money Archives - Page 2 of 3 - HeartBrokenStilettos

Andiamo, prego, tutti frutti, macaroni

After 1 week of working in Pescara, I still haven’t decided if I like it here or not. I’m wondering how other clubs work in Italy because this one has a strange system for me. When I think I’ve seen every type of clubs I always must realise I haven’t and some places still can hold some surprise.

Why Pescara? Simply because one of my agency has contact with the club here and they offered a higher salary if I start between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. That’s why. Some men suggested me to work in Milan as it is a wealthy city, but I don’t know any clubs there or even an agency that works with any clubs there.

Here I have free accommodation in the hotel above the club and €80 daily salary in the holiday season instead of the regular €60. I thought if I do some private dances, I’ll be fine. The first surprise that there is no private dance here. That my agency forgot to tell, they even mentioned the private dances when they sent me the club details. I feel a little bit cheated, so the other 3 dancers from the Chech Republic (they work with the same agency) The dear girl from the agency also forgot to tell us to bring normal cocktail dresses for work as the Russian girls dress up so. She told me to bring long dresses but a long stripper seethrough dress with a high cut on the side and lots of glitters is so different from an elegant pencil dress. The Russians would give me an evil eye if I wear that dress at work! Fortunately I have corsets and a pencil skirt just in case to go out, they perfectly do the job at work, but still, I show much more skin than the other girls. Not to mention that it’s so cold in the club! You think it’s just a big fuss about clothes. But like now I carry lots of unnecessary clothes in my luggage when I have to be careful with the weight limit, it doesn’t help to build up a good relationship with my colleagues when I’m more underdressed than most of them and I have to apologise and find excuses when the boss asks with a not so nice tone in his voice: “Where is your dress?”

The money is also not so good here. The customers pay my time. 20 minutes booking cost €20 for them and I got €3. (Not even the 20% drink commission as in other clubs.) It means I can make €9 per hour if I work 6 hours that 6x€9 plus the average €60 daily salary is €114 per night. But in that case, I work from opening until closing what never happens as I got booked by the customers’ choice. And I have to stay until 4 am, there is no way to leave the club at 3.55 if there is no customer. So maximum €114 a night. Do you still think strippers are super rich???

I still don’t know what is the business here for the Russian girls. They work here years, no dancing, only consummation, and as far as I know they only get the €60 fix salary, no commission. Yeah, the same thing crossed my mind too! I feel we dancers just the decoration, doing 1-2 showtime a night, and bring more customers because there are always new girls in the club as we don’t stay long in one place. Or even what is the business for the club? I just made a quick calculation that if I work all night, they got €60 from my customers in each hour, that’s €360 in 6 hours minus my salary and commission, I make €246 for the club. This is the maximum they can get after me a night. And they work with maximum 8-10 girls. No dances, no entrance fee, no bottles of champagne sold and the drinks for customers can’t be so expensive. This money in the night club business is peanuts. A club has such high expenses like licence, a stock of alcohol, music, staff etc. I wonder how they manage to keep open.

But I stay for 2 weeks only. And the club is very pretty, the staff is friendly and helpful, the accommodation is okay so I won’t complain more. And for sure on the summertime, it’s much better as the beach is only 100 meters from the hotel. Daytime you’re on the beach, at night you have a party, free accommodation and even you don’t make lots of money it can cover your flight tickets and all your expenses here, it could be a nice summer holiday.

For those who missed me.. :)

I didn’t post in the past 2 weeks and started to get complains about what’s going on with me. Good news: I’ve not vanished from the surface of the plane. Not yet. Bad news: my plans just don’t go in the way they should do. I have some troubles around the flat I live in, like searching for new flatmates and dealing with electricity companies. Before Christmas that was the last thing, I wanted to do. I just planned a nice, relaxing time until Christmas focus on more writing and study but it’s not going to happen. But no worries, I will sort everything out. I’m a clever girl.

I’m still in London. When I figured out that my circumstances have been changed, I wanted to find a job here. And I remember I promised to myself to try out some London clubs but it’s a very difficult period. It used to be so good with company bonuses and Christmas parties, so no girl wants to miss it. All the clubs are full, there is no vacancy. And don’t think it’s just that easy to walk into the club from the street and say “Hi, I want to work here.” No. I had 2 interviews. To both clubs, I applied with filling up an online application form. From Windmill on Denmark Street, they called me back. I arrived on time at the club in the afternoon, they hold auditions from 1pm-4pm. The manager asked me a few questions like on a normal job interview like why I think I would be good for their club and why did I quit from my previous job (meaning from other clubs). She was just rolling her eyes when I said I worked all over in Europe and sometimes overseas. Changing so many places and clubs was not so good point for her. And then she told me on Mondays they do the weekly rota for the dancers, if they need more girls, they will call me back for the second stage of the interview when they want to see my dancing skills. It’s held just before the opening hours and I have to be there with full makeup, hair done and I need to perform a topless stage show for a song. And after they would tell me if I fit in the frame or not. (I think so many of you would love to work for them doing the interviews and watching half naked girls dancing for free!) I’m still waiting for that phone call.. it means they are full, they have no capacity to hire more girls.

