Gentleman's Choice: Mixed review

I decided to try working at a different club last Friday and decided to give the Gentleman's Choice Club a shot. I'd heard good things from many clients and a couple dancers about the club. This along with a comment left by a kind visitor to this blog mentionning that they can be more flexible in regards to scheduling made it an easy choice for a new place to try.

I called in last Thursday and spoke to the manager about working for them. Since I'm interested in working dayshifts, I inquired about relevant information and told them I would be interested in starting the following day if possible. I was informed that dayshifts were from 1pm to 7 - 7:30pm and that there was a 15$ "bar service" fee. This fee I was told would be waived if I showed up early and was ready on the floor at 1pm. Sounded great to me so I scheduled myself for the next day. One thing that surprised me quite a bit was that the only thing I was asked was my working name and a phone number to reach me. Not one question about my appearance or experience! A first for me when calling a strip club for work, I was especially surprised because it was a downtown club reputed to have attractive dancers. I figured they don't bother asking any questions and wait to see what you look like when you show up.

Friday morning I'm up early getting ready to be "on duty" at the new club and with plenty of time to spare so I can get familiarized with their setup and policies. I show up at 12:30pm (when doors open for staff) needing only to get changed to hit the floor. This is something I normally do when I work at Cleo's anyways because I hate having to spend time in the dressing room. I much prefer arriving to work with my hair done and makeup on, it then only takes me 3-4 minutes to change and start dancing.

So I arrive at the new club at 12:30pm sharp and ring the doorbell, no answer. A couple minutes later I ring again, no answer... It's already a bit embarrassing going into a stripclub, more so during the daytime because "regular" people are out doing their shopping or business. I get plenty of looks from people walking by as I head into the club, I've gotten used to it and around Cleo's it's nothing really eyecatching considering the other distractions nearby.

In the middle of downtown on a sunny day at lunchtime is a completely different story though! Especially when the door isn't opening and I'm standing there among a kazillion people walking around going to lunch or out shopping. Guys look at me and smile or oogle, while women give me looks of disdain. Both sexes quickly whisper their "find" to whomever they are with and the conversation obviously changes to something related to stripping and debauchery. Seriously, a flashing neon light above my head couldn't announce what I'm doing there any better.

I'm already nervous enough trying out dancing at a new club. I'm wondering how the setup and decor are like, how the stage and poles are, how the staff and other dancers will be like, etc. Now the door isn't opening and I'm standing there feeling quite awkward being gawked at by people passing by. A few minutes pass and I give a couple more rings to the doorbell... Finally someone else shows up wanting to be let in, 2 women who I later find out are the barmaid and waitress. I say hello and they ask me if I've rung the bell yet. I answer "yes, I did a few times" while thinking: no, I'm all done up standing here with my gear for the fun of being oogled, I love standing at stripclub entrances in the middle of downtown just for fun!!! Seriously girls, I know I'm blonde but I think I know how to work a doorbell...

They start talking between themselves and are soon joined by a young man who just looks at me for a second and joins in their conversation. He calls the manager who is in fact upstairs in the club and has been all this time telling him that they are waiting along with "some girl" to get in, he finally comes down to open up the door for us. Nice

I walk in with the others and stand next to the manager and doorman who are talking waiting for one of them to be free so I can ask where to go get changed. People are getting to their business and no one pays any attention to me whatsoever, I end up standing there for a good ten minutes while I half listen to the conversation (which incidentally is quite unimportant and uninteresting) waiting to get any attention from the manager. The doorman eventually finishes and wanders off, I think finally I can get some info and get started but the manager starts talking up the barmaid! I interrupt him and introduce myself mentionning my phone call to him yesterday. "Yes, yes" he said getting up and walking towards the booths, he points to the back and says "the door on your left, go up the stairs". I stumble around and find the dressing room to which he was referring to.

