Bimbo Beach Week

It’s Beach Week at X-Sisters Bar and I won’t be there! Why not? Because I’m banned. Why am I writing about it if I can’t attend? Oh so many reasons. Despite the fact I was fired, banned, unfriended and removed from almost everything related to the X-Sisters brand, I received an invitation to this “event”. And I couldn’t stop laughing.

What’s so darn funny? I’ll tell you after the jump because that’s how blogs work.

Previously…

During my final shift at X-Sisters, I was discussing a recent staff announcement with two of the managers, Stacia and Chandra. Stacia’s update was refreshingly honest. It referenced plans the management team was working on to reinvigorate the bar’s sagging business.

X-Sisters is structured as a hierarchy with the owner (Jess X) at the top. There is a management team consisting of Jess’ closest allies. They make all of the decisions privately. It was frequently stated by the management team that anyone at the bar could make suggestions. But that was challenging when you were excluded from the conversation.

That morning, I asked Stacia what the management team was planning to juice up business at the bar. They told me they were focusing their efforts on bringing back customers who hadn’t been back to the bar in a while. This did not seem like a winning strategy to me.

There are a few hundred people in the “X-Sisters” group. Most of them no longer frequent the bar. As it was told to me, management didn’t understand why people would “sit on a group” if they weren’t interested. Is it me, or is that not obvious?

A lot of them probably aren’t active in Second Life any more. Staying in a group is passive. You have to take action to remove yourself. Members had to pay a non-negligible group fee. The only reason anyone would have to leave the group would be if they needed the group slot. Even then, they would likely quit a free group before one they had paid for.

Anyway, you get the point. People stopped coming for a reason. Most of them stopped coming a long time ago. A few might be lured back. But how many? It seemed to me like a flawed strategy. Which I said out loud in local chat. It seems that suggestion wasn’t so welcome as it got me fired instantly.

Where Did All the Customers Go?

The bar has always been built around Jess. For all of her flaws, Jess is a talented writer. She has spent the last several years building up the X-Sisters brand across several social media platforms. She’s “Second Life famous”. That’s by design.

I remember working a shift with Jess at the bar. There was a third girl there that day, but I don’t remember who it was. A barfly came in and started flirting with all of us. We were working him back to try to get a hire. Eventually he said he could only afford to hire one of us. He was a reader of Jess’ blog so it was no surprise he wanted his own shot at “fame”.

I want to take a minute to give Jess some credit here. For one thing, she earned that fame. She built the bar. She should absolutely benefit from it. But I don’t want to make it sound like she hogged all the customers. If she could spread the love around, she did. I want to be fair and recognize her for that.

Some of the bar’s problems are the same as they are anywhere else on the grid. It’s tough out there. Most sims are empty. It’s a legitimate challenge to grow your business while the world is shrinking. But here’s the thing. The bar has policies in place that drive customers away.

Don’t Let the Door Hit Ya

Every Second Life sim with strippers or escorts has to deal with visitors who aren’t interested in spending money. Jess calls these people “time wasters”. Admittedly, time wasters can be frustrating. The ones that annoy me are the ones that flirt and flirt like they are going to hire you even though they have no intention of doing so.

You can spend a lot of time working on a time waster. Meanwhile, other patrons who may have actually spent some money will assume that you’re busy. They go home unsatisfied with money in their pockets. Or worse, they go somewhere else. And you’ll never see them again.

Time wasters are a problem. They do need to be managed. But in my opinion, X-Sisters has hardened their policy to the point where barflies are afraid to visit. Instead of a bar where customers feel welcome, it’s become a convenience store where you are expected to make your purchase and get out.

There’s also the problem with the bannings. When someone gets on Jess’ bad side, she’ll insta ban them. Doesn’t say a word. Just banned. This happened to a friend of mine because he didn’t say “hello”. My friend wasn’t removed from the group. But he can’t come back to the bar because he’s banned. Good luck luring him back!

I know from experience that it is relatively easy to get your ban removed if you want to. Personally, I wear my banning as a badge of honor. But if you want to grovel, it’s possible to get back in Jess’ good graces. Of course, that doesn’t protect you from future bannings. I’ve been banned twice in six months!

How many people are going to put up with that? Not enough to fill a bar.

Beach Week

Finally the big event was revealed. It’s Beach Week which is a thing that happens fairly regularly at the bar. The landing spot gets moved from the main bar to the beach bar. The girls typically wear bikinis. It’s a change of scenery. That’s about it.

This Beach Week is a little different. There is also a competition to see who can spend the most Lindens this week. The winner has to be the top tipper and also buy the most drinks for the week. I don’t know what happens if the top tipper and the top drink buyer are different people. Seems like a flaw in the concept.

The last time the bar ran an event like this was for Halloween. It was pretty successful. Two barflies, Tye and Darden, got pretty competitive. In the end, I think Darden won. I remember it fondly. They both hired me for the first time that week. But I don’t think that’s likely to happen this time. Because after I left the bar, Darden and I got partnered. (love ya, babe!)

The top spender of the week will receive a trophy, a freebie with the X-Sister of their choice and bragging rights. Yes, the flyer actually includes bragging rights in the prize. You can stand around the empty bar and brag about having given Jess more money than anyone else. Savor that!

(bimbo eye roll)

Being the Bigger Bitch

I enjoyed my time at X-Sisters until I didn’t. I tried my best to make the place better for everyone. But my input wasn’t welcome. In fact it was so unwelcome I was immediately stripped of my position. Which is fine. It’s obvious to me that X-sisters is going to continue its decline until Jess changes her ways. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Banning aside, I wouldn’t go back to the bar even if I was invited. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… you know the saying. Won’t get fooled again.

I’m not writing any of this out of bitterness. X-Sisters is very much in my rearview mirror. I was finally free to partner the woman I love. We’re ecstatically happy living our Second Lives on our terms. I genuinely wish all of my former co-workers well. Hopefully I’m wrong and Beach Week will turn things around.

As for me, I’ve got better things to do.