inotocracy said:
Very interesting thread! Kind of like that show on HBO.
One question, have you ever done the "group" thing? A client and his friends in the same room kinda deal. Also, has any deal gone sour (as in getting robbed or beat, but not by the police)?
No, I'd never do "the group thing". I've been asked a couple times and that's just to much for me. To weird.
I've never been robbed or beaten up. I've been ripped off a couple times but it's usually more innocuous. IE: a dude calls me to come over to his hotel room and then when I'm there he's like "I thought you said (less then what I ask for)>"
Which is total bullshit and I know it because I never ever bargain on my rate.
That was annoying.
Actually one that was real annoying was just a couple months ago. I was feeling a bit sick but someone called and I wanted to ask them to reschedule but it was their last day in town and they really wanted to see me so I was like..ok, fine, i can handle one.
So I said alright and walked the guy over here. He shows up, we do our thing, and he's getting ready to leave and I was said something about "my end of the deal". and he's like "what's that?" and I told him my rate and he was like "oh, but I didn't bring any money"
and for a second I got really pissed off and for like a split second was weighing whether or not I wanted to hit him.
I didn't because it would be pointless, he then told me something about how he thought "that was personals ads" which you'd have to be a complete idiot to think that since it's the biggest escort directory I know of and the word "escorts" is all over the website and every ad has a price in it. Including mine.
Besides, what kind of personals ad has a phone number right on it accompanied by swanky professional photos? and the girl on the other end just invites you right over with minimal conversation?
Anyways, he asked me "I dont think I have
>SNIP<, but can I go to the ATM and get some?"
Still totally pissed off I told him "fine, but I know you're not coming back" he assured me he would, and I let it go.
I gave him about 15 minutes, the nearest ATM being maybe 5 minutes away. I then sent him a message saying something about "just give me a call when you get back and I'll give you the gate code" knowing he wasn't coming back.
He ignored it, so I gave it 30 more minutes and then sent him a message saying "it's a shame you're ripping me off like this because i went out of my way to see you today despite being sick".
Not really because I thought I'd see anything out of it, but because I wanted him to at least drive home with a guilt trip.
He sent me a message saying he was sorry and asked if he could take me out to dinner next time he was in town. I thought that was amusing, like I can't take myself out to dinner 10 times with the money he owed me. And what would we talk about? That time he ripped me off?
I just ignored him after that. I had played the part in one of his big fantasies that he was doing for the first time so now every time he thinks of that fantasy he'll wind up thinking of me and how he ripped me off and he'll feel guilty and it'll kill the fantasy for him.
That's karma.
Of course there's also the karma of getting your name and phone number on the national blacklist...
When I first started I followed the "hookers first rule" of get the money up front. But now I realize that asking about money up front is the best way to get busted so I don't mention it and it either quietly gets placed on my desk without me saying a word or I handle business at the end. I figure the increased risk of getting stiffed/ripped off maybe once every now and then isn't a big deal compared to the headache and risk of getting busted even one more time.