Dorothy, my newly-minted massage therapist colleague!
What a nice young lady. I'm very impressed.
She's not quite 4'10" tall, and looks about twelve. Needless to say, she has to set the massage table as low as it'll go!
She was kinda thrown into the deep end today, her very first day. I tried to help her out and explain things as we went along, but it wasn't easy because we were all busy this afternoon. Our last massage of the evening was a couple's hot stone massage. I'd gotten everything ready hours before when I had a break, so that we wouldn't be running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The massage was scheduled for 5:00 PM.
5 o'clock rolls around, and our clients are nowhere to be seen. Hmmm. They booked in person earlier in the day, and the massages were paid for at that time. Yay, we get our commission and don't have to do any work!
Wait...not so fast. At quarter after, they waltz in.
An Asian couple whose English skills are rather lacking, which bodes ill for the rest of the massage. So we get them on the tables at 5:20, which means they're getting a thirty-minute hot stone massage instead of a fifty minute one. NO PRESSURE, RIGHT?
Of course I ask my client, the man, whether he's had any recent injuries or surgeries, he says that both he and his wife are healthy. Excellent! We proceed.
Obviously we don't have enough time to do the full body. I massage the entire posterior aspect (the entire back of his body, while he's lying face-down), then turn him over to start massaging his neck and scalp.
I've barely started rubbing his neck with the stones, when he suddenly thrusts his right foot out from under the sheets and says, "My big toe is sore!" Of course, I assume he wants me to work on this sore spot, so I put the stones down and mosey to the foot of the table to work on his big toe.
I start gently rubbing it, and he's twitching and "ouch"ing, finally he jerks his foot away and says, "No, my toe is HURT, please don't touch it!"
To that I say: D'OH! with a side of *facepalm*!
Miscommunication and language difficulties rear their ugly, ugly heads.
I fall all over myself apologizing, of course. Because the customer (or massage client) is always right.
Needless to say, I did not get a tip from this massage. Oh, well.
What a lovely beginning to Dorothy's glamorous career as a Las Vegas Massage Therapist!
6 comments:
The last two ladies I hired here have been thrown into work right away after signing the new hire paperwork! It shows their character if they can survive trial by fire!
Yup. It shows whether or not you have the "right stuff"! ;)
I think Dorothy is going to do very well, especially because she's obviously a very hard worker and she remembered to thank me for all the tips and advice I gave her!
Well... no tip, but sort of a reverse-discount in the effort space, no? (i.e., 30 vs. 50 minutes)
re: Dorothy @ 4'10". I don't believe I've seen a woman that short in quite a while, now that I think about it. Now I'm gonna be wakin' around looking for short women and humming that stupid-ass Randy Newman tune... :D
Buck, you're absolutely right! I didn't even think of that.
Yes, Dorothy is TINY. I always called my 5'2" daughter a shrimp, but Dorothy makes Silver look positively gargantuan. Dorothy told me she stopped growing at age 13.
That song is an earworm, isn't it?!
Dorothy is lucky to have you show her the ropes.
Aw, thank you, Roismhaire! You're very sweet.
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