Part II, Chapter 1, Page 52
If you’re going to be operating in strip clubs and going after Strippers, it’s important to know how things operate and what the girl’s job entails. Most guys are ignorant of what a career as a Stripper is really like. They think that these girls get naked and rake in the dough, but there’s more to it than that. The better you understand how strip clubs operate, the better you’ll be able to seduce the girl you want.
All clubs are different, with different rules depending on state law. But there are general similarities in all clubs.
Most Strippers are hired to work as “independent contractors” rather than as actual employees. This means that most Strippers are not paid a salary, therefore their income is totally dependent on dances and tips they get from customers. Strippers usually have to pay for the privilege of working at a club, which is usually known as a “house fee” or “stage fee.”
Most clubs require the dancers pay out 40 to 50 percent of their income for stage or couch rental (this means that everything they make on stage and with lap dances is divvied up between the club and the dancer). There’s usually also a “tip-out” to bouncers and DJs which can be around 10 or 20 percent of the girl’s overall earnings for the night.
Usually a shift quota is set and the Stripper must, at the bare minimum, turn over at least that amount before she leaves the club. If a dancer does not earn the quota for the night and wants to continue working at the strip club, she owes the club and must pay off that shift’s quota by adding it to the quota for the next shift she will work.
The clubs usually have other ways of making money independent of the girls. Most sell promotional items like shirts or hats, pornography, sex toys, etc. There’s also the cover charge to get into the club, along with sales of drinks and any fines they may have in place to be levied against the girls who break the club’s rules. Some clubs also get kickbacks from dancers who perform sex acts on customers while in the club.
Since the girls all work as independent contractors, none of them are entitled to file discrimination claims, receive workers’ compensation, or unemployment benefits. Club owners are free from tax obligations and liability. Owners of clubs pay no Social Security, no health insurance, and no sick pay for the dancers. Some club owners require Strippers to sign agreements indicating that they are working as independent contractors and some clubs require women to sign a waiver of their right to sue the club for any reason before they’re allowed to dance there.
Although strippers are independent contractors, they are actually treated more like employees of the club they dance at. Regardless of the agreements claiming independent contractor status, most clubs maintain a lot of control over the girls who dance there.
The club controls the schedule and hours, requires the girls to pay “rental fees” (like renting out the stage so they can dance on it, and renting out booths or couches so they can dance on them too), tip the support staff of the club, and even sets the price of table dances and private dances.
Some clubs have specific rules about costuming and even dictate the sequence of the stripping. For example, by the middle of the first song the woman must remove her top, she must be entirely nude by the end of the second song, and must perform a nude floorshow (all this regardless of whether customers are tipping her or not).
There are even clubs that regulate when women may use the bathroom and how many of them can be in the dressing room at one time. Some clubs don’t have seating available for the girls in the dressing room and enforce a strict no-smoking policy in that room. This is a way to keep the girls from slacking off in the dressing room and keep them out on the main floor with the customers (like, if a girl wants to sit down and rest, she must do so with a customer. If she wants a smoke, she must do on the main floor or in the smoking lounge/area so she’s in contact with the customers).
Every club enforces their rules through the use of fines. The type of fine differs from club to club, but to give you an example, girls can be fined $1 per minute for being late, as much as $100 for calling in sick, and other arbitrary amounts for giving attitude to management or the staff, talking on her phone without permission, etc.
The girls can also be fined for prostitution, fighting with a customer, being late on stage, leaving the main floor before the DJ calls her off, not cashing in one dollar bills, being sick, not cleaning the dressing room, and various other arbitrary things. Usually being late to the stage is the most typical fine that’s levied on the girls.
One of the initial appeals of working at a strip club is that the job is flexible, but this is far from the truth. Most of the time working at the club takes over your life. You tend to work long hours late at night, sometimes you have to deal with the fact that drugs and alcohol are all over the place, and for girls who work at different clubs, there’s the added stress of travel too. For someone who wants to function during “normal” work hours, this type of job can be quite problematic.
But on top of the physical stress involved in working at a strip club, there’s a great deal of mental and emotional stress too. There’s always drama and rivalries between girls. There can be dry periods where the girls make little money. The girls can suffer from verbal abuse from customers and employees at the club (as well as from other dancers). There is also a small amount of physical abuse girls suffer, be it from rough or aggressive customers or injuries that accrue from dancing on stage.
