Is being a "Shot Girl" an honest living?

ok, so last night was my first night as a Shot Girl at a local bar (and by local i mean on Bourbon Street since i live in new orleans). I carry a tray of test tube shots and sell em for $2 a pop. The job pays well and it's really fairly easy (although the music gives me a terrible headache and i dont really want to drink as many shots as i am bought, and people are upset when you refuse).
However, it's hard for me to draw the line between "working what god gave me" and wearing tight pants and a tiny tanktop and being verbally molested by drunk tourists
and
"whoring myself to the public" by acting like i have nothing to offer but a body to stare at.

this debate is rampant among friends and foe, and i was just wondering... for members of SG and SGs themselves, is this a degrading move? or is making $300 a night in tips a good way to pay off college loans?

[Edited on Apr 16, 2006 by plzspearbritney]

Money is money and we all need it, and when you look at the alternatives, you could be flipping burgers, you might not get hit on all the time, btu you'd spend every day getting grease burns and getting shit on by the general MORON public. Or you could be a desk monkey, stapling and filing junk that NO ONE will give a shit about in a years time. You wouldn't get hit on all the time, but you'd also die a little every day from tedious boredom. And likely no matter what you did, you wouldn't make a third of that amount for longer hours with far less pay and no work perks like bought drinks.

Be safe, take care of number one, and enjoy that shit while it lasts man, that's my two cents, and family who pisses on you for it aren't very good family and you might consider just loosing comtact with that sort, and any friend who would not be supportive of it, isn't a real friend anyway.

What are your goals?

What do you want out of life?

What is your timeline for the previous two questions?

Is this job supporting questions 1-3?

If you feel like it is degrading, then it is. Otherwise, no, it isn't. But there isn't anything inherently wrong with it, at least not to me.

Have a row of tubes filled with colored water that are just there for yourself when people offer to buy you shots. Other than that, meh, $300 a night will take a nice chunk off your loans in short time to be sure.

^^^ You don't need to pay off student loans right away, they are the best kind of loans you will probably get in your life. For not you can use the money for other things. Like:
Invest it. In mutual funds, or gold or something. Or buy some real estate and become a slum lord. Then retire.

Can't you tell people you're not allowed to drink on the job? I'd buy it. And if they ask why other shot girls can and you can't - you can always just say, long story, I'm not allowed to drink on the job, wink and smile - no worries.

I don't know if it's degrading. I think it's up to you as to whether or not it is. It'd be hard to turn down cash like that, and although I'm not sure you want to make it your permanent profession (you don't sound like it anyway) it might not be a bad thing to do for right now. If you're not happy with it, save up, invest, or start looking elsewhere.

I never found things like working at Hooters, or nude modelling, or anything else of that nature degrading to women (and my guess is that few other people on this site would either) simply because I felt as though the women in those professions know what they're doing (hopefully) - they're not being taken advantage of, but often times are taking advantage of the saps that give them money - see the difference? Anything can be empowering if you make it that way - but I guess it's hard to see it that way all the time.

Keep the job.

If you don't like the job, don't do it. You'll only become bitter. But if you don't mind the job and are making good money and don't feel like that if you don't quit now you never will, keep it. Essentially, what Paul9000 said.

Pfft.

$300!!!! a NIGHT!!! SUCK IT UP!

You've sprung a leak there.

So, just working 4 nights a week and pulling in $300 a night in tips, you can be making..

$62,400 a year + your pay - taxes. That is a shitload of cash to be raking in for a job that sounds only mildly annoying.

Now, given it is a job that isn't given a whole lot of credit by society, but you do realize that you have the potential there to make more money than people working grueling jobs for corporations that don't give a shit about whether they live or die?

If people are dimwitted enough to pay you good tips, because they stared at your body and got cheap thrills.. By all means take advantage of them. In an instant, the situation could be reversed with them paying you shit to come in and work 40 hours a week, get yelled at, and still get stared at by them.

The only reason I could see anyone not agreeing with your job is envy. I have to admit I myself am envious. $300 frickin dollars a night to give shots out and get stared at? Do they have shot boys? What the hell does it take to become one? I don't get paid that much and I do complicated shit that gives me a headache every day.

PS, you're 19...Save the money, buy property, pay off loans, get that sports car.


[Edited on Apr 16, 2006 by joker_c86]

use it while you got it.

you're 19, right? if i'd have known that getting my masters was just a longer road to starvation, i'd still be bartending. fuck what other people think. i have friends that barely make 300 a week doing something that they love. if you can do something that you may not like all that well and make five times more than some professionals and still have a million years to figure out what you wanna be when you grow up... i really don't see the point of trying to talk you into or out of it.

thanks everyone.. seriously, you helped.

on another note: girls on an average "good" night (fridays and saturdays are super busy) can sell 8-9 trays. They usually get about 300. Last night, first night, i started late, and was kind of getting used to it. I got about 140 for 5 trays. had to buy a shirt, a cab ride home, and ended up with 100 in cash exactly for 8 hours work.

honestly? i think the money's too good to deny for a short amount of time to pay off loans.

and of course, i'm gonna spend SOME of the money on myself.. otherwise it would be unbearable!

wow, i didn't realize shot girls really did make a lot of money.
my niece-in-law has told the family she is a shot girl in a nightclub in chicago.

i thought there was no way she could make so much money, and that perhaps she was really a stripper and just telling us that.

your working utopia right? those girls there are brave...i couldnt do it...the few times i went it was horrible...the money might be good but the job isnt...think about how it was before katrina..all the assholes that were there then...not just guy i mean people all together...i would go there and get molested and jerked around and i had more on than those girls did...there are plenty other bars that make great tips and have a more controled environment...now dont get me wrong im not say its a bad place to go...its a cool club and i can enjoy myself there but i dont think the girls are getting what they are working for...if your not working there and i got my clubs mixed...then do what you need to do..

+1

That is still the same amount I make, and I work my ass off for 9 hours daily.

Trust me, I'm looking for a new job as I speak, I almost got killed working other day.

Maybe I should get into bartending.

Word.

+1

I think maybe I need to rethink my career!


[Edited on Apr 16, 2006 by Kage]

Do they report your earnings to the government? Then it's an honest living.

Great way to turn down a shot, AND keep the customer happy (and coming back for more): "Oh sweetie, I just can't right now, but you come find me again later! *wink* *big smile*"

If it makes you feel like a whore, and you're uncomfortable with that, then don't do it. If, however, you're alright with the idea that a great deal of your money is probably made because men find you attractive (which comes into play with regular waitressing a bit, too, I'm sure), then there's absolutely nothing wrong with what you're doing. But by asking people on a message board if it's honest, it leads me to believe you're not comfortable with it. And $300 is not worth your dignity.

It could be worse:

"You wanna buy some death-sticks?"