No problem. It's hard to communicate in writing sometimes. I didn't think you were brusque. I was talking about the reason that sex workers might speak in that manner. I guess what I was trying to say is that in buying a car or a plane ticket, it's a lot less likely that the "client" is going to try to rip off the seller. But that is something that happens all the time in sex work. For that reason, it kind of behooves the seller to be as straightforward as possible to determine if this person is an actual potential client or just someone trying to get what they can without really paying.

Few men feel entitled to other types of goods and services. Many, many men feel entitled to sex, and because society looks down on sex workers, they often see them as lower in the hierarchy, and therefore there to serve them. I've heard stories of women not being paid and the guy saying something like, "You're just a whore, you should be paying me to spend time together." Or they want the interaction but then feel guilt or shame about it and don't like the idea of paying for that reason. I don't think there is any other job where clients so frequently try to weasel out of paying or to talk the seller down in price. I totally get why an SW would ask straight up, "Can you afford me?" There's a lot of male entitlement in the world, and although that obviously doesn't apply to every single guy, how is she going to know when faced with a stranger who is who?