Search Results for: mamasan

A. Santos Street (Blow Road), The Facts

Posted on December 2, 2010 by wpadmin

A Santos Street or blow road as it is colloquially known is somewhat of an icon in the history of the Angeles bar scene. Many have experienced A. Santos Street numerous times in the past, others have visited this area a couple of times and can hardly wait to do so again, some others have heard all about it but are yet to visit whilst still others have no idea what goes on here and thought the nick name referred to the cooling breeze that sometimes blows down the street during the rainy season.

Looking down Blow Road towards Honky Tonk bar.
To understand blow road, what it represents, the services offered there and how it is changing, it is first necessary to look at the history. Exactly when A. Santos Street came into existence is a matter of debate but the most common opinion places it around about the late seventies, early eighties. The blow job bars were a direct reflection of the American influence which at that time was the predominant influence thanks to numerous air force and army personnel that occupied Clark Air base. This was in some ways the beginning of the bar industry in Angeles. Prior to blow road there were numerous specialty blow job bars scattered throughout the Angeles bar area but there was no single street dedicated exclusively to this service. Blow Road was the first area where bars offering a specialty service (blow jobs) were grouped together all in one street. It seems to be a common Filipino trait to group specialty shops together, for example, if an internet shop opens in a certain area and proves to be profitable invariably numerous other internet shops will suddenly appear in the same area. These same phenomena can be observed in many different countries throughout the world and this is exactly how blow road developed.

The Angeles bar scene has changed dramatically since the times when small back to basic blow job bars proliferated however given their history the blow job bars on A. Santos Street with their back to basic style and promise of sexual gratification to some extent represent the beginning of the commercialized bar business and their continued existence 40 years later demonstrates that they represent the hidden heart of the Angeles bar scene. The Blow Job bars are basically the cheaper end of the Angeles bar scene, the drinks and the bar fines are also cheaper with an emphasis on instant sexual gratification in the form of an on premises short time. In a way Blow Road represents the cheaper sleazier side of the Angeles bar scene and it primarily attracts people who are either on a budget or seeking a no nonsense blowjob by an accomplished performer. Having said that here is also an element of wealthy patrons who regularly visit blow road simply because it represents great value for money and they like the no nonsense, results orientated, approach. There is also a certain element specifically amongst the wealthy patrons who are attracted the more simplistic sleazier side of the bar business. Here in the iconic Blow Road its back to basics and what you see is what you get its cheap sex in cheap surroundings and in its own way an essential part of bar business that attracts us to Angeles and makes us refer to this little dust bowl as paradise.

The Black Pearl still remains the quintessential blow job bar.

When I think back to my early days in the Philippines the first blow road bars that spring to mind are the Mega Head and Super Head, however, this was only in the early nineties just after Mount Pinatubo’s explosion and I am sure this area has seen many bars come and go long before the Mega and Super Head bars. The names of these two bars reflect the American influence since it is common for Americans to refer to oral sex as “head”. The two Head bars were owned by Terry Mathews who ironically is Australian and is still around today being the current owner of Owls Nest Bar. The two Head bars like all the bars on Blow Road operated on the no frills, back to basic approach, and this approach is still very much evident in the Santos Street bars of today and they provide the antithesis of the bigger more commercialized Fields Avenue Bars.

Another bar, the name of which now eludes me, used to specialize in “sample blow jobs”. This involved the customer walking in and sitting at a large table with a curtain underneath it, the girl would then crawl underneath the table and proceed to perform oral sex on you. The sample blow job would last for 3 minutes and would cost a massive 100 piso. If you ejaculated during the sample the cost would be 300 piso. Whilst this may seem cheap it was in reality a clever marketing ploy since 90% of the time the male customers would pay for the girl to finish what she had started which would involve an extra 300 piso payment, for the short time, on top of the initial 100 piso for the sample.

Another thing I really liked about the old days was the bar lingo that evolved around the blow job bars. Back then they almost had a type of secret language to describe certain actions. For example it was common place to hear lines like, “Honey ko I give you Colgate BJ” (This was a blow job with toothpaste which would cause a slight tingling especially when a menthol flavored toothpaste was used) or “it’s nice with ice” (this was a blowjob where the girl would be halfway through and suddenly put ice in her mouth causing a sudden chill). In today’s blow road these sayings seemed to have faded into obscurity and have been replaced by a more direct parlance where the girls will simply offer you a blow job straight out and not bother with quaint little expressions.

The Blow Road Bars are very much the antithesis of the bigger, higher profile, commercialized, girlie bars that seem to be proliferating in the modern day Angeles bar scene. The A. Santos Street bars unlike their bigger sister Fields Avenue bars are small and epitomize the no frills approach. In these bars you can expect to find a small balcony area overlooking the street. This area will traditionally have comfortable chairs where patrons can mingle with the girls who work in the bars and enjoy a cool drink while they watch life on the street go by.

Shagger and his new found friend at Shadows.

Shagger happily ensconced on the balcony of Gobbles.
The outside balcony area will normally be composed of a high shelf where customers can rest their drink and a series of chairs or in some cases a comfortable lounge where customers can sit back and relax whilst they wile away the time in a comfortable environment. These areas are at best very basic, the furniture is either plastic chairs or old lounges which are comfortable but have seen better days. The area is kept cool by strategically placed overhead fans, the range of drinks is very limited and service is kept to the basics. For example these bars do not have any set waitresses but rely on the “working girls” to double up and perform the waitressing duties as well. There are no uniforms or bikini clad dancers in these bars but rather just a series of girls dressed in normal street clothes all of whom are invariably orally talented.

Mvpimp surrounded by a newly found fan club on the balcony of Shadows.
The one exception to this is Honky Tonk where the girls actually wear a Honky Tonk uniform however they are still not formal waitresses or dancers.

The Honky Tonk girls are unique in that they actually wear a Honky Tonk bar uniform.

Two new little spinners at Honky Tonk looking good in the red Honky Tonk uniform.
Another interesting aspect of the Blow Road bars is how the girls and the customers relate. Whenever one visits these bars you will normally see regular customers who use the bars as their local watering hole. In most cases the girls know these customers by name and the customers know the girls by name. Very obviously these customers have indulged in the girls services before yet there is a sort of laid back respect between the girl and customer and no possessiveness is encountered here. In fact quite the opposite is true and it is not uncommon to see people riding or walking by, smile and stop to chat with the girls whom they have obviously been with before.

One major difference between Blow Road Bars and Fields Avenue bars is the type of girl you will find and how they are presented. In the bigger Fields Avenue bars the music is louder and the girls are presented in bikinis as they gyrate their bodies on a well lit stage. Typically these girls will have their hair done, their nails polished and will wear makeup along with high heals or even boots. The Blow Road bars are a far cry from this, here the girl’s wear little if no makeup, and there is no commercial presentation of sexuality. These bars place an emphasis on the no frills approach where the girls wear little if no makeup, flat heal shoes, no lipstick and very basic clothing such as shorts and a t-shirt. The girl’s sexuality in these bars is raw and uncompromised, in most cases they know exactly what their job is and how to perform it. Do not expect fashion sense or cultural erudition from these girls, they are here to perform a job and in most cases they are extremely skilled at it.

Two of the little hummers from Shadows bar
Another major difference between the Blow Road bars and the Fields Avenue bars is the number of girls they employ. Generally speaking the Blow Road Bars will employ the basic minimum of girls which ranges from ten through to, in the case of Shadows, thirty girls. These bars will generally be open 24/7 and the girls will mostly work a 12 hour shift. These bars are generally cheaper than the main Fields Avenue bars and as such the girls will place an emphasis on the quantity of customers not the quality. When we researched this article we asked many of the girls what sort of tips they got and in general they stated they were happy with a 100 to 300 piso tip and very happy with a 500 peso tip.

One interesting aspect of the Blow Road bars is that the girls receive no salary but instead survive on “commission only”. In Fields Avenue it is not uncommon to see salary hikes as the various bars compete to attract the hottest girls and the cost of these salary hikes is passed onto the customer in terms of higher prices. This is certainly not the case in Blow Road where all the bars neglect to pay the girls working there any salary. The no salary aspect keeps the girls keen to get a customer and to perform well. The blow road girls rely on the customers tips as much as they do the commission from the bar. It also has the pleasant effect of helping to keep costs to a bare minimum which is passed onto the customer in terms of lower prices. When I first discovered this back in 1996 I was working in Illusions and several girls from a blow road bar came and worked there. The girls lasted for two weeks then slowly but surely began to drift back to the blow road bars where they came from initially. I was perplexed by their disappearance figuring that since they received no salary in the Blow Road bar they must be making more money in Illusions. After they had left I posed this opinion to Wolfy the owner and he promptly contradicted me saying in actual fact the girls could make more money in Blow Road even without a salary than they could at Illusions. I asked him how is this possible and he replied “do the math’s”. “A productive girl in Blow Road can do 3 or more short times a day followed by a long time” At this period in time the short time was 500 peso of which the girl got half as commission and the long time was 1000. In short she could earn 750 piso commission on the short times plus whatever the customer tipped her then on the long time she could earn a further 500 plus whatever the customer tipped her when completed. With the average tip in those days being 100 for a short time and 300 for a long time the girl could earn 1850 piso for a days work. On the other hand in Illusions she had to dance and would get a salary of 100 piso. The bar fine in those days was 1000 piso and the girl would get 500. The average tip was 300 piso which would mean earnings of 900 piso for a nights work. The money may be better and the work less physically strenuous in the BJ bars but there is also a downside and that is the fact that in the normal dancing bars the girls work a 9 hour shift but in the BJ bars they work a 12 hour shift.

One thing I always found amusing was the seemingly contradictory advent of the cherry girl blow jobber. For me a girl who maintains her virginity yet is adept at oral sex is a contradiction in terms yet in blow road this is a common occurrence. Many times I have met girls who in line with the moral traditions of Philippine society have maintained their virginity yet these same so called good girls are more than adept at performing oral sex. Once again I think this boils down to economic reality juxtaposed against societies moral expectations. The girls get a job performing oral sex to meet economic pressures yet to stay in line with moral expectations she remains a virgin. I have always found the idea of young innocent cherry girls performing oral sex for a living contradictory and at the same time intriguing. They are definitely one of the contradictions that make blow road such an interesting and unique place. For the experienced mongerers whose taste veers towards the ‘fresher” inexperienced girls then the Blow Road bars should certainly be checked out periodically.

A cute cherry girl in whose mouth butter wouldn’t melt yet she can perform oral sex in the blink of an eye.
There are a series of questions which are commonly asked regarding the bars on Blow Road and two of the most common are how do the girls get a job like this and secondly how are they taught the oral skills they so rapidly become adept at. Over the years I have asked the Blow Road girls on many occasions how they got to be working on Blow Road and over four generations of bar girls the stories are nearly always the same. Invariably these girls find their way to Blow Road because while residing in the province they have met a friend or a relative who has been working in blow road and has returned to the province with what looks like conspicuous wealth. This conspicuous wealth will normally take the form of cash or jewelry and it is only a matter of time before the provincial girls get curious and start to ask questions how this wealth was obtained. This is when they find out about A. Santos Street and working in the bars. Most of the time they will be told the job is as a waitress serving rich foreigners which in turn gives them an acceptable excuse to tell their parents. In the larger Fields Avenue bars there seems to be an over abundance of Samar girls but in Blow Road I have always found a proliferation of girls from Leyte.

When it comes to teaching the new girls how to perform oral sex several methods are utilized. Firstly there is the practical demonstration using a banana or zucchini. This is normally conducted by the mamasan or by the resident bakla, (the baklas or gays are a fact of life in the Philippine blow job bars), or by one of the more experienced girls. The banana demonstration will normally be accompanied by a running diatribe from the person instructing and the more experienced girls who always seem to want to put in their two cents worth whenever these instructional events occur. A second method will just be word of mouth where a mamasan or older girl will take the new comers aside and simply answer any questions the new girl may have. A third method will be the new girls just keeping their ears and eyes open. Often they will listen in to the conversations of the other girls or the baklas both of whom will commonly swap graphically detailed tales about their experiences and techniques utilized. Lastly they have what is certainly my favorite teaching method where a new girl is invited by a more experienced girl to actually watch and sometimes participate, in a real life blow job.

Over my years of managing bars and living in Angeles I have been asked many questions and in regards to blow road some of the more common are what is the average age of the girls that work here, do they do threesomes and do they have to go to social hygiene like the girls working on Fields Avenue. To be truthful I have no idea what the average age of the girls working in the bars is but I can state that it is always worth checking out the blow road bars because there is nearly always some new recruits arriving from the provinces and being part of their learning curve I have found to be a very pleasurable experience. We also asked the girls what were the peak times for customers and they told us from 5 to 8 and then again from 2 to 4 in the morning. From this we hypothesized that many customers will come down blow road to get their rocks off prior to starting their bar hop and then later in the early morning hours there is the second wave of customers who having failed to find anything that takes their fancy in the mainstream Fields Avenue bars will visit the Blow Road bars for quick sexual gratification.

There are also a number of other commonly asked question and two of the most common are do these girls go to hygiene and where NOT to go on Blow Road or more accurately what bars not to frequent. The answer to the first question is yes the girls on Blow Road have to go to hygiene once a week just like the girls who work the Fields Avenue bars. In regards to the second question when people ask this they are generally referring to the Baklas or the lady boy bars. Up until about 2 years ago the Lady Boys were a constant on Blow Road hunting for customers day and night but thanks to a police crackdown these days they are less prevalent and only really come out at night time. What’s more when they do come out you will normally find them on the left hand side of the road (looking down A Santos Street from Kokomos). As the night progresses the lady boys gets bolder and make their way to Fields Avenue where they normally hang outside La Bamba Rhapsody and Lollipop all bars which are closed by 3AM.

Other commonly asked questions include are the girls photo friendly and do they do threesomes. When it comes to photographs on the whole I have found the girls approachable and photo friendly except when performing oral sex activities. They will always draw the line at this point, in fact none of the bars would let us take a photo of their short time rooms for fear of repercussions. In regards to threesomes well I have managed to do this twice with blow road girls but on the whole it has been my experience that they are not so much into it. They will easily do two girls performing oral sex but when it comes to “playing” with each other they tend to play shy and decline. It has been my experience that these girls learn very quickly to regard sexual activity especially blow jobs as a job and not for pleasure. Many people have asked me is this area safe at night and are there mamasans or bar managers in these bars. In regards to the safety question I have never encountered a problem here but my advice would be to stay away from the Baklas as consorting with them in the early morning hours will invariably lead to trouble. With the advent of the new up market hotels such as the Pacific Breeze and the Wild Orchid this area has indeed by cleaned up, street lights put in and the sleaze element is much less pronounced than in days gone by. In regards to the Mamasan and Manager question the answer is yes for both. All Blow Road bars will have a Mamasan who will often double up as the manager or even head waitress. This is a prime example of multi tasking in order to keep the operating costs down. One bar Honky Tonk has a well known manager/owner named Ken who is always ready with a yarn or two shared over a friendly drink.

