Hanging Cuddle

Expecting_Magic

Ever heard of a "hanging coffee"??

"Hanging coffee," also known as caffè sospeso in Italian, is a tradition of paying for an extra cup of coffee for someone else in need. When a customer orders a coffee, they pay for two and receive only one. The barista then sets aside the second coffee for someone else to claim later. The tradition originated in Naples, Italy, in working-class cafes, and dates back to at least the early 20th century.

A Century old tradition, and it works for coffee. It can also work for cuddle. Both are six-letter words beginning with "c", and double-letters in the middle... HA!

Seriously now, I believe the concept of a "hanging cuddle" can work in this forum, on this site. I just witnessed one in a discussion about touch starvation. The barrier of high cost was by-passed with an offer of a "hanging cuddle", someone else offering to pay for a cuddle appointment for someone who finds it cost prohibitive.

And, sticking with the Italian tradition:

Voilà!!

It is done!

@WestsideMarc volunteered to provide a "hanging cuddle" to a very touch-starved young man. My heart is touched and swollen with pride. Well done, my friend!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Thus, a tradition is born! I'm guessing it's not the first time a cuddle fee was subsidized by another member. However, it probably didn't have a name for it. A title.

Now, we do!!

Hanging Cuddle

Carrie_Anne

Very interesting, I love that people care enough & are able to do that!
Reminds me of the “pay it forward” trend in the US for a while at Starbucks drive-thru especially.
The person in front would pay for their own order and then also pay for the person behind them in line.
It happened to me once in McDonald’s drive-thru. Surprisingly someone paid for my order. A complete stranger just being generous! Then in turn, I paid for the person behind me.
But then there became a problem because the one who’s order had been paid for might not have enough $$ to pay for the one behind them in order to keep it going, if that makes sense. It got kind of out of control I guess, I read this on Reddit, but haven’t seen anything lately.

Expecting_Magic

I'm going to continue the brand new tradition and put up a "Hanging Cuddle" for someone to claim.

Right here. Right now. I'm hanging a cuddle.

First come, first served.
The first legitimate request will be granted a complimentary (aka, free!) 1 hour cuddle session with a pro of your choosing, up to and including $200/hour rates.
Message me if you are in need of a hanging cuddle, even if you don't have a favorite pro chosen yet. Please don't post a request here in the discussion. Thanks!

By "legitimate", I mean an honest request with a screenshot of the booking appointment. Then, I can work directly with the pro for payment, near the time of the scheduled session.
Also, if a request comes in from a brand-new member, without history or a profile, and requests to cuddle with a brand-new pro with zero karma reviews, I'm probably gonna deny that request as a little squirmy and scammy.

So, if you are touch-starved and cash-strapped, message me, and put in a claim for a Hanging Cuddle!

Note: First come, first served. And I'm only offering one at first to see how it goes. If successful, I will be hanging more cuddles in the future!!

RadiantHugs

That’s beautiful and very kind, @WestsideMarc and @Expecting_Magic. I’m truly grateful for having people like you on here!

Solaris

Wow this is fantastic! I can't hang a whole cuddle right now, but if there was a gofundme or something, I'd contribute.

Carrie_Anne

So cool of you guys and I hope you find the ones who need help. (being very careful of course!)

GuyverGordon

This is a very cool thing; it is something I would not have expected here. I would jump at this chance if my issue was just about money (and that is part of the issue). For me, I have found this place as I enter the more busier part of the year (in work and life in general), making scheduling anything currently tricky if not impossible for the next month or so.

With that said, @WestsideMarc and @Expecting_Magic Thanks for being awesome.

JWestfall

To all who posted above - very cool! Please update the thread here when the hanging cuddle has been claimed.

justjennn

What a wonderful name for what I've always called the Cuddle Fund. I regularly get requests from people who can't afford a whole cuddle and I can usually try to work on something on a sliding scale, but a Hanging Cuddle 🤯 amazing!!!

magpie17201

No need for hanging cuddles. I got free cuddles.

KittyPukka

Heart warmed! I love seeing the cuddle community coming together ❤️

CuddleDuncan

Lovely idea, thank you gentlemen.

