Clubs of Poland. Consummation

In the center of European cities, whether it’s a pleasant summer, and even rainy autumn evening, there are many people walking along the streets. Among them there are local residents or Poles who came from other cities for a weekend or a holiday. But also there are many tourists, foreigners who don’t know at all what to watch out for while staying in Poland.

In the summer of 2017, me, a citizen of the Republic of Belarus, received a long-awaited invitation to work in Poland. I made a working visa. I went there to work as a hostess, which means being a manager in my country. I was happy, because as I thought that time I will work in the sphere of management which I was studying at college. It was possible to develop, build a career, achieve. I came to Wroclaw. By the way, in my opinion, one of the most comfortable for life and travel cities in Poland. Previously, the name of the city sounded differently, and it was situated in Germany, so far the European spirit and the German style are felt all over. I started to work. It turned out that I got into a standard striptease bar, which, as I found out later, are very popular in Poland, literally at every step. It was a very inconspicuous place, it was not far from Galeria Dominikanska towards the Rynek. To create an institution of this type, they chose a very good location. The club was located at Wita Stwosza 12, in the same building as the typical three-star Lothus hotel and near the main square, that is, the flow of foreign customers was significant.

"Rasputin" at least didn’t hide, sold alcohol honestly and generously, followed the new law (at a distance of less than 300m from the main square, any kind of sexual intercourse is forbidden), closed its rooms for intimacy and earned money on dancing girls and alcoholic drinks ordered by guests both for themselves and for beautiful seducers. Both foreigners and Poles were visiting us. I worked there for a month, my responsibilities were to look good, talk a lot in English and order cocktails. I stayed there, I earned good money, I didb’t deceive anyone. In addition, I really liked the team, the girls from Ukraine and Belarus, decent, kind, but naïve like me, because we believed in the integrity of the employer. Managers and bartenders were nice Polish girls. Practically nobody saw our bosses; they didn’t give us contracts. Once the Guardian came to check documents, visas, contracts and in case of absence of any papers they were going to deport the employees. That evening they wanted to deport me, but Asha, our bartender, talked to everyone, explained the situation, and they left me working. After that incident, I, of course, decided to search for work with the contract as soon as possible, so that there was a reason to be in Poland with a working visa.

A month later the club closed, but because of the personal conflict of the brothers who controlled it.

And a month and a half later I went to Krakow as a manager in the Lounge, as the owner of this institution told me. She described my duties as control over waitresses (by the way there were none of them there), the number of alcohol drunk by the workers, the order in the lounge zone. This establishment is located in the city center, not far from the main square, at the intersection of Szewska and Jagiellonska streets. Close to Subway. The bar is located under the apartments of Old Town Apart at Szewska, 18. It’s written on the door "Drink Bar Bachus", but for employees it remains "Hard Candy", which is the previous name of this institution. And even now it is enough to enter "Hard candy Krakow" in the search string and you can be sure about an awful reputation of this club for a long period. By the way, the same leader has another club of a similar type, is also in the center. They call it "Theater", but I wasn’t there and can’t say for sure.

«Hard Candy». At the entrance is a security guard, a Pole by birth, whose duties include not letting the Poles in, as well as foreign guests without girls or with girls who don’t work in this institution. In addition, the employees were told not to "catch" foreign exchange students (for example, Erasmus) and tourists who came for a long time, because staying in the city, they would "come, arrange disassembly, moan, call the police" and so on.

Inside, the club looks interesting, the interior deceives any client, a pleasant atmosphere, various music from decent jazz to the dance hits of recent years. As in any seemingly normal establishment here, you may even be surprised by the benevolence of the barman administrator. But don’t forget that mercy will change to anger and in this place no one ever heard about any service and the slogan "The client is always right".

You got inside, it means you are with a girl. Look at her attentively. You just met her on the street, strolled through the center, talked. You probably liked her so much that you didn’t notice how she brought you here. Why did she speak to you? Because you are a foreigner. Why did she bring you to the bar? Stories  are different: maybe she broke up with her boyfriend, or maybe she is looking for someone to spend the evening in a pleasant company. She told you that she came from Romania or Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovakia?

In any case, these girls are taught not to speak their native Russian while they are with guests. And the staff of the bar talks in Polish among themselves to leave for the guest the appearance of a typical institution in the center of Krakow.

