AcrobaticSource3 t1_jb17i3k wrote on March 5, 2023 at 5:35 PM

Genuine question: is a hostess bar kind of like a strip club without the stripping? That’s how it sounds like. No judgement, just trying to understand because that’s what I get from the description

stachemz t1_jb1i42u wrote on March 5, 2023 at 6:43 PM

Yeah basically. Imagine a bar staffed with escorts (like - actual escorts, not the kind you sleep with after). Their job is to be pretty to look at and to make sure you enjoy yourself. In the process, they help the bar sell more drinks and make more money. I'm not 100% on how their pay goes - I'm American, my only experience is through media.

Loko8765 t1_jb1ms0o wrote on March 5, 2023 at 7:14 PM

No personal experience here, but I would expect she pockets something like half the price of each $25 shot as her pay. The other half is pure profit for the house, less the cent or so of water (it probably costs more to wash the glass than to fill it up).

guutarajouzu OP t1_jb4f6mq wrote on March 6, 2023 at 10:20 AM

Yup, exactly this. I think she'd get half of ieach drink and the drinks are certainly watered-down or just water and syrup

guutarajouzu OP t1_jb4f3ff wrote on March 6, 2023 at 10:19 AM

Kinda. The hostess bars I'm referring to are known locally as 'Juice Bars' or 'Juicy Bars' and cater to bored, lonely privates and airmen.

Historically they're linked to prostitution and there are still many that are fronts for it. There's been a lot of push from the powers-that-be to get rid of them and a lot of them are genuinely just bars where guys go to buy overpriced, watered-down drinks for the women so that they'll talk to them.