Monday, October 15, 2007

Meanwhile, back at the spa...

I'm so glad I wasn't working the front desk yesterday!

This is secondhand, so bear with me.

Abdul, a young man who works as a coordinator (i.e. receptionist) at the front desk, described a phone call he took from a man who seemed bewildered and very disappointed that we offer no sex at our spa. He kept repeating, "No sex, no sex at all?"

Finally Abdul told him, politely, to go take a flying leap.

Shortly after that he had two gentleman walk in who wanted a line-up of the female massage therapists, to see what we had to offer.

Sorry, guys, this isn't Sheri's Ranch!

He, again politely, told them off.

I would have referred them to the concierge, it's their job to satisfy the guests'...desires.

Something amusing did occur when I was manning the desk on Thursday.

A couple had just finished their side-by-side massages (at $100 apiece) and were checking out.

It's the front desk people's job to ask the guests if they'd like to leave a gratuity, as it would be tip-hustling for the therapists or aesthetitians to ask themselves.

The couple had left their checks open for just this reason, so they could add gratuities at the end of the service and then close out the credit card check.

The husband looks over at his wife, to see the amount she's writing in...$5.00!

Then he beams at me while writing the same amount on his ticket, saying, "She always leaves the maximum tip. She's so generous!"

And he was serious!

It was hard to keep from laughing, and I was guiltily relieved that they weren't MY clients.

10 comments:

DBA Dude said...

I guess that therapists likes cabbies and waiting staff are not paid that well and rely on tips to break even?

Some people are too cheap!

Christina RN LMT said...

Well, tips really, really help.

At our spa, we get paid $7.75 an hour, regardless of whether we have any services scheduled.

We do get a 25% commission on every service, which is nice.

I wouldn't sweat tips very much, but I'm the newest massage therapist so I have least seniority.

This means that there are (depending on the day of the week) two to three therapists who get services booked ahead of me.

Sometimes I'm only doing one to two massages a day!

Thanks for stopping by, dba dude!

4chun Cookie said...

She's so generous! LoL....were they Canadian?

Christina RN LMT said...

Nope, Cookie!

They were a young couple from California, I think.

phlegmfatale said...

Gosh, I really HATE chintzy tippers. It's one of my ultimate pet peeves, actually. *sheesh*

Christina RN LMT said...

Yeah, Phlegm.

I really don't get some people.

Europeans, fine. Many countries have completely different rules and traditions where tipping is concerned.

But by God, if you're an American, you know the score!
So there's no excuse for being cheap.

Anonymous said...

"Aesthetitian." Oh, I like it. Spelling seems vary within the profession, but you know, to spell it "esthetician," you need a philosophy degree.

Sounds like the tippers didn't get the "happy ending" they were after, any more than the walk-ins did.

Christina RN LMT said...

LOL!

I can't tell you how many guests ask me how to say it, and what the heck it means!

Before I started working at the spa, I always thought it was "esthetician"...but was very quickly corrected when I questioned all our signage here...

Some guests think the aestheticians perform anaesthesia.

And the only *happy endings* provided at our spa are the smiles the guests receive on their way out.

LBJ said...

$5.00. Oh my. . I never know what to tip. I go regularly as a lot of time at the gun range is really felt in my arm and shoulders.

But I always give $20.00 for an hour massage. Never knew if that was a correct amount. .

But $5.00. . I give that to the pizza delivery guy.

Christina RN LMT said...

Skywriter, thanks for stopping by!

$20.00 for an hour service is an excellent tip! Your therapist thanks you, I'm sure.

Whenever a guest asks me (when I'm at the front desk), I say standard is 15%-20%, about what you'd leave at a restaurant, depending on how much you enjoyed the service.

The largest tip I've ever received so far is $40.00, that was a nice surprise at the end of the day!