It started off normal enough. Then I sat down at my desk to start my day job and I get a message from a home inspector, that my real estate client has locked them out of the house in an attempt to kill the sale of his house. This seller is jerk, so the fact that this happened isn't surprising at all. I like to call this guy "Side Deal Sally" because he is trying to figure out a way to get out of paying me commission on this real estate deal.
Never mind that he had the house on the market as a "for sale by owner" property for a year and the highest offer he got on the place was $271,000. I listed the house at $299,000 and he finally decided to accept an offer of $320,000. Did I mention that the offer was for cash, as is (meaning no repairs or extra expense to the seller), with a fast close? It took me a week to find the buyer, so it wasn't like he'd been working with me for months and months.
I've already had to deal with 2 other brokers getting in my face because "Side Deal Sally" was actively contacting their buyers in an attempt to cut out the Realtors and skip paying a commission.
But I digress...
That means I had to stop working on finding new real estate business so that I could go over to the client's home and pick up the keys, show him the contract that states he HAS TO let the buyer's inspect the house or risk getting sued. He does hand over the keys (he doesn't live in the house he's selling. He inherited the house from his dad), so I can replace them with the old keys that worked on the house originally in the security lock box.
I reschedule with the buyer's agent and their inspector.
Then I get a call from the title company that there is a lien against the house and it hasn't been satisfied. "Side Deal Sally" told me that he had the lien taken care of. Now "Sally" is saying that the lien is bullshit and he's not going to pay it. Ok...
I get on the phone with the city, and kiss ass to all the right people. I schedule an inspection so that at least I can prove that the "nuisance" has been removed. The former occupant was sick for a long time, and the yard became a mess. The neighbors, instead of checking on their neighbor, called the cops instead because...rich people. (this house is literally the cheapest house in the area. It's a mess and probably will need to be torn down. Another house half a block away is for sale for $700,000)
"Side Deal Sally" never even asked me for help on getting the lien removed from the house. Did I mention that the lien is less that $3k? Yeah, he's going to let the city take his house on principal. FML.
Anyway, after getting yelled at by the inspector, the buyer's agent, my client and having a sit down with the agency lawyers, all I wanted to do was go into the club where my customers at least were happy to see me. And my girls!! I love my girls!!!
I decide to treat myself to a pretty new outfit for work. I'm excited to wear my new clothes.
I get to the club and everything seems to be business as usual. The club is slow but not too bad. There's a normal amount of girls working.
The first sign that I probably should have just gone home and gotten drunk while bingeing on Netflix was that my new outfit was way, way too big. I accidentally bought Plus size instead of regular. No returns on lingerie from the store, either. Well, I just wasted $40. I put on an old outfit and just decided to go hard and out hustle everyone. I worked my ass off. I talked to everyone. I flirted and smoozed with everyone. But I couldn't sell a dance to save my life.
I finally got a single dance about 4 hours into my 6 hour shift. I thought, well, 2 hours is plenty of time to still have a good night. Then I saw one of my regulars who usually spends between $300-500 on dances with me, walk into the club! Fuck yeah! My luck is about to change.
I sat with my regular for a bit while he got his drink on. We talked and flirted. I was really starting to enjoy myself for the first time that day. When he is ready to go back to VIP, the DJ calls me to stage. My regular gave me $20 for the DJ to put a different girl up on stage. This is normal and happens all the time. I hand the DJ the money and tell him I can't get on stage because I've got a VIP customer. My customer was waiting for the bartender to get us drinks so we can spend some time back in VIP without getting thirsty.
The manager does not like my regular (some personal problem between them, it has nothing to do with me), and decides that the stage rotation is set in stone and I had a choice, get on stage or find someplace else to work. I look around the bar, and we have 3 girls dancing on stage and literally no customers sitting at any of the stages. I would not have had a problem with getting on stage if there was a full house and all the girls were busy, but there was so little business last night, that finding another dancer to get on one of the 3 (THREE!!) stages should not have been a problem. I saw the dance sheet, and only a couple of the girls had sold any dances at all last night.
I asked the manager how much money he needed to skip me on stage? I get it, money talks and bullshit walks. He just said something about "that's not how it works around here. Get on stage or get out." Which I know is bullshit. I tip extra for favors from staff all the time.
My customer told me not to worry about it, he'll just go.
Not to worry about it!?! Jesus, I'd made almost no money all night, I was down to the last hour at the club and there goes a very nice meal ticket out the door. This guy spends a ton of money in this club. He buys all the girls drinks, he tips very, very well. He always goes back to VIP and usually stays for at least an hour. He is a real estate developer and has some very deep pockets.
I got on stage and noticed the manager standing at the bar and looking at my stage the whole time. As if I'm going to jump down the minute he stops staring in my direction or something. Hopefully he noticed how NO ONE was even looking in my direction, much less tipping. I did some exercises just because I was pissed off and needed to burn off some energy.
This manager made a really bad decision. He lost money for the bar in the form of lost VIP fees. He lost my confidence in him to make good customer service decisions. He pissed off the DJ and the Bouncer because my customer usually tips them very well, too. He also pissed off the other girls because my customer takes care of everyone when he is in the bar.
Because why? Because this customer got too drunk one night and slapped the manager's wife's ass (she is a dancer, too) over a year ago. Hell, if manager did that more often with the real perverts, he'd have my respect, but he only did it because it was his wife. He couldn't give a shit about any of the other dancers.*
*Editorial note, his wife isn't allowed to dance there anymore.
Both bouncers and the DJ were apologizing to me over the manager's behavior. I was mad as hell, but I've got a very cool exterior. I was way too pissed off to hustle any more, and besides, I only had about half an hour left anyway. So I spent the rest of my shift sitting stock still and glaring directly at the manager until he went back to his office. That's right, you little bastard, go hide your face.
So that settles it. I'm auditioning at the competition tonight. I'll bring along my contacts list while I'm at it. Some club in town is about to see their VIP volume go way, way up.



Reply With Quote

Bookmarks