No-Pays and Theft: Prevention, the Bouncer and the Police Report

The way to handle a customer who will not pay is to have been paid already: cash for the dances before the first song, the room fee and your fee before the door closes, no IOUs from anyone, regulars included. When prevention fails, you leave the booth and tell the bouncer immediately, because the club has more ways to collect than you do, and most clubs will. If he put hands on you, that is a separate matter from the money, and it is still assault inside a VIP room; dancers have filed police reports and you can too.

Safety point first: unpaid is unsafe

A customer who has not paid has nothing to lose by behaving badly, and a dancer who is owed money has a reason to stay in a room she should leave. Being paid first fixes both. Lily T.'s beginner guide puts the rule in capitals: do not start a VIP until he has paid the room and paid you, and if he cannot, leave the room and tell the bouncer. Dancers Information lists collecting before you dance among its top tips for the same reason. Treat the money as the door lock. Nothing starts until it is turned.

Prevention: the only system that works

• Dances: cash in hand before the first song, or the club's scrip if that is the house system. For a multi-song set, collect for the number he agreed to and renegotiate at the end if he wants more.
• Rooms: the club collects its fee at the door; you collect yours before you sit down. For long rooms, dancers report asking for two hours up front and topping up from there.
• Card: if the club runs cards, know what the processing cut is before you quote, and raise the price to cover it. Card payouts arrive at the end of the shift minus the house's fee; see /advice/funny-money-and-card-payouts.
• Funny money: know the exchange rate before you accept it. The Billfold's account of club scrip makes clear it converts at a worse rate than cash, and a dancer who takes it without knowing the rate has already been shorted.
• Keep your own count. Kat's traveling guide insists on a personal dance tally checked against the house at cash-out, because the house's number is not always yours. More in /advice/counting-songs-and-checking-the-house.

The regulars exception does not exist. KatrinaDancer, with eighteen years in, is one of many vets who describe a trusted regular's tab being the first thing to go wrong when the relationship cooled. "You know I'm good for it" is a sentence that costs dancers real money every week. The line back is warm and immovable: "I know you are, and I still get paid first. Club rule." The full version of the rule is at /advice/paid-up-front-every-time.

What do I do if a customer refuses to pay after a dance?

Stop, leave the booth, and go straight to the nearest bouncer or floor manager, with the booth number, the amount and what happened. Do not argue in the booth, do not block the door, do not raise your voice at him, and do not accept a partial payment as a settlement while you decide. The club's staff can hold him at the door, refuse him entry next time, and in most clubs will make him pay or put him out; a dancer alone can do none of that. Speak to them before he reaches the exit. The longer the gap between the dance and the report, the more it looks like a disagreement rather than a theft.

Clubs vary in how much they back dancers on this, which is one of the questions to ask working dancers before you take a job. A club where security shrugs at no-pays is a club where you will be shorted repeatedly, and that belongs in your decision about /advice/when-to-switch-clubs.

Theft from you

Your money is at risk from the moment you take it. Keep cash on your body, in a garter or a rubber band at wrist or ankle, and move it to a padlocked locker during the shift rather than carrying a whole night's take onto the floor. Do not leave a bag or phone unattended in the dressing room; theft between dancers happens, however little anyone wants to say so. Do not display earnings, count money on the floor, or tell a customer how your night is going. At the end, count in the dressing room, not the parking lot, and have security walk you out (see /advice/leaving-the-club).

Should I report a customer to the police?

For a no-pay alone, rarely worth it; the amounts are small, the club handles it, and the evidence is one word against another. For assault, yes. KatrinaDancer filed a report after a customer tried to choke her in a room, and her point is one newer dancers need to hear: an assault in VIP is still an assault, the law does not stop at the booth curtain, and a report creates a record even if nothing comes of it immediately. Tell security first, get the manager to preserve any camera footage, write down what happened while it is fresh, and make the report. If the club discourages you, that tells you something about the club.

Afterwards

Note the customer in your book, with the date and what happened, and tell the dancers around you the same night, in the factual form described in /advice/sharing-bad-customer-info-safely. A no-pay who gets away with it comes back and does it to the next dancer. Then let it go for the night; dancers who let one stolen sixty dollars ruin the next three hours lose more to the mood than to the man.

Do this tonight

• Collect before every dance and every room, and say the rule out loud to anyone who hesitates.
• Know your club's card cut and scrip rate before you quote a price.
• If anyone refuses to pay, walk straight to the bouncer before he reaches the door.
• Keep your own song count and check it at cash-out.