I work at a Detroit club that is owned by Arabic brothers. (Disclaimer - I mean absolutely no offense at all. I do not have a problem with Arabic people in general, and me myself being of mixed race and partial north african heritage, I am in NO WAY saying I dislike people of Arabic descent). Moving on... I am a very professional dancer and the top earner at this club. So while I think the owners can be very disrespectful, I typically do not associate with them for that reason. The management however loves me because I make the club money and do so in a professional way.
One of my best friends is a dark-skinned black girl. Let's call her Mocha. She carries herself well and the management and staff have liked her at all the clubs she's danced at. However, this owner, for whatever reason, doesn't like her. He fired her from another one of his clubs without giving a reason and 10 months later made up a rumor that the reason he fired her was because she "kicked one of the bouncers in the balls." This is a blatant lie, even the bouncers themselves have said she was a very pleasant person who never gave them any problems and they were baffled as to why she got fired as well.
A year later after her getting fired from that club, she just a few days ago got hired at the club I am currently working at. She was working there over a year ago but they closed down then got new ownership when they re-opened (the man who currently owns the club who doesn't like her).
It was only her second night back last Monday, when she sat with one of the owners best friends. She sat with him for at least two hours (stupid, I know) and eventually they went upstairs for VIP dances. He got 10 dances, then asked her to suck his dick. She refused, so he said he wasn't going to pay her. Mind you, 10 dances = $250 that he was denying her. The bouncer keeps track of how many dances each girl has given, and he verified that it was 10 dances and that he owes her $250. He still refused to pay, so the owner came upstairs. At this point, it was a little after 2:00 am so the club was closed. The owner did not make him pay the $250 although he clearly owed it and had the money. Instead, all he made him give my friend was $100, shorting her $150.
She was very livid and went off on the customer. She said a lot of mean things to him, but I completely understand why she would be upset. When she got to the locker room she was in tears and yelling about how unfair it was. She happened to say a few slightly derogatory things about people of the Arabic ethnicity (although I think this was mainly because she was very upset because that is uncharacteristic).
She went home, and two days later (today) she returned to the club to work. They told her she was fired for what she said to the owner's friend, although he was the one who wronged her in the first place. All the staff, including the house mom, bouncers, the owner of the agency who represents us and the club, etc all say it is very unfair that she was fired over this. If anything, the owner should have apologized to HER for letting his friend rip her off (ie STEAL from her).
I am thinking of boycotting the club and dancing at their competitor club right down the street. My other best friend, Sadie, who is also well respected by the staff and management is quitting the club as well, because Mocha is her best friend too. Since me and Sadie are the top earners there and some of the only dancers there who carry ourselves with class and professionalism, the management will not like that we are boycotting the club. Our agent is VERY upset because he isn't affiliated with the competitor club so his agency will lose us as dancers and he thinks what happened with Mocha is egregious as well. This owner has repeatedly shown a pattern of disrespect towards her and many of the other dancers. I've heard other dancers complain that this owner lets his friends rip them off and not pay them for the dances they get. It's extremely unprofessional and inappropriate behavior.
Does anyone have thoughts on this? How would you react to the situation?



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