My travel experience Archives - Page 2 of 9

Working on Special Events

There are some social events out there that bring more strippers in the town. Like the golf season in Portugal or the Sailing Week in Sylt, Germany. As a dancer you have to apply to book your place otherwise it will be too late. Like me now, in early March I applied to Monaco for the Grand Prix and it was already no free space. They said if someone makes the cancellation, I can go but who would cancel such a money maker event? Never mind, I’ve worked already in Nice during the Monaco Grand Prix and during the Macau Grand Prix. They were a few good days moneywise. In Macau we had to wear a racer girl costume, it was quite funny. Previous year girls even made a promotion on the racing fields. Yeah, when I write or say I do promotion for clubs (when I don’t want to give out details about my job) actually it’s not a lie as I often do that, it’s kind of part of my job.

Giving out flyers also (I must say I hate that!) In Osnabruck they send us to give flyers on the carnival day. It’s a special day in Germany, everyone wears funny costumes on the streets (better than Halloween in England!) and by 6 pm everyone’s drunk. We went to the crowd but rarely gave the flyers as we didn’t want all the wasted guys from the streets to come to the club. We took a few rounds, and we looked at each other with the other girl.

“Do you think the same?”

“Sure. Let’s go home! I will put the flyers in the bin..”

Most of the guys just invited for a drink straight away, there was no point to talk to them.

Also, I worked in Nice when the Filmfestival was running in Cannes and they sent us there to give flyers. Seriously? All those people have access to high-class prostitutes, why would they come to a small and expensive strip club? But we went there, tried to give the flyers and when we saw no point, just went for a nice coffee and we enjoyed our afternoon in Cannes.

Some events can be extremely good for making money. I remember I hesitated to stay in Cape Town until the big mining conference in February (probably the biggest in the world) and I was lucky that I stayed. In those days I made quite good money there. I was not that lucky during the London Olympics. Everybody was excited about it, but in the centre it was nothing. I remember on a Friday night I took the bus to work and I was the only person on the bus! Usually, it’s busy but this time not a single person got on from Finchley Road to Piccadilly. Around the Piccadilly Circus, even cafes and restaurants were empty which is unusual on a Friday. I don’t know how the clubs were close to the games but the centre was empty. As my manager told me, he expected exactly the same as the Olympics is a family event, daddy doesn’t leave mommy just like “Ok, honey, I go to a strip club, won’t be along!” A cricket or football event can bring more guys to clubs and I totally agree.

My last special event was in Brussels: Seafood Expo. If I knew it ahead, I would have changed the dates. Again, we had to go to give flyers. 5 girls and the security guy. But at least he was cool, there were not so many people on the streets so we went to one of his friend’s bar and everybody was invited for a shot. Perfect start for work because we knew later it will be stressful. The club was open on Sunday for this special occasion, they brought extra chairs and paravanes for the private area. They even bought some green plants in metal holders that we can pour the champagne there when nobody sees us. Poor little trees! We made a joke that they will produce grapes after so much champagne! But the truth is those few days were not so productive as they expected. On that Sunday there were only two (2!) customers. And of course, when it’s not so busy, they stress out the girls more, like everything is the girls’ fault because we don’t work well. But we had a full house but not quality customers. They can fill up the whole club with Spanish, Brazilian, Italian customers, through my experience they never pay and just hassle the girls why we don’t have sex with them. If they are alone they might spend, but if it’s a group, no chance. It seems they just prefer other male company. And as I was talking to one of the French guys, he told me this seafood industry is not doing so well this year so probably that’s the reason why people don’t spend much. But one day I was lucky to meet an intelligent guy who paid me some dances and I enjoyed our conversation so I stayed with him pretending to work, but I saw from the corner of my eyes that my manager looked at me with evil eyes why I spend much time with him, why I don’t go to the next customer. Seriously that half an hour talking to him was my mental recovery of the night!

Now I’m really trying to stay away from these kinds of events. They can be maybe a tiny bit better than an average night but it doesn’t worth the stress that the management can give.

