Before ValleyScott: My First Reference Request

Once upon a time, not all that long ago, there was no “ValleyScott”.  This persona of mine has not existed for all that long.  And while I have been an active hobbyist for almost 20 years, it took me a long time to become what I am today.  Much of what I know was learned the hard way: By mistake.

So, I’ve decided to do a series of posts of what life was like BEFORE I knew what the hell I was doing.  Before ValleyScott.

Let’s start with a funny one.

My First Reference Request

Back when I started things were done the old fashioned way.  By telephone.  Texting wasn’t really much of “thing” back in 1999. The Internet was coming along, but it was a shadow of its current glory.  Cell phones were still expensive to use and very unreliable (not to mention heavy as hell!).  No, back in the last century we still called people on the phone.

So when I first started seeing sex workers, all contact was through phone calls.  I was so freaking nervous at first.  I would often hang up before I finished dialing.  And I got severely tongue-tied at times.

It was probably my fourth time calling for an escort that I ventured into the realm of the independent ladies.  Up until then I had seen ladies who worked through agencies.  This was fairly common in those days.

Agencies were simple, or so it seemed to me.  I never had to jump through any hoops.  I called, I made an appointment, and things worked out.  As such, I remained very naive to how the industry really worked.  Then I called “Amber”.

The call went fine at first.  I introduced myself, said I was looking for a “date”, told her when.  Then something happened that I was not prepared for.  This is how I remember it:

Amber: “Okay love, I need your references now.”

Me: “References?”  [What the hell is she talking about?]

Amber: “Yes.  At least two.”

Me: “uh. . .” [What????]

Amber: “You do have references, don’t you?”

Me: “You mean, like my work references?”

Amber: “No darling.  The names and numbers of escorts you’ve seen before.  You have seen ladies before?”

Me: “Oh! Yes.  Of course.  Uh. . . there was one named Candi.  Ummm. . . her number. . .”

The call didn’t last much longer.  I had no phone numbers, and I was too out of sorts to give her the name of the agency I had used.  Suffice to say, Miss Amber did not visit me.  I often wonder about her.

After that I started keeping some records.  Names and numbers.  Times and dates.  I wish I still had that old notebook that I used, it would be interesting to look back on.

See, I wasn’t always well informed.  Back then I had no Internet access at home.  There was no convenient website to turn to for advice.  This was long before the days of sites like MyRedBook and their forums.  I’m not even sure if the term “blog” had been invented yet.  It was not easy for a guy to learn things.  Except by learning them the hard way.

I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.  So much of what I write is based off things I learned the hard way, or things I learned from others who related their hard-won lessons to me.  It is always good to learn from your mistakes, but even better to learn from the mistakes of others.