How does "not being employed by the club" work?
Hi, new to The Forum and new to stripping, haven't started yet but have a couple of auditions in a few days.
Doing some research on the internet and reading on the Forum here a bit. Here in the past couple of weeks I've talked to a couple of local dancers who have both been dancing for at least four years now. I'm kind of cautious who I talk to about starting to strip. Kind of keeping it private without letting all of my friends and family know about it. Keeping my dancing / Club work-life separate from outside of the club life.
How does not being an employee of the club work? I understand you get paid with tips and have to tip the DJ and the managers when you cash out. You have to keep track of what you made and pay taxes off of it at the end of the year in other words, you don't have an official employer taking taxes out of your paycheck. I've heard that a dancer is similar to being a freelance worker. You're not forced to work in one club and only one Club. You can work at more than one club at a time. If things get slow at the club you're at, you can go down the street or across town or the money might be better. I hear Super Bowl week is always a busy week, I've heard of girls traveling to whatever town the Super Bowl is going to be in to make decent money.
But as far as working in a particular Club, you've gone through the hiring process and now they want you to work there and put you on a schedule. One girl that I know pretty well has been stripping for many years. I haven't talked to her about me starting to strip because I don't want her to really know about it. The way she works comes across as if there's not a set schedule and she can work two nights a week if you wants or work five nights a week. She can work three nights this week and then take next week off and then decided she's going to work Wednesday or the following week. One night showing up at 6 p.m., the next night showing up at 8:30 p.m. sometimes if she's made enough money to satisfy her for the night she'll go home early, even if that means only working two or maybe three hours.
So how does that work, do you have a set schedule or is your schedule super flexible and solely up to you with you choosing what days and times you want to work?
Since you're not an hourly employee or even considered an employee of the club, what kind of rules and guidelines do they set that each dancer must follow? Can the club fire you if you're not breaking any rules or legal laws or do they banned you from working at the club? Like if you're caught doing extras or with drugs they could tell you not to come back? But if you are not considered an actual employee, can I actually legally ban you from working at that club?
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
Basically all your questions, the answer is "depends on the club". Mostly, clubs class us as IC so they can have a million girls without having to pay them etc, but treat them like employees.
A lot of clubs, despite classing you as an IC, will make employee demands of you- such as putting you on a fixed schedule, telling you you can't upcharge, that sort of thing.
I've worked clubs where their only rules are pretty basic- i.e. no extras, no fighting- and ones that have multi-page contracts that you read at hiring.
Some clubs will make your schedule, some clubs you commit to your schedule (pick your own dates and times ahead), and some have no schedule.
Strip clubs are a private business, so they can ban you for any reason they feel, just like anyone else who walks through the door. Maybe you got fired for having drugs in the DR, maybe you got fired because a manager just doesn't like you. Generally you'd just move on to another club. Firing is rarely permanent, usually if you want to work that club again, you'd just re audition later on (depending on the reason for the firing).
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
It’s like when a guy tells a girl he doesn’t like labels like boyfriend/girlfriend so he can get pussy without any of the responsibilities of a relationship.
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
Are there any contracts you have to sign as far as agreements?
If your manager tells you that the house fee is x amount of dollars and requires x amount of tip when tipping out, is there any kind of signed agreement between the dancer and the manager? What keeps the manager from one day saying it's this much and then the next day saying it's a lot more?
When getting hired and management tells you what they want except, drugs, extras, prostitution / pimping Etc, is it more of a verbal agreement or is there some kind of written agreement stating that you will abide by the rules given to you and that the house feed is x amount of dollars?
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
Yes you sign a contract usually.
House fee is sometimes in the contract & is almost always posted in the dressing room. It's public knowledge. That's why they don't change the amounts randomly, all you have to do is point at the sign.
Some of the sleazy managers will try to push it though to see what you'll put up with, especially if their salary involves % of house fees or they get tipped out. Example: you came in at 9:50 pm & he insists it was after 10 pm so your fee is higher. They may try to guilt you into tipping them or say "that's how it is here".
Depending on how much clout you have, you can sometimes tell them to stuff it (politely). I've been fired from 1 club for not giving the house 10% of my earnings on top of house & door tipout. Otherwise, I think I've told probably 4 managers/DJs/doormen to shove their mandatory tip up their ass (again, politely ;D) with no repercussions except keeping my $$.
The contract usually includes a lot of "No drugs/prostitution/blah blah". It's mostly to cover their ass if the club ever gets raided.
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
^ When I danced, my club in Hollyweird did that shit with the whole trying to force certain girls to tip out more after each vip & dances. It only happened with certain new managment on power trips though, ones that did it to see how far they could get with it. I stayed out of sight & didn't really deal with it much.
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
Right! I definitely have noticed if you stay under the radar or have a certain air, they don't try that with you. It's usually the really young or party type girls they really try it on.
Re: How does "not being employed by the club" work?
Some great responses here. Basically, you get the bullshit of being an employee but none of the legal rights of an employee. Some clubs exploit this more than others. I've worked in clubs where I had lots of independence and freedom, and clubs where they try to micromanage everything I do.