Rio de Janeiro Reports

[QUOTE=Lukasek]Check always your bill, you can find not nice surprise and when they correct it immediately and they say nothing, it is clear they plan in advance to fuck you, cause most of gringos pay without check the bill and they know it....[/QUOTE]
I don't think they do it on purpose. That would be bad for business. They argue with you because the system is automated so how can there be a mistake. LOL. Also because guys get drunk and forget what they did. But definitely check carefully because mistakes do happen. And if you are sure, stay calm but stand your ground.

[QUOTE=SlimHoleDrill]I don't think they do it on purpose. That would be bad for business. They argue with you because the system is automated so how can there be a mistake. LOL. Also because guys get drunk and forget what they did. But definitely check carefully because mistakes do happen. And if you are sure, stay calm but stand your ground.[/QUOTE]


Some places could care less if you complain. I remember about 2 years ago MC had a big problem with drinks being on monger's bills. They had bills where they supposedly ordered 10 red bulls and vodka or 10 tequilas. When the guy would b*tched up a storm, they would knock like 3 drinks off the bill!!!


I let it be known as soon as I stepped foot in the place. When I came around the corner, the manager was standing right there. I immediately said "I hope you guys got your computer fixed. You guys are getting bad reputation on the internet for adding drinks to american's bills and them forcing them to pay when they leave! Did you resolve that problems yet?"

He just looked at me and said "oh yes, yes! We took care of that, that doesnt happen anymore!" One of the few times that mentioning the internet worked out for me.

[QUOTE=Bravo]
I let it be known as soon as I stepped foot in the place. When I came around the corner, the manager was standing right there. I immediately said "I hope you guys got your computer fixed. You guys are getting bad reputation on the internet for adding drinks to american's bills and them forcing them to pay when they leave! Did you resolve that problems yet?"

He just looked at me and said "oh yes, yes! We took care of that, that doesnt happen anymore!" [/QUOTE]

Great tactics. Pre-empting any aggro. Bitching afterwards has rarely got me anywhere. I´d like to think it was accidental - I would always suggest it was - as you did - so they can save face as well as ´correct´it. I love the expression on guys faces when they are adding up bills - often putting little numbers in a box on a big sheet. Creative stuff - a bit like sudoko only with many more than one right answer . . .

Treat it as a game. One you gonna win but without ripping the other guy´s throat out. The object is to get your money´s worth and a fair deal - not spill blood lol. He´s probably just been told to get away with it if he can, but not to the extent of pissing people off. If people act pissed off big time afterwards there´s not exactly that much to gain by giving them money back.

[QUOTE=Bravo]Some places could care less if you complain. I remember about 2 years ago MC had a big problem with drinks being on monger's bills. They had bills where they supposedly ordered 10 red bulls and vodka or 10 tequilas. When the guy would b*tched up a storm, they would knock like 3 drinks off the bill!!!


I let it be known as soon as I stepped foot in the place. When I came around the corner, the manager was standing right there. I immediately said "I hope you guys got your computer fixed. You guys are getting bad reputation on the internet for adding drinks to american's bills and them forcing them to pay when they leave! Did you resolve that problems yet?"

He just looked at me and said "oh yes, yes! We took care of that, that doesnt happen anymore!" One of the few times that mentioning the internet worked out for me.[/QUOTE]
I used to see a girl who worked at Centaurus. One night they tried to charge me for 16 caipirinhas. They called her to the front desk which was a mistake. She weighted all of 98 lbs and although we had not had 16 she had had a few. They expected her to back them up but instead she really went off on them. No one asked for a tip after that.

Anyone know what the current entrance fee (or the fee to hang out, listen to music and gather phone numbers) at Centaurus? It was R$120.

BTW, never have had drinks added to my bill at MC and at L'uomo checkout on several occasions I have had to tell them that they actually missed a few drinks.

