Well, I am truly bummed. I just did a massage that while it was good work, was not something my client liked, and I may have lost all business from a shop in the center because of it.
Last Wednesday evening, a lady showed up from one of the exercise studios in the plaza for the Reiki share and was asking about Reiki. Since we had a large number of people, I let her be the first one on one of the two tables we had going. She got to experience the energy with four people working on her. So, she made an appointment to come in today for a massage.
As I saw I, I only made a couple mistakes, and the biggest one was something I did not catch until two days later when I filed the paperwork (this is being written days after the event). I had her read the disclaimer that she just signed and did not look at. The problem I found later was that she signed the Reiki disclaimer, not the massage disclaimer. (I have two disclaimers whose purpose is to let the client know what to expect during the session, specifically where I will be working and where I will be putting my hands. It also lets them know that they have the right to tell me to change it so they are more comfortable.)
She decided that she wanted an Integrative massage rather than one of the more exotic ones that require less draping. I felt she needed to have a couple stretches, one of which she did not like. A couple of times I had too much pressure for her although I had most of it perfect. When I finished working the back, covered it back up and uncovered a leg and glute (butt cheek). She told me she did not want her butt done, so I covered it back up and worked the legs. At one point my nails (which were a little long) scratched her doing a stroke. I changed how I did it on the other side.
When we were done, she kept telling me that she had never had a massage like this before. Well, I can understand that as I incorporate a lot of things from the styles I have learned. This makes my massage unique. (Someone told me that this is what makes my massages more an art form rather than just a massage.) When I asked again, she said the same thing. I got the feeling that she didn’t want to say that she didn’t like it. (You know how someone will ask you what you think of something, and you will reply with something like “Well, it certainly is different”? In other words you are not wanting to say it was bad or good, so you say something noncommittal.) I got the feeling that this was what she was doing.
She did say that she will be back for Reiki, but I really don’t know.
Now, she has had massage before. And I know that all too many ‘regular’ massages are little more than rubbing. Now we did not specify whether the session was for relaxation or to fix things, and I generally go to fixing things as I figure people want their problems fixed.
At any rate, I figure she is going to go back to this exercise place and tell them that I do lousy work. And considering that this place was afraid of me coming into the plaza to begin with, well it just probably tells them that they were right.
I don’t know why this is bothering me so much, but it is. I just can’t seem to shake it. Guess I will have to meditate on it for a while.