The demographic is fairly similar for nearly all of them. They’re between 19 and 39 years of age, but they’ll tell you they’re in their 20s. Most of them have at least one child living with their parents. Their husbands left them for the usual reasons 20 year old dads leave their wives in this part of the world, and drinking, gambling, and roughing up their wives is all part of the well-told tale. Bar ladies are not well-educated by western standards, and come from a poor, hardscrabble country background. They are extraordinarily civil and polite.
Her standard salary is $25 per month, and after month one, when she gets no days off, she gets one day off per month. If she misses a scheduled work day, she is fined $5 by the bar.
They make $1 for every drink you buy them. Even if you’re just curious, we encourage you to buy a drink for the lady to whom you’re talking. It’s not only polite, but she’ll be ignoring other customers walking in the bar, just to talk to you. Cambodians are so polite that she may never ask you for a drink, so beat her to the punch.
If you want to take a lady out of the bar for an evening, you’ll pay the bar $5, which the lady gets none of. If she agrees to go with you (and not all of them will), tell her what you have in mind, and ask her how much of a tip she’ll expect in return. Remember, everything is negotiable in Cambodia.
If you do the math, you’ll see that bar ladies don’t have a high take-home pay, and they not only support their children, but sometimes their parents (or parent) and younger siblings as well.
For the cynics, these ladies are not being trafficked. They are freelance workers attempting to improve their own lives, and creating better options for their children than they have. They do not share Western moral beliefs as they relate to sex.
In short, they’re nice people who are non-judgmental of Westerners, and deserve our respect. Most are either learning English, or practicing their language skills, and will welcome talking with you, even if they get only 5 words out of every 10. They also enjoy talking to Western couples, and will feel honored when a Western couple comes in the bar for a chat. When visiting nightlife bars, treat “lady work bar” well, buy her a drink or two, and you’ll have a wonderful experience in Cambodia.
