A Camgirl's Perspective on a Periodic Slow Time Camming

[LacieLaPlante]

I'd also point out that unlike almost any other profession, camgirls do make money when offline. My twitter feed today had 11 separate requests for off line love. Now in most cases it is to purchase content developed off line. But there is also the "I'm sick', 'my dog got sick', 'I need a pizza please send me a Dominos gift card'. I am not sure how putting a couple of tweet requesting offline tips, and then presumably writing a 2 line thank you note to the tippers, is significantly different that cubicle worker butt-picking while collecting their salary.

You're kinda assuming that this is guaranteed income.. I think for every time 50 times I've mentioned offline tips or offline deals, I will get one bite.

 

[PlayboyMegan]

I'd also point out that unlike almost any other profession, camgirls do make money when offline. My twitter feed today had 11 separate requests for off line love. Now in most cases it is to purchase content developed off line. But there is also the "I'm sick', 'my dog got sick', 'I need a pizza please send me a Dominos gift card'. I am not sure how putting a couple of tweet requesting offline tips, and then presumably writing a 2 line thank you note to the tippers, is significantly different that cubicle worker butt-picking while collecting their salary.

You're kinda assuming that this is guaranteed income.. I think for every time 50 times I've mentioned offline tips or offline deals, I will get one bite.

This and the fact that many camgirls put in just as much time off cam "working," sometimes even more hours than online.
So if you added up all of my offline tips and you add up all of the hours I've worked offline doing cam related things, I probably average about $2/hour in offline tips, if that?
And by "$2/hour" I don't mean every day, all hours of the day. I'm only talking about when I'm actively doing cam things offline.


I feel like my post was a bit confusing. Words are hard.
Basically, most models make way less than minimum wage in offline tips when they're working just as hard doing cam stuff offline, as they would online. (With the exception of being watched every second)

 

[SaffronBurke]

I currently work a cubicle job as well as camming, and the analogy is 100% accurate for me. At the office, I put off working by surfing the Web, reading a book, taking a long bathroom break wherein I sit there playing games on my phone, space off, and, yes, pick my nose. Haven't ever picked my butt, but close enough. I still have amazing numbers, and still get paid. Probably because our goals are based off of the "average" of what our team as a whole produces, and I'm the asshole breaking the bell curve. I can space off for an hour and still be at 150% of goal. I'm fucking amazing, and that's why I'm able to do this. Someone who is slower than me at producing (most people) are likely going to have a much harder time keeping up. This has been my experience at every office job I've had. I don't even have to worry about being fired, because my numbers are stellar and they only fire you if you REALLY suck.

Camming, first off, I have to talk to people. At the office, I can sit there with my headphones in and not speak to a soul all day. Second, I have to smile. For three hours straight. That's a strain on the cheeks. Finally, I have to put up with the mind-numbing monotony of trolls who can't come up with an original line, and special snowflakes who flip out when I don't treat them any different than anyone else before they've even thrown their quarters at me. I can make $80 one night, and $2 the next. While it's definitely worth the profit when I look back at a week or month, the uncertainty is pretty stressful.

Not to say that I don't like camming - I love it - but my office job is definitely easy money compared to camming. Camming isn't a huge struggle, and it's infinitely more rewarding, but it is a bit more work, for me anyway.

 

[JessieWolfe]

:scratch: :spiderman: :mumum: ain10: :tongue5: :angry-chillpill: :angry-chillpill: :angry-chillpill: :angry-argument: :angry-banghead: bscene-birdiedoublered: :text-nocomment:

:text-threadjacked: by all the smilies that describe the thoughts in my head right now

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

I feel like there's just no winning when it comes to cam girls writing really honest blog posts like this. It was meant to be a morale boost and support rally for other cam girls, but she mis-worded one line and now it's as if she's a terrible person because she made an off-kilter joke about a different job. (Which was likely meant to be comic relief and a sort of metaphor in the first place, I believe.) Some people are taking that one line and turning her whole post into "she is trying to say being a cam girl is harder than any other job."

And I do still feel it has a deeper meaning than simply to trivialize cubicle workers and they are just butt pickers, more-so that they have different freedoms than cam girls. The whole post/point of her entry was that we have to govern and monitor ourselves to balance mental and physical health during those tough times, as there is no boss or HR to notice when we are running ourselves ragged and tell us to take the rest of the afternoon off to get some rest, and no simply "phoning it in" like someone at a cubicle job may have.

