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The Lap Dance of Luxury
Columnist Ron Hart files a dispatch about easy credit and hard
lessons learned (there's a critique of government buried in the
full piece too):
Cost of undergraduate degree from Georgia Tech: $100,000 Night of partying at a strip club: $ 53,000 Dad's reaction to son's $53,000 one night bill: priceless....
A Florida man says that his son was taken advantage of by a Panhandle strip joint. The father gave his son his credit card to celebrate his graduation from Georgia Tech and the boy ran up a $53,000 tab. It appears that the strippers were the only ones who got a happy ending.
I guess the son, catapulted to an undergrad degree at age 24, did not learn the economics of real life, chief among them is to never give strippers a drunken free shot at your credit card....
I have always supported the honest entrepreneur, especially when pitted against the stupid. It is good for society when money is not left too long in idiot hands. It is God's way of getting money into smarter folks' pockets. For the less religious among us, I call it Economic Darwinism, and it is often done one crumpled $5 bill at a time. As the old saying goes, "A fool and his money are soon parted." In this case, a fool and his dad's money were soon partying....
The dad, in playing the victim card here, is funny to me. Poor kid! The stripper and seedy club owner took the money he signed for. The 24-year-old must be devastated. Who can he trust after that experience? Not even Oprah would take up his cause on this one.
Experiences are life's lessons through which certain harsh truths are conveyed to us Homo sapiens - and straight sapiens, too. I would like to think that our education system would teach them, but I have long ago given up on government-run schools.
M|11.19.07 @ 7:29AM|#
Likely I'm missing a subtlety, but this reads to me like Schadenfreude, a vice (though not one that should be outlawed).
UM|11.19.07 @ 7:38AM|#
It depends in part on how this was carried out. If they ran his card twice and didn't tell him about one, then it's clearly criminal on their side. If they took advantage of his being drunk and got him to agree to sign a charge for $53K without his seeing straight, it's wrong of them, but not criminal (they could argue he knew what he was doing). If, as is more likely, the plastered sot was showing off for everyone and his gripe is a case of buyer's remorse-man, that $53K was *so* not worth it after all: she only liked me for my money-tough luck buddy: that'll teach you to play the high roller.
SIV|11.19.07 @ 7:39AM|#
GA Tech is an excellent school and graduates earn good money
with their first jobs.
Dad should be thankful he didn't get a liberal arts degree.
UM|11.19.07 @ 7:52AM|#
Reminds me of a place in Budapest called the Halo Bar that specialized in getting tourists in and presenting them with bills that looked all right in terms of the numbers, but which they ran as dollars instead of forints, thus inflating the bill by a factor of approx. 150. The Hungarian government wanted to shut them down due to the complaints from foreign tourists, but apparently if you actually looked at your bill before you signed it, it was apparent that the bill was in dollars, so they weren't technically illegal. So instead every tourist book out there told people to avoid this place, and still they got folks paying $400 for a glass of beer and then hitting the roof when they saw their credit card bill.
Jozef|11.19.07 @ 7:53AM|#
Having gotten my master's at GA Tech, I've got to say that for the undergrad those were probably the first live naked girls he's ever seen (Cheetah Club, near GA Tech with the best strippers in Atlanta, is a little too pricey for enrolled students). It's better than it was in 95, when I first attended GA Tech, but those poor kids are still too focused on studying...
Anonymous Bastert|11.19.07 @ 7:53AM|#
Dad needs to give out a card with a slightly lower limit next time!
Quentin Collins|11.19.07 @ 8:20AM|#
My only complaint is that you always show the same photograph
for every stripper story.
I request a new photograph each time, please, larger and clearer
and of an open-minded 21-year-old working her way thru veterinary
school.
|11.19.07 @ 8:24AM|#
"I wonder where Jr. got the stupid gene from...."
I suppose the process that moves the blood we use to oxygenate our
brains to another part of our bodies is ultimately a function of
genetics.
...and if this is the last time a smiling, sweet talking, beautiful
woman takes advantage of this kid, then I really do feel sorry for
him.
|11.19.07 @ 8:32AM|#
Much like their brethren the lawyers, strippers quickly size
up a potential client for what they can fleece from them based on
how much money they have and how stupid they appear.
True that.
