bad experience at pigale

[yesguy123]

First off, me and my buddies have been going for years. Most likely dropping enough money in there over the years to buy a small house.

we go last thursday, pay cover, each of us orders drinks, including $6 soft drinks. after about an hour, my buddy spontaneously gets up and gets a dance. my buddy and i are left waiting. the waitress comes by and asked if we were ok? (for a drink) we said sure (even though we were done and our empty drinks were sitting on the talble). she comes by again and gets snarky with us and proceeds to tell us that we have to order another drink or else we have to leave. at this point I am angry. I explain that 1) I am driving and cant have anohter beer, to which she answers, 'we have soft drinks' 2) told her that our friend is dropping $100 in the champaign room as we speak and we are leaving when he comes out (5 minutes later). I told her this is the first time this has been said to us (you need to order more than one drink). We were not there more than an hour or so in total, not to mention the place was 2/3rd empty, no dancers on the stage every other song and there were others with no drinks.
this strip club just lost a few good customers. Pigale, ditch your bitch waitress (she had short brown hair and was attractive, until she opened her mouth). this was a fun place to go until that night...they were lucky we were there to begin with as there was nobody else there and the dancers were subpar.

 

[twizzler2]

Bad SJ experiences are easy to come by these days

I was at Pigale last week, in fact I've checked out, Pigale's, BareFax, Playmate and Barb's several times in the past two months.

The business has gone way down hill. The dances are about as good as what was available ten years ago. As someone else pointed out the dances cost $10.00 back then, the buffet was free, every club had a feature, and the beer was cheaper.

Here is what I think has happened;

-Clubs have gotten rid of the good dancers because they would "push the envelope"

-Clubs have hired new inexperienced dancers to replace them

-Customers are not comming back because they can't get today what they could get a year ago for the same money.

- Dancers who remain are seeing a large percentage of customers who come for the show but won't spend any money on dances.

- Dancers are trying to scam more and more customers make money. ( miscounts of songs, promising one thing to get a customer into the booth and delivering another,...etc)

- clubs are feeling the pinch so they're getting picky about the length of time customers spend in the place without buying a drink, some are charging for the buffet and reducing the food quality.


The scams have always been around, but I would say that I would run into them one are twice a year in the past. In the last two months I have hit a scam every single time I've been to a club ( probably 8 times ). In many cases more than once in a night.

I was speaking with Maude at Pigales on friday, she said it was her last day there. She has been there for four or five years and it's just not worth while for her to stay anymore. Just not enough customers spending money anymore. Most of the experienced and talented dancers have moved on to other cities now.

My bet is you're going to see some SJ's close in the region if this keeps up.

The ironic thing is that while these ladies aren't doing anything outside of the rules in the back there are a huge percentage ( I had about a 90% positive response ) that seem to be available for takeout. I assume it's the money pinch again. The sad part of this whole senario is that while they have "cleaned up " strip joints in Ottawa They have also effectively forced younger inexperienced women into prostitution in the process. That's a dangerous and stupid move on our city's part.


So they've taken a barely visible issue, driven it underground where it can fester in the darkness until it reappears as something much worse and harder to get rid of.

This has been, how to turn you city into a slum, chapter one. By your friendly city council.


Twiz

 

[Eric_TL]

Just my opinion, but I think alot of the quietness in the clubs has to do with how insanely f**king expensive life in general is getting these days....

 

[yak2432]

I'd have to agree with JP. I usually go in the afternoons for a quick beer and to see some titties. Maybe businessman's lunch at the Fax which is usually packed, but empties out at 1:30pm. If a buddy wants a boys night out, we may start there but only for a few beers and to catch up and then hit a real bar. Maybe that's why some MP's have been jacking up their prices (Acqua and Luna come to mind). If you can get a decent massage and a topless release with touching for $100, why go to a strip bar? But if you have a hot dancer in the CR and she's smothering you with her cans and grinding you to completion then why pay Talia at Luna $170 when you can get off for less at the Mate. Must be personel preference.

 

[twizzler2]

I agree, it's not worth going to the SJ for dances anymore and for some maybe it never has been. I used to have fun there although it was never really a cost effective option. There has been a marked shift in the number of customers and the amount money they are spending. This has to be because of the decreased options at the SJ's.

So if there are customers who aren't finding what they want at a SJ, for sure they are going to go elsewhere, here included. That's just one of the consequences though.

Those same young inexperienced dancers who are running scams inside the clubs are bound to run them outside of the club as well. With less customers and more restrictions inside the clubs they're going to try to make money outside of club. No doubt some of them will actually follow through and the offer services outside the club ( this comes with it's own set of risks if they aren't making an informed choice ) but since they are willing to use deceit inside the club they are bound to be deceitful with customers outside the club as well. Especially when you consider that this isn't a choice these women want make.

I think we've already heard from customers who were promised outside service and scammed.

These are bound to increase. How long will it be until a desperate dancer sets up a customer for physical confrontation outside the club ? A ride home from the club with the promise of a good time could easily turn into a 2x4 to head in the parking lot and a missing wallet.

However it plays out, one thing is for sure;

When dancers treat customers as marks, customers will treat dancers without respect, the cycle will continue, and the situation will deteriorate. These clubs are breeding customers who will find what they want in that environment, sadly it means these places will be worse for all of us. Even if you never went there for the private dances in the first place.

