rolled his eyes every time I asked him to go with me to visit this establishment. He would reluctantly go with me but in return I always had to take him to bar three in this blog.


   Our second stop was to a relatively new club that features male strippers. We entered the bar and were personally greeted by the owner/bartender. He welcomed us and thanked us for coming. That scores big points in my book! We purchased a beer each and sat down next to a stage where the dancers would take turns dancing when they were not moving around and receiving tips from the patrons. The small bar was full of customers, an even mix of male and female. Unfortunately, there were only two dancers in the bar, one a tall slim dancer that did not appeal to any of us. The second dancer however, was shorter with a compact body, tight butt, and very cute face. After about 10 minutes in the bar he made his way to where we were sitting. We tipped him and chatted with him a few minutes. He left to go visit with a group of ladies and while on his way stopped by to tell the other dancer that we were tippers. The second dancer came over to us but we did not tip him. It was our opinion that he should find another line of work so we didn't want to encourage him to stay. Our one serious complaint was that there were only two dancers even though the club was full of customers. The more attractive dancer of the two was receiving most of the tips and was having to work the entire room which didn't provide much personal attention to each individual patron.

   Our recommendations to the second bar include continue greeting guest just as you are doing. It makes a difference. Hire extra dancers for busy nights. If the customers do not feel they are getting enough attention, they will stop spending money at your establishment. They are coming to this particular bar because of the male strippers and they want to tip and interact with them. If this is not possible, then they will go elsewhere. We will return to this bar and give it another try. We feel that the foundation for a successful male strip club has been laid and can be built upon.

   The third bar stirred no complaints from anyone in our group. The bar is not known as a male stripper bar. It has a variety of things going on which includes male dancers on Friday and Saturday nights. There is an area of the bar that is set aside for the male dancers. This area has a dancer pole with very comfortable seating around it. There were two dancers rotating for the night. The first dancer was slim, with a nicely defined body. Several customers tipped him and seemed to enjoy his attention. We watched but didn't tip. We were waiting for the second dancer who we knew from several previous visits to this club. Once he took the stage and 'pole' our night was set. For us there was no need to go anywhere else. We all three enjoyed a couple of lap dances each and tipped the dancer during his sessions. And left with smiles on our faces.

   We have no recommendations for the third bar. We enjoyed the experience just as it unfolded. The dancer greeted us when he took the stage, remembering us from previous visits, gave each one of us a hug, and thanked us as we tipped. Sure, that sounds simple, and yes, he was working us for tip money. We know the game. But so does he. He gave us the attention we enjoyed and we slipped dollar bills into his very form-fitting underwear (and beyond! Woot!) For our next trip to this same location, we will skip bar one, check out bar two, and if necessary, spend the evening at bar three.



   I have a few more thoughts about the night that I want to share. Every time we have visited bar one there have been different dancers and bartenders. There has never been any kind of consistency. This is unusual to me. Although dancers and bartenders come and go, there is usually a few who are successful and stay for longer periods of time. The dancer in bar three has danced at this club for several years. Everyone knows him by name. The customers love him and are always glad to find out that he is dancing. So, this tells me that quality is always more important than quantity. If you can get quantity (many male strippers) and quality at the same time, then your business should boom! But of course, every club can't be Swinging Richard's in Atlanta. Now that is quantity and quality!

   Does any of this sound familiar to you? Let me know any horror stories or recommendations that you want to share. You can comment after this blog or send me an email. Until next time, find your favorite male strip club and favorite male strippers and have fun! And please, don't forget to tip the boyz!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment