Scarlett O’haras runs completely different than any club I have ever worked. Unlike metropolitan clubs that have a no schedule come-and-go as you want policy, these small upper midwest clubs operate on a booking schedule. If you aren’t booked, often with base pay, then you aren’t working.
When my flight got in Sunday evening, a member of the clubs security staff met me at baggage claim. He was one of those people you always see at an airport: holding up a sign with my name on it because we’ve never met. Both of my bags showed up, remember last year when Southwest lost my bag of civilian clothes? On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the club to see if I could work that night. I knew it would be relatively busy since it was the night before a holiday.
“Oh no, we’re full. We scheduled NINE girls for tonight,” the manager told me. I glanced around the room that was three times the size of Babes Cabaret. The club could easily run 20-30 girls if it was full and everyone would still make money. However, as I chatted with some of the house girls, began to understand why there aren’t more than 9-14 girls booked per shift: they receive a base pay from the club. Thus the more girls on shift, the more it will cost the club owner! As a traveling entertainer, I did not get a base pay, but the club paid for my transportation and my hotel.
Sioux Falls feels very safe to me. People leave their car doors unlocked, and the night clerk at the hotel calls us if we aren’t back to the hotel 30 minutes after last call.
So, of course, the question is begged: Why?
I mean, why does he limit the girls and pay a base rate? Some potential answers jump to mind:
1) He wouldn’t get any girls otherwise, because the pool of available dancers in SD is limited.
2) There is a law requiring that he do so.
3) He believes that his business will be more successful with this model.
That leads the train of thought to the next station…Can he make money this way? If so, how/why? Or is it not safe to assume that the more common, independent contractor model does not exist because it is necessary for a functional business model but rather to maximize the profits of the greedy club owners at the expense of the working girls.
As someone who is fascinated by strip clubs and how they operate, this blog gave me just enough info to die of curiosity but not enough to understand what is going on in SD.
Please help!
-gen
GenWar-
I wonder how much the base pay really is…I haven’t gotten a straight answer. I get the feeling it isn’t much, like $25-$50 shift.
Since the club takes $5 from every $20 dance, an entertainer would have to sell 5-10 dances for the club to break even on shift pay.
This will take more investigation…..
I know of clubs in Alaska that pay you a weekly pay of 10 dollars per hour it really varies from state to state on rules and regulations. I do like how the website lists guidelines for patrons and entertainers. Seems that they really enforce manners on both ends. I hope you like Sioux Falls, my best friend lives there. I would ask/investigate more into what each club requires and legally I can look up some information for you. Go knock em’ dead hun!
It doesn’t require anything other than to show up when you are booked! No license, no background check. Go through Nikita Kash at http://www.travelingentertainers.com
I’ve worked several of those small town upper midwest booking clubs. If they overfilled the club with girls the way the big city clubs do, many of the girls would in fact NOT make much money, and they would not come back. The clubs in those areas don’t have an endless supply of girls wanting to work there like in the cities – they have to give the girls incentive to show up. That incentive includes a base pay which guarantees the girls will recoup all or most of their travel expense, plus caps on the number of dancers which ensures everyone has a chance to make a decent profit.
The reason they cap the number of girls is definitely not because they pay the girls. The dance cuts more than make up for any base pay in my experience. Those club owners are still profiting off the girls’ efforts, just like in big cities; it’s just done differently.
Example: At the club I book most often, I’m paid $500 for the week. Considering they take $5 of each dance I sell, they’re counting on me to sell more than 100 dances per week ($500 base divided by $5 dance cut). On a 6 night booking, that would be just under 17 dances per night average. I average over 20 dances per night at this club. According to my numbers, my overall average there is about 23/night. 6 more than they’d need to cover my base – 6 x 5 = $30 a night. Basically, they’re getting a $30 house fee from me per night.
This club also knows that girls like me who return and build a clientele at the club bring in customers who buy more drinks. We develop a sort of following of customers who always come to see us when we’re in town.
I would NEVER have traveled to this particular club if they didn’t offer a base pay. Most girls wouldn’t. This club would have no business without traveling girls, because there literally aren’t enough locals willing to dance regularly, and because the customer base would get bored of the same girls all the time. They NEED us, so they “pay” us.
Stripperchic,
what club are you talking about?