Yes, I have danced at a gentlemen's club before and honestly was not cut out for that line of work. I'm trying to remember how I decided to dance the first time. Obviously we know it was for the ridiculously easy money, but I drove 1 1/2 hours to this joint for an ammature night where anyone could come and try out dancing for tips. I'm just not sure what triggered this, I must have been 18 or 19 years old. I do remember walking on stage into a club half naked. I was so self conscious but I remembered telling myself I needed the money, this was a fruitful and easy career and I was going to make it work. My memory is fuzzy from that point up until I heard a man say I was way too skinny and that I looked anorexic. HORRIFIED!!! But made some good money and never went back to that club again. I was super skinny but it was not a disorder or drug related I guess I had a superspeed metabolism but had tried to gain weight for modeling school and couldn't (Yeah...wish that was still a problem for me...hahaha). I probably made at least $100. I just danced on stage, no lap dances no drinking or hanging with customers.
I really have zero sense of time and a terrible memory, but I don't think it was too long after that I decided to try again but a bit closer this time (Boston). I went to the place my friends and I had our Sunday drinks since at that time you could not buy alcohol from a store in Massachusetts on Sundays, only at restaurants and bars. I wanted to try again feeling I was more prepared now that I at least had an idea of what it took and how it made me feel.
I really wanted to make this work so I could make tons of easy money without doing anything that compromised my morals (just a lil fact nugget for ya ... you don't make good money unless you do some shady $hit!) I was terrible. I had no idea how to "hustle" a man or how I was supposed to dance, I didn't ask for help because with those girls money is king and no one wants to help another girl make the money she hopes to leave with. I tried to observe and teach myself the ropes. At the second club I was working at they had a system where men could choose a dancer to buy drinks for and they hang at the table with them (no touching was a rule I followed and another reason I made no money) the price and size of the bottle of champagne decided how long you stay at the table with them. It started at a $30 bottle of sparkling water they could buy, 15 minutes of my time and like $10 cut of the bottle. Then it switches to champagne and the bottles can cost anywhere up to around $1K. There was also a rule about not getting drunk. When they served the bottle of champagne they also gave the girls a "spit glass" which was a glass of ice to use to spit out the champagne to avoid getting drunk. LOLOLOLOL! My fav song at the time was 'I'm an Alcoholic' by an underground UK punk band Chaos UK. So needless to say I wasn't very good at using the spit glass and did get really drunk, blacked out even a couple times.
One night I came in with no real recollection of how I left the work the night before which indicated a black-out which usually results in me humiliating myself. That evening was no different. In the dressing room I asked one of the girls what happened last night and she lit up!!! They all did! Got all excited telling me I did a back flip into the dishwasher! WHAT??? The stage for the girls was surrounded by space for bartenders and to get the tips you need to reach over this space and get your tips from the bar. I told the girls I can't do a back flip and was quickly corrected. Apparently I did try to do a back-walk-over but misjudged the edge of the stage and landed in the open dishwasher.
This happened a few times (not exact circumstances) until one night someone I knew came in, gave me ecstasy and I left with him which was an absolute NO NO! No leaving with customers even if they are there for you.
I think I only worked at two other clubs. I was like 5 months sober and was living in a sober house. I had just signed custody of my children to my mother and step-father which was not what I thought it was going to be but once I did that they changed my children's last names behind my back and I was broken. I wanted some money was sick of being broke so I went to a place not far from where I was staying for an amateur night. I don't remember any of that honestly, the club was dark and dirty like most strip joints. I had my songs picked now, you use three songs for your dances and I learned I need a slow song for the end because it's more of a workout than you realize. I came out to WATCHA WANT by Beastie Boys which was always fun. My second song was DOMINO by Kiss. I like that song because in the middle it stops and he just says "every damn time I walk through that door it's the same damn thing, that bitch bends over and I forget my name". I usually just chose a random slow song for the last one.
I almost forgot my stripper name and how I came up with it. The first guy I was with asked what "her" name was and I said "she" didn't have one. He asked my nationality and I said French so he said Isabelle and that was my dancing name.
Anyway, back to the next club. I drank right when I got to the club and after that was trying to manage dancing and partying and living at a sober house. I think it lasted a couple weeks when I got in touch with my toxic ex Derek who was also partying. One night there was this crazy blizzard and he came and got me at the club. He literally got me out of there he did NOT want anything to do with me dancing. J ended up back with him and that was the end of me dancing for a while.
I did make alright money but the thing with me is if I can't do it the BEST ... I don't really want to do it. I had tried hopping on the pole on stage at the places I had worked but it was always the end of the night when I was a little loosey goosey! I COULD NOT do it, so that was a problem. That and the fact that it is really a party, I was too out of control to work in a party environment successfully. I know I'm a good lookin' chic, but honestly a real crappy exotic dancer! There are prob a lot more stories to tell! If only someone here could remember them! hahaha
So this brings me to the LAST club I ever danced at. Again I was sober, my youngest was almost two years old and we were living on our own couple hours from any family. I had moved to an apartment I got through a program I was in when I got out of prison and had Nick. I was sober 3 years and Christmas was coming, I really wanted to give my son a great Christmas. My parents had taken my older two children and they got spoiled! For whatever reason the fam wasn't the same with Nick so I felt like I needed some extra to make that Christmas/Birthday (his bday is dec also). There was a strip joint randomly down the street in this small town. I was 28 years old and felt I could do it responsibly so we could have nice things. In other words I wanted to dance for the money and NOT have my life spiral out of control in tandem. No drinking! No drugs! Easy!
I think a friend gave me a ride to the club. I had only planned on making as much as I could in one night and be done. The owner was a sweetheart and welcomed me right away. I went to the dressing room and changed into my lingerie. On my way down the stairs back into the club I was insanely awkward and uncomfortable. I was completely sober and almost naked in a bar. I obviously looked how I felt and the owner came up to me and said it's ok and to relax. He asked if I would like a drink, with ZERO hesitation I said yes, he asked what I wanted and I ordered a Watermelon Long Island Ice Tea. WTTTFFF my first drink in 3 years! I don't remember anything else about that night except being stuck with no ride home when the owner offered to drop me off at the end of the night, I literally lived around the corner.
I do remember the ride home. We got to my apartment building and were parked in a spot just chatting about it all. At some point I felt I wanted to tell him I was mostly sober. I told him I had been 3 years until that night without a drink, he was shocked!! He reached into his pocket and took out his 4 year medallion!!!!!! He felt sooooo bad. It was not at all his fault I had not told him until the end of the night. I did make a fat stack of cash that night and a friend for life!!! ( that guy has been a good friend of mine since then).
Moral of the story???? Not all pretty girls make good strippers!!!!!
Comments