New York City is expensive, and like a lot of young women I was only one bad circumstance away from "barely managing" to "broke." That bad circumstance for me was a very messy breakup with an abusive boyfriend. I swept him out of my life for good, which was a great thing of course, except that I was stuck with a pricey apartment and NO extra money to cover everything.
So I got a part time job in retail. Fine, except for the fact that working in advertising in New York means that you can never count on getting out of the office at, say, 5 o'clock. In order to succeed, you need to devote 100 percent of your life and time which often means working late nights and weekends. And my boss at the part time job wasn't too happy about me not being reliable when I would have to call in to say that I was stuck at the office working on a big new business pitch or something. Not that I blame her. So I thought, what kind of part time job can I get where I can make my own hours and make some decent money?
I figured I had already whored myself out working in advertising, this would just be taking it a step further. What's the big deal about selling your body when you've already sold your soul? So that's what I did. While I can't speak for other working girls, I can tell you that for me it was the best decision I ever made. At last I could concentrate on my "real" job and not stress over money.
So, ok, the economy's been going south for a while...the downturn hit my ad agency early on. The founder of the agency died, and upper management became more concerned with lining their own pockets than running the business. The employees could see the writing on the wall, so when layoffs started no one was surprised. I hung on through the first year of layoffs, but when my department was cut down from forty employees to ten, I got the ax. I won't tell you it didn't suck, even though I expected it. I poured my heart and soul into my job and did so willingly. But corporate advertising being what it is, personal commitment and loyalty mean squat when the bottom line is in jeopardy.
Losing my job wasn't too horrible; at least I had another source of income, unlike most of my fellow ax-getters. The great thing about being a hooker is you never have to worry about money (well, not unless you're an idiot and blow it all on drugs or fancy cars or whatnot...which sadly happens all too often...again, material for another post). Those clients who used to have money - some of them have stopped seeing me. But no matter the economy, there are always men who want to get laid (and women too!). I could work every day if I wanted to, but I generally work maybe one or two days a week and that's enough to pay my bills and save a little.
He says that ironically enough, the reason he's in town is that his company is looking to hire a new ad agency...he's here to attend a final meeting with a big Madison Avenue advertising agency who wants his company's ad business. He tells me the name of the ad agency.
I could feel the blood drain out of my face as my mind quickly went in a million different directions before zeroing in on the main question: Should I tell him that's where I used to work? I just as quickly decide to keep my mouth shut. I didn't want him to think of me as "bitter betty" and while it was tempting to fuck over my old company by persuading him to take his ad business elsewhere, I decided that revenge on my part was bad karma. But he read the shock on my face and figured it out in about two seconds. He asked, and I wouldn't answer...he said I didn't have to say a word, that he knew.
A few days later I received an email from him, thanking me for our time together. He wrote that he would probably not be coming back to the city for quite some time, that he had gone to his big meeting and sat through the new business dog and pony show put on for him by the ad agency, and then when they were through he told them he met me (thank god he didn't give too many details) a former employee. He wrote that he told them my story - leaving out the hooker part. Told them that he had been an alcoholic for 30 years and sober for the last 20. Told them that layoffs in the midst of corporate belt-tightening are one thing and to be expected. Also told them that by being so short sighted as to allow an alcoholic boss to get rid of diligent workers while keeping her drinking pals when it was clear that human resources knew there was some kind of problem, cost them the work they wanted to get from him. He took his multi million dollar account to another agency, one that was closer to his midwest headquarters anyway.
Such is the unintentional revenge of worlds colliding. I hope it's not bad karma for me that I can't help but be a little bit pleased.
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Ben Sen
Cymraeg
Hadrian
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
You'll get no judgement from me on your gig as a call girl. You gotta do what you have to do. You seem to have talents above and beyond that. I hope you take the money you make and become an entrepreneur.
You won't be young and attractive forever. Best of luck. Look forward to reading more.
Rated & Cheers!
