Embarrasing Question

[quebecbest]

everyone's made mistakes...

well i didn't

 

[meni0n]

well i didn't

Very mature

 

[quebecbest]

Very mature

the hell it ain't

 

[J.J]

Sarahj, I can only repeat what everyone else has said, be forthcoming and it will all work out in the end. To be honest you may get more attention for working under the table (pun not intended). The military is a government agency and they may frown upon a potential recruit not paying taxes. The construction worker or waitress who works for cash and does not file a return and claim all their income will suffer the same fate. The recruiter cannot hold anything against you for being a dancer it is a legal occupation.
To reiterate what MeFandE said (obviously experienced and knows what he is talking about), keep your past in the past. Regardless what you did or did not do, it will be skewed and it will not benefit you in any way. Do not tell friends, significant others, do not tell anybody. The soldiers/sailors/airmen (airperson???) gossip and talk like an old ladies sewing circle and the truth will never prevail.
On a personal note, I worked as a doorman in several strip clubs and bars and I am currently a professional Law Enforcement Officer, it was not held against me as it was a legal occupation and I did nothing wrong or illegal.
Do not be ashamed of you past, it is what makes you the person you are today.

 

[JBP]

SarahJ,

Hoorah to you for having the "balls" to go out and DO what you needed to do to survive. As other's have said, don't be ashamed of yourself at all. You made it and didn't drown in debt and have to claim bankruptcy at a young age (I'm assuming - I'm 23). When you look back on it a couple months, or years from now, you'll see it's only made you stronger. Never look back, never regret!

Joe

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

quebecbest you are making very asinine posts that have zero relevance to the topic being discussed. If you do not have anything useful to say then keep your comments to yourself.

sarahj best of luck.

 

[Kat Stevens]

sahahj: Always shoot straight, stay cool, go far..... stay the course..

CHIMO,  Kat

 

[sarahj]

No worries on the taxes score. I always file mine, and I kept records of my earnings as a dancer so the lack of T-4's is not going to be an issue. Thanks again. 

 

[sarahj]

I made the mistake of not hiding my email address at first, so several people have added me to their MSN lists. Just wanted to say I've quite enjoyed meeting and chatting with you all, but I will not be disclosing any personal information so don't get your hopes up. I don't think it's a good idea for me to be publicly linked to my post here. Sorry!

 

[Redeye]

Should be nothing to worry about - it was, as you said, legal and honest work, even if it wasn't the greatest of jobs.  I know a PRes member who works "civvie-side" as a stripper, and while I don't think it's something you should advertise to other soldiers, it's nothing to be ashamed of.  You did what you had to do to keep your life moving along.  Good luck with your application.

I'm really glad I stumbled across these forums because I've been struggling a bit with what to do about an embarrasing part of my background. I hope you all won't judge me too harshly... everyone's made mistakes... heh.

I guess I'll start with a bit of background. I ended up in a really bad position financially last year between breaking up with my fiance, inability to find work in my field, and student loan payments coming due. I was literally scraping the bottom of the barrel, my monthly income was siginificantly lower than my monthly bills and I'd run out of savings. So what I ended up doing was dancing in strip clubs part time on the side for a couple months to pay off my student loans. It was really an awful job, you meet a lot of scumy guys doing that, but it was legal work and it bailed me out of my financial problems.

I never expected to be applying for a job that would involve an extensive background check, but crap happens and things change, and here I am a couple months later applying to the army. I wasn't sure what to do about this particular aspect of my background on the applications, seemed like a damned if you do and damned if you don't kind of situation, so on the advice of a couple of buddies in the military, I left it off my application. This decision hasn't been sitting really well with me though. I'm not a dishonest person by nature, I absolutely hate lying and even fudging the truth a little makes me quite uncomfortable.

So I guess I have two questions, now that you all know the situation. Would the fact I danced in strip clubs get me turned down for military service? I didn't do it for very long and also did not get involved in any of the drugs or alcohol or <coughs> less than legal activities in the private rooms, but I know it's something that'll look bad nonetheless. And now that my application is already submitted, is it something I should (or even can?) change? There's not much of a paper trail linking me to it. Everything was paid in cash and I haven't gotten any T4's, so I'm guessing the clubs aren't filing any taxes or employment info. I am leaning towards telling the recruiters though, because I'm sure it's big crap if you get caught omitting something like that, and I hate this feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you think you might get caught doing something bad.

Bleh. Stupid.

Any constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated but please keep any flames to yourselves, I'm doing a good enough job beating myself up for being stupid on my own.

Thanks.

 

[MORGUE]

the truth is always the best option.  The CF is for the most part fairly understanding and given your situation it shows them when push came to shove you held your head up and kept yourself afloat working, rather than using social assistance.  KNOWBODY is perfect and we have all done things we sometimes wish we had'nt....i think theres a phrase for that......oh yeah it's called "being human"

best of luck to you and your career with the CF

MORGUE

 

[Pieman]

I made the mistake of not hiding my email address at first, so several people have added me to their MSN lists. Just wanted to say I've quite enjoyed meeting and chatting with you all, but I will not be disclosing any personal information so don't get your hopes up. I don't think it's a good idea for me to be publicly linked to my post here. Sorry!

Sarahj, they just want to know if you have any of those posters and key chains left over
(joke, not meant as a flame)

 

[garb811]

Considering the the type of background checks the army does, I doubt that they would ever find out, or want to find out. I had a very shamefull job for a while, to help pay for college, that I did not mention at anytime to the army. Technicaly, me not telling the army that I was a mascott for a couple of months may be grounds for dismissal. Or when I was cleaning the Zellers washroom on the night shift. Who here thinks that the CF would really care?

Bad advice to give, particularly as you are taking your experience with a background check conducted for a Militia MP and extrapolating it onto the entire CF.  It is quite simply uneconomical to conduct a complete background check on every individual but where there is the requirement, either for cause or because of the clearance being granted, an investigator is assigned and the process is done thoroughly. 

Having done the background checks in a previous life I can assure you that if a full blown background check is conducted, it all comes out in the wash and it is much better to be slightly embarrassed by putting it down at the start as opposed to having to explain the issue in an interview where the hard questions get asked after it is discovered and flagged for follow-up. 

As for who in the Army cares if you're honest?  Well, I suppose the people who are evaluating your honesty and reliability prior to being given access to particularly sensitive assets, material and information.  If you're dishonest about something as simple as legal employment because you're embarrassed by it, that says quite a bit about someones character IMHO and it's a cause for concern.  But that's just me...

 

[Armageddon]

Well said MP 00161.  I to agree that honesty is always the best policy.  Why have the possibility of somebody always "finding out someday" when you could be upfront about it and then be done with it. Last thing you want to do is limit/endanger your career just because you don't wanna talk about it. IMHO.

 

[sarahj]

Sarahj, they just want to know if you have any of those posters and key chains left over
(joke, not meant as a flame)

LOL! If that's the case, I wasn't in the business long enough to have any made up. Sorry again, guys!