Omicron Check: Are you still hiring?

[CheckCar]

Curious to hear if those of us who were cautious 2 or 3 weeks ago have started hiring again. 

[jeezifonly]

Not in LA, numbers not heading down yet. 😷

[CheckCar]

5 minutes ago, jeezifonly said:

Not in LA, numbers not heading down yet. 😷

Uuugh. Maybe I’m just touch-deprived, but this feels like it is taking forever to pass.

[jeezifonly]

20 minutes ago, CheckCar said:

Uuugh. Maybe I’m just touch-deprived, but this feels like it is taking forever to pass.

Uuuuugh indeed. Feels like forever because it is. Shouldn’t be, but it is.

[+ Tygerscent]

On 12/24/2021 at 9:53 AM, tassojunior said:

That's what Fauci said about Coronavirus in early 2020. 

 

There's a good piece in today's BBC about not assuming Omicron will rapidly abate or is so harmless to all age groups it will eventually reach. In the UK the many first cases are young people. 

We're not sure what will happen when Omicron hits the elderly

It is also a bit premature and perhaps miss presumptuous to think that other mutations will not come out of the beta, delta or Omicron variants~ Mutations don’t always die down in intensity or severity~ More often, new variants emerge in wide spread populations that are more difficult to deal with like resistant forms of staph, (Methyl Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus: MRSA), resistant forms of Gonorrhea, the more recent neurosyphilis, Hep B, the flu… etc~  

[+ tassojunior]

NYT has a 14-day trend everyday and WaPo has a 7-day one. From the later it does seem as if new cases are starting to fall the past 7 days. Of course that can be a fluke for various reasons and in the UK Delta didn't do it's drop on cue as expected. DC hospitals are still full and doctors have disappeared. 

DC is still in winter snow lockdown with early sunsets but as soon as weather gets better, certainly by mid-March, all bets are off covid lockdown-wise. People are fed up. 

Travel-wise the crazy government entrance test rules and the dire shortage of workers is more troublesome than covid. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by tassojunior

[CheckCar]

9 hours ago, Tygerscent said:

It is also a bit premature and perhaps miss presumptuous to think that other mutations will not come out of the beta, delta or Omicron variants~ Mutations don’t always die down in intensity or severity~ More often, new variants emerge in wide spread populations that are more difficult to deal with like resistant forms of staph, (Methyl Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus: MRSA), resistant forms of Gonorrhea, the more recent neurosyphilis, Hep B, the flu… etc~  

This has been an ongoing concern of mine: How the urgency to report signs of hope overlook the possibility—or perhaps probability—of further mutations, some of which could prove as troublesome as Delta and Omicron.

[+ tassojunior]

I often wonder about myself taking a weekly test for something I've been vaccinated against 3 times. But I do. 

[CheckCar]

4 hours ago, tassojunior said:

I often wonder about myself taking a weekly test for something I've been vaccinated against 3 times. But I do. 

If I could find at-home tests, I’d do the same. But I used my last one right before seeing my family on Xmas.

[Lazarus]

I see free testing sites all over Manhattan with no wait…

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I've hired every day this week.  I'm in Puerto Vallarta right now.

[xyz48B]

I’m vaccinated. Reports show that the vaccine works against severe illness for omicron. I know folks who’ve gotten COVID since the omicron wave has been in full swing and are vaccinated, and every one of them has has nothing more than a cold. I took the vaccine to have a normal life again. A normal life is not one with a promise of no sickness. So am I, as a vaccinated and boostered person, ready to live that normal life? Yes. The hysteria must end. 

[+ DrownedBoy]

I'm hiring my closest regular next weekend (have to travel a bit since I'm not moving back to Chicago yet). Can't be riskier than when we met during the Delta surge. We've both had full vaccines, boosters, and we both have home tests for beforehand.

[CheckCar]

10 hours ago, DrownedBoy said:

I'm hiring my closest regular next weekend (have to travel a bit since I'm not moving back to Chicago yet). Can't be riskier than when we met during the Delta surge. We've both had full vaccines, boosters, and we both have home tests for beforehand.

This sounds like the most responsible practice to me: Stick with trusted regulars and conduct home tests beforehand. 

If one of you tests positive, will you offer him partial payment to help him out, or will you just wait for now and pay his usual rate the next time?

[xyz48B]

5 hours ago, CheckCar said:

If one of you tests positive, will you offer him partial payment to help him out

🧐

That made me do a doubletake. Is he giving a break because of the pandemic? This isn’t us “helping” the escorts. We aren’t providing the service here. I swear – the way that some approach this as if these escorts are demigods who set all the parameters and we are fortunate to give them our money…Jeez  

Pre-pandemic I had guys need to reschedule and I had to reschedule. Never once was a discussion of partial payment (or discount) had to “help out.”

This pandemic has made people lose their logical minds. 

[+ DrownedBoy]

10 hours ago, CheckCar said:

If one of you tests positive, will you offer him partial payment to help him out, or will you just wait for now and pay his usual rate the next time?

