arch 31, 1992 Other Feature or other companies by paying them more and pffering them bonuses. In her first week, Janine grossed $2,500 S. The take mushroomed to $67,000 after 14 eeks. She had a $3,500 phone bill. The prices she set — $40 to $60 — were igher than the competition’s $25 to $45. But janine says her service was better. “Free callbacks was what did it. My 800 umber was the secret.” Women could phone callers from across orth America, she adds. “(The callers) thought ey were saving money on phone charges, but it as all recovered in the higher prices.” Shealsoadvertisedinmagazineslike High Society and Penthouse. Janine now runs the pperation from her apartment and employs up to 5 women, most of whom work part-time. Here’s how it works. Clients phone Janine andare putonhold whileshe calls anengineering onsultant firm ora hair salon and gives them the cardnumber and amount. Ifthecardisauthorized, Janine takes the order and has Jessica or another oman phone the client — collect, if it’s long distance. The firms thatcheck out the cards for her petcommissionsofupto25 percentofall confirmed credit card receipts. Thecaller’screditcard statements bear the e “consultation services.” Janine says Visa snd Mastercard consider businesses like her’s too isky, since the credit card slips are not signed by ientsand clients can easily deny having phoned. This name tag also allows clients to be liscreet. But Randy, oneofJessica’sregulars,says e doesn’t really need this form of protection. “Why should I feel bad or guilty or ashamed? If I want to do this and I’m willing to bay for it, nobody gets hurt, so why should Li tess rec AR ASK Ob Graphic/ Arthur the Other Press ex: The Direct Line someone condemn me?” Randy says he would rather spend his $200 per month on telephone sex than onsex with a prostitute. “Are you kidding? That is really wrong. No thank you, (telephone sex) is fine for me. No disease, no hassles, no complications.” And unlike prostitution, this exchange is legal, says a morality squad constable with the Montreal police. ; Saw Beauregard says she doesn’t know how many phone sex operations are in Montreal. But as long as the consenting parties don’t arrange in a public place to have sex, Beauregard says, telephone sex jibes with Canada’s criminal code. Jessica would rather not come face to face with some of her clients. “Tm terrified that I'll meet some of the weirdos and violent ones. I would pee in my . pants if I saw them in person.” A newspaper columnist pays $25 every two weeks to hear his fantasy of being saddled, mounted and “ridden around the room,” says Jessica. She admits these callers disgust her. “One guy wants me to tell him how I will cut off his penis and eat it in front of him. “Then there’s the guy from Washington, D.C., who wants to hear me beat up another woman. HepaysusextraifImakesoundsof pain. Ididittwice and that wasit. Thelast time he called I was so repulsed that I told him to fuck off.” But she says she’s almost used to it and “that’s the scary part.” She adds that she feels like “shit” about what she does for a living. “But it’s the only skill I have right now. So I try to look at itrather superficially. That way it’s all a big joke.” Andsheenjoys wielding power overmen. “1 get a thrill, more like a feeling of control and superiority over men.” Jessica says her ability to impersonate is probably herbiggestasset,especially whenclients’ requests involve racial or ethnic stereotypes. “Ican be anything you want. You want a Jap Jewish American Princess) from Cote St.- Luc? A Tahitian beauty? Maybe a South African woman? No problem.” Jessicasometimes gets to work outside her apartment. She was visiting a co-worker at the Montreal General Hospital last February when Janine phoned and told her that a regular “big spender” was desperate for a call. “I went to a pay phone and called him,” Jessica says. “I told him I was a candy-striper (a young volunteer nurse’s aide) and I had to be as quiet as possible. He liked that. A lot.” She says theman senther a five-dollar tip. Candy-stripers arenowindemandand offered to new clients as the newest fantasy. Jessica does have problems with some calls. When gay men call, she puts a small plastic gadget over the receiver that makes her voice sound deeper. “Most of the fantasies are difficult to do becausel’mnotreally intune to gay male fantasies. So it’s usually a tall order. But I do all right.” Charles, one of her straight regulars, also thinks highly of Jessica. The medical equipment technician says he’s slightly embarrassed about calling, buthe’s too turned on to stop. “Look, we all have our kinks and quirks. With me, I don’t have to see or touch her. I find the completely anonymity of it very sexy.” And the price is right, he says. “Well, for $25 I can go out with my friends and haveabeerandseeamovie. Or,Icanhave the woman of my dreams beg me to make love to her,” Charles says. Charles says he’s not a misogynist. “Ym not a freak, and I don’t hate women. I love them. Just because I’m into the idea of lots of sex with lots of women, it doesn’t mean I’m actually going to do it. Or try to do it.” He says he shares a healthy sexual and emotional relationship with his spouse. “I’m completely faithful to my wife.” Asked about the possibility of his wife paying to have phone sex with a man, Charles dismisses the question as unfair. “We know women aren’t into sex as men are. So if she did it, I would know something’s wrong. My ego would be hurt, but it wouldn’t be that bad, I don’t think.” But Jessica says that’s a “load of bunk.” “Maybe you should ask him why if it’s so normal for men to want sex, he insists on having the bills sent to his work address,” she says. “Maybe his wife wouldn’t be so understanding. Or maybe she would laugh at him,orshowhim the door. Either way, it’snotmy problem. As long as he keeps sending in the money.” Jessica says she’s managed to save more than $6,000 in the last 15 months. But she says even this thriving business has been affected by the recession. “Last year I was making $500 a week. Now it’s a lot less,” she says. “Sure, when people haveless money, they cut out the luxuries. And what I offer is a luxury a lot of men can’t afford right now. But I hope they'll keep calling, because I've got luxuries of ary own.” Jessica says although she is now back in school studying architecture, she doesn’t plan to give up her job. “I can keep a guy on the phone for as long or as short a time as I want. I kept a guy on the phone for 90 minutes once. That paid my bus pass.”