Can I go topless?

Regarding open toed shoes, you could wear boots that would cover everything. However, unless a customer has a foot fetish (and some do), most customers do not pay any attention to your feet or your toes. In fact, I can speak for myself and say that I never look at them at all. If you were missing a toe, I would not even notice.

Q:
Third, I am already a light skin tan girl, but not quite caramel brown. Should I still get a tan?
Z:
I don't think you need to.

Q:
Finally, I am sexy but I can't do pole tricks and I am not that flexible. I definiely cannot do the splits. What can I do improve on this? I can't buy a pole for at-home practice because I go to college and I don't want anyone knowing that I'm a stripper.
Z:
Forget pole tricks. They are good for contests or movies but many dancers do not do pole work at all because it can be hard on the body and cause bruises on your legs. There are local (Los Angeles) places that teach pole work but I don't think you need to learn it. Learn good floor work and you'll make a lot more money.

If you want to see a video to help your pole work, checkout Fawnia's pole work video which can be found on her website.

Q:
I know this is a lot, but from your website its seems that you may have the answers. And there is no one that I would want to ask these questions in person, u know? Thank you so much.

Truly appreciative in LA
Z:
You're welcome.

Revenge is best served cold

Rude regulars

From the dancer's point of view, it can make for a difficult situation since she probably doesn't want you to get pissed off but doesn't want to piss off the other guy either. That's probably why she didn't say or do anything about it hoping it would just go without incident. The worse case scenario for her would be if you guys got into an argument and both decided not to return to the club.

To answer your question, personally, if I was having a private type conversation, I would ask him to give us a few minutes while we finish our conversation. If it was not private and we were just chatting, I would just let it go. It's not very important in the context of a strip club since she's not your girlfriend or anything and it's just business.

Speaking of the business side of it, this would be similar to another customer coming up to the store employee while they are trying to help you and interrupting your conversation. I've seen that a lot and most of the time, the employee will just tell the second customer to please wait their turn. But in a strip club, the situation is a little more complicated since you weren't actually doing any dances, and the other guy didn't actually break things up and just sat there observing. Perhaps, in his mind, he was just trying to join in on the fun. It's hard to tell what the actual motive was without seeing the situation in person.

Hope that gives you some info as to what I would do in the situation.

Men's Fitness Interview

In my interview with Spearmint Rhino CEO, John Gray, he answered a similar question by stating that you could have a card board box for a club and still make money if you had 20 great looking dancers all the time. I agree 100%. Without dancers, the best looking club, with the best staff of bouncers and waitresses cannot be considered a great club. However, those other factors help the club attract the dancers that you need. It's hard to get 20 good looking dancers to work at a card board box.

Q:
By generics, I do mean not-so-great, but you raised an interesting point about chains. Franchising appears to be the largest trend in clubs right now. Is something missing at the chains? What sort of homogenizing, McStripper effect are we seeing?
Z:
Yes, that's an interesting topic. Even though fast food places don't have the greatest food, people go there for the consistency of quality. Unlike food chains, it's very hard to be consistent with strip clubs because the "inventory" are dancers. It's very difficult for any club (chain or not) to have a consistent level of dancers, both in numbers and quality. However, chain clubs do have an advantage in that they can pool their resources for advertising. It's a lot cheaper (dollars per club) to have a $1000 ad in a magazine if you own 10 clubs than if you own only one club. Although the advertising is mostly geared towards the customer, as a side benefit, it works in getting dancers to come to work at the club. So that's another advantage for the bigger chains in recruiting, which all comes back to the inventory.

In non-strip club industries, the big chains offer lower prices because of their larger volume. However, big chain strip clubs usually do not offer lower prices because they don't need to.

To answer your question, there are no negative McStripper effects that I've seen. For the most part, the big chains have better manager training, can afford better security/bouncers, and hire feature dancers. All of which are hard to do if you are a mom & pop club.

