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Thread: Stripping for School

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    Default Stripping for School

    I had a happy home life. Got a degree at a damn good University. Got a good paying job. Got laid off. Decided to go back to grad school. Figured I'd have no problem finding a job with my educational background and work experience.

    Wrong.

    My checking account is rapidly diminishing and even McDonalds isn't hiring.

    I like strip clubs. I'm in awe of strippers. I even bought a stripper pole for workout purposes. I've fantasized about dancing, but never really actually thought about doing it FOR REAL. But now that my bank account doesn't even have a comma in it anymore, dancing is starting to look like a legitimate option.

    My biggest concern is professional repercussions. I worked hard for my education, and would hate to see it go to waste because of a few month stint as a stripper. I live in a small city. There's one strip club (only one for 70+ miles). I intend to stay here and find employment here as a professor, in a non-profit, or in a government sector. I might get my PhD here. Will a semester's worth of stripping put a professional future here in jeopardy?

    I thought about being a waitress (avoiding some of the stripper stigma) and actually went to the club and applied. Nice divey-ish club (topless with bikini lap dances only), nice managers, nice girls (one chatted with me as I was filling out an application). The managers told me they were looking for someone with a bit more cocktail waitressing experience, but would call me within the week if they couldn't find anyone else. Did I just get the brush off? Is that code for " you're not cute enough to be a waitress here."?

    Before this post turns into a novel.....someone out there tell me that they stripped their way through grad school and got a sweet ass job and none of their co workers or bosses is none the wiser....

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    Senior Member SoStellar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    ...dancing to put yourself back above the red line isn't going to mess up your education. Chances are where ever you get your "professional" job people wont recognize you. I stripped my way to my Bachelor's. The job market sucks right now and dancing is still good to me... Thus is which is why I do it. I'd say skip the cocktail waitress and dive straight for the pole and the stage. You'll find it much more gratifying. Good luck!

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    I believe BritneyIreland stripped while getting her Master's.

    Honestly, there are very few jobs where it's a HUGE no-no for security reasons. Usually they are related to jobs involving children or government... and even the government can turn a blind eye to certain things.

    If you are that worried about it though you could consider waitressing, bartending or doing massages in a strip club instead.
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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    umm I tend to disagree with the above posts. It really depends on how small your area is. With only one SC the chances of being seen are pretty high. Educational institutions tend to be quite stuffy in their thinking at times. I have no fear of being seen or stripping effecting my future career, but I live in a city of 4.4 million which has probably around 10-15 SC's. I've literally never ran into someone I know even on the street...ever. It's crazy. I guess if you do decide to go for it just think about how you will handle the situation if you do get sprung. What will you say? As long as you are prepared and confident with your answers I should think you'd be able to justify it. But you will have to justify it. To us it is just a profession and a serious job...other people do not see stripping the same way and often nothing you tell them will ever change their minds about it.

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    Featured Member laurcon's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    Quote Originally Posted by codi_ View Post
    I live in a small city. There's one strip club (only one for 70+ miles). I intend to stay here and find employment here as a professor, in a non-profit, or in a government sector. I might get my PhD here. Will a semester's worth of stripping put a professional future here in jeopardy?

    I thought about being a waitress (avoiding some of the stripper stigma) and actually went to the club and applied. Nice divey-ish club (topless with bikini lap dances only), nice managers, nice girls (one chatted with me as I was filling out an application). The managers told me they were looking for someone with a bit more cocktail waitressing experience, but would call me within the week if they couldn't find anyone else. Did I just get the brush off? Is that code for " you're not cute enough to be a waitress here."?
    if you said its divey-ish i don't know how much cocktail experience one would need. did they suggest that you become a dancer? if they didn't suggest that as a possibility when you were already there, i wouldn't be positive you could get hired there. i have no idea, i'm just saying i don't know if its a sure thing but maybe you do.

    also you think you're going to be able to just dance for a few months a make any type of money for grad school? just wondering what you think your earnings might be, 1k a night?

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    Thanks for the candid replies.

    It's a small college town, and I'm sure more than one girl employed there is a student. An online search showed an old college newspaper article about girls working there as waitresses and strippers. It wasn't a negative article at all. Maybe its an accepted (or at least not hugely looked down upon) form of income for college aged girls here?

    As for the only one semester thing...next semester I'll qualify for different scholarships, loans, and grants, so I really just need to keep my head above water for the next couple months.

    And no...they didn't bring up dancing at all....maybe I don't have a stripper factor

    Crossing my fingers they'll call back and offer me the waitress position. Them or any of the other 1000000000 jobs I applied to....

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    I am dancing through school, but its a big city and I rarely see people I know in there. Many girls I know have danced through school and have had no problems. Many of the girls I work with are getting masters and work real jobs and own businesses, and don't have issues with it. It just shouldn't be a problem. But you do have to demand the respect when people find out. They might think they can treat you a certain kind of way, but you can't let them. You worked hard, put yourself through school, and no one has a right to talk down on you for it.

