The Las Vegas Courtesan

Unfortunately I haven’t seen this stripper-mobile running around town but I got a good laugh when I saw it on the front page of the Las Vegas Sun website today. Of course county commissioners are freaking out, motorists are loving it, and the cops are shrugging their shoulders saying, “Who cares?” I am *for once* with Metro on this one. If they have the proper permit for having a mobile advertising truck and the girls are obviously not wearing anything scandalous (I’ve seen a hundred times worse at a Rehab pool party at the Hard Rock), they roll the truck at night and keep it out of neighborhoods, then really what’s the big deal?? I might not wear my highest stripper heels but I am sure the girls are smart enough to do that….

Roll on, Deja Vu!

Photo By Leila Navidi

So the INTEROP convention is this week though you would have never known it. Once NAB (National Association of Broadcasters.. the largest Vegas convention still, I believe) is over with it means the end of convention season is winding down. Darnit! Next come the summer time travelers and the families. Quite a few bachelor parties remain but I worry gas prices might hinder the traffic coming in from California this summer. Southern California drivers flood the I-15 on Friday afternoons trying to escape Los Angeles or San Deigo… they tend to do the last minute traveling plan and get one room for 5 guys but sometimes it works out.. keeps the money flowing into the town for sure.

Now for some random questions I get asked repeatedly to continue on with this series

Lots of customers ask me how I got to Las Vegas… which I usually respond with a quirky, “I drove here”, to get a chuckle out of them. Really I first started coming here during the summer months to escape the slow season in the topless clubs that I worked in back home. It worked out well and I would make way more money than I would have before. I sometimes would pay off only my tip-out at the clubs back home due to the number of men staying at home with their kids while they were off from school or would be out on vacations. Why not work where they went FOR vacation? Was a good plan for sure.

Then their next question is: “How did you start doing this?” The answer is a slightly complex one that I’d rather not go into, but basically when I was working in the clubs in my home state I was already dealing with levels of prostitution but in denial about it. Complete denial. After getting fed up with dealing with working in Las Vegas strip clubs where it is hustle or die with no regulars, I decided to give an agency a shot. I was sick and tired of the men hassling me and begging me to solicit then only give me 20 bucks for a pathetic dance. Things in Vegas were changing at the times in the strip clubs: massive clubs were being built, Cheetahs/Jaguar’s owner was under federal indictment, and I had been about 10-15 lbs overweight and that never helps when you want to get the good shift at the Spearmint Rhino from a manager named John who is notorious for being highly selective. I lied to the first agency I went to and said I had worked for an agency before but not in Las Vegas. Looking back I acted like a complete imbecile when dealing with them, but I learned a lot. I also came to learn that I worked for the toughest agency in town (and still is to this day) so at least I started out with the worst which means it can only get better! I got a different, less tough agency to work for soon after then (which is now owned by some one else who recently just lost their *mind*), and met a girl who referred me to a service that I still work for today. That’s my little story of how I began… it’s been almost 5 years since I started working out here, and it’s still completely unpredictable.

Okay to make up for my lacking picture posts I will post two, today. One of me and one of the funniest advertising I have seen for anything related to this industry.

I went to drop off a fee at an office that is upstairs of a building that mainly rents to outcall services and houses the office for Sapphire Strip Club. Due to zoning restrictions and few locations available near the Strip, there aren’t many places these businesses can rent and get the necessary license to operate from the city of Las Vegas. So I walk upstairs and there is the directory for the businesses and underneath it is taped this sign:

I read it (since who doesn’t need tax help in this industry?) and started laughing out loud. What a brave man to advertise his services to prostitutes in such a manner! Funny thing is he might offend more than get business from girls who are in fact, hoes, but rather be called a different word. I am still giggling

Apparently some lawyer from Arizona thinks he has reason to fight a long fight in Nevada and sue the topless clubs to allow strippers to receive wages from the clubs so that they would be employees instead of independent contractors. While I agree with this, perhaps, if I still lived in my former home state where I was a dancer for a number of years then I would be totally for this and think that his firm has a chance. In fact after reading the article in the Review Journal I found out that they have fought it in court to allow such a thing in my home state.

