Getting to Know You...

[+ glennnn]

As one ages, a natural attrition sets in, and the number of friends we have declines and opportunities for new ones may become rarer. I'm fighting this by seeking out closer ties with some of you. It ain't easy, because I am over 100 miles from anything that could remotely be called a population center, but I have hooked up (make of that expression what you willl) wth several of you in person, and it has been a real treat to meet the great men behind the Forum posts I enjoy so much. I'm wondering, exclusive of Daddy's PS Weekend, how many of you have acquaintances or real friendships away from the main forum pages? These could be client/client, escort/escort, or client/ escort. In the last category, client/escort, I really like my escorts beyond, or in addition to sex. I just don't know how to ask them out for lunch off the clock, without a playdate involved. It seems so presumptuous and kind of like asking your mechanic friend out for coffee to get free advice about your car, or something. What say you, friends?

[jawjateck]

I see 6 or 7 on a regular/semi-regular basis. Of the companions, some friendships were formed and continued after the business relationship ended. They just liked me, I reckon. HAHA! I never attempted to initiate an off-the-clock friendship with any active providers. A few of them have done so, preferring to stay in touch with me as an advisor/counselor/listening ear, than to lose contact altogether.

[jjkrkwood]

Friendships for OLD people are difficult..... We are just so set in our ways and "onnery".... and we usually have no tolerance for games and bullshit....OR the smell of Ben Gay (unless he's exceptionally cute and HUNG).

[+ poolboy48220]

I consider a handful of other members here friends, but have never met them in person. I've got a friend, another patron at the dancer boy club, that I discuss hiring and other escapades with, but that's about it apart from here. I consider a handful of dancers at the club friends outside of the dancing, and have one (former) escort that I'm socially friends with.

[big-n-tall]

I haven't met any of the non-escort forum members. One day!!!

 

Of the escorts who I have met (who frequent or have been) on the forum. I say 4 of them are friends. One doesn't post here anymore and another is retired from the game and doesn't post anymore, also or rarely. I talk to him semi-regularly and we have lunch or dinner schedule and vicinity permitting. We haven't fooled around since he retired.

 

Of all the working guys I've met since I began the his hobby (not including the 4 previously mentioned) I would say nine are friends. I guess I'm a likable "enough" son of a bitch. I echo @jawjateck in that most of them initiated off-the-clock friendship time or told me to call them anytime just to talk.

 

I think I'm close to all of them, but two of those 9 and I have become extremely close with. I have gone on multi-day trips with them (no money exchanged) and we talk all the time.

 

Oh and one straight webcam guy (who doesn't escort as far as I know), whom I consider my brother.

 

@glennnn I'm sure, although you haven't met some people on the forum, your attitude draws people to you. The unmet masses on the forum would gladly consider you a friend, if they don't already do. I'm not sure what advice I could give you about initiating an off-the-clock with some of your hires. I've been told often by strangers and well knowns that there is something about my face/attitude/demeanor that makes me easy to talk to.

[+ glennnn]

I haven't met any of the non-escort forum members. One day!!!

 

Of the escorts who I have met (who frequent or have been) on the forum. I say 4 of them are friends. One doesn't post here anymore and another is retired from the game and doesn't post anymore, also or rarely. I talk to him semi-regularly and we have lunch or dinner schedule and vicinity permitting. We haven't fooled around since he retired.

 

Of all the working guys I've met since I began the his hobby (not including the 4 previously mentioned) I would say nine are friends. I guess I'm a likable "enough" son of a bitch. I echo @jawjateck in that most of them initiated off-the-clock friendship time or told me to call them anytime just to talk.

 

I think I'm close to all of them, but two of those 9 and I have become extremely close with. I have gone on multi-day trips with them (no money exchanged) and we talk all the time.

 

Oh and one straight webcam guy (who doesn't escort as far as I know), whom I consider my brother.

 

@glennnn I'm sure, although you haven't met some people on the forum, your attitude draws people to you. The unmet masses on the forum would gladly consider you a friend, if they don't already do. I'm not sure what advice I could give you about initiating an off-the-clock with some of your hires. I've been told often by strangers and well knowns that there is something about my face/attitude/demeanor that makes me easy to talk to.

 

Gods. I love you. You make me happier just by reading your posts. Thank you. Life is short; make the most of it you can.

[big-n-tall]

Gods. I love you. You make me happier just by reading your posts. Thank you. Life is short; make the most of it you can.

 

Tee hee... oh you.

[+ bashful]

Very good subject. Re: client/escort:

 

My hiring experience is very limited, only 4 different men. Two only once, one twice, and one five times.

 

The twice guy, who lives very far away, emails about once a month or so, and tells me what’s going on in his life. Whether it’s good marketing on his part, or not, to be honest, it’s been nice to hear from him.

 

During a recent visit with the five-time guy (who is local), I asked what I should say if we ran into each other in public. He said “we’re friends”. Given I still consider myself new to the client/escort relationship, I wasn’t expecting that.

[+ purplekow]

I consider myself a really friendly guy, but I have very few real friends. I am happy with the 4 or five friends I have from other aspects of my life, one from childhood, one from high school, one from post graduate training and one from my first job.

 

As for escorts, I have been friendly with several. Right now on my ongoing texting screen, I am in conversation with 4 men who were escorts when we met. Two of those are now part time escorts and two are retired from escorting. I have not hired any of the four in the last two years.

 

As far as posters here, I am in some sort of communication with three or four of the men who post here with frequency. I have met personally only four posters from this site apart from the groups of people I met in PS and DC.