There’s also a great deal of sexual abuse that goes on in strip clubs as well. In fact, you could define a Stripper’s entire job as that of “sexual abusee,” even though the clubs are geared towards protecting the girls (usually), they are still oogled, fondled, groped, licked, kissed, and in some instances penetrated by various types of strange men. Needless to say, putting up with that type of stuff can take its toll psychologically. I know a lot of Strippers who have to get drunk before they even show up to the club just to make it through the night. This is also a reason many Strippers initially turn to drugs. The girls need something to help them disassociate themselves from the experience of dealing with working at the club.
There’s also the added pressure or temptation to perform prostitution while working at certain clubs. While there are a great many Strippers who draw the line at performing sex acts for money, there are a great many who are willing to take that leap. Lots of clubs frown on this type of behavior because it could shut them down, but other clubs tolerate (and in some instances encourage) it due to the extra money it brings in.
Most strip clubs tend to be divided up into certain areas. There’s the main floor (where the customers sit), the stage, the bar, the DJ booth, dressing room (sometimes the girl’s bathroom doubles for the dressing room), the lap dance areas, and in some cases the VIP room.
The Main Floor
This is where the girls circulate through the crowd, encouraging men to buy dances, drinking, and talking with the customers. In smaller clubs, the girls can use the main floor to hang out, order in food, or play pool (if there’s a table) during their shifts.
In higher scale clubs, the girls have to hustle drinks to feed the bar’s cash register. Some clubs mandate that the girls aren’t allowed to buy their own drinks, that they have to be sitting with customers, and can never turn down a drink, even when their drinks are full (this is because the bar is almost pure profit for the club). The main floor is where most of the hustling for dances takes place.
The Stage
Stages come in all styles and sizes. Some stages wouldn’t even be considered a “stage” by any standard, but it’s the place where the girls perform for the customers.
Stages will usually have a bumper on them where customers can sit down and watch the girl dance up close, as well as lay down tips. These buffers are usually padded in some way so the girls have the option of getting close to the customers to hustle more tips.
There’s usually a rotation for the dancers working in the club to go up on stage and perform their set. During a set, a dancer will strip, dance, walk around, show off her goodies, and if she’s really into it, perform acrobatics. Generally a girl will start her set fully clothed and over the course of a set of 2 or 3 songs she will remove her top and in nude clubs, her g-string. In some clubs, the girls will crawl or move around on the floor posing in sexual positions and spread their legs at the customers’ eye level.
During a floorshow, a dancer changes her movements from upright to positions on her knees and squatting in order to ‘flash’ tipping customers. ("Flashing" is when the Stripper pulling her g-string aside, revealing her naughty bits). Strippers will ordinarily only position themselves in front of customers who are tipping when they’re on stage. The guys who don’t tip are pretty much ignored.
The stage is also the area where live sex shows are performed. Live sex shows involve 2 or more girls engaging in simulated or actual sex on stage for the customer’s enjoyment. “Lesbian sex shows” can be an advertised feature for certain clubs and two girls partner up and split the profits from the show (with the club getting a nice cut, of course).
Private Dances & The VIP Room
Private dances are usually done in more secluded areas away from public view. This is usually where the girls are most open to do “extras,” such as hand jobs and blow jobs, among other things. But this is also the place where the girls can be most careful or businesslike, because men will usually proposition them for sex acts.
When the girls are in private dance situations with the customers, they are kept an eye on by small security cameras or the “Peeper,” who’s a bouncer or manager who’ll come by just to check and make sure everyone is abiding by the rules. But despite that, this is also a time where the girls are cut off from ready security, so they may feel more vulnerable.
There are a variety of private dances available in strip clubs. Table dancing is performed on a low coffee table or on a small portable platform near the customer’s seat. Couch dancing for a customer entails the dancer standing over him on the couch. Lap dancing requires the woman to straddle the man’s lap and grind against him. A variation involves the woman dancing between his legs while he slides down in his chair so that the dancer’s thighs are rubbing his crotch as she moves. Bed dancing is offered in a private room and requires the dancer to lay on top of the customer and simulate sex. Shower dancing is offered in some clubs and allows a customer to get into a shower stall with a dancer and massage their bodies with soap and water. Wall dancing is where a man is placed with his back to a wall and the Stripper rubs up against him.
Private dances can range anywhere from $15 per song to $300 for a half an hour VIP excursion.
The VIP room is usually an actual “room” that is more private than the normal booths. They can contain couches, a bed, a stereo, it’s own bar, and a variety of other things that make it seem fancy. The VIP room is designed to be more private and comfortable than the rest of the club, and it’s also the place that the most prostitution usually occurs. Different clubs have different policies concerning VIP rooms. Some clubs split the cost of the VIP room with the dancer, some take all the money from a VIP session and girls have to rely on tips made while in the room to pay for their time.
Strippers make most of their money with private dances.
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