A Consumer's Guide to Male Hustlers (10 page)

⁵
. Your eyes are the best judge of a person's age. Lots of minors carry fake IDs.

Summing it all up, models have expanded the hustling universe. They have added tremendous variety, accessibility, and professionalism. However, the beeper and voice mail, unlike the answering machine, have made model in calls somewhat
less
safe than they used to be. This subject will be discussed in Chapter 12.

Chapter 6

How Hustlers Price Their Services

To know how to work out a mutually beneficial deal with a hustler, you need to understand the finances involved in the hustling trade. Most full-time street hustlers, and quite a few models, do not have the faintest idea of how much they earn per year, or even per month.

When reporters interview hustlers, the latter are likely to state that they make $400 a day, or some such. Working five days a week, and taking two weeks off for a well-deserved vacation, will give these hustlers a cool annual income of $100,000. So how come they have no money to pay for a hotel room for the night?

There are, indeed, days when hustlers make $400, and even more. But there are also days on end when they earn very little, or nothing at all. Full-time hustlers are loathe to admit that they barely eke out a living because, inevitably, they will be asked, "So why do you hustle?"

Not only do they not keep books, but whatever money they make seems to evaporate. The Costa Rican transvestite hustler I mentioned in Chapter 3 explained this by saying,
"Dinero malo sale rápido"
(bad money is swiftly spent). In her case, just her drag outfits and makeup consumed most of her earnings. The rest probably went for drugs.

In addition to drugs, alcohol, expensive hotel rooms (rented on a daily basis at a premium), and constant eating out, many hustlers get rid of their earnings by acquiring a lot of stuff they definitely do not need. The more impractical the item, the more likely it is to be bought by a hustler.

I know one hustler who bought a very elegant and expensive three-piece suit for himself. He never used it, because it would have been completely inappropriate attire for hustling. Since he moved from one hotel to another, he had to store the suit at a friend's home. Finally, many months after having bought the suit, the day arrived when he could wear it—unfortunately, to a funeral. That was the day after he had had a fight with his friend, who would not let him come by to pick up the suit.

With a lot of money on their hands, experienced hustlers will pay rent in advance. But they usually do not have a place to park the rest of the cash. Most of them do not have bank accounts, and they are afraid to carry a lot of money or to have friends keep it for them. The impractical things they purchase can be stored at friends' homes, with some assurance that the things will be returned to them.

Hustlers deal with unreal money. One moment they are hungry, homeless, and broke. Two hours later, they have $150 to burn! The next day they will be on the same corner—hungry, homeless, and broke—easy come, easy go. It does not really matter how much these hustlers earn per month or per annum, because, in the end, they have little to show.

All of this is different for part-time street hustlers and models. By just having places to live, and not hanging out in the street at all hours, they have more control over their finances. With them, money really adds up. A number of them even manage to put themselves through college.

Frustratingly for all hustlers and models, in the beginning they almost always do better than later on in their careers. A new face on the street or a different ad in the paper attracts attention. This beginners' luck evaporates after a while. Unfortunately, hustlers and models tend to remember the olden days that may never be repeated.

* * *

Of the three kinds of hustlers, only the compensation of masseurs has a logical, economic basis. Disappointingly for them, they are paid less per session than hustlers. It is disappointing because, in addition to working very hard, they have a substantial overhead. For in calls they need to maintain a decent space. (Models can and do get away with shabbier accommodations!) They have to provide sheets, towels, and oil. Professional masseurs, and those who want to have less hanky-panky with clients, require a massage table. Their constant overhead is the weekly ads they must place in the gay press.

In San Francisco an hour's worth of a nonsexual massage by a CMT (Certified Massage Therapist) costs around $35, as of this writing. A full-body "release" massage runs around $50. Very cute masseurs go as high as $60; older practitioners charge around $40. Sexual "enhancements" by the masseur will be reflected in the tip.

Such an orderly market is of great advantage to clients. Within a narrow band, they can choose between similar providers.

* * *

No such orderly and efficient market exists in the street. Understanding how street hustlers price their services is not easy. It is equally difficult to make sense of the remuneration their clients are willing to offer. A lot of non-economic issues come into the equation. Guilt (as in "the wages of sin"), low or inflated self-esteem of hustlers and clients, justified worries and neurotic paranoia, and other confusing factors, all play a role in which hustler is chosen and how much he is paid. Two hypothetical illustrations follow:

A street hustler, I'll call him Jerry, starts his shift on a Saturday evening, at 9 p.m. He just spent his last dollar on dinner. He is determined to make, at the
very
least, $75 that night. When he is done, he can rent a cheap hotel room for $35 and finally get a good night's sleep. He owes $25 to another hustler who is going to kick ass if he does not pay him back by tomorrow. With the remaining $15 dollars he can eat the next day.

Jerry showered, shaved, and put on decent clothes at a friend's apartment. His asking price is $90. This is slightly higher than the asking price on the street. But on this particular evening Jerry feels good about himself. He knows that he is an attractive guy, and expects the client to pay top dollar for the privilege of having sex with him.

It turns out to be one of
those
nights. The few assholes who talk to him insult him by offering him only $50. Not a single serious client deigns even to look at him. A regular client who usually picks him up, or at least greets him, ignores him completely. He is interested in a new hustler.

By 2:30 a.m. Jerry is demoralized. The bars have closed and the good potential clients have already picked their choices for the evening, or gone home by themselves. Now Jerry is willing to come down from $90 to $50 because, it stands to reason, the client will ask him to stay the night. He'll save $35 on the hotel room and will be OK financially. By 3:30 a.m., Jerry is desperate. Now he will go with the client for $40, and at 4:00 a.m. for $25.

