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Stripped

Tales of the naked city, from a Las Vegas dancer.


June 5, 2008 · 4:13 PM

No Cirque, but Soleil gives solid advice on overcharging

By Justice

Illustration: Justice

"There is no such thing as overcharging," my friend at work tells me. You should always charge as much as you think a customer can afford.

I had been in this thought-provoking situation the night before. We always recap the previous night's events and tell each other about our lucky financial wins and weird stories. Or we just gossip. Or bitch.

I digress.

There is no such thing as overcharging. I know other girls agree. Many of them agree and live by this belief. In fact, I believe a girl told me this the very first day I ever worked at the now-defunct Sin club. She went by the stage name Soleil, and she wore black panties that said "hustler" in white print on the butt. She also had a bit of a moustache that was only visible in the locker room. The word "hustler" would shake with the panties that she wore onstage. It would shake in time with her tanned cellulite. She also had about two inches of black roots to her bleach-blond hair. As much as it may seem like I have a low opinion of her, I believe she was unbelievably sexy. Soleil had a five o'clock shadow and she was a sexy blonde hustler. She said "You make 'em think you wanna f*** the s*** outta them. You tell them you want to go to their hotel room. If you don't, while you're telling them you don't want to do that, the next girl comes by and takes $900 out of them and you have nothing."

Soleil also said things like, "It's a white girl's world," "You need a tan, white girl," and, "Don't drink beer. Its not sexy." I also remember that Soleil was going to Miami, and that she had Louis Vuitton luggage that a customer bought for her. "Girl, I can't afford this s***. A customer got me this. It's real. Look at the inside, girl." I was accompanied by another rookie stripper-by-night/waitress-by-day. My equally inexperienced friend and I looked inside the suitcase, wide-eyed and impressed by the authenticity of the item. Those things were outside our minimum-wage waitress world. I wonder how much good advice Soleil had in her. Again, I digress.

There is the mentality that either you take the money or the next girl will. It's the truth. She will. If there is cash in his pocket or in his account that he is willing (or in some cases, unwilling but able) to spend, it's your goal to get the biggest piece of the pie.

Anyway, a personal incidence, which I had disclosed to my gossip-loving friend, of such belief was when I was too drunk to pay attention to the number of dances I had been dancing and just pulled a random figure out of my head when it was time to pay the bill. We, I believe, had been through about 200 and some dollars’ worth of songs and I just said, "Alright baby, we're at four hundred bucks and any tip you want to give me." He said, "I disagree but whatever." He took out his stack of hundreds and paid it.

Am I ripping him off? Many of my work friends would say no. He came to Las Vegas for an experience like the one I gave him. If he didn't have the money, he wouldn't be spending it.

7 Comments So Far

What kind of human being charges another to dance?

Posted by: pSyCho_jOe on 6/5/08 at 11:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

A horny and/or lonely one.

Posted by: Jennifer Grafiada on 6/6/08 at 12:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

As in the customer is horny and/or lonely. The dancer is cash poor. I, for one, have been all three of these adjectives at various times and to various degrees, so I kind of understand where they are both coming from.

Posted by: Jennifer Grafiada on 6/6/08 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Its certainly not a form of entertainment that is right for everyone. Maybe try sport fishing?

Posted by: Justice_4_all on 6/6/08 at 7:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

To psycho Joe: I presume by "What kind of human being charges another to dance?" you were speaking of the strippers. To which I'd reply, what kind of human being charges another for advice? Or to lend an ear to hear their problems? Or for bottled water? People who need money, that's who. Everything is currency and can be traded for it.

Posted by: Morgan on 8/11/08 at 5:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)

And to Justice... Soleil gave good advice, in my opinion. Not that I know anything about stripping. My name is Morgan by the way, and I'm finding your blog very interesting. You seem like a really intelligent girl. Keep it up, and don't let narrow-minded people get you down.

Posted by: Morgan on 8/11/08 at 5:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Morgan,

Thanks for the support! I'm glad you found this blog. Welcome!

Posted by: Justice_4_all on 8/11/08 at 11:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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