Scores/ Penthouse

Me: *hands guy my card and says my spiel*

Random Guy at Pickles Pub: Oh yea, I’ve heard of this strip club! Are you a dancer?

Me: No, but I do a wicked Macarena *smiles sheepishly*

******

I worked for a strip club when I lived in Baltimore.

My managers preferred to use the term “Gentleman’s club” and the strippers were referred to as “entertainers” …because we’re a classy joint *wink wink*

The club was known as Scores when I worked there but it changed management and is now known as The Penthouse Club Baltimore. I would do a shift or special event 3-4 evenings every week during the season. I’d work 8a-4p at my clinical research job, go home/shower/quick nap/eat/change, then be at the club by 6p and my shift would be 2-3 hours. Rinse and Repeat for three years.

 The Club

It’s not the biggest in Baltimore (I think Hustler is), but I would say it’s the best quality. The girls are HOT. Everyone’s fit, gorgeous and friendly. You’re not going to find people who look like toothless crack whores here.

The food is surprisingly excellent. Not just for a strip club, but as a place of entertainment in general. You can get a meal at the club that could match any decent sports bar in quality and price. Plus, you get tits.

The location is in the slightly sketchy part of town, but I never personally felt unsafe.

The Job

I wasn’t a stripper, sorry not sorry to disappoint. My job was to do promotion and get people into the club.

I’d come into the club wearing a branded tank top and fill out a few stacks of promo cards with my initials. The promo card entitles the recipient to Free Admission into the club most days and a reduced cover charge on weekends. It could easily save them $15 so it was an easy sell.  I got paid $20 an hour plus $5 commission every time a guest used one of my cards.

^That commission is insanely good. Other clubs only paid their promo girls hourly. Some clubs paid an extra $1 commission per head.

The managers would drop me and another girl off at the location for the day. Locations were: Pickles Pub so we could catch Orioles fans before the game, parking lots and bars around the stadium for Ravens games, Bars at Fells Point and Federal Hill, concerts at Ram’s and Pier 6

My job was to chat people up, focusing on guys with their friends (jackpot if they were part of a bachelor party). I’d tell them about the specials:

Monday Free lunch.

Tuesday $2 tacos.

Wednesday Whisky and Burger for $10.

Friday Free Buffet.

And my absolute favorite: Steak, Cake and Shake on a Thursday! You get a STEAK, a CRAB CAKE and a LAP DANCE for $10! And let me tell you…it is LEGIT. You get a NY strip steak, a crab cake with visible crab lumps and a boat of veggies for a side.

There were also special events at the club like themed parties: Hawaiian Luau (all the lei’d puns), cowgirl night with a mechanical bull, “prom”, cigar night, fight night and all the major holidays.

The Benefits

-Money: I made excellent money using skills I’m good at to do something I enjoyed. And isn’t that what we all want in a job?

-Free Events: I was able to go to Moonrise (EDM Festival) and Preakness (Horse Race/ concert/ alcohol). The club paid for my tickets to both. I was DEEP into the EDM scene when I was living in Baltimore (story for another time). Moonrise is $150+ for a two day ticket and I got a VIP pass because my manager was also working security at the event. I hung out with my friends, listened to all my favorite DJs, got free drinks and didn’t wait in line to get in.

My best commission day was Preakness 2019. It was like shooting into a barrel of fish because most of the people there are bros hanging out with their bro friends who like to drink and want to be the big man on campus i.e. my target clientele. I could easily hand out 6-10 cards at a time for a minute of chatting. It paid off.

-Autonomy: I had a lot of freedom to work the way I wanted to. We could eat/drink/wander on the clock and do as we please. My managers didn’t micromanage me and trusted me to get the job done, which was reflected on my commission.

-Social life: Usually I’d be paired with another girl and a bunch of us became good friends. Shout out to Minnie, Amber, Nathalie, Crystal, Steph, Sara and Kelsi. We’d talk about our triumphs, vent about our problems and bitch about fuckboys. We’d party together, cheer each other up, get high and sometimes do dumb shit…but we always made it back to the club somehow.  Everything is better with good company, including the moon…which so happens to be in the sky (LMAO Minnie).

-Explore my city: I was in my early 20’s, single gal in a little “big” city, living on my own. The club had ties to the community and the sports teams which are the pride and joy of Baltimore. Without realizing it till much later, I was able to network with people around Baltimore, become more comfortable in the area and familiar with my surroundings. Most of the main locations, the club, and where I lived were all contained within a few square miles. I could get to most within a 10 min drive or an hour walk.

-Flexible: It didn’t conflict with my day job. My manager would send me a list of the gigs that week and I’d text back with the ones I wanted to do. I could work as much or as little as I wanted and I could always count on it to be there.

-Free Concerts: The club used to have a good relationship with the Ram’s Head Live and Pier 6 Pavilion venues. The club would give their staff a free holiday party and in exchange, the promo girls could go to any concert and hand out passes to the concert goers. If the gig was 3 hours, I’d cumulatively work maybe 45 mins tops. Why? Because I could only talk to people during intermission or when the bands were changing. The rest of the time, I’d enjoy the concert.

Scores Girls at Sublime Concert

My best concert experiences on the job: Breaking Benjamin is my favorite rock band. When I found out they were playing at Ram’s Head Live, the tickets were already sold out. I was gutted to be so close yet so far. This was when I first started working for the club and when I offhandedly mentioned the situation to my manager he said, “Oh, that concert is on our promo schedule next week, do you want to work it?”

And I say, “So, just like that? You can get me into a SOLD OUT concert of my FAVORITE band…and you’re gonna PAY ME for it too?!” Yes. The answer was Yes…on both sides. It was AWESOME and I had the best time 😊

There was one concert I went to which was a throwback rock concert for 90’s/ 2000’s bands. It was at the Pier 6 Pavilion which is a fantastic venue because it’s outdoors. There’s grass, seats, shade and a huge stage. If you can’t afford a ticket, you can still hear the concert from the periphery of the harbor. I was most excited to see Trapt. My fellow promo girl and friend, Steph, and I are chatting people up during intermission and we talk to this guy sitting by his lonesome.

He ends up being a member of one of the bands playing; I think it was Crazy Town, known for the song “Butterfly”. He’s really nice to us and takes us backstage where we hang out for the rest of the shift. I was able to see Trapt from the back-left side.

It’s funny; There’s an allure and mystique to going “backstage” and I’m glad I experienced it. But I gotta say, the view and the sound quality is much better from the front…

Now?

Those were the glory days. Currently the club is open but has been on hiatus because of Covid-19 and social distancing. Also, I’m not sure if the promo girls can go to concerts anymore. The venues got new management and weren’t allowing us in during the tail end of my time there. It’s moot anyway because large gatherings aren’t happening.

I wonder how the club runs things now: Will cash still be rained on the entertainers? Will they be doing lap dances with masks on? Will they even do lap dances at all? Will they be squirting…hand sanitizer?

And for the love of Johns and all that is unholy: WILL THERE STILL BE STEAK, CAKE AND SHAKE ON THURSDAYS?!!!

Thank You

Everyone was good to me. My managers gave me slack, praise, respect, and trust. The staff always greeted me with smiles and big hugs. Doing promo for the club was my most consistent side gig and it helped me save a lot of money so I could travel the world.

I loved it.

It was the best job I ever had.