 

There are two active escorts who I have hired in the past who text me now and again just to say hello. I do no believe that these relationships have reached the level of friendship, but those relationships are cordial and I am always happy to hear from them.

 

There are quite a few, probably 4 or 5, escorts with whom I communicated regularly and seemingly on a friendly basis and who I hired often. When they retired or moved away, they soon after ceased all communication. They did so abruptly, without so much as a glance back. So it is fair to say that the communication which I was thinking of a off the clock and personal, was, in reality, marketing on their part.

[down_to_business]

I have not met any forum members from this board other than a very few escorts I have hired that also post here. I have had a few pleasant message exchanges with some members both escort and non escort.

 

If you expand this query to escort/client in general, who aren't a part of this board, I had one who I would consider a friend and one who I was never really able to put a finger or label on our relationship (the one that I wrote about that died this year).

 

I don't deny that I partake in this hobby. I don't judge anyone else who does. But I don't see myself ever introducing myself to others as someone who does in person. Therefore, it's unlikely I will ever be meeting other forum members face to face if this is the only thing we have in common. If I did, however, the OP is one of the first ones I would have liked to meet.

[mike carey]

I don't judge anyone else who does. But I don't see myself ever introducing myself to others as someone who does in person. Therefore, it's unlikely I will ever be meeting other forum members face to face if this is the only thing we have in common.

I didn't come here with any expectations of meeting people apart from identifying working guys who I would like to hire. It hasn't worked out that way. For me, at least, this has become one of the several on-line resources for meeting other gay guys, either virtually or in real life. I have chatted with clients and escorts, found personalities that I feel I clicked with, people I would like to have as friends. Being on another continent I don't expect that to happen, but it's a nice little conceit on my part. I certainly don't expect to become friends with any of the escorts, or even to meet them in anything other than a professional capacity (I note that others have commented that friendships have grown from that, but that would be the exception rather than the rule).

 

I have chatted in here, exchanged PMs, and have people make kind and thoughtful comments to me. When I started I had not lurked long enough to really be aware of the forum meetings in various places, but I went to the one in DC this year. This was a far closer engagement with forum members than I had expected, and although I haven't added anyone to my Christmas card list yet, it wouldn't surprise me if I were to do so. I'm unconcerned if hiring is the thing that brought me to the forum, and therefore is the first thing I have in common with others here. As with any group of gay men, we have issues of being closeted, how families react, how we face workplace hostility that we can also share: that we discuss these things on line is a blessing this site bestows on us. At the meeting in DC I didn't discuss these broader issues, but having met guys face to face I would be more likely to discuss them on line than I was beforehand.

[liubit]

This forum is a great place to exchange information about a hobby that is still considered taboo. This interaction is shielded by internet anonymity, in a refreshing and uninhibited environment. Here, many of us share experiences and feelings that would have otherwise remained hidden deep in our innermost darkest caves, and we tell stories that we would never even consider telling to very close friends. That is the value of this peculiar community.

 

Since I do not live in the USA, I have not participated in forum gatherings. Would I want to? I honestly don't know.

[Rudynate]

I have just recently made a new friend, and the relationship is blossoming nicely. It's an interesting relationship. He's a real pleasant straight guy I was in the habit of chatting with at my gym. One day, he asked me, "Do you ever play catch?" I said,"You mean throwing a baseball back and forth?" That's what he meant. I told him I hadn't done it since I was a kid and never enjoyed because I was a sissy who threw like a girl. He said, "I can teach you to throw." I have always harbored a secret desire to develop some athletic skill and throwing a ball seemed like a good way to start, so I said OK, Let's get together and play catch. For a couple months, we've been getting together every Saturday to play catch for an hour. My catching and throwing improves every week and we're getting to know and like each other. One day, a couple of weeks ago, I missed the ball and it hit me in the eye and gave me shiner that I walked around with for several days.

[+ glennnn]

This forum is a great place to exchange information about a hobby that is still considered taboo. This interaction is shielded by internet anonymity, in a refreshing and uninhibited environment. Here, many of us share experiences and feelings that would have otherwise remained hidden deep in our innermost darkest caves, and we tell stories that we would never even consider telling to very close friends. That is the value of this peculiar community.

 

Since I do not live in the USA, I have not participated in forum gatherings. Would I want to? I honestly don't know.

 

You would be welcomed! I hope it happens.

[+ poolboy48220]

I have just recently made a new friend, and the relationship is blossoming nicely. It's an interesting relationship. He's a real pleasant straight guy I was in the habit of chatting with at my gym. One day, he asked me, "Do you ever play catch?" I said,"You mean throwing a baseball back and forth?" That's what he meant. I told him I hadn't done it since I was a kid and never enjoyed because I was a sissy who threw like a girl. He said, "I can teach you to throw." I have always harbored a secret desire to develop some athletic skill and throwing a ball seemed like a good way to start, so I said OK, Let's get together and play catch. For a couple months, we've been getting together every Saturday to play catch for an hour. My catching and throwing improves every week and we're getting to know and like each other. One day, a couple of weeks ago, I missed the ball and it hit me in the eye and gave me shiner that I walked around with for several days.

in my 20's I played on my company softball team, as catcher (mostly because I was hopeless anywhere else). One of the guys on the team asked me "You're a good catcher, aren't you?" Maybe he even said "good LITTLE catcher". Not being out yet & familiar with the lingo, I had no idea what he meant, or even if he meant it that way. And yes, I would have caught for him :-)