I'm going to become a stripper….

Question:

blah……

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It’s good money. If I lost some weight and practiced my dance. I could make $200 for a 20 min strip, and the full strip is only in the last song. At the moment I have to live off NZ$150 per week (before rent and expenses) so that would be a great job. Amy

Response:

might sound good immediately,but i dont think that it would be a good idea at all.

Response:

Thanks for your advice everyone. Emily, I’d never use hard drugs, I made a promise to myself. The only thing I wouldn’t mind trying once is pot, but I wouldn’t ever want to be addicted to that either. I tend to be an obsessive person, so I try not to expose myself to anything I think I could get addicted to. Amy

There are other ways to make money. Not as good as stripping, at least not unless you have an MBA from Wharton. But if you can find something to do that other people hate doing or don’t have time to do, like: housecleaning, lawn care, plant care in business offices, office cleaning, painting, car repair, child care, handyman stuff, pet care, anything really. You can make some decent money – not get rich, but you can start to pay bills, and you can have more time flexibility as well. Of course, if your set on this, well, I can’t blame you. Just hope you realize that there are more options out there than you may realize or have the faith in yourself to pursue.

Response:

Yeah, for the short time it’s good money, but it ends up causing problems in the long term. I DJ at a strip club and I have to say in general we in this particular profession are among the world’s worst for emotional misfits. Some of the ladies I work with bank, but end up blowing it pretty quick, they get caught up in the lifestyle. The worst part is that certain something you lose when seeing some of the worst characteristics of humankind on a daily basis. You end becoming a tad hardened, jaded, I’ve seen people completely change (For the worst in my opinion). I’ve also attended dancer’s funerals. Keep giving regular life the benefit of the doubt.

It’s a sad, pathetic lifestyle on both ends. It’s the commodification of human feelings at it’s worst. I can’t blame women for wanting to do it given the incredible amounts of money they make, though. It just takes away from your humanity if you ask me. Even if you keep your head on your shoulders and bank your money, your making money off of other guys’ loneliness and misery. I can see some scenarios where it’s relatively harmless. But alot of the guys in these joints, the ones dropping bills into the girls’ pants, they are just pathetic, IMO. It’s sad.

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Amy, I was thinking about stripping when I get back to college, too. My friend stripped and made four bills a night…of course, she was spending almost all of it on cocaine… -Emily

Response:

Luv-N-Eazycheeze, Jynxx "What’s more frightening, hearing the voices, or the dead silence when they leave you utterly alone?"-Midnite

Response:

It’s good money. If I lost some weight and practiced my dance. I could make $200 for a 20 min strip, and the full strip is only in the last song. At the moment I have to live off NZ$150 per week (before rent and expenses) so that would be a great job. Amy

Response:

I have been away for awhile. Hmmmmmmmmm I got a few things to say about this. Okay I was a telemarketer. See there are things in society that are looked at in a worse light than stripping! Stripping would have been a step up for me. Did you see the movie Boiler Room? I’m telling you it wasn’t a movie, it was a documentery. That movie was dead on. I didn’t sell stocks, I set up appointments for windows. My life was a mix between Glen Gary/Glenn Ross and Boiler Room. Someone said something about being around the worst in humanity and it changing you. Well my job was perfectly on the up and up. Nothing illegal about it (there is that difference from the movie) but that didn’t change how people felt about me. I paid my bills, paid taxes did all the things that you did. And yet there are people in there society that felt that if they could figure out a way to get me fired that I would owe them a debt of thanks. And they treated me like that. The job that I had was huge rejection. Not just rejection but I took abuse from the public daily, hourly. I did that for 5 years. It changed me. I have a friend that said that he took it out on his family and friends, he became a little bit hostile (not like abusive, more like snappy). I became hostile towards the public. I would walk around and see people, strangers and think to myself (is that the asshole that blew the whistle in the phone? Maybe that was the guy that stood my rep up? I wonder if that lady is the SOB that told her husband she never set an appointment, and then called my boss? Liars, all of them…) And I would take it out on them. Get my burger wrong at a McDonalds? People made up lies and went to my boss all the time, I didn’t see a difference. And the thing is, it was slow. It wasn’t immediate and dramatic, it was a slow change. As a result I didn’t see it since I left the job. Well at the time I thought that me, 1 year of college, could not earn decent money any other way. I left for a FedEX desk position at a local company. I took the position because the department that ran it was Computer Operations. I had my foot in the door. I did my job well. Real well. But I also shoved my nose into Computer Ops. I worked overtime, I learned new things. Then one day a position opened up as a Peripheal Operator. I applied for it and fought hard for it. I got it. Once I had that position I did the same thing, but focused on a Computer Operator position. Now I do that. And now here is the coolest thing. Back when I was telemarketing maybe once every 3 months I would just end up with these huge fucking checks. I would walk around with a smile, buy a new toy and proclaim that I couldn’t earn this money in a factory. Now I make those checks every week. And bonus has nothing to do with it. I am not trying to talk you out of dancing, on the contrary. It is comparable to what I did. Hell I am seriously thinking about doing a few hours a week there. I miss the atmosphere (contradictory huh? There were good points, very good ones, I just didn’t talk about them) and I miss the people. So by all means I support your decision. But I want to reinforce that it is possible for something like this to change you. Very possible. I want to warn you of that. And I want to say that you need to open up your eyes. Opportunitys are made my friend. If this isn’t what you really want to do, then make it happen. I really wanted to work with computers. Took me a while. But I made it happen. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – . I’d hate to see someone get dragged into a bad environment and I think the evil lure of money is what does it. I’m not greedy, I’d just like to be able to pay the bills and this is the only sits vacant going around here for someone with no skills. Money’s not so evil if it means you can afford to eat. There are other ways to make money. Not as good as stripping, at least not unless you have an MBA from Wharton. But if you can find something to do There simply aren’t many jobs going around here of the kind you mention. Everybody wants a qualification or experience, and I have neither. Those few jobs that don’t require skills are generally taken by someone who knows the employer in some kind of way, i.e. it’s not what you know it’s who you know. Unfortunately I have parents who are poor and whose friends are also in a low socio-economic group, and have been out of the workforce for some time. Where my inlaws work, they’re laying people off. So I’m fairly isolated. I just want to be able to have somewhere to live and something to eat, I don’t want my cats to starve, and maybe, just maybe, I can afford to eat good food occasionally and buy much needed clothes. What I want is fairly simple, yet so unreachable… Amy