This idea is actually not that rare in private. There are many cuddle clients who give a little extra to cuddle professionals to subsidise the costs of cuddling for those who struggle to afford it. The professionals themselves often contribute to the system by reducing their rate.

Best practice has been found to include:

• Not offering this service to brand new clients
• Identifying clients who are known to understand and abide by codes of practice
• Offering the service to clients who would clearly benefit but have not and would not ask for it
• Focussing limited resources on the clients who will benefit most. This usually means clients who are either on the fringes of or are already invoved with the criminal justice, mental health, disability or similar systems.
• Requiring the client to pay a small amount - whatever they can afford even if it's only £5 - towards the cost of the cuddle
• Offering short (1 hour) sessions only. Two 1 hour sessions are considerably more beneficial than one 2 hour session.

In practice, all this tends to mean that the 'ideal' person for this is a regular but occasional client, attending perhaps once a quarter, who would benefit from extra sessions.

---

The caffè sospeso tradition does not translate at all to the modern, Western, coffee shop. In the original context it could make a real difference between having something in the morning, and having nothing. In modern day US or UK it's just rich people shuffling money amongst themselves. And let's be very, very clear: if you're in Starbucks or similar, you are rich.

lovingspoonfull

This was not in my head when I saw the topic and wondered what it was about. I’m too literal maybe, because I pictured hammocks. 😀

ReltvlyCanshes

Great idea. There generous.

SunsetSnuggles

@Expecting_Magic
Yes! There are definitely a handful of Pro's who state in their profiles that they welcome clients interested in gifting cuddles to those in financial need. 😊

It has also been offered on the board before, by enthusiasts, for others.

As far as coffee, the "suspended coffee" concept was utilized by a customer we had (years ago when I worked for Starbucks), for police, firefighters, and first responders. 🚔🔥🚑 She would pop in every few months and refill a gift card with $300, and trust us to use it conscientiously. Many of the men and women offered the use of it declined out of humility, but it always made us happy when they would accept with surprise and joy. We eventually couldn't use it for police anymore, because of legality issues. Anyway, heartwarming stuff.

The concept also transferred well into the drive-thru pay it forward trend, as mentioned above. Sometimes the chain would continue unbroken for hours, and hundreds of drinks, as each person paid for the vehicle behind them. ☕️🔗☕️ The solution for expensive orders was to put the cost of your drink toward the order of the car behind you. On the flipside, we could get ahead and have a "fund", as @justjennn mentioned, if someone with an extravagant order (like a drug rep picking up 25 drinks and 25 pastries for an entire staff) paid their full amount toward those behind. Lovely stuff. ☕️ 🫖🍵🧋🥐🍩🥯🧁🍪

@lovingspoonfull
I assumed it would be about hammock cuddles, as well. 😁

@CuddleDuncan posted: "And let's be very, very clear: if you're in Starbucks or similar, you are rich."

By third world standards, of course. By US standards, it's entirely dependent on context.

If you go to Starbucks regularly or daily, absolutely. I worked there for four and a half years when I was younger, and we had one family who would drop over $25 daily (sometimes twice a day 😱), on fraps...even for their four-year-old. People like that are either rich, or deeply in debt. 😆 (Seriously...$750+ per month...)

But there is coffee for $3 bucks with a free refill, and we certainly had customers who would occasionally supplement their at-home coffee with that. You can order a cold drink with an extra shot and no ice, effectively doubling it for cents. We also had people who would come in only to buy the bottles of syrup to make their own, and never order a drink...lots of ways to save while still engaging the beast that is Starbucks. 🤑

In any case, these days the shops are mostly filled with college kids studying, digital nomads, and remote workers...who can and do all sit there for free, for hours, drinking the filtered ice water, using the bathroom, and slurping the wi-fi, and are never asked to order anything. It's weird to see the cultural norms shift over the years. But I shan't complain...I've had way too many wonderful, free cuddles on puffy Starbucks furniture. 🤭

Lastly, Starbucks gift cards are a major theme at Christmas, work events, and especially as thank you's to teachers, delivery drivers, mail carriers, etc...I know people who make a very modest living, or even struggle to put decent food on the table, yet have a couple hundred bucks in Starbucks cards sitting around.

