Sunday did not start well. Two young guys came in and one wanted me. We did the tour, we went in my room and spoke. He wanted 30 minutes of sex for $100. Not going to happen. Hell, I was giving him a deal with my counter offer, not that the dumbass was capable of realizing this. He claimed someone had done this deal for him before at this place. (This is possible, it’s also possible she lied to him about the 30 minutes to take his money, but it leaves idiots like him thinking he can get away with this shit all the time. Again, the whole “negotiate down” thing endemic to this brothel is not really in our best interests.)

I left him sitting at the bar.

Later that day, I had a guy choose me and I booked him. I had gone through a couple lineups by this point and the young guy I’d turned down had taken to making remarks under his breath while I was in the bar. After I processed the payment, the bartender started my clock. It’s unclear what happened after this.

One theory is that she simply set the wrong time. The bartender believes the boy got behind the counter (while she was elsewhere) and messed with my timer (no final word from the security camera check the next day – so I don’t know). At any rate, I’m a professional and have a clock in my head, so I was out when I was supposed to be out. But when the bartender figured out what happened, she did not kick the boys out. In a strip club, they’d be long gone. She’s small and soft-spoken. They did not leave.

I started feeling unsafe.

They spent all day drinking. They even spent some time in the parking lot, harassing one girl who checked on her car. They weren’t thrown out, even though by this time they’d taken a tour and been turned down by every girl in the place.

I was so glad when they finally left without causing more trouble. I really hate guys under 30 (sorry, boys).

Then it was discovered that $400 was missing from the register. Chaos.

Another bartender comes in, drunk (it was supposed to be her night off). We get talked to, the cash register is gone over again and again. There is more drinking. We’re all lined up in the bar and a customer buys drinks. I sip on a glass of wine; others are less restrained.

A customer calls and the bartender scares him off. Another one comes in, we get the lineup bell, but the lineup never happens. He leaves and we get talked to. More drunkenness ensues.

I’m scared. My life is in these people’s hands. The brothel is locked down; if something bad happens I can’t get out besides the front door (my window opens into an inner courtyard with a padlocked gate). The situation feels wildly out of control and there is nothing I can do, not even leave – which is the one thing I really want to do.

I say nothing, drink my drink and go to my room. Lock the door. Try to sleep. Hope no one else comes in.

Drunk people with issues is one of the reasons I burned out on stripping. This is even scarier to me because the system has forced me to depend on these people for my safety. There is no safety if their minds are altered. There is no such thing as a bouncer in this brothel. I wish there were.

And I’m just embarrassed when customers come in and can hear yelling and drama in the bar or in the parlor just beyond it. No way to run a business of seduction.

This was a real wake-up call for me. The frailties of the brothel system are clearly exposed.

PS: It turns out no money was missing from the register. Someone just miscounted some receipts or something. We didn’t find this out till Monday morning.

16 thoughts on “the wheels come off — day 5

  1. Please be safe and take care of yourself. I suppose if you had the sheriff’s office phone number on speed dial, you could call for the cavalry to come and rescue you.

  2. As I am sure you have already discovered, the brothel which you are now at is somewhat out of the way. I’m sure you have done your own research, but the brothels near Vegas or Reno cater to tourists who have more disposable income.

    The info I am going to provide you comes from being a client and knowing various working ladies.

    Near Vegas, the brothel which has the best conditions for ladies is Sheries,
    http://www.sherisranch.net/ . Stay away from the Cherry patch, as it is almost 3rd world like. The downside of Vegas is a lot of ladies and competition.

    Near Reno, the most lady friendly one is the wild horse ranch:
    http://thewildhorse.com/

    The sagebrush ranch, http://www.sagebrushranch.com/ is another good one.

    The Moonlight bunnyranch has gotten all of the publicity from the cable show, but I think they have shot themselves in the foot by making the ladies believe that $2000 an hour is the norm. There are not that many guys who can or will pay that much, but there seems to be pressure from the other ladies to ask for a lot of money. The end result, I am afraid, is that ladies wind up sitting around because they can’t get the good prices they want and there is pressure to ask for unrealistic proces.

    It has been a few years since I have been to any of the houses, but I think an attractive lady like yourself should not have any trouble getting something like $400-$500 for a half and half that lasts 30-45 minutes.

    Again, I have not been there in a while, so I am not up to date on the prices.

    It may be none of my business, but I think you would do better in one of those places.

  3. Amanda,

    Can you actually get out the front door in case of an emergency? Or are you seriously “locked in” like a caged animal? I know the question is plebian but after reading your latest blog, I’m rather concerned.

    Hugs,
    Elisabeth

  4. My goodness!! What a blog!

    Sweet Amanda, I am so happy you’ve been blogging about your experiences. I have read each post (since I discovered them earlier), and will be logging in each day to read more. I miss chatting with you on the phone on a regular basis.

