Las Vegas: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Ugly


Las Vegas, Sin city. A place where a person can enjoy all the wonderfulness of the seven deadly sins. All you have to do is have the right amount of money. In a city that started as a railroad town, then rebuilt by mobsters, the oldest occupation in the world still reigns(maybe not #1, but a close 2nd to these games of chance). Just slight below the lights and glitz of the large Vegas hotels and shows, there’re there, they’re everywhere. Although not yet up on billboards, well, actually they are now on these moving billboards stuck to trucks, the sex industry in Las Vegas is as prominent as ever.

It’s difficult to walk 20 yards on the Vegas strip without hearing a loud thumping paper sound all around you. To newbies, they are naturally curious and are drawn to the sound like sailors to the sirens (ok, I’m sure there’re better analogies, but I can’t think of any right now). Turning their head to see the source of the sound will immediately draw the attention of about a half dozen men/women dressed in bright T-shirts (it reads: Stripper straight to your room) ready to hand you flyers for “services”.

These things don’t bother me. I’ve seen them hundreds of times while in Vegas. It’s a job, guess someone has to do it. For most people too, I don’t think it bothers them too much. Most of the time, you see it and ask yourself, who would call these numbers? Who is looking for a stripper to come to their room?

While I was at the previously mentioned club at The Palms hotel, besides the ladies paid by the hotel to dance, there were always a couple of attractive young girls dancing on the stage area. Though no where near as good as the professionals, they moved their bodies well enough to be seductive. Is that odd for a couple of attractive girls to dance to awesome beats in a nice dark and cloudy room? No, not really. They were usually the only one (sometimes 2) dancing on a medium sized stage. I didn’t think it was strange, people like to dance, and did I mention there were sick beats being laid down?

Oh poor naïve me. As I would find out later, they weren’t there to dance for the beats.

So this is what I observed. The girls would dance out there and when they took a break, that’s when the guy(s) would approach them. They would move to the guy’s table for some small talk and conversation. After a few minutes, then begins the whispers to the ears. That is to be followed by the dancing girl writing a number on a piece of paper. I’m not quite sure what’s on that paper, but I assume it’s a phone number, as the guys would make a call right after this (I saw this several times). It would be a good 15-20min., but then, a small group of girls (or just 1, depends on what was ordered) would come in the club to join them. The original girl that was dancing would excuse herself back to the table she has started from (home base). After a short while, the guys and the new group of girl(s) would leave. The girl would start dancing once again.

This was all good and exciting. I was so proud that I figured out their system. With my mad enjoyment of the beats and not being able to comprehend much else, I was just happy and didn’t think much more of this.

We got back to our hotel around 4am. Though we were exhausted, we were starving. We walked around the hotel till we found the only place that served food (Yes, I was amazed too that there were not more options opened at 4 am). We sat at our seats, making conversations about other things that had gone on earlier that night. Soon after we sat down, I couldn’t help but stare at this couple that had walked in.

It was an old gentleman (not older, but old), with a very pretty blond that couldn’t have been that old (in a legal sense). They seem to be having a nice conversation. Much more touchy and excited than anyone should be at 4 am. After a bit, the man had gotten up to go to the restroom or something, and as soon as he did, the expression on the girl told a story. When the man left, she too went on a break. For the next few minutes, she could take off her bright, sunny, flirty disposition mask and relax. What was behind this mask was a sad and tired pair of eyes. Her face was too tired to smile; she aged years in front of my eyes, and had a general dread of that man coming back.

I imagined she would wish that man would never come back, that she can be paid tonight and be able to just go home. To just go home and sleep. This could just be me though, I’m just telling ya what I though I could see in her. After a while of the staring, she looked up at me, probably wondering why I’m staring at her. Probably too tired to care. I tried to smile at her, not in a hitting on fashion or anything, but more of a “hope things get better” sort of way. I know, she doesn’t need my pity, bla bla.. All this could just be in my head, and she could making loads of money and enjoying it, bla bla bla. This is my story, so just stay with me here.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I see the old man coming up the ramp. I looked back over at the girl and nodded my head towards the entrance. She looked up and started putting the mask back on, and started getting herself ready for the show. She greeted the man with a cheery smile. Soon, they were ready to leave. As they walked past our table, she bumped into my chair and touched my shoulder. This was probably purely accidental, but I like to think it was a little gesture of thanks. Yes, I know, I have crazy thoughts like that. Even if it’s just in my head it felt good.

When we left the café to go back up to our room, we ran into a guy with 2 very young ladies. The guy was so gross and greasy and obviously drunk. The 2 gals were so young that I was a bit embarrassed to look at them. When the elevator came, we let them take it by themselves. The last words I heard as the door closes was “so how much money do you have on you?”

I’m not sure why all this has affected me the way it has this time. It’s not as if I was naïve to seeing this type of thing or prostitution (esp. in Vegas) or how bad it is for some of them. I guess I finally saw the full cycle from the seemingly harmless little flyers that are handed out to the end result (well, not end, almost end result). Makes you think who these guys are who would do this, and who these girls are who thinks this is the only way to make money.

The Ugly.