Of course, this girl will ask if it is open. Of course, you will be answered positively, you will be led to a table, given a menu and asked what your company would like to drink. It is the responsibility of the girls not to let you look at the menu because of the prices that are indicated there. I don’t know how often the boss changes prices and assortment, but in October 2017 50 gr. of whiskey cost 70 euros. Of course, this is probably the normal price for your country, but in Poland the price corresponds to the luxury segment and you are unlikely to find anything like this in Krakow, unless it is an exquisite restaurant of a five-star hotel. Strangely enough, a glass of vodka will cost you only 6.5 euros. And, of course, the girls will not order vodka at the beginning. But later, to show that they are also paying something, they will leave you and go to the bar, make the appearance of payment, and in a minute you will see shots with vodka on your table, which is generally cheap and may be poured for free. However, if there is not enough vodka on the bar, you will receive vodka, and the girls will receive water. Once there were a guest and one of the employees who wanted to "pay" for vodka near the bar. The girl gave me a travel card! I tried to think  with which side to attach it to the terminal, and at that time was looking at the guest, who was looking at the "credit card" and was trying to understand what I was doing. I could not understand too. Acting skills, to which I was not ready, coming to the post of a manager.

Let's return to the prices. While a shot of vodka costs only 6.5 euros, for a cocktail of your lady you will have to pay from 45 to 83 euros. In addition, be ready that you will be necessarily robbed and ridiculed. Imagine, your lady orders Ballantine's 30 y.o, but she gets the usual Ballantine's Finest. This is the focus from the bartender, because a rare average person will feel the difference. Be sure, in cocktails like Cuba Libre or Sex on the Beach, which are most often ordered by female employees because of their high price and the percentage that they receive at the end of the working day, all alcoholic components will be about half the norm or they will be absent at all. Are you ready to give 80 euros for a glass of orange juice with five grams of peach syrup at the bottom?

Let us dwell in detail on the payment of bills. If you still dare to pay, the actions will develop in two ways: either cash at a table, or a card on the bar. In both cases, the companions will not leave you and will even follow you and your credit card carefully to check whether you have paid and whether problems have occurred. Of course, it is obvious that any self-respecting institution is aimed at providing the best quality services in return for your money. The same story can be found here: while you pay, on your table there will be candies and strawberries with cream, fruit plates. The girls will be as nice to you as possible. But if by the end of the evening the fact of cheating becomes obvious to you, a scandal will begin: the barman will, as a child, prove to you that the prices are indicated in the menu and you ordered it yourself, the girl will press with questions if you are going to pay. Perhaps, the bartender will  start to call the police. No one, by the way, will come after an undone call. But, I hope, after reading this article, you and your thoughts will not go so far, only if you want to check everything on yourself.

I worked there for a week. During this time unfortunately I had to see fights, weapons, humiliated and insulted foreigners, an ugly attitude towards the guests, which implies this "business". Consummation (from Latin consumo - consuming) - this is the stimulation of sales in restaurants, clubs and other places of entertainment. This is usually done by young girls working in such institutions, often strip bars. By communication, they encourage customers to make unplanned orders. In the club "Hard Candy", which I am describing to you in detail today, there is another system. Conspiracy, manipulation, hunting for wealthy and exclusively foreign customers who fall into the net of a charming girl (more often two for greater credibility and in the hope that at least one will "hook" the potential client with a lady’s charisma) and go on about her desire to drink in certain establishments, where she earns money. By the way, not all girls are as adorable as the standard of institutions of this type requires, so you can often see the picture: two colleagues are sitting, pretending that they met only this evening, they are sitting with a foreigner and he is talking to the one that is fresher, younger and slimmer . Interestingly, in this club, however contradictory it may sound, a system of fines has been established. For any physical contact, for example, a kiss, a girl receives a fine of 235 euros. By the way, in advertisements of the 1990s. the term "consummation" was used as a synonym for officially banned prostitution.

Of course, we are far from being in the 90's, but this does not give us the right to earn ruthlessly on foreigners.

In general, this place is associated for me with the 90's. In the last days of my stay in Krakow, the boss arranged a party, everyone celebrated the birthday of "Hard Candy", which was already 8 years old. This is suspicious in itself, as no club of this type has held for more than two years. Question: when will the authorities take part in the liquidation of such institutions?

