The waitresses who were an integral part of most strip club operations were the negotiators. They were responsible for all the financial transactions made at the clubs. When a customer came into a strip club, there were several things he could choose to do. First of all, very few strip clubs were allowed to sell alcohol if they advertised nude entertainment. Therefore, the customer’s choice of beverages was limited to coke, seven-up, and non-alcoholic beer, otherwise known as “near beer.” Some customers simply chose to sip on a coke and watch the show while others elected to spend time with the dancers. The only way that the men were allowed to mingle with the women who worked at the club was if they bought the dancer a cocktail or spent a considerable amount of money to go into a secluded area with her. If the customer consented to buy a dancer a cocktail, which was ten dollars and consisted of nothing more than a small glass of stagnant water with a little red plastic stick in it. The dancer would receive two dollars. The waitresses’ cut of the commission on dancer’s cocktails was one dollar.
The remaining seven dollars went to the house. The purpose of soliciting these ten-dollar glasses of water was to give the dancers the opportunity to initiate conversations with the men. These conversations were to entice the customers to spend large amounts of money. After the dancers had spent several minutes talking to a customer, the waitress would suggest that he spend $288 in exchange for some time with the dancer. After the customer paid, the waitress would escort both the man and his date to the dark secluded area in the back. If the waitress was feeling especially benevolent, the customer would be given a free coke. This was usually someone else’s watered down drink that she had pulled off a dirty table. These secluded areas consisted of nothing more than a small group of tables and chairs located in a dark corner of the room. Most customers were disappointed when they learned that there were no bedrooms available.
Once the dancer and her customer had been delivered to the back area, the waitress would ask the man for a tip. Most of the time, the waitresses were tipped generously. It wasn’t uncommon for the waitresses to receive tips that far exceeded the twenty percent that the dancer made. After the waitress collected her tip, the dancer was left alone with the customer for approximately ten minutes. The dancers were forbidden to accept tips from the customers, but a majority solicited them anyhow. Some of the more experienced strippers were capable of talking the men out of unbelievably large amounts of money. Others stuck to the rule for fear of losing their jobs.
After the initial ten minutes was up, the waitress would return and attempt to make the customer spend another $288 so that he could continue his time with her. To make a long story short, the waitresses continued to interrupt the party every ten minutes in the hopes of extracting more money.
This was how most of the strip clubs operated. The concept was always the same.
The only thing that changed was the amount of money that each club charged the customers to spend time with the dancers, and the type of action that the men did or didn’t receive from the strippers.
I knew quite a few dancers who worked in clubs that blatantly advertised prostitution. There were actual backrooms in these types of places. They were nothing fancy. Most of the rooms weren’t much more than a closet with a dirty old mat-tress thrown on the floor. The waitresses who worked at these types of clubs still interrupted the party every ten minutes to collect more money from the customers. It wasn’t uncommon for a waitress to walk in on a dancer that was in the middle of having intercourse with a man. If the customer wasn’t willing to spend any more money on the woman, the sex act came to an immediate halt and the dancer would simply get up, grab her clothes, and leave.
I worked at Ruby’s for approximately two years. In the two years that I worked, I could count on one hand how many times I actually went into the secluded area with a customer. The few times that I actually did go, turned out to be a total nightmare. Once the waitress collects the money from him, you were on your own until she returned. Many of the men were rough and very grabby. They were either trying to put their hands down your bra or try to go up underneath your skirt. It didn’t take me very long to figure out that these men expected some kind of action. Most of the men who had paid to take me to the secluded area weren’t very happy with me, because I wouldn’t give them any sex.
My apathetic attitude toward prosperity irritated the manager. He just couldn’t understand why somebody as attractive as me couldn’t produce more money.
Casey felt that I had a bad attitude towards the customers and the entire business in general. He was right, I did. I simply couldn’t condone white slavery, drugs, prostitution, and violence. Needless to say, my boss and I were at an impasse. I knew that I wasn’t a “financial asset,” but I didn’t care. I was a “visual asset,” end of story. I looked good on the stage and that was it. Casey tried every trick in the book to get me to conform to his way-out thinking. He attempted to turn me into a drug-addicted prostitute that he could abuse and control. However, his attempts to coerce me into his sordid world were to no avail. As time passed, Casey became more and more hostile towards me. “You don’t belong in this fucking business,” he screamed, “I’m going to do everything in my power to run you out of it.” Casey didn’t intimidate me like he did most of the women who worked for him. I just ignored his threats.
The owner of the Ruby Garter club was a very wealthy man who had owned other strip clubs in the past. I heard rumors that he was mob connected. I, like the other dancers that were employed at his club, never really knew whether these allegations were true. The affluent older man took a liking to me because I was one of the few dancers that he didn’t have to worry about. He appreciated the fact that I wasn’t a drug addict or a prostitute, and for this reason, I knew that my job was secure.
For the last year and a half, I had been sharing a motel suite with a dancer that I had befriended shortly after I began at the club. My roommate had just recently decided to transfer to the Ruby Garter’s sister club after the FBI questioned her about the murder of a co-worker’s husband. The Ruby Garter South was owned and operated by the same individuals that owned the Ruby Garter and was located forty-five minutes south of where I was currently working. My friend told me that she had rented a small studio apartment in an old house directly behind the club. This house belonged to one of the owner’s business associates, and was primarily occupied by the dancers employed at the South location.
About two weeks after my roommate moved, I asked the owner for a transfer to the other club, because I could no longer tolerate working for Casey. I had to get away from the man. On the night that I had decided to request the transfer, the owner didn’t show up at the club until 2:30 a.m. He had business to attend to, so I wasn’t able to speak with him until close to 3:30 a.m. When I finally spoke with him, I explained the situation between Casey and me and spared him no details.
By the time I was finished, he was absolutely furious with Casey and had agreed to the transfer. I thanked him profusely and left his office.
Around closing time, the dressing room was packed with naked women trying to get dressed so that they could go home. Because it was so crowded, I decided to wait until the dressing room cleared out before I went back in. Most of the dancers had gone home, and only a small handful of them remained in the dressing room. There were a couple of dancers sitting on the concrete steps outside waiting for their rides to pick them up.