Trick or Treat! Well, the trick was on me tonight when I got ripped off for $450 worth of dances from a single customer. Since this is the first time I've ever been out that much money, where better to share my angst and embarrassment than an anonymous message board. The story goes as follows:
I go to my club tonight at 11p.m to work a 5 hour shift. I'm pretty psyched since I always bank on Halloween, and I expect it to be even better than usual since it falls on a weekend this year. Sure enough I get there and see that there are only about half the number of girls that you usually find on a weekend shift- Cha-Ching! I start racking up dances and I've netted about $330 by about 1:30. So far, so good. Then I meet this handsome, well-dressed, youngish guy who wants some dances. We do 3 dances and he pays me the $60 in cash. Then he wants to go to the VIP room (or what suffices for such at my club). We negotiate a price of $150 for a half hour. My club sets the price at $100/half hour, but then takes 40% of that, so most of the dancers ask for more money to compensate for the club's cut. He was alright to dance for, not particularly handsy, just a average customer I guess.
I guess he was enjoying himself because he opted to do 2 more half hour VIP sessions for a total tab of $450. So, when the time comes to pay, he tells me he needs to use his debit card to get funny money from the club. So we go to do that, and his card gets declined. Of course, my first question to him is do you have another card? He replies no, and I say, well, since it's a check card let's go to the ATM and see if you can get the money that way. His card is declined again, probably because he exceeded his daily spending limit.
Now, this is where things get ugly. I tell him he needs to pay me tonight-it's now past 3:00 and the club will close in less than an hour. Then, he starts BSing about oh I just need to take my card with my ID to the bank and I'll get the money like that. I tell him that makes no sense as there are no tellers at any bank at 3:00 a.m. He says no, I'll go to the ATM at the bank. I then point out that if he couldn't get any money out of the ATM at our club, then he probably won't be able to get any out of the bank ATM. He doesn't have any response to that, and I realize that I am up shit creek.
The only thing I could do was ask for collateral. He had his wallet out, so I ask for his driver's license. He refuses because he doesn't want to drive without it. I say OK, give me your watch, which he does. It's a Kenneth Cole watch, and he makes sure to tell me it's worth well over $200 (oh, wow, you mean less than half of what you owe me?). I write down his name, address, and driver's license number (to do what with I don't know). I then start to look through his wallet and pull out another credit card. I ask why didn't you use this card? He starts BSing again, saying that it's an expired card (which it wasn't). He then said it wasn't his account (even though his name was on the card). I'm like well I'll just hold on to this and your watch until you return with my money.
I walk off and start to do more dances to help recoup my losses. I had forgotten that I took his credit card in the confusion, but he stayed behind to complain to the staff and management. The manager asks me if I had his stuff and I reply that I have his watch, but I had given back his credit card (honestly I didn't remember that I had it at that point), and that he owed me $450 and I was holding on to his watch for collateral until he paid me. Well, he complained to some more people, including another dancer-asking her to fix things like there's something she could do about it. He finally leaves, and the manager comes up to me and asks if I really have his credit card. I say I don't know, but I'll look through my purse. He replies because if you do have his card I can try to get the money out of him-like using it as leverage. I look through my purse and find the card and give it to the manager.
So, to conclude a long story, I left with $380 instead of the $830 I was supposed to make. In case you're wondering, I had to pay the $120 ($40 x 3) I owed to the club for my dances with this guy out of my other money because I work for Deja Vu and they pimp us like that. I'm also feeling pretty stupid for not getting my money up front.
In case you're wondering, I will get my money up front sometimes, mainly if I get a bad feeling about the guy, like he's drunk or I think he will be too much to handle. All I can say in my defense about this guy is that he was well-mannered and obviously affluent ( I could tell by his clothing as well as the section of town where he lived) and that he had paid me for the first dances we did, so I naively assumed that he would be good for the rest.
I know there was a thread about getting your money up front a while ago. My experience tonight demonstrates why it's a good idea. Even if a guy is aware of exactly how much he's spending, it's always possible there could be a problem with his card (either exceeding his daily transaction limit or a faulty magnetic strip). I honestly believe this guy tonight didn't intend to stiff me. I just couldn't believe he had the audacity to get an attitude with me and complain to everybody and their mother about me taking his credit card. Like he didn't understand that I only wanted to get paid for my services, not that I wanted to do something sinister with his account. I believe that credit card I took was a joint account that he shared with his parents or his parents receive the statements and that's why he didn't want to use it to pay me. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense, because as most people know, if your credit card is lost or stolen, all you have to do is call your credit card company and they will cancel your card number (but not your account), as well as remove any fraudulent charges. I'm just hoping he doesn't realize this and comes back to the club later today with my money. Not that I'm holding my breath or anything, but the manager did tell me that he called again after he left...
Anyway, props to all of you who read through this long-ass thread. Since misery loves company, feel free to respond with incidents where you may have been ripped-off. Please limit comments about how I should have gotten my money up front to a minimum and keep them polite, so not to imply that I am indeed as stupid as I feel right now. Finally, I hope everybody had a happier Halloween than I did.




That's the last time that club will ever do that to me again, because I'm finding another club. The halloween contest they had last night sucked, and I had the sexiest outfit on. I was a snow angel and I looked so innocent. But, they picked a girl that had a hole in her genie outfit, and I got screwed once again. Never again!! Time for a new club that appreciates my artistic, sexy side, not all about pussy and ass!! [bye] [bye]


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