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[–]severoon 9 points10 points  (4 children)


Not me but a software consultant friend.

He was hired by a massage parlor to make a web app that could manage the schedule for the masseuses (not being sexist here, there were no masseurs). This way they could check it from home and receive emails and SMS notifications whenever appointments were scheduled to help them manage their time.

This project naturally grew into managing the revenue (payments and tips) as well projections based on appointments, etc. Then he was asked to extend even further for a rich set of "configurable" extras that the masseuses could provide at extra cost.

By now he understood clearly what was going on, and made clear in not so many words that he could do the job more cheaply if he didn't have to make the extras configurable but could just code them in (while providing plausible deniability about each item for legal reasons, but still providing all the features one would need for the complex economy at work given the different skills and attributes of the masseuses).

Ah, said the madame who ran the place, what do you know about encryption, in particular encrypted storage? It turns out my friend knows a lot. So he was contracted to make an app that managed two sets of books, one for auditing purposes and one for "in-company tracking" purposes.

Can this software be expanded to manage multiple locations? What if the other "locations" are actually virtual locations, i.e., the masseuses sometimes do call-in, sometimes call-out work? No problem, he says. What if the business has "collections" people that like to make in-person visits for those that need a reminder to pay their bill? Can those folks be added to the SMS notification system? And can the phones be configurable because they change all the time (burners)? Can the system account for surprisingly frequent "leaves of absence" for masseuses, and can the in-company tracking set of books be extended to manage a spot bonus program when these leaves of absence occur (bail)? And on, and on.

Over a 4 year very lucrative period, my friend estimates that he singlehandedly developed, iterated, and refined the largest back-office pimp software ever created with a full set of hidden books encrypted with plausible deniability and auto-reconciliation with the legitimate business' set of books. It would even mark the money outstanding that didn't reconcile that needed to be laundered, and he was working on integrating a revenue management system for laundered funds when the whole operation got busted and closed down.

(No, he didn't get busted or have any legal trouble whatsoever. Also, it's worth saying that the business was run by an enlightened madame and the girls were very empowered, treated well, paid well, kept healthy, and counseled regularly on how to manage their money well, no drug addicts allowed, etc. It was all very civilized and everyone that participated did so willingly, except the few customers that tried not to pay.)

[–]miserablesecret 0 points1 point  (0 children)


Coolest story in this thread. Your friend is a badass!

[–]PT2JSQGHVaHWd24aCdCF 0 points1 point  (0 children)


You win this thread so far!

[–]zootam 0 points1 point  (1 child)


wow amazing story. "back office pimp software" sounds amazing. might as well make a company out of it. Im sure other organizations would want this software.

[–]severoon 1 point2 points  (0 children)


One of the reasons it was so lucrative for him is because he designed it in modules that could be used to quickly build other similar systems for other clients, but the madame understood that many parts would only be useful in certain kinds of businesses and he wasn't going to be able to reuse those, so she had to pay a premium for the time he spent on that. Which she could well afford.