The Sign On the Wall
My first week at work went fairly well. Tuesday and Wednesday were primarily training days for me. I completed paperwork and practiced the "elevations" (spa add-ons) on Wendy, our lead therapist, but didn't work on any clients. On Thursday I did 2.5 hours of massage. Friday was my busy day with 4.5 hours. Saturday was 3 hours. Not to bad my first week if you consider that 5 hours of massage is the most I could possibly be booked.
I had a good mix of clients, too. There was a relaxing couples massage, a handful of stressed out office workers, a couple of performance athletes, a few who were trying massage for the very first time, and even a couple of post-op clients. All-in-all, a good intro to an average work week, I think.
The one thing that's sometimes frustrating is the tipping. You see, Massage Heights is a program clinic. You start by trying a massage for $39.99. If you like it you sign up for the program which starts at a $59.99/month membership cost and includes one one-hour session per month plus aromatherapy and discounted "elevations" and additional monthly massages.
There are signs all over the building - in each rooms, in the waiting area, and at the front desk that ask the clients to tip based on the FAIR MARKET VALUE of the massage which is $80/hour. It even calculates 20/15/10 percent for them on the sign to make tipping the therapist easier for them.
Unfortunately, people just don't read signs! The average tip at Massage Heights is under $12 for an hour session. This week I received tips ranging from $5 - $20. The worst part is that I don't actually think the $5-$10 people were trying to be exceptionally mean as they seemed very pleased with their session. They probably just didn't read the sign and figured that it was an acceptable, even generous tip for something they paid $40 for.
Thank goodness that I've so far had more $10-$20 people than $5-$10 people. I just hope my luck in that continues.