Sought pain relief, instead was insulted at the deepest level.
Badly tweaked my neck so scheduled an appointment the next day. Met Megan at the waiting room and went to her suite where she interviewed me about my massage. I responded with specific statements about the area of acute pain in my neck and tension in my shoulder. Megan looked at the clock and said, "we've lost a little time," and we agreed to focus on the areas discussed rather than whole body.
At that point, Megan said she would leave the room and I could prepare myself, lay face down, etc. Aware that my 60 minute massage was dwindling to 45 minutes, I said that she didn't need to leave the room because everything she asked me to do would take three seconds. She said that her leaving the room was procedure. I accepted that. As she was leaving the room, I asked if it was necessary to get under the blanket. I was removing only my shirt and I thought getting under a blanket in the middle of a sunny summer day was odd. She said that that was procedure and I questioned it no more.
I did everything that was asked, but when Megan returned, she said she "didn't feel comfortable," and was "afraid for her safety, and could not continue with the massage." I was shocked and embarrassed to my core; it defied belief. I was so stunned I said nothing, let the words sink in for a fraction of a second, calmly picked up my wallet, phone, and keys, and went to the front where I was told that I would have to leave.
Apparently omitting contact information on the introductory form is a "red flag." Is there anyone tired of providing personal information that corporations sell to each other as a commodity? Anyone a fan of junkmail? If there was a concern over my identity, I would have gladly shared my driver's license; however, I was not asked, nor was the way I filled out the form questioned.
The central problem seemed to be that my willingness (NOT insistence) to remove my shirt in front of the person who, moments later, would be applying the massage, is a serious red flag.
Though I had made it clear I would remove only my shirt, questioning the need to get under a blanket during a warm summer day also seemed to be a serious red flag.
To be absolutely clear, there is nothing I am leaving out of the narrative. There was no flirtation, no chauvinism, no double entendre, no leering eye contact, no provocative body language or gestures, no coercion, no exhibitionism, and no personal conversation of any sort. On the two occasions I questioned what was said, I received an answer, respected the answer, and complied with the procedure without argument.
If there is a strict cultural expectation or rigid set of procedures about shirts and blankets on summer days, I was not informed of them beforehand. I have had perhaps four massages in the last decade and all have occurred without incident. Megan knew from the initial survey that massages are not a regular occurrence for me.
You, dear reader, do not know me. You do not know that I am not a complainer. You don't know that I have family, friends, make people laugh, served this country in combat, have advanced degrees, give time and money to charity, and have been successfully interacting with people around the world for decades. But I warn, you maybe arbitrarily refused service on account of, as the manager said, "maybe bad energy."
If you are placed into the creeper category for the wrong haircut, height, weight, ethnicity, fashion, direction the wind is blowing, or whatever other arbitrary action or celestial misalignment constitutes "bad energy," you too may be painted as some sort of dangerous pervert. I respect management that supports its' staff, but the management on duty seemed content to label me a pervert and send me on my way. There was no curiosity about what actually happened, no apology, no promise to look into the matter, no mention of refund or complimentary gift certificate. I was offered only a no contest dismissal from the premises.
This is a failure of professionalism on both the individual and leadership levels.
I walked in with a stiff neck; I walked out humiliated.
Post script: I considered this review carefully and have given time to settle my perspective before posting. I have had several massages since this incident and have been invited back each time. I discussed this incident with a massage therapist and the feedback I got was that nothing I did was creepy, and described my explanation that I would be removing only my shirt as, "setting boundaries." Therefore, I am posting this unfortunate review with confidence. read more
