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Thread: Salary of club employees

  1. #1
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    Default Salary of club employees

    I read a post a few months back from a VIP host at an upper mid-scale topless club, where he talked about his take home pay, and I was shocked at how much this guy was taking home. Does anyone know roughly how much club employees make… bartenders, waitresses, DJs, VIP host, bouncers, etc.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    Well you can do some of the math for yourself. Consider a bouncer at a medium sized club with say 25 girls per shift, each girl tipping $5-10 = $200 per night. Now add in maybe another $200 a night in tips from customers to "look the other way" while there in the VIP room, and you're up to $400 bucks a night.

  3. #3
    Pamela
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    Your talking about club employees here and not someone who "does not " work for the club i gather. (independent contractor).
    I worked a club as a topless dancer up on a balcony, my tips where put in a hanging bucket, i made roughly $250 night payout, (lots of friggin dancing), and probably had (on a fri. or sat. night 100 dollars in my tip bucket. The club payed well because there was no contact whats so ever. You went up a ladder the back way and the crowd could not reach you. I was about 12 feet above them. Pay was good, music was too loud, smoke killed me, and i can not dance for 5 hours straight, with just a chair up there to play around on. Too much work for the money.

    I know the bouncers, some of whom are still there, they got paid $7.50 per hour, and could not accept tips. Bar maids and bar tenders made more money than me i am sure, as on Fri, and sat, they packed up to 400 people easy before 2:00am.
    The club is great if it's your only job. They paid employees well! Benefits, 401-K.
    Lots of law enforcement was bouncers. Hard work for us all, long hours when they needed you, but not worth the bother. Tough crowd.
    We all made good money though. The legit way.

    As far as asking a question about a pay for a bouncer that does his job in an actual contact strip club, you would have to ask him. Same for Dj.
    But paying a bouncer $200 to look the other way, whoa thats alot when a customer just payed that much money to one person and has the great chance of getting caught by another dancer, bouncer, management, etc. I am not so sure i would go with that configuration there. Major guess work.


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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    where i work they make 50 shift pay and each girl tips but only from $1-$5 per girl. so they dont make a huge amount at all. now if they are in vip and i guess they get one of those shifts each week, they get a tip almost everytime a girl does a dance and a small percentage of dance sales. so that position is kinda sweet.
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    The people who make the most, typically, are the bartenders. I had a male and female team who were my great friends and roomates for a while, I was the DJ in the club. After busting my ass--DJing is very hard work (none of my friends believe me) if you do it right, and if you really care about the dancers--all night long, we would all go home, and I would watch them dump out huge piles of money from their tip jars at the bar.

    They consistently made 2-3 times what I did, and they were getting drunk and having fun (they did work hard at the same time, though). Of course I was just starting out back then, was still being way too nice (some of the less scrupulous women in Daytona will treat you like a doggie if you act too nice--sad but true), and we had a lot of crazy shit going down because the manager was a whacked out meth-head who had no real control of the place, and has now died thanks to his habit.

    So you see I am under no illusions, in spite of my own moderately naughty adventures, about how safe it is to take any and all drugs, all the time, if you are crazy enough to do that...

    Now that I have learned how to handle a woman who tries giving me a 2$ tip when she has made 200$, I have been able to make a hell of a lot more. In one small club I was really banking, up to the middle of the summer, when the manager suddenly got jealous of my popularity with the dancers, but you've all heard that story, ad nauseum...

    In a large club a DJ can make a hell of a lot, I have heard about 1000$ a night and such, which is ironic because often there is no effort to give individual attention to the dancers, something I insist on doing. Some places discourage this. In this last place I worked up 'til the beginning of the year, I was actually forbidden by one guy to say anything special about any particular woman. Since I'm not much of an ass-kisser, that rule went out the door real fast, and I went out not much later, by mutual agreement...

    Since then I have been doing architectural drawings more and DJing less. The last time I filled in for someone, on a reasonably busy night, I made about 200$, which may not sound like much, but it is Daytona. 30$ an hour isn't too bad for here, except if you're a lawyer. There have been a couple of other places I can work but they aren't very nice.

    It's not much less than I make doing the drawings, although I go apeshit if I sit at a drawing table for 8 hours at a stretch, even if it's in my own house, in the middle of the night, stark naked with some hot techno playing full blast (keeps the energy level high). Unless this promising new club I was hired at gets it together and opens soon, I will be moving to Orlando, and the money is much better for good DJs there, along with everyone else.

