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Hitting the Wall
Hey Stripper Girls!
How about this one: I can't seem to maintain the energy to work more than 4-5 hour shifts. I've been having this problem about the last 2 months. Before, I could always happily stay for 7-8 hours + and cleanup. Now, exactly at about 4.5 hours into a shift, I just lose it. There might be money there, but I don't want to hustle and my CS (customer shit) tolerance level drops down to about zero!
Does anyone else have this problem? Why the sudden change? Is it my impending 28th birthday, am I already getting too old to take the heat?
-It doesn't seem to matter if I drink or not. Usually, I have maybe 2-3 cocktails per shift.
-I wonder if its the Sugar Free Red Bull, giving me energy, then causing me to crash, much like most caffeine beverages.
-One obvious consideration is that I should pace myself. I tend to start out the shifts with lots of energetic stage shows and really work on giving the customers good laps. But its hard to pace yourself when you earning now, knowing that the club might be dead in an hour, so trying to keep the customer as long as possible is priority. This can be physically and mentally tiring.
-Another question and possible solution is skipping stage. I usually only skip stage if I'm about to be up and have a money customer at the moment. I throw DJ and extra $20 in addition to his tip. Should I just always immediately pay-off DJ and not stage to save the energy I expend up there?? Ladies who regularly skip stage, what do you think????
Thanks for listening....;)
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Re: Hitting the Wall
I've been noticing that lately in myself too. In my case I think I just need to take some time off, sleep for a very long time, recharge, and keep myself grounded at the club.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
first of all, when do you last eat before work?
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Re: Hitting the Wall
I've been like this for a while now. For me it's because I have a really good regular so I don't need to hustle strange random guys and answer all the same STUPID redundant questions.. I think the solution here is see if a new club relights your candle. Maybe you've been in your current one too long and you know everyone too well, and you don't care anymore..
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Re: Hitting the Wall
It's burn-out. I never worked a club where I could skip stage, so I just offset malaise by sitting on my ass and having a drink.....or having a snack...everyone's different.
Definitely, when you eat well before a shift, it can help.
But, it might by psychological (I am feeling sick of dancing after 4 years. My zeal for the job is gooone..........)
Take a few days off and rest. Visit the doctor. It could be a metabolic issue- I started having blood sugar problems two years back. I had to watch my drinking at work or I would get sick.
Good luck and definitely sleep on the issue- it might be a combination of different factors.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
I try to eat about an hour before I start my shift, and seldomly eat at work, unless its stealing a french fry or something.
If I could have some peace and quiet to take a break and maybe a mini-nap, that would totally recharge me, but there is no place to go. Dressing rooms are loud, bright, and smokey.....I could leave, but then where would I go, I don't live close by.
I work around many different clubs too, and I've been having the problem in all of them. Its not the club, its definately me.......
Perhaps its my fast paced hustling of men. I avoid regulars, so I seldom sit down with anyone for very long. The longest I sat down yesterday was maybe 3-4 songs so that a customer could eat his lunch, knowing he was going to buy a string of dances. I consider even that a "break" for me, so I don't take any personal breaks.
It could be worse...I just want to be able to work longer, an extra 2 hours is usually around an extra $200, so its worth its since I'm already there.....
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Re: Hitting the Wall
Well........I suggest making healthy meals and snacks to take with you to work. The last dancer who impressed me with this idea BOUGHT a microwave for the dressing room so she could heat up her meals. (Due to laziness/ working in scuzzy bars, I bring small no-cooking items, like fruit, candy, nuts, water, not entire meals.) This comes to mind because if you work a long shift, you will miss out on getting a meal (factor in 6-8 hours shift after prep time in dressing room, add commute home and clean-up, go to bed....where's the healthy meal?)
This is a strange sounding footnote, but hear me out- as we age, we all slow down. If for some reason you are not doing things to combat wear and tear on the body and mind, you will feel it. (I'm not being preachy either- I have neglected myself this year and am damn sorry for it.) Stripping is a psychologically hard job. Not to mention the strain of prancing around in platform heels in a bar with blaring music and too much going on.....Soooooo...take a little time off. Talk to friends and family. Have they noticed differences in you? Do you seem the same as before? Etc. Ask people who can tell you what's different.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
every fall and winter I get pretty tired and can't go out long... I sometimes don't find the energy to even go out with friends at night. Often I'm not in the mood for dancing ... I took a break at the moment, low season anyway and I have to do work for school. But a lot of you gals can't afford to take some time off and I really think this would be very hard on me these days too. Keep up a good spirit.
eating healthy, hetting a lot of light and fresh air is something that helps for me too. :)
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Re: Hitting the Wall
When I first went back to working a schedule( instead of traveling and working only maybe 50 days a year) I would be exhausted by midnight. This went on for around 2 months. My body was also used to taking epedrine everyday and it was pulled off the shelves a month before I went back. I bought some other energy pills. I have to take them every night before I go in. Also I have two red bull and vodkas in a shift but if I dont space them out, like one a 8 and one around say 11 I get really tired too. If I drink both say by 9 and Iam there until2 I can barely make it until 2. And no your not getting old I just turned 35 , so you are too young for this to be age. Try some energy pills.Dont go on stage. If I had to do that I wouldnt make it until 2.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
Kat I think it's just a matter of wearing yourself out. You and I like to hustle the same way, hit em fast and hard, then off to the next. I too get worn out after 5 hours and find it difficult to keep going. I like to go in early on Sundays here because I find I can make money the whole shift, but if I go in for 7pm, by 1am I'm dead dog tired and can hardly dance anymore - which sucks because that last hour is always the best. So I started going in for 8 on Sundays. I know I'm losing a hundred or so by doing that, but I usually make $150-200 for the last hour, so I still come out better in the end.
