Nightclubs and gentlemen’s clubs are spattered throughout our Valley like an urban planner’s money shot; high-volume and high-value on and around the Strip, where high rollers, celebrities and Midwesterners alike come to drop hundreds for a night of luxurious fantasy. For the staff, it means big money and unique working environments. I want to know: Who has it better—the bartenders and cocktail waitresses in the nightclubs, or their brothers and sisters in the strip clubs?
In many respects, the staffs at strip clubs and nightclubs are strikingly similar. Both workplaces are female-dominated, with the occasional exception behind the bar. Although you do see male bartenders in nightclubs, the floors belong to the cocktail waitresses. “Girls used to try and work their way from cocktailing to bartending,” one nightclub bartender said. “And now it’s completely the other way around, and all the bartenders want to be on the floor.”
It makes sense. Nightclubs have shifted focus from the bars to the wider profit margins of bottle service, which requires less work from the waitress who takes and delivers the order, but racks up huge tabs and the all-important per-person average. Meanwhile, the bartenders are mixing drinks, pouring shots and opening beers for the clients shouting orders over loud music at the bar.
In the strip clubs, it’s the other way around. Table service is still big business, but the bar is always packed with beautiful dancers and therefore an attractive place for a man-about-town to drink, watch the stage show and get to know the entertainment.
So far, it’s a tie, but there are subtler pros and cons to take into account.
My nightclub bartender clues me in: “You can tell whether a staff is happy or not by its turnover rate, and you see more of that at the strip clubs. We are not hiring right now because no one is going anywhere. It’s like a family. People check on how you’re doing in school; I got a cake for my birthday ... I love it.”
But “family” was also a word used by staff at a strip club I checked with. “We’re very much a team here, especially in the VIP section. We have sections that we work, but if a client likes Asian girls, then that’s who’ll wait on them. Likes blondes? Get Christy in there, you know? Our service can be much more personal than at a club. Plus, if we’re ever in an uncomfortable situation, we can always walk away. Try doing that at a nightclub!”
Not surprisingly, both sets of cocktail waitresses get their share of over-the-line attention from over-stimulated male clientele, but the degrees of harassment were unexpected. While girls at the strip club are sometimes pursued with extra zeal due to the fact that they aren’t as “available” as the dancers, both sides agreed that there are definitely more unwanted advances in the nightclubs.
As one strip-club cocktail waitress put it, “Guys go to a nightclub to try and get laid. In the strip club, they know they’re not going to get any [laughs] and leave with a big smile and a hard-on.” Adding, “I worked in a bikini at a club with a beach and got my ass grabbed constantly.”
So who has it best? The jury’s still out. Some nightclubs offer a shorter work week of just three or four nights, but there are more opportunities to make money five or more nights a week at a 24-hour strip club. The clientele there tends to be more mature in age and attitude compared with the celebrity/DJ-crazed nightclub scene, although wait staff is competing with the dancers for the patrons’ cash.
The bottom line is that they’re all doing very well for themselves financially, although all were tight-lipped about throwing out even a ballpark figure. Asking which club’s staff has a better gig is like asking who has the best ride, a Ferrari-owner or a Lamborghini-owner? It’s totally subjective.
But if you’ve read this far and need an answer: strip clubs. You can work more often (thereby making more money) and in a slightly more relaxed environment, dancers keep your guests in their seats and drinking, and you don’t have to deal with Strip traffic and parking. Until next time, this has been people-who-make-more-money-than-I-do-working-half-as-much, with Michael M. Meyer.