Temporary job vs "career" stripper

22 comments

• FONDL

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  18 years ago

  I've also known a couple of dancers who bounced back and forth between regular jobs and stripping. They strip til they can't take it anymore, then try some other job for awhile until they find they can't live on the money they make, then back to stripping "temporarily" til they find something better, etc. I'd guess that's pretty common. Those in-between jobs often involve something like waitressing or bartending in restaurants. Some of these girls will eventually become career strippers because they don't really have much choice.
• tropicalH2O

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  18 years ago

  You guys have it figured out. Dancers quit because a man in their life doesn't want them dancing or they meet their academic objective and get a job outside the club. Dancing does get into your blood and you always think about going back, at least that's the case with me when I'm taking time off for my studies or to be with my child. Recently two dancers who still work a shift on the weekend got jobs as receptionists for attorneys (2 different attorneys) they met in the club. They like the work because they get medical and other 'full package' benefits, the men are respectful and the work isn't too demanding.
• T-Bone

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  18 years ago

  Yoda - OK, i totally see that working well...
• Yoda

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  18 years ago

  FONDL: I have an old fav who works as a dental hygienist. She met the doctor she currently works for at her old club. Most of the time job offers from customers turn out to be BS excuses for attempted OC encounters. In this case the job was for real.
• Yoda

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  18 years ago

  T-Bone: What's interesting about the two ladies I was talking about is that neither of them ever danced. They both started as waitresses and later bartenders. One was a back rub girl for a while. The advantage in this is that, when they went after the housemom gig all of the dancers in the club had known them forever without any of the jealousy that often accompanies relations among dancers.
• AbbieNormal

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  18 years ago

  One of my former favorites started for the money (I think) but kept it because she was a single mom and it worked. She kept it for a brief while as a grad student, then quit to manage a club, then quit that when the grad school came across with some fellowship money that led to a "real" job. Clearly she saw it as a "temporary" job, even though that temporary time period was several years.
• FONDL

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  18 years ago

  I'm sure it doesn't happen often but I've heard of dancers getting legitimate job offers from customers for things like sales. Also a lot of dancers really are going to school while dancing and will quit when they graduate. And some of them find and marry someone stable annd quit. And some decide to make it a career. I remember meeting a stripper a long time ago who was a real hustler and very good at it - she said she was going to strip until she had a million $ invested, and she claimed she was halfway there - I think she was 25.
• T-Bone

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  18 years ago

  Yoda - right on....i think your examples are likely the exception to the rule though. I don't think most dancers aspire to become housemoms, rather they divert to it. Otherwise, there wouldn't be housemoms returning as strippers...
• Yoda

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  18 years ago

  T-Bone: Sometimes being a housemom can pay better than beign a dancer. I know two ladies working as housemoms in Providence who derive all of their income from dancer tips. Each lady gets between $10 and $20 a night from every girl, both clubs have between 25 and fifty girls working a shift. It's a bit like being a deck hand on the Titanic some nites but the money can be very good.
• davids

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  18 years ago

  How about a bf/husband she really likes who gives her an ultimatum?
• DandyDan

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  18 years ago

  I can definitely agree with TBone on the quitting, then going back. To my complete surprise, my first serious favorite dancer came back into my life the last time I went to a stripclub, last weekend. She tried a real job, and never could get used to the long hours and set schedule. I've heard other dancers who tried "real" jobs say the same thing. I suppose I got a question for everyone. What makes a stripper quit the stripping profession for good? Old age would seem to do it, but I've seen plenty of old strippers. It seems like the only sure thing would be death.
• T-Bone

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  18 years ago

  All the strippers I know say they want to quit and call it a temporary thing (even if they've been at it for a decade). But they stay, or quit then return for the money. It's no newsflash though....most Americans work mainly for money. The problem with stripping - it has no longterm benefits or future. And housemom doesn't cut it.
• komey1970

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  18 years ago

  davids - I think the "career" strippers have read you and know they won't get any money from you because you don't buy LDs. So they don't waste their time. Most aren't worth it to me. They will talk to me, but I usually refuse them and play with those who are newer.
• tropicalH2O

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  18 years ago

  I agree with FONDL and Yoda for the most part. I started dancing part-time to put myself through graduate school. At times I've quit for an entire semester because the school workload was too heavy and I needed to spend time with my child. I have just one project left to write then I'm done with school. Dancing in the right club is like a Neverland - it's fun, you get lots of attention, you spend time with friends and you can choose your own hours. It's hard to it give up and move on to a real job.
• Yoda

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  18 years ago

  Travelin: I've never taked to a dancer who thought it would be more than a temporary career. I know one lady who has been at it for 20 years-she started when her husband died and plans to stop in two years when she finishes putting her oldest daughter through law school. Life is what happens to you while you where making other plans.
• davids

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  18 years ago

  Actually I have an incredibly bad time dealing with the type that needs saving: the lifer/losers. I haven't been able to figure out how to get along with this type at all and it's why I avoid the day shift now. I mean conjecture that it has something to do with pumping up their low self-esteem, forgiving them for their pasts, and implanting ideas of future normalcy and happiness, or, conversely just some NSA hot sex to provide them a temporary escape from their misery. But shoot! Are they even worth the effort that all this would require. Rescue/Temporary escape is not my style. I prefer and get along best with the anti-lifer types.
• parodyman-->

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  18 years ago

  And you are that guy? davids get a grip on yourself... wait maybe that is the problem.
• davids

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  18 years ago

  As they get more addicted to the money and their ethics erodes and their self-image plummets. Sometimes a guy comes along to save them though or they clue in on their own.
• parodyman-->

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  18 years ago

  I think that they are staying so they can all get their turn to fuck davids. Or if you wanted a serious answer, they probably fall into the same ruts that most of us do. I remember my early 20's as a pretty lost time.
• FONDL

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  18 years ago

  I know a lady who has been managing the same strip club for over 20 years - she told me she first took the job as a temporary position til she found something else. I think stripping is like anything else, people get locked into their jobs - they become comfortable with the job, the money, the schedule, the location, etc. and they don't want to give up what they know for the unknown. And in the case of stripping, most of them could never duplicate the money and hours elsewhere. How many of these girls have the skills to get another job that pays anywhere near as well with as few hours? Most strippers I've known work 3-4 days a week, maybe 6 hours a day, and take off whenever they feel like it. If they quit they'd work twice as many hours for half the pay and have far less freedom. That's why they started doing it in the first place.
• Alucard

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  11 years ago

  IMO when it reaches 20+ years, it is a career.
• ilbbaicnl

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  11 years ago

  As the famous quote goes, the mind is it's own place, and can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell. Stripping makes some women feel like winners, they can take a hour's pay or more from a guy in 3 minutes. They just shrug it off when guys are obnoxious to them, just figure the guys are being sore losers. Many women (and men) can't get over the brainwashing that any sort of sexual contact "cheapens" a woman or is some sort of conquest by the man over her. These women struggle with depression while they are dancing. Strippers have a lot of romantic opportunities, they fall in love, and then they have to deal with SO jealousy, which can lead to a temporary or permanent exit from dancing.