Sex, Lies, and Splitting Up.
May 13, 2010 7:55 AM   Subscribe

Sex, Lies, and Splitting Up. "The function of the wakaresase-ya is the direct opposite of a dating agency: with great ingenuity, and the right fee, they will prise apart human relationships." How? Through sex and entrapment, apparently.

The article, Japanese murder exposes world of hired marriage wreckers, discusses the murder mentioned in the link.
posted by chunking express (63 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite


 
Man alive, I had no idea there was such a thing (or if I ever did, that it was so systematic and organized).
posted by jquinby at 8:01 AM on May 13, 2010


Another data point for my theory that people are, for the most part, horrible.
posted by dortmunder at 8:05 AM on May 13, 2010 [9 favorites]


Fascinating!
posted by jellywerker at 8:06 AM on May 13, 2010


This is interesting but very confusing to follow for a mind not trained by years of soap operas.

Since the murder, there have been anxious calls for regulation of the industry — but none of what GNC does is obviously illegal.

I don't understand this sentence. Regulation isn't something you do to illegal activities, it's something that makes activities illegal.
posted by DU at 8:11 AM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Back in the days when you couldn't get a divorce in the US without proving fault (actually I think this is still true in some states), it was an old practice to hire a private detective to set someone up like this, and to have lots of pictures taken that could be brought to court.

They did something like this to Dan Akroyd's character in Trading Places.

In Japan they seem to have made this more specialized and given it a name.
posted by eye of newt at 8:11 AM on May 13, 2010


Everyone involved in that wild evening — from the young “friend” who invited her, to the guests in the restaurant — was an actor, an employee of an agency that specialises in sexual entrapment. The chance meeting with “Kaori” weeks before, the dinner invitation and the act of seduction were commissioned and paid for by someone Rika has never met — the lover of her husband, a woman who yearns for the failure of Rika’s marriage.

Thank you Universe I really needed justification for my paranoid fantasies.
posted by The Whelk at 8:16 AM on May 13, 2010 [7 favorites]


Regulation isn't something you do to illegal activities, it's something that makes activities illegal.

You can also think of "regulation" as being enforcement of the law, not only the law itself.
posted by anifinder at 8:16 AM on May 13, 2010


There could be an unlikely comedy about this using that girl from Ringu. Honey, who's this? OMG! This explains the stringy black hair in our bed... and the village well!
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:17 AM on May 13, 2010


I don't understand this sentence. Regulation isn't something you do to illegal activities, it's something that makes activities illegal.

Regulation is also something you do to catch illegal things before they get out-of-hand. For instance, shipping meat known to be spoiled is illegal, regulation might require monthly surprise inspections to help catch spoiled-meat shippers.

In this case, drawing a legal line could be really hard. Is it the pretense of friendship that's illegal? The deception? Is it illegal to pretend to be someone's friend only if hired to do so? Photos of affairs are illegal?

Ultimately, these folks are leading people down the road of sin, but they're not pushing them. It's not like "Rika" was drugged and photographed in a strange circumstance. She committed the affair willingly.
posted by explosion at 8:18 AM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Metafilter: sex and entrapment, apparently.
posted by joe lisboa at 8:20 AM on May 13, 2010


Might be some sort of fraud but I'm doubtful.

In 2005, there were around twelve such companies in Japan, but the field has grown since with companies offering services through the internet.

Why the assumption of illegality?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:22 AM on May 13, 2010


A few years ago there was a popular panel show in Japan where a handful of legal experts would watch dramatized reports of marriage problems and vote on whether the injured party would be able to obtain a divorce and if they would be able to obtain alimony. Wakaresaseya were a regular feature, but it was shocking how many scenarios came up where people would not be able to divorce. Situations involving large-scale lies and incompatibility, as long as they didn't involve violence or infidelity, would rarely get a pass.

So, I can see why people turn to this service when they see no other recourse. It's still seedy and deceitful, but it's part of the system.
posted by Alison at 8:23 AM on May 13, 2010 [3 favorites]


Seems like regulating the 'industry' is the wrong approach -- why not just get rid of the requirement to show cause in order to get a divorce? That seems to be the underlying demand driver. The entire industry would go away overnight if it were done away with, in the same way that in most parts of the U.S., people don't have PIs setting up their spouses now that you don't need to come up with some excuse. If you want a divorce you pretty much just get a divorce.