At 2:05 a.m., a part-time hustler, I'll call him Jim, leaves the bar across the street from where Jerry stands. He did not hook up with anyone at the bar, and is willing to spend a little time trying his luck at picking up a paying gentleman.

Jim has a decent job that pays the bills, but this month he needs extra cash. His asking price is $80, and he has decided that he will not go down in price. He does not want to stay the night with a client (if he has to, he wants to be paid $125), and he is certain that the client will give him cab fare if he does not want to drive him home.

Now, at 2:30 a.m., Jerry at $50 is a much better deal for a potential client. He is much cuter than Jim, and his asking price is $30 less. But Jerry is jinxed on this particular night. He is too anxious to close the deal and get off his feet. When a potential client stops to speak to him, he becomes anxious and sends out tense vibes, which the client interprets as a danger signal. In addition, Jerry insists that the client put him up for the night. For $50, this seems to be too good a deal and raises suspicions.

Up the street, Jim, with four beers under his belt, stands relaxed and confident. It would be nice if he could make some extra money tonight. But he is getting sleepy and he can always try his luck on the street Sunday afternoon. When potential clients talk to him, he is inflexible about his fee and is reluctant to stay the night with them. From Jim, clients get cocky but safe vibes. He may not be as cute as the guy down the street, but better safe than sorry. The client who eventually picks up Jim had spoken briefly to Jerry. He is willing to pay $30 more for a hustler who is not very attractive, and who won't stay the night with him, because he has a funny feeling about Jerry.

At 4:30 Jerry finally gets picked up. His date is a man who lives in a welfare hotel, that is, General Assistance pays his rent. All he can do for Jerry is to put him up for the night and let him sleep late. He has no cash at all to give Jerry, but he'll share his drugs with him.

In such a non-standardized market, the client can do the same: decide how much he would be willing to pay for a hustler on a particular evening, and stick to his guns. With perseverance, he will find what he is looking for.

* * *

In theory, the models' market should be very orderly and efficient. Clients have access to the fees of all models. If the fee is not printed in the ad, a phone call will make this information available. In practice, the models' market is even more non-standardized than that of street hustlers.

Unlike hustlers, models have a constant overhead: the ads they insert whenever they have the money for it. Large ads and photographs make ads more expensive.
¹
A model's overhead will always be reflected in the fees he charges. However,
there is no relationship between the size of the ad and the sexual competency of the model
.

¹
. Photographs are tricky. The only certainty about a hustler's photo is that it makes his ad more expensive. Some photos are a week old; others were taken five years ago.

In the street, hustlers offer more or less similar services. In the ads, models offer a tremendous variety of services. In the street, there are ten or twenty hustlers at a given time. In gay publications of metropolitan areas, there may be hundreds of ads to choose from.

Do you remember the Nasty Pisser (advertiser number 4) in Chapter 2? How did he arrive at $125 for an act many hustlers would offer as a complimentary service? Well, there is no "Pissers of America Guild" with whom he could have consulted before setting his fees, and there is no licensing board for his profession to certify his pissing competency. A basic economics course will teach you that the marketplace will force him to come up with a competitive price, if he wants to be successful in his business. But, if he has a job, he may not care how well his business is doing. If he sees only two clients a month he has already covered the expense of his ads and has made close to $200 in profit. He will not go below the $125 and, as far as he is concerned, the competition be damned. Other models are willing to do a lot more and charge a lot less, because they have to make enough money to cover their rent. In the same market, then, there may be two tiers of models' fees for similar services.

A good question to ask here is why any client would pay the Pisser $125. There are two reasons for it.

First, a lot of clients would be embarrassed to ask an ordinary model to piss on them. They are afraid that they will be rejected out of hand or, worse, be ridiculed by him. Second, clients hope that the Pisser will have an appropriate shtick to go with the pissing act. That would make the experience more ... meaningful.

In such a market, the client can predetermine what he is willing to pay a model. (Due to the models' fixed overhead, it needs to be higher than the fee for a street hustler.) How to go through ads with this approach will be discussed in a later chapter.

I respect models and have done extremely well for myself using their services. However, I have always felt that their financial expectations (with the notable exception of masseurs) are completely off the wall.
In this, they are aided and abetted by their clients' low self-esteem.

As I have already written, I shared my home for a while with a Mexican masseur named Jacinto. Jacinto charged $50 for an hour's worth of massage, including the "release" procedure. Jacinto was very cute but mostly mute. At the beginning, he spoke hardly any English. He was twenty-six at the time, though he looked considerably younger. In his entire life, he had been given one hour's instruction in massage techniques.

Before the "grand opening" of his new business he held a dress rehearsal. I was his guinea pig. When he was done, I evaluated the massage. I pointed out that his touch had not been firm enough, and that he had faltered at the critical R minus 10 seconds. Without my own hand's intervention, a release-failure non-event would have occurred. Jacinto never really got the hang of it, and his clients always had to help him along.

Jacinto's second client was a middle-aged man named Leo. He was a very pleasant, relatively good-looking guy, who could have benefited from joining a gym to lose some weight and tone his flabby muscles.

After Leo left, Jacinto showed me a crisp $100 bill. "Look, he gave me a $50 tip," he said excitedly.

"Did you go
beyond
the release?"

"Joseph, I swear, he got the same massage I gave you the day before yesterday. He had to help me when it came to the climaxing."

"Will he see you again?"

"He already made a date for next week."

"Then we should refer to him as Don Leo."
Don
is a Spanish honorific for very important or distinguished persons. The new appellation stuck.

Don Leo became Jacinto's regular, and even I got to know him pretty well. He saw Jacinto at least once a week and always gave him $100. Jacinto found out later that he saw other masseurs and models as well, and paid the masseurs the same $100. What he gave "models" Jacinto never found out. I suspect it was close to $200.