Posing for topless pictures in Times Square is no naked walk in the park.
Performers said Sunday they work up to 12-hour days and constantly cope
with groping customers. Some even answer to shady bosses who take cuts
of their cash.
“It doesn’t matter if you have your period, or if you are feeling
terrible, or if your mom dies. You are a character here, so the people
are seeing your face and you have to smile,” said Hannah Nicole Rubiano,
25, from Colombia.
“We work really hard. . . . We have to send energy to the people, to smile all day.”
She said that the scantily clad painted ladies don’t have time for
lunch during the relentless competition for tips. Even figuring out a
place to stash a purse isn’t easy.
“It’s complicated. It’s not too easy,” said Rubiano, who made a point
to say she worked for herself after hearing about the job from friends.
A Venezuelan woman who refused to give her name and a colleague, Paola
Pena, 23, didn’t speak English and were monitored by Charlie Santos, who
kept a keen eye on them all day from a distance.
He painted their bodies with American flag-themed designs and worked as a manager, of sorts.
Santos, 23, told the women when to take lunch breaks and urged them to get back to work while chatting with a reporter.
“I am just the painter. I like to paint bodies. They might make $300 for eight or 10 hours,” Santos, from Venezuela, said.
He took a 40% cut, he said.
A woman named Thais Louze, 42, who directed the pair as well as another group of women, got a 30% cut.
TOURISTS ANNOYED BY PAINTED NAKED LADIES IN TIMES SQUARE
That leaves a meager 30% — or $90 on a “good day” — for the women actually walking around in the nearly nude.
A boss named Carlos ran the entire operation, but was not present, Santos said.
The Venezuelan woman said she typically worked seven-hour days for a mysterious “company.”
While posing for a photo, a man sneaked up behind her and grabbed her
butt. She was visibly upset and yelled at the cowardly perv as he ran
away.
When asked if gropings like that happened often, she replied sarcastically, “No, very strange.”
The performers — known as desnudas — worked at a remarkable pace.
Both Pena and her Venezuelan partner grabbed men walking by — and most of the guys welcomed the attention.
“Nice tip, baby. A nice tip, OK?” Pena repeatedly said.
Dozens of families — some with very young children — also asked to pose for photos with the women.
Across the board, the desnudas said they liked the work.
“This is a way for me to interact with people, put a smile on people’s faces. I do really enjoy this,” Rubiano said.
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