Sticky Situations and Key Phrases To Get Out Of Them

These are several uncomfortable situations that I have found myself in with clients, and resolutions that I have figured out myself. I do hope that this helps any therapist out there with similar issues. In times like these it’s good to be prepared with lists like this.

1) Situation: They keep messing with the draping or pulling it up to far.

Response: The next time they do that, simply put your hand on the sheet to prevent it from being moved further and say, “Oh I’ll handle the draping, you just relax.”

*Sometimes men won’t always get under the sheets/blankets like they’re supposed to. So, simply walk in with an extra sheet or keep one on hand in the massage room. You don’t need to say anything or acknowledge the fact, just putting it on them should get the point across.

2) Situation: Making themselves get excited-talking too much.

Response: Comment that you have found some tension on the area that you are working on. Then, ask them to participate in a breathing exercise that has them (silently) count down from ten in their heads. After they’ve been silent for awhile (and consequentially more relaxed), comment on how much better the muscle feels. If they start yapping again, magically find some more tension and repeat.

*When all else fails, move on to facial massage.

3) Situation: Client is stuck in a negative cycle of bitching. It is bringing you down, and making them grow tense.

Response: “Gosh that sounds awful. Well I’m glad you made it in here today b/c it sounds like you could use some stress relief. So you just clear your mind of all of that negative stuff and breathe in the positive.” I know that sounds a little corny, but laying it all out there can really help them realize that this is their time, and they don’t need to share it with anxiety about a certain situation. Ofcourse if all else fails, simply say, “Yah know that really sounds depressing. It’s kind of bringing me down so let’s stick to a positive topic. I don’t want you to feel any more stress, it is your time.” This is just a basic idea for a response, but a similar format to this is a good idea. Notice that when I use the word “let’s” it sounds less personal and more team-oriented. In other words, it makes them less defensive.

4) Client constantly tenses up their muscles.

Response: I have, unfortunately, taken up the habit of telling clients to “play dead”. Perhaps this is not the best choice in words. Saying something along the lines of “Just let your head/arm/neck fall into my hands,” or “I want you to pretend that your muscles are made of jell-o,” sounds much better than “Just relax.” Then, lighten up on pressure slightly and increase it much more gradually.

5) Client is way too loud.

Response: Lower your own voice to an extreme yet audible degree. The disparity between volumes should make the loudness of their own voice more obvious to them. If that doesn’t work whisper/say, “I’m sorry to ask but could you tone your volume down just a little bit? These walls are so thin- it’s ridiculous.” The old blame-the-wall trick never fails.

6) Hugging/ kissing attempts

Response: If it occurs to you even once that this person is just seeing how far they can go with you then drop them as a client. If they call and request you then the front desk can make up some excuse as to why you will no longer work with them but that is not a situation that you want to be around.

Otherwise, when they ask you how your day is you can reply with something like “It’s been great, except for this one guy that kept trying to hug me. I mean I know some people are comfortable with that, I’m just not one of them.” If you say this really casually, then they won’t take it personally. At the end of the session if they start to go in for a hug just put your hand out, palm forward, in front of you and say (with a friendly, forgiving smile) “I’m not much of a hugger actually.” If you are uncomfortable with being that direct, simply put your hand out as mentioned before and stage a fake sneeze. “It’s probably just allergies, but just in case…”

7) Asking for phone number

Response: Explain to him that all scheduling is done through the front desk. Stick with that but if he persists then just pass the front desk number (one that is not advertised) on as your own. This will shut him up and get your point across when he eventually calls.

I hope this helps out and there will be more to come!

Raaaaaagggeeee

I have come to air my complaints about one insidious, self-centered, anti-punctual asshole. Let’s call him John Smith. Well, John Smith is a nurse who works nights and never seems able to make his appointments, his daytime appointments, on time. I have worked on him now eight times and enough is enough. We’re all human so occasional lateness is no big deal. However, he has never been on time even once. I would know- I’m his therapist. He has cost me a massage more than one time and I am so sick of it.

 Last week he called three minutes after his appointment start-time to reschedule for half an hour later. Why? He failed to be on time for yet another appointment because he was sleeping in and wanted the extra rest. He exuberantly offered this excuse as if it was the golden I’m-in-the-E-R universally-acceptable excuse. Get an alarm clock! So yesterday he walks in the clinic at 9 AM to make an 11:30 appointment with me. I walked into the lobby just as he was speaking to the receptionist and my lack of excitement to see him was very noticeable.

 As soon as he walked out  I asked the front desk associate to please give him a courtesy call half an hour before his appointment time to ensure he’s on his way. I told her as well as the manager on staff, if asked by him last minute to move his appointment down, to please lie and say I have an appointment after him. I really don’t want to lose any more money to this guy.

