NO HAPPY ENDINGS

I am often asked two questions about my profession:

#1 What made you decide to become a massage therapist?
                                    and
#2 Have you ever had a man do something inappropriate in a session?

Since two men in two days asked me Question #2, I thought I should share my TWO experiences. Now given that I have been doing massage therapy since 2006 and I have only had two clients make inappropriate suggestions to me, I feel like I am ahead of the masses.....or maybe I am just too homely for men to make passes at.....either way I consider myself lucky. I think it also helps that at the bottom of my intake forms there is this disclaimer:  "All massages are completely non-sexual".   Both sessions occurred in clinics where I worked as an independent contractor. Since I have gone to only accepting clients from word of mouth referrals, I have not had anymore incidents.

My first perv came as a new client in a small clinic in 2007. He was 30ish, clean, friendly and a farrier. He explained that he had horse hooves in his groin and abdomen all day long and he held a lot of tension in these areas. Reasonable. I saw him for 90 minutes and he was on the edge of  inappropriate flirting, but he did not cross the line--more of walking up and taking a peek over. I noted this in his chart.  He tipped me $30 which was outstanding in 2007.  Two weeks later he returned for his second massage. (Holy cow the number 2 is crazy train today)  This time he was out of the gates VERY flirty. I tried to let him know nicely that I was uncomfortable with his advances but it did not deter him. He tugged at the sheets until I told him to be careful as WE didn't want to expose something accidentally. With 15 minutes left in his massage he asked me if I had any extra "lotion".  I told him no and added that he didn't need any lotion anyway. Client flipped the sheet back, rubbed his hands on his thighs to get lube, and grabbed his penis. I announced that his session was over due to his being perverted and walked out of the treatment room. I figured he would stiff me (pun intended) on the fee for his 90 minute massage, but he came out and paid me in full with another $30 tip and pretended nothing had just happened.  I documented all this in his SOAP chart.

Now the rest of this story is: This happened on my birthday.  And this bozo called back trying to get another massage from me. When my associate told him that I had marked him as someone I would not work with again, he told her that he had no idea that he had offended me.  I mean who doesn't like to see strangers touch their private parts?


Now, this next story is comical.  He was 92 years old, WW2 veteran, had cancer and was rolled into my treatment room in a wheelchair. I had to help him get his shirt and socks off. Things were going just fine and then out of the blue comes "You can rub my pecker if you want to."  I simply said "That's not the kind of massage I do." and kept right on working.  When his massage was over I reported the incident to my supervisor and was asked to write up a formal complaint. After getting the report filed I came home and told my husband what had happened.  He asked me why I didn't end the massage immediately and I told him "Well since he was in a wheelchair and older than dirt I figured I could outrun him or kill him anytime I wanted to, so I didn't feel afraid."  Hubby says "Well, I guess I have to give him credit for even still having the inclination at that age!".