I'm fine with the 'fool and his money' approach to this. However,
I'm skeptical the kid actually ran up a $53K bill. Bachelor parties
with girls and booze for twenty guys don't run that high.
|11.19.07 @ 8:47AM|#
Warren,
With buying a few rounds for the bar, a couple of of back-room
"service upgrades," and drinks that cost $10-20 a pop, I could see
a bill getting out of hand.
There's no telling how much this guy offered the strippers for some
services that might not be on the books.
On the other hand, I would say the kid is responsible just by
walking into the place. I mean, come on, he didn't take daddy's
credit card and go to the ice cream shop.
But hey, if we need a law forcing loan officers to determine what
we can afford, it shouldn't be long until strip joints, car
dealerships, and even McDonald's will follow suit...
robc|11.19.07 @ 8:55AM|#
Unless GT has gone up seriously in price (and I realize all colleges have) since I graduated in 1991, he didnt spend anywhere near 100k. When I graduated, out of state tuition for a year was about $6300.
|11.19.07 @ 8:59AM|#
The $53,000 figure alone makes me suspect that, big shock, the strip club defrauded the kid. They wonder why cops are so ardent about shutting them down. Whenever something like this happens, it makes it really, really hard to argue that cops should be focusing on more important crimes.
Xmas|11.19.07 @ 9:01AM|#
Let's see...
You take 2 to 4 girls into the VIP room...you buy the "good"
champagne...
That's about $4000 per round of bottles before tips and your own
drinks. If he was drinking "top shelf" booze, that could get real
expensive, real quick too. I bet they serve the tiny bottles of
champagne, too.
(Alcohol ratings are in scare quotes, because strip club booze
deserves them.)
GT Undergrad|11.19.07 @ 9:05AM|#
http://www.finaid.gatech.edu/costs/budgets/index0708.php
$33,160 a year undergrad.
I bet Junior is a management major.
|11.19.07 @ 9:07AM|#
Damn. I didn't spend $100,000 total, and I was in college for 10
years. (That included two different stints at Georgia Tech.) Of
course, that was in 1970 to 1980 dollars.
CB
Seitz|11.19.07 @ 9:08AM|#
Cheetah Club, near GA Tech with the best strippers in
Atlanta, is a little too pricey for enrolled students
Depends on what you're in for. Some "friends" were there the other
night and "they told me" it was only $10 to get in, and beers were
rather reasonable for a strip club ($5). However, these "friends"
didn't buy any dances, which they tell me totally sucked anyway.
"They" just hung out and watched the Laker game.
Oh, and Josh Childress was there after pouring in 25 points in the
Hawks game earlier that night.
|11.19.07 @ 9:08AM|#
The dad's a moron for giving his kid a CC without a limit. The kid's an idiot for trusting anyone, let alone a strip club, with his credit card. That said, I have buddies that have "made it rain" in strip clubs all night and they still only dropped money in the mid 4 digits. I think this kid is getting jobbed.
|11.19.07 @ 9:15AM|#
When I graduated, out of state tuition for a year was about
$6300.
Wait a minute, you mean the government throwing increasing amounts
of cash at colleges caused the prices to inflate rapidly?
Inconceivable!
[/sarcasm]
|11.19.07 @ 9:16AM|#
Got a funny story along similar lines, although not on the scale
of this sting. Picture it: Vegas, bunch of guys playing Blackjack
downtown. One of the guys decides he'd like to indulge in a
lap-dance or two at the nearby joint and goes off by himself,
telling us all he'll back soon.
About an hour later, just as we're beginning to wonder where he is,
he returns with a story to tell. Now, it would appear the
going-rate at the place he went to was 35 dollars a dance, which he
deemed suitable value. So, lady of choice starts to dance. And
dance. And dance some more.
His thought at the time he tells us was, foolishly, "this is good
value for 35 bucks!". Now, I'm sure the brighter students will have
already worked out the gist of what happened next. Of course, his
"one" dance was actually many strung together into a medley of
flesh-grinding fun. So, when he decides to leave at this point, he
finds himself looking at a bill for nigh-on 300 bucks - which he
doesn't have on him - and a *very* large bouncer not letting him go
anywhere until he pays up. The details at this point become vague,
but it apparently involved an impromptu trip to the nearest
cashpoint.