    The situation you’re in really sounds awful. Honestly, you’re saving a lot of women from a lot of trouble by blogging. But at the same time, believe it or not, some of it sounds appealing (the legality, not having to worry about what you say, etc.). As a stripper, I was fabulous at negotiating, so I think I could do that very well, and maybe I can teach you some techniques that could be transferable to a brothel situation (will ask more about specifics once you’re reachable by phone again).

    So, can you not tell them (like the guy who wanted it all for a hundy) that if that’s what they got from another lady, then he is more than welcome to find that other lady? That you’re simply not interested? I guess that’s what you did.

    The drunk thing really bothers me, as does the locked-in thing. Why is it locked? To keep you in or to keep crazies out? Either way, I think of the Thai ladies who were burned in brothel fires because they were locked in. Not safe at all. Where is Bella during all of this? Have you yet had the chace to speak to her?

    Please let me know if I need to do a rescue run!! I will drive up there in a split second to get you if I have to.

    In the meantime, I hope you are at least making enough money to make your adventure worthwhile on some level. It sure is an education…perhaps another chapter of an upcoming Handbook edition?

    Another fascinating aspect of your blog is how lucky we are to be independent. The ambiguous legality of independent companionship is a small and silly concern compared to what you are dealing with there. Whole ‘nother animal, eh?

    Sending you love and safety vibes!!
    Holly

    PS- Aspasia, it is sooooo good to see you online! I loved meeting you in person!!

  5. Oh- and Elisabeth- nice to see you here too!! 🙂 You’ll go with me if we need to do a Special Forces rescue mission, yes? 😀

  6. Amanda,

    Your experiences remind me why I don’t see anyone but true indies. I’d rather be turned down by classy ladies in a free enterprise zone than feel like somebody has to take me to make the house happy with her.

    Take care of yourself. It looks from the comments that you have staunch supporters.

  7. Randy,

    That’s a good idea. Thank you! I had not thought of getting the police involved — probably because most sex workers don’t.

    Ed,

    I had considered one of the ranches near Vegas, but they seemed EXTEMELY rule-heavy and restrictive (Sheri’s won’t allow me to have my laptop — I asked). Bella gave a great presentation at Desiree Alliance and they have been supportive of me. The money is probably better at one of the brothels you mentioned (and I may well try one of them anyway), but not sure the same issues won’t plague them too.

    Elisabeth,

    When the alarm is set, the brothel is locked down. The inner courtyards (alarm goes off if I open the door) are fenced and padlocked. I’d have to be able to climb. The only way out is the front door — also hooked up to the alarm but uses a buzzer-button.

    Holly,

    Great to see you here! Yay!

    I don’t think I need rescued yet, I do have my car here. Stripper skills would come in handy and you KNOW I never mastered that! I don’t mind turning guys down, but it’s not part of being a team player. This is SUCH a whole other animal. I’m not the one to write the book on it — there are a couple ladies here so much better at this.

    The pros and cons of this I leave to each person. I’m only discovering what does and doesn’t work for me.

    As for the lockdown — I think it’s mostly to keep us in. Partially brothel rules to prevent drug and alcohol abuse, partly local town rules (no hookers allowed out after 5pm). There is an exit right by my room in case of fire, but it leads to one of the inner courtyards.

    Betelgeuse,

    Thanks for the support. I’d rather be approached by guys who like ME as opposed to thinking they’re just getting a cheap piece. Though yesterday I had a good day with a few guys who really did like me, bought an hour’s time and we had great fun. I can’t chalk it up to any skills of mine, only that I look worth spending money on.

    The system needs an overhaul. We SO need a sex worker-run co-op brothel in Nevada. We could make the happiest clients and happiest workers.

    XX

  8. So many things sound wrong with the brothel where you are that I don’t know where to begin. Other Brothels have a business office that is separated by a dutch door from the hall that handles all of the timers and payments. They are not trying to serve drinks or run a bar at the same time they are handling payments and the timers are not accessible for a client to play with.

    Unfortuneately it is hard to get a Brothel license and many Bothels use the laws in ways to really control the ladies in ways that they were not designed to do.

    As I said, you might want to consider the Wild Horse in Reno or the Sagebrush in Carson City (Carson city is in between Reno and Lake Tahoe–two good tourist spots). Both Brothels most assuredly do allow laptops and are not locked down like Vegas Brothels. I am not affiliated with either one, I have just visited them.

  9. Ed,

    Reading your first comment again, at Bella’s it’s $600/hr, so the rates you mentioned are really no different — unless that’s the minimum at the other ranches. In which case it would be different.

    I might try another brothel or two in Nevada, just to get a range of experience, though it won’t be soon. I’m missing my life right now and really want to get back to it.

