Working Three Jobs With No Car

I was working three different jobs and raising my children on my own with no support, financial or otherwise, from anyone. Also, I had no car. We lived in Independence, Missouri. I walked to work at a factory job in Sugar Creek that was approximately ten miles away, waited on tables at Waid's Restaurant on 40 Highway on the third shift, and go-go danced on 12th Street in downtown Kansas City when I was not working the waitress job.

I remember - I would take my little go-go outfit and go to each little go-go shack along 12th Street and ask if they needed a go-go dancer for the night. I almost always found work. They paid me $10.00 for a night of dancing which helped out a lot back then.

I cannot remember all the different ways I used for transportation back then, but I mainly walked. I remember that it was approximately ten miles to the factory job. I even walked it when it was raining. The check I got from this job was for the babysitter.

I remember that when I went to work at the waitress job which was on the all night shift, I would get my kids ready for bed. We would walk to a nearby restaurant and call the babysitter to come pick us up.

There was a period of time that I had to leave my kids with the babysitter all week long without seeing them because of the amount of work I had to do and the lack of transportation. During this time, I had given up my apartment and had no place to stay. I would sit up in a coffee shop all night acting like I was waiting for someone.

When I got the bartending job at the Pink Pussy Cat, I worked it a night. I still worked my day factory job in the daytime, and my waitress job on the weekends. Sometimes I would go for three days without sleeping. I had to be careful on my waitress job because I almost fell asleep calling in orders sometimes.

I was smart enough to know that I could not keep this up until my kids were eighteen; so I decided to give all the jobs up except for stripping and go on the road. That is one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.