As I remarked to him at the end of this sorry tale, "So, the only
reason you didn't get stung for even more money was because your
dancer got tired?".
ed|11.19.07 @ 9:19AM|#
Dad should be thankful he didn't get a liberal arts
degree
I learned how to think with mine. Never rang up a $53K stripper
bill either. Looks like Ga. Tech just graduated their first
monkey.
Jozef|11.19.07 @ 9:32AM|#
Seitz: Did your "friends" tell you when it's so cheap there? My "friends'" experience is that it's quite more expensive, especially since "they" also enjoy the restaurant there.
robc|11.19.07 @ 9:33AM|#
Looks like Ga. Tech just graduated their first
monkey.
Nah, that was Y. Frank Freeman. According to legend, he was passed
in his final Electrical Engineering course after promising to never
work in the field. So he went to Hollywood instead. His oscar is in
Tech's library. I lived in the dorm he funded for a couple of
years.
robc|11.19.07 @ 9:38AM|#
$33,160 a year undergrad.
I was only counting tuition, but wow. When I entered in fall of 87,
tuition was ~$1700 per quarter. It was up to $2100 4 years later.
Looks like $11k per semester now. (My numbers were after "mandatory
fees" but not including books/board/food/etc)
Non-Ga to GA ratio used to be 3 to 1. Now 5 to 1.
5k per year for in-state looks to still be a good deal. Thats what
I was paying in 1987 out-of-state.
|11.19.07 @ 9:44AM|#
"Dad should be thankful he didn't get a liberal arts
degree."
When was the last time you read a story about a Philosophy major
spending $50k of somebody else's money in a "gentlemen's club?"
Old Pro|11.19.07 @ 9:45AM|#
This kid's dad should have taught him some basic rules about strip clubs, and rule #1 is NEVER take a credit card.
|11.19.07 @ 9:49AM|#
So we agree that the kid is stupid for putting himself in a position to be extorted, but that extortion is generally illegal?
|11.19.07 @ 10:11AM|#
Assuming this was totally legit and the "student" really was
that dumb, this is hilarious.
And yeah, a credit card with no limit is the surest way to
bankruptcy in the hands of someone going to a strip club.
And I assure you, there are plenty of foolish young monkey men
graduating from Georgia Tech (though maybe less in percentage than
certain, other larger, non technical universities). They did throw
the best frat parties though...
dhex|11.19.07 @ 10:15AM|#
what i really don't understand is if you're going to spend much
cash to basically be cockteased, why not just spend the money on a
high dollar amount "in home massage" thing or whatever they call
escorts these days? hell i bet you could get two or three for a few
thousand.
strippers are pretty gross and the whole thing is fucking retarded
(but god bless them for making money out of nothing) but it seems
like you'd get more bang (har har!) for your buck (get it?) through
actual prostitution rather than this prostitution simulacrum or
whatever the hell it is.
|11.19.07 @ 10:23AM|#
The dollar amount sounds suspiciously high. A hundred lap dances, and 10 rounds of drinks for everyone in the place should still come out to less than $20,000.
smartass sob|11.19.07 @ 10:37AM|#
What's next - you're gonna try and tell me that the "strippers"
are the victims here? The broads that work in those places are
professional prick teasers at best and con-artist grifters at
worst. They prey on men's masculinity. I spent plenty of time in
"tiddy" bars as a young man and I know exactly how things work. I
can't tell you how many times I've heard two "dancers" discussing
"the mark" (their words) they were working in the champagne room.
Hundred-dollar bottles of "champagne"? One would be hard pressed to
find any alcohol in it.
You know, if a guy - or a bunch of guys - were to encourage some
young woman to get drunk and then nailed her, people would be
screaming RAPE. They'd protest that she was not sober enough to be
capable of legally giving consent. So why is some high or
buzzed-out-of-his-mind kid considered capable of signing off that
kind of dough on someone's credit card? If the kid had left there
and had an automobile accident, that club would be in big trouble
in most states.
Seitz|11.19.07 @ 10:44AM|#
Did your "friends" tell you when it's so cheap there? My
"friends'" experience is that it's quite more expensive, especially
since "they" also enjoy the restaurant there.
No. "They" had dinner down the street (charged to the firm, of
course), and simply paid the cover, stood around, had a few beers,
and took off (still had to drive back to Alpharetta). However, in
my strip club experiences, those prices sounded reasonable for a
Thursday night. Also, I'm told the dances kind of sucked. Less than
the "personal" experience some have come to expect at your finer
establishments.
