You Can Now Rent A Friend in Lansing

Funny what you find when you're bored and surfing the internet. I found a story on Vox.com, titled, "I paid $47 an hour for someone to be my friend" and gave it a click. The author, a guy named Jean-Luc Bouchard told the story of renting a friend named Lyla (not her real name) to see a movie and eat some tacos in New York City. Jean-Luc did the hang-out as research for his article, but it seems like they ended up having a good time. If you are truly lonely, this might be helpful. According to Jean-Luc, "Renting a friend felt worse than regular friendship — it lacked its ease, the mutual respect and comfort that familiarity allows, and the certainty that it will last longer than an afternoon — but it also felt better than being lonely."

He does say in the article that it, "made me feel creepy, like I was being deceitful by walking around in public with someone who was paid to appear as though they chose to be with me. It also made me feel like a ruder person. When you pay for someone’s friendship, you are also silently paying for the right to make unchallenged decisions for the group." Meaning - you're paying - your "friend" has to do whatever you want to do.

I read the article and thought, "Wow. Amazing what you can find in New York." And then I clicked on the RentAFriend website. And found out Lansing is FULL of friends for rent. I typed in "DeWitt" and got 12 pages of friends. All over the Lansing area.

So, next time you have a problem with a friend - rent a new one!