So you are on a business trip to Los Angles. You’re a harried, overworked business exec and you have some time to kill in LA between meetings and the return flight home. You don’t know anyone in the city, you feel like some company to help pass the time. Some one to talk to, spend a little quiet time with. What is one to do?

According to an article by Zosia Bielski at the Globle and Mail (www.globeandmail.com) you call an agency for some companionship. Not just any agency but one like Wagaami (www.wagaami.com). You don’t want sex, you just want someone to talk to, have a nice platonic time with.

This according to quotes in the article, is the death knell of intimacy. Yeah right! Give me a break. Someone once said “death was easy…comedy is hard”. Well, let me adjust that, “sex is easy…relationships are hard”. Unless this new trend has tapped into a ground swell of individuals with a fear of intimacy, I don’t think sex is dead. Nor do I think relationships are heading to the endangered list.

This trend if it is a trend, speaks more to convenience than intimacy. The individuals seeking this type of service are looking for something that is quick and easy. They are looking for some companionship, someone to spend some time with. The Japanese nightclubs offering this type of service years ago figured that out. The journeyman who frequented these establishments was either offered it as a business gift, or was seeking it on their own to ease their isolation. They had a premium on their time and energy to spend on developing and building a relationship. So, for these individuals it was take the path of least resistance, some time with an attractive partner, no strings attached.

At the end of the day we all seek someone to be with. It may be quicker to just hire someone to talk to, be with for a few hours. It may be expedient to hire someone to have sex with. That is easy. What takes time, effort and energy, is to develop and work on a relationship. Individuals who accede to the two approaches mentioned above are not necessarily avoiding intimacy. It’s just is not what they are seeking at that point in time. For the long run though, they would, I hazard to say, choose to have someone to be with whom they can be with in an intimate way. No facade, no formal arrangements, just be themselves with.

If it is just companionship that is needed, then I should open an agency in LA that lets clients hire a dog by the hour. Minimum 2 hours. No extra treats.