The other club was the Platinum Lace at Piccadilly. “Auditions are held every day at 7 pm sharp. You can arrive at 6.30pmto prepare, change and do make-up. Please bring suitable ID with you to prove that you are able to work in the UK legally. If successful we are offering a £25 per shift house for 2 weeks on the basis that you work 5 shifts…You will be required to do a two-song audition, the second song being topless wearing a LONG DRESS. You will be assessed on the following, hair & make-up, nails, general presentation, figure, personality and your stage show. It is important you have a good level of the English language, looks alone will not secure your work at Platinum Lace.” When I arrived, I hardly passed the security guy but he let me go in finally. The club was already open, I could hear the music at the entrance. The manager, a woman who didn’t seem friendly at all arrived and without asking my name or where I am from, she just told me “Honey, I’m not doing your interview.” I was surprised. WTF?

“I got the email this afternoon about the interview..”

“Yes, but I have enough girls.” and she just turned and left me there standing with my jaw dropped. Why the hell they send me an email about the interview if there is no interview? Great! I love wasting my time. Maybe I’m only a stripper but my time is also precious! I was pretty pissed off.

Now you can see why I don’t want to work in this city. Not only the girls are aggressive but the management doesn’t seem to be nicer either. So I went home and booked myself to work in Italy after Christmas for 2 weeks. They don’t have a house fee there and they even offer a higher daily salary if I start before New Year’s Eve. Perfect! And it’s warmer there than here.

And the other thing I’m trying out – because meanwhile, I have to pay my bills – is a webcam website. All new for me, but I don’t think it would be more difficult than dealing with guys in clubs. From my point is perfect. I work from my cosy room whenever I have time, definitely, a no touching service and I don’t need to drink alcohol. And before you start to think webcam modelling is about putting sex toys in my ear or whatever hole you can imagine on my body, I have to tell it’s mainly about chatting. With one of my first guys, we were talking about baking Christmas cookies. Hell yeah, something definitely dirty about Christmas cookies!

If you’re worried about me, the guy was absolutely nice and normal and no pervert alert at all! And I’m not going to be dirtier on that site then I do during my private dances. The naughtiest thing I do on the site playing strip poker! So far I feel comfortable with.. And now I just realised where are the customers from the clubs who used to spend good money on girls. Plus because of the blog, I’m getting so many messages, more than I felt I can handle. I started to spend hours in front of my laptop answering emails, writing messages and chatting. So at least allow me to make some money out of this, please! Don’t forget I’m a hungry Hungarian, I have to support myself with food!

If you fancy a chat with me there, you can follow the link below:

http://www.camcontacts.com/register.html?Ref=1407678 and you just need to enter my username xLindsayxx when you register to the field “how did you hear about us?”

Have a good weekend all!

Dealing with rejection

In our job, every stripper knows (indeed every sales person knows) that NO doesn’t mean to reject you, only the product or the service you offer. But in practice it’s difficult to deal with. 1 NO is okay, 2 NO is okay, 3-4 and you start to feel down, 5-6 or more and you end up sitting in the corner questioning yourself “What’s wrong with me?” or worst, crying in the toilette or in the changing room. Here in Paris, I’ve seen it a lot. Beautiful girls wondering “What’s wrong tonight? Nobody wants me..” I don’t want to repeat myself but French customers (or even foreigners) here can give a really hard time for the girls being ridiculously rude and ignorant.

It happened last night that I found one of the prettiest girl, who has a 100 carats smile on stage when she’s dancing, in a changing room crying. Because she felt useless in the club. Because she didn’t make money. (But it never about only the money.) I just went to her and gave her a hug. We are all far from our family, from our friends, the customers are assholes, the girls are bitches, all we need sometimes some emotional support that we are not alone. Fuck all the practical advice that “you have to leave your emotions at the front door when you come to work, you have to be like a robot etc.” We all know that. (Although I don’t want to be a robot, I would rather cry in the changing room but still happy that I have feelings.) She didn’t need to hear that again and again, her brain already knows that. She just needed a hug. (I hope, dear men you listen very well!!!) I hugged her. Because I know the feeling, I have been in the same situation not only once and I got a hug from another girl. I would just encourage the other dancers if they see a colleague crying, give her a few encouraging words and a big hug (and some tissues) It can make a huge difference! This girl after was smiling again and she could make her money. And she was telling me “Oh you are so nice!” Not because I’m nice. Because I do CARE!

This job is purely about luck. Sometimes I feel good, I feel sexy, smiling and still can’t make money. That’s it. It’s not my day. I had Friday nights in a full club where everyone made money, I was sitting on the sofa all night. Every single guy I tried to talk to, said NO to me. Some days like that. A few idiots came to me saying “you are the hottest girl in the room, why are you sitting here alone?”Because I want to be alone right now, when everyone else is drunk and I’m the only sober person in the whole club, you want me to entertain you? Why didn’t come to me at the beginning of the night when I was in the mood for drinking??? Now I need lots of alcohol in a short time to get to your level and we’re closing soon, so no, thank you. I’d rather sit here alone and watch how you guys get wasted and hilariously stupid. I swear, it’s better than a cinema!