Don't regulate it, cut it off at the knees.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:23 AM on May 13, 2010 [15 favorites]


As Mrs Isohata’s father said during the trial: “I can never forgive a business that toys with the emotions of human beings.”

Quoted for truth. What a disgusting business.
posted by misha at 8:25 AM on May 13, 2010 [3 favorites]


Another data point for my theory that people are, for the most part, horrible.

Exactly. The idea of doing someone out of a rightful divorce settlement by arranging for this service is disgusting. Sounds like the divorce courts in Japan need to come into the 21st century.

I do expect this to be a Law and Order, "Ripped from Today's Headlines!"
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:26 AM on May 13, 2010


business toys with the emotions of human beings.
posted by cashman at 8:27 AM on May 13, 2010


“I can never forgive a business that toys with the emotions of human beings.”

Whereas businesses that toy with the basic physical needs of humans are A-OK!
posted by DU at 8:34 AM on May 13, 2010 [2 favorites]



As Mrs Isohata’s father said during the trial: “I can never forgive a business that toys with the emotions of human beings.”


What? The entire advertising/marketing/PR industries exist to toy with human emotions. Toying with human emotions is how you get people to think they need shit like fucking vitamin water.
posted by spicynuts at 8:34 AM on May 13, 2010 [3 favorites]


This is what guess culture gets you. An asker would just say, "I don't think this is working."
posted by Eideteker at 8:42 AM on May 13, 2010 [6 favorites]


why not just get rid of the requirement to show cause in order to get a divorce?

...

the act of seduction were commissioned and paid for by someone Rika has never met -- the lover of her husband, a woman who yearns for the failure of Rika’s marriage.

Sound like it's not just people in the marriage trying to break up with each other, it's people outside the marriage trying to break it up so they can have a shot at one of the current married partners.

business toys with the emotions of human beings.

A.I. 2, coming to a theater near you.
posted by nomisxid at 8:42 AM on May 13, 2010


I think we can agree that there's a gap - whose width, to be sure, is up for debate - between advertising for vitamin water or cheese-whiz and orchestrating an affair - with a large team of people - over the course of weeks/months.
posted by jquinby at 8:43 AM on May 13, 2010


Could this be considered prostitution? Wikipedia says Japanese law defines prostitution as ""intercourse with an unspecified person in exchange for payment." In this case, it's seducing and having intercourse with a third party in exchange for payment.
posted by naju at 8:46 AM on May 13, 2010


This seems like a perfect example of something that should be "outlawed" by social condemnation rather than the law. In a sane culture,* anyone in any way involved in these kinds of activities (either the hiring or the providing of the service) would be a social pariah.

*not meant as Japan bashing, as the United States has plenty of shamelessness as well.
posted by straight at 9:01 AM on May 13, 2010


What a way to get punked, though I sense a new reality show coming on...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 9:06 AM on May 13, 2010


It sounds like freelance espionage to me, and I don't see how it could be legal. If you set up a honey trap for the Minister of Defense you go to jail for treason, but if you do it to some ordinary person it's okay?
posted by Kevin Street at 9:08 AM on May 13, 2010


Maybe this explains why my wife, my parents, my boyfriend, my ex-girlfriend and my boss are all pressuring me to move to Japan.
posted by orme at 9:09 AM on May 13, 2010 [4 favorites]


It's very interesting from a societal perceptive, this service mostly exists because no fault divorces are illegal.

My inner social libertarian would claim it's the government fault.

At the same time the, if enough people wanted the divorce laws changed, it would happen.

So, who's fault is it that these "services" exist?

The whole story scream movie script.
posted by KaizenSoze at 9:10 AM on May 13, 2010


Thank you Universe I really needed justification for my paranoid fantasies.

Exactly! The next time a pretty girl even smiles at me, I'm going to scream "I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU RUIN MY MARRIAGE YOU MONSTER!", and then I'm going to run away sobbing.

That'll show 'em.
posted by quin at 9:12 AM on May 13, 2010 [10 favorites]


KaizenSoze: “The whole story screams movie script.”