His thought at the time he tells us was, foolishly, "this is good
value for 35 bucks!". Now, I'm sure the brighter students will have
already worked out the gist of what happened next. Of course, his
"one" dance was actually many strung together into a medley of
flesh-grinding fun.
This, unfortunately, is not uncommon.
|11.19.07 @ 10:49AM|#
I suppose the process that moves the blood we use to
oxygenate our brains to another part of our bodies is ultimately a
function of genetics.
True that, but even my schlong isn't that pitifully dense.
Anyone that has a credit card with a limit of more than $50K is
going to be at an income level where that kind of cash isn't going
to hurt as much as it would to me and mine. Assuming he wasn't
blatantly robbed at card swiper-point, I hope for his sake it was
worth it. At least he has a good story to tell at the table at
Thanksgiving.
Still, this story begs the statement: "Here endeth the lesson."
|11.19.07 @ 10:53AM|#
This "kid" is 24-years-old and still using daddy's credit card. That right there tells me all I need to know. I just want to make sure I don't use any device this boy-genius helps design.
|11.19.07 @ 10:55AM|#
?! How do you get those limits on a credit card without having
Amex?
This sounds suspiciously high--I can see why the police might be
interested. Fraud quite likely.
dbust1|11.19.07 @ 10:56AM|#
P Brooks
"When was the last time you read a story about a Philosophy major
spending $50k of somebody else's money in a 'gentlemen's
club?'"
When's the last time you read/heard a story of a Philosophy major
doing anything?
thoreau|11.19.07 @ 11:03AM|#
When's the last time you read/heard a story of a Philosophy
major doing anything?
If a story about a philosophy major is written down and then a tree
falls on it....
Elemenope|11.19.07 @ 11:26AM|#
Most Philosophy majors end up going to law school. Last time I checked, lawyers ruled the world...
R C Dean|11.19.07 @ 11:28AM|#
Most Philosophy majors end up going to law
school.
This one did.
Last time I checked, lawyers ruled the world...
Still working on that one.
squarooticus|11.19.07 @ 11:34AM|#
I think Cheetah is quite reasonable. On a weeknight, at least, cover is $10, drinks are $5, and lap dances are $10. I somehow find my way there whenever I end up in Atlanta. :-)
|11.19.07 @ 11:37AM|#
Don't know if lawyers rule the world but you don't want to accidentally get tangled up with anything remotely connected to the law cuz by the time yer done, you'll believe lawyers rule the world.
dbust1|11.19.07 @ 11:42AM|#
Elemenope
Interesting, Mel Brooks played a "stand-up philosopher" in History
of the World Part One and Bea Arthur declared him to be a "bullshit
artist" when he applied for unemployment. And you say that many
Philosophy majors become lawyers? Hmmmm.....
|11.19.07 @ 11:43AM|#
I am just enough of a snob to sneer at spoiled rich kids and their idiocy. As the man said, it is pretty hard to cheat an honest man.
Episiarch|11.19.07 @ 11:44AM|#
what i really don't understand is if you're going to spend
much cash to basically be cockteased, why not just spend the money
on a high dollar amount "in home massage" thing
This is exactly my question. I can see, from an atavistic
viewpoint, the appeal of watching a hot-bodied naked chick shake it
in front of you. However, in practice it sucks balls. You are being
cockteased, probably can't even talk to the girl to theoretically
try and nail her, and are side-by-side with a bunch of other horny
guys. And to top it all off, you get to pay through the nose for
this "privelege". Did I mention the cockteasing and blueballs?
|11.19.07 @ 11:49AM|#
In Faye Kellerman's latest crime thriller there is a character
who spends this kind of money on lap dances. I scoffed at how
unrealistic this was, particularly coming from Ms Kellerman's pen.
Guess I was wrong. :-)
Now, I'm off to the big city on this stunningly gorgeous day. If
they were all like this, I'd quit bitching about the traffic. Well,
maybe not.
|11.19.07 @ 11:53AM|#
Epi, exactly, for a grand you could have a stunning 10+ hottie
in a penthouse with a good bottle of wine.