    Bella’s is a mom-and-pop operation (one bartender aptly describes it as such). There are pros and cons to this.

    For the record, I’d like to point out that the bartenders and Shaunia have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and capable. So the problems I have with how their business is run is very conflicting. I am being very honest here in my blogging. And I worry about repercussions from that honesty. It’s yet another conflicting thing arising from this experience.

    I’m not sure whether I’d like just being another face/number in a larger brothel or not; or if that’s even how they’re run. Guess I’ll have to find out…

    XX

  10. I have not been to the Reno Brothels in a while, so the prices may be higher now than I remember them. I would supect that $400 for a half and half that lasts 40 minutes is considered a good price.

    Prices are often hard to pin down because men may exaggerate on how low of a price they paid while women may exaggerate on how high of a price they made. Also, the price doesn’t have to be specified for time but often the acts which may conclude in 20-40 minutes. Most guys just mention acts without mentioning time. I have never had a lady specify time unless I asked about it.

    The big thing with the northern houses is that you would get a better class of customers who are not trying to nickle and dime you and more interested in better parties rather than the house minimum.

    Also, the norhern Nevada houses are more laid back in that they are not typically lockdown nor do they prohibit you from having a laptop.

    I am not even sure that those houses have a house minimum. If it is, it is usually specified for oral or a handjob only and not intercourse. So if a guy wants to spend $100 he gets $100 worth, but it may not be what he wants in time or activities.

    It is kinda strange the whole negotiation process. For readers unfamiliar with it, the lady takes the client for a tour, then asks him what he wants and what he wants to spend. One former brothel lady told me that the first person who mentions price looses.

    The whole negotiating thing is very awkward for me, and a lot of other guys.

    Think about it, you want to have a great “party” with a lady. If figure that she is going to take your starting price as a lowball figure you might bid lower than you really want to pay or have the money to pay. But isn’t this sort of an insult to her? Likewise, if the lady opens by saying that she gets $2000 an hour, as some do, even if it is a negotiating bid and she doesn’t expect it, I would feel strange offering $500 for a half hour. The bottom line is when did haggling for a car ever leave you arroused?

    Not all women who work at brothels are like this in terms of unrealistic opening prices, but a lot more have picked up on it since Cathouse has aired on HBO. This is one advantage I see of the escort route where the price is upfront and available.

  11. Wow. Just….wow. lol

    Maybe it would be different at another place. I don’t see how it could be too much worse than what you’re encountering there. I hope you’re at least making enough to make it worth all the shit you’re having to go through.

    And I’m with Holly. If we need to come out and go all Delta Force on someone…

  12. Ed,

    I seriously do hate the whole idea negoiation to begin with. I like escort’s flat-rate system. It was very easy and worked for my clients and I. I always knew this would be a problem for me in the brothels and I am right. There is no way to do a great negoiation without subtly insulting one party or the other. Again, the system is set up to cause problems — IMO.

    Alexa,

    I can just see you going Delta Force 🙂

    I’m okay right now. And I’ll be trying to work my ass off this weekend (hopefully not literally) and come home with decent money. Though again, the whole “volume” concept in this house is not quite how I prefer to make my money. My profit margin is probably not going to be as big as I want it to be. The work is not as easy as I thought it would be and controlling my knee-jerk reactions to Bubba is nearly impossible.

    Still ruminating on various class issues. Oh yeah, they’re there.

    XX

  13. Oh Amanda!

    I’m really worried about you! I don’t like that situation out there at all, though like Holly mentioned, the legality is attractive. But I don’t like the drunkenness either; I don’t tolerate it in my personal life and I don’t want to tolerate it in my professional life either, which is why most of the higher-end indie escorts explicitly request the client remain sober during appointments. I can see a lot of indies not liking the brothel setup.

    Okay, I am officially keeping you in my thoughts. I really wish another attendee from the Conference was out there with you. Solidarity and all that. But I know you’ll be careful. You’re a smart, capable woman. And I’ll TOTALLY find some way to come in there guns blazing if I have to, to get you out of there! Me and Holly can team up. I mean, I don’t know Kung-Fu but I DO know Cray-Zay!

    And Ed, you’re awesome. I want to try the brothel thing at some point, perhaps, so your suggestions are helpful.

    Smooches and hugs,

    Aspasia

    PS. Hi Holly! *waves* It was great to meet you too! We’ll keep in touch!

  14. You can leave anytime you want. You walk out the front door and are gone. You just can’t come back if you don’t stay the length of time you agreed to when you went to work there. There are many other brothels in Nevada that are much nicer and are also “female friendly”. I know I have worked them.

  15. Apparently the Mustang Ranch has security and has been remodeled to be really nice… I’d definitely check it out. Friends went there and visited and know a girl who was working there who loved it.

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