Don't you just love it.....

...when you "think" you recognize a phone number as being one of your friends and you answer it in an unprofessional way, only to find that it's actually a client?

I need to plug in phone numbers of friends into my contact list on my phone.

It wasn't "too" bad. I answered it with a big "Helllloooooo....how are you?" instead of my normal "Good afternoon..." followed by my business name, followed by my name etc.

It could have been worse. I could have answered with "What the hec was that on your facebook page last night?", or "I don't know about you, but I'm having a crappy day" or just a blunt "What do you want?".

Yeah...it could have been much worse.

I'm thinking of getting one of these....

It's supposed to be a nose warmer, but I'm thinking of using it just as a nose-cover.

Don't you hate it when you've just got over a cold, only your nose is left with "scabbiness" that's just horrible?

ESPECIALLY when you've got new clients and you know that the only thing that they're looking at the first time you meet them is your nose.

I had that today.

Fab.

New Year "Stuff"

It's funny the things I learn from my clients.

I worked on New Years Day and I was the only one working in the location I work in. I was busy - five and a half hours of massage and I worked 'til 8 that night. I thought I may as well work rather than sitting around the house watching T.V., plus I need the money.

One of my regular clients and I were talking about new year resolutions and I said that I had the same one that I did last year that I never stuck to - to reduce the girthiness of my stomach, work out, stop eating rubbish etc.
She told me that she heard good advice on on the radio which was:
"Don't carry anything into 2010 that prevented you from growing in 2009"

I like that. It made me think. It even made me think about the reasons WHY I didn't stick to going to the gym. Also, I have plans that sometimes don't work out because I get bored with stuff easily. Hmmmmmm..............that whole self analysis thing is sometimes good.

I also think I'm going to keep a wee book of "Things I've learned from clients". But then, will I procrastinate with that too?

Hmmmm....not too sure that's a good thing.....

A poor wee hurting client told me today that she's been using visualization techniques to try to help with her knee pain. She said that she's been setting her leg off to the side when she lies in bed and just imagines it as a disengaged piece of meat that's not attached to her.

Not too sure that's the right way of visualizing a limb....
We talked about it though.

OK...so this is proof that...

...I'm a total failure at reading people.
The woman that I was so paranoid about a couple of posts ago (the one that I thought she thought the massage sucked) emailed me to see if she could get in for another massage - and her daughter.
I could get her daughter in, but not her since I'm booked solid this week and she's out of town next week. The MT that's on maternity leave comes back week after next.
So this is a good thing, right?
Thing is, I think she was a bit miffed at not being able to get in. BUT I'm just back from vacation and it's always balls to the wall when I get back since everyone is looking for one this week.
Oh well.....maybe I'm just misreading her again!

Oh well......

The massage therapist next door to me is on maternity leave at the minute. She was nice enough to give my name to some of her clients before she left and I worked on one of them today. I didn't get the impression she liked the massage.
What is it with me that I've got to hear "That was great!!!" after a massage? Is it an ego thing? I mean, she didn't say it sucked - she just didn't say much. Maybe I was just conscious of the fact that this was another therapist's client, that I am only a fill in and that she has been with the other therapist for years. So maybe all those facts came into play and affected the massage itself.
Or maybe I'm over analyzing things ......or I'm just paranoid....or completely nuts.

Benefitting from someone else's mistake...again

OK, so remember the story about flakey MT that used to be across the hall and her client that she never called and the fact that I benefited from her flakiness?

Well, I came across a similar situation today. A pregnant client had bought one of those membership deals at a local massage place and she hundreds of dollars worth of credit in her account. She can't get in to use them because they only have 1 therapist that does prenatal massage in the place and she only works 2 days a week, doing 4 appointments a day. Apparently this client has been trying since MAY to get in to get a massage. She was given the run around so much that she just googled prenatal massage last night, emailed me and I got her in this morning since I had another client that had to reschedule.
So I got a new client from their mismanagement. But then they still have her money that they have drawn out every month.
It's not a good thing when I hear of people being frustrated like that, but then if things had gone smooth, I wouldn't be working on her now!

Ever had one of those days.....

....when your cranium seems to be stuck up your gluteal cleft?

Well, I've just had one of those. I'm glad it's over.

I messed up SO bad with my first client, I'm embarrassed to even write about it, so I'm not going to.
Thankfully the client is a very regular regular and I think she'll still come back!

How do you massage away grief?

One of my clients passed away at the weekend. She was a lovely lady and had a good vibe about her and I was sad to hear she had passed. She was referred to me by another client who is one of my favorite clients and the both of them were good friends.

I felt bad for my client this morning since I know she's hurting and I wish there was something I could do for her.

It's a pity there wasn't a "rip out grief" massage. I'd be all over that.

No Gaelic lesson today.......I'll get back to it in my next post.

