The girls always warned each other about any Looney Tunes they might encounter. Even if they hated each other, they wouldn’t see any girl come up against a dangerous punter. It was an unwritten law; they had to look out for each other because they knew that no one else was going to do it for them.
‘Some of the girls are paying their way through university, others are doing it to get a deposit for a flat or pay for their drugs. Most are trying to keep their kids and their heads above water. You know the score as well as I do.’
‘Why were the girls working the night shift alone? I’ve not heard of that before. Safety in numbers has always been the mantra for working girls. What’s changed?’
Jennifer shrugged and rolled her heavily made-up eyes. ‘Do you know what, Kate, girls today are a different breed. They want to do their earn without the benefit of competition. They are happy to work alone, it’s a different world now. They take the calls themselves, they email the punters and answer fucking texts. Some of them even have a code on Facebook, they’re on there as cartoons. Avatars. I can’t keep up with them, and I stopped trying to a long time ago. All I can do is warn them and, believe me, I do. But look at Danielle, she had three separate mobiles. One of them was a BlackBerry, Danni was online all the time, she did a lot of her business in cyberspace . A lot of the girls do now. You tell me, in all honesty, how the fuck can I police that?’
Kate could hear the feeling of futility in Jennifer’s voice. She understood that she was way over her head where the girls were concerned. She had given up trying to keep up, and w had been everything to her, and sNadyho could blame her? These girls were computer literate, were part of the cyber-generation. For them it was something to embrace, they were used to it and its convenience. But Kate and Jennifer, like many of their generation, were wary of it, didn’t trust it, didn’t understand how it was now an accepted part of life. They felt that it was something wonderful, but also something dangerous because it was something that was both easily accessed and easily abused.
‘I read somewhere, Jen, that there are kids in China who have never physically interacted with another child: their only contact with other kids is through the internet. How scary is that?’
Jennifer refilled their glasses. ‘Janie was online as well. I think they felt safer, as mad as that sounds. I think they also liked the anonymity of using the computer. It made it less personal for them. Does that make sense, Kate?’
Kate understood what Jen was saying, but she still didn’t understand how the girls collated their earnings and paid their dues. And, if Jennifer James was watching over them, then that was exactly what they would be expected to do, and do it with the minimum of fuss. So there had to be some kind of legislation in place, Jennifer wasn’t the type to let anything get past her.
‘So how did you manage to crunch their earnings then? How did you know what they were averaging? You charge them for use of the premises, and you also take a hefty percentage of their overall wage. So how did you work that out, and how did you know how many punters they averaged, online or off?’
Jennifer was quiet for a few minutes, and Kate saw that she was battling with herself about how much to actually admit. Kate could understand that, after all, she was the enemy in every way. This time though, they were both after a common goal. So she said as much. ‘I don’t give a flying fuck how much goes through Bates’s hands, or anyone else’s hands, for that matter. I just want to know how you get to the end result.’
‘I averaged it on hours. I couldn’t find out anything for certain, so I done it all on averages. As I said, I also turned an occasional blind eye, it’s par for the course in this game. No one can expect them to weigh up for everyone that comes through the
‘Some of the girls are paying their way through university, others are doing it to get a deposit for a flat or pay for their drugs. Most are trying to keep their kids and their heads above water. You know the score as well as I do.’
‘Why were the girls working the night shift alone? I’ve not heard of that before. Safety in numbers has always been the mantra for working girls. What’s changed?’
Jennifer shrugged and rolled her heavily made-up eyes. ‘Do you know what, Kate, girls today are a different breed. They want to do their earn without the benefit of competition. They are happy to work alone, it’s a different world now. They take the calls themselves, they email the punters and answer fucking texts. Some of them even have a code on Facebook, they’re on there as cartoons. Avatars. I can’t keep up with them, and I stopped trying to a long time ago. All I can do is warn them and, believe me, I do. But look at Danielle, she had three separate mobiles. One of them was a BlackBerry, Danni was online all the time, she did a lot of her business in cyberspace . A lot of the girls do now. You tell me, in all honesty, how the fuck can I police that?’
Kate could hear the feeling of futility in Jennifer’s voice. She understood that she was way over her head where the girls were concerned. She had given up trying to keep up, and w had been everything to her, and sNadyho could blame her? These girls were computer literate, were part of the cyber-generation. For them it was something to embrace, they were used to it and its convenience. But Kate and Jennifer, like many of their generation, were wary of it, didn’t trust it, didn’t understand how it was now an accepted part of life. They felt that it was something wonderful, but also something dangerous because it was something that was both easily accessed and easily abused.
‘I read somewhere, Jen, that there are kids in China who have never physically interacted with another child: their only contact with other kids is through the internet. How scary is that?’
Jennifer refilled their glasses. ‘Janie was online as well. I think they felt safer, as mad as that sounds. I think they also liked the anonymity of using the computer. It made it less personal for them. Does that make sense, Kate?’
Kate understood what Jen was saying, but she still didn’t understand how the girls collated their earnings and paid their dues. And, if Jennifer James was watching over them, then that was exactly what they would be expected to do, and do it with the minimum of fuss. So there had to be some kind of legislation in place, Jennifer wasn’t the type to let anything get past her.
‘So how did you manage to crunch their earnings then? How did you know what they were averaging? You charge them for use of the premises, and you also take a hefty percentage of their overall wage. So how did you work that out, and how did you know how many punters they averaged, online or off?’
Jennifer was quiet for a few minutes, and Kate saw that she was battling with herself about how much to actually admit. Kate could understand that, after all, she was the enemy in every way. This time though, they were both after a common goal. So she said as much. ‘I don’t give a flying fuck how much goes through Bates’s hands, or anyone else’s hands, for that matter. I just want to know how you get to the end result.’
‘I averaged it on hours. I couldn’t find out anything for certain, so I done it all on averages. As I said, I also turned an occasional blind eye, it’s par for the course in this game. No one can expect them to weigh up for everyone that comes through the
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