Trying to remember what we called that "blue balls" thing when we
were kids. Some little phrase that ended in 'blues'. :-)
Oh yeah, THE STONE-ACHE BLUES
Guy Montag|11.19.07 @ 11:54AM|#
Okay lawyer doodes, does that business of intoxication preventing/voiding/whatevering a contract come into play here or not?
smartass sob|11.19.07 @ 12:00PM|#
...probably can't even talk to the girl to theoretically try
and nail her...
That would depend on the laws of the particular state where the
club is located. In Texas such clubs always used to fall under the
"saloon law", which basicly means the girls can sit and drink with
the customers - just like in TV and movie westerns. They aren't
allowed to do that in some other states. For example, when I was in
California years ago sitting with the customers was strictly
forbidden. It just depends on where you are.
smartass sob|11.19.07 @ 12:15PM|#
Besides...you ain't gonna "nail" her - more likely she'll nail you for whatever you got on you or can get. Man, if only I had a dollar for everytime I've heard some hotshot boast about how he was gonna get it on with some dancer!
|11.19.07 @ 12:18PM|#
Okay lawyer doodes, does that business of intoxication
preventing/voiding/whatevering a contract come into play here or
not?
Hold on! You're already operating on the premise that the alcohol
made the agent drink.
A person chooses whether (or not) to drink. Once that decision is
made, they are responsible for the results of that decision.
Or, at least, that's how we used to view things, way back when we
used logic and reason...
Episiarch|11.19.07 @ 12:21PM|#
Besides...you ain't gonna "nail" her - more likely she'll
nail you for whatever you got on you or can get.
Uhh...my point was that at a party--which you don't even pay for
necessarily--you can talk to girls and maybe get laid. In a strip
club, you are paying in the first place, and often won't even be
able to talk to the girls. Which means that you have zero chance of
getting laid, even disregarding whether or not it is difficult to
score a dancer.
That's why I ask why people enjoy strip clubs so much. For me, I
would much, much rather attend a party and interact with girls
there, instead of only looking at girls from behind a line.
|11.19.07 @ 12:23PM|#
As a 25-year-old male, I enjoy spending my money on drinks for chicks at a bar (that I have a chance of "nailing" or whatever) far more than throwing money at skanks with caked-on makeup, with whom I have litle chance with, and risk being tossed or beat up for trying...
|11.19.07 @ 12:24PM|#
I am just enough of a snob to sneer at spoiled rich kids and
their idiocy. As the man said, it is pretty hard to cheat an honest
man.
If you think about it, the old man would have come out way ahead if
he had tossed Junior that card on his eighteenth birthday, and then
made him go get a job to pay off the tab. That would be tuition
well spent.
R C Dean|11.19.07 @ 12:29PM|#
Okay lawyer doodes, does that business of intoxication
preventing/voiding/whatevering a contract come into play here or
not?
I'm not aware of any such doctrine. As I recall it, as long as
you're responsible for getting yourself drunk, so you're
responsible for whatever you do while you're drunk.
Now, if someone slips something into your drink, you could try to
claim incapacity to contract, but that's different.
|11.19.07 @ 12:29PM|#
As for this:
Okay lawyer doodes, does that business of intoxication
preventing/voiding/whatevering a contract come into play here or
not?
I would think his only shot at complaining would be if he threw
down all that money and didn't get hammered. After
all, he was buying a distilled spirits in the quest for a "good
time," right?
miche|11.19.07 @ 12:35PM|#
As pathetic as is sounds, stories like this make me miss
stripping's easy money. $53k sounds like more booze and funny money
than I've ever seen, but generally funny money must be signed for
everytime you pull additional amounts so only the cost of booze
could have been a surprise.
It must of been one hell of a graduation party.
smartass sob|11.19.07 @ 12:36PM|#
As the man said, it is pretty hard to cheat an honest
man.
It's even harder to find one; the cynic in me tells me not to look
among the rich and/or politically well-connected.
Guy Montag|11.19.07 @ 12:51PM|#
I'm not aware of any such doctrine. As I recall it, as long
as you're responsible for getting yourself drunk, so you're
responsible for whatever you do while you're drunk.
It was something from business law class, one of the severl things
that can be used to void a contract, like mental defects or being a
juvenile.
Will try to look it up tonight.
|11.19.07 @ 1:04PM|#
[If you were a Liberal Arts major, you'd know where that "Sanity Claus" quote comes from.]
|11.19.07 @ 1:40PM|#
My only complaint is that you always show the same
photograph for every stripper story.
