Massage

Going back on Friday: Update
Burned by a Franchise Spa
A Turkish barber massage that involved slapping the back of my head. Did I get played?

Posted: 21 May 2020 05:24 AM PDT

Technically I went back on Saturday (I forgot I was supposed to be in vacation last week 😟 and had the day off).

Anyway! I figured I could share a couple of observations and how following the protocols went.

We were much busier than anyone expected. And I assumed we would have a lot of regulars. Which is not how it turned out. Only 1 out of my 4 clients wasn't new. It was very subdued and quiet in the building even for being busy. Between clients (we have 30 minutes between) we usually are talking and friendly. But it was much quieter and the MTs mostly kept to themselves or just held quiet conversations. I think everyone feels like we are coming out of hibernation and no one knows how to approach things. Most of my clients felt they needed a really good reason to be there and were nearly apologetic for making me work. They were all very grateful for being there and afterwards gushing about how great it was that we were open. Tips have been exceptionally good I believe for the same reason - just feeling bad for coming in. And most did not want to talk about what's been going on or didn't want to talk at all (I tiptoed around issues and let my clients lead any conversation like I always do - that's where it naturally fell).

Protocols we are following: note we are not a chain, but a small business. The protocols set forth by our heath department/medical board have 2 standards- mandatory and then best practices. We are now shoeless - clients included. We have an area for them to take off their shoes, put on a mask, and sanitize their hands. We also take their temperature. We have extra waivers (they can do online beforehand) stating they are symptom free as is everyone in their house. As for therapists we have a dedicated pair of work shoes that have been disinfected. We wear masks at all times and need to change between clients (either an apron or our clothes depending on which we prefer). We can't have more than one oil bottle in the room at a time and can't wear an oil holster. We aren't offering clients water (we can't serve them anyway) or restroom (they are welcome to go, we just aren't suggesting it now).

We've also streamlined our check out process. People are encouraged to pay via our app before they even come in. Otherwise we try to save their card so we have a touch less check out. We aren't printing receipts just doing email. We have clients out in like less then 5 minutes now.

Edit: I am Ohio. I also didn't go into what we are doing for cleaning. We have waterproof table covers that get sprayed with disinfectant while that sits, I spray everything in the room - towel cabii handles, doorknobs, oil bottle, stool, any tools I used. Usually by the time I've done that it's time to wipe down the table first and work my way around the table.

Also we are providing bandanas to use as masks and socks if clients need them. We also are using lighter weight blankets that get washed with with every change (so all sheets and blankets get put in the laundry bag).

We haven't come up with a good bathroom cleaning regimen. But I personally spray everything before I leave and wipe the counters/computer/mouse every time I use it.

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Burned by a Franchise Spa

Posted: 21 May 2020 04:33 AM PDT

Lead therapist of chain spa: You get paid $18 for every massage you perform, whether the customer pays the $65 discounted rate or the $90 drop-in rate."
Me: "Wait, are people really agreeing to this?!," I thought during my orientation. I needed the job so I didn't think much of it, and agreed. Besides, this was a nationally recognized franchise, so it couldn't be that bad, right? This was the first red flag I would come to see in a company that pays a low wage to its therapists, taking advantage of the tips normally given by clients in a business model designed to keep more money at the top end of things.

Just a couple of weeks later my long-time pet, a cat, started seizing uncontrollably. I called in to let them know I wouldn't be there for my short shift that day. Immediately, I was asked if I could work yet another day in order to cover that shift. Me—dying cat in arms trying to hold myself together. Manager on duty—no reaction but to ask me to work more (I was already pulling six days a week, how much more did she want?") I wanted to scream at her and hang up, and question where her head was at that she wasn't capable of placing humanity above business, but this honestly spoke true to the heart of this particular business—it was definitely profit above all else.

And so, I spent a little over a year working for a well-known massage chain, and it ended up being a huge mistake. I mean, I did end up earning a decent living that year, as I should have—I performed more massages than any other therapist that year, for a while working 6 days a week.