It’s strange but I also noticed that in a few days before and during my period I don’t work well. I don’t know why. One idiot gave me the most logical answer: “maybe your pussy smells!” Hahaha. I thought I’d just gonna slap him. In the XXI. century with all those intim hygienical tissues, creams and shower gels it’s not a case. It’s more likely to be linked to my emotional level and my body gives out the signals. At this time I can’t take any rejection seriously. I’m prepared for that.

Another day I’m just lucky. It happened before that 2 am everyone was drunk and having fun and I didn’t make a penny. I already gave up on that night. I was sitting at the edge of the bar waiting to go home. Suddenly a guy arrived and he came straight to me. “Hello, I’m Pierre. Would you like some champagne?” Oh yes, please! Bring it to me! Without asking me he ordered an expensive bottle. He was absolutely nice, easy-going, chilled out guy and we had a great time. I had maybe 4 dances with him. Then he saw a girl that he knew for before so I invited that girl to our table. We had 1 or 2 more bottles of champagne and we ended up having 18 dances each! That was a good night for me although it didn’t seem to happen at the beginning.

And I have a book recommendation at the end: FUCK IT: The Ultimate Spiritual Way by John. C. Parkin. It’s a very good book about how to deal with situations in our life simply just say fuck it to the problems and let them go. It’s a must-read!

I’m a stripper and you can ask anything you want to know..

Let’s play this game. You can ask me anything – seriously anything – about my work, I will give you an honest answer.

I got emails often and the most popular question is how I became a stripper. I used to get male attention since I started modelling at the age of 16. That time I had lots of fight with my dad – no real fights, no verbal or physical abuse, more of a cold war. He didn’t show interest in me, so I was seeking this attention somewhere else. Yes, in my case the psychological cliché as every stripper has daddy issues is true. But during my work years, I’ve seen the proof of the opposite too.

After portrait modelling, I started to do nude modelling. I was always proud of my body and I had trust in the photographers I worked with. I worked in Austria and Italy a lot so I got a bit of a chance to travel. But this time we only speak about artistic nude photography. Like a naked girl, painted in gold standing in the middle of a lake as a statue. Austrian photographers love bodypainting and they are quite creative. I really enjoyed those workshops. But of course, I met different photographers with different offers. I was relatively young and naïve, and the amount of money was very tempting. So slowly I got involved in the adult industry. But this I didn’t enjoy that much. I enjoyed spending the money I made (when I studied on the university, I’m sure in some months I got bigger salary than my teachers.) or I was happy when I could support my mum with a bigger amount but it came with shame.

The opportunity for dancing came on casting when I was talking with other girls and both were a dancer. I was curious so I asked the contact number of the guy that I can apply to. Very soon I went to Italy and after I was with him at the Austrian embassy signing a 3 months contract and waiting for my visa. The beginning was hard. I still remember the song when I first danced on stage. The other girls gave me enough alcohol not to remember what I was doing (thank God!) but I still remember the song was Get busy by Sean Paul.

When I finished the contract, I had 2 choices: I carry on dancing and I make more money, but then I lose the energy I already invested in my studies. That was after my 2nd year at the university, I was halfway to get my diploma and I’m not the kind of person who gives up easily. I decided to go back and finish my studies. I told myself “If I miss the spotlights, I still can work as a dancer afterwards.” But when I got my diploma, I forgot all about the stage, private dances, selling champagne and extra high stripper shoes. I wanted to have an average life. But that was a difficult time in my country, after a few failures in finding a good job I decided to move to England for 1-2 years. In Hungary, I was already thinking about trying out myself abroad when I was sitting in a job interview and listen to the guy offering me a job in another city, that meant minimum 2,5 hours travel every day, over time, limited access to grow for the minimum salary. That was all that my country could offer me. No, thank you. I quit. I went home from the interview and I bought a one-way ticket to England.

The first year I had a normal job as a nanny. Then I moved to London from the countryside and I found all those dodgy opportunities working at night. I started to work at a hostess club on Little Portland Street to improve my English. I was about talking and selling champagne but no dancing. It was great fun, good money, I didn’t look for other options. Then I changed the club and started to work at the Directors Lodge at St. James. That was the longest time I spent in one club, I worked there for almost 2 years. But still no dancing. Then I had a chance to change working in a restaurant where I was quite disappointed and not long after I was heading to Greece. (you can read more about in the Beginning 2. post)

Long story short, this is my life. This is what made me who I am today. Now I’m not ashamed anymore, I take full responsibility for all my decisions, without regrets. And today I’m brave enough to tell you that you can ask me ANYTHING, I will give you an honest answer.

When money talks

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!