Mmm-kay, Quentin, since you apparently never heard of Google,
here's enough
stripper pics for the next 1,240,000 stripper stories in
Reason.
Probably some stripper movies here .
|11.19.07 @ 1:42PM|#
"I'm not aware of any such doctrine. As I recall it, as long
as you're responsible for getting yourself drunk, so you're
responsible for whatever you do while you're drunk."
How many millions of guys would try to dodge paternity suits that
way?!
If we weren't responsible for what we did when we were drunk, half
the Vegas strip would go belly up by New Years. When I was a kid, I
thought maybe I could drink more than I lost, I guess I should add
that to the list of bets I lost in that town!
|11.19.07 @ 1:42PM|#
2 minor legal points:
In Atlanta (like most of the USA) strip clubs are legal.
Prostitutes are illegal. So, even if pros offer a better return on
investment, many of us do not transact business with them.
It is probably against GA law to serve drinks to someone who is
intoixicated. Servers are required (by law and bar policy) to
believe a customer is not intoxicated (.08) before serving him a
drink. If the club violated that law, it can be held (at least
partially) responsible for some bad outcomes, such as drunk driving
accidents.
I think an argument can be made that if the bar's illegal act
(serving alcohol to an intoxicated person) contributed to his loss,
the bar is exposed to liability. If I represented the bar, I would
advise them to settle up for a reasonable fraction of the $53K. The
CC company has some limited exposure too.
Jennifer|11.19.07 @ 1:48PM|#
Depending on the club, it could well be possible for a fool to
run up such a high bill without any fraud on behalf of the club or
the dancers. I know some clubs where table dances COULD NOT be paid
for in cash: though a dance was (at the time) $10, the guy had to
buy a special coupon from the club (which the dancers could only
redeem for $7, thus giving the club $3 profit).
But here's the thing: it is quite common for table dancers to
receive tips over and above the cost of the dance itself. I
remember once dancing for some guys who were on expense account, so
instead of tipping me with dollar bills, which would come out of
their own pocket, they tipped me with more coupons, which their
expense account pay for. I ended up collecting over a dozen coupons
for a single dance. Multiply that by a few more dancers, and some
trips to the Champagne Room (I always poured my champagne back into
the ice bucket when the guy wasn't looking), and you can run up a
very high bill in almost no time at all.
|11.19.07 @ 1:56PM|#
Believe it or not, you have a chance to recover some casino
losses if "the gambler" (anyone, not just KR) was "very obviously
intoxicated and incompetent" when the house accepted the bet.
The standard is very high. If you can walk + operate your wallet,
you're probably not "obviously intoxicated" enough to
prevail.
But you can win. For example, say I belly up to a craps table with
15 grand in black chips & I instruct the pitboss that I want to
bet a $100 chip on boxcars every throw. They see me drink 3
whiskeys per hour. After 10 hours, I am flat on my back, eyes shut,
no shirt, singing like Waylon Jennings.
At some point, the table has a legal duty to stop accepting my
bets.
Episiarch|11.19.07 @ 1:57PM|#
But Jennifer--53 large? Could somebody run up a bill that high without some shenanigans going on?
Guy Montag|11.19.07 @ 1:59PM|#
I am guessing that some of this is joking, but for the
others:
How many millions of guys would try to dodge paternity suits
that way?!
Not a contract.
If we weren't responsible for what we did when we were drunk,
half the Vegas strip would go belly up by New Years. When I was a
kid, I thought maybe I could drink more than I lost, I guess I
should add that to the list of bets I lost in that town!
This is quite a bit different than what I was noticing in this
incident too.
The act of signing off the credit card charge, I was thinking, is a
form of written contract. Perhaps there is no recourse in this
case, but I was guessing the good smart lawyerie folk here might
know.
It is not quite different from befriending a drunken person and
talking him out of a credit card in his posession, even with
emphatic support from the drunk, and running up a bill. Sounds like
something that could have some relief already established in the
law.
|11.19.07 @ 2:02PM|#
$53,000?!?!?! For that kind of money I can fly from GT to Reno, get a limo to the Mustang Ranch, party all weekend with two chicks, take the limo back to the airport, and fly back to GT.
|11.19.07 @ 2:02PM|#
In a strip club, you are paying in the first place, and
often won't even be able to talk to the girls.
