Arouse the customer’s inner dreams, goals, bring out a fighting state of mind (motivation)
Create dreams of perfection, allow customers to fantasize living better and living in their dream life (enjoyment)
How to Set the Hook
Send two pictures of luxury bags or jewelry to the guest and ask the guest to help choose one, hinting to the guest that one has recently made a considerable amount of extra income and wants to buy a gift for customer.
Send photos of high-end restaurants and comment on their expensive and palatable meals. Better off to stabilize the side income first, or it’s too wasteful. You can ask the guest what they usually do when they are bored. After the guest answers, they will usually ask you what you have done and you will have a chance to get in.
You can say: travel, walking the streets/window shopping, listening to music, playing mahjong, making money with Bitcoin investments.
My mom never actually video-chatted with her so-called boyfriend. I freaked out a bit when I read this in the “Pig Butchering Manual”:
How to avoid meeting on video chats: (Do not disclose in the early days! When the relationship is deep, capitalize on this to avoid video chats.) Tell the story of a very sad, strict upbringing, also autism/other psychological conditions. When the customer uses feelings to pressure you to meet by video chat, disclose a fear that this side of you (childhood and/or autistic distress of cameras) might show up again. The female customer’s natural maternal love will instinctively come out and they will no longer pressure you.
If you cannot avoid, consult a Video Editor for help.
16
Lee
After dinner—McDonald’s burgers delivered bya Greek on a moped—Lee moved into Regan’s room and began looking through her sister’s things. Regan’s phone was missing, her car was missing, Regan was missing, and her laptop was missing.
Lee hadn’t really paid much attention to her sister for a long time. She’d assumed Regan as a mother and adult was who she’d been as a kid: the one you didn’t have to worry about. When Regan and Matt divorced and Regan moved to Greece, Lee had been jealous, but never concerned. Now she felt guilty for not noticing her sister had been in trouble, but also weirdly glad to have a purpose to tie her to the world for a bit. The only time Lee glimpsed happiness seemed to be when she was enmeshed, or codependent, or whatever you wanted to call it. When she was needed.
Regan’s bedroom had three Japanese fans affixed to the wall (why?). Her bed was lumpy but the sheets seemed clean. In the bathroom, Lee looked at her sister’s toiletries. When she had been a doctor’s wife, Regan had used “Purple” shampoo to keep her blond highlights gleaming. She’d ordered expensive skin care products, nicer than any Lee used and Lee’s face was literally her job. But in her reimagined, Athenian life, Regan used cheap Suaveproducts. She had a large, almost empty bottle of off-brand vitamins for women. Her mirrored cabinet needed Windexing.
Lee ached. She’d imagined her sister’s life in Greece was glamorous…a whitewashed beachside cottage, furniture made of rattan. Instead, Regan’s home was well loved but sparsely furnished, a three-bedroom apartment with one room rented to strangers.
At least Regan still had her luxurious monogrammed towels and bath mat. Lee’s shoulders softened as she stepped under a stream of hot water in Regan’s shower. She exhaled and closed her eyes. Lee’s depression seemed distant—the need to find her sister had snapped her back to herself.
Sunday morning, Lee would rise early (she’d need to set an alarm!) and prepare breakfast for the girls (did they have English muffins?). Then, if Regan did not return or text, Lee would call the police.
Lee wasn’t terrified, not yet. Regan had obviously gotten into some sort of scrape, but lurid crimes seemed like something that happened to other families. The Perkinses had had enough trauma to last them, and it seemed impossible that Regan had been randomly abducted or sold into sex trafficking. Who would abduct a mom?
Changing into pajamas, Lee opened the drawer of her sister’s nightstand: ChapStick, an unopened Kiss chocolate bar, a claw clip, three hairbands, CBD lotion, an eye mask, earplugs, measuring tape, cough drops,Sibley Backyard Birdingflash cards. While the private investigator part of herself had hoped to find a clue, she was relieved that the contents of Regan’s bedside drawer were innocuous.
She made a last swipe of the drawer and her fingers closed on a velvet box tucked into the back corner. Lee removed the box and opened it, her heart beating fast.