Wow cocktail lounge which is frequented by both lady boys and real women.

Personally I do not like the Lady Boys as they are normally ugly and are prone to pick pocketing or sometimes straight out mugging what’s more the vast majority of them are supporting a drug habit due to their constant need to be skinny. Many years ago the Lady boys would proliferate on Blow Road and they were famous for soliciting customers and performing oral services right on the street. This was all very well except for the fact that whilst giving head their hands would be riffling through the customers pockets seeking out wallets or other valuables.

Despite the numerous detractions of the Lady Boys they are not all bad and do indeed perform a valuable service when they teach the girls how to perform a blow job. I have heard it said many times that only a man can truly know what another man wants and I have come across several guys who swear by the lady boys saying that they give the best blow jobs they have ever had.

As in all things change is inevitable and over the last five years with the coming of the up-market hotels on A. Santos Street (Blow Road) has certainly seen some changes. With the coming of hotels such as the Wild Orchid and the Pacific Breeze the area now sees a more up market clientele walking on the street as opposed to the less financially flush locals or long term tourists who are bargain hunting.

To cater for this market the Blow Road bars have to some extent changed, at least in terms of their external appearance and leading the way is Honky Tonk. Situated directly across the road from Wild Orchid hotel Mention here how the advent of new hotels has taken the area up -scale a little bit and increased passing traffic, this in turn has caused the bars to go slightly up market and take on more of a social drinking aspect as opposed to quick sexual satisfaction. Honky Tonk now has a new clean facade a large wet bar area, a pool table, a large screen plasma TV hooked up to a satellite receiver, bar girls with Honky Tonk uniforms, a number of comfortable lounge chairs where the customers can sit back and relax with the girl of their choice, a series of stools around the wet bar where groups of customers can congregate and swap a yarn or two over a few cold ones and a large managers table which can seat up to 8 people comfortably.

The outside of Honky Tonk which greets customers as they walk out of the Wild Orchid hotel.

The Honky Tonk managers table. Note the chairs great for relaxing in with some good friends.

Ezindebar enjoys the company of a new found spinner friend at the managers table in Honky Tonk.

Some Honky Tonk girls in uniform. All of whom have well honed oral skills.

Shagger enjoys the company of two Honky Tonk girls.

The well stocked bar at Honky Tonk sets it apart from other BJ bars.

The comfortable lounges where the Honky Tonk girls willing to chat and have a few drinks with you.

The outside nature of these bars and the back to basics approach reminds me of the Pattaya Beer bars which are in juxtaposition to the larger and more glitzy go-go bars. The great thing about the outside nature of these bars is that they serve as a social meeting place and the girls who work here are keen to communicate with you, yet there is little if no ladies drink pressure. Initially the girls will try to part you from your money by offering you a short time which costs 700 piso and involves a trip to a private room in the back of the establishment however if you stick to your guns and politely tell them you are only interested in relaxing and having a chat with them they will on the most part grant you your wishes and there will be little or no ladies drink pressure.

Behind the balcony area overlooking the street is generally a small area which includes a wet bar area, a basic sound system, normally a cd player with a limited selection of musical cd’s, one or two small tables and chairs, occasionally a pool table, overhead fans, a single overhead light bulb and some very basic kitchen decorations. The range of alcohol on sale is normally limited and in some of the bars they do not stock imported Whiskeys, Vodkas, Bourbons or other imported drinks. On the positive side the drinks they do serve are very reasonably priced and make a refreshing change from the Fields Avenue bars.

Inside the black pearl.

A sign of the times. The Black Pearl diversifies and installs computers.

The very limited range of alcoholic beverages in Shadows Bar.

The drinks price list in Shadows, notice the limited number of imported alcoholic beverages.
Behind the middle room will normally be one or two short time rooms. The short time rooms or back rooms as they are alternatively called are very basic and will normally include a miniature towel, a bare light bulb and a rickety old bed. There will be a nightstand or a cabinet of sorts where the girls will keep rubbing alcohol and condoms if required, there will also normally be pictures of the special boyfriend or family members along with religious paraphernalia. These girls specialize in giving blow jobs but I have always found it rather disconcerting getting blown with Jesus looking on. The short time rooms are not exactly luxurious and in most cases they offer the bare minimum. There is no air conditioning unit just stand alone fans and the doors are made of plywood offering very limited privacy. Most of the room is taken up by the bed but there is always enough room for you to stand up and for the girl to kneel down. These rooms are by no means sound proof and it is not unusual to hear every detail of the activities going on in the room next door. Personally I have fond memories of many encounters in rooms such as these and I can even recall periods when they were cracking down on blow road which meant climbing over rickety old ladders into a pitch black open air area and there while hiding behind a lahar brick wall the girls would squat down and perform their oral antics. These rooms often double up as sleeping quarters for the girls and it if you go in for a blow job at a late hour it is not uncommon to have to wake up a number of sleeping beauties who when aroused will look up at you with sleepy eyes then scurry out of the room issuing child like giggles.

Here is a basic table of the drink prices in the Blow Road bars:

Gobbles and Honky Tonk bars
Local customer drinks 50p
Imported customer drinks 150p
Local ladies drinks 120p
Imported ladies drinks 180p
Short time 700p
Long time 1200p

These two bars are owned by the same person and represent the slightly more up market blow job bars. They have been renovated, the wet bar is better stocked and the short time rooms are slightly more clean and better maintained.

Other bars in this area include The Black Pearl Shadows and Heaven Bar. Their pricing is as follows.

The Black Pearl
Local customer drink 50 piso
Imported customer drink 120 piso
Local ladies drink 120 piso
Imported ladies drink (Tequila) 120 piso
Short time 700 piso
Long time 1500 piso

Shadows Bar
Local customer drink 50 piso
Imported customer drink 120 piso.
Short time 700 piso
Long time 1300 piso

Heaven Bar
Local customer drink 50 piso
Imported customer drink 120 piso
Local Ladies drink 120 piso
Short time 700 piso
Long time 1300 piso

Of these bars on Blow Road I have two personal favorites these being Shadows bar and Honky Tonk. I like Shadows bar because it has an old fashioned sort of ambiance and reminds me of my younger days when I was first experiencing the delights of Blow Road. Also I think it is important to note that in my experience Shadows has always had the best looking and good performing girls. I like Honky Tonk for completely the opposite reason. Honky Tonk represents the new Blow Road and as such it is cleaner and the social aspect of the guys having a drink together is more emphasized here.

Blow Road is in many ways an anachronism and harks back to the old days of sexual gratification on the premises. With the new hotels and condominium developments moving into the area people have prophesized that Blow Road cannot last in its current form. Whilst the logic behind these prophecies was sound the Blow Road bars seemed to have defied logic and they continue to carry on much as they have always done offering cheap customer drinks cheap ladies drinks and blow jobs in short time rooms out back. It is true to say that many Blow Road bars have increased their prices but these have only been marginal increases and it is still markedly cheaper than most Fields Avenue bars. Another change is in the physical appearance of the bars. The owners of bars such as Honky Tonk have spent a little money sprucing their establishment up but this is only a surface level change and once you get passed it and into the short time rooms out back the game is much the same as it always has been where licking and sucking are the order of the day.

Posted in Angeles City Survival Guide | Tagged angeles city, asian bar girls, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, big bars, black pearl, blow road, Fields Avenue, filipina, gobbles, honky tonk, lbfm, philippines, santos, small bars | Leave a comment

The Filipina Double Standard

Posted on November 14, 2010 by wpadmin

Previously I wrote an article titled “Understanding your Filipina” and in this article I tried to give a small generalized insight into how the Filipina thinks as well as a short critique of Philippine culture that shapes her world and personality. This article is almost like an addendum to the first article in that it deals with a unique aspect of the Filipina bar girls behavior, and that aspect is the infamous double standard or as I like to call it the butterfly effect.

In the so called Western world there is a famous sexual double standard which states that if the male has numerous sexual partners he is a stud, he is seen as virile and masculine however if a woman has numerous sexual partners she is seen as a slut or a lose woman and in some cases incorrectly labeled a whore. In short one type of behavior is acceptable and even encouraged for the male but is unacceptable for the female. For the same act one sex is praised and revered while the other is reviled, and judged. This is the classic sexual double standard.

Well guess what, in the Philippines a country where masculinity is alive and well and the women, especially the bar girls, are supposedly exploited, it is the women who have the double standard. In the bar scene where foreign men pay for the sexual services of women it is ironically the women (bar girls) who have the double standard, not the men. This double standard is where the bar girl considers it acceptable for her to have numerous sexual partners but unacceptable for the male to do the same thing. What is good for the goose is certainly not good for the gander. This double standard is normally expressed by the girl saying “you big butterfly” hence my term the butterfly syndrome.

The Filipina bar girl is in many ways a unique species with a way of thinking that for us foreigners is totally alien or as one AE member expressed it, “totally out of wack” and perhaps the best example of this is the butterfly syndrome. If you have more than one sexual partner then the girls will call you a butterfly. This term is an analogy that likens the practice of having numerous sexual partners to the behavior of a butterfly when it flitters from flower to flower sipping at the pollen.

The term ‘butterfly’ does imply a certain amount of moralistic judgment and it does represent a classic double standard but at the same time there is an element of humor in the term and it is meant more as a flippant observation than a severe moralistic judgment. If the bar girls call you a babaero ( a playboy) or a balakero (literally translated “a man who uses women”) then you know she is more serious than if she simply calls you a butterfly.

The butterfly analogy is delightfully feminine and typical Filipina, yet at the same time for us foreigners, blatantly hypocritical. Why is it that in the bar girls mind it is ok for her to have sex with numerous different partners but it’s not ok for the guys to do the same? The answer is very simple MONEY and SURVIVAL. In most cases the Filipina grows up with a conflict between moral beliefs and day to day reality. For example she is taught prostitution is bad but in reality prostitution is one of the few ways a girl can earn the money she and her family needs to survive. In her mind the Filipina bar girl justifies having sex with multiple partners by thinking, ‘this is the only way I can earn the necessary amount of money myself and my family need to survive’. This is why you will often hear them saying “it’s just my fucking job”. When they say this they are acknowledging the fact that they are having sex for money which is a morally bad thing but at the same time an economic reality if they are to survive. Because of the lack of decent paying employment opportunities in the Philippines, financial remuneration becomes a valid justification for having sex with multiple partners.

Whilst the money itself is a justification for having numerous sexual encounters perhaps a more important justification is how the money is used. 99.9% of bar girls have pressure from their family to supply money and their primary reason for working in the bar is to support their family. To support the family is seen as perfectly natural in Filipino culture and it serves as a sort of moral justification for having sex for money.

When it comes to having sex for money the Filipina is in what can only be called, a moral dilemma. As in all countries on the surface level prostitution is frowned upon and seen as morally wrong, however, if the earnings from prostitution are spent helping people who cannot help themselves (in most cases this means the girls family) then having sex for money is morally condoned. For the Filipina bar girl having sex for money is on the one hand morally wrong but on the other hand morally acceptable.

In most cultures the act of having sex for money is vilified but in the subculture of Filipina bar girls the money and how it is used becomes a justification rather than a vilification. In the bar girls mindset it’s ok to be a prostitute if the money you earn is spent on your family or on your own survival. It is important to remember that in the majority of cases the act of prostitution becomes a means of survival for both the girl and her family. Personally I find this situation the ultimate in bitter irony. The Philippines is a country dominated by Catholicism and yet it is these very same Catholics who have found a way to morally justify prostitution.

In the bar girls world it is acceptable for her to have sex with numerous individuals because it is her ”job” and it is one of the few ways she can make the necessary money for her and her family to survive. On the other hand in the bar girls mind the male customer has no such justification. For a Filipina bar girl the foreigner male has sex with multiple partners for no other reason than to satisfy the male ego and hormonal urges. In her mind these are not valid reasons to have many sexual partners and as such she will apply moralistic judgments whilst neglecting to apply those same judgments to herself.

Another thing to consider is the peer group pressure the Filipina bar girl is under. For example many subconsciously feel they must have the latest cell phone or the new fashion shoes or clothing. The world of the Filipina bar girl is a competitive one, albeit on a subconscious level, and to be able to compete successfully a bar girl must have money and the best way she knows to make money is to have sex with men.

Once working within the ‘bar system’ the girl has various pressures exerted on her and one major pressure is the mamasan pushing her to go out. Basically the mamasan’s receive a percentage of the bar fine money as their commission so it is in their best interests to push the girls to go bar-fine. Many times I have asked some of the more high profile bar girls why they go bar fine so frequently and invariably one of the reasons they will cite is pressure from the mamasan. As such this pressure acts as a sort of justification for them to go out with numerous different people however there is no such pressure on the customer and consequently no justification for you having numerous sexual partners.

Earlier in this article I noted the classic sexual double standard between men and women of the so called more affluent western countries. In this scenario if the man “fucks around” he is a stud but if the woman does it she is a “slut”. I have already discussed the implications of this double standard and the important thing to note here is that the existence of double standards in nearly all societies throughout the world. The widespread existence of double standards in totally different societies would suggest that they are a natural occurrence of human existence and as such will inevitably be found in the world of Philippine bar girls.

Often the Filipina bar girl will try to discourage the foreign male from having sex with multiple partners simply because of her ego and a natural urge to control the male. There is also a large element of competitiveness involved. Amongst the bar girls there is a strong sense of competitiveness and all of them know that to snare a man and his support they will have to compete with other bar girls and the best way of competing is to stop the male from having sex with other women. By calling a man a butterfly and exposing the judgmental implications behind this term, the bar girl is in fact exhibiting competitiveness. In a nice lighthearted way she is trying to discourage the male from having sex with other bar girls and in so doing keep him too herself.