No way! Cancelling for a positive Covid test potentially benefits both parties, and nobody owes the other for something that is essentially up to chance.

One advantage of a regular is they know you'll hire them again when you can, and it's in both of our interests not to risk each others' health. And I've been hiring this guy for 5 years now. Establishing professional networks is the best way to get good and reliable service.

Edited January 22, 2022 by DrownedBoy

[CheckCar]

1 hour ago, DrownedBoy said:

No way! Cancelling for a positive Covid test potentially benefits both parties, and nobody owes the other for something that is essentially up to chance.

One advantage of a regular is they know you'll hire them again when you can, and it's in both of our interests not to risk each others' health. And I've been hiring this guy for 5 years now. Establishing professional networks is the best way to get good and reliable service.

Makes sense. I helped out one of my regulars back in April 2020 since I knew that this gig and his daytime gig were both on hold. He gave me a free massage once he started to see clients again.

Some forum members seem to prefer a transactional approach: pay for services rendered, and nothing more. And I have no critiques of that; we all need to do what we feel comfortable with. For me, offering a little bit of assistance during extraordinary circumstances like a pandemic to a really good regular provider facing financial precarity seems worth consideration for those who can afford it, especially if the provider will acknowledge that support later on as my guy did. 

[xyz48B]

18 hours ago, CheckCar said:

offering a little bit of assistance during extraordinary circumstances like a pandemic to a really good regular provider facing financial precarity seems worth consideration for those who can afford it, especially if the provider will acknowledge that support later on as my guy did. 

What does this mean though? Particularly “acknowledge that support later?” Do you mean a discount?

[+ DrownedBoy]

18 hours ago, CheckCar said:

For me, offering a little bit of assistance during extraordinary circumstances like a pandemic to a really good regular provider facing financial precarity seems worth consideration for those who can afford it, especially if the provider will acknowledge that support later on as my guy did. 

That's a mighty big "if" there.

I once helped out a regular I'd been seeing for 2 years. It didn't stop him from trying to rip me off when he had the chance.

[+ nycman]

58 minutes ago, DrownedBoy said:

That's a mighty big "if" there.

I once helped out a regular I'd been seeing for 2 years. It didn't stop him from trying to rip me off when he had the chance.

Unfortunately, that’s usually the case. 

Whenever I give, I give with an open hand. Be it a friend, an escort, or the Met Museum.
I expect nothing in return. I would say 95% of the time I don’t even get a thank you note.
Fuck, even the Met I usually have to bug just to get my tax deduction forms every December.

The nice thing about expecting nothing, is you’re never disappointed. Yes, it’s wonderful when
someone says "thank you" or goes out of their way to "repay" you in some small way, but it’s
never part of my calculations in gift giving.

Now, does it affect the second and third rounds of "gift giving"?….You bet your ass it does. 

Edited January 23, 2022 by nycman

[+ DrownedBoy]

3 hours ago, nycman said:

Whenever I give, I give with an open hand.

I'm not above giving - the regular I'm discussing, I sent him a Xmas gift.

However, at the same time, I think of all my hiring as "giving." The best type of business relationship is where each side appreciates the other - I appreciate his responsiveness and skill, and he appreciates getting the extra money on a regular basis. And we've told each other that.

Like it or not, any money a provider receives is money not paid to another provider. And there are a lot of providers chasing a few clients (with a few small exceptions like after a pandemic ends). What is surplus money to me, goes to someone who needs it for rent, education, training, etc. I ask very little from providers, and am considered "easy money." So to me, all hiring is a form of charity.

Edited January 23, 2022 by DrownedBoy

[marylander1940]

On 12/23/2021 at 11:51 AM, Vegas_nw1982 said:

I hired last night, so "yes".

 

we're glad you survived considering you're still posting! 

 

[Epigonos]

I never stopped hiring and I am still doing so. Getting together with my regular guy for dinner and fun this evening. I'm fully vaccinated and have had the booster.  Two fucking years of this mask and quarantine bull shit, is enough.  I'm also starting to travel again and am currently planning a ten-day trip to Mexico City.  I'm 81 and god only know how much longer I have to live so I am resuming my life as normally as possible. 

[+ Lucky]

1 hour ago, Epigonos said:

  Two fucking years of this mask and quarantine bull shit, is enough.... I'm 81 and god only know how much longer I have to live so I am resuming my life as normally as possible. 

 

So it was all bullshit? Masks and quarantine weren't protecting people when COVID was rampant? I don't understand your attitude.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

2 hours ago, marylander1940 said:

we're glad you survived considering you're still posting! 

 

Thanks!  Yeah, I've been better than ever once I gave up the nonsense of quarantining and masks.

Early in the pandemic I began to suffer health issues from being sedentary and now having regular access to healthy foods and friendships.  Once I resumed traveling internationally, hiring providers for massage and other activities, and going to events, I've lost a lot of excess weight and my health has improved dramatically.  Still a long ways to go.  I'll agree that the pandemic "cure" of prolonged lock downs and mask wearing caused more health damage to me than the times I cought the virus.