For the latest in lucrative side gigs, we turn to Portland, Oregon:
Sometimes, a good hug is the perfect pick-me-up – although it typically doesn’t come from a stranger much less for a fee.
But that’s just what 29-year-old Samantha Hess from Portland, Oregon, is doing. The former personal trainer, who describes herself as a ‘hugely touchy person’, is a professional cuddler who charges $60 for an hour-long snuggle.
While it may seem like a bizarre profession, Miss Hess insists that cuddling requires a certain set of skills. ‘Having the right touch for the right person at the right time is very specific,’ she told KHOU.com.
Don’t worry, this is all on the up-and-up:
To avoid people looking for more than a cuddle, she meets her clients in public first, and tells them they can only touch her in a way that would be appropriate to touch a child.
‘It’s not about the adult side of touch at all,’ she said of her business, CuddleUpToMe.com.
On the contrary, her services – which include ‘overnight cuddle sessions’ at a pre-arranged flat rate – provide respite for her clients, many of whom are single parents or suffer from clinical depression.
‘When you’re in those inbetween stages in life, it’s nice to have something to kind of pick you back up a little,’ she explained.
I wanted to experiment with putting a poll in a blog post, so let’s do it. The question is, which points-n-miles blogger would you most like to snuggle up with? To make this a fair competition, I’ll exclude myself from consideration. Voting will be New Orleans style: no rules, so vote early and often!
UPDATE: The poll is closed. Here are the results:
Where is “none of the above” ?
Not really into platonic cuddling, although for $60/hour I might do it.
All male bloggers? Where is the love for the women?
I excluded the ladies to make the contest more level since the readership skews male. Wanted to keep this purely goofy and/or weird.
Is this a euphemism for hooking?
Gotta agree with Juan. But in a passive aggressive way, it would probably bother Gary the most, so that might be fun.
No, read the linked article. No subtext.
Does cuddleuptome.com have an affiliate program? 😉
Well, escort services say they’re not hooking either.