[QUOTE=Christopherd]He´s probably just been told to get away with it if he can, but not to the extent of pissing people off. If people act pissed off big time afterwards there´s not exactly that much to gain by giving them money back.[/QUOTE]I do not think they pad bills intentionally. Often bills do not have drinks on them that I ordered. I think they just make mistakes and put the wrong number down. It is easy to do.

[QUOTE=Edward M]I do not think they pad bills intentionally. Often bills do not have drinks on them that I ordered. I think they just make mistakes and put the wrong number down. It is easy to do.[/QUOTE]
Probably half the time the bartender glances at your key number and with the dim lighting, sees a different number. They could probably use the swipe-card technology that Nuth Lounge uses to better account for drinks.

[QUOTE=Azn Safado]Yes Club00 is gay-night on some nights, but I don't know which night. I went on a Saturday night, and it was a straight crowd, sprinkled in with some gays.

The thing about The Week is it only runs as a disco on Saturday nights as far as I know, so it will be gay night. It could work in your favor though, as you might be one of the few straight guys there and can chat it up with the ladies where their guard might be down.[/QUOTE]

If you are going to ask the girls about The Week, they pronounce it "Day Weekie"... The first time I heard about it I got stuck next to a gay guy from Miami to GIG, he told me that he goes with 6 girls, they love him because he's gay and pays for everything and that they would never touch me.... way too high priced but they love to go there... Sat night its "open" and a "gay-friendly" club... Friday is from what I hear more of a "closed" party, I went with a bunch of termas girls celebrating the bday of their manager and it was batshit crazy unbelievable... I would take a girl in the post Help era there just to see how many girls there are that are actually available and ready... the girls I asked about Sat night there say there are a lot of gay guys though.. they don't even try to kiss them when dancing... if you have been to enough BRazilian clubs then you know that means probably more gay guys than you want to be there because these girls will kiss anything that moves... girls love the place though... if you even bring it up they will get excited... it's in Praca Maua... a bit different than Florida but not too far... if anything it's a good conversation piece in the termas and places like Barbarellas... maybe I'll get there again in March when I return and post ...

[QUOTE=Icyhoteric]If you are going to ask the girls about The Week, they pronounce it "Day Weekie". The first time I heard about it I got stuck next to a gay guy from Miami to GIG, he told me that he goes with 6 girls, they love him because he's gay and pays for everything and that they would never touch me. Way too high priced but they love to go there. Sat night its "open" and a "gay-friendly" club. Friday is from what I hear more of a "closed" party, I went with a bunch of termas girls celebrating the bday of their manager and it was batshit crazy unbelievable. I would take a girl in the post Help era there just to see how many girls there are that are actually available and ready. The girls I asked about Sat night there say there are a lot of gay guys though. They don't even try to kiss them when dancing. If you have been to enough BRazilian clubs then you know that means probably more gay guys than you want to be there because these girls will kiss anything that moves. Girls love the place though. If you even bring it up they will get excited. It's in Praca Maua. A bit different than Florida but not too far. If anything it's a good conversation piece in the termas and places like Barbarellas. Maybe I'll get there again in March when I return and post.[/QUOTE]So your saying you can pick up nice looking girls in there because there are so many gaybirds there?

I've seen mistakes on virtually every bill. But I am convinced it is not thievery, it is just poor record keeping. There is a reason that the waiters and bartenders are not allowed to keep the tabs; their math skills aren't very good. So there is always a separate cashier.

At Balcony, I was with a friend that left, of course I picked up his tab for the table. When I specifically ordered one more beer, waiter first brought two. When he realized his mistake, he took one back, unopened. But they were both on my bill. But also quickly corrected.

A Brazilian sitting next to me also had an extra drink on her bill. Remember, drinks get billed normally based upon which table you are at. If someone standing near your table orders a drink, it can easily be billed to your tab. I believe that they just aren't that meticulous at keeping track of it all. But I have never had a problem getting it corrected.

ps: also mistakes in Luomo and 4x4 this week, all promptly corrected.

It seems you guys are all sure the mistakes are accidentally cause brazilians are not good in math.....so why when there is a mistake in the bill in 99% of cases you are gonna to pay more and not less ???

