Making Love in the Club, The Truth

Anya's Theory of Relativity states that if you do something naughty in the presence of people who are doing something even worse, it doesn't feel so wrong. It's why company we keep is so important that it's made many a cliche status- birds of a feather.

The regular ol' nine-to-five may just now be opening up to the acceptance of romance in the workplace as people spend more and more of their time in the office, but the counterculture of the service industry never had boundaries written into their company policy handbook. When getting people intoxicated is actually a job responsibility, keeping sex out of it is too much to ask. Add getting naked to that as well. Basically, as I've probably mentioned before, there's lots of hooking up in the club. But love in the club? Never seen it. Has there been a restaurant or club reality show yet? I'd be surprised if the sensationalism-seeking producers of Hollywood hadn't already come with one.

If you're paying attention to what's considered today's popular culture, you already know that sex has become an American national pastime. It's true in other places as well, but since we own the media and spread our ideas all over the world, I think we're a major catalyst in the creation of the Recreational Sex League. The League is made up of bed-hoppers who are openly indiscriminate- because according to the world of new music videos, movies and television it's the way of the future. If she's a whore and she's okay, then the fact that I have sex now and again with only a couple must not be a big deal. Ugh.

Of course there are other bad behaviors that go hand in hand with this. Drugs play a huge role- alcohol included. It's easier to abuse alcohol when people around you are snorting cocaine and popping pills of ecstasy. Lying is a common theme as well. Not only are people in these atmospheres lying about the way they look, how much money they make, how promiscuous they are, or what they do for fun- they lie about everything. After working in a strip club off and on for years and claiming people from there as my friends, I actually can count the number of people I trust from there on my one hand. Half a hand, maybe. Lying just comes with the territory. Two girls I thought I could trust at one point now hate each other and call the other a liar. Who to believe? How about nobody? Whether it's big or small, people lie for all different reasons: to keep up a false appearance- hide a lover or a habit, to avoid responsibility, to hide money, to maliciously start trouble out of jealousy or boredom, etc. etc. etc. Hell, most of us are hiding the job all together and keeping the public us a separate entity. We lie about our names! It's impossible to keep up with or predict. I've witnessed lies between people who claim to be best friends just to cancel plans because the liar didn't feel like hanging out. It becomes second nature, impulsive. If it's a cold cold world, the tittie bar is Antarctica.

This environment has caused me great depression as I simultaneously try to hold on to my values. I've gone running from it before, only to come back with my tail between my legs needing money. What's a good girl to do? Grocho Marx said, "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made". Funny, but I hope that's not true, although it certainly seems to be. And even if things aren't always what they seem, does it really matter what things really are? I've tried to do the right thing, and I'm not sure that it's paid off. Caring can be very painful while selfishness looks very fulfilling and easy. Where is the genuine happiness I'm entitled to for NOT being a liar? Where are the men who have seen this side of people, but have the willpower and desire to go against it? Do I need to lie about where I've been to find an honest man?

Of course, I could be lying about who I am right now...