I visited the nightclub on a Friday night. We arrived at 11:30 and the place was rather empty but filling up steadily. The customers seemed to be between 23 and 40 years old.
The setting is quite posh. Chandeliers on the ceiling, leather sofas and seats, empty tables that had all been reserved. An extensive collection of wine is nicely showcased behind the bar.
In this part of the world it is common, for nightclubs to use quite a different way of charging than what you may be used to. You see, when entering the nightclub, the bouncer gives each customer a small carton card with little squares on it. Every time you buy a drink, the bartender will punch a hole in one of the squares. Only when one leaves the nightclub will you pay depending on how much you drank.
Sounds acceptable enough, no? Well it is a horrible system and this is how I got to know the unfriendliness of the staff just minutes after entering.
The tree of us walked over to the bar. We put our three cards on the bar and we chatted while the bartender poured our drinks. When we took our drinks we toasted to a good night. I saw my punch card still on the bar and took it. My friend said 'where is my card?'. It had either been stolen, or the bartender had dropped it. We of course checked the floor etc on our side of the bar.
There was NO negotiation whatsoever on the side of the bartenders. The manager came and told us to come with him to the door. He called the bouncer. The manager left and the bouncer told us to pay the whole card. There are 30 drinks on one card! That is what we did and we left. We had been inside 5 minutes and we payed for 30 plus 2 = 32 drinks.
Not happy.. read more