Aside from cultural anthropologists, why would anyone else want to
hear anything that came out of the mouth of a stripper? Let alone
pay to hear it?
Jennifer|11.19.07 @ 2:07PM|#
But Jennifer--53 large? Could somebody run up a bill that
high without some shenanigans going on?
Certainly possible. (Not saying it definitely happened here; I'm
just saying it's possible.) Combine one dumb kid who doesn't feel
the need to be frugal because he's spending Daddy's money, added to
the fact that many people spend more with credit cards than cash
(because the CC doesn't seem to be "real" money until the bill
comes due).
I'd guess the average table dance is $20 these days. Let's also say
this is one of those clubs where table dances have to be
coupon-only rather than cash. A kid who tips four coupons per
dance, for a total of $100, will be VERY popular with the dancers
that night. The average table dance is the length of a single song;
let's say that adds up to 14 songs per hour. Champagne Room visits
probably run about $500 for a half-hour these days, and it's
considered de rigueur to further tip the dancer while she's in
there. (And no, this does NOT assume any prostitution going
on).
This is assuming only one dancer at a time, of course. If the guy
wanted to really live it up, and have multiple dancers performing
for him at once, either doing table dances or Champagne Room
visits, he could reach that amount even sooner.
Hmmmm. I wonder if there's any way I could sell my boss on the idea
of me dancing again for a week or two. For, uh, journalism
purposes. The People's Right To Know.
Guy Montag|11.19.07 @ 2:08PM|#
Aside from cultural anthropologists, why would anyone else
want to hear anything that came out of the mouth of a stripper? Let
alone pay to hear it?
Because Howard Stern is now only available on satellite radio and I
can't hear my favorite bit any more.
Jennifer|11.19.07 @ 2:11PM|#
why would anyone else want to hear anything that came out of
the mouth of a stripper? Let alone pay to hear it?
According to the guys who funded my collegiate and postgraduate
education, it's because I was damned witty and charming.
Guy Montag|11.19.07 @ 2:23PM|#
According to the guys who funded my collegiate and
postgraduate education, it's because I was damned witty and
charming.
That you are. Jennifer is the brightest and most riveting dame in
da joint!
Jennifer|11.19.07 @ 2:30PM|#
Being a double-jointed redhead with a bad-grade bra size didn't hurt, either.
|11.19.07 @ 2:34PM|#
*reads Jennifer's descriptions*
Egad. And here I was thinking this was just patently hinky.
Jennifer|11.19.07 @ 2:47PM|#
Other considerations: is this one of those clubs where the
dancers get a percentage of any drinks the guys buy for them? I've
worked in a few such clubs; if I buy myself a drink, it would be $5
and have the standard amount of alcohol; if a guy buys me a drink,
he'd pay $10 or $15, I'd get $5 or $10 at the end of the night, and
the drink would contain so little booze that even my lightweight
self could down a dozen in an hour with barely a buzz.
Again, you can see how a guy buying rounds for several dancers
could quickly run up a huge bill.
|11.19.07 @ 2:57PM|#
As to the econ content, I apply Canada Bill Jones' motto: It is morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money.
|11.19.07 @ 2:57PM|#
You see? Here's the evidence that strip clubs are a social ill and should be banned because they take money from unwitting victims.
miche|11.19.07 @ 4:05PM|#
It seems that you guys are assuming that this is one guy celebrating his graduation all by himself. It was more likely one guy's credit card paying for a large party. You can't go to dinner with a large party of people without paying for someone else's shit so imagine what happens when a large group is in the VIP area of a topless bar.
|11.19.07 @ 9:09PM|#
"Dad should be thankful he didn't get a liberal arts
degree."
Right. I'm a liberal arts major and I've been earning well into six
figures for several years now. And my job is basically telling
business majors how to organize their own crap - crap I never even
studied in college.
There are some brilliant business majors out there, of course, but
I've also met so many morons with MBAs in management positions
(again , advising them on their own subject material) that I often
wonder how many corporations make any money at all.
Captain MOAB|11.20.07 @ 12:12AM|#
If this guy knew how to have a good time he would have just gone to Girls R Fun. What's the good word?
