The Las Vegas Courtesan

So I opened up the Las Vegas Sun website last week and saw this article plastered to the front page. Just by the mug shot blaring me in the face I knew it was prostitution/vice related, but when I read the headline a little part inside of me rejoiced! I was glad to see that the county had finally grown tired and caught on to these massage clubs scamming tourists out of money all at the expense of the trust of the local cabbies (which is why Nevada Taxicab Authority got involved). Here’s a previous blog post I wrote about it warning any readers about the huge scam.

At first I was glad about the raids, but then I started thinking about the effects this would have on other legitimate businesses in the industry as well. Over the years the scams the cabbies have pulled on these tourists have echoed throughout people’s thoughts on Vegas. More and more I hear of disappointed tourists and have had more verbally aggressive clients because they never want that same event to happen to them again. All in all it makes people have a soured mood about this town like we are all out to scam people out of whatever money they have. They already feel taken by the blackjack tables and now they can’t even have a good time with a girl without feeling like someone is out to get them. I always try to prove clients wrong that those clubs are different than us, but it’s hard to overcome. I know a lot of phone girls who have to sway the client’s opinion and explain that having a stripper come to their room is a totally different experience.

What I am really afraid of is how the local law enforcement will get the idea that ALL of us are bad. Like the agencies who sell strippers to client’s rooms legally, but the client ends up assuming something completely different because he didn’t listen and thought that prostitution is legal here. They then get upset and report us to police or security because of their own ignorance, and in turn we could all be thought of as a public nuisance. The difference between us and these clubs who were raided is this: the clubs sell men the thought that they are getting something much much more while dancing on the line of soliciting (I’ve heard of some places selling “hand jobs” when in fact they receive a hand massage) when in fact these girls never strip, dance or anything else. The agencies will tell you straight up that prostution is illegal here and the girl comes out for a striptease for a fee. People still read into this basic line and assume something different, but really there are no lines to read in between.

The other businesses that are hurt by these scam clubs? The legit massages therapists, reflexology specialists, and massage businesses. These “sex” clubs operate under several different types of business licenses that are all obtained under false pretenses. Several examples of these completely off licenses that are on paper with the county are: bookstores, art galleries, massage therapy parlors, snack stores, fitness clubs, and reflexology specialists. The real massage parlors and masseuses deal with crazy legal battles just to prove that their business that they want to open will not be a rub and tug joint. I even know of a personal friend who had to deal with months of issues with the county because she wanted to set up some massage chairs in a public area.

During the weekend I didn’t notice any real difference, but had one phone girl comment that calls seemed to be easier to book. Besides the clubs that were named in the article as being raided, I’ve noticed the rest of the sex clubs coming back and reopening, sometimes leaving their open signs off but taxis still are dropping unsuspecting clients off at the front and driving away as fast as possible once they are inside. My hopes is that the local government shuts these places down and doesn’t mess with the businesses that are running themselves properly. They are a real public nuisance and constantly use our tax dollars by calling police or clients calling police *constantly*. These places are constantly held up and robbed, pose a threat to other local businesses nearby, and most importantly gives Vegas a bad name (and even taxi drivers). The local economy has a long way to go to rebuild itself and more negative attention and reputation with the tourists is not what this town needs. This is Sin City afterall! Keep it Sin City and not Scam City.

Been getting some great questions sent to me… I got quite a few in one email that I thought would be great to answer. Actually I’m going to have to split it up into two entries! Hope the answers interest some others as well! :

Dan Writes: “Do you keep a fairly standard schedule, or do you consider yourself ‘on call’ most of the time? Judging from your tweets your day doesn’t seem to start until late and it seems you may go until sunrise if there’s business. Have you ever even done a call in the middle of the day? You also don’t seem to take many days off, other than vacation.”

