My friend N and her husband, S, took a little vacation to Mexico for a romantic getaway. One night they decided to visit a local watering hole that catered mostly to American tourists. The majority of patrons that evening was men and N noticed most of them were whooping and hollering in a corner of the bar.
“What’s going on over there?” she asked one of the waiters.
“Oh, that,” he said, smiling politely. “If you get up and dance on the pole you get a free shot of tequila.”
N and her husband smiled back at him. N thought the whole concept was stupid but predictable for a tourist bar. Until, that is, she realized who had decided to earn that shot of Cuervo Gold.
There, standing next to the stripper pole, was a woman, about 35 years old or so, smiling proudly. Dancing around the pole, however, was the woman’s 3-year-old daughter, who would stomp and shake her bootie while the men cheered and egged her on. “Woo!” they said. “Yay!” The girl stayed up there for a while until the mom decided it was time to go. When she instructed the child to get down, the girl pouted and threw a fit.
My friend N’s mouth dropped open as she witnessed the future headliner of Club Chubby’s take a few more laps around the pole.
“Do you find this disturbing at all?” she asked her husband.
“At first I thought it was funny, but now I think it’s really wrong,” he said.
This story is perhaps why my fellow countrymen are sometimes given the nickname “Ugly Americans.”
“At first I thought it was funny, but now I think it’s really wrong,” he said.
This story is perhaps why my fellow countrymen are sometimes given the nickname “Ugly Americans.”
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