First it was factory work to China, then programming jobs to India, and now, it seems that revenge can also be outsourced. Here's the story of Alibis and Paybacks, an unusual service business started by Adrienne Ferguson and Michelle Duke - it offers paybacks both large and small:
Alibis & Paybacks also offers a "lies hotline" service for those who want an excuse to skip work, who need an alibi to give a spouse or who want to break a date "without looking like a flake." The "cuss-out line" service allows one to anonymously tell another person off. But the revenge flier service is the most popular.
Some involve consumer disputes, but others are more personal. A woman recently hired Alibis & Paybacks to publicly embarrass her ex-husband.
Duke said fliers -- placed around his work and new home -- demanded that the man spend money on his children "instead of strippers." She said she hopes their work will help the woman's efforts to receive more child support from her former husband.
Most of the time the leafleting is a quick-hit-and-get-out affair. Once, however, the distributors were still in the area when a man accused of cheating on his girlfriend discovered the fliers and frantically tried to retrieve them from car windshields and street poles outside the other woman's home. The leaflets suggested the man would be rushing home to his mother after leaving his new squeeze.
"The look on his face was priceless," Duke said. "He could have had a piece of paper taped to his back saying 'I'm humiliated.' "
Bob Pool of the LA Times has the story: Link (Photo: Wally Skalij / LA Times)
| Alibis and Paybacks Website