Dancer meeting/suggestions
My club is having a mandatory dancer meeting next week. I have an extensive list of the techniques I think our club should use to improve itself. I was planning on just printing out the list and giving it to the manager. Do you think this is too over the top? I don't want to take up everyone's time at the meeting, as I feel it will mostly be an hour and a half lecture, and any questions or suggestions will just lengthen the torture.
On the other hand, although 95% of my suggestions are good ideas, things that other successful clubs do, and will help us all, I doubt any of them will be followed. I don't know why I'm going to bother. I'd be better off trying to take out a loan and buy the club, haha.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
carolina6
I don't know why I'm going to bother. I'd be better off trying to take out a loan and buy the club, haha.
Yep. Club managers never listen to what the girls have to say because they reckon we're all just morons with no clue how to run a business ::) At best they will placate and patronize you if you try to make suggestions - at worst they will ignore you or tell you to shut the fuck up, or maybe fire you for being too vocal.
Strip club managers and owners are collossally stupid, short-sighted pigs. Trying to reason with them is futile.
Hehehe. The funny thing is, I have NEVER met a strip club manager who would be able to fully understand what I just wrote in this post. And I have dealt with a whole lot of them. Morons, all of them.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
It doesnt hurt to try.
I was feeling the same was as B until I started at this new club im working at.
I told the manager we needed a new stage, hes currently in the process of rebuilding the stage the way I suggested it be done.
I suggested doing some charity work to make the club look good, hes doing it.
I suggested trying to have show girls(the step below feature) and hes starting to do it...
Sometimes they listen, most of the time they dont.
As long as you suggest it in a friendly, 'why dont we try this' non bitchy way it may very well work. You just need to make them realize what they're doing will be beneficial to the club, not just the girls and that it will work for them from a business standpoint.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
It depends what kind of things your talking about here. If the washroom is filthy and gross you need to tell them to clean that shit up.. Some things they won't listen about. I guess they see it this way: their king shit, and we just work for them, amounting to nothing (seriously, a manager told me this once!). I recommended doing showcase dances (a free dance once a day) and it brough more steady traffic to the club.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
Maybe write in on the suggestion card anonymously. I wonder if we're at the same club because my club is having a mandatory dancer's meeting this coming saturday.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
Almost all of my suggestions would help us all as a club and increase business. Some of them are specifically aimed to help me and girls like me, but in the list I made them more of suggestions than facts that should be obvious.
Here's an excerpt:
-Customers should not be allowed to linger at the front door, and dancers should not be required to pay at the front door so that they can avoid the customers. Any opportunity for customers to interact with dancers when not in costume should be minimized.
-Songs should always be played to exactly 3 minutes. As dancers make money per song, the number of songs per night should be maximized. Dancers should not be allowed to linger at the DJ booth, distracting the DJ and causing songs to be played longer. Only one dancer should be at the booth, the one onstage next, even if it is a very slow night. Someone is always dancing, and distracting the DJ is costing them money.
-All rules should be applied evenly to all dancers. All dancers should be able to schedule at least 3 nights a week, and show up on time. If they can not show up on time, they should actually have to pay 10/hr extra. Instead of just constantly threatening to fine people, if they were actually fined and not just lectured, they would come in on time. There is no point in nagging girls to come in on time when you’re not going to follow through and fine them.
It may sound crazy that I'm suggesting that we be fined, but I honestly get a lecture at least twice a week about how no one shows up until 10pm, when I'm there at 7 every night. They say nothing to the girls who actually come in late, and instead threaten to fine us without ever doing so. It's annoying. My list is incredibly long, but at least I'll feel that I finally got everything off my chest. They would never fire me for it, I work in a club where you can go missing for 3 weeks, not call, come in at 11pm and work while breaking all the contact rules.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
Wow, I applaud your suggestions but hope you have some bullet-proof armour ready for the reaction from the other dancers.
The only suggestion I'd make is you might want to pick your battles more selectively, pare your list down, save some for later. No one likes being hit with a laundry list that goes on and on. Even if they're all good, it's easy to get overwhelmed and then fail to act on any of it. If they're not going to listen at all, no sense in firing off the whole package. If they do take it to heart, you can always come back with additional ideas later to impress them further.