So one really never knows the economic status of someone. Just had to chime in, as the topic is close to my heart, even after all these years. 😊

~ Sunset Snuggles

🫂 Enthusiast 🌄 Travel Junkie 📸 Shutter Bug

JWestfall

@lovingspoonfull and @SunsetSnuggles
I first envisioned cuddling in a hammock on the face of a cliff where the cuddlers had to rock-climb up and set anchors and ropes to hang the hammock.

kleen

@lovingspoonfull that’s exactly what came to my mind as well!

TheFunCartel

if you're in Starbucks or similar, you are rich.

Maybe not rich but you are definitely blessed with disposable income. The sad thing is Starbucks isn’t even the best coffee. They just have the best marketing. I prefer Dunkin coffee to Starbucks on the corporate level of coffee, but the mom and pop coffee shops always seem to be better than Dunkin or Starbucks.

GuyverGordon

I don't drink coffee ... so none of those places serve as vices for me ...

SunsetSnuggles

@GuyverGordon
Ironically, despite spending my insomnia writing paragraphs about a coffee shop in the wee hours of the morning...

I don't drink coffee. 🤭 I hate the smell, I hate the taste, and if you sweeten it up with syrup and milk, I hate the calories and the cost. 😆 (A wise person once said, "Don't drink your calories.)

When I first started working at Starbucks, I had only had one sip of coffee in my life. Testing my way through the menu gave me caffeine headaches for months (I'm not a soda drinker, either). I learned all about coffee, and I loved my experience there because of the customer connection. But it never turned me into a coffee drinker.

Pastries, on the other hand... 😜

~ Sunset Snuggles

🫂 Enthusiast 🌄 Travel Junkie 📸 Shutter Bug

WestsideMarc

Thanks for all the props everyone. And yes it does feel good to do something good for someone else, especially a total stranger for some reason.

I had a long conversation w him last night and he’s in the process of taking the next step of choosing…

BrianOcean

@WestsideMarc

You're a good man and that is an extremely thoughtful gesture- it will definitely boomerang back to you.

Great Job.

TheGypsyCuddler

Love this idea- and a great way to pay it forward. 🤗🤗🤗⭐️

Bear

I use to do this at cuddle parties, sponsor someone. Or pay it forward for someone in hard times.

WestsideMarc

I like the term Cuddle Cup. Sort of metaphoric cup to throw a few shekels in.

Or if you really wanna get cheesy the triple C. Community Cuddle Cup.

And if you really wanna delve into the ridiculous acronym realm: The CCCCC cuddle comfort community cuddle cup.

OK I’m spinning out, sorry…. Didn’t mean to hijack the thread.

JoyfulHeart

@WestsideMarc That initialism will raise the ire of the All American Anti Alliteration Association, or AAAAA.

lovingspoonfull

@SunsetSnuggles at least you’ve demonstrated many other virtues through your forum posts. None of us are perfect after all. 😇

Coffee is the nectar of the gods. Objective reality. 🤣

So the gift of a cuppa is a great analogy for the gift of a cuddle. The OP picked a great analogy.

But in all honesty if I worked in a coffee shop I’d probably start to hate coffee just a little. Too much strong smell every day would get old really fast.

SunsetSnuggles

@lovingspoonfull
😂 Good to know hating coffee is the line. My apologies for letting you down. 😁

~ Sunset Snuggles

🫂 Enthusiast 🌄 Travel Junkie 📸 Shutter Bug

lovingspoonfull

I’m sympathetic. I can’t stand avocados. Never understood the appeal. But I’m surrounded by people that think that is culinary heresy. I’m as mystified by their love for it probably as much as you are by coffee.

Good things there’s so much variety in life. Keeps things interesting!

I hate the toys they put in avocados. Got so many of those little wooden balls.

lovingspoonfull

@gem7 that’s funny. A friend’s dog snagged a dropped avocado once when we were making dinner and chomped it thinking he was a sly foodstealer. He yelped when he hit the pit. 😀Then decided to play with it like a tennis ball for the rest of the evening.