When referring to bar girls many people have stated ,“it’s all about the money” and indeed, once incorporated into the bar world, a girl learns very quickly that the objective is to find a man who will provide them with the necessary economic and perhaps less importantly emotional support. To achieve this end the girls will adopt several methods not the least of which is to make the man fall in love with her. There is a common belief amongst Filipinas in general and especially amongst the bar girls that if you make the man fall in love you will gain a lot more from the relationship, including financial benefits. To be successful in this endeavor they must try to stop the man from having other sexual partners. The Filipina bar girl instinctively knows that if the man ‘fucks around” with other girls then her chances of securing financial and emotional support are drastically reduced. This is one reason why in the Philippine bar scene you can find the Girl Friend Experience (GFE) which is not available in similar scenes in other countries. Contrary to this is the logic they apply to themselves which states, it is all a numbers game and the more men they meet and make love with, the better their chances of finding the man who is right for them.

One unique aspect of the Filipina bar girl is her ability to develop genuine feelings for a sexual partner and believe it or not in some cases they will use these feelings as a justification for them fucking around. The bar girl logic goes something like this: when she is in love with a man she feels ashamed to ask money from him so as a result she will take on other sexual partners just to get the money she needs to survive and avoid ‘using’ the man she loves. For foreigners this logic seems bizarre and twisted but for the Filipina bar girl it makes perfect sense and she does not see any contradiction between professing love for one man and having sex with a number of other men.

The bar girls learn very quickly to compartmentalize their sexual activities based on varying criteria. For the Filipina bar girl there is a clear line between having sex for the reason of love and having sex for financial remuneration. The two are very different concepts and yet in the bar girls mind by no means mutually exclusive. Unfortunately the girls seem unable to apply the same logic to their male customers. They see the foreigners as paying for sexual services rather than getting paid and this in itself is not a strong enough reason to justify having numerous sexual partners. Once again we have the classic double standard where it is acceptable for the girl to be sexually promiscuous but not for the male.

Most girls after a period of time working the bar have, "been there done that", as the old saying goes and as such to some extent they will always keep their options open just in case the man they thought was their passport to a better life turns out to be a failure. The girls in their mind see it as perfectly normal that they would wish to keep their options open but they will not expect the man to do the same thing. On the contrary most bar girls will try their very best to get the foreigner to fall in love with them as this way the relationship will last for a longer time and the girl will get more out of it.

There are probably many more identifiable reasons why the double standard exists and yet ironically knowing the reasons behind the double standard does not help you combat it. For example many guys have said, ”when a girl tells me it’s her job I simply reply, well it’s my job as well” but invariably this will not make sense to the Filippina. For her it is basic, she receives payment for offering sexual services whilst the men do the paying. For her it is a job and in her mind the men are customers who pay her to do her job.

Perhaps the best way I have found for combating the double standard is to sit them down and explain to them that bar fining different girls you are actually supporting the system and helping them keep their job. Secondly I am helping the girls financially which is why they are working the bar in the first place. This logic works well but only up to a point because at the end of the day your average bar girl couldn’t care less about the system or the welfare of other bar girls, all she cares about is what’s in it for her.

Last but not least I think it is important to ask how does this double standard effect the customers enjoyment. The answer is in most cases it hardly has any effect at all. Granted there is a certain amount of moralistic, judgmental overtones implicit in sayings such as “you big butterfly” but on the whole sayings such as this are light hearted with a certain amount of humor and will not significantly impede your mongering activities.

Disclaimer:
This article represents my thoughts and experiences after having lived in the Philippines and worked in the bars there for the last 18 years. It is designed primarily to help foreigners understand the Filipina bar girl and in so doing hopefully foster more harmonious and successful interaction between the two. I do not claim to be 100% correct or by any means an authority on subjects such as this and please note these are just my opinions garnered from many years of experience. I welcome any discussion or sharing of opinions that this article may elicit. At the end of the day we all have an interest in Filipina bar girls and it is my hope that this article will help members gain a better understanding of these girls, their world and how they think.

Posted in General | Tagged angeles city, asian bar girls, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, double standard, Fields Avenue, filipina, lbfm, philippines, psychology | Leave a comment

Social Hygiene in Angeles City

Posted on April 11, 2010 by wpadmin

Anybody who has had exposure to the bars and the girls who work there will have seen the ID’s they all wear and will also have probably gone through the ‘I have to leave by six because I have smear’, scenario.

I don’t know about you guys but the social hygiene department is an aspect of the bar life that I have always taken for granted and never really looked into. In fact whilst researching this article I was forced to realize just how little I knew about the whole system. Writing this article and doing the associated research was in many ways an eye opening experience for me, as I hope it will be for you the reader. Whilst on the subject of research I would like to send a massive thank you to Mark Hollywood for his undying support, patience and of course his willingness to give me the vast amounts of information he has accrued over his many years of living in the PI. Without his help and guidance this article would never have been possible.

Social Hygiene is located on the corner of A. Santos street and C. Surla street.

So what exactly is this organization referred to as Social Hygiene? Basically this is a local government run organization that employs doctors and nurses to conduct weekly and monthly medical checkups on the girls working in the Angeles bars. The primary check up is for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s) in particular Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This procedure will take the form of a visual examination and a vaginal swab which is then placed on a culture slide and examined under the microscope. When conducting the visual examination they are looking for rashes or other signs indicative of infections such as the fungal infection Candida. With the swab they are examining, solely for gonorrhea. According to my sources they do not conduct specific checks for Chlamydia, Syphilis, UTI’s or any other sexually transmitted diseases but rather they tend to rely on observation of the physical signs associated with these diseases.

The testing for and treatment of gonorrhoeae is as follows. “A urine test & a swab test – collecting fluid from the penis or vagina by placing a swab in the opening of the urethra; this causes brief discomfort. Early treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is simple & effective, & involves a single dose of antibiotics. In addition, the treatment of Chlamydia is also advocated. (It is common to have these two STD infections together – 50% have both)”.
In terms of the medicines used to treat gonorrhoeae the most common are as follows

Treatment of Gonorrhea:
“Cipro® XR 500 mg a single dose, or
Levaquin® 500 mg a single dose, or
Tequin® 400 mg a single dose;”

Treatment of Chlamydia:
“Doxycycline 100 mg 2-3 times a day for 10-14 days, or
Zithromax® (azithromycin) 1.0 gm a single dose, or
Zithromax® Z-pak® (azithromycin) – 500mg on day 1, followed by 1 tab (250mg) once a day for 4 more days
To avoid re-infection, any sexual partners should be treated too”.

The girls can get the treatment from a private medical doctor or from Social Hygiene doctors but either way in order to get their health card back and to work in the bar again they must be treated and proven to be negative at a smear conducted by at Social Hygiene.

The Social Hygiene Department works closely with City Hall to control and regulate the bar industry in Angeles. Basically there are 3 important documents issued by Social Hygiene and/or City Hall and these are The Pro Book,

The Pro Book,

The License Card

The Health Card

The Social Hygiene building is basically what is referred to by people involved in the industry as the “one stop shop”, so called because all the various procedures that need to be completed to be able to work in the bar can be conducted here. The initial card that is issued is the Blue Card also referred to as the LACEM card. LACEM is the League of Angeles City Entertainers and Managers and has its own office in the Social Hygiene Building. LACEM is an organization composed of Mamasans, Managers and Floor Managers that works hand in hand with city health officials. Once the girls true identity and legal age has been verified by use of official documents such as the (NSO) National Statistics Office approved birth certificate, and she has passed the interview conducted by City Hall officials working in Social Hygiene, she is issued a Blue Card. The Blue Card serves as a type of license card issued by city hall officials working in social hygiene, which says the bearer is licensed by city hall to work in an establishment as a dancer or waitress or manager or DJ or utility person etc.

The blue Card costs 300 piso and represents a one off payment to city hall. This money is normally given by the bar and then deducted from the girls salary which contrary to popular opinion becomes the property of the girl not the bar. This means that should a girl wish to transfer bars she is legally entitled to her license as it is not owned by the bar. On many occasions I have seen mamasans extremely reticent to hand the girl’s license over but the fact is the girl has paid for it and it is legally speaking her property. This is an important fact because many times a girl wants to change bars and the mamasans realizing how important to the bar a productive girl is, will often try to hold her by holding the blue card license.

The Blue Card basically provides official recognition that a girl’s identity is recognized as is her age and as such she is now registered in the system. It also serves as a type of official ID verified by the official system. The Blue Card is issued on a yearly basis and as the next year commences it is automatically renewed without the girl having to undergo the interview process again. Once the Blue Card has been issued the girl can now apply to get the white health card.

The Blue License card serves several important purposes. First and foremost it is a form of ID which states that the local authorities to the best of their knowledge recognize this girl as being of legal age to work in the bar. Secondly it serves as proof that she is registered within the official system governing the bars operations. Thirdly it is a means of keeping track of the girls as they work in the bars. Fourthly it acts as a sort of official ID. Fifthly it represents a sort of go between for the LACEM association and city hall officials working in Social Hygiene. Lastly it is a handy revenue raiser for city hall and the bureaucracy.

The next important card is the White Health License. Each week on a specified day the girls from all the individual bars must go to Social Hygiene for a smear which is examined then and there by a social hygiene recognized doctor. Upon completion, the girls attendance and the fact that they have undergone the smear is recorded on the white health care card and in their Pro-Book.

The entire procedure is conducted in conjunction with a Mamasan or other senior personnel from the bar together with the girls. The process of a physical observation and the actual smear is done at the Social Hygiene building and the girls will wait while her swab is examined. This is normally a fairly quick process and if she is negative for any STD’s she will be given her health card and Pro-Book back appropriately marked and will then be free to leave. The actual results are not recorded on the Pro-Book or White Health Card as this is considered private information between the girl and the doctor only. The Pro-Book and the Health card merely indicate that she has attended smear and since they are kept by City Health Officials if she fails smear then the fact that she has them on her person implies that she was negative when tested.

If a girl tests positive for gonorrhoeae or is observed to have physical symptoms of another STD her White Health Care card is confiscated by Social Hygiene and she is not allowed to work until she has another smear and tests negative. The girl is then prescribed the appropriate medicine which is sold at a reduced price within social hygiene. The girl is allowed to work but not allowed to go EWR once she has undergone smear again and it is negative she is given back her White Card and Pro-Book.

The white card and pro book are very important documents to official doom and Social Hygiene together with City Hall employs teams of personnel to periodically check the health cards of the girls in the bar making sure that every girl has a card and every girl has undergone the smear and physical observation check at Social Hygiene. The White Card and Pro-Book are numbered and this becomes the girls official number within the system.

The smear costs around 120 piso per time per girl which in turn pays for the Social Hygiene service and contributes to city hall coffers. The majority of bars will incur the expense and this will then be deducted from the girls salary however some bars pay for the smear and do not deduct it. These bars are very much in the minority and most owners consider this a cost that should be passed onto the workers. Given the quantity of girls now working in the Angeles bars and given that the common practice is to get numerous bars to attend at the same time, the smear process can be time consuming and often they will commence proceedings at 7am untill 3pm Monday-Thursday and until noon on Fridays.

The smear is not conducted when the girl has menstruation. When menstruation occurs, the girls is given a waiver coupon and she is instructed to return in a week’s time for the smear. The girl is also allowed to work during this period even though she has not undergone the smear. In the case of virgins they must go to social hygiene every 90 days and there the vagina is inspected to make sure the hymen is still intact.

There is currently a sort of splinter group circulating the bars offering to conduct the smear in a quicker time for the price of around 120 piso. There are also a number of private doctors that will conduct the smear but these are not recognized by social hygiene as firstly the private doctors can be bribed to issue a false report and secondly if it became a common practice this would represent a significant loss of income for the social hygiene office and for the mayor.

The smear and physical observation system are designed to minimize the spread of gonorrhoeae and other Sexually Transmitted Disease. On a slightly different level they also serve as a means for the city health officials to control people and regulate the bar business as a whole. For example if the girl is working in a bar and fails to attend smear the mamsan is supposed to surrender the health care card to Hygiene and the girl is not allowed to work. Often the social hygiene will send their personnel round to the bars to check this procedure is being followed. The card also serves as a sort of unofficial recognition that the girl is of legal age (18) to work in the bar because in order to get the card in the first place she must have a license card which means the documents showing her age have been presented to and inspected by the Licensing Department of the Mayor’s Office. Last but not least the smear process and physical observation serves as a revenue raiser for city hall and the mayor’s office.

Both the blue and white license cards are in many ways like a work permit and if you don’t have it you can’t work. The no license no work rule is enforced by City Hall and Social Hygiene personnel conducting random spot checks on the bars. The licenses creation will invariably necessitate direct co-ordination between LACSUM the official mamasans association and City Hall Licensing Department. For example in the case of a girl new to the system her mamsan will present the birth certificates and other forms of ID which are necessary to prove a new girls age and get her a license.

To get a girl who is already in the system her license her previous blue card, white health card and Pro-Book are presented to City Hall licensing Department who have an office inside the Social Hygiene building where they are inspected by officials and new license cards are then created and signed by the licensing officer or sometimes even by the mayor himself and counter signed by the President of LACSUM the Mamasans Association.

For the new girls the mamasans must bring an NSO certified birth certificate and other forms of ID to prove exactly how old the girl is. As in the case of the health card the license is a must have for any girl working in the bar and going out with customers.

The license is an important document but must be presented when requested by a City Hall Official and must be surrendered upon request.

With so many girls working in the bars in Angeles the granting of the licenses can often be a time consuming and arduous business with no set time period before the license is granted. The government bureaucracy in just about any country is slow and inefficient and in this respect the Philippines is no different. The creation of the license may take anywhere from one day to one week depending on how busy the licensing department is and depending on what influence the mamasan has within the department. Because of the time delay City Hall will often issue a temporary license or at least a piece of paper saying a particular girls license is “under processing”.

The rule is no license, no work and there is a group of personnel from the mayor’s office who periodically visit the bars and inspect the licenses. If a girl is working in the bar and has no license or at least a temporary license or a note verifying that her license is being processed, then the penalties can be quite severe and may even result in closure of the bar.
In today’s modern society the major disease associated with sexual activity is HIV-AIDS. As far as I can ascertain every six months as the girls go to smear a number of them are selected on a random basis and blood samples are taken and examined for HIV-AIDS. The mamasans will normally be notified that on a prescribed day whilst at smear random blood samples will be taken from the girls to test for HIV/AIDS. If a girl is found to be HIV positive her license, health card and pro book are revoked and she is turned over to the Health Care Department for treatment. The Government does supply some minimal funds for HIV sufferers but as a friend of mine wryly stated “if you contract HIV in this country you won’t last long”.

