Newbie thanking you all. <And venting a bit!>
Hi, everybody! This is my first post to the board. I wanted to say, first off, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your *silent* advice and words of wisdom. Last night was my third night dancing, and my feelings are so jumbled and mixed up, I just felt compelled to write and ask for your support.
Quick summation - 31 years old, always wanted to dance ;), and decided that I wasn't getting any younger and was at a great place in my life to go ahead and fulfill the fantasy and dance a night or two a week. Met a wonderful friend, found out she danced, and auditioned for her club last week. It's an awesome private club - very classy and upscale. Staff is wonderful - supportive, encouraging! The clientele includes lots of regulars and my experiences have mostly been positive! Made $100 my first night <Thank heaven I didn't fall off the stage!> and $800 my second!
So, here's the thing. Last night (Friday) was horrible. I am a super friendly person; I'm polite, respectful, honest. I knew <again, thanks for the tips!> going in that I wasn't dancing to make friends. And, really, I've been friendly to the other dancers and they've been pleasant to me for the most part. Last night - about 2:00 - I'm up for my stage dance. I'd busted my butt all night working the Gold Rooms and circulating, and I had maybe $500 in my garter. So, I go up to stage, dance, leave stage - and - HELLO - $200 is gone. Gone. I went to the DJ first (awesome guy!). He saw the money fall out of my garter on stage, and the next girl picked it up and pocketed it. $200. WHO DOES THAT?! Manager confronted her, and she of course denied everything.
So - after all this long-windedness (not a word!) - I'm terribly saddened and angry all at the same time. I know she's not a nice person. I know that confronting her would make no difference and would probably be an ugly scene. I'm just really bummed out and don't want this one thing to make me quit dancing.
How do you guys deal with this? Has anybody ever taken money from you? You know - a couple bucks would have been like - whatever! But, $200 is a lot of money to me and I worked very hard for it.
Thank you all again for allowing me to learn so much from your postings!
Paige
Re: Newbie thanking you all. <And venting a bit!>
Many dancers have lost money due to things like this. It was stolen or either left behind. Theres not much you can do. Its kinda a lost cause. You cant really sue her...or 'make' the manager give back your money. Maybe if the person who saw this stepped in more maybe you could have gotten it back?
Next time when you are wearing your garter place a rubberband around your money so it doesnt fall off. Wearing a garter I think is the best way to keep your money close so you never loose it...youre were on the right track w/ that one.
Re: Newbie thanking you all. <And venting a bit!>
I agree with TM. You'd be much better off just to write it off in this instance and go on about your business. You just have to learn who you can trust and who you can't at work, and sadly, sometimes it takes a situation such as this to figure out who the assholes are.
Just like with everything else in life, live and learn. Do what TM suggests (as I'm sure you already will) and not let it happen again.
Oh, and welcome to SW, and, more importantly, kudos to you for taking the step of following up on something you wanted to do! You only go around once in life - do what you want to do and live life to its fullest while you're here! :)
Good luck!
Re: Newbie thanking you all. <And venting a bit!>
I'd say keep an eye on the thieving bitch:P...and learn from this experience.
Congrats on the new job!!
Re: Newbie thanking you all. <And venting a bit!>
Why didn't the DJ corroborate your story to the manager? If he told YOU he saw what happened, he can also tell management! That seems like a no brainer to me.........