The main reason why I am so, “yea good luck there, buddy” to this lawyer is because Las Vegas just doesn’t fall into the same guides like other states do. Girls come to Las Vegas often for one weekend to make a grip of cash and then leave to go back home. They never will return again. In fact it was reported that there are 10,000 adult entertainers who are registered in the county. That is insane to have to keep up with that amount of paper work. It is not that common to find a stripper at the same club over a long period of time. As many times as I have been to the Rhino over the past five years I know of 2 girls who have been there for more than a couple of years. Go to the same club I worked at before back home? I will still know about 5-10 girls and I haven’t worked there in several years.

I am all about fair and just treatment for girls working in the clubs but Las Vegas is an anomaly of it’s own. The club that is mentioned in the article is also a more seedy not so busy club downtown, the Glitter Gultch. If I worked there I would probably want hourly wages, too! Heh. Another downside girls see is that their tips will be reported and can’t get away with flubbing on their taxes so much. All in all? I say take the battle to other states or fight for the prostitutes out in the brothels who want benefits and don’t mind paying for it. That would be a campaign for a more just cause. Read more in the Review-Journal over here

Sorry the posts have been slim lately. I am out of town right now and brought this newspaper article with me as I left town. Definitely worth a talk…

“Do you have a lot of violent calls?”

Actually no. I very very rarely have a call where someone gets physical or gets seriously pissed that security has to get involved. I am not one to screw people over or lie about some fee that an agency has me collect before I negotiate my own pricing. Why risk my own safety for money that I am not even receiving? I am very forward and blunt when it comes to stating, “this is an agency fee and is non refundable”. What is more plain and forward than that? Humans only like to listen when they want to listen, and don’t want to believe that indeed the fee gets no sexual acts what so ever.

Well until this week did I have a record of two calls in a row that had me in a bad situation (the second one was not a big deal like the first, but it was stressful dealing with two big drunken New Yorkers who were pissed for no reason). The first guys were not very fluent in English and very fluent in border-town-Mexico Spanish. One guy spoke English quite well though and translated well from what I understood in my knowledge of Spanish. Fee was collected all three of the girls (myself included) did a strip show. Once we realized they didn’t want to tip AND wanted sex, we had to leave. One girl somehow darted out leaving us 2 behind (very improper etiquette for girls) and left us in the room with angry Mexicans demanding their money back. One guy was pushing me and pulling the other girls hair while saying he “respects us”. Right. I get a hold of my driver (who thankfully was there even though it was an off night of the week) and he waits downstairs by the elevators to escort me out. By this time the guy is holding us hostage in the room demanding the money back even though we inform him the girl who left has it. My driver hears the situation while still on the phone and tells security we need an escort out of the room that we are being held up in. Luckily they finally come up and handled the situation nicely by telling the guys that they are committing a felony of kidnapping and are lucky that we are not pressing charges. The whole time the guy is saying in a heavy accent, “I’m from my coantrey and I respect”. They inform them again how escort services here work and they pay a fee to get girls to the room and you have to tip. In the end the head of security of the hotel gives me his card and says, “if you ever have another problem just give me a call.” Wow I am shocked.

The fear of working here in hotels/casinos and getting in a situation like that is how security will help you out of a room but then turn right around and trespass you from the property or as we say, “86-ed”, even if the guy gets his money back. After then you are permanently barred from the casino and can be arrested if you violate that order. Its ridiculous but its how it goes here… so this reaction by a security person was quite out of the norm.

I will write about my next most popular repetitive question in the next installment which is probably what people will want to ask me after reading this entry, “Why do you work for agencies?”

I guess every girl has her own quirks about what type or how she goes about protecting herself from STDs. Some girls use the best and thickest condoms they make (like myself) and some only use ribbed or off brand. I’d rather not risk it just to save a few cents… but the most original protection I saw was a girl who came prepared with a purple latex glove!

It was an agency call for two girls and one guy at the Wynn Hotel. We went, checked in for the agency fee, talked tips and got tipped a pretty decent amount each. I always come prepared with lube and condom for whatever the sexual act may be but for hand she preferred using her purple glove. I was weirded out by it and after about 5 minutes of attempting a hand job, the guy was seriously uncomfortable also. I offered to change her odd medical approach with a regular condom and lube, but the awkwardness had killed the mood and wanted us to leave. Thankfully he didn’t get upset by a job unfinished but I knew I didn’t want to be stuck with that girl again on a call. This all happened a long time ago but really stuck in my head… I don’t think I have seen her since that one night.