The prevention of HIV/AIDS is paramount amongst everyone working in the bar industry and as such there are a number of AIDS awareness programs running continuously and a concerted effort to promote safe sex practices throughout all levels of the industry. One very common sight you will see in most of the bars is the poster showing a white or red ribbon. This poster serves to remind people of the existence of HIV/AIDS and at the same time reminds them that the risk of catching HIV/AIDS is considerably lessened when practicing safe sex. The poster does not represent any specific organization but is merely a reminder of the diseases existence and to practice safe sex.

There are also regular seminars conducted at social hygiene and sometimes within the bars themselves (find out from cel how often seminars are conducted). These seminars are conducted by social hygiene officials along with the mamasans from various bars and the main subject discussed is practicing safe sex. Often the seminars will involve physical demonstrations where the girls are shown how to put the condom on using an egg plant or a vibrator.

Other subjects discussed in the seminar are general health issues, pregnancy how to avoid an unwanted pregnancy and how to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy.

The social hygiene and healthcare topic literally represents a vast ocean of information which in this article I have merely scratched the surface of. However my purpose was not to thoroughly examine all the issues but rather to just give a general overview thus increasing readers understanding of the current system that is designed to protect both the working girls and their partners. Writing this article has given me a better understanding of the system and the regulations that govern the bar industry and it is my sincere hope that by reading it you will gain useful knowledge and a better understanding of the system as a whole.

Posted in Reference | Tagged angeles city, asian bar girls, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, Fields Avenue, filipina, lbfm, philippines, Social Hygiene | Leave a comment

Angeles City Showgirls

Posted on January 19, 2010 by wpadmin

Part of the changing face of the Angeles bar scene is the prominence of more and more show girls. In this article I will examine the concept of show girls, both the good and bad aspects, citing specific examples along the way.

The concept of show girls acting as an individual specialized dance group separate from the bigger body of normal go-go dancers has been around for a long time however the first bar to actually make their dance troupe prominent and try to attract customers utilizing a dance group, was Jools in Makati.

With their emphasis on show girls and specialized dance troupes, Jools was singlehandedly responsible for the emergence of showgirls and professional dance troupes into the mainstream girlie bar industry. The shows came about primarily because they saw the opportunity to cater for a sizeable niche market, that of local business men and their international clients.

Secondly the shows were perceived purely as entertainment. Rather than selling sex, the bar was seen as selling entertainment.The issue of bar fines has always been contentious in Makati and the shows basically took the emphasis away from bar-fines and placed it on entertainment. Lastly the shows were professionally choreographed and offered something different from the norm. At this time the majority of bars simply offered rows of bikini clad girls standing on stage hardly moving or the old fashioned Filipino style where a solo dancer would perform one or two numbers either removing articles of clothing or at the very least gyrating her body in a sexually provocative way. When Jools came along with their emphasis on professional dance troupes they raised the level of the bar so to speak and developed a whole new facet of the girlie bar industry.

The second stage in the evolution of dance troupes particularly those composed exclusively of female members was the emergence of the “sex bomb dancers” on mainstream television. In approximately 2003 -2004 the “sex bomb dancers”, who performed on a local afternoon show “eat bulaga”, suddenly became famous and a role model for every female from age 5 to 45. The sex bombs represented a celebration and the public aggrandizement of female sexuality. This was a sort of girl power movement taking the form of a dance troupe and complimented by a hit single. The Sex Bombs represented the slightly naughty and sexually provocative aspects of femininity as such it was only a matter of time until they became role models for females across the country. With their constant exposure through a national television station and airplay of the sex bomb song, it was in some ways inevitable that they should come to define certain aspects of femininity in the Philippines. Indeed, it was not uncommon to see female kids in the slums of Manila and in the remotest provincial areas gyrating their hips to the sex bomb song and directly mimicking the sex bomb dancers. Their popularity was to some extent ground breaking and it wasn’t long until rival groups such as the Viva hot babes came into existence and between them they paved the way for the emergence of all female professional dance troupes within the girlie bar industry and even within everyday Filipino culture including in the provincial fiestas.

Over my years of working in the bars I have seen numerous dance shows and so called professional dance troupes. I have made my own observations and talked to numerous customers and as such have formed definite opinions regarding dance groups. Basically I see more disadvantages than advantages but for the purpose of this article I will simply highlight both and let the readers form their own opinion.

(Picture of Blue Nile showgirls)
Angeles City bar show girls

The Blue Nile show girls during their seventh anniversary show.

In AC bars the Blue Nile Group was the first to introduce an individual group of dancers and they were called the Blue Nile Executive Cultural Dancers. Initially this group performed cultural type dances which reflected aspects of Filipino provincial culture. In the beginning the cultural style dancing was somewhat unique and was seen as different from the show girl groups that were later to dominate the scene. This however is no longer the case and now the only difference between the cultural dancers and any other group of show girls is the name.

One major advantage of a separate group of show girls, or cultural dancers, is that they break up the monotony of just more bikini clad girls standing on stage looking bored. When they first started in AC they were something different from the norm and helped distinguish the Blue Nile Executive from its competitors.

A second advantage was how the Cultural Dancers were perceived. As in the case of its Makati predecessor Jools, local business men would take their friends and business clients up to the Exec and watch what was perceived as a politically correct show. There could be no innuendo or allegations of sexual impropriety bought against cultural dancers whose dance reflected the cultural values of Filipino society. The cultural dancers helped the owners position the Executive so as to appeal to an affluent niche market and a more up-market clientele in general.

(Picture of Blue Nile showgirls)
Angeles City bar show girls

A third advantage is that it appeals to the guys who are already committed to a relationship with a girl and are looking for someplace acceptable to take her. Basically Filipina wives and long term girlfriends do not appreciate the girlie bars where bikini clad dancers make eye contact and flirt with their husband, however a show bar where the emphasis is on entertainment via a professional dance group, is a lot more acceptable and less threatening to them.

A further advantage is that when done properly a dance group can create an energetic atmosphere in the bar. In Neros it was not uncommon for the majority of girls to gather round and cheer on the show girls especially when they had a new dance routine. The newness of the routine was not necessarily appreciated by the customers but the atmosphere created by the girls cheering on the dancers, certainly was.

For every girl there is always a limit to her bar life longevity. All girls go through what I call the “barizing” process and after a while they are either too old or jaded to be dancing in a bikini however these same girls will often make excellent show girls because the emphasis, in their mind, is on dancing and providing entertainment, as opposed to dancing so as to attract a man for sex.

One major advantage is in terms of the image the showgirls portray. The professional show girls take away the emphasis on bar fines and sex for money replacing it with an emphasis on professional entertainment. This is a particularly relevant point considering the political environment at the current time.

The saying states, competition is a wonderful thing, and when it comes to show girls this is certainly true. Now that there are several different groups of bars providing show girls and competing for the same market, the standard of the dance routines has risen considerably and a new level of professionalism has come into being.

(Picture of Neros showgirls)
Angeles City bar show girls

The Neros cultural dancers in one of their constantly changing formations
Another distinct advantage is that show girls attract the better looking girls. Generally speaking the better looking girls, or the class A girls as they are often referred to, will work in the bar as a show girl as they see this position as being above the normal dancer. These same girls will not work in the bar as a normal dancer as they see this as being beneath them.

A final advantage is that when the show girls are on stage this gives the normal dancers a chance to mingle and communicate with the customers. It allows them time to approach the customers on the ground level and talk to him rather than having to make eye contact from the stage. When communication occurs between the girls and the customers everyone wins.

Perhaps the major disadvantage of having show girls is that it creates a division between the girls who work in the bar. As already discussed it is often the show girls who see themselves as being better or more important than the normal dancer when in fact the opposite is true.

The Filipinas who work in the bar often have what I call a clannish mentality where they like to form their own little gangs and in my experience having a separate group of so called show girls very much panders to the gang mentality.

(Picture of Bad Influence Dancers)
Angeles City bar show girls

Traditionally the showgirls see themselves as being better than the normal dancers and this falsehood is reinforced by the bars that try to charge more for the show girls to go bar fine with the customer or for her ladies drink. Indeed many times I have seen customers ask the showgirls to go out with them only to be told the bar fine is significantly higher because the girl is a show girl not a normal dancer. A perfect example of this is the Dollhouse spotlight dancers. In short I think the concept of show girls is often misused by the bar owners as an excuse to charge higher prices especially in terms of the bar fine and ladies drinks.

In many cases there is an over emphasis on the showgirls and a classic example of this is the Bad Influence Dancers. They are now being promoted as a major attraction supposed to entice the customer into the soon to open Golden Nile. The Golden Nile is a rather large building which will incorporate two floors of poker machines and other gambling activities with a large show bar on the third floor. In this bar there will no doubt be numerous dancers and yet the promotional banners outside the club only feature the Bad Influence dancers. Personally I think an advertisement stating that they have over 100 beautiful dancers would be a much more powerful enticement for me to visit the bar than an advertisement for the Bad Influence dancers.

The Bad Influence dance group. They are performing in Cambodia but being advertised outside the Golden Nile.

In economic terms the show girls do not make sense. Basically they cost the bar more because they draw a higher salary and yet they do less wok than anybody in the club. Take for example the Neros show girls who get paid more than the normal dancers and yet they only dance for five to seven minutes out of every hour. The normal dancers in Neros get paid less and have to do a solid 25 minutes of dancing every hour for a nine hour shift. The showgirls on the other hand only have a 6 hour shift and are on stage for a maximum of 7 minutes every hour.

One big negative for me is the fact that the so called show girls often exist at a cost to the normal line up. A classic example of this is Tropix Bar. Here the mamasans have created a showgirl group by taking the best girls out of the normal dance lineup. As a result the normal dance line up is severely depleted of good looking girls.

The lack of variety in the shows is a big problem. Most often they will have a bakla dance instructor and the dance moves are just so obviously choreographed by a male trying to look feminine. When the real females copy these moves it tends to look ridiculous. What’s more most of the baklas have very similar dance moves so it looks like the different groups in different bars have all been choreographed by the same dance instructor. Here I must give credit to the Bad Influence at least their show is original and different from the show routines that exist in other bars.

The lack of variety is also a problem for the all female professional dance groups such as the Bad Influence. The Bad Influence originally came from Makati the spawning ground of professional showgirls and even though they have been working in the Blue Nile Group for over one year, I am yet to see a new dance incorporated into their routine. They are doing exactly the same dance numbers as when they first started.

Far from dying the Bad Influence group is in fact expanding.

One very negative aspect for me regarding the showgirls is their lack of friendliness and interaction with the customers. Too often show girls develop an attitude that they are better than the normal dancers and this attitude is passed on to the customer in the form of aloofness. It is almost like they adopt a different perspective and see themselves as above going bar fine. In their minds they are now professional entertainers as opposed to normal dancers that have to go bar fine to make enough money. Indeed this attitude is reinforced by the bars who pay the show girls substantially more than their normal dancers. To often I have found the show girls attitude is one of aloofness and superiority. They think they are better than their fellow dancers and it is rare for them to smile at customers make eye contact with customers let alone interact with them in a friendly way. Lastly and perhaps most importantly these shows often become almost A sexual as the emphasis is placed on so called professional dance moves rather than flaunting female sexuality.

(Picture of Atlantis showgirls)
Angeles City bar show girls

From the bar operators perspective shows are not actually profitable because it is a well established fact that whilst the show is on the customers do not spend as much. Rather than drinking themselves or buying ladies drinks the customers tend to simply watch the show and not spend any money. Having said this Cambodia bar is persisting with the Bad Influence dancers and by all accounts they are the top money earners within the bar. So much so that management have now started a second Bad Influence group composed of local Angeles girls.

Personally I cannot see how groups such as the Bad Influence make money but obviously there must be an angle here that eludes me because if they were not a profitable option they would no longer be in existance. At the end of the day they like everyone else working in the bar are part of a business and as such are there to create money for that business.

For the customer who wishes to date a lady from the bar the show girls represent a major inconvenience. In most cases their bar fines are more expensive and even then the girl cannot leave until after a certain time as she is part of the show group. For example the Neros show girls are encouraged to wait until after midnight before they can leave with a customer. To me this is clearly a case of placing an emphasis on entertainment at the cost of customer satisfaction.

Because the show girl position is seen as being a better position than a normal dancer it is valued and a much sought after position amongst the girls. Because it is valued, so too is everything that goes with the position, including the dance moves. These girls literally see their position as a source of pride and whenever they get the chance they will revert to the dance moves they have learnt. In the local disco Skytrax it is not uncommon to see groups of show girls actually dancing to a particular song utilizing their dance moves incorporated in their show. The same scenario can be seen when a customer takes a show girl bar hopping, many times the girl will be in another bar and when she hears a song which is incorporated in her show she will start doing the exact same dance moves as she would when performing a show. Personally I find this slightly annoying and inconsiderate.

(Picture of Atlantis showgirls) Angeles City bar show girls

The Atlantis showgirls.

Overall it has been my experience that people like to see a large volume of girls on stage and that a large quantity of girls generates a much more positive, festive and fun atmosphere. The point here is that the show groups by definition are composed of fewer girls which will in turn influence the atmosphere in the bar.

There are some advantages to having showgirls and professional dance troupes however there are also many disadvantages. As the Angeles bar scene evolves I can see a much greater emphasis on show girls and professional dance group type of entertainment. Could this be the future direction of Angeles bars, are we looking at a future scenario where the bars are strictly entertainment like in Vegas? I guess only time will tell but I certainly hope this is not the case.

Posted in General | Tagged angeles city, asian bar girls, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, dancing, Fields Avenue, filipina bar girls, lbfm, philippines, show, showgirls | Leave a comment

The OTH Question

Posted on December 20, 2009 by wpadmin

Recently there has been a lot of talk about OTH. For the uninitiated OTH or on the house drinks are basically drinks paid for by the bar and given to customers on behalf of the management for absolutely free, hence the term on the house.

Within the Philippine bar scene at the current moment there is a debate ensuing regarding bar managers and bar managers practices such as giving away OTH. Basically there are two schools of thought regarding OTH. One school which I describe as the anti OTH school and the other being the pro OTH school. In the anti OTH school on the house drinks are seen as a waste and a cost which should be minimized wherever possible. In the pro OTH school they are viewed as an investment which when utilized properly, will generate a profitable return.

In this article I will analyze the relevant points of both schools of thought and in so doing hopefully give readers a better perspective of the OTH debate so as they can make up their own mind.

Amongst Philippine bar owners there seems to be a growing opinion that if the bars in Thailand can operate without OTH then so too can the bars in the Philippines. The bar owners who compare the Thailand bar scene OTH and that of the Philippines will at worst see OTH as a waste and at best as a necessary evil to be minimized wherever possible.

