Entertainment as Service
by Kim Attica
Please do not copy or paste. Links to
this URL always welcome.
http://www.iron-rose.com/IR/docs/entservice.htm Feel free to contact
kim @ iron-rose.com
When we speak about service, I find we are frequently discussing managing a
household, personal assistant skills, preparing meals, and caring for leather
clothing, to name a few. One area which seems to go without much recognition is
an area of service I find most valuable—entertainment.
As with many adults I have an incredibly hectic schedule. Our lives are filled
with corporate America or perhaps you own a business, ongoing education, paying
the bills, running errands, children, or caring for elderly relatives. Busy
schedules cause days, then weeks, to slip away as we focus on the grind. I do
responsible very well, and I bet you do too.
Here’s what I don’t do well. I don’t relax easily. I don’t give myself
time to regenerate. I know all the old clichés that unless you are healthy
yourself, you can’t be good for anyone else. Yet, in so much of our culture
we’re encouraged and rewarded to push beyond that healthy space. How often do
you go into work sick? Push to fulfill that obligation even though the people
who will be present are plucking your last nerve like a bluegrass banjo? Agree
to contribute to the bake sale even though you will pull cookies out of the oven
at 3 AM?
This is why I value a bottom who can entertain me. I value a bottom who makes me
laugh, tempts me to relax, seduces me into quiet time. I admire, appreciate, and
in many instances require all the service one would expect from a
service-oriented bottom. Yet, I have hired Merry Maids to clean my house. I have
a mechanic to care for my car. I can work with a travel agent to coordinate
travel plans. In some instances the hired help will do it faster, better, and
with less chance of mixed expectations. They name a price. If I feel the service
is worth it, I agree. There is little chance for a hidden agenda, unspoken
hopes, mismatched desires.
Time is a valuable commodity. I recommend the book “Speed Cleaning” for just
that reason. Why spend all day cleaning if you can accomplish the mission in a
fraction of the time? I may want the bottom’s attention in ways that do not
involve dusting my bookshelves. I select what’s most valuable to me in the
time available. Even a full day only has 24 hours. It is my choice whether I
want to purchase the skill or have my bottom perform the service. The value is
in my perception of the service, not in some inherent value on a scale that
determines “dusting” rates higher than “Double Pinochle.”
Without exception, every bottom I’ve been close to has either totally
dismissed or dramatically underestimated the value of entertainment as service.
It is an art to help me shift gears as I try to unwind after work. It is talent
when a bottom can look past my focused, grumpy expression and realize that if
they continue to smile happily at me, those knots in my back will loosen in mere
minutes. It would not be as soothing or pleasurable to hire someone to read
aloud to me when I am tired. It is a gift when a bottom suggests a new genre of
book they think I will enjoy, and I do. Who knew I liked mysteries if they
weren’t written by Agatha Christie? Not me! But my bottom knew I would. Other
fond service entertainment memories include:
- Long phone calls as I drive home after a bad day at work. Include lots of
joking and laughter.
- Seduce me to take a nap. I never grant myself the luxury to nap without
being seduced into it.
- Make funny faces on web cam. Talk in funny voices to make me laugh.
- Cyber-nuzzle my hand. Call me by an intimate honorific. Draw me gently
away from a work day gone wrong.
- Wear an outfit to please me. Wear it with abandon even if it makes you
feel silly. Watch my eyes light up.
- Telephone me at an odd moment to tell me something deliciously wicked
you’re remembering.
- Play a game with me that engages me and makes me laugh. For me, it’s
World of Warcraft.
What are the entertainment forms of service that enrich your life? Would be
if you let yourself accept them as a top? Would be if your bottom was teasingly,
seductively, persistent in the offers? It takes perseverance from the bottom. It
takes a willingness to accept from the top. In a recent workshop presentation I
shared with the group that it was vulnerable for me to accept my bottom reading
out loud to me. The question was asked why that would be vulnerable. My answer?
It strips away my armor. It touches my childhood happy memories. It lets the
bottom see me, and my deep pleasure, in ways that don’t involve whips or
chains or duct tape. It affirms that I am human, not some mythical perfection
top.
That’s exciting, good, real stuff. I find a bottom who can do that for me has
great value. I find entertainment as a service is often overlooked and
undervalued. I think it’s one of the best gifts a bottom can offer. Now let me
close my eyes. Let my work day fade away into the distance. My bottom is about
to read me a mystery by Steven Saylor. I will drift off hearing a good story,
and a voice I love.
That’s good. Real. Valued.
Please do not copy or paste. Links to
this URL always welcome.
http://www.iron-rose.com/IR/docs/entservice.htm Feel free to contact
kim @ iron-rose.com
March 22, 2006