    No matter how much have I made, the bartenders almost always have easily beaten me, but who cares. If I was just out for the money I would have been a lawyer, like most of my college buddies are by now. It is kind of funny, though. There is a certain logic to it--drug dealers always make the most money, and bartenders ARE selling an extremely powerful drug, albeit a perfectly legal one. If you want to argue about that, go talk to a dependence treatment specialist or a pharmacologist (no, not the same as a pharmacist, they are dealers, too).

    The bouncers in the clubs I have worked at haven't made much, but for the most part were total morons who were trying as hard as they could--and occasionally, in some cases amazingly, succeeding-- to be Joe Stud, and not working very hard at much else, so I had little sympathy for most of them.

    Remember I am in Daytona, and the IQ level is extremely low here, while the AQ (that would be A**hole Quotient) is extremely high, possibly the highest in the nation, in fact.

    Some bouncers, especially in the rougher clubs, will earn every penny, just for the risk they take of having to fight some pretty scary guys. Even if they win, they still face the revenge factor. A guy I know who has kicked more ass than you can imagine, generally rightfully so, was shot twice one night a while after literally throwing someone out the door. He has some horrendous scars from this. Anyone else would be six feet under, but Nick cannot be killed, LOL...

    Djoser

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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    How much a club employee makes depends on alot of variables, but I'd say the range is anywhere from $50 a night to $1000 or so, with the majority of staffers probably falling in the $100 - $400 range.

    The type of club makes the biggest difference, as those with VIPs and such tend to have better earnings potential all around. At my current club, I tip the upstairs bouncers every time they help me sell a VIP when I bring a guy up for a dance or two. I generally tip them about 10% of whatever I make that way. That can be anywhere from $10 to $50 tip. I also tip the same % to waitresses and floor bouncers who point me to a good table or help me get dances or VIPs. The club pays them $50 per shift.

    Quote Originally Posted by pheno View Post
    When you lead a nontraditional life don't try to measure it with traditional milestones.

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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    At my normal club bouncers, bartenders, waitresses, door girls, etc get shift pay btwn. 80-150 plus tips. Not sure about the dj, but each girl (about 60 on a busy night) have to tip him a minimun of 5$.
    At a club I worked at this weekend each girl (about 120 on the floor) had to tip out the dj 10%/minimum of 10 bucks. 10(120)=1200 minimum...whos banking in this situation?????

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    So basically, DJs, Bartenders and VIP Hosts will make about $400-$700 per night. If I would have known that, I would have never gone to college.

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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    I think $400-$700 per night is pushing it as an average. MAYBE a GOOD weekend night but certainly not on a slow Thursday. A better AVERAGE per week is $1500 for 4-5 nights including either a Friday or Saturday.

    Door guys/Bouncers/Bar Backs ect. usually make less then half this amount with Bouncers at the top of that pay scale.

    Managers are probably the worst paid of the bunch when you figure in the hours and at several of the larger chains start out at $500 per week with NO tips allowed.

    Very few people can stay in the adult industry for any length of time and usually ther is NO retirement fund (except for the Sexual harrassment suits filed by aging dancers and refered to as the Strippers retirement fund) so maybe that college degree wasnt such a waste of time after all.
    14 years working in Strip Clubs. "What a long strange trip it's been"

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    Wow!

    $400-700/night! That means the DJ's making more money then dancers. And we're talking about US dollars not Canadians which mean it's around $650-1.000 CAD/night.
    Let’s make some math! 5 working day/weeks that’s a $3.250-5000/week. $13.000-20.000/month. So basically the good DJ’s making a $160.000- 240.000/year! Of course this money is all cash (tax free)!
    OMG!

    So let’s say it’s true! I have only one question then! Why is almost every DJ driving a crappie car and look like some homeless guy and living with roommates and buddies?
    With that money I can drive a Porsche buy a new house every two year and wearing Armani’s all the time!

    Too bad I’m not a DJ! Maybe in my next life! Who knows?

    Well I should tell this to my wife! I think she's in the wrong part of this business :-)

  11. #11
    Pamela
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    I don't know of any DJ's who bring home $700 nightly. Barmaids make fantastic money! As do the bartenders!
    Me being a dancer, i make more money than any DJ i have ever worked for.
    I am not saying it's not happening for the DJ's in the right club. But they always seemed to be on the lower end of the pay. That why a good dancer will tip the out well at the end of her shift.