Workplace hazards in the stripping industry

I don’t want to mention again the alcohol-human stupidity combination here, I wrote enough about this one. But there are other hazards there, some you might not think about that can cause an issue. For example the ability of smoking inside the club. Yes, there are clubs in Europe where people can smoke. Smoker dancers are very happy about it. But what about the non-smokers? It happened not only once when the club was busy and the stage is higher than the tables, but I was also in tears during my performance because of the too much smoke inside. I mean the smoke of the cigarette, not complaining about the smoke machine! I remember after the Dorsia in Antwerp I got home, opened my suitcase and it smelled like an ashtray! All my clothes took the smell of cigarettes. There the Fridays-Saturdays were killer. The club worked with a full house on the weekends, once I even lost my voice because of the smoke. Too loud music also has good benefits for health.

I also like the high heels-unsafe stairs/stage combo. In Brussels, it was nothing around the stage that you can grab if you lose your balance. We girls gave a helping hand to each other to go on stage. The girl who finished the performance stayed on the stage until the next girl arrived and she helped her to come down. When her feet touched the floor, she gave her hand to help the other to go up. There were only 3 stairs but could be dangerous wearing the high platform dancer shoes. I don’t know who designs the interior of strip clubs, but he must pay extra attention to girls who walk on those stairs with 8-inch stilettos.

But my top favourite is the air conditioning. We often fight with a member of the management to switch it off when there are no customers. If you only sit in one place all night wearing lingerie or a sexy nightie and you don’t dance, you could feel extremely cold and it goes to the bones. After all the muscles are cold, it can be dangerous just go on stage and jump on the pole without warming up. I understand the necessity of the air conditioner when it’s busy. I don’t want to work in a sauna either. But when we have only 2 customers? And the management doesn’t want to understand that (of course, they wear proper clothes!) Again in Brussels, I had to take a girl to the hospital with some serious kidney infection because we were sitting under the cold air. I don’t feel good about myself. But it was so useless to tell them we were cold. In some clubs, the manager doesn’t even pick up the phone because I don’t have a local sim card. In Norway, I just wanted to ask for a day off but nobody answered my messages. I had to call my agent who called them and finally they give it to me. But what if it is an emergency? I get lost in the morning on my way back home or worst, I have an accident? Who is there to call?? He didn’t pick up or answer my message because I sent him a text from my English number. (They work with international girls, they knew I live in England and I wrote my name in the text so it doesn’t really make sense to me. I was wondering how many Lindsay does work in their club?) And sometimes even the apartment is cold. Like in Luxembourg, I was lucky that one girl left me an electronic heater because the windows were not properly closed at wintertime.

And I also have to mention one thing: why a dancer carries a small towel or a scarf with herself. Like me, I have sensitive skin and I don’t want to sit anywhere. They don’t clean the seats properly and sometimes better not to think about what was on it previously. In other places, like it was in Canada, the club gave us a small scarf to put on the customer’s lap before we start to dance. First I didn’t understand but on my first night when I saw some guys coming from a construction site to a strip club, I immediately started to use. And it’s good protection for infections. Seriously that club was disgusting, sometimes I took a customer to the private and first I had to look around not to sit him on used condoms. (I will tell in another post what was all about.) But there it would be very easy to catch something.

Well, yes, our life is not only full of glitters and shines.

Greetings from Belgium!

Although the whole trip didn’t start in a smooth way (just as none of them lately) now I find everything fine here. I’ve worked in Belgium before, both Antwerp and Brussels so I’m a bit familiar with the country, I don’t feel a total stranger here.

Why did I say it was not a smooth start then? I work the first time with this agency. He’s Hungarian. I don’t like to work with Hungarians as they seem to overcomplicate everything. This one drove me crazy asking my Hungarian tax number and he just stuck to his point, he didn’t want to understand I have no longer tax number or official address in Hungary. But finally, after a short battle, he accepted my English tax number pff…! But it was not all. One day before my flight I still didn’t know where I’m going. He didn’t send me the address. I like to organise everything before the trip, so these last-minute actions really can make me insecure. I almost had to beg him to give me the address just to know where to go from the airport. He’s not an easy peasy case. In his last message, he wrote to me to call him when I’ve arrived at the address. Phone number or something??! Nopp. I asked him to send me his number in a text message (he knows my number) because I’m not sure if I have access to the Internet. You’re right, he sent it to me on Facebook and of course, as I told him, I didn’t have Internet. I was sitting outside a pub, I didn’t know his phone number, not a number of any girls in the apartment to call “Please open the door for me!” I didn’t know the correct address (there are a few apartments under the same address) not even what’s on the doorbell. I can not ask any women on the street that “Don’t you dance in the City Club by any chance?” They would be easily offended. Some agency just really don’t deserve the money they got after the girls because they don’t care. More than 2 hours waiting outside (at least it was not raining and Belgium has good beers) he called one of the girls to check if I’m there and let me in. Seriously??