I consider myself on call quite a bit because realistically, you can never judge how a day or week is going to go. It could be an early day (calls between 3-9pm) or a late night (3am-8am). There are always lulls in the night so it’s not like you are working for 12 hours straight. The only times that I have had that happen are during huge fight weekends or some convention+event that had a consistent stream of early calls plus late night calls. I do middle of the day calls (which I love because less alcohol is involved!) and I do take days off besides vacation. Every one needs a break! It might seem that I don’t get afternoon or daytime calls because those people don’t seem to do as many funny or crazy things to share with people. They are more cut and dry calls with not much to report on.

“Do you pack outfits when you go to a gig? Keep some spares in the car? How does it work if a guy wants spike heels or a schoolgirl and you don’t have time to go home? And how do you find a balance between looking sexy for first impressions with a client and not screaming “working girl” when you walk into a lobby? Then again, it’s Vegas, maybe walking into the lobby of the Palazzo dressed as “Bo Peep” might help you fit in…”

I don’t typically keep too much in my car as far as outfits go. Sometimes I put some more plain clothes to keep in case I am out until it is daytime and I don’t want to look like a long lost girl who left the nightclub hours before. Some girls keep little bikini type of outfits with them on the weekends (more bachelor parties) but other than that any special outfit requests would need to give us an ample amount of time to go home and change. The only requests I have gotten really are for stockings, which is much easier to pick up on the way to a call than drive all the way home. I’m sure anyone would be able to make outfit requests so long as they made an appointment in advance and not trying to do something last minute. As far as how I like to dress, I think there is a delicate balance between looking good and sticking out as a working girl. I try to dress appropriately to the time of day and the day of week so clients don’t feel so uncomfortable and I fit in. Hard to go pick up a girl at noon wearing spiked heels and a cocktail dress!

In relation to a tweet I sent the other night about a call: “You went to the Travelodge tonight. Gotta be honest, that kinda creeps me out. Is there a direct correlation between the client and their hotel every time? Or can you get a good client at the Travelodge and a shitty one at the Four Seasons?”

Usually, there is no direct correlation between a hotel and a client’s budget. Often times the small, funky hotels surprise you since a lot of people go to them not to sleep in but to have side entertainment since someone else is staying in their regular five star hotel room. There have been times I have gone to suites that cost upwards of $10,000 a night (usually comped because they gamble so much) that don’t work out and then the next call could be a funky place downtown and the client has fun for a few hours. I always say the common phrase, ” You can never judge a book by its cover” because you can’t attribute age, attire, level of inebriation, race, hotel, or room size to the success of the call.

Thanks for the questions and I will continue them in my next post!

Here’s a good question I received from Eric:

“How do you feel about reviews? There are plenty of review sites for sex workers – TER, etc – and some women seem to like being reviewed, others not. What do you think? Also, are they a danger for the sex workers who are reviewed – raising their profile, bringing them to the attention of the police?”

I feel like I am lucky to work in a city that isn’t largely based on reviews like many other places. I think in other cities this becomes a popular way to find sex workers due to the lack of advertising in the town or there is such a large number of girls to sort through it becomes an easier way to find a quality one. Of course, the main issue with this is abuse by the clients or people who say they are clients. They end up telling their side of the story in a false manner or just lying outright just to hurt the girl’s reputation. With this aspect I hear many girls stressing over their reviews in their hometown and constantly dealing with liars and cheats who gain nothing by hurting a girl’s means of income. I know if the girl has lots of reviews it ends up being a good thing for them, but it seems like the dark side of the review boards take over the good girls and the girls who seem to be practicing more unsafe sex (bareback blow jobs etc) wins this crazy online battle. I personally like that I don’t have reviews on these big sites because of what you mentioned: higher public profiles to law enforcement. You never know how much the client will go into detail on these sites, which is like incriminating yourself in my opinion, and you can’t prevent what they write on there.

