Inside the Sad World Of Nightclub Bottle Girls

You've already been taken inside the world of VIP Hosts and given a full lesson on nightclub hierarchy, but perhaps you have room for yet another look at the inner workings of the oh so glamorous bottle service industry. Because when you strip away the velvet ropes, DJs and faux sense of exclusivity, a certain segment of nightlife is simply the business of getting rich people to pay a 300 percent markup on liquor in exchange for four seats and a waitress to pour drinks. New York decided to go deep inside the world of bottle girls and VIP hosts and even scored a sit down with the world's most famous bottle girl of all, Rachel Uchitel.

· A 26 year-old bottle service waitress makes between $1,000 and $3,000 a night and says the job "means you’re half a stripper and half a pimp. If you don’t book a client, you’re fired. Most places I worked, I had to sign a confidentiality agreement about celebrities."

· The same waitress says that she doesn't have to sleep with any regulars, she does have to "flirt with them, booty dance with them, call them, hang out with them, occasionally procure girls and ‘party favors’ for them, all while wearing teeny tiny outfits." She calls it "a form of social prostitution."

· Steve Lewis says these girls get more than a fat paycheck, they get the thrill of rubbing it in their friends face, saying "They call their girlfriends back home, ‘Oh my God! I was hanging out with So-and-so! He was so nice!’?”

· While most girls in the game want to meet their Tiger woods, they are most likely to meet a schlubby table host who gets a free bottle in exchange for bringing young girls to a club. Avoid the bottle hosts.

· One host says the Boom Boom Room is for "money-hungry Russian girls . . . looking for serious bank" while another says "Cipriani is . . . the No. 1 spot in Manhattan for hookers and half-hookers."

· Rachel Uchitel says she earned $250,000 in base salary and a guaranteed $250,000 in tips in her best year.

· Uchitel says she would never arrange for sex, but is willing to corral a group of women to bring over to a client's table, both pleasing her customer and drive up the tab. That's called the soft sell.

· Always one with an idea, former pimp Jason Itzler proposes a club where the bottle girls are actual hookers, promising to call it the Tiger Club. May we suggest a space within Community Board 3?

None of this is really new, and rather than being interesting, it's all seems rather sad. But as often as owners promise to re-invent the business or lawsuits threaten to destroy the business model, they continually rely on selling bottles to open a club and make money, and it doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon.
· Rachel Uchitel Is Not a Madam [New York]
· All You Need Or Want To Know About VIP Hosts [~ENY~]
· The Eater Guide To Nightclub Staff Hierarchy [~ENY~]