It is a movie script – from a movie that was filmed three quarters of a century ago. This whole thing is basically the plot to The Gay Divorcee, from 1934.

I got the feeling from that film that these sorts of folks used to be a bit more common in the west, at least back when you couldn't legally be granted a divorce without "just cause."

Great movie, anyway, for what it's worth.
posted by koeselitz at 9:34 AM on May 13, 2010


Kevin Street, I believe entrapment laws apply uniquely to the police, and only when a criminal charge is being brought - neither is relevant in the case of a divorce.
posted by Dysk at 9:36 AM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh, and I don't think this is really such an inherently evil business. People do all sorts of things with and to each other, and making them illegal doesn't tend to work very well. Even making prostitution illegal is arguably a massive mistake, particularly in a liberal society. If you make it illegal for someone to hire someone else to sleep with their wife and/or husband, then you're restricting them unnecessarily, I think.

The issue of murder is completely separate – people murder each other while drunk, while driving cars, while walking down the street, while eating sushi, et cetera. Does that mean booze, driving, walking, eating sushi, et cetera, should be banned? No. It means that murder should be illegal; and it is. I don't think you can prove a direct link between a crime of passion like that and the business that happened to put the couple in contact with each other. In fact, it's a bit despicable that the murderer is trying to – as though the fact that he was hired by her husband as a wakaresaseya excuses or mitigates the fact that he strangled her with a piece of string.

If the idiotic and constricting law which forbids at-will divorce in Japan were changed, then this whole "shady" industry would disappear anyway.
posted by koeselitz at 9:46 AM on May 13, 2010 [6 favorites]


Emotion toys with the business of human beings.
posted by mreleganza at 9:53 AM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Kevin Street, I believe entrapment laws apply uniquely to the police, and only when a criminal charge is being brought - neither is relevant in the case of a divorce.

I'm always surprised to read about police criminal procedure in Japan (and occasionally shocked). It wouldn't surprise me at all if entrapment isn't seen as untoward (but I don't know for sure).
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:56 AM on May 13, 2010


These people are not forced to sleep with the agents, they do so willingly. Maybe I'm naive; you can not break up a happy marriage.
posted by JujuB at 10:10 AM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


What does somebody in a bad marriage in Japan do if they meet somebody nice? Either you get urself in a stupid situation or u miss the chance to meet someone who things might have worked out with.
India has this reality show where a person gets somebody from the channel to seduce their SO to check if they're faithful. Totally disgusting but I believe it's not really reality. I guess it just boils down to the fact that people will do anything for money. If there is a job that can make money, somebody will do it.
posted by niyati182 at 10:26 AM on May 13, 2010


Ok, there was this movie I remember from a while back. It was set in upper-crust British society, and had something to do with the failure of a marriage in the absence of no-fault divorce. After about an hour and a half of being miserable, the protagonist agrees to a scheme of getting caught in bed with a single mother to provide grounds of infidelity. He bails unable to complete the act, runs off to South America, and gets eaten by cannibals, leaving his wife to get evicted as the big estate goes to a distant relative or something.

Anyone know what it could be?
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:31 AM on May 13, 2010


These people are not forced to sleep with the agents, they do so willingly. Maybe I'm naive; you can not break up a happy marriage.

That's similar to saying that victims of con men aren't forced to hand over the money, because they willingly buy into their fraudulent claims. Even if it's not illegal, the victims in these schemes are being taken advantage of under false pretenses in situations that are purposely engineered to prey on their weaknesses. Most people don't hand over thousands of dollars to random strangers, but con men are not random strangers, they are professional liars who know exactly how to trick people into doing what they want them to do.

And even just going by the details of the single incident in the article, a lot of the what happened was basically systematic sexual assault. She was invited to dinner by a group of people who pretended to be her friends, during which it was implied she drank a large amount of alcohol. If she had been with real friends, they probably would have made sure everyone got home safe, but instead they helped convince her to go to a hotel room with a random guy. The article makes it seem as if Ota is some sort of irresistible Casanova, but getting a woman drunk and bringing her a random place alone with him is basically the MO of a rapist. I seriously doubt that guys like Ota are really concerned about making sure their victims enthusiastically consent to sexual activity while being sober enough to make those kinds of decisions. And that's from an article that was completely written from Ota's point of view based on his own story, I wonder if the victim's version of the events of that night would cast him in such a favorable light.
posted by burnmp3s at 10:44 AM on May 13, 2010 [13 favorites]


And even just going by the details of the single incident in the article, a lot of the what happened was basically systematic sexual assault.