If they are really ACCIDENTAL you have 50% of chance to pay more or less, but in 3 times in Rio 4 times I found more drinks that I drunk and not one time I found less......think about it.....

Interesting NYT report on the crime fight in Rio.

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/world/americas/17rio.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Lukasek]It seems you guys are all sure the mistakes are accidentally cause brazilians are not good in math.....so why when there is a mistake in the bill in 99% of cases you are gonna to pay more and not less ???

If they are really ACCIDENTAL you have 50% of chance to pay more or less, but in 3 times in Rio 4 times I found more drinks that I drunk and not one time I found less......think about it.....[/QUOTE]Well it is certainly possible that errors are intentional but that has not been my experience. Only going off of memory I would say the times I was charged an extra drink are about the same as the times I was not charged for a drink. Other times a beer will be charged as a suco so I think it is often just simple human error. Of course I do not usually drink much so I would notice an extra drink out of 4. It is possible that the padding is done on a tab of 20 drinks but I have no anecdotal evidence to support this.

Also, I look to motivation. By adding drinks the bartender only gets a share of 10% of that. Sure it could add up but it would take a lot of drinks to earn him/her significant money.

If management is behind this conspiracy, perhaps it depends on the type of customer. I do not buy many drinks but I buy a lot of sessions. It would not pay to [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord140][CodeWord140][/url] me off. Also, since I am not "pissed" I will more easily spot errors than someone who is falling down drunk.

Another thing to consider. Girls can order drinks without your key. They just tell the bartender your number. That is an accident (or robbery) waiting to happen. I see at 4x4 now they scan a barcode for a session. Maybe the bars will go to this system soon which should eliminate a lot of errors.

What I have seen often, and makes a direct impact, is reception girls short-changing on bills. I have even seen them quote a higher number than is on there. That is saying, "570" when the bill is 566.

Not new news but an interesting article none the less:

[url]http://www.brazzilmag.com/component/content/article/81-january-2010/11662-it-was-a-long-goodbye-but-help-rios-sex-temple-is-closed.html[/url]

Good comments by our friend Thad after the article as usual.

[QUOTE=Manute Bol]So your saying you can pick up nice looking girls in there because there are so many gaybirds there?[/QUOTE]

I don't know... I went there on a Friday night, I'll probably go one Satruday night with a few girls .... maybe... we'll see what options are around in the next few years...

While touring the sites and meeting old friends (and making new ones), I must say that I like the changes I´ve seen. I witnessed the dry husk of the former HELP discoteca now boarded over and covered by a nice mural. Have had plenty of opportunities to utilize the new General Osorio/Ipanema metro stop; great new addition to the metro and it certainly helps getting from Ipanema through to the Zona Norte more expediant. They completely revamped the upstairs boate at 4X4, it´s much smaller now but it has a new-age look to it. Unfortunately it is just as devoid of garotas as it was before. At least they added more rooms for play. Also, the interior of 4X4 has a new paint job. The new lounge at L'uomo is much smaller than it used to be as well .... it´s no longer a good spot to lay around with a mulher and pass some quality time. This is the only change that I don´t really care for.

For guys who like ladies on the slim side (I personally prefer skinny chicks) the best Termas I´ve seen on this trip are 1) Solarium, 2) L'uomo, & 3) Termas 65. Those places have at least a handful of lean gals. I met a fellow monger who says the quality of women at Centaurus is pretty good. He has tastes similar to mine and, like me, he prefers ''chicas magras''. But since I refuse to go to Centaurus I won't be able to verify it. 4X4 & Monte Carlo mostly have a lot of ''thick'' chicks.

On a side note, I visited a farmacia to buy some bandaids and the guy at the desk asked me if I wanted to get some viagra. He handed me a box with the name ''Vegamed'' on it. 4 generic viagra pills for approx. R$64. Not a bad deal I reckon. Said no thanks, but if I should need some later at least I now know where to go.

''O tempora, O mores''
- DSK