 

[straitshooter]

Strip joints are fun, but with prices the way they are and mileage down whose a regular anymore? So the girls try and take you for all you're worth because its not likely they're going to see you next week. Was to the 'Mate last week and it was dead! Remember the good old days with Isabelle and the others when the place was rocking? Man it could be fun! I wonder if we'll ever see those days again?

 

[pikatail]

I agree, it's not worth going to the SJ for dances anymore and for some maybe it never has been. I used to have fun there although it was never really a cost effective option. There has been a marked shift in the number of customers and the amount money they are spending. This has to be because of the decreased options at the SJ's.

I wouldn’t blame the options of the SJ's. All I hear about is how the SJ were rocking 5, 7 or even 10-year back. And I would be one of the first to agree. But between the decrease in manufacturing in town (I mean do we even have manufactures left in Ottawa or they all gone?) and the crack down on top level civil servant spending, I would think a large part of excess cash flow has disappeared from the town.

I personally don’t know anyone making stupid money like 5 year ago. Most people I know of just don’t have the extra coins for stuff like SJs. Hopefully something will start up again, because from my point of view, this town is going to emulate NY and do away with anything they might view as not proper. But that’s just my opinion.

 

[luvdancers]

Why SCs are hurting, etc.

Let me address a few points here....

First, to the guy who had the bad experience at Pigale, if you were that angry you could have asked to see the manager on duty, none of them bite. The girl you mentioned at that point would have been working there approx. 2 weeks, so it's possible that she did not understand the rules as they had been explained to her, OR was being too keener on following them. The rules are pretty much the same as most bars: you have to purchase a drink when you enter, and then another if you stay for an extended period. The latter isn't cut and dried, but common sense says if it was a quiet nite she should have cut you some leeway. On a busy Friday you would be expected to buy another within 15-20 minutes of finishing your first.

Second, I agree that it's the cost of living is what is killing the clubs right now. And now that Stats Can has admitted they've screwed up measuring actual cost of living for years now, the official stats may start to reflect what most of us realize -- people have less disposable income.

Basically I think the $20 dance is killing the industry anyway. It's changed the type of woman who gets into the biz, and not for the better. Plus guys want even more, for their money, so the pressure builds on the remaining nicer women and turns them off the biz. So we get even more brainless little wannabe 19-yr-old skanks from Laval flooding the clubs -- if you're too lazy and dumb to be an SP, be a dancer and make lots of money for your biker pimp back home. Etc.

Time for one of the clubs to go back to the $5/$10 format and enforce it. Most girls would actually probably make more money working there, most 'average' girls. Let the Lola (Pigale) types be trash if they want and make a few more bucks for renting their asses in the CRs.

 

[jimjac]

drink every 20 min!!!!!!

you are expected to have a drink or beer every 15>>>20 mins
I think the police should check every car comming from the Pig. there are enough druken drivers !

 

[yesguy123]

I've been there on a many a friday and never had this experience before.
I had no interest in talking to a manager because I wanted to leave, I wasn't shy or scared of them...trust me. as far as them requiring you to buy a beer 15 minutes after you finish one...that is bull$hit. The waitress was just being a total bitch who likes to take advantage of guys who look polite and whom are just going to sit there and take there crap. There were others around who were there same lengh as us who weren't even drinking....like another member said, there is enough drinking and driving as it is, than to push this kind of 'policy'. there are no signs other than no cell phones or certain attire...nothing about you must order this amount of beers in this amount of time if you enter this establishment. one drink min I understand and have heard of...having to order two beers is complete and utter facking dog shit!
if a cover fee, and a beer, and 5 lap dances isn't enough for these clubs for one customer on a slow night, they can stick their brass poles up their arses.
I will never go back there.

 

[luvdancers]

Club economics

Well, I don't want to get into a pissing match with you, but you must hang out at some very laid back bars. If you can tell me with a straight face that you can go into an Elgin St. bar on a Friday and have a table of guys nurse drinks for two hours, then things sure have changed. Bars don't make money off you sitting in the chair. Waitresses in most busy bars are told to move customers along who aren't buying, during peak times, heck experienced ones will do it anyway as it's all about money and you aren't putting any in their purse that way. It's part of the business.

As for the indignant responses to my remark about 20-30 minutes per round, then go in and time things on a busy Friday and I'll wager you'll find that's the average for drink turnarounds. Or just check out how fast the empty beer cases pile up in the corner.

And, as I meant to mention in my first post, it makes ZERO difference to Pigale if your buddy was spending $20 or $2000 on a dancer downstairs. The club collects a flat $25 'bar service' fee from each dancer for each shift they work, whether they make $100 or $1000 on the shift. The bar makes money off the door and the bar, not the girls. So arguing with the waitress on how much your bud was dropping downstairs wasn't going to fly.

If you don't want to be hassled, there is always the self-serve coffee machine in the corner. For $1.50 a pop you can have a coffee sitting in front of you and the waitress will pretty much leave you alone.

And as for the cell phone deal, what's the problem? All they ask is that you take or make calls either from the lobby, or from the can, or outside. They aren't telling you to turn the phone off. This is to elminate guys trying to take pics of the girls, which was happening a LOT. Also, some of us are fed up to bloody death of people talking into mobiles everywhere we go. Can we at least have a little break from mobiles at the titty bar? HUH? LoL.

 

[antlerman]

well said man...well said....!!!