That being said, I couldn't not speak up in the face of everything I saw that was off. And I mean, really off like I-have-never-seen-such-in-20-years-of-working in customer service off. You see, the owner continued to open up one half million dollar (according to the company's website) spa right after the other, yet we were conveniently and often being shorted our own pay. You might say they were liberally skimming, even if it was "accidental." But one thing was for sure, he had possession of that money, you better believe that. It had gotten so bad that we joked about having part time jobs as bookkeepers. We had to catch every extra nickel and dime they had "forgotten" to pay us, and then, when we got paid for that on the next check (hopefully) we'd have to right the next check. Exhausting, right? I chose to ignore what I probably didn't want to see anyway—convenient theft.

So, later I realized we were not being paid for required quarterly staff meetings. I dropped a well-placed call to the labor board (who had just sent us one of their representatives in order to talk about the terms of the LAST lawsuit against the company which had been successful—big warning sign there), and, magically, we all got paid for that meeting. Perhaps, not surprisingly, they chose not to order us pizza this time—a small trade off. Fast forward one quarter, and, here I was, seeing we hadn't been paid for our time at this next meeting. I made a point of asking our new manager about it, and she pulled strings so that I was paid, but no one else was. Obviously, this wasn't what I was after, but this guy was crafty and intent on taking more than his fair share.

Finally, after that last meeting, the business started to hemorrhage some really good people, like they instinctively knew the ship was sinking. During my final month there, they began packing rooms so tight with therapists and clients that they often mis-scheduled us, and we'd be told there was no where for us to work and that we should go home. Simple as that. How could no one know this when most of the appointments were scheduled in advance? Obviously, yet more lies were afoot.

Then, they went totally all-in on a money-making mission. Therapists were now being scheduled on days we'd never worked, just to fill in the gaps. My coworkers usually went along with it, citing that it was "just easier," but it was nevertheless a gross abuse of power—another obvious manifestation of pure greed and the fact that we didn't mean much to our boss. Ironically, the newer manager had told me that she "didn't want to be steering the slave ship," and yet, that seemed to be exactly what she was doing. She had a family and kids, so I can't really fault her for that, but it must take a certain amount of energy to be able to ignore all that is right and just to simply "do your job," especially as you knowingly harm others.

It wouldn't be much longer before they went for me, changing my schedule multiple times in a single day—I was being gotten rid of. I was pretty much begging the new manager to stop it with the schedule shifting. I asked her if she needed help, because I still thought at this point that she was innocently struggling, and she lost her shit—I was pressing right into the lie they had created. She bellowed that I was overstepping my bounds, but that wasn't what I was doing at all, obviously, and she told me to leave.

After this, I was supposed to go home for the day, but an hour later a friend a client of mine texted me wondering why I had quit my job. This was news to me, but the manager had already called my clients telling them I was no longer there. More sneaky stuff.

And so, I could have accepted many things: the low pay, the struggles of having many first time massage clients, no bonuses or any real employee benefits to speak of, but I would have never accepted another rich man building his wealth off the backs of his employees. It was totally sickening, and I'm sorry to have watched the spa industry degenerate into this.

I'm still feeling a bit traumatized as well as financially burdened after this ordeal (which was over a year ago), but to have turned a blind eye to everything I was seeing would have been way worse. I don't regret it and would do it again. (Well, maybe I would've left after the first slew of red flags—they certainly didn't hide them well).

Any commiseration or relatable stories/similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

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A Turkish barber massage that involved slapping the back of my head. Did I get played?

Posted: 21 May 2020 08:00 AM PDT

This happened a while ago and I have no idea to this day if this is a genuine massage or not.

A Turkish barbers I go to in the UK often offer massage-type stuff after a haircut. Nothing too major, normally only a couple minutes long and each barber seems to do something different, like the stuff you see videos of on YouTube.

After a haircut I leant forward into the sink to have my hair quickly washed with a bit of shampoo and the barber offered a massage. I said "sure". What happened next was something I wasn't prepared for.

While leaning over the sink face forwards, he was rubbing shampoo into my hair and said "ready?"

"Ready? What fo-" SMACK. He open handed slapped the back of my head. Not enough for it to be painful but enough to startle me. "What the fuck" I asked, he was not phased and reassured me it would feel great later. He continued. Every 30 seconds he would stop rubbing shampoo and slap my head. Probably did it 4 times.

When I finally brought my head up, the window in front was peppered with shampoo. I didn't enjoy it and don't understand why he did it.

Did I get played..?

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