    My attitude is, what does it matter? Is someone going to give you shit about it? Fuck them! You got the same degree they did and the same job, so how are they any better than you?
    If it's a superior, are they going to fire you over it? Is that legal?

    As long as you are professional and work hard, there should be no excuse for anyone giving you a hard time. It is a legal job, and a person's history should have nothing to do with their job performance and the way they are treated.

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    Codi, I stripped while I was in graduate school in the Northeast. I never ran into anyone I knew in the clubs (I was in a big city).

    After grad school, I moved back down south, where I'm from, got a job, and was recently laid off from said job.

    I've just gone back to stripping. I have been looking for jobs for months. I haven't been able to find anything other than retail jobs that won't pay my bills. I'm happy to have dancing as an option.

    If I run into anyone I know, I'm going to tell them I don't want to be homeless, I have bills to pay, and I'm trying to survive the worst job market in decades. No one has the right to disrespect you for doing what you have to do legally to keep food on the table.

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    I'm dancing for a couple of months (at least) to try and get my head above water. I can't stand kids and I just quit a horrible job with the government, so I'd never go with either field.

    If you need the money, you need the money. Anybody who's going to judge you for having the guts and the survival skills to keep a roof over your head and the lights on is an asshole you don't want to work with, anyway.

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    I just came across this:



    It makes me feel a lot better. I'm a grad student in humanities...sexuality and gender studies....so the atmosphere is pretty liberal. And what are the odds that an employer two years from now remembers me from my four month career as a stripper?

    If I don't hear back from any of the jobs I applied to within a week, I'm buying shoes and cute ass bikini.

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    My biggest concern is professional repercussions. I worked hard for my education, and would hate to see it go to waste because of a few month stint as a stripper. I live in a small city. There's one strip club (only one for 70+ miles). I intend to stay here and find employment here as a professor, in a non-profit, or in a government sector. I might get my PhD here. Will a semester's worth of stripping put a professional future here in jeopardy?
    In point of fact, the biggest 'straight career risk' will not come from someone recognizing you on a strip club stage. By far, the biggest 'straight career risk' is the potential for being (bogusly) busted while working in a strip club as the result of 'wrongdoing' by others i.e. clubowner, 'extras' dancers, 'druggie' club customers etc. If a 'sexually related misdemeanor' charge should appear on your permanent record as the result of a (bogus) club bust, this may severely impact the future opportunities available re your 'straight career'.

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    I would pass on it if I were you. I'm stripping my way through school and it's hard, managing two radically different time schedules, stressing about money because I don't get a consistent paycheck, living a double life. I only do it because I have absolutely no other options, I plan to do it for at least the next three years, and I live in such a big city I can situate it so no one I know will run into me, or it will come back to bite me in the ass.

    If your town is as small as you're saying, I don't think it's realistic to keep stripping a secret, if that's important to you. There's one girl at my club who teaches part time and strips, but she makes a two hour commute to my club. While I don't think it would interfer with you being able to get an education, I do think it would affect you being able to get a job as a
    professor.

    In addition, stripping isn't something you just jump into and make thousands, especially not in this economy. It's a skill based job and it takes time to learn how to sell dances/rooms, make money on stage, be able to handle customers, and cultivate regulars. It's not rocket science but this is not like a normal job where you just go in and get a paycheck no matter what. You have to make your own money in this job... and I don't think it's realistic to think you could master the skill set to make the kind of money you will need in the short period of time you are talking about working at a dive bar in a small town while juggling a heavy course load.

    If you were planning on doing it long term my response would be different. But I just don't think it would be worth possibly compromising a future job or having to deal with the reprocussions of being branded a "stripper" in a small town under the circumstances you're describing.

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    I was going to make a similar post, but you beat me to it! I am in graduate school for one of the health professions, so I am very hesitant. I have a lot of cocktail waitressing experience, but I'm a little tired and bored. The money is okay, but I feel like it could be better. I know institutions and employers can't explicitly discriminate based on a legal and legitimate job you once had, but I'm just worried about any possibility of hurting my chances in a conservative field when there is so much job competition out there. I guess there really isn't any right answer, but what have your experiences been in a big city? Do you think it's reasonable to expect no one (besides maybe close friends/family) will find out for 2-3 years?

    >>> Um, I guess I should add that I have a lot of performing and dance experience, but I'm sure I will be a bit horrible at first when it comes to stuff like approaching new people, all the other learned skills that make high earners, etc.

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    Default Re: Stripping for School

    ^see I would think health profession is less risky. I mean health professionals are in demand. Your private life really has no effect on your work life in this case. I am studying to be a Vet and I really don't care who knows cause at the end of the day my job will be a lot more black and white. Being a University professor is a big deal especially in something like humanities because professors influence what others think and do. The people hiring may wonder about how the OP's opinions and experiences may effect the students she will be working with. No one is gonna worry that cats and dogs are going to start swinging around poles after I am through with them. I know it is all stereotypical BS anyway, but unfortunately the average person thinks all the terrible stereotypes when they hear the word "stripper".

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