The hardest part of dating a stripper is not, in my opinion, the (potential) jealousy over the sexy time or the potential for income disparity between partners. From what I've experienced, the hardest part of dating a stripper is the time. In a serious relationship, especially when you live together, you get used to spending a lot of time together. And when you live together, you get real used to falling asleep together, cuddling, shifting alongside your partner in your sleep... Hell, having dinner together, watching the 11 o'clock news...
The hardest thing about dating a stripper is losing that, as often as your partner works. And from the perspective of a stripper, it's hard as hell to walk away from. How do you find a balance? The money is so good, you can support your family and have a great time together with it, but the time lost is so precious, so easy and nice. And for what? To go somewhere that may be fun but is also full of people spilling their drinks and bitches trying to stab you in the back and guys getting grabby and cigarettes and red bull... Who, at the end of the workday, the work week especially, wants to choose that over a cozy night on the couch with Boyfriend and some chicken wings and no razor burn? It's hard. It's hard not to both depend on the job and the rush and the access it provides and simultaneously resent the separation it creates. I remember how hard it was every time, leaving Boyfriend after a rushed dinner (if we even had time for that), sometimes missing him completely, leaving before he even got home from work. And it was awful. There was definitely a shift or two I missed because we just didn't want to part. Friday nights where we'd barely seen each other all week with work and it's finally our weekend and we've had long days and then I come home to just turn around and leave? I understand that people go their separate ways to work all the time, but considering we were both working full time jobs, that was supposed to be our time. Our dinners and evenings together, and our bedtime together. I knew he had a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep without me in the bed. I felt guilty, which was the strangest sensation knowing that I could simultaneously spoil him. ;) But me getting back at the crack of time to get up, ruining both our sleep cycles. Oy. It wasn't easy.