Welcome to OS, your story are well-written and interesting, and it sounds like you have lots more to come.
And in the end, aren't we all kind of whores? The reason most of us show up to work is to get a paycheck.
I liked the story though.
icemilkcoffee - I forgive you for not rating my post :) and I completely understand. In many ways I agree with you, which is why I haven't posted earlier here on Open Salon. Prostitution is a loaded topic, and it's difficult to discuss without the sensationalism aspect muddying things.
ocularnervosa - great question! The reason I didn't go into internet porn (or stripping, for that matter, though I considered it) is because I'm actually quite shy. The thought of putting myself so "out there" performing for lots of people freaks me out. I do way better in one-on-one situations.
Texas bubba - great advice! I do have an excellent accountant, and together we've covered all the bases you mentioned.
Thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to read my post; I wish I could find the right words to express my appreciation fully..."thank you" doesn't do it justice!
you are brave to post this story
good luck babe
Your judgment was right on... You are right. I never liked working for anyone else. Used to be an investment professional which is the same I guess as being a call boy or call girl. Now I show people how to play offense with debt collectors. I have collection agencies for breakfast.
I am glad you got your revenge and I hope you never get hurt. And that eventually you can find something else to do.
Very well written. Welcome to OS!
I can absolutely identify with the "karma" issue as, those incidents have occured in my own business.
What I did NOT enjoy was the small minded judgementalism of some of the "high and mighty" posters.
Look how many times and, in what tone the word "whore" was used and, you just can't hide an insult, no matter how it's couched.
Didn't Louisa May Alcott title one of her stories about them?
And keep up with the doctor's appointments. Good luck to you-- I really enjoyed your story. I think that the ad agency took the Karma it had coming to it.
This fictional ad agency would have sued you for slander if this story were true. Your fictional john would have been their star witness, and they would have won.
Successful businessman do not divulge information unecessarily. They do not name escorts they have hired in business meetings. They do not tell potential business partners they are taking their business elsewhere because an ex employee told them there was a drinking problem in the office.
And speaking of that, the HR departments of Madison Avenue corporations don't send drunk employees home with a wink and a nod. They all have substance abuse programs as part of their health insurance.
If thegirlnextdoor cares about my opinion - and she has no reason to - she can take my specific criticisms as the kind of details she should pay closer attention to the next time she writes a story.
If you pay attention the story, the john didn't name names. Furthermore, even if the ad agency did have a legally cognizable claim for defamation (which it does not), most companies would want to sweep something like this under the rug, not publicize it.
The only part of this story I find suspicious is the coincidence aspect. The behavior of the escort, the company, and the john are all believable (it would not be surprising for a john to behave or *pretend* to behave in a solicitous manner toward his prostitute, if only to quell his own conscious about the transaction).
I said "pussy power" as a joke. I'd much perfer an honest hooker to a lying and deceitful wife, or in many cases where sex is used by the woman to attract the male and then basically reject him once the contract is signed.
There are also many cases where couples who are deeply bonded run into physical circumstances where one or the other is no longer able or willing to be sexual. In those cases, I think it can be a more mature decision where they seek physical satisfaction elsewhere. At least for the male, paid sex is an expeditious way to do that without complicating or even destroying the lives of third parties.
My complaint is with sanctimous women who have long ago lost any interest in sex with their husbands who still make their lives miserable by forbidding anytihing outside the marriage, while making no effort to find out what, if anything, can be done about themselves.
I am encouraging one well known poster to write a piece on her hormonal therapy after menopause to provide another perspective. These are grown-up issues, so they should be addressed in a grown-up manner where the moralizing is left in the back seat.
