Having been immersed in the massage industry for over 20 years has made me completely detached from the way other jobs work and how people think about their work. I am used to not getting paid if I’m not booked or if a client no-shows or late cancels. I am used to fluctuations in my income from month to month that generally average out, but could mean a give or take of $500 from one month to the next.
We show up early to set up for treatments that require setup, like things with hot stones or extra products, or supplies, and this time is unpaid. I am also used to just not going to work if I’m not booked, or leaving early if I’m only booked until a certain time. A shift of 1-8 may end up being 2-7:30 or any variation of that. Breaks are random and not always scheduled in an ideal way; my “dinner” may be at 4:30 because that’s how the appointments landed before you caught it and threw in a half hour gap where you’d prefer to eat. Sometimes we have to pee but the washroom is busy and we have a client waiting on the table, so oh well, I guess you’re holding it for an hour.
I am in an industry that pays well but has a physical ceiling of how much you can actually do and maintain. Most of the therapists at my workplace are at the “only 5 hours a day” point. I am too. Sometimes that is even more about how many people per day and less about how many hours of hands on work. I am totally fine with 5 or 6 hours, if it is 4 people. I would prefer that! Less people, more time; totally works for me. A work day that was 5 hours hands on but had 7 people, is far more tiring.
The massage industry has been less about cash flow and more about a sustainable lifestyle for me. I can’t really imagine not having my mornings to run, workout or get stuff done. I don’t mind working on Saturdays because having a weekday off is awesome!
Time is our obsession! We have to manage each session in parts and by what is feasible. If you book a half hour and ask for a full body; it is nearly impossible unless you are hoping to just basically get oil put on you. We have to calculate how much time we can focus on this, that or the other. Sometimes we have to move on from an area that could use more time because a client wants full body (even in a hour massage). Sometimes we have to multitask and combine treatments to make a package work and fit the timeframe. But sometimes we are flush with time and are “done” before the clock is up! It is amazing how it is often hard to tell. A small little woman can come in for an hour and you really could use 90 minutes; a big guy could come in for 90 minutes and you are left with “what am I going to do for these last 15!?”
No Shows are literally the worst! No time to rebook the appointment. No time to just have a break and eat or something (because you can’t be mid-salad and have the guy walk in the door!) You basically waste your time waiting at least 15-20 minutes then just lose that expected income. Late cancels are bad, but at least we know you’re not coming (and lose the expected income). No shows or late cancellations for your first client of the day are especially frustrating (I could be at home still!)
Late clients are always a hard thing because there is a choice to be made about timing. If I have someone afterwards, there is no decision; you get what you get. But if I’m off afterwards or have my lunch break, there is the ethical decision of going over to make up the time, but then not getting time to eat or end my day as planned. Sometimes we have the time to go over and make up the time but the actual room does not! Sometimes (where I work) the rooms are scheduled and another therapist may need in that space right at the end of my hour so I can’t go over and screw up their schedule too.
Lates also make for some math when it’s a multi- treatment package or if the scheduled treatment involves parts that literally take as long as they take; such as a scrub or facial. We can adjust parts and massage timing but sometimes things are what they are. The other day I had a client 15 minutes late for a long 2 hour package, and the massage portion of that is only 45 minutes (massage/facial/reflexology) so I basically shaved 5 minutes off the facial, 10 minutes off the reflexology and tried to massage as much as I could in the timeframe or while various steps of the facial were on the go. 15 minutes late for a long treatment is obviously not as bad as 10 minutes late for a half hour massage (and you’d be surprised how many people are late for a half hour massage!)
I don’t know how hairstylists do it! That literally takes as long as it takes; we at least can shave off some time or set the expectation that you may not get some part worked on due to time restraints. With massage, you truly are booking my time more than you are booking the service. If your appointment is at 4pm until 5pm, that’s what you have and that’s what you’re paying for, not an hour starting from when you actually show up. I mean, that being said, we do try. I will go over if I can, and especially care if the client is a regular and never does that, or is aware that they are late and don’t seem expectant of it.