Exactly.
posted by zarq at 11:10 AM on May 13, 2010


Maybe I'm naive; you can not break up a happy marriage.
posted by JujuB at 10:10 AM on May 13


Yes, this is (unfortunately) incredibly naive. I would posit that indeed every marriage could be broken up, given the right circumstances.

Humans have failings, and purposefully trying to exploit a failing for another's gain is morally reprehensible. We're not talking about "exploiting" someone's hunger to buy potato chips, we're talking about ruining marriages, splitting up families, and causing financial burdens.

I also agree that the obvious solution is allowing no-fault divorce.
posted by discountfortunecookie at 11:12 AM on May 13, 2010 [2 favorites]


Ok, there was this movie I remember from a while back. It was set in upper-crust British society, and had something to do with the failure of a marriage in the absence of no-fault divorce. After about an hour and a half of being miserable, the protagonist agrees to a scheme of getting caught in bed with a single mother to provide grounds of infidelity. He bails unable to complete the act, runs off to South America, and gets eaten by cannibals, leaving his wife to get evicted as the big estate goes to a distant relative or something.

Anyone know what it could be?


A Handful of Dust, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh.
posted by verstegan at 12:08 PM on May 13, 2010


Ok, there was this movie I remember from a while back.

Sounds like A Handful of Dust - not quite cannibals at the end.

For some reason, pronounced Wack-Array-Sass-Sayer, made me laugh. Wack-Array-Sass-Sayer.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:15 PM on May 13, 2010


These people are not forced to sleep with the agents, they do so willingly. Maybe I'm naive; you can not break up a happy marriage.

That's similar to saying that victims of con men aren't forced to hand over the money, because they willingly buy into their fraudulent claims.


It's been said that you can't cheat an honest man. At the seed of most cons there's greed. Think of Nigerian 419 scams. Would anyone help out a deposed king if there weren't something stupid-big in it for them? Doubt it.

At any rate, not to say that perfectly nice folks don't get conned every day, (see any court show), just that if greed isn't a motivator, it's a LOT harder to con someone.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:24 PM on May 13, 2010


Maybe I'm naive; you can not break up a happy marriage.

Sure you can! The choices we make are reactions to opportunity, circumstance, desire and whim. Change the opportunity and/or circumstance, or push buttons to manipulate the desire or indulge the whim, and lots of unexpected things can happen.
posted by davejay at 12:26 PM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Pretty sure the relationship was already over if one person is at the point where they'll cheat in the first place, "professional wrecker" or not
posted by hamida2242 at 12:32 PM on May 13, 2010


Unhappily-married ppl itt
posted by hamida2242 at 12:33 PM on May 13, 2010


Well, even assuming a dysfunctional marriage, this isn't just about that, is it? Assume both partners are open to cheating if the right person comes along. The one who has concrete photographic evidence of (induced) cheating will get to determine who is supposedly "at fault", which has bearing on who gets a greater share of the marital property and alimony. That's not exactly justice, is it?
posted by naju at 12:47 PM on May 13, 2010


These people are not forced to sleep with the agents, they do so willingly. Maybe I'm naive; you can not break up a happy marriage.

That's similar to saying that victims of con men aren't forced to hand over the money, because they willingly buy into their fraudulent claims.

No, it's not at all similar. There's nothing immoral about handing over money.

I couldn't be conned into fucking around on my SO for the same reason I couldn't be conned into robbing a bank: I'm not a fucking asshole (ok, I'm not THAT KIND of fucking asshole).

And even just going by the details of the single incident in the article...
Woman gets shitfaced and fucks some guy? Yeah, I'd dump her, too.
posted by coolguymichael at 12:52 PM on May 13, 2010


Thanks for the movie identification.