A couple hours later I get out of a massage at 11:25, change the sheets, and walk up to the lobby area to call Mr. Smith for his session. He is nowhere in sight. I look to the front desk girl; we can call her Abby, and shrug my shoulders as if asking “Where is he?” She shook her head at me and explained that, although she had called him, she had not been able to contact him at all. My face turned dark and mood level took a nosedive. I mean, how inconsiderate do you have to be to never make an appointment on time? Very inconsiderate, I think.

I take a seat on a plush purple couch and start tapping my foot to the beat of the second hand on my watch. Three minutes tick by…five minutes…twelve. Fifteen minutes into his appointment time the front desk phone starts ringing. Abby picks up to hear a very rushed and groggy voice on the other end. “Hello! Umm….My name is John….Umm….I was supposed to have an appointment right now…Umm…Yeah, you see I kind of slept in so I’m going to need to move my appointment down!” What an idiot. “I’m sorry John; unfortunately your therapist has an appointment right after you. You still have thirty-five minutes left in your session so if you can get here as soon as possible, she’ll be able to give you the rest of that.”

I hunch over the faux-marble desk space as I listen in to the conversation as best I could. I am appalled, simply and completely appalled, at the nerve of this guy to try and change my schedule around to accommodate his utter lack of punctuality and planning. He agrees to hurry up and come in to take advantage of the remainder of his session. Surely enough, seven minutes later he comes charging in the door and I swear it was his intention to make me feel rushed. I was ready to take him back to the room immediately and instructed him to follow me. Apparently, “follow me” was interpreted as “charge ahead in no particular direction”.

As soon as we got to the room he decided that he needed to use the restroom. Fine. He does his business and then comes back. After a brief intake, I instructed him to disrobe to his comfort level and begin face-down. He tells me he’ll only need ten seconds, as if I had no chart to complete and file and no hands to wash. What an asshole. I exit the room, turn in his chart, and go to the bathroom to wash my hands. Apparently this guy was in too much of a hurry to put the toilet seat down or put the paper towel he used to dry his hands with in the trash. It was pretty disgusting.

Upon entering the room, an evil idea sweeps through my mind. I thought, ‘I should give him a really crappy massage’. I mean, I really don’t want him as a client so why not? I have never intentionally decreased the quality of my massage with someone so this seems like a scary adventure. Somehow, I overcame that and delivered to this asshole the crappiest massage you could ever give someone. I am not proud of it, but not sorry either.

When I was done, instead of waiting outside the door for him with a cup of water I retreated to the break room to hide until he was off the property. My scheme worked: around the time when he should have been checking out, the appointment he made with me for this upcoming weekend disappeared from my schedule and appeared in the column of another therapist. Hopefully I’ll be rid of him forever!

Options

            Many clients have asked me the differences between the different types of massage. Our first and most basic kind of massage is Swedish massage. The second most commonly asked for is Deep Tissue massage. In a nutshell, Swedish massage is relaxation massage. It mostly consists of long, flowing strokes up and down the back and extremeties. These smooth, centripetal strokes are known as “effleurage”. In addition to effleurage, petrissage is also used in a Swedish massage. Petrissage is when the therapist kneads the tissue with their hands. This often involves a lot of thumbwork and feels like the therapist is slurping up skin in the palm of their hands. In a way, every massage is a Swedish massage because every massage contains these two basic kinds of strokes.

           
Deep Tissue is the second most commonly asked for massage. It is, at it’s core, a Swedish massage. However, different massage techniques are used in addition to the standard effleurage and petrissage. Obviously, the pressure is deeper than Swedish massage. This increased pressure is applied with the therapist’s forearm, fist, elbow, or heel of hand. This can be applied anywhere except the face. In order to perform a Deep Tissue massage the therapist adjusts the table to a low height and then leans in with their body weight in order to ensure maximum pressure.

           
There are two additional options a client can get with their massage: deep heat and aromatherapy. Deep  heat can be applied on one of three areas: neck and back, lower legs and feet, or arms and hands. The process goes as follows: During the last 15-20 minutes of the session, the therapist applies a hot, moist towel to the selected area. After three rounds of compression, the therapist removes the towel and applies a few drops Prossage. Prossage is a body oil that stimulates blood circulation by dilating the blood vessels close to the surface of the skin. This creates a warming sensation as the therapist applies friction massage (fast, back-and-forward movements) with this oil throughout the area. A few minutes before the session ends, the therapist applies another hot, moist towel to the area in order to remove all of the Prossage. Once this is done, a light layer of Biofreeze gel is applies to the area. Biofreeze decreases blood circulation in the vessels nearest it. This use of Prossage then Biofreeze helps to flush out excess toxins and helps overall blood circulation.