    Yes Hi Beavis.

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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    I have never made 700$ a night, but then I work in Daytona where no one but lawyers, doctors, and the occasional dancer makes very much. The DJs in Lollipops, where HBO filmed G-String Divas during Bike Week, probably made at least that during Bike Week.

    This year I was just painting the dancers, not much money there (it was fun though, I can't wait to scan the pictures). Last year I might have made 500$ my best season night. I am proud to say, however, that I have a history of being the highest-tipped DJ in Daytona (per girl, and as a ratio of her earnings--the guys in Lollipops make a lot more overall-and if the girl's aren't making money because the club sucks like the last one, neither will I).

    Also I actually prefer working in smaller clubs as I am more into it for the art (none of my friends believe it, but it's true), and in a smaller club you can give each dancer individual attention. In a large club with 120 girls that goes out the window and it's more like a damned assembly line, relatively speaking.

    Djoser
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    When I waitressed in a club I made 2.50/hr plus tips. On average week nite tips ranged but $60 was usually the minimum, business was good then. On weekends I was averaging a minimum of $250 a nite. I hustled my ass off though. These earnings were because I managed to be the favorite waittress of most customers and dancers. I chatted customers up about their type of girl and brought dancers to them, and pointed out money to dancers that I liked or who helped me make money. I always remembered to solicit a ladies drink if I knew the girl wanted one and remembered which girl and customer drank what and who did and did not drink alcohol at all.
    At this same club when I began bartending three days a week, the slow three Sat day, Sun and Mon nite, the low average was around $1100. Thing is, these clubs only sell beer and coolers and soda and juice, so its not bad money for opening beer. However, this money was when I was the hot chick of just 18 behind the bar all the customers wanted to see who wore sexy clothes but would not get naked.
    During this time I also worked two other jobs so this money added to the other was great to me b/c I was making money all around working everywhere. As a dancer, some DJs get taken care of by me. Some get their six dollar minimum. If u take care of me I take care of u. If u see me on a couch with a customer and u make me get onstage neway, U won't get but that six. If u let me make money, I tip u 4 letting me work. I pay both DJs off of my first stage set, and add to it throughout the note based on what they do for me.
    One Dj and I had a deal, I used to sometimes just not wanna do stage for a set usually when I was calling it quits for the nite. Deal was I would walk the floor trying to sell one more dance, if he would skip me and i got a dance, I gave him $10 off every dance I did from the time he skipped me til I left. I just told him if I do a dance I'll tip u,I set the $10 amt myself to be fair. There were nites he would make $60 or $70 bucks and there were nites he's make a couple hundred. Dances were $60 though, and I would not have got the money if I had been onstage and not working the floor.
    Gosh I'm wordy sometimes. Okay THE END.
    "Come what may although I often say realities come from dreams, but approach all lies with open eyes because NOthing in this world is EVER ALL it seems."

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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    OK, Divyne, in the club we are opening, soon to be a nationwide franchise operation (but we'll start with one kick-ass club first), you are the bartender, along with EvilCyn and Lara---but you have to dance at least two songs a night, as I've been telling Tina (the manager). No woman I have worked with yet has been able to stay off the stage, except the one that I think snitched me out to that paranoid little geek at the club before last. You are guaranteed 1000$ a night, which we're all going to make.

    Melonie is going to be the business strategist and lawyer-killer (since she rightfully refuses to BE one of those swine, she'll at least keep the legislators of morality at bay), naturally she will be absolutely required to dance whenever the hell she feels like it. HollyDay is in charge of making sure that everyone does drugs in moderation.

    Smurfalicious, McCain (who both of course must dance as well), DJ WuLf, Randmania, Tre, G_Real, and Yours Truly are the DJs, that's only one night a week, but since we'll all make 1000$ a night, 52 Gs a year isn't too bad. Electric_Head did you say you have DJed? I looked on your profile, didn't see it, and where in HELL is North Kackalackie?

    Jaylyn, NYCjacqueline, and Yours Truly will design the building and interior, and do the beautiful drawings and paintings on the walls. Leigh_Landon is in charge of making sure no one gets stuck on themselves and is required to dance in her feathered headress if we can find that damned Indian song. She and Susan are in charge of making everyone laugh, with HollyDay--as long as HollyDay has only done drugs in moderation, if not, she gets a nice hard spanking.