Response:

If you do, watch your back. I credit my existence to a stripper, going to see her was all I had to live for for a while. She talked to me when no one else would. We went to dinner, and movies once, nothing more. And I think she saved my life, be that good or bad. As far as I know, she never got into drugs, and she used her earnings to pay for nurses school. It can be done, but many fail. Charles someone strange lives at my house

Response:

My Father is a DBA. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – <snipped fascinating story about The Other Side I left for a FedEX desk position at a local company. I took the position because the department that ran it was Computer Operations. I had my foot in the door. I did my job well. Real well. But I also shoved my nose into Computer Ops. I worked overtime, I learned new things. Then one day a position opened up as a Peripheal Operator. I applied for it and fought hard for it. I got it. Once I had that position I did the same thing, but focused on a Computer Operator position. Now I do that. And now here is the coolest thing. Back when I was telemarketing maybe once every 3 months I would just end up with these huge fucking checks. I would walk around with a smile, buy a new toy and proclaim that I couldn’t earn this money in a factory. Now I make those checks every week. And bonus has nothing to do with it. excellently told! That’s exactly how I worked my way up into Database Administrator. (which I hated and did poorly in, and got fired from, and **happily** stepped back down to programmer/analyst) I took a job as a corporate library clerk, then started bugging the computer dept manager (who I KNEW was a total asshole sociopathic liar), outlasted him and got moved up into operator, then sys admin (ancient WANG computer system NOT a Unix system), then junior programmer, then on up to database admin. Took me 13 years to get to the top point. Although, getting fired was good, cuz I went on to a much easier job with a 12% increase in pay and a 30% reduction in cost of living (You can stay too long in some jobs).

Response:

I wasn’t going to bring this angle up before, but you’re getting engaged, right? What does your fiance think about it?

I’ve talked it over with him and he’s obviously not over the moon. I would never sleep with another man for money (or another man at all for that matter) and he knows this. I just need a back-up plan in case I’ll not get any money nor be able to find a job in the long break, and most days I think about suicide because of that. Damien says if it means we can keep the house we rent and puts my mind at ease, it’s ok with him. I think women’s bodies these days are public property anyway (something that really pisses me off) and maybe stripping could actually be a way of regaining some of that control, ie ‘this is _my_ body, and I’ll let you see me naked but here’s my price’ rather than constant exploitation for no gain. (BTW, I wonder if sexworkers charge their gynaecologists?) 2. Asses your body realistically. Are you pretty or beautiful or just kind of cute or what?

I think I’m attractive, at least that’s what people say. Sometimes I think I’m goddamn ugly. I need to lose a bit of weight though. The woman at the massage parlour didn’t say anything, does that mean she didn’t think I was overly fat? Working in the sex industry can be demeaning, but it can also be empowering. It can make you jaded, but it can also make you aware of

harsh realities without becoming jaded. It’s all in how you take it. Yeah, I thought of that. It depends what kind of person you are at the time. On one hand I’m thinking, ‘gross, a whole lot of old unshaven men looking at my naked body’, but the bad girl/extrovert in me is saying that this would all be a lot of fun. I think to survive you have to maintain your sense of humour . Thanks for the good advice AK, it gave me a lot to think about. Amy

Response:

I’m not greedy, I’d just like to be able to pay the bills and this is the only sits vacant going around here for someone with no skills. Money’s not so evil if it means you can afford to eat.

