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Entries from October 2013

Thursday, October 31. 2013

Favorite

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I am usually in LA or Vegas this time of year but Monster Massive which used to be my absolute fave party/rave to attend in LA is no more. I only have so many amazing memories left from all the Monster Massive parties now. Vegas is also wonderful this time of year, perfect weather. But I'm in Alaska this Halloween and I can tell you this much, it's not anything even close to what I'm used to in LA or Vegas but hey.....it is what it is.
So I started off my day with a visit to the pool. Got my 45 laps in and after the pool I took Chhaya for a fun walk.





Then I found out that there is a haunted house in Soldotna, so I just had to go and check it out. I LOOOVE haunted houses, can't get enough of that stuff. This one was not too bad, I got a few good screams in, especially when I got chased by the crazy looking bloody butcher with the loud chain saw. I ran away from him while shrieking loudly.



Then I was in the mood for some ice cream, so I stopped at the store and got some. I can never deny my ice cream cravings. Now I'm in bed and writing this. Missing my friends in Vegas.....Halloween is tomorrow, I think I know what I am doing but I won't tell you about it yet. My plans for the rest of the night? Read and relax. And wash my hair.



Wednesday, October 30. 2013

Tips

When you work as a dancer you get paid in cash, there are very few clubs that pay the dancers in the form of a paycheck. The ones that do are clubs out in the middle of nowhere that hurt for girls. You get some sort of a base salary that at the most will cover your housing expenses and then you need to make your profits by doing as many lap dances as possible and tips on stage. Some clubs (very few) pay you an hourly salary but you still have to pay the club to work there and tip the house moms, DJ and bouncers. For example, The Great Alaskan Bush Company in Anchorage. And the rest of the clubs (which accounts for most of them) the dancers pay to work at the club and tip the staff with no hourly salary. The dancers are the ones that carry the rest of the staff in the strip club basically. No dancers = no strip club.
Most clubs do not realize this fact and take advantage of the girls as much as they possibly can. A great example is tipping the bartender. Why should the dancers tip the bartender?
The bartender makes an hourly salary and gets tips from the customers. Why should I, if I do not order a drink for myself, have to tip the bartender? Especially since I don't (most of the time) even make an hourly salary.
Lap dances usually go for a set club minimum. Some girls are so desperate that they are willing to do a lap dance for less than the club minimum or maybe for some food stamps or OxyContins. Other girls charge more than the house minimum and/or demand a tip after the dance is done. They work the guys for all that they have.
When you sit around the stage in a strip club it is expected that you tip the girl on stage. Here's a friendly advice, f you do not want to tip, do not sit at the stage. Somebody else that actually has money and is willing to spend it can take that spot your cheap ass was occupying. You should at the very least give one dollar per song, but that is cutting it short. I'd say....if the girl is up there for two songs, you should give her no less than $ 3 and up. Some people tip well on stage and it usually works out fairly well for me, I am speaking in general here because sometimes there will be a random yahoo sitting at my stage with a big grin plastered across the face and no money. Yeah buddy, go away please. The stage tips were not bad at Holiday House in Winner South Dakota but the house fee was rather steep, $ 110 - $ 135 depending on the night of the week. In New York City on the other hand it is kind of rare that you get tipped on stage, the stage is not really that much in focus there in general, every club is kind of different like that.

I would not expect stage tips at work if I worked at a club that paid me a fair hourly salary. Let's say the clubs would be picky about who they hired, hired only pretty girls that danced nice on stage and were able to carry on a great conversation. You had to do a certain amount of sets on stage and also a certain amount of lap dances per shift, for free. But the club would have to pay the dancers for an eight hour shift, like a regular full time job. I would say a fair salary for something like that would be about $ 150/hour. Perhaps $ 240/hour depending on how many lap dances were included in that. To cover their expenses to the dancers the clubs would charge a rather hefty cover fee, like $ 100 -200/person, alcohol not included. But for that cover fee you would get a certain amount of dances for free, like 3-5 and if you wanted more you would have to pay more. The clubs would be high class, all the trashy riff raff would be kept out and you would be able to experience some high class adult entertainment. There would be emphasis put on ambiance, such as furnishing, decor and lights, not to mention that the dancers would all be pretty much quality. I think that is a great idea. I don't know if it would work but I think it would be nicer to go to a club like that instead of a dive where some scary looking girl with tattoos made in jail does an upside down crotch dive on you while you sit on the stage, puts her ass in your face and you just pray that she washed herself that night before coming to work. Then you go home and frenetically scrub yourself down with some antibacterial soap while promising yourself that you will never go to a strip club again.

