Friends for rent.

[Rezia]

FRIENDS FOR RENT (THE MOSCOW NEWS JUNE 2010)
     New in town, and haven't made friends yet? Not a problem – now Muscovites can rent a friend to accompany them to the movies, shops, and birthdays parties. While it might sound strange, it could become a new trend sweeping the city.
     Alexander Romanov has been in the business of providing friends for over eight years. He says Moscow is tough, and takes a toll on people wanting to make friends.
     "Just where is someone who works in an office all day supposed to go to make friends?" He asks. Romanov says that corporate policies often dictate that people keep friendship and work separate, while coming up to someone on the street is deemed inappropriate. So what's left, especially if a person wants to make the impression that their personal life is blossoming?
     Romanov's agency, Alibi Private Service, specializes on what he calls "getting people out of difficult personal situations."
     The demand of his clients range from "renting" a friend to go shopping to helping get a straying spouse back. The majority of those who seek his service are women between the ages of 25-40 who don't have time for social life.
Cheap therapy.
     Another agency, //rentafriend.ru, offers the opportunity to meet someone at a café of chat over ICQ . It's not expensive – 16 $ (500 rubles) to visit with someone for no less than two hours at a restaurant of a coffee-house. Chatting on-line costs 19$ (600 roubles) for no longer than two hours, and the first 15 minutes are free.
     The owner of the service could not be reached for comment by The Moscow News, but he did speak to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and urged its readers not to think of renting a friend as something horrible and immoral. "You can use a prostitute – that's love for money," he says, "this is easier that talking to a therapist."
People not places.
But there are those who have arrived in Moscow from other towns who say it's not about where you live, it's your attitude towards making friends that counts. Lyudmila Kluyeva is in her twenties, a transplant from Vladivostok."The number of friends depends on you, not on the city," she says, having initially thought that friends for rent was a gag.
     Among readers of The Moscow News there was a fairly even split between those who thought the city was unfriendly and those who thought it was friendly. About 30 per cent thought that friendliness depended on people more than places.
     But what is it that is forcing Muscovites to turn to paying for friendship rather than putting in their own efforts to make a human connection? Romanov thinks that it is the issue of time and fear – fear of approaching someone in a city where everyone seems to be "mean and in a hurry."
     Angelina Mikhailova, 34, moved to Moscow from Yekaterinburg after college. At first she found it hard to make the effort to make new friends, and felt lonely. "As soon as I started going to places outside work, it got better. One of my closest friends was my stretching partner in a yoga class I took," Mikhailova said. "I got more confident about approaching people, and saw that Moscow wasn't so cold after all." She adds that she could never bring herself to rent a friend. – that would mean that as soon as she was out of money, she couldn't afford a social life.
     What do you think about renting friends?

[Чайник777]

So what's left, especially if a person wants to make the impression that their personal life is blossoming?

So just try and be honest with yourself first and keep in mind that the truth will eventually be revealed and people will have pity instead of sympathy  towards you.

[Rezia]

So just try and be honest with yourself first and keep in mind that the truth will eventually be revealed and people will have pity instead of sympathy  towards you.

Можно по-русски обсуждение проводить. Я понимаю вас, вашу реакцию. Но моё мнение (после раздумий) иное. Тут всё зависит от того, как человек сам к этому относится. Если ему комфортно в обществе платного друга, так ему удобнее и легче, то почему это вызывает жалость? Почему это надо скрывать и стыдиться? Это же не секс за деньги и дешевле, значительно дешевле, я думаю, чем психоаналитик, который ещё неизвестно, поможет ли или хуже сделает.

[Чайник777]

So just try and be honest with yourself first and keep in mind that the truth will eventually be revealed and people will have pity instead of sympathy  towards you.

Можно по-русски обсуждение проводить. Я понимаю вас, вашу реакцию. Но моё мнение (после раздумий) иное. Тут всё зависит от того, как человек сам к этому относится. Если ему комфортно в обществе платного друга, так ему удобнее и легче, то почему это вызывает жалость? Почему это надо скрывать и стыдиться? Это же не секс за деньги и дешевле, значительно дешевле, я думаю, чем психоаналитик, который ещё неизвестно, поможет ли или хуже сделает.

Действительно, раз вы меня не поняли, то лучше не выпендриваться и перейти на русский. Я же писал совсем не то, что вы подумали.
Я осудил то, что человек пытается сделать вид, что его личная жизнь цветёт или как это по-русски, т.е. пытается обмануть и написал, что лучше быть честным. Вообще не очень понятно, зачем надо пытаться производить это впечатление (a person wants to make the impression that their personal life is blossoming).

Насчёт психоаналитиков - думаю, что они всё же профессиональнее, чем некие "платные друзья".