I really don't think this chica was pulling some scam. After all, as good as some of the more experienced chicas might be at acting, this role would have called for a real Oscar winning performance to be believable enough for some one to fall for. Secondly, what is the probable pay-off? Are there really that many guys that are going to pay chicas Cien to go home without them? Even if she keeps coming back and playing the damsel in distress act night after night, what percentage of those nights would she succeed in getting some guy to pay her for basically doing nothing? My guess is that it would be really really low. Much lower, certainly, than finding guys to pay her for actually having sex. So which would be a more effective way for her to try and make money? Besides, if she HAD been doing that for any length of time, she would have become a recognizable face around the HDR and at least some guy around here would probably have come across her themselves (or had her pointed out to them by others) and it would have become increasingly difficult for her to pull off such a scam. OTOH, if she really was a first-timer and managed to get some guy to pay her Cien por Nada the first time out of the gate, if anything that might even ENCOURAGE her to come back again in the hope that lightning would strike again. Is it possible she was faking it all along and just pulling a scam? Sure, anything is possible. Is it likely? I really really doubt it.
OTOH, does it really make that much difference whether it was a scam or not? It was still a highly ineffective, wasteful and maybe even counterproductive way of dealing with the situation.
Despite all the above being said, it is equally improbable that this guy's grandiose gesture actually made any difference in this chica's life for any more than maybe just a few nights or maybe a few weeks. It may enable her to pay a few nagging bills that drove her to trying the HDR in the first place, but it does nothing to change the overarching problem of a lack of sufficient income to live on. Sooner rather than later those financial pressures will rear their ugly head again, perhaps as early as the due date for the next rent check. I doubt it was just some passing pressure like the occasional running up of a particularly high cellphone bill that drives a chica to trying something like the HDR. That is the spot for only the TRULY desperate. Is it possible this grandiose act was truly successful at turning some poor girl away from a career in prostitution? Sure, anything is possible (or as JB pointed out it is not ABSOLUTELY 100%). However, I think the odds are much greater at hitting triple bars on the HDR slots and it could probably just as well be 100%.
So what did this gesture really acheive? The most direct result is that this particular chica got some extra funds to pay a few bills (a very few). It is very doubtful that even a mere $100 will make that big a difference in her life or do anything the larger more long running issues that drove her to walking in the HDR to begin with. OTOH, it probably reinforced the image most ticas already have that gringos (at least some of them) are an easy touch with lots of money to throw around and thus, if you need money, the HDR is really the place to go. In other words, this gesture probably actually had the exact OPPOSITE effect of the ostensible one the giver thought he had. I phrased that last part the way I did because, under the surface, the main thing this giver was probably trying to acheive was to make HIMSELF feel like he was doing a good and magnanimous thing and was making some sort of difference. And, in THAT regard, he probably succeeded. Go ahead, fella, pat yourself on the back.
There is a definite hypocrisy going on here on the part of some. How can one believe that TRYING to "save" this one poor girl (and most likely not succeeding for more than even a fraction of the time between each of our trips) has any real significance, while over the course of those visits we go with dozens or even hundreds of other equally poor girls who are often not any more happy about having to be there, but have merely become more accustomed to it. Our going to CR for P4P, both collectively but even individually, does far more to provide the marketplace that draws all these HUNDREDS of girls to try the HDR as a way out of their financial problems. Paying off ONE on the vain hope that she will never return is really a tiny drop in the bucket, making really no difference at all and most likely being a total waste of money. If you guys really think that the marketplace we contribute to on every trip is such a horrible corrupting influence on these girls that we need to somehow save them from, then maybe you shouldn't be in this hobby at all.
One last comment for Raw, Berk may have felt compassion, but it should be clarified that he was NOT the one who was being generous or putting his money where his mouth was. It was his pal Sonny. This was just another in a long-line of white-knight bleeding heart posts by Berketta on the same theme of "Oh this poor ladies, are just human beings with feelings who should be treated with complete trust and compassion, yada yada yada." Its a tired old song. Most of us ALREADY understand that these women are just human beings with feelings and problems like anyone else and the relatively FEW around here who don't probably won't "get it" no matter what Berketta posts. So who is he trying to "educate"?
Of course, it usually takes some really great economic desperation to lead any chica to turn to a profession like this. Sometimes it is a result of their own irresponsiblity but often it is also due to forces beyond their control (e.g. lack of education, abuse as a minor, teen pregnancy, etc.). We can and should have some compassion on them and treat them with the respect due any fellow human being. Many are just trying to earn an honest buck by providing services for pay. Many others aren't adverse to making an extra buck by shortchanging us, playing on our emotions and compassion by misleading (scamming) us, or some even will outright steal.
So while can and should treat them with the respect and compassion, at the same time a healthy dose of skepticism or cynicism is certainly called for. One can treat them with compassion and respect without becoming a doormat that they can step all over, because if we don't there are many that WILL step all over us. They can sniff out pussywhipped gringos and when they do will take full advantage. If you want to talk about gringos respecting chicas, then we should also talk about chicas respecting gringos. And it is hard to respect anyone who acts like a doormat (and freely giving them Cien por Nada makes us look like doormats or at least like walking wallets). OTOH, any gringo who learns how to balance the sensitivity of being a gringo, with the assertiveness, confidence and firmness of being a "hombre verdadero", will EARN the true respect of the chicas.
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