So I think you'd be better off picking some of the things you think will make the most immediate substantial difference. And of course, position everything in terms of how it will make the club more money. They don't give a sh*t about the dancers, but they care about increasing their own profits and making their jobs easier, so if it appeals to them while simultaneously benefiting you, that's what they'll listen to the most. Oh, and if they take credit for the successful ideas later to their bosses, which they inevitably will, roll your eyes and let 'em. Who cares about the credit if it means things improve and you're making more.
Good luck! Hope it does some good.
-Ev
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
Well, be careful. My old club had a dancers' meeting and asked us all to write down any suggestions we had for the club management. I stupidly wrote that I wished the managers would crack down on all the extras and have at least one bouncer on the floor at all times, so dancers would have some protections when customers got out of hand, which wasn't uncommon. A week later the general manager called me into his office and fired me. When I asked why, he told me he didn't feel like I was "part of the team." So yeah, shit like this happens.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
It all depends on the type of club you work in and the rapport you have with management.
I have had managers in small town clubs that I work in ask me for ideas. The biggest problem is as dancers, we are a thorn in the owners side. All many dancers do is complain, are unreliable, cause drama on the floor, do things that can get the club in trouble, etc. etc. Some of this of course comes from girls being immature and untrained, but nevertheless it is still a problem.
Think about it for a minute. If you owned a club, how many girls in the club are really a pain in the ass? A lot. And many dancers don't approach a manger who MAY be receptive in the right way.
If you intend on presenting ideas to a club manager/owner, ALWAYS make your suggestions benefit dancers AND the club. How can your ideas make the club more profitable, as well as increase dancer earnings?
I would say to present your ideas, but BEFORE doing that, MAKE SURE every idea you have in your presentation has the potential to increase club profits as well as the dancers.
Everyone is interested in themselves first and foremost, right? Dancers make the HUGE mistake of not seeing the club from the clubowners eyes. Look at the situation in that way, and SOME club managers may see you in a more positive light, and consider some of your ideas. It also may help you get in better with management.
I worked in a decent sized club in AZ that had club meetings and was very open to ideas, but the girls were more interested in going home than sharing thoughts that could make the club a more profitable place. See what I mean?
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
Honestly, I feel like you're going to piss off the manager by doing this. The meeting is probably to tell you all some new rules, and not to hear your suggestions. I would stay out of it. The only time I ever complained to managment was when a crackhead accused me of stealing money out of her purse. (I stupidly found a girl's purse laying upstairs in the locker room and walked down to the main dressing room yelling, someone forgot her purse! Fuck me for being nice) I reported that because she was going apeshit and that probably personally related to me.
If it's a general club problem, they're probably going to have the attitude, "What do you know little girl who do you think you are?" Sad, but true.
If you like working there, I'd think twice about that.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
Shoot, I wish I could tell the club owners that they're ruining their own business where I am. We have a champagne room AND a vip and there's really never anyone in them. If they opened the one room like it used to be, then there wouldn't be so much traffic in the other two rooms. I agree that the club owners can be real stupid when it comes to business, but some managers actually try to improve the clubs. Your suggestions are good but they might be a little strong. I don't know your management though so I can't really say to speak up or not. If they're pretty cool then I'd do it. If not,:-X.
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
If you REALLY want to give suggestions, only do a couple. Most meetings are just chances to bitch at us for something we did wrong, and every question/comment after that point is just taking up time in my afternoon.
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Yeah, I didn't actually want to discuss this list of things at the meeting, I just wanted to hand it to them after the meeting. I don't even necessarily have to give it to them the same day as the meeting. I agree about choosing battles though, I'll definitely shorten the list.
From a management standpoint I'm the dream employee, especially compared to those I work with. I turn in a full schedule, show up for 95% of my shifts, rarely ask to go home early, never hang out in the dressing room, don't cause problems with other girls, and I'm good looking (which is something that's lacking in our club). Unfortunatly I haven't screwed our owner, or I'd get whatever I wanted.
I just want to be able to earn more money in our club. It's entirely possible. There are many many customers coming into our club with a lot of money and no way to spend it. We desperately need a VIP, for us, and for the club. They don't even realize how much money they could be making and it's so stupid. Maybe I'll just write a letter about having a VIP room and leave it at that.
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yep! suggest the vip room. And in a way saying how much more money they could make, how upscale it would make the club look.
forget the other shit, about fining girls and whatnot, go for what will make you the most money!!!!
Re: Dancer meeting/suggestions
I think just writing a letter about VIP is a great idea ... that's very positive for you and the club, and it will not come off as bitchy