Q:
Here's a biggie: What would you say are the Top 5 strip clubs in the U.S. today and why? Please cite examples and personal experience.
Z:
I don't think I can answer this question because I've not been to many of the top clubs, especially in Denver, Dallas, and Miami. My expertise is in California, especially Southern California. Take a look at my top 5 list.  I can tell you that the Dj Vu chain has the most number of clubs in the United States, but that doesn't mean they are the best. Don Waitt publishes a magazine for the strip club industry and award "best of" each year.

Q:
Have you got a four or five customer DO's and DON'Ts? What's the secret stuff that every guy needs to do to have a kick-ass time?
Z:
I have a FAQ about that but I can also add some new ones here:

Customer Do's:
The second one in that list is a big one that I see a lot. Many customers feel intimidated by the dancers and feel they cannot ask the dancer for a dance and wait for them to come ask them. Remember that the dancers are there to entertain the customer. It's perfectly alright to ask them for a lap dance. There are many dancers who are actually shy and don't like to ask customers for dances. If you wait for them to ask you, you'll never get a dance from them.

Customer Don'ts:
Don't go to a strip club if you are not planning on spending money. That's like going to a casino and not gambling. It's just not fun.

Q:
By the way, how did you get to be such an authority? How long have you been in this racket?
Z:
Since the 80's. Over the years, I've pretty much done everything related to the industry. I know the industry from the customers' point of view, and the employees' point of view, and I know enough owners to know their point of view as well. I feel I also know the dancers' point of view because I've had dancer roommates and girlfriends, and worked with dancers.

Where should a 10 work?

If location was not a factor, there are other ones many miles away that might also be of interest. Let me know if you need more info. Good luck with your search.

Is a lawsuit in order?

I will give you some of my opinion regarding your situation. First, depending on the club you were attending, the situation would be different. If you were at a strip club where the dancers are independent contractors, then the club has no legal issue with you because you owe the dancer. The only way the dancer can legally collect from you is by suing you in small claims court. If you were at a strip club where the dancers are employees, then you owe the club and they can try to collect from you the same way.

Regarding the scare tactics, that's exactly what it was. If you had declared that there was an error and you did not owe any money, then the lawsuit is the only way to collect from you in this situation. I don't think they can legally detain you if you cooperate and give them your contact information. However, if you try to flee without giving the information, that may constitute a form of fraud which might be illegal.

The police cannot help since it's a civil matter and a judge would have to decide who owes what. Since you declared that you did owe the money, then they can try to collect from you or make arrangements to collect from you. For example, they might request that you leave your ID while you go get money. That's usually what a restaurant would do. If you did not come back, they would have to file a small claims court lawsuit against you to collect.

Regarding your car being "keyed," I assume that you don't have any proof of who did it. If this is the case, there is nothing you can do about it. You could have called the police but normally, they would not come out for such minor offenses and it would be a waste of time. If you knew who did it, they would come out and take a report. If the club has cameras that record activity in the parking area, you could file a police report and they might get the club to show them the video. However, if there's anything incriminating on there, and they were the ones that did it, it's likely that they would erase or "lose" the tape.

Just being suspicious is not enough evidence and it would be very difficult to win even a civil law suit if you decided to sue the club or the property owner of the parking area, let alone file any criminal charges of vandalism.

All of what I am stating needs to be checked with an attorney but the same would be true with any business, not just strip clubs.

Male strippers gone wild?

As far as LA goes, it does get pretty wild but not as wild as some other cities or countries. That doesn't mean a lot of things don't happen after the show is over.  One LA male stripper told me he gets laid after every single show.

Protocol to get dances

Strip club visit with my boyfriend

If there are issues in your relationship where you feel uncomfortable when your boyfriend looks at other women, you probably should not go. If you've had previous arguments about this, that might be a good indicator to stay away. On the other hand, you may want to go specifically to confront your fears and see what happens. I don't know enough about your boyfriend to give you specific advice but it sounds like you might have some insecurity problems which may just be something you need to work on. Just because your boyfriend looks at another female does not mean that he is going to cheat on you. But again, I cannot make a determination based on the small information you have given me.

In regards to your question about bringing up this issue again, I suggest you be direct. Tell him you've been thinking about this issue and you are ready to talk about it again and if you can work out the details with him, you would like to try it.

To be perfectly frank, the fact that you have to ask these questions leads me to suspect that either you suspect there's going to be a problem, or you will be the cause of the problem. If this is the case, and you do end up going to a strip club, it could be a dangerous step for your relationship. However, it might also help you grow as a person. That decision will have to be yours.

The second issue is your curiosity regarding bisexuality. When you stated "I've never been with a girl," indicates that you have thought about it. If this is an area you'd like to explore, going to a strip club to look at women might be a good step to trying to find out more about your own sexuality. Separate from the issue of your boyfriend, if you end up not going with him, you may want to visit a strip club with friends just to see what your feelings are there.

In conclusion, If you can get over some of your fears, going to a strip club and eventually, when you are comfortable, getting a lap dance, might open up some very exciting new feelings for you. I suggest you take things slowly and in steps to see what your feelings are. This last suggestion is for you, not your boyfriend or your relationship.

Anonymity

If your future employer is a governmental agency (e.g. police, Federal, etc), they may simply ask if you worked in any places such as a strip club and if you do not answer truthfully, you could be committing a crime by lying. If your employer is not a governmental agency, I don't think they would care and probably would not be able to find out even if they did care.

In terms of records of employment, as with any other business, each club keeps records in different ways. Some clubs will keep their records forever, while others will destroy the records of ex-employees after a certain period of time. If you work at a club in a city that requires you to get a license to dance (e.g. City of Commerce), they will be a record which will be permanent.

Q:
I guess what I want to know is, how does the whole tax thing work? Do I pay taxes/ fill out forms on what I earn? And if so, is that something future employers look at in order to find out where I worked?
Z:
At some clubs, you do fill out a W2 and get paid. That does become part of your IRS record. On your occupation, you could put "Entertainer" or something else that is vague. I am not a lawyer so I can't tell you if it's legal or illegal to do so. But it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that an "Entertainer" working at a strip club is probably a stripper.  You could put "Waitress" for your occupation but I'm not sure if that's legal or not.

If you work at a club where you do not fill out a W2, and get paid, then the IRS doesn't know you work there.  Technically, if you are an independent contractor, you should file your taxes independent of the strip club.  What occupation you put on there is up to you.  You could put something generic there like "Consultant" or "Entertainer."

Regarding if an employer might look into that, again, it would depend on the employer. If it's a retail store, I doubt they would do that. If you're getting a top secret clearance for government defense work, yes, they will look into everything and the F.B.I. will come and talk to your neighbors and friends about you.  No, I'm not joking.

Tom Cruise lucky?

Regarding your comparison with Tom Cruise, there are some differences. Tom Cruise owns his own production company and can produce his own movies and act in them if he wants to. So in order for a dancer to have that kind of security and control, the dancer would have to dance at their club that they own.

However, if you are comparing the odds of an actor becoming the level of Mr. Cruise, versus the odds of a dancer having that much control, I think you are right that the odds are both about the same. Very low. I do know of one dancer who does have a minority share in her mother's club, and was dancing there along with her sister, so it is possible. At that time, she was also managing, hiring and recruiting for her own club, as well as dancing there part time. But of course, that's very unusual.

Regarding some girls having more job security than others, it's like any other business. Often, it's who you know and not what you know. If a dancer is good friends with the owner, they will of course have better job security than another dancer who is new and who has never met the owner. But that's no different than any other industry or job.

