You got the dances, now pay up!

<p> I was writing this as a response to the post about getting ripped off by customers, however, I guess I have a lot to say so I decided to write my own little spin off. These are my experiences.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Let me start off by saying, yes, it happens... all the time.&nbsp;It&#39;s been a few years since I&#39;ve had any discrepencies but I&#39;ve been stiffed many times in my earlier dancing days. Sometimes, for as little as $4 and for as much as $500, $600, even $700 dollars (I&#39;ll get to that in a minute)! Most of the time, when I got stiffed for the small amounts, it was as stupid as they got a $20 dance and then only had $16 left in their wallet and none of their cheap ass frat buddies wanted to spot them the extra $4. I&#39;m not going to get the bouncer involved in that patheticness. I&#39;d rather just save my breath (and time) and move on. Other times, it has been their word against mine. For example, they knew they only had $60 in their pocket and were about to leave anyway so they decided to get $80 worth of dances and then try to tell the bouncers that they thought we only did 3. Cheapskates!</p> <p> <br /> The times I have been ripped off for large amounts, I blame management. Anytime we had a &quot;big spender&quot; in the club, management liked to choose a few of their best girls and send us up to VIP right away. This made me boat loads of cash, but it was hell to put up with. Most big spenders also come with big egos. Especially, the celebrities!! The ones who ended up ripping us off liked to get out hundreds (sometimes thousands) in ones and throw them in the air like they owned the place. Hey, if you&#39;re paying me by the hour, and those ones are my tips, then I&#39;m all about it. Let&#39;s have some fuckin fun and make everyone jealous. But pay-by-the-hour wasn&#39;t an option at my club, so, we had to count every dance we did. And if Mr.VIP thinks that those 3 girls that he&#39;s had entertaining his crew and dancing to for the past 2 hours are going to be happy with the $300 in ones that he threw on the ground, he&#39;s wrong. 3 girls doing lappers= $60/per 4 minute song. That, times 2 hours= you owe us a lot more money, dude. After we would waste time collecting the ones, facing and counting them, splitting them between the 3 of us, figuring out how much more he owed each of us, and then confronting the drunk Mr.Vip, we were not only in the process of getting ripped off, but were also losing money by not being out on the floor.<br /> <br /> Management likes to push bottles in the VIP so it&#39;s a given that the Big Spender and his crew is going to be completely wasted by the the time the bill comes. It&#39;s usually sticker shock and they think always seem to think that their VIP booth and bottles and treatment came with the dances included. The management was obviously getting their pockets lined, or just liked to have high alcohol sales, because they let they VIP customers get away with this all the time, and they wouldn&#39;t have the bouncers do anyhting about it. This happened to me too many times and I after awhile, I refused to be one of their go-to girls.<br /> <br /> BOUNCERS-<br /> As far as bouncers go, every club is different. At the club I worked at for 5 years, Captain Cream&#39;s Cabaret, the bouncers were like no other! They were awesome! They had our backs no matter what! They walked us to our cars, carried our bags, opened our doors, the works. They were also the peacekeepers. They knew which girls were shady and had a history of ripping guys off and didn&#39;t put up with it. They were firm with the clients but not rude. And they would dish out a good ass kicking if need be. Also, they all had freaking tasers!!!... and they used them (to break up the occasional fight). If a customer owed a girl money, and couldn&#39;t/wouldn&#39;t pay, they would take his ID, photocopy it, and post it in the hostess booth. They would let him know he had two options: 1. Come back with the money owed plus a tip for the inconviencience 2. Never step foot in the establishment again.<br /> <br /> Oh, that was the good ol&#39; days.<br /> <br /> At the club I work at now, the bouncers are fuckin pussies! They have no authority at all. I can&#39;t depend on them for anything (actually there is one that I like, but he&#39;s never around when i need him). I even have a secret signal I made up that let&#39;s them know I need their help, and half the time they don&#39;t even see me. It&#39;s terrible but it&#39;s taught me how to deal with every situation myself and better yet, how to prevent situations from occurring. I think this lack of security has actually made me a smarter dancer.<br /> <br /> However, I love working in Vegas because this is never an issue there. The bouncers are not only intimidating and willing to fuck you up if you screw them, but they are on top of their shit and VIP is all prepay or plastic ONLY. I haven&#39;t had a problem there, yet.<br /> <br /> <br /> WHAT I&#39;VE LEARNED--<br /> When I first started dancing, I was super naive and still trusted people to be honest and do the right thing. HA! What I&#39;ve learned over the years is that it&#39;s better to be skeptical than trustworthy. In this business (or any, really), you have less to lose that way.<br /> <br /> You have to follow your instincts and the patterns of past customers. This is where experience comes into play. With repeat clients, I never have a problem doing 10, 15, 20 dances before getting paid. However, if I&#39;m with a new customer, and I get even a slightly weird vibe from him, I will always stop at 5 dances and ask that he pay what he already owes me before we go on. I&#39;m creative with my wording, though.<br /> <br /> Most of the time there are warning signs that the guy is going to stiff you. A customer that&#39;s sloppy drunk is NEVER someone you deal with. 9 times out of 10 it&#39;s an ordeal. Unless it&#39;s a slow night and you&#39;re desperate for the cash, I&#39;d move on.<br /> <br /> <br /> ADVICE TO DANCERS--<br /> Don&#39;t be fucking greedy! Keep accurate track of your dances. I got good at this because the last place I danced at counted our dances. If you do 9 dances, charge him for 9 dances and not 10! And always ask if he wants another, don&#39;t assume anything.<br /> <br /> If a customer says he&#39;s good for 3 dances, and then after 1 he decides you&#39;re not the girl for him, then let him go! He&#39;s allowed to change his mind. Get over it and let some other girl make him happy.<br /> <br /> Lastly, honesty prevails. If you don&#39;t want to get ripped off by customers then don&#39;t rip them off. Making them pay you more than you earned may make you more $ right now, but being honest and fair will get you more $ in the long run. That&#39;s my motto and maybe that&#39;s why I get a lot o repeat business.</p>