Why are review sites not popular in Vegas? I think this is because so many girls work for so many different agencies here. Both agencies and girls come and go over long periods of time, or girls just visit a lot while living somewhere else so it’s more difficult to really figure out who the reviews are for. There are so many agencies in this town as well that names get confused, web sites change, and numbers change. I think all around it’s hard to get a consistent review on one girl here that you could trust. Only a handful of times have I had clients say, “Well I was giving you a shot because you have no reviews online and just assumed you were new to Vegas”. I explain that I’m not brand new to Vegas, but they won’t be disappointed! In the end they are happy and surprisingly… don’t go write reviews either! So the cycle continues….

Since I was down for the count this past 4th of July weekend, I sat down today to try and think about points I haven’t covered here that might seem interesting or that people may have a question about. I turned to my Twitter followers to help me out with any questions they might have. I know a lot of people have trended to use the formspring site, but I know a lot of people who find it annoying and hard to read plus not everyone is on Twitter!

Q: I don’t think you’ve covered anal? Do it? Do most girls? What’s the going rate?

I have had a few clients ask me this request, usually while snickering on the phone trying to use code words like “Greek”, so it’s hard to sometimes take them seriously. I have never actually gone through a session where a client paid for it, nor have I witnessed a girl performing anal with a client in the same room. In fact, if anal does occur amongst other girls I work with I never hear about it actually happening. I know most girls would charge quite a large fee for it since its dangerous, takes time to “warm up”, oh… and it’s dangerous! I think it would take a lot of trust between the girl and the client for this to happen since the girl would have less control and would want to make sure the client respects them and their comfort level. It’s hard for all of these things to come into place, plus be taken care of for the time consuming service. Like I’ve said before, I don’t really have regulars, so the people that I do see are meeting me for the first time. It’s hard to get a feel for someone on a first visit. I know that girls elsewhere who see clients locally and who have more regulars seem to offer this service more than here in the tourist-driven town of Las Vegas.

Q: Is your job hard or dangerous sometimes?

I think I’ve mentioned briefly before that bad calls (or even physically violent calls) are quite rare. With experience it becomes easier to read people to see if a call is going down a bad path and to avoid it by adjusting my attitude or making sure the other girl/girls on the call aren’t causing problems. It seems with the downturn of the economy most phone girls have adjusted their attitudes, as well, and have become more understanding of issues on calls where it seems almost impossible to get the agency fee. They tend to speak more truthfully on the phone to the clients now (their vagueness had gotten pretty bad, at one point) and are even more lenient on knocking money off the fee to ensure that we will end up making something. I have to say that is one positive thing that has come out of the sluggish economy: being able to negotiate fees and be a little more cautious before checking in on a call. This has also made bad calls drop.

Have any more questions? Feel free to ask! I definitely want to go more into how I got into the business but have come to realize that is going to take a few entries to do and some real personal reflection on what was going through my mind at the time. Either way, leave questions here or never be afraid to shoot me one here

So I’ve seen a bachelor dressed up in an Elvis costume too drunk to know his own name, and a bachelor that was so passed out he woke up swinging at his best friends, but I have never seen this amount of embarrassment or brotherly camaraderie as long as I have lived and worked in Vegas, and for some odd reason two of the three parties were British. All three of these parties by the way, occurred within two weekends:

The first party was at the Hard Rock, the guy who came downstairs to get me and four other girls (yes, 5 of us, and we all were not too pleased about the number of girls) , was a super nice guy from London and took us right upstairs and immediately gave us the crazy expensive company fee. In the next room were 12-14 loud, unruly Brits who apparently were all broke but wanted their friend to have the best time, just don’t embarrass him too much. Since we didn’t get tipped much at all upfront, we did a quick pile up dance on the bachelor and got him down to his boxers like we all normally do on bachelor parties. I noticed his silky boxer briefs had a photo of himself on it with the words, “I’m With Tim” underneath the photo. I laughed and said, “How cute did your friends make you those?” and he said, “Yes, actually…. HEY EVERYBODY DROP TROU AND SHOW THEM!” I turn around to see 12 guys at attention, all simultaneously unbuckling their pants and pulling their pants down. I felt like I was in a movie watching the synchronized pants-dropping, but sure enough all of the guys were wearing matching boxers with their buddy’s picture only 3 inches away from their own package. They must have practiced this moment together back home because they seemed to chime in   “Yea! Cause we’re with Tim!” I almost died laughing.

