I’m a little late weighing in on this one, but I just can’t let this slip by without saying my peace. Besides, it ties in with a topic I’ve been wanting to discuss here for quite a while and it makes a great cautionary tale for newcomers to the world of phone sex jobs on the Internet. Anyway, here’s the story:
A phone sex operator said she’s owed big bucks for talking dirty. She also said that phone sex operators aren’t at all what people who call them are lead to believe.
read more | digg story
So, it seems the lady interviewed in this story, Janice Huge, was a frequent caller on a chat line. On that chat line, she was approached by a woman & recruited to work as paid phone sex worker for a company by the name of Erotic Communications. Said company’s business model consisted of creating profiles on Niteflirt and then having the calls ring on the phone numbers of ladies who were being recruited off this chat line. Big promises were made in terms of earning potential…but when it came time to get paid, Ms. Huge and apparently, some of the other women recruited by Erotic Communications did not get paid.
Intriguingly, there was a whole range of reactions to Ms. Huge’s story from other phone sex workers on the various PSO boards and forums. The vast majority of phone sex workers who use Niteflirt.com are independents who are in business for themselves. The reactions from these independent PSO’s ranged from outrage that yet another phone sex company was taking advantage of a fellow phone sex worker who also happens to be handicapped to outrage at Ms. Huge herself for “sinning” against the industry with the statements she made to the press.
Most of the “Flirts” who commented on the phone sex forums were annoyed & upset (rightfully so, IMO) that Niteflirt itself, rather than this phantom middleman company, was taking the heat for not paying a handicapped woman for work performed. Dear Madame’s blog entry, entitled Don’t be Dissin’ My Niteflirt, represents that viewpoint well.
Some “Flirts” were skeptical of Ms. Huge’s claim that she was owed $8,000 – it’s not too common to be able to earn that amount in the few short weeks that Ms. Huge was employed by Erotic Communications. I attribute the $8000 figure to exaggerated claims and promises made to Ms. Huge when she was hired by Erotic Communications. She was told she’d be paid something like $2.00 per minute for talk time so perhaps based on minutes worked, she really did believe she was owed that much. The reason why it would be well nigh impossible for a Niteflirt “middleman” type company to pay a PSO 2 dollars per minute was broken down rather well by a lady known on Niteflirt as “The Principal” or Principal Angela Quattrano. PAQ also offers a great explanation of how Niteflirt works for independents versus how it works for those who work for “middleman” companies….and shares her own experience as a contractor with this type of “middleman” company. Many were also mystified as to why Ms. Huge and others would work for so long without seeing a paycheck.
Some PSO’s were outraged that Ms. Huge made the following statement to the press:
…..the ads for phone sex lines are deceiving.
“It’s all a fraud, the pictures online are of a model. The person you talk to is not the real person,” Huge said.
I think here, Ms. Huge is speaking from her own limited experience as an online phone sex worker. It’s a fact that *some* phone sex sites do use models to represent some of the voices you speak to on the phone. This information does not come as a shock to most of the men who use our services. There are some sites that use models, some use erotic cartoons instead of photos, some phone sex lines use no photos or images at all, and lo and behold -Â some phone sex workers actually do publish images of themselves on their sites and even offer streaming video to their callers! It’s the call that counts…and as with most things in life, there are different strokes for different folks and on the great big smorgasbord of online phone sex and cam sites, there truly is something for everyone. It was Ms. Huge’s reality as a contractor for Erotic Communications that she was “pretending” to be a model in a photo chosen by her employer – but this is not the reality for every phone sex worker nor is it the only way to do business especially on Niteflirt.com where you find such a diverse group of men and women offering erotic chat and webcam services. So yea, although it’s rather distasteful to hear such a blanket condemnation of phone sex work as “fraud” – I think we have to put Ms. Huge’s statement in perspective and just take it from where it comes – her own limited experience and her anger over not being paid.
To sum up, what can be learned from Ms. Huge’s experience that can help those who are new to this business?
1. Know who you’re working for. Make sure you have a contact name, business address, and a working telephone number for someone who hires you without a face to face interview. This may seem obvious but it’s so easy to get wrapped up in big promises and the hope of working from home that some forget to do their homework.
2. Research the company as much as possible before accepting a position. Google it! Enter the company name and the contact person’s name in the search engines and READ your results. Visit the phone sex forums that I link to here, ask questions and read old posts to find info about your company.
3. Be wary of companies that “use the Niteflirt platform for billing” or “set up a profile for you”. It’s just way too easy for anyone to join Niteflirt, set up a few profiles and maybe a website and declare themselves a “company”. No investment is required except maybe a few dollars for photos, no credit check, no background check, no experience nothing. Lots of abuses seem to occur with these Niteflirt-based phone sex companies so go back to step two and RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH (and read Principal Quattrano’s blog again) before you accept a position with a Niteflirt-only company. Also, you must ask yourself – what are they doing for me that I could not be doing for myself with my own Niteflirt account? Lots of these companies promise to advertise for you, but after you accept the position you may find that the call volume just is not there.
4. Be wary of exaggerated claims of earning potential. Though there are quite a few experienced and talented PSO’s who earn upwards of $1000 dollars per week, this is not the norm for a raw newcomer to the business. Expect it to take a while to get up to speed if you have no sex work experience. Do the math with your per minute rate also. Remember you get paid for talk time only (in most cases). Just because people compliment you on your sexy voice or your boyfriend digs the way you get him off over the phone – doesn’t mean you’ll make thousands your first week as a professional phone sex op. For most of us, it takes a while to build repeat business, to learn the intricacies and the off-the-beaten-path fetishes that some of our callers like to talk about. Any company that promises you thousands your very first week as a phone sex op, is probably a company you should avoid.
5. Don’t be afraid to abandon a sinking ship. If you aren’t paid on time or if (horrors!) your paycheck bounces, it’s time to seek employment elsewhere. Again, it may seem as though I’m stating the obvious, but in my six years of involvement in PSO & work at home forums and communities, I’m truly shocked to see how long some of us will hang on in hopeless situations or accept treatment that workers in the “real world” would never stand for. There are other phone sex companies and other work at home jobs. Never operate from a position of desperation!
I haven’t seen an update to this story anywhere. Will Ms. Huge get her money? I will keep my readers posted if or when I find out.
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