If you care to learn more about me as the writer of this or any of my true stories, you can try reading the "Background" portion of my first submission titled "My Neighbor Jessica." On this story, I will skip that portion, although I think it is important to know how my upbringing contributed to the personality, character and esteem of my adulthood. You might also notice my vagueness when mentioning geographic locations and business names in an attempt to maintain some degree of anonymity.
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It was the mid 80s and my business travels took me to one particular southern collage town quite often. Some of these trips were for no more than one night, but others were for a week at a time and occasionally a stay would span through a weekend when all our business schedules were more abbreviated. This particular city had a lot to offer other than a major university, but I think the collage was a great contributor to the atmosphere and personality of the town, especially those involved in this story. There was also a quant entertainment district, mostly on one street close to downtown and there were other clubs and restaurants scattered across the city offering music of every imaginable genre and food from every imaginable cuisine.
My position with my employer was definitely what you would call middle management. This town was over 200 miles from my home and also from the branch office of my employer where I reported on a daily basis (even if by telephone), but was just 25 miles from the corporate office. I enjoyed both the working and social interactions of the office personnel ranging from the accounts payable staff to the officers and upper managers of the company, but all of them lived within commuting distance of the corporate office and most went home to their family every night.
The people I managed were typical construction people who traveled to each job site. I have said many times, it is difficult to find an educated, poised, well spoken, clean cut construction worker who will accept responsibility, who is also mobile enough to travel. If the ability to do construction work is a given and the ability to travel is the second most important prerequisite, you seldom, if ever get any of the other aforementioned qualities. That was the case with the people I was assigned to manage. It only took me about 2 or 3 months to get my fill of socializing with these people.
So I started looking for someplace to get away from them and my myself for a little while. As I traveled around town, going to different job sites, different suppliers, City permitting office and so forth, I passed by a building with no storefront or windows, and the business name did not adequately describe the type of business. For the purpose of this story I will call it "Magnolia." I asked someone what it was, and the answer I got was "It is a really nice strip club!" At that point in time, I had never heard the term "tittie bar." So one night I decided to see what it was all about and I must say, I was overwhelmed. There was nothing like this in my small home town and if there was in any of the other cities I had visited, I had not been there. There was a $1 cover charge and draft beer was $1 until about 8:00 pm. Many of the girls were university students and most of the "night girls" were really good looking. I started going two or three nights per week and being somewhat shy and inexperienced with such a thing, I kind of blended in with the crowd and spend maybe $10 to $12 per trip.
This continued for maybe two or three months and then we transferred to another city to do a major job there that kept me extremely busy for about two months. Based on the reviews of that project, I got a promotion to a newly created position leading several people that had my previous position. It was still necessary to go by the corporate office of my employer occasionally and they really did not care where I stayed when I was in from "out of town," so I sometimes stayed in the collage town with all the entertainment and dining options and I also still went by Magnolia occasionally.
I still remember the first day of February in '85 so very well. I had driven to a small town, right on the gulf coast. It was the last day of construction and turn-over of a project we did there. There was a rare cold front came it that pushed freezing temperatures all the way to the coast and even freezing precipitation almost that far. I left there around noon driving North into the increasingly bad winter storm as the roadways became glaed over with sleet. If you are from any of the States from Iowa to Pennsylvania, you may find this amusing and even unbelievable, but the winter storms we get in the South consist more of ice than snow. We do not have enough proper equipment to control the road conditions and people in the South do not know how to drive in these conditions. Just the trip we took that day would make up an entire story, although it would fall into the "non-erotic" category. I did finally make it home that night, but only by flying a part of the trip and renting a car for the weekend.
We had some new assignments and projects to start the next week, so on Monday 2/04/85, several of us met at the corporate office to dispatch to these new locations. It was still cold and still icy, but the main highways had been cleared, so driving from town to town was not that difficult. The most challenging assignment involved sending two responsible people to several coastal towns to do some equipment change-out in open restaurants. The people sent would need to be trustworthy, because they would carry a passkey capable of opening over 50 restaurants with the same brand name. They would also need to work in these restaurants, unsupervised at night during "closed" hours. There were only two employees, who would fit that criterion. They would need to drive a full size truck and pull a 16 foot utility trailer, both of which would start out fully loaded with this new equipment and would return fully loaded with the old equipment. Of the two candidates, one had both the integrity and the mechanical ability to accomplish the task, but he did not have a vehicle of any kind. The other one who was a very good friend of mine I had hired recently, had the integrity and the leadership ability, but he drove a small Jeep with no cargo capacity. I was the only person that had a full size truck capable of hauling that cargo and towing the loaded trailer at the same time, but I had the task of permitting multiple upcoming projects in that same collage town 25 miles away.