           
Aromatherapy is also something a client can add to their session. There are currently four blends available: Aches and Pains, Anxiety Release, Lavender Garden, and Mint & Rosemary. Each promotes relaxation and stimulates your sense of smell. My personal favorite is Mint & Rosemary.

Hot Stone Massage....grr

Hot Stone massage is a bit different than regular Swedish massage. You begin face-up (lying on your back) with tolerably hot stones placed strategically on either side of your spine and just under your skull. The therapist will massage some areas of your body with smooth flat stones held in each palm of their hands. By the time the therapist turns you over on your stomach, your back muscles are consequently relaxed due to the heat from the stones.

Many Massage Envy locations near us have begun offering hot stone massage as one of their options. So, of course, my boss wants us to start learning how to do it in order to keep up as much business as possible. In order to entice therapists to want to learn how to do hot stone, my boss is offering 16 free CEU’s (continuing education units that we need to have each year) to watch all the videos needed, read a thick workbook, complete all the quizzes at the end, and do six “practicals” (practice massages). The problem here is that we are not getting paid to do any of the six 90-minute practicals. We then have to bend over a sink for a half an hour scrubbing the stones clean and scouring the whole hot stone cart clean until it sparkles. I don’t particularly think that this is fair.

The most unfair thing of all, however, is that we would not get any additional money for doing a hot stone massage versus doing a regular massage. Yes we would get paid to do a two hour massage when the hands-on part is only 90 minutes, but that’s because we would be working for two hours, bottom line. It really frustrates me how money-hungry some business owners can be.

Sunburn

I have dealt with a lot of clients with backne (back acne), psoriasis, weird scars, imploding body hairs, etc. The grossest thing is, however, SUNBURNS. When I apply the cream and do long strokes down the back it comes off in sheets. I mean, why do people even come in to get worked on when their skin is in such a sensitive state?? Then the dead skin combines with the cream and forms little squishy grey clumps that spread all over the area being worked on. Yuckyness!!

How To Be A Good Client - Don'ts

I believe that there are a lot of well intended people out there who make little mistakes with their massage therapists which prevent them from being “ideal” clients. Here I just wanted to highlight some really common situations that people put themselves in when going to/in session with their therapists and educate people who would like to be even more considerate clients than they already are:

1) Don’t be late. Occasionally this is understandable. I mean, we’re all human after all! However, if you find yourselves consistently being late then you need to schedule 30 minutes later than you would otherwise. This may possibly end up with you sitting on a couch for a few minutes but it really saves you time in your session, as well as preventing the therapist from feeling rushed in the massage.

2) Do not call one minute before your appointment time to reschedule half an hour later. This is enormously inconsiderate to the therapist’s time. Let me give you an example: One day I had a 9-4 shift. I had a massage from 2-3 pm, and then a blank spot from 3-4 pm. Since I had not gotten very many massages that day, I was next in line to get a booking (for the 3-4 pm time slot).

However, my consistently late client called at 1:59 and asked for a 2:30-3:30 appointment instead. Since it was empty the front desk was obligated to give that time to him. Five minutes later the front desk gets a call from one of my regulars requesting me for the 3-4 pm time slot. Obviously I did not get the booking because I was going to be in session with Mr. Late. I really resent that I lost money because of this guy that perpetually disrespects my time.   

3) Do not ask for more time at the very end of the massage as I am walking out of the door. I have no problem with a one-hour client deciding during the middle or beginning of the massage that they would really want a ninety-minute. The problem with asking me at the end of a massage is that if I find out that we don’t have enough rooms open or I have a client right afterwards then I just wasted like four minutes waiting on the (incredibly busy) front desk staff to give me the go ahead or not. When you only have ten minutes between clients this is not acceptable and definitely makes me late for my next client, whom I will now have to apologize to.

4) Do not take forever getting dressed. I really wished we had more time between clients so that clients could just take a few minutes to wake up, but the fact is that we don’t have that time. Within five minutes of taking our hands off the client at the very end of the massage we are supposed to have that room ready for the next person, sheets changed and everything. That leaves the client 3-4 minutes to get dressed which I believe is reasonable. The button-down suit clients take a little longer than that but that’s understandable.

What’s not understandable is when people (who have not accidentally fallen asleep) just lie on the table for five minutes as if they were snuggling into bed in their own homes. That is not okay because I might have three more clients in a row after that and will have to apologize to all of them for being late to their massages because of this one person. The utmost disrespect in this little bad manner division is when I am waiting outside the door with sheets and water for them and all of a sudden hear them carrying on a phone conversation in the room! And by disrespect I mean the extreme epitome of rudeness. That’s definitely when I knock on the door!

