Personal Placements
Sunday, July 22
Daily Placement: 9th out of 10
Accrued Placement: 9th out of 10
Daily Coins Earned: 1
Total Coins Earned: 1
A grin touches my lips. I wasn't in last place. And I earned a bronze coin. It must have been from Katy. But then again, maybe it was from someone different. She wasn't the only guest I talked to last night.
Around the room, girls are celebrating or groaning. As for me, my mind explodes with possibility. If I can earn a bronze coin after one night, armed with clumsiness and a stack of napkins, what could I do with a can of spray paint? Maybe I could captivate two guests at once. Maybe an entire room.
I look at the second sheet of paper.
Personal Earnings
Week of July 16
Carnation Total Earnings – $934.77
Total Customers – 17
Coins Earned – 1
Percent of Earnings – 5.88% (1/17th)
Initial Earnings – $54.99
Minus Carnation Household Fee – 90%
Total Earnings – $5.49
*Less Supplies – $10.00
*Sheets, pillow
Total Weekly Earnings – ($4.51)
Total Accrued Earnings – ($4.51)
My head spins and I silently mouth the numbers over and over again. I hardly understand half of it, but in the end, this is what I come up with.
The customers who came in this week spent a total of $934.77 to see the Carnation girls, and I'm assuming, to have drinks. There were seventeen customers in total, and because I got only one coin, I earned 1/17th of that amount. Then, because Carnations apparently retain only 10 percent of their earnings, I get to keep a whopping $5.49. That's not what has my blood boiling though. It's the cost of the sheets and pillow Madam Karina was so thrilled I took.
She charged me for them.
I didn't even know they cost anything, and yet there's the fee.
I melt into the floor, overwhelmed with the realization that I have less money now than I did when I got here. My stomach twists and my teeth grind and I'm about to start screaming for answers when Mercy yells that Angie is here.
The girls scramble out once again.
Something else is happening.
Chapter Eighteen
Market
Poppet must see how upset I am, because she approaches with caution.
"Don't be upset, Domino. I've been in last place before. Several times, in fact."
I shake my head. "I'm not in last place. It's not that at all." Fury builds inside my chest as I ball the sheet of paper in my fist. "This thing says I owe money. All because I took bedding. This is such a scam! How does anyone make money here?"
"Oh, Minnow." Poppet tilts her head. "Just watch how much you make next week. I mean, you must have already earned a coin. So you only worked one night with no tools, and you made money. That's great! Next week you'll have a positive balance, and you can have Mr. Hodge hold your money. Then you get extra, which he calls interest … or interested … or whatever. So that helps. Anyway, it's not like we have any expenses here."
"Yeah, we do. We pay 90 percent of our earnings toward them."
Poppet thinks about this. "Well, I guess we'll have to work our way up then."
I sigh, some of the anger leaving me at this possibility. "How much do the other girls get to keep? Is it always 10 percent?"
Poppet nods toward where the other girls went, and we walk in that direction. "Well, the next step is to become a Daisy. I think they get to keep twelve."
I groan.
"But their customers are charged more, and they usually spend more at the bar. So they get a bigger piece of a bigger pie."
Dizzy springs to my mind, and frustration returns to me swift as a car crash. I grab Poppet by the arm to stop her. When I realize it's me who's touching her, I drop my hand. "Poppet, we have to become Daisies. For real."
She laughs. "I think you should concentrate on earning your Carnation first. Though Mr. Hodge will probably give that to you soon, considering you earned a coin on your first night. Now come on, it's market day. This is the fun part of getting paid."
Outside the entertainment room, I see the Carnations who received Violets racing up the stairs. When I ask where they're going, bitterness lacing my words, Poppet says, "They're paying tribute to Madam Karina. She gives them violets for doing well with the customers, and they lay them outside her door in thanks for their place in her home."
It takes everything I have not to roll my eyes at this. What's the point?
We file through the kitchen as I stew, and go through a door and down some stairs. When we reach the bottom I see girls with white daisies and yellow tulips pinned on their blouses alongside the Carnation girls.