The changing room is nice, better than the one at Cleo's and I enjoy getting changed in this comfortable environment. A couple minutes later, I'm back downstairs ready to get familiar with the club. I don't see the manager so I head off to the DJ booth to bring my music CD and get some info from the DJ on how the stage sets work here. The DJ is very nice and pleasant, the first person in the place to show friendliness and help to me. He tells me a bit of how things worked there and we settle up my song choices for my eventual stage sets. I then took a little walking tour of the club, checking out the floor and seating areas, the stage and then the private booths and erotic beds area.

It's a small cozy club with comfortable seats and usual decor. Fairly well upkept, the stage appears quite nice from a distance. The large floor to ceiling mirrors along the back of the stage make it look bigger and doubles your viewing angles which I think is very nice. It's well lit with an array of different lights offering a variety of effect. That said, it's far from perfect and in my opinion, it isn't setup with the dancer in mind or practical. First, when you get a closer look, the stage floor is quite old and beaten up with a few cracks and small nooks, definitely not very smooth or even. I wasn't wearing anything very delicate so no harm done but I doubt a dancer could crawl that stage with nylons without catching at least one snag. The biggest dissapointment were the poles. There are two, one at each outer corner of the stage and are brass finish which is nice because it offers better grip than stainless steel. However they were much smaller than standard industry poles (which are 2") not a huge surprise but these were no more than 1 1/4" thick! Great for hand gripping but terrible for getting a good grip with legs.

I could live with that no biggie, just don't do certain tricks and focus on the ones I can do. What totally shocked me though, was when I physically checked the poles for stability: I like seeing how secure they feel to know I can throw my weight around them. One of the poles was loose and I could easily lift it up a bit! I didn't try to move it more than that or try to pull it out completely but I was stunned to see that it was so loose and obviously not very secure. I might be wrong and it is in fact well secured but it didn't feel like it to me at all. Needless to say, I didn't do any fancy tricks on that pole during my stage set!

When I visited the private booths, I was pleasantly surprised with their size and comfort. Not the most private but discreet enough to perform private dances with a customer pleasantly. They are situated near the front of the club's entrance and are nicely secluded away from the rest of the customers in the club. The booths themselves are fairly spacious with a comfortable bench lining the back. They don't close or have curtains and are set up in two rows, each facing a mirrored wall so privacy isn't complete if the booths nearby are being used as well. Occupants of booths next to each other or close by can see what's going on in the other easily by glancing at the mirrored wall. Not terrible by any means but it can be a little awkward to look up and see others "looking in" on you. Obviously planned this way for the doormen to keep an eye on what's going on in the booths easily, quite understandable ;)

So there I am in the club all set up, I feel a bit more comfortable having had a good look around and getting a bit of a feel for the place. The club is about to open to customers and I am ready for my day. My nerves are calming down, I feel a bit more comfortable being there and am ready to get down to business. As expected, it was a quiet start to the afternoon, it was at least 20-30min before anyone walked in and I contented myself watching a captionned Star Trek movie playing at the bar's television. A little while later walked in two young americans in for the day looking to have fun and get a taste of Montreal's well known pleasures, this time around they were stopping in a strip club or two and later on some clubs to explore our vibrant night life. They were nice to talk to but it was hard to help them get into the partying mood they were looking for with a dead club and only one other stripper than me at that time.

They asked me if I was going to be doing a stage set soon so after a bit more conversation I went to ask the DJ if he wanted to send me up for one. I don't mind dancing for just a couple customers even if I'm most likely not going to be making much money off them. If someone is interested in watching me do a set it beats sitting at the bar watching TV and not having a chance at making any dough. Besides, I like starting a shift with a stage set to get warmed up and in the mood. Yes, I know that probably sounded a bit strange, lol

The DJ informs me that it's too early for him to start stage sets seeing there are almost no customers in the bar and almost no dancers. I tell him I don't mind doing stage sets so I wouldn't refuse to do one later or extra ones if needed. He can't send me up for an "official" set but I am free to go up anytime to practice. Fair enough for me, I go back to sit with the young americans and wait for a not so hard rock song to play before going up for a "practice".

