I have a funny story from another day. I know some people just like to be judgemental and I should not be surprised after I’m saying I work as a dancer they give me a bad look. I can not imagine how is in the States as I’ve heard different opinions about it. Some say the dancers are treated as artists or entertainers and they have more respect. But I also heard the opposite. I think it’s just different from person to person. Here in Europe people are more conservative as they say. (Although Europe means 45 different countries and many different cultures.) But for sure I don’t like to speak up and say out loud what is my profession. Just like that day.
I arrived back from Corsica and I went to the local money shop to exchange the money I earned there. I always go to the same place. I know the exchange rates are not the best there, but my bank is on the other side of the road and I don’t like to walk around with lots of cash in my pocket.
This time the young lady behind the desk gave me a little bit of a hard time. She is from the same country as me, but I never saw here in the shop before. I had no proof of address with me and she needed to arrange a couple of phone calls to authorise the exchange. (It happened before but they were more flexible. Brits and their all-the-time afraid of money laundry, eh..)Suddenly she asked me how I got the money… I looked at her and without thinking I just said I’m a dancer. I didn’t need to explain what kind even I was wearing glasses and no makeup. She tried to be professional but her voice changed. From that moment I was just a “dancer” and she was a very important businesswoman behind her desk talking on her phone. She was superior. I found the situation kind of funny and embarrassing at the same time.
Oh well, without the proof of address I couldn’t be successful, but I promised to come back later on the same day. As I did. I went to the same window with the same lady.
“Um, what did you say how long have you worked in France?”
“4 weeks.”
“And this is the salary you’ve got for 4 weeks???”
“No. I spent quite a lot.”
Her jaw dropped. Even I think it was not a big amount of money, it is a normal salary for an average manager position in England. (I guess she was impressed by the amount in Euros and she forgot that it will be less in GBP.) But then she asked me with wondering eyes:
“Can I apply? For this, I work here for 2 months..”
I was smiling. And of course, I was satisfied! From the cold businesswoman, she turned into a nosy, kinky girl and started to ask me more questions about dancing. Luckily there was no queue behind me.
“You know I was just thinking about it these days. I feel lucky. Within a year I worked in 10 countries and 3 of them are overseas.”
“Great! And you got paid for that!!!”
I felt I was the absolute winner of this situation! I left the shop with a smile on my face. And again, I was right! Average people don’t know much details about this job. They are full of judgements, but when they have the opportunity, they have lots of questions. They want to know the dirty details. Here you can read a lot!
gotcha – i just read your first 2 blogs again – live can be so simple …
Keep going with your stories – they are very interesting by the way 🙂
gotcha – i just read your first 2 blogs again – live can be so simple …
Keep going with your stories – they are very interesting by the way 🙂
Oh that's a long story to write in a comment! 🙂 But I wrote about it more in the first 2 posts…
Long story short, I was fed up with the actual job and I set myself free. Now I'm my own boss and I go whereever I want.. 😉
interesting story – how did you become a dancer anyway?