5) Do not moan excessively. It makes me feel uncomfortable when people do this because I don’t know them and I don’t know if they’re a sicko or not! When women are really verbal like this it’s just annoying, however when men do it it is super creepy. I had a guy once that sounded like a fourteen year old girl losing her virginity. It was disturbing. I asked him if he was alright every minute or so but unfortunately he did not get the hint.

6) Do not tense up during your massage. I understand that this is a natural bodily reaction and have no problem asking people to relax or jokingly say “play dead.” However, there are some people under the illusion that they are “helping” me. I put that in quotations because that is the word used by several of them. This matters because it makes the massage much more difficult for me when a person is contracting or tensing their muscles. For example, when a muscle is relaxed it feels like hard play-doh. When it's contracted it feels like…concrete. Please try not to “help”.

7) Do not be a “Negative Nancy”. It is very stressful to be in a small room with someone for an hour or more and have them bitch nonstop about their divorce. It sucks the energy and life right out of me and is really a downer. Also, people tense up when they talk about things that are stressing them so not only do I have to listen to them whine and unload this crap onto me, but it is also making my job harder.

            Well, those are the basic not-to-do’s and I’ll add some more in future posts as my blog comes along!

Pros and Cons of Working at Massage Envy

I love my job. However, with any job there are several pros and cons. It was, of course, the positive aspects of massage therapy that first attracted me to the profession. First and foremost is the money. I am a young adult working my way through college and this really is one of the best jobs to have through that experience. Massage therapy is one of the few jobs that allow you to make several times the amount of minimum wage per hour without committing more than eight months of your life to training for it. Although I did not like the idea of starting college later than my peers, I realize that going to massage therapy school was one of the best decisions I have made. Plus working as a waitress wasn’t working out. Apparently people don’t like wearing their drinks…

            Another positive aspect of massage therapy goes along with money is the fact that it is recession resistant. There are so many places a massage therapist can work. Casinos, spas, doctor’s offices, hotels, cruise ships, resorts, malls, hospitals, and places like Massage Envy are all places that a massage therapist can often find work at. I have never looked at a single job website and not found a listing for “Massage Therapist Needed” in the area that I live.

            Working at Massage Envy specifically has many benefits. The best thing I like about it is that I can just show up, do my job, make money, and go home. I do not have to advertise myself almost at all or try to sell people anything. They provide the clients, cream, holsters, tables, rooms, and scheduling services. It is so nice to not have to worry about any of that. Many therapists choose to market themselves independently and travel to and from people’s houses doing massages. I could not imagine doing that – it would take so much time to build a consistent clientele base and would be really stressful (not to mention potentially dangerous) to go into a stranger’s homes. Here many people might object that it is dangerous, but I certainly would not want to take those kinds of risks. I also like that I get frequent breaks throughout my day. I usually do not get booked the maximum amount of massages I can do in one day (which is six), so I normally get two or three hours within my shift that I can use to hang out with coworkers or, better yet, do my homework (or work on my blog!). After several months of working with the same therapists, you really develop a strong bond and “team” attitude with each other.

Just as there are good aspects of my job, there are some bad parts as well. The first thing that comes to mind is bad tippers. There are some people that, for God knows why, choose to tip poorly. This is the most frustrating thing that happens, to atleast someone on staff, on a regular basis. The lack of consideration shown by some clients to their therapists is just out of this world. It is common sense I think for anyone to be able to conclude that tips are an integral part of our paycheck. We depend on tips to make a living, pay our mortgage, put gas in our cars, food on the table, textbooks, and college tuition. It is not just a slap in the face to get a bad tip – it is a guttural punch. It is like having acid tossed in my face to be presented with a crumpled, Cheeto-covered small wad of ones from the lint-ridden depths of a cheapo’s back pocket. I just cannot understand what compels these people to be so rude as to mess with our income. The second most frustrating thing about being a massage therapist is the sheer physical demand. It is not an easy job by any means. You have to do real, actual labor. The first year I was a therapist I would walk into my home after a shift and stick my hands in the freezer because they ached so badly. Physical pains become part of your life. The average career span of a massage therapist is only seven years for just this reason. An injury or illness can end or put a major obstacle in the way of your career. The final major con of being a therapist is the occasional weirdo. Though I have almost never had to deal with them, I will get the random socially-awkward eye wanderer and it really grosses me out. All in all though, it’s a pretty great profession and I enjoy working as a therapist very much.