A decision was reached to trade vehicles with my friend driving the Jeep and the two of them would take my truck to the coast for the week. After everyone was dispatched, I made the 25 mile trip in the Jeep and registered into a motel, getting ready for three days of permit chasing. On Monday night, there were still spots of ice on side streets and any place not receiving direct sunlight during the day. The city seemed almost deserted. I was alone with nothing to do so I went to Magnolia. At this particular club, the building sets maybe 60 feet from the street curb. There are about 10 parks up there, which on busy night are overtaken with the "Valet Parking" attendants. Most of the parking is behind the building and the building next door. On that cold Monday night, there was no valet parking and there was actually one of those 10 parks available. With the maneuverability of the Jeep, I backed into the open of the parking space, leaving the driver's door about 30 feet from the entrance of the club and with a clear view of the front door.
I arrived just after 7:00 pm which was "shift change" and it was as dead inside as was indicated by the parking availability outside. There were more girls there (probably by taxi) than there were customers. As soon as I sat down, a good looking girl I had never seen before approached me and set down next to me. I first thought it was a scam because of something that happened years before when a dancer set down by me and when the waitress asked about me buying the lady a drink, I said "OK; what do you want?" The next thing I knew I was spending $20 for a champagne glass of "Champagne Cocktail," which was about 30 cents worth of cheap sparkling wine.
Well that didn't happen this time and over the next couple of hours , I had spent NO money on her and we were visiting and enjoying one another's company as if we were old friends. She said she was 23 and had just moved to that city from Phoenix with a girl friend (also 23) and neither of them knew anyone there. Her real name was Trish she said but she was dancing as Tracy. It was her first night to work there and her friend was working at another club I will call "Sweet Things."
I am going to interject something here that is derived from 25 years of visiting strip clubs or if you prefer, "gentlemen's clubs" scattered across the US, as well as a few in bordering countries. First, saying there is a "typical stripper" or "dancer" is like saying, "When I stop at the next red light, there will be a "typical" driver in the car to my right." The demographics may change according to the demographics of the city, the demographics of the State and even the neighborhood. The personality and the "liberties allowed" vary according to the local laws governing strip clubs as well as the management style of the club owners and managers. However, there is no "typical" stripper. On any "typical" night at Magnolia, there might be a college student actually trying to pay for her education. There might also be a "wild child" girl from a rich family several hundred mile away, who was there dancing to live out her exhibitionist fantasies while making extra spending money for clothes. That same girl, who's rich father sent her to this high profile university hoping a refined and educated young lady would return, might be there to support her cocaine habit. Some girls recognize the fact that if you are 21 to 30 years old and blessed with a great body, there is just no place to make easier money. There are so many other examples, it would take too long to list, but I do think I will write another true story about my experiences and observations in the strip clubs across America.
If I had to put Tracy (Trish) into a category, I would say she was one who recognized the opportunity she had by using her beautiful and natural body and face to make an easy living. I would also guess, because she had just moved from Phoenix, that she was using this particularly slow night (which just happened to be her first night) as sort of an OJT or "on job training." When the girls outnumber the customers, no one is going to make any real money. The club should not be judged by this night, because of the obvious weather influence. So I think she was smart enough to recognize the facts and used this slow night to get her feet wet so to speak. She felt comfortable and secure setting with me while she met a few other dancers, met some of the wait staff and got a "feel" for what was happening. That does not explain why she didn't want at least one drink or why she did not once mention me getting a table dance.
As we were sitting together, another customer setting several feet away managed to get her attention somehow that I failed to see. She said, "Excuse me" and got up to approach him. After just a few seconds, she returned to say, "That guy wants to buy a dance, do you mind?"