The second party, and I think the most funny, was also a group of British guys staying on the strip. I show up and due to some misunderstanding by the phone girl and best man, I am the only girl and there are 12 of them. I quickly explain to the best man 4-5 guys can stay but since they were in a bit of a hurry and on a tight budget, I couldn’t get another girl there in time. Since there were only a few guys chipping in they did what I said, paid the fee, and had enough of a tip for me to do a quick show for the bachelor. This is when the best man informs me of what the bachelor was wearing UNDER his pants: remote controlled, vibrating, black thong underwear. I giggled and wanted to see this for myself. Sure enough when I got him undressed in front of his friends, there was a vibrating thong that barely covered anything. The buzzing of the vibrator kept going off as his hysterically laughing friends kept mashing on the buttons of the remote from the couch. The bachelor nervously giggled and tried hiding what he could with his hands. I only kept this public humiliation up for a few minutes since he obviously wasn’t having fun trying to hold himself into the tiny thong. Luckily the best man tipped more so he could have more private time sans thong.

The last party was a tame group of guys staying in a suite. The best man/brother of the groom apparently was a rookie at planning bachelor parties and had gone online to order a bunch of party supplies, but ended up getting all of the items a bachelorETTE party would have. This usually entails of anything and everything with a penis on it. You’ll see these girls parading up and down the Strip with their penis straws and blinking penis necklaces. So I guess the brother went online and didn’t see vagina shaped supplies so he figured the penis shaped items would be okay instead. I almost died laughing when I saw these exact slippers on the floor. In the bathroom was toilet paper with sex positions on it and on the bar were penis shaped cocktail stirrers. The girl with me could not stop giggling which was contagious for me and I couldn’t stop. The best man didn’t get it until we explained what the penis items are REALLY for. He said, “Well, I couldn’t find much else!” I’m sure he’ll be better prepared the next time he helps throw a party.

So I have mentioned scams that happen in Vegas, but more and more recently I have heard of girls who have been scammed, or attempted, through their ads online nationwide. I know this has been going on for a number of years because I received one of these funny calls years ago and smelled a rat before it even got to the point that they asked me for money. Recently the calls have been picking up again and just now received and email from a reader who unfortunately fell for their tactics.

The call goes something like this, a rude and impatient man calls claiming to be a VIP casino host who only deals with big rollers claims to be calling from one of the major casinos in town. He tries to offer a deal a girl just can’t refuse. Large amounts of money for several days with said client (sometimes throwing out a celebrity name or professional sports team) in exchange for signing some sort of waiver that says that I will not spill the beans to the media about said celebrity client. This is all meant to make the girl believe that this is some serious, real deal going on. I never got past this point because I would never give anyone my real personal information, and more obviously, I would never oust myself to any media outlet just because someone was a celebrity. I am discreet and would only be hurting myself to try to blackmail someone just because of their “status” in society. I usually get rude back at them and hang up…

What’s their point behind all of this? Eventually the “host” ends up asking girls for money as some sort of deposit to hold this too good to be true client, or told that it’s an application fee and they will be chosen after review. I hate to hear that girls have fallen for this and have no idea how much they have scammed out of but remember this rule: NEVER pay any client or so-called host to see a client. You provide your services for a fee, you don’t pay someone to hold a client. Whatever money they offer, it’s too good to be true and move on. Also, never give someone your real identity to see said client. Your personal safety and well being are far more important than whatever they have to offer. So, be careful out there girls and ignore these scammers!