Door Girl

I went to the store for groceries this morning. I got what I wanted and headed to the checkout lanes. Three checkout girls were in a group discussing something. I overheard one girl say something about “girls were letting it all hang out.” One of the girls peeled away from the group and offered to check out my purchases. Her name tag read “Megan.” She looked young, but she had to be at least 18; she was at work instead of at school. She had long, brunette hair with a lot of curls and waves. I started talking with her.

“Girls were letting it all hang out? Where was that?” I asked.

“We were talking about my other job,” Megan said. “It’s at a strip club.”

“Are you a stripper?” I asked.

“Not yet,” she said.

“Working your way up to stripper?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“What do you do there?”

“I’m a door girl.”

One of the checkout girls asked her about the pay. It turns out a door girl makes fifty bucks a night plus tips.

“Do you get a cut of everyone’s tips?” I asked.

“Not unless I have to watch the lap dances.” Megan replied.

“Is this place you work in Richmond?” I asked.

“Yeah. Do you go to the strip clubs in Richmond?”

“No,” I answered. “I’ve been to a few elsewhere. San Francisco, Denver, L.A. But not here.” And I could have added: and not in a very long time.

For me, going to a strip club was something to do when my employer sent me across the country to a “big city”, especially if there were three or four guys traveling together. We would work a normal eight-hour shift and then … what? Go to a restaurant, go back to the hotel, watch a little TV, get bored … and go out on the town. And where do three or four males go when they’re in a new city and want to “go somewhere fun”? Hint: not to the museum.

I gave Megan a final glance and headed out the door. She was cute, but it seemed to me she was not quite stripper material. Except for the hair. The hair was excellent. But the rest of Megan was more, well … door girl. But don’t read that as a putdown of Megan. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with not looking like a stripper.