I had a guy tell me I'd made his life worth living and that was bad enough. I'm an entertainner not a Samaritan - as hard as that may sound to some.

I did know one girl who had a client say he was gonna commit suicide. He never did but he kept calling her and she felt compelled to talk to him and see him. It was awful for her, probably not much fun for him but its not fair to put that on someone you barely know.

Well, that was interesting. The man at South Wales police didn't know why I was talking to him (I called 999 from my mum's place). Client is still alive and doesn't know that the police were involved (he changed his number and I didn't give them the new one). When I talked to him he wasn't convinced that trying again wasn't the way to go, but I don't think a call from the police would help. Plus it's not my monkey.

I agree, that's too much of a burden on you. That's the problem with this job, the sort of people we attract.

There's been a recent discussion over on Punternet about the right age to enter into this job. Some citing that 18 years old is too young as this job is fraught with too many emotional problems to deal with. I know there are some exceptions, but generally I agree.
I remember back in 2004 I used to see a wonderful gentleman quite regularly, until he suddenly died of a heart attack 6 months later. His missus found my work number on his mobile bill and called me in tears telling me that "H" was dead of a heart attack and that I'd killed him. Not only was it news to me as I'd only corresponded with him the week before, but then having to deal with his crying wife down the phone telling me it was my fault he was dead was like a kick in the stomach.
I wasn't even sure who she was talking about at first. I had to google her number to see where she was calling from. That's when it dawned on me that it was "H". I was devastated. I still think of him sometimes.
How would an 18yr old have dealt with that?

And then you get some arseholes saying we're not worth what we charge. I'm not saying that situations like the above happen on a regular basis, but I definitely reckon we get more than our share of emotional baggage dumped on us, just because of this occupation.

It wasnt a client but an ex of mine (who didnt want to be an ex) who text me to say that he was going to commit suicide.  I knew he was in his car, and I knew that he was in a certain area as he had told me in the text.

I phoned the police, gave them all the info I had.  They found him within the hour having a sarnie and cup of coffee in the area I had stated at a Service Station!  The Police took it very seriously, which they should.

If he had tried to or even been sucessful at committing suicide I would then have felt that I had done everything possible at the time.  You just have to do what feels right for you.

Hugs

Penny x x x