What I Learned

Most of us work to pay for everything we want and need including food, clothes, shelter, transportation, entertainment, experiences, and more. If you're anything like me, you know that the economy has always been a cunning beast, and even before the pandemic, finding balance was already an elusive endeavor. With a struggling business and demanding personal life, I was looking for a profession that would allow me to work from home, maintain a flexible schedule, and pay me to do what I love. Customer service has always been my favorite kind of work and my chosen profession, as I love helping people. It gives my life meaning, and getting paid to do this is my idea of ultimate happiness. I get to enjoy a full heart and full pockets. Making my own schedule was more familiar to me and had become a necessity. Being available when my children want or need me is most important. Being able to do whatever I need and want whenever and wherever I choose is the ultimate goal and encompasses everything, but, getting paid remained the competing top priority. At the time, working from home was a fairly new concept and had repeatedly proven to be harder than it ever should have been. I'd nearly given up on the idea of that kind of freedom but after accepting the idea of working a nonconventional job, I decided to try a chatline. I was never under the impression that it was going to be easy money. I do love talking with all kinds of people about any and everything, but I absolutely expected the stigma that 'sex work' carries, and I did expect to be uncomfortable at times. The company that I started with required you to listen to and remain connected with the client no matter what the content of the call. It was horrible and at times, unbearable. I would hang up the phone from some shifts completely shocked, disgusted, or even heartbroken. I eventually moved on to other companies to find the one that provided everything I wanted. Initially, I took a pay cut with reduced hours, though as my clientele grew, so did my income. However, I did not expect the additional benefits I received from this experience. It's true, there are some sick individuals in the world, but there are also some extremely intelligent, unusual, and interesting people as well. As with anywhere else, both are found on chatlines. The most surprising thing that I learned is that the majority of people on chatlines are in fact, not perverts but normal decent people. I found some to be so highly intelligent that it's difficult for them to hold conversations with most people, but their desires are more traditional than mine. Even more often, the conversations they craved had little to nothing to do with sex. I've talked for hours with some of the most intriguing men about their home lives, work, hobbies, life philosophies, religion, spirituality, upbringing, and more. This brings me to the next thing I learned. I am more sheltered than I thought. I learned things about life, myself, and people as a whole that I don't think I would have learned elsewhere. People you would never expect, like your religious leaders, teachers, bosses, medical professionals, store clerks, neighbors, and family members like things you would never expect them to like. I found that I like and am interested in things I never expected to like or had never heard of or imagined prior to working on a chatline. I'd never considered that there would be fascinating reasons why a man might want to be dominated by a woman or choose to be dominant with her. I did not expect to learn about why I like bondage or find some taboo subjects arousing. I learned that sexuality has little to do with intercourse, sex appeal, or reproductive organs and even more to do with everything else. I also learned people are much more honest on chatlines than they are in person or even on camera, including myself. I would sign on to the chatline and hours would pass as I talked with new acquaintances as if we were old friends. Some I would talk to occasionally, others, I spoke with regularly and as often as every day. We shared information, stories, and experiences, gave each other advice and encouragement, and simply called in to see how things were going or share a meal. This experience helped me grow. I would advise any mentally stable adult to explore this unique space with an open mind. I think you could learn a lot that you never knew, too!