"When social and market norms collide, trouble sets in. Take sex again. A guy takes a girl out for dinner and a movie, and he pays the bills. They go out again, and he pays the bills once more. They go out a third time, and he’s still springing for the meal and the entertainment. At this point, he’s hoping for at least a passionate kiss at the front door. His wallet is getting perilously thin, but worse is what’s going on in his head: he’s having trouble reconciling the social norm (courtship) with the market norm (money for sex). On the fourth date he casually mentions how much this romance is costing him. Now he’s crossed the line. Violation! She calls him a beast and storms off. He should have known that one can’t mix social and market norms-especially in this case-without implying that the lady is a tramp. He should also have remembered the immortal words of Woody Allen:“The most expensive sex is free sex.”"
To look at sex from an economists prospective I am going to look at the cash flow that goes into both a relationship (free sex) and an escort service(paid-for sex). While I do have a lot of experience in the dating field, I have zero experience in the escort arena.
Remember all girls are different, so the amount of money poured into a relationship will vary. These numbers are skewed towards my last "new relationship". To remissness on the start of a relationship is remembering a simpler time when your boyfriend was still trying to impress you; when he still opened the doors, didn't fart in front of you, and best of all payed for everything. Another quick disclaimer before we get into dollars:The last man who "courted" me was not your average joe, he had lots of money and spent it on, well me. Now let's get into the details.
The first time I hung out with above average joe was when I drove 14 hours to see him. That seems like a cost I accrued, but he reimbursed my driving expenses. Charge one: 200 dollars. That night we went out to dinner at Musashi Japanese Steakhouse. As I just recently found out this place was featured on Travel Channel as being on of the best steak restaurants in the country. Before dinner we got a few sushi rolls and at dinner I got the Katana special and a hot tea to drink; it was delicious. If we exclude his meal, because he probably would have spent that much on food anyways, I totaled about 53 dollars of a meal. This is just day one and we are already at 253 dollars
To keep the rest of the blog short and sweet I will total amounts up and we can just add from there. The next day we went to lunch at Rounders, a sports bar nearby. My meal was only about twenty dollars, but my drink was eight. 281 for those keeping a running total. Not so bad so far, but that night we went downtown.
I had one drink at Lily Bar&Lounge for twenty dollars, yes twenty dollars for one cocktail, before hitting the rest of the town. The price for both of us to ride the "Paris" Eiffel Tower I will include because he would not have ridden it if not for me. The total cost wasn't bad, only 28 dollars. Prior to riding up the Eiffel Tower, I downed a yard drink. Actually turned into a really cool ceramic souvenir so I was happy with it, but it still cost 17 dollars. I was told from Paris we went to some restaurant called Noodles and I ordered a Pad Thai. I assure you, I do not remember being there and I certainly did not eat one bit. For this untouched meal, he payed 19 dollars.In all actuality other things could have been bought and expenses could have been higher, but from what I remember, we are looking at 365 dollars.
Here I was saying I was going to keep this short and sweet, and I'm still getting into details about my nights! The next day was miserable. All I wanted to do was stay in bed, but a lunch date had already been made and I had to pretend to be up to the task. I feel the worst about not being able to eat at this restaurant because I have heard many stories of how amazing Lotus of Siam is. All I know is the second I walked in the door and aromas of Thai food hit my nose, I was off to the bathroom. While every number I have given you is taken from the website because I never actually saw a bill, I REALLY didn't see the bill at Lotus. I do however remember a hundred dollar bill being thrown on the table, and how good the leftovers tasted days later. After many more hours of recovery, that night we ate at the highlight of my trip- Craftsteak. On a side note, I love Top Chef. That is why no dollar amount in the world would have made me as happy as eating at Tom Colicchio's restaurant. Now back to the matter at hand. The entree I had is not on the menu anymore, so we will call my portion of dinner:wine, dinner, two side dishes, and dessert 100 dollars.
In three days we're 565 dollars. None of this includes tip, none of this includes opportunity costs, and none of this is actually getting the guy laid. I could go on to the next time, and the time after that we hung out, but let's just say each time he spent more and each time had the same result. Counting time, effort, emotional pain, and actual money put in if you aren't looking for love, you might as well avoid women
