Club Nights

When Mariya Stepina shivered on an icy curb in Toronto’s downtown core at 1:30 A.M., she knew it was going to be another rough night.

She wasn’t dressed for the weather.

“I felt so low after eight months of commitment, sitting there in my skirt and tank top, in the cold freezing,” Stepina said. “I was shocked at the level of disrespect I had experienced.”

Mariya Stepina is one of many who works in an industry that often offers such obstacles.

Despite this, she is determined to stick to a cause that she feels is right for her. Stepina is no activist. She’s not a crusader. She serves drinks.

“You’d be surprised how much of a toll being a waitress can have on you, physically, and emotionally,” Stepina said. “It’s not an easy job.”

Stepina, a Seneca college student, works at Jean Machine weekdays and serves drinks on weekends to help pay for tuition and cover living expenses.

She says although the money is good, the position is unstable and she is often subject to offensive treatment.

“I got fired on the spot from Guvernment for not showing up one Saturday due to family obligations,” Stepina said. “I was given no chance to explain myself and my supervisor got me escorted off the property and told the doorman specifically ‘Do not let this girl back in.’”

Stepina said after paying 40$ to get back into her workplace, she went to talk to the owners of The Guvernment, Charles Khabouth and Oscar Amar.

After a lengthy talk, her money was reimbursed and they apologized for her supervisor’s behavior. They said they wanted her to work there and would call her within a week to get her a new position.

They haven’t called back.

“The shooter girls are treated as disposable at the Guv,” Stepina said. “Girls get hired and fired very often. All the waitresses have second jobs because they know this one isn’t reliable.”

It is evident that Stepina is not the only one employed in the club industry that faces a hard time at work.

Rob Steckler, a promoter for B & A Promotions, and a former bouncer for six years, says he switched from being a bouncer to a promoter because of the stress factor.

“When I managed as the head door man it was always a headache” Steckler said. “There’s a lot more money in promotion and a lot less headache.”

Steckler said he feels the ever present risk of injury isn’t worth the position as a bouncer.

“The crowd these days have no respect for anything,” Steckler said. “There’s fights, people throw bottles. You have shootings these days, stabbings.”

While he says the danger factor is not there in promotions, the job still has its difficulties.

“It can be stressful too, wanting to fill up the club and make it a busy night,” Steckler said. “There’s a lot of pressure on you to hit your numbers.”

Chris Kerr, who DJs under the name Ill Whisky, has also turned to hosting and promoting events to establish his name in the Toronto club scene.

Kerr feels the job is often underappreciated, and promoters are like the underdogs of the club industry.

“I doubt club goers think about how brutal it can be, spending your Saturday nights outside of a club at 2 or 3 A.M, handing out flyers to drunks who for the most part just toss them aside,” Kerr said.

Despite this, Kerr said he is dedicated to his job because he is passionate about the music and loves to share it with others.

“Rarely, you’ll get someone who says ‘Hey, I really enjoyed your last performance. I’m looking forward to your next one,” Kerr said. “That makes it all worthwhile.”

Although Stepina expressed some discontent with the club industry, she continues to work as a waitress.

She says she enjoys serving drinks, but is discouraged by the way waitresses are treated by patrons and administration alike.

“Sometimes I look forward to work because the club is glamorous and all and I get to meet a lot of cool people,” Stepina said. “But part of the job is just dealing with guys who have no respect for women. It’s as if serving drinks makes you less of a human or something.”

Stepina said that the part of the job she likes least is the disrespect she encounters towards women.

“I’ve had to deal with harassment, people calling me names,” Stepina said. “I’ve had to deal with drunks and people on drugs hitting on me or touching me inappropriately.”

Stepina told about how once a patron took a picture under her skirt without her knowing.

Security confiscated his phone and escorted him out of the club, and found he had taken many similar pictures of other girls that night.

“I took a lot of emotional baggage home with me that night” Stepina said. “It was degrading, I felt low after being treated like that. And it shouldn’t be that way.”

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