If it wasn't the butt picking line, it would have been another that members would tweeze out of it and over-analyze, then run their arguments about it into the ground. Sometimes I think that the resulting guffaws that come after blog entries like this has to do with some sort of resentment from non-camgirls. There's always an "us vs. them" mentality and it makes it hard to encourage other girls to post in-depth and honest experiences as a cam girl, knowing there's going to be some turmoil and fallout as a result.

All valid points, Amber. I didn't say anything negative about Zoe, other than she is young (19 I believe) and I think has limited exposure to cubicle work. I understand why the take care of yourself message resonated. I got her message, but I couldn't overlook the paragraph about butt picking cubicle workers, so when I saw camgirls retweeting it I wasn't entirely sure why they were doing so. I assumed the best and let it go.

I took Iris's comments to heart and she is right, it is certainly something I do. My apologies for those I've pissed off. I have no doubt that actual camming part is hard, really hard, and it is also hard pyschologically to just turn on the online button. Plus being on a site like MFC, where you can't always do better by simply putting in more hours adds to the stress.

Iris said
"Hell, I can work TWO hours a week if I wanted.It is so much easier in MOST ways, but the emotional stress of camming is so much harder than ANY other job I've had.... Of course, the perks outweigh the negatives, and that's why we're still camming" I guess that I point I was trying to make, in MOST ways camming is a pretty great job, being able to work 2 hours a week, and truly being your own boss are luxuries that few people can achieve. While there are easier cubicle jobs, there are also hellish jobs like you've described. Things like being monitored every second, or doing work when you aren't at the job, having highly variable income, none of these are unique to camming. Nor even really uncommon now days. What's unique to camming, is the streaming portion, so for me all the other discussions invite comparisons to regular jobs.

This is one of those posts that would have been better in the models only section, if such a thing existed on tumblr.

 

[JickyJuly]

Sometimes whether something is rude or not depends on the target audience. The target here seems to be fellow camgirls (campeople Deezna?). No matter what job you have there are things you can yak with coworkers about all sassy like. That's reasonable. If she meant this for members, like a certain open letter of days gone by, this would be obnoxious. But, it's just one girl in one job saying "hey coworkers! buck up buttercup and here's a little snark to show that I understand!". I, personally, wouldn't put something out there like this where it's easily seen by any member who happens on by. But, I don't think it's offensive.

That said, September has sucked. I've been crying inside over $200 for 4 failed nights in a row. I've been asked if I'm pregnant repeatedly. I've banned more people this week than the whole year. I'm exhausted and looking rougher by the second. I STILL wouldn't ask to work in a fucking cubicle. :lol: Ass picking witness free isn't much of a selling point.

 

[SoniaSilk]

I live in a country where sex workers aren't considered workers.
which means we have no rights.

gonna say it again: WE HAVE NO RIGHTS AT ALL.
AND WE SHOULD PAY TAXES ANYWAYS

Im a woman, Im lesbian, Im from south america and I chose (yeap, pretty proud of it) to add another marginalized line to my social status when I decided to become a camgirl. And even considering only the business part of it, without the moralistic bullshit we have to put up with, it's actually the most difficult job I've ever had.

I know every work has it's own difficulties and all of them must be respected. And that's why I think a salesperson should get as much money as a doctor gets and I'm really radical about it (I honestly love the cuban style of job/money share. And I also think I'm committing social suicide here... well, fuck it)

We camgirls deserve no more and no less respect than other workers. But what makes me most intrigued is... see, I started the post saying that there are places in the world where this respect is so far away that the state doesn't recognize this function as a legit one.

I think we all agree sexworkers are LESS respected than other workers. So why did we spent lots of posts concerned about the way Zoe put words, afraid it might mean she thinks camgirls are more special than others?

On the day a good camgirl can brag about it during Christmas dinner as well as her cousin who works on retail, I'll point my finger to a camgirl who might be putting herself on a superior position.

Up to this day, so sorry, I have to be aware that our job is still stigmatized so I can protect myself.

And, back to the amazing message Zoe sent to the girls, sometimes we all really need to take a break. This must-be-productive-all-the-time thing kills as well as the you-are-worth-what-you-earn thing. And you know I'm being literal here.

 

[HarmlessSquirrel]

Holy shit, people. Chill.

I only posted the link at all because I thought it could help some of the models here boost their morale. While, yes, if examined closely, some of Zoe's comments could be seen as belittling the challenges of other jobs, I saw the whole thing as more of an emotional release for camgirls than a who's got it harder contest. She even said that the post beyond the first couple paragraphs was only meant for other models. Under these conditions, I'm inclined not to get bothered by the wording. If I had access to it, I would literally have posted this in the models only section.