The anti OTH arguments states that by buying a customer a drink you are not only wasting the bars money but in fact costing the bar money. The argument states that the customer has his own money so he will normally buy his own drink. By buying him a drink you are stopping him from buying it himself and at the same time incurring the cost of a drink, as a cost to the bar. This argument concludes that the end effect of OTH is that it takes away from the bars profit. Some people even go so far as to say by buying some customers a drink you draw unwanted attention to them and it may even be a reason for that person not to come back to the bar.

Another extension of this argument states that most customers can only consume limited amounts of alcohol so they will often not appreciate another drink even if it is free.

Some bar owners claim that OTH is too easily abused by managers and customers so it is better not to have it all. In regards to the managers this argument states the OTH actually makes things too easy for them, because they do not have to pay for it they tend to forget about the cost of giving it away. As an extension to this line of thought they argue that being oblivious to the costs will encourage the managers to give away drinks randomly without any thought as to the objectives they are trying to achieve through OTH in the first place. This argument does have some validity however amongst the vast majority of bar managers I have found them to know exactly how and when to give away a free drink and will keep in mind the objectives they are trying to achieve by doing so.

In regards to managers another argument states that since alcohol for them is free, managers will often get drunk and abuse the OTH either through personal consumption or through giving it away to their friends. Whilst this may be true in some cases it is also true to say that managers who have been doing the job for an extended period of time are in fact quite weary of alcohol and the problems it can cause when over indulged in plus they are also well aware of customers whom buy back and the others who just seem to take but never buy back.

Lastly the OTH is open to abuse from the staff that work in the bar and indeed in my experience it is common for the staff to place a small amount of drinks on the managers or mamasans OTH check list. This can be a minor problem but will not escalate if the proper checks and balances are put in place right from the word go.

In regards to the customers some bar owners have claimed that some customers actually come to rely on OTH and expect it. Indeed during my time of managing bars I have on several occasions been approached by customers asking where is their OTH drink and when I reply “I am not buying one today” they actually seem upset, almost as if they regard it as their right to receive it.

There are many arguments in favor of OTH but in the interests of ease of reading I will just try to briefly highlight the main ones.

Firstly and perhaps most importantly there is the costing factor. Opponents who argue against OTH will often view it as a percentage of the total sales and it will be charged at customer prices. For example rum and coke will be charged at anywhere between 45 piso through to 95 piso when in fact it only costs about 5 piso for the bar to supply it. The same argument can be used for San Miguel beer which is purchased at approximately 20 piso but charged on the OTH from anywhere between 45 piso to 95 piso.

There are numerous advantages to buying an OTH drink for a customer and following are just some of them that I have been able to categorize over my years of working in the bar.

Firstly there is the rent a customer argument which states that people go where people are, in other words few people will walk into a quiet bar as they automatically think ‘what is wrong with this bar’, ‘why is no one here’. On the other hand if they walk into a bar and there are some people sitting around enjoying a drink then they are more likely to stay. In short by buying people a drink you are keeping customers in the bar which in turn attracts other customers.

There is always a strong social element in the Philippine bar business and a key element of this is OTH drinks. When the manager buys an OTH drink for a customer this serves a number of purposes. If the customer is new then the drink acts as a social icebreaker and if the customer is known to the manager the drink serves as a sign of greeting or respect. In each case the fact is the drink is keeping people in the bar, it is establishing friendly communication between the customer and manager, it is creating an opportunity for the customer to spend money either by buying a drink for the manager, another drink for himself, or possibly a ladies drink or even the taking a girl out of the bar. The point here is that if the manager didn’t purchase the OTH drink in the first place none of these scenarios would even have a chance of eventuating.

The OTH drinks have a tremendous word of mouth value. For example as a great English poet once said “no man is an island” and when you buy a customer a drink he will no doubt tell his friends and encourage them to come in and enjoy a drink in your bar. Few men are loners and the customer you buy a drink for will invariably know other customers and so on and so on.
Perhaps the most obvious advantage of OTH drinks is their profitability. The cost to the bar for buying a shooter or normal drink will normally be a fraction of what the customer is charged and in fact the markup for the bars is often 150% or more. As a result when the customer buys a drink back it is obviously a very profitable proposition for the bar but the most profitable scenario for the bar is when the shooters are involved. For example the shooters even if they are composed of imported liquor are cheap to make, small volume, quickly and easily consumed, they normally come in rounds and best of all there is an implicit understanding on behalf of the customer and the bar manager that a round will be bought back.

Last but by no means least it is a well known fact amongst the bar manager fraternity that the more drunk your customers are the more likely they are to spend money. Buying OTH drinks certainly helps facilitate this situation as well as helping to create an atmosphere more conducive to spending

As a bar manager I am very much in favor of OTH and in my experience when used properly it is an effective money spinner within the bar environment. Yes I concede that it can be misused and needs to be kept in check but for me the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Replacing my bar manager hat with my customer hat I once again am very much in favor of OTH drinks and am certainly grateful when I receive one from a bar manager.

The bar scene is changing and evolving so it will be interesting to see what happens to bar managers as well as to the concept of OTH drinks. Personally I see both of them as something unique and an essential part of the Philippine bar business which hopefully will be around for many years to come.

Posted in Eezee Writer | Tagged alcohol, angeles city, Asian Escapades, bar, bar hopping, drinks, filipina, girls, lbfm, managers, Manila, OTH, philippines | Leave a comment

Bar Managers, are they a dying breed?

Posted on November 23, 2009 by wpadmin

Over my 18 years of running bars in the Philippines I have heard on numerous occasions how bar managers are a “dying breed” and I have come to learn this statement is true both in the literal and metaphorical sense. In physical terms the lifestyle of a bar manager is hardly conducive to longevity since it normally involves copious amounts of alcohol consumption, smoke inhalation, a sedentary lifestyle and believe it or not, an inordinate amount of stressful situations.

Referring to managers as a “dying breed” has always been a rather worrying statement for me in that it is too close to home. As a result, when it was said to me just the other night by a bar owner from Thailand, I paused for a moment of reflection and decided this subject would make an interesting column for AE.

Normally when someone says to me ‘you bar managers are a dying breed’ I pretend to brush it off as a flippant comment that I have heard a thousand times, however, given what has happened to the Blue Nile Group management team, (which until recently I was part of), the Thailand bar owners statement hit home and made me ponder the statement on a much deeper level than I normally would.

To fully understand the role of a professional bar manager it is necessary to look at how the position evolved. In the mid eighties in M. H. Pillar, Ermita, Manila the bar scene suddenly started to take off with an influx of money invested and an influx of customers availing of services the bars were offering. As the bar scene expanded it evolved from the owners acting as owner /managers to a fully blown industry incorporating individuals whose only job was to manage the bar on a day to day or should I say, night to night, basis. Back in those days it was common for the manager to drink copious amounts of alcohol, give away even greater amounts of alcohol and generally create a party atmosphere in conjunction with the girls and the customers. This in turn would encourage the customers to spend more and the end result was revenue for the bar.

A bar manager and customer both sculling shooters with no hands. In days gone by this sort of behavior was considered par for the course.

The concept of a ‘girlie bar’ manager creating a party atmosphere is in many ways unique to the Philippines. For example you will not find many professional girlie bar managers in Thailand or other parts of Asia and when you do he will normally be an owner wearing both his owner hat and manager’s hat. This situation occurs partly because in other countries the emphasis is on directly selling alcohol and sexual services rather than creating a party atmosphere.

So are bar managers a dying breed, is the position of professional bar manager soon to be a thing of the past? In my opinion the answer to this is both yes and no depending upon the sort of bar and the owners marketing approach. In many of the bigger more commercial bars (Doll House, Atlantis, Tropix, Crystal Palace, Blue Nile, Neros and Blue Nile Executive) it would seem there is a definite trend to utilize cheaper Filipino management as opposed to the more costly foreign management. There are numerous reasons why this has occurred some of which I will now examine in this article.

Firstly there is the question of cost. By not employing foreign managers the bar will cut down on OTH (on the house) drinks and the bars salary bill will be significantly less. Whilst this line of thinking may be true on paper it is in reality a falsehood because by cutting down on OTH you may minimize expenses but at the same time you also minimize sales.

The same argument can also be applied when you address the question of Filipino managers versus foreigner managers. The simple fact is the Fields Avenue -Perimeter Road bars are mainly patronized by foreigners and these same foreigners will often choose which bar to visit based on the fact they are friends with a particular bars manager. Caucasian customers naturally tend to patronize bars which are run by Caucasian managers just as Filipino customers often feel more comfortable patronizing a bar run by Filipino managers.

Secondly there is the question of the owner’s market perception. The owners who see their main market as being the Asian customers really have no need of a highly paid foreign manager. In most cases the Asian customers are handled by the mamasans and contact between the foreigner managers and Asian customers is traditionally minimal. Conversely, owners who employ foreign managers expect the managers to attract foreigner customers to their bar.

Thirdly there is the question of a bars ambiance. On the whole I think it is safe to generalize and say the owners who choose to employ Filipino managers over foreigners place little emphasis on a bars ambiance. In my opinion a good foreigner manager will influence a bars ambiance by his presence, his appearance, his personality, his implementation of the rules, his relationship with the girls, his choice of music or his approach towards the customers. To this day I have only seen one Filipino manager who considers the ambience of the bar an important factor which influences the bars sales.

This man is renowned for his outlandish apparel and unique ability to generate the party ambiance.

Fourthly there is the question of the interaction between the manager and customer. Generally speaking the owners who employ foreign managers view customer relations, (or PR as it is often referred to), as an important part of the job and those who employ locals place only a minimal emphasis on customer relations. For the owners who employ Filipino managers they place an emphasis on the girls and the mamasans relating to the customer rather than the manager. In this situation the manager job becomes more of a supervisory role.

Prince Charles a happy customer indeed as he parties with the girls in Lollipop bar.

Fifthly it is a well known fact that the political climate which effects the bars is changing rather quickly and as such no one is absolutely certain what direction things will take. In uncertain times such as these there is a prevailing logic which states who better to deal with the Filipino powers that be than a Filipino citizen. In this scenario the manager actually assumes the duties of official representative for the bars.

When discussing the value of a bar manager the most important aspect to consider is return on investment. Basically if the owners view the manager as an investment then they must look at their return on investment. In most instances the very least a bar manager should be able to produce in sales is his salary plus ten percent. By doing this he is covering the cost of employing him and his OTH expenditure. Obviously most owners will expect a lot more from the manager than just covering what he costs and as a general guideline I have found a productive manager on any single night will be directly responsible for producing sales equaling his salary plus 60%. Of course this figure will vary from night to night but over a period of one month it tends to average out to roughly this amount.

Speaking as someone who makes his living from managing a bar I feel worried by the trends I am observing in the rapidly changing Angeles bar scene. With several of the bigger bars choosing to utilize Filipino management the employment options for foreign bar managers are becoming more and more limited. Most of the bigger bars with the potential to gainfully employ a foreign manager have either decided to cut costs and go with the lower paid Filipino managers and the other big bars that like foreign managers have already employed one and are happy with his performance. As a result the only other options are medium sized bars and the smaller Perimeter Road bars. In the case of the medium sized bars they are normally operating on a tighter budget than the bigger bars so as a result, traditionally speaking, they pay their managers less than the big bars.

The next option is the Perimeter Road bars but here again the budget comes into play. Basically the Perimeter road bars operate on a very tight budget and this is why you will often find a sort of owner/manager situation in these bars. By the owner assuming the duties of manager he manages to save paying out a regular wage. In most Perimeter Road bars the main group of customers will be local expatriates and long term visitors who frequent that bar because they know the manager/owner and enjoy drinking with him. This of course places a special importance on the manager’s role yet the irony is in most cases the bars do not generate enough income to justify employing a full time professional manager.

Last but not least there is a seeming lack of new blood coming into the industry. Many have gone on record as saying bar management is a young man’s game and yet there are very few young men working as, or seeking the position as, bar manager. Currently in Angeles I can think of only four managers under 30 years of age who are employed in the bars, what’s more, in the last 18 years I have seen only a few younger men apply for the job. As the future of the business will ultimately rely on the younger generation the lack of younger men working in the industry or seeking to work in the industry, does not bode well for the positions future.

To summarize I do believe the statement “bar managers are a dying breed” has a certain element of truth in it. Basically many of the big bars in Manila as well as Angeles are turning towards utilizing the Filipino labor force in the position of bar managers. In Makati there are approximately 40 bars yet there is only one full time manager that I know of and even he is looking at leaving. In Pasay there is basically only the Firehouse Complex at EDSA which to the best of my knowledge does not employ foreign managers but rather the owners tend to act as owner managers and the emphasis of customer entertainment is placed on the mamasan. In Subic the bars do employ managers but normally this is considered a part time job or just something to do to keep busy and the majority of bars are small affairs where the owner acts as owner and manager. As the bar scene in Subic grows there will no doubt be more available positions offering a decent salary but when this will actually happen is impossible to accurately predict.

Currently the only place for a professional bar manager to effectively ply his trade is Angeles. As long as the bar owners have the opinion that a good manager will bring in substantially more revenue than what he costs then the position is to some extent secure and has a future. On the other hand if what I call the cost minimization mentality prevails and the perceived value of a bar manager declines then the statement ‘bar managers are a dying breed’ may well prove to be prophetic in the near future.

Posted in Eezee Writer | Tagged angeles city, Asian Escapades, bar, filipina, girls, job, lbfm, managers, Manila, philippines, work | Leave a comment

Angeles City Bar Waitresses

Posted on October 11, 2009 by wpadmin

Recently I paid a visit to Dr Guzman complaining of a sore throat and rapid hair loss. He took one look at me and said “young man it looks like you have waitressitis”. “Waitressitis” I said in a questioning tone, what the heck is that. Being a good doctor and not wanting to make a rash diagnosis he answered my question with a question. “You work in the bar right”? Yes doc I do” “and you have been raising your voice a lot particularly at the waitresses”? I thought about this and through overworked vocal cords replied “yes doc all the time”. “Well if that’s the case then it’s my considered medical opinion that you have waitressitis”.

Having been diagnosed with waitressitis I reflected on my times in the bar and it was with wry amusement that I realized just one night previously I had been yelling for a waitress and probably contracted the disease.

There I was sitting at the managers table with a few friends and it was my round so I looked around for a waitress but of course none were visible. I knew we had at least 15 waitresses on duty that night so I was not amused by their lack of appearance. I looked at Shagger and said “these f*&^%$ng waitresses are like taxies always hanging around when you don’t need them but never around when you need them” He looked at me with a knowing smirk and said “go check in the change room, mate”.