The apartment is OK, not the cleanest but it’s quite new, and the other girls are nice. And it’s only 4 of us in the apartment. That’s heaven on earth after the experience in Oslo!

The club is also good. Although on my second night there were only 5 customers (and 2 of them were women) and the friend of the DJ and we had to dance all night from 11 pm to 6 am. Don’t ask me what for when nobody paid anything, not even attention to us. After that night I didn’t feel my legs, I had pain everywhere in my body. Please don’t ask me if I go to the gym.. that was enough training for one day! But the system is fair. I have €35 fix salary per day, but every night the club offers €70 guarantee if I make less. It means I have the minimum the €70 per day. But in a week it happened only once (luckily) I always make more than that. I get €8 from a glass of champagne, €44 from a bottle and €25 from a private dance. (I really don’t like to talk about how much I made the previous night and I especially hate it when other dancers asking me. It’s only my business. Here I just want to let you know to have some idea.) Oh and about the tips: how nice, the agency said it’s all for us, at work I find out I only can keep the 60%. Whatever…

The funny thing here that the whole place is a discotheque indeed. Big, empty, dark room with a small stage in the middle. No atmosphere, no decoration, no intimacy – only a few candles around. On the weekend when the discotheque is open, we work on the 2nd floor in the club’s VIP area, which is much nicer. From there you can see all those drunk, hardcore party people on the dancefloor. We look at them, they look at us. It felt we are in some kind of ZOO! But after customers started to come up and we worked all night. Saturday was a perfect night, not much customers, mainly the friends of the boss. We, 5 girls, were sitting at our table and the bottles of champagne are started to arrive at us. That was more of a big party than literally work. We were sitting, chatting, drinking (I mean pouring the champagne back to the ice bucket very eagerly) and laughing all night. That’s really the easy part of my job! No bulls**** from customers, no hard deals, no pushing. Just fun and the money still comes to us. No hangover, no headache next day, Sunday is off. Perfect!

Pushing the limits

When I think I’ve seen everything, life always is quick over proving me that I’m wrong. I thought in Iceland I worked with the worst kind of dancers ever, the most competitive and the less care about others. Here in Oslo they even worst by my opinion. Before you think I work with Romanians, I must say no. Here the majority of the girls come from Baltic countries and they are extremely rough! They just care about the fast money they can make. The older girls are softer but the young generation is very harsh. Intelligent but harsh.

Just an example to understand their mentality: we walked home after work and a random guy tried to talk to one of them that I would have just ignored, but she answered: “Don’t talk, give me money, pizdec!”

As I said earlier this business is a hard sales job. We must sell champagne and private dances. But for me, it’s a big difference HOW. I think in long term. If I make the customer relaxed, he would be happy to spend money on me and will come back later. The big difference is I care about the person who spends money on me, not just see him as a piggybank. I’ve never been the kind of dancer who ready to jump on the guy as soon as he opens the door. I’m not exceptional. I’m not the only one. There are other girls that don’t want to rip off the customers and still make money. But we are rare to find in strip clubs any more.

In these days when people think twice about what they spend their money on, it should be the dancer’s personal charm that convinces them to stay and spend money. Another day I had a customer who was completely frozen when he arrived (closed arms, legs and when I asked he gave me one-word answers) and later this guy left the club with a smile on his face and gave me a big hug saying “You’re great!” (No, I didn’t offer any extra. I just blew some magic powder to his eyes.) But I made money on him, he was happy, I was happy. For me, this is a great night.

Yesterday night was crazy. Girls were pushing and pulling drunk (or half dead) customers on the floor to make them pay.

“Do you want me? Let’s go drink! Be serious! You must pay! Where is your wallet? Give me your card!”

And they paid. (I’m not sure if they were aware of it what for.) One guy paid a bottle of champagne for two girls and when he saw the bottle in the ice bucket, he didn’t want to pay. He didn’t realise he paid already and his transaction went through.