I haven't been able to change this, I think it's just age. Even in the 20s we start losing stamina - you just don't have the natural energy of an 18yo. It sucks to know you're so young but already can't keep up with your own ambition. I think if we could take a break in the middle it would help, but that is rarely something the club will allow (can't leave and come back) and I know you're like me in that if you're at the club you can't relax.
I've learned to just go in early enough to work a 5hr shift and leave it at that. Even though I skip stage, I still get totally worn out in 5 hours because I hustle my ass off on the floor and put energy into my laps in order to keep selling them.
In AZ I could only work about 4 hours, because there it was even faster with the $10 dances and table hopping, rather than $25 dances here and having to take time to walk the guys to/from the separate laproom.
Sucks. One could say this is an argument in favor of having regs, but I still find them to be a waste of time (and more mentally draining) in the long run, even factoring in the physical demands of fast hustling.
I wish I had an answer. Perhaps taking snacks to eat in the middle of the shift - if you could sit down, relax and have a snack maybe that would help.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
Wow what Everyone says makes sense, but i can't seem to stop! Too damn hyper.
Maybe the weather?
Look at you're sleeping patterns?
Also..YES the Red Bull drink, will sap you in the long run. Try downing more water, it will hydrate you.
Other than that, maybe burn-out. I think alot of us have been there. Due time for a mini vacation if you can.
Good luck Katrine.
Pamela
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Re: Hitting the Wall
i think that red bull has probably got a lot to do with it, try cutting that out and see how much doing that alone helps. caffeine kills me. i get really tense and hyper and like you said, a few hours later i am dead tired. it drains you.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
Now that I've slept I have a couple other thoughts...
Blood sugar does affect your mood. If you find yourself tired and irritable food really might help. Some type of protien.
Sometimes in the middle of a shift I'll take a break, eat, lock myself in a bathroom stall, and meditate. It helps a lot when/if I've had enough sleep.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
I used to carry a water bottle around all the time at work, drank 3-4 bottles a night. I started drinking caffeine when my energy level started dropping, so in my case it wasn't the caffeine causing me to crash, although I'm sure it makes my crashing worse. For me, with or without the caffeine, I can't keep up the fast hustle past 5 hours anymore. Just can't do it. 10 years ago I could dance all day and all night and barely break a sweat. That kind of stamina simply doesn't last. :(
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Re: Hitting the Wall
I noticed that I was getting worn out alot sooner than normal. I too like to drink red bull. I was wondering if that was the problem. I stopped drink the red bull and I noticed that I leveled out throughout the night.
In my club you can usually make the most money in the last couple of hours. So, About halfway through the night I will drink a red bull to keep me going. That seemed to help alot. I didn't drink the red bull before I started my shift or right after my shift. I just drank water and maybe a glass of wine.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
I work sort of long shifts about 6 1/2 hours and 1 day a week 8 1/2 hours. (I only work 3 days a week though- I'd be tired and have trouble if I worked more.) I work the 8 1/2 hour one because I have to share a car and wait for my ride to pick me up (this day I also have to be dropped off early before the club opens which isn't counted in the time because of my ride).
I do the same sort of quick-sell and move on you mentioned and I've noticed it can be quite tiring. At the beginning of the day I know I'm going to be talking to lots of people and have to get myself motivated to do that.
Maybe when you're getting tired and less motivated you could sit with a customer or 2 longer than usual that you think could buy VIP with you. I'm usually too energetic and nervous to do this though. Or when you're tired go to the lapdance area and see other people dancing. Or what I like to do is remind myself that after this shift I can go home and have x days off which is really nice and take a nice relaxing bath as a reward.
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Re: Hitting the Wall
Hey, we're older so we can't be as physically devil-may-care :party: as we used to be, but our increased mental cunning more than offsets it. Right? I think mine does anyway. What was it I was commenting on - levels of extras? Oh, no, levels of energy! :noidea: Yeah.
How are your sleep patterns? :sleep: Does bedtime vary wildly? Spending too much time on SW? :zombie: Huh? Huh? Be honest now. :-[ Yeah, me too.
Also, not fun, but get checked out at the doctor's. :magnify: Prolly shouldn't assume it's merely age and/or bad habits. There could be something more going on, especially if the change happened rather suddenly.
Oh, yeah, stop eating at McDonalds; you're turning into Morgan Spurlock. ::) Next thing to go will be the insatiable sex drive. :yikes:
-Ev :bedtime: