Good Bye, Alexander's

As many know from social media I was recently fired from my club, Alexander's, where I've worked at for the last 4 years (5 years would have been exactly a month from when I was fired). I was fired for a comment I made to someone else on social media. My social media, my post, and the comment had really nothing to do with Alexander's but I'm probably getting ahead of myself.

Lets start at the beginning!



Over the last two years, I've been pondering if Alexander's is where I should be. Alexander's wasn't making me better; wasn't not making me happy.... hadn't for a long time. It is often said that we don't quit jobs, we quit managers. As a strip club manager, the bar is pretty low in my mind. So, I never seriously thought about quitting. It was not a choice I wanted to make. I enjoyed my customers and my co-workers.

One particularly bad night, I sat there looking at the little pile of money I made and thought long and hard about what Alexander's could give me. I realized that being there was damaging to my mental health in natural development terms. I knew that I needed to pick up another club. I needed more exercise, more money but I loved my co-workers too much to quit. Plus the paychecks from Alexander's went towards several conveniences so I didn't have to worry about which site was going to "payout" in time for this, that or the other thing. Plus it also took care of my taxes. I didn't have faith that The Alexander's Facebook page or music computer would be taken care of so that the girls could make the most of their night.

One day, when I was off from Alexander's a friend invited me to go to Body Shop and audition. I'd been to Body Shop once before for this same reason two years prior. Another period where I felt like Alexander's management was failing the girls and no one seemed to care. I received positive push from my family who had been watching my mental and physical health decline because of Alexander's.

I walked in and Ray remembered me, reminding me of the previous audition. I had not stayed long the previous time, I'd walked out on Alexander's that night. The general manager,  Tony called me the next morning and promised me everything I wanted to hear to come back to Alexander's.

I knew it would be completely different this time. The manager was not a punk kid on a power trip, the current manager was/is a close friend to Tony. Also, my problems with Alexander's were apparent and many, they were also not something they are willing to change cause I've been begging, complaining and imploring people of power to act to put the club back to the way it had been under Tony (yes, the, now, general manager), Harry, Vern, or Steve.  That was not something that they were interested in. They were more interested in blaming the dancers for the shortcomings of the bar. They'd rather see the surface problem of the girls not making dances as a reason to take even more money from these girls who's morale was draining fast.

Over my time at Alexander's the house fee has only ever applied to "if you don't make dances" but it started at 5 then 10 they threatened $20 and that is when I knew it was time to create a side hustle and sure soon enough they were starting $20 for Friday's and Saturdays with the "plan" to move it to all days. While still making the occupancy of the bar 16-24% dancers.

Alexander's isn't healthy enough for that. Most clubs in this current economic climate aren't. The economy is suffering and the first thing that gets cut when belts get tightened is "luxuries" and guess what category "strippers" fall under in the average budget.

Many of Alexander's girls (new & old) weren't making the $10 fee some nights, let alone having something to take home. The problems circling this were many but no one wanted to listen to me about how girls were suffering. Employees that feel appreciated work harder. It fell on deaf ears, so I started doing Monday days at Body Shop. It was a bit of a stretch for my family but we made it work. Being at Body Shop renewed my hustle and I started pushing at Alexander's the same way I was doing at Body Shop.

Alexander's customers remained BAFFLED and offended that half-naked woman was asking for $25 to privately dance for them in an "adult entertainment" establishment. People started to talk and even though I was only promoting being at Alexander's, people started asking "is it true you're at Body Shop?" I figured it was probably time I stepped out and stated I'm at both clubs. No favorites from me, so pick your favorite club or choose the day that works best for you. The post was a picture of me from each club, side by side. Jeff, the head of hiring at Body Shop made a comment that I seemed happier at Body Shop. He wasn't wrong, I tend to always be happier when I hear YES! more than UM? GO AWAY and I had no problem pointing out that I was. Customers understanding that dances and to a lesser degree tipping is expected.  Yay! Body Shop didn't see the point of running their girls ragged for customers that weren't tipping or do dance. Plus Body Shops management had no loyalty to me but they protected me, looked out for me and actively worked to help me make money in a way I'd only seen myself do at Alexander's it was nice to have a managerial staff generally care about its workforce. I included that in my comment to Jeff by stating "Body Shop gives a shit about its dancers".

Alexander's head manager Johnny didn't like that. He took that as a personal insult. Cause he honestly believes that the characteristics he displays are those of respect and traits that any good manager should embody. I disagreed. I was not silent about that and much like a lot of girls who quit because of Johnny, they all quit under the grounds that Alexander's was wanting in a lot of areas that affected girls safety, anonymity, & bank account.

But that's not important to this story. 6 days after my comment to Jeff on MY public post on MY Instagram promoting ME at the two clubs I was working at Johnny saw it and had no problem messaging me.

Why was I still at Alexander's if the Body Shop management was "so much better than Alexander's" and to be honest that was a question I'd been asking too. Really it came down to my co-workers and customers. I enjoyed them so much that I was becoming ok with the extra tip out cause Body Shop was taking care of my shopping addiction and my tip out for "No dances" at Alexander's so whatever I was able to scrape by on top of the paycheck mad everything CAKE. I dared to even dream of some really awesome cosplays I might be able to put together after a couple of months of doing this... especially with tax season and spring/summer rapidly approaching.

Johnny was exceptionally upset over that comment but truth be told I never believed he liked me. I was always the one pointing out "No, that's against health code/the law/owners rules" but he never had a reason to fire me until this moment. He took the chance and not only that berated me for 30 minutes via FB messenger. Telling me how ungrateful I was because I was treated "like gold" at Alexander's. He took that simple comment about Body Shop caring more as almost a personal insult...but also a direct "put down" on Alexander's.

Gold is worth a lot but platinum is worth more. Platinum being worth more is not a "put down" to gold.

I wasn't about to explain logic and reason to Johnny. He'd proven time and time again that that was not the man he was in any social gathering. 

I confirmed Johnny was firing me.
Told him "ok, if that's the way you want it" and ended up having to block him to guarantee that his circular conversation with pretty much himself (about what a "cancer" I was) in my inbox STOPPED.

He'd already spent months in person, at the club making sure everyone knew that he could replace them at the drop of a hat. (Cause that breeds loyalty? Unity? Hard work?) We'd all see the drug addicts, and cock junkies he'd "replaced" girls with... so I immediately messaged Jeff and confirmed one thing that Johnny said was true.
Body Shop would happily welcome me more than 1 day a week.

So... now you're caught up.