I finally got out of the jail, and now I work in a very nice hotel, one which I can only describe as "if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere"! The most challenging thing I have to deal with every day is satisfying the hard-to-please, crazy guests who come for massage at the spa ~ the Swedish and prenatal massages are deep and the deep tissue are super super deep, I've never met clients that wanted such strong pressure before, but I like the spontaneity of the workplace - I never know who I am going to massage in a day, sometimes it's Dolce & Gabbana, sometimes it's Courtney Cox, and sometimes it's some old geezer who I'm afraid is going to die on the table! I remember one time I was giving a celebrity a massage and there were so many people outside the hotel waiting, just hoping to get his autograph, and here I am, touching his body all over!
The other day a guest asked me what it's really like to work in a spa, "behind the scenes", and I told her honestly it can be quite stressful, but that we try our best to make them believe they are coming into a calm, peaceful, zen environment with floating, relaxing music. First, the things we have to carry - sheets, towels, heavy marble bowls, a kit of 12 aromatherapy oils in heavy glass bottles with testers, heavy hot stone ovens and foot ritual bowls. We have a big duffel bag we carry from room to room (out in the jungle, of course) and for each massage we have to prepare a foot ritual in a heavy cast-iron bowl. My friend asked me if we have helpers to carry the bags for us, ya right!
The only thing predictable about our job is the unpredictability of it - sometimes guests have booked a hot stone massage but when they show up, they are sunburnt and need a different treatment, so we have to haul ass to the kitchen and whip up the cucumber and aloe vera wrap in the blender within 5 minutes time, switch rooms, and set up the new room with plastic sheets, towels, etc. At the last minute, the booking agents can change the room on us - all of a sudden the client wants a hot stone massage, so we have to heat up the stones, sometimes changing them from room to room at a moment's notice when couples arrive fighting and decide they want to be in separate rooms, or vice versa. We only have 20 min. in between each service to change sheets, clean up the foot ritual, put new towels, prepare for our next treatment, etc., sometimes carrying things very far when we have a massage outdoors. There is no time for bathroom breaks and no time to drink water, we are like little storms in a teacup once we leave the client at the relaxation area!
I've really seen it all here. I will get guests who tell me they've never had a massage before, are ticklish, and don't like much of their body massaged (?), why don't they book a facial instead? How they are allergic to all kinds of aromas, but want the aromatherapy massage! How they are claustrophobic but want the body wrap, which they will be wrapped up in a tight cocoon for 30 min! How they don't want any knuckles, thumbs, elbows or forearms massaging them, just palms for a strong deep tissue massage, how can I do deep tissue without thumbs? How they will say that it was the best massage ever of their life, then when they get to reception they paint a different story to get a free massage.
I love my coworkers, they make me laugh a lot, I have so much fun with them, the other day this huge man came for a massage and we were joking about him being like a gorilla and that he needed two massage therapists to attend him, and of course no one wanted to do the massage, we were offering each other all our tips to whoever would take him on!
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