People who work in customer service often use the word “emotional labor,” but for a top-tier London Girl, it is what they do all the time. The money exchange guarantees our time and presence, but the life of a client relationship depends on how well we can build and keep up the appearance of real closeness. This takes a huge amount of mental and emotional self-control, and it is often more tiring than the physical work itself. According to https://cityofeve.org.
Paying attention is the first part of this work. We need to be fully present. We have to put our own problems, tiredness, and personal lives on hold as soon as the client’s time starts. It is important to answer every question with sincere interest and respond to every story with the right amount of understanding and humor. Being a great London Girl means being emotionally aware all the time. We read our clients’ moods, guess what they need, and change who we are to meet those needs. If they need a lively friend, we are their spark; if they need someone to calm them down, we are their support.
The most important thing is to offer support and a safe place. A lot of our clients are strong, successful guys who are under a lot of pressure at work or in public. They might feel alone and unable to talk to their partners or friends. The London Girl fills this gap by providing a safe, nonjudgmental place to stay for a short time. We listen as they talk about a business loss, an emotional regret, or an aspiration. We are their secret, well-groomed listening board. This kind of listening is not passive; we have to control our own feelings and answers in a way that is professional, friendly, and comforting, without getting too involved or crossing that important professional line.
Because this creates temporary closeness, we need to be very good at separating things. They have to keep their personal life—their fears, family problems, and the stress of living in London—completely separate from their work life. It is not okay to let your personal weakness affect how your clients feel. It is very hard on your emotions to be so open and present for someone else while keeping your own life off the radar. A contradiction is what the work is all about.
Even after the date is over, the work does not end. Then, a London Girl has to calm down, “turn off” the character, and deal with the feelings that are still there before she can really rest or face the next day. This is why it is so important to spend money on self-care, as we have talked about in other pieces. As it turns out, we are basically well-paid emotional athletes. What people really pay for is the idea of intimacy—that wonderful, short-term feeling of being fully understood and loved—and the London Girls do it perfectly every time with their clever, nonstop emotional work.