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did best and talk about the show and girls during dinner.
Someone holds up his drink and says, “Good show, everybody!” We all cheer to
another good show. “Great fuckin’ night,” I say with a grin. I can’t wait ‘til
tomorrow’s show.
     
    Birthdays at the Club
    Every dancer gets to celebrate his birthday at the club. If
his birthday falls during the slow season, he will pick a spring or summer
Saturday night on which to celebrate. The club is usually decked out with party
favors provided by either the dancer or his customers. This is a big night for
the dancer, usually his biggest money night of the year. It’s customary for
every dancer in the house to come on main stage and tip the birthday boy during
his prime-time act. Twenty dollars is the norm, one hundred dollars if it’s a
good buddy. By the time the birthday boy is done with his birthday set, the
stage coordinator has to bring a broom to sweep up the money. The dancer takes
many shots on the stage, and if the dancer is smart, he tells the guys in
advance to bring shots of water or juice. The normal stage set is fifteen to
twenty minutes, but on a birthday set, it can last forty-five minutes to an
hour. The dancer also gets to choose when he wants to go up. There is a list in
back that tells each dancer when they are going up. The better guys are placed
strategically on the list so they can go onstage when more women can see them
and watch their acts. If the birthday boy isn’t one of the top dogs and usually
doesn’t go up during prime time, he will get to on his birthday.
     
    The Customer/Stripper Relationship
    There are four broad types of women who frequent a male
strip bar.
    Special Event Party Girl : A girl who attends the club
for her or her friend’s birthday or bachelorette party.
    Serious Party Girl : She’s single and ready to have
fun.
    “I Hate Strip Clubs” Girl : Her friends usually have
to drag this girl to the club. She will let you know really fast that she hates
the club and thinks male dancing is stupid. These girls can be turned around,
and some end up having a great time.
    The Regular : You know how you have the same crowd at
your local watering hole? Well, same applies here. Only they are women. This is
where you get into the whole dancer/customer relationship.
    We have a saying throughout the business: “You fuck your
customer, you fuck your money!” Now, this doesn’t mean it never happens,
because it does, depending on the dancer, but it is not the norm. The dancers
who do cross that line are usually the ones who party more and are single. They
are also the ones who don’t have their shit together. We’ve met a lot of those
cats, but that’s another chapter.
    The regulars are very important in making a steady income
during the weekdays. If you took out the regulars on the weekdays, there would
be many days a dancer would pay to work. Even if they only get one dance per
week, it adds up, in dollars and cents. You feel better if you can take care of
the tip-out early in the week, allowing you to make more money during the
weekend. A hundred dollars is the Mason–Dixon line for us on the weekdays. Yeah,
that’s why the smart ones learn to work the system and set up roadshows on the
weekdays, only working the club on the weekends
    Some regulars go a little bit overboard in expressing their
attachment to a particular dancer. A lot of girls get tattoos of a dancer,
either his name or a symbol he uses. For example, our trunks are handmade and
guys will sometimes put a Nike swoosh on it or a Superman symbol. Sometimes a
customer will expect too much of a dancer’s time outside of work. That’s when
he will find creative ways to avoid talking to her so much.
    One trick I used often when I didn’t have time to talk to a
customer was changing my voice to sound like I was a construction worker. I got
this idea when I was running my construction company one day. I didn’t have
time to answer a client’s call, so I handed