The theme of the birthday was the 90th, which symbolizes everything that happens in this club: theft, deception, crime, dirty money, social disorder, lack of morality and conscience. Of course, the party ended rather sadly, although I met all these people, they opened up in front of me in a different light, I saw with my own eyes "real friendship" and "real leadership." One struck the other, he paid back, but didn’t hit, then the one with the swollen eye, walked and asked everyone to cut his eyelid so that the blood would come out. The headmistress left the club several times crying, returning pale and frightened, screaming constantly that everyone should leave and take out the "new ones". I looked at everything from the top floor, closer to the exit and I thought, "How can a leader allow her subordinates and, eventually, her friends to beat her, arrange a rout from a regular party, fight and insult each other?". Fortunately, that morning we, the "new ones", were able to call a taxi and come to the the apartment without any injuries. The key to the room in which I lived was left in the club with another employee, and she stayed at the club "having fun". So the three of us sat down in the kitchen. When our neighbors came, immediately they took a picture, shouted at us that it was impossible to arrange parties in the apartment, although we just sat listening to the music and that night they were already at the "real party", which was quite enough for us. The manager came in with these girls, the brother of the headmistress, all in the blood, said that he had fought on the way from the club. In general, all this is called "culture". By the way, I didn’t have a lot of fun that night, as I stood behind the bar counter, as in the usual work shift.

The bosses and the employees call customers "pindos", which in the same 80's and 90's meant "Negro", "black", and in the XIX century - early XX century on the Black Sea coast of the Russian Empire was used in common speech as a pejorative nickname for local Greeks . In the post-Soviet space since the beginning of the XXI century is an invective name for Americans (US citizens).

Repeatedly I became a witness and, unfortunately, a participant in these manipulations, but I was not held responsible. The first week of work there, I watched the actions of the chief administrator and helped him. Once he said: "I was called from the second club, there came a crowd of Italians, fighting, shouting. "Here you are". With that, he handed me a gun. I doubted that the weapon was real. Then the administrator gave it to the man, the one who was asking to cut his eyelid. He began to shoot at the wall, where clothes hung. Then the manager put the gun in my pocket, called our guard and they left. I stayed in an empty club with a gun, cash register, alcohol and was ready to call the police every minute. In fact, I was well aware of what is happening now in the second club, and my absence at the center of events was a relief.

I was taught to arrange the payments of the clients at different time, especially if they pay with card as there shouldn’t be a crowd of people at the bar. And my bosses said: "They should not see and hear each other, they can share their impressions." But one day they met. African and three Italians. Everyone argued in one voice that these cocktails don’t cost such money, with which I absolutely agreed. But I was standing silently behind the bar and watching as the manager "resolves the conflict situation." He called the police almost every night, but, as I said, no one came to the call, because all this wasn’t the best performance of a cheap theater. Rather, you must protect your rights and honor and call in order protection services.

As here I am writing only the truth to you, I will tell you how I was fired and actually expelled to the street. Three days before that, about five in the morning on my seventh successive shift, I laid down on the couch, fell asleep and barely opened my eyes to check the camera. The club had neither guests nor employees. After a while the girls came and took a photo of how I sleep on the couch. A few days later I came to the shift, I was taken by one of the girls (not the bosses) to another room and was said that I can’t work there anymore, that it never happened in the history of the club that an employee falls asleep at work. Of course, I understand that I can’t sleep in this club, though you can only ask for additional cocktails and shots during work, and instead of walking along the street and looking for clients, you can sit by the bar and drink, and still walk from one club to another and drink there.
I was immediately confronted with the fact that nobody gives me the keys to the apartment, because they do not trust me, so I had two options: just walk around the city all night or go for a search for foreigners. I immediately refused the second option. This girl also told me that the next day I must leave the apartment. That night, I spent 5 hours at McDonald's, and after it closed a few more hours was wandering in the center while the temperature was close to be below zero. For this time I found a car on BlaBlaCar, so that I could get cheap to Minsk. Departure was scheduled for the morning. Also I called to the chief to ask about my salary, has informed her, that I’m leaving at 10 in the morning. As a result, my salary was left in the apartment, when I was already leaving the city. I couldn’t go back, because besides me there was a married couple and a girl who had their own business in Minsk, could not detain everyone. I asked former colleagues and bosses to transfer my money to the card, send money by WesternUnion, explained that I couldn’t return, because I was asked to leave the apartment, but I had nowhere to go, there was not enough money either to spend the night in a hotel or hostels and go by train, which costs much more expensive than BlaBlaCar. These people were not persuaded to return money to me: neither a sick mother, who needs drugs to cure her joints, neither poverty of Belarus, nor the economic situation in my family. And this is one of the reasons why I decided to write an article, to warn such situations, to show the dark side of the cultural capital of Poland and the business in which you stay afloat while you are in slavery and do not resist.

This story has opened my eyes to much that is happening in Europe and that is considered absolutely normal and acceptable. This article was written for foreign tourists in order to avoid the influence of this system on the financial situation, physical and moral health, for girls from the post-Soviet space, wishing to find high-paying jobs in Poland without the effort and special skills, for the Polish authorities with a convincing request to pay attention to this business, which in turn will ultimately lead to a change in tourist traffic, unfortunately, not for the better.