When I left after my audition. I went back to my temp job. It was so boring. I was filing. As in old school filing; no computer-just big stacks of paper. I recall one of the young female workers at this office who was going somewhere exiting for the weekend. She seemed really happy. (Being a temp, nobody really spoke with me, so I just listened in on her convo with somebody else. Who also wasn't a temp).
I came back the next Monday. She had been in a car accident and was in intensive care and in a coma. This was a wake up call for me. Here I was at 23, not being able to find a job in my field (fashion) that paid anything, having parents worried that I wasn't going to be married before 30, having to wear nude panty hose to work (YUCK!) and working in a place where nobody spoke to me and I was getting paper cuts.
This drove me back to the Poodle. The manager Sid, an light skinned black man with green eyes in his 50's with a Barry White kind of voice, remembered me. This was a game to him. He made me wait an hour before I had to audition...AGAIN! It was like I had to earn my spot there. I figured he thought I was desperate , so I had to compete for a spot in that dingy club. I remember some of the girls there: Starla, who had this beautiful white girl, angel face. She wasn't quite punk rock, but more of a glam rock left over (this was1982, remember ). Her body wasn't the greatest,but she was nice and rattled on about being a back ground singer for some famous rock band. Then Cheri: A tall awkward, Latina mix. She had crazy red curly hair, the biggest bluish green eyes I had ever seen, but her body had been botched by child birth. Again, very sweet. But she had this look in her eyes while dancing. There is a Rolling Stones song called "The Girl with the Far Away Eyes". That was Cheri while dancing. She was somewhere else. But she was fine while off stage.
So back to douchebag Sid, finally letting me audition and then saying that I got the job only because they were short on staff. Back then the paid us to be there. And we kept all our own stage tips. It's funny, back then the idea of going home in the red was preposterous! We all made some $$.
So I worked 3 days a week and had found another job teaching modeling school at Barbizon (don't laugh).
The Pink Poodle was owned by a family. The last name was Kuzinich (sp?). The dad, Pete and his two sons, owned the place. His fat son Dave was the manager. With their obviously Hungarian last name, they fancied themselves Italian. As in Italian "gangsters". This was so funny to me. At the time, it was hip to be an Italian gangster a la' "Casino" or "Goodfellas" even though these films hadn't come out yet.
Even though I was hired, I was not liked by the management staff too much because I wouldn't give head in the office or let Sid (ick) lick my cat in the DR. Seriously! This cute black gay dancer, Frances, told me Sid was the best!! She let him do this! I remember I was dressing and he came up to me, bent over, looked at my kitty and wiggled his tongue! I hit his head with the costume i was holding. I didn't get fired, because it was fabric. I secretly wish it would have been an ashtray!
One day, Pete invited me upstairs and told me I was cute enough to do some of his private parties in which I would make bundles of $$. But, he said, I would have to become a little less "up-tight". I told him, I was living at my parents house, I had another job, and if he tried to get me to have any kind of sex with anyone at that place, I would walk! I told him I was a college graduate and not that desperate. He had other girls that were willing to do that for him, he didn't need to pick on me. He said he liked my "innocent look" and it would be a money maker. I repeated my walk out line.
He said fine, but I was losing out on a GREAT OPPORTUNITY. (rolls eyes). He then sent me back down stairs. They kept me on, even though I was not on of their favorites, lol.
Somehow, his son, Dave and I got to be good friends....no sex involved. I even got him running with me (and one of his buddies) on the par course in a park in Los Gatos! I remember Dave telling me how he really didn't like me much at first, but I turned out to be "cool". And I got him to drop about 5 lbs. But it was hard, because his family were regulars at the downtown San Jose restaurant, Original Joes. It's still there. Old school Italian all the way.
That's it for today. Be back soon.
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