Remember, no one at this point has yet approached me to let me know anything about club rules or expected behaviour. The DJ was kind enough to get me aquainted with the way stage sets are organized and done here but otherwise, I don't know much about how this club works. For example, if I decide to go up on stage to practice when it's not being used. Can I still perform a full set for a few customers stripping down completely? Or am I just allowed to practice my dancing moves? I see the nice big sparkling mirror lining the back wall of the stage, can I touch it or lean into it during my dances leaving smudges? Or am I not allowed touching it at all? I didn't dare want to be the first one to leave smudges so I didn't touch it at all.

Finally a song I can dance to starts playing and I'm on stage to try it out for the first time and give the Americans a little show. It was a little awkward for me, the music being unfamiliar to me and the stage so different from the one I'm used to. The walk from one pole to the other is pretty far with absolutely nothing to hold on to (every stage I'd seen until then had had some other feature for the dancer to hold onto). Also, since I didn't want to smudge the mirror, I was scrambling to perform something decent with my impromptu set. I was also unsure as to how much clothes I was allowed to take off during a "practice" so I kept my thong and just flashed my breasts here and there. The young Americans seemed to appreciate my show and I got my first stage tip, felt really wierd lifting the side of my thong to let someone slide a bill there. It's a shame that stage tipping is so rare here. They ended up leaving after a little while, I don't blame them, the place was dead quiet and certainly not the fun happening place to be right then and there.

I spent a good while watching more captionned Star Trek movies at the bar as there was absolutely nothing else to do. A couple of men had walked in but were being entertained by a dancer already, I had introduced myself and chatted with one for a minute or two but it was obvious they were interested in spending time with the other dancer so I wished them a fun afternoon and went back to the movie.

A couple more hours pass and finally a handful of customers start trickling in. The DJ tells me he'll be starting the stage sets soon and that I'll be going up first in a song or two. Meanwhile I see a nice looking gentleman dressed casually, wait till he gets settled in with a drink and go over to introduce myself. A little chit chat and I'm off on stage to do my first "official" set. It went better than the first, dancing to my own music choices is much more fun and I can really get into it. With the stage being the way it is, I did more floorwork than I usually do and it was nice to be able to see myself through the mirror and have a better idea of what some of my moves look like. The stage at Cleo's has barely any mirrors, none that give a decent view of one's self and at home I only have a small dressing mirror to get a peek at myself during moves.

After my set, I went and rejoined the customer I had previously introduced myself to. It wasn't long before I was asked for a private dance to which I happily accepted.

Once in the booth though, the dance was harder for me as the rules at this club aren't as liberal as what I'm used to at Cleo's. Mainly that grinding is not permitted at all. Personally, I don't mind offering some grinding in my lap dances as long as customers don't expect marathon grinding for songs on end. So there I am, trying to figure out how to pace my private contact dances and working up each song while not grinding. The client seemed happy with the dances and we spend 6 songs together. As I'm finishing up the last song, I sit on the edge of the customer's lap and thank him for choosing to have dances with me. Suddenly the doorman shows up and says sternly "no sitting on the customer's lap!". I quickly get up and apologize, he walks off. I say my goodbyes to the client and head off to find the doorman to clear things up.

I ask him what all the rules are and he says: "no sitting on the customers, clients can't touch anywhere near the inner thighs they can only touch outer thighs, ass and breasts, no touching the customers anywhere."

I'm not allowed to touch a customer anywhere??? First I've heard in any strip club!!!

Wanting to clarify things further I questionned: "I'm not even allowed to touch a customer's neck or give a small hug?" He looks back at me annoyed, "well, I guess that would be okay but don't overdo it"

All I can think is wow...