Following his suggestion I rose and walked to the change room to be greeted by 8 waitresses, 4 sitting around having a chat and a chow down, 3 waiting for the Bakla to do their makeup and 1 just surveying the whole scene.

Well this was too much for me and as the blood boiled I yelled “hey waitresses what the f*&k are you doing in here.” When they heard me yell they looked at me and the groups spokesperson replied, “daddy we on break time”. Now ordinarily I would have asked why do you all have to take your break time together but being here long I knew better so instead I politely asked “can I please have a waitress at the managers table right now, if it’s not too much trouble”. Instantly one waitress got up and took my order when I returned to the managers table. One hour later it was my round again and I looked for a waitress only to find two sitting just beside the table having a good old chin wag. I politely asked just loud enough to be heard over the music, “waitress” but as usual no one heard me so I had to yell at the top of my voice thus exacerbating my waitressitis.

Just recently I read Pok Pok boys thread called the role of waitresses and upon reading it I decided this would make a good topic for an AE column. Thanks in advance to Pok Pok Boy for the insightful thread which demonstrated his vast experience and inspired me to write down my own thoughts on this subject. Pok Pok boy, rest assured I will unashamedly plagiarize your post and expand upon your thoughts wherever possible.
In this article I will attempt to define the role of a waitress and also examine the reasons why there are so few competent waitresses in the AC bars scene. In so doing I hope I will pass on some useful information and at the same time come to a better understanding of the AC bar waitress myself thus saving my vocal cords and what hair I have left from wiatressitis.

The role of a waitress
So what exactly is the role of an AC bar waitress? In the normal world I would describe the role of a waitress as a woman or girl who waits on tables in a particular establishment. Put more simply a waitresses role is to serve drinks or food or both to customers patronizing the establishment she is working in.
Well that’s in the normal world but in the AC bars the role becomes somewhat expanded so much so that it requires analysis and sometimes explanations.

So what exactly is the role of waitresses in the AC bars? Well it just so happens that I have definite ideas on this as I have had many a meeting with waitresses and the following is what I tell them.

1: Her role is to serve customers their drinks and in some cases food.

2: Her role is to help the dancers get ladies and serve the dancers ladies drinks.

3: Wherever possible her role is to get ladies drink herself.

4: Since she is often the first point of contact with the customer it is also her job to entertain the customer with light hearted conversation.

5: In many bars the waitresses must look sexy and visually appealing, in fact, they are positively encouraged to go EWR.

Why are AC bar waitresses generally incompetent?
Ok so the job description sounds fairly basic and indeed it is, so why then is it so hard to find a waitress that can do her job properly. The answers are varied and detailed but for the purpose of this column I will try to list them and simplify them.

Pok Pok boy tackled this question by stating why waitresses are selected or hired and why girls want to be waitresses instead of dancers. In so doing he bought up some very relevant points as to why in many cases bar waitresses are incompetent at their job. I am not saying they are all incompetent in fact there are some very good waitresses but in my experience these are few and far between.

1: A girl will often become a waitress because she is a “long term employee” and past her prime as a dancer. Since she can no longer make money as a dancer she is “rewarded with a change in job description” and becomes a waitress. Basically when a girl reaches this stage she has very little options in the bar so this is seen as her last step and an easy way to make money.

A classic example of this is Evelyn a waitress in Neros who can supposedly suck a bowling ball through a garden hose. Yes she has well accredited oral skills but is a bit long in the tooth to be a productive dancer so as a result she has decided to ply her trade as a waitress.

2: The girl is a cute cherry girl that can get ladies drinks but doesn’t go out with customers hence she becomes a waitress where there is less emphasis on going EWR.

3: Thirdly there is what I refer to as the standby situation, this is where a customer steady barfines a dancer and for whatever reasons wants her to stay in the bar but not to go out with other men. Often the customer, the bar staff, the mamasan and the girl in question will opt for the better of two evils and rather than be a dancer seek a position as a waitress.
The so called standby situation has disadvantages and advantages. The major disadvantage is that even though she is a waitress and no longer dancing, she will still be exposed to bar life, peer group pressure and other men. In short whilst in the bar she will always have temptation and the modes of behavior she has learnt as a dancer will be reinforced.

The advantages are that the girl can still feel self worth in that she is earning a small income and has what is in her mind a legitimate job. Secondly she still gets to hang out with her friends in an environment she is familiar with and this stops her from feeling bored. Thirdly the besotted customer can now keep an eye on her, or so he thinks.

4: Often amongst Angeles bar girls there is very little comprehension of English and they are not good with slang or accents. Many times I have personally experienced a waitress who will not understand my order either because of her lack of English or because of my accent.

I can distinctly remember one waitress at Nero’s who we aptly named brain surgeon. One night a bunch of us were sitting round the managers table when I ordered a CC ginger for Shagger, a vodka coke for Jason, a Jim Beam diet coke for myself, a Rum Diet coke for Drummer and an SML for Netguard. Shagger looked at me and said “that’s more than one drink I bet you 500 peso she will get the order wrong”.

We waited 5 minutes but no drinks arrived so I looked around and there she was in an animated conversation with the bar tender. I walked up to her and said “let me guess you forgot the order” to which she replied “ooh po, sorry Daddy”. I then repeated the order and made her recite it back to me. Ok now she had it and I was sure the 500 peso was mine.
Another 3 minutes passes when Miss brain surgeon walks up to the table and asks, “on your Bill daddy”? Another 5 minutes passes by and then she saunters back with 3 drinks returns to the bar tender picks up two more and delivers them.

At this point I have a smile on my dial and confidently request that Shagger pay up. He looks at me and says “hang on a second I just have to check this out”. He takes a sip of his CC Ginger and says “there is something wrong with this, it tastes like shit”. I grab his drink and have a sip only to taste J&B with ginger. Close but no cigar and I could see the 500 peso leaving my wallet in a hurry. I looked at Shagger and said “well that doesn’t really count as she did get the whisky part right so let’s call it even” Drummer tasted his only to find whiskey coke, whilst Jason’s was Jack Daniels coke and mine was some strange concoction about as far away from Jim Beam as you could possibly get.

Ok I had to admit she had stuffed up big time so it was time to hand over the 500 to Shagger and then as I did so, amidst various expletives, Netguard looked at me and said “I don’t know what your problem is I got my SML”.

The brain surgeon was a classic situation of if you didn’t laugh you would cry. I remember to this day how Netguard and Jung were sitting at the managers table and Kim was trying to force Tom to drink beer. As such he called the brain surgeon over and ordered a SMB for Tom and an SML for himself. The brain surgeon waddled of and came back placing the SML in front of Tom and the SMB in front of Kim. I was just about to reach over and swap them round when Tom said to me “wait one moment” and called the brain surgeon over. He said to her “You have given us the wrong drinks, I wanted SMB and Kim wanted SML so can you please take these back and bring us what we ordered.” The brain surgeon looks at him vacantly, takes the drinks and gives them back to the bar tender. She then proceeds to tell the bar tender these are the wrong drinks they want SML and SMB not SMB and SML. The bar tender looks at her and suddenly breaks out laughing. At this point brain surgeon scratches her head totally unaware of why the bar tender is laughing looks at drinks and bang it dawns on her. With this she brings the beers back and says to Tom, “funny man you, what do you think to me, stupid?”

The lack of understanding English is a common problem and it is exacerbated by the Filipina habit of just walking away and not admitting that they don’t understand you because to do so would be a loss of face.

5: Lack of training. Lack of training occurs simply because there is no official training for waitresses. They are thrown into the job for the wrong reasons and are expected to learn as they go.

6: Lack of product knowledge. Because there is such strict lines of demarcation and such defined job boundaries the waitresses very rarely progress to bar tenders, as such they have no knowledge of the actual product that is being ordered. For example, many times I have found myself ordering a B52 shaken and unless it’s one of my regular waitresses this request will always be met with a blank stare and the obligatory scratch of the head denoting total bewilderment. Most often it is “ano B52” and the shaken part totally eludes them. If the waitresses had experience behind the bar actually mixing the drinks then they would no doubt have a much easier time understanding the orders, this however will never happen as the bar tender jobs are valued and jealously guarded.

7: They listen but they don’t hear. How often have I heard this said by expats who live here and deal with the Filipinas on a daily basis. So many times I have listened and watched customers ordering drinks only to find the wrong drinks being delivered. I always used to think this was a language problem and the mistakes were coming because the waitresses couldn’t understand English however this misconception was soon to be shattered when I came to work with James.

James is fluent in Tagalog and quite often he will order using this language. I remember one particular night walking into Neros to find him literally pulling his hair out. I asked him “what’s wrong” and he replied watch this. He then called a waitress over and in Tagalog ordered five Jager bombs emphasizing that they were on his bill. The waitress wandered off only to shortly return and ask “Daddy the bar tender wants to know why you order 5 bomba (Tagalog for bomb)”.

James patiently explains the mix of a Jager bomb and emphasizes they are on his bill. Two more minutes pass and an empty handed waitress returns asking “daddy your bill or the customers?”

8: A waitress has a perceptional advantage in that many customers perceive her as being a good girl as opposed to the dancers who are bad girls and high mileage. How many times have I heard customers and girls themselves state, “she worked in the bar as a waitress she was never a dancer”. Straight away the perceived implication is that she was not a whore, aka a dancer, but rather she was a waitress where she is perceived as being a good girl.

In my experience this perception is a false one and in fact the waitresses have often seen more action than the dancers. However the point is not to discuss whether the waitress are good girls or bad but rather to point out that there is a perceptional falsehood at work here and this is not a good reason let alone a necessary qualification for a girl to become a waitress.

Many girls see the position of waitress in the same way as the customers and therefore will strive to become one. Does this mean they will be good waitresses, on the contrary in my experience it means they will be bad waitresses because they do not really understand the duties and they just want to obtain this position because of how it is perceived.

9: Laziness or perhaps the path of least resistance is always a key factor for most waitresses. Let’s face it sitting in the corner, hiding in the dressing room, sleeping on the lounges, chatting up the DJ’s, eating a snack from the lady keeper or outside or having a good old gossip session is common place amongst AC waitresses and as such it has to be an easier job than dancing 8 half hour sets every night. The laziness aspect is exacerbated when they divide the bar into service stations. Often you will see a customer trying to get service from a waitress but she will just sit down and ignore his pleas and when asked why she will tell you “that is not my station”. This is a very handy excuse for one or two waitresses to do all the work whilst others sit and do nothing. There is no concept of teamwork or covering your fellow waitresses back.

10: Pok Pok boy in his post also pointed out that uniform plays a large role in why a girl would want to be a waitress instead of a dancer. Often you will hear them say “No I don’t like bikini” or “I like waitress uniform”. Noticeably when the girl tells you this she is invariably self conscious about a minor defect or flaw and she realizes the waitresses uniform will cover this up.

11: There is often less scrutiny on a waitress and as such she has less pressure to go bar fine, less pressure to secure ladies drinks and she can have more days off without being penalized.

12: The blurring effect. Part of the problem with waitresses is that the actual duties are a little bit blurred. This has occurred because they are encouraged to go barfine so in their mind they are half dancer, (working girl or as the Filipinos would say puta) and half professional waitress. This is clearly emphasized when you see a waitress who is good at waitressing. In the bars the waitresses who are good at waitressing are invariably the older girls who do not concentrate on bar fining. Of course there are a few pretty younger waitresses who manage to juggle the duties of waitressing and of bar fining but these in my experience are few and far between.

Sometimes the importance of the ability to barfine outweighs other considerations such as whether or not she would be good at her job.

One day when I visited the Executive I overheard daddy Bruce having a conversation with his mamasan regarding a new waitress the mamasan had just appointed.

Bruce: Mummy why did you give that dragon a job?
Mamasan : She nice girl daddy and she go bar fine
Bruce: So do the baklas in Santos Street and you don’t see them working here.
Mamasan: But daddy she nice girl and she money maker
Bruce: So are the baklas on Santos, now get rid of her.

13: The low salary. Waitresses traditionally are paid a very low salary and this is because they are considered non productive in terms of raising revenue for the bar, especially in comparison to dancers. Whilst the assumption of low productivity may be true in many cases the low salary is a deterrent for quality service. Bottom line here is that even if they perform their job well it will not gain them any more money. In short they have no incentive to be a good waitress.

What about the tips I hear you asking, well the unfortunate fact is in the majority of clubs the tips are centralized and divided equally amongst all the waitresses working that particular night. As a result the waitresses tips are not an incentive for the girls to work harder or learn their job to a professional standard.

14: The number of waitresses hired. For this point I will directly plagiarize Pok Pok Boy. “Like most Philippines hiring policies its hire 15 and hope 5 show up for work. That’s why some nights you see a number of waitresses sitting in the corner waiting their turn to serve and yet on other nights there aren’t enough to do the job! Go figure!.”

15: The Mamasan connection. Quite often a new troglodyte waitress will surface and when the manager looks in horror and asks who gave her a job, the answer will invariably be “mummy is the one”. I remember when I was working in Mistys and this particularly obese waitress with absolutely no English or comprehension of the job suddenly appeared. I was sitting next to Steve the manager of Nero’s at the time and I spotted her and asked in amazement what the f*%k is that? Steve followed my gaze saw the troglodyte and said “I bet she’s a friend of mummy’s”. I called her over and asked her “when did you start work” and she replied “sa gabi (tonight) daddy”, then I asked her “and who gave you the job” to which she replied, “mummy be the one”. I then asked her “don’t you think you are a bit old for this job” to which she replied “ooh ooh dad but my anak (child) have utang (loan) to mummy so work me now”.

The point here is not to blame her but rather to point out that the criteria for choosing who can be a waitress is often totally irrelevant to the job itself.

So far I have painted a fairly gloomy picture but the truth is there are several bars where the waitresses are efficient, courteous and well trained these include Roadhouse

La Pasha, Carousel, Roadies and to a lesser extent Champagne. Of these the one that stands out for me is Roadhouse. Noticeably the waitresses here do not go bar fine and they have experienced head waitresses who actually teach the newer waitresses how to do their job. Another bar that stands out is La Pasha and not coincidentally the waitresses here are average looking yet highly ranked in terms of service.

In the Blue Nile group they literally have a plethora of waitresses and some of them are very good however once again the good waitresses are the older ones who do not concentrate on bar fines but rather on serving the customers.

