Kelly apologized!

So I got an email from Kelly, remember Kelly?  She apologized for the way she acted and would like to reschedule her appointment.  

This is a good thing!  Hope she's feeling better now...

Meet Kelly..

So today I had the worst possible client I could have ever had.  Meet Kelly.  Kelly comes in for her appointment late today.  She is a new client so she has to fill out paperwork.  I greet Kelly and instruct her to do the intake form so that she can get a massage today.

Upon filling out her paperwork, I constantly hear her sniffle... then cough... then sneeze.  I listen to it for a bit, then I see her wipe her snotty nose. *cough cough*  As she sits there filling out her forms, I come to the conclusion that she may be sick... full blown sick.

"Hey, Kelly... are you sick?"

"I do have a cold." She says.

I ask her how long she's been sick and she hesitates for a few seconds and says she's been sick for a few days.  I tell Kelly that I can't work on her.  She's most likely contagious although she right away tells me that her doctor wouldn't giver her antibiotics and she's not contagious.  How does this doctor know for sure?  I'm not gonna chance it.

I tell Kelly that I still can't work on her and that she may possibly be contagious and that it is not good for her to receive a massage while she is sick, that it may exacerbate her symptoms.

She blows up on me.

Holy shit!  Kelly was screaming at the top of her hacky lungs about how unprofessional this is and how pissed she is that she had taken the whole day off for this appointment.

"I'm sorry Kelly, but you said you were sick."

Kelly quickly retracted her statement and said she only had a cough.  She left and stood in the hallway and screamed at her husband on the phone about what a bitch I am and to come pick her up.  I felt terrible.

Kelly then came back to the office and when I opened the door she continued to scream at me about how she'll never be back.

Well Kelly, You have been banned so it is OK.

Worst client ever.

Having an injury sucks...

I messed up my wrist a few days ago and it's starting to really hurt pretty bad with any movement and no rest.  It's been really busy at the office and I do believe it is simply overworked.

Today is another busy day.  Good luck to me!

So what is pressure anyways?

Pressure is completely subjective, it can mean a lot of different things to different people.  

I had a client today who requested a deep pressure.  I thought to myself, "Oh, gee.. here we go..."  You see, many people think that the more pressure, the better.  They think that you have to hurt to feel better.  This is not the case one bit.  Many clients seem to feel this way because they met with a therapist in the past who was too light or too broad.  She wasn't getting the right spots so they felt the need for more pressure.  The therapist applies more pressure... but she is still too broad and too vague.  She finally gets to the point that she is literally jumping on this guy's back to give him enough pressure and he is barely content while she is killing herself to get deep enough.  

It doesn't have to hurt... in fact, it shouldn't hurt.  It should be precise and pinpointed to feel relief with only a middle to moderate amount of pressure.  The therapist shouldn't be trying to kill themselves to get the pressure right.  If they are, something is wrong.  

So I'm with this client today and she wants a lot of pressure...  I'm assuming she's one of these "no pressure is ever good enough for me" clients and I'm about to find out.  I start working on her shoulders and I finally think it's time to break out the elbows.  One firm swoop with the elbow and we have deep, broken apart breathing and a lot of wincing.  Eek! "Is it too much?"  She says in a holding-her-breath kind of way, "No, not at all."  

She's full of shit.

She was one of those clients..  I spent the rest of the session applying a nice middle of the road pressure and it was nice for everyone involved.  I didn't kill myself, and she wasn't in pain.  O, happy day!

Baby it's cold outside

-30 degrees outside and I have to venture into work.  I will be jealous of my client laying on that heated table!

Husbands love massages...

My husband just loves massages.  At home he is always asking me to rub this and rub that and this hurts or that hurts.  Most times than not I give him a quick shoulder or neck massage to shush him up... but he absolutely loves a real massage on the table.  

I made him appointment a few weeks ago for a massage with me at the office for today.  He came in, said "Hi" and went directly to the table to lay down.  He gets right down to business.  After the massage, he had the biggest smile on his face... and just about took a nap when he got home.

The massage he got today was a gift from Father's Day.. Oops!  A little late on my part but he still loved it anyways.

On to another day..

I love days off!

I love having the day off to spend time with the family and get things done around the house.  Days off are also really nice to relax the body and recoup to get ready for the next busy week ahead.  Massaging takes a toll on the body especially if you're not careful about how you position your body during a treatment.  It's also a nice time to unwind the brain and refill my positive energy for the week ahead so I can keep my clients happy and relaxed.  Going into a massage with negative energy doesn't work out well for anyone... client or practitioner.

Can't wait for the week ahead...  and the new and interesting stories that will arise!