Exotic lifestyle traps women into job
by Ashley Clark, entertainment editor

     I was driving to school one morning listening to 106.1 KISS FM and the topic of the day was supposed to be the up-coming election.
     One of the DJs thought it would be rather entertaining to poll dancers in a topless bar on which candidate they would select.
     I suppose the point was supposed to be that “normal citizens” should vote for the candidate least favored by “strippers.”
     Immediately, their laughter and ridicule irked me because I have worked in such an establishment.
     The implications that the employees have little to no intelligence or integrity, that their futures are headed no where and that they live their lives as uncontrollable partying wantons had me searching desperately for the nearest pay phone to call these loonies and set them straight.
     Then another thought started picking at me: In a way, they were right. They know what they see.
     Usually women go into that business young and naive to the consequences and then grow up in that environment learning to live and adapt to that lifestyle.
     I left because I never adapted. However, my concern lasted because of my ex-roommate, Cassie, who did adapt, and other young women who started out like me and then succumbed to that lifestyle.
     On the surface, it seems like the perfect solution to surviving college life.
     There are no set schedules; if you have to stay home and study or take care of the kids, no one minds. If you can work a full week, there is extra money to spend while shopping on the weekend.
     If you can only work a few days, the bills still will be paid. Whether you take a job as a hostess, a waitress or a dancer, the life is perceived as fun and glamorous. Suddenly you become the “cool girl” you always admired.
     Unfortunately, this image is all temporary.
     The reality always seems to kick in too late when there are only two choices left: make this lifestyle who you are and learn to love it or suffer the months—maybe even years—it will take to accept, rebuild and live a normal life.
     Hostesses (more often referred to as “door-girls”) and waitresses are less likely to get to this point than dancers are.
     However, many dancers started out as door-girls and waitresses.
     Sadly, the most appealing position to young girls starting their college career is the dancer. This was the case of my roommate, and I have seen this to be the biggest “trap” in the industry.
     She said she did it because she loved having no set schedules, no commitments to anything. If she wanted to go to work, she went. If she didn’t want to, she didn’t have to.
However, without even knowing it, a once-ambitious college student making money to pay the bills on time and go to school became lazy.
     She slept in because she could. She didn’t go to work because she didn’t have to.
     This habit is easy to get used to and very difficult to change once a “real” job becomes more appealing. After becoming accustomed to such liberal rules, consequences for not showing up on time, not coming in or not putting every effort into a work assignment are almost not worth facing.
     The amount of money made at first seems like a great advantage.
     I remember a day when Cassie said, “It's okay to blow off the bill due in two days to buy the $200 outfit because all I have to do is go to work one night and make up for it.”
     She made $300-$500 a day, and her bills were always late because of this easy money.
     This business teaches irresponsibility, and before you realize it, your credit suffers. Personally, before working in a party atmosphere, I shied away from alcohol.
     I could have fun without it; “straight” drinks tasted better, and I didn't see anything appealing about making a fool out of myself in front of people who respected me.
     I honestly cannot say when I started accepting drinks from people who offered to buy them.
     Both dancers and waitresses are allowed to drink on the job if a paying customer offers.
     Cassie felt as though she needed alcohol or drugs to have a successful day or night.
     This attitude continues as long as a person will allow it.
     Both Cassie and I received “the wake up call” around the same time.
     It was difficult to pinpoint when it happened, but it all hit at one time in a snowball of events.
     Here is fair warning of the “symptoms” to anyone who decides to take a job in this business. One day you just wake up and don't want to go in to work, but you're not sure why.
     Even when waitresses or dancers are guaranteed a few hundred dollars in their pockets and the possibility of taking the rest of the week off, the job still loses its appeal.
     When someone asks where you work, you find yourself reluctant to answer.
     If you actually do go to work, suddenly all the comments, insinuations and advances start to bug you whereas they used to be funny.
     You cannot stand your coworkers and don't understand why they talk and act the way that they do even though yesterday they were cool.
     You find that when you leave, $300 is hardly worth the way your feet feel and what you've had to “brush off” for the night.
     It takes a very long time to get to this point. When it hits, you're enlightened.
     You want out. You should have gotten out a long time ago—you should have never started.
     You're making plans on what to do instead and you cannot wait to get out of school and start your future ... except you are trapped.
     You are only a college student without a degree. You have an $800 a month town house with brand new furniture you need to pay off.
     Your car payment takes up an entire paycheck issued by a “real” job. There are still utilities and insurance to pay, and mom's birthday is next week.
     Considering the circumstances, the decision to go from a job that pays $600-$1500 a week is nothing, but the reality is impossible to overcome in any short period of time.
     Most likely, you will have to stay there and save until you can support yourself while you wait for your “real” job. Depending on the person, this need can start a whole new vicious cycle.
     So many people told me the same thing, but I never believed it. So, for this issue, I am standing on my soapbox and preaching to the masses: Avoid exotic entertainment industries.
     They are evil! They are a trap! They will eat you alive!
     The low-paying receptionist job, library job or server job at IHOP is only temporary.
     There will be plenty of time later for the car, the town house and trips to the mall.
     Like mama always said, “Sacrifice now; be rewarded later.”