A day at C-Point

It was five ‘o clock in the afternoon. Some high school students were walking on the street; they were talking to each other with bright smiles. One guy held a big plastic bag which was full of food; he walked fast to meet his family. At five p.m. everyone finished their daily tasks and they were heading home to rest. However, at five p.m., some people started their work with splendid lights, loud noisy music, and high-sharp tones of female voices; people call that place, “C-Point.”

When I entered Field’s Avenue, the world changed; although it was just a few miles away from the main road, C-Point was totally different from other places. There are a lot of bars, clubs and women who had thick make-up and they disguised themselves using artificial smiles. One woman who was almost naked tried to tout customers; with “Free blow-job” printed in large font on her clothes. This is usual in C- Point. Many people go there for girls, drinks and fun; I could smell people’s sexual desires. While I was looking around Field’s Avenue, suddenly I felt weird; something didn’t mix with my surroundings. Soon, I found the reason why I felt weird. There was one club which was really different from the other clubs. In front of that club, there were no women who were bare and no splendid lights; there was music, one girl and an old lady. The name of that club was “ d’Club.”

Unconsciously, I already walked toward d’Club. Then, I started to talk with the old lady. Her name is Marlene, 42; everyone in the club called her Mommy Marlene. She is the floor manager of the club. Before she worked in club, she worked in the hospital because her husband died, and she became a widow so she needed to earn money by herself. She was really hurt during that incident in her life. She was so lonely and emotionally down. She had an emotional breakdown, to the point that she couldn’t accept her job in the hospital. Thus she resigned at the hospital then started to work in the club. Besides, in the hospital, she was in charge of delivery but her compensation was really low. Her salary was 1,500 pesos/ half a month. Now, she earns 1,500 pesos for two nights. And she is satisfied with her job as a floor manager.

According to her, “d’Club” is quite different from other clubs. All the workers such as dancers, floor managers, bartenders, and DJs in the club are all females. Also, she said that there are no strict qualifications for becoming a guest relation officer(GRO) as a dancer; all that dancers need to do is simple: Stage disco. Their work start from five p.m. to five a.m. Mommy Marlene said, “Dancers talk with the customers. Though there are some bars here that do ‘ALL-THE-WAY,’ but we don’t do that because the employees here are not really GROs; they are dancers. But they are still entertainers.” According to her, there are no certain obligations to work. Employees in the club are not after the length of service. The girls there may work as long as they like, and may go anytime they want to; no matter what the reason is. She added, “All of them are new in the field. In my case, I’ve been working here for only five months. No one works here for so long because most of them find a foreigner husband. All girls here are clean. We only offer “Ladies Drink” – wherein customers drink with ladies, then they can go home afterwards. It is because our English owner dislikes that. He treats us, as if he is also a Filipino. He doesn’t want malice.” Lastly, I asked her what is the hardest thing to do? She said, “Nothing.”

Many people think that most of them who work at C-Point are prostitutes, but in fact, some of the employees at C-Point are just ordinary workers. They are just struggling to survive in the dog-eat-dog world like us. Usually, people have negative prejudices about people who work at C-Point, but they are just our sisters, friends and neighbors. Although people have minor job, we cannot blame person itself.