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I've always been interested in the culture of fringe communities. Hippies, savants, bikers, homeless, mercenaries and, in this case, the lore and practices of the world's oldest profession: prostitution.
Every subculture has its lore, terminology, practices, mystique and such. I read an excellent scholarly work on just such a subculture and watched one of the fairly good HBO specials on prostitution. I was struck by my mindset/approach to tradeskilling and how it compares to the sex industry.
1) I know where my core clients frequent and when they are most likely to be about.
2) I wear just the right thing to enhance my skills and abilities. Some customers like a certain look, some could care less. The outcome, though, is always matters.
3) There's a patois, a codified language of questions and answers. Some are frank, some are couched in innuendo and allusion.
4) Misunderstandings are bad. Whether it be over price or product, a misunderstanding can lead to disappointment on either end of the transaction.
5) There always seems to a rush to get together and an almost pathological to need to disentangle oneself afterwards. I distaste over the matter, a distancing of oneself from one's client as soon as the transaction concludes.
6) Outside of these commercial transactions there is rarely a desire interact socially. One does not group with there clients, only a clandestine meeting for the exchange of favors for services.
Every subculture has its lore, terminology, practices, mystique and such. I read an excellent scholarly work on just such a subculture and watched one of the fairly good HBO specials on prostitution. I was struck by my mindset/approach to tradeskilling and how it compares to the sex industry.
1) I know where my core clients frequent and when they are most likely to be about.
2) I wear just the right thing to enhance my skills and abilities. Some customers like a certain look, some could care less. The outcome, though, is always matters.
3) There's a patois, a codified language of questions and answers. Some are frank, some are couched in innuendo and allusion.
4) Misunderstandings are bad. Whether it be over price or product, a misunderstanding can lead to disappointment on either end of the transaction.
5) There always seems to a rush to get together and an almost pathological to need to disentangle oneself afterwards. I distaste over the matter, a distancing of oneself from one's client as soon as the transaction concludes.
6) Outside of these commercial transactions there is rarely a desire interact socially. One does not group with there clients, only a clandestine meeting for the exchange of favors for services.