You are correct. Money is quite important when you are struggling for the basics. There simply aren’t many jobs going around here of the kind you mention. Everybody wants a qualification or experience, and I have neither. Those few jobs that don’t require skills are generally taken by someone who knows the employer in some kind of way, i.e. it’s not what you know it’s who you know. Unfortunately I have parents who are poor and whose friends are also in a low socio-economic group, and have been out of the workforce for some time. Where my inlaws work, they’re laying people off. So I’m fairly isolated. I just want to be able to have somewhere to live and something to eat, I don’t want my cats to starve, and maybe, just maybe, I can afford to eat good food occasionally and buy much needed clothes. What I want is fairly simple, yet so unreachable… Amy

I wasn’t talking about finding a jobs, I was talking about creating your own work. You know, like painting houses or mowing lawns, or whatever. I don’t know much about the NZ economy. The CIA website says you have 7% unemployment, not great but it could be worse. It also says you had 3% growth in ‘99, which is pretty healthy. There is always work out there for people willing to hustle. If you are reliable, and make life easier for someone else, you will find work. When I started my cleaning business, I only had a few accounts at first. You could clean houses. Find a rich part of town and start putting up flyers. Once you get one customer, work hard to make them happy then use them as a reference to get more. If you are reliable and do decent work, you will start to able to name your price. You should be able to make 2-3x minimum wage, and if it’s cash, you can hide some of your earnings from Wellington. Just some thoughts. If you want to do the stripping thing, go for it. I can’t blame you. I just hate to see someone close their eyes to opportunities that truly are out there.

Response:

. I’d hate to see someone get dragged into a bad environment and I think

the evil lure of money is what does it. I’m not greedy, I’d just like to be able to pay the bills and this is the only sits vacant going around here for someone with no skills. Money’s not so evil if it means you can afford to eat. There are other ways to make money. Not as good as stripping, at least

not unless you have an MBA from Wharton. But if you can find something to do There simply aren’t many jobs going around here of the kind you mention. Everybody wants a qualification or experience, and I have neither. Those few jobs that don’t require skills are generally taken by someone who knows the employer in some kind of way, i.e. it’s not what you know it’s who you know. Unfortunately I have parents who are poor and whose friends are also in a low socio-economic group, and have been out of the workforce for some time. Where my inlaws work, they’re laying people off. So I’m fairly isolated. I just want to be able to have somewhere to live and something to eat, I don’t want my cats to starve, and maybe, just maybe, I can afford to eat good food occasionally and buy much needed clothes. What I want is fairly simple, yet so unreachable… Amy

Response:

Hmmmm…… This one is harder to respond to than ya might think. Many women close to me, including family members, have worked as strippers, dancers, or sex-show performers. I’ve read the other posts up to this point, but I’m not going to debate a lot of the misconceptions (and a few outright falsehoods); instead, I’ll try to stay ‘practical’. First of all, what kind of club(s) are you thinking of working at? In San Diego the strip bars (actually topless) were decent places to hang out: You coould play pool or pinball, sit at the bar and drink, ogle the dancers, or talk with friends at a table. San Francisco — where masturbaton is a major contibuor into the local economy — it’s all full nudity, private booths, NO BOOZE, and high prices at the door. Guess which one is the healthier work environment? The one that DOES have alcohol. The dancers are a big factor in the bar’s popularity, but the atmosphere is much more low-pressure. In an ‘all-sex’ club, you will witness men at their worst…. Desperately lonely and desperately horny. It is a repulsive spectacle even for me, and I used to work in an adult book store. (You don’t wanna know….) In order to work either job and maintain a stable, addiction-free life, you need to honestly answer YES to the followng questions: – Do I have a strong exhibitionistic streak? – Am I wllling to accept the idea that it is just a job, even if it means being isolated from the other dancers? – Can I maintain a positive view of humanity, despite watching both dancers and patrons degrade themselves on a daily basis? – Will I feel the need to ’steel my nerves’ in order to get on stage, via a drink, line, bowl, etc.? – Can I trust myself with large amounts of cash? (The bulk of your income is in the form of tips.) If there’s even one NO in there, don’t start dancing. I reccommend delivering pizza for extra money instead. BTW: I have never known anyone to develop a drug habit from dancing. I’ve known plenty of women who were dancing to support a habit, though. Nuffsaid. OddManOut CLICK BELOW TO ACCESS ALL PAGES: http://community.webtv.net/daoddone/THESMOKINGCORPSEOFA

Response:

Filed under: Loneliness

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Lonely Loneliness

You are not alone — Lonely Loneliness