If you ever felt sorry for the ladies who spend their evenings taking their clothes off to jiggle and grind for strip club customers, perhaps it's time to reconsider. The Post chats up several of the ladies who work the floor at Rick's Cabaret near Madison Square Garden and find out that many of them are doing quite well. How well? So well that many of them probably sent letters of support to Mayor Bloomberg when he decided to clear Zucotti Park since the most successful are entrenched members of the 1%. The top earners can make between $600,000 and $800,000 a year, and say that the secret to succeeding in the strip club game is to connect with the clients, brush up on current events so they can converse in between songs, and find a way to lure dudes from the main floor upstairs to a private room where rates jump from $20 a song to $600 an hour.
As for Rick's, the club is happiest when the dancers keep the customers buying drinks and bottles of champagne, and a good week can generate almost $300,000 in sales. The only money that a lap dance generates is a percentage of the credit card charges and the $200 that each lady pays to the house for the privilege of dancing in the house. Everyone gets paid and goes home happy, right? Not exactly. Not every dancer makes this much, and they describe the difficulties in having relationships outside of the strip club world. Tear.
· Inside Secrets of Top Paid Strippers [NYP]
· Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~]