Other occupations expect tips too. I do think that the minimum wage should go up in general. I mean, why should cashiers have a tip jar and expect tips? How about paying all your workers a livable wage instead of relying on someone else to make up your wage shortfall? It seems like everybody is walking around with their hand out nowadays. I do tip when I get my lattes, never less than $ 1. But I know that the baristas make minimum wage. At Starbucks they make a fairly decent living and get benefits I've heard. But I am not going to tip some guy that opened the door for me to a hotel or a restaurant or a bathroom attendant. First of all, I don't want you to open that door for me, I can do that myself. And in the bathroom, I do not need somebody to stuff a wad of paper towels in my face or offer me a breath mint or some lotion. I would decline that service anyways. It's more annoying if anything. I worked as a waitress in Sweden for a while in a very busy restaurant. I made an ok hourly salary and tips were not expected and if I got a tip it was like a bonus and much appreciated. In some countries tipping is not part of the culture.



Monday, October 28. 2013

Rainy In Kenai

It is a rainy day here in Kenai.....still no snow but it will be here soon. When I opened my eyes a bit before 9 am this morning it was still dark out. I don't have any plans today besides washing my hair, driving into town for some errands and getting some food. Besides that it's just me and Chhaya and my new book, The Circle by Dave Eggers. I'm feeling tired......it must be the rain and the long travel with barely any sleep all day yesterday.
Then I need to unpack my bags and do laundry. I almost didn't make it to Kenai last night, there were a few flights cancelled due to the weather and both coming into Anchorage and flying from Anchorage to Kenai was no fun because it was so bumpy and scary. But I'm here now.





Home

I am back home and I can't wait to see my baby Chhaya! I have missed her SOOOOOOOO much!



Sunday, October 27. 2013

Thank You



I'm at the airport waiting to board the first flight out of three....a long journey is ahead of me and I'm tired now and want to sleep. Thank you and goodbye South Dakota! It's going to be so nice to take a bath at home and stretch out in my bed.....I can't wait to hug Chhaya and sleep with her next to me. It's also going to be very nice to not hear people talk about hunting and killing stuff. I like animals and I rarely eat any, I even took the insects out from the trailer alive, I don't want to kill anything.





Last Night

I am writing this at Starbucks in Sioux Falls while sitting in a brown leather chair, full after having some hot chai, banana bread and oatmeal. Now I know that you can get oatmeal with fruit at both Starbucks and McDonald's, it's not bad and much better than a greasy hamburger, so listen to me and choose the oatmeal next time. I am tired and a little loopy because it's almost 7 AM and I left Winner about 3 PM, it took me 2 1/2 hours to get to Sioux Falls, I was listening to the radio and loudly singing along to songs the whole way. I thought about life and how fast time goes by and all the people that I know and have met and the people that I will never come across again and it made me sad and I cried a little. Tears about life, because life is great and beautiful but also sad and difficult. I can get emotional several times a day and then I am happy again.
So I am done in Winner. The last night got off to a slow start but then I had fun and time went by fast. The night was over before I knew it and I got on the road out of there.
The bouncer "Tiny" told me that it had been a pleasure working with me and that he thinks that I am very nice, classy and elegant. That is always nice to hear.
Here I am on the stage admiring myself.





Yes, I look tall (obviously since about every other person says something about that) but without those heels I'm 5'9" and I don't think that makes me a giant. So when some guy blurts out that I'm too tall for him I usually say that he can come and find me when he mans up and grows some balls. It's not my fault that you might be insecure and I am not going to take off my heels and walk around barefoot or in flip flops so some guys can feel more manly or something. I mean, most girls wear high heels in strip clubs and then you have the occasional dancer that schleps around in flip flops or slippers. That's not me though.
I got lots of marriage proposals in Winner. LOL. My standard answer is, fill out the ten page application and get in line. Steve from the other night came back, he asked if I'm up for adoption. Of course I am but I need to be treated like a very spoiled child and get everything I point my finger at. ;-)

So my two trailer mates got dropped off at the bus stop yesterday morning. I don't know what they did but they basically had to pack up and leave. So no work for them last night. There was more drama too. One of the girls that was involved in the fight Friday night supposedly went to the police, I am not sure what happened there but the rumor was that she said that there is nasty stuff that goes on in the club and we had some kind of inspectors in the club keeping an eye at the place last night.
I didn't get a warning or a talk about cleaning up my act from management because they didn't think I need to clean up anything. Yeah, I know.....I am one of those "no fun" dancers that won't let you get away with whatever you think you should but with me you pay for a quality.
So the Holiday House in Winner wasn't as good as I was hoping for. It had to do with the bird count, because the girls that had been there previous years said that they had never seen it this slow. And slow kind of equals lesser income, unless you get lucky but I don't count on lucky.....I want busy and consistent. The weekends were OK, I can't complain but the weekday earnings were far from good enough when you travel and have expenses related to the travel. What also put somewhat of a damper on this adventure was my trailer experience, those roommates were too much. Besides that, the club was OK, not a classy place by any means but I did do alright after all and I can see potential there when it's busy. But the owner should clean up amongst the dancers and get rid of the girls that do some of the trashy and nasty stuff. That is not good for business and it will scare away quality girls. The staff was nice and I met some cool girls.
I am getting really sleepy now. I wonder if I can sleep at Starbucks? :-D