Mothers' Day is a few weeks away and, as the staff at my place of employment likes to point out, a massage is the perfect Mothers' Day gift! As a therapist, I'm always surprised about what people think they can or can't do or say during a massage. Here are some tips for you!
Do
1. Dress comfortably. It hurts my eyes to see people walk out of a massage wearing heels and a business suit while their faces are wrinkly and their hair is standing on end. Your hair is going to get messy. PLEASE don't expect otherwise.
2. Tell the therapist what you want. Don't rely on the intake form you filled out before the session. We see 5-9 people per day and sometimes don't have time to read all of them. When you walk into the room, please tell us things like, "I don't really care for work on my legs. You can just work on my back and neck." Or, "Spend as much time as you can on my hands."
3. Communicate! I hate ruining the peaceful mood as much as anyone, but if something isn't comfortable your silence doesn't tell me anything. Too hot, too cold, a little too much pressure on that knot in your right shoulder... These things are easy for us to fix and can be the key to a relaxing massage.
DON'T
1. Say you are comfortable when you are not. It comes around to bite us later when you tell your friend, or the front desk/our boss.
2. Make a 'funny' joke about massage and prostitution. It's not funny. It was never funny. It never will be funny. If you are a man, we may end your session immediately. Heck, if you're a woman we may end your session immediately.
3. Schedule a massage if you don't have money for a tip. Would you walk out of a restaurant without tipping? Like anyone who you normally tip- we get paid a low hourly rate, relying on the tip to make up the difference.
4. Wait until the last minute to schedule your appointment. You'll end up with the therapist who doesn't have many clients on purpose. You don't want that. You want a good massage. It's worth the effort to schedule ahead of time.
5. EVER SURPRISE SOMEONE WITH A MASSAGE SESSION. Definitely buy the gift card. But NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER schedule a massage, and bring the person, and then turn to them and say, "Surprise!" I have never once seen a surprise massage work out. I cannot stress this enough. No excuses. Don't do this.
4 comments:
love this...never heard of anyone doing the "surprise" option before...can't believe that actually happens!
I've had only two massages. Both wonderful, but I'm so embarrassed about where, when, how and how much to tip. The first was a package, soaking bath, massage, pedicure. The second at a massage therapy school. So, do I pay each person, hand it to the therapist, or put it on my debit card afterward?
Fox200, you can wait until you're all done and handle everything with the front desk. They'll either have envelopes so you can give cash or put everything on your credit card. It can be totally awkward to try to hand people cash when you're so relaxed.
Clarendon, it's almost always men who think surprising women would be romantic. But a woman who thinks she's going on a date gets pretty, and a massage does not leave people pretty!
Thanks for reading!!
Thank you for answering my questions!
xx
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