I don't know. Perhaps I'm just morally bent. Cheating in a relationship is a bad thing. But intentionally going after an emotionally vulnerable person and deceptively having an affair with them for the purpose of making their lives a lot worse in public, and getting a paycheck for it strikes me as beyond vile.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 1:30 PM on May 13, 2010 [3 favorites]


And even just going by the details of the single incident in the article...
Woman gets shitfaced and fucks some guy? Yeah, I'd dump her, too.


Note that "She got drunk, therefore it was her fault" is a common victim-blaming argument used to try to discredit women who report sexual assault. How can you tell from the article that she wanted to have sex with him at any point? She could easily have passed out by the time her fake friends left her alone with him in the hotel room.

I couldn't be conned into fucking around on my SO for the same reason I couldn't be conned into robbing a bank: I'm not a fucking asshole (ok, I'm not THAT KIND of fucking asshole).

What percentage of people do you think are normal people like you, versus the percentage of assholes? Given that, what percentage of time do you think these splitter-uppers give back the money because the victims are too morally upright rather than coming up with some way to get the evidence against their will? Do you think guys like this would be too ethical to slip something into the victim's drink? If the victim tells them to stop when they initiate sexual contact, do you think they stop?

You could take Ota at his word that he seduced her with his unmatched charm and the sex was completely consensual. According to the article, he can seduce any woman in one night. But when someone is paid large amounts of money to have sex with specific women without their knowledge or consent, to me that sounds like the job description of a professional rapist.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:13 PM on May 13, 2010


Note that "She got drunk, therefore it was her fault" is a common victim-blaming argument used to try to discredit women who report sexual assault. How can you tell from the article that she wanted to have sex with him at any point? She could easily have passed out by the time her fake friends left her alone with him in the hotel room.

I'm sympathetic to this view. I really am.

But....
The photographs taken the morning after tell the story of what happened next: the discarded clothes and screwed up tissues and Rika, looking bashful but happy, sitting among the churned up sheets of the hotel bed. “These are her earrings on the bedside table, and that’s her belt,” says Ota, who is showing me the photographs. “And these . . . bodily liquids on the sheet — well, these are the proof of what happened.”
(Emphasis mine.)

She's definitely a victim. But a post-coital "bashful but happy" photo would seem to indicate that she wasn't terribly upset about cheating on her husband.
posted by zarq at 2:19 PM on May 13, 2010


She's definitely a victim. But a post-coital "bashful but happy" photo would seem to indicate that she wasn't terribly upset about cheating on her husband.

Again, consider the person who took the photo what his motivations were. Regardless of how she was feeling, it would be in his best interest to get her to smile before taking the photo, rather than trying to capture her true emotions in a documentary fashion. Or maybe she was actually happy and would have cheated on her husband without all of the subterfuge, I don't know. But if the victim does regret it afterward (as would be relatively common with women who have a one night stand with a stranger while drunk), I'm guessing he still gets a picture to use as evidence rather than calling the whole thing off.

The whole point of these schemes is to manufacture evidence of a consensual affair, so I would take any of that so-called evidence with a large grain of salt. I wish the reporter would have contacted the victim, because although she would have had reasons to downplay any wrongdoing on her part, she probably could have provided a lot more details on what specific tricks these people use in their scams.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:45 PM on May 13, 2010


As Mrs Isohata’s father said during the trial: “I can never forgive a business that toys with the emotions of human beings."

Here! Here! Opera is evil! Drama? Comedy? Have they no shame, no decency?
posted by oddman at 2:46 PM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


A few years ago there was a popular panel show in Japan where a handful of legal experts would watch dramatized reports of marriage problems

Alison, that show is still on. It's on Sunday nights, and my wife watches it a little too intently. From time to time she'll look over at me for a couple seconds, then look back to the tv without saying anything. It's a little unnerving.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:47 PM on May 13, 2010 [3 favorites]


Thank you Universe I really needed justification for my paranoid fantasies.

Meh. I'm one of those guys that really looks married. And since I got married I've felt free to say what's really on my mind at any given time to women, which seems to cut short a lot of potential problems.

