I've been an exotic dancer (on and off) for almost 2 years. I'd never done a contest before, but went to Centerfold's Amateur night to compete.
They made us wait until at least 5 girls showed up...that's actually pretty normal. All staff we encountered was very rude. A very nasty bouncer led us upstairs and said, "You've got 5 minutes to get ready, and that's all you should need." They wouldn't let us use the actual dressing room, and we had to change our clothes in the upstairs dancing area. When he complained that we were taking more than 3 minutes, I said that I had come strait from my office. He said, "I di-n't ask where yoos came frum!" After giving us a very literal 5-minute prep time, they brought us back downstairs and made us wait for no less than 2 hours before the contest actually began. No club I've EVER worked in has run their amateur nights like this. After the 2+ hours of waiting, the bouncer and GM INSISTED that we sit on the public stairway to listen to the rules. Power trip much? Ever heard of a staph infection? (BTW - most other reviews I've read about this club say the bouncing staff is NO nicer to the clients. They will treat you guys just as badly, if not worse.)
The GM gave us a song and dance about pushing back the contest to 11pm (we were originally told 9pm) so that more guys would show up, so we would make more tips. One girl (who later won) showed up around 10pm, much later than we were told was allowed, heavily implying she had an "in." This was made all the more obvious when the GM said in his speech that no special treatment would be given to girls who know him, his staff or anyone else in the club. BTW, the contest didn't actually begin until 12:15am.
They restricted us to one song each, which makes it nearly impossible to make any tips on stage. They clearly enforce MA law about the 2 foot distance as soon as you expose yourself, but take it a step further to say we're not allowed to do floor or pole work. We were specifically told not to lift our feet off the floor, kneel or do tricks. They don't want the amateurs who aren't of their Barbie mold to make friends or fans, that was pretty clear. I'm a size 6, not oveweight by any means, but I don't have fake boobs, fake hair or a fake tan. I'm a natural blonde, and am frequently described as "very cute." But that's not what this club is about.
The third place finisher, who the real crowd (as opposed to the fake crowd that the winner brought along with her) clearly loved, was told she had too much ink to work there. She was the one the "regs" seemed to like the most. Too bad they'll never see her there again since management wasn't sharp enough to hire her.
The winner was a clone of the existing Centerfold girls, with fake hair, HUGE fake breasts (you could see the veins in her skin, and the scars around her nipples), no butt and too much make-up. I can't agree more with other posters that the girls in this club look very zoned out and can't dance for sh!t. They just wander around on stage and don't appear to make eye contact with anyone. Are they gassing these girls in the dressing room? Were we not allowed back there because we hadn't signed the standard "If you die from the illegal substances we freely supply you, we're not responsible" waiver?
The worst: they have apparently been having a problem with not enough girls showing up for the amateur night each week. But if they keep treating contestants this badly, they will never have any returning girls. All of us are going to tell all our dancer friends to never EVER compete here. As a result, they will have the loyal amateur night customers walk out the door.
Many men have a very clear fixation on "innocent" girls doing something naughty that they've never done before. Even though this is SO not the case with almost any amateur night anywhere, it does bring in a crowd, and therefore ups bar sales, entry fee sales, and maybe even dances with the "house" girls. But amateur customers really hate dances... they just want to see the college co-ed take her boy shorts off. So, if you keep canceling the contest because no girls are showing up, you lose all those customers, and they take their bar sales with them.
Having a "classy" and "upscale" club has nothing to do with fake tans and fake tatas. Many men over the age of 26 have learned two things: 1) fake breasts can be nice to look at, but are no fun for dances, and 2) they would rather spend their money on a girl who is pleasant to spend time with, is nice to look at, and can ALSO put several words together to make sentences.
The truth is, the majority of the money spent in strip clubs is by men over the age of 26. Know your audience, people. Target your market. Take a look at other Citysearch & Yelp reviews, or take a spin on the ZBone forums. Didn't anyone at this place go to business school? read more