or have any idea how hard it is, or what it actually entails.

It takes a combination of unique skills.

A lot of people who are looking from an outside perspective don’t fully understand the physical labor and the emotional mettle required.

I sometimes wonder if the customers have any empathy for us... Like, how would they feel, if it was them up there, doing gravity-defying stunts on the pole, exposing their intimate body parts for strangers, wearing ridiculous shoes and skimpy costumes, only to have a crumpled-up dollar thrown at them??

I get that twerking doesn’t necessarily seem like a lot of effort or skill… Okay, I get that. But pole dancing and pole tricks is definitely a skill, and selling your entertainment services and dealing with the constant rejection, night after night? It’s not always easy.

It probably appears to the typical unaware person, what is so special about a bunch of women in a room shaking ass? But it is actually so much more than that.

To be able to seduce someone, and then proceed to finesse that person, I mean really working a customer — is a gift. Not everyone has it. (Sometimes, if you’re really good, the customer doesn’t even realize they’re being hustled/finessed… They fall for the “magic,” or the “fantasy,” you know?)

And no matter how tired you are, or in pain, or what you have going on in your personal life, or what you have going on mentally — you still have to look cute, flirt, smile, dance good, upsell, promote, conversate, provide the girlfriend experience… and everything else we are required to do, in a shift. Dance. Talk. Sell. Perform. Provide experiences.

I wish people understood our job more. It’s apparent to me that a lot of people don’t get it, and for this reason, a lot of folks don’t understand why they should have to compensate us…

It’s frustrating!

I don’t know. This could have been articulated better.

I just got home from work, so.

This is an emotional dump, I guess.