Woman at party: "Hi, where do you work out? If I may ask"
Smed: "Over at Big Gorilla gym."
Woman: "Wow. You can really tell." *moving closer* "Is that a nice gym?"
Smed: "Yeah, but I've had a few fucking problems."
Woman: "Really? I can't imagine..."
Smed: "Yeah, I took the biggest shit there the other day and fucking clogged the fucking toilet. Had to kill it with a shovel. No, but seriously, I totally backed it up. Really stank up the machine room too. I'm trying this fruit smoothie with a lot of amino acids including methionine and cysteine so my piss also smells like burning plastic."
Woman: "Oh. Uh, that's not, uh, good."
Smed: "Well, it beats pissing blood. That happened a few weeks ago after I got hit pretty good sparring. Man, my wife was pissed I didn't flush. She thought it was one of our kids and flipped out. But, y'know, I was half out of it so she cut me some slack. Do you like combat sports?"
Woman: Uh, sure. So ... would you like to have a drink at my place?"
Smed: "No, I don't really drink and one of my dogs has diarrhea so I've got to get home. Say, you don't work for one of those wakaresase-ya places do you? Because that would be fucking bullshit."
posted by Smedleyman at 2:56 PM on May 13, 2010 [6 favorites]


Metafilter: Had to kill it with a shovel. No, but seriously, I totally backed it up.
posted by jquinby at 3:07 PM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]




Hey! This could be expanded so easily: want someone's job? Hire a team of actors to manipulate them into breaching company security, or get them drunk and take photos of them having sex with farm animals.

Want someone's apartment? Hire at team of actors to threaten their kids, or hire a team of actors to break in and stage a crack den.

Want to get someone to commit a murder? Hire a team of actors to ruin their marriage, destroy their career, and then imply that it's all this person's fault...

Call it Iago incorporated.
posted by jrochest at 3:22 PM on May 13, 2010 [6 favorites]


That's what I'm saying, it's espionage for hire. Like a bunch of little KGBs that you can hire to do all kinds of dirty tricks to anyone you please.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:45 PM on May 13, 2010


I was under the impression that it's easy to get a divorce in Japan: all you have to do is go down to city hall, haul out the family register, and remove oneself or one's spouse from the family register.

On the other hand, because engagements in Japan can be fairly formal, with the equivalents of dowries and money changing hands from the bride's family to the groom's (and I really only know about rural Japan, which still exists about 30 years in the past), whoever is at fault for causing the breakup is pretty important, because it can result in a cash settlement for the aggrieved party.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:34 PM on May 13, 2010


I've heard pretty much the same, KokuRyu. From what I understand, if it's an essentially no-fault divorce, or a mutual decision, basically you just walk away. Even if there's an aggrieved party, it's not uncommon to pay a lump sum, and then no alimony. Children pretty much always go to the mother, though, no matter the circumstances.

Unless, of course, a foreigner is involved, in which case the kid goes to the Japanese person, no matter what.

/derail

posted by Ghidorah at 9:12 PM on May 13, 2010


From the murder link: Wakaresaseya (pronounced Wack-Array-Sass-Sayer)

*facepalm* Why provide a pronunciation when it's wrong?
posted by Nattie at 9:27 PM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Nattie, I'd just noticed that... dear lord. The person who wrote the article should be smacked with a guide to Japanese pronunciation.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:58 PM on May 13, 2010


Even if it were true (which it's not) that you couldn't break up a happy marriage: What in the hell does that have to do with this?

By definition these are not "happy" marriages. In the cases described, either one spouse is trying to manipulate the other into providing cause for a divorce, or a third party, with knowledge & in tacit collaboration with the spouse they're cheating with, is trying to manipulate the other spouse into providing cause.

That's not a happy marriage.

This "happy marriage" that we can break up using Wakaresaseya techniques is a marriage in a movie plot. It's a case where some wicked third party (usually female, unless it's a Neil Labute movie) comes in from outside and mind-fucks the wife into "showing cause", then swoops in to rescue the devastated and innocent husband, and we all walk out of the theatre feeling more than a little unclean. (Granted, some of us like that feeling.) Like many movie plots, it could happen, and probably has. But I think most of us agree that notwithstanding the chumpishness or lack thereof on the part of the marks, the person driving it would be someone it would not be wise to trust with getting you a cup of coffee, much less as a relationship partner.
posted by lodurr at 6:18 AM on May 14, 2010


This is simply a horrible practice. This kind of thing needs to be regulated by the government.
posted by candasartan at 7:17 AM on May 14, 2010


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