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Our resident ‘people person’ in Sin City, Paul Sculpher, meets another remarkable Vegas resident this month. You know you’re in the right business when your job is maintaining the vibe at a topless pool.
One of the recent trends in Las Vegas has been the rise of the pool scene. Once just a place to catch some sun and cook off your hangover, many hotels now have a basic pool and a more up-tempo pool/bar scene for the beautiful people to see and be seen. Loud music, amazing waitresses and copious booze make it a daytime nightclub atmosphere. We checked in with Mike, the ‘mood director’ of the ‘Go’ pool at the Flamingo, to find out a little more.
PS: First question. What’s a mood director?
M: I get asked that all the time. My job is a combination of VIP host, MC, promoter and matchmaker. My main responsibility is to make sure everyone’s having a good time, while still keeping everything under control. Typically I’ll circulate and try to check in with everyone, so that they know who to speak to if they need anything, and they’ll see me as the friendly face of the Flamingo.
So your job is to speak with lots of beautiful women, while working with some of the most stunning waitresses I’ve ever seen, and take care of them. You also appear to have a pocket full of free drinks vouchers and are a good-looking single chap. How’s that working out for you?
Well, yes… I do get a bit of attention. What’s funny is that early in the day I tend to get hit on all the time, with girls passing me their number and so on. As the day draws on – bearing in mind that I have to be here after the pool closes to finish up – the girls that were interested early on tend to have had a couple of drinks and magically all the other guys around the pool become a lot cuter!
Alcohol – helping ugly people have sex for centuries. God bless it. So what kind of events do you have here?
All sorts, really. We see a lot of bachelorette parties, and always try to make sure they have a good time. In terms of stuff we organise, the stripper pole-dancing contests are always a favourite.
I seem to have arrived at the wrong time. And this is a topless pool?
Yes, the ‘European’ style pools are declining a little, but we allow topless sunbathing. There are a lot of regulations behind the scenes, so some venues have decided it’s not worth the trouble. A large part of my job is making sure things don’t go too far and we stay within the rules – for example during one of the pole-dancing contests, one of the girls was attempting the topless/bottomless look.
I’d have thought that would have been pretty obvious… although all over tans and waxing have a lot to answer for.
It’s not unknown for things to get a little overexcited in the poolside cabanas too. We can’t allow anything that could be lewd conduct, so we get suspicious when we see our guests attempting to draw the curtains.
Do you have any issues with intoxication?
Everyone who works here has had training in responsible alcohol service, and we want everyone to have a good time. This also means keeping people under some sort of control. The key is to get to potential problems before they start, so this means indentifying people who’ve had enough. This is where the early part of my day’s work helps, where people recognise me as the nice guy from earlier. If I suggest they have a couple of glasses of water before any more beer, it can be easier to run things that way than have security take a more direct approach.
It does seem like you may have the best job in the world.
It’s not bad, but the job you really want is ‘tan ambassador’.
And what might that be?
Danielle here is our female tan ambassador [for the record, Danielle is preposterously beautiful and as fit as a butcher’s dog]. We used to have a male one as well. They provide sunscreen and help to apply it for our customers.
Sounds like a tough one. Where do I apply?
Miami.
Is that where your head office is?
No, the office is here in Vegas – the queue for the job application starts in Miami.
Boom-boom! It was a strange experience, surrounded by a throng of beautiful people having a great time in the searing Vegas heat, and Mike seems very passionate about his job. Being a professional nice guy wouldn’t be for everyone, and clearly there are plenty of less glamorous angles to his line of work, but on the face of it there are a lot of benefits too. As I left, four or five of these benefits appeared to be eyeing up our man Mike. |