The club is still very quiet and a few more dancers have showed up to work. Sitting at the bar, I get to overhear some strippers bickering and listen in on a bit of stripper-drama. One dancer is complaining to a second dancer about a supposedly skanky dancer #3. Dancer #1 first starts by attacking dancer #3's looks. "Oh she's so fat, two of my buttcheeks make one of hers *giggles*. I don't know what guys see in her, did you see her face? And that hair, oh my God, it's just so ugly and flat, I bet she cuts it herself! *giggles* She could at least put on some more makeup, come on, you gotta try ya know?! *giggles* The only guys that want a girl like that is because she has to be giving out more and being a whore. It's girls like her that make it harder for us to make money, by being a skank and giving freebies why should customers pay real dancers like us? *grumble, grumble*"

Now dancer #3 was the next to show up after me and has been there for a few hours in which I've had time to observe her. Yes she is a bit heavier but nowhere was she near being fat. She had a nice curvy voluptous body and wore an outfit to accentuate her best features. Her face was a bit on the plain side and the hair too, again nothing unattractive in fact she had a 'girl next door' look to her. Her stage performance was quite nice and when I saw her interacting with customers, she was very friendly and pleasant.

It was hilarious to me hearing dancer #1 complain and denigrate dancer #3 so much because she was making more than her. It was so obvious to me that dancer #3 knew how to maximize her potential and income while dancer #1 was solely used to earning money based on her looks. Dancer #1 continued her complaining and insulting game with dancer #2 who was agreeing and chiming in herself now and then. I left and went to chat with the DJ for a couple minutes to escape as the dancers were trying to get me into their little bickering game.

More time passes and the club is still incredibly quiet. About 8-10 customers have been through the door at this point from the beginning of the shift and I'm not too impressed with the daytime customer flow. I inquire to a few people that work dayshift regularly if this is a normal occurance or a holliday glitch, all answer me that it's about the usual, sometimes more sometimes less. Whoa! Doesn't sound like a great place to work dayshifts to me!

A couple more guys walk in and a dancer approaches me asking if I want to go see them together. Sounds good to me, then she tells me, "you get the one with the dark shirt, I'll get the other". We introduce ourselves and chit chat a minute or so, then each of us are asked for private dances, yay! Another visitor from the U.S. looking for some fun and he's nice to dance for. He enjoys 3 dances and returns to join his friend.

I check the time and it's just past six. An hour or so till the end of the shift and business still isn't picking up. I spend the rest of the time sitting at the bar, chatting with the DJ or watching TV. By 7:15pm, I was ready to head home. I ask if it's okay to get changed and leave to be informed that the dayshift ends at 8pm on Fridays and not 7 - 7:30pm like I was told on the phone. Great. Back to sitting at the bar waiting for time to pass so I can go home.

The manager comes up to me a few minutes later, "you haven't paid your 15$ bar service fee". I look at him puzzled, "but you said if I was here on time and ready on the floor by opening I didn't have to pay the fee". He then says, "I don't remember seeing you here at 1pm, are you sure you were ready at one???" looking at me intently. "Um yes, I was the first one here, you came to unlock the door for me, remember?" I said. He stiffens up and looks over his clipboard again, "I don't remember seeing you on the floor by one, are you SURE you were ready at that time?!"

I couldn't believe it, I was the ONLY dancer there at that time and was on the floor at least 5-10 minutes before they opened the door to customers. After informing him of this and telling him he can verify with the barmaid and DJ who saw me, he finally agreed to waive my fee and left huffing...

Finally 8 o'clock rolled around with no new customers entering the club and I headed to the changing room to get changed and on my way home. As I'm going up to the dressing room, the doorman stops me and asks "have you paid your bar service fee?". You gotta be kidding me.... I tell him no, that I don't have to and I already spoke to the manager about it. I go get changed and get out of there quickly.

So these were my experiences trying out dancing at the Gentleman's Choice Club. Will I go back? I won't say never but probably won't be back there very soon. I might give it another try during peak tourist season when daytime business should be better. Otherwise it just didn't seem like the place for me or anywhere near lucrative for daytime work. Also the very cold reception and being ignored most of the time I was there doesn't make me want to work for them much. Guess it just wasn't the place for me!

It could have also been a bad day or just that this club is best in the evening hours. For now I'll stick with Cleo's and keep looking around at new clubs now and then.

I'll be back dancing at Cleo's this week, I'm very much looking forward to it after this experience!

Madison