Suspended Fantasy

On Monday, I read an article in the NY Times (yes, monkeys read the times) about a company in Texas that is suing the high end (heh heh) strip joint in NYC called Scores. They claim that Scores over charged and ran up an unrealistically high charge on the company AMEX when one of their employees visited the establishment and entertained clients there. We're talking about $240,000 plus dollars.

Sit down, swallow, re-read the figure and whistle softly to yourself.

Scores claims that for each $10,000 charged, they call the credit card company and hand the phone to the patron who must pass the identity tests of the card company and approve the charge. They also claim to have his repeated signatures authorizing charges. It seems that it would be fairly easy to track down the paper trail that would prove that the executive in question actually authorized the charges or not. Surely, AMEX has record of the calls -- and someone has copies of the receipts that were signed.

Today, an op/ed piece appeared in the times that was written by a woman who works in the sex industry. She points out that men who visit establishments of this sort do so in order to indicate their success to other men, to suspend reality, and to be stroked in the ego and other places for a fee. She says that much of what is paid for in a place like Scores is available elsewhere much cheaper - that the status of having beautiful women who are wearing next to nothing fawn all over you is part of what you pay for.

I think she has a point. I also think that someone who is weasel enough to objectify women to the point of status symbol deserved to be fleeced. I think that Scores might actually be putting a real price on the value of sexual access to a woman -- not the 10-50 dollars street hookers are paid. Also, I find it interesting that a major corporation is willing to publicly humiliate themselves over the claim of foul because someone figured out that you can take advantage of men while they're drunk too.