The quality of waitresses is often reflected by the owners or managers attitude towards the job itself. In the case of Roadhouse Mark puts an emphasis on quality service as does Neil from Roadies. Just yesterday I was in Roadies having a few beers with a couple of friends when I realized I had run out of cigarettes. I called the waitress over and asked for a packet of Winston lights. She promptly fetched them bought them over together with the bill and proceeded to neatly open the packet for me with one cigarette already slightly out, ready for me to smoke. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised by her courteous and professional demeanor so I left a healthy tip.

As anyone who has been here more than once will attest to, waitresses in AC are a unique breed and it is my sincere hope that this article in some part explains why they are this way and at the same time helps you the customer to understand them and as such deal with them more efficiently. If you have had a few laughs as well as gaining some useful knowledge along the way then I have achieved my objective.

Posted in Eezee Writer | Tagged angeles city, asian bar girls, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, Fields Avenue, filipina bar girls, lbfm, philippines, waitresses | Comments Off

Chapter 9: Negativity

Posted on January 15, 2009 by wpadmin

Chapter 9

Negativity

I debated for sometime as to whether or not to include a chapter pointing out the negatives (more like things to be aware of) of being in the Philippines and in particular AC, but in the end I decided, for good or for bad, it was part of our evolution into a mongerer and should at least be touched on in some small way. Consider it more of a list than a narrative because taken as a whole it could seem to be a bit overwhelming. The list is not in any particular order of importance.

1. Time Consuming Travel. For most of us who live far away, the trip to the Philippines can take the better part of a day (and sometimes more than a day). You may experience long layovers, cramped seating, delayed flights, missed connections, constant disturbances from fellow passengers, mechanical difficulties, weather could play a key factor, bad food, little sleep, insufficient access to the restroom facilities, unforeseen expenses and lest we forget (especially in todays geo-political climate) the possibility of terrorist activities. Then there is the fact that many of us will be crossing the International Dateline. Not that it will have any apparent physical effect on you, but subconsciously we all feel as though we have been “cheated” out of a day of our precious time away, not to worry, on the way back home you will get that day back. If only the reverse were true. I do so envy those that live only a few short hours away.

2. The Opposite Sex??? During your time in AC (and other cities I’m sure) you will no doubt come across what are locally referred to as “baklas”, “ladyboys”, “katoeys” (mostly that is a Thai term). These are men, who for there own reasons have decided they should be women. You may recognize them instantly, as some are just insanely ugly and foolish looking, but you may also be fooled (it DOES happen). It seems that asian men have the ability to look extremely convincing as a female. Usually it is the voice that gives them away. They are a devious bunch to be avoided for sure. They prey on the unsuspecting tourist. Luring, mostly drunken, men to the ever present dark nooks and crannys of a nearby alley with the promise of some oral love all the while “friends” are discretely hidden near at hand for possible ambushes AKA a mugging (or, God forbid, something worse). Although in recent years their presence becomes less and less noticeable, they are there somewhere, lying in wait. Stay on your toes.

3. Freelancers. We touched on this earlier, but I will go into more detail here. These are girls, who for whatever reason do not work in the bars, walk the streets looking for a “john” to have a brief sexual encounter with, normally at a cost that is way less than what the bars usually get for a barfine, maybe P300 to P500 is the going price for a streetwalker. It is still possible to find one who is a diamond in the rough, but why take the chance. They have no mandatory hygene testing, so be aware of that. There has been an increasing amount of scams perpetrated by these women. Some will later claim rape or even worse, stating to the authorities they are minors and that you have lured them to your hotel for the purpose of raping them. When this happens (and pray it never does to you) there will almost always be the proverbial “hand out” of your hard earned cash in order to avoid prosecution, after which the police and the girl will split the proceeds. It is best not to engage any one on the street in a conversation, especially if you do not know them, as the outcome could be exactly what you are trying to avoid.

4. Getting Sick. I am not a doctor or scientist, but it is my opinion that age plays a part in this. It seems the older we get, the more susceptible we become to the viruses over here. In my early years visiting here I would never get sick (except for the one time I drank the water and was grateful I ONLY got the shits), but in later years (closer to mid life) I would always pick up some sort of bug on every trip. Pre dosing yourself with some (doctor prescribed) anit biotics and a regimine of vitamins will certainly help keep your immune system up to strength. Also eating regularly and continuing the vitamins while you are here will be most beneficial. Buy a package of BIO-FLU, you can get it almost anywhere in AC, it is truly a wonder drug (in my experiences). You do not want to be laid up in your hotel room, retching your gutts out and shitting yourself for 7 days and 7 nights, when your supposed to be having the time of your life.

5. Beating up your Body. It is so easy to get caught up in the fervor of a barhop to the point we lose control. You will be drinking and drinking and drinking, add the presence of half naked women all trying to get into your pants and you see how easy it is. You will be punishing your body (and your liver) to the extreme limits of tolerance. Now multiply that by about 14 days (the average stay) and think about what you are doing to yourself. Set aside some time to recuperate, one day here, one day there. Stay home and go swimming, go shopping and see the sites, watch TV, invite a girl to stay with you, but lay off the boozing even for just 1 or 2 days. Your body will thank you in the end.

6. The Girls and Moneybacks. Ok, lets not kid ourselves, there will be times when you don’t get what you expected from a barfine. Perhaps you take a girl home and she fails to live up to the expectations. Perhaps she gets an “emergency” phone call right in the middle of the “deed”. Perhaps she may even just run for the hills while your taking a shower. These things happen, but not very often, and sometimes they are legitimate reasons for the early departure. After all, noone among us is a mind reader, so who knows what they are thinking. There are some simple precautions we can take as “paying customers”. A. Talk to a mamasan before you leave the bar and specify to her (yes be very specific) what you are expecting, so the girls can agree or not to your requests, in front of a witness. B. Sometimes the girls will “bolt” when you are out of sight because they guy is an asshole, lets face it, chances are your drunk and not in full possession of your faculties and have somehow lost the charm you exuded earlier in the evening. Try and sober up a bit before you go home with her. C. In a nice way, ask her if she will turn off her cell phone while she is with you for the night, 9 times out of 10 they won’t belabor the point. If all else fails, return, with the girl if possible, to the bar and state your case to the management. In almost every case, you will get a fare shake from the manager. They didn’t open a bar to cheat people, on the other hand, they didn’t open a bar to be cheated, so make sure your case is valid. “She ran away when my 9 friends showed up to join the fun” is NOT a reasonable excuse to get your money back.

7. Do Not Fall in Love. Unless your looking for a wife or long time relationship with the girls, don’t become caught up in their charms. Anyone who has ever been there can tell you it is so easy to lose yourself to these girls. Normally what happens is you fall for a girl, go back home and end up spending all waking moments glued to your computer waiting for her to get online (usually at an internet café) where at some point she will ask for money (they have literally thousands of reasons) to which you will become a Gold Card member of Western Union in no time. It’s ok to stay in touch with the many friends you have made on your visits, especially if your going to return, just don’t fall into the trap of being “involved” with any one girl. It’s a headache (heartache possibly) you can live without, trust me, they will survive with out you, they always do.

8. Keep Tabs on your Tabs. Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes. On the odd and rare occasion you will even be cheated on your bar bills. Keep your cups (they use little wooden cups to put your bar bills in) in front of you and make sure no one touches them except the waitress. Occasionally do a quick talley to be sure everything is kosher, and keep it in mind when it comes time to pay your bill. Politely point out any discrepancies to the waitress and your bill will be adjusted accordingly provided you are not the one who can’t add.

These are just a few of the pitfalls that could occur, that’s not to say they will, just be on you’re toes and everything should be fine. When traveling abroad, especially to a third world country, use your good common sense. Keep in mind that the rules that apply where you live will not always apply somewhere else. Keep an open mind as to the customs of foreign lands, and try to adjust your tolerance. A good example would be the “baklas” we talked about earlier; in the Philippines it is sometimes considered good luck to have one in the family. Though they should be avoided, there is no reason to chase them in the night with torches and pitch forks then burn them at the stake upon capturing one.

There is no reason to return home from your trip of a lifetime only remembering the negative things that happened. Learn from them so your next visit will be a little more pleasant. Talk about them fondly and perceive the humor of the situation rather than be disgusted and dissuaded by them. There is no such place as Nirvana, Eden, Xanadu or whatever you think is the “perfect” getaway, so don’t look for it, but Angeles City, in my opinion, is as close as you will come to finding it.

Posted in Mongers Life | Tagged angeles city, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, filipina bar girls, lbfm, monger, mongoring, philippines | Leave a comment

Chapter 8: The Nightlife

Posted on January 13, 2009 by wpadmin

Chapter 8

The Nightlife

So far I have only dabbled in the nightlife here. I have discovered many pleasures during the daytime and early evening hours. As far as I was concerned, I would have been content to continue that practice for my entire stay in AC. Indeed many people ONLY venture out during the day, that is the life they have become accustomed to. They have jobs and family obligations that only afford them a few daylight hours in which to indulge their carnal compunctions, some are just plain “early birds”. Whatever the reasons, I can certainly understand their desire to keep it that way.

It was time to experience what the night had to offer here. Time to see for myself what all the “hubbub” was about. I got my answers, in spades. Nighttime on Fields Avenue is where the party people come to indulge. It starts at about 6pm and lasts as long as you can keep up with it. Most places, I found, close at 2am to 3am, but a few go until the sun comes up. The music is loud, the booze flows freely, the girls party hard and the guys loose their sanity, innocence, inhibitions and sometimes even a few personal items (but that’s rare and only if your not careful).

Walking from my hotel to Fields (about 1 block away) I am accosted by “street vendors” trying to sell their wares. Viagra, Cialis (and other male enhancement needs), umbrellas (when its raining and whether you have one or not), CD’s, DVD’s, nick nacks, food, watches, sunglasses (whether your wearing any or not) and all manner of junk. They rarely take no for an answer the first time you say it. From these people I learned patience and tolerance. 10 to 12 trike drivers will ask if you need a ride, yet when you want one you always have to yell for one, go figure. Freelancers will propostion you, some wanting something to eat for a blow job, some wanting to go back to your hotel, some wanting you to have some fun with them and their sister,or cousin, or niece. I even had one ask me if I would like to take her daughter for a date. I have read the boards enough by now to know to stay away (even run away) from these situations whenever they present themselves.

Now I am on Fields. Do I go to the beginning of the street and start from there, or the other end. Fuck it, it doesn’t matter, start at the first one you come to. They are all the same to a degree…loud music, cold beer, cool aircon and pretty young girls. I decided to ease into the nightlife here instead of wading in head first and selected a bar that I had heard of on the boards. A so called “low pressure” bar, supposedly the best of its kind. This is the advice given to “newbies” so as not to go through some kind of shock at what they were about to experience. Newbies, I never really like that term as it carried a tone of arrogance from those that used it, although it is the most accurate, eventually I came to accept it and nowadays I even use it myself, but with no malice intended.

So I enter this bar I had heard so much about, “Streethouse” or “Alleyhouse”, something like that. I should note at this point, there were no door girls at this bar urging you to “Come inside sir”, just a couple of guards who would open the door for you and say “Welcome sir”. Kinda odd I thought at the time. I was greeted by a waitress who guided me to my seat and took my drink order, which was served promptly. She stood near by, but not so near as to seem like hovering. I watched the girls dance, more like slow shuffle (even to faced paced music), and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Occasionaly they would all do a choreographed step they had obviously devised themselves, kinda like you would expect from some high school kids. The mamasans were steadily watching the girls to make sure ALL participated at ALL times and that ALL obeyed the rules (no nudity or hassling customers). This after all was the trademark of this place.

I found this to be refreshing. I stayed quite a while. I “toyed” with the waitresses, seems they like to take your ashtray and replace it with a fresh one at the first sign of dirtiness, by hiding my ashtray behind me until I finished my smoke (and even after). An “icebreaker” at the very least. I noticed a cute dancer making eyes at me for sometime, so I asked the waitress (who I nicknamed “Trainee”) if she was allowed to sit with me. She relayed my request to the girl, and she came over and introduced herself, “Hello sir, my name is somethingLynn, then she sat there quietly smiling. We talked for a few minutes and I offered her a drink, and we generally had a good time for several hours.

I found out later that about 1/3 of the girls here have the LYNN extension to their names. Roselynn, Annalynn, Annlynn, Rinalynn and on and on. I also found they have extended families, and I mean extended. Every girl I have talked to up to this day comes from a large family, 5 brothers and 3 sisters seems to be the norm, and then there are the cousins. They seem to have “cousins” working in every city and every bar throughout the land. If you take a girl bar hopping with you, guaranteed you will meet, at least 1, of her cousins. I think this is more of a “sisterhood” type of term meaning a good friend they have known for a long time that they choose to introduce as a cousin.

It is the policy of this bar, and several others like it, to make the customer feel relaxed and offer up NO pressure to buy drinks for the girls. We as a customer will decide who sits with us and who gets a drink and when. Never, that I have seen, has a girl, mamasan or waitress ever asked me for a drink or to buy a drink for their friend (or cousin). That definitely adds to the appeal of this place, along with the girls of course. This place became a favorite nighttime stop for me during my stay, and subsequent stays also. Whenever I enter I am greeted with a loud cheer from the stage and staff, even a year later. Well run, well maintained and well managed, this is truly a good choice as a “newbies” first stop.

This bar is famous for two reasons. The first I stated above, the second is a certain dance number they will do for you upon request. It just so happens to be choreographed around a favorite tune of mine from AC/DC, and it is a thing to behold. It has often been imitated in other places but NEVER has it been duplicated to the precision and enthusiasm of the girls from “Streethouse”. It works particularly well in part because of the uniforms the girls wear, high rising tops and high riding skirts. If you doubt me, you can find a video of it on the internet at their website.

Now I had a taste of the “low pressure” bars, I was ready for something a little more spicier, so I thought. I walked a short distance to the one 24/7 bar in the city (I’m pretty sure there is only 1). Yelled at, laughed at, whispered at and even sung to by door girls from several bars as I walked to the 24 hour bar, I was never touched and often times stopped to joke with the girls about something or other all the while stating I would be back later, a lie to be sure but a harmless one they can live with. When I reached my destination I was immediately “grabbed” by a couple of girls and dragged into this place. They held me in such a manner as to present the appearance of escorting me in, but it was out and out dragging. As I was going in anyway I didn’t offer much resistance.

