I had suspected that she was the one you were referring to, Boomtown, but I thought it rude to ask. I feel for you, man, I really do.
I've been in a similar situations, but got the icepick through the heart fairly early on. I used to have a big stupid crush on a stripper I met, whom long-time readers may remember from my older posts as "Gilly the Perky Goth." We talked over the course of a month or two, more about our college courses and career plans than anything erotic. She asked for my number & gave me hers, with her stated intent of getting together socially outside the club. She even broke House Rules and kissed me on the lips.
![Kiss1 :Kiss1: :Kiss1:](https://www.ticklingforum.com/nonvb/smilies/kiss.gif)
Since I had seen her spend close to an hour with another man at the bar, I asked if she really wanted to do this, since it would be wrong of me to interfere in any relationships she was already involved in. She assured me that the man at the bar was simply an Ex- of hers, whom she hadn't seen in years and she was just catching up on old times with him.
Weeks went by, and I called her to congatulate her on her graduation and work out details of meeting for coffee, but she never responded. I made a point of staying away from the club so I could be sure we were going into this as friends and not as stripper & customer, but I finally went back to see what her situation was. I was told that she had quit just that week to get married.
To add a rimshot to that punchline, the very next day I was sitting in a bookstore cafe nursing an iced Chai and trying very hard not to poke at the scab over my heart, when she walks in, arm in arm with the man she called her Ex-. She purchases a volume on dog care and leaves, passing me twice without saying a word.
![crying1 :cry1: :cry1:](https://www.ticklingforum.com/nonvb/smilies/crying.gif)
Later, I asked the club's owner and bouncer to ban me from the premises, in order to avoid the possibilty of going through that another time.
I don't blame her, as she was simply being very good at her job. If anything, because I did like her as a person and not as a fantasy, I hope she's happy with her new husband.
Boomtown's right. In order to stay sane in a job like that, these women have to compartmentalize their emotions. Once you walk through the doors of the club, you can't ever be much beyond a customer. Find a real person and develop something physical after real love and trust take root, not the other way around.