I lose income if I have a 90 minute massage booked and the client shows up late and says “can we just do an hour?” I mean I get it, but it’s not fair to me; I was ready to go on time. I defiantly appreciate when people take responsibility for their lateness and pay for the time they booked and not hope to just pay for the time they showed up for. That being said, I do feel badly if you have an hour booked and are late and we only get a 45 minute massage in. I sometimes just tell the front desk to just charge them for a 45 (and many people will actually say “No! it was my fault, I was late”) it does reduce my income for the day but it shows empathy. (However, if you seriously walk in 15 minutes late with a Starbucks in hand and seem like you completely don’t care, or act like you just assume I’ll go over to make up the difference; that’s a big Nope! for me).
Clients do weird things and one that always make me internally question is when they come in with their hair pinned up and out of the way, then undo their hair to get on the table, making it in the way and all over their neck and shoulders. Equal to that is the putting long hair into a low ponytail that is basically at the nape of the neck and right in the way of shoulder and neck access. So funny. I assume this is some oversight, but it happens A LOT. It is very confusing to me that it wouldn’t be assumed that having long hair pinned up and out of the way wouldn’t just be obvious.
I know that sometimes people don’t know what they don’t know, and that is the bubble I find myself in regularly. Some things seem obvious to us because this is what we do.
But on the flip side of that, I have often thought that I would like to teach some sort of professional massage therapist course to new and student therapists to teach the opposite side of the equation. I have heard stories and witnessed so many weird behaviors on the therapist side. The number one complaints are talking and timing. People want the time they paid for (assuming they are on time!) and note when they feel shorted; and people don’t love lots of conversation (unless they do).
I defiantly talk a lot with my regular clients and absolutely enjoy conversations, interesting stories, and shared time with many people. But I try my very best to not lead the conversation. If a regular comes in and doesn’t talk to me after the first 5 minutes, I take that hint (even if I’m dying to know how that date went or how the new job is!) We may feel like clients are our friends, and some client relationships really do become close and personal in a friend-like (therapy-like?) way, but mostly, people want to just relax. I have had clients tell me that they’ve had therapists complain about work to them! I can’t imagine paying $100 to have my body massaged and hearing about the therapist’s issues with staff parking or what-not.
But it is hard. I tend to over share and defiantly will speak with clients about pretty much anything and do sometimes wonder if the conversation is for me or for them. You never need to entertain us. If you don’t want to talk, don’t. We truly do not need to discuss the weather and Covid (for the 15 thousandth time!) unless that is actually what you really need to do at that time. You can just lay there and the therapist shouldn’t be just asking you stuff (or spilling their guts onto you) unprovoked, unless it is treatment or injury related, and pertinent to the massage. How’s the pressure? Do you need a blanket?
I have a few clients that probably know way too much about me and me them. And some that I’ve been massaging for years and I don’t even know if they are married or what they do for work. I seem to have somehow worked myself into many regulars that see me like twice a year; and some that are monthly or every few weeks. Some I think about often and wonder where they are, only to suddenly have them book. I have a number of couples I see and that’s awesome (except if they move away and you lose two clients in one go!)
I obviously love my job. I keep on doing it. I appreciate so much about it, and the people often totally make my day. For every one person who is hard (personality wise or physical effort wise) there are probably eight that are awesome. I feel lucky and would recommend massage as a profession (depending). I wouldn’t do it for free, and let’s be honest; I wouldn’t even work if I didn’t need external income! But I am so so glad that I do this as my means to food and shelter. I know that my career will change and evolve in the next 20 years and (as I wrote in an a blog earlier this year) I don’t know if I can sustain the numbers I do now, forever, and have contemplated a career change. But I always stay because I think it is basically who I am now.
It’s like when people ask me if I still run. Is there another option? I am not deep in the running community any more than I am deep in the massage community (I don’t know my board of directors or the who’s who in my industry) I go to work and I go home! But I have been keeping on for over two decades in both and that’s good enough for me.
So I guess those are my thoughts this week. I have to (get to!) get ready to run now and then head in later today to massage four people over six hours; just like I like it.
Periscopecake 