Diary of a Unionist Aphrodite #3: A Quick Guide to Working with Colleagues

A Guide for Beginners

I joined the union with the desire to help other girls. As I mentioned in one of my diaries, as a beginner, I was looking for instructions on how to work as a prostitute. Unfortunately (or fortunately, because I then met a collective that taught me all the basics), I didn't find anything useful. All I found were some depressing articles about human trafficking. So I seriously started writing the basics. But my experiences over three years have accumulated so much that I can't fit them all into one text. I will write more episodes. And that's right, otherwise I might miss important information.

Working with Colleagues vs. Working Alone

Today's episode will be dedicated to working with colleagues. I have also worked alone, in an apartment where I also lived. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages. I prefer working with colleagues, but some prefer to work alone.

Working with colleagues can be much easier than working alone. Because you share the rent, help each other with small things like buying condoms and other supplies, cook delicious food together, talk about clients, work, and life in general. The rule here is, two heads are better than one. Clients go to several girls, and if someone is problematic, dangerous, or not serious, a colleague will warn you about them and vice versa.

You can also earn better with colleagues. Threesomes are very popular. This means that a client gets two girls instead of one for double the price. If a client doesn't like the girl he initially came to, she can offer her colleague. A friend calls these business tactics: 'let the money stay here.'

Good and friendly colleagues help maintain joy and good spirits. They represent a secret family in front of whom you don't have to hide your way of earning money. Because we are all in the same boat. Above all, we don't judge each other for being in prostitution. No one else, except your colleagues, understands that having sex for money is just a business. The normal Slovenian population is currently not capable of understanding this.

Navigating Workplace Challenges

However, a pleasant working climate in business premises is rare. I will give some examples of what often happens to amateurs and what you need to be aware of when you meet new colleagues.

The first impression never holds. I used to tell everyone I knew for five minutes everything about myself. I was an open book, and if any of my colleagues had been malicious, they could have sunk me immediately. I have heard of cases where colleagues, out of spite, informed a girl's family and told them what she does for a living. Or called social services and wanted to report that a mother is a prostitute. Or a case from two weeks ago, when a girl informed her colleague's ex-husband and snitched that the mother of his two children has been a prostitute for ten years and that he should take the children from her. So don't trust colleagues on first impression. Wait until you get to know them. The minimum period for trust should be at least two weeks.

Setting Boundaries and Maintaining Professionalism

The best protection against such situations is to prevent disputes proactively. Before you start working, ask your colleagues what they expect from you, how the work is done there, when you can work, what the monthly or daily cost for using the business apartment is, etc. Regularly pay what is agreed. Do not lend money (especially not large sums) and do not borrow it yourself. If it is necessary and you have borrowed money, return it as soon as possible.

Take good care of your things. When 70 condoms disappeared during my absence for the first time, I bought a small lockbox. If the locker with your things can be locked, lock it with a bicycle lock in case of theft. Regularly clean up after yourself. Do not leave wet towels, dirty bedding, dishes, and trash lying around. Arrange with your colleagues when you can come to work, especially if there are several of you and you share workrooms. Stick to agreements, and if you can't come, let them know in time.

Dealing with Gossip and Negativity

Girls like to gossip among themselves. Gossip is present everywhere and is useful to some extent. But girls who excessively gossip about everyone around them have no goals, hobbies, and nothing better to say. Do not participate in these debates because they are not useful. If they gossip about others behind their backs over insignificant trifles, they will do the same to you.

Such girls will always find something that doesn't suit them. Your new shoes or your cellulite. Don't let it get to you, unless someone seriously harms you in this way. Distance yourself from them with a good book, music, or a movie. If you can't avoid it, try to change the subject with something you read in the news or anything that comes to mind. Avoid excessive socializing with colleagues outside of working hours. Friendship and a shared workplace do not always go together.

The Importance of Self-Care and Life Outside of Work

It is important to be in contact with people who are not involved in prostitution in your free time. After some time of being involved in prostitution, you will want no one to look at you as a sexual object in your free time. You will get this from socializing with your family and friends. I made the mistake of completely alienating myself from my family and friends.

Go for a walk, a bike ride, a hike, or a swim as often as possible. Do whatever makes you genuinely happy. The advantage of this business is a larger financial inflow. You can use this usefully. You can enroll in a dance class or learn to speak a new language, you can paint, etc. Distancing yourself from work is very important for your mental health because hobbies, nature, and socializing with pleasant people have been proven to reduce stress.

Final Advice

If your colleagues are very negative, argue, do drugs, and cause problems on a daily basis, change your workplace. In the long run, this can have a negative impact on you. If you ever find yourself in a situation where someone insults you or yells at you for no real reason, be aware that rude people are very unhappy. They release their emotions in this way because they don't know how to do it otherwise. Whoever is happy has no reason for such behavior.

With experience, you slowly develop a thick skin, and such and other outbursts of unhappy people no longer affect you. You will also learn how to say NO firmly and how to set boundaries for behavior towards yourself. This will also come in handy when working with clients. Do not call each other by your real names in the workplace, but by made-up ones. One of you can quickly accidentally say your real name in front of a client.

Sometimes you will meet a really good friend in this business. I met three such wonderful girls with whom I also spent a lot of free time. These friends are worth their weight in gold. I hope to meet many more in my future work. I hope this episode was useful. It is written intentionally so that a random beginner girl can understand the text more easily. I also hope that some experienced girl found something in my text that will be useful to her. The next episode will describe and give advice on how to work alone.