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Thread: Coworker, Competition, or Colleague?

  1. #1
    Featured Member Naida's Avatar
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    Question Coworker, Competition, or Colleague?

    If there's one thing I've been learning, both during my time dancing and in my time off, it's that stripping is as much a business as you make it. Some girls do this as a "job" for a few months or years before moving on to careers, and that's fine. Some of us choose to do this as a career, albeit a shorter one than usual, and it's those of us in that position that have to treat it like a business to "get ahead". But, for now at least, we are independent contractors- and that's where things get sticky.
    Unlike other careers where an employee works as part of a team to make the company more profitable, as independent contractors, we are the company. And, unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of "how to's" for independent contractors because, not only are we a dying breed, a lot of people don't have the cojones or the drive to work solely for themselves. It honestly is easier for the general public to go to college so they can work under some one else's directive in exchange for a guaranteed paycheck and benefits. This leaves those of us with the motivation to mostly figure things out on our own or try to adapt lessons from employee-type careers to work for us. In this case, the word "colleague".

    Despite being independent contractors, most of us are house dancers that rely on the club to provide the largest portion of our customers. The club's reputation is what determines the kind of customers it gets. Just about the largest contributing factor to a club's reputation is the dancers who work there. In this way, we are coworkers working towards the same goal- attracting customers that will pay for our services.
    Once customers are in the club, however, the fight begins for which dancer will get his money. It would be nice to think that hustle alone will always nab a customer, but that's just not so in this kind of environment. Not only are you (the smart, intelligent, and skilled woman you probably are if you choose to do this as a career) vying for his attention and cash, but so are the "job" girls- the ones who are there because tuition is due next week, they're out of meth and need a fix, their pimp will beat them if they bring home less than X amount, or they're trying to put food on the table for kids when the pantry is running dangerously low. Yes, we need money as much as the next working joe but, because we are smarter about our money, our percieved need is not as great as these girls and so we will not go to the extreme lengths these girls will. And so breeds competition.

    How do my fellow career dancers handle this? How does it affect your relationship with other house dancers? Do you think of yourself and the other dancers as competitors? Or as coworkers? Or is there some middle ground between the two, giving birth to what those in the employee fields call "colleagues"? If you are colleagues, then how do you set yourself apart from the other girls in the club and "get ahead"? And what defines "getting ahead" in the club?

    Just food for thought.
    Exotic dancing is like any other job.
    If you work in an office, you wear dress shoes and a suit.
    If you work in a restaraunt, you wear skid resistant shoes and a uniform.
    If you work in a strip club, you wear 7" stilettos and lycra g-strings.

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    Veteran Member AriahsPariah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Coworker, Competition, or Colleague?

    Quote Originally Posted by Naida View Post

    How do my fellow career dancers handle this? How does it affect your relationship with other house dancers? Do you think of yourself and the other dancers as competitors? Or as coworkers? Or is there some middle ground between the two, giving birth to what those in the employee fields call "colleagues"? If you are colleagues, then how do you set yourself apart from the other girls in the club and "get ahead"? And what defines "getting ahead" in the club?

    Just food for thought.
    When I'm under that roof, my mind is on one thing, making money. I'm the one who comes in a couple times a month to make quick cash and then lounge around the house and partake in normal, everyday activities. I work to live, I don't live to work, like the majority of society. The girls are definitely competition, but I would still consider them coworkers.

    Getting ahead at my club is different. I work in one club where your customers are based fully on luck, and another club that the typical stripper/customer approach.

    I get ahead by approaching every customer and staying out of the dressing room. If I look alright in the mirrors on the floor and if I still smell fresh, there isn't any need for me to be in the DR.
    "Do what thou wilt..."-Crowley

    http://exoticallyneurotic.blogspot.com/

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    Featured Member Naida's Avatar
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    Default Re: Coworker, Competition, or Colleague?

    Well, of course every dancer is there for the money. Without the need for money, I doubt any one would work. So behaviors that directly affect the way you make money (like maximizing customer face time) are obviously beneficial.

    What I mean by "getting ahead in the club" does not pertain only to making money. I mean, what makes you stand out in the club, not just to customers, but among management and staff, and possibly other dancers as well. What benefits do you get for standing out from the other dancers? I'm sure plenty of the benefits indirectly affect the money you make, but anything that directly affects it is not the focus.
    Exotic dancing is like any other job.
    If you work in an office, you wear dress shoes and a suit.
    If you work in a restaraunt, you wear skid resistant shoes and a uniform.
    If you work in a strip club, you wear 7" stilettos and lycra g-strings.

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    Veteran Member misslizzy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Coworker, Competition, or Colleague?

    For the most part, I treat my coworkers as colleagues unless I'm given a reason not to. Not every customer in the club is there to see me, and some of the ones who are just don't know it yet. Obviously, I'm not going to hand over a customer that I think I can get more money out of to another girl, but if I'm reasonably sure he's spent what he's going to on me, I have no problem sending over another girl I think he'd like. I can always go check on him later if I see again that he's available.

    Other dancers definitely at least try to respond in kind, at least in my experience. And the customers seem to appreciate it because it gives the impression that I am not a gold-digger (which of course I totally am, but as long as he leaves with a drained wallet and a sense of excitement about the next time he comes to see me and my friends, I'm not bothered by it being the result of a collaborative effort).

    It's my nature to enjoy helping others, anyway. In the club, I truly believe that the more dancers know how to do it right, the more trained the customers will be to spend, and the more they will enjoy themselves and come back to spend more. Everybody wins.

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