1. “I was working in a club once and heard a circle of guys singing happy birthday to one guy who was facing away from me. As a joke, right at the climax of the song, I ran up behind him and groped his chest from behind. He turned around and it was the husband of my mom’s bestie. It was so awkward, but he knew I danced at least so we had a laugh and they left after they finished that round.”

2. “I was a stripper in a club, close to the border of two states. So, people, who were travelling through, ended up there frequently. One night, I sat down next to a guy and immediately realized that it was my uncle, who just so happened to be travelling through, with a bunch of young guys in his group. It wasn’t like some distant uncle. It was the “I’ve known you my whole life and our families are really close” uncle. We were both quite mortified and he left as fast as he could. I’m just happy that I had decided that day to put more of a dress on and approached him before I went on stage again. Otherwise, things would have gotten a lot more awkward.”

3. “I used to work in a strip club. One day, I was meeting a client in his hotel room. He was a pretty solid client, honestly. I was giving him a blowjob, and the door opens. I take my head off his dick, but he pushes me back down. A girl walks in and it’s his wife. I’m fearing the worst when she starts asking him about their grandkids. They had a full conversation while I was blowing him. Then, when I’m finished, she offers me the same price to give her a massage and go down on her. It was so weird how normal they were acting.”

4. “I was on a video call with two of my clients and I cut my foot open on glass from a broken mirror. I was extremely new to sex work and was super embarrassed. So, I just limped around wincing and covered in blood, pretending nothing had happened. I ended up getting scammed.”

5. “I think the strangest thing I’ve ever done was show up to an appointment, where a heavy-set middle-aged man was already in an adult diaper and costume pig nose when I arrived. He then ate out of a toilet bowl filled with Froot Loops and piss.”

6. “I had a guy who gave me $50 to add him on Snapchat and he said would send me money every day, if I talk to him. I agreed because it’s money in my pocket and I would be stupid to turn that down. Well, I added him and I saw that he had already sent me a video. I opened it up and found a minute-long video of him, heavily fucking his pillows and sheets. The video was taken from behind and it seemed like he propped his phone up. So, all I see was his hairy ass in incredible detail on my phone screen. I saw some asshole too and it was not cleaned. It haunts me to this day.”

7. “I used to do a lot of phone sex. One morning, I was awoken, around 6 in the morning, by a phone call from one of my regular customers. He asked me to sign a contract obligating me to effectively be her emotional support, internet boyfriend and therapist for a certain number of hours a week. Not sexy talk, mind you, just some emotional reassurance and anxiety soothing stuff. Yikes.”

8. “Once, I pooped on a client, by accident. He took me to Chipotle beforehand. It wasn’t my fault.”

9. “I was dancing in another state at a large corporate gentleman’s club. I was asked by a woman to give her boyfriend a lap dance, while she watched. I took them to the backroom, made him sit on the bench and put her on a stool next to us. He seemed super nervous, so I tried to do some small talk with them, but that’s when I realized this situation was not normal. He looked terrified. He wouldn’t look at me, only her. She had a super intimidating presence and kept saying stuff in a very threatening tone like “Look at her. She’s beautiful.” “Enjoy it, babe, because it’s the last time you get to do this.” “No, please, enjoy it.” And, he kept responding like “No, I don’t want to, it’s okay.” And, he was only looking at her, with a legitimately scared look on his face. I ended up not dancing the whole time and just sat and tried to continue the awkward small talk because I refuse to dance on people who don’t want me to. I finished out the time she paid for. It was the most palpably abusive and toxic relationship I’ve ever witnessed in ten years of dancing. It was bizarre.”

10. “I had a sex worker friend who was paid by a client to act like a dog. He would put a leash on her and throw money at her every time she barked.”

11. “There was this guy with an adult baby fetish. We never had sex. He would pay me to dress me up like a baby, then I’d act like a toddler for a couple of hours. That was it.”

Gosh, things sex workers need to deal with!