    Pamela is house God/dess, and Pole Trick Instructor. Pryce and GirlFriday get to do whatever the hell they want, and Pryce designs the website, of course. Heather Young, Melonie, and JustaGirl are in charge of kicking the S**T out of anyone stupid enough to grab ass in OUR club. Prester_John provides the military hardware necessary, if Heather can't find any pool cues laying around.

    Bridgette and Carlos bring tour groups of customers from Puerto Rico on a regular basis, as does Aussie Vee from Australia, Chad from Hong Kong, and Chuck149 from the Great White North. ASU_Camino custom builds the club limo.

    Have I left anyone out? Of course, you are ALL dancers there! And I have always said I will never put a guy on my stage, but we'll let Smurfalicious introduce Chad W on Male Review night. I keep forgetting that the last time I filled in at the club (I'm twiddling my thumbs at while waiting for the new one to open), I played "Release it" by Hate Dept. and sent it out to Veronika and you, even though it's against the rules. So what are they going to do, fire me? I already quit...

    Oh, and each night a Troll will be strung up by his thumbs and pelted with broken shoes, boots, etc.

    Djoser
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    Featured Member electric_head's Avatar
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    Electric_Head did you say you have DJed? I looked on your profile, didn't see it, and where in HELL is North Kackalackie?

    LMFAO-DJ No Sir, just a music lober
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    Veteran Member EvilCyn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    [email protected], would that be a dream or what..... A club started be people who know the biz.......Who really work in it !!!
    As a bartender, I make more then I do dancing..... That's not saying bartenders usually do..... I am just a better bartender then dancer..
    I have worked with dancers who never would be able to bartend and make what they do dancing.....They don't have the patience to deal with the running around, and maybe not get tipped.....(just keep smiling)
    I don't get the "fuck off " option back there like our dancers have if someone pisses them off.....
    I just make sure they get a little thristy that's all !!!!
    There is no better buzz then busting a nut.......
    The Curve is more powerful then the sword .. Mae West

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    Featured Member Prester_John's Avatar
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    As a bartender, I make more then I do dancing..... That's not saying bartenders usually do..... I am just a better bartender then dancer..
    I have worked with dancers who never would be able to bartend and make what they do dancing.....They don't have the patience to deal with the running around, and maybe not get tipped.....(just keep smiling)
    You hit the nail on the head. In regards to bartending, you either have it or you don't (which, I gather, is the same for dancing). Its a different dynamic altogether then a lot of learned skills. Anyone can really do it, but you sort of need an innate people sense and a high level of intestinal fortitude to be really successful. I would hazard a guess that a female bartender at a SC must have that sort of sense to successfully distinguish herself to guys who are there to see dancers, which is a big key to making more then average bartender money.

    PJ

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    Veteran Member EvilCyn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    I love it behind the bar......... I get to be a bigger tease back there.....
    Guys want what hey can't have.....Sometimes that plays right into me being back there........ I was in the resturant biz for 12 years before I danced, after almost 5 years of dancing, went back to bartending....
    What I learned dancing, and what service skills I already had has turned into a great combo for me behind the bar.....Great service, with a smile, and always ready to flirt and play into the games to keep you there if there isn't a dancer there that evening who catches your attention...
    Sometimes bartenders are less intimidating then dancers and easier to talk too, we kinda break in the shy ones, hook them up with girls that will take care of them, and in thee end, they take care of me.....
    There is no better buzz then busting a nut.......
    The Curve is more powerful then the sword .. Mae West

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    Djoser, if only ....

    Actually, I'm extremely profitable at bartending too - the customers don't have to reach across the bar very far to put their tip in my cleavage! But it does take some of the fun out of things since other bar customers always volunteer to take care of any troublemakers for me, before I can jump the bar with a baseball bat and enjoy doing it myself!

    and for Prester John, how's this for big guns -

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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    [rotflmao] [rotflmao] Melonie you always give me such a good laugh........ to reach mine I have to almost climb on the bar, and squeeze them together all I can so my tip doesn't limply fall to the floor !!!!!!!!
    There is no better buzz then busting a nut.......
    The Curve is more powerful then the sword .. Mae West

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    Featured Member Prester_John's Avatar
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    Default Re: Salary of club employees

    Melonie -

    LOL.. Lock and Load, my friend

    PJ (I Support Big Guns)

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