The Stripper Economy

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Paul McCartney was with an earlier band than Wings, a young lady fair of form and face who would enjoy a career removing her clothes would go to a talent agency or a night club and get a paid position as an exotic dancer. Most clubs employed their own dancers, and in the burlesque theater days, a corporate network known as "The Wheel" would hire strippers to perform in their shows, moving from town to town. In Winnipeg, Canada, today, strippers usually work several clubs in one night, with car services available to move them from lieu to venue.

However, today's strip club economy is the way the whole U.S. economy is going--no employees, just independent contractors. Want a job? You pay to strip. This has moved to standard contracts by today's "wheels", chains like VCG, Rick's, and particularly Deja Vu. Each dancer signs saying that she is an independent contractor and for a stage fee the corporation will provide her with a stage on which to dance.

No employees, no worker's comp, no unemployment or payroll tax. A sweet deal for management! Not so sweet for the aspiring ecdysiast. Today, if you are a stripper, you look through the parking lot and see if there are enough cars therein to make it worthwhile for you to come in on a particular night. It also makes it hard for the schedule....in the old days there was a blackboard like the one in the railroad crew dispatcher's office, showing which women were working and at what time they should be ready to perform. Now, since it is free choice whether or not to dance, the scheduler can't be sure who is going to be there.

Unfortunately, the world is going that way. The employer-employee relationship is going the way of the steam locomotive. If you don't believe me, ask any other free-lance writer like your scribe.