Home laps

Regarding your question, to operate a business in Los Angeles, you do need a business license and pay the local tax. This is true of any business in Los Angeles. They just want their cut. However, in terms of having customers come to your residence, that might be covered by other laws. I know that there are many people who have home offices (e.g. accountants, consultants, etc) and they seem to be operating legally. There might be some limit as to how many people can visit a residence for business purposes. You will have to consult with an attorney regarding the legality of operating a business from your residence.

There's also another twist to your business. Unlike an accountant, a business that performs lap dances may need the same permit as a strip club. If this is the case, it would take a while to get your permit because the police commission has to approve the location. Once again, I don't know the answer to this question.

Of course, you could keep it quiet and only advertise by word of mouth and hope that you don't get in trouble. But that probably wouldn't get you enough business.  I know escorts advertise on the Internet and they seem to do alright so I guess you could try it.  The likelihood of getting busted can't be any higher than the escorts.

Sorry I don't have a clear-cut answer for you but that's the best I can do for you.

Quality Customers

Weeding out the cheap customers from the big spenders can be a problem sometimes. This is because sometimes rich customers do not spend any money. I've told girls to have the valet guy report to them what kind of car a customer is driving but that does not work all the time either. Sometimes a guy driving a bucket is there to spend tons of money. I know of one customer just like that. He has a very old Toyota that looks like it's going to break down, but he spends $500 per visit to a club. Why doesn't he buy a new car? I don't know.

Generally speaking, if a customer tips well on stage, he will tip well for laps. However, even this doesn't always work. There are a few customers who only tip on stage and are not allowed (by their wives) to get lap dances.

So I don't think there's any sure fire way to tell if a customer is going to spend money. And just because a customer spends money on one dancer doesn't mean he's going to spend money on others, or you.

The bottom line is: Show me the money. If he actually hands it to you, then you know. Otherwise, it's just all talk and could be BS.

Q:
so would [SRI or SRLA be] clubs designed for beginning dancers or for the highly highly advanced..... do you think a beginning dancer should start in a slower club? 
Z:
I think they are for advanced dancers. It's probably better for a beginner to start at a slower club.

Q:
ever go to miss frosty's website? she seems like she can tell which customers are interested in her and which ones arent, and she focuses on the ones that seem to be.... a customer may have money, but they may want a certain type of dancer. is more money made getting 'that one guy' that gives you a bunch, or just a little from each cheaper customer...
Z:
Miss Frosty was one of my Dancer of the Month from years ago. She used to write for zbone.me. She knows a lot about customers and making money. Focusing on a customer that's interested in you is good if you know how to do that.

This question almost sounds like a poker question to me.  Go for that one big all-in kill or grind out small pots.  Oh, sorry.  I digress.

You should change modes depending on the situation. First, see if there's any one-shot type customers available. If so, go ahead and do the one or 2 dances with them. During your search, if you see a guy that you think might be "that one guy", work on him for a while. But know when to give up and stop spending too much time with one guy unless he's your regular.

I think you have to gauge your abilities and the amount of money that is possible to get from that one customer.  If you go for the big kill and miss, you may have wasted your entire night for nothing. However, if you go for the small bits, you may piss off your big tipper by not paying enough attention to him.  This is the type of balancing you will have to learn based on your own experiences.  This is exactly what makes the difference between a moderately successful dancer and one that makes the big bucks.

Q:
someone said that without the big spenders.... there is only so much that you could make...... is that true?
Z:
Depends on the club. If you're at a club that has 300 customers in it, you can get one dance from 10 percent of the customers and make a bunch of money. However, if you're at a club with 5 customers, you need one big spender or you won't make any money.

Q:
I heard that century lounge doesnt get the big spenders.... the guys who make a difference.... is that true and if so why?
Z:
I don't know if that's true. Every club has big spenders as far as I know. Some more than others.

Q:
and what about the newer clubs that have only been open a few years..... why is it more sit and talk?
Z:
A club that's been open a "few years", I wouldn't consider new since a new club opens just about every other month these days. Usually, new clubs are dead. If you're working at a dead club, you have to sit and talk to make your money. Just simple economics.