I've been to that restaurant, I think :biggrin1:
I honestly could not remember. I looked it up... Ta-boo Restaurant | Palm Beach's Legendary American Bistro & Bar
This whole "Sugar" thing is part of the scene here; in Palm Beach and SoBe it's more "upscale", in Broward or the Keys it's a survival mechanism as I described above. I've been pursued by more than one guy who's offered to "take care" of me (even now), but I've never, ever married for money, and nothing's a greater boner-killer than financial considerations for me. Perhaps if I were a bottom I'd consider it, but deep down it's too embedded in my code of ethics, I think, to behave otherwise.
While looking for a career job when I first moved here in '03, I took a subsistence job as the night manager of a place that billed itself as the "Largest Gay & Lesbian Superstore"; in reality it was a sex shop that also sold CDs, books, and clothing, both new and "vintage". One of my many jobs was to negotiate the price paid by the store for "vintage" (re: used) clothing. Desperate guys would come in with bags full of expensive, practically-new jeans and shirts which I'd buy for dimes on the dollar, generally to fuel their drug habits.
One of my first encounters doing this was with a man in his mid-50s and his ~25ish BoyToy, who'd obviously rather have been anywhere else in the world. Instead of the usual plastic shopping bag, he arrived with two suitcases filled with Diesel apparel, all seemingly brand-new. I tried to be fair, but I knew my boss (the store owner) would pitch a fit if I paid out too much, which in the end I probably did, handing the kid about $150 for a couple of thousands of dollars worth of stuff. The older man was cool but resolute, the BoyToy in tears but grateful for the cash. I had the feeling I was watching a kick-to-the-curb in slo-mo and felt like I needed a shower when it was done.
This story made me very sad.
Of course, the bar where I currently work gives me a front-row seat to this sort of thing all the time, at all stages. The "boys" (some quite long on the tooth) are ever-vigilant for daddies, drugs or both; the daddies look for their best bargains amongst the lot. It's a depressing spectacle, but more to the point one that I'd believed inoculated me from involvement in such a tawdry mess. Discovering that I've morphed into "daddy" was just mortifying!