Lisa Solod Warren - This is a diificult question to answer, as the answers are unique to each individual hooker. For me, the answer is that I am there to provide a service for my client...my personal preferences don't matter. I don't want to sound trite, but in a lot of ways sex is the great equalizer and it helps to understand that no matter how a person may look on the outside, they still have the same want of physical pleasure, companionship, whatever it may be, as everyone else. Plus, I'll let you in on a secret...quite often the "ugly" guys are the best in bed. I suppose they have had to perfect their skills, because they cannot coast on looks alone. Now, guys that "smell," I will tactfully suggest a shower together as foreplay. Usually that works.
XJS AND ME - it's ok, I don't mind the use of the word "whore." I even used it to describe myself. The word is only insulting to me if I let it be so. But I do appreciate your objection and the spirit in which it was intended.
BeastofBurden - I do value your opinion, and thank you for sharing it with me. I am new to this whole writing thing and comments like yours I hope will help to make me a better writer in the future. The main gist of the story not fiction, though I did change up details in order to protect the innocent and the guilty! Your point about HR and substance abuse programs is a valid one, and in reality that's what SHOULD have happened with the drinkers at the office. That's one of the big reasons the whole thing irks me...there WERE programs in place to deal with this kind of situation - other options for HR and the company besides "looking the other way."
Kryptogal - spot on, yes! You hit the nail on the head, thank you!
Respectfully
Bill
I have worked in a corporate office environment for 20 years, at an executive level for 8. Yes, they are full of gossip. That is completely different than a decision-maker announcing in an inter-company meeting that he is taking his monetarily signifcant business elsewhere because an ex-employee told him there was a drinking problem in the office. I have been in plenty of these types of meetings - that just would not happen. He would just have a staff member communicate to the ad agency, well after the meeting, that he decided to go in a different direction. Announcing the reason, especially using the kind of rhetoric described in the story ("alcoholic boss", "clear human resources knew there was a problem") would be inflammatory and superflous and would only happen in a Lifetime movie. However, thegirlnextdoor only wrote the john told her about the meeting in an email, not that she knows for a fact what happened. And she has responded that the "gist" of the story is not fiction. So maybe some of the details I question are just dramatic license. Like the guy paying her double just for the hell of it.
As for selling your body, Ben Sen brings up a good point that could eliminate a man's need for your services, or at least not demonize it. I have worked with many women who stubbornly refuse to address the critical issue of hormones and their relationship to libido, especially in mid-life, although women with young children can be just as dismissive. There are many women who simply shrug their shoulders, declare they are no longer interested in sex and husband be damned. And hell will be paid if they go elsewhere. If these women could only understand the connection and value so many men get from having sex, they might be more understanding or at least curious about it. For men, sex goes way beyond "scratching an itch". This post gives me further motivation to write that piece about the relationship of hormones, middle age and sex. Thanks for writing this.
It is a good story, and for a few moments my heart lifted at the thought of karma and coincidence, but rarely are loose ends so neatly tied in real life.
http://open.salon.com/blog/bitchin/2009/03/18/exs-_the_biggest_pain_in_the_ass_since_anal_sex
He worked for the FBI. She worked for the IRS. When they had a disagreement she was quick to point out that it was the IRS that put Capone in prison, not the FBI.
BTW, I don't go into NYC. Do you out call to Jersey?
Men get dissed. They either receive no affection or sex in their marriage, with the person they have pledged themselves too, and yet they are severly condemned and the object or ridicule if they seek comfort elsewhere.
They're "johns" and the women who make an honest bargain with them are "whores." And if someone is so bold as to object to the pretense they are subversive.
I will say one other thing and that regards addiction. There is a point at which such practices become dangerous to all the parties involved. For every sexual compulsive you will often find a sexual anorectic either in the same house, or in the house of those with the maladaptation came from. Yet almost nobody even knows the term and what it refers too.
The shallowness of the general conversation is at such a low level it's pathetic. I think they believe if they don't talk about it the whole thing will go away--or somebody will pass some more stupid laws. Someone recently called me a "tyrant" good naturedly, and I accept it as an appelation when it comes to matters like this.