Guy Montag|11.20.07 @ 8:28AM|#
There are some brilliant business majors out there, of
course, but I've also met so many morons with MBAs in management
positions (again , advising them on their own subject material)
that I often wonder how many corporations make any money at
all.
Ahem . . . I have a slightly different experience. The morons with
MBAs, or getting an MBA typically had libaral arts/humanaties
undergrad degrees, occasionally an engineering degree.
The ones with a BS in Business seemed to be just fine.
|11.20.07 @ 8:55AM|#
Let's do the math here folks. Let's say the lap dances were tops $10 for a minute (a bit pricey). That would come out to $600 an hour. He would need 90 hours of personal lap dances to run up that kind of tab. Maybe he rented a VIP room? Maybe a $1000 an hour. Now throw in a few friends and maybe you bring it down to a couple nights of lapdances. Alcohol, if the establishment serves it or not, could be another factor. Still, it's hard to believe that the club could honestly run up a 54k tab on an individual any given night or couple of nights. The 24 year old is not the only one who looks stupid, the club owners are going to end up with lawyers trying to figure out just how they could honestly charge any individual 54 k in one night. Do they provide "special services"? Were they double charging him every time? If you're running this kind of business you need somebody overseeing everything to make sure everything comes out on the up and up. However, the nature of the business tends to attract greedy lowbrow lowlifes who are looking for a fast buch and not bright enough to see the big picture.
Jennifer|11.20.07 @ 11:41AM|#
Let's say the lap dances were tops $10 for a minute (a bit
pricey). That would come out to $600 an hour.
Six hundred per hour per dancer. Don't assume he only paid for the
services of one dancer at a time.
Still, it's hard to believe that the club could honestly run up
a 54k tab on an individual any given night or couple of
nights.
No, it's quite possible. Not knowing the details I can't say for
certain it happened in this instance, but it is MORE than possible.
The most I ever made for one single song was only around $250, but
I remember one girl one night who for some reason REALLY caught the
eye of this one man; he tipped her $100 bills all night and she
walked out of there with several thousand dollars after only a
two-hour shift.
Since the guys are expected to tip dancers, there's no actual
ceiling to how much they can spend in an hour or a night. It's not
like buying gas, where there's a maximum amount of gasoline your
car can consume in a given hour.
However, the nature of the business tends to attract greedy
lowbrow lowlifes who are looking for a fast buch and not bright
enough to see the big picture.
I'll admit it, I spent those years dancing because I wanted to make
a fast buck (and get a little exercise while I did). What was the
"big picture" I was too dim to see, though?
Dynamist Dan|11.20.07 @ 12:09PM|#
This doesn't seem much like he poster for capitalism that it's made out to be. Capitalism depends on voluntary transactions. If unscrupulous employees of an establishment ask a drunk patron to buy them drinks and then put unusually expensive drinks on his tab without informing him of their cost that's not the sort of transaction capitalism envisions. It may be more problematic and undesirable to have any sort of law in place that prevents this from happening, but that doesn't mean we should celebrate the morally corrupt who take advantage of inefficiencies in the system.
Jennifer|11.20.07 @ 12:15PM|#
Capitalism depends on voluntary transactions. If
unscrupulous employees of an establishment ask a drunk patron to
buy them drinks and then put unusually expensive drinks on his tab
without informing him of their cost that's not the sort of
transaction capitalism envisions.
How do you know he was not aware of the costs? Why do you assume he
wasn't acting in a voluntary fashion at the time? This is sounding
like the male financial equivalent of the drunk woman who
chooses to have sex with a man, but when she sobers up the
next morning she decides the guy wasn't so hot after all, and thus
retroactively cries "rape!" because to her way of thinking, that
sounds better than "When I was drunk I chose to do something stupid
which I now regret."
|11.22.07 @ 3:07PM|#
Another funny as hell column from Hart. He is as funny as PJ O'Rourke ever was and I am glad he is writing. On the charges, I read where the kid signed for all of them and they called Amex to verify. That is what a Ga Tech kid gets when he first encounters nakid women!!
|11.23.07 @ 10:58AM|#
Student and Dad-stupid, yes, Strip Club Operator and Dancers-criminal-absolutely!
|11.24.07 @ 7:04AM|#
It's always the obvious things in life that are potentially the funniest and most asburd. Ron Hart does a fine job tapping the tree of crazy! Well done.
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