At the exact same moment a waitress led me to a seat, no less than 6 girls, ran full tilt to join me. Three were just downright ugly, two were on the cusp of being underage and I immediately shooed those two away only to be replaced by two others who were “cherry girls” and the third was non descript, a sort of “plain jane”. I admit I was taken by surprise and ordered a round of drinks for all of us, what they brought back to the table was seven drinks for us PLUS 2 for the girls I shooed away, and a request to buy 3 for the mamasans. Having read on the boards to treat the mamasans well, I agreed to the order.

While drinking my beer and watching my cigarettes disappear 2 and 3 at a time and listening to the girls talk among themselves, I found myself getting over the initial shock of this place. It was quite large, 2 floors in fact. There had to be, at a conservative estimate, 50 or more girls there not counting waitresses. They had a small dance stage in the center of the bottom floor that could fit maybe 8 girls dancing comfortably. They wore these ridiculous white boots that looked like something KISS had discarded back in the early 80’s. The poor girls could barely lift their legs to walk let alone dance in them. Their outfits consisted of swimsuits (all wearing the same color) with an occasional girl wearing a thong (here referred to as a T BACK). Of the 50 or so girls at this place, I would make an “uninebriated” guess that maybe 5 or 6 were not bad looking.

As I finished my beer, the girls all “gulped” the rest of their drinks and one of them called for the waitress and ordered more drinks. I hadn’t finished looking around yet so I dismissed this without a thought. Still the girls talked to themselves, the “cherry girls” sat by themselves drinking the second round I had no intention of ordering, the mamasans were no where in sight, having had their free drinks from me they left without a word and disappeared into the back somewhere. I did notice there were a few customers in here, mostly sitting on sofa type seating that went all the way around half the bar, surrounded by girls and some taking pictures. This place has not much interaction from the girls EXCEPT to get their drinks, then you will be ignored, yet some guys seem to like this place.

Why are most of the bars here successful, because everyone likes something different. Everyone has a favorite place to go regardless of what someone else thinks of the place, and they defend them zealously. Too each his own. A word about “cherry girls”. These are virgins and as rule of thumb are not to be bf’ed for sexual purposes. There are exceptions to this rule, but we won’t go into that right now. Mainly they are used as “eye candy” for the bars, pretty young things to attract customers inside. They will sit with you and drink and even talk a little bit but are basically hands off. Cherry girls have normally been only working in a particular bar for a short time, maybe 1 or 2 months. They are shy, scared, nervous and just in some kind of emotional turmoil, they can put a damper on a good night fast. I have learned to accept them for what they are, and even enjoy their company now. They feel safe with me and I feel safe with them. Also they usually have some very pretty friend who is NOT a cherry girl, motives are rarely selfless.

Well, I have had enough of this place. I call the waitress to pay my bill, she leaves then returns with a “3500 pesos only sir”. Upon hearing this, the girls gulp again then scurry away without so much as a by your leave, the cherry girls have vanished also. I paid the bill, vowing to myself to never return or even walk past, and gave no tip to the waitress, she understood why without me saying a word. My bill was “padded”. At the previous bar, I spent twice the time and about the same amount of drinks and paid only ½ of what they charged me here. From now on I keep the bill cup beside me wherever I go and nobody is allowed to touch it, I check it every so often to make sure no shenanigans are going on and nothing is being added without my knowledge. I don’t say this happens everywhere, but it does happen.

I have just witnessed the two opposite ends of the spectrum in regards to bars on Fields Avenue. In between are numerous places I have found to be very enjoyable. In fact I find that any bar (with 1 exception so far) can be a fun place to be, it depends on what your expecting when you walk in and your own personality you bring inside. If you’re a fun loving person, you will mostly find fun loving places and people. If your on the “pussy prowl” your going to be disappointed in most of the bars. The attitudes of the girls change from customer to customer and how they are treated. If you walk into a bar with the premise your going to spend some pesos and get everyone to have a good time, you will be treated like a king (worth every centavo in my opinion) If you walk into a bar, pull a girl from the stage, buy 2 drinks then leave on a bf, you will be forgotten quickly, if your remembered it will be in a negative way.

Fields Avenue at night is the place to be if you want to party. You are guaranteed to come across at least ½ a dozen places that you like and 1/2 a dozen you don’t like, and everyone will have a different opinion on each of them. The girls are just as varied. Some tall (4’9 to 5’) and some are short (4’2” to 4’6”), some are chubby and some are anorexic, some are drop dead gorgeous and some are just butt ugly, some are sweet and innocent (almost childlike) and some are outright bitches(depending if their menstruating or not). There are girls for every taste, so by all means start tasting and enjoy the nightlife.

Posted in Mongers Life | Tagged angeles city, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, filipina bar girls, lbfm, monger, mongoring, philippines | Leave a comment

Chapter 4: Ahhhh, The Philippines

Posted on January 5, 2009 by wpadmin

Chapter 4

Ahhhh, The Philippines

Into the comfortable, airconditioned car I go. Stopping at a refreshment stand for a couple of cokes for me and the driver (I call him Petey, as I can’t pronounce his name). Now I settle back and prepare for the 2 to 3 hour drive (so I read somewhere) on my final leg of the journey I have been anticipating for so long. I take a few sips of my drink and have another smoke, opening the window to allow the second hand smoke to escape so as not to bother Petey was a huge misstake…..more air pollution. I close my eyes and prepare for an hour (or 2) nap. What seems like 10 seconds passes when I feel the car make a sharp turn, opening my eyes in time to see us turning off the highway I check my watch, 45 minutes have passed since I “nodded off”. I feel better now. I assumed I was now in for a few hours of pot hole ridden, dirt road travel and braced my sore ass for the long haul.

About 10 minutes later we passed under a banner reading “Welcome to Barangay Balibago”, or something like that. I knew from my research I was going to Balibago, but had no idea how big it was or how near the hotel we were. Another 10 minutes of side street driving and navigating brought me safely (and surprisingly) to the hotel front entrance. The 2 to 3 hour drive from Manila took only 1 hour and 15 minutes, give or take a few minutes either way. That got Petey a decent tip (about P1000). Later I would learn the value/problems of tipping too much in the Philippines. In my youth I have had jobs in the service industry, and as anyone else who has held those jobs does, we normally tip more than the average.

I want to back up just a bit to the point we were driving on the side streets. That is where I got my first, up close, real look, at beautiful young Filipinas. Freelancers, as I would later come to know them, would saunter (sometimes run) up to the car whenever we slowed down to make a turn or allow a pedestrian to pass by. The first 2 or 3 just waved and seemed to wait for a response from me. All I could do was grin (ear to ear) sheepishly. Just seeing them roused my loins to attention, and when they smiled at me it was all I could do to keep from opening the door and beconning them inside. Between the 4th and 7th ones who wandered over to the car, I decided it would be prudent to exchange cell phone numbers, for a possible carnal interlude at a later time. That turned out to be totally unnecessary.

I have checked in at the front desk, gone to my room, passed out a few P50 tips to the bell boys and room attendants, and settled down on my NOT SO comfortable bed for a little breather and the unimaginable, delightful acceptance that I am finally here, and a weight was lifted from my shoulders (weight being the horrendous experiences of traveling 8,000+ miles). I made myself unpack, and commenced with the 3 S’s again and sat on the bed, air conditioner on full blast, and decided after a few minutes I would change and go for a swim, then get something to eat. Instead, I laid back to rest my eyes while cooling off and then awoke with a start from a most tantalizing dream involving 3 of the “freelancers” I had encountered earlier only to find it was now some 8 hours later. It is now 5am, Philippine time, and my first night here was spent alone. I wanted to cry. Instead, I ordered some room service (outstanding food), watched some TV and generally paced around the room til about noon. I went for a swim, and got a little bit of sun, ate some lunch at the poolside bar, and just generally “chilled” for awhile.

I was drinking my 3rd San Miguel Light, when a bunch of Australians entered the bar and started discussing the prior days football scores. Not wanting to be the odd man out, I introduced my self to some of them and bought a round of drinks. Some 3 hours later, my new friends invited me on my first bar hop. Back to my room to do the 3 S’s again ( I knew I didn’t want to be caught short in a 3rd world bar having to use the CR) and change to some “intelligent” clothing. Shorts, short sleeved shirt and flip flops (in the PI referred to as slippers). A little after shave and some cologne and I was all set. NOTE: DO NOT put on after shave immediately after you shave. Remember Home Alone and what happened to Macully Culkin? Then I got the call from Kevin, one of my new mates, saying they were all meeting at the favorite hangout/restaurant/bar/starting point of most of the foreigners that come to Angeles. It was located on the corner of all the action, and incidently, only 2 blocks from my hotel. Dodging trikes, street vendors trying to sell me Viagra or Cialis or DVD’s or other unnecessary items, “freelancers”, beggars. Motorcycles and cars, I made it there in about 10 minutes.

We stayed there for as long as it took to drink a beer, then made our way across the street to a rather run down looking bland little bar, I was not impressed UNTIL we walked inside. Bigger on the inside and looking as modern as any western upscale bar I have ever seen. The music blasted my ears into submission, and my eyes squinted to narrow little slits trying to pierce the darkness. Then I saw them, up on a stage of sorts, dressed in almost nothing, and doing what I could not in all good conscience call dancing, but trying to move to the music as best they could or wanted to. Pretty young Filipinas, lbfm’s, little maids all in a row. Smiling at me as I entered and saying “Hello Daddy” to the guys I was with, who had obviously made themselves known in this bar before.

We sat down in some very comfortable seats at a table known as the VIP TABLE. Later I would understand what this was for. Immediately a waitress walked up to us and said “Hello Daddy Kevin, how are you nah”, after some chit chat between the 2 she took our drink orders and wandered away, Kevin followed her and whispered something to into her ear and gave her a little pinch on the bottom, she turned and looked directly at me and giggled and said something back to Kevin. He sat back down and I asked why she was laughing at me to which he replied “Don’t be paranoid you bloody bugger, were gonna show you yanks how to have a “good time”, Philippine style.” “It’s sort of an initiation, just relax mate.”.

Shortly, our waitress brought our drinks and with her followed a rather portly, over middle aged woman called Mommy Matilda (or something like that). She was the “mamasan” of this bar. I knew what that was from my endless researching about the nightlife in Angeles City. “Hello Jeffery (not my real name of course because noone needs to know it for the purposes of this story), welcome to my bar”. “Sir Kevin tells me your “cherry boy”, is that true?”. After my mates told me what a “cherry boy” was, I told the mamasan it was true. She said I was lucky cause all the girls like cherry boys. Still not quite knowing what to expect, I savored my beer(s) and started to notice that behind my back, all me mates were pointing there fingers over my head and shouting “CHERRY BOY”.

Soon a new set of dancers climbed up onto the stage and the first set, all 12 of them, made their way to our table. We ordered “lady’s drinks” for all and 3 of them latched onto me. Grabbing my crotch, playing with my nipples, rubbing my head, making an “L” sign under my chin and generally flirting their little hearts out with me, I was truly in a single guys paradise. Within an hours time I learned what a “blow job” was, what a “body shot” was, a “lady’s drink”, a “ring the bell” and last but not least, what a “bar fine” was. So I barfined 3 lovely young beauties, and we commenced with our barhopping. Bar after bar we visited, and each held girls that were more and more beautiful and desirable. It was then I realized that it was not a good idea to bar fine from the first bar you visit. But I was still happy with the 3 I had in tow.

We started out at about 6pm and it was now nearing midnight. I kept my drinking under control, switching to mineral water now and again, so as to keep some sense about me. At the girls insistence (and I didn’t argue), I said goodnight to my mates and we headed back to my hotel. After all the bars we stopped at, at the end of the night, I was still only about 2 blocks from my hotel. There are so many damn bars, its almost unimaginable, and most are right next to each other. In fact at one point on Fields Avenue (the main drag), you can go to 15 or so bars and only walk 1 block.

Back at the hotel, I get a knowing grin from the doorman and the girls at the front desk, “Enjoy your night Jeffery, hehe”. Blushing slightly, we all head to my room. The girls tell me they are a little hot and can we go swimming for a little while. Well of course I smiled and said “Sure, why not.”. This being part of the foreplay I decided. As good as they looked in their work outfits, they were even more gorgeous in their street clothes, and then in their bikini’s they were just wet dreams walking. After some cooling off in the pool, they settled down to some snuggling and underwater frolicking with my manliness until I could stand it no more. “Lets go back to the room now babies”. They all held hands and we made our way to the room, where they all went to the CR together to change clothes and take a shower, I called room service and asked for a few more towels and they were quick to oblige.

When the door opened and they all walked out naked as jaybirds like it was a normal everyday thing for them, I knew what was about to happen. It was my turn to shower, and relieve my bladder and generally freshen up (meaning to make myself semi-hard). I could hear through the door they were watching TV. When I returned to the bedroom, they were all sitting on the edge of the bed watching a show called “WOWOWEE”, as I understand it, it’s a favorite among the Filipinas, old and young alike. Not one of them moved a muscle, except to giggle at each other when someone did someone did something foolish on the show, until the show was over, about 40 minutes later. My “semi hardness” long gone now as I caught myself engulfed in that damn show, even though I didn’t understand a word they were saying. Finally the show was over, the TV went off, the lights went low and the girls cuddled all around me. Just feeling the nakedness of them all gave me back my “semi”, and the fun commenced. First 2 with me and 1 by herself, then one with me and 2 with each other, the switching was non stop and all got a taste of the little monster they aroused. I “rewarded” them 3 times, 1 load for each. And I even got 2 of the girls to explode all over each other. We collapsed into a very deep and pleasant sleep.

In the morning, more like early afternoon, they woke up and 2 of them decided they wanted a second helping while the 3rd showered and got dressed. Eager to please, I gave them 2 more “rewards” and decided to take a taste of their hidden pleasures. They taught me the word “masarap”, meaning delicious, that afternoon. We lunched by the pool, then I gave each a P500 tip plus P50 each for trike fare, and sent them on there merry way with goodbye hugs from all. One turned around and shouted for all to hear, “Daddy Jeffery, your not “cherry boy” nah diba”. She said a mouthful. Ahhhhh, the Philippines.

Posted in Mongers Life | Tagged angeles city, Asian Escapades, bar girls, bar hopping, bargirls, filipina bar girls, lbfm, monger, mongoring, philippines | Leave a comment

Search Results for: mamasan

A. Santos Street (Blow Road), The Facts

The Filipina Double Standard

Angeles City Showgirls

The OTH Question

Bar Managers, are they a dying breed?

Angeles City Bar Waitresses

Chapter 9: Negativity

Chapter 8: The Nightlife

Chapter 4: Ahhhh, The Philippines

Categories

Popular Searches