I hope you post more about your adventures girlnextdoor. I appreciate the opportunity to join in. I believe you.
And maybe you really do pull off the "girl next door" persona so well that no one would ever guess. Your post seems like an extrapolation of a New York Post story to me. A good one though, well written and not that far fetched.
Call it fiction if its fiction and maybe I'm wrong, but my nose itches and I smell a good story.
I wonder how many of the women responders would cheer their daughters on to embrace such a life-style? Their sons for that matter. But then of course I am a fervent romantic and I believe that the act should be something more than a physical release. Release can be good but there is something way beyond just phsical release!
Be safe young lady! The world can be quite treacherous!
Rated
Rated for what goes around comes around.
If questioned by an editor who might want to publish your story, could you support your story with facts? Could you tell him or her not only what firm you worked for, but for how long? Could you supply the names of your colleagues (under the promise of confidentiality). Could you supply evidence of the rampant alcoholism and cronyism you allege in your post? Could you provide the written reason for your being discharged? The name of the john who doubled your fee and paid back the company that had turned you out?
Those are the sorts of factual questions you could be expected to answer by any reputable professional publisher, for very obvious reasons (one commenter mentioned the James Frey case by way of example.) I know full well OS is a free-form site that encourages and supports every kind of writing, from fiction to faction to hard news to satire and beyond. But if you want to be taken seriously (and this, in every way, is a very serious post) I'd suggest you answer for yourself what sort of story you're telling when you sit down to write it. Is it gospel, with just the names changed? Is it a revenge fantasy? A writing exercise? A put-on? Without a clear aim, what you've given your readers is a muddle. And that's not what writing of any sort is about. At the risk of sounding pompous, I'd say that if you're not aiming at the truth of your experience in telling your story, you're wasting your time and the reader's.
Ultimately, it's important for women considering this as an option to know if they are listening to a person with a true credential in the area and enough experience to have an informed viewpoint (which is the story you present) or just a fairy tale. This is the same dilemma faced by Fox News, which wants to claim it is full of personal opinion and analysis, but yet which 24 hours a day has the word "News" plastered on the screen, not "Opinion" and not "Analysis". It is non-news dressed up in news clothing and that's the bottom line of why people don't like it. If it were merely offensive it would be ignorable. If it were merely fiction or opinion or analysis, it would be dismissable. But it presents itself as gospel truth. It demands to be seen as a news program, yet hides behind criticism as opinion/analysis. As you apparently have, or have allowed at least some readers to believe.
Prostitution, properly decriminalized and perhaps regulated for health and safety reasons, may indeed be a fine industry for some people to be in. I'm not a fan of a paternalistic state that denies people the right to explore options that can hurt only themselves. But at the same time, I would be the first to object if the recruiting ads said “make big money with low risk.”
I enjoyed the story, by the way, for as far as it went. But I found myself feeling "this is too sanitized", like saying Star Trek describes how it is to land on alien worlds when the shuttle crafts don't even have airlocks. I love Star Trek, too, but not because I consider it a how-to guide for NASA astronauts about to set foot on Mars.
Also, I suspect there are not enough agencies and people with contracts that were surprisingly moved, etc. to provide real cover. I'll bet if this were true it would be easily possible for someone in the biz who stumbled across this story to personally identify you and and your company without further information. Anyone attending an event such as you describe where that story was told would certainly not say “there must be many such cases of alcoholic bosses, etc.” They would conclude that was the event and you were one of the employees. So I would be extremely careful about that, too. If I thought it even hard to figure that out, I'd put this in PM rather than on the thread, so as not to give a person ideas. But as I see it, a person with the relevant information couldn't help but conclude the truth, so the more important lesson is to others who might consider such stories—allow them to be fictional, change the details, have some fun, and say you're having fun. (Hopefully that's what you've done, except the part of it being fiction, and hopefully you'll confess to the fiction of it.) Much safer. Much more honest to those who would use you as if you were true and dependable data.