Sugar 'babies' and 'daddies' reveal what it's really like to date for money — and it's not what you'd expect

There are a lot of things people assume about sugar dating. Alice Donovan Rouse/Unsplash Being a sugar baby is often a misunderstood profession. Though some more glamorize or demonize it, what we found by looking at Reddit is that it's a lot like any other service industry role. There are good experiences, bad experiences, and sometimes full-blown horror stories. We rounded up some stories from Reddit from sugar babies and their clients. Of course, this is just for fun, as we can't independently verify these stories.

"She asked if she could get one for her boyfriend as well" Shutterstock "I took a rather sweet potential sugar baby to a late lunch/early dinner. Everything was going great. I offered to buy her a to-go box, as well as the food we had. She asked if she could get one for her boyfriend as well, who it turns out was waiting in the car for her in the parking lot … "- Redditor SD22112211

"He 'forgot' what we agreed on and gave me only half" Matheus Ferrero/Unsplash "My all-time worst was a guy who forced himself on me doing something I said I enjoyed privately with actual partners but not in sugar stuff but he did it anyway. As if that wasn't bad enough, he didn't even give me the full amount. He "forgot" what we agreed on and gave me only half and fell off the face of the earth when I called him out on it." - deleted user

"We had a perfectly fine lunch that had zero chemistry" rawpixel.com/Unsplash "My worst meet and greet was with a woman who I (accurately) suspected of using makeup, camera angles, and soft focus to make herself look more attractive than she is in real life. We had a perfectly fine lunch that had zero chemistry whatsoever and parted ways without the subject of an arrangement ever coming up." - Redditor This_is_Not_My_Handl

"We ended up REALLY connecting" Brooke Cagle/Unsplash "This guy in his 40's answers, he loves music and plays and is an artist - all things right up my alley. He's not ugly or gross, but not my type. Whatever. We ended up REALLY connecting. It was like we were meant to meet, it was quite strange! We became great friends. We f-----, but I could tell he respected me more than just any sugar baby -and, eventually, I wanted to f--- him, anyway. He gave me money after every visit, very nonchalantly... We just never spoke of it." - Redditor sugarbabby

"He convinced me Venmo was safe" Daria Nepriakhina/Unsplash "He convinced me Venmo was safe and showed me a page on their website that said transactions couldn't be canceled so I went ahead with it. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to find out the transaction had been cancelled and sent back to him and my account suspended. He apparently told them it wasn't an authorized transaction and that somebody had accessed his account. Now of course he 'doesn't know what happened' and then stopped replying to my messages." - Redditor champagneandglitter

"One SB brought her sister unannounced" diignat/Shutterstock "One sugar baby brought her sister unannounced. She was beautiful but her sister was f------ stunning. I could hardly take my eyes off her. It also didn't help that she and I bonded immediately in a way that I didn't with the original girl. "However, I played it cool and just showed them both a good time, bought them both drinks and dinner and just called it a night. I didn't really think I could pull off propositioning them both and I didn't want to make it awkward or offensive by going for the one I actually wanted. Never even followed up for sugar with the first one because I just resented that I wanted her sister but was too 'loyal' to go for it. - mr_sugarman

"The money ensures that everything will go smoothly" g-stockstudio/Shutterstock "In my experience, most guys who are sugar daddies are very busy business men who don't have the time or energy to sustain a real relationship. The money ensures that everything will go smoothly, and they still get a genuine (or what I make seem to be genuine) emotional, fun, and intimate experience." - Redditor handshoes

"He liked to send me nonsexual pictures of his wife" Anna Issakova/Shutterstock "One of the creepiest men I worked with was a very good looking married man with young children. He also liked to send me nonsexual pictures of his wife behind her back at the grocery store, driving, etc. Basically, he got off on talking to me while spending time with his wife. Eventually, this creeped me out enough to end it." - omcthrowingaway

"He reminded me of Hank from 'Breaking Bad'" AMC/Breaking Bad screencap/Netflix "Tried being a sugar baby through seekingarrangement.com. He flew me to New York, reminded me of Hank from Breaking Bad but grossed me out and admitted he was trying to build a harem. He sucked through his dentures constantly. To his credit, he acknowledged I was uncomfortable and bought a plane ticket for me to go home early." - Redditor eatkittens

"There's a myth that sex work is unskilled. It's definitely not." Shutterstock "There's also some myth that sex work is unskilled. It's definitely not. Being a sugar baby takes a lot of natural and learned social abilities. You have to be able to play girlfriend to a wide variety of men, not to mention have some sexual abilities worth paying for. It's actually a pretty challenging job. 90% of it is being able to talk about anything, while making him feel like the center and king of your universe for those hours every week. That's not easy with someone who you would never probably date for free. It requires a lot of patience and intuitive people skills to do that every single week for a long time." - Redditor BunBunPurrPaws