[verynewbie]

Thanks very much for your advice and input.

Here is what I got last night after spending an evening with our own group of friends and singers AT ANOTHER KARAOKE JOINT. We made some new friends who are friends of our group, and when the topic of good places and bad places to sing, came more snipnets of information (and possibly gossips and rumors awaiting confirmation) about this Mario guy that point to the direction of similar conclusions to your advices and observations.

1. This Mario guy had been trying to solicit financing to open his own joint. So some of the potential investors (who are friends of our group) had asked him for (a) his resume, (b) his vision of the business, and (c) his strategies in securing the viabilitity of his 'dream' joint. Some of the facts are now available about him.
2. For 15+ years he was involved in strip-joints, starting out as a canvaser - who hands out handbills on the street to solicit people to go into those joints, then as bouncer which lasted for the longest time in his 15+ year history in the strip-joint action, became a co-manager in charge of the floor, then became a recruiter of fresh blood for the strip-joint. [Back in the 80's Montreal is known throughout Canada (if not in North America) of having the best-looking, youngest bloods, and 'most-willing' stippers in the lap-dancing scene].
3. He joined this Trix organization 2+ years ago. So, if you can use your investigative skills, you will come to the conclusion that he was one of those in the 'sleaze' soliciting unsuspecting 18-year olds into the stripping business...
4. He had gone from location to location in this Twix organization, and in every location as the manager, KAROKE will wither under his hands. And, when he appeared in the scene at 'downtown Trix', he predicated that Karaoke is not going to happen, and he openly opposed to having any karaoke nights in discussion with the Trix owners. [He might have some valid reasons for it - please read on]. His 'dream' venue is dance clubs, where patrons will pay a much higher price for the drinks and to pay cover charge, and dj are cheaper (and a disposible item because according to his theory - technology can do most of the work of a dj) with a manager who is 'good'.

And... now some more...
1. Mario appeared to have found the financing and location for his 'dream' venue, and will be tendering his resignation within a few weeks.
2. He had approached some of the workers to join him in his new venture. (As expected, most of them will definitely refuse).
3. He likes to hold 'after-hour' sessions with the workers - particularly with the waiters and waitresses [at 3:30 a.m. !!!! after the workers clean-up and tally the registers]. Here is an account of one of the recent sessions: A new waitress made a remark that she did not make enough money during her work hours to justify for the time spent by her. His advice given was to do like what the male counterparts in the bar do - i.e. TO PRICE-GOUGE AND HASSLE. And as the discussion on the topic went on, Mario went into high-gear and started shouting at the staff for not putting enough efforts to justify their existence, and threatened every staff that if things do not improve within 1 week, no one will work there anymore. In addition to the shouting, he was physically pushing a few of the female staff (who did not do well) - also, maybe as a display of his physical ability that if there is any trouble from the customer side, he can deal with them. He repeatedly told the staff that the life-line of the location is in gouging and the glass/bottle grabbing tactic to generate income for the bar and its workers which should be applied to every customer in the bar, to pay more attention to the 'VLT-Players', and not karaoke or pool-table customers who are definitely unnecessary. [In this part of Canada called Quebec, in which Montreal is the largest city, the hypocrites in government promote the installation of video-gambling machines - called 'VLT' all connected to the government gaming authority - to help the business of drinking establishments. The drinking establishment will receive 10% of the gross amount fed into the VLT [regardless of whether the customer wins or losses]; and the government puts a very heavy premium on beer and alcholic beverages in the form of a sticker mark-up (for example, you can buy a 12-pack in the supermarket for $24, but the bars cannot buy them from the supermarkets - they have to get them from a designated supplier at the price of $38+ per 12-pack of the same thing, and on every bottle is a sticker which indicates that the bottle originated from this government-appointed supplier... This is just one example of Government-supported sleaze and corruption - that is what this Quebec is known for]...
4. (To continue with the after-hour sessions), and there are praises and use of staff motivation tools from Mario too... One of the 'better' staff was made a 'star' for that night, and he was asked to demonstrate and explain the deployment of the "GLASS/BOTTLE GRABBING TACTIC" and other ways to generate a higher level of income for the bar and for himself.
5. Mario picks his target. One of our friends made an observation : there is no single karaoke night that he issued less than 3 threats of kicking people out (even though 98% of the customers are decent and well-behaving). [I am going to start counting as a sideline activity when I go this place again].

So, I have more indications from various sources that either the location will SELF-DESTRUCT, or the manace, by the name of Mario, will DISAPPEAR (well, for at least from the karaoke community in the next little while), or both.

Now, talking about sleaze, etc., here is another type of Price-Gouging activity which goes on around some coffee shops. Even though this is not the forum to discuss it, however, if you are into drinking coffee or tea and go to buy them, you will be interested.

First of all, let me tell you about my mental organisational processes. If I am into a habit - like drinking coffee and buy from the same chain (which would have the same price for their locations), then the Price and the Change expected would register in my mind... and also I like watching people, their reactions, and how they do things procedurally (e.g. at work), ...

This is what I saw happened last week to a customer in a queue front of me in a coffee shop. (Because of work, on that particular day I went with my colleague to another store of the same chain - which has the same price). My arrangement with my colleague is that if I pay one day, he pays the other day (we drink the same coffee, same size...)

The total for the customer in front of me (same as our 2 coffees) came up on the cash register as $4.35. The customer dug out $10 from her purse. She got a change of $4.35. The girl behind the counter was switching from task to task (making the coffee, taking care of the money, etc), and the woman customer in front of of us was so busy taking to someone she was with, or less sharp on money-matters, she did not notice what was wrong. For all of you mathematically minded, HOW MUCH DID THE CUSTOMER GOT OVER-CHARGED ?

So, after her, it was my colleague's turn to pay - same thing happened. But my colleague was a bit messy on his hand that morning, he dropped some of the coins on the floor and spilled half of the coffee at the counter... so it was not easy for him to make a complaint... My colleague noticed it after he picked up his coins. But I was watching - as soon as she did the change, she erased the amount shown on the cash register - NO EVIDENCE OF WHAT HAPPENED unless someone is immediately counting the change. It is an obvious repeated process to cheat !!!! This girl behind the counter is a real PRO in this. I can be sure that she knows who to do it to and when.

The next time you are into this situation, WATCH OUT !!!!

Verynewbie.