People.....

...are nice.
Generally.

Especially my clients.
Clients that I've been working on for a long time will sometimes bring me wee presents or lend me books to read, which really brightens my day. Today a client brought me a wee shamrock in a pot - which is great since I used to have a shamrock plant that died last year. This was the first time I'd met this lady, so it really surprised me.

Yes. People are nice. Generally.

Gaelic lesson #53 "deas', pronounced "jas", meaning "nice"

Playing with mud and fighting a fomentek

I did a mud wrap today. I don't do many wraps, but they're interesting since I think I kind of like wrapping people up like turkeys - think it appeals to my control-freaky side. Anyway, I tried something different today. I really don't want the client to get cold, since I have had a wrap before when I've been cold and I've decided I'd rather be frying my own spleen than have a cold wrap (well maybe not, but you get the point). So cold wrapped-up clients are unacceptable in this neck of the woods.

NORMALLY I use heated rice bags that I normally use as back warmers in massage. I put them in with the client when I'm wrapping them up to keep them nice and toasty. But today I decided to try out my fomentek bag. The directions say that I've to fill it up only a third of the way full with hot water.

This bag is massive. At least, it FELT like it was massive. When I brought it into the room I sat it on my wee useful table that I use for lots of things (that's why it's called my "wee useful table"). So water being water-like, the bag took on a new life of it's own and slowly rolled off the table. So I put it on the dresser and the bag sort of became like something out of Dr. Who and decided to go and have a walk around it too. It made all these scary noises while doing this, so the client had to check out what sort of Alien had come into the room - head up, looking around, worried vibes.

Anyway, I got it under control in the end and it worked well at keeping the client warm. She cooked up lovely. All I needed was to throw a few spuds and carrots around her and it would have been a cannibal's Christmas. The client was happy with the experience and when they're happy, I'm happy. Playing with mud is fun!

Gaelic lesson #45 "uisce", pronounced "ishke", meaning "water"

A new type of body treatment?

Plastic surgeons can perform liposuction, but today I was thinking that this lowly MT might be able to provide "whole body suction". This service entails the roof coming off and you and your client get sucked up into a tornado. What fun! Oz, here we come!

I've been in session before when thunderstorms were so bad that the electric was cut off, but today was the first time I've been in session when the city's tornado alarms have gone off, so obviously we'd to move quickly.

That's life in Texas for ya - never a dull moment!

Gaelic lesson #40 "scamall mor", pronounced "skamel moar", meaing "big cloud"

"It's like a facial for my whole body"

I just did another ginger and lime salt glow for a client and that's what she said. Her skin felt great after the session. I think I'm going to have the salt glow as my "nicey" summer special. Normally I just deal with therapeutic massage, but this body treatment is so easy and cool and you see instantaneous results, I'm going with it.

Gaelic lesson #39 "samhradh", pronounced "sow-roo" meaning "summer"

"My little Alien friend will be massaging your neck"

Don't you just love it when you're working on someone's back and then suddenly your stomach starts to make these really weird, LOUD noises right next to the client's head? It sounds like there's a dinosaur in your chest or like you're about to do a John Hurt impersonation on the table and have an alien burst out of you.

It might be handy to have a wee alien buddy work on the client's neck though - some of those knots need chewed!

Gaelic lesson #37 "goile", pronounced "gill-ye", meaning "stomach"

Tea Parties - a very civilized way to protest!

One of my favorite clients and I often have conversations about interesting things that normally I steer away from in the massage room - politics, religion and the like. She's one of those special people that you can discuss such things with since she's so open minded.

Today she brought up the fact that there was a local tea party where people were protesting the government's handling of the economy. So, in my head I'm thinking "That's pretty darned civilized" and I'm imagining people sitting around with their bone china cups and saucers, maybe having scones with jam or pastry, picked off a lovely cake stand, all sitting on lawn chairs under a marquee. And then someone standing up, teacup and saucer in hand and having a wee rant about stuff. Lovely. I want to go to one!

It wasn't until the end of the conversation that I realized that an AMERICAN tea party is WAY different from an Irish one. My vision was totally squashed when she said that the tea party had caused a traffic jam that even made the traffic report on the radio. "People with teacups out on the middle of the road? Ohhhhhh.....THAT sort of tea party - Bostony type of tea party!". (You can tell I haven't been watching the news lately!)

Gaelic lesson #33 "cupan eile tae", pronounced "cup-on ay-ya tay", meaning "another cup of tea"

It's official - I have the best client that a massage therapist could want....

......BECAUSE SHE BROUGHT ME THIS YESTERDAY.

Just how brilliant is this hat?

I am going to be STYLIN' this St. Paddy's Day!
Thanks D!


Gaelic lesson #11: "Is maith liom mo hata", pronounced "Iss my lyum muh hata" meaning "I like my hat"