More on strip clubs:Twenty Hours in a New York Strip Club My Night In the Magical World of Male Strip Clubs Strip Clubs Are Being Wiped Out of the South Bronx
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Walking into a strip club is a lot of pressure for the uninitiated. The workers offer a sexy service, but what do you do with your hands? What DON’T you do with your hands? To shed some light on the unwritten rules of interacting with strippers, and thus make the whole experience better for everybody, we went right to the source.A couple months ago, photographer Amy Lombard and I spent nearly 24 hours in Show Palace, one of the only all-nude clubs in New York City. Although we spent the entire lifecycle of a mayfly there, we sensed that the stories we heard were only the tip of the iceberg. So we decided to go back to learn more from the strippers and the club manager about their job, their clients, and how to behave in a strip club.Over the course of a lazy Sunday night (lazy because who goes to a strip club on Sunday?) we hung out in the dressing room with the dancers, who told us their best stories, advice, and tips from working in the industry. These are their words:
1. DON'T TRY TO HAVE SEX IN THE STRIP CLUB
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I don't know if they're serious or not, but I've had guys offer me like $1,000. And I'm like, Listen, I don't have sex for money. If you would just sit back and relax, you could enjoy your dance. It's very irritating. Men need to just try to understand the limits. Enjoy the club for what it is instead of wishing it was a brothel. — Jennifer
I had a girl in the private dance room. We have cameras, you know; we watch the private rooms. She was bent over and she broke the cardinal rule: Never let the guy stand up. So the guy was standing up pretending to like dry hump her from the back, and then he pulled his dick out like he was going to put it in and I was here watching the cameras and caught it. But she was scared. We immediately grabbed the guy and let him out (not so nicely). You can't violate the strippers. You cannot do that. — Mike Diaz, ManagerA guy will pull his dick out a couple times a week, usually in the private rooms. I just go, "You got to put that away," and some guys won't. So I just go, "I'm walking out if you don't put that away," and that tends to work. I think I've only had one guy I've had to walk out on in the six years I've been dancing. Most guys are good about it and do what you say. — Jennifer
2. BE NICE, NOT CREEPY
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But today he brought me cupcakes! He said, "I was at my job, and I was thinking about how precious you are, and so I made you some cupcakes." — Asia
3. WEAR DEODORANT
4. YOU'VE GOT TO PAY FOR FETISH PLAY
There was a guy who liked to dress up as a woman. He put on one of the dancer's clothes, G-string, everything. She let him wear them. Recently, on the day that they changed the law where homosexuals could get married everywhere, he walked around the club in a G-string and a dress and he got on the pole and started dancing. Everyone left him alone though. He had a lot of money—like a few thousand. — Paloma
5. Lap Dance Etiquette: Don't Come In Your Pants
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6. RESPECT THE DANCERS
7. DON'T ASK STRIPPERS TO MARRY YOU
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8. BE COOL AND KEEP IT PROFESSIONAL
"If I went out with everyone that asked me, I wouldn't have free time." –Jennifer
I get asked out five to ten times a night and I'm just like… I tell them they have to come back if they want to. They got to see me here a couple times first because otherwise how do I separate the good from the bad? I can't tell who you are in a half-hour. If there's a genuine chance I might want to see them again I tell them to come back and we'll see. I try to be pretty honest about it, and guys that I would never see outside I'm like, "Sorry, I don't see customers outside of work." Plus, if I went out with everyone that asked me, I wouldn't have free time.But I have a couple people that I've made friendships with inside the club and I see them sometimes. I used to have a customer who, on my birthday every year and at Christmas, would take me to a Broadway play and a nice dinner at one of the restaurants around Broadway. That was cool. — Jennifer
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