Flirting for Profit: A Taibbi Article and a New Yorker Story

 I was reading an article by Matt Taibbi on how an ordinary American couple rather innocently got swallowed up in student debt when one particular turn of events in the saga reminded me of the March 1, 2021 New Yorker short story: "Good-Looking," by Souvankham Thammavongsa.

In his article on student debt, Taibbi said:

They [the young couple] took classes at Sacramento State, finished credits for degrees from Humboldt, and then discovered what a lot of young people in the eighties and nineties were learning, that the implied bargain of college — get a degree, get a good job — was less than a concrete proposition. “It was a wake-up call,” Robin says. She remembers an early job selling muffins.

“The muffin route that I took over, was from a beautiful woman, who was very charismatic, bubbly, and stunning,” she recalls, laughing. “She knew her route, and gave me the list, saying, ‘Do these muffins.’ I shadowed her the first day, and she sold them all! ‘Okay,’ I thought. ‘I'll do the same thing.’ I quickly found that part of the customer attraction was seeing her. I came back with half the muffins.”

Well, the muffin lady was undoubtedly using her charms to either overly, or in effect, flirt with her customers, monetizing that capability.  Some customers, her replacement found out, evidently weren't all that interested in the muffins. They were paying for the delights of charming lady's company, apparently in an innocent and harmless fashion. 

Monetizing one's ability to successfully flirt is the jumping off point of "Good-Looking," but with a twist.  Someone other than the charmer is apparently getting all, or at least most, of the proceeds.

The chief protagonist, a 38-year-old married man who works part time as a gym instructor, was encouraged by his boss to flirt with the predominately female membership, in part because he was good looking. That would help keep the women coming, the boss said, arguing that it was "harmless."  Except that the married instructors who engaged in such activities were urged to take off their wedding rings.

Well, of course, one woman interpreted the message a bit differently and invited the instructor out.  He accepted, but with a twist that I won't reveal here so as not to ruin the story.

According to Thammavongsa, in the usual New Yorker author interview, "Good-Looking" is a riff on the question what is love?

But to me it was more compelling as a profile of the protagonist and as brief exploration of whether one can harmlessly flirt for profit.