Several girls then want to talk to me.

We set up a meeting, after my work, in a neighborhood park.

The ambiance is grim.  One of the girls starts things off by saying, “The college entrance test
was almost all on things that we never studied.  I just guessed on many of the questions.  I guessed wrong.  I failed the college entrance test really bad.  I now don't even get a high school diploma.  I can't go to college.  What kind of a job can I get?”

I lecture, “You have basically one of three choices.  You can get your parents to support you.  You can join the thousands of high school graduates, scuffling for jobs flipping hamburgers, type of thing, when you don't even have a high school diploma or you can try to get a job as a bar dancer.”  I pause to let the shock sink in and I look around at faces full of despair.

One of the girls snaps, “The house that was a part of my parent's retirement plan is now worth less than nothing.  My parents now have to relocate, from Midway.  They now have to rent, after they come up with first and last month's rent, plus security deposit.  They might have trouble supporting themselves and no way can they support me.  I have this recurring nightmare about being trapped in a uniform and serving up hamburgers, on the midnight shift.  Can we talk about bar dancing?”

One of the other girls snaps, “Well, my parents can support me, if I work as a maid, mow the lawn, do all of the cooking and take in washing from the neighbors.”

The rest of the girls nod in defeated agreement.

I lecture, “I talked with the people who want to start up highway bar operations.  They need to attract in customers who are driving past on the highway.  In order to do that, they need topless dancers.  In addition to dancing topless, the topless dancers also have to work as topless waitresses.  Now, it's against the law for the customers to touch a dancer, on the stage.  That's easy to enforce.  It's also against the law for the customers to touch a waitress, delivering drinks.  That's very difficult to enforce, at least at the level of little quote, 'accidental' unquote touches.  That could be a deal breaker for some of you girls, since you never had a boy put his hands on certain parts of your body, when you were in the back seat of the boy's car.”

One of the girls smirks and asks, “What planet are you from?”

Okay, the accidental touch thing is a bit more prevalent than I thought.  However, if a horn dog goes past the little accidental touch, the bar has a policy called, 'Our way or the highway.'  The bar also has bouncers, whose knuckles drag on the ground, when they walk.  So, topless doesn't mean unprotected.”

One of the girls asks, “So, we hafta dance and then also waitress?”

The bar people tell me that the dancers make more money in tips, than the waitresses.  However, the dancers have to do hard, physical work.  The waitresses just sort of sashay around and recover.  Each task has its advantage and its disadvantages.”

One of the girls asks, “Do we get breaks”

I lecture, “Yes, they have to give you breaks, state law.  Now, you girls may already dance.  However, dancing topless is quite a bit different.  The female breast is not designed for rapid movement while dancing and you can get into what they call tit flop, which is not sexy and also physically harmful, if it continues long term.  You need to practice dancing topless, before you go for a job interview.”

One of the girls asks, “What kind of practice?”

Well, you can see strippers perform up in the Internet and you can figure out a routine, based on the moves that you see.  Basically, you need to move your lower body a lot, your upper body, not so much.”

One of the girls then asks, “Okay, we pretty much have to become dancers,  How much money can we make?”

I lecture, “Complicated answer.  The bar will pay you well below usual minimum wage, as they're allowed to do, since your main earnings will come from tips.