At the other table, there were two guys, one bought a bottle of champagne for the girl, the other bought only wine. So one went downstairs to the VIP area, the other stayed on the main floor. Both were drunk. A little later he came up to check his friend, the girl followed him:

“You can’t sit here because of your friend. We must go downstairs.” And she grabbed his arm and took him back to the “dungeon”. (She made it sure that the other girl doesn’t get anything from her bottle of champagne. Rough, isn’t it?)

Another girl was struggling to have a second bottle from the guy. He was also drunk. She took his card and placed it in the card machine.

“You must pay! Put your PIN number here!” pointing her finger to the machine. (I don’t know what policy it is here that the girls are allowed to touch the customers’ wallet and cards..) And the barmaid:

“Just try, if it’s doesn’t work it’s OK.” holding the card machine that is almost touched his nose. But clearly, he didn’t want to pay more. He didn’t even know anymore if he’s male or female. When the girl realised he doesn’t pay, she tossed his card back to him.

“OK, nobody keeps you here. Get your card, your wallet and go home!” with not even a little kindness in her voice and she called the security. The guy who previously paid her a bottle of Dom Perignon was thrown out like a piece of garbage.

By witnessing these situations I really started to think about my future. I can’t keep up with these girls, and because they make money for the club, I have problems with the management because I don’t know how to work. Well, I don’t know how to rip off people, that’s for sure! But I’m sure all those customers have shock and headache next morning and they will never come back to this club again (not even close to it). My advice: put a limit on your card and you can’t spend more than you wish or don’t come to a strip club when you’re so drunk and you can’t see what is on the screen of the card machine. 1200 krone or 12000 krone is a big difference!

Unless you want to pay for being stupid…

No way, Norway!

As it always happens to me, if I’m desperate to go to a place, it turns out something unpleasant. Same happened here. I was keen on coming here but now I can’t wait for my contract to finish. I heard lots of good things about working in Norway, especially about the clubs in Bergen and Trondheim. But when I sent my application there, the manager replied that he’s very selective with a girls, and that moment he wanted younger and very acrobatic pole dancers because he had enough “older and talker” (actually I like the idea because he makes sure each customer can find the type of girl he likes) But after I found agencies working with clubs in Oslo, and I applied even I heard some bad stories about it. But if you never try, you never know.

Now I know. And I’m pretty sure I won’t come back here. The No way, Norway! an expression I heard from other dancers who worked here previously, now I understand why. I don’t know if it’s just this club, but my customer told me yesterday they passed another club on the same street and he didn’t even want to enter that one because the doormen were too rough looking. Our club is pretty OK though, but for me, it has a strange and arrogant atmosphere that I don’t like. Let’s put it in this way, not the friendliest place I have worked.

I have problems with the apartment. 12 women together in a not so big flat. 12 women for 1 bathroom. It means you have no privacy even on the toilet. 12 women for 1 kitchen. I can not have my coffee there in relax. 12 women and 1 house key. That really sucks. I’m staying in a room with a balcony, and every smoker walks through the room if they need a fag. Almost every time they wake me up, because they try to be as quiet as possible but outside they are talking or listening to their music loudly. I have very disturbed sleeping since I’m here, no wonder why I’m getting more and more irritated at work. And some girls have no respect for others. One girl was on the top of my bed because she needed something from the top of the wardrobe and she was upset when I asked her not to step on my pillow when she’s walking around barefoot in the flat. The other one was searching for something for half an hour in plastic bags while I tried to sleep. Seriously I started to feel I’m the antisocial and deviant here because I don’t talk loudly and I can close the door without making noise.

My only luck is that I’m sharing the room with a very nice Polish girl. Basically, she’s the only person I like here. We haven’t met before but we worked in the same places. I remember on my last day in Macau I popped into my Polish manager and she told me there are 2 girls arrived from Poland and we just figured out she was one of them. I didn’t work that night because I had an early flight the next day and they didn’t work because they just arrived from the airport. Same in Iceland, she just arrived a few days later after I left. And how lucky I am that we met here! I really feel if she’s not with me, I would just give up and go home. Even the club has potentials to make money, my own mental health is worth more and I don’t want to struggle with a place I don’t feel good. I gave a few more days to myself to decide if I leave earlier, but for sure I don’t come back here to work again. No way!