Thursday, Feb. 3, 2000 | 9:28 a.m.
Welcome to Las Vegas, I thought. Welcome to Las Vegas.
I'd been here scarcely a month and a half when my editor decided to throw me this journalistic gem: Are cocktail waitress outfits getting skimpier? It seems a co-worker had been to the Imperial Palace and noticed that the outfits on the waitresses there had a less-is-more approach.
Who cares, I wondered. Isn't that the chicken and the egg question? The what happens when the unmovable object meets the unstoppable force question? I'm pretty sure that at some point in a philosophy class I'd heard the cocktail waitress query as well.
Nonetheless, with pencil and pad in hand, I dutifully accepted my assignment and swore to get to the bottom of the situation. (Writer's note: This is the only pun you will see in the story -- promise.) Here's what I found out:
Long answer: No, not really. Short answer: No.
In fact, to a person, the waitresses and their bosses agreed that the outfits have stayed the same for a while, which is to say for some casinos, relatively skimpy.
"We've built an icon around the Ipanema Girl, which has been quite successful as far as customer feedback," said Craig Gilbert, vice president of food and beverage at the Rio, whose Ipanema Girls have developed a reputation for their eye appeal around the globe. "I've noticed a lot of newer casinos that have since opened have gone to a similar style as far as their cocktail servers."
Included in that list would be the Orleans, whose high-cut outfits are similar to the Rio's in that both essentially are moderately revealing one-piece bathing suits.
Larry Wright, Orleans shift supervisor, said that the idea was for the servers to look nice, so the casino picked its costumes because they are attractive.
"People who are being served cocktails like to be served by attractive ladies. I'd rather be served by someone who is attractive then someone who is ugly," he said.
Ann Furlong, vice president of human resources for the Resort at Summerlin, semi-concurred, without going as far as Wright. "There are certain expectations in Las Vegas and that expectation is for the appealing, sexier look."
In light of that, her casino recently decided to modify the servers' outfits from one-piece dresses, or "potato sacks," as one server called them, to more flattering tops and black shorts. The Resort's new outfits will also better suit the needs of its servers, Furlong said, allowing them a fuller rage of motion and the ability to bend over without revealing a slip.
No matter the style of costume, she said, "(the servers) have to be able to do their job."
Which is something all three said was even more important than the outfit or the attractiveness of the waitress: service.
"I believe that the costume serves as an attraction, but if you don't get the service you're expecting, then the experience becomes a negative experience regardless," Gilbert said.
Furlong added: "I don't care what you dress up in if the service is bad, (the customers) are not coming back. We hire for service."
If that's the case, then Wanda Henry, director of operations for the Culinary Union Local 226, wants to know: Why the risque outfits? A cocktail waitress for 21 years at the Dunes, now retired from the job, she said she and others she knows were able to make a good living without donning revealing costumes. Now she sees some casinos turning to skimpier uniforms, which in turn has some women feeling uncomfortable.
"Women are out there just trying to make a living, there's no need to have their butts exposed," Henry said. "These women are married, some have children, some are college students ... the ladies take the job and wear the uniform because they need the job -- whether they are embarrassed or not."
Although quick to point out that many hotels provide "nice-looking" outfits for their employees (i.e., less revealing), she said that those who do showcase their employees' assets create a situation for men to take advantage.
"Having been a cocktail waitress, even the uniforms I wore, men still had the inclination to touch you," Henry said. "It's there and it happened."
The risque outfits simply make it worse, she said.
And this is where the National Organization of Women takes issue.
"Women may use their bodies in a number of ways as long as it's their choice and I don't have a problem with it," Amy Meedel, state president of NOW, said.
"But, in the respect that some people, particularly men, can so objectify women they feel they can do whatever they want, I have a problem with that when it's led to women being assaulted," she said. "Then it comes down to the property protecting their employees."
As an example, she cited an incident at the Rio.
"It was a well-publicized case where a cocktail waitress was bit on the butt and the prior management didn't do anything about it," she said, adding that management was ultimately sued.
The women interviewed for this story, however, reported no such incidents. In fact, all seemed happy with their outfits.
Kelly Carlson and Tamarah Sommer, both Ipanema Girls, said that the costumes didn't bother them, noting that the outfits are really no different than a skimpy bathing suit.
"Our costumes are festive," Sommer said. "I don't just look at it as lingerie -- it's not that kind of sexy. These are upbeat, like we're having a party."
Elizabeth Gomez said that her experiences as a Mardi Gras girl at the Orleans had been mostly positive, "depending on the people. Usually it's a very nice clientele."
During the course of the interview she also was posing for photos, which caused a small gathering of onlookers in front of the casino. As two men walked by the scene staring at the visually appealing Gomez, one remarked to his friend: "Muy bueno."
Perhaps telling is the fact that Gomez didn't notice the comment, or if she did, she never let on.
When asked if she hears comments from men frequently, she said that men generally stare while women are given to making remarks. "A lot of ladies like (my costume)," she said. "They think it's a nice-looking outfit."
"Some comments could be flattering, some could be bad," Gomez added. I've worked in many places where I've heard the same comments. It just depends on the people."
As for the outfits potentially being offensive, especially for a town that has tried to reshape its image as more family-friendly, everyone interviewed said that the costumes are helping to fulfill existing visitor expectations -- for better or worse.
"Las Vegas is not Disneyland," Furlong said. "I don't want to discourage families, but it's an adult environment.
"I don't think women will find it sexist," she added. "I don't."
And, many of the servers said, they would have no problem if their mom and dad stopped by the casino while they were working.
"My parents have seen me in worse," Sommer said.
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